Family, I hope you guys are reading
the Ensign together. Sometimes when I read them, I feel like mom when she's eating
a good meal. I don't make yummy sounds, but I do catch myself making
"so true" sounds. This month's AND last month's main articles are
just awesome. And I don't know if they have this part in the Ensign, but
the Liahona had another awesome little tidbit that is pretty much just what Sao
Paulo needs to hear: http://www.lds.org/liahona/2013/02/we-need-christs-church?lang=eng.
It's about why we need the Church of Jesus Christ. You can probably count on
one hand the things that everyone has in common. If you ask me, that is one
reason why the Church of Jesus Christ is so important. Only The Church of Jesus
Christ is capable of uniting all of us nerds in peace. Our ward in Santo Andre is proof of that:
It's what made a 70-year-old recent
convert tell her lifelong friend and ex-drinking buddy that she wants to help
her quit drinking.
It's what made a Brazilian foreign
exchange student who went to the US feel right at home with her host family.
Her mom asked her, "Do you like the American culture?" Her
answer was, "I like the culture, but I don't think it's so much the
American culture that I like. It's this Mormon family's culture."
It's what made our WML [Ward Mission
Leader] press through a buttload of Brazilian red tape just to get an old man
with diabetes from his old folks home to the chapel for the second time. Sebastiao
was reluctant to go because he hates to be an inconvenience to anyone. But our
WML wouldn't have it: "There's a verse in the Book of Mormon that says
when you are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of
your God. I owe everything I am to my God. I want to serve Him. But
He's not physically here. So how am I gonna do that? By helping
friends like you. I want to do this. So please forget about the
inconvenience. Let's turn this page." He ended up not only
giving Sebastiao a ride to church, but serving him lunch and helping another
oldie with physical therapy. It reminded me of the guys in the New
Testament who cut a hole in the roof in order to help their paralytic friend
come unto Christ.
It's what made the sweet mom of a
boy with Down syndrome and leukemia forgive the ward leadership for not
visiting her and her son in the hospital during the three years that they were there.
As soon as she was able, she came back to church and even brought her
husband, Noel, with her. (His baptism is marked for next week!)
It's what made the ward leadership
apologize to this family and start visiting them at least three times every
week for the past month.
I love it!
Tell Aunt Lori thanks for the Jelly
Bellys. Okay, I'm not really sure what the Brazilians were more impressed
with: the actual Jelly Bellys or the Ziploc bags. But at any rate, they were a
big hit. And it gave them a chance to make fun of Americans and our
cooking habits. "Oh, you just toss two blueberries beans and a
buttered popcorn bean together, and vwalah (sp?), you've got a blueberry
muffin." They think Americans don't cook at all; that everything just
comes in cans...which isn't too inaccurate. These guys spend way too much
time cooking. As soon as they are done eating breakfast they've started
on lunch (the biggest meal).
Camila is still at her aunt's
house, hiding. What does she think? That she can hide from us?
Maybe. But from God? Nope, sorry. You don't get a time
out from accountability just because you're at your aunt's house. If you
ask me, every day is a judgment day. And every time we wait to do the
right thing, it gets harder to do that thing. Repentance becomes more and
more of a sacrifice. Until one day, "they who are righteous shall be
righteous still, and they who are filthy shall be filthy still." She
only has to take one look at her chain-smoking mother for proof of that. Come
back, Camila!
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