Letter #71 FELIZ ANO NOVO!!!

I love sour patch watermelon!!!

well my last phone call for my last transfer is this monday... well see what happens if ill leave, stay or have another comp. i have no idea what president has for me to do...

it was so good to talk to you all. sorry if you guys couldnt understand me. im glad everything went well.. what did you all do after church?

as for me we went to work after the phone call. The true meaning of christmas becomes a reality on the mission. we taught people with lots of presents under the tree, waiting anxiously to open, we taught others that had nothing and no one to share the christmas season with. the true meaning of christmas gets lost when we worry about presents and what we have to do to keep up with the world. for me a perfect x mas is to be with family, helping others and just enjoying each others presence.. you learn to appreciate your own family when your so far away from them. presents or no matter of money can replace a hug from a loved one. this has become something i have cherished.. i cant imagine the day we see and hug our savior and praise him for his ulitmate sacrifice for our salvation.. the lord loves us so much, the life we have on earth is short, he cant stand being away from us to long. thats why we got to make everyday count.

i was reading in the liahona that you gave me mom of general conference and i read president monsons talk for the preisthood... why does it seem like all the good talks are for the preisthood haha anyways he said:

"may we ever be courageous and prepared to stand for what we believe and if we must stand alone in the process, may we do so courageously, strengthened by the knowledge that in reality we are never alone when we stand with our father in heaven."

Remember:

"the heavens will not be filled with those who never made mistakes but with those who recognized that they were off course and who corrected thier ways to get back in the light of the gospel. The more we treasure the words of the prophets and apply them, the better we will recognize when we are drifting off course-even if only by a matter of a few degrees"

-president uchtdorf
i recieved this quote from a freind here too serving a mission in brasil.. this quote helps us remember how perfect we are not but how we can strive to always stay on course listening to the wise direction of our beloved prophets. i dont have much more to say this week other than another year has passed, another x-mas season, another year of life...

FELIZ ANO NOVO!! 2012 crazyyyy

time flys. the end.

até mais

com todo amor

Sister Corbin

Ps i forgot to tell you... my chacos have a whole!!! dont worry i super glued it. will see how long it will last. we got about a month or so to go..

funny story:

i forgot to tell this story two weeks ago... so our purpose is to help others come unto christ by faith, repentance, baptism..... ya so you have to pray to know if these things we are teaching are true.. we were teaching this family and the grandson, pedro, had alot of doubts and questions about the book of mormon. so we wanted to have a super spiritual moment right? so he can feel that it is true hahah... didnt happen. the grandma is with us during this lesson the whole time. we invited them to get on thier knees and pray. as we began to kneel the gma decides to kneel too, i told her it wasnt necessary but hey she wanted to. Right before pedro began to pray the gma gives out this loud shout "pedro im stuck!" i looked up and the gma was stuck in a wierd position on the coach hahah i lost it and so did sister barâo. the spirit left the room as pedro went to help his gma get up. hey, life happens... what can you do. the strong spirit we were hoping and praying for pedro didnt work out that night but theres always next time hahah

Letter #70 Feliz Natal! Unforgettable Week

FELIZ NATAL!!!

i cant believe it is christmas on sunday... the time is flying. ill look out for the xmas card mom. prob wont show up until jan or feb..

im excited to talk to you all on sunday!!! to bad its only 40 min but thats okay ill be home in a few days ahah i remember at my farewell dinner uncle dean said " its just a few weeks, you will be home in a few days" extreme but true hahah my time is running out and i still have so much to dooooo!!!

well this week was literally unforgetable. Where to begin, ill begin with the weather.. its been raining non stop! its the only city in brasil thats raining.. it was raining so hard it began to rain inside my umbrella.. yes, i still have the same umbrella. is it broken, rusty and have wholes, maybe. should i buy a new one, yes... will i?..hmmmm probs not. haha sister barão´s umbrella is cheap, she bought it on the street and hers started to rain inside too, our hair was wet and everytime we tried to make a contact, drops got into our eyes and we couldnt see ha good times. but it should clear up soon.

 I'm 23!!!!!

BIRHTDAY: the only thing i asked for for my birthday was a successful one and the lord blessed me with just that. i dont know if i told you about fatima and anderson..i think i told you how we found fatima, she is amazing. she had a testimony right away and knew that the lessons we taught were true. we found anderson saturday night knocking on doors, we invited him to come to church and later accepted to be baptized.. this whole week we prepared them both and later invited fatimas son erik to join the crew. he is 9 and is really smart.

sunday morning came and it was so rainy that some of our investigators decided not to get out of bed.. i didnt let it get me down bc i knew everything would work out with fatima and anderson. we went and picked them up and they were all ready to go. during sacrament meeting i noticed fatima started to cry.. i went over to her and gave her a hug during the last hymn she said " this must be the spirit huh?" with held back tears i testified to her that it was and that she would finally be in the true church of our father in heaven. the talks we we heard were amazing. the first counselor of the stake talked about who we can become. that when we go back to our heavenly father he wont ask us if we did all our things on our check list but he will ask how our check list helped us become who we are today... its so true sometimes we get caught up in our busy lifes we often forget the purpose of our doings... its to become better. (3nephi 27:27).

unfortunately the heater broke to make the font full of warm water... when erik entered he screamed haha and began to shiver it was sad but cute at the same time.. the members stayed and helped and sang a special hymn at the end.. later when we passed by fatima and erik we asked them how the baptism was.. erik told his mom that it was the happiest he has been since he can remember. fatima said she feels like she was floating the moment she came up out of the water... anderson said"i feel different but its a good feeling"...

it was a sunday afternoon that i will never forget, a birthday wish come true..
for lunch we ate at irmã sonias and she makes the best honey bread in the city.. they sang parabens and took a few pics so mom look out for an email from brother ronald..

I know for a fact that the lord hears and answers our prayers.. president monson said " the lord expects our thinking, he expects our action, he expects our testimonies, he expects our devotion"

i love this quote that explains why we keep our standards high and why we know how to battle lifes challenges that sometimes seem impossible to overcome.. its because the lord expects your best and you and him know when you give your all.. thats the secret. one lies when they know they lower their standards or not doing what the lord expects of them bc we are all his children and our spirit tells us constantly what to do..

im so grateful for the opportunity to serve and be here for one more christmas.. long from family, long from what i know but in reality these people are my family and they are what i know now...may the spirit of christ be with you for this wonderful sunday in rememberance of our lord our savior, jesus christ.

feliz natal!!!

