June 30, 2014-True Happiness
Dearest people
One thing that brings me happiness?
Is not eating figs.
Is not eating figs.
Another thing that brings me happiness?
NOT Being chased by dogs. OH how I have lost my love of dogs. Dogs aren´t nice to missionaries. They like to jump up and try do bite of your ears through little square rectangles in the front doors. Naturally, you scream hystarically in the middle of the road and your companions laugh as you are trying to not have a heart attack..... I dont ever want to have a dog. #Iunderstandnowmom!
Another thing?
Reading Judges 3:17 and then laughing... the people of judges judging.
Happiness.
Pure happiness.
For me?
GIving all I have, everything I am for a person or a cause. And in return that person/cause progressing and moving foreward. Literally becoming an instrument.... a servant.
"Should we not be motivated by desire to give ourselves, and all we have and are to the Lord and to HIS work? Shall we not aspire to be a servant?"
Mark 10:43-44
Its a funny concept. TO give and sacrifice,
To let go without waiting, hoping, or expecting anything in return.
To let go without waiting, hoping, or expecting anything in return.
And thus you are freed.
I guess it is something that you must learn through experience. Or through expirimenting! Giving all that you have and are.
literally
and the miraculous, freeing, soul-filling joy.
the unexplicable, unbelievable, heart-breaking, sing-song song.
We have each been placed in a certain situation for a certain reason. And why?
Why are we where we are?
What do you want to do with what you have been given?
why?
are those personal desires or divine disires?
what can you do to change that?
what will you do to change?
I love being a missionary.]
If you have the opportunity.
SERVE A MISSION.
SERVE A MISSION.
if it is the Lord's will.
p.s. MOM! I LIKE TOMATOES! can you believe it? Now we can be the only 2 people in our family feasting on the red fruit.
TO STUDY!
"only in loosing yourself, you may find yourself
only by enriching others, may you be enriched,Ezekiel 36: 26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
1 cor 1: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1 cor 2: 9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
job 5:17 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:
18 For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.
yesssssssssssssssssssssssss
Just real quick: I am satill in Atibaia, in a trio, my new companion is set to arrive next tuesday! and we are still taking care of Atibaia 1and Atibaia 2 on foot #superfun #alotofwalking
Tuesday. It was our first time doing prosylyting in this area. JARDIM BROGOTÁ. After visiting a few people in a neighberhood, and finding a whole lot of empty houses, we realized that our time was running short and at 5:00 had to make it back to the main city.
And thus, when the ônibus passed by, the three of us hopped on and we were well on our way.... to Boa Vista? What? WHERE ARE WE? WHY IS THE ONIBUS NOT STOPPING? why are there so many cows? Wow... this place doesnt have street names and the roads are made of grass.... Do we have mountains in our area? PEOPLE!!!! this is a classic go-back-in-time case of the weeber geebers!
And thus we found ourselfs on the outskirts of the atibaian world, where no missionary I AM SURE had ever set foot.
Unfortunately, we had no time to explore, or call people to repentance because we had a meeting.... in 20 minutes...
Thus we paid our ônibus driver (again) for the return trip, and enjoyed the strange, long, bumpy ride back to the center of Atibaia.
The good luck? THe bus passed right by where we had to teach, and so we were only like 5 minutes late!
The Even better luck? I SAW LIKE FIVE BAJILLION COWS.
thats the best.
There is a story of a Lost sheep. Many of you probably have heard it, But Sister Remund shared it with me... and I just.... yeah... You just have to hear it.
The pastor loved his herd. His greatest joy and fullilment was seeing all of his sheep fed, happy, and together. He spent His days walking along the mountains, roaming about the great creations, with those, his precious fluffy ones.
But there was one sheep that didnt really like to be with the herd. He was a self-proclaimed adventurer. In fact. He loved to go in the opposite direction. The opposite EVERYTHING! When the Pastor instucted the herd to go one way, he would happily turn about and go in the opposite.
When the Pastor explained why, that little sheep liked to hum a song and not listen.
The Pastor was always having to keep a careful eye on that little rascal.
That is until one morning, they were climbing a large mountain, and the pastor instructed to "keep on! you can do it! It will be worth it at the top, you´ll see " (there was a whole lot of green grass up there)
And that little sheep thought "Im tired. My legs are so small. I cant do this... or at least I dont want to." So he turned around and sneakily snuck off, around the mountain into the valley below.
The Shepherd cried when He saw that one of his precious sheep was lost.
Weeks passed by
But He continued searching, circling, and calling that sheeps name.
That sheep "rebelde" had gotton himself in a sticky situation. After a few nights alone on the prairie he had found himself in the midst of a group of rose bushes. Turns out rose plants arent that delicious, and they are... kindof painful.
(good thing the sheep had a lot of hair....(its hair isnt it... or is it fur?))
But anyway, he found himself quite stuck in the midst of these catcher-plants.
He thought...
" well good thing, there is grass here! I will still survive, and live happy, Ill take care of the situation in the morning...."
But all so quickly he noticed that his hair was getting bushier. Every day it got harder to move, and he got hungrier and hungrier.
Until that little lamb started to cry.
He was desperate. He had realized his sad situation. Life was.... impossibly alone. He was alone. and he was hungry.
A thought came in his mind.... "the pastor" ......
He called. And called. Cried, and bleated.
And the master heard the call.
Came to His little sheep and cried with joy.
He cut the little one´s hair, carefully, and patiently, and set the little sheep free.
They rejoiced together.
And ate a lot of grass.
The sheep, that is.
