Last Monday I confidently stated to my family that this week would be pretty normal with no changes or large events. And I was mostly right, until Friday…

*Set the scene* Wednesday we were walking in the street (we do that a lot) when the Housing Secretaries called us. They told us that on Friday we would be moving apartments so we had to pack. The Elders unfortunately forgot to send us any details about the move, including the new address. We were quite literally lost. Luckily, with the help of some awesome members, we made it to our chic new apartment on the very, very far side of our area. I probably would’ve complained about the distance if it hadn’t been for Saturday…

*Background* Our President extended our last transfer so instead of being a normal 6 weeks it ended up being 10, making this next week’s transfer, a very anticipated change. Saturday President called a last minute meeting where he said almost every single missionary would move or receive a new companion. In my last interview, Pres. said I would finish my mission here in Candeias, but he must’ve received revelation because my transfer letter says me and Sister Motuga are being transferred to Caruaru this Wednesday! The distance to our new house doesn’t matter because I’ll only be here for 3 more days. That means I got to pack everything up again (this is the 9th time) on Tuesday. Why not today you ask? Because today…

*Reveal* Today is actually Sunday, but I’m not writing or packing on Monday because I’ll be at a Super P-day Halloween Party playing dodgeball dressed as the Angel Moroni. The things you do while doing the Lord’s work. Anyway, for these reasons the week was rather interesting and the email was hopefully slightly more dramatic than usual. 

Gotta blast,

Tchau Tchauuu 

Com amor, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Candeias – Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Brasil

Things my companion has said this week that have stuck with me.

“I can’t be bothered … I’m unbothered … I’m unbotherable.”

“My dad is also good at maths” *she then had to spell it out cause I could not understand the word ‘maths’*

“Do yous have KFC over there? In America?”

“Do you know that one character in Harry Potter who looks like a witch?”

*after someone asks us not to come to their house again because their not interested* “Maybe they’re shy.”

“Você vai receber o Espírito Santos” = “You will receive the Holy Ghosts” *I still can’t work up the courage to tell her it’s just one Holy Ghost and not multiple*

“Let’s go knock at the blue house!”

Ok so that last one actually has a cool story with it. We had been knocking on doors for about 2 days straight and were having minimal success. We entered a street and knocked about 4 doors before I was ready to give up and head to the next street down. Sister Motuga goes over to said blue house and pronounces that she will knock. I, thoroughly not wanting to but also not having anything better to do, followed alongside her.

There we met Erika. She has recently been trying to come unto Christ by herself and with her husband and 3 kids. She’d been studying and reading a lot online and felt confused by the overwhelming doctrinal differences. She read about the Plan of Salvation and felt a deep desire to learn more about pre-mortal life and our mortal purpose. She prayed to have God send her a sign that she was looking on the right path. 

About 3 hours later, we knock on her door. Since then, we’ve gotten to know her whole family, and are working with them to help build their faith. They have so many sincere questions and bring powerful spiritual insights from their own studies. It is truly a delight to teach such elect children of God. We were all answers to one another’s prayers.

Thanks for your prayers, we feel them, and see Heavenly Father answering them!!

Gotta blast,

Tchau Tchauuu 

Com amor, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Candeias – Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Brasil

Wow!! What a powerful weekend. In case you missed it, we had the marvelous opportunity to revive ourselves spiritually by listening to prophets, seers, and revelators. This was the first conference since April 2020 where I didn’t miss a single talk and it was truly a blessing. Due to what I’ll call, good planning, we managed to help several people watch Conference while also guaranteeing our own reverent time to enjoy Conference.

Everything else this week pales in comparison to this conference. I’m not really sure what we did every day other than talk about prophets and invite everybody to watch. My personal favorite talks were by Kristin M. Yee, who spoke about her experience with the painting, and Karl D. Hurst, he’s the one who talked about love (or luvf as said in his accent). 

If there was one thing I took away from Conference it was just this feeling of trust and confidence. I feel not only able to meet the upcoming challenges but excited for them. So many of the speakers spoke of repentance that I was filled with a strong desire and eagerness to repent and become better right here and right now. 

Sometimes we walk away feeling overwhelmed by the reminder of all the things there are to do and the little time we feel we have to do them. But the intent is to excite, heal, encourage, and advise. We are not called every 6 months to hear that the membership standard of excellence has been raised or receive nothing but chastisements for all our shortcomings. Just hearing these men and women who have spent months prayerfully considering the needs of us, the church, we feel the love of the Savior through them.

Please don’t wait until next conference to feel these feelings again, study and prayerfully consider the message of each talk and its application in your life. Remember, good times are coming!

Gotta blast,

Tchau Tchauuu 

What’s up Lehi!!! Hope everyone is good and ready for another week and new month. We’re entering the last lap of the year so let’s make sure we all start off strong by watching General Conference this weekend. This week for us was tough but this Sunday was incredible!!

