Tender Mercies

Cool!  I'm glad you talking to Melissa and Junior.  They didn't go to church again-_- and it's possible that me and Elder Richins will only have another week here, which makes me really sad.  I loved the ward a lot! But God knows best!  It may be good to leave here since here I was with Elder Richins so I didn't really focus to keep on working in the field just helping Elder Richins keep pushing on! So it might be good to have a complete change when we are separated. 

This area and last three transfers have been a changing point in my mission and, well, my life, too! I have learned lots about how to work with members and how to actually understand how my Father in Heaven talks to me! It has been some thing I've been trying to understand these last 18 months...  hearing and following a prompting to save a life or witness a miracle! I feel like here has been where I have felt the Spirit more in my mission. I have seen that I can be an instrument in the Lord's hands and actually help people with their problems. I really hope I wont be going because I really want to help the ward grow, but I'll know for sure tonight if I'm staying or not. It's almost positive that I won't be.  Pres. Dalton took out a companionship and said he'll be sending another here, but to tell Bishop that we will only have 3 companionships for a week, then it'll be back to 2 again.  That probably means that I'm not staying, but it could mean I'll get to go back to the real rural area and help animate a branch! We'll see! 

This week something pretty amazing happened! We were at home planning, and a lady called us and started speaking English...she had a little bit of an accent but it was good and she asked for Elder Sharp (I was like uh-oh what'd I do!!) I responded "Sou eu!" She got real excited and said that she was visiting her mom from here and that she's from Idaho. She had brought 2 things I forgot I had missed....PANCAKES and MAPLE SYRUP both the Aunt Jemima brand! It was so nice and really cool to talk to her.  She had a daughter that was 7, and she didn't speak português, so she liked that we spoke English haha.  It was really cool! We also talked to her about Idaho, and it sounds like a really great place! I might go there!

Also, this week I got to work with a missionary that was really animated for the work.  It was really nice to work with him and well actually work without being worried about my companion! (I know it's selfish, but I'm not immortal yet!) We did a lot of work, and it kind of helped me to feel more confident that I'd be able to get back into the game when me and Elder are separated (since he's going to be better soon).  It was really just a tender mercy for Heavenly Father to show that! 

Those were about the 2 things that were really cool! I did other stuff but I'll tell ya'll more when I get back!;)

Love Y'all!

Have a great conference!

Elder Sharp

A Pancake breakfast in Brazil - Sister from Idaho! 

Bugles!!

Haag Family

Super excited about this sealing!

Us with Irmá Helena and her daughter

Look!  It's Us!

We made lunch!

Somebody goes all out for a birthday party.  It´s Jurassic park themed.

There´s an amusement park set up in the backyard.

This is rich São Paulo. 

Another Transfer ending...

The City!

Dinner with Melissa and Junior

This week!

Thanks so much for talking to Melissa; ela ficou tão animada (she was so excited)! She said that she loved the video you sent her. I feel like it helped a lot.  She connected with yours and Dad´s story a lot.  She said it's a bit different with her and Junior, but still she loves talking to you!  

This week was pretty awesome.  It had ups and downs.  We couldn´t work much sadly because of Psycologist appts and other stuff like that, but there are some miracles that Heavenly Father has put in my heart to ask for, and I can't wait to see it fulfilled!.....I'd love to tell you what it is but I can't yet hehe, sorry! 

Something really awesome about this week is that junior isn't working any more! Which usually would be sad, but this means he'll be going to church!! This family is so special to me and I want them to be active so bad, so that's really exciting for us!

Also, something annoying is happening.  Camila is being really rebellious...it seems like out of no where, too... she's now got a boyfriend and that almost always means breaking the law of chasity.....especially since its an ex-_- rrrrg... but we wont give up! We´re going to have to be really in tune to the Spirit, and we'll save her with Heavenly Father's help! 

This week we watched "Meet the Mormons." It was really good actually! I really recommend watching it. There was a few trunky parts in it (football, wrestling, MMA, and a missionary leaving home) But it was really great and got me excited for the propaganda the church will get from the movie! And I've also decided do MMA when I get home.  ;) 

Hey, I need a name that I can take to the temple that has had no work done for it!  It is something president is trying to to help us all to have a stronger testimony of Temple work and the Spirit Of Elias!  I need it sometime in April. 

And also Elder Richins is talking to his family about coming to Tennessee to get him at the Airport there, so he can meet you and y'all can meet him and his family! What do ya think?....I'm not trunky haha I promise!

I love y'all! (haha I teach this to the Brazilians and there's a missionary from England he's like horrified hehehe)

Elder Sharp

Awesome Week!!

I loved that article you sent! That family that added you on FB are a really dear to me.  They are a new family, and they really want to come back, but sadly they aren't married yet, and they have a lot of problems with their paper work....but Junior is about to leave his work that is keeping him from church on Sundays, and are wanting a family in the gospel! and to be SEALED IN THE TEMPLE! Thanks by the way for being worthy to be sealed.  It's such a huge blessing that I´m learning to appreciate more. 

