the Pros and Cons of Rain

OI!Well, here I am again. GEez time is flying! I can´t believe this week went by so fast! The rain season ended yesterday, I do believe. It was beautiful seattle weather before, but yesterday was hot and sunny again. Which is fine, I like hot and sunny (I just like cloudy and rainy a little more..) And interesting thing here, is you can tell the weather by how it FEELS outside. For instance, last week when there was a couple hours of heat, we could just FEEL the humidity, and then we knew it was going to rain that afternoon. Depending on how humid and hot it was we could estimate how bad it was going to rain. It was pretty cool! That’s also why we know its NOT going to rain today- because its hot again, but not humid. Yup.So how can I capture this week? It’s been a roller coaster. (*How often do I use THAT to explain my week??*) It was a fantastic week, with wonderful moments- mixed with a few trials. The activity last week was fun, its kind of hard to explain though. I’ll explain it when I can send pictures with it, it’ll make more sense. The weather has had it’s pro-s and cons Pro: we don’t get sopping wet with sweatCon: We get sopping wet with rain. (I prefer the rain though..)Pro: Its not so unbearably hot that I have trouble thinking.Con: Its SO muddy, I have to pay a LOT of attention to where and how I’m walking.Pro: The clouds are BEAUTIFUL! And the sunsets are unsurpassing.con: sometimes I miss the stars at night, or the incredible blue sky here.
Anyhow, so fabiana is pretty much INCREDIBLE!!! Let me explain a little why..Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday all the mom’s here in janaúba go and get free milk from various places *depending on where they live* and so all the moms know each other, and wait in the line together. WELL, apparently ALL the girls waiting in line MAKE FUN of Fabiana and laugh in her face, because she got baptized. But she just responds “No one made me do this, I got baptized because I wanted to- because God told me it was right.” And then just ignores them! I’m SO proud of her! We’re working really hard to help her whole family! Her husband and dad said they’d go to church with us this Sunday, and we’ve been teaching them the lessons, so I’m excited for her. It breaks my heart though to think of these people- and some of them are girls we’ve taught ourselves! I can’t even explain how sad this makes me. Why do people have to criticize others for their beliefs? Isn´t conviction to a good cause- whether you agree that it´s the “right” road to take or not- isn´t that better being void of conviction at all? In any case, I´m happy for Fabiana, that she not only is firm in her decision, but that she´s having the opportunity to fight for it. Last Friday we taught a lady who said something very profound- but simple. Something that we all know, but if we sit and think about how true it is, it could change our lives! She said As coisas que vem facil, vai facil. Translated it doesn´t flow quite as well, but still, it’s the concept that´s important: “The things that come easily will leave easily.”So the things that we have to really fight for, the things that we had to WORK so hard for- those are the things that will stay with you- and the things that came without any effort or any work, those are the things in your life that will slip away unnoticed. Forgotten. That´s why it´s so important to fight for what we believe in- because if we don´t, we´ll never even know WHAT we believe. Like Paul teaches to the romans (Romans 5: 1-5) tribulations are what develop our capacity to endure all things with hope. [Hope: an unshakable trust in the Lord and optimistic outlook on life regardless of what the world is telling you – because of your faith in Christ.] Its THROUGH our experiences that we gain that capability- because if we didn’t have those opportunities we COULDN´T develop that aptitude, and we´d be left HELPLESS at every bump in the road. Anyway, so yeah. It´s a battle. But it´s one worth fighting. Though, like every battle, we are fighting for the victory- thankfully, the Lord is on our side, and will show us how to win. Not without doing our part of course! Monday I was reading in D&C and found a really cool scripture: D&C 103:36 “All victory and glory is brought to pass unto you through YOUR diligence, faithfulness, and prayers of faith.” So, I may not know what battles YOU are fighting, but I´m 100% sure that those three things will help you be victorious in your own personal “battlefield” Diligence is such a profound concept though- one that is worth studying thoroughly.
Fun fact: Sis. Sorenson and I decided to be each other today. SO I´m wearing her clothes/hair style (which is suspiciously like mine.. a tight bun on the back of my head.)/ make-up (just mascara.) and she is wearing my clothes/hair style/make-up.We took a picture and tried to stand/smile like each other. Haha, it´s fun. … and funny.Anyway, I´ll send those pictures someday.Well that´s it for now. Next week I´m not sure when I´ll write because it´s transfers, but I´ll write SOMEtime, in any case.love love love- sbps- sis. Sorenson started playing “oh bla dee oh bla da” by the beatles on the piano the other day. Yeah, she just went up like 10 notches on my cool list. Also, yesterday the padaria (bakery) outside our apartment was playing “fidelity” By regina nice and loud :D it was delicious.Mk. That’s all.