Week 53 One Year on the Mission and Transfers

July 3, 2017

 

 

GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I don´t think I have cried more in my life than I have leaving Paranaguá!!!! So many tears.  Soooo many tears.  I guess yall didn´t pray  hard enough for me to stay one more transfer in Paranaguá... jkjkjk  But my new area is Caioá! IT´S IN CURITIBA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!! I´M STOKED!!!!!!! I´ve never served in an area in Curitiba, so I´m excited :D  My new companion is Sister Lopes!  She´s Brasilian :)  And this is her very  last transfer, so I´ll be "killing" her!  lol

I´m pretty exctied :)

First things first.. HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!! Sad I can´t be there with you all, but next year, I got ya! ;)

So this week... SO MANY THINGS! 

We had a leadership meeting on Wednesday in Curitiba! And that was fun because I got to see my friends, like Sister Pattee and Sister Manhas :)  Lunch that day was pretty swell because I sat by Mission President and we talked about BYU the whole time. I love my Mission President, because he is just as trunky as I am 😂

On Friday we stayed home the whole day because my companion was sick. :/

on Saturday I made Indian food for lunch at Irmá Nenas! 2 different types of curry, Naan, and two different types of salad. It was glorious.  I got to celebrate my brithday a week early with that family :)  It was really wonderful!  

This week I took a TON TON TON of pics, but this computer isn´t reading my pin drive, so yall will have to wait until next week... sorry :(

OH! So I´ve officially been on the mission for ONE WHOLE YEAR!!!!!!!!!! I can´t believe how fast the time has passed by. It´s unbelievable.  Less than 6 months left!  

By the way, it´s so cold here. I´m barely able to type!  

ALSO I had a super neat spiritual experience this week that I would like to share with you all. It´s an example of how I KNOW God really does watch over us.  

So during a division like a month ago Sister Coutinho made a contact with a man named Jailson. Anyways we´ve been trying to plan a time to visit him for this long, but it never worked out. On Saturday we made plans to finally go there. It´s in a part of our area where we´ve only been once or twice becaused it´s farther away. And on the way, we passed by this house that had a radio playing, and it was really strange. The radio kept saying, "watch out. watch out. watch out..... etc. etc..." (In english not portuguese) And I made the comment to Sister Coutinho that it was weird, and she agreed. THEN we kept on going. But when we were almost arriving to the road we were headed, Heitor, a recent convert here, passed by in his truck and then PARKED his truck and came running to tell us that we shouldn´t go to that area because it was extremely dangerous. Woah! After he left Sister Coutinho and I started talking about how cool it was that the Lord warned us, and I made the comment that even the radio was saying "watch out" and Sister Coutinho said she hadn´t heard it saying that! She had only heard a weird noise!!!!!!! 

Yall this was one of those testimony-building experiences. I felt so strongly in that moment that God was watching over us. I  know HE takes care of each of us, and every once in a while a miraculous even happens that reminds us of this :)  

Like my mom always says, "GO FIGHT WIN! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!"

xo Sister Councill

ps. next week I´ll be emailing on Tuesday because we´re going to the temple on Tuesday so that will be our pday :)

Week 52

June 26, 2017

Hello everyone!!!!!!! Olá gente!

This week was fantastic!!!!!!  Lots of good moments happened :) 

To start off, CONGRATS TO THE NEW HL´s!!!!!!!!!!!!! AH I AM SO EXCITED FOR ALL OF YOU!!!!!!!!! (If you don´t know what I´m talking about, sorry, it´s a Blue Ridge thing 😜) I´m especially proud because one of my girls got elected ❤ #proudmomma 

Anyways, let´s change the subject because thinking about Blue Ridge makes me incredible homesick!!!!!!!!!!!!  #muitossaudades #amoAMontanha

Pday last week was super great!  We decided to splurdge with the left-over money we had from some Sisters here from lunch, annnd we bought the ingredients to make oreo balls! Except Brasilian oreo balls.  They were faaaaantastic.  IF you´ve ever heard of brigadeiro you´ll understand. 

On Tuesday I made a division with Sister Santos!! That was fun! We took pics with winter hats because it was freazing inside our house!

FRANCIELLY WAS BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOP it was so special :) We were all matching by accident that day hahaha

One day this week we decided to dress up like Elders! That was fun.

