Testimony!!!

Óla! Well this week flew by so fast ! Things are going well down here. After Sister H recovered from food poisoning she got sick again. She is highly alergic to Cajú and someone made her Cajú juice this past week for lunch. Just as she was finishing off the big glass of juice the irmã said she hoped the cajú juice wasnt too weak. Sister H said her eyes just got big and she started praying that nothing would happen. When she got home after lunch she told me what happened and because were on our way out to lunch, I told her to call me if she started to feel bad. Well at the end of our lunch we got a phone call from her asking us to run to the pharmacy and buy anti- alergy medicine. Luckily you can buy just about anything you want over the counter here and we bought some powerful stuff and then raced off to our house. When we arrived home we found Sister H sitting on the hammock with the face and lips the size of a watermelon....ok ok..it wasnt like the actual size of a watermelon, but it sure was dang big. On top of the ridiculous swelling she also was beet red and covered in splotches. She took a lot of medicine and after a day was back to normal. We were really happy that the juice wasn't super strong because the last 2 times this happened Sister H almost died in the hospital. Sister H said that it was just poetic that she would have another alergic attack before she ended her mission. Besides the random sickness here and there in our house we are all doing great! About the parasite....I don't even know for sure if I have one, but they will give me worm medicine at the end of my mission so dont worry...I´m GREAT! I did get bit by a dog this week, but thankfully I pulled my hand away as he bit me and it didnt break the skin. I just have a nice purplish-black bruise on my hand that will soon go away. It definitely got my heart pumping though. This week we worked way hard and marked another baptism for the end of the month. The best thing about this week was definitely the Spirit. We made it a goal to just start talking and keep talking with our investigators until the Spirit told us what to say. At time the conversation got long, but it was an awesome experience. Some of the best lessons I´ve given on the mission were this week. It really helped me to know what it means (more than ever) to be an instrument in the Lords hands. Several times when I was teaching with the Spirit this week, the Spirit was teaching me as well. It is just the coolest experience ever to be edified when you are edifying someone else...all made possible by the Spirit. Our teaching just really reached a new level and it has made me very excited. It has completely changed the way we work and I know it is effecting other people as well. Last night I stopped to talk with a man and his family in the street. Turns out they were strong member of the Assembleia de Deus and just wanted to Bible Bash, but I resisted the urge to smack them over the head with the scriptures and started bearing my testimony to them. As soon as I started bearing my testimony you could see the hostility leaving their eyes. By the time I was done talking they talked about how they always thought our church was cool and even invited us to come by and visit them. Honestly, no one can argue with a testimony. This week I read an article by Elder Ballard that talks about testimonies. He said when a person is truly converted he or she can not resist the urge to not bear their testimony. I´ve thought a lot about that this week and have started to apply it a lot more in the work. Yesterday was fast Sunday of course and I bore my testimony....afterwards 3 of my recent baptisms bore testimony. ...the gospel is a marvelous thing , the Atonement is a marvelous thing, change is possible, the Atonement works.... I was thinking yesterday of a way to explain how I feel when I see people I taught bearing powerful testimonies and i figured that mom and dad must feel like that way when they see us kids bear testimony. It is a feeling that overpasses almost all other happiness. Anyway after our testimony meeting was over several of the members came up to me and told me that when I leave I will be deeply missed. Some of the members thought I had been transferred because I wasnt in church last week (recovering from night in the hospital) and were so happy when they saw I was still here in Tibiri. I will deeply miss the people here in Tibiri when I go home. I was thinking about my return home during church yesterday and about how much I will cry when the stake president asks me to take off my missionary tag. I´ll definitely need a few boxes of kleenex....but after thinking about that I realized that if I serve a worthy mission I won't need the tag anymore (until i serve a mission with my husband at least)...I wont have to point to my tag and tell people I represent Jesus Christ, they will see it in my countenance. I´m really happy that I made the decision to be a missionary and that I´m making the decision now that I will always be one. The joy that comes from the things of this world is just pitiful in comparison to the joy that comes from sharing the gospel. I´m very grateful that I had this time to discover that. Anyway after our ward was over we went to the afternoon ward with our investigator Cintia who will be baptized at the end of the month. We sat on the back row and as the meeting went on and the people started to bear their testimonies I started to have a desire to bear mine. The room was full of people that I have gotten to know and love in these past 8 months....even though they arent in my ward, you know how i am...I talk A LOT to EVERYONE! Well the Spirit just started bugging me to bear my testimony and I finally got up and did it. I first asked the ward to forgive me for taking their time to bear my testimony and then I just started talking about how much i have grown to love them so much during my time here and that they were my very dearest of friends...then I told them I just had a big desire to give them the best present one friend could give to another...bearing pure testimony. After that the Spirit pretty much took over and I honestly have to say it was one of the purest and best testimonies I have given. After I ended my testimony the bishop bore his and said after Sister H leaves he´ll just tell the President to put me into their ward. He also told me how much the ward loved me. It feels good to be loved! WEll I have to go now. I hope you are all well and going great. Never be afraid to bear your testimonies!!! I LOVE YÁLL!!!!! Tchau