te amo muito

até domingoooooo

com amor

Sister Aubree Corbin

Letter #69 A Day Never to Forget

THANKS MOMMY

i cant believe im turning 23!!! i feel old ahaha. THANKS GRANDMA!!! i will def use it here bc im looking for something to buy to come home.. my clothes are so warn out. okay i got three packages!! i got the ensign the medicine and the package for my birthday i think. it had a shirt, take fives, a nativity set! i opened it today and filmed it for you guys to see haha. i love getting packages on the missh.. am i missing a package still? i think one is missing still right?
so right before you asked about my date home we walked away from the lan house and an elder called and asked where i lived and i told him the neighborhood here in belo and he started to laugh and said no sister to go home... it was wierd to hear.i told him orange county airport. he was looking for a cheap flight and told me that the date is feb 15 so i think ill be home feb16. i dont know the times or anything so you can look online and seee what is coming in on feb 16 ill prob leave feb 15 late at night and wont arrive until night on feb 16 but i have no idea. so now you can start planning stuff if you want but im pretty sure thats when ill be heading home.
okay so christmas were going to be calling from a members house and we also just have sacrament but i told her you guys would call around 3 or 330 our time in brasil so what ever is better for you can choose and let me know bc i still dont know when
sent my foto chip to you last week so it should come in a week or two.
did you make a christmas card?
im still looking for a nativity set
dont worry that im going to eat açaí today im excited! its to celebrate my birthday. im going to miss açaí....
what are you plans for christmas? are you guys going to stay home? mandy and james will be there?
in brasil it doesnt feel too much like christmas the countdown has started and they are still setting up xmas decorations haha.. they have x trees but its about 1 foot tall. its completley different the atmosphere around xmas in the states..
i wish we could have this spirit of peace throughout the whole year.. im using the excuse of "its x-mas and we have a message to share about christ" it seems to be helping a little ha
Well the blessings came like they always do... sometimes i forget what i write in my letters i dont remember if i told you about bruna and juliano... they are family we found about a month after they got married. they were being taught by the missionaries and the elders told them that they had to get married to obey all the commandments.. little did i know the lord was preparing this family for us to find. we found them on monday, prepared them the whole week. they got baptized saturday and were confirmed on sunday. they have a cute one year old daughter named simara and i can see them going through the temple in one year. we were so blessed to teach them. ive never met a family litterally so prepared to follow the lord.
Heavenly father has been putting his elects in front of us..
we found a women named fatima on the street last thursday. i dont know how we started talking but we ended up talking about religion.. of course... she told us how firm she was in another church and didnt want to hear our message that she already heard from two missionaries in her home town two years ago. me being me said "sem problemas... whats your address well just say a prayer for ya" she accepted. We went there a few times until we finally caught her at home. she decided to open up to us and tell us everything about her life and how she has been confused since she was a child on what church is true. the first thing i did was give her the book of mormon. i said "read it" you will know what god has in store for you, IF you are willing to change... we came back the next day and she couldnt wait to let us in and tell us what happened. she read and prayed and got her answer. she told us she read in mormon 8:32-33 that explained about how there would be false churches and how you could know through the spirit. she told us that she never knew something so clear until now. we brought her to church sunday and she asked me if she could bare her testimony about the book of mormon and i said yessss you can.. she is amazing i love her.. were preparing her for baptism on my birthday the 18! which happens to be her birthday too. it will be a day never to forget.
theres also so many more stories i could tell but there never is enough time.. were teaching andrea who is maria inez´s daughter who would have been baptized this past sunday but the world got the best of her.. andrea was curious and told her mom to call us. we taught her the first lesson and with tears in her eyes she said "what is my first step?" i love when they want to know before the invite.. we invited her to be baptized on x mas and she is excited to know more...
When we want to know the truth we got to ask with an open heart and REAL intent.. thats the trick. Our heavenly father knows us, he knows if we would really follow him or not. so if the answer hasnt come, its because your not ready for his blessings.. when we listen to the spirit and do his will, our life becomes simple, it becomes full of peace and joy that can only be felt through the gospel of christ.
alma 13: 27-29 (pray continually)
this week also was full of hilarious stuff that happened to us
quick story of this cute gma that just wanted to talk talk talk talk so we just offered to say a prayer to leave. after the prayer she ran to the kitchen to get some bread or cookies to give us. (if you know this culture you know they are so nice you cant leave anyones house without eating or drinking something). to avoid the situation i ran to the door to leave, the gma ran after us on the street until we accepted some bread hahahah it was so funny, i guess you had to be there but i dont think sister barão and i stopped laughing for a long time. even at door contacts i couldnt keep it together... got to love brasil
well i love you all! ]
so i decided those that know me can do the following on my birthday or the saturday before. put on some 80´s music... eat a little golden spoon and if you feel like it, go on a del run to eat a churro for me :)
até mais
com amor
Sister Aubree Lyn Corbin

Letter #68 Submit Yourselves (James 4:10)

im feeling stronger, yes. yay im glad you got my x mas cards already hahah i thought i should send something. im going to send the chip today, last week we arrived at the post office two min late and wouldnt let us send anything.

ive been trying to buy stuff but the prob is.. we cant buy anything unless its on pday and on pdays im so tired and we just sleep... same goes with pics we can only take pics on pdays and its rare we do anything on pdays bc its a rule.. so its been hard to keep up on that kind of stuff. also bc im in the center, alot of stuff here is similar to what we would find at home. im starting to forget what is normal and what isnt..
LEARNING

well i would be lying if i said i didnt learn a ton this week. it was a big learning process for me. even in the last weeks of the mission the lord still isnt done teaching me all i need to learn while im here. so i will begin by telling the story of jo, a cute mom that has been taking the lessons and had her baptism date set for dec 4. she was a big sacrifice for us to teach bc she lives really far away and can only be taught at 8 oclock at night. so every night for 2 weeks straight we have been at her house. if a member isnt available to give us a ride home we run on the avenue until we find a taxi.. my companion thought that was fun haha. well here comes saturday for her interview as she arrives to the interview she confesses that she isnt legally married and cant get baptized sunday. my heart dropped. what? she told us she was married bc she was embarrassed to tell us the truth infront of her friend that was participating in that lesson... i didnt know what to do. i called the elder and told him to turn around. these past few weeks have been hard, the work has been stressful and success in finding new people to teach has been low and when jo fell, i wasnt sure where to turn.

i thought a ton about what the lord wants to teach me and i concluded that there are two main things that i can relate almost all my stories on my mission... it all goes back to patience and complete humility to the savior. he loves to test my patience. patience is accepting and having the capability to do the lords will in his time. being humble is realizing that you are nothing without the lords help, your complete and total dependence on him, that you cant wake up without his constant support. i realize that life is not about perfection but consistency when we are consistantly humble and patient we grow faster to what he wants us to become. i love ether 12:27 when he promises us that our weaknesses will be made strong.. i guess i came on the mission really weak on these two attributes. our reliability on the savior is what dad always says faith over fear.. well its how we live and its how we make it back.

i also love a scripture in james 4:10 "submit yourselves therefore to god. humble yourselves in the sight of the lord and he shall lift you up"

the lord tests us but he never withholds his blessings when we pass... the blessings have come. jo might have fallen but he has given us the blessings around the corner that i didnt have the capablity to see. we found a couple (juliano and bruna) that got married a month ago and accepted to be baptized this saturday and on sunday we will have the baptism of a woman and her granddaughter (maria and gabriela).

we got to use the phrase "come what may and love it" the lord isnt done teaching me and i wont be done learning until he says its complete.... the gospel is our life we got to live it to reap its rewards.

welp im still learning

love you all....

fique firme

com amor,

Sister Corbin

ps belo horizonte mission from jan unitl oct of 2011 has had 1300 baptisms, crazy huh

Letter #67 A Present

Loved the pics from thanksgiving! the pic of ash and dad with the pink stuff was my fav haha. i was able to have a thanksgiving dinner too. well kind of. there is a couple that lives in our ward that is brasilian but they have lived all over the world because of his job. they lived in the united states for three years and speak really good english. We had lunch with them on sunday and they made turkey, ceaser salad, stuffing, mashed potatos and gravy after there was even pumpkin pie i was in heaven! soo good.

ya it seems like everything this year is on a sunday my birthday xmas and new years.
what are you guys plans for x mas?
went to the mission home today and nothing.... not even one envelope package that you sent... i think it will delay bc of xmas its always like that, i will call next week to see if anything came in.

well today is sister barâo´s birthday and we ate sushi! and we found a frozen yogurt place that tastes like spoon me it was amazing and now im super full but thats okay.

this week was a lot of ups and downs. a few of our investigators fell but we didnt give up the search.. we found pedro (15) and his grandma on friday and they are amazing. litterally feasting on the words of christ. everytime we go to thier house they have the bible ready with a pen and paper ready to learn.i love people that want to know the truth.

