Itapetininga Letter 9

Dear Family & Friends,

Once upon a time there lived two little toads. One day, these little toads fell into a milk bottle. The first toad, seeing that it would be impossible to escape and not wanting to keep swimming, said good bye to his friend and drowned. The second toad, the optimistic one of the two, decided to keep swimming and trust that everything would work out. So he kept swimming. And kept swimming. Soon, the milk got thicker and turned into cream. It was harder for this little toad to keep going and he was getting tired, but he kept swimming. And kept swimming. And kept swimming. Soon, the cream got thicker and turned into butter. And with that, the toad was able to jump out of the milk bottle.

When life has got you stuck in a milk bottle, which toad are you?

Just a little story I read this morning that someone gave me. I have it in Portuguese so I had to translate it and I am not sure who wrote it. Someone who has lots of knowledge and a good life perspective of course! Probably an apostle. I read this and thought about my mom who always encourages me to "keep swimming"!!!

We did an exchange this week and I went to Sister Kurtem's area on the other side of the city. She has been a little bit down lately so the goal was more faith and excitement for the work. And let me tell you, those two days were days of PURE MIRACLES!!! I am in shock at how Heavenly Father inspired us to find these people. We found an amazing family of 6 who all accepted baptism on February 28th. They had been searching for something to bring more peace and harmony to their family that has been having a lot of difficulties. What an icredible lesson! One of the daughters went to our english class that night. We also found a man named Arnoldo who has despression and had been praying for help and immediately recognized that we were his answer. He found lots of comfort in Mosiah 7:33 and accepted baptism too! The secret: look for green houses with an open door or window. Haha- this was the pattern for the day! In total, 10 new investigators and every single one of them with a date for baptism. THIS is the power of Spirit that comes with our desire, obedience, and hard work!!!

What makes me happy: seeing the other sisters SO excited, happy, and enjoying their missions!!

Other things from the week: Isabel, Eugenio, and Araceli came to the baptism of one of the 8 year olds in our branch and they loved it! Now they have lots of doubts about the bible and eternal marriage but slowly and surely, we are working through their concerns. We were able to get a less-active named Adilson to give them a ride to church yesterday and now this less-active is coming back!! Ian had his baptismal interview on Friday and it was awesome! But when we returned the next day, he told us he didn't want it anymore. WHAT??!! Felipe and Giovanna didn't make it to church so we need to do some more following-up with them. Keep praying for them please!! I know your prayers are helping!

This weekend has been the famous "Carnaval" holiday here in Brazil. It's 4 days of straight party. Everyone has been off of work. Kind of like Mardis Gras from the look of things. It's not super huge here in the interior, but in the city, I can only imagine the craziness!

And the rains keep comin'!

I am going to be the optimistic toad and I know that everything is going to work out! Thanks again for your prayers. I love you all! LîVE!

Seja Valente e Fiel,

Sister Jorgensen

P.S. Fun pic from my companion's camera- looks like hail, but don't worry it's just rain!