Week 43 - Goiana

Dear family,

I can’t believe how fast time is going by! It’s so weird when I think about how this year is almost over! And this whole year has been spent as a missionary. It’s definitely been the fastest year of my life. And the best year too.

I’m getting adjusted here in my new area. I still don’t think I could find my way around by myself. Some places I could but a lot I don’t think I could yet. I have a problem of not paying attention when we are walking! I always am thinking about something or talking with my companion and then when we get there I’m like how did we just get here?! I need to pay better attention in case my companion gets transferred so I’m not lost!!

This week we found some new people to teach that are awesome! We visited a guy who is less active and his wife who isn’t a member. At first the wife was kinda cold and acted annoyed that we were there. But at the end she loved us!! She told us more than once how much she liked us and apologized for how she acted when we got there. We taught them about how we do family home evenings and asked if we could do one with them and she was so excited! She said she’s going to make us lasagna. She also loved when we explained the Book of Mormon and said she’s going to read! She didn’t come to church yesterday, but her husband came! The members are awesome and everyone was super excited to see him there again.

We also found a girl named Karol when we were knocking on doors. She is awesome! She is 13 and when we found her, her parents weren’t home so we don’t know them yet. But her older sister was there and her cousin so we had a lesson with all of them. She told us that she was crying earlier that day because she doesn’t have any friends and she thinks that no one likes her. She told us how happy she was when we got there! She was like "dude I was sad and lonely and then you guys got here and you’re not even from here but now I’m so happy!!" haha She’s really cute! She likes to sing and sang a song for us! She wanted to go to church so bad but was busy in the morning, but she went to choir practice later that night and made a lot of friends with the members! She said she loved it! We are going back to meet her parents this week, hopefully they are as awesome as she is!

We had an FHE yesterday with a family that is less active. We read in Luke the part where Peter denies that he knows Christ 3 times. When I first read that part I kind of judged Peter and I remember I thought how could he do that when he was an apostle?! We talked about how we all have weaknesses and will make mistakes.  But forgiveness is available to all those who want it. We talked about how Peter didn’t let this turn into another sin and another sin and so on. But he let this experience change him and be a better person. The family really liked the message. They were all commenting and sharing experiences. It was awesome. We felt really good about it!

Those are some of the highlights of this week :) I think that MAYBE I’ll get one of your boxes today. Today the Elders are getting our letters, and hopefully a box has arrived!! I’ll let you know! Thank you for everything! I love and miss you guys! Talk you next week.

Love,

Sister Bedke