Letter #44 What Great Faith

Fam bam,

wooohoooo bren ughhh i miss playing so bad! those are the best moments, hitting a three at the buzzer! i taught him all i know ahha jk but seriously ha. he will remember that for the rest of his life. he will grow soon and will be dominating on the court soon. yay a package im excited... im more excited about getting the ensign we dont have the conference talks still.

ABBY- OMG IM SOOOO EXCITED FOR YOU!!! I KNEW YOU WOULD GO TO ROME OF COURSE how stoked are you!!! dont worry about the language it will come.. the gift of tongues is real the first 6 months is struggle but after you will find it hard to speak in english i promise if your obedient and do what the lord asks of you, the blessings come with it. awwww i want to talk to you so bad! i will have to wait a whole year ughhh haha but thats okay i will return the fav and send lots of packages and letters! i have a friend serving there so when your there youll have to look for her for me maybe she will train you! i love you so much. i will write you a letter next week with details but as for now just study the scriptures a ton and youll be set! ps send me details about how you opened your call hah

wow okay where to begin the blessings are just left and right right now.. besides being literally exhausted im great... we run everywhere litterally the lord is blessing us with so many investigators were teaching 10- 11 lessons a day. im getting blisters on my feet bc i havent worn my chacos in a few months but thats okay i wear bandaids.. the other day i looked down and my name tag was gone we were running to the next appt i didnt realize it fell.sad. but i have others. this past saturday we had an open house at the church it was a success and we got a lot of references.. also it was my 10 months??? what yes i have been out that long but it doesnt seem like anything the time is flying by especailly right now. we made abbys cake she sent me sooo good! we had 2 baptisms for sunday roxanne and vinicius. saturday roxanne was interviewed and was solid but we couldnt find vincius anywhere we went to his house wasnt ther the aunt said he went to his freinds house so we ran there, wasnt there, i thought maybe he went tot he church, wasnt there either we were running after him for two hours when i came to the conclusion we werent going to find him i was bummed bc without the interveiw he cant be baptized. we kept our heads high and finshed of the night. the next morning he was home to go to church but something was different.. we also brought 6 others to church. we were all sitting in gospel principles when the lider da obra came and asked why vinicius wasnt getting baptized i said bc he wasnt interviewed he grabbed vinicius out of class and drove him to the other church where the district leader was to get interviewed! we were so happy we were going to have two baptisms. the lord heard our prayers... but about an hour later the district leader called and said he was still smoking and coulndt get baptized. my heart was crushed... why didnt he say anything.. later we found out it was a half of a cigarrette and he felt guilty getting baptized without being complety clean.. after church we had roxannes baptism it was great the other elders had three baptisms in a total of 4. the spirit was really strong and we had a few investigators stay to watch. the lord has been blessing us with new people everyday. we dont know how were going to bring everyone to church this week but its going to be great. we have three baptisms lined up for this week vincius, leonardo and herom. vincius and leonardo both have 20 years and my dream for them is to go on a mission. we tell them everyday your going to be a missionary and vincius wants to be one day. yesterday we were teaching him in the bom and a friend of his came in and asked us a question about the sabbath day before i could say anything he said let me handle this and started teaching him ha after he said how did i do? we said perfect you will be teaching like that in a years time he started to laugh and i said i hope. the days pass super fast and can hardle keep track of time.. i love the work and i love working with sister dunlop she really is great company and is always ready to do whatever to help our investigators. i had a few blonde moments this week when we went to the wrong house for fhe hahah but thats okay we all make mistakes the lord understands...

i was reading in the liahona the other day a talk by jane bleak he said when problems come into our lives its not because of disobedience but its because heavenly father thinks we are ready to learn something or teach us something... he said its for our eternal benefit, later on in the talk it says we have to look at them and say what i can learn from this or why is hf giving me this difficulty. so true if we look at probs like this everytime imagine how christlike we would be im so far from all of this but the mission is really helping me learn and grow everyday. i feel the spirit everyday and try to follow it i wish ic ould share the stories but never have enough time. also reading in acts right now love a quote that says heaven is my throne but earth is my footstool. in acts 5: 40-42 the apostles left rejoicing this council meeting after being beaten for preaching about the savior and said were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name" what great faith... i love you all

até mais, fique firme



love

sister corbin


ps does anybody wnt to send me peanut butter im almost out!!!!!

