Week 55 - tracting is overrated

Oi!! Como vai? I hope you're all doing well. For this week here are some excerpts from my journal -

I wish I was an Elder

Literally everyone is being flirty and I'm sick of it!! Our male investigators always respond with hearts or blushing faces, or they call us "lindas", "angelinhas", "queridas", "meu amor", etc. This has been happening all week, it's so annoying. There's even a member in our ward who is being flirty. At church he always comes up to me to shake my hand and stands way too close and doesn't stop staring at me. Sometimes I just wish I was an Elder so I wouldn't have to deal with it anymore 

Ward activity

This week Sister Leal and I hosted a ward activity. We tried making a fun game for the members to get involved in missionary work but all we had prepared for the "activity" was a slideshow presentation, so it was really lame. I didn't want to be a part of it, but by the time I actually knew what was going on it was too late to change it. And we forgot to tell everyone about the activity beforehand so only like 10 people showed up. They were on their phones the whole time so that kinda took the pressure off me, knowing that they didn't really care anyways. I thought the whole thing was dumb, but the members were chill. For Brazilians, anything goes. 

Fatima

This week we had a great lesson with a lady named Fatima! It was our first call with her and she was talking about how she's struggling with anxiety, which led us to talk about the gift of the holy ghost. 

"Have you been baptized?"

"Yeah I was baptized in the Catholic church when I was a child"

"Well did you receive the gift of the holy ghost by the laying on of hands afterwards?"

"..."

We talked about the blessings of baptism (with proper authority) and the gift of the holy ghost, and now she's on date for baptism! On the first phone call! Not as planned, but the Spirit always knows best. She agreed to be baptized before even knowing the name of the church haha. But she seems eager to do what's right and she wants to come to church! I'll keep you updated on how it goes. 

Tracting

We tried doing a bit of tracting this week but I still haven't figured out how to do it. I've always felt guilty when tracting because I've felt like I have to knock on every single door, like every single person I see I have to run up and talk to because this is their chance to hear the gospel! But most of the the situation is uncomfortable and I feel awkward so I don't say anything. And when I do muster up the courage to ask if they want to hear a message, they say no. But honestly I don't blame them, if some stranger came up to me like that and asked to share a message I would probably say no. Is's just weird, I feel like I'm selling a product. 

I like working with members a lot more, it's so much more normal and natural. And it works so much better! For most people to accept the gospel, they first have to know that you care about them. Sharing the gospel is best done by loving others one by one like the Savior does. 

I guess that's all from me. I hope you call have a great week and remember that the church is true!!! If you don't know for sure right now, keep going and you'll figure it out soon ;)

- Sister Wride

Week 54 - Da banana

Oi!!

This week we spent a lot of time in our dungeon/apartment doing social media work and contacting lots of people so for the most part it's been productive. We haven't been out much but I love our area! 

I don't love this apartment though. The only windows are interior and there is black mold on everything and ants are everywhere! We also just discovered a bunch of larvae squirming around by our trash can. Gross!

Campina Grande Centro is about the same climate as Monte Santo but there are less landfills so that's nice. People still dig through our trash though. I used to think that's something only homeless people do that but apparently that's a normal thing here. 

I was a little scared of this area at first, because the U.S. Sister that was here last had a really hard time and cried herself to sleep a few times. But so far it's been good! Sister Leal is super sweet and we're teaching some pretty elect people. 

One of whom is Eduarda!! She requested a Book of Mormon online and she's probably the only BOM request I've ever gotten that actually wanted it! Eduarda is our age and she lives alone in this tiny apartment, and she's attended lots of different churches trying to find one that she likes. 

So we invited her to church and she actually came! The members were super welcoming and I don't remember what the talks were about because I was falling asleep, but they must have been good because she said she really enjoyed it! 

Another elect person we're teaching is Dino! We call him Dino da banana. A member in our ward buys fruit from him (she reminds me of "the crazy lady" from Chile, if you know you know) And she introduced him to the church and now we're teaching him! 

He showed up to the lesson with a truck full of bananas and kept filling up bags to give to us, and now we have 120 bananas! (Hmu if you have any good banana bread recipies). 

We taught Dino the restoration, and holy moly I felt the Spirit so strong! Every time I teach about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, the Spirit testifies to me again and again that it's true!! We promised Dino that if he would pray and ask God, he would know for himself that it's true too. 

That's what I love so much about this message, is that people can know the truth for themselves! God doesn't expect us to become biblical scholars or know everything about the church in order to know that it's true. That's what the spirit is for! We can know by the joy and peace that comes when we study and pray. 

"By the power of the holy ghost, ye shall know the truth of all things." (Moroni 10:5)

For me the answer didn't come right away. I remember in the MTC praying to know and I didn't get much of an answer right then so I was kinda disappointed. But there have been countless times after that, while reading the scriptures or teaching a lesson or just walking on the street, where I've felt so strongly that God is real, Jesus is our Savior, and that this is His church. 