First, we’ve had the opportunity to prepare two sisters for baptism and yesterday was such a blessed and happy day. They were baptized and their family, friends, and ward all came out to support them. They have my heart and I can’t wait to keep finding more miracles like them. 

Our zone decided to do a Book of Mormon photo contest where every companionship needed to re-enact a scripture scene, I’ll send some examples. Sister Motuga and I did Ammon teaching King Lamoni. We were quite busy all week and ended up submitting it Saturday night 5 minutes before the deadline. It was done late but it was done well as we ended up winning!!!

Finally, our mission broke two all-time mission records. Firstly, we baptized 85 people in one week, the previous record was 75. Then in the month of September, we reached 245 baptisms in a single month that had never been done before. We got a lot accomplished in September but I’m ready to rededicate myself to serving more like the Savior in these last few months of the year.

I close with the words of Ammon

Alma 26:11-12:

11 But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.

12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

Gotta blast,

Tchau Tchauuu 

Com amor, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Candeias – Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Brasil

Hey y’all, this is gonna be a short one, sorry. This week we had some incredible miracles and powerful spiritual experiences and I’d like to ask for your help in praying for our people who are preparing for baptism this week.

• Mayara
• Emilly
• Maria Cristina 
• Lara
• Teresa

I believe so powerfully in prayer. We are challenged and directed to be “mindful of [others] always in [our] prayers, continually praying unto God the Father in the name of his Holy Child, Jesus, that He, through his infinite goodness and grace, will keep [them] through the endurance of faith on his name to the end.” (Moroni 8:3)

Please pray for these miracles with me! 

Gotta blast,

Tchau Tchauuu 

Com amor, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Candeias – Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Brasil

Bom dia Pessoal, como vai? I hope y’all had a fantabulous week and an even better Sunday. I know my emails have been sub-par lately so we’ll try to make this one just 10% better.

This week had some birthdays and anniversaries!!!

• Our beloved Prophet hit 100 years of life the same day I hit 14 months of mission!

• My companion hit 7 months of mission the same day my sister hit 27 years of life! 

• I made it to the diamond league on DuoLingo!!

• Christmas is exactly 100 days away!

• The Macey’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is 73 days away!

• And General Conference is in 19 days! 

Now that we’ve gotten through all the numbers, let’s focus on the message. This week we had the privilege of teaching NTM families (families where there is at least one member and one non-member). In the past, these lessons have proven to be pretty frustrating as the non-member generally has little interest or even a strong dislike of the church and the member in the family often has already given up the hope of an eternal family. Yesterday we taught 3 of these part-member families and they were all outside the normal NTM stereotype but I’d like to focus on just one.

Yesterday we taught a man who has been investigating the church for 19 years. He’s rarely missed a Sunday, ward activity, or chapel cleaning. His wife is a lifelong member and constant supporter of her husband’s conversion process. When we finally had our first lesson with them yesterday we tried just getting to know them and find the why behind this extensive investigating period. He simply explained that he hadn’t yet “convinced himself to believe.”

That word “convinced” led us to have one of the most powerful lessons on the Book of Mormon that I’ve ever had. On the title page of the Book of Mormon, we read that the record was written “to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD, manifesting himself unto all nations” We aren’t meant to convince ourselves of the gospel or look for proof strong enough that we feel comfortable accepting the Gospel. We are simply meant to try, learn, and live it and let the conversion take place in our hearts and not our heads. Our rational minds are not capable of convincing nor possess the power that the Book of Mormon has. 

I challenge you as we challenged our friend yesterday to read the Book of Mormon. Read to find answers not proof, read with your questions, not your doubts, let it build up your faith and not fear, let it show you the power of the Savior and instill in you the desire to have that power in your life. 

As was mentioned earlier, General Conference is in 3 weeks, what a great opportunity we have to bring our questions and struggles to the Lord and receive guidance and counsel directly from His chosen servants. Prepare yourselves for this spiritual experience by increasing your spiritual capacity to receive revelation through a consecrated study of the Book of Mormon. It doesn’t matter how far into the book you get before conference, it matters what you put into it.

Happy Reading!!

Gotta blast,

Tchau Tchauuu 

Com amor, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Candeias – Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Brasil

Parabéns Presidente Russell M. Nelson!!!

100 anos of discipleship and faith has been a great inspiration to me and millions of others across the globe. His example of pure love and unwavering obedience is something I strive for not only in my mission but personal life.

Sorry y’all, I don’t have to much motivation to write about the mission right now. Everything’s good, just progressing slower than I’d like. This week we had some adventures chasing after members and friends as well as deep cleaning our house. I found a ping pong and I am currently the reigning champion of the house.

Please message me during the week about your favorite conference talks, scriptures, or spiritual experiences. I’m looking for some deep inspiration, obrigada!!

Gotta blast,

Tchau Tchauuu 

Com amor, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Candeias – Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Brasil

Happy September!!! I hope everyone is winding down and getting ready for fall. I’m just getting ready for Summer over here.

This week we had so many cool experiences and miracles but even though my heart is full, my head is empty and I don’t feel like I can write adequately so I’m just gonna give y’all a week-in-review.

