Opportunities

Something I have been trying to work on here on the mission is patience. It
is a Christ-like attribute and something that I think everyone needs.

So in light of all this I have been praying to be more patient. But
something I am constantly realizing is that Father doesn´t just rain down
patience on us. Instead He just gives us more opportunities to be patient.

I had a lot of these opportunities this week. (to say the least)

But really I don´t think I am patient yet.

With all that....

It was an interesting week. We did a lot of running around trying to teach
people and help with Hands that Help and help a family move to another
house and lots of other things.

We had a great service project that all of Brasil did on the 25th. It was
part of the Hands that Help project and so I got to don the cool yellow
shirt and help plant trees! I got my hands dirty and it was lots of fun.
(its super fun to plant trees in a skirt if you were wondering)

We also helped a less active family move. They told us that they were
moving some time back and we offered to help but they said that we didn´t
have to help (I think people don´t think sisters are strong enough to
help). But, we turned up to help anyway and turns out that no one else came
to help and so we literally moved everything with just 4 people and a
wheelbarrow. haha. (and yes this was in a skirt again) But I am super sore
right now but they were really happy we helped and we are hoping that they
will let us into their house to teach now. :) They also fed us after and as
Sister Saturnino says, the best way to pay a missionary is with food.

I am constantly in awe with the power of the Spirit. The power that we, as
missionaries, have because of him. We had an amazing lesson with Renato and
his family and it was so cool to tell the Joseph Smith story and feel like
I wasn´t saying anything. Just opening my mouth and the words came.

I love the mission soooooo much. I can hardly believe I will have 10 months
on Saturday. Time passes too fast.

Well. I love you all. Stay cool. I have to leave because we are going to
make hamburgers and play basketball with our district!

Sister Helm

Ola-July 20th

It was a good week. We had an amazing Zone Conference with all of the missionaries in the state of Alagoas and we learned a ton. The only sad thing is that Alagoas only has a few sisters. The rest are in Sergipe. :( 

We had a great start to the week with finding all of our investigators at home!!! Yay! Everyone remembered our appointments and it was amazing. 

We had to leave to Maceio on Wednesday night because the conference was going to be really early on Thursday. We were running around like crazies trying to teach as many people as possible before 6 oclock! We had a pet kitten for about 5 minutes that was following us around and we named her Kitty. Then we had to run to another appointment and then home to take a shower and pack to stay the night in Maceio and then we ran to the bus stop to buy our tickets and we hadn´t eaten anything and it was dark and we were in the centro and there were plenty of drunks and we bought truffles and bread on the side of the road. Then we got on the bus just in time and went to Maceio. It was fun until we got there and we had to walk the apartment in the dark and so we made the elders walk with us and it was like 10:30 pm and then luckily a member that was driving past saw us and stopped and took us to the apartment. And so that was my Wednesday.

The actual conference was stellar. Really. We learned so many things that we are applying with our investigators now! It was great to see some people I haven´t seen in a while. The best was that I saw Elder Zeron from my district in the MTC! We ate Subway and that topped everything. 

We had a good week with finding some great new people to teach and we ended this week spectacularly with another great lesson with Renato. He has soooo much potential. We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he just kept saying, Yes, this is what I need in my life. And we were like, Yes, it is! 

This work is amazing. I love every minute I have here. 

I love you all. Thank you for everything!!!!!

Sister Helm

Whattt a week-July 13th

This week was interesting. To start off, I have a few stories.

One night we were walking to get ice cream (really fast I promise) and it
was raining and we saw what we though was a small snake on the ground. As
we approached it we saw that it was actually a MASSIVE WORM. It was the
grossest thing ever. Over a foot long!

One day we were walking to an appointment and we were passing in the front
of some houses and I looked on the ground (I really need to stop doing
this) and I saw a MASSIVE GRASSHOPPER. Literally the size of my hand. I am
not kidding. MY HAND PEOPLE. Needless to say I screamed and pointed and
then my companion saw and screamed and jumped and there was a woman in the
front of us and she saw us screaming and jumping and looked to see what it
was and then we casually did a contact with her and set up an appointment
to teach her and her family. So even the grasshoppers have meaning here on
the mission.

One more. One day I was walking and I tripped and almost biffed it hard in
the middle of the street but I got up really fast and my companion was
laughing and I said out loud at least no one saw that and then I heard from
behind me I SAW IT and so I turned around and said what is your name? Hi,
my name is Sister Helm and this is my companion and we are missionaries
from the church..... and successfully turned my embarassment into another
great contact.

So. Good week.

