TUESDAY- December 25, 2012

happy chirstmas harry! 

Dear Blog Readers,

I will be talking on the phone this week to the fam- if you are lucky the will tell you how it goes.
Happy Christmas!

sister Mad.  

MONDAY - December 17, 2012

grass, gypsys and acne

Dear Blog Readers,

My prayers are to those of you who are in the states and all the shootings that are going on there. You would be interested to know that the Brasillians are praying for you all there. And they all want us to know all about how horrible the place we come from is. That someone could just kill children! Needless to say, the brasillians are very thoughtful and are praying for you all from far away.

And on a completely different note.

I love grass. I love it. I think i might miss more than anything the feeling of walking through grass during the summer with no shoes on. Here in Brasil, we have little grass. And the grass we have, you can not walk on. or through. Because welp...its tiny little patches. Keep this in mind when i tell you about how I met Carmen Lucia this past week. We were a little early to a previously scheduled appointment and the woman was not there. right as we were about to leave, i noticed another woman struggling with a big bad of garbadge. I offered to help her and the minute she caught my eye she said in perfect english ``oh sister i have been waiting for you!``. I was caught off guard to say the least. But soon enough we have the garbadge out of the yard and i look in her gate door to see GRASS. People. Seriously. Just like a big full yard of GRASS. and a few mango trees with very large, ripe mangos. I couldnt help but gawk and she started to laugh and told us to come on inside.

Carman Lucia is wealthy. That is a big big understatement too. The first part of her land is a large grassy mound with banana trees and mango trees. after the hill of perfect grass, you walk up to another orchard filled with another type of mango tree. And tree swings and an ancient play structure any child could get lost for hours playing in. Then there is a pavillion with fooseball and air hockey, and then up to her actual house that is in reality three houses, with a pool in the middle, along with a very large high school sized gym with workout equipment and a large gymnist mat. Visitng Carman Lucia consists of picking out a mango from the orchard, washing it, sucking the juices out and then being absorbed into her leather couch while answering her questions of God. She talked to the elders about 10 years ago. Shes interested to learn more. The woman was made to be a member of the church. I tell you she is golden.

Sometimes I catch myself really just daydreaming. I wont lie. I just sit there and realize...holy cow, this is real life. THIS IS REAL LIFE. And i have to pinch myself because it is so different than anything i could ever have experienced in any other way. Mission life is the best, craziest adventure you could ever have.

Which leaves me to -the gypsys. Yeah. That is how crazy this life is. We have gypsys in our area. And this past week i found myself teaching pauliana, an 18 year old gypsy who dresses like Meg (from hercules) and has been married for 6 years...yyou know since she was 12. And she lives in a tent with her husband. and they just...live off the land and make a living off of stealing electricty from the wires and selling horses.

umm yeah. mission life is THE life.

So with this all being said, sister sackley and sister anderson have been working. HARD. Like, we leave the house somedays at 10 and arent home until 9`:30 on the dot. and we make it home ontime only because we have run full speed to get there. This past week we had 33 lessons with a member present. It is stressful and crazy and we have a lot of moments laying in bed at 11 o´clock after planning everything just exhausted. But i really wouldnt have it any other way...except that the stress has made its way onto my head. Its very favorite place to stay. and brasillians dont have acne. So they think this red blochy business is super weird and they have all sorts of advice and stories about people they know dying from acne. (yeah right).  

I ended on an awkward note but i have nothing else to say. Love you all, have a fabulous week-stay out of the shooting scene!

sister mad

MONDAY - December 10, 2012

so sorry its late!!

thoughts on the little blue book

Dear Blog Readers, 

First of all, I spent the morning this morning with most of the sisters in the mission. I am pleased (more like thrilled jumping out of my skirt) to say that Carlos recieved the Priesthood this past week, and that their family is not only firm in the church, they are LOVING the blessings that come from the gospel. Also that Carlos cried when they found out I had left (oh that man). 

My thoughts are jumbled (as always) this week. It is incredible how fast the weeks go these days, we have little time to do anything and by the time i get my head wrapped around the fact its another week, its sunday. So without fail-random thoughts for your week by sister mad.

I finished that little blue book that everyones talking about these days last night again. You know, that crazy book those mormons have. For some reason this past week I have been a little loco. A little you know, out there. Because I had this strange dawning moment where I realized hey....this book, this book changes everything. This tiny book with just 531 pages changes everything in your life. 

We give the first lesson many many times everyday in which we invite people to read just a part of the livro de mormon and ask God if what we are saying is really true. I have been known to shake people when they say no. Or even when they just say sure. Because really, they should be wanting to snatch that book out of my hands. 

Because if what we are saying, that the man Joseph Smith saw God face to face, and restored the true and only gospel of christ again to the earth, if that is all true....well then that means you have got to be baptized. and you have got to be a firm member of His church. And really, what else makes sense? It blows my mind when people talk to us about how they are catholic, and their husband is evangelical and their children are baptists. If God is a loving, perfect God, how in the world does it make sense to have so many different caminhos? How does it make sense to have the same bible. The same word, but millions of translations. Every church has the bible. But only one has the Book of Mormon. I am not asking you to be baptized into another church, I am asking you to just give God a chance to remember his perfect gospel. JUST READ THE FREAKING BOOK. 

