Esta semana

Helloooo everyone!!!!! I love you all!!! Ready to hear about my week? ok

This week was good. It´s hard to balance all our time-  

Tuesday after our district meeting, we went to lunch in a different city (still in our area. It´s about 30 min. away by onibus) when we returned, we taught the first lesson to a couple of women. It was a pretty good lesson, except for the fact that we realized that they are lesbians and live together. We will see where this goes... Then we stopped by Maicol, the young man who WILL be baptized this week. Then we had our English class. Oh, it´s hard. It´s hard when you don´t have any textbook, so you try to use the English to Portuguese textbook you got in the MTC... I would also like more time to prepare what we´re going to teach, but alas, as a missionary, you don´t have any spare time.

Wednesday was awesome because we took away all the coffee from the house of Maicol and his family. They allllll drink coffee, but realize it is harmful and want to quit. So they let us take it all away. We were so proud of them, so we made natural lime juice and bought some coffee substitute for them. I think we have a good relationship with this family. I´m super excited, because we are planning on Maicol´s baptism for Friday, when his brother (who lives in Campo Morão (my last area haha) live) will be here with his family. The father, who is a part member, told us that Maicol´s example to read and pray and continue to learn about this church is really helping him and his family. This is what the gospel is about! yay!!

We taught a member´s father this week, and it was a really interesting lesson- he came to church the week before and during priesthood, they read the book of Abraham. So naturally he wanted to know about the Pearl of Great Price. However, he had never heard of Joseph Smith before. And it was late, and we needed to leave soon. And he is partially deaf, so we had to shout. It was difficult, because we tried to teach a quick lesson about Joseph Smith to answer his questions. WE have another appointment this week. 

It´s been really rainy lately, and the dirt roads here (we have a lot) turn to mud. I will send pictures.

Also, I think some bug lives beneath the piano in the church because after choir practice, I had 30 bugbites on my legs.... ahhhhhhh! Oh well, I will endure!!!

I love you all!!!

love,

Sister Eliason

Dirt road after it rained. Unfortunately we have several investigators and members who live down here.

yeah this happened

 

Won't you be my... Neighbor/Valentine/Investigator?

OOOIIIIIIIIII! Another exciting week in Brazil includes:

-It raining one afternoon, and although we closed the windows and door to our mini balcony (to dry laundry), our apartment flooded again! 

- We made friends with some people at the butchery, and so they give us free meat. :)

- We are making friends and gaining the trust of members here- we´ve had a couple people come up to us and tell us they want to go out with us this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yay!

- We had 6 investigators at church yesterday! One man is kind of creepy, and we don´t know him well, but a ward member (adult man) yesterday said he is willing to go with us to teach him. This ward is really great!

- I am really excited about one investigator, Maicol. He is 23 and lives in a part-member family, and yesterday was the first time he went to church in 5 years! It was surprisingly easy too- we told him we would pick him up at 8:30, and he was ready. Then later that afternoon, we taught him and set a date for baptism. Just has a problem with coffee...... And I guess his family is slowly falling away from the church, so we will have to help with that. 

- I will gain so much weight on my mission!!!  People feed us and ALWAYS say "eat more sister, eat more! You walk all day in the sun- you need to eat more. Oh and btw, here is half-a-gallon of ice-cream too." I think my problem is I love to eat, so I do as they say and eat more... :)

I am kind of nervous- we are starting an English class tomorrow! We´ll see how it goes- first time for both Sister Finlinson and I.

I absolutely love the sisters we live with! Sister Costa (São Paulo) and Sister Solis (Paraguay.) They are so sweet and work so hard. They definitetly go the extra mile. However, one of them snores SOOO loudly at night. I don´t remember the last time I´ve had a night without waking up.

This work is hard. It's actually really hard and stressful, but it's also really rewarding. And even though you sometimes can´t see the blessings at the moment, I know the Lord blesses us when we do his work.

I love you all!!!!

Love,

Sister Eliason

 

A man in our ward- soo funny! His old mission plack.

Did I tell you that I´m getting some great tanlines?

Sisters!

 

HELP ME!!!! I'M MELTINGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OI minha família e amigos animados! (Hi my beloved family and friends)

THIS WEEK WAS INSANE! Sooooo much stuff happened. I will try to cover it all, but I will go day by day to keep it all organized. 

monday- we cleaned our apartment in preparation for transferes.

Tuesday- Sister Finlinson and I arrived in Sarandi first and were picked up from the bus station by the Bishop's wife (We have a WARD here!!!!) Well we are staying in the same apartment that the elders stayed in, and OH MAN. I'm sorry, but I lost a lot of respect for them because of how they left it. It was a DISASTERRRRRRRRR! For example, I had to clean an OLD old old pan on which they had cooked eggs. Every room was like a tornado, and it obviously hadn't been cleaned in months. Well, we spent the first day there (ALL DAY) cleaning. The other sisters arrived and joined us in cleaning. Then we went to the church where we met the bishop. I´m excited- he seems really on top of the missionary work here, and he gave us a list of people he feels needs to be contacted. Great start.

