Funny Week

Hello beautiful people! What a wonderful week it has been- as I hope
to hear was the case for each and every one of you! :)

First of all, to my crazy brothers: How was trek??? I want to hear all
about it. Note to Mom- this also happens to be me begging for pics?

Speaking of brothers. Special shout out to Logan: Dear, sweet,
wonderful, handsome, marvelous brother of mine, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Ok. I
cant resist. Here is my song for you. And its not every day that
someone is going to serendade you, so you better appreciate it, mmkay?
:)

Parabems pra você,
Nessa data querida..
Muitas felicidades,
Muitos anos de vida!

And for Conner! Wow! One week from today and you are 16. Got your
first 25 dates all lined up yet? Betcha Dad has been helping you with
that, eh? Hahaha

So, news. Next week is transfers. Holla! But... transfers are
Wednesday, and for whatever reason, we won't have P-day next Monday.
So, I wont be emailing next week. Desculpa! But, no worries, I will
email in 2 weeks. Ok?

Alrighty. Hurry, quick! Did anyone check to see Mom´s face??? Hahaha
Mom, I'm just kidding. Yes, next week is transfers, but p-day is
Wednesday too- so I will be emailing Wed., not Mon.- just a heads up.

Funny week. We were teaching a lesson to an investigator, and de repente, his daughter
comes out. We say hello and then she goes OFF about how she doesn't
believe our religion is even a religion at all. That we should leave
the church, and leave our missions- just go home because we don't
practice what we preach, apparently. I don't know. She has a lot of
personality, sabe? But....I think it was all because she was drinking.
Then, like 15 minutes later- complete and total transformation. We
tried to calm her down, and it worked. Patience actually works. Go
figure. So at this point, she actually likes us again. Que bênção,
neh? So she calls out her son to come and meet us and then tells me,
``My son wants to marry you.`` Honestly, I tried my best to pretend
like I didn't understand, but man, she is a fighter. Tudo bem. She
invited us to come back that night for a BBQ. And when we showed up,
she introduced us as follows: This is Sister Alves, and this is Minha
Nora Futura. Nora means daughter-in-law. Gosh. Acredito não. Hahaha.

No, but na verdade, this week was GREAT. The young women/ young men
have been doing this activity/ event for the past week called
``jogos``. Its basically the olympics- only it mostly revolves around
soccer. Shocker. The opening ceremony was òtimo! Every ´country´ (aka
different wards in the area) did a dance with respect to whatever
country they were representing. Spain´s was beautiful. Fans, red
dresses... totally jealous. I admit it! I almost jumped in to join
them. Then get this! India. What song do you think they played? No
time for guessing games, but I kid you not! (Sorry, only my family
will appreciate this one) It is the same song that we used for the
state jr. miss pageant in the fitness routine. Hahaha - that sure
brought back memories. Some of the moves were similar too. Hilarious.
But... admitedly, my favorite was the USA. They did break-dancing. Oh
my goodness. My weakness. All I need is breakdancing and a Timbaland
or Flo Rida hit from the radio and I all but forget I'm a missionary.
Ok. Relax. I'm kidding. Really. I'm joking. But really, it was sick. It
was so fun to watch all the youth from our ward. We were there
supporting Rita (Emerson´s daughter that was supposed to be baptized
Saturday) No..I´m not forgetting that important detail. Some things
went wrong, and basically, it didn't work out this week. Tudo bem, she
was still at church yesterday and we are working with her to see when
she wants to be baptized now. Igualmente, temos outros pesquisadores
também que estão progredindo. We also, received a lot of references,
which is so great! This coming week is going to be WONDERFUL.

Ok. I read a really cool story this week, called The Interview: A man
passed away, was ressurrected, and was waiting to be interviewed.
Another man was ahead of him in line. The door opened and the first
man entered, and the door closed. The man outside could hear the
conversation on the other side of the door. The interviewer began, ``I
would like you to tell me what you think of Jesus Christ.``

``Well, He was born of a virgin in Bethlehem. He lived 33 years or so,
spending the last 3 in His ministry organizing His church, choosing
His apostles to direct it, giving the Gospel to direct our lives.``
The interviewer stopped him and said, ``Yes, that is all true, but I
want you to tell me what YOU think of Jesus Christ.``

``Well, He was tortured and crucified that we might have eternal life.
3 days later He was ressurrected that we might return to our Heavenly
Father.``

``Yes, that is true, but tell me what YOU think of Jesus Christ.`` The
man paused, a little perplexed now and then continued, ``Well, He
restored the gospel to the earth through Joseph Smith. He reorganized
His church, gave us temples where in we might do work to redeem our
dead. He gave us family prayer and family home evening where we might
reunite with our families. He gave us the Priesthood to heal the sick
and perform ordinances for our salvation and exaltation.`` The
interviewer again stopped him and said,``Thank you. All of what you
have said to me is true.``

The man was then invited to leave the room. After he left, the second
man entered. As he approached the interviewer, his eyes opened wide.
He fell upon his knees and cried, ``My Lord, my God.``

Wow. What a story. I love the message, clearly emphasizing the idea
that we can learn all we want to about Christ. We can know every
detail of His life (assuming that were possible, which it is not)...
but do we really KNOW Him? Knowing His life or what He did while He
was here doesn´t actually mean we really know Him, or His character.
And though this man was evidently Christian, was he really a true
follower of Christ? We aren't disciples of Jesus Christ merely by
reading scriptures that account His birth, life, or death. We aren't
disciples of Jesus Christ through any memorization of principle,
timeline, or doctrine. True disciples of Christ are those who really
know Him: Our Lord and Savior. We become true disciples through living
our lives in a way that will lead us to recognize Him the day He comes
again. It isn´t through study alone- it's through action, service, and
love. I believe it can make all the difference in life when we realize
it means little to know OF Him. But, it means everything to know HIM.

I am so grateful, every single day, to serve a mission. First and
foremost, the greatest blessing of serving a mission is coming to know
my Savior. He is everything to me and I testify that He lives.

Love you all. Again, have a wonderful week, will ya? You deserve it.

Love,
Sister Seal