What a week. We had our stake conference yesterday and it was.... well. It was good. Really and thank goodness presdient and sister jackson spoke (for the last time). They really saved the day. We had 9 inestigators in the chapel and many less active members too, it was great! And this golden couple we have been working with for the past couple weeks came. It was SO exciting. The wife, fatima had wanted to come but she wanted her husband Pedro to go. Pedro had a testimony of christ but he just hated churches because they are always asking for money and making big shows of things. So when they walked in we literally jumped out of our seats. I hope and pray that they felt the spirit. We'll be meeting with them on wednesday and dont worry mom Fatima has made it a point to be our mother here. She just worries about us and makes us salad and makes us drink juice. I love her and Pedro so much.
Ok but the kind of weird part of the conference. So we had choirs and thats all good but it was kind of gospel-y. Like pula pula pula jesus e legal. There was a man on the keyboard and the keyboard was playing slightly synthesized piano music. And he had a headset and was singing "ohhh ahhh ohh" with the choir. And then there was this woman who sang a song about the hands of christ and the slideshow (yes, a slideshow) had some not so reverent pcitures of jesus holding like glowing orbs and on the cross and such. Then her song got really screamy and hmm. Hmm... I guess reverance is sometimes a culture thing; I think everyone liked it but it was just too much for me and sister fonseca. Like nothing I would ever see at home. I laughed and hoped our investigators just thought it was wonderful and not creepy.
Our baptism went well. Its hard to find a 14 year old boy with no parents so to speak (his mom comes home maybe every 2 weeks for less than a day) so it was a lot of running around but he was baptized and confirmed on saturday. The district and zone leaders were there and the patriarch of the stake and some other great people. Because thats who was in the chapel. it was nice of them to all stay. Sister Fonseca and i sang I know that my redeemer lives and we tried to do the harmony in parts. Eh. not so much. I mean i can sing soprano as long as I have other people to sing with but it was just confusing! I dont do music! But alas, the people loved it (beisdes the american elders who obviously knew we messed up). I dont really have fear of singing here because well the singing is. You know. So we sing for our messages some times and people like this a lot. Can you believe it? me? haha.
Not much else is new new but we will be getting our new Brasilian Mission President this week. My portugues is coming along and I can almost understand everything... at times. Its all still very hard but good. And I know that once i can truly truly communicate to my herts desire I will be very happy. Because i am already having so much fun now.
Today our zone had a training meeting which included a bbq and uno! It was so much fun, imagine uno with portuguese and english and just a lot of laughing. I think i would adore Brasil if i just got to hang out with the missionaries everyday. But I guess thats not the point is it? But really, things are so great. Every day is crazier than the next and people never cease to surprise me.
I love you all and miss you all and want to hear from you all because I dont want to come back a stranger!
write me!
Monday, June 27, 2011
A few Sao Paulo Interlogians
Our last meeting with the Jacksons before they leave us for Utah... tomorrow!
Monday, June 20, 2011
I cant think of a witty title but I love you all!
So this week was quite the doozy. We worked and worked and worked and... we havent much to show for it, at least not by the standards of the human eye. I decided that the only thing that comes easy on a mission is sleep. Other than that it is a constant uphill climb.
Remember Joyce? Her baptism date was for may 22. Well, that didnt happen. And for a while we debated as to whether or not she was actually progressing. Back and forth and she had answers, she had good answers but she didnt have enough foundation to fall back on because she didnt read the book of mormon (this is the one that the last sisters just told her to read the bible). We had several serious talks with her and then she decided to start going to the Universal Church. We told her to call us when she wanted us to come back. We met her in the street yesteday and she wanted us to come over! So we did and she decided that things are going good in her life right now so she thinks the universal church is correct even though she disagrees with most of its tachings. One thing she dislikes about it is the idea that we dont do bad things, the demons that infest our bodies do bad things so once a week you go to church, put your hands on your head and tell them to leave. She told the pastor she didnt like this and he said " joyce, thats ok! just dont come to church that day!" (because this church meets like 5 times a week. one day for salvation, one day for health, one day for financial blessings and one day for getting rid of demons. Oh and you can donate your home and all your money any day you want, and people do "who wants to give $400 to the lord today!?") She told him how she meets with us and he said "joyce, thats great, god is one!" So she thinks shell stay because God is one and therefor in this church too.