We had a bit of a sad week with our appointments. And no one wants to go to
church. JUST COME TO CHURCH! But the Lord answers prayers and helps us in
every situation.

We made hamburgers and watched a church movie one night this week when the
other sisters had to go to Maceio. It was super fun!!

We had a miracle this week. (we have lots but I´ll just talk about 1)

We have an investigator named Ligia. She is amazing and wants so bad to get
baptized. We´ve been working with her for a while now. 4 months or
something like that. The problem is that she needs to get married. He
doesn´t want anything to do with marriage. He was drinking A LOT. But, one
day, he just quit drinking. That was about 2 months ago. He hasn´t drunk
since. And about 3 weeks ago, when we went to teach Ligia, he didn´t leave
the house. He stayed and heard our lesson with her. After we asked if he
wanted to hear more. He accepted. He was going to church with Ligia just to
please her. But this week she was out of town and he went alone. We taught
the Restoration and he prayed about it and baptism. And when we went to
teach the Book of Mormon this week we told us he knows it is the right
path, he wants to get baptized, and he wants to be with Ligia for forever.
I was holding back tears. Then we taught the BoM and gave him one at the
end and he said it was the best present he could ever get (strangely enough
it was his birthday that day). So miracles are real.

I know the church is true. Prayer can unlock doors we never thought of
entering.

The power of the Savior´s Atonement is real.

Love you alllll!!

Sister Helm

Another Week-July 6th

Woooooo 4th of July!!!!!!!!!!!

My companion and the other sisters in our house didn´t really understand my
excitement about the 4th of July this Saturday. More or less I just sang
the national anthem all day (along with other independence like songs) and
wore red, white, and blue and that was about it.

But. Don´t worry. Today we are going to eat hamburgers in the Centro to
celebrate.

Our week started out splendidly with an old woman that can talk the hair
off a horse. She talked and talked and talked and talked and literally
nothing made sense. More or less she told us about how she was raised in
the jungle like a wild animal until a hunter found her and that´s why she
doesn´t know how to read and then she told us about a dream she had about
being dropped in the River Jordan and so she considers herself baptized
because of this. We tried to cut in but it was almost impossible. When we
were about to leave she started in with a vision she had....she said `there
were 5 doors of silver...´ and I pulled my companion out the door before
the old woman could say more. Yup.

I finished 9 months this week! The other sisters and my companion almost
gave me a heart attack with jumping out at me and all with a cake and
singing loudly in portuguese but I liked it. We ate a lot of cake this
week. A LOT. And we are going to make another tonight for a FHE.

It rained SO MUCH. A few days this week all our appointments fell and we
were left to just knocking doors. In the rain. So like no one wanted to
answer the door. One good thing was that we found a less active and his
family. Only he is a member and so we are going to teach the whole family
now!!! wooooooooo knocking on doors actually works sometimes

So that was my week.

We have transfers tomorrow. Sister Guedes was transfered. Again. And she
will open a new area. Again. But this time she will train! Yay! I will have
a grandaughter... :) haha And they will still be in our district so that´s
nice. We still don´t know who is coming here to be the companion of Sister
Aguirre.

Also with this transfer all of the areas of sisters in Maceio were closed.
So there are only elders

:( Good thing I served in Maceio for one day!

Love you alll sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo muchy

Sister Helm

Week of Work-June 29th

Well it was a good week of work this week.

Our new recent convert Tayna is literally the coolest ever. She is a great
missionary and we are now teaching her sisters and she is excited to share
the gospel with her friends!

So this past week we made some goals. High ones. And we decided we were
going to attain them. And so we went to work. We have a big area and so we
were running in between appointments. Literally running. With skirt and bag
and mud and rain and sun and everything. It was fun.

We also knocked on a lot of doors. There is a part of our area that is just
house house house house house one after the other. The people stay inside
and so what did we do? Well, we need to find new people to teach and so we
went door to door to door to door for about 4 hours. I have to say I really
liked the experience and after the 30th house or so it almost became a
game. What kind of person will answer the door? It was great!

The weather is staying cool. A bit too cool for me. 23 degrees celsius and
I am freezing! What is this?????

But, the work is going.

We talked with a drunk guy this week and invited him to church and
yesterday he actually came to church! I didn´t even recognize him and turns
out he´s been a member for 13 years and now he´s returning! Miracles are
real.

I love the mission. I know the church is true. I have seen how the gospel
can change lives. I have literally seen it change these people. Every day I
am more and more thankful for this opportunity I have.


Stay cool fam bam! Happy 4th of July on Saturday and happy 9 months to me
on Wednesday!!!

Sister Helm