Monday, November 21, 2016

Week 21 Happy Thanksgiving

Monday, November 14, 2016

Week 20

November 14, 2016

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 ðŸ˜…  (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 ðŸ˜‰)

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 ;)