Oii, Boa Tarde!
I’ve had an awesome week of learning and struggling in 2 areas with 5 companions. What I’ve learned is, hard can be fun and even relaxing as long as it breaks up the normal, everyday mundane hard.
For example, the majority of this week I worked in Garanhuns. I was with another greenie, who not only doesn’t speak my language but is also learning the mission language. We were in an area completely foreign to me with people whose needs and stories I don’t understand. But it ended up being so much fun. I loved getting to explore a new area, and seeing a different approach to teaching, and Sister Murillo and I laughed over a couple of moments of just complete confusion because of the language.
Then on Friday, I was put in a trio for 6 hours with Sister Santos and Sister Fuller. We didn’t have any lessons as a trio because Friday is the day we plan our week and make goals. By the time we finished with all this it was time to pick up my new companion. But for those 6 hours I got to talk, express some of my fears and frustration, and receive some good advice from a very powerful companionship of Sisters.
When I finally got back to Bom Conselho, I was with my new trainer, Sister Leopoldes. She is from Rio Grande do Sul, speaks solely Portuguese, and was Sister Perri’s first trainer. So my mom’s mom, my grandma, is also my mom. It’s been a little stressful trying to show the area, and explain the needs of our friends here, all the while, I am still learning and trying to figure things out too.
We’ve already begun to see the miracles though. Saturday, I planned our day and as you may recall, our plans hardly ever happen exactly the way we want them to. But on this day, everything happened. I planned our day to the minute and we were able to follow that plan to the minute. It was a great blessing and a great boost of confidence for me.
But then yesterday I got us lost for 45 minutes so I guess I got prideful too quick and needed to be humbled. We also met and invited a new friend to be baptized yesterday. His name is Moses, and he literally just walked into church all on his own. I find it strange, and frustrating, that we’ll find people in the streets, teach them several lessons, receive several promises of sacrament meeting attendance, and yet the only people that show up are ones we haven’t even met. That’s just a lesson about agency I guess.
I’ll finish up with some big news for this week. We have Elder Eddy, a member of the 70 coming here on a mission tour on Wednesday. I was asked to help participate in a musical number for his arrival which I am really excited about but I only have today and tomorrow to practice. We also found out yesterday that President M. Russell Ballard will be joining Elder Eddy on this tour so I’ll be performing a musical number, with only two days of practice, for the acting president of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles. What’s even better is we get to wake up at 3:30 the morning of to get to the conference on time. For this reason, I will be sleeping the rest of P-day.
That’s all folks, Tchau tchau for now!
Love,
Sister Alyssa Grace
Bom Conselho, Brasil
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