Saturday, August 20, 2016
Week 7, First Week in the field pictures 2
Week 7, WEEK ONE IN THE FIELD
August 15, 2016
Oh. My. Heck.
Oh. My. Heck.
Y'all.
I dont even know where to start!!!!!!!! The last week in the CTM was
good! I really miss my companion Sister Pattee, but my new companion,
Sister Angulo is FANTASTIC. She is Mexican, and has been on a mission
for 1 year and 3 months. So most likely I will ´´kill´´ her (when a
missionary finishes their mission). We are in the city GUARAPUAVA.
It´s about 5 hours west of Curitiba I think. Soooooo Guarapuava doesn´t
have a ton of members of the church, so President Cuvilier (my mission
president) decided to put two sets of Sister missionaries here. That is
Sister Angulo and moi! Which means we both don't know the area at all,
AND I cant speak the language! So fun XD
Some
fun facts about my mission.. I can only write, read, and send letters
on p-day (including past letters). And ya'll can only send letters to the
mission home in Curitiba. I can only get those letters when someone
from Curitiba visits my area. SO SAD. SO SO SO SAD. If you guys send
me letters, I probably wont be able to read them for a month or so..
BUT please do keep sending them, because it will be like Christmas when I
get one :D Thank you to the peeps who sent me a letter from the
priest/laurel adventure! :)
In
my apartment, I live with two other sisters. We only have one
bathroom, so that is kind of annoying, but it´s really fun having more
people to interact with!
OKAY.
So this first week in the field has been quite a hard adventure. I
spent 6 weeks in the CTM learning Portuguese, buuuuuut I don't understand
like anything anyone says to me (besides my companion when she breaks
things down and speaks slowly for me). It´s been quite an adventure! We
stop people on the street, and I try my best to explain that we are
missionaries, and we have a purpose to help people have more faith in
Christ, and we share messages of Him. I think I´m getting better at
that XD little by little. I didn´t understand anything from church
yesterday XD AH. It´s so frustrating and disheartening, and I
realllllly miss you ALL more than I have ever, buuuuut. I know for
certain that I´m supposed to be in Guarapuava with Sister Angulo,
learning Portuguese, and teaching people about Christ. And as hard as
that is, I am happy! We have fun :) The other day we were both really
hungry and tired, and so we stopped at a little cafe and ate pizza and a
ton of chocolate things and spoke English. It was incredible XD haha
Sister Angulo speaks fluent English, which is a HUGE miracle and
blessings. I was praying to have a trainer who would be fluent in both
English and Portuguese, and I got one :) God knows our prayers and
answers them in sweet ways.
PICS!!!!
1 &2 are of Sister Pattee and I (my companion in the CTM)
3 is a package I got (THANK YOU SO MUCH, IM GONNA GET FAT FROM ALL THE CANDY, but the peanut butter is bae)
4 is all the new missionaries in my mission!
5 my companion and mission president!
6 e 7 selfies with Sister Angulo!!!
8 is GUARAPUAVA
I
don't have a ton of photos because I'm only allowed to take pics of the
area on p-day... rules XD so many rules XD I'm determined to be exactly
obedient though!
Random things from this week!
-during my first lesson I got poop on my shoe, while inside
-it´s SO COLD in our apartment, but not outside during the day, so we have to bring a coat and carry it around all day
-Brazilians don't really use dryers
-water in the sink is ALWAYS cold
-there´s way more poberty here than I expected (hence the first bullet about poop on my shoe)
-we walk freaking everywhere and I´m SO THANKFUL for good shoes
IT´s
an ADVENTURE FOR SURE!!!!! Every day is different! I cant wait to
speak the language and communicate and joke around with people in
Portuguese.
I love you all and pray for you all morning and night! Have a terrific week and TCHAU,
xo Sister Councill
Week 6
August 9, 2016
Yoooooo. I am safe and happy and scared out of my mind, but I'm here in Curitiba!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love you all!!!!
xo Sister Councill
Yoooooo. I am safe and happy and scared out of my mind, but I'm here in Curitiba!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love you all!!!!
xo Sister Councill
Saturday, August 6, 2016
week 5 pictures 4
 |
| Week 3 at the temple. Having too much fun! |
 |
| Class time |
 |
| YEAH this is where we are |
 |
| Week 4 at the temple |
 |
| back in class after a temple trip |
week 5 pictures--Finally :)
 |
| First Sight of Brazil |
 |
| On the way to the MTC. So excited |
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| I want that bus |
 |
| almost there |
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Week 5
Oi familia e amigos!
