Trio

FAMÍLIA!!!!!

    Ok, so I tried to send pictures, but it's not working on this computer, so you'll have to wait until next week to see..... My NEW DAUGHTER!

     Sister F. Santos is from Campinas, São Paulo, as is Sister Durelli, and she is such an angel. I was kind of afraid of her at first because she looked really serious, but I got over that quickly enough. She's super mature and extremely intelligent, and she has such a strong desire to work. Our first day out she walked right up to a man at the bus stop and started sharing the Book of Mormon with him without me or Sister Durelli saying anything. I don't even have to train this girl! I'm pretty sure she's the one training me and Sister Durelli. She's also so loving and sees the good in everyone. Basically, she's everything you could ever want in a companion. How am I so blessed all the time?

   Sister Durelli is a firecracker. She's more outgoing than I or Sister F. Santos, so she keeps the trio fun and spunky, and makes people not as scared of us. I was kind of bummed to be put into a trio for the third time (aka, more than anyone else in the mission), but I'm really loving it this time around! I feel like we three make a good team and we're all pretty chill. I'm super excited for this transfer!

      

    We started out the transfer with a baptism (woot woot!). Iasmin, the younger sister of Italo (who we baptized a month or two ago), has been close to the waters of baptism for the past couple of weeks but just never had the courage to go for it. Finally our Zone Leader, Elder Mariz, counseled us to tell her that instead of praying to know if she should get baptized, we should invite her to pray for the courage to get baptized, because she already knew that she should. It worked! The moment I invited her in this way, a light went on in her eyes and she smiled and said, "Yes, I'll get baptized this Saturday!"  It was a beautiful moment! Sometimes people just need to realize that they really already have the answer they've been seeking, but they just need the courage to do what they know to be right.

    On the morning of her baptism, Sister Durelli and I tried to prepare Sister F. Santos for whatever we knew would happen to stop the baptism. Something always happens. "It could be anything," we said. "Just wait, you'll see."

    As we were finishing up our morning study, Elder Viera called to tell us that the Church building was out of water (as was half of the city) and that the baptismal font wouldn't fill. "Didn't we tell you?!" we both said to Sister F. Santos. We then pulled our faith together to come up with ideas. Everyone here has those huge blastic water jugs, so we thought we'd ask all the members to bring one to help fill the font. We even started filling two of our own and went to knock on our neighbor's door to ask for his. He's the ward mission leader, our neighbor. He scoffed at our faith and said, "That's ridiculous. It'll take you all day and a lot of work! Just get permission to baptize on the beach or in the lake."

    Ohhh yeahhh, we thought. We live by the ocean! And by a lake! Then we got all excited to have a baptism in nature and called the Elders to see if we could get permission from President Andrezzo. President didn't give us permission. He told us just to use the font of another chapel close by. Why didn't we think of that?

    So we hopped a bus with our sweet little Iasmin in toe and left the city of Salvador (ooo, how exciting!) to hold the baptism in the neighboring city of Lauro de Freitas, where Sister Durelli had previously been serving.

    The new American Elder, Elder Hall (who finally got his visa after 7 months of serving in Colorado) got to perform the baptism and no one gave the poor guy a chance to practice saying her name before they both got into the water. Iasmin da Anunciação Santos. There was a good, awkward 5 minutes or so of Elder Hall trying to get her name right while every body in the room tried to put in their two cents to help him out, which only caused more confusion. In the meantime, both Elder Hall and Iasmin were bright red from embarrassment. Ha ha ha! Oh, how ya gotta love baptisms in Brasil!

    I'm glad to say that it was all smooth sailing from there on out. We're now preparing a young man named Edson to be baptized this coming week and he is SO shy that it's hard to teach him. The only reason we even know he's actually interested is that he keeps coming to church on his own. Sister F. Santos knows exactly how to talk to him, so I'm pretty sure the Lord put her here on purpose.

 Well, that's all for now, folks!

I love you all and I LOVE this gospel! GO ON A MISSION!!!!

-Sister Weezer 

It's That Time Again

September 23, 2013

 

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIt's Transfer time! Again. And I'll be staying here in Stella Mares (woot woot!). I'll be in a trio again, and training, again. This time it'll be with Sister Durelli (a classy 19-year-old from São Paulo who speaks fluent English and who's been in the same Zone with me for the past three transfers) and tomorrow I'm going to the mission home to pick up my new greenie. I don't know who it'll be yet. We've got 16 new missionaries coming in (the biggest group I think this mission has ever seen), and 6 of those are sisters. I think. Maybe it was 5? I don't remember. The point is, you'll all get to hear all about it next week! :D

   As for my baby, Sister Mártir, she'll be going with Elder Ray down south to work in the same district with Elder Leite (who was in my district and zone, too, for the past three months). It feels like everyone is leaving together for the same place, and I'm getting left behind :(  I'm super sad, because I grew so close with this District. But at the same time, I'm really excited for this new transfer and the party that will be my new trio! We're going to have so much fun, just wait and see.

