But I'll talk about that amazing story in just a moment! It starts with The Tuesday night devotional. Elder Godoy (who spoke Portuguese at Conference!) came and gave a fantastic talk on faith and miracles!! And that night, Me and a few others in the district (especially Sister Cordner) had the strong feeling that we all needed to fast as a district for our visas. As... all of us are waiting for them. So we all set a date. Thursday. Thursday was the day.
Thursday 10/23 ~This was such an interesting day!! All throughout personal and companionship studies we all kept running into scriptures about fasting and miracles. Unexpectedly.
MOM! I was thinking about your feelings concerning fasting. Read D&C 59: 13-14. Especially 14. Fasting can be re-translated to "rejoicing"! What is the original intent for tasting? and why on Earth would that ever bring anyone to a state of rejoicing? Why would Jesus fast for 40 days? Hmmm... food for thought. Please send me your thoughts and experiences concerning this thing.
It was such a fantastically spiritually uplifting day. We were exhausted but our lessons went well and every time I prayed that day... I would just get this amazing tingly feeling in my chest. I knew that something special was beginning. And I knew that what we desired was exactly in God's plan for us. He had to give us the opportunity to exercise faith.
Friday 10/24 UGH! Being on a mission is the best gift ever. Thank you to all who helped me get here. Whether financially or spiritually speaking. This is the most precious experience I'm having. And It would have been impossible for me to do it on my own. Thank you for this gift! The spirit that is felt here is amazing. And I love that I am privileged and even supported to be here.
Alright.. back to visa story. Friday night comes... we had just taught our TRC's and we all gathered back into the classroom so that we could have our closing prayer of the day. When Elder Sukhee decided it was time to check on the visa statuses!! We decided to check on Sister Cordner's first: Oh man. That was intense!! The explosion that occurred in our tiny little classroom shook the walls! Not only had her Visa status been moved forward: but ALL FOUR of the steps had been lit up!!! The entire process was the skimmed right over! Jumped right into "ready for pickup" status!!!! Which means it's on its way to the Provo MTC any day now! We were all dying! That was incredible!! and then one by one we checked every one's. My hands were shaking while I typed in my birthday in the (now very familiar) little box and: BOOM all four of mine were lit up! My visa has been processed! it was so thrilling!!! It ended up being 6 people out of the 11 in our district had "received" their visas! Four red lights that are so simple yet shout so much. I think about D&C 59:13-14 and I know... there definitely was much rejoicing that night.
We have around 60 people in our zone and more than half of them are still waiting for visas. I testify that no matter what happens in our lives or in our missions: We're going where God needs us to go. He knows what's going on and I know who's in charge. And sometimes... even if we have faith: you still need to pray and ask for it. And miracles happen. It was amazing!! how freaking AWESOME WAS THIS DAY! Half of us received our visas within 12 hours of our district fast. it was super great.
Saturday 10/25~ On Saturday Sister Bundy and I had such an amazing lesson! Everything just... fell into place. And Kelly was excited and understood everything. We were lead to the most perfect scriptures at the most perfect time. Sister Bundy asked the most golden question and Kelly just sat back, thought... and then told us he needed to be baptized!! So we promptly invited him to be baptized on November 10th and he said yes! The spirit was incredible. And Sister Bundy and I talked equal amounts of time (which is really hard for me because I desperately want to just talk and talk) It was golden! Immediately after our lesson, Our teacher (who was acting as the investigator) did something he's never done before. He told us to sit back down, and then asked us--in English, now, no longer acting-- to evaluate our lesson in front of him! It was amazing. he said he was so impressed and could feel the spirit. He told us that if we could have that kind of lesson in the field --then the investigator would be inclined to say yes, too. He got a bit emotional and was so excited for us. Especially Sister Bundy! We didn't use any notes! Only our Portuguese scriptures and a dictionary. it was incredible!
SUNDAY 10/26~ I've been called as the District Sister Training leader!! That was super cool. Because our zone is so big... callings and releasing are done like they did in the good 'ole days! Over the pulpit in the middle of sacrament meeting! haha awesome. It was super neat.
Same with who gets called to speak on Sundays! Everyone writes a talk and then the President chooses two people while he's conducting. And starting this week we all had to write our talks in Portuguese!! And sister Bundy got called speak!! Haha we all immediately grabbed her hand. Because we know she has so much fear of speaking in public--let alone in Portuguese And she did an amazing job!! Of course it wasn't flawless Portuguese--but she invited the spirit. And she testified of truths. And that was enough. (haha, and it terrified the new Elders that just came in last week. They don't understand any of it anyway. It was great haha) Sister Bundy also was asked to say the closing prayer! God's got his eye on her. And what a glorious thing it is that even in seemingly meaningless situations-- God responds and cares about all of our discomforts.
