Brazil, New Mission President, and the Book of Mormon

Oi! Meu nome é Sister Nordstrom e eu sou um missionaria da Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Últimos Dias. Eu amo O Livro de Mórmon!

Family portrait!! Me with all 4 of my daughters and my granddaughter!

My new companion is Sister Desirie Lewis from Kaysville, UT! She was called to the Brazil Goiania mission but has not yet gotten her visa. She just spent 6 weeks in the Provo MTC (she was supposed to be in the Brazil MTC) and now she is with ME! And I couldn't be happier. Everyone asks when she'll get her visa, and we just say 3 months because that is when I go home and I would love to keep her the rest of my time here. After 1 day together I feel like we've known each other forever (is that so cliché?).

Anyway, we are practicing her Portuguese and I am having a blast learning it! Sister Abel told me that when Sister Lewis introduced herself with all the new missionaries at the transfer meeting, she knew that I was going to be training her. She is hilarious, quirky, beautiful, exactly obedient, and hard-working! We have already seen some miracles in the last week that we have been together.

The reason I didn't email yesterday (Monday) is because we were called to an emergency mission-wide meeting in Franklin. We were sadly informed that the First Presidency has called President and Sister McKee home and released them as our mission presidents. :'( It was devastating news. They have been through EVERYTHING the past 6 months, and while Sister McKee was in the hospital we could have expected the call home. But now that Sister McKee is alive and recovering we thought they would stay. We are shocked, we don't understand, and we are not ready for it. But I know that a Prophet of the Lord called them here, and a Prophet of the Lord called them home.

What makes me saddest is that they are returning home the first week of July so by one transfer I miss them releasing me from my mission. I've been looking forward to that night in the mission home with the McKee family the whole time. But, as President McKee reminded us yesterday, this is NOT about us. It is never about us. It is about the Lord. I think of President and Sister Andersen and how overwhelmed they will be coming into the best mission in the world, the Tennessee Nashville Mission, and I am grateful that I will have one transfer to help them adjust.

I don't know anything about President and Sister Andersen, except that they were called as regular missionaries to the Washington mission. Imagine their surprise to hear that instead of reporting to Washington on July 2, they are reporting to Tennessee to be the mission presidents! They are from Ogden, UT and have 4 children who are all grown.

As a mission, we committed to baptize in the month of June, each companionship. This was always President McKee's vision, for each companionship to baptize monthly. I have already talked with our Relief Society Presidency and Bishop and the ward will be fasting with us this Sunday for a baptism here in Thompson's Station. Please include us in your prayers! It will happen.

Yesterday we took a historical picture as a mission. I posted it on Facebook....it is the largest group of missionaries the TNM has ever seen!



I am humbled by the popularity our song has received on the Internet. LDSLiving, General Conference Facebook page, and many other sources have shared and re-shared it. I only hope that someone gets baptized because of it. Wouldn't that be nice?

We had some encounters with anti-Mormon sentiment this week, and my faith was a little shaken up. I turned completely to the Book of Mormon, and I am so grateful for the testimony that I have developed of it. It has become the glue that holds me together. The Book of Mormon IS the word of God. It is the keystone of our religion and the Church crumbles without it. It is true, and you will never find otherwise. No one has ever been able to disprove the validity of the Book of Mormon. It brings me closer to Jesus Christ and reconnects me with Heavenly Father when I feel like my light has gone dim. It fills my day with purpose. It fills me with joy. It calms me and brings me peace. I received another very powerful witness this morning of its truthfulness just this morning. I hope you all are making it a part of your daily life.

Keep praying for missionaries and for how you can share the Gospel with your friends and neighbors. :)

Love,
Sister Ryceejo Nordstrom

Broken Toe

Dear Family,

Well, there's no use in putting off the news...I have a broken toe! I am such a klutz. I tripped over the threshold to our balcony. The bad news is that we didn't have the car this week. The good news is that it happened Friday, so I only had to hobble around for 3 days instead of potentially 7. It's a new "adventure," (right, Mumma?). Here's an excerpt from my journal about the whole deal:

"A true test to a person's character is in how he chooses to react when things don't go according to plan. Let me tell you why this is my new mantra. We can all be together, behaved, and our best selves when things are going as planned. But how will we react when (not if) things go wrong? Will we still be obedient? Diligent? Faithful? Hopeful? Patient? Or will we assume that since we are in the midst of an exceptional circumstance, our behavior can be exceptional, too? Is it truly the exception when things go wrong? Or perhaps, in our fallen state, should we look at any good luck or fortune as a blessing? If that be the case, then we ought to have a positive attitude when faced with trials....The measure of my character today came in what I chose to do with a broken toe. This afternoon we tracted-with a flip flop on one foot and a running shoe on the other, walking at a snail's pace. I think the only thing we accomplished this afternoon was just making me feel good about myself for going out and tracting....it all comes to the doctrine that everything is a choice. We have no control over what happens to us, but we have complete control over how we choose to react when something happens to us." 

So this is my new "adventure"...I don't know how long it will take to heal, but I DO know that it won't stop me from working. Yesterday in Relief Society we talked about trials, and how trials make you appreciate your blessings. Apparently, I needed to be more grateful for my toes! 

Not a surprise, but this whole week was pretty difficult. Tuesday we went to a funeral for a 10-year girl who suddenly died from the flu...it has devastated the community. The family attends the Thompson's Station Church (the closest thing we have here to a great-and-abominable-mega-church) and the funeral was just devastating. They believe in an afterlife obviously....but they don't have the precious doctrine of eternal families that we have, so there was just an overwhelming sadness in the room. As I looked around at the families holding each other, kissing their children, and weeping for the Henderson family, I was overwhelmed with my responsibility to share the Gospel in this area. My name tag suddenly felt so heavy as I realized the importance of making known our important message to this community. 

Then that night, the leader of the Bible Study we go to, Donna, had us over for dinner and spent an hour and a half confessing that she felt that we were deceived and Mormons were deceived. She has been indoctrinating herself with anti-lit. She said all this trash about what she's heard about the Book of Mormon. I said, "Donna, have you read the Book of Mormon?" She hemmed and hawwed and answered that she had not. I replied, "Donna, you are reading a LOT of books about Chocolate Cake. What we have been inviting you to do is actually try the chocolate cake." She said that she certainly will if God tells her to. And of course she won't feel like He is because of all the nonsense she's reading about it. I wouldn't want to read it either! Anytime someone you have come to love anti's you it just makes you feel SO sad. Pray for Donna!

The MIRACLES always outshine the "adventures"! For one: we achieved our goal of teaching 14 member-present lessons this week. AND last night we had the coolest experience with an inactive family. We approached the husband in the garage and he was totally closed and hardened to us. After telling us his reasons for their family not going to church anymore we started talking about other things. His demeanor completely changed as he began talking about his time living in Southern California, serving his mission in Mexico, etc. After FORTY MINUTES of talking to us, his wife came out and they kept talking to us. And we testified about God's love for them. I just can't do the entire experience justice but it felt really good knowing we were exactly where we were supposed to be last night.

We received 28 missionaries last week and 7 more are coming in a surprise transfer today. We have been flooded with over 60 missionaries in the last 2 transfers. I love the great and marvelous work that is rolling forth! This Gospelis true. I know it. And nothing in this world is more rewarding than serving the Lord.

I pray for each of you individually by name every day. I hope you are doing well. I love you! Thank you for your prayers for me.

Love,

Sister Ryceejo Nordstrom