Week 21 Happy Thanksgiving

Hello! Hola!  Oi!

This week was wonderful and went by SUPER fast!!!!! I´ve got some funny stories to tell and also some really cool more spiritual experiences to tell yall :)

Starting with funny... I think the majority of you know my water bottle, right?  It´s a bit different XD (for those of you who don´t know, it´s like a book)  Well lot´s of people here in Brasil, and in my mission here now refer to me as " the Sister with the crazy waterbottle") It´s super funny because every time we have district meeting, my Zone leader mentions something about the word of wisdom, because it does kind of loook like a whisky flask, but it´s 100% not I PROMISE :D haha anyways I thought that was pretty funny

This week we finally got around to installing our CO2 and smoke detector.  The instructions were in English, so I was the only one who really understood what to do. Well I was in the other room doing something, and I walk into the room where the detector was installed, and the other sisters literally had a piece of paper on fire to "test" the alarm 😱 I freaked out and was like, " NO YOU CANT DO THAT" because obviously that´s not how you test the detector! So they threw the paper on the ground, and I stomped on it. So this week we couldve had a really serious problem, but thankfully no 😂😌

For all of  you who are at college, or at BYU, or for all of you in general! I found a super funny scritpure that describes perfectly what happens at BYU when you have freinds that get married.  Look it up!!!! Luke 14:20 XD SUPER FUNNY.

Okay, now for the spiritual part :)

This week I had two experiences that I´d like to share with you all :)

So every transfer (every 6 weeks) every companionship of sisters has an "exchange" with the Sister Training Leader, who happens to be my companion. So lucky me getso to go on more exchanges than normal :P  This week we had exchanges with the Sisters in Irati- about two hours from Guarapuava. Because it was a little far away I ended up spending 2 nights there this week! Wednesday night until Friday morning! Irati is a suppppper super super super cute town . I didn´t take any pics of the city, but you can take my word for it or google Irati, Parana, Brasil :)  The two sisters in Irati are Sister Cotinho and Sister Soares! Sister Soares is in her training, which means she is in her first 12 weeks on the mission, or in her case, the first 3 weeks! I had been praying and praying that it could be a wonderful, good and learning experience for both of us (because I didnt know her area, and she is a new missionary).  I really wanted to learn from this exchange, because both of my companions have been leaders in the mission, so I havent really ahd the opportunity to really put into practice what ive learned from them, WITHOUT them. I prayed a lottt.  

And God heard my prayers :)  The exchange was wonderful, we were able to visit a bunch of people and found 2 new people to teach :)  Another miracle is that Sister Soares is from the north east part of Brasil where there is a COMPLETELY different accent, and I was able to understand most of what she said! I hope that sometime on my mission I have the opportunity to be a companion with a new missionary. It was a totally different experience, but I really enjoyed it!

My other experience.. I prayed this week that I could have a spiritual experience at church, because the last few sundays I havent really been feeling very spiritually uplifted. However, this week my companion and I ended up in Nursury (the class for babies and young children).  We were with Paulo- the son of our recent converts!!! He was distrupting the sunday school class, so we left with him so that his parents could have a good experience in Sunday school.  So not exactly the spiritual experience I was hoping for in church...

BUT at lunch one of the members ended up sharing with us her life story, wich was incredible and reallly made me realize HOW easy my life has been. Her story was very spiritual and all 5 of us (us 4 sisters and her) were in tears at one point.  I realized afterwards that that was the answer to my prayers. I didn´t have an extremelly spiritual experience in church, but I did afterwards.

I know that Heavenly Father always hears our prayers, and He will always answer them, in His own TIME and WAY. In my first experience my prayer was answered how I expected and wanted, but in my second, it was different.  BUT both experiences were wonderful.

This week I also have been studying and pondering about faith. How faith is a principle of action and power. And how the more we act and pray in faith, the more blessings we receive, and the more influence from God we receive in our lives.  This week I found one of my new favorite scriptures, "if ye will have faith in me, ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me." (Moroni 7:33)  

Think about the significance of that scripture. I testify that faith IS a principle of action and power and as we exercise our faith in Christ and God, our lives will be better.

xo Sister Councill

Week 20

November 14, 2016

Hello all you lovely people!!!! 

I hope you all are well and happy and loving life!!!!

Weird thought for you.. this week I´ll have had 1/4 of my mission!! WHAT 😱

So funny story this week!  I am starting to teach my companion English! WOOHOO. It´s super fun and funny. Two words she learned how to say were, "rat," and "window."  And one day we were teaching a lesson and she turned to me and said WHILE I WAS TEACHING, "rat. window."  YALL. Literally almost died in the middle of that lesson.  Because first of all, a RAT! And second of all, how funny is it that my companion was able to say that in English!!! hahah oh we laughed and laughed and laughed a ton after that lesson. 

