First of all.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSICA!!!!!!! my lovely, sweet, hilarious, hardworking, gorgeous sister!!! I cannot believe that you are going to be 17. That freaks me out!!! WHERE IS TIME GOING??? I love you and admire you and hope you know how much I do think about you!! You have one proud sister here down in Brasil! Stay strong, you are an example and light to all those around you!!
Happy Birthdays to Tresa Stone, Tiffany.. or should I say Sister Nallion and Emily Bishop! I love you girls!!!
So this week we had some wacko weather! There was one day where I wore a sweater because it was a little chilly! What a blessing! The next day I sweat like a pig. On Thurdsay the morning started out nice... then it got realllllly hot. All sweating, walking the streets of Maringá we stopped to talk to a man playing with his baby daughter. In the middle of our conversation the sky turned dark with clouds and strong winds began to blows and whirl like a tornado was coming... not really but they were crazy! We couldn't open our eyes because of all the dirt being blown. Marainga has tons and tons of trees and branches were falling and leaves were swirling. I wish you would have seen us. All the dirt was stuck to us because we had been sweating hahahah. It was so gross. Then not long after the was a DOWN POUR of rain. We were literly soaked. But we still made it on time to the church to run an activity. What a day it was!
Today is more normal, which is nice. Hot, but normal. :) I hope you are all enjoying your chilly, maybe snowy, Christmas season! Like I said, there are tons of trees here. One cool thing they do here is put Christmas lights in all the trees! It is so pretty! At night I feel the Christmas Spirit:) haha Time is winding down until Natal! I am so excited to skype!!! I will be skyping from a members home onChristmas Day. I still don't know where that will be though, because we have transfers next week. So If I get transfered I will be in a new city and have to let you know... But if I stay here I think we will be at Irmã Devanirs house. We will see.
This week during studies sister Sedgwick and I had a very interesting study on Obedience. We talked about how God is obedient. If God did not obey natural laws... he would cease to be God. That is why we can always trust that God will keep his end of a promise and that all natural things, intelligences (plants and trees) have a natural way they must obey. If God disobeyed these intelligence would not have an honest creator and would rebel. (this is coming from a talk we have been reading) In this life we are all trying to become like God by doing our part here on earth to prepare. What is our part? To live the Gospel of Jesus Chirst. What is the Gospel of Jesus Chirst? Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End.
Enduring to the End means continuing to keep the commandments the Lord has given us. We do this though obedience. Obedience is the most important thing we can learn to understand how our Heavenly Father works. He is a Just God. We read all about Justice and Mercy in the scriptures. God is Just, because he obeys these natural laws. But he is also a loving Heavenly Father. God could not save us in our sin, or he would be disobeying the natural law of consequences for our actions. This is why our Savior, Jesus Christ, is essential in the Plan of Happiness and Salvation.
Because God loves us, he sent His Begotten Son. Christ understood the plan and the need for a Savior and offered himself. If Christ had not suffered and died for us we would not have the ability and opportunity to repent and be freed from sins... in this natural state. Without Chirst we could NOT return and live with God again. God's Plan is Perfect and he DOES loves EACH one of his Children. So He sent His Son to Atone for our sins, so that we have the opportunity to prove ourselves and return to live with Our Heavenly Father again in the Celestial Kingdom.
I know that Jesus Chirst Lives, and that we, will live again, too. I know that life is hard, but that is how it is suppose to be. Trials are opportunities to grow; to accept the Atonement of our Brother and Savior Jesus Christ, and to humble ourselves, and repent, taking one more step closer to our home in Heaven.
I know that we are children of God and that we have a purpose here. I know that our purpose is to learn these things.. learn the plan of salvation and what we need to do everyday to be happy. Then our job is to turn and teach others how to have this everlasting joy and peace of knowing that we have a plan.
I love being a missionary. I love feeling the love of our Father in Heaven for his children here. I know this Gospel is true and that priesthood power, the power and authority of God, is here again on the earth, blessing our lives. I love you all and pray that you will feel of the Love of our Savior and Heavenly Father and turn to those you love and share it with them. This is a great work that we have to do. But we are not alone. The Lord said that all the House of Isreal will be gathered before Christ comes again. HIS WILL BE DONE. He cannot lie. We are the servants, fulfilling this prophecy. What a privilege to live at this time.
Thank you for your love, support, and examples. You are in my prayers. Have a wonderful week! I invite you to look for opportunities to be someone else's miracle this week:) Love you!
Love, Sister Rachel Edwards
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