This week was awesome! We were able to work pretty good this week! Elder Richins seems to be improving! He's happier and the depression isn't hitting as hard! Super Excited for him with that! Also this week we were walking to an investigators, and we felt that we should go to a lady that we were trying to reactivate, but she wouldn´t go to church so we had to stop (a transfer ago).  We ran there and we gave a really interesting lesson about the plan of Salvation and told that we had stopped coming because she didn't go to church, but that Heavenly Father told us come to her house, and she beamed! I'm not sure what happened or the circumstances of this miracle, but for the first time she gave a firm yes that she'd go to church! 

Also, this week 2 of our recent-converts are being kicked out of their homes! ARRRG and one of them went almost inactive so we ran there and showed her Ether 12:27 that says: "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."    We told she can't fall away now - that she´s being tested and we promised her that if she gets closer to Heavenly Father, she will be able to find the answers she needs. Elder Richins promised her powerfully that if she reads and prays everyday and goes to church she will see her son baptized! And well, her son was at church on Sunday! Never before has he accepted to go to church!! I´m really excited for them! He's totally going to be baptized and help his mom stay firm!!

There were other things, but these were the ones I felt I should share today! I love you guys! I love this gospel and the opportunity I have to serve in God's Army!!

Learnin' more every day!

Elder Sharp

PS: We get to watch Meet the Mormons" tomorrow!

PIZZA (we´re Lamanite missionaries)

we walked around the Autódromo with Henrique

Another Week!

Ya I love that song, "Scripture Power," too! I hold onto that now that it's (scriptures) what is literally saving me from the temptations of the world! Awesome about going to the temple - have you seen the new temple video yet!? I love it soo much!! And Cool about dad's new calling! I know he love the young men!  

Any way this week was really hard for us.....actually it started good we gave a training on how to baptize weekly (we had people marked for the next few weeks and were having lots of miracles) and it was really great and with Elder Richins it really inspired them! But then we had a lot of opposition....First, sadly Maria del Carmen is two-faced and would be a saint for us but was an impatient swearing lady and then she wouldn´t stop drinking coffee so I talked to her about it.  She showed her true colors and man is she mean! We also found out that she was telling the Owner that we were doing stuff to her.....Luckily we followed the rules and were never alone with her and they have cameras everywhere in the retirement home so we weren´t in any trouble! Whew haha that's why we follow all those mission rules!  

Chris was actually already confirmed so she can´t be baptized again haha soo needless to say the baptisms fell through, But We were able to confirm to Chris that she was confirmed a member and she was so happy to hear that! I loved it! She said "Yay a birthday present for me!" (it's this week) I loved that animation!  Now we´re working towards the goal of getting her to the temple! This was hard and sadly we have almost no one to teach because of the time spent helping Elder Richins, but I have A great feeling that if I try harder and do my best there's gonna be something great here! I can't wait to see it! 

I love y'all!! I can't wait to share my experiences and everything to you guys when I get back! 

Até Logo!

Elder Sharp

Sightseeing at the Autodromo

Celebrating a success!

Service project at a nursing home. He says he found the ax under a pile of clothes. Yikes!

Miracles

That's crazy about the snow! It seems like TN is a depression and turned cold because I've been gone so long ;P

Any way this week was great! We had a baptism!!! What a miracle it is to see someone you helped get baptized! I couldn't help but smile hugely when she came out of the water! and then when she was confirmed yesterday, she seemed to become a different person - purer and happier.  It was really interesting to see! But the thing that really makes it all a miracle is I was praying this whole time that even though Elder Richins isn't able to always work, if we could be blessed with at least one baptism this Month (February).  It was the last Sunday of the month, and I was losing hope of baptizing this month and then a member walked up to me with a girl and said "Elder, this is Camila, and she wants to be baptized." I got really excited!  We went to her house on Monday and talked to her.  Turns out she was being taught by the missionaries and her Dad heard a few lies about the Church and said he didn't accept the missionaries anymore in his home. So six months later (or about that), She came to church saying she wanted to be baptized. We recognized it as a sign that this was a miracle from our Heavenly Father and we marked her for the 28 of Feb (Sat.) It was super stressful to teach/re-teach her everything in about 4 days, but we planned well and "skadoosh" baptized!! 

Also this week we went to the Retirement home and we're teaching Maria del Carmen, a lady who had a mental problem (I forgot what) but is não completely sane and we´re teaching her now! She might be baptised this week, but she a little older so she can't learn everything as fast so we'll have to see if we'll post-pone it till next week.  AND there's also a less active lady that is there.  She had Diabetes and lost her leg and her family just kind of left her there at the home and she told us that she wasn't confirmed yet so we might need to help her to be baptized again, too! It was soo cool to see her at church again this week because she hasn't been in church for three years! And the peace and happiness she felt being there it made more great that I can walk to church on my own legs every Sunday!  

Also, the person that owns the house is starting to be interested because he had a really bad break-up and a member there (a worker whose been a huge miracle for us giving us all these references) told him that if he'd keep´the Law of Chasity this heartache and stress wouldn't be happening as badly.and he sees how much we help the spirit in the house feel lighter, so he's getting interested in the gospel, too! 

I love this work! It's so full of miracles every day!!

I love y'all!

Elder Sharp

Our ward had 3 people baptized in all!!

Taking my cold medicine. 

A really small banana call banana de ouro (banana of gold)

for a cool thing our zone did, one member of the companionship slept in the baptism clothes the week of the baptism