Sister Maeno !!!!!!!

June 19, 2014

Oiiiii familia!!!! Esta semana!!!!  Ohhhhhh wow!!!!!!!

Entao [Soooo]. sorry for not emailing but I’m glad you understood that it was transfers haha. but not just transfers, because I’m still in Tiangua. butttttttttt now Sister Pedreira e Sister Beus, the two seniors are gone and sister Merrill and I are here leading the area. but not just that, I’m training now.............. hahaha. sooooo yeah, I was in Teresina since Monday night.   I took the onibus at 1 am and arrived at 6 or so and stayed there for the training and everything until this morning at 4am.   Soooo we’re super tired but we get P-day today sooo yay! 

But the best part is this, Sister Maeno is my new companion.  She was born in Rio, but her parents moved shortly after to Japan.  She’s JAPONESE!!! like LEGIT!.  Sooooo cool, but she studied in Brasil so she speaks fluently Portuguese and Japanese and a lot of English tambem [also].  entao e muiiiiiito legal [Soooo Very Cool]!  I will send a picture next week but she is super awesome and I’m super excited and nervous and humbled and freaked out to be training, but I’m super excited haha.  She will teach me Japonese porque [because] she said that it’s super trippy that I can’t speak, and because I look like one of her friends so when I try to speak but can’t she gets freaked out. hahah.  But Sister Siedshlag is suuuuper happy haha we took a picture with us three and it seriously looks like a family.  So awesome.   [Sister Siedschlag is the wife of the mission president and is ethnic Japanese]

Seriously. wow.  I can’t believe I’m training.  I’m glad that at least ela [she] can understand more than me so she can help me too, haha.  I have many worries and stresses and weaknesses, but I know that this is truly inspired of God because I was seriously stressed out the week before transfers evaluating my mission (because it was my one year mark) and I was thinking about how I really felt like I’d plateaued here in Brasil.  I felt like I wasn’t changing, improving or anything after the first transfer.  But now I know that seriously, President Siedschlag is so inspired and Heavenly Father knows when I need a new challenge.  I wasn’t expecting or wanting this now or ever really … haha.  Training is a huuuuge responsibility, but I know that this is exactly what I need to really be able to rely on the Lord and grow more than ever before.  I love missions.  Seriously it is sooooo incredibly challenging but just because of my past experiences with tough situations na missao [in the mission], I feel very excited for this opportunity to grow.   I love the song “Nearer My God to Thee,” because the line in ingles [English] really hits home.  I feel more than ever now so grateful and excited for these challenges on the mission "even though it be a cross that raiseth me".  

Also, Felipe foi batizado [was baptized] last Saturday!!!!!!! WWOWW, it was seriously sooooooo  powerful!!!!  I have one last super cool experience to share.  The day before the baptism, I was studying about the Holy Ghost, nao sei porque [I don’t know why] but I felt like studying it and I found a part in the book True to the Faith that talked about the tupes [roles] of the Holy Ghost. tipo, the power, the gift, and the Holy Spirit of Promise.  I never knew about the Holy Spirit of Promise before but I was reading about it and it said that it’s the presence of the spirit or the confirmation of the spirit during a saving ordinance that confirms that this was acceptable to God for this life and the in the eternities. entao e [So this is] very important.  I thought “Wow this is soooo interesting.” Super interesting. but then at the baptism, the member baptizing him said the begining of the prayer wrong so they had to redo the prayer and then he messed up the name and so he reprayed. but then he did it right the third time and Felipe was baptized.  I felt the spirit soooo strong.  I KNEW right away that was the Holy Spirit of Promise, that this ordinance that took place, that this saving ordinance was acceptable to God and that Felipe now is a member of the true Church of Jesus Christ and that was such a testimony builder for me. 

Also, his mother and sister attended the baptism and they definitely felt the spirit and came to church the next day and are super interested now.   We will be teaching them tonight and I’m suuuper excited because i have a huge testimony that the elite are connected.  I know that they are so prepared because of Felipe and that this is one step closer to them receiving an eternal family. 

I’m so grateful for this gospel, for this opportunity to be on a mission and to be a missionary, to learn and grow every single day.  I am so excited to be training and to learn so much from my companion and from this experience.  I know that Heavenly Father is so aware of our every need, that He really does understand our potential and what we need to reach it.  I know that this is the His true church here on the Earth. that through this gospel, we can truly have real happiness and our families can be together forever. 

I love you all and am sooo grateful for you all! 

Muuuuuuuch love e muitas oracoes [and many prayers] your way!!!]]

Love, Sister Yoshimoto]

ps. I received the talks and letter from you!! Obrigadaaaaa [thank you]!! Love youuu"!!!]