Coming home.

Sister smith will be arriving home on June 7th She will be giving a talk on the 10th and there will be a lunch held after in her honor. We are so excited to welcome her home an are so very proud f the work she ha accomplished. If you would like further information regarding her homecoming feel free to contact us.

Final countdown - week 6!

WAHOOO!!! yesterday was the BEST sacrament meeting ever.  The ward was really full, and the spirit was strong. This week our zone leaders decided to do splits in our area, ´´blits´´ where they go into the areas of the district for a couple of hours and just do a bunch of contacts to find new people. its pretty cool.  Well, they found a boy named victor, he´s a big kid for an 11 year old.  But we´ve been teaching him all this week and yesterday he had a great experience at church. Loved primary.  His younger brother jonathan wanted nothing to do with our lessons, but on sudnay when we passed by to pick up victor for church his mom told him to get dressed and go with us.  Jonthan loved church and when we explained about baptism, that he could be baptised like Jesus, and on the same day as his brother, he said GREAT IDEA!!! seriously, they loved church.  We sang Master The Tempest is Raging for the intermediate hymn and Victor just soaked up the singing.  It was a neat experience because the spirit was really strong during the hymn.  I felt the room fill up, as if any empty space had something there.  After church when we dropped them off, they entered the house shouting how much they liked church,  CHURCH IS COOL MOM!!! I would like to be baptised!!!!  And now their mom is saying she´d like to visit. FAMILY!!! Woot! Seriously, this transfer we have worked alot, its been a lot of faith to not give up.  But the Lord gives blessings, it is so after the trial of our faith.  And it is never how we think or would like.  Im determined to have another full week and leave with some baptisms marked for the next week so that sister Morais will have to send me photos of who was baptised the next week.  That would just make my going home even better, to know that I worked until the very last day.   I love this work.  It certainly isnt easy, and never happens how we think.  but it is so wonderful.   I know that the Church of Jesus Christ has been restored to fullness of the gospel in these last days, I know that Christ lives and is the head of this church.  I know that God has a plan for each of us, that if we seek Him, we will find Him. Love ya´ll, see you next week!! hahaha kristin   i think this is my last mission letter....

Final countdown - week 5

I didnt get to send an email yesterday because the lan house was closing for lunch and kicked us out.  Then after I had to take my comp. to the hospital becuase she´d been vomiting all night....but here I am!!! The time sure is flying by.   This transfer is a tough one, being in a new area that has its own difficulties, but every day I am having some great experiences with sister v. morais.   Unfortunately we  haven´t had any baptisms yet, but I know if we continue doing our best we will find someone.  We had a great ward counsel meeting sunday.  I finally got to meet our bishop.   He works driving truck so he is gone, pretty much always. but when he is here the ward really vives up.  We are going to take advantage of the organized volley ball two nights a week here to meet and teach non-member youth who participate.  Seriously, the whole neighborhood comes out for these things.  The elders would just jump in the middle of the games and start playing in their proseylting clothes, but its kinda different working in a skirt.   So im hoping things will work out and the memebers will help us get to know the people.  the plan is to have like an open house during volley, so the people that arent playing, they can come into the chapel, see what is like, drink some juice eat some crackers (if we are lucky there will be food, oh my gosh have some tightwads in this ward) and we´ll teach some quick lessons of the restoration.  Im hoping we will see fruits from this.   Because we aren´t sure what else to do.   Our area is pretty small, which im glad about that to a point because people are more familiar with the location of the chapel.  Probably next week i wont be sending an email until next thrusday, we ar going to see if we can switch our p-day becayse there is a cool gallery and open fair that is only open on thursdays. love ya, kristin

Final countdown - week 4

It was great to see ya´ll yesterday, even with some of he computer problems everything went well enough. I was going to send picuteres from our adventures at the park last week but im thinking next month i´ll show all my pictures. haha.  today we dont havea lot of plans, because nobody has money. hahaha.  but im  thinking next week  we will go the center. i am not going to write much more cuz i said eveything i would have yesterday, i think. so  a few things i have read today,  in president´s letter he talked about obedience, said  to know and not do is to not know.    Also i read a talk by elder maxwell about irony. What is true irony.  that sometimes,you do all that you can to achieve a certain outcome but that isnt what you recieve.  it was interesting. love ya, kristin

