Sunday, February 27, 2011

Jau

And, while you are all snowed in, I am sweating....it is very very very hot here. Whoever invented ice cream needs to go straight to the celestial kingdom.

Mom, I got the package and love you with all my heart (will be wearing the blue cardi for conference in the morning) and Sister Forsyth loves you, too.

As well, happiness and miracles! This last Sunday I got a phone call from Sister Tanner (President's wife) and she says that someone wants to talk to me. Then I hear a ``Hello`` and I think, I know that voice. ``Mom Monterio?!!`` It was my dear Sister Monterio who was visiting Campinas for the day. We got to talk for 20 mins, and oh, how I have missed her. She´s doing wonderful, still looking for work and a boyfriend, but oh, it was great. Wow, I am so thankful for cellphones, facebook and skype.

So, again...bit of a dry spell but we´ve been teaching a ton and finding lots of people. People who the Lord will prepare for us. But, we´re loosing more sister missionaries. We´re down to twelve in the whole mission, with three more leaving in the next 2 weeks. No one in Provo is getting their visas so we may be down to 9 sisters. If we don´t baptize, they will close areas and I´ve already closed one. I cannot let them close it here. We need a miracle, and not just a baptism, but lots of baptisms.

This week has been all about humility. It´s been studying our roles as sons and daughters of God and trying to understand our purpose here on the earth. It is amazing how wonderful the atonement is in our lives, how Christ with all of his perfection came to the world and redeemed us, even when we don´t feel like we deserve it. As I work here in Jau, I truly have seen how wonderful the gospel is in our lives, how it all makes sense, how this is the one church of the Father. What a great blessing it is to recieve the miracles of the Lord, to trust him and to let him be a part of our lives. Truly, this is the Lord´s work and his glory.

So that´s it. Remember to pray for me tomorrow because I am terrified.
Love to all!
Sister Shannon

Jau

GUESS WHAT?!!! You guys are going to totally be jealous of me...why? Because next Thursday, I will be getting to shake the hands of....

ELDER GADOY-of the 70
PRESIDENT SNOW-of the Presidency of the 70
and...
THE APOSTLE RUSSEL M. NELSON

They are going to be giving us a training with all the missionaries in Campinas! I´ll also get to see my friends and fellow missionaries from the mission!

We saw a car crash into a wall...the guy was drunk. He then got out and smoked a cigarette, silly people.

In other news, can I just say how proud I am of my four sisters and my brother and for the two of you, Mom and Dad. As Elders and Sisters, we spend the time teaching and then we spend the time talking about our families. Since I have been here in Jau, I have come to realize how darn lucky I am.

My parents honor their temple covenants, my father is a worthy priesthood holder, my mother is a freaking rock star who can do anything. My brother is a worthy priesthood holder who is serving an honorable mission. My sister who is 18 is going to BYU and not dating a loser. While I´m sure driving with Megan could give Dad a heart attack, she is staying strong, not being rebellious or running away at 3 am. Brynn and Callen are developing new skills and talents. I am so proud of every one of you guys.

Life is life here in Jau. I absolutely adore Sister Forsyth, we are laughing so much. You gotta be able to laugh. We´re still in our dry streak, no one wants to come to church, so we´re gonna fast and pray and ask the Lord to show us where we should be working because truly the field is white ready to harvest.

We did something a little different yesterday in District Meeting. After we teach about Joseph Smith, we invite the investigator to be baptised. Well, yesterday Elder Joseph told us to try something else, that the moment after you finish the First Vision to bear testimony and then to say a prayer with your investigator, and in that prayer ask that the Spirit testify that our message is true and to put feelings of peace.

As missionaries we know that we being called of God and having the authority of Christ, we can promise and ask for anything and it will be given to us. We practiced and I received a testimony again of the truthfulness of our message, the feelings of peace and of tranquility, the knowledge that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, that he saw God and Jesus Christ, that we have a living Prophet who directs this church and how the authority of God is here again. People can say all sorts of things but they can´t deny the feelings in their hearts. The Gospel of Christ is on the Earth. The Power of Forever Families is here, we can have it, if we endure to the end.

And when enduring to the end is too much, when we are trying just to make it through the day, our Father will help us. Our Savior will save us. He´ll jump in the hole with us and pull us out.

