E ai pessoal! This week was really good, especially with Conference. I’ve been looking forward to it all transfer but our President said we could only watch it if we had investigators to watch it with us. That was all the motivation I needed and this week we talked with more people than I think we did in my first 3 weeks combined. We got to watch Conference in the chapel with several new friends and I even got out my headphones and was able to listen to the prophet in my own language.
In addition to conference making this week different, we had a number of interactions with people that were just odd. First, we were walking down the street, passing a bunch of little shops and stores, when two ladies pulled us into a glasses shop. They had been taught by the previous two missionaries before us but they didn’t have much interest in going to church or progressing. They were interested however in me and my reaction to absolutely everything. They kept giving me candy, telling me to speak in English, and asking me a billion questions about Utah. One of them said, “You look like a princess,” which, of course; made me smile. That is until the other one said, “No she doesn’t, she looks like that orphan.” Luckily I knew she meant Annie but it was still pretty funny.
Another time we were standing on a corner just reporting a lesson we finished when a lady walked up to me and asked, “Where are you from?” Normally, they wait until I’ve butchered at least a few sentences in Portuguese before asking this to be polite. But not this lady. She knew the answer even before I gave it and started talking in the English she knew about how much she loved America. She said, “Abraham Lincoln is my hero!” To which I agreed, Honest Abe is awesome. Then she followed that statement with, “and Madonna is my inspiration.” This one threw me off guard and I just continued nodding while she explained how Madonna was and is still “the queen of pop.”
Lastly, we were just sitting on a bench, trying to do some studies when an old man came up to us and asked a bizarre question. “Is one of you named Adolf Hitler?” I completely understood his question but thought to myself that there is no way he is actually asking that. I just sat there very confused while he repeated his question and Sister Perri tried explaining we were missionaries. He turned to me and said, “to me, that means Adolf Hitler,” and then he walked away.
Moving on from the funny things, I wanted to share just one insight I had from my conference experience. Although my Portuguese is improving every day and I tell myself that I am understanding most things, I felt very lost in conference. The translators talk at you not with you which is not the Portuguese I’ve been practicing all these weeks. It was hard to sit in a chapel full of people taking notes, reacting to what was being said, and ultimately having a spiritual experience while I just sat there with a headache.
Sometimes I think life is like that. We look at all the other members, friends, missionaries, and family members who seem to be in tune with spiritual promptings while we are struggling to keep up. It can be discouraging and frustrating. For me, what made it bearable was the music of conference. Nobody else in that chapel stood up with the choir and congregation to sing, but I did. They hummed the melody or tried to find the lyrics in Portuguese but they did not understand the words they were hearing.
Just because we don’t show or experience the Spirit in the same ways as everybody else, does not mean we aren’t feeling it. Some people’s methods of hearing Him will seem more impressive or more sure than ours, but that should not deter us from seeking more experiences with the Spirit. I don’t have inspired dreams, I don’t see pillars of light, I don’t hear a voice in my head, but I know how I feel when the Spirit is communicating with me and that’s all that matters. Follow the counsel of our spiritual giant of a prophet and “choose to do the spiritual work required to enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost and hear the voice of the Spirit more frequently and more clearly.”
That’s all folks! Send me your favorite quote or talk from conference and I promise I’ll read it but no promises that I’ll respond within the next P-day, desculpa.
Tchau Tchau for now.
Love,
Sister Alyssa Grace
Bom Conselho, Brasil
Faith it….Till You Make It