Their entire family came to church!

Ola my dear wonderful family so something that is wonderful is that my companion is saying that my portuguese improved dramatically while I was serving with her and so thats really wonderful. 

This past week for the first time in my 6 months here in brazil I used contacts and everyoooone was complimenting me haha so that was nice, but I think I will only use them for church on sunday and meetings because less people realize that Im american while walking on the streets when i use glasses (In reality they usually think that im german haha) 

but anyways this week and really this transfer has been incredible and so full of wonderful miracles at every turn. And Ive gotten SO much joy at seeing the miracles happening in the family of Aline (robert and Luan)

FIRSTLY being that their mom Edeulsa visited church for the first time with them this past sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow I was so excited about that, and I continue to be very excited and I hope she had a good experience (we werent able to visit that night to follow up because we had a fireside)

Also Aline is beyond incredible as well as Luan with sharing the gospel with teir friends and inviting them to church, I think that is definitely the greatest reward and blessing I can possibly receive serving as a missionary is to be able to teach a lesson to the friend of our recent converts and to hear them sharing testimonies.

So something Im super happy about is that we have been very diligent in keeping good records of the lessons taught to Luan and Aline AND they have almost been taught ALL the recent convert lessons which Im immensely pleased about because with the part of our new area we received about 30 baptismal records of people from the past 2 years and their record of lessons  taught to them and NOT A SINGLE one of them was taught recent convert lessons and had lots of information missing and so I just went to town doing papers and maps and things to be able to plan out how we can make it a priority to teach all these recent converts and

THEN our mission received the revelation that we need to use 50% of our time strengthening recent converts and helping their families join the gospel (along with many papers in order to efectively do this0

and I was SOOOOOOOO happy!!! I just KNEW that this was so important and I already started doing a bunch of stuff and already had a burning testimony of the need for this and now its a NEW program that will Start in our mission and if it is successful will travel throughout the missions of Brazil. So I definitely will do everything possible to show that this is important and will help in every aspect of missionary work

ALSO I have an INCREDIBLE bishop who is really just doing everything to bless our ward and it Shows! Same with honestly ALL the leaders just going above and beyond.

For example- president of the relief society- visiting with the counselors every single less active member

leaders of nursery- wow how I LOVE and appreciate them- doing temple trips with the kids to walk in the garden (which meant Aline got to visit with her son Miguel) 

and honestly I find myself watching them and im so grateful the way them make all our friends feel superrr welcome and how they are loving and taking care of them, wow so wonderful

and soooooo many other ways

Oh anddd I was transfered

and sister Maia will train now, but I just know she will be the best trainer in ALL of Brazil so Im very excited for her

and I will see tomorrow my new companion,ward and area,

it will be great and I will work my very hardest:)

I love this work, this Gospel and my Savior

ANDDDDDD I LOVE YOU ALL

Love sister Kimball

I will go where the Lord wants me to go :)

Dear family

This letter might be a bit shorter because we are visiting the lan house that has keyboards that are difficult to type

but thats okay

one of the wonderful experiences we had this week was visiting members for lunch for sunday and they had a friend with them and our Elder Miranda who is leaving in 10 days gave a message and invited them to give a book of mormon to a friend and they said they already knew who they could give the book of mormon to and so Elder Miranda said "Then I will bring 2 Books of Mormon for you to give to a friend because I know there is someone else waiting as well.

And then he turned to one of the 6 people there and asked if she was a member

and she said no

and he asked if she would like a Book of Mormon

and she started crying and saying that she wanted one.

wow I cant even explain how powerful that moment was because she was saying that everything he said was exactly what she needed to hear and so now the Elders will visit her and so it is really wonderful.

Also I think this week i will be transfered

Also our friend Robert passed the sacrament for the first time, and we taught a lesson with Luan to a friend of his and are visiting friends of Aline so its so wonderful seeing how strong our recent converts are in the gospel

its really interesting on a mission how we never really will know the impact we made on others we taught. Because we are teaching an awesome lady named Fernanda and she said to visit her sister Ericka

and we visited and she had already been taught by Elders about 10 years ago but it wasnt the right time but we arrived and remembered EVERYTHING about how it was when they taught and she has a testimony of the church and already visited and everything and she wants to be baptized! And her daughter will as well! It so sooo incredible because we literally didnt do anything but it was the Lord who prepared her and we just were guidd to her at the right time and right place. It has been incredible.

