Jandira: Mother of Two Daughters

 Sorry in advance, this is a long one!

I know I say this every week but this week flew past and it is hard to believe that it is already pday again! This week was quite eventful!

We started off the week with divisions and I got to work with Sister Evangelista! She is a powerful missionary and one of my best friends now. I learned so many things from her and felt the spirit so strong as she was teaching. And, we left our daughters together which was a little scary but they had a great time and were able to see miracles! 💕

We had a district council meeting in person and we are all broke. We had to walk there in the heat 🔥 but it was a great chance to be together with the other missionaries in our district! Our district leader gave an amazing training about the power that we have to change because of the Savior and how this applies to the gospel of Jesus Christ! He also taught about the importance of working with the members and helping to strengthen the new members!

Thursday this week we woke up to a bunch of messages from one of our investigators who was planning to get baptized on Friday. He had a lot of concerns and told us that he wanted to postpone his baptism. After exercising and getting ready for the day the 4 of us called him to try to see how we could help.

At first we tried to respond to his questions one by one, but it was soon apparent that he was in so much distress he was not letting the spirit testify to him. So we prayed and read the scriptures with him and testified to him about the reality of the spiritual experiences he had already had. And as we signed off to go to lunch it was clear that something had changed. He had returned to his normal self and he had felt the spirit!

Then, we went to lunch at a member's house which was an absolute party because they invited some other members and a friend. And then out of nowhere the Elders from the office showed up. And they were just as surprised as we were to see each other there.

What was really special is that I had been feeling a lot of pain in my wrist that day, probablemente because of all the pushups I have been doing 💪, and I had been thinking of asking someone to give me a blessing of health. It made me feel like Heavenly Father really is taking care of the details that the Elders were there and I was able to receive a blessing.

After that, we returned and talked to our friend again and this time there was so much peace and the spirit was so strong. He made the decision to trust in the Lord and follow through with his Baptism. And we could feel so strongly that he had to past through these doubts and questions to have a testimony even stronger! 💪 

Friday was a very special day! Aside from feeling a little sick and throwing up a bit in the street, we had the privilege to see 2 of our friends be baptized. It ended up being a stressful experience because one of our friends came an hour late because he had to take his son to the hospital. But with all of the things that went wrong it was amazing to see the difference that baptism has in our lives! Our friends were glowing! And I learned that it is not important if everything goes the way we planned it, what is important is the promise that we make with our Heavenly Father when we step into the water of baptism and the blessings that we recieve as we keep this promise!

Saturday we woke up at the crack of down to go the Temple! What a sacred and holy place. There is no other place I would rather be with my sweet companions on my Birthday. The peace that we feel in the temple is essential for our lives and the world in which we live. And even though I was far away from my family I could feel them close to me and I am so grateful for the blessing that I have that I can be with them forever!

Sister Evangelista left early Sunday morning taking a little part of our hearts with her to the Dominican Republic. 😭💔

Lots more things happened this week but I'll just leave the rest up to your imagination so that you guys can go do something else and I can take a nap!

Com muito amor do Salvador,

Sister Pinkney

Transfer News: I'll be staying in Jandira with Sister Franco and Sister Rivero and we are receiving Sister Clarindo! Sister Clarindo and I will be Sister Training Leaders together!!

 Our district leader is leaving and so Elder DeGraw, will be our district leader and train. Legendary! Elder Sousa will be AP (I think, we missed that part of the phone call, maybe they are joking)

On Sunday the members put me to work to make the dessert. It was lava cake, so good! So now I have a new skill and a new favorite dessert! 😋 

For 2 days I get to be the "mom" of both Sister Franco and Sister Rivero as we wait to receive Sister Clarindo. It has been fun to be in a trio!

Elder Jackson, eu acho que você vai ficar com Elder Pereira, o filho de Elder DeGraw! Ele é top de mais!

Sister Fernandes, minha Fila!! Eu amo você!! Estou muito animada para você ir no interior e terminar o treinamento de Sister Maldonado! Você é uma missionária incrível e o Senhor confia muito em voce, eu também! ❣️