Brazil Recife: "Cada Membro é um Missionário"

This week went well. Something amazing that this ward knows how to do is give member referrals, and it´s so hard to find people to teach here that we thrive off of these! I´m so grateful for members who know that their responsibility is to work with us! "Every member a missionary." -David O. Mckay. Monday night I drank spoiled milk that one of our members gave us without knowing which wasn´t fun; and I don´t know if this is related, but when I got home I had a fever that increased to 100 degrees. Needless to say, my companion and I didn´t sleep much that night. I had to stay in our house Tuesday and a little the next day, but it got better quickly thanks to many members giving me soup and bread and fruit and helping me get better! :) I love our members.

This week we taught Lindalva. Lindalva is one of those eternal investigators you have that has been taught by tons of missionaries but never progresses. Nevertheless, we decided to visit her. She told us how depressed she was with her husband re-marrying someone else and her not having any friends here in Janga and lots of other things. We read Ether 12:27 with her that talks about showing our weaknesses unto God that He will make weak things strong. She marked that scripture and it touched her heart. I challenged her to read Mosiah 2 before our next visit looking for ways to find joy and peace in her life. She accepted. Two days later, we decided to return. She told us casually that she already read half of The Book of Mormon. Jaws dropped. "Half of the chapter or half of THE BOOK?" "Half of the book" My goodness we were shocked! She is finally progressing! She went to church with us this Sunday and 5 other investigators and 3 less actives were there as well which filled our hearts with joy to see them in The Lord´s house learning and partaking of the Sacrament and feeling the Spirit! Lindalva was really shy, but our members made her open up and she made new friends. This is going to help her not feel so lonely here in Janga! Ugh this church is perfect. She loved being there so much that she said, "you have to invite me to all your activities" She even wants to come help clean the chapel and bring food to a ward activity! hahaha Every person needs a friend in the church, a calling, and to be nourished by the good word of God. I testify of the words of President Hinckley when he said this.

Yesterday after lunch, we had to go to our stake in Rio Doce to attend a meeting with all the missionaries from the Olinda stake to talk about Family History and how it can help missionary work. It was so cool! I was able to tell my experience about my great great great (i think) grandma Pearl who had a dream about her family members who passed away trapped inside a cage where they couldn´t stand up or stretch out all the way and that they were asking Pearl for help. The next day she saw a pamphlet for baptisms for the dead that the missionaries left on her door. That´s how my family joined the church. I love family history because I´m a member because of it! They gave us all a little book called my family that we are to fill out and show our investigators and members to get them excited about finding their heritage and understand that families literally can be together forever. There does not exist "til death do us part" in this church and how blessed we are because of that fact! As I started to fill out this book, I was able to feel the spirit of Elijah so strong and I know this can truly change the way we do missionary work and introduce the church to others! Okay this is really long, but I hope you all enjoyed it! :) Thanks for all your prayers. Love you all!

Love,

Sister Garrick

Photo 1:The "heart attack" that we did for our Relief Society president that brought me soup when I was sick :)

Photo 2: It rained SO MUCH one day with SO MUCH wind that both of our umbrellas broke :( Also, we got to lunch so soaking wet that a sister in the ward gave us these shirts to use for the day haha