HIDDEN TALENTS

This week was great because this Sunday we discovered hidden talents that our worldwide church leaders have!!  Because the church population is ever increasing here in Brasil, our stake conference was broadcast to us and all the stakes in Brasil from São Paulo and Salt Lake City, Utah.  Did you know that Bonnie H. Cardon from the USA and Joaquin E. Costa (70) from Argentina speak Portuguese?  Nobody translated for them- they just spoke in Portuguese!  It was incredible!

Richard J. Maynes (70) spoke on our divine nature as children of God.  (Who´s remembering conference?)  He said that all of us are are lambs of God as Christ is.  He said that Satan wants us to forget who we really are and forget our spiritual potential. 

Bonnie H. Cardon spoke on the family.  She said that we need to maintain an eternal vision and plant daily scripture study, prayer, family home evenings, etc. in our families (especially our children) so that we can nourish these seeds or righteous desires in the future to have a more ideal home (and this is done by small and simple means).

Joaquin E. Costa spoke about reverence in Sacrament Meeting.  He said that we should remember during the Sacrament that the blood of Christ was shed for us.  It should be personal.  When we are reverent, we have the spirit of peace, and this spirit can touch the hearts of those who are visiting and testify to their very souls that this church is true.

Claudio M. R. Costa testified of the prophet and that he is a preacher of righteousness and that it´s not sufficient to just believe in Christ and His Atonement.

AND THEN...

Elder Holland spoke...in... PORTUGUESE!  Then he was like.. okay my Portuguese is horrible, I´ll talk in English now.  And the translator took over.  He said the church has grown so much recently in Brasil that Portuguese has become the 3rd most spoken language in the church, following English and Spanish.  WOW!  He taught us incredible principles.  He said that we need to start to act in our homes how we act in the temple, and that we need to practice in our homes what we learn in the temple.  EXTRAORDINARY.  He said that our homes should be a place of peace and revelation.  

AND THEN... the translator stopped.  

And with tear-filled eyes, Elder Holland bore his powerful, sincere testimony in Portugese which made me get emotional.  He could have easily said it in English and it could´ve been translated, but by doing this, you could feel the love he has for this country and every latter-day saint that makes it up.  More importantly, you could feel the love he has for The Savior, even in broken Portuguese.

I KNOW that Jesus is The Christ.  This IS the work of our God.  His hand is in everything we do as we follow the spirit and as we bear our faith-filled testimonies, He will testify by the power of The Holy Ghost that this is His gospel.

Love,

Sister Garrick

Last District meeting -why do Americans have to be giants here in Brasil 

aka Sister Hoffman and I ;)

A man who jumped onto the bus as it passed instead of entering and paying- 

this happens more than you think (mas o povo nem liga). 

I, on the other hand, felt like I was starring in an action film.

 #TooNordeste