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