Hi everyone!
So...
This week literally whipped by. I have no clue where all the time is going. My Visa finally came through so I'll be leaving for Brazil after this transfer, which is kind of sad. I really do love the people here. Also my Portuguese (especially my speaking and my comprehension) needs to be wayyy better, so Sister Zanella and I will be increasing our Portuguese use a ton for the next 3 weeks. In any case, it's been really nuts, because we're visiting all of these less-active and investigators we love and since it's the Christmas season, we're suddenly getting fed a lot more, too. We're going to have a particular companionship emphasis on finding this week so that we leave this area in great shape. We'll both be going after this transfer, because S Zanella has one transfer left in Temple Square and then she goes home (where she'll only be an hour or so away from me, yay!). I wonder if they'll transfer more sisters into our place or just close us down (which wouldn't be bad because remember, this ward has two more sets of sisters. And a set of elders. And a senior couple. This WARD. The work is hastening here!) Also, I don't know about the car, which we may just leave at the mission office. There are no cars in Brazilian missions, which will be fun, but on rainy days I may miss our Malibu (affectionately nicknamed the Maliboat, because it has some really wide turns). But I am so excited for this change and I am doing my best to prepare, so pray for me with the language!
I don't have much time left, as per usual, but I can tell you all a really need experience that happened this week: Mark had been telling us about how he was sure he had some ancestors who were among the first Mormon pioneers in Utah (which was basically all he had initially heard about the Church), so we invited him to the Wednesday night Family History class to find out more. Hannah came as well to help us and she was a really invaluable resource, because she's been diligently doing her FH since she got baptized. We set up Mark with afamilysearch.org profile and started pulling up records of his parents and grandparents so we could put them in too. Mark was awesome, pulling names and places out of his memory so we could find and match them. But then, of course, we got stuck trying to find one great-grandmother who he couldn't remember the maiden name for, but Sister Zanella, with far more diligence and patience than I possess, discovered that this grandmother had been Pearl Houtz before she married James Coomes and then we struck on a family line stretching back, in some places, to the 1400s. Even better, we found the pioneers! And amazing conversion stories that people had written down and posted on the site. One of his 4th-great grandfathers joined the Church, moved to Nauvoo with his family, where he had the Prophet Joseph Smith often in his home, built a wagon to cross the plains, and ended up giving that to Brigham Young when his broke down. Another faithful grandmother recorded two of her children being healed of serious injuries through the power of the priesthood, which eventually let to the conversion of her husband. The spirit there was really powerful and we could all feel that those people were there with us, helping us to learn more. Mark, even more than any of the rest of us, was so excited to learn all this about his roots. And he knows that his ancestors are there helping him with his conversion, just like they made this journey in the past. We're going to share some of his ancestors' stories at his baptism this week. So that was an incredible miracle as well. Anyway, I'm clean out of time but I love you all! See you figuratively next week!
Sister Nielsen
Pictures: Lesson and pizza at Mark's last Tuesday. From left to right it's Johnny, Mark, Haylee, me, S Zanella
Our fantabulous picture for S Zanella's Christmas cards home
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