Querida Familia!!!
I am trying out this alpha
smart thing today for the first time because I know I'll have NO time to email
all that I want to. I feel like I'm
constantly rushing and never have enough time for anything!! :( But I guess that's missionary life for yah,
huh? haha. But I swear its 10x as bad here because we
walk everywhere and it's so much less efficient! But it is safer.. if you saw the cars and
motors here..... we would definitely die if we were biking or driving
haha. But anyway.... BIG NEWS! Very strange news... we got a call last night
that from now on after today, our P-days will be on Wednesdays..... no idea
why, but I've been learning very quickly just how new this mission is. I’m still trying to get the organization
down. It's tough because it’s different
and I came from probably the most organized, amazingly efficient missions in
the world to a brand new baby mission.
So the patience I (supposedly) gained from my past experiences on the
mission are definitely coming in handy here.
haha. It's good. I'm definitely seeing just how much the
Nevada Las Vegas Mission has prepared me for this mission. What a blessing it
was to be able to serve there!!!
From now on, I'll be emailing
on Wednesdays! It's interesting. Every Tuesday, we have district meeting or
zone training in Sobral, another city that is 2 hours or so away. so we wake up
at 5 or earlier to take the onibus there and then we don't get back until
around 3 or so... soooo yeah, basically every Tuesday is a partial day. :( So it'll be like Tues, Wed, is our weekend
haha. It'll be different. I’m not sure how I feel about it yet, but
whatever. We're all learning together
how to support and obey our leaders even when we don't understand.
Quite the adventure it is
here. I love it!!! I’m sad because I can't read and respond to
alot of your emails :( but I'm skimming them and WOOHOO CONGRATS
EMILYYYYY!!!! But I still don't
approve.... haha. Go to UTAH!!!! :((((
but if you can't, I guesssssssssss I can transfer to Hawaii :DDDD hehe.
I'm SUUUUUUUUUUPERRR excited
for Kevin!!!!! ahhh!! I’m seriously sooo stoked for him! This will be THE best choice ever. And Emily.
I can’t wait for her to get called to Brazil, as well :))))))
Honestly, I don't remember a
lot that happened this week.... haha, but we had miracles and lots of work,
which was great! We have been finding
some amazing people! Sometimes, it's
really tough because I feel like we're not taking advantage of how prepared
these people are, but I can't really communicate it to my companion (mostly
because she is very used to doing it this way) sooo that's kinda
frustrating. But it's okay. I am working on patience and praying
constantly for the gift of tongues.
Speaking of which, a very,
verrrrry amazing miracle this week … It's
been real tough trying teach with a native -- trying to keep up and know what
to say -- but one day, literally, all of a sudden one day, I think it was
Wednesday evening, I was concentrating real hard and praying to understand, and
like magic -- like I snapped my fingers -- and I could understand! It was
sooooooo strange!! It wasn't like those
stories of "it sounded like English" but I knew almost exactly what
they were saying. I understood virtually everything. More than just the gist of what the
conversation was about, but I understood what was being said and everything! It was amaaazing! But soo strange because it was soooo sudden! I thought maybe it was a fluke and she just
talked reallll clearly. but the next house, I understood everything again. and
the next!! It was amazing !!!!!!
I've learned pretty much like
a super power hahah. The gift of tongues
is soooooo real!!!! When I'm concentrating and focused and keeping my thoughts
and actions worthy of the Spirit, I can understand and communicate soooo much
more smoothly!! Of course my accent is
still very gringa. I can communicate and
they understand and the spirit is there. It's amazing!! However, the challenge is still
very large haha. It is especially challenging
when my companion won't let me speak very much, but I understand. This is her area
"baby" and she knows she might leave soon .... which I'm freaking out
about. It's already week 5 of the transfer.
We started 2 weeks late.. and if she
leaves this transfer I'm pretty much doomed.
I know nothing. haha. But we'll
see. Much prayer. Muuuuch prayer and relying on the Lord. If I learned anything from NLVM, it's how to
truly trust the Lord and know that He’s in control and it'll all work out if I
do my part. Which is really tough
sometimes. I love missions. I love the challenges <3 haha.
One of our investigators, an
older woman, wow! Miracles! We were
looking for a referral and stopped by this group of women to ask where this man
lived and when none of them knew, we tried to talk to them about the church but
they were not very interested. But one
lady stood up and said when you’re done here, come talk to me over there. And so after we went and met her by the other
house, she told us about a dream she had last year. She said she saw a young
man in a forest far away from here. She
knew it wasn't in Brazil but in another land far away, not sure where, but this
young man was praying and then a huge light descended slowly around the man --
a light so bright that she couldn't look but that filled her with such joy!!
Basically, she told us the entire first vision in detail right
there. Then after she asked the man who
he was and he said his name was Joseph Smith.
Then she woke up and never forgot what she saw. She said I don't know who he is but I KNOW he
is a great GREAT prophet of God. Not
just a man, but a great prophet. Wow..... We were so shocked. So we showed her the picture of the first
vision from the restoration pamphlet and she was like yes..... this is it! I was standing here and he was there and
adadadad... Wow. it was amazing!! She’d never heard of him before, but she was
so excited because she said, “I don’t know why but I felt I needed to tell you
two the story when you came up to talk to us.”
We're meeting with her
tonight and literally set her for baptism in 2.5 weeks on the street right
there. AMAZING! I can't believe the
miracles out here.... These wonderful people are soooo incredibly
prepared. I want to talk to
everyone!!! It was just such a testimony
builder that there are amazing things happening that we can't even keep up! I don't know why she was blessed with such an
amazing experience, but I know that we needed to be there at that time, working
in that area to find her. I'm super
excited for this! :) So many miracles,
not enough time to write them all down. but I know that this church is true!! It is reaffirmed to me every second of every
day and I am just soooo fired up to teach everyone so that they can realize
what a gift this is!!
I love you all sooooo much
and wish I had more time!! :( but here are some pictures and I'll try to use
the alpha more this week! Thanks dad! It works like a DREAM!!!
much MUUUUCH Love<333333
-Sister Yoshimoto
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