    This past week we had our Sister Training Conference thingy and it was really great. All of the sisters in the mission (20?) stayed at the mission home the entire day, eating too much and having one inspiring training session after the other. It was every Elder's nightmare, with plenty of tears shed and heart-felt testimonies full of "I love my companion"ness. Good thing the Assistants were there to keep things real with their very masculine sense of humor. It was overwhelmingly fun to see all my former companions all gathered in one place. I wanted to talk to all of them at the same time! Everyone felt that way, so it was wild. Just imagine, all of those sisters buzzing around like excited bees in a hive, trying to talk to and hug everyone at once. Good times, good times.

    I'm convinced that my mission president and his wife are the best in the world. They just are. I feel so blessed to be here in this mission with these wonderful people! Everything is so GOOD!!!

    Alright, enough of this foolishness. Let's get serious here.

    Actually, I'm out of time already (how does his HAPPEN?!).  

So, I love you all! The church is true! Know it, live it, love it!

 

-Sister Weezer 

Cat Got Your Tongue?

    It's September! Again! Do you know what that means? Yes, that's right, it really HAS been a year since I packed up my life and got on a plane for Brasil. If you think that's crazy, you have the smallest idea how I feel.
On the 4th of September, the one-year anniversary of the day I left home, I attended the mission farewell of one Vítor. I'd watched him open his call three months previous and relived my own 4th of September as I watched him bid his friends farewell. It's amazing how much has happened since that day. I was such a shy, timid, weakling back then. Hah! Now I'm a .... well, I guess not that much has changed.... But I AM learning! You can be sure of that.

    We had another baptism this past week! A 21-year old  man named Fernando who was just burning with desire to be baptised from the first day we invited him. He had to quit smoking first, and he was excited to do it. He'd already tried several times before, but we promised him that this time would be different, because this time he wouldn't do it alone. He said he knew the Savior would help him and on Sunday after church he was baptized! I'm super excited to have him on our team as we teach others in his street.

    

   Brasil:

 A few weeks ago we were eating lunch with a member who showed us pictures of her cats.

   "This one likes to sleep. This one likes to play. Aw, and this gorgeous fat one got eaten by my neighbors."

    "Huh?" I asked, sure that I'd misunderstood her. 

    "My neighbors ate him. He was so beautiful, too! Imagine how my heart broke!"

     It was then that I learned the truth about the barbequed skewers of meat sold on the streets here really are. That's right. Cat-kabobs.  The venders call it beef, but now I've been warned that when the meet is super red, it's actually someone's Fluffy  that was snatched.  People here really have to look out for their pets.  Now I feel disgusted every time I walk bast the churrasco (bbq) stands.  I've since heard this same story from other people who have lost their kitties to such an end. 

 The moral of the story is: Don't eat red meat on the street in Brasil. Heh heh, rhymed.

 I love you all!!!

-Sister Weezer

Angry Bird

I think every missionary, when he/she sets of on the mission, has this secret hope that he/she won't ever have to teach the law of chastity in great detail. Especially during the awkward MTC practices. But I can honestly say now that I am completely comfortable teaching this lesson now. I have no shame. You get a lot of practice here in Brasil, where no one is ever married. Seeing the results of a society that doesn't value marriage has really strengthened my testimony of the divinity of this commandment. God really knows what He's talking about. That said....

    Hey everyone! It's another week and here I am in the chique, chique lan house, trying to remember what I'd decided to write home about. I've decided that the story of the angry bird deserves to be told.

     First off, you must understand that Sister Mártir loves animals. She really does! She just doesn't understand what they like and what they don't like. She hasn't learned to read the angry signs of sur standing up on end, teeth barred, growling, hissing, hiding, or glinting eyes. To her, every reaction from an animal is funny and cute and she'll just keep right on moving towards them to pick them up, pet them, swing them around, make them dance, etc.  I try to warn her to be careful, but she always just rolls her eyes and accuses me of not understanding animals.

