Starting the New Year with Hot Dogs and Sparklers

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy New Year!!! It´s hard to believe that 2015 is here. We had an awesome week here in Eduardo Gomes. Tuesday, Sister Bento and I went on exchanges with the Sisters in Grajeru, Sister Aguirre and Sister Ramos. They are so awesome! We had a great time and had tons of miracles!!! Sister Bento even convinced a mom to let her daughter be baptized who has been visiting the church for months. Sister Ramos bought pizza to celebrate! (See attached pic)

Wednesday night we went over to a recent-convert´s house named Angelica and had hot dogs. That doesn´t sound very good, but the hot dogs here are amazing! Probably one of my favorite foods haha (Sorry Uncle Brad, I know how you feel about hot dogs, but they are sooo tasty!) We went home 9 pm, but we set our alarms and woke up a little before midnight to watch the fireworks and light a few little sparklers.

Our ward it helping out a ton! A young woman named Bruna talked with some of her old classmates about the Church on WhatsApp and passed us 4 referrals. We visited them with our Ward Mission Leader and a Young Man who is preparing for the mission and ALL of them accepted baptism! Really, miracles happen when members and missionaries work hand in hand. 

2015 is starting off with a bang! I´m so excited to be working with the members and to be a part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that the Church is true. I know that Joesph Smith was a prophet of God. I know that obedience brings happiness. Happy 2015 and have a great week!

And a Happy New Year!

2014 is coming to an end. It´s hard to believe that I passed this entire year down here in Brazil. What a blessing! Saturday was the baptism of Luzia. Lots of people came and it was great! We watched a little video while she was changing and the Spirit was very strong. She lives one street down from the Bishop so when he was welcoming her to the ward, he promised to take her to church and drop her off every Sunday for the rest of his life. It´s so great knowing that she already has such good support from the ward.

On Christmas Eve we went over to a member´s house. It was us 4 Sisters and 2 Elders (because no one invited them). There was lasagna, salad, casarole, rice, and chicken. And for dessert, a tropical fruit salad with strawberry whipped cream. Super delicious. The tradition here is to eat dinner at midnight, but we ate around 9:30 pm. We had a secret pal and Sister Barros gave me a pair of earrings and a piggybank :)

Yesterday was Maria´s homecoming talk. She talked about the difference between doubt and fear. She said, "If you have doubts, it´s because you´re lacking information. You need to study it out, and ask Heavenly Father for answers. But if you know what you need to do and are afraid, just do it." I thought that was super awesome. If you have doubts about the Gospel, you need to study the scriptures and pray. If you are afraid to share the Gospel, just do it! Heavenly Father will give you the courage and the words to say. And it will get easier every time. Every member a missionary.

I was studying Doctrine and Convenants today and I loved this scripture: "And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more." D&C 78:19. I challenge you to end this year by making a list of all the blessings you received in 2014 and expressing gratitude to the Lord. It´s a promise that if we do so, He will add upon it! Imagine how many blessings we will receive in 2015! I love you all and wish you a good week and a very happy new year!

Love,

Sister Lopez

I´ll be Home for Christmas (If Only in my Dreams)

Dear everyone,

Merry Christmas! I love this season and all the joy that it brings. We have been having lots of success with out Chrismas message and touching hearts singing Christmas hymns. 

This week was full of wonderful things. We were visiting out recent convert, João Paulo, and his family when his mom told us that Paula wants to serve a mission! Paula is João´s sister who was less-active, but has come back to church since João was baptized.. She´s 21 and will start preparing now. It is such a huge joy to feel like we made a little difference in her life and the life of this family. Yesterday was the Primary Program and João Paulo and Daniel spoke. It was so awesome to see them and Renata (their mom) was crying. The Primary Program was one of the best I´ve ever seen (and not just because I´m partial to João and Daniel haha). The theme was Families can be Eternal. When the children sang "Families can be Together Forever" they all pulled out of nowhere pictures of their families. Many of them were pictures of baptisms or dressed in white in front of the temple after a sealing. It was so neat to see how the Gospel has blessed so many lives. There weren´t many dry eyes in the congregation. 

Our investigator, Luzia, came to church yesterday and LOVED the Primary Program. She cried a little too and talked about how much she wanted to see her grandchildren there. We talked about how she is being an example by being there at church. She is really excited about her baptism Saturday. She says she wants to start 2015 without any sins.

A young woman from our ward who was serving in São Paulo finished her mission and came home this week. We had a little party in the church for her and she spoke about the mission and how fast it passes. So true! But the the best part is that whether or not you have a nametag, you are a missionary. I loved when she said, "The people around you were placed there by Heavenly Father. There aren´t coincidences in the Gospel. Your dentist isn´t just any destist, he´s YOUR dentist and God put him there because he is an elect of the Lord." So awesome!

"Glory to God in the highest. and on earth peace, good will toward men." Luke 2:14 Merry Christmas to all! I hope you all have a great CHRISTmas this year and remember why we are celebrating :)

Love,

Sister Lopez

Christmas Conference and Transfers.