Well, guess that´s it. Family, you´re in my prayers.
Take care-
S.Stapley

Monday, February 14, 2011

Jau

I absolutely love Sister Forsyth! She´s from Utah and is engaged to get married in December. She pretty much rocks. We´ve been working hard and I´ve been showing her the area. We´ve seem to hit a dry streak right now. The people we're teaching don´t want to come to church or to keep commitments, but we keep working and hopefully soon the Lord will show us miracles.

So, something really embarrassing happened on Sunday. Most of our ward members live in another city and so they usually give us money for lunch rather than host us in their homes. In every other city, the members give 20 Reais, which is enough to either go to a restaurant or buy food to cook. Here we get 10 Reais and we only get to eat at members' houses 2 times a week. Just to let you know, it´s an unspoken rule to NEVER complain about lunch to ANYONE. It is better to starve than to offend the members, who are pretty poor. But- our zone leader found out and complained to the branch president, who then reprimanded the women in the ward for not taking care of us. It was really embarrassing. I was apologizing to the women and telling them that we were grateful.

I´ve been studying a ton about repentance and about the sacrament. I´ve been reading about sacrifices and how the Lord expects us to do our part. We´re asked to take a broken heart and a contrite spirit to truly be humble and willing to accept the will of God in our lives. We keep teaching about the simple steps- prayer, reading the scriptures, going to church. It is through these simple things that we learn what the Lord expects of us. Then when we know what it is He wants, we need to do it, even if it isn´t our own will and/or desire. The sacrament is a way to remember those covenants, the promises that we made to always remember our God and our Savior Jesus Christ.

I have a ton of stuff that I need to do, alot of things to do better, and there is no redo. It´s like the Lion King says, "you can take it and learn from it". This whirlwind of an adventure in Brasil has shown me who I want to be. I don´t want to go back to being Pre-Mission Shannon. I want to be the missionary Shannon, the one who's put the Savior Jesus Christ first in my heart. I know that He will stay there. I´ve changed and I´m still changing. I´m getting my life together, applying the attributes of Christ in my life and just trying to be better. Eu quero ser como Cristo...I´m trying to be like Jesus, what a wonderful song.

So, yeah, that´s me. It´s my thought process right now. I got a ton of work to do, but this is something right...this is my Father´s work. I get to be a part of that, how wonderful is that?! So yeah, I love you guys. You´re all in my prayers. To my sisters, keep being wonderful. One more thing, as I have been dealing with many elders and sisters, the topics of families always comes up. I'm proud to say that I am the only one who is not worried sick about my two teenage sisters. Megan and Erynn, thanks for not doing anything stupid. It's nice to not have to worry. Love you all and have a great week!

Sister Stapley

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Jau


Family-

Well, everything must change. I am still here in Jau but my dear Sister Poast got transferred. President Tanner called and told Sister Poast what was going to happen. She is the most powerful sister missionary in the mission and she will be opening an area and helping a problem missionary. I´m so proud of her but I'll miss her so much!

We left here at 5:30 in the morning and got to Campinas around 10am. There I found out that I will be working with Sister Forthsyth. I'm excited to be with her! We had to stay in the bus station for 8 hours! The next bus back to Botucatu didn't leave until 6pm. We arrived in Botucatu at 10 pm and were going to have to walk about an hour to get to a house where we could sleep. (Not our house- because we were still another 2 hr bus ride from Jau!) Sister Forsyth asked the elders if a member could drive us. They initially said no, that they didn't want to bother anyone. But after another elder offered to pay for a taxi for us, the others decided to try and find us a ride. A nice member took us and they are just lovely-and even bought us McDonalds.

Caught in the rain!

I prayed, when I was going to be transferred after my last companion, that I could have a true friend and God answered my prayer in the most amazing way possible. I love Sister Poast and we became the best of friends. These last twelve weeks have been wonderful and I would not have traded them for the world. I was laying down a few night s ago and the thought just came to me that I was so absolutely and totally happy. There is no where else I would rather be right now and I know that I still have a ton to learn and to do before I am done. But I am so happy here!

Elder Nelson is coming for a mission conference on the 24th. That will be really fun!

And that´s what happened this week in Botucatu.

I love you all, take care,
S.Stapley