week 28

January 9, 2017

Hey yallllll,

This week was an adventure. Actually every week on the mission is an adventure!  Which is so great. Ah.  I loove love love the mission.  

But anyways, this week every time people asked where I was from I told them to guess.  (Mostly because this week I learned how to say "guess" haha).  And wow let me tell you, some pretty funny responses.  Someone said "Lebanon."  Yup. Absolutely. Nailed it!  I´m from Lebanon.  In case you guys didn´t know 😂

But let´s see, another funny story!  One day we were standing in the street next to this tree, waiting for to open the door, and Sister Ferreira said, "did you know that we eat this here?" Pointing to the leaves. I was like, "Definetely don´t believe you." But she went on and on and was pretty convincing. She told me to eat one, and I said, "yeah only if you do!!!" So we both did XD And the best part is that she was totally kidding the whole time.  So I have now eatten a leaf from Brasil. How many people can say that?? ✌

But WOW I have been SO tired every single day. I don´t know if it´s the heat or what, but if yall are looking for something to pray for, please pray that I´m not always exhausted :) thaaaanks

So Sister Ferreira and I have been visiting this woman named Nazare.  When we met her in the street, she was super hesitant to give us her address. But ya know, us Sister Missionaries are very convicing and we ended up getting her contact information!  

Our first visit we taught her about how the Gospel of Jesus Christ was Restored. Then the next visit we taught her about the Book of Mormon.  But after all this, she was offended by our messages.  We were pretty discouraged because we´d done all we could, testified with love, and even brought a member with us!  Buuut she still felt very taken aback. 

So this week we decided to return, and try something different. We decided to pass by, see how she was doing and not teach her anything. When we arrived she immediately ran and got the Book of Mormon and gave it back to us (ouch), BUT we said, "oh okay.. But how are you??!!"  We realized that she was painting her house and so we enthusiastically offered to help (because seriously i´m pretty sure it´s every missionaries dream to help paint).  

Ya´ll it was incredible the difference it made to offer to help her!  She changed from annoyed, to super excited!  (we didn´t end up helping her paint her house, but we stained a chair!)

This is my first time on the mission with an experience like this- it´s such a witness to me that Heavenly Father is always looking out for His children.

I have faith that one day Nazare will be baptized. I dont know if it will be when I´m still here in Fazenda, but ONE day.  I know it!

I know that as a missionary alone, I can´t do much, but as a missionary with God´s help, miracles can happen. It´s the same for all of us! We can choose to go through life alone, OR we can choose to go through life with the help of our Savior and Heavenly Father.  Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are perfect, and love and know us perfectly.  They will help us perfectly, if we let them.  I have seen this in my own life, I´ve seen this on the mission, and I know it can be REAL for all of us.

LUV you all; have a splendid week!

xo Sister Councill

Week 27 Hey Ya'll

January 2, 2017

YEAH Happy New Years!!!

You know what´s a crazy thought?? I´ll see some of you all THIS year :D hahaha woah.  Also a crazy thing. I hit 6 months in the mission!!! WHAT.  THe time is going by suuuuuuuuuper fast!!!! I´m not sure how I feel about that. 

Wow so Summer finally hit here in south part of Brasil. HOLY cow HOT.  But the great part is that I´m getting suuuper tan ;) 

So has anyone ever seen an avocado tree??!!! Me either until I moved to this area that I´m at right now.  There´s an avocado tree by our house, and this week I decided to be ambitious and pick one.  Well the only way I was able to pick it was with a broom.  It was pretty great actually. I felt very proud of myself for being resourceful 😂  But anyways, this week I picked an avocado with a broom!

Funny story that happened while proselyting:  We were talking to a woman in the front of her house.  Her son (about 7) and her father (about 95 hahaha) were a little ways behind her.  Her son hopped on a chair, and then the chair fell over.  The womans father was pretty up there in years.  Imagine a hunched over grandpa, with white white hair, that walks super slowly and with a cane.  perfect.  Okay now imagine this.  When the son fell off the chair, he immediately began to laugh and point at him!  It was the FUNNIEST thing.  OH my heck we laughed and laughed afterwards.  So that was great :)

I got to spend a day with Sister Albertonti!  That was fantastic!!!! TWO AMERICANS in Brasil. hahahaha it was awesome.

So here is really neat story my companion shared with me this week:  

A few years ago the state of Sao Paulo was in a super bad draught.  It hadn´t rained for 4 months and the 4 huge water storages for the city of sao paulo were almost empty.  Kind of a huge problem, because the city of sau paulo is FULL of people.