WE MADE MEXICAN FOOD FOR LUNCH ONE DAY THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!!! It was a glorious feast. I ate way more than I should have.

One night we had to literally run home to make it to our house before 10 pm, and we took a pic after XD Yall can try and figure out which one hahah

On Sunday I actually had time to do my hurrrrr #milagre We wore our new clothes that we bought at a thrift store, for 10Reis, which is like $3! Woop! winners

But yeah! This week was amazing!  We found a golden family! Maydza finally offered a prayer outloud and it was the most beautiful prayer!  I am so stoked about this upcoming week. It is the last week of the transfer, so it could be my last here in paranaguá.  I really hope not, because I LOVE It here.  But we shall see!

This week was also one of those weeks where I felt like I needed to be putting more effort into growing SPIRITUALLY.  I realized that I haven´t been consciously applying the Atonement in my life, daily.  The Atonement is the word we use to refer to the sacrafice Christ made for each of us.  As I was studying about the Atonement this week I had a series of thoughts that I wanted to share with ya´ll.  

Whenever I imagine Christ, I imagine ressurected. I imagine Him with a perfect body, and with perfect scars on His hands and feet, like the painters paint Him.  And I began to think about how it actually probably won´t be like that.  His scars will not be perfect.  They will represent His SACRIFICE.  They will represent all the pain and suffereing He went through, for each one of us.  And I imagined how I will feel when I see Him again, for the first time. How will I feel?  Will I feel unworthy? Will I have regrets? Grateful?  Tiny? etc.  And I thought about how every single time we see Christ He will have those same marks.  

All of these thoughts left me with the great desire to do absolutely everything I can to personally KNOW and LOVE my Savior.  

I know Christ lives, and I know that one day the WHOLE world will know He lives.

xo Sister Councill

(like Enoch, I didn´t proofread)

 

Week 51 Its a Monday

June 19, 2017

Hello!!!!!

I´m so jealous that I´m not up on the Mountain at Blue Ridge, but congrats on the theme everyone!!! "beyond Blue Ridge" is SUCH a great theme.  ❤😊

BUT, This week was fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!

After the Zone Conference Sister Coutinho and I started a division with the sisters that are in Matinhos (the BEACH).  YA´LL it was amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!! seriously.  I got to go to the beach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so happy.  Yall can tell from how many pictures I took hehe.  We, Sister Kher and I, walked on the beach for exercise that day!  There were a ton of sand dollars!  SUPER neat :) During the division we helped out with an English School and taught people how to make cookies and brownies. It was so awesome. I got to speak in English, and eat AMERICAN food!!!!!!  

At the Zone Conference we got flu shots! woop! And now I´m sick. But I know it´s not because of the shot hahaha

Last week I said we were going to go to the center of Paranaguá, but we were lazy and didn´t end up going. Sorry no pics!

OH ALSO this is really important. At the Zone Conference we ate at a barbecue place, and I tried chicken heart!  My Mission President took a pic and posted it on the Facebook page, "Missao Brasil Curitiba Sul 2016-2019."  Someone should find it and send me a screan shot because I didn´t get to see it!

So there´s a pic of me doing a heel click-I only did that because my brother always send pics doing that 😂

Oh there was also an archery part at the English school and I tried one shot! haha  I didn´t get it in the middle, but it at least landed on the paper XD

AND well guess what! We´re going to have a baptism this week!!!!!!! Francielly ❤ She´s an adorable 15 year old girl!  I´m so excited :D We´ve been teaching her for about 2 weeks now! She´s one of those "golden investigators."  I´ll send pics next week :)

BUT so the training Sister Coutinho and I chose to give was about how to recognize the Spirit.  It went WAY better than I had hoped- we actualy spent more than an hour because so many people were participating :)

The Spirit, or the Holy Ghost, or the Holy Spirit is the 3rd member of the Godhead. His job is to help us successfully follow Christ. 

We started out by doing an activity I learned from Blue Ridge (the Continuum. thank you Character Education)

Everyone had to stand up and respond to some Q´s.  One wall represented "yes," and the other, "no."  The missionaries could stand in the room in the spot that best represented how they felt.  For example a strong yes would be up against the wall, where a weak yes would be near the middle.  

