Saint Santàna

This week was the week of Saint Santàna.. The grandmother of Jesus.. It was a party that took over the WHOLE citry, I kid you not. They had fireworks and huge concerts until 4 in the morning everyday! Our house is super close to the "center street" where the party was.. So it was imossible to sleep this whole week. But the party stoped! Thank goodness and now i will have a normal sleep schedule. And all the people we are teaching will be at home becuase everyone was at the party! 

This week was a busy week of lots of work!! We found a list of inactive members and have been walking all over the city trying to find and talk to everyone! It was amazing to have the chance to find so many new people to talk to and teach. There are so many inactive members who have family who havent visited the church yet. We found one family, Fransica. She was baptised about 6 years ago and stayed active for about 3 years until she had to start working sundays to put food on the table for her 5 children. She started going to a different church during the week becuse she still wanted to be religous, but one thing lead to another and she stoped going to church sundays. When we passed there Fransica was with her daughter Alyson. We started talking with them and Fransica told us how she was thinking about the church just one day ealier and had the desire to start going back. She told us about how she was thinking about the Plan of Salvation and how she knows A igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Últimos dias is where we have all the true doutrine. 

We also had another expericence super cool. We were walking on the street and this guy came up to us and said "you need to visit my family" we were a little nervous to go with him but the spirit said go so we went. When we got there she introduced us to his wife and three sons. They told us about how their daughter died 3 years ago AND SHE WAS A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH. and how they would always have missionaries over and how they wanted to go to church and visit and learn more. It was a miricle! I am super excited to work with them! :)

Senhor Pedro got the Aronic Preisthood (sorry about my horrible spelling)  He was so happy!! It is awesome watching him and other Recent Converts stay strong in the church and watch their testimonies grow! :)

We are working hard! I am happy! :) I am so thankful for the gospel in my life and for my chance to help other get to know the gospel. I love being a missinoary! :)

Here are some pics of our week! and a view from our house! and senhor pedro! and a rainbow!:)

love you guys, praying for you all always!

xoxo

Sister Hernandez

walking+talking+raining=my week!

This week was great! :) We had a week of finding TONS of new people to teach, lots of walking and lots of talking but it has been great! :) We were able to find a lot of people who were inacvite and living with other people who arent member..yet. And we have been teaching alot of lessons with members and focusing on finding more and MORE AND MORE chances to teach!! 

We found a women named Maria, who is amazing!! She is so humble and dedicates her life to helping other people. She is helping a member who is inactive because she is older and cant do alot of things on her own. We walked into the house to teach for the first time and there was already a photo of the temple on the wall and the spirit was already there ready to testify!! Teaching Maria has been such an amazing experince. She has had such an open heart and it is amazing to watch the spirit testify to her of the things we are teaching!! The only problem is getting her to church cause she is working taking care of alot of people who are sick so it is hard for her to leave her house.. but we are going to make it happen! :) I have grown such a huge love for her in my heart! :)

Bebeto went to chuch!!!!! we have been working with him for a LONG time. and he always says "ill go, ill go" and never has gone. and this week he showed up on his own!! :):):):):):) he alrady knows all the missoinaries in our district (us 8 share a chapel here in the city) and everyone was so happy to see him there. And he told us he liked it alot and wants to visit church again!!! I am super excited to go back there today and teach him more and hopefully get him feeling the spirit in his heart!! :):):)

Also, Leo, an inactive member who hasnt been to chuch in more then 3 years came to chuch too!!! We have been working with him an his family(who arent members), and they are all getting more interested now!! and the fact that Leo went to chuch is such an amazing thing!! :) We are going to get that whole family going to chuch and help them! 

I love his work so much. I know the lord is directing all the things that we are doing cause this is his work and we are just intraments in his hands. Thank you all for the support and love! praying for you always!!

it has been raining a TON and so cold (70 degrees.. im dying) so i havent taked my camera out alot because of the rain.. but next week more pics will come your way! :) here are some selfies of me and my comp sister guimaraes and part of our district.. missing the other set of sisters! :)

xoxo

Sister Hernandez

7month!

