So many incredible blessings!!!!!

                                                                                                         August 29, 2016
Hi Family,

So, I didn´t end up getting transferred, and will stay with Sister Hall for another 6 weeks (including General Conference!!

Sister Hall and I celebrating our one year mark in the mission.
We got American pizza and were very excited about it!!

Wahoo!--maybe I´ll be able to watch it in English because of how many americans are in this Ward). I´m actually really excited about this decision of the President to keep us together in this area, and I know it was inspired by the Lord because of the Spirit that I felt last night.

So, this past week, I talked with a New Yorker on the street (fiz um contato), and I realize how difficult it must be to work there as a missionary. I forgot that the Book of Mormon musical exists, and he talked a lot about that. He unfortunately didn´t believe that God exists because he had felt as though God let him down in the difficult times of his life, and that he didn´t hear his prayers. It´s interesting how Heavenly Father loves us so much that he allows us to suffer, just as he allowed Christ to suffer. That´s the only way we can learn in this life--through suffering, and challenges.

 

Yesterday, in Relief Society, a Sister in the Ward shared a story with everyone about how when she was younger she had a lot of caterpillars, and she wanted them to stop struggling inside of their cacoon to be a butterfly faster. One day, instead of waiting until they grew out of their cacoon by themselves, she decided to cut their cacoon. When she cut each cacoon, she soon realized that they had died. Satan would have us think that a faster way out of our problems is to cheat or lie or give up so that we don´t have to struggle. But Heavenly Father knows who we can become just from a lot of patience, and suffering. 

Wonderful family night at President and Sis. Thomas's home!

This past week, we were able to have a family night with Elis and Natasha with President and Sister Thomas. 

 

They invited us over because they invited the President of São Paulo, Sul and his wife, who was Sister Hall´s Bishop in Idaho in the past.

Fun surprise for her!

 

Elis and Natasha ate dinner with us in their house, and we taught them of the Atonement of Jesus Christ with the video He lives. It was an amazing family night :)

 

 

Also, Elise and Natasha came to church with Marcos (natasha´s dad), and natasha´s boyfriend, Junior yesterday. Elis is reading the Book of Mormon, and has a desire to read more every time she reads it. She desperately wants to quit smoking (she normally smokes when Natasha and Marcos are fighting because she gets stressed), but we are going to work with her this week to help her stop and see a difference in her life. She really felt the Spirit as she learned about opposition in all things.  

Natasha and Junior loved church yesterday! In the last hour, Natasha learned about temple marriage and all of the young women were taught by a young woman named Natalhia that is preparing to serve a mission, who is serving as a young woman counselor right now. Natalhia prepared an amazing lesson on preparing for the temple, and having the temple as our number one priority of marriage. She gave each one of the young woman a box and had them write letters to themselves and to their future husband and put it in the box to open only after they were married in the temple. There were other cute things that she had each young woman put in this white box-- items that symbolized important things (for example, a hair clip, to represent the importance of still looking good after your marriage), and other things. 

Aline marked a day to be married with Leandro!!! October 22nd!!!! We invited her to be baptized on October 23rd, and she accepted!!!! Her daughter and son came to church yesterday

We have been finding so many families in this area that are prepared to be sealed for an eternity!! It´s incredible!!

 

Below is a picture of a family who attends our English class. They are super special, and we taught them the Restoration last night. They also treated us to a big dinner of hamburgers, french fries, and brigadeiro. They have a desire to read the book of mormon and pray about it. SUPER ELECT!!

Mom-Rosangela, Dad-Paulo, Older daughter-Bruna, and Youngest-Sofia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This past week, we received a message on our phone of a woman named Valéria who lives in our area that wanted to receive a book of mormon, and she marked a day to meet with us in the church. We gave her a tour of the church, taught her the restoration, and invited her to be baptized September 25th. she accepted! and is super elect!! She came to church this past Sunday with her boyfriend, and she is progressing!!! 

So many blessings!! 

 

Here are a few more pictures I want to share:

 



Irmã Rosangela, one member who is super fun and sweet to us in the Ward.
She looks a lot like Susan Israelsen, and even talks like her too!! It´s really strange the resemblance.

Irma Rosangela and her cute family. 



Sisters in our last zone meeting in Ferreira
before the end of the transfer.



 Picture of me with Sister Alves de Souza, Brasilian.
We went together on splits one day this past week.
She has an incredible testimony, and she is new in the mission.
She has one of the sweetest spirits in this work! 

I love this area and I love sister Hall, and I´m so glad I get to stay here to see more families find the joy of the gospel!

 

Love,

 

Sis. Harris

Go Brasil!! Lots of reasons to celebrate!!

                                                                                                          August 22, 2016

Oi Familia,

So, I have had a wonderful week this week!  We've had lots of reasons to celebrate.

We didn't find out about Brasil's win until later Saturday night, when we heard lots of fireworks.
Go Brasil, for winning the Olympic gold medal in men's soccer!!

Yesterday in Relief Society we learned about marriage, and we ended up sitting in the front row. So as missionaries, that wasn't awkward at all, (haha) but it was a great lesson.