Transfers. The four of us stayed!!! I am so excited to stay with Sister Bentos for another transfer. She is amazing and like a sister to me. I feel so blessed to be able to spend Christmas with her. 

Wednesday was Christmas Conference! The Bishop picked us up 11:30 PM on tuesday and dropped us off in Ciqueira where all the missionaries in Aracaju met up. The bus came 1 AM and we arrived in Maceió 7:30 AM on Wednesday. It was a little tiring, but the Conference was great. Everyone was dressed up, and it was so fun to see everyone. All of my old companions were there, except for Sister Chilson who went home in November. Sister Ball and I sang "Away in a Manger" in the talent show. The picture that I attached is of me, Sister Moura (my daughter), and Sister Silva (my granddaughter). I found out last night that Sister Silva is going to train this transfer which means that I am a great-grandmother haha. I will have been out for 1 year and 3 months this week so I am feeling OLD!

We met a woman this week named Luzia. She was taught by the Sisters a year ago, went to church a few times, but then stopped coming. When we taught her the Restoration, I asked her how she was feeling and she said, "Follow it. Something is telling me to follow. The last time I gave up and the Sisters stopped coming. God is giving me another chance, and I won´t let him down this time." Super awesome! She accepted baptism and will be baptized next week if all goes as planned! :)

Sister Bento and I have sharing a neat message with less-actives, recent converts, and members this past week. We read the story of Christ´s birth and sing hymns. It´s brought a new spirit to our Christmas and helps us remember exactly why we are here on the mission. And we have even brought a few people to tears :) It makes me so happy because I know that this is how Heavenly Father wants us to use our talents; to bless the lives of others.

Love you all and hope you have a wonderful week.

Sister Lopez

#sharethegift

christmas.mormon.org

December 8, 2014

The exciting news this week is that João Paulo got baptized! His dad came up from the Bahia so the whole family was there. A few primary kids sang and bore their testimonies. It was really special. Yesterday, he came to church all dressed up with a suit coat and his sister, Paula, who is less active, came too! It was so neat and an amazing spiritual experience. 

João Pedro (the basketball player) came to church too and loved it! All of the members love him already, and the young men think he is the coolest thing ever.

We had Mission Leadership Meeting this week here in Sergipe. It was really awesome. We talked a lot about the importance of the Book of Mormon in missionary work. There is no better way to come to know our Savior than through the Book of Mormon. I know that it is essential in our personal conversion. The Book of Mormon contains answers to life´s biggest questions and doubts. We need to study it every day to receive personal revalation from our Heavenly Father. 

The Church is true, the book is blue, and God loves us! Have a great week.

Love,

Sister Lopez

Feliz Dezembro! (Happy December!)

Well it´s December 1st, 2014. It´s the most wonderful time of the year! I am so excited to be spending another Christmas season here in Brazil. Every day is getting a little hotter! 

Thanksgiving I made macaroni and cheese and brownies, and we all said what we are grateful for. Really it didn´t feel that much like Thanksgiving, but it was still fun. 

Saturday was the first baptism of the Branch in São Cristóvão! They don´t have a baptismal font so the baptism was held in our chapel. The man´s name is Ivens and Sister Bento and I started teaching him when we worked there in São Cristóvão. It was so neat to see the fruit of our labors even though it wasn´t technically our baptism. Ivens is 27 or 28 and the Elders are working with his wife too who will be baptized in the next few weeks!

Yesterday we had some awesome miracles! We taught a couple who belongs to another church. From the start, I could tell that the guy knew his stuff. I got a little bit nervous because generally people like that aren´t very open and ask a lot of really hard questions haha. But when we ended he bore his testimony about God´s love and mercy and it was great. We invited them to be baptized and they accepted! Unfortunately, they have to get married, but they are already in the process.

There is a couple in our ward named Tiago and Sayala that I love! They have 3 little kids and are super busy, but are always trying to help us out. For a couple of weeks, Tiago had been promising to buy acaí and invite a family over for us to teach. Friday he bought the acaí, but the family couldn´t make it. Yesterday after church he still didn´t have any one to invite over so he prayed and told the Lord that he would invite the next person he saw over to eat acaí with us. Long story short, he saw a young man, invited him over, he accepted, invited us over, we taught the Restoration, and he accepted to be baptized December 20. His name is João Pedro (John Peter), he´s 18 years old, and he said that this is what he has been needing in his life. The Spirit was so strong as Tiago and Sayala both bore their testimonies of the Gospel, and I have no doubts that João Pedro will progress! They arranged to pick him up for church Sunday and we will teach him again tomorrow in Tiago and Sayla´s apartment! Also, he is a basketball player and he is enormous! His favorite team is Cleveland because of LeBron James. Just a random fact :)

It was a really awesome week here in Eduardo Gomes. Sister Bento and I are doing well and loving the mission. A quick thought for the week: " Preach the Gospel every hour and, if necessary, use words." St. Francisco of Assis

I know that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that He is our Savior and that He loves each one of us. Make an effort to share the Gospel and Heavenly Father will put the elects in your path. Have an awesome week!

Love,

Sister Lopez