We must trust in Christ's Atonement!

                                                                                                             Sept. 26, 2016

Hi family!! So, this past week I´ve been pretty sick. I don´t like to talk a lot about my health in emails because I don´t like to worry you, but I just thought I´d inform you that today I´ll be going to see a doctor because my lungs have been really bad. This past week, there were times when I was teaching in lessons, and I ran out of breath, my face got super red, and I couldn´t breathe until I drank a lot of water. My chest and back have been hurting from how hard I´ve been coughing. I´m pretty sure it´s from the pollution of the city. Anyway, all is well, I scheduled a doctor´s visit with the mission office, and I know I´ll get better. If you could keep me in your prayers.

This past week I went on exchanges with two sisters, Sister Alves de Souza, and Sister Avelino, below, and so I got to explore different areas, and help the Sisters be excited to talk with everyone on the street.  

Me with Sister Alves de Souza

Me with Sis. Avelino

I actually learn a lot more from the Sisters than they do from me, so it´s a wonderful opportunity to grow and feel the love Heavenly Father has for them in the mission. They are such cute girls!! And it´s weird that when I go on exchanges I feel so old in the mission, but I feel like I just got here to Brasil!!

I loved hearing the Women´s Conference so much, especially the second talk about Christ´s Atonement. Elis, Natasha, Marcus´s mom, and Valeria came, and it was absolutely perfect for them because they needed to be strengthened due to some hard family situations.   

Yesterday, at church, Sister Thomas and President Thomas talked to Elis and shared with her the importance of loving family members no matter what even when they may make poor choices. How we must provide an example for them to follow. A lot of tears were shed, and they took Elis to get away for a bit, to see a baptism in another area. She told us last night that after witnessing the baptism, she was able to feel more peace. She has some hard things, so please keep her in your prayers.

 

We taught Valeria this past week about the Law of Chastity, and she said she would try to obey it. She and Fabio want to get married and are just waiting for Fabio to find a secure job in order to make that happen.

Elis has stopped smoking completely for 10 days, and she´s staying strong. She has a desire to be baptized, and she´s already read up to Mosiah in the Book of Mormon. She wants to finish it, and she loves how in the Book, it is passed from generation to generation--from father to son. She said that it is really for our days, and it is changing her life. She still thinks October 9th is a little bit too early, but we´re going to work with her still to trust in Heavenly Father. She has to completely stop drinking coffee as well, but with her faith, she could move mountains!!

I want to share a couple more pictures:

We celebrated a Sister's Birthday

I was excited to be reunited with Sis. Caleira and other Sisters

Yesterday in Women´s conference, I learned that we have to trust in Christ´s Atonement more in our lives. We have to trust in it daily--that he has already overcome everything that we have to endure in this life.

 

LOVE YOU SO MUCH!! SO EXCITED FOR GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!

Patience and Faith in Moving Forward

                                                                                                               Sept. 19, 2016
Hi Family!! 

 

We had our spelling bee for English class and it went great! 

I want to share a couple of pictures...

 

Sis. Hall and I directing our spelling bee.

 

I think our English class really enjoyed this fun activity.  

 

Crazy story!! Last night after a family night with a less active family, it was raining really hard, and we hadn´t brought umbrellas during the day because it was super hot in the morning and we figured it wouldn´t rain. It almost always rains after a really hot day, so we should have known. Anyway, the Irmã who we taught offered to give us a ride to our house because I wasn´t feeling very well (I got a little cough and cold and don´t really have my voice AGAIN haha), so we were planning on going home early. We then left her house and walked in her garage, and the Irmã told us to be careful because it was really wet and slippery. Immediately, right after she said that, my crocs slipped on the ground near a little staircase, and I lost my balance, and fell hard onto my right side on the step. I fell pretty hard near my hip/right tailbone, and I was just thinking--what other trials could I possibly go through? Sister Hall´s foot had been hurt, and I have been sick and, now I have a huge bruise on my side. 

Anyway, Sister Hall and I just laughed about it later, and I´m grateful for the trials that I go through in the mission, because I just know they make me stronger. 

As for Sister Hall´s foot, she got an x-ray recently, and President Thomas looked at it, and nothing was broken, just there was a lot of bleeding inside of the foot, so it´s still pretty swollen. However, it´s getting better, and she´s been walking on it a lot.

