This is it- the last email.

Where do I begin?! So many wonderful things happened this week that I could spend 5 hours writing about just this week. So how an I expected to write about my mission? 

Remember the one young woman named Bianca that we found and showed her the "Because he lives" video? Well

 yesterday,

she 

was

BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!

The Lord tests our patience and faith, and sometimes it´s hard to continue, but he is ever MERCIFUL. Bianca is really, really special. I really love her so much- how is it possible to gain such love for a whole country? I really love Brasil. 

And right now it´s hitting me that I´m going home. OF course I´m excited to see my family and go to the temple and everything, but oh, how I will miss this beautiful country where the people´s hearts are so warm and open.

It´s hard to say goodbye.

I have never felt so much love as I have felt for my companions. The Lord has really blessed me with companions that I love with all my heart, and have helped me become more like my Savior. 

It´s hard to say goodbye to my Mission Presidente and his wife, President and Sister Genaro. What a grand example they are to me. 

I love this language, Portuguese. Who would have ever thought that I would be able to speak and understand a different language very well in just a year and a half? Who would have ever thought that it would be extremely difficult to speak english. (all those at home, beware: the last time I spoke english was over 3 months ago... nobody in the house here speaks english.) 

Also, little things: mom, please pull Preston and Brandon Blake out of school to see me at the airport. I´m already very sad that I won´t be able to see Tyler because he´s working in a different state (over 2 year and a half since I´ve seen him) and Tanner because he´s serving a mission. But please, let me see my other brothers as soon as possible.  Everyone´s invited to me ver (oh no!!!) *see me when I get home!! (May 7th.)  

So I arrive home Thursday morning... can I go to the temple thursday afternoon?

Oh man, this is the last email I will send home encouraging all you to be better missionaries- better examples. wow. I didn´t think it would be so hard to say good-bye. 

But I feel very satisfied with my work- I have felt like an instrument in the Lord´s hands so many times. I am honored he has trusted me as his servant. I know this gospel is true with all my heart. I can´t express it with other words. I love my Savior. I believe in his redeeming atonement and am forever grateful. 

I love you all. Very much. 

See you soon :)

Sister Eliason

Missão Brasil Londrina

P.S. please switch my email address: eliasonbl@gmail.com or contact me on facebook!

What I feel I need to say

I have a million bajillion things on my mind that I need to say, so sorry if it´s all kind of out of order.

First off:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRANDON BLAKE!!!!! (APRIL 22) 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLER!!!!!! (APRIL 24))

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!!!!!! WE ARE A FOREVER FAMILY!! (APRIL 25)

And thus our annual family party week has begun!!! Save me a piece of cake ok? (no, I´m just kidding!!)

Ok let´s get down to business. (name that movie. easy. everyone knows it.) 

So as it turns out, I am coming home quite soon, and as such, I will have the opportunity to eat many things which I have not eaten in a year and a half. So I have put together a list of delicious foods I would like to eat in the first or second weeks home (no, I am not being trunky, just prepared):

 -root beer (let´s not do barques, ok?)

- chinese orange chicken

- that one sandwich of roast beef that you dip in sauce (I don´t remember the name of this food)

-stir fry

- cheesecake with raspberries

- that one spiral chip I love (you know the one. I just forgot the name)

- ribs :)))))

- taco salad

- pizza (it´s a given :)) 

Next: This week was awesome!! Actually it was pretty hard- we are struggling to find investigators that have real interest and will actually progress.... And we marked 7 appointments on saturday... but all of them fell through. Until the last one. Well, actually it fell through too because the man we talked with on the street and marked the appointment, he wasn´t there, but his daughter was. Her name is Bianca, and we showed her the church video "Because he lives" and then I asked how she felt. She told us she felt different- good- something she´s never felt. We invited her to come to church, and she came yesterday. She is someone that has real intent. Really. We learn in Doctrine and Convenants that the Lord´s elect understand and harden not their hearts to the truth. When we taught her last night, it was very, very spiritual. When I cited the first vision, you could tell she believed. I never get old of this experience. It doesn´t happen often, but it is a tender mercy of the Lord. 