And because we have worked so much with joyce and she is so good and I really love her I just cried. Right then and there. I cried. Because heres the deal people. There is only one true church. Thats only logical. If god is all that we know he is from the scriptures than it is literally impossible for there to be more than one true church. Maybe its the catholic church, maybe even the universal maybe the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (I have an inlking its this one) but it has to be one of them! Anyway, so I cried. And I said "Joyce, yes God will always be with his children no matter where they are but he is not with that church because that is not the His Church" And then she said so you believe that you are the only true church? And I said "no, I know this is the only true church" And then she talked about how the other missionaries didnt pressure her and make her do things and I said " we are here to bring you words of comfort but were also here to make changes, to help you come unto chist and sometimes thats hard." and basically what it came down to was "joyce, you dont know any of this for yourself and you shouldnt believe us just because we are so certain but you never read the Book of Mormon. You will never know unless you read the Book of Mormon."
I said all that in portuguese though, because, you know,shes brasilian and cant speak english. And it seems harsh but I think it was exactly what she needed. I cant honestly say we tried our hardest for her. And as sister fonseca told her " you will want this tructh someday, youll be mormon some day!" And dont worry, it wasnt a huge cry fest. But oh it was sad. But I know her story isnt over and shell be in the front of our area book! Sister fonseca this morning said "maybe we should just tell her if she doesnt like something about the our church just ignore it. You dont like joseph smith? dont read about hime! you dont have to accept all of it!" Im glad my companion is sarcastic. It makes me feel at home.
But we had miracles too. I am really happy with our work with inactive members and the ward.We hope to get a lot of people to church this sunday, its stake conference! We have lots of good people now, if only we could adequatly express the importance of actually getting to church!
oh but I have mny very first baptism this weekend! The boy may or may not already be a member.... whoserecordswerelostbytheward but hey! its a baptism. And hes honestly the greatest kid. Him and his little brother go to church every week on their own (10 and 14) and they pray 3 times a day and talk about going on missions. When we asked if we could help them with anything they just said "pray for us so that our mom can be home more" I just wanted to cry. They are so sweet and I know God is so happy with them. So its a good 1st baptism!
I think thats all for now, this is a crazy place but im loving it more every day! And I love all of you and miss you tons!
Remember Joyce? Her baptism date was for may 22. Well, that didnt happen. And for a while we debated as to whether or not she was actually progressing. Back and forth and she had answers, she had good answers but she didnt have enough foundation to fall back on because she didnt read the book of mormon (this is the one that the last sisters just told her to read the bible). We had several serious talks with her and then she decided to start going to the Universal Church. We told her to call us when she wanted us to come back. We met her in the street yesteday and she wanted us to come over! So we did and she decided that things are going good in her life right now so she thinks the universal church is correct even though she disagrees with most of its tachings. One thing she dislikes about it is the idea that we dont do bad things, the demons that infest our bodies do bad things so once a week you go to church, put your hands on your head and tell them to leave. She told the pastor she didnt like this and he said " joyce, thats ok! just dont come to church that day!" (because this church meets like 5 times a week. one day for salvation, one day for health, one day for financial blessings and one day for getting rid of demons. Oh and you can donate your home and all your money any day you want, and people do "who wants to give $400 to the lord today!?") She told him how she meets with us and he said "joyce, thats great, god is one!" So she thinks shell stay because God is one and therefor in this church too.
And because we have worked so much with joyce and she is so good and I really love her I just cried. Right then and there. I cried. Because heres the deal people. There is only one true church. Thats only logical. If god is all that we know he is from the scriptures than it is literally impossible for there to be more than one true church. Maybe its the catholic church, maybe even the universal maybe the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (I have an inlking its this one) but it has to be one of them! Anyway, so I cried. And I said "Joyce, yes God will always be with his children no matter where they are but he is not with that church because that is not the His Church" And then she said so you believe that you are the only true church? And I said "no, I know this is the only true church" And then she talked about how the other missionaries didnt pressure her and make her do things and I said " we are here to bring you words of comfort but were also here to make changes, to help you come unto chist and sometimes thats hard." and basically what it came down to was "joyce, you dont know any of this for yourself and you shouldnt believe us just because we are so certain but you never read the Book of Mormon. You will never know unless you read the Book of Mormon."
I said all that in portuguese though, because, you know,shes brasilian and cant speak english. And it seems harsh but I think it was exactly what she needed. I cant honestly say we tried our hardest for her. And as sister fonseca told her " you will want this tructh someday, youll be mormon some day!" And dont worry, it wasnt a huge cry fest. But oh it was sad. But I know her story isnt over and shell be in the front of our area book! Sister fonseca this morning said "maybe we should just tell her if she doesnt like something about the our church just ignore it. You dont like joseph smith? dont read about hime! you dont have to accept all of it!" Im glad my companion is sarcastic. It makes me feel at home.
