Week 59 -

Alright, um starting to loose motivation for these emails. So here's a quick summary for this week: 

Sister Leal got transfered out, so I'm now leading the area, which is too bad because I'm directionally challenged without mountains and I still don't know where anything is. We're both lost

My new comp is Sister Lima and she's from Rio de Janeiro which is cool. She has a Rio accent so I don't understand what she's saying half of the time. 

Here we're only allowed to listen to official church music. I've been listening to the same mutual albums for the last 3 months and I can't take it anymore. I sure hope in the Celestial kingdom we can listen to music other than church music because if not, imma hop down to the telestial kingdom. Someone go listen to Bruno Major for me. 

Love you all!! Tchau!

- Sister Wride

Week 58 - Crashing a funeral

Oi pessoal!

I'm still out here. We've been working hard, eating good food, talking to lots of people, and having a good time. 

Ninguém veio à igreja, de novo

This week we invited a bunch of people to come to church, and there were some of them who were totally firm on coming. We reminded them the day before and the morning of, we offered rides, basically begging them to come. We even talked to them about how "You know, the devil is going to tempt you and tell you that you don't need to come to church. We don't want him to win this victory, now do we?" and they responded "Oh no no, of course not. I'll come for sure, don't worry." One guy even said that he was going to bring his whole family! I was so pumped, I was sure that we would have at least 7 people show up. And guess how many came?? Zeroooo!!! 

I know this isn't a unique thing for missionaries, but it was still kinda sad. 

Miracle phone call

We had a pretty awesome miracle happen this week. The other day we were inside messaging people when we got this phone call from a random number, (which doesn't ever happen.) A little confused, we answered it, and this guy says: 

"Oi! Remember me?" 

"Um... no?"

"About two months ago you guys left this book with me at the building where I work, and you gave me your number saying to call once I read it. So I finished it, and I loved it so much! And I have a question - Can I come visit your church?"

When we heard that we died. This guy read the entire Book of Mormon!! Oh his own!!! We were shook.

He went on to talk about how much he loved the book and how he wants to give one to his son too, and how he's already looked into our church online and how he really wants to come. Wow!! It goes to show that this really is Gods work. We can contact people all day, but when there's someone who's ready to hear the gospel, God places them right in our path.

Funeral

Yesterday we both felt like we should go visit Jardim Continential, a cute little town with lots of horses and chickens roaming around. Also lots of trash and lots of drunk people.

We had a list of people to try and visit but literally all of the addresses were wrong, so we ended up wandering around for like an hour. We don't really know how to street contact, and neither of us are assertive enough to knock doors, so it wasn't too productive.

But we did find one member named Maurico, who let us into their house. We waited outside of their little living room for a minute while he went to get something, and when Sister Leal peeked inside, her eyes widened and a look of horror fell across her face. She tried signaling to me what she saw, pointing and crossing her arms across her chest and I thought maybe it was someone without a shirt on?
Mauricio came back and took us into the living room, and then I saw it. Lying there in a coffin, was A LITERAL CORPSE!!

I was standing next to dead body! Apparently one of their family members died and they were holding a mini funeral right then. The coffin was open and I looked into it's face and I almost passed out. There were a bunch of people gathered who were crying and stuff and it was probably the weirdest thing to ever happen to me. It was cool though, they were saying how "God sent you here to comfort us" and we shared a message about the Plan of Salvation and passed around some pamphlets.

Compartilhar o evangelho é sempre uma coisa boa

I shared the gospel with our Uber driver today!! Usually when we ride Uber we stay quiet and don't talk much, because sometimes I feel weird to start talking to them. Today I felt like I should maybe talk to the driver, but I was like "eh", until the last 5 minutes when I finally asked "Você é de Campina Grande?" Then we started talking and he asked us where we're from (he thought I spoke pretty good Portuguese for only being here 2.5 months) and he was saying how we seem different, like there's a light about us. We were like "Yeah, it's the light of Christ!" Then we explained that we're missionaries and he asked us what our purpose is here, and we left our number and a restoration pamphlet an with him, it was great! Sharing the gospel really is a simple thing. God works his miracles through imperfect people, but only when we open up our mouth.  

Anyways so I invite you to share the gospel with someone this week! It can be as simple as a text, but it makes all the difference!

Amo vocês! Remember to read your scriptures today!

- Sister Wride

Week 57 - DIY helicopter 🚁

Oi pessoal!

This week was good. We worked hard and contacted like 200 people, visited some of our recent converts, had a few lessons... The usual. We contact lots of people, set up lessons, the lessons fall through, they stop responding so we stop teaching them, we find new people, then all over again. Nothing too interesting, but I'm happy

Brazilian food is so good! We ate feijoada the other day (bean soup stuff with mystery meat on rice) and it made me really sick afterwards but it was worth it. Vale a pena. 

Sorry for the short email. Remember to read your scriptures today!! It's super important!! If you need a suggestion go real Alma 32 :)

Amo vocês!! 

- Sister Wride 

Photos include:

- Brazilian food 

- Another pic of the district

- More pictures of little houses because I think they're so cute 

- A homemade helicopter

Week 56 - No more bananas

Oi pessoal! Como vai? 

I hope you all liked conference! If you haven't watched all of it yet, go watch it!!! 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/broadcasts?lang=por 

This week was pretty decent. Here are some highlights:

- We out on the street and this guy walked up to us calling us all kinds of swear words and he almost threw a broom at my head.

- We got a Book of Mormon online referral and the guy actually wanted it! Wooo! He seems super solid and he even watched conference! 

- Eduarda also watched conference with us and she enjoyed it!

- Our friend Dinho confessed his feelings to Sister Leal saying he wants to marry her and when she told him it wasn't gonna happen, he stopped responding to us. I guess we won't be getting free bananas anymore :'( This is the 4th time on my mission that an investigator confessed his feelings, and can I just say, why is it always to my companion and not me?? 

Also I'm pretty sure our apartment causes depression. There are some days where I wake up and I'm just so depressed, with no real reason why. I get annoyed at the smallest things and I feel like I'm a failure missionary and it just sucks. But after watching conference, I remembered
that I can choose to be happy, no matter my circumstances! I realized that's it not always easy like flipping a switch, but it often takes effort. It's not easy to get out of a miserable mindset, but when I repent and try to be just 1% better, I'm so much happier!

Amo vocês!! Tchau tchau 

- Sister Wride

Pictures!

1. The pizza on the left is straight up cheeze with nutella. It wasn't that good but I ate like half of it. 

2. District council

3. P-day Bowling

4. Meme

5. Sister Leal made "pancakes"

6. Cool flower

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