• Tuesday: Divisão with S. Viana, it was pretty good we had some deep conversations about pre-mortal life and got car sick together.

• Wednesday: Ate some delicious pastels for our Companionship study and studied some powerful hymns of Christlike service.

• Thursday: Got sick and had to stay home. While in bed, I watched all the old seminary videos on Gospel Library including the 1986 Man’s Search for Happiness

• Friday: Was still sick in the morning but got better as the day went on. Got to look at a potential new apartment.

• Saturday: Did our reference secretary duties and attended a 2-hour meeting to plan a hopefully soon wedding

• Sunday: 4 Friends came to church as well as some recent converts who haven’t been coming for a while

Scripture of the day is 1 Nephi 17:50-51: “And I said unto them: If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done. And now, if the Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how is it that he cannot instruct me, that I should build a ship?”

I love this verse because we can put in any of our challenges or obstacles in this formula and realize that God is here to bless and strengthen us. If He is the God of Miracles who has done such marvelous things in the lives of others, why do we sometimes doubt that He’s capable of doing them in ours? I promise that no matter the difficulty, God will teach you to overcome it.

Gotta blast,

Tchau Tchauuu 

Com amor, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Candeias – Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Brasil

What’s up guys? I hope everyone had a great week. Mine was great and challenging as I pray it always will be. I’d like to share an insight I had from this week’s “Come, Follow Me” reading.

In the 56th chapter of Alma, in a very well-known story, the 2,000 stripling warriors are faced with a question. They’ve been hoofing it all day trying to out-march the Lamanite army when suddenly, the Lamanites stop and they lose track of them. Helaman doesn’t know if they’ve stopped to try and lure his young soldiers into a hopeless battle or if the army of Antipus caught up with them from behind. He asks his youth army what they want to do if they want to go back and fight. They respond with a resilient “Let us Go Forth.”

The boy soldiers said “let us go forth” when in reality they we’re going back. They had to turn around and head into the battle not press on in their current direction. Sometimes we need to realize that in order to “go forth” we must “go back.”

I liked this story this week because it reminded me of what I’m doing. Me and my companion were thrown into this area with very little to go off. We knew nobody, didn’t know our way around, and we felt a little hopeless in the face of a lot of stigma about the area. Most missionaries when white-washing an area like to throw everything and everyone out the window and start finding all new people. Me and my comp felt that was not going to be an effective strategy. We felt that in order to “go forth” we too had to “go back”.

We re-found so many people who maybe in their first encounter with the missionaries weren’t exactly golden investigators and many still aren’t. But there were those who had been changed, had their hearts softened, and were now prepared to hear our message. One that stuck out to me was someone we called Friday night. We gave him a great lesson and at the end he said, “Thanks for not forgetting about me, I didn’t even know how much I was needing this.” 

We can’t forget about the people that the Lord is still preparing. If they said no to you yesterday, you don’t have to carry that no with you into the eternities. Give them a little time and a little nurturing and eventually, they’ll come around. If you feel stuck in your spiritual progress and can’t seem to find a way around the obstacles in your path, maybe you need to “go back” before you can “go forth.” Who knows if there’s not someone in your past that you need in order to succeed in the future?

Gotta blast,

Tchau Tchauuu 

Big surprise …*drum roll*… I got TRANSFERRED!!!!! …. again. In case you lost track this is my 7th area and 9th companion in 13 months. I promise I’m not a problem child, I just get moved around a lot.

Anyway, I’m in the Candeias ward, it’s pretty infamous for being a difficult area but until now, I’ve had a blast. It’s mostly street and member work, the area is almost entirely apartment buildings. But God is blessing us every step of the way. The best part of the transfer is my new companion…

I LOVE SISTER MOTUGA!!!! She is the sweetest human being on the planet. She’s Samoan but was raised in New Zealand and Australia. Her accent alone cures all my stress and frustration. She’s 25 and has 6 months on the mission. But everyone in the mission knows her as the niece of Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson!?!?! 

I didn’t believe her at first ’cause who would believe something like that, but FamilySearch confirmed it so now I’m a believer. Unfortunately, she has no photos with him and can’t call him on P-day but we’re networking with her cousins to try to get him to make a video for the mission. I’ll update you if we make any progress.

I’d like to conclude this ramble with a spiritual thought. 

Alma 52:10: “…Be faithful in maintaining that quarter of the land, and … seek every opportunity … to fortify and strengthen the cities round about, which [have] not fallen…”

When I feel worried about an area or absolutely lost in the work, I remember that God has trusted this place, this ward, and these people to me and my companion. We are here to be faithful in our stewardship, to fortify and strengthen what is already here and to seek every opportunity for growth. It’s a big responsibility but not one that we take on alone, He is at the head of this work. As His servants, we are entitled to His divine help and protection. 

Pray to see His hand and I promise you’ll see it.

Tchau Tchauuu

Com amor, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Candeias, Brasil