Family!

This week was good! Though nothing too exciting happened. We are still stuck in the house most the day.... But, Vasil looked sooo good at church! He looked like he had been a member for years in that spiffy suit! Ha. We just had to take pictures. :) He truly is so amazing! I love him so much. Another miracle happened! We ran into Janete! We had marked her for baptism in the past. But she ended up going to her cousins house in Lisboa. We were so sad! But she came back! She said she was done making the trips back and forth. And apparently she isn't feeling to good and she was on her way to a clinic to get checked out. but we are going to start teaching her again! She is super cool as well. We are excited! So even with our difficult situation and Irmã feeling terrible, the Lord is still blessing us more than we deserve! I never realized before just how much the Lord wants to bless his children. And that when we are being as obedient as we possibly can, the blessings just come down-pouring. It is a huge testimony builder and I can't thank the Lord enough for helping us so much. I am getting more and more sad because I am not able to fulfill my full purpose as a missioary at the moment. But then I realized that being a disciple of Christ is much more than just focusing on those out of the church, or new to the church, or our members. But sometimes, the person we need to serve, help, and sacrifice for is our very own companions. I already knew that. But to this point, I haven't had to sacrifice so much for my companion before. It is really hard, cause being a missionary and not sharing the gospel like I want to is super super hard. But I have learned sooo much from this experience. I should change that, I have learned so much from my companion. She is so strong. She has so much pain, and we both don't understand why the Lord doesn't just take it away. She has had blessings, and has taken many medications. But in and through it all. She trusts in the Lord, and knows she can get through anything with His help. It won't be easy. But she doesn't have a bitter bone in her body for her lot, even if it means she will be dealing with these pains for the rest of her life. She is incredible. I am so blessed to have been put as her companion. I love you all so much. I hope you are all doing well! From the pictures I got looks like you are all still happy and loving life! Ha. Stay that way! And never forget just how loved you each are by our loving Heavenly Father. And that no matter how hard of a trial we may face in life, He will always be by our side, giving us just enough strength to surpass it. He never said He would take it away, but that we will be able to bare it. :) Just like my fabulous companion! Love you! Have a fabulous week!  

Love Always,

Sister Amanda Stokes