Transfers are today, but I´m staying here in Marília with my companion, Sister Moreira. Which is good- I like her :)

Well not a whole ton of stuff happened this week, just that I absolutely LOVED talking with you family on Christmas!!!!!!! Oh man, I am so grateful for Skype!!! I think it is every missionary´s best friend. Do you know what?! The next time I see you all will be IN PERSON! not even by skype! that´s weird to think about.

I am learning a ton- a lot about how to save water, how to eat mangoes correctly, how to teach better, and how to be a better disciple of Christ. I am so grateful that I could pass yet another Christmas in the mission field. I think it really helps me focus more on Christ and his perfect love. Christmas morning, I read during my personal study Lucas 2 (the birth of Jesus) then I continued reading reading where I normally am at in the New Testament, and it just so happens that I read about the atonement of Christ- when he suffered for us- for me, for you- in the Garden of Gethsemane and also on the Cross, and I realized that Christmas is not just about the birth of a baby- but it´s about the life of our Savior. WE celebrate his life and everything he did for us. And oh how I am grateful.

I hope that you all have a wonderful day, week, new month, and NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!! woooohoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! 

 

Love you all!

Sister Eliason

 

taking photos with one of the young women here :)

 

It's a Christmas Miracle!

MERRY CHIRSTMAS!!!

This past week was suuuuuuuupppppppppppppppeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrr AWESOME!!!!!!! 

On Tuesday we had our Chirstmas conference in Londrina with the whole mission! Oh, man, it was realllllly good- President Genaro gave a very spiritual training in the morning. Then every zone participated singing a hymn which we had preprapared. It was very enlightening, and I love conferences. It really boosts your spirits. After lunch, we had a zone talent show, and I don´t want to sound proud, but I think that our zone really had the best presentation- we did a skit of street contacting. 

We returned to Marília that night, and oh I slept well :)

Wednesday and Thursday and Friday were pretty normal. We taught our investigator Carlos every single day, and tried to teach many others, but this week, we had a ton of appointments fall through. Oh well, you just have to keep going.... 

Ah- last week, it rained (thunderstormed) EVERY SINGLE DAY. And this week, it´s been more than 100 degrees EVERY SINGLE DAY. and unfortuently, we live in a neighborhood where we had a lot of lack of water. For example, Wednesday, the water went out. Thursday, we got enough to save a couple buckets. Friday was drier than Africa. And Saturday, we took showers in the house of a member. I´m learning a lot about consumation of water. 

HEY YOU! YES YOU! WHEREVER YOU ARE- DON´T WASTE WATER!!!! It is very precious.

I´ve been thinking a lot about that one talk by president Utchdorf where he teaches to be GRATEFUL in your Circumstances. I am grateful for the little water that came out of the showerhead this morning- even if it was almost nothing and ice cold. 

NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Carlos was BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!

It´s been really good to teach him, and he was super excited and ready and willing and is now so happy! He will receive the gift of the holy ghost this next sunday and he told us that he is anxious to receive a calling. 

I´ve been very blessed with miracles in my mission.  

Love you all! Have a very merry Chirstmas, and family, I´ll see you this Thursday!!!!!

Love, 

Sister Eliason

 

 

Confessions

Confession: I haven´t eaten a panetone in a very long time. I hope to break this soon...

other confession: I am a very judgmental person. I guess the Lord wants me to learn humility and love for all of his children. And he blessed us with a miracle despite of my imperfections. Here´s what happened:

Tuesday night one of our appointments fell through, so we were walking in the street and saw a man near his house. When we approached, he tried to shut his gate, but we are persistant and speak loudly and he eventually came out to talk to us. He told us that he didn´t want to talk to us, but it must seem that God wants him to listen to us.... that´s good, right? But he smelled like beer and acted/talked a bit slowly, so we assumed he was drunk... ok, he probably was. Anyways, we invited him to come to church. And honestly, I didn´t expect him to, but guess who was our ONLY investigator in church yesterday? Carlos!  It completely blew my mind, and I feel ashamed that I was so quick to judge. 

 

I was so convinced that we have a ton of other investigators better- some references from members, some part-active families who are returning to church. these people promised us throughout the week that they would come to church- but NO SHOW. 

