Today is my last day in Florianópolis. It's been my home for the past four months, and I've loved it. There are a lot of things I'm going to miss, and I'm not feeling even sort of ready to leave. But I also don't think it's hit me yet that I'm really leaving.
Anyway, this isn't supposed to be a sob story or whiney-post, so...moving right along:
Besides the knot of emotions I feel about leaving, today I have felt SO many different things, and I want to share some of them.
First, today I experienced the joy of bringing a non-member friend to Church. Two friends, in fact!
Story one: Last Saturday, I was sleeping at Lisa's house and had the feeling I should go invite her roommate, Beth, to church with us. But she was busy talking to Lisa, so I laid down while I waited for them to finish....and fell asleep. But then the next day, Lisa was like, "Beth says she'll come to church with us next week!" Turns out, that's what they had been talking about. Apparently we really needed to invite her because we both got the same feeling at almost the exact same time. And this week she went with us!
Story two: When we first got here, our landlady/dona/host "mom" invited us to church with her, and said she'd come to ours as well. We finally picked a day (she goes to church Tuesday evenings, so we had to wait for a day class was cancelled), and went to church with her. But this whole time we've been here she still hasn't been able to come with us. Well, last night as we were walking in (super late at night, as she was getting ready to go to a party) I found myself asking if she wanted to come with us since it's our last week, and she said yes!
Morals of these stories:
1) Invite your friends to church! It was hard to ask Dalci (mostly 'cuz I'm still shy to speak hardly at all around her), but I did. And she said yes. And she came. And now she has a Book of Mormon and the Relief Society President's phone number. And an invite to the ward Christmas party. Could it have possibly gone any better?? I haven't had a chance yet to talk to Beth about anything, but she seemed to enjoy it and actually tried to listen to everything.
2) Church leaders are awesome, and the Church is true. I don't think I've ever been so intently focused on how the lessons are affecting the people around me, but today I kept wondering "Did she need to hear that?" "I wonder if she took that the right way.." etc., and realized that I really wasn't too worried, because more importantly than anything they said at church, was what my friends felt, and that depends more on God than anything else, and I'm sure they felt the spirit there. And that's the most important thing. (Side note: I'm giving Dalci a BoM today. She got one at church, but already had one I was planning to give her with some marked verses and my testimony.)
Other fun lesson at church today: You WILL have to do EVERYTHING your last week at church. After almost 6 whole months in Brazil, I've still managed to avoid saying prayers ...and today they made me say one. (wasn't terrible, I don't think, but certainly not that good...) And then they asked me to play piano. Which I do every other week anyway, but they usually let us know in advance. And then I bore my testimony. AH! Yes, I really did. In Portuguese. And it was nerve-wracking, but ended up going pretty well, I thought.
Mostly, I was just proud of myself for doing it all. It was hard, but it went okay. And I also wished I could be more brave in everything I do...so that after 6 months in a country I'm not still shy to speak in front of people and do simple things like offering prayers.
Anyway, I can't remember what else I was feeling today, and I have lots to get done. Maybe more later. I just wanted to get this written down before I forget it all! :)