I asked these Q´s, "Is it easy to recognize the Spirit?  Is it easy to follow the Spirit?  Is it easy to trust in the Spirit?"

The purpose of this activity ws to get everyone REALLY thinking, and thinking DEEPLY.  And I´d like to challenge all of you all as well to respond to these questions, and then think about what you can do to respond with an AFFIRMATIVE "YES!!!"

I love you all and hope you have a lovely, spirit-filled week!  

xo Sister Councill

 

Week 50 Happy Day

June 12, 2017

This week was insane!  Seriously. Our power went out 2 times.  We had to step through ankle-deep street water (Ewh SUPER gross and dangerous).

But let´s see what else? oh! On Tuesday our Zone Leaders called us saying that the church sent orders for all of the Sisters in the World to take a 7 second video with the recent-converts.  So we had to like print off these permission forms and take videos! Which was actually REALLLY fun for us, because in my mission we´re not allowed to take videos (only for that one day)!  hahaha I´m sending one with this email :)

I also attached a few pics of one of the main roads we walk on. You can imagine how it got after a full day of heavy rain. Needless to say I am so thankful that I have crocs!

Funny thing I learned this week about Brasil! So you know how in the States when two people say something at the same time, we yell "jinx knock on wood!" and run to find wood?? well here they yell, "touch green!" and run around looking for the color green! Isn´t that hilarious??? Brasilians are so funny. I love it here. 

Today my companion and I are going to go to the center of the city! I´m stoked because it´s all antique-ish. I´ll send pics next week!

Tomorrow is a Zone Conference, and my companion and I are going to give a 50 min training. Yikes!  Should be fun; prayers are welcome hahahaha

BUT so this week was one of those weeks where as a missionary the Lord put really needy people in our paths.  "needy" meaning people that have REAL problems. This week was a very humbling week that made me realize just how much the Lord has blessed me. 

I wanted to share with you a little bit about 2 people- Andressa and Jenifer. Andressa is a YW who is less active, and Jenifer is an investigator who´s 30 years old. THey both have VERY difficult family situations, and have both tried committing suicide. It is so sad.  It made me reflect on just HOW important and just HOW much influence our families have on our lives. 

The Family unit is so sacred and so special. It´s the most important unity that God created. These two women have suffered so so so much because their families don´t love them or respect them.  

In 1995 the Church released, "The Family: A Proclamation to the World."  It talks about how God loves the Family and how we can have a happy, blessed, and loving family.

Ya´ll MUST read it. 

here´s the link :)

https://www.lds.org/topics/family-proclamation?lang=eng&old=true

LOVE YOU ALL! HAVE A SPLENDID WEEK 

xo Sister Councill

Week 49 Hello Everyone

June 5, 2017

hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

this week was great! Lots of little adventures happened!

So this week we got money 3 times from the Sisters in the ward, instead of eating lunch at their house and to be honest, I was secretely really happy because I love cooking!  Sister Coutinho and I made this huge American breakfast feast for lunch one day and it was the most glorious thing ever.  We had buiscuts, cheesy eggs, hashbrowns, and a huge fruit salad. OH my yum! I´ll send a pic!

Last night we made Pao de Queijo at Irma Nena´s house with Maydza and it was soooo good!  (sorry I didn´t take a pic)

Today we´re going to eat lunch with a recent convert named, Heitor! He has an incredible story and every time we´re with him we learn so much! I´m excited :D

What else? I made a division with Sister Albertoni! SO fun! We´re from the same group and have previously served in the same district, so it was super fun having a division with her! We saw a lot of miracles that day :) One of which was that our investigator, Maydza, left home!  wait, why is that a miracle?

So Maydza lives with her boyfriend and 2 small kids.  And for her to be baptized, she has to get married or move out. She doesn´t want to marry him, so the other option is that she has to move out. Sister Coutinho and I found her our first week here! She is one of those "golden investigators." She´s basically a member, without being baptized. But Sister Albertoni and I passed by and Emerson, her bf, said she moved out.  And I was SO excited! We thought she might have gone to her mom´s house. My companion and I had fasted with her about this decision and we were so happy that the Lord answered our prayers and fasting so fast!  The next day when Sister Coutinho and I decided to stop by and see if her sons were good and everything Maydza was there! We were very surprised and very dissapointed. But we learned that she had brought a blanket with her and was planning on sleeping in the street because she didn´t want to live at her mom´s.  Can you believe that determination to live God´s commandments???  The only reason she went back was because of her son´s. But right now we are looking for a place for her to live.  But I know God will continue to answer our prayers for her to be baptized!