Off the milk carton. 

We are working with members up to my ears. It is incredible how much these members love the gospel. Jose Maria is a 60 something year old man that works monday through saturday painting. We ran into him saturday around 5 and asked if he could come to a lesson at 6 that night. He was in work clothes, covered in paint with his white beard stubs poking out of his very brown face (black santa claus). He said he could, and he kind of skip/ran home. An hour later we met up with him, clean shaven, shirt and tie with his large triple combo in hand. Hes a recent convert. And if everyone had the same desire and thrive to share the gospel that Jose Maria does, well i dont know. The world would be a better place, your missionaries would love you, and i am pretty sure most importantly, you would recieve a lot more blessings. Call up the missionaries in your ward and ask when you can go with them for a lesson. You will love it, they will love it more. 

Also to all my ladies going on missions soon (or men?) ADVICE-

-bring a little backpack. I have seen MANY elders with huge backpacks here and they hate them-you dont need a huge backpack! you need to fit a bible, a book of mormon, a water bottle and a few papers in your bag. thats it. dont bring huge luggers, you will hate it and your back will more. 

-bring a recorder on your mission-mine is from best buy, it was 60 bucks and SO worth it. I record with my comps and its hillarious to listen to. (Dad you can put a recording or two on the blog if you are feeling it)

-if you are state side, bring a triple combo and a bible, if you are learning a language, bring a mini quad. you dont need a huge english scriptures, you wont use them. and they take up space in your baggage

-DONT bring 4 flat sheets. bring a fitted and a flat. you dont need 4. bring pollyester and you are good to go. the whole four flat sheets is ridiculous., i had 4 and i am down to two and they are more than enough. 

love you all! 

sister mad

PICTURES!

flower de brasil

 sister anderson cleaning the drain (funniest moment of my life) 

sister andersons great drawing for jose so that he could understand the book of mormon. (note my sarcasm in great drawing)

the elders are looking a little young lately. 

jose got baptized!

yeah this area is very different then what i have been in before

otavio (a recent convert) and a cute old man we love

 more of lagoa!

hahahahahha note that jesus is both black AND white.

we had a meeting with a few sisters this morning so we took a couple photos! 

my american companions!

(we'll work on getting one of the recordings on the blog this week!)

Pictures from December 3, 2012

I ran in the chapel so we took a picture

oh did I tell you I fell again, same spot and all my last week in the favela of gutierrez? and it was in front of a ton of rapaz banditos too. win.

the little boys that lived next door to us that were both in love with my crazy american accent, and totally scared of me

last day with sister pereira

the bathroom (tradition) notice that the shower head in this house is DIRECTLY over the toilet. nice right? 

Check out Lagoa and tell me you are jealous of where I am living!

 our ward members are HILLARIOUS. 

me as a Japanese person

one of the boy scouts of brasil! thats for dad, since he is an uber scouter and all. haha. 

one with kelly (our FAVORITE person ever, she is an african goddess)

our fridge (notice that is all our food from the house...)

açai (my favorite thing to eat on pday-berries with banana. who is this girl!?)

our house

and our doorags, because we are too legit to quit.

MONDAY - December 3, 2012

japanese, portugues and Lagoa 

Dear Blog Readers, 

I am now living in what i feel like is a lot like lincoln city, cute little beachy town (with not a beach in sight). With that in mind, please also note that the internet connection has gone down A LOT and with lots of pictures being sent this week, i have little time to write whats been happening. so I will give you a three paragraph summary-

1. EVERYONE and their dog thinks i am from japan here. kids, adults, everyone. A lot of the time people ask me to speak japanese for them. which is hilarious because i think i look more brasillian than american, but whatever. squinty eyes for the win. 

2. yesterday we took a bus to Neves (Riber鉶 das Neves) and its a 45 minute harry potter knight bus experience with beautiful tropical green flying past the whole way. I sat by a woman who had lots of questions about the 创mormons创. 45 minutes later i realized not only had i answered her questions, she had understood me completely AND it was all in portugues all by myself. i might have high fived myself and then did a victory dance...in my head that is...

3. I am now living in a green grassy beautiful town, its just a suburb of BH, but it is no where near centro. the ward is incredible and we feel very blessed and that we have a whole lot of potential here. So i will let you in on a secret. President met with us and the zone twice this past week because by march they want to split the stake. The only thing is they need 80 more men to be baptized and reactivated by march. We feel extremely capable of accomplishing this and president thinks its more than possible. With this goal, sister Anderson and i also have a goal of 10 baptisms by the end of the year (standard of excellence is 4 a month) and all lessons with a member present. Our mission struggles to get 15 a week with a member present, this past week alone we had 24. This week we are shooting for 40 and if all goes as planned, it should happen. 

sorry this letter was very missionary numbered and probably didnt make much sense. I will write better next week i promise. also, pray for us? We are expecting miracles and all, but a prayer would definitely help :) 

thats all for now, love you all!

sister mad

p.s. GUESS WHAT? you can now email me. Email me as much as you want, however i will not be responding-i will have to handwrite you back, which now that i live in lagoa it goes by horseback to the states. Also, keep in mind i do still enjoy getting letters and i only have so much time on the internet, but you can email me till the dogs come home now. 

