3 Nephi 5:13 – “Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.” (2024 Youth Theme and Sister Grace’s mission scripture!)

Happy New Year’s! I hope you all had a great 2023 and that this next year is even better. I hope that with all the excitement of a new year, new beginnings, new goals, and new opportunities, that we don’t forget to focus on Christ this year. If you’re looking for ways to strengthen your family relationships, develop more Christlike attributes, overcome addictions, leave bad habits behind, have strength to endure your trials, and have more happiness, hope, and peace in your life, I have a suggestion: Come, Follow Me.

For my entire life, I knew at 9:30 pm I needed to be in the living room for family scripture reading. When Come, Follow Me was introduced it added another level of spirituality to our home and enlarged our already-established habit of reading the scriptures daily. When I left home for college, I had a few missed months but after a rough start, I got back into the same habit. Today, as a missionary, I feel closest to my family when I study Come, Follow Me all by myself every day. 

This year, we have the privilege and blessing of studying the Book of Mormon in Come, Follow Me. I love that as a missionary this year, people who I bring on Sundays will be studying the same things at home and at church. Come, Follow Me is not a salvation checklist nor is it spiritual homework, but the time you dedicate to your own spiritual progression and to the eternal propensity of your family will bring celestial rewards.

“And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.” – Mosiah 2:41

I know that Come, Follow Me is an inspired resource that was presented in revelation to President Russel M. Nelson and is approved and supported by the First Presidency and Quorum of the 12 Apostles. I know that as members of the church and as God’s children, we have the responsibility and privilege to study the Book of Mormon, The Holy Bible, and the other standard works, to help prepare our families, communities, and ourselves for the Second Coming of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Don’t let the mistakes that we’ll all undoubtedly make stop you from starting again and enduring with faith. 

That’s all folks, Tchau tchau for now!

Com amor, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Arcoverde, Brasil 

FELIZ NATAL!! Hope all your holiday wishes came true and that you all took time to remember the reason behind the season. Because of the holiday, this will be another quick write.

On Saturday we had the baptism of Dario and Laura (grandfather and granddaughter). They were so happy the whole week leading up to it; they bought new clothes and everything. Dario was so happy after his baptism he tried swimming in the font! Moments like these are what missionaries live for.

Christmas here for me is very different, very unusual, and very good. I’m sweating, covered in mosquito bites, and looking at a very Charlie Brown-ish Christmas tree. But I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now. How great it is that I literally have Christmas every day since Jesus Christ is the center of every day for me!

“Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do.”

3 Nephi 18:24

That’s all folks, Tchau tchau for now!

Com amor, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Arcoverde, Brasil 

A Dog wants to be Alyssa’s best friend

E aí pessoal! We have a special Christmas P-day today so that’s why I didn’t write on Monday. Don’t worry, I’m not breaking my steak yet.

I’m struggling to remember what happened this week and there are lots of activities to do so I’ll just share a quick little message and be on my merry way (get it? Cause it’s like Merry Christmas).

Yesterday, we were walking and I went to look down at my watch to check the time and discovered that the face of my watch was totally shattered. I don’t know what I did or when I did it but Relógio Gringo I is busted. It’s broken to the point that you can’t even read the time normally anymore. The only way that I can see through the broken glass is when I use the light button to make it shine from the inside out. 

Sometimes we are like broken watches. We are hard to read, hard to understand and appear too complicated to solve. But Christ is the light within all of us. He looks past our broken parts and makes hope and healing possible. Some people have a harder time than others letting Christ shine through them. We all make mistakes, have our moments of weakness, or we let pride block Him out. Christmas is the time to think about new beginnings and to let ourselves make more room for Him. This Christmas, how will you let His light shine in and through you?

“He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death.” Mosiah 16:9

That’s all folks, Tchau tchau for now!

Com amor, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Arcoverde, Brasil 

Children Dressed as Angels Sing a Christmas Song from the Second Floor

5 Meses da Missão! That’s a little bit bonkers considering there are still a lot of things I feel like I have yet to do and accomplish out here and the time is literally slipping away from me. I’m really focusing on the things that I want from my mission and the things that Christ wants me to do now. 

