Who's excited?!

Ok, I am soooooooo excited for this weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!! Can I get an haleluigha!? (Sp?)

ok bad thing: This is our last week before transfers and I don´t want to leave my companion or this area!! I´ve been here for 4 months.... but When we had interviews with Presidente Genaro he hinted REALLY strongly that I would probably be transferred. :(

TERÇA-FEIRA we had MISSION TOUR!!!!!!! Elder Mozart Soares and his wife came and spoke to us. I will note some highlights of my notes: (ah dang it, my notes are in portuguese and now I have to translate. :p )

- There are 2 types of missionaries (2 nephi 2:14)

    1. those who act

    2. those who receive action

Guess what kind of missionary we need to be.

- The part most difficult of working with all your heart, might, mind and strength, is your MIND. I have to control my thoughts better.

- D&C 42:48 Death is a pre-designation

- Revelation does not come without prayer. and Salvation cannot come without revelation. so basically salvation does not come without prayer. you gotta pray your hearts out!!!!

- Always ask member is they know somebody who needs to be reactivated.

-We have to RETAIN!!!! When we work in the work of retention, we will have a lot more baptisms.

- The sister missionaries of today are being prepared to raise a priesthood generation.

Other cool things: The members (including recent converts) went to the temple this week and had a marvelous super-fabulous time!!! There is another caravan in November and ALL of them want to go again!

Remember Weslley who was baptized last week? Well he is super firme!!! like he told us that he should have been baptized earlier! And he told his super catholic grandmother "if you would just go to the church of Jesus Christ, you would understand better..." ah! It´s awesome.

Everyday we can see the hand of the Lord. But it is usually in things that can be easily overmissed. I challenge all of you to WRITE DOWN how you´ve seen the hand of the lord in your life EVERY DAY!!

Love ya all!

This Church is True! 

We will hear the prophet speak this week!

Sister Eliason

And we may have has a sweet potato fight...

my companion lost the back of her earring, so she used a leaf the WHOLE day (and it worked!)

water and toes

September 22, 2014

ok I don´t know what´s going on, but on the bottom my big toe on my right foot has been itching incessently and I don´t know what happened!!
Whatever.

THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There was lots of water going on- it rained a tonnnn and we also had a baptism!!! His name is Weslley, and we actually found him as we passed by his house the other week. He was outside with his son and we marked to come back and share a lesson the next day. He accepted to go to church, and yesterday, entered the waters of baptism! Maybe it seems like it happened fast (it did) but you know, but he really was prepared. We taught him all he needed to know, and he was reading up (and understanding) the book of Mormon, AWESOME! He will be comfirmed this next week.

GUESS WHAT HAPPENED!!?!?!?!?!!?!?! The sister leaders trainers came this week and did divisions with us! And do you know who came?! SISTER COSTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My only companion for 3 weeks (because of the whole emergency transfer thing. and we were in a trio with sister solis too...) anyways, I love her soooooo much!!! We actaully did divisions all day, and we talked and talked and talked, and could have talked more, but our time ran out. but that day was good- we taught 10 lessons and talked with everyone in the street too.

AHHHHH!H!HH!H!H!H!H!H!H!HH!H!H!H!H!H!H!H!!H I´M SOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GUESS WHAT TOMORROW IS!? MISSION TOUR!!!! And elder Soares of the seventy is coming! WOOOHOO! This only happens once a year, and so this is the only misison tour I will go to in the mission. It´s going to be awesome!

Sorry fam, but I´m out of time! love ya all! THe church is true! Dad, that´s awesome all the geneology you are doing!

Love,
Sister Eliason

Baptism of Weslley!

SISTER COSTA E EU!!!!

Our view from the apartment

Cowboy hats, oranges, and hot sauce

Fun facts:

-We are eating a million oranges here. :)

-My companion eats oranges with hot sauce. (what can I say? She´s from Mexico!)

- Our investigator, José (79 years old) pulled out a ton of hats including cowboy hats and traditional Northeast Brasilian hats and let us wear them.

-This same investigator is kind of planning a wedding between me and his grandson (kind of awkward...)

- This same investigator came to church yesterday! WOOHOOOO!! But he came late and some member saw him outside trying to find the door to get inside and ran and got us. We found him climbing up the fire escape stairs... haha

- So technically it´s still winter right? Well PLEASE DON´T tell me it´s winter when it is 37C (98F) outside!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Almost dying here....

- Church yesterday was AMAZING!!!! It´s focus was on the family the entire time. We brought 2 new investigators to church and they both LOVED LOVED LOVED IT!