    Will, a few days ago we were in the house of an investigator who had a little bird that looked like a miniature green and blue falcon. Sister Mártir tried to coax it onto her hand, and when it refused, she grabbed it in her hands (amidst squawks of frightened protest) and MADE it love her. Then, despite MY protests, she pushed it onto my shoulder. He looked at me and I looked at him for a few moments. Then the investigator said, "He gives kisses!"  So I made kissy sounds and the bird pretended to be all shy and then quickly touched its beak to my cheek, imitating a kiss sound, and then turned its head quickly away with birdy-shoulders raised to hide its face. It was so cute, of course Sister Mártir wanted to try. "Let me! Let me!" she said, grabbing the bird back and holding it in front of her puckered lips.

   I'd never seen a bird look more angry in my life. It literally looked like it had eyebrows lowered, with its pupils dilated. I tried to warn her to be careful, but it was too late. As my dear companion made kissy sounds and drew the creature towards her, the bird leaned in and bit her lip! 

    It was funny for me, and a good learning experienece for her. Since that day, she's been more careful with animals. She still has a mark on her lip to remind her.

Well, that's all I got time for today, folks. Until next week! :D

-Sister Weezer

Daddy Legends

 Good news, everyone: I can finally tell stories in Português and people understand them! :D  This was discovered this past week when I briefly told the story of dad getting knifed on his mission to Sister Mártir and Leonardo (our member friend who helps us teach a lot) and they were so impressed that a few nights later they brought it up again and begged me to tell it to a group of shirtless boys on the street.

    "Hey, tell that story about your dad!" Leonardo begged. And then, before I could say anything, he animatedly began to tell the story himself. "Her dad got KNIFED on his mission!"  

     Once the story had been told, the group of young men, laughing and gasping and impressed and excited, called out to other boys on the street to come hear the story. It became more and more elaborate with every telling.

     "Yeah, and her dad is this huge guy. I mean, he's a serious wrestler, I'm telling you! So he figures he's just gonna take out the scrawny runt who stole his watch." They really like the part about dad tackling the first guy (and more fist punches and martial arts moves were added in with each telling) and the hand-off of the watch to a second robber. I bid the crowd a good night before things escalated to "it was a car full of masked ninjas that drove up with samurai swords!"

      Happy Father's Day, daddy! You're officially famous here on the streets of Agua Suja. ;)

      It was father's day yesterday, right? It was here in Brasil, anyway.

   This past week was really great! We've been teaching a super golden investigator named Kiara. She's 23 years old and lives alone with her 7-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter. We found her while knocking doors and she looked at us like angels sent from God. She said she'd undergone surgery earlier that week and had promised the Lord that she would start going to church. Then she asked for help to know which one she should join. Bing! That's when we appeared on her doorstep. She has so many questions and is so hungry to learn anything and everything about the restored gospel. She and her kids LOVED church and all last week her kids were asking her when they were going to go back. One of the most beautiful moments o my mission thus far was the day that Kiara understood what repentance really means. We'd talked about it before and she'd been confused. She didn't understand how it was possible NOT to repent. Because in Português, the word "arrependimento" is also used for "regret". She said she always regrets it when she does something wrong, so she's always following Christ, right?  We explained to her that when you truly repent, you feel so much remorse for your sins that you will truly never want to do the same wrong thing again. The sin of which you've repented will become loathsome even to think about.  

     The next day, we were really rushing to get to all of our appointments, and she wasn't home when we had time to pass by her house, so we left a little sticky note with a message and a scripture on it for her. The scripture was Alma 7:11-13, about how Christ took upon Him all of our weaknesses and infirmities so that He would know best how to succor us.  The next day when we passed by her house, she told us that she'd received an answer to her doubts, and that Jesus Christ had communicated to her through the Spirit. "It was exactly as you said it would be," she said. Then she pulled out the scripture that we'd left on the sticky note and as she read it out loud  to us, she cried and cried and hid her face with her hands. "When I read this," she said, "the Lord showed me my future-- how my life would be if I continue committing the same sins I'm committing. I saw would would happen to my children." And then she cried and cried. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life Never have I beheld one so truly repentant. 

   Kiara is truly changing her life to be in harmony with the gospel. 

I love being a missionary so much!!!!

-Sister Whitaker

Random Titles

I know what you're thinking:  "What did last week's email have anything to do with the 90's?"

   Le' me 'splain. ... No, there iss too mush, let me sum up.  So I had this plan to explain how the dream of the 90's is alive in Bahia, but then in the whirlwind of hurry-and-write-before-your-time-runs-out-ness, I forgot. Suffice it to say, the pulling-up of short shorts and the shirts that barely touch the waistline of said shorts, the shoes, the hair, the makeup, and the way of life here in Bahia all would do the 90's proud. It sure gives Portlandia some worthy competition, if nothing else.

