Hello minha amada família!

I am loving this place so much! There are a lot of challenges but the people are so good and friendly and the work is so worth it. Our new bishop, Bispo Fabio, is especially amazing and on top of things. He is working with us really closely and helping out a ton with the work. He is always going on visits to see people in the ward (yesterday we ran into him twice while he was trying to visit the same people we were:) ). We had almoço at his house this week and he gave us four references after the lunch message (one of which was Adriana (see below)). He also showed us lots of his old papers and lembranças that he kept from his mission because we asked about how it was before Preach My Gospel. Wow, it was a very different missionary world. It is really fun and funny to see him go on and on and remanise on all his missionary days. It reminded me of Dad. I hope to be like that some day. We have a ward mission plan now where we are working closely with the leaders of each organization to find pesquisadores and menos ativos to teach. There are always too many people that we want to visit that we can´t get them all in. It is a great problem to have.

We had a great lesson with Iara this week about the Plan of Salvation. We have to teach her kind of basic because she has very little Christian background, but she is always eager to learn and listens intently to all of our lessons. I can always feel the Spirit strong there and feel like I am fulfilling my purpose. I love Iara and her cute little family and truly hope they will start keeping more commitments to work towards baptism. They have a date but didn´t come to Church this week again so we´ll have to change it. One thing that is interesting to me is how so many people are not accostumed to prayer. Almost all of the people we teach will not pray the first lesson, are really reluctant to pray, or do not know how to pray. Brazil is a very religious country but yet prayer is still not something most people are willing to do in front of others. I am very grateful to have been taught since era criança to pray often and to pray fervently. It is making all the diference for me as a missionary now and I depend on speaking to my Father in Heaven so much! Prayer WILL bring miracles. So Iara has always tinha MUITO vergonha to pray but this week when we were going to start the lesson she said "Eu vou orar hoje." She offered and even offered at the beginning! We were super excited and hope that this means she is praying lots on her own as well. She is very timid and has a crazy past that makes it hard for her to change, but we love her so much and will continue to work a lot with her to help her see how the blessings of the gospel can improve the quality of her life forever.

We have been talking a little bit about General Conference already and I am counting down the days. It is so much more exciting now and I can hardly wait for Abril to get here. Conference should be the very beginning of not next transfer but the one after. Having current real prophets is such a huge blessing in the earth today and I cannot wait any longer to hear them speak!

I love you all tons! Always remember how wonderful our Heavenly Father is and how much He is willing to bless us. I am learning to be patient and happy in adversities as well. Remember that must of the things that will make you frustrated really are not a big deal or will pass. Everything is going to be alright! We have the truth and are on the winning team! I love the good news of the gospel with all my heart.

Love you forever,

Sister Marchant

Ola Presidente!

Sister Hoggan e eu estamos trabalhando muito bem juntos. Tínhamos uma boa semana com algumas lições muitas especiais. Era um pouco difícil esta semana porque nós estamos fazendo nosso melhor e fazendo tudo que nós sabemos para que nossos pesquisadores vão a igreja e progredam, mas eles não estão guardando compromissos. Vamos continuar trabalhar com estas pessoas, porque muitas delas têm muito potencial. Nós estamos amando estas pessoas mais e mais todos os dias, e nós desejamos a salvação e felicidade deles. Espero que o evangelho vá mudar suas vidas.

Nós tivemos uma experiência muito especial esta semana com um rapaz que esta começando preparar-se servir uma missão. Ele se chama Lucas e a mãe dele se chama Adriana. Ela não é um membro e sempre era mais ou menos contra a igreja, mas esta semana ela falou que ela quer ler o Livro de Mórmon, ir a igreja, e considerar sendo batizada! Lucas claro está bem animado porque faz muito tempo que ele tem estado esperando para isto. Nós tentamos algumas vezes este fim de semana mas não tivemos ainda a oportunidade ensinar ela. Nós falamos com Lucas uma noite esta semana muito sobre a missão e tão maravilhoso é. Ele parece muito animado continuar preparar-se sair. O Espírito foi muito forte, e eu estava MUITO feliz e animada para ele e sua família. Espero que tudo vai continuar melhorar em sua vida e que ele pode desfrutar todas as bênçãos do evangelho. Eu amo estas pessoas muito!

Nossos estudos estavam muito melhor esta semana também. Nós estamos planejando nossos estudos melhor e eu estou aprendendo mais coisas mais eficazmente. Durante nosso estudo de companheirismo nós sempre praticamos o convite batismal e planejamos por nossos pesquisadores com práticas. Isto está ajudando muito e embora seja difícil as vezes, eu gosto e quero continuar. Eu ainda só espero que nós tenhamos mais tempo para estudar! Eu AMO estudar.

Em geral esta semana foi normal e feliz.

Obrigada por tudo!

Sister Marchant