Sometimes in order to know if we are truly being prompted by the Spirit, we much act on it. You will know the prompting by its fruit. And the Holy Ghost will not steer a car that is being driven by someone who is not focused on the road.
God blesses us more than what we expect!!
Oh... during down-time on Sunday (which is something I'm super grateful for and I'll miss when I'm out in the field) we watched some Mormon Messages. Love it!
To my dearest Young Women leaders. You do so much. And you express so much love. And I am eternally grateful for your love. Your service. The late nights spent worrying and praying for the girls--is still positively affecting me. And I want you all to know that I am still influenced by the power, testimonies, and trials of my Young Women leaders. I love you. Keep working hard. The power of the sacred calling of Young Women/Young Men/Primary Teachers is very real. you are so so special.
I love the 15 minutes just before a Devotional. We all, 2,000 missionaries, together sing 3 prelude hymns. We just sing and sing and then we open the meeting and sing again and say a prayer! It's the most phenomenal feeling. "The spirit like a fire is burning" is definitely not and exaggerated term.
Our district (and some in our zone) calls us Sisters Bundefer!! hahahahahaha especially when we play volleyball together. "Bundefer's on the court!" is something we love to hear! Basically we rock. (not really, Sister Bundy has been playing for 6 years) Love it. I'll kind of miss that. Even in class... sometime they call us that. We both adore it. And respond to it, it's true.
Our devotional speaker for Sunday night was Stephen B. Allen. The managing director, missionary department. ...It was pretty cool.
I had an incredible remembrance! Time for another miracle story! ...kind of. You're all familiar with Deja-vu? WELL. Those of you in my immediate family: you know that mine, when they happen, they're kind of really significant. And I think this one was the most intense one I've experienced.
When I was in 7th or 8th grade (when I was taking Spanish with Becca Proper and super into it) I had a dream. In this dream there was a short and significant scene/sequence that happened: I was sitting in a classroom with about 10 other people around me. We were all looking up at a big screen with conjugating verbs on it. I remember looking around this room and seeing a whiteboard with Goals written on, and as I scanned the room, I saw a big green flag with a yellow and blue circle in the middle (which I now recognize as the Brazilian flag) And in the dream, as my 7th grade self, I remember panicking because I realized that I had wasted time learning Spanish. Because I was learning the wrong language! That was very clear to me and I still remember that... I was learning the wrong language.
Of course, I woke up, almost 7 years ago, and shrugged off the weird dream and went on sincerely enjoying learning Spanish.
Alright. Fast forward to now, in the MTC. I was sitting in class the other day--my dream from 7 years ago very far from my brain and completely unremembered-- I clicked into a deja-vu moment!! And the exact sequence fell into place! And I saw my teacher, up there, talking about Portuguese, and I began to recognize everything that was about to happen. I started to pan the room--I saw the whiteboard, and the flag! I had seen this all in a dream 7 years ago. But I didn't panic like I had in the dream. It dawned on me, why my conscience would strain to let me know that Portuguese is what I'm destined to learn. And I laughed! Because I knew that I truly am in God's hands. And I am where I'm meant to be. I'm fulfilling essential and pre-destined contracts by being here. it was so crazy awesome!
MONDAY NIGHT 10/27 ~ OH! I just wish I could write all of you and respond to all of you always!
BUT! I am studying and learning about my investigators and my lessons--I hope you'll find these weekly novels sufficient enough.
Now, to all of you SLACKERS!! haha No, no just kidding. :) It warms my heart that all of you even take the time to read my long emails. And even reply to them! I truly cherish it! P-Days are the best because I see my loved one's names in my inbox. And there are dozens of missionaries just typing, typing, typing furiously fast and most of everyone is just beaming at their screens. It's a great day to be writing to you all <3
Portuguese is a beautiful language. And yes, I am biased. But frankly--it's true. I'm honored that God trusts me enough to learn it.. .and teach his precious children about His gospel.
Well folks that it for this week! So stoked to get more information on my visa status. We'll see how long it takes to get here. But I hear rumors that we'll receive flight plans most likely by Friday. :)
Love you all! Have great weeks!!
love,
Sister Hennefer
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