Letter #14 This Life Is All About Converting

Hello!!!!
familia and everyoneeee!
first off congrates tucker!!! england thats great your going to love it! Study your scripsture a ton right now before you leave thats one thing i wished I did more! I treasure study times in the morning there just isnt enough time to study everything you want to out here.
Im glad to hear everything is going well. Amber thanks for the letter.. im happy you are finished with your class you will have to show me all the cool stuff you learned when im home and no mother how could i forget the second best holiday with tons of food ha i wish they celebrated it here ha. Someone said they saw my package at the office so I will hopefully get in a week or so. I got your conference one you sent but nothing else so far. It takes forever to get anything cause everything is at the office so you have to wait until an elder can get it to you. So next week is zone conference so ill get it then its our christmas conference too. Im excited but kind of nervous at the same time. Conferences are lots of practices and I still struggle with the language at times but wow have i been blessed when it comes to the lord filling my mouth. sometimes I walk away from a lesson and turn to my comp and say what did i say and we both start laughing.
well this week has been great. its been different getting used to teaching with three but im starting to like it now. I love having a brazilian companion and an american its been helping so much! It forces me to speak portugues 24/7. My companions are great i want to take a moment and talk about sister dias. love her. she is a hilarious brazilian from salvador. Her favorite color is purple i started to notice it the third day her entire wardrobe is purple hah her bag is purple even her scripture covers are purple ha. She loves to file her nails she will whip out her nail filer in a middle of lesson sometimes hah, she is terrified of dogs and never gets hungry after lunch. When i tell her im hungry around 7 she thinks im lying ha and its a mental thing. so our shower broke this week and its been really rainy so the water is literally freezing! and she didnt really care to fix it cause well she is brazilian and she likes cold showers haha but we fixed yesterday i finally feel clean. and sister hunsaker well she is great. she is always there to comfort me when she can tell when im a frusturated with the language, she knows how to cook and is always way positive. I always say things like vamos seguir o espirito when were just standing there or waiting for something.. it means lets go and follow the spirit they always laugh at me but i hate wasting time i even like to knock two to three doors at a time and sister dias made me stop. I just want to be as productive as possible.
okay some stories... did i talk about richelle michelle and richellem ya confusing.. they live alone basically in a house near a creek with no father and a mother that works all day. they raise themselves and they are the ages between 8 and 13. they are so cute. two of them are baptized and i gave them a little message about nephi and his faith to obey the lord and i related to obeying your mother and helping out and going to church.. during my lesson richelle the girl grabbed my hand sanitizer and ate it! she said doce! which means sweet ahah i quickly grabbed it from her ha and said no this not food. she was confused and wanted more. i love the little kids here. as for carlos he is great! i told him he was going to teach us about the preisthood next time we met so we showed up and he wrote 5 full pages of notes he took. legitmate. i am so proud of him and he got a job! he is super excited for his new life and cant wait to get the power of the aaronic priesthood soon. we went to his house last night and he wasnt there so well catch up with him hopefully today but i love watching his life change in a matter of weeks all it is. is first desire and then faith that the lord will bless when you follow him and keep his commandments. and yesterday was the first time i gave the first vision. i have had it memorized for a while but was always really nervous to give. so the story is we were walking on the street and i saw an opening to go into a aptmt complex i ran in and someone shut the door behind us so we were stuck until we find someone to teach. rose was the only one in the entire complex that let us in. the spirit was super strong. the moment we started she bore her soul to us about all her problems in her life and how much she needs god in her life to help her. i didnt understand all of it but we were all trying to listen carefully to the spirit to tell us what to say. i felt the spirit the whole time during the lesson and it was my turn. i finally got the courage and uttered the words of our prophet joseph smith. i completly blanked my comps kept having to tell the the next word of the next sentence but i felt the spirit so strong she started to cry and of course i did too. i dont even remember what i said but it was definitly not me. when sister dias started talking about baptism i thought for sure she would accept... she said she would have to talk to her pastor... baffled i didnt know what to say. one word. agency. as missionaries our work is exhausting not because of the hills or the walking but because of our love for the people the wieght we feel for them and the love we want them to feel through the only true church on the face of the earth. we work hard to stay worthy, teach, feel the spirit, teach by the spirit and then put it in the lords hands and when your work doesnt show it puts you down. i just have to remember that even if they dont accept its the seed we plant in thier hearts. this life is all about our own conversion. in matthew 10:33-42 it talks a little bit about this. i was reading it this morning and our greatest love needs to be toward our heavenly father nothing or no one comes before him, he that taketh not his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.. he that findeth his life shall lose it and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. in part of what amber was saying to me in her letter its true as a misisionary you feel like you have to keep converting people.. this life is all about converting. we well all never be fully converted until our savior comes again. the lord gives us weaknesses not to bring us down but to recognize he can pull you up. i love this work. its hard, rewarding, exhausting, but its something i wake up every morning excited to do. we are all missionaries.. lets go to work..

