1.18.2016

Week 49: Going to the Mountain to Pray

Just another week gone by. Nothing too exciting. No crazy miracle stories this week. But we did have a lot of fun and found a few new people! Maria has been a bit difficult these days, she hasnt been coming to church and we arent quite sure why. Jose (her not yet husband) used to love the church, but lately has been getting into some stuff. Someone talked to him and said to research the church on the internet, and i think we all know where that leads. We tried our best to warn him, but he was pretty set that the church that he once loved turned into something bad. I dont really know. It was really sad to see. Luckily, Maria decided not to listen to any of it and said she already knows that its true and that she doesnt need anyone elses opinion about the church. Thank you, Maria! Anyways, hopefully all will go well there.




Coming up next Saturday, Adilson will/should be getting baptized! He´s probably the ´easiest´ investigator I have ever had. But he did find work and now it´ll be a little bit harder to talk to him. Why does that always happen! Why do our investigator receive blessings when they start living the commandments! making my life harder over here! haha just kidding. so happy that he found work. blessings.

We also have our investigator, Eufrasia, and her two daughters. Eufrasia opened up a ton to us this last week. We were teaching the law of chastity, which she already knew because she talked to missionaries in the past, but she doesn't want to get married. We were working so hard to figure out what was holding her back, when she opened up to us about her past and what she feels now because of it; how she doesn't feel loved, nor does she love anyone, and that she doesn't love herself. People open up so much to the missionaries. The trust that they feel to be able to tell a couple young girls the hardest parts of their lives, its incredible to me. We working a TON with the branch to make sure that she can begin to feel the love of the branch and help her to learn to love herself and those around her. 




Just another funny story for ya´ll. So the elders had a baptism this last Saturday, and that morning they called us to let us know and asked us to bring some investigators and to do the games for the integration night afterwards, so ya know, we searched all our investigators for someone who could come. We saw one of them, Admilson,walking in the street so we asked him if he could come, but he said that he was `going to the mountain.´ of course we asked him why, to which he replied ´because its good` well what are you going to do? `im going to the mountain to pray` ohhh... so good! super random though. just hiking up the the mountain to pray. then the following day he did the same thing, leaving early in the morning and staying there all day till the sunset, then heading back down. He´s such an interesting fellow. He just needs to take the book of mormon with him and pray about it! he does have a massive knowledge of the bible and its amazing! because he makes all these connections, like the higher laws that Christ taught, to temples(still working on that one), to the comforter aka the holy ghost. its so cool to see. 




So ya know, thats just the weekly update for ya´ll. We also ate cake with ants in it. They didn't know, so we just pretended they weren´t there. Just had about 15 ants crawling out of my piece of cake, its okay, I just ate it anyway. It was pretty good too! 

Ficam dret! Até proximo!
Síster Kohlert

1.10.2016

Week 47: Oh Maria

We had a week full of miracles, we were blessed with some amazing investigators this week, and I´m sure you´ll here about them in next weeks email, but today I just can´t help but give a shout out to one of our investigators who i havent mentioned nearly as much as i should. So... can I just say how much I love Maria! I just wish everyone of you could meet this incredible lady. The changes she has made in her life and the things that she is working through just amazes me. This week she invited us over for dinner on new years eve, which was lovely, definitely left completely stuffed. We had the opportunity to teach her about fasting, and she was so excited to do her first fast. This week we had been talking a lot to her about marriage and baptism, so I was thinking that she would fast for her and josé to get married, but I was touched as she told us what she wanted to fast for. She is so selfless. She didn´t pause for a second as she told us that she wanted to fast for her daughter who was having a very hard time at work and that she wanted to fast to help her find a better job. I recalled Elder Holland´s talk about mothers when she gave that humble answer so quickly.



`What kind of mortal love can make you feel, once you have a child, that your life is never, ever your own again? Maternal love has to be divine. There is no other explanation for it. What mothers do is an essential element of Christ´s work. Knowing that should be enough to tell us the impact of such love will range between unbearable and transcendent, over and over again, until with the safety and salvation of the very last child on earth, we can [then] say with Jesus, `[Father!] I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.` 

To see her carry the burden of her daughter was something that touched me deeply. There is no doubt in my mind the power of the Holy Ghost in the life of mothers. Heavenly Father watches out for His children through mothers and fathers. Of course they receive revelation for what we need. (If only I understood this before...sorry mom and dad...) 

I´m so grateful for everything I have learned from the people here. I don´t think they will ever realize the influence that they have on our lives, but I hope that I can express it a little bit better so that they can feel the change in us and see the change in themselves.

Till next week,
Síster Kohlert

Week 46: ...and Happy New Year!

Dear Family and Friends,

Well don't feel like I have too much to write this week, Christmas was crazy, but it didnt really feel much like Christmas. we just ran around a lot from house to house helping people get ready for their parties and we got to eat lots of food, so that was nice. we did have a fun Relief Society activity and our game was super fun. I was kinda surprised that they didnt know a lot of the answers about christ´s life (we played jeopardy), so maybe next time i´ll make the questions a lot easier... haha my bad. Skyping was a lot a fun, luckily we ended when we did because literally a minute later the power went out, so we kinda had to chill out for a bit till it came back on and the other missionaries families had no clue what was going on for about 45 minutes, luckily it was only 45 minutes and not a few hours. As we head into the new year, we´ll be making all those resolutions, which was never really my thing, but probably will be here on the mish with the investigators and members. But maybe it still won't be my thing. We can change whenever and where ever, it doesn't have to be when the calendar starts over. Keep that in mind as you guys make your resolutions (and break them when you just can't stand going one more day without a coke).



Love you all! 
Síster Kohlert