Jan 19, 09

This week was pretty normal. Nothing really huge happened. I do have a short story of a simple prayer. We went to this store and bought a brand new telephone card (because we have to use public phones to call people with) and we went to a phone and Sis Bueno stuck the card in and called someone. When she hung up she tried to get the card out and it wouldn’t come out...it had sunk into the slot really far and we couldn’t get a good grip on it to get it out. She was freaking out because we JUST bought it and so she walked over to the nearest apartment complex to ask if they had anything to get it out. While she was gone I just simple prayed to Heavenly Father that we would be able to get it out. (It wouldn’t have been a huge deal if we couldn’t...but we JUST bought it and it would have been a waste of money). Anyway...she came back with nothing. They didn’t have anything. I was just standing there thinking about anything I had in my bag that could help us get it out...Sister Bueno tried using one of the clips in her hair to get it out...didn’t work. Then for some reason using two coins came into my head. I wasn’t sure that it would work I actually thought it was a strange idea...but I decided to try and BAM...it came out. It wasn’t a huge thing...but I know Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers...I haven’t felt his love as strongly before as I do now. I can feel him with me every day. He really takes care of his missionaries and thats the truth. Every time I pray for something, even something simple like this...he blesses me. Anyway...I thought it was cool. He is looking out for all of us. We just need to have the faith to ask for what we need and he will bless us. Other than that...we didn’t teach a lot of lessons...we never do. I don’t think we´ll have a baptism this transfer and thats okay because we have helped a lot of less actives and recent converts. I came here to help people not necessarily just to baptize...so it’s all good. I feel like I´m doing alright. The language is coming along. I can feel a difference but I still talk myself into a corner a lot when I can’t continue cause I don’t know a word in Portuguese...it can be very frustrating but the members and investigators are usually pretty patient with me so that’s good. Well, I love you so much and I pray for you every day. I hope all is well at home.

Tell Kelly thank you for her last letter. Everything she said was so helpful and it made me put things into perspective. Tell her to email me more often. I really enjoy her advice because she just finished doing the exact same thing that I´m doing.
Oh yes...and I was wondering...What the heck is happening in Israel? I really have no idea...but I´m very curious. Oh and all the new people I meet here that find out I´m American ALWAYS ask if I like Barrack Obama. Ha-ha. I don’t know if he will be a good president or not...and I don’t know if he will do good for our country or not...but I really think he is good for all the other countries. Everyone here hates bush and they see hope in the eyes of barrack. It’s very interesting to see things from the outside.

Oh I haven’t received your package yet...but maybe today. Apparently it takes 3 weeks to get here. I don’t know anything. How is the family? How is troy and his family? Hanging in there? I´ve been praying for them a lot lately.

This is an email that I sent to Melissa last week. Melissa responded to it but I thought you all may want to read it.

Katie Ellis and I have been writing a bit to each other on face book. I wanted you to see what she wrote to me yesterday. I thought it was very cool.

From Katie-
You know, I think it is so awesome that you are doing that for her. Mail is treasured like GOLD on missions. And so are the things that parents do. I know that Melissa feels your prayers. I can think of numerous times in Montreal when I would be freezing my rear off on a street corner waiting for a bus in -40 and sometimes I would just feel warm despite the weather, and along with that warmth came the reassurance that is was because my mother was praying for me. I felt her prayers more than anyone else’s over the course of my entire mission. It truly taught me (along with lots of other experiences on my mission) about the power of prayer on behalf of others, and the special relationships that exist between mothers/daughters.

From Me-
Melissa I pray for you every day and not only do I pray that the Spirit is with you and that you learn the language and help convert people. But I also pray that Angels are with you always and they protect you and guide you help you feel when things or places are unsafe. I ask that the people around you sense those angels and are guided by the Spirit to cause you no harm and to feel your spirit and want to learn more of Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ. I knew that my prayers were being answered by Heavenly Father, but reading Katie’s words yesterday made me wonder if you also had felt my prayers on your behalf. If not, no big deal, but just know that I do pray for you all the time, sometimes too in the middle of the day at random times. That's probably weird, I don't know. Anyway...I love you!Ignore what she said at the beginning. It’s a surprise.

This is Mel’s response
Thank you for this email. It’s true. What Katie says is so true. I can feel your prayers. It’s really cool; actually to hear that you pray for angels to watch over me because that thought comes to my head a lot when we are walking down a dark road. Last night we were walking to an investigators house and a boy was sitting across the street. He got up and started walking towards us asking if we had money. I was a little nervous and so was Sister Bueno. She kept telling him we didn’t have any money and we kept walking. He followed us for a little bit but then stopped. I suggested that we stop and pray. When we reached a safe point we stopped and I offered the prayer. When we were done...the first thing that came to my head was...You´ll be alright. There are angels all around you watching over you....honestly. This was my first thought and it is often my thought. It’s true too. There are angels watching over us. I can feel it. Thank you so much for your prayers. They are very much needed and appreciated. Heavenly Father really hears and answers our prayers. I can testify of that. I have felt that every day since I´ve been here. The only thing he asks from us is to have faith in him. We need to have faith and pray in faith. He will answer our prayers. He won’t necessarily take our afflictions from us, but he will comfort us when we need it. We need to always remember that Heavenly Father doesn’t give us anything in this life that we can’t handle. We might feel like we can’t handle it, but he knows better than we do. I know this is the truth. Thank you mom. I love and miss you so much!
Tchau! Sister Ortolani