Hello!!

 

HELLO MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY!

I am sorry I am wrolds worst emailer this week. But I am running out of time! :(

This week Sister Porter and I were walking down the street and out of no where she said "lets knock on this door" while we were standing on the street. Now, it is not normal here to knock on doors, and is the least effective way to find people. But she had a prompting so we did it. KNOCK KNOCK!! (taht is really just clapping your hands in the door way) 3 kids came to the door (11, 16, and 17) and they were AMAZING! we talked and they invited us to come back, so the next day we came back to their house and their moms were there (the house is two sisters who live togehter with their kids cause they arent married) THIS IS THE BEST FAMILY EVER! they asked us so many qustions, and then invited us back!! Sister M. Baker and I went back to teach (cause sister Porter was sick) and we taught them the first lesson about the restoration, and everyone was there, and all their cousins. We invited the 7 of them who were there to baptism and they all said YES!! I am so excited to keep teaching this family! they are so amazing and ask so many qustions about the lessons and have such a desire to learn!! :)

This week when I did a Contact (invite to chuch) to a man on the streeet-

He was sitting on the street, and he didnt look homless or anything so I walked up to him and asked him if he wanted to go to church.. and he said "I have not left this spot in 15 years." and me and my comp looked at eachother like.. "okay" and in my head I thought of the song "going back to the corner where I first saw you gunna back up my sleeping bag im not gunna move" and not everytime we see him we both this of this song! and he hasnt moved. 

My comp Sister Porter got really really sick for two days this week :( and we had to stay inside. It is always a bummer to stay inside but now she is healthy and we are going to work full force this week!! :)) 

So the APs were in our Zone this week helping us out, and when they were leaving they were waitng at the bus station and couldnt leave, but they were hungry and asked if we could bring them some food. (because our house is super close to the bus station) So we tried calling members and seeing if they had anything but no one answered so we thought "We can cook for them" So me and my comp, we tired making pankcakes.. and they were HORRIBLE. and we GAVE them to the AP's.. So if they die its our falut. 

We have a hard time getting people to chuch, but this week we had an investogator at chuch! and it was amazing!! But we worked so hard this week and João came to chuch!! I am so excited. I know that when we are doing our part the lord does his. As long as we are giving him everything we got. I have learned that so much on the mission and this week; that as long as we do our part, everything will work out in the end. God is aware of us, and he love us. We are his children and he will always be here to help us and answer our prayers. I am so thankful for knowing that when I will do my part that everything will be okay. I know that we will have success here in our area, we just need to keep postive and working!! :))

I love my companion! :) 

xoxoxo

Sister Hernandez

I AM SO PUMPED FOR MOTHERS DAY THIS SUNDAY!! WHOO!! :):):):) 

HELLO!! i am sorry becuase this week I dont have a ton of time. BUT! This week was a good week! Sister Porter and I have been getting along great!! shes amazing and has helped me learn so much and I love watching her example! LOVE HER! 

 

SO MUCH HAPPENED THIS WEEK! 

First off we had another week of alot of rain! 

Second, we meet this boy named Felipe! Hes great, and we started teaching him. Then all of a sudden he is giving us references to teach his WHOLE FAMILY! we have started teaching most of them all and hope they all keep taking the lessons! :)

We are also teaching Marcelo, (the brother of Heloisa, who was bapstied on easter) He is AMAZING! He is 17 years old! He has so much faith and has read the BOM and told us he knows it is true and that he knows our chuch is true! So we are just working out some things with him and hopefully he will be baptised this next week! :) 

We have had a hard time finding people in their houses this week becuase there was a holiday in brazil. So everyone left Caico for the beach and vacations! This week will be better :) 

SO, we had a hard moment after a lesson that was hard. and after the lesson i started to cry, and my amazing comp said "lets say a prayer!" so we prayed to have our spirits lifted. Then started walking to our next lesson, and out of NO WHERE, BEYONCE STARTED TO PLAY ON THE STREET!!! WHAT!  It only lasted for about 10 seconds. but it lifted our spirts and we laughed and danced to our next lesson. 

I know that Heavnly Father answers our prayers, i know he is looking out for us at every moment, and will always keep us safe and comforted! I am so greatful to be here serving, and learning so much every single day!! 

I love you all so much! i pray for you everday!

xoxo,

Sister Hernandez

Photos!

Hello everyone!!

This week we had transfers!! I am still in Caico! This will be my third transfer here! My new comp is Sister Porter!! She is amazing! She is from Morgan Utah.. I dont know where that is, but she said pretty close to Ogden! 

It was really hard having Sister Moraes leave, but she finished her misson with honor and is now home reading this email! :)

First of all we watched Charly as a district last p-day.. and I cried my eyes out.

This week was transfers so the start of the week was slow, but then it got SUPER BUSY!! 