But things are wonderful here I LOVE my companion, my ward, my bishop and our investigators and everything but Ive already been here a long time so I think I will be transfered and I will miss everyone but I know that the Lord has prepared other people to hear the Gospel.

I will go where the Lord wants me to go :)

Only Miracles! So Milagres!

Wow so this week was incredible and crazy and really a good learning experience. So about 2 weeks ago we were told that there could be a potential move in the line of our area. Meaning that we could lose all the people we have been teaching because their area would become part of Cidade dutra. And so we did everything possible to finish up writing the information on their records and to teach them lessons that they needed to prepare to be baptized. And really I think if every single week a missionary thought that they could potentially be moved it would be pretty iuncredible because it encourages us to use every single second in the best way possible to help the most amount of people that we can. And to do everything we can to prepare our friends to be taught by other missionaries and to write on our records what they have been taught so that the other missionaries will have an easy time knowing what our investigators needs are.

And so we were doing all this and then after general conference the bishop asked to speak with my companion and I so we said sure and we were talking with him (with another lady member to be appropriate) and he told us about how the entire part of our area that we are working is in fact cidade dutra and that he was preparing to talk to our mission president to help everyone know about the change. But he said that he really wanted us to be missionaries in his ward because it would be a lot better transition for our recent converts and for our investigators and of course we rejoiced in this idea because we love our recent converts in interlagos and we wanted to do everything possible to help them as long as we could. And so Bishop Lima said that he was praying and hoping for this and that he would fast as well and do everything necessary to ask for this change

And then 2 days later we received the call that we had been transferred to cidade dutra and everything but with all our investigators and recent converts and so its a miracle that we will be able to continue to help them

but its a bit of a bitter sweet experience because we want to continue with our investigators so this is a blessing but it means that Interlagos will lose Many people and so its really tough for Interlagos.

But we are servants of the Lord and we support our mission President as the Lords representative receiving revelation for us and whats the Lords will.

And so we followed with faith.

And so this week has been incredible, we gained another part of area to work in called Vila Da Paz, I can not explain how many incredibly elect prepared people are in this area. We received a list of about 50 people (Literally) to visit and to teach. And its just been incredible, every second of our days were filled with running back and forth to teach these lessons, with our new part of the area while also helping our other area.

And I am VERY determined to do everything possible to teach our recent converts all the recent converts lessons.

Because in our area book we discovered about 30 pages of recent converts in the last year!!!! And not a single one of them has marked on their paper a recent convert lesson. And had a Ton of information and dates missing, and contact information. So I did my best to fill in a bunch of information using their baptismal papers, and our address book/cellular and other resources and so that went really well. But Im really realizing how crucial it is for these people to have their recent convert lessons so we will try to visit as many as possible and really we need the help of our ward because there is just not enough hours in the day.

Wow I love being a missionary, 

So there is so much I want to do but I know my time in this area is running out but I am just going to work my very hardest, plan out lessons as best as we can, and Im just so grateful for this chance in this new ward and everything.

So so many wonderful things are happening and I will use bullet points

*Victoria and her sister Daniela were baptized last week, because we had been bringing victoria to church every week with a member and so she already visited many many times and when we invited her to be baptized her teenage sister over heard and said "Aunty I want to be baptized too!! Turns out a member (which we later discovered is in our new ward) Had already brought her to church (as well as about 50 other kids living in our area, no joke everyone that has already visited our church visited because of Ana Paula it is incredible beyond belief) So Vitoria and Daniela were excited and firm, and Daniela had also miraculously in the past year on her own wuuit smoking and drinking and so she was perfectly prepared for baptism we basically just showed up and helped her know where the baptism font was haha. Really a beyond incredible experience showing that the Lord prepares a way, because Vitoria already was in church Many times but we were worried about helping her continue forever and all of a sudden her 16 year old sister wants to be baptized and now we are at peace and super happy because we know that they are in it together :) Anddd we are preparing their mom as well :) Well in all truthfulness the Lord is.

*Luan our wonderful recent convert is preparing to serve a mission and so he is visiting every sunday with the Elders (Meaning he is for about 4-5 hours on sunday teaching people about the gospel.) I can not even explain how happy this is making me, it is really wonderful.