It´s funny, as I am ending up my mission, I guess I expected the work to die down as well, but on the other hand, it´s hastening. We are constantly looking for more people to teach and bring to church and to BAPTIZE!!!! 

For now, I challenge you. Make a list of all your favorite, cherished people in your life. Can be anyone. Now who is the first person on the list NOT a member? Now GO! tell this person you love him/her and bare your testimony.

Love you all,

Sister Eliason

The sun is setting...

I realized that the sun is setting on my mission. I have to give everything I´ve got!!!!!!!!!!!! All my force and everything. Soak in these last moments... But at least when I get home, I won´t have to walk with a huge hole in my left shoe... (I'll send a picture someday....)

But anyways, this week I´ve regretted all the times I thought French class was boring and didn´t even try to remember French after 11th grade. "WHY?" you may ask.... Well because there are so many HAITIANS here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are such a loving people who are searching for God and love missionaries. They are incredibly poor, incredibly happy, incredibly loving people who sometimes understand portuguese. We taught and brought a Haitian couple to church yesterday, and the husband (Mackso) speaks and understands portuguese very well. However his wife, (Natasha) speaks only Creolo (French.) And well, I don´t remember anything. 

Funny story: We taught a different Haitian man, and he lived in the Dominican Republic for some years, so he speaks fluent Spanish. And well, my companion, Sister Vargas happens to be from Peru! So we had a lesson in Spanish! (Tanner (Elder Eliason), are you proud of me?!) I really don´t know anything, just know how to bare my testimony in Spanish, so my companion basically taught everything. But it was kind of awesome, because I understood almost everything!!!! 

The man who came to general conference, Jamil, unfortunately didn´t come to church yesterday because he traveled to Mato Grosso (another state) to look for a job.... surprise. But we will continue to try to visit him and teach him whenever he gets back.

Hey, I love you all!!!! Hope you have a fantastic week! I know the savior´s hand is in our day to day life.

love,

Sister Eliason

 

 

Lovin' it all

This week was pretty good- we had some good experiences with the new video "Because He Lives." Sister Vargas and I decided to enter in as many houses as possible, be annoyingly persistent, and show everyone this short video. Well the first experience we had to show someone was kind of funny. We walked down a street, trying to find a house, but saw a man outside on his porch. We approached him, and immediately asked if there was a woman in the house. When he affirmed that yes, there was, we asked if we could enter and show him a short video about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He let us in, but then we had to spend about 10 minutes fiddling with his DVD player, and amidst all the cords and wires and behind the TV, I realized that we never even asked his name. So we asked what his name was, and introduced ourselves. Well, we finally got the DVD player to work, and showed him the video and bore testimony about Jesus Christ. And he started crying. A lot. He grabbed a towel and everything. It was such a sweet moment.

He came to General Conference yesterday with his son, and we will go visit and teach him tonight. 

Unfortunately we were not able to watch the woman´s conference or the priesthood session, as they start at 9:00 at night, the same time we need to be inside our houses. So we´ll just wait until the Liahona gets here.... but by that time, i think i´ll probably be home....

But that´s about it. I love my companion- she´s awesome! I love pastais. I will learn how to make pastel dough so I can make a bunch when I get home. i love the profet. Hope he is doing well. I love general conference (does somebody know why Elder M. Russel Ballard and Elder Richard G. Scott didn´t speak?) I love that I understood everything because I watched it all in portuguese. 

 

I love you all. And I love my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Love,

Sister Eliason

 

​my companion loves cats.

one of our "Because He lives" we passed out. We found this our first day of distribution :(

funny tree

"welcome home" - we found this guy in our house when we got home last night.

​With some of the sisters at the conference yesterday!

​I asked a woman if I could use her restroom. There was a chicken living there.

 

​ovos de pascoa!!! (easter eggs!)

ohh loco!

So this week. Well I´m supppppper excited for General Conference!!!! Not only will we hear a living prophet and apostles, and feel the spirit super strongly and receive answers to our prayers, but guess who I´ll see? Just for those who don´t know, I and once again serving in the Maringá stake, the same stake as my first two areas, so I´m going to see all the members from my first two areas, Campo Morão and Sarandi!! wooooohoooooo!!!!!!