Eu
amo voces!!!! This is my last pday at the CTM!I I cant believe Ive been
here for 5 weeks. I will leave sometime early next Tuesday morning. We
don't get our travel plans until Saturday I think. I AM SO EXCITED. EU
SOU MUITO ANIMADO!!!!!!!!! I cant wait to get to the field (My actual
mission and not just the CTM). I can't wait to get to work and love the
people. I've done my best to learn the language here at the CTM, but I
still am majorly lacking in comprehension and speaking. BUT there's a
cool promise in the scriptures (I apologize if I've already said this,
it´s quite possible) ''perfect love casteth out all fear''. I'm confident
Ill be able to love the people I meet, teach and serve.. and if I do
that, then Heavenly Father can help with the rest :)
I
was sick (still am) this last week, and so the last 7 days have been
rougher than usual.. but despite that I saw a lot of little miracles!
Miracles like being able to understand the devotional (100% Portuguese)
when I prayed to, being able to teach investigators and them somehow
understanding me, having such a SWEET companion who is also going to BYU
after the Mish! I think seeing miracles is what I'm most excited for!
I'm excited to see the miracle that comes when the Gospel of Jesus Christ
is introduced into someones life. AH. Y'ALL. I cant wait <3
I
can't remember what all I've said about the CTM, so I'm gonna tell y'all
about it again! I'm up at 6:30, and ready for the day by 7. Then we have
personal study/breakfast until 8:30. After that we study TALL (a
computer program for learning a language) and then at 9:15 we get to
work out until 10:15! After we work out our days vary- but we either
study our language, study o Livro de Mormon, learn from our teachers,
plan, learn how to plan, teach, eat, study study study. There's not
really ''free time.'' I heard there is at the Provo CTM though XD It's
crazy- we do sooo much here that I legit feel like a sinner for taking a
15 min nap..
Eventful things that happened this week:
-Ive killed so many cockroaches (y'all better be proud of me)
-one of my teachers gave us grapes one day and it literally felt like x-mas
-My district introduced Rudolph the red nosed reindeer to my other teacher and now we´re all crazy hyped for x-mas!!!
-Ive never missed you tube more in my life
-we almost got to go to the Campinas temple, but didn't.... pretty sad about that
-the
word ´morder´means to bite, and I remember it because in Lord of the
Rings Frodo gets his finger bitten off by Golem in Mordor XD #lotrnerd
That
was my week!!!! I would love to hear from y'all! Hopefully Ill be able
to email something quick when I get to the field, but if not my next
p-day will be the Monday after next!
I
pray for y'all more than once a day! I love you each and hope you have a
lovely week. Enjoy the warm and sun for me cuz in 6 days this girl is
gonna be in COLD Curitiba!!!!!!!!! WAH
xo Sis Councill
ps If you want to write me, use my mission address, not the MTC one
pps.
Im really hoping Ill have more time to email once I'm in the field. ALSO
brace yallselves, cuz I'm going to send a TON of pictures my next p-day!!
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Week 4
Oi familia e amigos!!!
Eu
amo voces! This week has gone by SO fast. Which is good and crazy at
the same time. I cant believe Ive been on my mission for a month
already! I still feel like I barely know any Portuguese, buuut the
lessons Sister Pattee and I have been teaching are getting better and
better. Honestly, Ive learned more Portuguese in a month than I ever
learned with 3+ years taking French. MIRACLE. God is so good.
Okay so fun things from this week:
We (my district) bought a TON of friggin candy last Pday and we all equally love it and also regret.
All the Brasilians think Im Elsa from Frozen, mostly because I'm blonde and braid my hair almost every day. XD
One
of the sisters in my district literally has the perfect long, wavy hair
which is PERFECT for braids and updos, which means a HAPPY Sister
Councill. I get to do her hair a bunch and I loves it.
So
in the movie Nemo, theres a part where the seaguls go ``mine mine mine
mine.`` And everytime I here ``oi oi oi oi``thats what I think about.
Great fun!
A
General Authority came to visit us this last week (a General Authority
is a leader in my Church). He spoke to us and it was MUITO BOM. He
said something that totally made me cry--- 83% of the members of my
Church speak either English or Portuguese. So that means when Im fluent
in Portuguese, Ill be able to talk to 83% of my church! I feel super
lucky and blessed. ALSO .... during the devotional, I was pondering some things that Ive been
thinking about for a while, and I just got this feeling and knew that
Heavenly Father KNEW and CARED about the things I had been pondering.