The First Presidency (the Prophet, and his 2 counselors) invited every member of the church to fast for 24 hours, all on the same day, to have it rain. 

It happened to be on a Saturday and my companion was at Institute (a program where young single adults of my church can meet, socialize, and have sripture classes).  Everyone ate a huge lunch together, and then started fasting. Around 5 o´clock my companion siad they were all sitting in a room, listening to the teacher wehn they heard the first drops of rain. Then more and more and then it was POURING.

HOW INCREDIBLE is this story??? The first time I´d heard about it was when my companion was telling it to me this week. I am blown away by the power of a faithful group of people.  It´s the same principle of what happened in the story of Esther.  SHe asked her people to fast 3 days with her, and they were saved.  INCREDIBLE.  

Folks, I know God knows our needs.  He knows us SO perfectly. He knows us and He loves us.  We just have to reach out to Him, show our faith, by doing what He asks of us.  And sometimes, that is by following the Prophet.  I know our Prophet Thomas S. Monson is TRULY inspired of God.  I know he will never lead us astray, and if we follow his guidance, we will always be following God.

Well,  I sure love you all. I may be here in Brasil, super far from all yall, but I don´t love you any less!  

Have a splendid week,

xo Sister Councill

Week 26 Christmas

Adelynn sent a voice message this week.  I'm still trying to figure out how to put it on this blog. 

But here is a picture of her Christmas Mission Conference

Week 25: Fazendo Rio Grande and pictures

December 19, 2016
HOLÀ e FELIZ NATAL para todos de voces!!!!!!!!!!!

HELLO AND MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALLLLLL ❤

It hardly feels like it should be Christmas, to be honest, because well because Brasil is hot right now XD

BUT so how about transfers!!! My new area is Fazendo Rio Grande!!!!!!!!!!! (Big Farm River)  It´s about 45 min from Curitiba!  And the area is a LOT less big, so it will be easier to learn the area and yaayayayay.  ALSO get this!  We share a house with Sister Manhas and Sister Albertoni, who I both already know!!! I lived with Sister Manhas in Guarapuava, and Sister Albertoni was in my district in the MTC!!!! SO basically it´s a party every day ;)

So last week I wrote about how challenges are good, and how we shouldn´t run from them.  Well, I think the Lord wanted to humble me a little bit (or a lot).   I was going to go to an area to "open it" after some Elders were switched out, but an hour and a half before my bus left, the APs (Assistants to the Mission President) called and said I´d be going to Fazenda.

WHAT.

My companion would be Sister Ferreira. She has been in the mission for 1 year and 2 months, and Fazenda two different times!  She started her mission here, and now she´s here again!  

Not gonna lie, I was super disappointed when I first heard. I was really looking forward to a growing experience.  BUT Heavenly Father always always always always knows best and He inspired my mission president at the last minute, and so here I am, in Fazendo Rio Grande!

And let me tell yall, I am soooooooooo grateful.  Sister Ferreira is amazing. I swear every single lesson she teaches is 100% guided and inspired by the Spirit.  It´s incredible.  From the first lesson we taught together I know I was here to learn from her. This week has been a very humbling week for me because I´m realizing HOW MUCH I STILL HAVE TO LEARN and grow in the mission, in life etc. Missions are great because you learn so easily how much you still have to grow 🤓

But, I know Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us- everything that happens has a purpose- may it be a lesson to learn, an experience to have, someone to meet etc.  But He has the whole picture, and as long as we´re seeking His guidance, He won´t let us go astray.

So, I´m stoked for this transfer!  I´m pretty positive I´ll only have one transfer with Sister Ferreira, but BRING IT ON :)

PICTURES!

Me and my new companion!  And then Sister Albertoni ☺

Super cute Minion plant holders things!!!

And this last picture of that girl from Ratatuii (or however it´s spelled).  We were having a meeting with the Ward Mission Leader and his 4 year old son came up to me and said, "voce com baton" or "You with liptick."  OMG it was sooooo funny!!!! Because I obviously have short black hair, and then the fact that a 4 year old boy knows about lipstick. 😂

LOVE YALL LOTS,

xo Sister Councill

 

 

 

 

Week 24 pictures

Week 24: Bye Guarapuava

December 12, 2016

SO news flash:

Sister Councill will be transferred!!!!! AH.  TCHAO Guarapuava!  