On Thursday we had a wonderful Sister Training meeting at Sis. Thomas's home. She led the meeting and it was so spiritual. It reminded me of our sweet experiences at Girls Camp. I love serving with these wonderful Sister leaders!

 

This past week, Aline told us that she still wanted to be baptized, but she didn´t know quite when, after her marriage, Leandro and her would be baptized. She wants to go to church more in order to prepare, but for some reason, she chooses not to go each Sunday because Leandro works on Sunday, and she wants to go with him. Please pray that they will be able to come this next Sunday!!

As for Elis--she hasn´t smoked one cigarette in 6 days!!! She bought a more expensive pad that you put on your arm or chest that helps take away nicotine from your body, and it helps her not have the desire to smoke. She said it´s been really hard to hold back the addiction, but she´s been reading a lot of the Book of Mormon to help her. She´s already finished the book of 1st Nephi, and is still reading more!! Yesterday, Natasha and Junior came to church with her, and they got all ready for church with dress clothes. They looked so cute!! I wish I had a picture to show you all, but they really looked like two mature adults who wanted to do what´s right in their lives. We gave the mission office Junior´s address, so hopefully they pass it to another mission so missionaries can teach him soon!! Also, Marcus now has his own Book of Mormon, and has been reading it. Each one of them treasures their Book of Mormon as if it were plates of gold. Tonight, we are going to try to mark Elis and Natasha for October 9th to be baptized. 

As for Valeria and Fabio, they came to church yesterday, and Valeria doesn´t feel ready for baptism quite yet. We testified of repentance, and told her of the power of repentance to help us feel ready for baptism. Hopefully the next time we teach her, she will accept a date. 

These families in Ferreira are so elect and we are excited for them to move forward and be baptized.  We are learning to be patient and have faith that it is in the Lord's time frame.

LOVE YOU ALL!! Have a wonderful week!!

Below are photos from our Sister Meeting (all the sisters of the mission)

Sis. Carreira, Sis. Oldroyd, and me

Reunited with Sis. Oldroyd, my last companion

I love these sweet Sisters!!

Serving Through Adversity

                                                                                                                 Sept. 12, 2016

 

Hi family!!! How are you all doing?

 

Today I´m going to make cookies in preparation for a spelling B we´re going to have tomorrow night for our English class. SO EXCITED to decorate the room with little Bees!!!

 



Sister Hall and I visiting the mission home



Getting excited for our spelling bee
for our English class this next week!

This past week, something shocking happened. We were having a district meeting on Monday night, and having a competition like a scavenger hunt inside of the chapel of Ferreira, when all of a sudden, when our group of Sister Hall and I, and two other sets of elders, were trying to move a table to complete a task in our scavenger hunt, the table snapped in half and fell on top of the foot of Sister Hall. It automatically swelled up, and we tried as fast as possible to put ice on it.

    

She wasn´t able to walk on it on monday night or tuesday or wednesday, and monday night the President came to look at it (because he lives in our area), and because he is a surgeon, he said it wasn´t broken but that it was just really bruised and swollen--that she should go easy on it.

Monday night we were treated to dinner with President Thomas, Sister Thomas, and Emily in their home, and we stayed in our house after going to the temple on Tuesday (receiving a ride from a member), and after eating lunch on Wednesday. We didn´t officially work until friday, but when we worked, we REALLY worked. 

 

Tuesday, we went to the temple, and we ended up getting a car ride late from a member so we missed our session, but we instead, participated in other ordinances. I had the opportunity to participate in baptisms for the dead, and Sister Hall participated in Iniciatory, and I realized how much I missed participating in baptisms for the dead. They ended up splitting us up in separate ordinances because they just needed one woman or young woman to perform the work, and I was the only one there available at the time :) 

This past Saturday we had a wonderful ward activity!!! It was organized by our ward mission leader, Brother Kiko, and we watched Meet the Mormons while eating popcorn, and then later eating a lot of treats. A LOT of our investigators came, and that Saturday we found a new family to work with!! Aline, her sister in law and her kids came to the activity, Valeria and Fabio and her son Vinicios, and Elis, Marcos´s parents, and Marcos´s sister named Ana who will be moving into our area soon, and Esvaldo/Letícia and their little baby girl (new family) came to the activity. They all loved it so much, and the Spirit was so strong.