YALL.
Heavenly Father KNOWS your thoughts, cares, worries, desires etc. And
He cares about them SO MUCH. He cares about YOU. Because you are His
child. He loves you sooooo so much. I know that.
I hope you each have a LOVELY week and that you are HAPPY!!!!!!
xo Sister Councill
PS: I got into the BYU accounting department!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So happy
Week 3
Hello family and friends!!!!!!!
Last
Saturday we went proselyting! The first person we talked to swore at
us in English, and then told us to grow up and think for ourselves! Can
you believe that!!!!!! Talk about a crazy first experience. But the
rest was good. We were able to give away 10 Books of Mormon and talk to
people a little!
My
companion just got called to be the Sister Training Leader!!!! So
cool! Shes gonna kill it! It was kind of funny because during a lesson
at church we were studying the attributes of Christ and I felt like I
needed to work on being submissive. Now I get to be submissive to my
companion XD hahaha jk
SO
crazy story! A lot of you know that I did cosmetology through my
highschool and that I have my license! One of the other Sisters here at
the CTM wanted to cut her hair on the spur of the moment, and it came
up that I sort of knew how to cut hair. We ended up staying up past
curfew, but her hair looks BOMB!!! And then a few days later another
Sister asked me to cut her hair too! haha
We
did an "English fast`` all day on Monday and it was SO HARD (only speak
Portuguese). I definitely accidentally spoke English several times
XD. Its crazy to think that I only have three more weeks here in the
CTM and then Ill be speaking Portuguese allllll day every day!
Ive always wanted a bug (car) and there are sooooo many cute old ones here, Im just loving it.
I
just want to bear testimony of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. I,
1000s of miles away from all of you, but I hope you can feel the power
behind my words. Jesus Christ is our Savior. He lives today. After He
died and was resurrected, He visited the people in the Americas. This
record is found in the Book of Mormon, along with many other stories
written by Prophets. The Book of Mormon testifies of Christ. I have
been so blessed because of the Book of Mormon. There is a video I want
EACH of you lovely people to search for on Youtube. ``Another Testament
of Jesus Christ``. It explains the Book of Mormon, and is suuuper
good. I got chills watching it. I love the Book of Mormon so much.
And you should totally read it beause I promise it will bless your life.
Im so grateful that I get to study the scriptures, and testify of JESUS CHRIST every single day.
Love you all tons, have a fantastic week!!!
xo Sis Councill
Week 2
Oi familia e amigos!!!!! PDAY is the bomb! Last week we went to the
temple and then went out of the CTM (centre de traino missionario) and
explored! Theres a dope cookie shop right accross from the CTM! I also
bought a dry erase marker to help me study XD I was probably way more
excited about that than I should have been XD The city is super
colorful and I love it! We now teach two investigators everyday, as
well as go on splits (switch companions) with the Brazil missionaries
and teach, AND teach a member. SO MUCH TEACHING. I´m still
struggling to understand native Brazil speakers, but this last week
was so good despite that! My birthday was wonderful! Thank you
everyone who wished me a happy birthday! AND DAD I HOPE YOURS WAS SO
GOOD!!!! My companion wrote me a really sweet note, and the Elders in
my district bought me a friggin good dough sandwitch meat thing. I
LOVE my district. I feel like I´ve known them all for so long, and
we´re the best of friends. I look forward to two things EVERY day:
LANCHE and working out. Playing volleyball with the Brazilians is so
fun and funny. And getting snacks every night is literallly the best.
I look forward to eating so much, and that sounds terrible, but the
food is so amazing and it´s a break from studying and teaching. Its
muito hard staying awake after lunch. I struggle so bad. Any ideasas
to how to solve that?!?! haha. Random things: Brazilians cant
pronounce `Councill.´ Theres an animal called capivari that are in
parks in Curitiba apparently! Look it up theyre hilarious looking.
Spiritual thought: Anyone who knows me well, knows that I stress and
get anxious pretty easily. Last week when I realized we were getting
so much more opportunities to teach I freaked out a little. (teaching
is bad, but teaching when you cant speak the language yet is like O.O)
Something I thought about before I left, and a TON now that I´m on my
mission is the scripture that says ´´Perfect love casteth out all
fear..´´ I´ve been saying that over and over and over and over to
myself so much! Ive been praying that I can just simply feel Gods
love for my companion, the people I teach, and the people of Brazil.