But we had miracles too. I am really happy with our work with inactive members and the ward.We hope to get a lot of people to church this sunday, its stake conference! We have lots of good people now, if only we could adequatly express the importance of actually getting to church!
oh but I have mny very first baptism this weekend! The boy may or may not already be a member.... whoserecordswerelostbytheward but hey! its a baptism. And hes honestly the greatest kid. Him and his little brother go to church every week on their own (10 and 14) and they pray 3 times a day and talk about going on missions. When we asked if we could help them with anything they just said "pray for us so that our mom can be home more" I just wanted to cry. They are so sweet and I know God is so happy with them. So its a good 1st baptism!
I think thats all for now, this is a crazy place but im loving it more every day! And I love all of you and miss you tons!
Captions
"mais"
1- this is the queen and king of Jardim Mirna, our ward mission leader and his wife. They have the craziest story and some day when I have actual time Ill tell you about it. Sufficeth it to say Quiteria makes the best food ever. And they are always so generous!
2.My lovely comp and I. SO every time we go over to Quiteria and Ernesto's he makes us go up to the roof to show us how is garden is growing. We laugh because its... funny! and then he always shows us where our area ends and begins and so on and so forth. Its like when Mufasa shows Simba all of the pride land.
3.Here I am helping the garden grow! (must be those green thumb genes from Grandma!)
4.I just thought it was rich americans who dressed there dogs up. But nooooo. Every dog here has a sweater or a tshirt. This one made me laugh so much! When i luaghed the dog got mad.
5.I took this pictures because of the psssiiiuu. I get a kicl out of this because everyone says "psiiiuuu" when they trying to get your attention.
"photos"
1. So the streets here are really confusing. On one street you have the number 12 and next door is 134. And they dont go in any order. So there is no rhyme or reason to anything. There was a whole side street (that had aname) but it was also the sdress 292. Yes an entire street was the number 292 but then every house on the street had a number too. One night we spent a good hour in the rain writing down every number of every house on a certain street because we can never find people. The paper was soggy but it very helpful!
2. the eggs after I put them in our fridge and the shelf broke (see caption 3)
3. There is a car that sells eggs. 30 ovos por seis reais! I heard the car. I grabbed my cash and I purchased the eggs all on my own. I was so impressed. Then they all broke.
4. How Brasilians plunge toilets. Dont ask.
5. My hand. More or less healed. Ill never get married.
1- this is the queen and king of Jardim Mirna, our ward mission leader and his wife. They have the craziest story and some day when I have actual time Ill tell you about it. Sufficeth it to say Quiteria makes the best food ever. And they are always so generous!
2.My lovely comp and I. SO every time we go over to Quiteria and Ernesto's he makes us go up to the roof to show us how is garden is growing. We laugh because its... funny! and then he always shows us where our area ends and begins and so on and so forth. Its like when Mufasa shows Simba all of the pride land.
3.Here I am helping the garden grow! (must be those green thumb genes from Grandma!)
4.I just thought it was rich americans who dressed there dogs up. But nooooo. Every dog here has a sweater or a tshirt. This one made me laugh so much! When i luaghed the dog got mad.
5.I took this pictures because of the psssiiiuu. I get a kicl out of this because everyone says "psiiiuuu" when they trying to get your attention.
"photos"
1. So the streets here are really confusing. On one street you have the number 12 and next door is 134. And they dont go in any order. So there is no rhyme or reason to anything. There was a whole side street (that had aname) but it was also the sdress 292. Yes an entire street was the number 292 but then every house on the street had a number too. One night we spent a good hour in the rain writing down every number of every house on a certain street because we can never find people. The paper was soggy but it very helpful!
2. the eggs after I put them in our fridge and the shelf broke (see caption 3)
3. There is a car that sells eggs. 30 ovos por seis reais! I heard the car. I grabbed my cash and I purchased the eggs all on my own. I was so impressed. Then they all broke.
4. How Brasilians plunge toilets. Dont ask.
5. My hand. More or less healed. Ill never get married.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Elder: " sisters, you have an investigator here.... shes kneeling in the chapel praying"
Oh our week.
We had many little miracles this week. We contacted lots of really promising people. These are the elect, weve finally found them! unfortunatly they can only accept us one a month starting in august.... but we dont take no for an answer. The ward is seeing inactives come to church and I think their is an overall improvement with the members. And one little miracle that made me so happy happened yesterday. We were walking to an appt and I was thining about how I missed music when across a crowded ave I distinctly heard taylor swift. i ran across the street and on the tv in a bar was a taylor swift music video. It was a tender mercy.
