Dear Family and Friends,
18 months later and
here we are.... what a journey!! Looking back to January 2013 when I opened my
call to serve in Belém to right now November 2014 so much has happened! I know
that the Lord’s hand is and always was guiding my life. I started this adventure
not knowing what the Lord had planned for me. It was a terrifying leap of
faith. I truly believe that my mission was a journey and test of my faith. My
mission was a mission of Miracles.
I recently started
reading my mission journals and it is incredible to look back on the changes
that have occurred. I have learned that mistake of the past do not define you,
they refine you. Everything that I have experienced (before and during my
mission) has not only prepared me to serve a mission, but have prepared me for an
even better future. Every sacrifice and learning experience was crucial and
worth it! Serving a mission was the best thing I have ever done in my life!
Everyone always says that missions are “the best 2 yrs (1.5 yrs)”, but my
mission was the best 1.5 yrs “FOR” my life. I have witnessed miracles, built a
relationship with my Heavenly Father, strengthen my relationship with my
Savior, family and loved ones, I have met incredible people and culture, I have
learned the importance of self-less service, gained self-confidence, my
testimony has grown, I am fluent in Portuguese, I know that the atonement is
real and works, and I now know what matters most. Missions are hard and are
most certainly full of challenges, but they are gratifying, rewarding and
change us. I am becoming who my Father in Heaven wants me to be. His daughter.
When I left for my
mission, I promised my family, self and the Lord that I would be obedient
and serve to the end with all my heart. I have desired and worked to return
with honor. Each morning when I put on my name tag I remember that promise. I
represent my family, my Savior, and His restored gospel. I am a representative
of Jesus Christ. My calling has been the best calling anyone can hold.
Reflecting
back, I learned and changed so much in each area and with each companion. The
MTC with Sister Clark and Sister Garner, Capanema with my trainer Sister De
Lima, Cidade Nova with Sister Barros and Sister Vargas, Icoaraci with Sister
Felix and my “daughter” Sister L. Oliveira, Nova Olinda with Sister G. Cardoso,
Ribeiro, and C. Cardoso, and finishing with Sister Vargas in Independência. It
has been the most incredible adventure guided by the hand of God. I love Belém.
I am having a hard time saying goodbye. I love Brazilian lifesyle and the
people here. I love my mision. Missão Brasil Belém! Missão de Milagres! (mission of
miracles) Só os fortes servem no norte! (only
the strong serve in the north) I will never forget the time I spent here in
Brasil. Each investigator, every seed planted and every baptism! Every miracle!
It was worth every moment! Every minute in the blazing hot sun and down pouring
rain and worth every cold shower and mosquito bite. Every hardship, let down,
and tear shed was worth it. Every soul that can closer to Christ was worth
every effort!
It’s
like my dad said in an email almost a year ago, “remember that you are a
‘Sender Missionary’ It is in your name. “Sender” of the message of Jesus
Christ. Remember that you are a Sender.” I have done my best to fulfill
that call to be a “Sender”
In the last few weeks of my mission, I have studied the life of my Savior
and his earthly mission. He really was a perfect missionary! Reading about His
selfless service I began to reflect on my personal mission even more. I am so
far from perfect! I searched and prayed to know if the Lord was proud of me and
accepted my mission. My answer came when I was reading in Alma 38:2-5,10,15 (I
put my name in the scriptures).
2 And now, my ‘daughter’, I trust that I shall
have great joy in you, because of your steadiness and your
faithfulness unto God; for as you have commenced in your youth to look to the
Lord your God, even so I hope that you will continue in keeping his
commandments; for blessed is he that endureth to the end.
3 I say unto you, my ‘daughter’, that I have had great
joy in thee already, because of thy faithfulness and thy diligence, and thy
patience and thy long-suffering among the people of ‘Belém,Brasil’.
4 For I know that thou wast in bonds; yea, and I
also know that thou wast stoned for the word’s sake; and thou didst bear all
these things with patience because the Lord was with thee; and
now thou knowest that the Lord did deliver thee.
5 And now my ‘daughter, Sister Sender’, I would
that ye should remember, that as much as ye shall put your trust in
God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and
your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last
day.
10 And now,
as ye have begun to teach the word even so I would that ye should continue to
teach; and I would that ye would be diligent and temperate in all
things.
15 And may the Lord bless your soul, and receive you at the last
day into his kingdom, to sit down in peace. Now go, my ‘daughter’, and teach
the word unto this people. Be sober. My ‘daughter’, farewell.
The Spirit that I felt when I read
these verses was absolutely incredible. The Lord has accepted my mission
service here in Brasil and has even more work for me to do one i arrive home. I
am honored to be a daughter of God. It is a privilege that we each have to be a
child of God.
I know that my Savior Jesus Christ lives! His
gospel plan is perfect and can provide everlasting happiness. I know that
His gospel and church were restored through the young prophet Joseph Smith.
Priesthood authority has been restored. The Book of Mormon is truly
another testament of our Savior Jesus Christ and is TRUE! I know that our
Heavenly Father knows and loves each of us individually. He hears and answers
prayers! He knows what we need/want and is waiting with extended arms for each
of us to converse with Him in humble prayer. I know that families can be
together forever and are central to our fathers plan. The atonement is real and
works! I am proof that it works and that His grace is sufficient. The Lord
loves us perfectly to the point that he gave His son to suffer for us so that
we do not need to suffer too. I am so grateful for that eternal sacrifice
and the opportunity that we have to have joy in this life and the life to come.
I look forward to the day when I can return to my Heavenly Father’s presence
and embrace Him again. It has been awhile.
"E logo
irei para o lugar de meu descanso, que é com meu Redentor, pois sei que nele
descansarei. E regozijo-me no dia em que meu corpo mortal revestir-se de
imortalidade e apresentar-se diante dele; então verei a sua face com prazer e
ele me dirá: Vem a mim, ó bendito; há um lugar preparado para ti nas mansões de
meu Pai. Amen" (Enos 1:27). Aprendi muitas coisas aqui na melhor missão do
mundo. A missão realmente foi a melhor coisa que já fiz em minha vida! Sei com
toda certeza que Cristo vive e esta é a Igreja dele aqui na terra. Sei que
Cristo está com braços abertos por cada um de nós. Usa a expiação! Vive o
evangelho! Sei que a verdadeira fé traz os verdadeiros milagres! Esta é a
missão de milagres! Amo Vocês e A Igreja é verdadeira!!!
Love you all!! See you all next
week!
Love Always,
Sister
Sender