This week was good. We had Zone Conference which was really fun, Sister Leopoldes, Sister Fuller, Sister Brewer, and I got to spend the night in a hotel which was a blast! We ordered pizza and had a movie night (we watched the Restoration video). At Zone Conference, we stressed the importance of the season and all made goals for what our gift to Christ is going to be. 

The more bizarre part of my week was the weekend. I met the reincarnated Jesus Christ, learned a song from a homeless man about how Jesus is a door, and invited a dog who attended sacrament meeting to be baptized. 

On Friday morning, we were sitting in the park making a few phone calls trying to contact our media references. It was my day to make the calls so I was distracted and didn’t notice the man who came and sat down next to us on the bench. He started talking to the Sister and I really wasn’t paying attention until she grabbed my arm and I looked over. Sister Leopoldes asked him to repeat his name for me and he said “Some call me ‘man of war’ but I’m better known as the Son of Joseph and Mary the Mother of Jesus.” 

He then went on to explain that he is everything for everyone. “I am the Messiah to the Jews, Christ for the Christians, and Allah for the Muslims.” I just sat there smiling, trying not to laugh, but Sister Leopoldes tried telling him that we didn’t believe in reincarnation. Mr. Man of War wasn’t bothered at all by that instead he said “Yeah, you guys were confused the last time we talked too.” He explained that he’s talked to us in all our previous lives but that we keep forgetting him. He also explained where we could find all the reincarnated characters from the Bible. Apparently, Amos is a pharmacist now so that’s cool. 

At the same time this conversation was happening, a homeless man on the other side of the park began singing “Jesus é a porta,” which means “Jesus is the door,” as loud as he possibly could. He actually is a pretty good singer but he needs to work on his lyrics because he literally was only singing that one phrase for over 20 minutes. 

Finally, on Sunday, a stray dog wandered into the chapel about 15 minutes before the sacrament. A few members tried getting him to leave but he kept coming back so eventually they gave up. He stayed in the back quietly during the whole meeting and even went to Relief Society. Afterward, he waited in the hallway with us while we were talking with members and investigators who came. We wanted to close the chapel but he wouldn’t leave no matter what we tried. Finally, I jokingly asked the dog if he had the desire to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. It worked and he left but it was actually a sad reflection of a lot of our human investigators here

After all these events the phrase that kept coming to mind was “Que Apostasia!” The Great or General Apostasy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was a time of darkness and fear. Pure light and truth were lost and people didn’t know where to turn. One scripture that I’ve loved all week comes from Come, Follow Me and is 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.” Just as Christ came and taught the boy Joseph Smith and restored perfect love and the gospel again on the earth, He will come in our darkest moments to lift us up into his light. This Christmas, and every day, we can be the means of spreading this perfect love. We can remove doubt, fear, and distrust, and restore what has been lost through Jesus Christ.

That’s all folks, Tchau tchau for now!

Com amor, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Arcoverde, Brasil 

Olá, it’s me again! This week was fun and full of discovery as we learned more about the area where we are serving and the people here. It was also a very different week with me being in a trio for 2 days and having a surprise dinner with President and Sister Martins. 

Sister Leopoldes received a calling this transfer of LTS (Sister Training Leader) which is basically a Zone Leader but for Sisters. On Monday, we learned that she would be in Recife attending a leadership meeting. Originally we thought this meant a road trip and the two of us would have a 6-hour bus ride to President’s house. But, plans changed at the last minute and I ended up staying with Sister Fuller and Sister Brewer here in Arcoverde. It was really fun being a little trio of Americans who all only have 4 months of experience together for two days. We each had moments where we knew that the gift of tongues was real.  But we also had lessons where afterward we were all like “I have no idea what they were saying, I just kept nodding my head and smiling, occasionally throwing in an ‘exatamente’.” It was all good though and we even found some new friends that accepted a date for baptism! 

On Friday morning, President sent us a message and said that he and Sister Martins would be coming to Arcoverde and eating dinner in our house on Saturday. We were both very concerned wondering, “What did we do? Are we in trouble?” We spent all of Friday night and Saturday morning cleaning everything as best we could and even came home just a few minutes early to shower after a full day of walking in 90° weather. Everything went really well though and I had a lot of fun. It turns out, he was just passing through Arcoverde for a meeting in another area. He bought us pizza and soda and invited the other sisters too. It was one big party! 