My companion is Sister Vargas and she´s from.... (drumroll please!) PERU!!!!! From Nasca!  And she´s super excited about everything! So it´s fun to work with her. 

This week we found a bunch of people to teach, which is good. So we found and taught a young man and then yesterday walked with him to church.  And i thought that sacrament meeting was very good- I felt very uplifted. But afterwards, this young man told us that he had to go home and not stay for sunday school, he told us that he didn´t feel good and refused to let us mark and hour to pass by. and we tried to give him a book of mormon, but he refused. AH! it´s so hard when this happens, because you try so hard to share with people what you value most and BAM! direct rejection. In your face. The thing is, if you are there to learn with an open heart and trying to feel the spirit, your will feel WONDERFUL!  But, as that one hymn goes: Let us all press on in the work of the lord.....

Love you all! I know the church is true and there is ALWAYS someone you can share your testimony. So go and share it! This gospel is the most important thing in the world! Without it, and without Jesus Christ, we are nothing!

Sister Eliason

 

 

what I thought I knew.

I thought that I knew about the transfer- everyone said that my companion and I would stay together here in Morangueira. Well I guess the lord has some other plans because Sister Garcia is leaving. WHAT?! It came as a shock. 

This week was a bit difficult, but we toughed it out and ended up teaching a part member family yesterday, and the other part (the non members) told us that they will come to church next sunday. I have a very good feeling about this...... :)

Oh man, I kind of very sad (I know that doesn't make sense) about transfers and I can´t really remember very well what happened this week. It´s all a blur. 

WHO WILL KILL ALL OF THE COCKROACHES NOW!?!?! Sister Gracia and I made a deal that I would kill all the spiders (After killing all those wolf-spiders in our house and Virgina, these spiders are nothing)  and she would kill all the cockroaches (which I find are incredibly disgusting.) 

I heard that my new companion is Hispanic. Another hispanic!!! i guess this is a sign that I really do have to learn Spanish... she being my 4th hispanic companion. 

Hope you are all well. Feed your missionaries. Go to church early and listen to the prelude music. Be a peacemaker. Read Preach My Gospel for FHE. And PREPARE FOR GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!

lOVE YOU ALL!!!! 

lOVE,

SISTER ELIASON

 

The sad face foto was when we learned about the transfer.  :(

 

I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful....

Many things happened this week! But first of all, I hope everybody is doing well and reading their scriptures every day! A recent convert yesterday shared with me that she read a scripture which answered her worries and gave her an answer of exactly what she needed to do with her life. It´s awesome when someone tells you that!

So big events:

Friday AND Saturday, it DIDN'T rain. WOAH! :) 

Thursday was one of the best days of my mission- ZONE CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!! I love love love love love love lvoe love lvoe love love love love love listening to the trainings of President Genaro. I try to write down EVERYTHING he says because it is ALL inspired. A cool activity which we did was this. Before the conference everyone was told to bring their area book. So we did, and at one point, we traded area books with another companionship, and after saying a quiet prayer with our companion, we had 10 minutes to find 2 people in the area book that the other missionaries need to contact. It was all about revelation, and was a moment of spiritual growth and confindence in the Lord. You could really feel the spirit was there. 

 

After the morning training, we had lunch, then came back and the assistants gave a training about how to use the "My Family" genealogy booklet. Then President Genaro spoke again. This time about the Atonement, and if just the subject doesn´t get you crying, just wait until you are in a President Genaro training. At one point, we were all given a small nail, and with our eyes closed, president Genaro at the pulpit, every time he said a word, we had to press the nail into the palm of our hands. (not super hard, but hard enough to feel a little pain.) He said words like "contention. Resentment. Being really really trunky. Disobedience. Laziness. etc." 

I know that although this mission is very hard- the hardest thing I´ve ever done in my life, I am getting to know my savior better. Sometimes it´s frustrating. like when you see some lazy missionaries having lots of baptisms and sometimes it feels almost unfair. But that´s when you have a lesson about humility and just have to work harder. Know that the Savior knows how you feel. Knows how much you are hurting and striving, and you have to just trust that the blessings come in His timing. 

Love you all. A whole heck of a lot.