but this week i want to talk about two special experiences that happened to us. on sunday after we had our `thanksgiving dinner`` paulo said that he had a present for us. i wasnt sure what that meant until after dessert. he started to tell us about a woman that he knows at his work. for the past 9 months has been helping her little by little to understand the gospel and recently gave her the book of mormon. he started to get emotional and said i have been waiting for a pair of missionaries to come to our ward that i felt comfortable giving this reference to. he said he never felt so strong that it was us to hand over his friend. he started to cry and said i know you will take care of her. as he handed me the folded paper with care, it had written on it her name and address. i too at that moment felt the spirit of this woman that i had never met. but at the same time i had a flash back of president in an interview before i came to this area. he told me that there are members there that have references "golden references" and if you do your part they will trust you enough to hand over thier dear freinds and family. i realized at that moment it was true. this family is also moving to canada soon and wanted us to get working with her right away.

i love the lords plan and how it all fits in perfectly with everyones lives. there is always a purpose behind everything.

we also had our xmas conference yesterday. it was great to celebrate the birth of our savior.we watched the film of the testimonies of the 12 apostles i think it was filmed in 2000. gordon b looked so young. but what happened at the conference before all this, i will never forget. President was showing a slide show of recent converts that had gone to the temple and then he started to tell an experience about when he went to the airport, as i was listening the story sounded familiar. he told the experience of when he ran into the family in venda nova that i left to get baptized. the next slide was a pic of them with pres and sister parrella at the airport with thier 2 little boys. i was so happy. as we looked at the picture of this happy family he asked us what we saw. some said happiness, others a family being sealed in the temple, hope, joy, worthiness. i raised my hand and said "i see a change" he then asked me and sister batista to stand infront of everyone and explain thier story and explain what this change i see in them. i explained that when we found them they werent exactly "happy" in the picture you could see thier happiness now. the gospel literally moves people, no it changes people. sister batisita told the story about the wife, and how i was a little excited about finding a family that i would always bare my testimony about the only true church. the wife got a little offended at times but later she appreciated the love we expressed to her and her family about the truth. after we sat down he said you know what i see, i see our brothers and sisters. they are our family. this family not only changed but with them the missionaries that served with them also changed. the lord helps us change and become better everyday. we too have to change and if we dont see that little change everyday, something is wrong. my heart filled with gratitude as i got to see the family that i helped know the truth standing next to´president and sister parrella i cant imagine the joy i will feel when i see them standing on the side of our heavenly father and our beloved son. there is no greater joy then is... we have to have hope that these things will come to pass in ether 12:32 says wherefore we must hope or he cannot recieve an inheritance in the place which thou hast prepared.

i love this gospel its the healing power that can change whatever is in our path, of this journey we call LIFE. i also read a scripture today in abraham that talks about when christ made the earth... let us make the earth to see if the children of men will obey whatever we shall ask of them... aka keep the commandments and live the gospel. its simple. be obedient.

amo a todos...

sister corbin

atè mais

Letter #66 Little Things Always Matter

bom dia!!!

windi had her baby... send a pic.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!! o how i miss this holiday here... i tried to explain it to sister barâo i said well basically its a day of thanks but mostly its an excuse to eat alot haha. mom can you ask ashely what her address is i want to send her a card.. i dont think i have her address in arizona.

more miracles. welp we didnt get transferred, we stayed! two things happy and sad. i dont know if i will have another area before i go home but happy bc the members here, i love. the part about missionary work is weak but they are great. but im so excited bc sister batista "minha filha" is coming to our district so i will get to see her every week! and she can tell me what happened in venda nova when i left.

so i want to share a story that happened this week about a senhora(gma) that we met this week that was litterally all in the lords hands. her name is celisse and she is 77 years old. so cute!!! she has cancer in the mouth and throat so she had to have surgery to remove it. so she has no teeth right now an is in extreme pain. she lives basically alone unitl night time when her boyfriend comes over to help. thursday we were brought to a street to give an invite to a fireside that would happen this sunday. after we gave the invite we had a little time before lunch but sister barâo didnt want to be late but something told me to work a little bit before. so we started at the top of the street and the third door was celisses. after about 1 min of waiting i walked away (inpatient) the door opened and celisse was shocked when she looked at our tags she didnt know what to say.. she tried to talk all at once but without teeth ya its a little bit hard. she let us in and told us what happened. she said she was praying with all her might to heavenly father to send something to her. maybe a message under the doorstep, a visit from a church.. something to help her with this agonizing pain. she told us that she felt and heard a voice tell her to sit and wait. after about 10 min of her waiting the doorbell rang and it was us. she said she already knew this church and was asking people about it but no one knew the address. she was so happy that the lord answered her prayer. everything we told her after she didn't question. she said i know its true, you are the messengers that i prayed for. another proof that lord uses us without even knowing.. if we had gone to lunch early we would have never found celisse. its funny how the little things always matter.

this sunday maria das graças got baptized a senhora that has 62 years. she doesnt know how to read.. i had a dream the other night to help her begin reading with the book of mormon. we started last night and were going to read a little everyday learn to read using the book of mormon. in no time she will read perfectly. she is from sâo paulo and has always wanted to know the truth, bc she cant read her only hope was listening to others read the bible. she has a big heart and wants to do everything in this life to serve our father.

later sunday night we had fireside with president parrella. he gave a talk about the book of mormon. we brought about 7 people to listen it was great.. got a little heated but hey it happens. celisse came to the fireside i was surprised when i saw her bc we passed by her house and she said she was in a lot of pain and wasnt feeling good to go, we said a prayer for her to get better. she told us at the fireside " your prayers are powerful when you guys left i didnt feel anymore pain so i knew i had to come" she is so great!!! she has so much faith that the lord will answer her prayers, he answers bc he knows she will follow the answer. i wish i had that power. its a hard thing to have faith all the time but something we can work on everyday. were a little low on investigators at the moment we gotta find! celisse would get baptized next week but she has to get married!!! so well see how long that will take i hope not very long. we got to get to work!!! the area book is alittle weak so we got a lot of praying to do. D and C 61:36-39 wow ok wierd mom- my scrip to leave to day is the scripture you gave me!!!!! i just looked at what you wrote and what i wrote and it was the same scrip!!!! how cool is that, the lord is giving us the same inspirations hahah but your exactly right the lord is the most unselfish person you can read about i love it. wow im still trippn out of the scripture, haah love you!!!!

happy thanksgiving eat for me :)

com amor (means- with love)

sister corbin

ps its non stop rain

pss mom can you send me ashley jones address in arizona i want to send her a card but i dont think i have her right address

Letter #65 He Gives His Elects

wow i cant get over how big bren dog is hahah he is not a little boy anymore...

i cant belive thanksgiving is around the corner! i miss thanksgiving food. i want to go to nancys haha save me some pink stuff :)

i got the invite to tylers wedding in the mail she is cute!

so this week i ran into an american on the bus. He looked at me and said are you american and i said yes are you?? he quickly sat next to me and said yes im from california and i said so am i! he is from huntington beach!!! what a small world he started naming a few kids he knew that are members and i knew a few of them how crazy is that. i said that im serving a mission here, why are you here? he is teaching english and loves the culture. he looked at my tag and said why do all of you that have this tag have such a perfect accent? hahah i started to laugh and said because its a gift that our heavenly father gives to us to preach his gospel. i tried to talk to him about the truth but he wasnt too interested. but it was such a wierd feeling to see someone from practically my city in another part of the world that knows people i know...

