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?