Can’t believe I’m saying this, but welcome to the last email from Sister Grace in Brasil. After neraly 18 months of being a representative of Jesus Christ as a missionary, I am going home and will continue to serve God with the rest of my days. 

I’m grateful to all of you for being on this journey with me. Even though we might be sent far away, God finds a way to bless the lives of those closest to His missionaries. This week I had the privilege to end my mission with the baptisms of two incredible young men who are actively striving to become disciples of Jesus Christ, which is all any of us should ever hope to be.

There is much to be said, but the things of most value to me are found in my testimony.

Testifico que Jesus Cristo é o nosso Salvador. Eu sei que Ele nos ama, nos salva, e nos conhece perfeitamente. O Pai Celestial quer o melhor pra cada um de nós, e por isso preparou a nossa salvação por meio do Filho Unigênito dele. Ao aproximarmos mas dele, sentiremos o seu amor em nossos corações, e receberemos as forças necessárias pra perseverar até o fim. 

Eu sei que O Livro De Mórmon é a palavra de Deus, que ele foi traduzido por Joseph Smith, o profeta, chamado e escolhido por Deus pra restaurar a sua Igreja. Prometo, com todos os santos profetas, que ao ler, orar, e perguntar, todos possam receber a mesma certeza que eu tenho da veracidade desse livro. Testifico que A Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Últimos Dias é a Igreja viva do Salvador, Jesus Cristo. E ele convida a todos a vierem e conhecerem o seu pleno amor.

De tudo isso eu presto testemunho, em nome do Filho Amado, Jesus Cristo, Amém.

Jacob 7:26

“… wherefore, I conclude this record, declaring that I have written according to the best of my knowledge, by saying that the time passed away with us, and also our [missions] passed away like as it were unto us a dream …”

I’ll be home for Christmas

Homecoming: December 15

Personal email for my mission pals still in the field

alyssakgrace@gmail.com

Com amor, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Missão Brasil Recife Sul 2023-2024

Hey guys, how have y’all been. I hope everything and everyone is well and getting excited to finish out the year strong. Pretty exciting and nerve-wracking things coming up. But for now, here’s your regularly scheduled Sister Grace email.

This email is dedicated to last Thursday for being one of the funniest days of my life. It all started with lunch. 

We were eating with a super funny Irmã and laughing the whole time. When it came time to give a closing message my companion asked the Irmã to read a scripture in Alma 26:12, a wonderful scripture. However, because of the layout of the page, the Irmã stopped in the middle of the verse thinking it was the end. All she read was,

“Yea, I know that I am nothing”

I burst out laughing thinking that my companion just absolutely destroyed the Irmã with the verse which got everybody else laughing too. Needless to say we didn’t finish the message and barely made it out with a prayer.

Later we had a Family Night which was super cool because we had 4 visitors there all from our teaching pool. They all had a great time and most are progressing right now. The only difficulty was at the end, everybody and their neighbor wanted to talk to us and I was stuck in the middle of 7 conversations. I was hearing and saying everything from the USA retirement practices, to the best coxinha in Brasil, to the fact that my companion is The Rock’s niece. I had a blast but my head was spinning there for a minute. 

When we got home at night, our Brazilian roommate, Sister Alves decided she didn’t like the fact I look like I have no eyebrows and grabbed her makeup pencil. She did such a good job that the other 2 Sisteres screamed in fright and then we all died laughing. God knew what he was doing when he made me without eyebrows.

Finally, at 10:25 right as we were getting ready to turn off the lights, a mouse ran out from under Sister Motuga’s bed and hid under mine. Not willing to sleep on a mattress with a mouse in it, we got our weapons, brooms and mosquito repellent, and commenced a 30 minute full-out war. Beds were tossed, laundry bags were beaten to death, and next door neighbors were awoken, but I eventually trapped the mouse under the broom.

Not being willing to murder the poor guy, I told my companion to grab something we could hold him in. She runs back into the room 20 seconds later with the blender in her hands. After nearly passing out from laughing and letting the mouse escape again, we grabbed a plastic bag and grabbed him with that. 

We tied him up and then were faced with the question of what to do next. Someone suggested throwing the bag out the window. I, never being one to hesitate, opened the window and yeeted that mouse out of here. Unfortunately for me, I chose the window exactly above our neighbor’s balcony. We scrambled down the stairs and tried to find a way to sneak onto the balcony, grab the bag, and get back over without our neighbor alerting the police. Our planning was interrupted by our neighbor’s chihuahua barking and we hurriedly ran back to our apartment.

Luckily, no one was prosecuted, and the rest of the week was relatively normal. Thank you for coming on this journey with me. Don’t forget to laugh this week.

Gotta blast,

Tchau Tchauuu 

Com amor, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Caruaru, Brasil

Another week, another email. The highlight of this week was Come, Follow Me. For whatever reason I was able to ponder 110% on the story of the Brother of Jared and used lots of my insights in lessons and studies this week. I love treasuring the scriptures, they make me feel complete.