And ya know what?? This week has been amazing! Ive tought decently
well, and been able to testify of God and Spirit. I KNOW that God
hears our prayers. I know that whatever it is you might be fearful
of.. the future.. school.. work.. relationships.. if you pray to be
filled with God´s love, you will feel that fear begin to be replaced
by faith. I TESTIFY that is true :) I know God loves each of you SO
SO SO SO MUCH!!!!!!! I hope you all have a tremendous week!! Remember
to thank God for the big and small blessings in your life. You´ll be
happier I promise ;) XO Sis Councill p.s. If you emailed me, and
I dont have time to email you back Im SO SORRY
temple and then went out of the CTM (centre de traino missionario) and
explored! Theres a dope cookie shop right accross from the CTM! I also
bought a dry erase marker to help me study XD I was probably way more
excited about that than I should have been XD The city is super
colorful and I love it! We now teach two investigators everyday, as
well as go on splits (switch companions) with the Brazil missionaries
and teach, AND teach a member. SO MUCH TEACHING. I´m still
struggling to understand native Brazil speakers, but this last week
was so good despite that! My birthday was wonderful! Thank you
everyone who wished me a happy birthday! AND DAD I HOPE YOURS WAS SO
GOOD!!!! My companion wrote me a really sweet note, and the Elders in
my district bought me a friggin good dough sandwitch meat thing. I
LOVE my district. I feel like I´ve known them all for so long, and
we´re the best of friends. I look forward to two things EVERY day:
LANCHE and working out. Playing volleyball with the Brazilians is so
fun and funny. And getting snacks every night is literallly the best.
I look forward to eating so much, and that sounds terrible, but the
food is so amazing and it´s a break from studying and teaching. Its
muito hard staying awake after lunch. I struggle so bad. Any ideasas
to how to solve that?!?! haha. Random things: Brazilians cant
pronounce `Councill.´ Theres an animal called capivari that are in
parks in Curitiba apparently! Look it up theyre hilarious looking.
Spiritual thought: Anyone who knows me well, knows that I stress and
get anxious pretty easily. Last week when I realized we were getting
so much more opportunities to teach I freaked out a little. (teaching
is bad, but teaching when you cant speak the language yet is like O.O)
Something I thought about before I left, and a TON now that I´m on my
mission is the scripture that says ´´Perfect love casteth out all
fear..´´ I´ve been saying that over and over and over and over to
myself so much! Ive been praying that I can just simply feel Gods
love for my companion, the people I teach, and the people of Brazil.
And ya know what?? This week has been amazing! Ive tought decently
well, and been able to testify of God and Spirit. I KNOW that God
hears our prayers. I know that whatever it is you might be fearful
of.. the future.. school.. work.. relationships.. if you pray to be
filled with God´s love, you will feel that fear begin to be replaced
by faith. I TESTIFY that is true :) I know God loves each of you SO
SO SO SO MUCH!!!!!!! I hope you all have a tremendous week!! Remember
to thank God for the big and small blessings in your life. You´ll be
happier I promise ;) XO Sis Councill p.s. If you emailed me, and
I dont have time to email you back Im SO SORRY
Week 1
OI familia e friends! We only have 45 minutes to email and read
emails, so if you emailed me and i don't email back i'm so sorry! Also
this keyboard is way different so please excuse the improper grammar.
The enter key doesn't work so i cant start new paragraphs. If you want
pics, email my mom! I can only send pics outside the MTC to one
person. Let me tell you about my crazy arrival at the MTC! I was
supposed to arrive June 29 but I didn't get here until the 30. My
flight out of Norfolk got delayed so i missed the flight to Sao Paulo.
i ended up getting an extra day at home. it was crazy because id
already said my goodbye for 18 months. i had to borrow a phone to call
home! weird. instead of flying with 15 other missionaries to the mtc
it was just me! it was worth it though because i got the contact info
for two Brazilians that i met!!!! Each day feels like a week! we´re
literally doing something scheduled from 6:30 am to 10:30 pm. The
first few days i was super overwhelmed cuz our teachers don't talk much English to us.