Yesterday was Stake Conference here in Paranaguá and President Aidukaidis was there!  He told us of how the Lord asks us to simply obey his commandments.  He said, "I have never seen anyone in my life who has kept the commandments and has not prospered."

Can yall imagine how many people a General Authority knows?? (He travels throughout the world to help the church) A LOT.  ANd he´s never seen anyone who hasn´t prospered, who keeps the commandments.

When I heard that I thougth about Maydza.  I felt that I needed to tell you all this story!  I know our Heavenly Father expects us, AND wants us to keep His commandments- t´s because He loves us, and He wants us to prosper here on earth.

"..if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you." Mosiah 2:22

"If ye shall keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love."  John 15:10

"..I would desire that ye sould consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God."  Mosiah 2:41

It´s as simple as this :)

Hope you all have a LOVELY week ❤

xo Sister Councill 

pics...

WELCOME- I saw this at a recent converts house! howw cool!

breakfast for lunch!

hurrrrr

division with Sister Albertoni!

We bought lunch one day, and Sister Coutinho is a vegetarian so she gave me all of her meat, and it was WAY too much for me to eat, so we took a pic cuz it was funny

Us yesterday at stake conference!

Week 48. 11 Months

May 29, 2017

Hello everyone!

Can we just take a second to freak out together over the fact that I´ve now been on my mission for 11 months!!!!! What in the crazy world! It´s unreal how fast the time is passing by.  Literally.  

This week was one of those weeks where we worked so much that we staggered home every night exhausted. I don´t remember much of the details of this week.. sorry. We really worked so much 😂 Because our are doubled in size, this week was pretty crazy!  But I am loving having a bigger area! There are so many new people and blessings and miracles that happen every day :)

I don´t have any funny or crazy stories this week, sorry.. I didn´t even take that many pics this week. Oops!  But today I´m going to make a pie to celebrate my 11 months!  woooop!  

But this morning I was reading in Alma 33 and I found these wonderful scriptures..

19 Behold, he was spoken of by Moses; yea, and behold a type was raised up in the wilderness, that whosoever would look upon it might live. And many did look and live.

20 But few understood the meaning of those things, and this because of the hardness of their hearts. But there were many who were so hardened that they would not look, therefore they perished. Now the reason they would not look is because they did not believe that it would heal them.

21 O my brethren, if ye could be healed by merely casting about your eyes that ye might be healed, would ye not behold quickly, or would ye rather harden your hearts in unbelief, and be slothful, that ye would not cast about your eyes, that ye might perish?

22 If so, wo shall come upon you; but if not so, then cast about your eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection, that all men shall stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgment day, according to their works.

23 And now, my brethren, I desire that ye shall plant this word in your hearts, and as it beginneth to swell even so nourish it by your faith. And behold, it will become a tree, springing up in you unto everlasting life. And then may God grant unto you that your burdens may be light, through the joy of his Son. And even all this can ye do if ye will. Amen.

When I read it first, I thought, "how sad for those people who didn´t even have the faith to look on the staff and be healed. It was so simple." And I began to think about how maybe there are things today in age that could be comparable.  Is there anything the Lord has blessed us with that we aren´t making use of?  What can we be doing to increase our faith in our Savior Jesus Christ? How can we plant these words in our hearts so that they grow into a trea of everlasting life?

Things to think about and things to ponder. But two things I know are that the Book of Mormon is true, and that Jesus is the Christ.

Have a wonderful wonderful week! ( I can´t believe it´s going to be June!!!!!)

xo Sister Councill

Of the pics I did take...

There was a churro truck that passed by one morning, and we couldn´t resist.. 

yay I finally did my hair this week!  We had extra time one morning (can´t remember why) so I made use of it!

My peanut butter ran out, which is truly a sad thing because Brasil doen´t have peanut butter

11 months!

selfie with my companion :)

And our humble abode!