Letter #43 A White Door

familia!!!

brenan=junior=driving=wierd slash cant happen.. he will be 16 soon= dating hahaha brenan dating i cant wait to see the girls he brings home. what are you guys going to do about a car for him? aww man the mavs won... booooooooo whatevs the lakers will take it next year they always like these special come backs.welp this week went by soooo fast! to be honest i was nervous to be back in venda nova but i love it! i dont remember everything but its slowly coming back. all the members were so happy i came back the last sister in thier ward was me ha so they all remembered who i was. no sister flora went to ouro branco a neighbor city to barbacena. so the elders in this area left nothing, no investigators, no instructions just a little paper with the baptisms that fell. so sister dunlop and i were ready to work. thursday and friday we tried to find people to take to church and saturday was an exposition in the park that we did with the members. one thing that changed is that the members seem more excited about missionary work so this should help alot. thursday we found roxanne a niece to a member but she never went to church or never really wanted to learn about it. we have been working with her she came to church and is preparing for baptism for this sunday. saturday we found vincious and old investigator that we found in the area book. he is great! he also came with us on sunday and is preparing to be baptized sunday. the lord has been blessing us for our hard work. monday was cool experience that i would like to share. it was 830 at night we had 30 min to teach two lessons and find a new investigator. we knocked on a few doors and were able to teach alesson in 10 min at the door step.. he wasnt interested we moved on and we wanted to hit our goal of 7 lessons we were walking down the street and i saw a white door.. kept walking i felt the spirt to stop and go there.. kept walking a third time i felt it really strong so i said sister we need to cross the street we went over to this door and there was a man smoking near it i asked him how he was doing and he said he was good we started talking and began giving the first lesson he said actually i want this in my life i want to change.. sister dunlop being brave and also feelin the spirit invited him to be baptized after talking to him for about 5 min. he accepted! we walked away excited knowing that the lord blessed us for being obedient and listening to the spirit. on tuesday we went to the district meeting way late bc i broke the key in our apartment door ha and had to make a new one but the sisters that are in pampulha told me some great news. ronald is coming back to church he just fell with drinking again and felt like he wasnt worthy to go back.. i wrote him a letter a few weeks ago to shapen up and go back to church the sisters said that he showed the letter to them all happy. he will make it he just needs support.i also asked about a baptism that me and sister rueckert left behind, a couple. i heard they were ba´ptized but didnt hear anything else the sisters said that they were firm and they go every week and will get a calling soon! i was sooo happy i wanted to cry. the joy of knowing that you helped someone really change is a joy i dont think i have ever felt before the mission. i love being a part of this work and knowing that im making a differnce. after the meeting we taught 8 lessons running and i havnt felt this tired in a long time. im excited for this transfer bc sister dunlop is ready to work. we taught a family that spoke english the other day and i had to ask to switch to portugues bc i was talking so slow it was wasting time ha who would of thought i would rather speak port then my own language but its true. i love the gifts the lord has given me he doesnt stop, we need to recognize his hand in all things even when we have a horrible day there was a blessing somewhere. this saturday were having an open house in the church so were hoping we can get some good references from that.. got to keep working..im so tired!!sister dunlop and i are going to start running in the mornings to keep in shape for how much running we do inbetween apptmts... sister d reminds me of windi (cousin). i know that windi always wanted to serve a mission and i feel like im her comp. it makes me feel like im with family here in brasil... love ya windi!... she is from oregon, hillsboro she says its close to portland maybe close to vicki?people out there that are my friends ha... a letter or two would be nice...? ya that would be good a letter. you know who you are.well all is well here in VN just working, baptizing, bringing the gospel to the wonderful brasilians, eating beans rice and bread everyday and life is good.some advice listen to the spirit heleman 5:30

love you all!