i love you all
Sister Corbin

Letter #13 Perservere Until the End

oi!

Hello everyone!
Another week has gone by.. its so crazy, its going by really fast, the days are long but the weeks are fast its wierd ha. okay sooo it was transfers today! i am not with sister clement anymore, she is going home today. she asked for a second transfer but the president told her it was her time to go on monday so we were rushed to help her pack and get everything ready. I am going to miss her so much, she has been such a good example to me and well miss all our crazy times together. Okay i gave her a few things to take home. so lauren she is going to contact you in utah and give you stuff hah i told her to look you up on facebook. i gave her my x rays from the doctor so taylor can look at them. its inflammation which we basically already knew and they told me to take motrin everyday for two to three weeks ask taylor if he thinks this a good idea. i also gave her my watch and some jewlery, jeans and the recorder for christmas. you are on file c and lauren yours is on file d i hope this all makes sense but she will contact you guys this week probably. I am STAYING IN VENDA NOVA and i got two new companions! sister dias is brazilian and this is her last transfer and sister hunsaker she has been out for 6 months. its perfect because i will be forced to talk portuguese all the time and if i dont know what sister dias says i can turn to sister hunsaker. the lord is blessing me all the time. its perfect the way everything has worked out and i love venda nova the people here are so great. so i am excited ill let you know how teaching with three is that might be the hardest part. also i havent gotten any packages yet they might be at the office but i went last week and they werent there. thats okay im patiently waiting... before i forget. EMMy i got your invitation so cute!! congradulations i wish i was there for your day but you know i love you and do some of my dance moves for me ha.so this week alot has happened. remember nadia from last week well we still havent found her she disappeared off the face of the earth so we have given up on her... sometimes when a persons feels the spirit and then denys it there is nothing else you can do but pray for them. but carlos was baptized!!!! i love carlos he is so great!! on friday for his interview he didnt show up so we ran to his house and he was throwing up.. he fell and drank last night and was super sick that morning. he felt horrible and way embarrassed he went to the interview and said i cant live my life like this anymore i need to change i want to get baptized and then saturday (being an ex drug addict) this kid came to him and asked him to buy him drugs and he would pay him too and he said no i am getting baptized tomorrow in the church of jesus christ of later day saints and shut the door ahah he is so great. the baptism was great and his whole family is interested now they read the book of mormon together everyday. its such a priveledge to see peoples live change day by day striving to live the principles of the gospel. carlos is the perfect example of this. we also have an investigator right now named christiane she is already in 2nephi 28 crazy! she has had the bom for a week. her life is really hard she has two children with not job but wants to have a better life...but sometimes people can be funny too. nelio is a man we baptized my first week in the field and he has yet to be confirmed so everyday me and sister clement would go to his house and he wouldnt be there. so on monday we went and his window was open and he was sleeping so we yelled his name he kind of woke up and pretended to fall back asleep we stood there at the window 10 feet from him yelling at him to wake up haha. he was pretending to not hear us i grabbed a little rock and hit his leg and did all i could to get his attention bird noises included. after 20 min we left, sometimes people will do anything to run away from you ha
brazil is still amazing the work has just begun. i love you all, stay strong, the church is true, this life isnt always easy for if it was there would be no point, perservere until the end thats what we do

