E aí pessoal, espero que vocês estejam bem. This week was pretty good, had transfers and you’ll never guess who my companion is. It’s Sister Fuller!! The OG companheira is back baby! We are chilling in Arcoverde 1 and are already having so much fun and success here. We are both just so ready to be the best missionaries we can possibly be. I loved my trainers but after a while, you feel stuck or trapped in a little box and you just want to break out and be your own missionary.
Other exciting news, tomorrow is my 6 months mark! It has been so fun reuniting with Sister Fuller and seeing just how much we have progressed in this short span of time. We went from having to script every lesson and butchering every syllable of every word to being able to communicate and help others feel the Spirit through scriptures and testimony.
We’ve definitely changed in other ways too, I’ve got some strange Brazilian habits that I didn’t even notice until Sister Fuller pointed them out. I unplug things directly from the wall instead of just turning them off, I take 2 showers a day, learned how to sleep without a blanket and with two fans running which sound like fighter jets taking off all night long, and have let some common Portuguese phrases and speech patterns enter my English vocabulary. It’s been quite the journey so far and I hope this year I can just focus on being and becoming the missionary I promised God and myself that I would be.
I wanted to share a quick thought and pro tip to anyone wanting to help in missionary work.
3 Nephi 18:31-32
“But if he repent not he shall not be numbered among my people, that he may not destroy my people, for behold I know my sheep, and they are numbered.
NEVERTHELESS, ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them.“
Sometimes we like to think that church is for the perfect and that when we see people there that we know aren’t perfect we like to judge. But Christ is the only one who is perfect. You, your family, your neighbors, and your friends are all flawed and Christ never once said that you couldn’t come and worship him. We are commanded to invite all to come unto Him and leave the judgments to the All-powerful being who knows all.
We are commanded to minister and serve despite our differences and backgrounds. This year, I hope we are more patient, more understanding, and more dedicated to the work of ministering and the gathering of Israel. Like the scripture says we can “be the means of bringing salvation” to people we love, people who have passed on, and people we never expected if we just act in faith on the promptings we receive.
That’s all folks, Tchau tchau for now!
Com amor,
Sister Alyssa Grace
Arcoverde, Brasil
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