Remember to read your scriptures and pray every day! Love you all! 

- Sister Wride

Week 53 - Transfers??

Oi! Como vocês estão? 

Man I thought for sure that I was going to stay in Monte Santo this next transfer, but nope! I moved to Campina Grande Centro with Sister Leal, the same apartment where Sister Gonzalez and I stayed for 3 weeks when we didn't have a house. Thankfully we're going to move (yet again) to another apartment because this one isn't muito bom. 

But I'm so sad to leave Sister Gonzalez :'(( I know I probably didn't talk about her that much but just know that she's just super awesome. She makes me laugh all the time and she makes really good tapioca! We pinky promised that I will bring her to the U.S. sometime. 

And now my new comp is Sister Leal from São Paulo! She's super sweet and she's really good at technology and social media.

There were a ton of great things that happened this week!

• Our cute old lady friend Regina came to church!!! (picture below). She's already kinda devoted to her other church but said she would come "just this once!" But afterwards she liked it so much, and the members convinced her to come again and she said she would! 

• We met lots of people from street contacting! One of which was this old lady that was a little crazy and she yelled at me to speak louder and it was one of the scariest moments of my life

• I played flute for a kids baptism in the ward and the little kids were huge fans, I felt famous. 

• I drank avocado juice and it was pretty good!

• We took a 2 hour bus ride to and from João Pessoa and ate some really good food! My new favorite thing is fried pineapple.

I guess that's all I have to say. Remember to read your scriptures every day!

- Sister Wride

Week 52 - Um ano🎈

Olá! 

This week was great! On Monday street contacting and tracting finally opened up! So we've been doing a lot more outside of our apartment which has been super nice. We've met a lot of great people on the street, and other people who are a little weird (screenshot attatched.)

The other day we met the cutest little old lady on the street! We were walking by right as she was coming out of her house and we stopped and asked her if she knew the address of the person we were trying to find. We then introduced ourselves as missionaries and asked if she wanted to hear a message and she said yes! So we went into her tiny little house and we had such a good lesson!! Probably one of my favorites on the mission. Her name is Rejina, she's 80+ years old and like 4 feet tall, and she is so cute! We taught her the Restoration and she was so receptive! You could see it clicking in her head and she kept making comments and she rubbed her arms saying "Oh I've got chills!"  She was so touched when we read the first vision, and when we invited her to pray about it, she said "Oh, I believe. I already believe he was a prophet." 

She teared up and told us how she believes God sent us to her. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she said "You brought a present for me??" 

And then she said the closing prayer and it was so cute. She said "Senhor, I don't know how to pray, but the Spirit will pray for us." She paused for a second, and then said such a heartfelt prayer where she started crying, and it was so cute. She gave us both a grandma hug after. I love her so much! 

We also had a really good lesson with a lady named Delcilene. She was watching a catholic video on Youtube when a church add came up and she accidentally clicked on it thinking it was from the catholic church, but then she let it go through anyways thinking "Oh well, God probably meant for that to happen." So then we called her, right when she was going into the hospital to see her son, who got into a mororcycle accident on Sunday and hasn't been conscious. Even though she was going through a hard time, she felt the impression that she needed to stay quiet and just listen to our message. We taught her the restoration, and when we showed her the picture of Jesus laying his hands on his apostles to give her the priesthood, she smiled and she told us that she saw the same thing earlier that day. She told us how earlier she had a glimpse of an angel or someone laying his hands on her sons head the same way. She told us that our message was an answer to her prayers, and it was exactly what she needed to hear. So cool! God is real. 

Also this week my brother Hyrum got set apart as a missionary! Now there are three of us in the family. Wohoo! Too bad their P-days aren't on the same day as me :( Also happy birthday to Abi and Sophi!!

Amo voces, and remember to read your scriptures every day!!

- Sister Wride

Week 51

Oi pessoal!

I think I'm finally starting to get the language down. I'm still more reserved than I'd like to be but it's getting better! We had zone conference and in my interview with President he said that my Portuguese is better than his English, which suprised me because I thought his English was pretty good! 

I mentioned Fabricio in my last email, he's the guy we found and then put on date in the same week. This week we were getting ready for his lesson and SIster Gonzalez wanted to teach all of the commandments in one lesson! The ten commandments, keeping the sabbath day holy, the word of wisdom, the law of chastity and the law of tithing all in one lesson!?? Idk, if I was an investigator that would scare me away. In Indiana we would usually ease into it and teach them the hard lessons after you know they're not going to run away. But we taught all of them in one lesson, and Fabricio was suprisingly receptive!! I didn't understand all of what he said but he agreed and said that he would do it! WOW! That's how you know someone is golden, when they are willing to make commitments. And it wasn't even that big of a sacrifice for him. He already knew about tithing from other churches and he kinda already knew that he has to be sexually pure. And, he's recently stopped drinking coffee because it's been giving him headaches! It's amazing how God prepares people!! 

That's about it from me. Amo voces and email me if you can! 

Tchau!

- Sister Wride