a little love from brazil
sister corbin
ps i am still not used to the hills here they are crazy my chicken legs/calves want to explode after everyone ha
ps mom i am still getting bit but not as bad. i need off asap
pss people that want to send me packages i would love simple things haha like peanut butter, cliff bars, food is good aha bc here its expensive and the candy isnt the best. pens are great and sticky pads. whatever is great! i will think of more next week
mom- no there will be no skyping but i prob go to a members house or go to the church and use a members phone and we only can talk for about 45 min or so i think. i hope i am answering all your questions

thank you for all the emails even though i cant email back i like to get them!! mail is good too.:)

Letter #12 Full of Miracles

FAMILIA
tudo bem?

wow there is always so much to say... i wish my journal could be an email home to everyone because so much always happens that i dont get to write it all. It sounds like everyone is doing great! Mandyyyy killing it at manager!!! yay. Amber how is the make up classes? Brenan you getting A´s yet? dad im happy to hear about the device..december?

okay i want to share three stories with you all this week.
first one is about a random house we came to not in our area. So we got a random contact at a bus station, tried to find their address, they lied and so we got lost ha.. it happens. so we found ourselves not in our area and really confused. we thought we would just knock some doors anyway. we walked down a street and clapped at the second house. a boy 14 years old, gustavo and his dad were home and we taught them the first lesson. gustavo felt the spirit and wanted to be baptized but the dad was a little iffy about it. so we came back the next day and we taught them again with the mom. the lesson went well and gustavo said he went on the sight and started reading the bom but the parents werent interested. he speaks english and after the lesson he looked at me and said hey can i talk to you. i waslike whatttt okay yes of course i knew it was serious cause his parents dont speak english. we went outside and he said i have this friend that is getting into drugs and some bad stuff and i have been praying for about a week to find someone to help me with him.. can you help me? i said what! yes we can where does he live.. he lives outside our area so we gave him the elders phone number to call. then i realized okay wait what... we are an answer to your prayers. i took the opportunity to speak in english to let him know how much his heavenly father loves him to send him his answer. i said this is not our area we got lost and you were the first house we knocked on. he started to get tears in his eyes and i said i know you know the church is true. he was really humble and recognized the spirit. god puts us in the right place and most of the time we wont even know it.
okay this story is about carlos. we met him on the street and marked for a lesson. we taught him and his mom. carlos has alot of problems, he smokes, drinks, and is into major drugs. the first time we prayed together he held his right arm and started yelling. it was so wierd i didnt know what to do. i guess ever since he was little he has a problem with prayers he gets a shock in his arm. he is always really nervous and twitchy. we taught them the first lesson and both accpeted to be baptized. the next lesson there was no screaming and they both accepted to obey the word of wisdom. the mom loves us she always makes us eat. carlos came to church with us out of the 11 people that promised to come he was ready to go at 8 am. he is so solid now! i love watching his progression. he stopped using drungs hasnt drank since weve met with him and we committed him to stop smoking. to help him we had a fhe with the bishop. he loved it and was talking about how the atonement can help him with his prob with smoking and at the end he said i want to eat alot bc im going to fast to help me stop smoking cause i made a promise to god and these two sisters to stop. wow he is soo legit. i love finding those that are truly prepared to change. he has been a blessing and we cannot wait for his baptism on sunday. o and also my companion forgot to tell me that everyfast sunday the missionarys are supposed to bear their testimony..o great ha i went up there and said all i could and yes i shed a few tears ha and during one of our lessons he said sister corbin i appreciated your testimony yesterday i know that god will bless you i have faith he will bless you to speak portugues. he said i feel like you are so smart and have so much to stay and i know the lord will bless you so you can tell brazilians how you feel. did i mention that i love carlos... and a week ago he was a drug addict.
