I'm HOME!!!!!!!!!!

Hey everybody! I'm home now! It's great being home, but kinda weird and English. And very cold. It's good to be back with my family again.

I just want to say how amazing it was for me to serve a mission. God's work and His glory are to bring about the immortality and eternal life of His children. He doesn't need our help because He's God. But He lets people like you and me participate in His work and His glory. And serving a mission is learning that. How much God loves me! And how much He loves ALL of His children. It definitely wasn't the easiest 18 months of my life, but I learned so many precious and met so many wonderful people that I wouldn't trade it for a lifetime. 

If you would like to know a little more about why I served my mission, and how the people that I met were changed to live a more fulfilling life, please let me know or visit https://www.comeuntochrist.org/

I love you all and thank you so much for your support and your love and examples!

Beijos!

Sister Kellie Herron

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Hey guys!

Happy new year! It seems completely crazy that I've had 2 New Years here in Brazil. This week was crazy. To start off, last p-day, Presidente and Sister Harman invited us for dinner. That was different. So we went up to Santos, and we went to the only Mexican restaurant in the city. But it was closed....so then we got burgers. But it was fun. And while we were waiting for them to pick us up in Santos we were watching the ocean and we saw sea turtles!!!!!!!! I tried to take a picture of them, and it kind of worked out.

Other than that, this week was a challenging one. Everyone wanted to try our patience. But that didn´t stop us from having a good week! Especially because yesterday, we had a baptism! Woohooooo! Valério has been learning from the missionaries for a long time already, but he finally decided to go for it! We had marked his interview on the same day at the same time as another lady, Helena, but they would have to be interviewed by different people. And so we got to the church and it was starting to rain a lot. And then it was a full out thunderstorm, and when it storms here, it floods, and so no one was there. The elders were still waiting for the bus, president Cruz was lost in traffic, Valério wouldn´t take his daughter in the rain and couldn´t leave her at home, and helena came one minute before us and went back home. We were a little desperate, but it somehow all worked out. We got a ride for Valério, and convinced Helena to come back, and the interviewers we able to get there by some miracle. And everybody passed! The Lord is misericordioso. And so on Sunday, the same Valério was baptized. It was all very nice. and he was super happy afterwards!

So the moral of the story is don´t give up. If it´s something of God, tem que correr atrás, and the miracles happen.

I love you all! until next week!

Sister Herron

FELIZ NATAL E ANO NOVO

Hey guys! I hope you all had a great Christmas! We had a good one here in Guarujá. It was kind of different, you know, being far from home and stuff. But it was good. We were able to do a lot of Christmasy stuff. On Christmas Eve and Day, we weren´t able to mark any appointments, so we just went and visited everybody. We sang them Christmas carols and it was nice. We ate some good Brazilian food too. Lots of panetone and chester, which I learned is really just chicken. But it was good. with arroz and maionese e guaraná. We spent Christmas night with a bunch of members who also didn´t have family to spend it with. And we were able to talk to our families, so it was really just ótimo. I don´t really have anything to complain about. The mission is great, and it´s weird that I´m almost done, but it happens to everyone. We´re really excited for this week because we´ll have a bit more time to work effectively and we´re gonna have baptisms! Woohoo starting the year off right! 

This week I read a talk by Elder Bednar about the Character of Christ. I recommend this talk to all you guys. It talks about how Jesus Christ, even in the most difficult moments of His life, still thought about the needs of others and looked to serve them. As I thought about Christmas, and missionary work, and the Christ´s character, I really felt strong love for our Savior and His love for all of us. 

Com amor,

Sister Herron

Pictures from Cubatão and Guarujá!

Tchau Cubatão! Valeu!

Guarujá!

Here goes my last transfer!

Hey guys!

So for my last 6 weeks, I´m in a new area! I´m with Sister Souza. She's from Salvador, Brazil, and today´s 2 months for her in the mission! So I´m gonna finish her training here in Guarujá, Guarujá. It´ll be fun. I´m also a Sister Leader Trainer now, so I´m gonna be responsible for the Sisters here in Guarujá. I think it´s just 5 sisters, but I´ll try to know some more details here soon. 

I took a lot of pictures, but this computer doesn´t want you guys to see them. So you guys will just have to wait for next week. I´ll send a better email next time too. The time was super short today. But I hope you all know that I love you guys and that the Book of Mormon is true. 

Com muito amor,
Sister Herron

Another member of the Seventy!

Here's a picture of our Christmas tree! It's super cute. And we have the best presents!!!!!!!!!

https://www.comeuntochrist.org/light-the-world  To feel more of the Christmas spirit. I cried when I watched the video.

This week we had another devotional with a member of the seventy, Elder Joaquim Costa, and his wife Sister Costa. They are from Argentina and they are super cute. Half of the mission was there together, but I saw all of my companions that are still in the mission.

The devotional was super inspirational. It was exactly what my mission and I needed. Everything had the same theme, without planning. We need to dedicate all of ourselves. Being obedient isn't enough. We have quantity already, but we need to better the quality and the miracles will happen even more than they already are.

We are trying to focus more on the people who are progressing to help them make the last steps. We are praying muito that Patrick can be baptized soon. He's completely ready. He just needs courage to take the step, and open the door. Luiz Victor and his dad are doing alright. I think I wrote about them last week. His mom passed away last week and we went to the funeral. This week we were able to go back and visit them. They're doing a lot better, and they're reading the Book of Mormon together, which is giving them a lot of comfort. They're super excited to go to church. They already think of us and the members of the church as family, so we're happy too. This is the last week of the transfer, so it's gonna be full of miracles.

Have a good week everybody! Love you all!!!!!!

Sister Herron

Church History Devotional

I have pictures this week! This week was a fun one. We had a big mission devotional on Thursday with Elder Curtis of the seventy. He is the Historian of the Church, so he knows a lot about history of the church. In the devotional, they talked a lot about the importance of keeping a good journal and the great gift the Book of Mormon is. And the how the greatest evidence of its truthfulness is the change that it makes in the hearts of the people who read it. Most of the pictures are from that day. It was fun to see my other companions and everybody from the mission again. After the devotional, we went to the bus stop to come home. And the bus was super late. We waited at the bus stop for about 3 and a half hours. It was a long time. But we did get home, it was just 10 at night...

On Saturday, we learned that the mom of one of the people we´re teaching passed away. I realized a little bit about how important our work really is. We went to the funeral and it was super sad. People that don´t understand the plan of salvation will have a really hard time being happy in this life. But we had already taught him about the plan, and I´m really grateful that we had already found him and his family and that we could be here for them at this time.

But on happier notes, yesterday was the Primary Program at church and Patrick went! And Heitor participated with the primary! It was super cute and also funny. And this week, he´s going to fast to know when he should get baptized. So that’s exciting.  Logo logo. It´s gonna be great!
I hope you all have a marvelous week!

Love,
Sister Herron