Well, here we are again,

It was a marvelous week friends. We laughed a lot (and perhaps cried a little) but all in all, we were blessed. I´m really grateful for this little chance to evaluate the week in this little weekly email.

One fun thing that happened this past week was I was invited by a sister in the ward to go to her little school where she teaches English. I sat for about an hour answering questions like `do you like Brazilian food?` `do you know Madonna?` `what´s your real name?`it was hilarious. Some of these little kids speak pretty well. It was a little weird to talk in English in that setting, but it was really fun. And very strange to answer a question like, 'what do you do in your spare time'; well, I don´t really have much spare time here, and before I . . . well I . . . what did I do in my spare time? It was just funny to think about.

We got to teach a good amount this week, which I love. We´re teaching this one couple where the husband is espirita [spiritist] , and the wife is evangelica [evangelist]. She is on Chapter 20 of the Book of Mormon. She´s incredible. I get all bashful when she talks about how great she feels when she reads etc. I think I´m always preparing myself for rejection, and to hear a response like that throws me off a little. But it is great! The husband is a psychologist and is very set in the doctrine of espiritismo [spiritualism]. It is an incredibly fascinating subject, and even though talking with him gets very frustrating, it is always a very enlightening discussion. He asked me very honestly for my opinion on the doctrine he follows, and I told him very frankly that I admired it very much. It is all very well thought out, VERY logical, but that to me it was still completely the doctrine of human beings. And guess what, we´re just not as smart as God is. His plan is so much bigger, so much more eternal, and a lot more in our benefit. We don´t need to come back to the earth time after time in reincarnation to become perfected. We have a Savior for that.

Yesterday in Sacrament meeting there were lots of testimonies about the Savior, about the basics of the gospel. It was incredible. The members here are so marvelous, and I learn a lot from their strong testimonies and their unfailing committment to the gospel of the Jesus Christ. We need a Savior, we need him. We´re not perfect, and we only have one chance, and justice is tugging at our back. But, Jesus Christ came full of love and mercy and power and made everything work. I´m still learning about how all of that works out, but fortunately, I´ve still got some time. I am so grateful for the Savior Jesus Christ. He took on Him all of the rough things in life, He loves us so much that even for us stubborn, independent, slow to understand human beings - He did it. I know this message that I preach day after day is truth, and truth doesn´t change. I love knowing that there is a plan that I could never conceive, and yet I know that I can know it´s true. It´s sometimes strange but so lovely, and so powerful. So seek out that testimony friends. Pray and read and seek out truth in your life. It´ll come.

I like being here. I love it. Even when people deny the things that are most important to me in my life, I still love it. It is an incredible opportunity to do what the Lord would do. Incredible and tough.

I hope that this week is a great one.

Love love love,
Sister Cornwall