2 Months in Brazil WOOP WOOP!
As of yesterday I've been in Brazil for 2 months!!! It honestly feels like I've been here for forever and ever amen, but it's still weird to put a time stamp on it. This week was leaps and bounds better than last week. The language is still hard, but I'm learning to rely on the resources I've been given and it's coming! I think I can honestly say that I'm starting to love this place! I love love love the families that we teach and that are in our ward as well, nothing beats the feeling of a Christ-centered home!
Now for a miracle. We asked our Zone leaders to come teach a lesson with one of our investigators that's struggling particularly. We're waiting at the bus stop for them, and when the bus pulls up I see this super blond white guy on the bus. Huh, that guy is definitely American, I wonder what he's doing here. PLOT TWIST- he's a missionary!! Turns out our zone leaders where on splits (where the switch companions from a different area for a couple days). So this elder gets off the bus and goes "Hi Sister Rosenberg, you're the new missionary from Texas right?" WOAH. He might as well have been wearing a white robe and singing Hallelujah cause I swear this elder was an angel for a second there. Anyways, that was the first conversation that I've had in English in it feels like FOREVER! I forgot what it feels like to converse with someone and not have your brain exploding from the effort. WOW.
We had a number of really spiritual lesson this week and some successful references, which was AWESOME! Another cool thing, I extended my first baptismal invitation on my own without the help of Sister De Dato..... and he said YES!! Hallelujiah from the heavens once again, let's just hope he follows through!!
This week I read an AMAZING talk by Lawrence E. Corbridge called The Fourth Missionary. In it he says "Every challenge you face, every hard thing you confront, every bad thing that happens to you, every unfairness, every conflict, every sadness, every tragedy, every disappointment and heartache, every temptation and every opposition happens for one purpose only: to give you opportunity to respond." It reminded me of something that my Dad quoted or said that goes something like " There is a space of time between action and reaction; and in that space is where growth occurs." There are so many things in this world that are out of our control, but the one thing that is in our control is how we respond! There can be so much growth as we choose to take a breath, and respond with more charity, patience, courage, or whatever else you need to work on. I'm so grateful for the opportunities we all have to respond and therefor grow every day!
Keep smiling, love you guys!!
Muito Amor, Sister Rosenberg
Belief is the reason we go on a mission. It is the motive for preaching about Christ and sharing/Proclaiming his love. Faith is understanding we are children of God and our Heavenly Father. May this defined and explained and Meaning of faith bless you in your life. Faith is defined again and because faith has an inherent joy it gives us a solid foundation that we finally have the peace we have been searching For.
ReplyDelete"Many believer's feed themselves on what God hasn't done. When I dwell on what hasn't happened, I create the atmosphere for the spirit of offense to arise and to thrive. When I dwell on what hasn't happened, I legitimize unbelief. I live with a sense of justification, for not believing God.
Faith in the purest sense is the ceasing of resistance. even when there's no physical evidence, when the other evidence is present. Not feeding ourselves on what God hasn't done Faith in it's purest form is the absence of resistance
Heaven is a place where everyone is celebrated, some are more honored but everyone is celebrated. All men and all women shall be judged on the light which they have received. Heaven is a permissible culture. God's nature is eternally permissible. These statements protect us from credit.
Faith in the purest sense is the ceasing of resistance, even when there's no physical evidence, when the other evidence is present. Not feeding ourselves on what God hasn't done. Faith in it's purest form is the absence of resistance. Faith doesn't deny a problems existence, it denies it's influence. He or she was someone whom aridity and desolation never disturbed for he or she had a deeply rooted, and a vigorous faith.
Now we can act as we have always dreamed. Now we can act as we have always been. Now we can step into the light and gather the sunlight instead of blocking out our possibilities. Instead of blocking out our joy. Variety will bloom in/under the sun. We can show off our best, we can enjoy other people's gifts. We can blossom where we stand upon the joy that faith provides us. Upon the joy that faith inherently has, which blossoms the entire field of flowers"
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDYaxabUfkA - The Definition of Faith