    On that note.... We had another baptism last week! Woo hoo!  He's a rediculously sweet boy of 14 years named Italo who had already made several visits to the church and to seminary with his member friend and who (aparently) several companionships of Sisters before us had tried to teach with no luck. But the time was just right for him this past week and he very peacefully and happilly accepted to be baptised. We'd actually been working with him the week before, too, and he'd wanted to get baptised that Saturday, but ended up having to go out of town over the weekend. His parents were very supportive of his decision and we're determined to work more with them and with Italo's sister, Yasmin. They are a beautiful family, and they are neighbors with TWO member families! :D  It was a really beautiful baptism and Italo melts my heart. 

    I've become the ward pianist. I've been so since Sister Santana left. It's pretty easy for me, considering that the piano here in Itapuã plays itself. The only reason I've been chosen to man it is because it only speaks English. :P  

    Before the Zone Conference last week, Elder Leite asked me if I could play the piano and I, thinking that he already knew about the self-playing trick, said "sure". Then, the night before the conference, he called again to ask if I could play two of the most complicated hymns in existance (which also happen to not be part of the self-playing piano's reporteour [spl?]) and as I insisted that it was impossible, he kept saying, "No, we have faith in you, Sister. You play very well!"

   That's when I realized. He thought I was actually PLAYING the piano!  He about died when I broke the news to him. The two complex hymns were already on the program and President Masagarde was going to come and we would have no piano accompaniamento. Thankfully, Elder André is a concert violinist and everything turned out ok in the end.

   But I'm finding that there's no end to the mistief that the self-playing piano is getting me into. Now I've been roped into helping with choir practice and everyone wants me to do all these fancy things, even though they KNOW that I'm not actually playing the piano. It really makes me wonder why I didn't practice more before the mission.

Well, I love you all! Thank you SO much for all the letters and emails and prayers! I promise I'm doing my best to write you all back!

-Sister Weezer

The Dream of the 90's

Bom dia, família e amigos! Como vai?!

This past week was pretty good! We worked our tails  off and were just all-around happy to be here. It occurred to me just how much I love my companion several times and that made the work even better. The Lord really knew what He was doing when He said, "go forth and preach the gospel two by two". At least, He said something like that.

 

     Speaking of putting words in the Lord's mouth, Bahianos really like to do it. Many of their favorite scriptures are nowhere to be found in the scriptures, such as, "the church is us." They like to use this to say that every individual person is the church of Christ and that attending an actual church is an idea of men. What I enjoy even more, though, is the little figurines of an open Bible with some cliché, anonymous quote in it that is made to look like a scripture so that people actually believe that it IS located somewhere in the scriptures. Last Saturday I was in the home of a member who had one of these and the son asked me if I knew where he could find the scripture that was written on the little fake Bible. I recognized it as a part of the "Footprints in the Sand" poem and had to break the sad news to him that it wasn't actually a scripture. He was heartbroken.

      

    Last Saturday was our Zone Conference and it was AWESOME! We had a counselor (?) of the Brasil Area Presidency there to speak to us and the spirit was so strong it felt like we were swimming in it. I didn't know that Area Presidencies are General Authorities before. Boy did I feel silly when I sat across the table from him during lunch and had the nerve to ask him. He was kindly patient with my lack of inteligence and helped me to understand that I was pretty much talking to an apostle. Then he asked me if I'd ever eaten at Chuck-o-Roma when I was in Utah and we all laughed and it was a grand ol' time.  After the conference was over, the chapel felt like the temple and everyone spoke in whispers, if they spoke at all. It was a wonderful spiritual boost!

    Highlights of the week:

    Yesterday we were in the home of a recent convert of the Elders who recently had a knee surgery and is unable to leave her house. So the Elders brought the sacrament to her and Sister Mártir and I taught a mini lesson. She was sitting in a rocking chair by her bedroom window, her leg propped up and a blanket across her lap. Elder Ray swatted at a mosquito with his tie and than Idassy (the RC) pulls out this huge can of heavy-duty bug spray that had been hidden at her side the whole time and sprays the tiny insect with enough poison to kill an elephant. "I always keep this by my side" she said smugly as she tucked the can away and rocked in her chair. I almost died from laughing so hard, seeing that sweet old lady with her hidden amo. I was seriously crying from laughing, and every time I thought about it I broke down into peals of laughter again. 

     On the same day, the daughter of Idassy gave Sister Mártir a dress in a bag. Sister Mártir wanted to wait until she got home to open it, but everyone insisted that she open it right then and there. Sister Mártir is tall and skinny. The dress was not. It was striped with every color imagineable and 100% without shape. As my companion held it up for all to see, I heard the voice of Donny Osmond in my head singing, "I look handsome, I look smart, I am a walking work of art..."

 

    I love you all!

-Sister Whitaker