wedding planner

This week was BUSY.

We started off the week having interviews with President Soares. He is
doing his last round of interviews because he will be leaving next
month. (it is so werid to me that him and sister will be leaving the
Brasil Natal Mission. He was the frist president) I sat down to talk
to him iand he said "Sister Hernandez, I dont have anything more to
say to you, you have been an amazing missionary. Now just keep working
hard for these next short weeks." Then we both started laughing and
talking about how fast the time has gone. My interview was short cause
next week will be my final interview. But i was amazing to talk to him
a little. He has been an amazing President. I am thankful to have
served with him.

We have been working hard. We are still working with Joice and her
family. She wants to be baptised, but her mom is having a hard time
because she goes to a different church. We went to their house and
taught an amazing lesson about The Restoration and how we now have the
preisthood authority to seal families for eternity. The spirit was
strong, and testified to their hearts that it is true. I am praying
that Jose (Joices mom) can soften her heart and let Joice be baptised.
And that we can help Jose and her "husband" get married and start
their eternal family.

We are still working with Cledie. She is amazing. She goes to all the
church activities and is super acvite in the church. She acts and
looks like she is already a member. She would have been baptised this
week but her husband (who is a recent convert) was in the hospital
becuase of a heart problem. Cledie wanted to wait to be baptised until
her husband could watch. So we marked the baptism to be this week once
he comes home. She is amazing. I am so excited for her.

On my mission there have been times when I have felt like a wedding
planner, trying to get everyone married. (Because there is a problem
here where no one wants to get married, everyone is just together)
This week, my title as a wedding planner went to another level. The
Elders had a wedding. They helped and amazing couple get married and
baptised. The members of the ward threw an amazing party to celebrate
this special moment. Sister V. Lopes and I were in the middle of
planning this party, and on the night of the wedding we were all over
the place serving dinner and cake and the little treats, we were
passing out soda and water and juice.

It was alot of fun to be a part of such a special day to such a
special family. We were very tired after it was all over.

I am working hard and excited to have another week to give all I have.

I love you all!

xoxo
Sister Hernandez

Feliz dia das mães.

HAPPY LATE MOTHERS DAY!

It was amazing to talk to my family yesterday.  I love you all so
much, even though you are all very trunky. ;) It was crazy to me to
see you all, because I will be coming home so soon. But it made me
excited to work had for these last two weeks of my mission.

This week was full of miracles. I am super excited cause we are
teaching an amazing family.

There is a recent convert names Joicer. He has a house FULL of people
to teach. He has an amazing story. When the sisters first met him he
was a drunk that didnt want anything to do with anything. The sisters
invited him to come to church and be bapised. He never drank again. It
has been about 2 months since he has been baptised and his whole
family is seeing the change in his life and want to know what the
"mormon" church is all about. We started teaching his wife, Cledie,
his daughter Raquely, his Brother Nazaraino, his niece Joice and his
sister in law Jose.

Cledie goes to another church (Deus de amor (Gods Love)) and Jose goes
to the church Universal. They were both very closed minded about the
Church of Jesus Christ, but both warmed up to the idea after seeing
the change in Joicer.
Joice has already been to church a couple times and is preparing to be
bapised this week. She is amazing. She is a young women who has so
much faith and the biggest desire to do what is right. This week we
took her and her dad on a special tour of the chapel. The spirit was
so strong as we showed them the baptismal font and talked about
baptism. They both want to be baptised. Nazaraino needs to get married
first. But it is amazing so see a family come closer together throught
the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We invted Jose to visit church this sunday, and she did NOT want to.
Sunday morning we passed by there house to invite one more time.

So we went to church without them.. I was sitting there. A little sad
that they hadnt come with us. And I heard the door open. I saw EVERY
SINGLE ONE OF THEM come in and sit with us. It was a miracle. I
humbley said thank you to my Heavenly Father and almost jumped for joy
in the middle of the meeting.

I love being a missionary. And I love teaching families.