I hit my 7 month mark this week, and totally forgot until the other Elders told me "whoooo 7 months" (becuase they hit 7 months with me) haha. the time is going by so fast and I wish it would just slow down a little cause I want to be here forever!! :)

This week was great!! We are working super hard and also having fun while doing it! This week we went to Caicó for our Zone Meeting! It was great to see the other missioanrys and talk about our goals as a mission and learn togther. We talked alot about our purpose as missionaries and the things we can do to make our work better. :) 

Maiada got baptised this week! and it was amazing! The spirit was so strong. She was so excited and the whole week leading up to sunday she kept telling us how excited she is. and after the service she said "and next week i get the holy ghost!!" she is such an amazing spirit and i feel honored to be able to teach her. Although she taught me a ton more! We had a bunch of members of the ward there, and they sang her a hymn to welcome her into the ward! It was perfect!! :)

This week we went to the house of a family the Elders are teaching, they invited us there to meet his family with such an amazing story (and cause they all sing and stuff and wanted us to come sing with them) This family lost their daughter 9 months ago to cancer, and now the mom is also suffering from cancer, but she has so much faith. We spent the afternoon talking about our savior Jesus Chirst, and singing togther, it was an afternoon super special to me! It made me feel at home to be singing with them and feeling the spirit. 

We met this new family in our area that we are teaching who are AMAZING, they already love all the things we have been teaching them and i am so excited to see where it goes.

This work is so special and I am so thanful to be a part of it! :)

I love guys! praying for you! read the book of mormon it is true!!

xoxo

Sister Hernandez

 

Today as a district we went to this huge rock mountain thing that the city has and we climbed it and it was super awsome!!!  then we went to a little musuam place that talked about the history of the city! it was super cool!! :)

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!

The fourth was great here, we had a confrance call with all the Americans in our mission (i dont know how but the AP elder did it) and we listened to national authem; It was awsome to be able to have that moment, to feel a little part of home for a second! :) I never realized hoe much I LOVE the fourth of july until i wasnt there. :) but we had a BBQ still. One of the members in our ward served in the US and so we all went to his house and had a huge BBQ lunch together and it was great! :) 

This week was transfers! So it was CRAZY, but also super great!!! :) I stayed here in Curris Novos, My new comp is Sister Guimaraes! Shes great! She is the only new misisonary that came into our district, everyone else stayed! We have all gotten super close, its like a little family here!! :)

This week we started teaching a girl names Maiara! She is living with a member and has already been to church a couple times. We started teaching her and she has been hooked from the start. In the first lesson she said the closing prayer and after she started crying, then she looked at me and said "I have never felt so happy in my life." We have kept teaching her and she keeps feeling the spirit and the love that the lord has for her. She wrote on a paper "How i know the church is true.... because the spirit told me and i felt a warm wonderful feeling in my heart!" she is AMAZING!! We are working to prep her to get baptised this week! :) 

We meet a women names Maria Valda! She is awesome! We were walking past her house and i looked in and saw her door was open.. I kept walking and then had the feeling "go back" and so we went back. She was AWESOME! in the first contact she gave us 3 other people to go visit and invited us to come back. We went back and started talking with her, she is a woemn with ALOT OF FAITH. I am excited to keep working with her and help her with the questions that she has. 

Senhor Pedro was confirmed a member of the church sunday!!! He was so happy! after the blessing he went and shook hands with almost everyone in the room. He was smiling so big and the spirit was so strong!! Elder Ifran brought him a tie, because he always comes to church in a white shirt, and now he is ready for church every sunday!! :)

This week was great and I am so excited for a new week of work and meeting new people! :) I love seeing the hand of the Lord in our work everyday! I know he is with us every second!! :) 

I love you all so much! praying for you! :)

xoxo

Sister Hernandez

Pics of Joãos 3rd birthday! (he is the son of a recent convert! Ariana who i love with my whole heart!!!) (Also João thinks that missionaries are just more jungle gyms to play with and is always climbing all over everyone. he is a little ball of crazy, love him!!)

Selfies for days... with my comp and Maiara!

Senhor Pedro in his tie!

our 4th of july party!