Nothing else really exciting happened last week. Just walking, getting lost, burning, and sweating. Tonight we have to leave for Zone Conference which is tomorrow and should be really good. President is going to teach us all how to sing because he wants us to dedicate a part of our teaching hours every day to go caroling Christmas hymns. Sister Leopoldes isn’t too happy about it, she says that’s a strictly “American thing.” But I’ll find some way to make her love it!

One thing that we’ve been doing as a mission is studying a different miracle of Christ every day until Christmas. We started with turning the water into wine. Going into this study I had the mindset that this was one of the “small” or “easy” miracles. But as I studied I realized that it really isn’t. He did something that should not have been possible. There is nothing “small” or “easy” about it. In our lives, we experience many miracles but sometimes we’re just looking too high to see them. We should have just as much gratitude for the “small” miracles in our lives as we have for the “big” ones. I know that this is something I definitely need to work on as a missionary but in everyday life too. I challenge all of you to think of and look for “a miracle of Christ” in your life.

That’s all folks, Tchau tchau for now!

Com amor, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Arcoverde, Brasil 

Boa tarde! This week was adventure-filled and I loved it. But first I want to thank everyone who thought of me this week and sent me e-mails. I adored reading them all and felt so much love. I hope with the coming Christmas season, we can all feel and participate in sharing the love of Christ more. 

Now, my week. First, all week we were preparing to close the area. We found out that Sister Leopoldes and I would be staying together and opening a new area in Arcoverde. Bom Conselho became an area for Elders so we were trying to correct addresses, get phone numbers, and warn all the people we’re teaching about the change. The ward there was very sweet and threw us a little farewell party with Brazilian Barbeque, Ping Pong, and card games. I taught everyone how to play Slap Jack and then destroyed them all, it was fun.

Friday was transfer day. We woke up at 3:30 am and were supposed to catch a van, then catch a bus, then catch another bus, to end up in Arcoverde at 4 pm. Unfortunately, all of the buses broke down and after a day of prolonged panic and stress, we arrived in Arcoverde at 11 pm. What has added to the fun is that our new phone number hasn’t been set up yet and our area book hasn’t been updated. All of this means that we don’t know where we are, where we are going, who we are teaching, or who to reach out to for help. Luckily there is another set of sisters working here in Arcoverde too, and we were able to follow them around all of Saturday and Sunday. 

On Saturday, we met one family in the ward and they were so welcoming and already had several references for us. The people here are so eager to help the missionaries and expand their ward family. One of the members of this family was an exciting 5-year-old who did not want to learn our names. The first thing she said to all of us was that she was going to give us all new names. Sister Brewer is now Sister Barbie, Sister Fuller is Sister Elsa, Sister Leopoldes is Sister Rapunzel, and I am Sister Cinderella. I don’t know if those names are based on personality, physical resemblance, or the colors of our dresses but whatever the reason, it’s still very sweet.  

On Sunday, we all ate lunch at a member’s house. With 4 missionaries it was a tight fit and half the family had to eat on the couch but it was a fun chaos. Since 3 of the 4 sisters here are new they were asking us lots of questions. Sister Brewer, Sister Fuller, and I are all from the United States. But apparently, compared to the other two, I don’t look American. At least according to this family. When I said “Sou dos Estados Unidos” they looked at me and said you don’t have the face of an American, you look like a Viking. Now I’m officially Sister Viking in the eyes of 4 people here in Arcoverde which is honestly pretty great. 

I love getting new titles and learning how other people see me. I also love creating and learning new names for other people too. One of the best people with the best names is Jesus Christ. I love that he has so many titles. It shows that he is everything for everyone because he did everything for everyone. This coming month is one especially focused on Him and we have this opportunity to learn about Him and try to become a little bit more like Him too.  

2 Nephi 19:6

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

I hope you all cherish this coming Christmas and remember to give yourself the best gift of all: the gift of coming to know Christ.

That’s all folks, Tchau tchau for now!

Com amor, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Arcoverde, Brasil