Milagres!

Esta semana foi cheia de milagres! this week we had a zone conference it was incredible and i learned so much! the only thing that was a little worrying was that we left segunda(monday) got back on quinta(thursday) so we werent going to have much time to workd in our area, but we prayed and were determined to do our best and the Lord provided so many miracles! we didnt have a baptisimal date this week because the data we had fell but while we were on our way back from volta redonda our LMA(ward mission leader) called and said that Oseias (eternal investigator) said he wanted to be baptized! it was amazing because we had been teaching him a little and we found out that he has known the church since he was 12 years old and he loved it, he loved going and participating and he had a testimony but he thought he wasnt ready to be baptized. the sunday before we left for zone conference we had a lesson and told him that the time to come unto Christ was now, after that he told us that he thought a lot about what we said and he felt in his heart that he should be baptized! and he was! it was truly a miracle and just another evidence that this is all the Lords work and its all in His time. Every day i realize more and more that i dont do anything, im really just an instrument in His hands i personally am nothing and have no power to convert anyone, its only through the spirit that we can be instruments in the Lords hands to help people come unto Christ.

com muito amor

Sister Hair

Is it my fault?

oi! this week was very rough, we had four datas that fell. the hardest one was of un rapaz that is 23 years old and he was so prepared, he truly has a testimony of this gospel and he knows this is the only true church but he isn't willing to give up marijuana. it was very hard to hear that and to see someone fall away from the path that will lead them to happiness. at first i thought that i did something wrong, maybe i didn't have enough faith or i didn't teach him correctly, or i wasn't being exactly obedient, but then i was reading in Enos and he talks about how the nephites taught with all diligence to the lamanites but they didn't listen and they remained in their iniquity. i know that i can always do better, always improve but after reading Enos i felt comforted and i realized that you can teach someone a million times but they will always have their agency. i know that i put my whole heart and strength into teaching Felipe and its so sad to see him like this but i know that the Lord is good and just, he gives people never ending chances and i have complete faith that one day Felipe will have the courage to leave the things of the world and be baptized. although this week was very hard i learned so many things. i learned that you always have to have trust in the Lord, not just during the good times but also the rough times, and the Lord also has his own timetable i have to be humble and realize that i don't know the plans of the Lord and i just have to have faith that everything will work out. i'm so grateful for the opportunity to be serving here and im grateful for the trials that help me grow, i'm also grateful for the immense sadness that i felt because that is how i know i am loving the people.

***Info for sending packages***

Customs taxes in Juiz de Fora (From mission president)

 As many of you are aware there is a risk of paying a tax when receiving a 

packages from outside Brazil. In an attempt to help those of you who will be receiving 

future packages I would like to explain a way that could help to avoid paying the 

customs tax. The following will explain how and why they take the packages. 

Explanation: The package upon arriving in Brazil is weighed and determined if the 

value of the packages is correct, if anything suspicious Is detected the packages will be 

opened and examined to evaluate the true value of the objects within. When the 

package is examined and a certain object of high value is not declared on the 

box/package, the package will be taxed and the recipient will have to pay the allotted 

value in “Real” to receive it. 

The following precautions should be taken to avoid paying the taxes. Do not 

forget to explain to your families the process in order to avoid this problem in the 

future.     

Precautions:

1. The receipts of all items placed inside the box should be saved until the 

missionary has received the package. All other items that were not bought in a 

store, should be declared as the store price on the package.   

2. A photo should be taken of all the items that will be sent inside the package, it 

should include all the items in a single photo.

3. All items inside the package should be declared when sending it. If an item with 

high value is not declared and the package is taxed, the tax will almost always 

be at a very high price.  

4. If a package is sent at a high price, it has a bigger chance of getting held by the 

Correios. (Brazilan post office). In order to avoid this a smaller package would 

be cheaper and less likely to be held by the Correios.  

If a package is held, the mission office will contact the missionary and advise him how 

much it will be to take it out. The missionary should be in contact on the next P-day 

and ask the family the value of the items inside the package.

If the packages continue to arrive with a high customs fee we can show them that the 

tax is too high and the package will be given to the missionary for free.

Tough Week

this week was a pretty tough week and it seemed like everything was going wrong and no one wanted to listen to us. some of our recent converts were starting to have doubts and also some our investigators that have baptisimal dates werent wanting to go to church, things were just looking bleak. my companion and i decided that we needed to fast so we did and it was amazing.

after we fasted things got much better, the people didnt necessarily change but i think that we did, we had more spirit with us and we were able to teach more effectively. i think that we were kind of losing faith because everything seemed to be going wrong but i realized that the enemy works hard but we cant let it get to us, we have to work harder and remember that the Lord is on our side. He is constantly with us, we just need to have faith. through faith all things are possible, but we also need to remember that faith without works is dead. it doesnt suffice to say that we beleive, we also have to show through our actions that we beleive. 

i have such strong faith in my Savior, and although sometimes my faith wavers He is always there to help me strengthen it. im so greatful to be here sharing the joy of this Gospel with others, and im greatful that i can learn so much in each day, im truly being edified by my Savior. i know the hand of the Lord is in our lives everyday, we just have to recognize it, and we can do that by being obedient so that we may be able to be sensitive to the spirit.

eu amo vocês muito

Sister Hair

Attributes of Christ

This transfer I've been focusing on the attributes of Christ, I've been studying one each week and practicing them throughout the week and this week was patience, as i was studying i realized that all these attributes of Christ come when you love your proximo (neighbor). the greatest commandment is to love God above anything else and the second is to love your neighbor as thyself, i think i always knew that everything we do comes from these two commandments but i think that now i truly understand that when we love our Heavenly Father and our Savior we will want to keep the commandments and obey, and not just because its right but because you truly love them. Its amazing too because Christ loved all of us so much and all his attributes came from that love, so when we learn to love our neighbors as ourselves those attributes will start to come naturally  and we will start to more fully follow the example of our Savior.

I think that if i had to describe missionary work in one word i would use love, because that is the start of everything and its love that motivates us to serve our Father in Heaven. i cant explain to you how much i love the people here, i never knew i could love so many people that i just met, but when you serve them and truly love them you begin to see them as our Heavenly Father would and you begin to see their potential and its the greatest blessing in the world to be able to be participating in the Lord´s work.

i hope that all of you are doing well and striving to be better each day.

com muito amor 

Sister Hair

in this pic were wearing rain coats haha its been raining a lot lately and when it rains its like all of heaven is coming down haha