We had a great family night with Aline, Leandro, and family.
We also had the Relief Society Pres. and her family join us. 

Yesterday Elis came to Church, and she´s been quitting smoking. She was fulfilling all her goals, but she unfortunately got really stressed out yesterday and smoked one more cigarette than she should have. It´s super hard for her because Marcos drinks a lot, and she gets really stressed out because of it. Last night, the Bishop and our Ward mission leader went to visit Elis with us, and they talked to her about the law of chastity (since she lives in the same house with marcos in order to take care of Natasha--they sleep in separate rooms and are just FRIENDS, and have been for 14 years), and they told her about her progress towards baptism, and how they were worried that one day she could possibly break this commandment, but at the end of the interview, the Bishop told us that we could mark her for baptism, but go slow with her to help her stop smoking.
I´m so excited to invite her to be baptized!!!

We are beautiful because of our Divine Identity!

                                                                                                        Sept. 5, 2016

Hi family!! So, this past week was wonderful!! I was able to feel the Spirit so strongly in a mission counsel we had that spoke of how every single thing we do in the church and in the mission requires our faith. 

Our leadership group met together for a wonderful mission counsel!

Yesterday, I had the chance to bear my testimony about faith, and how, if we just had the desire to chance or to improve, we could see miracles as long as we nourished and took care of our faith with a little bit of work on our part. As I bore my testimony, I said that we had found some really special families in this area, and I immediately began to break down in tears. I had felt a piece of Heavenly Father´s love for these families as I was bearing my testimony, and the whole chapel got super quiet as I tried to compose myself and speak. I said that these families need to know that they can stay together forever, and there is a way by which that is possible.

I remember we were sitting by Elis, in church yesterday, and after going back to sit down after bearing our testimonies, she had been emotional, and her eyes were red and full of tears. I´m so grateful to be able to know her. She is practically a member of the Church already. She is quitting smoking right now, and we made a calendar for her for the whole month of September to be able to stop. Every three days, she decreases the amount of cigarettes that she smokes as a goal, and she has to plan out her day to know how many she can smoke. She is completing her goals already each day, and she feels so good about herself when she does so (normally Marcos and Natasha fight, or something goes wrong with Marcos late at night so she gets pretty stressed out). She just wants what´s best for her family, and she has been reading the Book of Mormon each day, and falling asleep with it open every night because it gives her strength to stop smoking and press forward.

 

This past week, on Saturday night, we went to visit Natasha, Junior, and Elis, and we ended up sharing a video with them of ´´Our True Identity´´ by Elder Uchtdorf, which talks about how at times we don´t think we are beautiful, and we are the ugly duckling, but when we truly see our reflection one day, we recognize that we are swans, and we are truly beautiful because of our divine identity as children of God. Shortly after the lesson, Natasha began to cry. She was feeling the Spirit, and she has been having a hard time finding self-worth and feeling loved and beautiful. The Spirit was so strong in the room as we testified of how our Heavenly Father loves each one of us for just how we are. Just because we are sons and daughters of Him, He has an infinite love for us. Unfortunately, the next day, she didn´t come to Church with Junior. They chose to go to a Catholic Church they were attending in the past. We think that it may be because she feels as though there are too many restrictions and commandments in the church--that it´s too big of a commitment. We´re going to teach her tonight, and we´re going to try to bring so more young women in the ward to get to know her better, and help her see that the commandments help keep us free. 

Yesterday, Valéria and her boyfriend came to church, and felt the Spirit. They absolutely loved it, and the bishop talked to them afterwards. They want to get married, but Fábio, her boyfriend, who doesn´t live in this area, needs to find a job. The Bishop has helped us a lot take care of some of our investigator´s needs. 

 

Here are a couple of pictures of us yesterday at Aparecido's house having fun with some cool instruments. Aparecido is the dad of Leandro who is soon to be married to Aline, who we have been teaching.    

 

Picture of Sis. Hall and me with Leandro and Aline.
Aline made us yummy homemade bread.  

 

 

 

Have a wonderful week family!! I´ll tell you more next week.