This week was our leadership meeting. It was so fun to see everyone
for my last leadership meeting. At the end of the meeting they opened
the time for the people who will be going home this transfer to bare
their testimonies. It was a powerful moment when we all got up and
were able to share the amazing experiences that we all had. I felt a
feeling of peace when i bore my testimony. I felt happy to know that
my Heavenly father is happy with the work I did.

I love you all so much.
Here are some pics from our leadership meeting.

xoxo
Sister Hernandez

Little Children

This week was amazing, it was busy with alot of work.

I did splits with Sister Morais. She is in the ward Pirangi, an area
where I have already worked. It was AMAZING to go back and see my
recent converts and the people that I love so much who live there.

I was able to see Ramon, who is now preparing to serve a mission here
in a few months. He is super active in seminary, he is amazing.

I was able to see Gilcelia, who is serving in the primary and going to
the temple to do baptisms and planning the mission of her 3 year old
son.

I was able to see other people who I started to teach and werent
baptised but then were baptised after I left.

I love going back to old areas and seeing the fruits of our labor.

This week was Stake Conference. It was amazing to watch and learn from
the local leaders. There was one leader who spoke about when Jesus was
teaching and the little children tried to talk to him. The diciples
pushed the little children away and Jesus invited them to come to him.
She asked the crowd the moments when we feel like little children.
People commented things like "When we are coming back to church" "When
we are a recent convert" "When we dont know what to do with our
children" "When we are scared"

She then related this statement to us, as adults, that we need to
allow the "little children" come unto Christ. We need to help the
people who are struggling to come unto our savior. WE need to help
them realize that they are welcomed in the church, and they are
welcomed in our homes, and that we are here to help them.

It made me take a step back and look at my life, the moments when I
felt like a "little child" and when someone helped me. When they
really were living what they believed and helped me feel the love my
savior has for me.

I am so thankful for this gospel of second chances.

I love you all so much! Thank you for the love and support! :)

xoxo
Sister Hernandez

Here are some pictures of me and my district.
Elder C. Silva, Elder Mehl, Elder Petter, me and Sister Lopes

Alecrim

I WAS TRANSFERED. I had a feeling I would be. I was going into my last
transfer, that would only be 5 weeks. But the Lord needed me in a new
year to finish strong. I am excited. My new comp is Sister V Lopes
(BRASILEIRA WHOO!!!)  After being with Americnas so long I am excited
to be with a brasileira.  She is super sweet and we are opening our
area so we are both here excited and ready to work. We will be taking
care of ALOT of sisters. so we will be working alot and i am excited.

This week was a week of travel and leaving Urick Graff. It was sad to
say goodbye to so many people that I love. I hope to see them all
again soon.

One of the young women we were teaching in Urick Graff was traveling
when I left so we werent able to stop by and say goodbye to Sara. Out
of no where I got a call Satuerday night from Sara. The last time we
taught her she had alot of doubts. I made a deal with her and she
agreed to pray and ask if the church is true. In the phone call she
told me that she prayed, and she KNEW that the church is true. I was
SO EXCITED. I asked her what she was going to do next. she paused a
moment and said "be baptised" I asked her when... she said she didnt
know. So I said "do you want to be baptised tomorrow? and she said
YES!!! SARA WAS BAPTISED. I feel sad I couldnt be there, but so honred
I was able to help her come to know the gospel. (i attached pics of
her baptism.)

Sister V. Lopes and I got here and looked at eacher and said, lets get
to work. We have been working HARD talking to EVERYONE. We both have
the desire to change this area and make it better then it already is.
I feel so excited that I can finish my mission with new excitement
opening an area and with that faith that opening an area requries.

This week was the birthday of Sister Soares (the presidents wife) and
sister v lopes and I had the crazy idea to take a book of Mormon and
get the fav scritpure of EVERYONE o the mission and give it to her as
a present. I wish I could have recored as I called every LZ in our
mission asking them to help us. And I was so touched by the
willingness they all had to help us do this special surprise. We
called satuerday night and needed all the scrpitures sunday afternoon
and we were able to get them. I am in the worlds best mission with the
most amazing leaders.

