Boa Tarde Amigos!

On Wednesday morning I woke up and began going about things as I normally would when Sister Perri says, in Portuguese, “We gotta get ready quick and meet Bishop at the Radio.” The word “radio” in Portuguese is spelled “rádio” and is said “haud-gee-oh”. I understood everything my companion said except for the very last word. In my head, I saw the word spelled out perfectly and I thought to myself, “‘Rádio’, that’s spelled almost exactly like the English word ‘radio’. I wonder what it means.”

This week was quite eventful for me. First, it was the Independence Day of Brazil on the 7th, I officially hit 2 months as a missionary on the 9th, my companion received her VISA for Japan (don’t worry, she is stuck with me until the end of the transfer), and President Nelson turned 99! Something else happened this week that I never thought would happen in my life, let alone only 12 days into the mission field; I was on the radio. The whole event was very fun and very confusing, let me explain.

Half an hour later, we are walking into a radio station. I think to myself “Oh we are meeting Bishop here at the radio station, and then probably going somewhere else close by for a meeting.” To my confusion, however, Bishop gets there and just sits down next to us in a little waiting room. The three of us chat about our English classes which start that night until a technician comes over to us and says time to go. He leads us to a door, tells us to be as quiet as possible, and then lets us in the room.

The room is a recording studio. There is a man in front of a keyboard with a hundred different switches, microphones all around a little table with comfy chairs, and a glowing sign that says  “no ar”=”on the air”. The technician sits me down in one of the chairs in front of a microphone and I realize that I am about to be on the radio, in a language I can barely speak, and I don’t even know why. 

It ended up being about our English classes. We were there to announce that they were starting, they were free, and that we had a native speaker there to instruct (that’s me!). I said approximately 10 words in Portuguese before the interviewer decided it would be better to ask me to answer in English and have Sister Perri translate. Overall it went well and over 1,500 Brazilians heard me share my testimony at one time. The rest of the week, people would message us about the classes or stop us in the street because as the only American in town, it’s safe to assume that I was the one on the radio.

As fun as the radio was and the other events of this week, I really struggled at times. My Portuguese is to the point that I can teach almost every point in a lesson and can even make simple conversation outside of doctrine language. So yesterday, when Sister Perri asked me to be the one to extend the invitation of baptism to one of our friends who is progressing very well, I thought I had it. The time came, when I was feeling the Spirit, and I asked in near-perfect Portuguese if they would be baptized.

You’ll never understand what it feels like to have someone from another culture, another country, in another language, choose not to progress and further their relationship with the Savior until you experience it. It hurt me more than I can say when they said no. To me, I had failed and my heart broke. My companion comforted me as best she could, and we witnessed other miracles that day that should’ve lifted my spirits, but I was down. Until this morning that is when I read 2 Nephi 2:2 which says

“Nevertheless, … thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain.”

I don’t know everything but I do know that through God, impossible things can happen. I know that what feels like the end of the world, is but a small moment that will strengthen my faith and help me grow. It’s hard, and it hurts, but it will all be worth it. I’m ready to bounce back and try again today, tomorrow, and every day. The path ahead is full of disappointments but the miracles will overshadow them 10-fold. 

Remember to let God make you what you need to become. That’s all, folks. Tchau Tchau, Valeu, Beijo!

Love,

Sister Alyssa Grace

Bom Conselho, Brasil

Isaiah 52:7

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!”

Fun fact everyone, missionaries don’t have beautiful feet. At least, I don’t. Right now my feet have blisters, tan lines, calluses, mud spots, half-gone nail polish, and a dozen or so mosquito bites because they’ve never had American food before and now they’re addicted. This scripture has been in my head all week as I’ve looked at feet and tried to figure out what is so beautiful about them. I realized it’s not my feet that are beautiful, it’s the miracles these feet are taking me to that are beautiful. Let me tell you about one miracle I experienced this week.  

This week we prepared and baptized a little boy named Fernando. He is about 10 years old and comes from a convert family. When the missionaries originally found his family, about 4 years ago, they embraced the gospel with open arms. His family consists of a single mom and 4 children all of whom were baptized 4 years ago except little Fernando. He was only 6 years old and we were told by the ward members that at the baptism of his family, Fernando cried because he could not be baptized with them.

Fast forward a year and a half and Fernando is nearly 8 years old, the age of baptism. But, the last year and a half of membership has taken a toll on his family and they have fallen away. Inactive and unreceptive, Fernando’s family doesn’t allow him to be taught or baptized by the missionaries. His family struggles with financial problems, family relationships, and other serious difficulties for the next 2 years, all the while, little Fernando is hoping that one day, he and his family will go back to church.

That brings us to about a month ago, when the sister missionaries here before me, found Fernando and his family in their reference book and knocked again on their door. This time, instead of turning them away, they welcomed them into their home. The sisters taught them all, focusing especially on Fernando, and invited them all to come back to church. They accepted and for the last 4 weeks, they have worked, studied, prayed, and partaken of the sacrament trying to restore their faith in God.

On Saturday, Fernando was baptized! His mom was in tears, he had the biggest smile on his face, and his siblings couldn’t stop hugging him. When he went into the font, he was laughing! What a difference 4 years make, the last baptism he went to, he cried and now here he is laughing with joy.  

It’s experiences like this that make me grateful to be here. I’m at a point where I understand what is going on and I want to contribute but the frustration is figuring out how to say things. It can be discouraging when I can sense that a person isn’t progressing or isn’t interested and I worry that it’s because I am not able to fulfill all my responsibilities yet as a missionary. If I could just speak and be understood, maybe they’d be truly converted. But I have to believe that there are people, families, here that I can reach without knowing all the right words. 

