(:

I <3 Sister Zapata.

I <3 the temple.

Well, hello hello (:

After last week took 2 years off of my life expectancy, this week has been pretty calm. (: We spent 2 days with Elder Aidukaitis practicing techniques and learning about how to use our time well. It was just an incredible experience. It confirmed that Sister Zapata and I are mastering a lot of what we should, but also helped us see clearly where we're slacking and what the Lord expects of us and our mission. He burnt us like ants under a magnifying glass, but I mean, it was great. (:

Alright, real quick, I'd been meaning to at least introduce ya'll to a few people we're teaching so they can make it to your prayer lists.

We are working with Isabella, a 14 year old Sister Missionary in the making. This past year her mom, 2 aunts, 2 uncles, and a few cousins have been baptized but she never really got very interested. Until like two weeks ago and now she's going to get baptized on Saturday! (:

We are working with Renaldo, an awesome 50 something year old mason who is getting his life in order, knows the Book of Mormon is true, and loves loves loves the Votorantim Ward.

We are working with Jessica and Dênis, a fun couple who are just one legal marriage away from baptism. They are coming so far! They'd learned about the church in Sorocaba when they lived there but weren't sure how they felt about commandments, but just showed up one Sunday at Church here and told us the Spirit said it was time to come back. That's what I'm talking about, people!

And what would an email from me be without a little Andrea? (: Two-ish weeks ago, she had asked us to do a special fast with her for her family and we had planned it to be the day of her baptism, which would have been last Friday. We pretty much only work in her neighborhood, so Friday we were on her street and decided to pass by. She invited us in and asked if we'd remembered to fast with her. Obvi. She said that as she'd been fasting, she kept thinking about Family Home Evenings and decided that that's going to be the ticket in for her family. She said there are a lot of things in their home that need to change so that they "can be an eternal family," so she's going to start with these things, then just "make use of the family conversation and bring up the Church...and baptism." We found an unmarked Preach my Gospel in our house, we put little bookmarks in places that will be perfect for her to study or use in her Family Home Evenings, and we dropped it off for her. She's going to be the best Relief Society president one day.

We're loving life. Have a good weeeeeeek (:

Love, love, love,
Sister Vaughn