And so Carlos is really part of God´s plan. When church ended, he turned to us, and began thanking us a million times for inviting him. He told us that he wants to learn everything. He told one of the counilers in the bishopric that he decided to switch religion. It turned out to be a great day.

TOMORROW IS OUR CHRISTMAS CONFERENCE FOR THE MISSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE WHOLE ENTIRE MISSION IS GOING TO LONDRINA TO THE CONFERENCE! And so right now, we are in the center of Marília with our zone  (practicing a song and a show for a a talent show) and in a couple of hours, we are going to board a bus with missionaries from the city of Bauru and go to Londrina. And guess who is in Bauru? SISTER SOLIS AND SISTER COSTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do you remember when I was in a trio for the first time1??!?!?!!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!? Well they are companions again (as sister leading trainers) and this is the first time in a VERY long time I´m going to see them!!! It´s incredible how much love I have for the sisters here in the mission. I didn´t know this kind of love existed outside of my family and (of course) the love of God.

Mom, to answer your question: have I seen the video "he is the gift?" Only EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our days now revolve around this video- for every person we talk with in the street, we give them a little card inviting them to watch this video. And we show it to like alllllll of our investigators. And yes, I love it :)

hey love ya all! 

Sister Eliason

 

 

 

 

I´m dreaming of a white christmas.... ("we think you look really good in white")

NAME THAT MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHH I´m so ready for Christmas! Oh my goodness, guess what happened? I reached the one year, one month mark. Mymind is having a hard time accepting this, but my body isn´t... hahahaha! The mission really takes a toll on your body- I don´t know how elders do it for 2 years, or how Alma lasted for 14. Don´t get me wrong, a mission is a wonderful marvelous thing, but it does affect your body a little.... And by a little, I mean a whole lot. hahaha

Okkkk this week we are teaching a woman named Leila, and she is super awesome! We taught her several times, but my favortie part was when we invited her to be baptized. (and keep in mind, she´s already been to church several times). The conversation went like this:

me: Leila, will you prepare to be baptized by someone who holds the priesthood of God this Sunday?

Leila: *after thinking for a moment* Well I don´t have anything against it, so sure.

haha It was super hard to not laugh (because I´ve never had anyone respond like that.) Well it turns out that she was NOT baptized this Sunday because she didn´t go to her baptismal interview- after trying everything, we couldn´t get ahold of her.  (I think she had some kind of family emergency, where her grandson went to the hospital.) But that´s the mission, right? You have many ups, but there are many disappointments.

Something cool that happened: we marked a lesson more than 2 weeks in advance, and although I thought that he would forget about it, we went there. (even when we were SUUUUPPPPPEEEERRRRRR tired.) but we arrived and the man was really impressed that we kept our promise, and we ended up teaching almost the whole family (7 people!) and one of the adult sons came to church yesterday! Blessing from working hard even when you are exhausted. 

love ya all!!!!

Sister Eliason

FELIZ NATAL!!!!

guess what?! I tried on highheels for the first time in over a year... it´s a strange sensation.

We are learning how to cook:)

WE FOUND SISTER DOS SANTOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (my old companion!) In the city!

Londrina!

Olá people of my land! so I´m here in Londrina and it´s been awesome! We´ve been staying with the sisters here and doing divisions with the sister leaders treinadoras... and we went to church yesterday. And it was SUPER weird to see the sisters (not us) stress out about the investigators not coming to church and hustling and bustling to get everything and everyone happy. (sundays are the most stressful day as a missionary- probably why p-day is on monday) 

But we ended up having 2 investigators come to church, and we are suppppper excited!!! We taught one of them this week before londrina and she already visited the church last year but never received one visit from the missionaries.... AYYYYYYYYYYYAAAHHHHHHHHHH and she went again yesterday. she loves the church, and wants a change in her life. oh man, I´m so anxious to return to marilia and teach!!!!

But today, we are planning to enjoy a little of londrina- check it out! :)

well I hope eveyone is doing well.

 

Happy thanksgiving! I completely forgot until someone reminded me. Hope you had fun black friday also. 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I lOVE CHIRSTMAS MUSIC!!!! And I love our savior Jesus Christ!

Love,

Sister Eliason

p.s. don´t love your pets more than you love your own children.

we have a very lame hammock I´m trying to enjoy.