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