Exactly 1 month as missionary done. It’s pretty crazy to think that in 2-ish weeks, I’ll be out of the CTM and in the field. Before the mission, I never even thought about being in the Training Center and now it is difficult for me to imagine not being here. Missionaries here are always coming and going. This week we hit the record for the total number of missionaries here this year with 411. Our group is the veterans now and it’s cool to see the new sisters walk in when it feels like I was just doing that too.

This week had some ups and downs but mostly ups. One of the greatest blessings of this week was spending time with my companion. When Sister Fuller and I first met in person, I was a little confused. I felt like every other companionship I saw was basically just two people with the exact same personality put together. If somebody was loud and confident, so was their companion, if they were reserved and shy, their companion was too. Sister Fuller and I were not opposites, but we weren’t very similar either. Where she excelled I struggled and where I grew she shrunk. It felt like we were the left-over sisters on the roster so they just put us together.

An experience we had this week helped me to truly appreciate our differences and see the blessing behind them. On Saturday, we were eating lunch next to some elders from another district (our elders are always late, I’ll attach a photo for proof). While we were talking, President Beck, one of the members of the CTM Presidency, came and asked the elder across from me if he knew how to play “Love is Spoken Here” out of the Primary Children’s Songbook. The Elder said he could look at it but that he had never played it before. 

For some reason which I still don’t understand, I opened my mouth and said “I can play it!” Which is true, I have played that song before, it’s not very difficult and I’m pretty good at it. President Beck gave me instructions to find him right after lunch to start practicing because I was going to perform this on Sunday (the next day) in the devotional for all 411 missionaries in the CTM. Sister Fuller and I ate really quickly because I was excited, a little nervous, and really wanted to get started. 

When we got to the auditorium to meet President Beck, I quickly realized that I had made a mistake. There were three violinists waiting for a pianist to accompany them, the music was Tabernacle Choir level of “Love is Spoken Here” and I needed to learn it within the next 24 hours. They gave me the music to practice after a single run through with the violins (for which I only did one hand) and everybody else left feeling prepared for the next day.

Sister Fuller sat by my side while I struggled my way through the piece for about half an hour. After a couple of reps, I knew I would never be able to pull this off with this little time. However, I was the only piano player in the whole CTM who had agreed to play and didn’t want to have to tell President Beck or the violins that I had given up. I looked at my companion, who has played hymns with me before during our breaks, and asked her if she would accompany the accompanist. 

For the next 2 hours, we sat side by side on the piano bench, each learning one hand. During this time I learned a lot. I learned that my companion is a self-taught pianist who can read notes and not rhythms so she got the Sister Grace very dummied down version of counting and timing. I also learned that we stay together very well, we rarely were off from each other while we played and we didn’t need to say words in order to make that happen. I am right-handed and she is left-handed so while she held and played powerfully deep chords, I was moving in fast melodies which blended together beautifully. 

The rest of Saturday night and all of Sunday morning, we hardly spoke a word to each other but we practiced, practiced, and practiced. By the time the devotional rolled around, we felt prepared. We got up, put our two chairs in front of the keyboard, and began playing for all the missionaries. We were doing incredible, we played our solo intro, the violins came in, and 20 seconds later the choir director cuts us off. He realized that this piece would be too complicated to try and get all the missionaries to sing to so he shut us down and we didn’t get to perform. It was heartbreaking. Sister Fuller, the violinists, and I all sat pretty angrily through the devotional. We had all put so much effort into learning this just so one guy could say it was too hard and we didn’t get to do it.

After the devotional, he came up to us and said that we might be able to do it at the Wednesday devotional which is tonight. I don’t know if that will happen or not but since Sunday I’ve had some time to reflect and realized that I do not need to perform this piece in order to see the blessings from it. From just practicing with my companion, I have come to understand how to trust and rely on her. We work more efficiently, more effectively, and more like our Savior now than we did before. I recognize her talents and try to lift her up where she falls short. She’s given me advice on things I struggle with and has been there by my side to speak when I can’t remember what to say. 

I know God puts missionaries in companionships for a reason, and I know why Sister Fuller and I are together. Look for the people God has placed you with whether it be spouses, siblings, friends, or coworkers. Try to understand your differences and how you can use them to help lift each other. Different isn’t good or bad unless you choose to make it so. So choose to make it good.

That’s all for now, pictures to follow.

Tchau Tchau

Love, 

Sister Alyssa Grace

São Paulo, Brasil

Olá minha família e meus amigos. This is week 3 of being a missionary and things are slowly yet surely progressing. This week our schedule was a lot calmer than it was the first two weeks, we’ve been getting settled into our class routine but I’ll share some of the best and funny events of this week. 