Pictures will be attached in next post! There are a lot! :)

MONDAY - November 26, 2012

The Miracle of Carlos Take Two

Dear blog readers,

Do you remember Carlos? he was an incredible man that was baptized in september, he changed my life and if you cant remember him, look for a blog post beginning of september to hear his story. 

{CLICK HERE TO SEE 1st  CARLOS BLOG POST)

Today I have more to add to the story of Carlos. just like any story, Carlos´ has ups and downs and this story starts with downs. 

To begin with, i left some details out of the first episode of carlos´ story because welp, i didnt have enough time on the computer. so i will start by saying when i met carlos, he was a very lonely man. carlos has three children and a wife whom had left for the boondocks about two years previously. something had gone down between him and his wife, she was DONE with living in the favela, and he didnt want to leave. so she did what many women here in brasil do, she took her things, her children and his heart and left to a descreet and small city in minas. they called back and forth, he still loved her, she still loved him....but the two are very stubborn and weeks turned to months which turned to years. 

the carlos i met in july was a very lonely man. it had been two years since seeing his family and they had begun thinking about divorcing. Of course, Carlos accepted the gospel in his life and he began changing. Carlos had a lot to change, and over the past 4 months i can honestly tell you that i can put ``marriage counselor`` on my resume. every night we would tell him carlos, call your wife and just tell her what you read today in the bible and the book of mormon. and tell her you love her. 

he did. and it was a very, very long process. i even got to speak with her on the phone many times. she lived so far into the boondocks, we have yet to send missionaries out there. we encouraged her to move back. she wasnt interested. that was beginning of september. 

Remember when carlos was baptized? it was an incredible day. And then, it ended. Unfortunately Carlos was paid an unpleasant visit by the devil himself the monday after he was baptized. And the friend brought a whole package FULL of anti-mormon literature. and unforutnately, he believed it. we visited afterwards, and after a full week of recovery, carlos was ready to be confirmed. however, he went into emergency surgury (for his foot) and was stuck at home for another month. talk about disappointment in my life.

It was november 11 when he was confirmed. we promised him his life would change for the better the minute he became a member of the church. and it totally did. 

sunday night he recieved a call from claudia, his wife. She had moved back to live with her sister....who lived just an hour away. And she wanted to talk things through...immediately. He drove a stick shift in the pouring rain with a cast on his right foot all the way to her sister´s house, where he picked up Claudia, and his 12 year old son deonata. 

But its been two years right? and they are totally different now, and she left him in the first place anyways! Can i be the first to tell you that this gospel changes lives. and marriages. and people for the better. He told her about the book of mormon. about the two american girls that speak bad portuguese, about being baptized. about the anti mormon stuff. And then, then they began reading the book of mormon together.

I recieved a call Tuesday morning after she had returned. Sister pereira picked up the phone, and almost immediately handed it to me. I first heard carlos, and that he had a really big surprise for me. and then i heard her voice. 

``Sister, when can i meet you? i want to be baptized.``

We met her Wednesday morning. She cried the whole way through the lesson. I cried the whole lesson. Carlos cried. Deonata made fun of my portugues.  Carlos called us Thursday morning angry and told us Claudia had been reading without him and had questions he didnt understand. Deonata read with them, and within two weeks they were just any other mormon family. 

I have it on good word Claudia and deonata were baptized this past sunday. Deonata has a bottle can full of change he is saving up for their trip to São Paulo this next year, you know when they will be going to the temple together. 

If 18 months out of my life and the stresses that come with it, and the having to learn portugues and the horrible skirts and the bugs and the sunburns and all that comes with mission work was all for just meeting this family, it was worth it. and i would do it again and again and again. 

love you all, 

sister mad.

p.s. I have been transferred! I got the call thursday night, and totally cried. I missed the baptism by TWO DAYS. I now am in Lagoa, a little town about 45 minutes out of BH with another AMERICAN sister! Her name is sister kelsey anderson, i totally love her and we are going to do a whole whole lot in this area. pray for us okay? we are expecting miracles before 2013. 

Pictures from November 19

All the Pictures from November 19th!

Rainy days in Brasil!

this dog LOVES me. and hates everyone else. no sei porque. 

so it was raining REALLY hard this past week and marias house is under construction so we ended up holding buckets over our heads for a solid 2 hours and helping her get all the water out of the house. (this is me and marcella. we are bffs.)

little kids here either think i am hillarious because of my accent or they are totally scared of me. this little boy LOVES me. for reals. 

a house that you cant knock on because they will kill you if you knock there (theyre really receptive to the gospel and the missionaries)

maria's baptism! i LIVE for these moments. look at marias face. that is a happy woman. 

a woman in the elders ward loves us and brings us food every single sunday night. winning! 

Ivan and Maria's baptism!!