This week we spent 2 days without power which normally would’ve been fine except that Brasil uses electrical wire to heat their water so I felt like I was doing the ice-bucket challenge every time I took a shower. Luckily, I didn’t have anything in the fridge, I was running low on funds last week and only bought a bag of popcorn kernels. The other sisters did though and all their perishables perished.

Another day we were walking down what seemed to be the 50th hill of the day and right as we reached the steepest part, a kind-looking, 5ft tall, Brazilian grandma threw a bucket of soapy mop water right at my feet and I slipped and landed all of my weight on my right elbow. Nothing broken, just bruised and ugly. The grandma was super nice though, she literally dead-lifted me off the ground and tried to put my shoulder back into its socket (even though it wasn’t out of socket.)

Finally, my last pair of American Sandals broke last night. I’ll have to swallow my pride and go and find a comfortable, Brazilian sandal that won’t mess up the last 16 months of tanlines I’ve been working on. 

I bet you’re wondering if I’m going to share all my insights now as my spiritual thoughts, and I’m not because they’re too intricate to explain in an email but here’s a scripture.

Ether 3:5: “Behold, O Lord, thou canst do this. We know that thou art able to show forth great power, which looks small unto the understanding of men.”

Gotta blast,

Tchau Tchauuu 

Com amor, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Caruaru, Brasil

This week has been very long and very rewarding. We’ve got so many people we’re teaching and they are progressing steadily. The only drawback is that they all live super far from one another, like an hour walk between each house. It just means we’ve been catching a lot of Uber and buses to get there which has left me with a permanent nausea, but oh well. No pain, no gain.

We had a cool experience this week as we got to visit one of our friends in the hospital. He’s been learning about The Church from its social media accounts and asked us to come visit him. Hospitals in Brasil are quite different and honestly very horrific. They just throw all the gurneys and stretchers together in one room and along the walls in the hallway. People pass away in cramped, public conditions which is not a very comforting way to go, but which also leaves lasting impressions and fear in those who are still being treated.

We only got a few minutes to speak to him but he was so grateful for our visit and the fact that we brought 2 irmãos to give him a blessing. He felt so good he wants us to go visit all of his family and give them blessings too. He wants to be baptized but we’re not sure when it will happen as he has no projected date of leaving the hospital. We’ll keep visiting and calling him though so the minute he leaves, he’s ready.

Matthew 25:34-36: “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”

Gotta blast,

Tchau Tchauuu 

Com amor, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Caruaru, Brasil

Feliz Novembro!!! Hope everyone’s got fun end of year plans. This week was pretty tiring, just lots of walking and lots of sun. 

Anyways, one story from this week. We live in an apartment of 4 sisteres: 

• Sister Alves (Brasileira)

• Sister Southam (Utahn)

• Sister Motuga (Samoan)

• Sister Grace (Utahn)

While walking to a meeting about 45 minutes away we were discussing all the great groups of 4 in history and deciding who we all were. The one that fit best were the Peguins of Madagascar. 

• Skipper: S. Alves

• Kawasaki: S. Southam

• Rikko: S. Motuga 

• Private: S. Grace 

Am I upset with the arrangement? Only slightly. My companion, Rikko, loves it though. All week when we lose energy or our contacts are down she goes “Rikko Mode” and just starts talking to everybody and everything. 

Here’s a quick scripture I liked: “And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel. And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.” (Mosiah 4: 11-12)

Gotta blast,

Tchau Tchauuu 

Com amor, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Caruaru, Brasil

Well, I’m in Caruaru now. My body had gotten quite accustomed to flat Recife so now that I’m back in the interior hillside, my feet are a little sore. That’s ok though because I’ll just keep singing, “give me mountains to climb.”

We basically just cleaned and organized all week. We sorted out everything: our house, suitcases, new house, area book, and routine. This is the first time this area has had Sisteres in over 20 years, which means a lot of things have gone overlooked by the Elders. It’s been an adventure trying to figure everything out.

I wanted to share just a scripture I’ve been thinking about lately. It reminds me of how easy it is for us to lose focus and become overwhelmed in the millions of questions and doubts that are only meant to distract us from what really matters, our Savior Jesus Christ and His perfect love.

“But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble.” Jacob 4:14

Don’t take your eyes off the mark, Jesus Christ, for anything or anyone. Thinking Celestial is making sure your goals, desires, will, and actions align with this eternal focus. Don’t distance yourself from the church, scriptures, or prayers thinking it will widen your perspective. These tools are our glasses and leaving them behind will not help us see any farther. 

Keep looking to the skies and shooting for exaltation.

Gotta blast,

Tchau Tchauuu 

Com amor, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Caruaru, Brasil