- We taught one of our investigators, Weslley, the Plan of Salvation, and the whole time his very Catholic grandmother was making comments that weren´t really important. At one point she said that the fruit Eve ate was an apple. But then again, nobody really knows. And then our investigator commented, yeah she could have eated a watermelon. Well it was so ridiculous that I burst out laughing.... just imagining eve eating a watermelon. Ok...

- WE MADE POTATOS OF OURSELVES!!!!!! Out of nylon- we are playing hot potato with the branch to get them to do missionary types of activities.

-I have the best companion ever!!!!!!!! She is always serving me!

- We are helping some recent converts with geneology!  (A couple that was baptized right before I got here, and Samara. Remember her?) Well she´s the best!!!! She told us the other day that she already has 84 names to do! They are planning on going on the branch temple trip on the 26th. AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! I AM SO HAPPPYYYYYYY!!!!!!

-We almost died several times this week! (not so fun...) First our shower wires to take a hot shower burst and started smoking..... then a lightbulb socket outside of ourbedroom started smoking randomly.... then a cockroach almost landed on the head of my companion.  BEWARE!!!!! THE COCKROACHES HERE ARE ENORMOUS AND THEY FLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They lord is here everyday. I see his hand and I am a witness that devine miracles exist.

Love,

Sister Eliason

Se você esta feliz, bate-as mãos....

This week was full of miracles and events that I wish would not have happened. soooo you could say it was pretty normal.

But we walked quite a bit this week, and let me just say, I´m pretty good at singing "if you´re happy and you know it" in Portuguese AND Spanish. Also, I´ve learned that it is impossible for me to roll my "r's" so this whole Spanish thing is a lot more difficult that I thought it would be... (but really- somehow I just can´t do it.)

Monday- I baked cookies for Sister Loyola´s birthday. I´ve made better. We also found a young woman of 21ish anos (I´m not even going to change that) named Nathália, who was pretty interested in the Book of Mormon. She said that she would go to church... hmmmm... we marked to return the next night to teach her. 

Tuesday- was pretty normal. Up until about 7 o´clock at night when this MASSIVE Storm passed though. We actually passed by the church to use the restroom and refill our water bottles (the church is a safe, clean pace to do so) when the storm started. there was wind and rain and hail (weird for brasil) and lightning and thunder and the power went out. Also, the youth were there for seminary, and one of them ran to close the outside door of the church, and she slipped and fell and cut herself really bad. She ended up going to the hospital to get some stitches... Anyways, after about 30 minutes, the storm died down and the power came back on, so Sister Loyola and I headed out. We passed by Nathália, who wasn´t there, and while we were leaving her house, all the power went out AGAIN! And it started raining hard. We opened the door of a beauty salon to see if we could take cover (and maybe get some contacts/teach a mini lesson) but do you know what the owner told us. "no- I was planning on leaving soon- you can´t come in here." AHHHHH!!! so there we were in the middle of the road, almost pitch black, and it´s raining and the wind is crazy, and I was a little afraid some tree was going to fall on us. But we booked it to our apartment building (20 min away) and ended up teaching a woman who lives the floor under us- so it ended up being good. 

Wednesday- we decided to check out an area that I´m pretty sure no missionary has gone before. We walked and walked and walked and tried to get some contats and whatnot, but nobody was interested and nobody said that they would come to church. So we learn from experience to never go there again.... But ALLL day, we say tons of trees in the road that had fallen from the night before- there was actually quite a bit of damage. I´m so grateful that we were protected.

Thursday- ZONE MEETING!!!! Mom and Dad, I got your HAND-WRITTEN LETTERS!!!!! Thank you soooo much!!!!! (Ah! I´m so proud of you!)  We also had a wonderful teaching practice that all our zone participated in! It was really really inspiring. I won´t go into details, but at one point, I felt like I needed to ask a question that was off topic. It was quiet for quite a while, but I just had a feeling to ask this question, and so I did. And it was PERFECT!!!! I was able to figure out what was the problem with the investigator. This was really comforting to me- knowing that I do have a right to recieve revelation- the spirit Knows the investigator, and while I don´t, the spirit will tell me what to say.

Friday- normal.

Saturday- we had interviews with president Genaro. BEST INTERVIEW EVER!!!!!!

Sunday- remember Nathalia from monday? We passed by her house so see if she would come, and when we got there, she was waiting for us with her dad AND grandfather. and they all came to church and stayed for the full 3 hours. MIRACLES HAPPEN!!!!!!!