Love

Sister Eliason

 

some fotos of the zone conference. Some old companions were there!

 

March 9, 2015

This week was kind of crazy! We have 3 couples we are teaching, and it´s awesome because we are praying and fasting to find and teach and baptize a family. And the ward council is doing so with us, so that´s awesome! Unfortunately only one of these couple came to church yesterday, but it turned out pretty good. (And they have a car!!!!!!!!)  We (sister Garcia and I) love them!!! Bruno and Mayssa. Pretty much they know that they have to be baptized. And they know that they have to read the BOM and they know that they´ll get an answer. But we have faith and hope :)

The zone leaders helped us out this week- they did a division in our area (well to really a division.... just took a day to work in our area to help us find new investigators.) and they really helped. So Sister Garcia and I made them cookies, one of which was in the shape of the baptismal symbol (see the foto I sent.) 

But this week was pretty spiritual- our zone had what we called a "holy week" where we really focused on the work and didn´t talk about our past lives or family much or really anything not related with missionary work or the gospel. It was kind of hard, but we had some pretty spiritual experiences. 

Saturday night, we held a ward activity that we, the missionaries were in charge of. We had everyone sit as though they were on a plane. And then, with sound effects and everything, the plane was getting ready to crash, and everyone had 30 seconds to write on a piece of paper their last thought and wishes towards their families. Then we collected the papers. And in front of everybody, we tore them all up, as though they meant nothing. It shocked everyone. We then read Jacob 4:3-6 and told everyone that when we neglect to read the scriptures, it´s as though we are tearing up all the work done by the holy prophets. The activity turned out great!

Something not so spiritual: it seems like everyone is on strike here. All the public high schools are on strke here in Paraná and haven´t been in session in over a month and a half. Then all the truck drivers have been on strike for more than a week because of something that the president said. So prices of everything have been skyrocketing! Last week there were no bananas in the supermarket!!! (but luckily our neighbor gave us a TONNN from her ranch!) And because of the lack of truck drivers, the post office is at a standstill, and yesterday we found out from a hurt woman on the street that the hospitals are on strike too.... 

I don´t want to say all this to worry you, but WOAH! It´s a little crazy! But don´t worry- we are all doing fine :)

Pray for Bruno and Mayssa. I´m super excited about them. Love you all!!! 

 

Keep well!

Sister Eliason

 

 

cookie in the shape of a baptism symbol

millions of types of bananas

my shoe died. Sister Gracia´s also died.

 

Lookin´ up

We´re looking up figuratively of course. And at night when there are stars before 9:00.  

This week was insane!!!!!!!!! And I´m super happy! Of course I had some difficulties. But, we kept going. WE are continuing to teach Vitória (the 12 year old) She´s already been to church 2 times and also to mutual. But the bishop wants us to work with her mom more, who really isn´t interested in anything. But we will continue teach and pray. And fast. That´s what we can do .

Also we taught  some references from members this week- one being the nephew of the bishop. He went with us to teach his nephew, Bruno and his wife. I was super nervous!!!! They were already taught by the elders some years ago, but the bishop put a lot of trust in us (he loves sisters!) and really wanted a lesson. I felt super nervous- like I needed to be the PERFECT teacher, but it ended up being suer spiritual. They came to church yesterday! I´m excited to teach them more this week.

But here´s the miracle (well one of the miracles):

Saturday was a super long day- almost all our appointments fell through. We got back to the house exhausted. Then the Zone Leaders called and challenged everyone to leave the house the next day BEFORE 7:00 AM, and invite everyone in the street to come to church. Well... I´ve never had any success with this. But we are trying to be obedient, so we got up extra early and left at 6:59. We got to the end of our street and turned left, got about 5 steps, then turned around- the opposite direction of the church. But we felt better. So we talked with everyone in the street, and NOBODY accepted- got rejected a bunch. Until we were talking with one woman in front of her house, and saw a man pass by- someone we had already contacted some weeks ago. We tried to find him, but it seemed like he had turned the corner. So we ran to the corner and looked down the street, but decided that he was nearby. So we ran down the street, and there in the distance, there he was! We literally ran to him, then acted like it was a coincidence we found him. all in all, he came to church with us! Even though it was 40 min walk from where we were. It was awesome! 