We then were able to get a few missoinaries and throw her a little
surpise party sunday night. she was so happy to spend her birhtday
with us and i felt so happy to make her so happy. This 1.5 year away
from my mom has been hard, but i have been blessed with Sister Soares
who has been my "mission mom". I am so thankful for the amazing women
in my life, like my mother and my mission mom who who me by example
how to live the gospel and be a powerful women in the church.

I love you all so much. Have an amazing week.

here are some pics from my last area with sister miller and my new area.

some members who I love from Mossoró and an action shot with Elder
Aguiar and Elder Mello.

Pics above^ sister Brown, Trage, Barbosa, Me, V. Lopes.. the surprise
party, Sis. Soares and Presidente
Saras baptism!! With Sis. Thomson (my last comp) Sister Muira, and Claudio.

After your faith..

I cant believe it is ALREADY p-day. Time goes by so fast when you are
working hard. This week is the week of transfers, So tomorrow I will
know if I will stay in Urick Graff or if I will go to antoher area. I
have been here for 5 months and wouldnt complain if I stayed.

This week I took some time and studed faith. I felt like for a couple
weeks my faith weas lacking a little. I had  "faith" the simple easy
faith that we all say we have. But I think I was doubting if the Lord
would REALLY do miracles in our area. (I am embarassed to admit, but
thankful the Lord turns our weaknesses strengths.) So I started to
study faith.

Once I started to study faith I started to get excited again, I
started to see the little miracles that God does in our life EVERYDAY.
Once I started seeing the little things he was doing for me. The big
miracle that we were waiting for came.

Leo. He is 17. He has gone to church MANY times. And is going to
semanairy everyday. He is reading the Book of Mormon everyday. He is
what we call eleito. He loves the gospel. But his mom is from a
differenet church and doesnt like us even a little. She lets him go,
but made it clear from the start that she WOULDNT let him be baptised.
So we just let him keep going to church and waiting. This week his
parents allowed his baptism. It was AMAZING. He was so happy and all
the youth from the ward was there to support him. I am so happy that
Leo could be baptised and that I could be a part of this miracle.

We found a miracle street of tons of people who want to learn about
the gospel. Who have NEVER  seen sisters before. I dont know HOW cause
this area has been an area of sisters for over 3 years. But everyeone
is so excited and ready to hear the truth.

The moral to the story is, I know that when we are lacking faith, or
humility, or charity, or love, or hope, or ANYTHING, if we turn to the
Lord he will make us stronger. If we ask for help, he will help us. He
will never leave us alone. We just need to look for him. I am so
thankful for the chances I have to learn and apply these things in my
life. And the love I know Heavenly Father has for me.

Here is a pic of our district and my trio. Sister Thomson (blonde) and
Sister Miller

xoxo
Sister Hernandez

ps. sorry for the typos.. this keyboard is giving me a hard time.

"Just tesitfy of Joseph Smith"

This week was amazing!

FIRST OFF: CONGRATS TO MY BABY BROTHER KORY!! I am so excited that you
will join the Lords army, and even better that you are coming to the
promised land, BRASIL!!! You are going to be the most amazing elder.
Watch out Brasil, the hernandez family is coming for you.

This week we had our leadership meeting that was AMAZING. I love when
we can all get together and talk about how we can become better
missionaries and a better mission. Presidente Soares was telling us
about some of the goals he has in his life, he said "I am 65 years
old. Everyday for the rest of my life, I will pray for a temple here
in Natal. And once the temple is annouced, I will come here, and we
will all come back, and know we helped these people recieve the
blessings of the temple."

Me being me just started to cry, as I thought about all the people who
I love so much here in Rio Grade do Norte. The biggeset desire of my
heart, is to have a temple here in Natal.

This week was full of teaching and trying to help people understand
the imprtance of the restored gospel.

