Wednesday, December 28, 2011

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


Wednesday, December 21, 2011

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

Friday, December 16, 2011

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

Thursday, December 8, 2011

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

Thursday, December 1, 2011

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