This week, we had a multi-zone meeting where I received my carta trunky. (letter that tells me what day I´m going home) My dismissal date will be on February 14th, Valentine's Day.

Sis. Lopez, Sis. Hunsaker, and I all received our letters

 Sis Hall and I were also able to celebrate with Natasha, the daughter of Elis, who had her 16th birthday party. We ate way too much cake and junk food on Saturday, and ended up crashing from a sugar rush.

 

Sis. Hall and I celebrating Natasha's 16th Birthday party 

I think we had too much sugar
from the Birthday parties!!

 

Sis. Hall and I both crashed after a sugar rush

I had the opportunity to go on splits this week with Sister Neto, a new sister in the mission from the far north side of Brasil that borders Bolivia. :)

I also went on splits with a Sister in Perdizes, named Sister Santos, who is also Brasilian. We ate milkshakes together during the day because it was so hot

Aparecido, a recent convert who is the father-in-law of Aline who we are teaching. 

 

 

We made chocolate chip cookies for Aparecido's birthday this week. He said, HE LOVED THEM!

 

This week, we were able to teach Aline about the word of wisdom, and she promised to obey it.
Her testimony is powerful, and she is such an elect!!!!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is never too late to be rescued!!!

                                                                                                           August 15, 2016

Hi Family!! So, I don´t have too much time to write, but I quickly wanted to tell each one of you that I love you! I pray for you each day, and I hope you are enjoying the end of your summer!!

This past week it was randomly super cold for two days straight, and I got sick, lost my voice, and had a hard time talking during lessons and talking to people on the street. Luckily, my companion came to the rescue and did a lot of contacts on the street by herself. I realized that I take for granted fazendo contatos on the street and being able to talk with everyone on the street with a clear voice.

I´ve been able to realize from this trial that I love talking to every single person I pass by on the street because Heavenly Father always puts an elect in our way in His own timing.

 

This past week for example, we found a past investigator we were teaching, with his wife, on the Street. His name is Marcos, and his wife´s name is Elise. Actually, I´m just going to say they´re friends that live together because they aren´t married, and they live together because they have a daughter who is 15 years old who lives with them.

 

Anyway, this past week we marked a day to teach them, and we found out that Elise was really struggling with her daughter who is a bit rebellious, and always argues with her. She cried in our first visit as we told her there was hope to raising her family in righteousness. There was hope to helping her daughter make good choices in her life. She ended up coming to church yesterday, and she cried right next to us while feeling the Spirit from a talk about how it´s never to late to be rescued by the Savior (from Elder Uchtdorf this past conference). She got emotional when the speaker spoke of the lost last of the 99 that was saved. 

  

A few pictures I want to share:
 

Enjoying lunch with a wonderful family in Fereirra.
Irmã Jovannia, Irmão Jefferson, and their daughter, Natalhia.
 

It's Father's Day in Brasil...
The Jefferson family invited us
over for lunch

We saw a man on the street yesterday wearing a BYU t-shirt,

so we decided to talk to him. His sister lives in the US, 



and he´s already heard of the Church, but doesn´t want to know more.



 

View of the downtown area of Sao Paulo

We received candy from an 

American family here in the Ward.

Hailey Ledford went to Idaho and

came back with treats for us. 

para matar saudades :)
 

I have a testimony that Heavenly Father hears our prayers, and He is blessing us in this area to find families who really need the blessings of the gospel.

 

Love,

Sis. Harris

 

 

When we see people as God sees them, our perspective changes

                                                                                                                August 7, 2016

Hi Family!!! Well, a lot of people in Brasil are super excited about the Olympics, and I´m guessing you all are too! 

 

This week I found more hope. I was beginning to get a bit depressed and worried about this area because we haven´t been having much success in finding Heavenly Father´s elect and chosen few, but this past Tuesday we had a leadership counsel with President Thomas that was wonderful.

 

Leadership training with other Sister Training Leaders in the mission

 

I felt the Spirit so strongly as Sister Thomas asked us to remember people who had to carry a hard burden in their lives, and then were relieved of this burden and weight after coming to know our Savior Jesus Christ. The Spirit helped me remember Maria Luiza in Casa Verde, and her sweet love for the Savior--her willingness to do what is right, and sacrifice everything just to follow him. The Spirit hit me so strongly as Sister Thomas told us that we were needed in the mission to help others feel of the Savior´s love--to help them change their lives around and come to know His Atonement. The Spirit touched me so much, and I came to realize that there was still hope to find God´s elect. I remembered why I was called to serve a mission, and I couldn´t stop crying. 

At the end of the meeting, the President told us that we can combat desânimo (I can´t remember the meaning of this word in english) by thinking of others, and forgetting about ourselves. We only become sad in the mission when we begin to think about ourselves. He shared with us the story of Christ´s temptation after fasting for forty days. He said that his temptation wasn´t food, but that it was to think about himself--his glory, and his power as a  Son of God--to think about how he had the power to turn Stone into bread.