I think we all have a little bit of the rebel sheep in us. Sometimes its real easy to think (especially when we are happy and successful) that we know best, and we know what will make us happy. That we can procrastinate things.
But the reality of the situation? Alone, it is impossible to be happy. Alone, it is impossible to be free. And every day, things just get harder until we find ourselves literally stuck in ourselves.
Think about it.
He is always listening to hear our cry.
I LOVE YOU GUYS.
I am real happy here in Atibaia, we are running around a lot, talking to hundreds of people, and really being humbled by the good Pastor. I am learning patience, humility, love and about a bajillion other things.
But I am SOOO happy.
and may we listen when the He calls, and follow his ever-knowing guidance.
LOVEMEEEESEESTERMEETEW
Photos:
Our geladeira
Brushing my teeth
I forget which other one I chose heh
John 14: 3131 But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment , even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.
June 16, 2014-UPDATE OF JOY AND HAPPINESS AND LAUGHTER AND ENDLESS GOODNESS.
oh how can I put my gratitude into words?
But first things first
Story time is the best time
and thus.... STORIES FOR YAH
as we were leaving out apartment to go to our first appointments I was humming happily, the chinny chin song... You know.... "there was an old man named michael finnigan. He had whiskers on his chinnagin... they grew out and then grew in again, poor old michael finnigain BEGIN AGAIN!
and then the most genius thought popped into my head! I SHALL SING IT IN PORTUGUESE! and so I did....
turns out I accidentally said
"there was an old man named michael finnigan, he had hair on his cheese... which grew out and then grew in again... oh poor old michael finnigan. hahhahahaha
HAAHAHAHHA i died like the whole day imagining whiskery cheese.
We visited a reference named O, who lives alone in a super-sketch drug alleyway. She didn't let us in the first time, but we came back.... and after the second time, no one answering the door.... the 3rd time, she let us in explaining that she had felt something when we were talking with her at the doorstep... that " O senhor... me tocou. Tocou alguma coisa dentro de mim"
And so this time she let us in and we explained to her our purpose, and testified of jesus christ and got to know her. At the end she turned to sister Costa and said
"Oh i'm so good you´re here. I never understand anything that foreigners say.... they talk and i just nod my head and say "é mesmo?" (Seriously/really) and then she mimicked the situation right in front of us.
Sister Remund and I looked at each other and laughed quietly... but cried inside. I didn't know how to feel.... it was like a heartbreaking happiness. ha ha
Oh its good to be american, at least they feel the truthfulness of our words!
Oh an old man asked us if we had a "cartão de namorado" which basically means.... do you have a date card? I didn't know date cards existed...
And yes. the WORLD CUP has arrived. Due to safety issues, out mission president Advised that we all stay inside during the world cup and make the most of our 2 hour breaks.
I have never seen a city go up in flames like it did last week. We didn't even have to watch the cup to know who won....
Everything literally EVERYTHING shuts down and it is like this serene silence in the city... and the next minute its like... the world has ended.
The shouts an screams seem to erupt from the ground itself, rockets go off, people jump in there cars and make rounds beeping and screaming- with people hanging out of the windows waving flags. It is the most absurd, and yet most precious thing.
Brasil adora futebol.
I am now serving with sister Remund, and sister Costa, Sister cost has 3 months on the mission... and I have officially lived with sister Remund for the last 9 months of my life. how crazy.
and now thingsa to read and to study about the goodness of Go and the reality of our human situation!
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
“Christ says, ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come totorment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. Idon’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have thewhole tree down. … Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires whichyou think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked—the wholeoutfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: myown will shall become yours.’” (Mere Christianity, New York: Collier Books,1960, p. 167.)
21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created youfrom the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, bylending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according toyour own will, and even supporting you from one moment toanother—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yetye would be unprofitable servants.
22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep hiscommandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keephis commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he neverdoth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep hiscommandments he doth bless you and prosper you.
23 And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and grantedunto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.
24 And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hathcommanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately blessyou; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted untohim, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what haveye to boast?
Isaiah 41: 10
10¶ Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
(Luke can you make it pretty? I have no time heh heh)
And wise words from the Remundster
"Sé tudo dá mal consulte manual
S´se tudo da bem consulte também! "
basically.
If everything goes wrong, look at the manual.
If everything goes right look at the manual too.
Its a lot cooler in portuguese.
I LOVE YOU PEOPLE.
Me.
Seester Meetew
-brazilian birdie. he was trying to eat my neck..... real awkward feeling
-our mini celebration. Its not a shower cap.... its a brazilian world cup bag that looks like a shower cap
A whole lot of things, billions of emotions, and one little alissa.
Okay- can I resort to bulleting it?
-Sister Navarrette is on a plane right now.
-about 700 emotions and feelings and questions in my mind.
-Sister Ribeiro was transferred, and sister Remund STAYS.
-At the end of this transfer.... we will have spent 10 months together..... "missão sister Remund"
- we shall grab another missionary and stick in a trio for 3 weeks. Then we will split into 2 doubles as I "integrate/train" a missionary who is coming from the US.
- The three of us will be in charge of taking care of two areas (on foot) constructing two different teaching groups, and continue helping those who are progressing keep progressing!
-Yes for obstacles and crazy growth
- I MADE CARAMELIZED POPCORN AND IT DIDN'T BURN
I just wanted to share these wise words my mom sent me
"Not a chance that soggy noodles, burned marshmallows or lousy rice made anybody sick. God works in mysterious ways and there is a reason for everything. TRUST HiM!"
Thanks mom.
you are the BEST.
Next week is a story week people.
LOVE YOU.
-the 4 of us Atibaianers
JOGOS