I´m super happy about the work here!

love, sister Eliason

starting over

Let´s just say that I'm super jealous that Elder Tanner Eliason received lindt chocolate balls and peanut butter in a package. I got a bag full of garlic salt...

But mom, don't worry, I know you still love me.

This week was insane!!!!!!!!! But it´s a wonderful thing that my companion is a hard worker.

Although it was our 2nd week here, it felt like our first- we are still getting to know the area, the members, still cleaning the house, still finding cockroaches, and still struggling to find progressing investigators.

We had a call this week saying that we are going to break a record, so we were all asked to do 150 quality contacts before Friday. Then teach all day Friday and saturday.   so we did 67 contacts on Wednesday and 59 on Thursday. And it rained alll day both days. And my poor companion got super sick on wed (cough, cold, and low fever), so we went to the 24 hour clinic friday then headed off to teach all day! It's a really good plan, but didn't go too well on Saturday because most of our 8 appointments either weren´t home or the house didn´t exist. 

Vitória (12 year old) went to church yesterday and although had to leave before YW, really liked it. Unfortunately her mother, who went the week before, has turned really wishy-washy and just wants to argue with us about coffee. But when we went to teach Vitória last night, we had a super spiritual lesson about the restoration. And when we told her that we had a living-day profet, she got super happy and couldn´t stop smiling. And me too. It was a super happy and spiritual lesson, and when we said the closing prayer, she cried. AHHHHHH!!!!!  so good :) 

sorry fam, I´m all out of time. love you all! The church is true! If you pray with real intent, Heavenly Father will answer.

Sister Eliason

huge leaves

HUGE NEW WASHING MACHINE!!!!!

My feet after a day in the rain

Morangos (strawberries)

CONGRATULATIONS TYLER!!!!!!!!!! I CAN´T BELIEVE YOU´RE ENGAGED! NOW I´M FINALLY GOING TO HAVE A SISTER!

no, we havn´t been eating lots of strawberries. Just that I´m back in the Zone Moranguira (nickname: Zona morango.) My first two areas were in this same zone (campo mourão and Sarandi) and now we sisters opened an area in the Moranguia Ward. And I´m thinking that I´ll probably have my last transfer here, so that will make exactly 9 months in this zone. For those counting at home, that´s half my mission.

Good thing I like this area.

But what´s even better than my new area is my new compaion! Sister Garcia is from the interior of the state of Rio de Janeiro. SHE IS AWESOME!!!!!!! She is super kind and hard working. She teaches very well and I´m always learning something from her.  I feel like we work well together, and I´m super happy to be her companion!

Good news and Bad news. I´ll start with the bad news. 

Bad news: we moved into a house where 6 elders last lived. It was disgusting. Very Very Very disgusting. We spent 2 whole days cleaning it, and 5 hours of our precious p-day today. It´s really sad because I lost a little of respect for elders. And what´s worse is that our Zone leaders lived there last, and when we talked to them, they told us that it was clean, it was fine. Apparently they didn´t see all the cockroaches or spiders. Well we sisters certainly have grown close cleaning this house!

Good news: We met a woman and 2 of her children and they came to church yesterday!!!!!!!! Her name is Marisa, and although she smokes, she is completing her goals to stop. We are helping her. Funny story: yesterday in church, all the young women were at stake camp (all 2 of them) and we brought one of the daughters, Vitória (12) to church. So the two young women leaders taught a lesson especially for her. We went too, so she wasn´t alone. Now if it were me in this situation, I would think that it was a little weird: two adult women giving just me a lesson... but Vitória LOVED it! She thought it was AWESOME that he got her own personal lesson. She´s excited to be baptized! :) 

I love teaching this family. They are really progressing, and when Marisa prayed for the first time, she cried. There is something so sweet and sincere about an investigator´s first prayer. I love it so much.

That´s it until later!!! Love ya all!!!!!

Love,

Sister Eliason

 

my companion

the house

the zone

we made soft tacos!