Our entire leadership in the mission

 Our leadership meeting also talked about how when we have a baptism, it isn´t OUR baptism, because people aren´t baptized in our name, but they are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ--     Everything belongs to Him!          I I realized how small I was as I was thinking so much about myself in this area, and I really had a change of heart. President Thomas told us that there aren´t any hard areas in the mission--there are only bad attitudes of missionaries. We can do anything we put our mind and heart to, and when we see our area as the Lord sees it, or if we see people as God sees them--we have a different vision, perspective, and attitude to do Heavenly Father´s work.

 

Aparecido, the Father-in-law of Aline, cooked us
some yummy cheese for lunch.  

This past week, a miracle happened. We found a super elect family.

 

We had asked a recent-convert, an older man named Aparecido, which members in his family he thought were prepared to receive the gospel. He told us of his daughter-in-law, named Aline who he believed would be willing to learn about the Church.

 

We marked a day to visit him and her this past week, and when we got there, she wasn´t anywhere to be seen. She was in her house, and her daughter, named Vitoria, 9 years-old, who we have taught a couple of times before told us that her mom was resting because she had a really sore throat. We decided to persist in talking to her, and we asked Vitoria if we could talk with her mom. She came out of her house, and I had an impression to simply ask her if we could help her with anything. She said no, and then we simply asked her if we could share a short video with her. We ended up sharing a video with her about difficulties, but before then, she asked us about the temple. We showed her a few pictures of the temple, and told her about temples, and how we believed families could be together forever.

 

At the end of the lesson, she got a bit emotional, and she was super happy to learn more. We gave her a restoration pamphlet to read, and she asked us to return the next day to teach her. I had to go on splits in another area to help a set of sisters nearby, but Sister Hall and a new sister in the mission, Sister Mariano, taught her the next day, and she had read the whole pamphet of the restoration. At the end of the lesson, she was crying, and she told them that she had been praying a week ago to feel of God´s presence in her life. She said that the message of the Restoration was an answer to her prayers. She then said she would share with her boyfriend (her spouse--but they aren´t yet married after 10 years of living together) the pamphlet of the Restoration.

 

The next day we taught Leandro and Aline about the Restoration (leondro for the first time). The following day, we taught them again about the plan of salvation, and invited them to be married. Aline really wants to be married, and they are going to plan a day to go to the Cartório to be married.

Aline and Vitoria came to church yesterday, and I can tell you that the entire meeting was for Aline because we had fasted she would be able to know that this church is true. 

Service Blesses Ourselves and Others

                                                                                                           August 1, 2016

Hi Family!!! So, I really quickly wanted to tell you of the love I have for each one of you. 

Yesterday in church, we talked about how we can keep the Sabbath day holy with our families, and I thought back to when we always went on Sunday walks as a family, or had family home evenings or family counsel Sunday night, and we really tried to put the Lord first and our families first on Sunday. I am so grateful to belong to such a strong, spiritual family. 

This past week we had a lot of opportunities to serve.  We had the opportunity to help serve Sister Thomas and Emily by helping Emily create a little movie about patriarchal blessings for her youth conference  She interviewed us in front of the temple about how our patriarchal blessings have blessed us in the mission. It was a wonderful experience and I felt the Spirit so strongly.

Later, they took us out to dinner for all-you-can-eat pizza.

We have been serving the members more, and asking them if they know anyone who needs to feel of Heavenly Father´s love for them, and they have been helping us with references.

We decided to make chocolate chip cookies (here in this area, we receive chocolate chips from American families because they don´t really have them here), and we made some for a Sister in the ward whose nephew passed away suddenly. We left them in a box with a note and expression of our love for her with the security man of her apartment building, and she later received them and ate them with her husband and kids. Yesterday, she told us she was so grateful to receive the cookies and the sweet note, and we felt so good inside.

We have been able to wash a lot of dishes and find other ways to serve in this area as we have looked for opportunities.
 

We ate lunch with with Irmã Raimunda and her grandson, Adam
and were able to serve her by washing a lot of dishes.

Speaking of service, a member that visited New York served us by bringing us some sweet treats.

This past week, we had an interview with President Thomas, and he told us of how all the missionaries in this mission just need to talk with everyone they pass by as a friend would talk with another friend. They just need to be their friend, and complement them or ask them how their day is going, and then, after being their friend, and expressing their love for them, sharing with them the gospel that is the reason why they´re so happy. He said that when we talk to people on the Street, we automatically present ourselves, saying who we are, and they don´t want to hear that we are missionaries or that we are members of a Church. They don´t have time for that, or they aren´t interested. They need to first see our example, and first look at us a representatives of Jesus Christ full of light and love.

This past week, we applied this in our contacts with people on the street, and it´s been working a lot better. People actually stop to talk with us more, and they end up having a desire to learn more about the Church. We aren´t just robots or ´´crentes´´ (people who are really religious believers), but we are good people who are just trying to follow Christ´s example;

My companion and I this week are creating a goal to just pray to Heavenly Father as a companionship, and ask him where we should go, who we should visit, and how we can do more of his will. 

I love this Gospel, and I know that service makes the world of a difference in someone´s life.