o ps i ate at mcdonalds again hahaha i got my mcflurry fix sooo goood. no matter where you are in the world, mcdonalds is somewhere close by ha but its super expensive we spent 30 reais for fries and two burgers loucoooooo.
well this sunday, we had a priveledge to baptize joelma. she is 35 and has had many problems in her life. the way we found her was truly by the spirit. it was about three weeks ago and we were walking up this steep hill. we passed a small street, after about three steps i decided i wanted to go in there and teach. i had to yell to sister barâo that was way infront to tell her i wanted to knock doors here. the first door was joelma. she let us in with excitement. she let us give the message and the spirit testified of what we said was true. later she told us that she didnt have any doubts that we were messengers of god. she told us that she has been praying for 2 months for someone to knock on her door to invite her to go to church. she barely moved there about 3 momths ago and rarely leaves the house because she has a baby. she didnt know what church to go to or how to find one close by so all she did was pray to heavenly father to send someone to help her show the way. so when we knocked she already knew that it was her answer. funny how the lord works huh. if i just passed by that street we would have never knocked on joelmas door. everytime we study together she is amazed. she is hungry to know more and more about the gospel. we taught her about the temple and she cant wait to baptize her brother that had passed away a few years back. we are working with her 13 year old daughter barbara right now for baptism. when we are obedient and show the lord that we are ready to work he gives his elects... its all about faith and trust in the lord that he will literally guide your footsteps to those that are searching for the gospel when you think there is no hope in finding its right when he gives them to you... he will test you to the limit but never beyond.

i love being in this ward, the members are so great. especially the leader of the work (i dont know what the calling is in english its lider da obra missionaria in portugues)

president called me on saturday when joelma was being interveiwed to say that when he was at the airport to pick up some new missionaries he ran into the family i left to get baptized in venda nova. the dad works for azul aka jet blue in brasil. he saw president and ran up to him to tell him to call me to tell me how happy they are and that they got baptized and missed me at thier baptism... i wanted to cry, i miss venda nova and i love that family. i was so happy that at least he remembered me enought to run up to president and tell him to call. its a feeling you cant describe when you help others come unto the fold. you literally feel the love the savior has for all his children. transfers are next week already and i ahve no idea what will happen i think everything will stay the same but im not sure what the lord has in for me to do. im reading d and c again and im loving it.. d and c 24:8 " be patient in afflictions for thou shalt have MANY but endure them for lo i am with thee even unto the end of thy days"

without doubt we will have our afflictions our problems but dont let them interfer with the joys that come into our day to day bc its just not worth it.

love you all! eu te dou um abraço de longe...

até mais

com amor

Sister Corbin

ps mom loved the quotes from elder neal a maxwell

i love you mom! you always brighten my day with your inspired letters... im so happy i have you as a mother, you are my example and i am who i am because of you... never forget it.

Letter #64 The Reality of Miracles

hellllllllooooooooo

ya were in daylight savings right now and the sun doesnt go down until 8 oclock at night its super wierd the days are way long but its good bc we save energy. you will have to remind me about christmas and the time i always get it wrong for some reason but im practicing my english bc my district leader only has 7 months on the mish and he speaks to me in english and i "try" to speak back.

how will i know what package to open dec 1? yay i love reading the conference talks but remember bc its x mas time the mail is suuuuuupppperrrrrrrr slow so well see when i get all these things last year a sister went home in feb too and she got her x mas packages right before she left for home.
hmm home=wierd not thinking about it too much.

hahah bren and blake = warcraft of course.. how is blake liking his new house with his freinds is it close to home?

o i totally forgot about the presidency!!! is it before or after i get home??? how is mitt doing? someone asked me the other day about mitt but i was way confused ha uhh hello i live in brasil i have no idea whats going on there

i loved that quote by cs lewis bc its sooooooo true!!!! the topic of todays email is

MIRACLES HAPPEN

this week litterally was full of every emotion you can possibly imagine. frustration.exhaustion.hope.trust.faith.happiness.assuridy that the lord does and will do his will whether we agree or not..

i will start with saturday, fast sunday.... so we started our fast saturday after lunch and for some reason on the mission every time i fast everything goes wrong ha. hello im fasting for a blessing not a disaster welp tudo bem.. carol, our investigator didnt show up for her baptismal interveiw and our baptism for sunday fell, marina. she said she wanted more time and didnt feel completely prepared. we did everything we could to help her doubts but in the end its her decision.. a little bummed but still hoping for a miracle our zone leader told me saturday night "sister corbin, marina will get baptized tomorrow, you will invite her sometime during church to follow the savior i dont know when but you will feel the spirit testify to you when it is right" i hung up the phone in aw of the surety this elder had in our investigator that he doesnt even know, i told sister barâo and she agreed. sunday morning we were able to bring 8 people to church with us, which is a miracle in itself in this ward. Leticia was confirmed and the testimonies began. the spirit was really strong. i felt the urge to ask leticia if she wanted to bare her testimony before i could do anything, carlos, our missionary leader of the ward came up to her and asked if she wanted to bear her testimony with him, she said she was feeling a strange feeling in her heart and couldnt explain it. carlos is amazing, he always listens to the spirit and knew that leticia wanted to bare her testimony but didnt have the courage to do it alone. she went up there and bore one of the strongest testamonies that i have heard on the mission, well she made everyone cry and thanked us publicly for our help. i knew it was my turn. as i was sitting at the front i saw sister barâo talk to marina all the sudden they got up and went to the bathroom. when they came back she just nodded with a smile and at that moment i knew that we were going to have a baptism. i started to laugh and was so greatful for the reality of miracles. we can never doubt the power of the spirit. later i called carlos over and said FILL THE TANK WERE GOING TO HAVE A BAPTISM haha sister told me what happened. marina felt the spirit so strong she told sister barao that she wanted to get baptized.." i do everything on a whim why not for god, i want to get baptized today can i?" uhh yesssss. we were so happy. heavenly father, well he loves to test us to our limit literally and if its his will it WILL happen.. i cannot and will not doubt the power of faith with the spirit. when we have an open heart the spirit can tesitfy of truth, we can be guided through this life if we just listen and have faith that he is with us. as Elder Uchtdorf says " the gospel of christ is not an obligation, its a way of life"

were helping a few others this week for baptism and i know and literally put all my trust in the lord that if it is his will, these too will be baptized. we can never doubt his power because it is real!

i'm so grateful to know the gospel. i have witnessed so many miracles on my mission that i can't count them. i cherish every single one, it's just one more proof that i don't need to know that my heavenly father is with me.

fique firme, nâo temais, o senhor esta conosco

com amor

Sister Corbin

pss random but andre buchelli was here in belo horizonte!!!! i wanted to see him, hah he gave a concert for free in the center

Letter #63 Obedient to Receive the Elects

dane and zoe are sooooooooooo cute!!!!! and sooooo big!!!!! halloween unfortunately is not celebrated here... i forgot it was halloween until 9:00 i saw two little ones dressed in a witch costume leaving an apartment building they looked american ha... i cant wait to see them when i get back does zoe remember who i am ha? i know dane doesnt but maybe there is hope for zoe.

another week flown by.. i dont know if i told you about leticia an investigator we found last last monday. she was an old investigator of about a year ago but was offended in church and decided it wasnt for her. we found her in the area book and decided to give her a shot. when we got to her house she was super sad and basically gave up on everything, she was in depression and didnt know how to get out of it. the lord put her into our hands to help her out. everyday we passed she got better and better. she already had a testimony that the bom is true and didnt have any problems with the word of wisdom or any other commandment. benção! thursday i felt the spirit really strong to invite her to be baptized. i was hesitant but didnt deny the lords will. after we watched the restoration video, we invited her to be baptized this past sunday. the first words she said was i will go but to be baptized i dont think its time. what happened next im not sure but the spirit took over. i told her that her time is now to change and take this opportunity to start over, the lord was inviting her to follow his son. i said a lot of other stuff that i cant remember (the promise that the spirit will tell you what to say is true!) after she looked at me and said you know what, i will. this is what i haven been waiting for... someone to invite me, i wont let anyone get in the way of me finally doing my part. sister barão was so excited, tears of joy came down leticias face when she decided to finally follow the spirit. she was interivewed saturday and was baptized this past sunday. the lord prepares his children, we need to be ready to receive them, obedient to receive the elects... sunday morning we took a few people to church. its alot harder to bring people to church in this area but were getting better. two of them were carol and fatima, were preparing them for baptism this sunday. they loved church and said they never felt that way before. we testified that it was the spirit that was present. it was really sensitive in church last week because there was a death of a father that was super random. it was a heart attack that happened saturday night. it was reminder to everyone how precious life is and that no one really knows how much time we have here.