Yesterday we had a conference here in Guarapuava, and my Mission President came, and interviewed all of us missionaries serving here!  That was great :) I really love my mission president and I hadn´t had an interview with him since I got into the field (so almost 4.5 months!!!!!).

But he told me that I will be transfered to an area close to Curitiba!  I still don´t know where exactly, or who my new companion will be... :(

Apparently the area that I´ll be going to was an area of Elders that were very "Fubeka."  Meaning that they didn´t obey the rules. *sigh* So my mission President is putting me there to "clean things up" so to speak.  I´m excited, and a little nervous! Because I´ll be "opening" the area so to speak.  Both my new companion and I won´t know the area, and we´ll practically be starting from scratch, because the Elders there didn´t do anything.  So it´s going to be one BIG adventure!  

But I´m really excited to be honest.  I love Guarapuava and I LOVE Sister C. Silva, but I really want to grow spiritually. I want a challenges are one of the best ways to grow- so here I goooooooooooooo.

Saying goodbye to Elizandro and Paula, my recent converts here in Guarapuava, was by far one of the hardest things so far on the mission.  I love them so sooo much, and it just kills my heart that I don´t know when I will be able to see them again.  *ahhhhhh*  We all cried- including Elizandro!  It was a pretty special goodbye.

I´m not looking forward to saying goodbye to my companion later today....

BUT on a positive note, this week was great! It rained and rained and rained but it was good! 

I´ve got lots and lots of photos to send this week!!

Last pday my district FINALLY celebrated Thanksgiving XD It was sort of Thanksgiving- the only thanksgiving ish food was the mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie i brought XD but it was fun and good and we played games and it was great!  Also there´s one picture where an elder fell and I´m sending it to you all so you can enjoy the looks on our faces ;P  

Last pday also, the us sisters had a gift exchange and that was really fun. I got a super black and pink polka dot cup, which is perfect because I love pink, polka dots, and i love drinking water XD

I found a HUGE confederate flag at this store called the Ranch. I WAS SUPER STOKED because yall I´m in Brasil, How often do you find a confederate flag?!?!

us sisters had a service project this last week! We helped a family here move! And it was my first real service project so that was neat :)

There are some pics of some people we have been teaching, and then my FAV family here in Brasil- the family of Elizandro and Paula ❤

There´s a church here that has a huge "Missao" in the lawn, and I took a picture in front of it ahah. You might have to zoom to see!

And finally, a selfie of Sister C. Silva yesterday at church :)

But I love you all LOTS and lots and lots!  My spiritual thought this week is to not run from challenges.  Run toward them.  Because challenges are how we grow and progress :)  And I know that Heavenly Father NEVER gives us a challenge or trial that we can´t overcome.  

Have a FANTASTIC week,

eu amo voces MUITO.

xo Sister Councill

Week 23 pictures

Week 23: What's up from Brazil

December 5, 2016

Hello hello hellooooo!

I hope everyone is well and happy! Anyone else can´t believe that today is December 5th??? Maybe I´m more in doubt because here it´s warm, which is super strange. Sometimes my companion says something like, "you know Christmas is arriving because of the warm climate.."  and I´m like  🤔what? hahah 

But this week went by super fast and nothing reallllllly exciting or eventful happened.  Last pday I learned how to make "cocada" a superrr yummy coconut cookie! It takes a lot of time to make so most likely I won´t make it until after I get back, but you all should look up a recipe because seriously it´s sooo good. 

One day this week I thought to myself, "today I want to find a 4-leaf clover." And then during the day we stopped for a second to take a break, and I looked down at my feet and FOUND ONE!!!! How cool is that??? Super sweet coincidence.  But actually I think Heavenly Father heard my thought and wanted to make my day 🙂

I´m really excited because today my district is FINALLY going to celebrate Thanksgiving!!! I made 2 pumpkin pies, so it´ll be great ;) hahaha

But i´d like to share something that I learned this week during my district meeting.  My District Leader said something a little unusual, something that I have never before thought about, BUT that I began to ponder a ton this week and find it reallly important to recognize and so I want to share it with you all! 

He said something like this, "everyday y ou all plan who you wilil teach, where you will teach, and when you will teach.  You all need to thing about the fact that Satan also is planning every day how he can distrupt your work. You all need to be prepared."  

OKAY yes this is a very unusual statement right? And a little bit disturbing- well not disturbing but I can´t think of a better word. 