I did my first "contact by fire this week" where you invite someone to get baptised the first time you meet them. it sounds crazy, but people accept all the time. and we had two people accept!! Pedro (#2) and Ana Lousia! 

Ana Lousia is great! she is 17 and in our first lesson with her she asked us if she could serve a mission just like us after she was baptised!! YES YOU CAN ANA!! So we will be working with her alot this week to get her baptised!! 

We also are working with Pedro (#1) again. He has already come to church a few times, he has a lot of questions so we always end up teaching him for a long time. But I think we are started to get all his questions answered. We have taught him the first lesson 2 times. This last time we focuesd alot on profetas and the Book of Mormon. It was amazing. The spirit was so strong! 

Also, Heloisa, (who was recently baptised) is doing faith is god, she also is reading the BOM so much and loves the gospel, she went out and did lessons with us and told me that she wants to serve a mission too!! :) I LOVE HER! 

This week also while i was inviting a man to church, he started to cry. and when i asked why he told me he thought my voice was beautiful and it made him emotional.. Also I had people asking me if i was from Brazil this week, and me and sister porter just went along with it and said I was.. super funny :)

I am so greatful for this misson! I have learned so much! this church is true, i love watching it change the lives of people everday, and at the same time watching it change my life! :)

I love you guys all so much!! I sent alot of pictures this week of my area, and my new and old comp!! :)

xoxo

Sister Hernandez

HELLO!

1. me and my "mãe" from the mission!! 

2. CAKE!

3. The Felix Family! they are amazing and always feeding the missionaries and helping us with anything we need. 

4. The rainstrom that passed through our city. IT WAS HUGE. 

1. Me and Sister M. Baker

2. Me and Siter M. Baker and Sister Rios

3. Me and Elder Evens at our zone conferance this week. (He is new, and i find it funny cause I used to be super pale too. lol)

 

i am so sorry! I am in a hurry this week so I will need to write this quick! 

This week was good, we had a HUGE strom pass through, and it rained EVERYDAY, so it was full of us being soaking wet from walking in the rain!

I went on two divisions with Sister M. Baker. Her and I are like sisters (and not just in Zion lol) It was great, we went to the house of one of her investogators and they are AMAZING, it is a family and they have twin 14 year old boys who are trying to learn english, so they kept calling us "baby" or "big baby" or "big beautiful baby" and it was so hard to keep the spirit there and not start laughing our heads off! But they are amazing and hope they stay strong for the sisters!

We are still teaching Ana Clara, She is amazing, and every lesson is PERFECT! This week we focused alot with her on Christ, and how he suffered all pains and sorrows for us (she has been having a hard time) and she admitied to us that she hasnt prayed yet to ask for help. So during the lesson we had her pray and then after with tears in her eyes she said "THAT WAS AMAZING! WHY HAVNT I BEEN DOING THAT MORE OFTEN!" and then she told us about the feeling she had in her heart! It was so amazing, shes the best!

I have been thinking alot this week about how Heavenly Father always answers our prayers, and that when in doubt we need to pray. I have found here in the mission, i pray more then i ever had, during lessons, walking in the road everything! and i am so thankful for the knowledge that he knows me. and listens to me. and he will always answer the prayers of his children!!

I love you all so much! I am sorry this email is super short! But i will be better next week! 

I love you! Keep praying!! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! AND I LOVE BRAZIL!

com amor,

Sister Hernandez 

BEST WEEK EVER!

 

THIS WEEK WAS THE BEST WEEK OF MY LIFE!! 

I hope everyone who had the chance was able to watch conferance. It was amazing! Talked alot about the family and marrige. But also, SO much about the savior. It was amazing. I was able to watch it in English with some of the other american missionaries. We had an "english room" where we all watched conferance in english and spoke really awkward english to eachother. One of the Sisters we were watching it with is an english major, and she was dying becuase of how horrible our grammer was. 

Three of my favorite talks were from the Saturday Afternooon sesson by Dale G. Anderson where he said "A saint is just a sinner who keeps on trying" and also "if we dont try we are just latter-day sinners, if we give up we are just latter-day quitters, and if we judge we are just latter-day hypocrites. be a latter-day saint" he also said that "one of gods greatest gifts was that we can try again, and we always expects us to keep trying!"

The other one I loved was by Wilford W Anderson. He talked about learning the "dance" and listening for the "music".

And of course, Jeffery R. Holland from the sunday morning sesson! He talked about remmebering our brothers hands. He said Jesus Christ stands triumphant over death. Sanding on wounded feed, he is here to grasp us, with plam pirced hands" 

I am so thankful for this week that I had to be able to remember the savior and see the lords hand in his work.

