Miracles

This week was incredible! I wish I had more time to tell everyone about it.

We had an amazing zone meeting Tuesday talking about how we could all have miracles. We fasted as a zone to receive these miracles. They happened.

Thursday we fasted again, this time with our investigator who has had some doubts about being baptized. After the fast, he didn´t have anymore doubts and is feeling really good. He knows he needs to be baptized because God answered his prayer.

Sunday, Henrique (another investigator) finally went to church. He worked Saturday night. The whole night. He got home 6 am Sunday morning, took a cold shower and waited for us to come. We walked him to church. He loved it. We had been praying so hard that he would be able to go and that he would feel good there. It all happened.

God is incredible and miracles really do happen. Don´t ever doubt that.

I don´t have words to express all that I felt this week.

 

That´s all the time I have. Time is passing by so fast.

We visited a park with waterfalls in the middle of the city today!

 

I hope everyone has a great week!

Lots of love,

Síster Shipp

Miracles

This week was so great :) I feel like I´m finally getting the hang of this area.

I think the best thing you can possibly do that makes you feel so good is serving other people. My goodness. This transfer is so neat because we get to serve 2 companionships of Sisters and go on exchanges with them. I learn so much from each one of them and I feel so happy whenever I´m with them because I am thinking about them and how I can do more to help them. It is seriously the best feeling. I love it :)

 

We found 3 really awesome investigators this week! They found a Book of Mormon in the trash one day and brought it home. Months later, we visited them, they saw the Book that we had and realized it was the book that they found in the trash. They started to read it before they met us and knew it was special, but were having a hard time understanding it. God is amazing.

 

Also, Sister Ashworth (my last companion in CA) sent me an email saying that one of the people we started teaching got baptized! How incredible it is to see things happening from the amazing opportunity we had to start teaching someone :)

I am so happy! The mission is the best!

Until next week!

Com Amor,

Sister Shipp

Boa Semana :)

It was a great week! We had some really great miracles :)

 

We met a man named Henrique and he is awesome! We had 2 incredible lessons with him this week. We also had Stake Conference and I went on my first exchange! We traveled to Franca which is about an hour and a half by bus to go on exchanges with Sister Palomino and Sister Araújo. I went with Sister Araújo who is starting her second transfer. It was a lot of fun, especially with the rain that fell all day long. We walked and walked with our umbrellas :) Having Sister Soto as a companion is really great. We´re learning a ton together. I´m grateful for this time with her :)

 

I´ve been reflecting a lot on my mission lately. That seems to happen when you come to the end of something. I have learned so much that I don´t think I could have learned anywhere else. I am so grateful for this time and wouldn´t have traded it for anything else. What a priviledge it has been to serve here and in the California Venture Mission as well.

God is so good.

Hope you all have a great week! Til next time.

Sister Shipp

Birthday on a Mission

I had a good birthday! We had our meeting with our district and they surprised me with 2 chocolate cakes :) It was really sweet. Sister Jales gave me this amazing present with things to open throughout the day. A birthday on the mission is interesting.. It really doesn´t feel like your birthday, but that´s okay. Overall, it was a good day.

 

I am loving my new area and my new companion. I am teaching an English class every week, which is fun :) The members here are really nice and make a lot of really good food. Since it´s Sister Soto´s last transfer, we have a lot of goals for the next 5 weeks of what we want to do before we go home. It´s neat to have a companion with about the same time on the mission as you do.

 

I´ll send pictures next week because time is up.

Miss you and love you!

Com Amor,

Sister Shipp

Birthday Wishes! :)

First of all, thank you SO MUCH for all the birthday wishes! My inbox was flooded today with all of them. I am printing them out so I will be able to read them on Wednesday. (21 years.... Can´t believe it!) Unfortunately I don´t have a lot of time left today to reply to all of them, but please know that I appreciate them so much! It´s amazing to know how many people care. Y'all are literally the best.

I´m kind of headed into the final stretch here! I´m down to my last 2 transfers... which means just 12 more weeks left! So here´s the news from transfers...

I was transferred! I´m still in Ribeirão Preto, just in another area called Campos Eliseos. I have only heard the best things about this area, so I am way excited to serve here for at least the next 6 weeks! My companion is Sister Soto from Santiago, Chile! The last bit of news is that I became a Sister Training Leader this transfer, which means I will be going on exchanges with a few companionships of Sisters and get to take care of them! It´ll be so great! I am way excited and grateful for this opportunity to serve more and help some of the Sisters in this mission. It´s going to be a great transfer.

I am continually seeing miracles here and it is so rewarding. One of the miracles is the change that you see in yourself, which is huge on the mission. The other is the change that you can see in the lives of others and God´s hand guiding you and this people each and every day. There is no way I can question if He´s there. I know He is and He is helping each and every one of us.

Thank you again for all the birthday wishes! I really feel a ton of love!

Lots of Love,

Sister Maryann Shipp

It is HOT in Ribeirao Preto!

Sorry I didn´t get an email out to everyone last week! Sometimes emailing time is a little short.

 

Well, we had a really good week this week! We taught the most lessons this week than I have any other week of my mission. It was really satisfying to sit back with my companion and think about all we accomplished. The only bad thing here is how HOT it is. It is so hot and the people are saying it´s only going to get worse these next 3 months. We have 4 fans in our house and 4 Sisters so luckily I have my own fan. My companion and I started getting ourselves wet before going to bed, which is helping us stay cool and get some sleep. I now thoroughly appreciate air conditioning and will never take it for granted again. I run into air conditioning sometimes in stores, in sacrament meeting, and the mission office, so that´s nice every once in a while. I will be coming home really really tan. There´s already a big difference. Even with the heat, I really love it here. This is the last week of this transfer. It has gone by SO fast. We´ll find out about transfers this Friday... where I´ll spend the next 6 weeks and with who. I´m anxious to know!

 

So much happens during the week... it´s really hard to know what to write about... Everyone will get a better update in just a few months in person. That´ll be way better.

Hope you all have a great week!

Sister Shipp

Conference!

Oh my goodness. General conference was SO GOOD! I got to watch it in English with a few other American Missionaries (pic attached). We switched it over to Portuguese when Elder Godoy spoke, which was way cool. After watching conference this weekend, I feel like I have so much more strength to do all that I need to do and finish my mission strong! I really got some answers that I was needing as I listened to the words of the Prophet and the Apostles. If you missed it, go watch it! It is definitely worth your time. I really loved Elder Bednar´s talk at the end of the conference. He explained why we share the gospel. It explained perfectly why I am so far from home for a year and a half, adjusting to a new culture and learning a new language. All the talks are on the website lds.org :) I am so excited for this week. I´ve got new goals that I am excited to accomplish.

The gospel really is true. I´ve never had so much joy from anything else.

Love Y'all!

Sister Shipp