yesterday we had a leader conference and i got to go again bc of sister barão. president gave a talk that was all about our part as saints of the church of jesus christ. saints are set apart for god, must be with out blemish whether physical or moral... we have to live in the world but not be of the world. but the promise is that we are never alone. in mathew 11:28 "come unto me all that labor and our heaven laden and i will give thee rest" here he doesnt promise to resolve our problems or take away our difficulities but he will help and make our burden light. that is the difference. he is there to help along the way. we are all in the process of santification. some start when they are 8 years old, some start this process in the middle of their journey here on earth but one way or another we are in the process to become saints of our heavenly father.. wont happen in this life bc its a life process but well work on it and well have help along the way. thats what i love about the gospel its all there for ya.. you ready to do your part? 1 john 4:19 we love him bc he loved us first.. i finished the new testament today and loved reading about all the stories about the apostles and paul. everything we need is right in front of us and if we dont read it, heavenly father cant speak to us. the work will continue on wherever the lord sends me but im happy to report that sister batista baptized 5 of the 6 people we were helping when i left venda nova. im sad that wasnt apart of it but im glad that they continued strong.

i cant believe its november, christmas is around the corner then the new year and soon the wonderful journey i started what seems like another lifetime ago will come to end...wierd. im not sure im ready to go back to real life. but the lord is always with us, got to love this promise

love you all

até mais

sister corbin

pss also i dont think i can even look or read other emails other then family now... how sad huh another rule that pres gave us...

Letter #62 We got People to Find...let's go!

Patience is the topic of this letter

helllllllllooo

im glad you sent the package already bc the mail is extremely slow right now bc brasil is still on strike with the whole mail situation so i hope i get it soon. i think im still missing one package that didnt arrive, o i went to the federal police today and resolved everything with that im not ilegal anymore ahah i can stay here at least till sept 2012.

welp alot has happened this week and im learning every day how to have more patience and trust in the lords time.. sister barão and i have been working really hard trying to find people to teach.. its been a struggle to get people to give the right address that live in our area. everyone just works here and lives somewhere else. my work effort hasnt changed but the results are slow. i feel sometimes.. i hope im not doing anything wrong. where are the blessings? sister barão was gettin discouraged but i tell her everyday we have to have patience well find the elects, the lord will show them to us. this sunday was the primary program so cute! we had a few people in church but no one solid. i love the members, they call me gringa or "gringinha" one sister in the ward made feijão which is a heavy lunch with all kinds of meat i mean litterally everything including feet,ears, fat..everything and she said sorry gringa ill make potatoes for you next time ha i love her she is so funny. president parrella has two counselors that help him with everything and they are both in my ward. they had a meeting last week and president parrella told them " you guys have the best sister i have, if you guys dont help her with references im taking her out" then he told them that i was in the top 10 that baptize here in the mission. i didnt know what to say when they told me that i felt honored, surprised and humbled. this means that i dont know how long i will stay here with sister barão.. then pres told them that she is dangerous ha she baptizes rich or poor it doesnt matter she teaches with the spirit.... wow i didnt know what to say i felt the pressure for sure bc the results havnt been coming. it wasnt until sunday night the blessings started to come. we found our first true elect here. when sister barão invited her to be baptized she said " yup this is the church of christ" we left and sister barão said ! they exist!" haha we got really excited to get to work, monday we found three more elects and are helping them everyday. the blessings are coming!!! we just have to have patience. hebrews 10:36 "for ye have need of patience that after ye have done the will of god ye might recieve the promise" the key word here is might. we have to do our part and if we are considered worthy the lord will bless us. this is why we cant ever give up bc we dont know when the blessings will come but they always do. im excited to be here... im so focused on the mission right now i dont think about anything else. my time is running out and im finally understanding the work. you see every person as a potential member of the kingdom, how thier lives would change and how they would love to understand the truth. we have been studying alot about opeing our mouth and proclaiming the gospel to this generation in d and c. once you understand the purpose of this life it becomes easy to do the lords work. he wakes me up every morning and says we got people to find... lets go. im exhausted but i dont think about anything else but my purpose. i love you all. everyone tells me that this is the hardest area but i just trust in the lord and he will bless us

até mais

te amo

sister corbin

ps the moral is have patience.. live goes on

Letter #61 Life is Better When We Smile

hellllllllllloooooo
i cant believe christmas is around the corner already... requests hmmmm idk at the moment i cant think of much maybe a cute shirt im so sick of my clothessssssss its crazy. but i got the skirt thank you! i would love a take 5 bar haha that would be nice..

ya im misisng one package with the foto chip.. woooooooooow ummm who are ambers kids they are so different and big!!!! zoe looks like me haha i thought it was a pic of at first glance ahaha she is sooooo cute and dane is a babe. how tall is bren dog? is he taller then me yet?

wow where to begin i love this area!!!! its soooo prettyyyyyyyy. its huge and im lost about 99% of the time but i love it. so basically im in the city the rich part of the city, i feel like im in a mix of newport beach with a mix of new york. there is an avenue called bandeirantes and looks like it belongs to california unfortunately if you are rich you dont like to hear the gospel ha... there is also a part in our area that is ghetto.. we tried the city a few days and were getting very few results made contacts on the street and no one lives here just works and goes back home to venda nova haha everyone from venda nova works here. so we tried out the ghetto a little bit to train sister barão... i love it. the ghetto is like its only littel village it reminds me of harry potter theirs alley ways little markets, bakerys and you dont have to leave if you dont have to. they have everything there for you. we found an investigator there her name is bá. she is hilarious. we took her to church with us sunday. the ward is great. its super contrast, you have really really rich members and then people from the ghetto there is no in between so thats a little bit awk. the missionary leader in the ward is the best in the world!!!! i have never seen someone so dedicated in my life! he is so animated and wants to help with everything. he is a dentist in the center and his office is full of boms and pics of christ. to give you an idea he looks like laurens dad dr rice haha. his family is the heart of this ward his son is the bishop and his wife is part of the relief society presdiency. i dont think ive ever met anyone like him before. im excited to work with him. were trying to get the ward excited but unfortunately they are in the dumps bc the success of missioanry work here is really slow and havent had results for a while.. well thats about to change. were ready to work and some how the lord will bless us. we had a meeting for three hours about how we can help the ward. no one wants me to leave.. when do you go home? can you finish your mission here? uhhh thats up to the lord. but i want to do my best to help them here. its super overwhelming to see our area and how big it is but we dont let it get to us. sister barão is great she is a little nervous still when it comes to teaching and inviting but that will change and i think the crying will stop too soon i hope haha its natural.

o ok so this is funny.. at the church every tuesday night we have activities for investigators and members there is an english class right... great. i can speak englsih to them. FALSE. i cant speak english!!!! sooo embarassing iwas speaking wrong!!!! i got up in front and i tried to talk and nothing came out im sure i was super red and felt awk like no other i spit out a few words but it was really hard. the teacher had to correct me so i basically had to sit down and gave the time to the teacher hahah who would of thought.. excited to hear me at christmas??? im not i wont be able to talk to you guys haha.. speaking of home sister hunsaker leaves in 5 weeks i got to say goodbye to her today bc we renewed our visas well she did anyway i have to go back next week so i dont get booted out of the country. the work moves forward here. were working hard and trying to be patient. i tell sister barão everyday if were obedient, diligently working the lord will bless us so we just need to smile.

life is better when we smile isnt it? we can decide everyday to do so.

o ps blake we taught a family from venezuela and she told us she knows the church it was super strong there and was always full of young men and young women.. she said are you guys mormons? ha it was funny to hear her accident she spoke most of the time in spanish and i underdstood.