Wednesday- after study, we went to lunch, then returned to clean some more. Finally we left for part of the evening to teach, and got lost. of course. But anyways, we finally found the house of the one investigator that the elders left us. Edizla- shes really great and has a desire to be baptized. But she has a complicated problem- her ex-husband moved back in with her, and she is too nice to tell him to leave. It's complicated because he legitly has sckitzophrenia. (SP??) He sees people and is a different person at night, so he needs to stay somewhere safe. For other reasons also, Edizla doesn't want to marry him again, and so shes stuck in a rut. A situation I thought I would never run into....Yeah, lots of prayers and hope and faith. 

Thursday- District meeting, and I finally got all your letters and Tyler's package!!! THANK YOU mom and Aunt Dee for the letters!! I love them! and Elder Tyler Eliason, thank you for the hand-made compilation of portuguese scriptures! Love it! Then we went to lunch in a different city where some members lived, then returned and talked with tons of people, then it stormed. MAJOR. The biggest storm of my life I think. Well, the elders called and told us to go to a house of a member, but not knowing ANY members or where they lived, we took cover in the nearest place possible- an ice cream shop. :) It was a good night... until we returned home and discovered our apartment without power. then we walked inside and discovered it had flooded as well. So we spent quite a while cleaning up all the water in the dark. This is essential because we have to sleep on the floor (the bunkbeds are broken). So yeah that was fun. it was a long night. Oh, and also it was my 3 month mission mark!!!!! Parabéns para mim....! haha

Friday- We went to what we thought was a members house. WE clapped at the gate and a young man came out. We asked if Irmã Pricilla lived there, and he asked "my mom?" never actually having met Pricilla, we assumed yes, so we naturally said yes. Well he let us in and we started talking to his mother about the Elders and some old investigators. As we continued, a look of confusion appeared on her face. Finally she said "sorry- I don't know many people here- Ive only lived here for 30 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" AHHH SO EMBARRASSING! Se we explained who we were and the name of the church and asked if she had ever heard of it. She said she hadn´t, so we explained our purpose as missionaries, then taught her and her son the first lesson (the restoration) right there and committed them to a baptismal date. So it turned out to be a good thing in the end..

Saturday- we got a new washing machine, oven/stove, and fridge!!! and then went to choir where I was instantly recruited to play the piano. YAY! Then we worked hard. We got a lot of referrals and 9 new investigators! wooohooo!

Sunday- Church was really good, and I'm also the new ward pianist :) I guess it's been a while scince the ward has sung with the piano... Then we went to lunch....... CHURRASCO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY FAVORITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways, I love this city- I have a lot of hope for it!  This church is true, the book is blue, and God is a mormon!

Love you lots (and as cousin logan once did, here is a virtual hug: ***hug***) 

Sister Eliason

transferes............???

AND DRUMROLLLLLLLLLL...... I'm being transferred!!!! Along with my companion, Sister Filinson, we are both being transferred to the same area (WEIRD) where we will open the area for sisters! WOOOHOOO! This will be fun. Especially because I haven´t even finished my training... My companion has never opened an area before and I am in training and still have lots of troubles with the language. But the Lord will make us strong. As long as we are doing His work and trusting in His will, we cannot fail. Thus, I am thoroughly excited!  I feel good about this past transfer. haha All the pages in my planner for referrals, members, and notes are filled with referrals. It´s a good thing transferes are this week because I have no room left!

Well, we kind of knew that all of us sisters here in Campo Morão were going to be transferred (elders will probably take our place), so yesterday at church, there were lots of tears. It was a really good fast and testimony meeting, and I actually understood a lot of what was said. So I am pretty excited about that. 

Anyways, this week was a really good week- we found a LOT of people who seemed interested in the church and our message, so we made a lot of appointments for this week. The missionaries following us have a busy schedule this week :) For example, we were walking along the street yesterday, and a young man stopped us (actually he started walking along with us) and asked us about the church. He wanted to know what we believed and what the missionaries do. This does not happen often- actually VERY rare.

 One of the highlights of this week was when we had a member with us for an evening. We went to a certain neighborhood, and she mentioned how she had a friend who lived here. Our appointment for the evening fell through, so we decided to pass by her friends house. Well we got there, and I KNOW we´ve clapped at this house before, and I remember that she wasn´t particularly excited about us. Well this time when we were with the member, her friend invited us in. We explained a little about us and the church and mentioned how families can be together forever. Immediately this friend wanted to know more, so we ended up teaching the Plan of Salvation. We have a date marked to visit again (and she promised to have chocolate cake and fanta for us.) Of course it will probably be with elders, but whatever. My point is that MEMBERS ARE SO ESSENTIAL!!! When you have a member in your lesson, it makes the biggest difference! 

I love you all! Make this week great!

Com amor,

Sister Eliason

P.S. Disappointed about the superbowl. go broncos....  :(

 

I forgot to say, my new area is the city of Sarandi. woohooo! look it up, I know nothing about it :)

at the edge of the city. I randomly wore green and yellow and everyone said I looked like Brasil. :)

even when it´s POURING, we still work

fanta maracujá (passionfruit) BEST DRINK EVER