We are teaching a young women named Sara. She is really smart. She
loves to read the bible. We started to teach the first lesson and I
was a little nervous. Cause she kept trying to throw scritpures to us
and I felt like it was going to turn into a bible bash. So i said a
prayer, I asked to help to touch her heart and help her understand WHY
we have a prophet today and WHY the book of mormon was important. I
felt the spirit tell me "just testify of Joseph Smtih"

When I started to explain the story of Joseph, I felt the spirit enter
the room. I felt the spirit guiding my words, as I explained that he
had a question and just wanted to know WHAT church was the church of
Jesus Christ. I could feel that Sara also had wonders what of all the
churchs was true. I resited the first vision, and then bore my
testimony, saying that I know Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet,
I know he saw God, the father, and Jesus Christ. I know.

The spirit was so strong as I promised her that she could also know,
if she prayed and asked.

I know this is the church of Jesus Christ.  I feel honored to serve
and testify of what I know. I am so excited for my brother Kory, and
the honor he will have doing this same service.

I love you all!

xoxo
Sister Hernandez

Conference Weekend

This week was great. It was REALLY BUSY. We had so much to do and had
to get everything done before Saturday because of conference. But it
was an amazing week of many miracles.

We got a referral! His name is Francisco. He is 29. He is an awesome
guy. He has already gone to church a few times but it was at a
different ward. Last sunday someone saw him and relaized he isnt a
member and told him there is a church that is closer to him. (our
ward) So they called us and gave us his info and we called him. We met
up with him at a park that is close to his house, on Tuesday. We
taught him the resturation and about The Book of Mormon. We had an
amazing lesson with him. At the end of the lesson we invited him to
say the closing prayer, and ask if the things we taught are true, and
if Josph Smith really was called to be a prophet. He said an amazing,
sincere prayer where he really talked with Heavenly Father and poured
his heart out to him. He said he has the desire to know and wanted to
know if the church was true though The Book of Mormon. A few days
later we were able to meet with him again, and we had one of the most
powerful lessons I have had on my mission until now. It was amazing,
the spirit was so strong. We had a member with us who bore a powerful
testiomny about how the gospel of Jesus Christ chagned his life. At
the end of the lesson Francisco prayed, and he got his answer about
the church. He knows. I know that he knows cause I am a witness that
the spirit testified to him, he knows it is true. We marked his
baptsim for this last sunday. But sadly, a few people in his life that
go to other churches talked him out of it and told him he wasnt ready
and wasnt good enough to be baptised.

We had a long serious talk with him, telling him that those things
arent true. But he got nervous and wants to wait a little longer. We
are working with him so he can be baptised this upcoming week.

We are still working with Andreza. The same thing happened with her,
that she didnt feel ready and was nervous about baptism. She started
to avoid us this week cause she got nervous, and we had NO WAY to get
in contact with her. We prayed and prayed to find a way to contact her
so we could serve her and help her feel more ready for her baptism.
Then on Thursday we go to her house and she was sick, there was no way
to run from us cause she couldnt get out of bed. We were able to talk
about her and acutally show the love we have for her. We called some
preisthood leaders who gave her a blessing, we went to the store and
bought some crackers and juice and gave her some medicne. We got to
serve her. She felt important and spcial, and I know she could feel
the love our Heavenly Father has for her.

Douglas is another man we are working with. He is 21. He has already
been taught by the sisters before when he was younger but didnt want
anything to do with the chuch cause he was just a teenageer who liked
to do teenage stuff. But we found him though another member. He was
super open with us and went to watch the conference. It was amazing.
He really liked it and we will go to his place this week so we can
teach him and his family a little more.

General Conference was AMAZING. I had alot of questions going into the
conference, of things I should do once I get home. How I can finish my
mission stronger then ever before, how I can help certin people we are
teaching, and many other things. I feel so greatful for personal
revolation, that the Lord could touch my heart through the words of
his servents. I felt so much love this weekend, I felt the love my
Savior and my Father in Heaven has for me, and how they want me to be
the best Sister Hernandez I can be. The best Arrie I can be. I am so
thankful for my chance to learn and be better.

As I say every week, being a missionary is the BEST thing. I love my
calling so much.

xoxo,
Sis. Hernandez