THIS WEEK I TALKED TO SOMEONE ON THE STREET IN ENGLISH!!!!!!!!!! Ah I was SO excited!!!! yall dont even know. hahaha.  It was super hilarious, because I almost forgot how to speak correctly in English. Writing to yall is one thing, but speaking in real life is totally different XD

Next week will be interesting because I´ll be spending two nights in another nearby area for divisions!  I´ll be the temporary companion of a "newby" so that should be fun and interesting! I´ll also get to travel alone which will be an adventure 😅

So for my spiritual thought this week I want to focus on President Nelson´s talk from this years Oct General Conference, "Joy and Spiritual Survival." 

This week I had the chance to teach the Plan of Salvation  to two different women who were grieving the death of children.  So, I´ve been thinking a lot about the purpose of the Gospel, how we can be happy in the midst of trails.. And it was perfect because a couple of weeks ago my mom sent me Elder Nelson´s talk! (because I didn´t understand a whole ton when I heard it in Portuguese ha )  And this week I finally had the time to read it!  

Folks.  I´m here to tell you that, "Men are that they might have joy."  (2 Ne 2:25)  I testified of that Gospel truth this week to one woman who thought our purpose here on earth was to suffer.  I was sooo sad that she felt that way, and I promise that that is NOT our purpose here on earth.  Our purpose is to live, gain experiences, conquer trials, receive blessings, learn how to be a disciple of Christ and experience JOY.  

God said, "For behold this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."  (Moses 1:39)

Immortality is living forever,

Eternal life is living forever with God.

So God literallyh said that His goal/ purpose is for us to live with Him forever.  Imagine how that would be??

Perfect. 

I know God doesn´t want us to be miserable here on Earth.  He doesn´t want us to feel pain or guilt, and He´s provided a way for us to overcome those feelings.  

That way is Jesus Christ.

President Nelson beautifully said, "As our Savior becomes more and more real to us and as we plead for His joy to be given to us, our joy will increase."

I know this is true.  I know that whatever we are experienceing in life right now, good or bad, it can be better, happier, and more joyful through the love of our Savior Jesus Christ.

 President Nelson siad, "The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives, and everything to do with the focus of our lives."

What is our focus?  Jesus Christ.

xo  Sister Councill

 

 

Week 19 Pumpkin Pie and Mexican Food

Hello all you lovely people!!!!

Ah man this week flew by SO FAST.  I´ve got lots and lots to share today! Woohoo, so "vamos la!"  (let´s go!)

Funny things..

We live in the "city" part of Guarapuava, and it´s super funny because the people that live accross from our apartment have SHEEP! Yep sheep. What´s even funnier is that some times we can even talk to them, "baaaaaaaaa!"  It´s hilarious.  One day I want to ask the owners if we can pet them, and then maayyybe we can turn it into a missionary experience! hah

So the people here in Guarapuava are CRAZY about Christmas. There are already decorations and such up, and it´s the 7th of November..

So to keep ourselves happy and not tired during the day, my companion has started to do this funny thing when we talk to people on the street.  Sometimes (actually a lot of times) people say that they are super familiar with the Bible and that they read EVERY day etc etc.  Now of course I´m sure some people do, but I know most of the time people just say that because we are missionaries.  So what Sister C. Silva has been doing is talking about the Prophets in the Book of Mormon, and pretending they are in the Bible. It´s super funny.  So for example, " Yeah I really love the Prophet Moroni in the Bible. He was such a great hero..." Ah man she did it once during a lesson, and I nearly died XD 

HEY if any of you love to cook, please send me easy and cheap and yummy and filling recipes!! Because sometimes a member will give us money for lunch, and usually it´s not a ton, so it´s hard to eat out and we don´t have much time to prepare a huge lunch (we have to eat a big lunch because we don´t eat dinner). So I would reaallly appreciate recipes <3 thanksss

OH so one day this week we made MEXICAN FOOD and it was GLORIOUS.  I haven't had Mexican food in so long.. and I really love Mexican food.  ALSO I decided to make a pumpkin pie because it is my favorite. So I had Mexican food and pumpkin pie and it was wonderful 😅  (anyone want to send a recipe for apple pie??)

THIS WEEK I HAD A SUPER COOL EXPERIENCE!  We attended an English class, and I got to talk about my mission, why I chose to serve a mission and what I do as a missionary, IN ENGLISH. It was soooooo greaaaat.  Please pray that we can turn it into a missionary experience the next time we go!