It feels like we´re constantly studying but not
remembering any of it! i said my first prayer in portuguese last night
and it was the best feeling ever! we teach an investigator almost
every night.. hes our teacher pretending to be interested in learning
about the church.. in PORTUGUESE! somehow he understands us. if you're
looking for something to pray for, please pray that i understand him.
it is so frustrating trying to teach a lesson in a language you dont
even know yet, and understand the investigator enough to talk to him
other than what you plan for. i'm so excited for when i can teach with
understanding the language! I started out in a tripanionship, but one
sister decided to go home, so one of my companions got switched :(
Sunday has been my favorite day so far because we had church and then
some free time! we were able to take a 20 min nap and it was the best
thing ever!!! the food here is SO GOOD. its pretty much what i look
forward to ALL THE TIME. lol #fatty. every night we get
lanche-snacks. im going to gain wait here. jk theres a track here,
and my companion and i arent lazy ;) the brazilians are so funny and
nice! i can only say a few things to them, but theyre really nice. for
those of you who arent lds- the mtc is 6 weeks long each day is filled
with learning portuguese and learning how to teach. we get one day a
week (pday) to go to the temple, email home, take naps, and go outside
the mtc! but only until 6pm, then we start classes and teaching
again. its sooo hard here, but im so happy. i try so hard to learn
portuguese, but onlyh a 1/6 of it sticks. its hard because i dont see
much improvement. its hard because i want to share my thoughts and
feelings in portuguese but i CANT yet. but let me tell you
something!!! i found a scripture in hebrews that said Christ endured
the cross because He knew of the joy afterwards. iF Christ could do
that then i can work hard because of how JOYFUL it will be to invite
others to Christ in portugeuse! i also found a scripture that said to
cheerfully do all things. what a GREAT reminder! i hope each of you
all will think about the joy that comes from trials, and cheerfully
doing all things. its helped me tremendously this week and i know it
can help you too! i love you all! and Im thankful for each of you!
sorry again for how poorly this was written. we are so cramped on
time, and i dont know how to use this stupid keyboard :( xo Sis
Councill
emails, so if you emailed me and i don't email back i'm so sorry! Also
this keyboard is way different so please excuse the improper grammar.
The enter key doesn't work so i cant start new paragraphs. If you want
pics, email my mom! I can only send pics outside the MTC to one
person. Let me tell you about my crazy arrival at the MTC! I was
supposed to arrive June 29 but I didn't get here until the 30. My
flight out of Norfolk got delayed so i missed the flight to Sao Paulo.
i ended up getting an extra day at home. it was crazy because id
already said my goodbye for 18 months. i had to borrow a phone to call
home! weird. instead of flying with 15 other missionaries to the mtc
it was just me! it was worth it though because i got the contact info
for two Brazilians that i met!!!! Each day feels like a week! we´re
literally doing something scheduled from 6:30 am to 10:30 pm. The
first few days i was super overwhelmed cuz our teachers don't talk much English to us.
It feels like we´re constantly studying but not
remembering any of it! i said my first prayer in portuguese last night
and it was the best feeling ever! we teach an investigator almost
every night.. hes our teacher pretending to be interested in learning
about the church.. in PORTUGUESE! somehow he understands us. if you're
looking for something to pray for, please pray that i understand him.
it is so frustrating trying to teach a lesson in a language you dont
even know yet, and understand the investigator enough to talk to him
other than what you plan for. i'm so excited for when i can teach with
understanding the language! I started out in a tripanionship, but one
sister decided to go home, so one of my companions got switched :(
Sunday has been my favorite day so far because we had church and then
some free time! we were able to take a 20 min nap and it was the best
thing ever!!! the food here is SO GOOD. its pretty much what i look
forward to ALL THE TIME. lol #fatty. every night we get
lanche-snacks. im going to gain wait here. jk theres a track here,
and my companion and i arent lazy ;) the brazilians are so funny and
nice! i can only say a few things to them, but theyre really nice. for
those of you who arent lds- the mtc is 6 weeks long each day is filled
with learning portuguese and learning how to teach. we get one day a
week (pday) to go to the temple, email home, take naps, and go outside
the mtc! but only until 6pm, then we start classes and teaching
again. its sooo hard here, but im so happy. i try so hard to learn
portuguese, but onlyh a 1/6 of it sticks. its hard because i dont see
much improvement. its hard because i want to share my thoughts and
feelings in portuguese but i CANT yet. but let me tell you
something!!! i found a scripture in hebrews that said Christ endured
the cross because He knew of the joy afterwards. iF Christ could do
that then i can work hard because of how JOYFUL it will be to invite
others to Christ in portugeuse! i also found a scripture that said to
cheerfully do all things. what a GREAT reminder! i hope each of you
all will think about the joy that comes from trials, and cheerfully
doing all things. its helped me tremendously this week and i know it
can help you too! i love you all! and Im thankful for each of you!
sorry again for how poorly this was written. we are so cramped on
time, and i dont know how to use this stupid keyboard :( xo Sis
Councill
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