love you all! time flys dont waste a minute

até mais

sister corbin

Letter #60 Sweet, We Got to Start Running

familyyyyyyyyy

wow where to begin so much has happened and i have zero time to explain.. so its been a crazy week literally.

ill begin with this past weekend. i decided that i need to love thursdays and fridays. ive never liked these days on the mish bc there is nothing but work work work, saturday you have one day before sunday and have interviews sunday=baptisms, monday= plan, tues= district meeting and wed =p day.. i was praying really hard to think outside the box last week what else i could do in venda nova i have a total of 7 and half months there and was feeling like i hit a wall. on saturday it was funny, we knocked on a door and i said to sister batista i think i already have been here sure enough the man said o hey i remember you "o hey ha how are ya?" the next door was the same... we walked past the bakery and two people gave me a wave.. sister batista "do you know them?" nope.. but they know me ha she said who have you not taught here? i just had to laugh because you can look at it as a blessing. sunday was patricias baptism and she was needing this pick me up.. her husband has been in the hospital for a few months and has been searching for her church.. but it amazes me how the lord still finds people for us to teach when i think ive taugt everyone im not even close... i remembered a contact we did on the street with sister dunlop and decided to try one more time, the girl wasnt there but the mom let us in..the mom has been going to her church for 14 years. great. we got to teach with the s´pirit big time on this one for anything to happen. as the lesson started it was almost automatic, i felt the spirit really strong with her when it came to the invite she said "wait i have to get baptized again?" welp yes, you didnt have the priesthood. "great what do i have to do, can we start now?" um yes we start now hahah elect. the lord gave us this contact bc it was her mother that was waiting to here the truth. i love how the lord works.

monday! okay so im supposed to stay with sister batista for three months aka 2 transfers to finsih training her so when we were plainngin i wasnt thinking about getting a phone call from president. it was about 1030 and i decided to get the phone in the other room.. pres already called! what? i called him back and said sister corbin its your time to leave venda nova! you will be transfered to banderantes "okay pres we will go there" no no only you, you will go there open an area of elders and train again! "What?? really? i wont stay with sister batista?" "no i need you in this area, the elders are being lazy and i need you to go in tehre and show them how to work!" wow im not gonna lie i was shocked. sister batista stayed and will be with another american and she will help her finish her training. sister batista started to cry... she didnt want me to go. this area is in the center of belo literally.. this church is the biggest and the ward is the strongest but because its in the center its super hard to teach, there isnt houses to knock on just interphones to get rejected... this area never had sisters before and pres wanted to switch it up. he told the ward that i am a "batizadora" o great. all i can do is trust in the lord that he will lead me to those that are willing and ready to hear. I tried to say goodbye to everyone in venda nova but there wasnt enough time.. the saddest part is that i left adriana (an investigator that we have been working with for 2 months). tuesday night she showed me her clothes she picked out for her baptisim this sunday and was so excited. my heart was crushed. i had to tell her that i came by to say goodbye and that i will be transfered the next day. she burst into tears and didnt know what to say. i told her that she has sister batista and the ward now and that id otn need to be here anymore. it took everythign in me not to cry too, i know its my time to leave. i left sister batista 6 baptisms for the next two weeks and so she wont have any probs but like i expected we arrived at the apartment in the center with a note that said "sisters, welcome, this area is great but unfortunately we have no one for you to teach, no one to get baptized this sunday or the next" sweet we got to start running... im with sister barâo she is 25 and is from santa catarina, brasil. she is ready to work, well i hope. of course the house was a disaster worse then venda nova when we got there.. we didnt have enought time to do anything else but clean all day yesterday and didnt have enough time to email. pres gave permission today to write a little bit... well im not gonna lie im nervous, scared, feel the pressure, dont know the area, the people or what i should do but one thing i do know is that i go wehre the lord wants me to go and do my best so i just got to trust in the one that knows me best "thats it" (dads accent). wish me luck or rather pray for me please. i love you all dont have much time

até mais

2 corinthians 12:10

sister corbin

ps mom i got three packages!thank youuuuuu amber for the tooth brush yessssss exactly what i needed and the goodies toothank youuuuuuu and lauren too i loved the pics!!!

pss mom did you send a package with the photo chip? or am i missing that envelope or package too?

Letter #59 Ask in Faith

so much has happened this week... well first off CONFERENCE = DUH AMAZING.... the lord answered all of our prayers and we got to watch all 4 sessions. and of course we had investigators all at the right sessions. the first one needed to her about being alone and bam utchdorf settled that one.. the second session on saturday i was most nervous for bc we had people to take but they were all canceling... we were praying so hard and ended up with 3 people to take and of course bednar was the first talk.... we had investigators that needed to hear about repentance and their were at least 2 good ones about repentence in that session. sunday i got a text saying i needed to call an investigator that was going to get baptized after the first session... we were confused on why he needed us to call him.. we were out of minutes on our phone so we ran to the church to call him.. he didnt answer so we got on our knees and prayed for something to happen a few moments later we looked out of the bishops office THEY ARE HERE! we ran outside and said you made it! he said i called bc i wanted to know if i needed to bring a towel hahaha. o geese... brian got baptized after the first session the son of our family that we are helping to get married so the wife can get baptized. brian was so cute and excited to get baptized, he is an example for not only his little sisters but for his entire family..

i just want to talk about how much prayer is important. I have never prayed more in my life then i have on my mission so far.. prayer is everything " the purporse of prayer is not to alter the will of god but to obtain the blessings he is ready to give if we just humble ourselves and ask in faith" in 3 nephi 18:20 says whats soever ye shall ask the father in my name, which is right, beleiving that ye shall receive behold it shall be given unto you" i love this scripture bc its so true if we ask in faith for our heavenly father something good, just and righteous believing we will recieve he will give it... i cant count how many times we have prayed and our prayers were answered in the moment. our heavenly father wants to bless us but he can only do his part until we make the first step. i love it.

we are having success and the lord is blessing us for our efforts.. miracles happen daily. its always amazing to see the work of the lord in our lives everyday. i dont want to admit but im getting used to the miracles... i have to take a step back and say thank you because he puts blessings in our day to day that sometimes we forget the little ones.

at times i think about our work and how little we are actually sacrificing in the scheme of eternity. my hope and prayer is to try to help our brothers and sisters change their route in life so they can have a straight path to eternal life with our heavenly father. There is nothing more important, thats why we are here, to learn, to grow, to understand the plan, and then go back to him..

The mission has changed me without me even realizing it and its a gift that i dont think i will ever be able to repay.

keep running the work has just begun

com amor

sister corbin

ps i finished jesus is the christ... now that is a book

Letter #58 I Can See It

hey mommy... no the strike hasnt stopped its about 50% back it depends on where you live if the area where you live have people to deliever your mail you will get mail if not your out of luck as of now the area of the mission home is still on strike and no one is getting mail.. so well see, ps what did you put in the other packages bc welp im sick again! i work myself so hard that i get sick from exhaustion. ummmm okay

there was a broadcast of elder uck? can you send me it? ahhhhhhhh im praying to get to go to all the sessions but the lord did bless us! we get to watch the conference sessions in our chapel wooohoooooooooo our prayers were answered we dont have to travel 30 min both ways to watch it this means it will be so much easier to bring investigators to watch it! so i hope i get to see all the talks

so im super excited for this weekend its going to be super crazy busy trying to get people to all sessions were helping a less active get married and get back to church so his wife can get baptized were helping their son bryan get baptized this weekend. he is so cute, his name is bryan and is 8 years old.

