Discurso do dia 31 de agosto na Sacramental.

Domingo passado discursei na minha ala e gostaria de compartilhar com vocês o rascunho do meu discurso. Fiquei nervosa em discursar em inglês e numa ala que sou nova ainda. Mas a experiência foi otima! Senti a presença do Espírito muito forte e vi até algumas irmãs chorando no final. Eu também fiquei bem emocionada!
I am Angélica Maia, I am from Brazil. And I am married with André Maia. And we are new in the ward. We have been here for about 3 months now. And we like Saratoga very much. One curiosity is that our families have the same last names. So I didn’t need to change my last name when we got married. But we were not related. And if we are related, we have not gone back that far on our genealogy… We have 3 kids. Lucas is 8, and he was baptized this year. Sarah is 6 and she will turn 7 in October. Julie just turned 5, and this year, is her first year at school. We love being together, and we are enjoying being close to the lake, so we have a lot of family activities.
My talk is about bringing your mission home with you. I didn’t go on a mission. I got married when I was 20 years old. But I have great examples in my family and from André that went on a mission. I have 2 brothers that served a mission in Brazil. I remember that the feeling we had in our home when they went on their missions was great. My father is not active in the church, and the example my brothers gave him was very big. I remember that my father was more concerned about reading the scriptures, and doing family home evening more than other times. My father still is not active in church, but we see the difference after my brothers went on their missions than before. We see the respect that he has for the church; he is opened more and more in going to church now. In fact he goes with my mother in sacrament meting; he hears the talks and goes home. This is a big step for him and I know that some day, I will receive a call from them inviting me to go to São Paulo Temple for our family selling. I am just waiting for this moment anxiously.
The other great example that I have in my life about mission, is the example that Andre gave to me. One thing that made me fall in love with him was the Holly Ghost that he had after returning from mission. He was reading the scriptures daily, and he could tell me about anything about the scriptures that I had questions, and he helped me in building my testimony about the gospel more and more each day. We could sit for hours and talk about the big experiences he had on his mission, and the people that he helped change their lives. My life was changed from hearing all the special things that he had to tell me about his mission and about the gospel. He helped me see the great wife and mother that I could be if we had the gospel in our home. When I was born my mother was already going to church. She was a big example for me in a lot of things, and I have a lot to thank her for and all that she did to help me to be in church until today. But the one that helped me to see the great things about the gospel and the woman that I could be with the gospel in my life was my beloved husband. Until today he helps me to want to be a better person, to teach our children about the gospel and I have a lot to thank him for the entire example he is in my life.
After Andre and I got married, we lived in Brazil for 4 years before coming here to the US. Our ward in Brazil we had a calling that was the best calling that I can remember serving. We were ward missionaries, and we helped the missionaries with the families that they were teaching. One day the missionaries called me and asked if we could go to a family’s house that they had just started giving the lessons. Andre couldn’t go because he was working. I went with the missionaries to this family’s house and when we got there, we found out that the wife had an accident, she had broken her leg. She was concerned about not being able to do anything for her daughter that was a baby. Her husband was helping her, take care of the house, but her daughter hadn’t taken a bath, and still had not eaten. I asked her if I could help her in giving the baby a bath and food. She was so grateful and thanked me a lot for all the help. She started crying and she said that nobody ever asked her if she needed help, and she was grateful for me who had never met her before. We did not have time to teach them a lesson, all I did was help her with her immediate needs. After she was better with her legs, I invited her, and her family to go to our house for a family home evening. And the experience that we had that day I will never forget. Andre gave the lesson about Eternal families, and after the lesson, they wanted to talk about the great felling that was so great in their hearts. They wanted to explain to us that there was something burning in their hearts, telling them, that everything they were hearing from the missionaries and from us was true and that they wanted to be baptized. The great example that they gave to me that day, was the opened heart they had. The feeling in seeing somebody recognizing the Holly Ghost for the first time is incredible. I was amazed in how sacred the missionary work is special and important, and why this young mans comes from their missions so spiritual. I am grateful for this great work. If it weren’t for the missionaries, my family would not have heard the discussions before I was born; our family couldn’t ever have had the opportunity to have this great gospel in our lives.
I believe that every returned missionary, no matter how long their mission was have the ability to remember the great enthusiasm they had in their missions. The same goals they had while in their mission and the humble heart they had in their missions must continue today. It’s important to remember these feelings, and bring home these important things.
No final do meu discurso recebi uma notinha do meu bispo me pedindo para eu prestar o meu testemunho em português. Foi aí que fiquei mais emocionada ainda. Depois de mim, foi a vez do André que fez o púlpito tremer com as suas palavras. O assunto do discurso dele foi: It is the Spirit that matters. Ele falou muitas coisas com tanto poder, que até no final o bispado foi agradecer a ele pelas coisas certas que ele falou e num momento certo para a ala.
Ufa, ainda bem que passou. Estava nervosa em dar um bom discurso já faz 3 semanas. Minha nossa! Mas finalmente, missão cumprida! Espero que vocês tenham gostado do meu discurso!