This week, I saw a mericle. My area is harder, we havent had a baptism here for months and months. We have been teaching this girl named Heloisa and she is amazing. We have been taking it slow cause she is 9, and we didnt think her mom would let her get  baptised. But Thursday we went to her house, and her grandma had given her a book of mormon, and she had already read to 1 Nephi 10. And we taught her, then the next day she was at 2 Nephi 4. And then the next day The book of Jacob. We taught her all the lessons, her mom signed the paper. She came to conferance, LOVED IT. Then sunday, She came to chuch in a white dress and with a towel, and she got baptised! She was so happy, and the whole ward was there to support her and her decison! I am so excited for her! I love her so much!! :) 

I am so thankful for weeks like this, the mission has hard moments, but there is NOTHING more rewarding then seeing the gospel change the lives of people. And watching it change my life. I love conferance. I love this church and am thankful for this easter weekend. 

On easter sunday we went to the house of some members, (they are always feeding the missionarys and are like the missionaries family away from home) They fed us all dinner and then gave us all chocolate because of easter. 

I love you guys! Although it is no longer the week of easter, remember the savior and how he is risen. 

XOXO

Sister Arrie Hernandez

This week, was great!! we had Zone Conferance with everyone in the interior of our mission, 3 zones. and it was great cause I got to meet a bunch of missionarys, and also got to see missionarys that i already knew, And two elders from my CTM distict!! YAY! 

It was great to see the President and his wife. They are so amazing, and it was even better cause I understood almost the WHOLE conferance. I was so proud, took a bunch of notes!

We are still teaching Ana Clara, we taught her the 1st lesson, and after she was crying cause she was so excited about the message and book of mormon. she said her whole life she has had questions about what church is true out of all the churchs in the world! I am so excited to see where things go with her! :)

I dont have alot of time, and the internet is being really weird, BUT. I love you guys and hope you all have an amazing conferance/easter weekend and remember our savior!

xoxo,

Sister Hernandez

PS

if you havent seen the becuase he lives video go RIGHT NOW! 

I hate to admit this becuase I dont want to sound like a cry baby, but with out fail I cry EVERYTIME that I watch it. 

I am so thankful for our Savior, and with this upcoming Easter season we can thnk about him, and the fact that HE LIVES. I know that he lives, I know he is our savior, and that this is his chruch. 

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY!

This week was rainy, and that is insane cause here in Caico we NEVER get rain. But for two or three days it just rained and rained and rained, and I was COLD! It was like 75 degrees, and I was freezing! But, I pulled out the sweater my dad made me bring, and the umbrella my mom packed for me and kept on workin! :)

This week was great, the blessings were SO GOOD! Tueday we did a zone fast and when we broke it on wednesday I sware it was like the doors of heven opened and god showered his blessings on us. (not just with the rain haha) But we got a referance a couple weeks ago form the mission presidents wife. The name of the women is Ana Clara, So Ana works A TON, so it was really hard to get catch her at home. And then one day we were buying water and BAM Ana Clara comes up to us and asks ASKS, for us to come to her house. WHAT?! We made the connection that she was the referance and so we were so excited to finally find her. We went to her house and she told us all about a dream he had (her mother had died within the last couple years) about how her mom came to her in a dream, and then they went and were talking and after the dream she felt like she needed to talk to the missionaries and how she thinks there is life after death. I dont know all the details of the dream cause I didnt understand EVERYTHING, but that is the basic. PLAN OF SALVATION HERE WE COME!! We taught the plan of salvation and she was so into it, and so ready, the spirit was sooo strong. She asked us to come back so we are gonig back this upcoming week. and one of the biggest blessings of all, SHE IS LEGALLY MARRIED!! that is unheard of here!! She works alot, so that will be hard to teach here, but she wants to hear our lessons so we will do anything to teach her. 

We also are teaching a man named Jecino, hes great! We went to teach him and when we got there he asked "Have you ever felt like we knew pepole before this life, like there was a life before right now.." PLAN OF SALVATION AGAIN!! He was great, and had so many questions and was loving the whole lesson. He is such an amazing guy, We are workin on getting him to church cause he wants to be baptised, but the past two weeks have had things happening on sunday so he couldnt come to church. But everday we visit him he always is talking about how excited he is is for his batismo. 

This week, I was also sick.. that sucked. But was good becuase now I am not sick. The whole house was sick, and even some of the Elders, so at the start of the week I started as a healthy person, and was workin in two HUGE areas, mine and the other sisters, helping them out cause my comp Sister Moraes and Sister Baker (a sister from the other area) were sick, THEN after working that for a couple days, I got sick. But no worries now cause everyone is healthy and happy again! :)

I am so thankful to be able to see the blessings of the lord everyday in my life. He blesses everyone and I know that he loves me and everyone so much. Studying and teaching the plan of salvation this week I realized how amazing it is that he knows us. God, our Father in Heaven knows us. And he loves us, and is just a prayer away to help us 24/7. 

I love you all so much! Stay great this week :) I am counting down the days to conferance like its chistmas cause i am so excited :):)

xoxoxo

Sister Hernandez

the happy brithday pic is for SARA! cause her birthday is this week!! HAPPY BRITHDAY!!