next story is nadia. nadia is a women that was taught about a month ago by the last sister missionaries. she accepted to be baptized but bailed and was super flakey with them afterwards. so they stopped trying well we ran into her again this week and she asked us to come back. she said you two are an answer to my prayers i told heavenly father if i saw them again or they came back to my house they were thy servants and of course we went and taught her on friday and she accepted again to be baptized. then on saturday we had strong feeling to ask her to be baptized on sunday. she had already gone to church a few times in the past and she could be baptized right away. we said a pray right before and felt the spirit again to ask her. we were both really nervous bc she only knows the first lesson basically. so we were talking around it a little and then bam sister clement with a stern voice said we dont normally do this but we want to invite you to be baptized tomorrow, for some reason the spirit is telling us to tell you. a small pause the room was filled with the spirit, tears filled in her eyes and she said yes.. yes. i felt the spirit so strong and so did sister clement there was no way anyone could deny it. we were all so happy and we started teaching her right away and then the elder called ten min later and we asked for a batismal interview and we said can you go to the church right now and she said i have to be back by 7 it was 545 we said no prob.. we had no idea if there was a way for her to get back by 7 but we had faith. the elders arrived right on time and there happened to be people at the church with a car that offered to take her. it worked out perfectly. we were so excited for her but as soon as you get a high you have to be prepared for a low. nadia didnt show up to church, her baptism nor was home when we called or went to her house. we were stunned. we finally got a hold of her monday and she had some doubts and was on some sights and she said she didnt want to be baptized anymore. and at that moment i dont know what i said but i started to speak. i said did you not feel the spirit on sat? this is what the lord wants for you.. of course satan wants to temp you bc he knows this the true church. i dont know if she understood all that i said but she accepted to keep studying with us and have her baptism this saturday.
this work is all about faith. we do all we can to teach people by the spirit help them feel the spirt and change their lives for the better. but sometimes i forget people have what we call AGENCY we can help people feel the spirit but they can chooose to ignore it. this week was full of miracles. i have felt the saviors love for this people more then i ever have before. everytime someone doesnt except i try to imagine how the savior felt when he was rejected when he was here. i only feel 1/10000 of the love he feels for these people. i just want them to know that they have the kingdom down thier street they can live with thier family forever and that god has a plan for you... its so SIMPLE AND PERFECT why doesnt every single person want this? i just have to put full faith in the lord and he will take care of me and everyone else according to his will and his plan. sometimes i wish i knew the plan ha
this scripture is great 1 nephi 21; 15-16 also in isiah. our heavenly father will and cannot ever forget you.

i love you all
ate semana proxima]
sister corbin
ps sorry for the randomness of this weeks email
pss lauren or abby or someone tell scott barth that i am with elder santiago he is sooo legit! he is the companion of our zone leader and see him like three times a week, he is doing great.
psss mom i might send home my recorder with sister clement bc its super expensive to ship home so ill keep you posted on that. ill keep lookking for your packages and to answer some questions yes i carry around snacks i have a somewhat washer no dryer there is a big market where i get food so everything is good for now i love you!

Letter #11 GET OUT OF THE WAY!

Familia!!!
wow so much to say like usual! Im excited to get your little packages mom. I sent you a letter in the mail with my camera chip it will prob take 15 days i hope it doesnt get lost or anything, my comp is making me nervous bc sometimes her mail doesnt get home, so let me know as soon as you get it. oh ya is there anyway you could send me a little english bofm like mini mini? also i would love to hear from the family.. aka amber?blake?amanda?bren? what is going on in thier lives....

