Dear family,
Well I am staying in South Carolina for another six weeks, since I didn't get my visa! I will have less than a year in Brazil IF I get my visa next transfer. That is not a lot of time to learn and become fluent in Portuguese, so I have to make this transfer count too! I have really buckled down on my Portuguese. This week I have said every prayer in Portuguese and have tried to think in Portuguese and translate what other people say into Portuguese. It has helped so much! I already speak infinitely better in just one week, so I know this will make a difference.
My dear Sister Brown is leaving me, but Sister Gearheart is staying and we will be getting another sister on Wednesday. This will be my sixth companion in less than six months! I can't believe it. Being in a trio is sometimes challenging, but this is my third one so I should be a pro by now :) I am excited to meet the new missionary!!
I am so grateful for your encouragement! I loved the poem and Scroll V. I am so grateful for you all! The more people I meet on my mission, the more I realize that what I have is special. We have been teaching a new family. J- is a single mother with three children, ages 19, 15, and 10. She doesn't have many friends or family to support her, and is very much on her own. . She really opened up during the lesson and told us a lot about her life. She and her kids used to live in a car. They didn't get any presents for Christmas this year, and the father of her children won't talk to the kids. It is just heart-breaking to see someone that feels so alone, frightened and trapped. The kids are so strong. I admire them for their fortitude. They have suffered a lot and have seen much of the harshness of the world. It made me realize just how good that I have it. I always knew I was blessed, but I took it for granted. I am so grateful to have two wonderful, supportive parents who love me and who love each other. I didn't realize just how few people actually can say that. I know that the gospel can change their lives. I love Jacob 2:8 that says "the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul.". I believe that with all my heart! I can see it in the lives of our investigators. I can see it in my own. The Book of Mormon has the power to take any fears, frustrations, or pains of loneliness and replace them with peace and hope.
I am so grateful that I get to be a missionary. I know that I can say as Lehi of old did, that "I have chosen the good part." (2 Nephi 2:30) My decision to come on a mission has changed me and my life forever. I love the people that I get to meet and teach. I love that I get to watch their transformation. I love that the first miracle that Christ performed in His ministry was to transform water into wine. I know that it is not a coincidence. Christ can transform all of us. He does it daily. That defines His mission. He can take something common and make it into something more refined. He has taken me with all my quirks and weaknesses and made me into a missionary and every day He is changing me into a better missionary. I am so grateful for this gospel and for this new year! President Holm told us that there is a reset button and that we can start over. We can choose right now to be different, to be better. We are not set in stone. The Atonement allows us to change and I am so very grateful for it.
I love you all so much! I cannot even tell you how grateful I am for you and all that you have done for me. I am so grateful that you made it possible for me to go on a mission and that you have encouraged me every step of the way. I love you!
Sister Daniels
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