Final countdown - week 3

it was a crazy week that sister V. Morais and I had, we worked a lot and taught a lot of lessons, but didnt see too much of an outcome.  But I have faith that our work will show and we will see the fruits of this harvest.  We definately had a miracle yesterday.  We had a good 4 people firm to go to church and 4 others who werent quite certain.   Saturday night I called everyone in our planner that we had met and invited them to church.  Sunday morning as we were waiting for people to arrive, we received a phone call from one of the people I invited.  she said she was leaving her house and wanted to know if it was okay if she got there late.  She really liked the meetings and we marked to teach her tonight more about the gospel.  Im really excited.  We had a crazy week, we had two péople who accepted dates for baptism, but when the hour came fell through.  Its a tough world we live in.  It can only get better if we seek the Lord.  Im doing my best to give all that I have these last few weeks because I know I wont have more time.  We found a less active family that we are trying to reactivate.   we had two churrascos  (BBQ) this week, it was awesome.  One of our recent convert families, Irmã Fanny and her kids, are so great.  Fanny´s husband, Gaucho (I dont actually know his name, he´s from do Sul, and people from the south are called gauchos....so eyah that is his nickname) we ran into in the street one night and he said how he missed our visits.  I said, lets have a churrasco, gaucho style.  (gaucho´s are known for their churrasco´s)  friday night we had a great family night.  I´d been teasing sister morais, as she was doing her 9th month of the mission on friday, asking how she wanted to celebrate.  she said anything but chocolate cake, and I jokingly said lets have churrasco.  Worked out perfect, no?  Sunday we had lunch with  a family that arent members of the church, their son is on a mission in João Pessoa.   That was an interesting experience to see someone who  isnt a member of the church and how they see a mission.  A great family, all the missionaries that pass through try to baptise them, thats certain.  have to find out what is lacking for them.   Its complicated. But seriously, it was the best churrasco EVER!  Every week we meet with so many different people.  Its great. Hope everyone is well, look forward to seeing ya~ll sunday. love kristin

The final countdown - week 2 of 6

Dear friends and family, This last week was an interesting one.  It all started with our district meeting.  Our whole zone was together waiting for the the zone leaders to start on what they wanted to say to us, and music starts playing and a man in a black suit comes dancing in.  My first thought was:  WHAT THE HECK. my second thought was: Where is Presidente? it turned out to be a really neat start of the transfer meeting.  It definately wasnt the norm.  There is a member in our stake that he does magic shows.  and so he did a motivational speech using magic tricks to teach us about being motivated as missionaries, having good attitudes, faith in God and yourself, and go for your goals.  Kinda cool.  The next day we had a special meeting with president.  In my zone, president put pretty much all the missionaries who are going home next transfer, less than two elders, i believe.  its a big group. Anyway he talked how we are his last group, as he is going home with us. And how we need to set the example for the rest of the mission.  It was a really neat meeting that has left an impression on me since.  He related how we are on our last 40 days in the field, and how Christ did the most work in his last 40 days of his earthly life.  Just do what Christ would do. Im glad to be back in Cuiabá again, I forgot just how hot it is here.  But today is being cold.. And since nobody has any money...we are playing it easy staying in house and sleeping.  I need that for sure.  We are working with a couple of families here, one of them we are going to help them get married.  Two of their kids are already baptised, they are so cute.  They love church and are always brining a cousin or friend to church.  MY area is pretty far from the city center, its an hour bus ride to get into the main city.  It seems more rural.  I like it, its different than what i knew of cuiabá the first time.  There is swamp and stuff so the risks of dengue is high. dengue is also caled break bone fever, my companion has sick this last week with it but she´s fully recovered now.  but its painful. strong headache, pain in the eyes, pain in the joints, fever and rash.  no thanks. Love ya´ll, kristin

The finale countdown - Week 1 of 6

Caro Familia, quero agradecer pelo amor, apoia, e confiança vocês monstram em mim. Quero lhes dizer que amo vocês e estou muito animada para compartilhar o seguinte:   Transfer calls came in.....and.....I´mm.....gooooinggg tooooooooo: CUIABÁ!!! YAYAYAYAYAYA WOOOT WOOTT! *and the crowd cheers*   SEriously, I have enjoyed Campo Grande, and I thought I would be finishing out my mission here. BUT, looks like the Lord has other plans for me.  I had the feeling I wouldnt be staying in Bandeirantes much longer, so when president called me outta the blue to ask me about my last transfer, how im feeling and what my thoughts are about going to cuiaba, or staying here....well, he gave me the impression I´d be northward bound.  Of course I said whereever you put me president, I will work, you know that.  So yep. Im going to Industriario, sister De Oliveria opened the area there, the ward is awesome, and I will work with Sister V. Morais again.  Im looking forward to another chance at building more of a relationship with her and really taking our weaknesses and making them strong.  I am super tired, but I have got to make the best of these last few weeks.  Its going to be an interesting trasfer, because the three of the four sisters in our house are on their last transfer, Randall, Naciemento and me.  Poor sister V. Morais. She will be trunked out! This last transfer of 5 weeks was really interesting.  For only being 5 weeks, a lot of things happeened.  Worked alot, was sick a lot (im getting over a bad sinus infection i got that left me pretty dead the past three days) but learned alot.  I really enjoyed my District, seeing each person develop. Im not looking forward to the 12 hour bus ride to cuiabá, but this time I wont be the only sister.  I will finaly have the chance to really catch up with sister randall, we havent had the chance to really talk since last june.  Want to share a citation of President Joseph F. Smith that presidente Oliviera shared in his carta this week. ´´You need not only believe, but you need to obey the things that God ordains and do them.  You need to not only do this, but you need to dedicate all of your heart, your love, and your soul voluntarily to God.  You need to submit your personal will to the will of the Father, and you need to do everything that he requires of you,  If you want to be saved and exalted to his presence.´´ Just be obedient, nê? Love you all, hope ya´ll have a fabulous week. beijos, kristin