So this week I decided to study obedience.  I felt that it was something I needed to be better at. As I was studying, I found this scripture, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free (John 8:31-32)"  I was studying about how when we obey God´s commandments we are actually giving ourselves more freedom in our lives.  BUT what I began to think about was the election that is tomorrow ( I think?). I´m honestly super unaware of everything that has been going on with the election, but I don know that many people are stressed about it.  And I just thought to myself, "really as a disciple of Christ, as long as I am obedient/loyal to God, then the truth shall make me free." AND I really really really really have no doubt that God protects and blesses the righteous and obedient.  So with the election coming up, what shall we do?  Prayerfully vote and then strive to be obedient children of GOD and ALL will work out the way it should :)

Also this week my companion and I had a neat experience with prayer. Almost all of the door handles in our apartment fall off super easily, including the handle to our bedroom door.  Well one night this week the door was super loud and creaky ( I have since bought wd40) so during the night I closed the door assuming I could just fix the handle in the morning. Well when we woke up it was a LOT harder to figure out that we had thought, and we were locked in! Normally the other sisters could open it for us, but they were in Curitiba.  So we decided to offer a prayer, and sure enough a few minutes later I figured out how to put the handle back on! This is a silly little experience, but I truly know that God hears and answers our prayers. After this little miracle I thought, "wow today is going to be a SUPER great day because it´s only 6:30 in the morning and we´ve already seen a miracle!!"  Sure enough that day was amazing and we ended up teaching NINE people!!!! Normally we only teach around 5 or 6.  

I want to develop the faith that EVERY prayer I offer will be answered. This is one of my goals in the mission.  I know that as long as what we pray for is in line with God´s will, and doesn´t take away the agency of another person, our prayers are always answered.  So let´s keep on praying!

Com MUITO amor,

xo Sister Councill

 

 

Week 18 Happy Halloween from Brasil

October 31, 2016

Hello! Oi!

Eu amo voces!!! And I have lot´s to tell today!

So this week we had what´s called a "Mission Tour." And it´s when one of the leaders of the Church comes and visits the mission and gives a training. AND IT WAS SUPER GOOD. Elder Costa visited us! He actually spoke in the April General Conference of this year I believe, so look his talk up! But it was wonderful to learn from him, and my mission president and see a bunch of other missionaries as well! And I got letters! Woop! (please write letters, I love getting them 😉)

SUPER FUNNY STORY that happened this week. We were proselyting, and this one lady let us into her house, and it was going pretty well and then she asked, "what day do you all consider as the sabbath?"  OKAY, clearly it´s Sunday. But there´s a church here in Brasil, that thinks it is Saturday because of translation error in the Portuguese Bible... she then started to cry because she was so upset about the fact that we weren´t going to be "saved" because we didn´t keep the Sabbath day holy.  Pretty funny right?  Two missionaries in a house, and instead of us crying about the person, the PERSON was crying about us XD  Sister C. Silva and I laughed a bunch afterwards.  But what did we do?  We testified that God loves all of His children, regardless of when they worship the Sabbath day, and that the Sabbath is actually on SUNDAY.

I know a lot of you are involved with Leaders Club, or the YMCA, OR have experience with teaching young children!! As a missionary, we get to have "family home evening" with some families, and it´s always nice to play a little game or do a fun activity. BUT my brain is so preoccupied with other things, that I´ve seriously forgotten all fun activities. If you have an idea, pleaseeeeeeeeeeee email me :) Muito obrigada!!!!

So the highlight of my week was Saturday!!!! We got to go to the temple!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got up at 2 am and arrived around 6:30 am.  And we stayed until 6 pm!!! By far, one of my favorite days on the mission. The Brasil Curitiba Temple is absolutely gorgeous, and even more inside. I cannot wait to go back in about 3 or 4 months!

In the MTC in Sao Paulo, I was lucky enough to go to the temple every pday. But here in the mission I don´t have that luxury.  I don´t think I realized just HOW much I had missed the temple, until I stepped inside. As soon as I stepped inside I felt the overwhelming peace and love that only is in the temple. I felt so incredibly grateful to be there- in the House of the Lord. I know temples truly are the sacred houses of the Lord. I know Heavenly Father and Christ dwell there. There is no way I can deny that.  I know that only in holy temples can we make sacred covenants, or promises, with our Heavenly Father that allow us to one day return to His presence and live in never ending happiness. ONLY in holy temples can we be sealed together for time and all eternity. 

I know that God loves us immensely. I know this because He allowed the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be restored through Joseph Smith, and because of that we now have the blessed opportunity to live THAT Gospel, and receive the saving ordinances that can only be found in the temple. 

This world we live in now is broken, but we have a link to Heaven, and that link is Temples. 

I love you all muito,

xo Sister Councill

p.s. look up Temples on lds.org if you want to learn more ;)