This week was full of interesting stories to tell... our investigater makelly is amazing a true elect as we call it. she told sister batista on friday that saturday jehovahs witnesses were going to come to her house just to visit her and so we made sure we wouldnt come at the same time bc that would be awkward right ya soooooooo in brasil they use military time and sometimes they dont. makelly said 17 horas and sister batista heard 7 horas. 17= 5 o clock so what did we do we went at 5 o clock bc we thought they would come at 7 ahahah nope we got there sat down and heard the doorbell.. ha that was an experience but makelly is firm and was baptized sunday despite all the things that got in her way she put her faith and trust in the lord to follow his son. we are so proud of her!!! (ps mom did you receive photos from her she said she sent some to you i gave her your email)

a few funny stories

so our electric bill for some reason is late and bc the mail is on strike we cant send anything to pay it and so what happened is the company accidently switched our bill with our neighbors ahhahaha and they cut thier electricity instead of ours ha woops.

last night we left our investigators house way late and we had to run home... were about 10 min out and have to make it in 5 min... i looked behind me and sister batisita stopped bc she was tired and all the sudden i heard this homeless man yell " i see you guys every night running..why?!" then all the sudden in english he shouted "run girls run" hahahahaha its true we run home basically every night and the homeless man we always passed finally decided to voice his opinion about it ha i thought i would share.

I want to share a spiritual experience that has been happening alot these past couple of weeks.. that happened again this past sunday. we were teaching a family the restoration of the gospel it was my turn to share the vision of joseph smith, the spirit was so strong and no one could deny the difference that filled the room. the nephew said i know it is true.. i asked him how do you know? he responded " i know because i see it, i can see it in your eyes when you were telling the story about jose i knew you couldnt be lying" immediately following i felt the spirit to invite the aunt and the nephew to be baptized the aunt said "i know what you are saying is true bc i also can see it in you but as human beings we all have faults and i will continue where i am until the lord touches my heart.... silence filled the room and then i said " arent you feeling it now?" she said " yes".... the family knew the message was true, felt the quiet whisperings of the spirit but wasnt courageous enough to follow the straight and narrow path of the lord. we left the house knowing we did our part and sister batista looked at me and told me the same thing.. " i can see it too, when you teach, your different the spirit is in you" in that moment i reflected on my patriachal blessing that says " the light of christ will shine forth from you and you will touch the hearts of many. The holy ghost will testify in thier hearts that what you say is true".... i feel honored to be living literally the words written in my patriachal blessing.. i will never forget moments like these because its another testament to me that the church is true.. we have the truth on earth and those that are willing to hear his voice will follow. i know that the church is true bc i get re converted everyday. i told an investigator yesterday i dont remember the exact moment i can say i knew bc i feel it everyday testifying to me its truthfullness.

i love you all,

the gospel is true im sooooo excited for this weekend!!!

watch conf!

fique firme

com amor

sister corbin

romans 1:7

for the kingdom of god is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the holy ghost

aww man i love foood hahahah

Letter #57 The Lord Protects Us

hey mommy
soo i went to the mission office and nothing.... basically brasil loves to go on strike when they dont want to work hah and welp the mail slash post office is on strike and no one in brasil well most of brasil anyway is receiveing mail... this started about a week ago so im not sure where my packages are right now. when did you send that package. relief society prodcast... unfortunately no... so the scoop on general conf is that we cant watch any of the sessions unless we have an investigator with us, and its in pampulha. so it will be rough to get to see all four but were praying that we have someone to take with us every sesh.
brenan passed hahahah good job bren hah. i cant imagine bren blessing the sacrament he is getting so old!
o and you can put what i said about byu in the letter on the blog!!! Go UTES!!! ha

welp this week was an eye opener to the blessings that i have in my life.. makelly our investigator for about a week now has gone through so much in her life i cant complain about anything...she is an example of someone that never gives up. im so happy to help her see the purpose of all her trials... oh dont worry mom we have protection. the other night we were walking down this neighborhood to visit rafaela and leo (a couple we are helping get married and the wife and children get baptised)... and ten min before on thier street somone was shot 10 times! and got away. i was like what he was shot 10 times!!! i was telling everyone hahah but to them its normal... "ya its normal" okay this is not normal but hey all i know is that the lord protects us wherever we go. lets seeeee ummm sunday was the day for adriana to get baptized. everyone was asking where she was. i had no idea why she hadnt showed up yet, i didnt stop calling her cell. after church we ran to her house and she came to the door and told us that her father had passed away... wow, okay, that is a good excuse. all i could do was give her a hug and try to comfort her. she is doing better but it is always hard to loose a loved one. good news was that jose and maria were confirmed and are excited to participate in everything. also learned a lesson that we have to invite everyone!!!!! even the people we dont think would everrrrrr accept. one night two weeks ago i invited this man on the street and he started to talk to me in english i just responded in portugues he said why arent you speaking in english and i said it was hard for me haha this past sunday he came to church surprisingly and we taught him last night and he accpeted! he said " this could be the true church..." yup yup. well it is. sister batista is changing ahah the first few days she would wake me up with a loud BOM DIA and me sitting on the bed "bom dia" exhausted out of my mind... and now she doesnt say a word she is so tired. we run everywhere she asked if she could bring tennis shoes during the day bc we run so much ha i said welp your gonna have to take that one up with the pres. im loving it. brasil is hot.the food is the same. and the people are amazing.
Te amo te amo demais(a song here that wont leave my head)
sister aubree corbin

ps dont worry- sitting there studying you know the usual and run into elder l. whitney claytons conference talk in 2007 ahahah eu te conheco.. a quote that he said " if we live in righteousness and look to purify our hearts we would become more close to heavenly father and to the spirit"
well said.

GO UTES!!!

woooooooooooooohooooooooooooooo YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!! hahaha

i was so excited to hear the news. too bad i wasn't there to cheer on my team-

uhhh yesss goo utes! hahaha

rise up more like rise down haha thanks for sharing

54-10 BAMMM!

Utah vs. BYU

Letter #56 Welp It's Simple

wow where to begin, im soo happy that all worked out with ronald and you are all living it up at home. This week was another benção! sister batista is great, she is my child ahah its funny. she is always laughing and messing around and always looks for me for permission to do things. she has so much faith in people and the investigators we meet. im just starting to grasp this attribute. i dont worry too much about it anymore, i have faith that the lord will do his will. when we trust ourselves, be obedient, and follow the spirit things will happen, if and only IF its the will of the lord. so when things dont happen its not time for them to happen and i have no worries but as long as i did my part, tudo bem. this reminds me of a promise that is in the book of mormon 9:21 "i say unto you that whoso beliveth in christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the father in the name of christ it shall be granted him: and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth"
welp its simple, like i always say, but its true. why is it so hard to have faith, sometimes i ask myself... it seems to easy to ask,knowing you will get what you ask for. we just got to remember if we dont get our answer its because, we didnt ask right or its not our time to receive it yet this leads ot another attribute.patience. ha yup another hard one. "the ulitimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at time of challenge and adversity"...
im trying everyday to master these two attributes but im long from it.. this sunday we were privledged to have another baptism of maria aparecida. she is so great. she wants her whole family to join the church because of her expample. she not only is seeing the differences in her life but she feels the daily blessings that come from the gospel of christ. we are also helping two families get married! so they can get baptized but its such a long process here i hope i get to be apart of it when it actually happens.
really fast i want to share a story about what happened to us yesterday. a cute little grdma of a neighboring ward called us and told us she had an investigator for us to teach. we went to her house with hope. her name is markelly and she is passing through a lot of problems with her family and finacialy too. she has no direction and her husband told her two weeks ago he is gay..rough. so we got to her house and her sister in law came in, we invited her too to participate in the lesson she didnt seem too happy but the spirit will cheer her up.... we started the lesson and the spirit guided the whole thing! markelly shed a few tears and new this was the direction she was looking for, when we invited her to be baptized she accepted when it was christianes turn (sister inlaw) im not gonna lie wasnt sure if she was going to accept.. i invited her to follow the example of christ and be baptized inthe church of god she burst into tears and told us that this was answer to her prayers and that yesterday she prayed to heavenly father for something to happen.. the whole room was fullof the spirit and sister batista was balling, she had never been a part of something like that. i told her that this is exactly what the lord wants for you and that this no doubt was his answer. i was so happy to be apart of that moment in markelly and chirstianes lives. im even more excited to help them change the path they were living. this is what missionaries live for, its how we get up in the morning, knowing that someone is lookin for us and if were obedient the lord will guide our steps
the gospel is the best gift you can give to anyone, its a gift that lasts for all eternity.
im happy to be a deliever of this great news
te amo
sister corbin

Sister Ruckert's Heading Home

This is Sister Ruckert. (Gina) Her mission ended on September 1st. Aubree just loved her as a companion and will really miss her! Farewell Sister Ruckert...

