Week 50

7/18/16

So this week was just filled with so much work. I think I never talked with so many people in one week than this past week on the mission. Seriously didn’t even keep track of all the contacts that we did each day. WE are just inviting all these people to come to church and it is like so annoying cause majority of them don’t even give us the time of day or they say o no we work on Sunday, but trust me I have faith in God and Jesus so I’m all good.;...so que no ha-ha!! so Sister Sigaran and I are working hard. We had a firm baptism marked for the cousin of a recent convert, but her dad came over (he doesn’t even live with his family cause they are separated about 10 years now) and he started to argue with her mom saying that Cynthia can’t go to church anymore with us and that she can’t be baptized.....that was Thursday morning.  It´s like she wants to go to church and follow the example of Jesus Christ...what´s so wrong about that?? I just don’t get it sometimes. But we are still visiting her and her family to keep teaching her.

We also met with many less actives this week. Just in the middle of the contact we had so many people just saying oh yeah I already was baptized in that church...So many!!! So we have a lot of work to do in this area.

WE met one guy, his name is Osvaldo...he has problems with drinking but he is so good...You can just tell that he will be baptized, his heart is open and he is ready to accept the gospel and make the changes necessary in his life!! He came to church too...on Friday we met him and he said `don’t call me tomorrow cause I’ll be drunk, but Sunday morning you can call me and I´ll go to church with you goshala and Sunday morning we called him and he was all ready to go and we got to the street of the church and he was waiting on the sidewalk...haha he participated in the classes...and we saw him today in the morning on our way to the post office and he was like I loved church, it is like no other church that I have ever visited before, I felt so good there!!! 

It´s just so nice to see that at least one person of the 57824 that we met and talked to felt the spirit and went to church and enjoyed it.

I´m just going to say that the worst part of the week is Sunday Morning...minha nossa. I feel like that Sunday morning I always feel and see the work of the inimigo with all these people that said they would go to church but the day of they all have excuses.

We had one couple that said they would go and we called them in the morning and they said yeah they were already and getting ready to leave to meet us at the church...when we got there, they weren’t there!! ahh it´s just hard sometimes when you have all these people fighting against you and your purpose.

WE had one women who asked me if I was deaf because I didn’t want to leave the doorstep because she refused to call her son and wake him up to go to church...she was really rude. I almost started to argue with her, but something held me back.ha-ha almost lost it, but the holy Ghost helped me out.

Miracles do happen. When we got to church we only had one investigator, Osvaldo, but when we entered we saw that a less active that we met that week brought her cousin, and that also a member brought her friend to church...3 people came to church...miracle!! 

I´m not going to say that missionary work is easy, but I am so happy that I have this privilege to serve the Lord and to see all these miracles that happen every day. I´m so grateful that I am learning more and more each day of how I can be more like my Savior. Being more Diligent, more in tune with the spirit to follow his whispers/council and to just try and love everyone here!!!

I love being a missionary and it is so great to be a representative of my Savior Jesus Christ!!

Moroni 8:3

Isaiah 55:7-9

have a great week!!!

I can’t believe Rhett and Taylor are already home...time flies when you´re having fun né!! haha

LOVE YOU

-Sister Talentino

Week 49 - My new zone leader knows Lilian and Cynthia!

7/11/16

I asked Natalie if she got transferred, Her response,
“Yea...I’m in a place called seridó, caicó!  I’m about 3 hours from my last area. My companion is Sister Sigaran from El Salvador!!”

Her email:

MOM...guess what! I got to my new area and there is an Elder here, my new Zone Leader. His name is Elder L. Gomes...he´s from Rio. The first night that I got here in Seridó Caicó, he said, “hey, so there´s an Irmá in my ward that said I need to look out for a Sister Talentino and send her a beijo and abraço (kiss and hug) when I finally meet her...her name is Lillian.” I was like ummmmmm I don't know..then I asked what she does for a living and he said that she is the type of person that looks for rocks and stuff like that. IT´S THE FRIEND OF CYNTHIA!!!!!!! THAT STAYED WITH US!!! REMEMBER!!!!! and This elder also knows Cynthia..his mom is good friends with her......WHAT ARE THE ODDS MINHA NOSSA!!!!!!!!!! 

(Mom Note:  Cynthia Saldanha was in our ward when Natalie was little.  She is from Rio and one of her friends Lilian came to Cleveland for a paleontologist conference and stayed with us. ) 

Mom note:  Natalie talking about her zone leader Elder Gomes: 

“yeah he is seriously is a great missionary and I met him this week! WE share our ward with him and his companion...it’s a house, not a chapel!! it´s pretty humilde but it is awesome to see the testimonies of everyone there!!

LOVE YOU MOM! Have a great week!!

                  Here is Elder Gomes from Rio.  Friend of our friend!!!!  Small world!

week 48 - Happy Fourth of July

7/4/16

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!! LOVE YOU ALL...mom Spain looks amazing...we gotta go back when I get back haha!!

but yeah this week was really trunky..not gonna lie! One elder in our District went home this week, Elder M Fernandes! so to see a missionary go home...it just makes me think of how fast the time is flying by! This week we have transfers and also the week after that I will have 11 months in the mission! Ridiculous!!!!

haha this week was good. There was another holiday, São Pedro. sister Mulberry and I got back from Natal Wednesday morning in the middle of the night. And then we had to run around and try and teach all of our investigators.

I feel really tired being in this area. I am praying really hard to do the will of The Lord here and to be animated and excited to work, but sometimes I jut feel like I talked to literally everyone in the street already, and I just tired of having people not progress, not come to church and just not realize what they are missing out in their life when they don’t follow the gospel.

One thing that happened this week that I got to do last pday was I got to visit some recent converts in Natal!!! I got to see Monic, Ellen, Luiz Neto, Thiago, Emmanoel, and Adriano!! I cried so much when I had to say bye to them again. Just to see that they are firm in the church, with callings and just hearing their testimonies just brings tears to my eyes. It´s one thing that I am so grateful, is that sometimes as missionaries we can see the fruit of our labor. ugh I cried so much when I left my first area again...I forgot to take my camera, but Mônica took pics so she will have to send them to me.

I love being a missionary... found a scripture this week that I really liked...in Mosiah 27:14...when an angel apareceu a Alma who was preaching to destroy the church saying that many people were praying and asking for help, and also his dad was praying for him. and he said that Deus always responds to our prayers, depending on our faith. And it made me think that there re so many people praying for me, for us, for our investigators and for the missionary work. I am so grateful for the power of prayers and to know that Deus will always answer our prayers.

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! have a great 4th of July...today we are going to make cookies, s’mores and we are going to try to make hamburgers!! we´ll see what happens!!! 

moroni 8:3

Our little trip to natal...we had pancakes with maple syrup, s'mores, jolly ranchers and the best of all PEANUT BUTTER!!!!