I am getting eaten ALIVE, the bugs love me here!!! i spray off, have a fan, use a blanket and i finally broke out the net bc it was getting ridiculous ha but im proud to report two days with no bites well so far. but i love brasil, the culture again is amazing, there is always little kids on the street playing soccer and i always want to play with them ha everyone has a little baby... everyone. and they are all so cute! i hate the dont play with or hold babies rule just makes me think of little daners and zoe. o and i played the uke with this little boy walking home the other night, it was great! i miss my uke.
okay so i went to the hospital today and last friday.. dont freak out everything is fine, my shoulder has just been hurting from my backpáck so i got some tests done to see what they can do, i hopé it helps.

okay so this week has been full of ups and downs like crazy. ill start by explaining juliana. i dont remember if i told you about her much but she is great.. we have been teaching her for a while now and she was supposed to get baptised this last sunday. she is 22 and she is basically an orphane she has been passed around as a child to about 4 different foster familys. she stopped going to school so she could work for her family, so whenever we met with her we had to read the book of mormon wiht her so she could understand it. last friday her brother came in and we were teaching him the commandments and she was totally on our side telling him what to do and what not to do. he started feeling the spirit and i told him that we were representatives of jesus christ here to help you and sister clement decided we should all say a prayer to ask for the truth and then bam! door opened sprit gone= satan. one thing about brazil is that it is soooo loud and everyones home is just an open party. then on saturday was her interview she seemed different when she left the interview. our elder said that he still felt that she could be baptized. soo all day we were anxious to find out what happened to her as we were tracting we got shut down by everyone. person after person said no and by the time we got to julianas house she told us that she didnt want to be baptized anymore. my heart was broken. i have never wanted anything more for anyone else before. i was starting to love her, i saw her grow, i saw her change and in one day she said she didnt want it. as we left i tried to brush it off but it was my first time my first real progressing investigator denyed me and christ. my companion is great and said well we need to keep working and went to a door and then got turned down again. by now my spirit was really low. it was then time to go to camilas house, camila is 17 got baptized my first sunday and is soooo great! we were talking about what she read in the bom and she said i ran across the scrip that i wanted to share with you it was 3 nephi 28;34. it says the people that dont except the servants of the lord dont except christ and wont surely accept him at the last day. me and sister clement looked at each other and laughed bc camila was an answer to our prayers. this week i have been praying for dilligence and sometimes the lord wants to test our faith too to see how were doing with trusting him and his work. not shortly after camilas house we went to a house and marked 2 new baptismal dates. the lord tests us everyday, its simple we just need to have faith in him that he is leading us on the right path.

Elder Bednar was this friday and it was AMAZING! he is sooo great!. the first thing he said to us was this is not a meeting are you ready to work... i almost peed my pants i was thinking what is he going to make us do. he turned the meeting into an experience. i have never felt the spirit so strong. he knows how to be funny, normal and obedient without loosing the spirit. he talked mostly about faith and how we are agents and not objects. we are agents that need to act in faith and GET OUT OF THE WAY of the spirit. we are not the teachers at all, simply instruments in the lords hands. we have to go with confidence, and let the spirit guide you. he said dont worry about it, trust that he is leading you with out always telling you. just be good if your doing your best your steps will be guided and most of the time you wont even know it.
this happened to me yesterday actually i just had a feeling to go down a street and then i got the impression to knock or clap ha at this specific door. we taught a grandma and her neice they both accpeted to be baptized and were excited to keep teaching them. the spirit isnt loud or something noticable, you just have to follow the little things. most of the time investigators are wating for a big sign and i tell them it wont ever come. sometimes in our lives we expect that too. we just have to faith, everything comes down to this priniciple more and more that i think about it. its hard to be as positive as you dad! you have more faith then anyone i know, im trying to become like you and think of what you would say in situations... i miss you. i love you all, the language is yes still hard, but trusting the lord to fill my mouth is all i have right now. Have faith - elder bednar

love
sister corbin


ps mom i met sister ward for like 5 secs
pss lauren tell emmy to send me an invite to her wedding!
psss taylor pollei - what is the verdict on the leg situation me and my comp are dying to know!!!!