Letter #55 Angels to My Door

yay im so happy you have sisters in your ward i want them to stay there so i can help them when i get back. good work mom hah i am proud of you.. there is nothing better then helping another understand the truth. you can litterally see the light in them remember the pre existence. as president parrella always says the mind forgot everything but the spirit remembers what it was like with our heavenly father and when you can get to that point, the spirit remembers and wants and litterally desires to do anything to keep the spirit with them.keep me posted on him pshhhh he can get baptized way sooner then oct! tell the sisters to invite him to be baptized next sunday. we dont need to fear to invite others to come unto christ. if there was a way to do it faster, we would do it. thats how amazing the blessings are when you decide to do what is right the blessings just come. speaking of blessings we had a ton this week! i love sister batista!!! she is so loving. she sees the potential in everyone. she reminds me of me when i first started, the best thing about her is that she follows the spirit! she does what she feels and doesnt hesitate. we had a training yesterday for trainers and leaders of the mission and we are always reminded who the true teacher is in all this work, well i can tell you, it is not us. the only perfect teacher of the truth is the spirit, without him, you cant feel the saviors love and confiction, with out that love in the conversion process there is no conversion. a big part of the conversion process is faith. faith is of itself a principle of power, without it jesus himself couldnt render miracles among the gentiles. this week was showed many times with our investigators the power of faith and obedience to the lords commandments.
this sunday josé dias was baptized! whoohoo he is soo great. earlier this week he was struggling with his work and wasnt making enough money so we taught him about tithing i gave him a tithing envelope and after only 3 days he said his phone wouldnt stop ringing he had so much work to do and that every night since he has set aside money for tithing has come home early because of exhaustion hahah i started to laugh and said well look at that the lord did his part haha i love how simple it is. he stayed strong everyday, stopped with smoking and drinking coffee and said "i will continue in this church for the rest of my life.i dont know what is happening but its changed everything". the power of the gospel can change lives without them even realizing it.
this week were working with another investigater her name is maria, that the lord litterally put her into our path. we walked passed this street that i told sister batista that i never knocked on and that i felt the need to go there later that day. earlier we found two potentials that accepted then we went down that street that i wanted and the second door was maria (who doesnt live there and happens to be the mom of the two that accpeted about an hour before)... what? she opened the door and said " yes the lord sent angels to my door, would you like to come to my house and teach me" um yess please.. we started on our way back and it happened to be where we were the lesson before where here children accpeted hah. i guess the lord has been preparing them for a while.
i read seans letter and it is true.. i have about a year in the mission and i feel like now im really starting to get to work.. why did it take so long to figure it out. sure im learning everyday every moment but the importance of the work seems to click and all you want to do is find families. they are def more hard to find but with the lords helps anything can happen. everything here is great here in good old brazil besides the weather at about 100 degrees if i could change anything it would be that okay okay and maybe take it easy on the rice and beans ha but im loving it i dont got much time left! got to work
love you all!!!!
sister corbin

luke 9:57-62 (Sister Dunlop in the blue shirt is Aubree's companion)

Letter #54 They Remember

Não acredito

Eu vou morrer em VENDA NOVA..... i stayed again!!! this will be my 5th transfer here in venda nova... presidente like always didnt call until late we got the call anxiously waiting at 730. he said and sister corbin you will stay in venda nova! i said me? and he said yes you ahah and you will train! o geese ha alright presdente.. sister dunlop will go to pampulha and will train also! only two sisters arrived and only me and sister dunlop are training and only one is leaving.. sister ruckeurt!!! i got to say goodbye to her for 5 secs im going to miss her. it was only yesterday we were together in pampulha with ronald trying to get him to stop smoking ha and now she is leaving and she prob will get married before i get home, she said she wont but who knows.
so my new companion is from curitiba her name is sister batista and i love her!! she is 22 and has 6 years in the church. so basically there is a new training program that was sent out about a year ago but arrived in brazil this month.. we as trainers train the new ones for three months straight so looks like ill stay with her for 2 transfers i dont know if that means the same area but at least 12 weeks ill train her unitl she is legitmate like me haha kidding. but its going to be great im a little nervous bc it feels like yesterday i was in her shoes. venda nova was my first area and now im training someone else in the same place. feels wierd. but im excited there is a reason im still here my work isnt done yet.
well this past week was great, lots of work and not enough time.. sometimes we get home and i feel like my legs are going to fall off. sister dunlop and i were talking the other day that were just going to keep getting more and more tired until the day we get home. p day= no rest, sunday=work and everyday is race to find the next elect of our heavenly father. i love this work, its how i get up in the morning but wow im tired. this sunday was another proof that the enemy doesnt sleep. geovane was baptized a 12 year old freind of a member that loves the church. his mom said he could get baptized but her boyfriend didnt aproove. this sunday he was preparing to leave for church and the "step dad" didnt want him to leave... he said "i cnat miss today its my baptism". the step dad got angry with him and said your not going. his mom was at work and told him he could go, he left alone and arrived at church for his day. he was so happy and was glad to follow the example of the savior. another miracle is jefferson a 19 year old we found bc of a contact on the street. sister dunlop and i were reflecting on the story on how we met up with jefferson. it was the end of a thursday or weds night.. it wasnt the best day, we got rejected alot and some of our investigators fell i wasnt too cheery to make any contacts on the street on our way home but that didnt stop dunlop... as we were walking home a girl said to us "what church do you guys go to?" we told her but it was sister d that asked for the address..we went there the next day and the girl that stopped us wasnt too interested but it was her brother that was searching for the truth, jefferson. i love how the lord works through other people and tests us to our limits. if we hadnt had the energy to talk to this girl and hadnt had the atitude to ask for another reference after a hard day we wouldnt have found jefferson. love it.
i was reading in jesus the christ the other day and it was talking about that when jesus was sad after getting rejected (the son of god, just a reminder,rejected,cant imagine) he prayed to our heavenly father and THANKED him for the humble and meek he was finding to hear the truth... this is when he said that famous qoute "come all ye that are heaven layden...." because those are the ones that are ready to hear the truth those are the ones that will accept and in the same respect, we as missionaries are doing the same thing. after we get rejected we got to thank our heavenly father for the humble and meek he has put in our path, its those that will inherit the kingdom of god.
ill be doing alot of praying this transfer. im not going to lie im a little nervous but i know the lord is with us and ill help sister batista be the best missionary in BH!
love you all]
com amor
sister corbin

cool story
tuesday we were walking home after a district meeting a lttle far from home and a teenager called to us and said which one of you is sister corbin? i looked back and said huh? im sister corbin... he said you dont remember me? he came closer and it was a son of a family we were teaching in pampulha over 6 months ago.. they never ended up getting baptized bc the mom wasnt obeying a few commandments but her kids were so great. he said " why didnt you guys come back?" i told him i left pampulha to go to other areas he was sad and i told him to go to church this sunday and passed his address to dunlop to go visit. its amazing to me that even the people we dont baptized, we have an impact on thier lives, they remember the sweet spirit that was left in thier home when we taught about the everlasting gospel. i guess we will never know how many lives we will touch until after this life...