Sister Leopoldes and Alyssa with Alyssa’s big thumbs up and sunburned neck
Alyssa, Sister Leopoldes, and some elders waiting by a bus
Alyssa and Sister Leopoldes with Sister Leopoldes 13 month celebration chicken pie
Alyssa and Sister Leopoldes outside with a guy showing a peace sign
Oie! Today I have a SUPER-MEGA P-DAY DE ZONA so I will be in Garanhuns playing futebol, eating churrasco, and spending time with some of my favorite missionaries for what could be the last time since we have transfers coming up on Friday. Because of all this, I will only be recounting a quick story that happened this week.
I did an exchange with Sister Brewer this week in ArcoVerde. We have the same amount of time in the mission and we were looking forward to a day of proving our Portuguese without our trainers there to carry us. Unfortunately, every lesson fell through and we ended up walking miles upon miles in the hot, hot sun without a single break. The only thing carrying us through the day was the promise we made that morning, which was to make French toast for dinner. I’ve seen my mom make a really simple french toast several times so I was sure we could make it.
We got back to the apartment, sun-burned, bug-bitten, and feet aching but souls light and stomachs ready for some delicious french toast. Unfortunately in our excitement, we somehow grabbed the bag of salt and not sugar. We didn’t notice until the first bite of what we thought would be the best dinner of the century. We were disappointed but after a few minutes of mourning, we laughed it off and made grilled cheese instead.
Sometimes we feel like our trials just keep coming one after another and we wonder when will it finally end. The truth is, they won’t. Life is a series of challenges, some of which we easily overcome while others makes us fall to our knees. No matter the size or difficulty of the challenge we are meant to learn something. For me, I learned that a little salt in my toast after a physically tiring day is something I can handle and even laugh about.
It’s silly I know but I’m grateful for my trials (big and small) and what I learn from them.
Alyssa with her zone during her second zone conference
Alyssa and Sister Leopoldes with a Book of Mormon and two future missionaries
Alyssa and Sister Leopoldes in their chairs for a selfie
E aí pessoal! Welcome to 4 months of receiving missionary emails from Sister Grace. It’s incredibly exciting, I know. This email I felt like summing up some things I’ve learned in the last 127 days.
First, I’ve learned to simplify, slow down, and teach in ways that truly inspire learning. During my first week in the field, I struggled a lot with being understood. Partially because of the language and partially because of my method of teaching. I was using words like restoration, covenant, priesthood, and apostasy. All of which are basic gospel terms in my mind, but none of these are understood by the general populous of Bom Conselho. I struggled more than I care to admit trying to find new words and simpler explanations to teach here. But now, I’ve come to know and love that our doctrine is simple, we just have the tendency to over-complicate it sometimes.
Second, I’ve learned how to pray. It really shocked me the first time I watched my companion teach an adult to pray using the “I’ll speak, you repeat” method. For me, I learned to pray before I learned to read and I was praying on my own in sunbeams. Here, too many people think of praying as a performance, something that you have to develop a talent for. Too many have words and phrases memorized so asking them to pray from the heart is like asking them to speak in another language. I’ve had to consciously change the way I pray so that I can help them be more comfortable praying. I’ve cut out the standard repeated phrases we all hear and use every day for something more sincere and in the moment. I’ve started asking for less and being grateful for more. Through this, I’ve felt a difference in my communication with Heavenly Father and I’ve seen others start to experience it too.
Finally, I’ve learned how to be accountable before God. During a missionary’s training, they have a call once a week with one of the President’s assistants about how they are doing and what they are learning. In one of mine this last week, the Elder made the comment that the number of new people being taught in our area was really low last week. He asked if my companion and I had a problem with diligence. All during this week it really bothered me whenever I thought about it. I know that I am really trying out here, that we are putting in so much effort to teach and find, and that despite what the numbers might show, I am making a difference. I had to get over the fact that in the mind of this Elder, I’m not an effective missionary because I know that my Heavenly Father feels otherwise. As long as I am giving my all to Him, being honest and sincere about my effort, and obeying the rules with gladness, I am doing my part.
In a lot of ways, things here haven’t changed since Day 1. The days are still hot, the trees are still green, the mosquitos still bite, and Portuguese is still hard. But I’m always changing, always growing, and always seeing new blessings of the Lord’s hand in my life and work.
“And this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.”
Alyssa and Sister Leopoldes cleaning the baptismal font
Alyssa and Sister Leopoldes enjoy some pizza
Alyssa and Sister Leopoldes with Lavina
Alyssa and Sister Leopoldes with Eduardo, Elaine, and Lavinia
Alyssa and Sister Leopoldes in front of the heart curtain
Olá meus amores, espero que vocês estejam bem. First I want to mention the new youth theme for 2024. It’s “I am a disciple of Jesus Christ” 3 Nephi 5:13, which just so happens to be my mission scripture. In case you’re wondering, yes I am the inspiration. I’m taking it as a sign that 2024 will be a good year on the mission for me!
This week was incredible and stressful. We had the wedding and baptism of a family: Elaine, Eduardo, and Lavínia. I’ve been teaching them for 7 weeks now. Here in Bom Conselho, they have 1 day every month where you can go and get legally married. So although this couple was prepared and desired baptism since the end of September, they had to wait until November 1 to get married. Then on Saturday, they and their daughter were baptized.
The baptism was supposed to start at 2 pm. We arrived at 1:30 to prepare and set things up. For the next 2 hours, people slowly started to trickle in until almost the entire ward was there. The bishop, who was asked to give a marriage blessing, showed up last at 3:45. Everything went well but there were two very angry, and very exhausted sister missionaries in attendance. Luckily there were no problems with the confirmations on Sunday and the family has been well received into the ward.
Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting. Our friend, who was marked for baptism two weeks ago but ultimately fell through, bore his testimony. He told everyone how grateful he was for the missionaries and the church, and that we welcomed him in. We took this as a very good sign and went to visit him later that evening. We talked about his testimony and baptism and asked him what was holding him back. Why did he feel like he needed to wait? He didn’t really have an answer so we finished up the lesson and were about to leave when his entire demeanor changed in an instant.
I’ve never met anyone possessed before but in that moment, I thought I had. He started yelling, going off about how life after death is nothing but a filthy lie. That the Bible is perfect and our church is wrong for saying otherwise. That the Book of Mormon is nothing but a fantasy and we have no evidence for any of it. He kept pointing at me and saying that of course the American would defend this book, and he wasn’t going to be convinced. What was so strange was 1 week ago he told us he knew for certain that this church was true. Yet obviously, he didn’t. Without a testimony of the Book of Mormon, you can’t know that this church is true.
We got out of there as soon as we could and just sat on a street corner thinking. This man has been coming to church for 30 years, his brother is a return missionary, and all his nieces and nephews are active members. His situation taught me a lot about waiting. He has been waiting to believe for a long time and still hasn’t figured out that believing is a choice.
There is a difference between patience and stubborn persistence. Waiting for answers with faith and sincerity will bring hope and truth. Just holding on to the iron rod without a desire to move our feet or position on the path will get us nowhere. We need to walk, we need to move, we need to show we are willing to go and find the answers. I’ve experienced and witnessed a lot of waiting these last 2 months and it’s hard when the immediate future is nothing but fog. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel and joy along the path. Choose to follow, believe, and let the power of the Atonement into your life.
Alyssa behind Sister Leopoldes giving a hang loose sign
Alyssa and Sister Leopoldes with a future missionary
A pan of popcorn in front of Sister Grace’s and Leopolde’s whiteboard
Alyssa and Sister Leopoldes in a selfie
BOM DIA!!! This week was rough, tough, and long enough that I was practically praying for P-day. But it was also a great week for learning, bonding with my companion, and growing closer to my Savior.
About 3 weeks ago, we ate lunch in the house of the Bishop. It was during an exchange with Sister Souza and she was asking lots of questions about the area and the ward. The Bishop was telling her that the ward was incredible, the area was growing, and that before Sister Grace got here they had a baptism almost every week. The Bishop didn’t mean anything by this statement, my arrival was just a point of reference he gave. But to me, it felt like the lack of baptisms for the last 2 months was my fault.
I tried not to let this bother me and in the beginning, it was easy with the transfer and new companion I couldn’t afford to waste my focus. This week, however, it felt like everything was bringing my shortcomings into the spotlight. On Tuesday we had another friend marked for baptism give up, and what was really frustrating was he really believed. We asked him if he had prayed about the truth of the church and Book of Mormon and he said, “I know for certain that this church is true.” But there are commitments that he is not quite ready to fulfill right now so his baptism is in the air. I know a few weeks ago I wrote about how hard it was to hear no to the invitation for baptism but now I prefer it to this pattern of teaching, developing relationships with people, and building up all this hope and excitement, just for it all to come crumbling down.
The next day we had a meeting with all of us missionaries in our second transfer. It was to get us all excited about finishing training after this transfer and to remind us of our purpose. At one point they asked for miracles that we’ve witnessed because of our obedience and diligence and almost everybody commented. I say almost everyone because I didn’t share anything. In that moment, the comment of the Bishop came into my mind and I began to question my worth and worthiness as a missionary. Over and over again I heard that obedience and diligence bring miracles but I wasn’t seeing any. I asked myself, “Am I being obedient? Am I being diligent?” The honest answer to these questions is “yes.” So where were the miracles?
I talked with President and Sister Martins later that day because my companion was really worried about me. We talked a lot and we discovered that the problem was with my mindset. Life, before mission life, was comfortable for me because I knew how it worked. My effort was always equal to the results. If I studied and worked hard, I got good grades and reaped my rewards. Somewhere along the line, I began measuring my effort by the results. If I did well on something, it was because I worked hard to earn it. If I didn’t do so well, I must not have been working hard enough and need to improve for next time.
Here in the mission, this mindset is almost fatal. I took a look at what I wasn’t seeing, (baptisms, people progressing, strong ward members) and decided it all resulted from my lack of effort. Every day I was trying harder and harder and still getting nowhere. I started to “run faster than [I] had strength” (Mosiah 4:27) and ended up running straight into the wall of hopelessness. Luckily, I have a companion and mission leaders who helped pick me back up. They taught me about a little something called “Livre Arbítrio” which means “Free Agency.” In the life before the mission, everything was solely dependent on me, but here, in the real world, hardly anything depends on my efforts alone. Everybody can choose and has to choose for themselves whether to follow Christ or not. My job is to invite them and then respect their decision, even if I know they are choosing the worst path for their lives.
The end of the week was so much better because of the lessons I learned in the beginning and I felt the prayers of my friends and family powerfully. I love this opportunity I have to teach and although I’m still learning how to do it, I know that I will always have the support of my Savior. If I could give advice to anybody out there struggling with something right now (which is all of you), I would say to pray more often and with real intent, find the “pleasing … word which healeth the wounded soul” (Jacob 2:8) in the scriptures, and remember that Christ cares about how you feel and who you are.