*Sunday we needed a lot of help but are in a brand new ward and didnt know who to call, but guess what happened 2-3 times that week our bishop called US asking us what we needed and offering rides for our investigators for sunday. And so sunday came and we ran around gathering our investigator friends together and our bishop arrived with 2 other ward members with cars and they lifted them all to church. It was so wonderful. And then while in church while switching classes the relief society president and primary president gathered our friends together and led them to their classes. Without being asked or anything! Ah what a blessing!!

*So last Saturday our friend Flavia who was beyond prepared for baptized and had a strong testimony of the church got sick and wasnt able to be baptized and then because of that many things happened and we were worried if she would remain firm in her decesion and everything. And then on saturday her rescheduled baptism date she basically sent us a text saying it wouldnt work out to be baptized and asked when the next possible baptism date could be. And we were very nervous because basically we knew that the longer she postponed the more doubts would begin to rise and more time that the adversary had to work on her. So we testified to her of the importance of following the savior and everything but she didnt change her mind and so we left very dishearted and called our leader Elder Barker to know who to call to cancel her baptism (an hour before the baptism) and he asked if he could talk to her and we were thinking that itd be best not to insist but then I thought really I want to make sure we do everything we possibly can to help her make the right decision. And so he came over and she had showered and had a sunday dress on and they talked and talked and I was just hoping and praying. And it sounded like it really wasnt going well because I heard the same excuses she had been giving us so I opened the scriptures while my companion was talking to the other elder and I was reading and I just prayed and said I know that miracles can happen and I will trust in the Lord regardless of what happens.

And about a minute later Elder Barker entered the room, handed to phone to me and said 

"Call the church, and tell them we are having a baptism."

The joy and relief that filled my heart were undescribable.

Our wonderful friend Flavia that we have prayed and prayed for had a Huge test of faith and conquered, and decided to follow the Lord regardless of not knowing what might happen (because her husband was very unsupportive)

And so she rushed to get everything ready, bringing her 2 young sons in the pouring rain on 2 unibuses at 8 pm to be baptized in the true church of Jesus Christ.

We were soaked and everything but the happiness was indescribable. 

Was simply a miracle.

Because we knew waiting for the next day would simply be too late.

I am so glad for this experience. The Lord truly is working miracles and this is His work. The Heavens are open and our loving Heavenly Father is always blessing our lives.

I am so grateful for the Gospel, I love everything about being a missionary!!!!!!!!!

So Milagres!!!!!-ONLY MIRACLES :)!

I love you all

Com Amor,

Sister Kimball

I will do anything to fulfill my full time mission

So I was responding to Jared Weeks who said a missionary in his area returned home because of health problems and was saying that the missionary felt that he had a mission area that wasnt exactly perfect (said in different words) but really we can Always find good if we are looking

and when I responded to him I thought Id forward my response to you all which is why I believe Im being VERY blessed and loving my mission so much

and this was my response (part of it)

Oh thats sad about the missionary returning home for health problems.

I was honestly a bit concerned about what would happen with my health when I got her but Im learning this- that with trust in the Lord and a positive faithful attitude taht everything works out and we can conquer all sorts and any type of problem.

So this is what I did to make sure I stayed on my mission the full time being faithful and not returning home for ANYTHING or any sort of health problem

1- Deciding that I will do whatever it takes to be obedient

2- Missions are to help and strengthen us and so of course we will have opposition but it will make us stronger

3- we need to set a good example for our siblings

4- Never saying anything negative about my mission to my family, always being positive, because there are lots of hard days on missions but they pass and there are TONS more good experiences if we are willing to work for them

5- Really I want nothing more than to be completely faithful on my mission and for ALL of my mission

ANDDD

because 

I decided Id rather die in the work of the Lord being faithful, worthy and enduring all things here on the mission field  than return home early from my mission, whether for health, difficulties or disobedience.

And I think Heavenly Father knowing that is blessing me with good health and strength to over come things. and Im LOVING my mission SOOOO much. My wards, companions, bishops, mission presidents EVERYTHING I love love LOVE.

And so that for me has helped. Because really these are the experiences I need to be the good mom that my future kids deserve 

and so for this Im willing to endure all things :)

So thats how I have been thinking and being very blessed and happy because of it,

with love sister kimball

and there will always be difficulties but if we can look for the good we will ALWAYS find it and lead happy positive lives :)