Woohoo!

This week was incredible!! ok to be honest the week itself was incredibly trying, we had a lot of things go wrong and a lot of things fell through BUT Felipe was baptized!! it was the most incredible thing! i always feel joy and happiness when someone chooses to be baptized but this time was sooo special, i think it was because Felipe was hard work haha when we first met him, he told us he was a satan worshipper which was actually really scary ha but then we found out that he really wasnt he just liked to tell people that. but he was incredibly lost in the world and he always said that he wasnt prepared to leave it, then miraculously one day he said i want to be baptized and i want to change. in one week he had no more addictions and was baptized. it was so amazing, i have never seen anyone have so many addictions one day and the next have none. he says that he has no need for any drugs or alcohol anymore its amazing, he truly used the atonement of Jesus Christ and it was such a testimony builder to me and all the people around him. also yesterday, the first sunday as a member, he paid his tithing! it was so amazing, he is so dedicated and firm. i know that this is the Lords work, and i am so grateful i get to be a tool in His hands 

i love you all 

Sister Hair

Adventures, Baptism and Companion

I'm just a tool in His hands

oi! so this week has been full of miracles! we found a boy named Edgar and we contacted him and got his address so that we could go teach him but when we got there he wasnt home and his grandma talked with us for a loong time but she didnt want to hear an actual lesson and we started getting a little frustrated because we really had to go toanother lesson. after a while she finally let us go and when we walked outside of her house her son was coming home (Edgar´s dad) and when he saw us he was happy and ran inside his house and came out with a BOM and a restoration pamphlet from 1996! it was crazy, he said he had been taught by two young men and that he really admired them and was so happy to hear of the church again, he said that the reason he wasnt baptized was because he doesnt believe in just one religion but he believes that all of the churches lead to heaven. we are going back to teach him tomorrow and we are going to teach the restoration and teach apostasy really well haha i know that it wasnt just chance that Edgars grandma talked forever it was truly a miracle that we were able to find Carlos and i have no doubt that he is an eleito of the Lord. 

another miracle this week was Moacyr, he heard about the church when he was 14 and he says that he loved it and constantly went to church but he doesnt remember why he didnt get baptized. we gave him a BOM and he got very happy and told us that we could come back and teach him more.

Outro is that we have had an investigator for a while his name is Felipe he was a contact we made on the street and we taought him a little bit but then he told us that he didnt want to know if the BOM was true because he didnt need religion in his life. we got really sad and told him that our time was valuable so we werent going to be able to visit him as frequently. a few weeks passed and he showed up at church which was a miracle and then sister nascimento and i felt that we should start teaching him again so we did and it was amazing he said that he loved reading the book of mormon and that he had prayed and he knew that the book was true it was so amazing to see him progress. then two days before his baptism he said that he couldnt get baptized because he couldnt live with all the rules of the church, he had some troubles with drugs and he wasnt willing to give them up. it was probably one of the saddest moments in all my life. although we didnt go back there anymore, because again he wasnt going to progess and also because we thought it would be good for him to know what its like without the gospel in his life, i kept feeling like i couldnt give up on him and that we needed to go back there. finally after a couple weeks we went back and we started teaching him once again. this week he told us that he knew now what was truly important and that he wanted to leave the world and be baptized! it was the greatest miracle. his baptism is set for this saturday and he is doing well so far with no drugs and im just so greatful to be a part of this incredible work. the Lord truly does work in mysterious ways and everything is in His time. i know that im just a tool in His hands and i am so greatful for that. Being a representative of Jesus Christ is the greatest blessing anyone could have.

i dont have time to write anymore but i love all of you guys and if you could pray for felipe and moacyr and carlos it woud be much appreciated! 

com todo meu amor 

Sister Hair

This is my new comp. Sister Suzy and a cute member 

 Felipe on his birthday

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