Sunday night we had a little party for Fernando at his house. There his mom gifted me a little decorative towel with my name on it and as we hugged goodbye, she asked me to find more families to make whole. That is my goal, to bring families unto Christ and I can’t wait to go out and find them.

Some other experiences this week that were just fun or silly:

– A man asked me if I was German and seemed disappointed when I said I was from the USA.

– Members like to ask me what the English equivalent of their name is. It always makes them laugh to hear it.

– A lady grabbed my hair and held it next to hers to try and see if they were close in color. It wasn’t but I told her it was “Quase”=”almost” the same.

– Accidentally told Sister Perri we need to “garden” over the fence instead of “climb”.

– Got used as a jungle gym by a little toddler in a lesson and didn’t know what to do so I just let him. His mom seemed cool with it, she didn’t try to stop him.

– I get called “Sishter Gwache” by almost everybody here. It’s really cute and makes me smile.

Well, that is all for now folks. Gotta go, gotta work. If you feel so inspired, please pray for some new friends we marked for baptism yesterday, that they can keep this commitment. Obrigada. Tchau tchau.

Love,

Sister Alyssa Grace

Bom Conselho, Brasil

Olá a todos,

It has been a very long, very fast, very hard, and very good week. I am in the field now and my new companion\trainor is Sister Perri (pronounced Pe-Hee). She is from Menause which is in the middle of the Amazon region. She speaks perfect English because she attended BYU-I last year. She is currently learning Japanese as her original mission is in Japan and she is only here temporarily while she waits on a visa. I love her already and it has been great learning from her example. Our area is Bom Conselho, which is about in the middle of our mission and more south than Recife. It has lots of hills, churches, horses, stray dogs, music, and people. In English ‘Bom Conselho’ means “Good Advice”. This week I received a lot of good advice through the many different experiences I had.

During my last few days at the CTM it hit me really hard that I was about to be out in a foreign country with nobody there to help except for a companion who might not speak English (luckily she does but I didn’t know that until I got to the mission home). I felt like my Portuguese was weak and I struggled with it more than I ever had the 4 days leading up until we left for the airport. I kept myself mostly composed though because of the words of one of my CTM roommates. She reminded me that there has never been a more dramatic change like this ever in my life. This week I have had more ‘firsts’ than I can count and remembering that has helped me have a little bit more patience with myself.

Friday night I learned to enjoy trying. We had been in the mission home all day, getting taught by the mission secretaries and doing interviews, and that night we slept in a hotel. Sister Murrillo and I shared a room. Sister Murrillo is from Ecuador and does not speak English. I am from Utah and do not speak Spanish. Together, we both barely speak any Portuguese. Yet that night, we stayed up talking and laughing with each other as if we had been best friends for years. We were speaking some sort of Spengliguese (Spanish + English + Portuguese) and loving every little mistake we made. From this, I learned that I could make connections even with the language barrier. 

Saturday I learned that saying something wrong is better than saying nothing at all. We were standing outside the door of an investigator. It was my first one and Sister Perri showed me what principles she wanted to teach and asked what I could share. I stared at the list and realized I couldn’t say anything. I started stressing out, and overthinking. There was no way I would be able to teach a single person here because I couldn’t even accurately explain a single principle on that list. My companion comforted me as I tried to calm down. It ended up being that the investigator wasn’t even home that day so we couldn’t teach her anyway. We walked some more until we found another investigator’s home. We came in, and all I said was “Boa noite”, and Sister Perri began the lesson. I didn’t understand a lot but I got the gist. I was caught off guard when Sister Perri turned to me and asked me to share my testimony. I was still recovering from my little panic moment earlier and said no. I regretted it immediately and wished so badly that I would’ve just said something. Since then I have learned that when I try and mess up, people smile or laugh, when I try and succeed, people tear up and feel the spirit, but when I say nothing at all, people feel nothing. I am not here to help people feel nothing, I’m here to bring happiness and hope. Since then I have participated in every interaction, whether it has been saying a prayer, bearing my testimony, reading scriptures, or trying to connect with people through simple phrases and smiles. In just one day, I think I became twice the missionary I was on Saturday. 

The members here are so loving and open. The first thing Sister Perri told me when I met her at the transfer meeting was, we’ve got to hurry, we have baptisms tonight. Our area is about 5.5 hours away from the mission home and we needed transportation if we were going to make it. Luckily, a local member from Recife offered to drive us all the way out there even when he would just have to turn around and go all the way back. His willingness to help when it greatly inconvenienced himself was inspiring. When we got to our area, I met most of the members who were there preparing for the baptism. I got hugs from complete strangers and was thanked for coming to their country to teach their friends. I didn’t even know Portuguese which was very obvious from the permanent confused smile on my face, but they still were so grateful for my presence. I admired the faith of the mother and daughter who were baptized that first night. They bore their testimonies in such a way that I felt as though they were the missionaries and I was the one there to learn about the mercy of Jesus Christ from them. People here are not wealthy, most don’t have doors on their houses or anything other than foot flops on their feet, yet they are looking for Spiritual nourishment, not physical. From them, I learned to discover what my priorities are. Do I still give thanks and worship God for his mercy when I feel at my lowest? Do I care more that my possessions and standard of living are maintained rather than my testimony? Is my faith dependent on my comfort?

There is still a lot I have to learn here, from the people, the members, my companion, and my Savior. I am excited for this opportunity and even though it has not been, is not, and will not be easy, I know that God is guiding my steps to make me an effective missionary. 

That’s all folks! Tchau Tchau for now!

Love, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

Bom Conselho, Brasil