One week left, what the heck?!

November 20, 2015

One week left, what the heck?!
Hello world! This week was pretty uneventful, except yesterday Sister
Hansen was laughing super hard and leaned against a window for support; the window was actually open and she almost fell out of the 3rd
story window, but I grabbed her and pulled her back in; so that was
pretty exciting! Now back to the continuation of last weeks adventure
that I didn't have time to finish telling you about.

So last Wednesday my district and the Hispanic girls, that are my bff´s
from another district, walked a mile to a bus stop and loaded onto a
crowded, sweaty bus and rode it for 30 minutes into the heart of Sao
Paulo. We stood the whole time, and it was a lot like a roller coaster
ride except less safety equipment. I had fun. After we got there all
the companionships split up, and each had 6 copies of the Book of
Mormon to give away to interested passersby.

There were some nice people and some not so nice people, and Sister
Hansen and I had given three away and were just starting to get into
the groove of things when we spotted this old man walking down the
side of the road. We walked over to him and had scarcely introduced
ourselves before he launched into a rant about the Bible and was
telling us all the ways our beliefs are wrong. He was going a mile a
minute; and we couldn't even get a single word in. Every time we tried
to say anything or even answer one of his questions, he would just cut
us off in rapid fire Portuguese.

We stood there waiting for him to stop for at least 15 minutes before
another old man came up. We thought we were saved, but he turned out to
be a preacher and just joined in with the other guy (except he was
trying to tell us about how he saw Jesus one time too and Jesus told
him that he was perfect in every way). I was getting very overwhelmed
at the whole situation and basically just started to stand there and
cry as these men fought over us.

Finally, I just couldn't take any more and cut them both off, asking If I
could say something to them. They both stopped and looked at me
expectantly. Honestly, I had only understood about 60% of what they had
been saying. I knew they didn't want to listen to anything that was
going to come out of my mouth, and I didn't have enough Portuguese to
say all that I wanted to tell them; so I did the only thing I knew to
do, and through snot and tears and a couple of  hiccups, I bore the most
heartfelt testimony I ever have in my life. I told them I hadn't
understood everything they were saying, but one thing that I did know
was that the book I held in my hands was true and that it testified of
Jesus Christ and His love for us.

The preacher asked me if I could prove to him that it was true. I
told him that I couldn't prove anything to him, but that if he read it
and prayed to know that it was true that God would testify of the
truth of it but through the Holy Ghost. I know that for myself. In
that moment I realized what it means to testify of something with the
whole energy of your soul, and let me tell you it's exhausting, but also
the most wonderful feeling. The preacher didn't really like my answer,
and they continued to quarrel; but after that I didn't have anything more
to say. But just a moment later, almost out of nowhere, the bottom
fell out of the clouds above us and it started pouring like you
wouldn't believe.

I know that it was a tender mercy for me. Literally the second after
I had done all I could do and reached my breaking point, the Lord
offered me a tender mercy and a way out of the situation. I pretty
much cried for like an hour after that, first from being overwhelmed,
and then later from all of the kindness the other sisters showed us
after they found out what happened, and then from realization that
that situation was actually one to be grateful for because it showed me
what I'm really capable of.

I know that I´ll face experiences like this (and harder ones) again
after I leave the CTM in a week and a half, but I know that the Lord
always provides a way. I love you all and hope you have a great
week!!!

LooOOOvvvVeeee,
Sister Curtis