Today- I will read the book of letters that mom sent me from my missionary cousins!

Love you all! Feel the spirit and uplift someone today. I read this morning that charity is a commandment.

Sister Eliason

hola, como estas?

August 1, 2014

WHAT? Am I speaking Spanish? Must be...  I´m pretty sure that God wants me to learn spanish... because my new companion is from MEXICO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!

For all those keeping track at home, I´ve had a companion from Paraguay, a companion from Argintina, and a companion from Mexico. All in a row. So yes, I´m learning a little bit of espanhol. 

Anyways my companion´s name is Sister Loyola and she is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can´t love her enough! I am actually still training- this is her second transfer, so I am finishing up her training. Actually I was a little bit nervous and felt very unqualified because today is her birthday (happy birthday to her) and she is turning 24! WHAT?! Yeah, she already graduated from law school and quit her job in a law firm to come on a mission. I feel like I don´t have to sacrifice very much just to be on a mission. I am learning a lot. 

This week was pretty good. We found a bunch of new investigators, got cut by some, and only had 1 in church yesterday. I was feeling pretty down, but then my companion told me to not get disappointed- we still have a lot to be grateful for. 

Then later that day we went to some investigators who went to church in a different branch (had a friend/member who invited them) and we marked some baptismal dates for this next sunday. I´m excited!!!

Ok- can I give you help of what NOT to do during church. So yesterday was the fifth sunday (duhhh) and thus the men and woman were combined for priesthood/relief society. Do you know what the lesson was on? How to clean the chapel and how to properly use the cleaning equipment. It was less than spiritual. I´m not going to say more about that.

haha ok- story I forgot to tell last week: We turned the water on to fill up the font for the baptism of Samara (who is doing geneology work to prepare to go to the temple this month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D) And then left to go to lunch. Usually the fonts here take about 3 hours to fill up. Well here we have a new chapel, and I´ve never filled up this font. Who knew that it only takes 1 hour? Not us... Anyways we were at lunch conversando with the other sisters and they said mentioned that the font only needs 1 hour, so we called someone who was at the church to turn off the water. When we finally got bacck to the church, he told us that he turned it off, but when we went to see how the font was, we realized that he didn´t know how, and that the water was still going. And may or may not have flooded the woman´s bathroom. hehe. and we may or may not have had to spend 45 minutes taking water OUT of the font and cleaning the bathroom.... hahahahah oh well. the baptism was WONDERFUL!!!!

Yesterday we sang in Sacrament meeting (the sisters) It was lovely.

Ok, I don´t have anymore navidades. (new news) 

Just know that I know this work is of the Lord- I see his hand in my life. I am so grateful to serve!!!!

Love ya all!

Sister Eliason




Tender Mercies
August 25, 2014

This week was absolutely amazing! First things first on my mind:

SAMARA WAS BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!! I don´t want to pick favorites or anything, but I have never been so grateful to teach someone like her. She has a love for us and the gospel. She tells us this a lot. Yesterday she bore her testimony in Gospel Principles:

"One night I had an argument with my mom about the church. She doesn´t want me to be baptized... it wasn´t very pretty, this arguement, and I left and entered my room. I started praying to Heavenly Father if this really is his plan for me, if it is worth it to continue learning these things. Right when I was at my lowest point, the missionaries called me to see if how I was. They comforted me and told me to continue reading and praying and that this is the path to happiness. I know for certain that Heavenly Father answers my prayers and he loves me. Yesterday, my mom even came to my baptism."

THIS is why I am a missionary. I cannot even express how I feel to help change the lives of people like her for the better. I don´t think I´ve ever felt so much happiness in my life.

That said, this work is EXTREMELY HARD!!!! (We had like nobody at church yesterday, and all of our investigators are turning wishy-washy.... nobody is progressing.) But I have faith for this next transfer.

 Today is transfers, and I will stay here, but my companion just got an email saying that she will be transfered... I´m sad, I´ve really grown to love her, but thus is the life of a missionary.

Hey, give references to your local missionaries!!!! They will love you! If you don´t have any references, pray to find someone. Like it says in Preach My Gospel, maybe you talked to someone who needs the Gospel YESTERDAY. 

This week it is getting SUPER DUPER HOTTTTTTT!!!!!!!! time to pull out the sunscreen...

How are you all? Good luck bros with school- and Tyler with sophmore year of college! Don´t go on TOO many dates- you´re not allowed to get married until I get back, ok?

Pray with faith. 

Love,

Sister Eliason