Its cold in Brasil! Like really cold! I didnt bring the right clothes for this. And when you have only one coat and that coat gets dirty and you have to hang dry it and its cold so it doesnt dry you stay cold because you cant use said coat. BUT this is in no way a complaint. I plead for it to STAY cold. Because the heat is terrible.
I finally mastered making chocolate chip cookies in brazil. And boy am I proud!
There re just so many things that happen every day that i always think "oh I need to write about this!" but then I cant remeber them. Things are good here in Jardim Mirna. Please keep praying for people to open their hearts to change. I am one transfer down and we are still trying to contact the people who really want to change. But they have to be here right?
The church is true. I know that this is the only true church. I know that other churchs have the ability to bring happiness into lives but not everlatsing happiness. Not eternal peace and joy. I know this because I know that I am not terminally mentally ill and there is no way I would leave everyone behind to struggle with a language and walk up and down and up and down hills all days unless this was the truth.
Joseph Smith saw god the father and jesus christ. He didnt create a church. He restored is through the power of god. i know that we all have the potential to live in the highest degree with our father in heaven, But it will take hard work. So for all my lovely friends and family who already know this- share it with others, talk to other and pray for others. If you dont know this.. pray about it. Read the Book of Mormon. If its false then all of this is a lie and if its true than all of this is true. I know its true and I love you all!
so thats my 2 cents for the week.
I love you!
love kensie
We had many little miracles this week. We contacted lots of really promising people. These are the elect, weve finally found them! unfortunatly they can only accept us one a month starting in august.... but we dont take no for an answer. The ward is seeing inactives come to church and I think their is an overall improvement with the members. And one little miracle that made me so happy happened yesterday. We were walking to an appt and I was thining about how I missed music when across a crowded ave I distinctly heard taylor swift. i ran across the street and on the tv in a bar was a taylor swift music video. It was a tender mercy.
Its cold in Brasil! Like really cold! I didnt bring the right clothes for this. And when you have only one coat and that coat gets dirty and you have to hang dry it and its cold so it doesnt dry you stay cold because you cant use said coat. BUT this is in no way a complaint. I plead for it to STAY cold. Because the heat is terrible.
I finally mastered making chocolate chip cookies in brazil. And boy am I proud!
There re just so many things that happen every day that i always think "oh I need to write about this!" but then I cant remeber them. Things are good here in Jardim Mirna. Please keep praying for people to open their hearts to change. I am one transfer down and we are still trying to contact the people who really want to change. But they have to be here right?
The church is true. I know that this is the only true church. I know that other churchs have the ability to bring happiness into lives but not everlatsing happiness. Not eternal peace and joy. I know this because I know that I am not terminally mentally ill and there is no way I would leave everyone behind to struggle with a language and walk up and down and up and down hills all days unless this was the truth.
Joseph Smith saw god the father and jesus christ. He didnt create a church. He restored is through the power of god. i know that we all have the potential to live in the highest degree with our father in heaven, But it will take hard work. So for all my lovely friends and family who already know this- share it with others, talk to other and pray for others. If you dont know this.. pray about it. Read the Book of Mormon. If its false then all of this is a lie and if its true than all of this is true. I know its true and I love you all!
so thats my 2 cents for the week.
I love you!
love kensie
Pday Sans Prep
Today we went to Ferreira. Which is always good but always leaves me wanting to puke. Public transportation is nauseating. BUT, I know for a fact that God is sparing me from actually throwing up on a bus. Thats my miracle for the day. Even though I am a motionsick person. Obrigada!
But today was wonderful. I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich with sister jackson (and my companion, duh). ANd it was so beautiful. I was just so happy to be in a lovely home with lovely company. And peanut butter. Need I say more?
This week was a good week. It is cold here and when your house is made out of cinderblocks that doesnt really do much for insullation.
Oh and I am now out of time! Uhm, so here is my letter this week. No throwup, yes peanut butter. cold. rinse and repeat.
I love you all! Write to me. I write back. I am just that great of a person.
love sister neptune
But today was wonderful. I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich with sister jackson (and my companion, duh). ANd it was so beautiful. I was just so happy to be in a lovely home with lovely company. And peanut butter. Need I say more?
This week was a good week. It is cold here and when your house is made out of cinderblocks that doesnt really do much for insullation.
Oh and I am now out of time! Uhm, so here is my letter this week. No throwup, yes peanut butter. cold. rinse and repeat.
I love you all! Write to me. I write back. I am just that great of a person.
love sister neptune
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