His statement was directed to us missionaries, but the same principle can be applied to all of us- every day WE absolutely must be prepared or Satan will try and influence us to try and make the wrong choice, and the wrong choice always always always leads to unhappiness.  I don´t want you all to be unhappy, I want you all to be HAPPY and JOYFUL :)  And so does Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  

So what can we do to be prepared?  We can pray for help.  Imagine if everyone in the world as soon as they woke up, knelt down on their knees and offered a prayer to Heavenly Father- asking Him for help and strength for that day.  How much better would this world be?  How much more joyful and happy??

As a missionary, I pray a TON.  Because the work that I am doing is soo special and sacred to the Lord, and I want to give Him my ALL.  I know that you all can pray and give Heavenly Father your all as well! And as you do, He will protect you.  

I love each one of you who is reading this (and those who aren´t as well 😉).  I want you all to have the best day, week and lives possible! And I know that is only possible through Jesus Christ.

So this week, smile a little more, pray a little more, and love Christ and Heavenly Father a whole lot MORE ❤

xo Sister Councill

week 22 pictures

Week 22 Hello Oi OIah

November 28, 2016

Hey yall!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! I´d love some pics ;)

This week I didn´t get to celebrate Thanksgiving, but it was great nonetheless! I think my District is going to have a "thanksgiving lunch" next week so I´m super pumped about that!  

My week started out in Curitiba and that was great because I got to receive letters!!! Woooohoooo :) That was wonderful, keep on writing ;p

One of the members in the Guarapuava Branch here needed my help one day translating some instructions for a metal detector into Portuguese.  It´s pretty funny because he´s around 70 and wants to search for gold.  haha I think I´ll do that too when I´m 70 years old. Sounds like a great past time!  But after I tried to help him he brought out some old money that Brasil no longer uses. And we were flipping through it and all of a sudden we saw one that had been drawn on. You know how little kids like to draw faces on the people?  Well HE HAD DONE THAT TOO!  AND IT WAS HILARIOUS and I literally couldn´t stop laughing for 5 minutes.  I was imagining this cute little old man drawing on the faces of people on money.  Super super super funny.  

SO THIS WEEK WE MISSIONARIES HAD AN ACTIVITY with our Branch!!! IT WAS AMAZING. I´ll explain why.  So we had 4 Sisters, and 2 Elders.  And we put on a play for the members.  Here´s the run down of the play.

Two Angels (the missionaries) are up in Heaven and realize they have a phone call to make to two girls down on Earth.  They call and say that Christ will visit their house that afternoon.

The two girls´house is completely a wreck, and they rush to clean things up.

In the mean time different people knock on their door asking for help.  A pregnant lady (meeeee haha), a person asking for money (Sister C. Silva), Missionaries (us HA), a person who just wrecked their car (me again), visiting teachers (us), people ready for a service project (us again), and a crazy old lady (Sister C. Silva).  

Every time someone knocks on their door, the two girls reject them because they are "preparing for Jesus."

When their house is clean, the angels call again and inform them that Jesus visited their house numerous times in the form of people seeking help, but they never accepted him.  

So the message was that we need to serve others more, and realize that when we serve we are actually serving Christ.  We then showed the new Christmas video from the church and it was INCREDIBLE.

I´ll talk more about the video later..

But first I want to share something I learned from Church yesterday :) There was a story told from a talk (I don´t remember who or when). It went something like this: there was an old man who was suffering greatly from pain, and one day his young grandson came to visit and saw him suffering. The grandson said, "If I love you more, will you suffer less??"    This question was then applied to US and the SAVIOR.  If we love the Savior more, will He have suffered less?

What do you all think? I think yes!

Because when we love the Savior, we have the desire to follow His perfect example. We have the desire to repent daily. We have the desire to be better- to obey the commandants, obey His teachings, pray, read the scriptures... etc.  

And what is the consequence of all of these actions?  Slowly and surely our bad habits, bad actions, bad desires begin to diminish and are replaced by righteous ones- we begin to become more like Christ; this as a result causes two things:

1. Christ suffered less,

2. We also suffer less

I am so grateful for Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the sacrifice He made for me, and for each of you.  He suffered for each of us, individually, so that we might suffer less.

This Christmas, the Church has produced an activity for us to do to REALLY feel the Spirit of Christmas.

It´s called "Light the World."  It begins on December 1 and ends Christmas! Here is the link https://www.mormon.org/ 

Every day has a theme and various activities for us to do to be more like Christ, do as He did, and enjoy Christmas more fully!

I promise it is inspired.  And I´m so excited to participate and I encourage all of you to visit the site and learn about how YOU can participate as well :D

I love you all!!!!!!

xo Sister Councill