Brazil Santa Maria Mission Zone Conference 28 October 2016

24 October 2016

oi familia! how is everyone doing? halloween is coming up! no one really celebrates it here, but there will be a halloween dance in the branch. recently everyone celebrated children´s day which is a big holiday in south america, like mother and fathers day. on november 2nd will be the day of the dead when everyone goes to the cemetary and in past years apparently missionaries spent the day in the cemetary singing hymns. they don´t celebrate thanksgiving here.. :( but that won´t stop me from giving thanks! 

unfortunatley, many of our investigators don´t want to investigate anymore, but now we have more time to move on and find the people that are being prepared. i am motivated and excited for a new week and to work more with members and less actives. don´t worry, Angelita is still continuing strong!

this week we had a zone conference in Alegrete which was really good and i got to see all of my old companions at once, it was so great! i took a picture that ill try to send next week. The conference was so good and ws about how, like david, we can overcome our ``golias´´ on the mission, witht the rocks of repentence, faith, good works, persistent prayer and patience. we also talked a lot about the grace of Christ and it was really comforting to remeber that when all is said and done, it is only through the grace and atonement of christ that anything is possible, and that with grace mircles are possbile. we have weaknesses and imperfections, but that is ok because we have the atonement of Jesus Christ.

have a good week everybody, i love and pray for you all :)

17 October 2016

I hope you had a great birthdaymom and i hope you all are enjoying fall weather! these past few days here have been really really really rainy. 

This week was crazy because we had divisions in Santa Maria again which were good and it was fun to see Sister Christensen (from myMTC district) again. Then this weekend we had stake conference and President and SIster Louza came to speak and they alos interviewed the missionaries. I am also the branch pianist (i think if i stay another transfer here i will recieve this as a calling in the branch) but i accompanied the choir sing for the conference which was fun and a little nerve-racking.... But Angelita came to the conference and met the mission president and his wife and she was so sweet and excited talking about her baptism! we are working with some other good investigators but alos needing to find lots of new ones. 

Lately I have been able to learn a lot more about and develop more Christlike attributes. Especially about love, humiity, pacience, and service. It is always helpful to ask yourself what Christ would do in any situation, and also how you would treat a certain person if he or she were Christ. Because, like many scriptures say, when we do something to or for someone else,it is as if we were doing it to Christ. Also, a themeof teh conference was becoming perfected through Christ little by litte through the small things that we do daily and through His grace we will eventually becomeperfected in Him (Moroni 7:32) 

have a great week everyone!

10 October 2016

oi familia! how are you all doing? sounds likea good time fo year there and that you are enjoying some good fall weather. I can´t believe Rebecca is already a month old! Congrats mom with the family history business!! it sounds like it is starting out great. I´m sure you all are really busy, i hope youall aremanaging everything well. 

Things ae going well here. Angelita marked a date for her marraige which will be november 9th and she will then be baptized the following saturday on the 12th! the last saturday of this transfer. We are really happy and excited. As I get to know Angelita and her background better, I grow to love her more and more and I am seeing large differences in her life since we first met her and she first heard about the gospel. She is very humble, dedicated,a dn strong after some rough experiences in her life. She has 7 children, the youngest is 2 years old and he is the craziest 2 year old i have ever met! he does not stop moving! unfortantely, the rest of her family does not show much interest in the church,but we will try to work more with them. We are working hard with our other investigators,but we need to find lots of new, prepared investigators. 

I liked in conference, the talk about joy and how man are that wemight have joy and that Jesus Christ is joy. I am seeing how the gospel brings joy to my life, the life of Angelita, and other members and it is really true, even when it is hard I am happy because i have the gospel which brings hope. Like the apostle (i forgetwhich one)said, it is about learning to suffer with joy.

tchau, boa semana

3 October 2016

oi familia! 

how is everyone?? sister saavedra and i will both continue here in são gabriel and we are happy. i´m sure elections are crazy there. they were elections here too on sunday and the streets were crazy! for the past month or so cars drive around constantly blasting theme songs of the different candidates. i´m thankful there are laws against that in the united states. then on the day of elections everyone was in the street celebrating the whole day it was really crazy, especially for just a town mayor. and wow generaly conference! wasn´t it so amazing?? angelita came to both of the sunday sessions and she will enter her marraige papers this week! marcelo also went to the morning session on saturday which was a miracle and all the talks weere so good and perfect for him and the questions he had. he is still undecided about baptism but i am hoping and praying for a miracle. we also have abunch of other great investigators with a lot of potential and we will work hard with them this transfer. 

i really loved conference and noticed some important themes. One of these themes was the basic principles of the gospel, especially repentence. God loves us more than we can imagine, faith in Jesus Christ is essential, but the speeakers made it clear that the only way we can actually be worthy to live with God again is through repentence continually throughout our lives. I also liked the theme about doing and trusting in God´s will, not ours. Many speakers quoted the Savior in gethsemane saying, ``not my will, but thine be done´´ There were so many other great themes and talks i could go on and on but i hope you all reread these talks and apply the guidance in your lives! i love you all so much have an amazing week :)

26 September 2016

How is everyone doing? Rebecca is so adorable! The BYU game sounds fun, but dissapointing that they lost. Who was QB? Has Taysom Hill´s leg healed? Are you all excited for conference? I know I am! No I was not able to watch the women´s session. Also a disclaimer, I was not actually drinking chimarrão/matte in that picture. we are not allowed to. But it was cool this week on the day of the Gaúchos to see tons and tons of gauchos on horses marching in the streets and people sitting on the sidewalks to watch, including some of our investigators that we had appointments with.... We were not able to watch but we passed by. The city had a strong smell of horses that day. 

We had a good tiring week and we found a lot of good new investigators this week. We just have to keep working and moving forward. This is the last week of this transfer and time is passing by very fast. I hope to stay here in São Gabriel with Sister Saavedra. 

A thought for this week is 1 Nephi 19:24. Being able to hear the words fo the prophet is a special opportunity because they are really the words that God need us to hear. The holy ghost will testify to us in our hearts the truthfulness of the things spoken in conference. We just need to be prepared and listen humbly to find things we need to apply to our lives. Have a good week everyone! I love you all

19 September 2016

OI tudo bem!

How is everyone doing?? I am so happy to hear about Rebecca Marie, and I love her beautiful name. Loved seeing the pictures and I hope Amy and Rebecca are healthy and doing well. It was also fun to hear about and see pictures of the Sisters Reunion that mom had.

Happy Gaúcho week! Tomorrow is the Gaúcho holiday where there will be parades and stuff and everyone dressed in Gaúcho clothing. I also have a pair of bombachas (gaúcho pants) and a cuya (cup they use to drink chimmarrão) and photos are included! Last P-day we also learned how to make Coxinhas with a lady in the branch and thet is why there is a photo that may look like i started working at the Lancaster County Dutch Market. 

This week we went to Santa Maria again for divisions which was good. Santa Maria is a lot different than São Gabriel. We ae working hard in our area and are continuing to amke progress with Angelita and a guy named Marcelo. We are especially working to help our investigators really understand and apply for themselves the pirnciples of the gospel and applying prayer and reading the book fo mormon in their lives. Angelita is great, she just needs to get married!

A thought for the week is D&C 112:11. The whole section is very good for missionary work, but this verse talks about loving others the same as yourself. Sometimes we love others, but still think first of ourself and are not willing to sacrifice what we want, to help them, but to really have Christlike lvoe we have to view others as if they were us and give and do the best for them. 

Amo vocês! Look forward to seeing more pictures of Rebecca :)