 

12 semanas

Yes, for all those who know what that means, I have started my "doze semanas" (12 weeks.) It´s that amount of time you get trained when you start the mission, and everyone knows that it passes super quickly.

And..... I´m being transferred! Back the the zone Morangeira. That is the same zone as my first 2 areas. It´s in the city Maringá. (really big!)

This week was not too interesting. We taught a wonderful woman named Glaucia. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying and is feeling the difference in her life. She went to church yesterday  and felt a lot of peace, which is what she´s been hoping for. 

Ah- I´m sad to leave Marília. The members in this ward are super awesome! And I´m going to miss many of them a lot.   

                                                                                  

I don´t have a whole lot to say, but I am just grateful for the scriptures and also for prayer. only the lord can give you the strength you need. Only He can bring peace to the soul.

love you all! feed the missionaries! (but don´t force-feed them!)

Sister Eliason

 

 

I lack creativity.

I lack creativity to put a clever phrase as the subject line, so you´ll just have to bare with me.

Some very awesome things happened this week. 

 

First off, we had interviews with Presidente Genaro, and oh my goodness, how in the world did i get so blessed with the best mission president in the world? He knew exactly what I needed to hear, and I KNOW he is inspired. While in the MTC, an apostle (I think elder Cook) said that most missionaries are assigned to our missions because we need to learn something from our mission presidents. All in all, I am very very very blessed. It´s been awesome because I´m receiving his guidence 4 days in a row!

Fri-interview

Sat- Stake conference

Sun- Stake conference again

today- letter from the president

I just want to brag a little about the ward in which I am now serving. I´ve noticed that this ward has a VERY VERY strong young man program, and I found out the other day why. Every sunday immediately after church, the leaders gather with the quorems (sp?) and see which young men didn´t come that day. Then the leader takes the class (of the deacons or teachers or whoever he is in charge of) and the whole class goes and visits the young men who didn´t come. Imagine, 3 or 4 of your friends come visit you and ask why you didn´t come. Let´s just say it´s effective. And AWESOME!

Oh family- I got your Christmas card... and I´m disappointed that it wasn´t the super goofy photo you sent to me. But I did laugh when I saw that preston´s name was spelled wrong.

Today, Sister Nascimento (who lives with us) cut my hair!!!! Not a whole lot, just trimmed it. 

Hope you are all doing well. Keep safe!

Always do what´s right, even when others around you are not. It´s difficult, but it´s how we learn to be more like Christ.

Love you all- praying for you every day.

Sister Eliason

 

 

Celestial

I´ve decided- Brasil is getting to be pretty celestial. You know how the celestial kingdom is compared to the light of the sun? Well here, I feel like we are almost living on the sun. haha (Let´s go sun protector and umbrella!)

This week was kind of difficult with our investigator, Sabatião. That one man I spoke about a week ago... well I guess his daughter said some things to him which made him turn very very Wishy washy, and not wanting to promise or even DO anything. He went to a baptismal interview, but refused to even say a prayer. He told us that he likes church, but doesn´t want to promise anything. Practically what he said was "you can keep visiting me, but I´m not going to progress." And well, it was very sad, but yet again, we have to let people use their free agency.

We had a 10 year old girl come to church yesterday (picked up by a member!) and to tell the truth, she LOVED sacrament meeting! What can I say? I love it too!

Guess what happened!!!! Wednesday, someone clapped at our portão and guess who it was?! SISTER COSTA AND SISTER SOLIS!!!!!!! My old companions!!!! (we were in a trio together) and they were here to do divisions (they are the sister leaders trainers!) So I spent all ay with Sister Solis and it was heaven!!!!!! I learned so much (be more persistent in the contacts and have more patience with recent converts, etc.) It´s amazing what kind of love you develop in the mission. It´s incomparable.

I believe I am understanding more clearly the significance an importance of the atonement in the mission. Every time I teach the Plan of Salvation, talk about Adam and Eve, think about repentance, I feel my testimony of the atonement grow. It makes so much sense and really was an act of true love. Love on the part of Heavenly Father and also Jesus Christ. I doubt I will ever have the capacity to understand it completely, but I am just so grateful. It gives us strength in moments when we are weak.

Out of time. Love you all tons.

Sister Eliason