Spiritual Gifts

                                                                                                              March 17,2014

Hi all!

I have barely any time to write, so I’ll go through the highlights of the week

1- Its rained ALLLLL WEEK. Like, real rain. This is a huge blessing for the people here because we were running out of water in the city. I am completely convinced that my companion is the reason for all this rain, because she has more faith than anyone i know and she has prayed for rain every single day (she is from the south of Brasil, where it’s cold, so she wants rain). Last week she prayed that we could have rain every day as a sign to me that Heavenly Father answers prayers so I can have more faith. It’s rained every day haha. So, Heavenly Father answers the prayers of the faithful and I’m slowly but surely learning to have more faith.

 2- Terazinha, the old lady that we baptized last week, is SO SPIRITUAL. She’s a little old, but she understands the spirit. We stop by every day to visit her and she is always just sitting on the couch, listening to the Book of Mormon on CD. Her prayers are more and more sincere every night, and we are having a huge family home evening/birthday party for her this week with the whole ward! Her son, Lindenberg, is ready to be baptized but has a lot of self-confidence issues. So we are going to work more with him and hopefully she can be a good influence. It’s funny, because he´s 40 years old and she said, `Last night he tried to go to bed without saying his prayers and i came in and said Oi Lindenberg don’t forget what the girls taught you! You need to say your prayers!´Hahah. Moms will be moms.

3- Mateus (17)and his little sister Gabriela went to church this week! and a ward activity! They´re parents are still warming up to the Church but they are a lot more receptive now, and Mateus and Gabriela are working towards a baptismal date at the end of this month. He has already received his answer about the Book of Mormon so it’s all uphill from here! They left church a little early because Gabby (who is 11 years old) fell asleep on Mateus´s shoulder and started drooling towards the end of sacrament meeting...she isn’t used to waking up for 9:00 church :) But they came!!!

4- And this has been arguably the most challenging week on my mission to date. I´ve spent quite a lot of time pondering the Atonement, and grace, and the promise that we have that our burdens will be made light. I´ve thought a lot about the spiritual gifts that the scriptures talk about - the gift to heal, and the gift to be healed. I always questioned - what’s the difference? Why do we even need these gifts? It seems a little redundant to me! But I have looked at the scripture in a different light this week. The gift to heal - the gift to help other people accept the Atonement in their life. The gift to be healed - the gift to accept the Atonement in your own life. As a missionary, you need to have both gifts. Heavenly Father has spent a lot of time teaching me and helping me develop the gift to be healed in this area. I´m learning to rely on His strength and His grace, and accept the help He is always willing to give. It takes a lot of humility and a lot of faith, but I’m satisfied that even though I’m not perfect, i am a little better every day. Little by little the Lord is making me a better instrument for his work :)

Love always,

Sister Carroll