Sister Aubree Corbin

Letter #42 Carry On

familia,

wow tons to say... so today was transfers and monday was the phone call... sister flora and i got nothing. so we figured we were staying in barbacena one more transfer. we were excited and started making plans for everything. tuesday morning we went to our district meeting and the sisters came up to us and said comps!... huh? sister hunsaker said i will be with sister flora and sister hunsakers comp, sister dunlop will be with me. we were so confused and i called the pres and he said o ya i havnt finished my list yet you guys will be transferred. i was happy but sad at the same time i love barbacena and to my surprise they shipped me back to VENDA NOVA... yup im back in my first area. its super wierd it feels like im visiting my mission.. where is sister clement ha. i guess the last sisters here was me, sister dias and sister hunsaker and the ward has been requesting sisters again so were back. of course the house was trashed! why dont elders clean so gross. i dont even want to take a shower ha. so right now im with sister dunlop she is from portland oregon and has 7 months on the mish. she is great, it should be interesting to see how it goes when two 5´8 tall blondes walk the streets together down here in brasil. well this past week flew by and we had a ton of success on sunday with our investigators. the lord really blessed us. we had 11 people in church and 7 were a suprise. michelle and rogiero are a couple we found back in march they know everything but its been hard for them to get to church bc they both work sundays, and two people we taught showed up alone. we were surprised bc they didnt seem interested at all. i guess you never know who really is listening or ready to hear the gospel.. got to be 100% all the time. we had lunch at the church and a baptism of a members daughter. monday and tuesday found some more investigators and everything was looking good and of course bam transfers, this always seems to happen. but i know the lord knows what he is doing and were going to kill it here in VN. sister ruckert got to go to barbacena she is excited..i left all my blankets there for to sleep with its alot warmer here so im not too worried about the weather anymore.so this week i finished alma and our heritage. can i just say that i love gordon b. i miss him. when they asked him what his focus of his presidency he said "carry on".."things will work out, keep trying, be belieiving. be happy.dont get discouraged, things will work out".. i love this, its so true were all going to pass through trials problems whatever it is we know it will come so dont be surprised when things dont go according to plan just carry on, its life. this too shall pass. life is a journey, what we will make of it is our choice. in the end of the book it says, "we are privledged to live at a time when we can offer our faith and sacrifices in helping to establish the kingdom of god, a kingdom that will stand forever". i am so grateful that i was chosed to be born into the gospel. this world is so out there these days that im amazed we find the elects. i have comfort in knowing our heavenly fathers plan and this life has a purpose... most people when i ask them about life they dont have a response they dont know why they are here and what they are doing. but hey thats why im here... we got to carry on, carry on the true to those that want to know.

i love you all,

seja feliz e nunca disanimar

sister corbin

Letter #41 Let It Go, Press Forward

Aubree decorated this towel at Zone Conference...cute!

i sent the cards the same day thats wierd that they got there different times.. transfers are next week already. the weather is about the same its getting colder but good news remember that big blue sweater i didnt want to take well i found it in my suitcase so i have a sweater!!! i will buy if necessary but right now im good and i have using my black shoes with tights seems to be working. yesssssssss abbby is going on a mission well so she says idk when or where but if you hear anything let me know!!! i know how exciting but sad at the same time ha. auslin is getting married this month??? i thought you said august? and she will live in florida? i cant believe it she is so young but good for her if she found him. another summer full of basketball.. lakers =sad news = the coach is done? ya it will be a while before they come back strong if they are loosing him. im not too sick anymore just a little cough and a running nose... i know the lord watches over my family...

well it sounds like everything is going well this week went by fast, every week seems to go by faster . roseanne our investigator didnt get baptized this week, something happened to her tues or wed bc when we talked to her thursday she was different and decided she wasnt ready to be baptized.. her life completely changed after she found the gospel, she is happy and stable but she is not putting it together that the lord has given her these blessins and to keep having the blessings of the lord she needs to follow the spirit. o and remember paula, the girl that didnt get baptized bc her boyfriend came back well her boyfriend only came back for that one night! he left her again.. wow satan is mean. so now she isnt baptized and doesnt have a boyfriend. wickedness never was happiness when you choose the wrong it always gets worse. but we did have a blessing of a confirmation in church sunday we have been working with roberto for 5 months now to get confirmed and he came this past sunday!... so i recieved an answer in church during sacrament meeting. these past two weeks have been draining on me working so hard trying to have baptisms and all of them falling through the last day. a member gave a talk on forgiveness and at that moment i realized that this weight that i was carrying was full of unforgiveness (not sure if that make sense) but i couldnt let things go. i couldnt let go that paula wasnt baptized and i couldnt let go that roseanne all the sudden decided to move on.. when jesus was on the cross he said father forgive them for they know not what they do... i have to have this attitude in order to be happy.. let it go. we have to learn to be christ like and really put this principle into practice. the lord will forgive whom he will forgive but for us we have to forgive everyone. i didnt really realize that that was the thing that was making me discouraged. that moment i decided to move on. press forward with the lords work and the blessings will come only after our trial of faith..... in our heritage one of the pioneers stated " we came through with the absolute knowledge that god lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities". im reading in alma right now about the 2000 stripling warriors and how they remembered what their mothers taught them .. "we do not doubt our mothers knew it" mom i often read josuah 1:9 its on my wall everyday i know the lord is with me i do not doubt or fear. press on, the work is ready to harvest, whose ready to work?
i love you all. keep killin it.
sister corbin