On Wednesday, we got to go to the temple in São Paulo. We did an endowment session and afterward got to spend time in the Celestial room. I was one of the last people to enter and being one of 40 missionaries in attendance, there was not a lot of seats left. I ended up just standing there and leaning against the wall. I was thinking a lot about my family at that moment and was feeling down. I looked up to see an older Brazilian sister, who was in the session, walking up to me. She asked me a question in Português which I didn’t catch at all. She saw my confusion and asked in English “Do you feel happy?” I said yes and was given an unexpected hug. I don’t think I ever felt more love in the temple than in that moment. She let me go and then said “I hope you feel this way all the time on your mission.” This sister was a complete stranger to me, we didn’t even know each other’s names but she comforted me and showed me love. I aspire to be willing to share my light that selflessly on my mission.

On Saturday we got to teach a mock investigator in Português. Sister Fuller and I prepared a lesson throughout the week, practiced it several times, and did a pretty good job during our actual lesson. The Elders in our district were not so prepared and had some pretty interesting stories to share afterward. Elder Hiatt and his companion Elder Smith went into the lesson completely unprepared. They decided minutes before teaching to open up Preach My Gospel, read a scripture from it, and then just ask questions and lead a discussion on it. Elder Hiatt, by the way, lived in Portugal for a year so he’s already fluent (#fluente) except for his accent so he was going to do most of the talking and leave the reading of the scripture up to his companion Elder Smith, who is very much not fluent (#fluente). When they opened Preach My Gospel, Elder Hiatt chose the first one he saw which happened to be 1 Nephi 10:20-21. Which basically just says those who are unclean and live unrighteously cannot dwell with God and shall be cast off. Elder Smith read the verse and had absolutely no idea what he was saying. Elder Hiatt realized halfway through the scripture that they were not sharing a very uplifting verse and watched the mock investigator’s face fall. After reading, Elder Smith, wanting to be a good missionary, bore his testimony in Português about the truthfulness of that scripture without even knowing what on earth it was. He said, “I know that what you’re feeling right now, is the Spirit telling you that what I’ve read is true.” Poor Elder Hiatt after that had to try and save the lesson while Elder Smith just sat, smiled, and nodded along. Needless to say, they won the funniest lesson so far award.

Now for the title of the email. This whole week, my companion has been very stressed about the language. She’s never tried to learn a new language before and everything is stressing her out. Most of us in our district took Spanish in high school so while we might not be fluent in Português, we are at least familiar with rules and structure. This has been making her feel very behind in her progress. On Sunday, the two of us were walking back from Relief Society to our room when we bumped into Presidente Silva, the CTM President. He greeted us in Português to which we responded with just a simple ‘Olá’. He turned to my companion and said, “It will come. Don’t worry, in time you will do it. Little by little.” I stood completely shocked at how quickly he understood and addressed her biggest concern, while she cried. Afterward, she told me how much she needed to hear that and it made us both have an even better Sunday. 

This experience made me reflect on all the little ways I’ve been improving since coming here. I am not a completely different person than when I left but I’m not the same either. I’ve been improving, little by little. My Português vocabulary grows by a couple of phrases every day, I appreciate my scriptures more every time I read, I meet more of my goals in studying, and I even have improved in more trivial things like basketball and Uno. As I entered the CTM, people told me to look for the gifts of the Spirit I would receive. I think I was blessed with assurance and hope. I just have this feeling that no matter what, everything is going to be alright. I know it will be hard but I can’t seem to fear or worry because I know where my trust and faith lies. 

Thanks again to those who messaged me and shared testimonies. I loved your spirits. 

That’s all for now, the work goes on. Photos to follow.

Tchau Tchau

Sister Alyssa Grace

São Paulo, Brasil

Olá meu amigos! Tudo bem?

I’ve officially been a missionary for two weeks and I’ve been in the São Paulo CTM (Centro de Treinamento Missionário) for exactly one of those weeks. I left home at 4:30 Monday morning (July 17) and did not get to sleep again until 39 hours later Tuesday night. It was a very long day but they wanted us to adjust to Brazil time as quickly as possible. It worked, but I did not find it an enjoyable experience.

About a month before my mission, I toured the Provo MTC and since coming here I’ve noticed a few differences:

1. We have way less missionaries here. I personally think this is a good thing because I know more of who’s here and what’s going on. 

2. Few English speakers. I also think this is a good thing because there is always someone to practice with. My first night here, one of the Portuguese instructors came up to me and asked me questions (in Portuguese). The questions weren’t to hard and I appreciated the practice. Afterward she asked me questions about English (all the instructors here are required to learn another language). It was fun to spend some time learning and teaching on my first day. 

3. No food variety. We eat the same thing every single day. We have ham sandwiches for breakfast, rice and beans for lunch and dinner with either chicken or beef. The food is also very bland. We think it might be to make us more accepting and grateful for all the food we’ll get out in the field. 

4. Meat chips and cheese bars. In the vending machines here, they don’t have things like Doritos, Cheetos, gummy bears, or Coke. They have every flavor of meat in chip form. I do not recommend the ham-flavored chips but the chicken ones are okay. They also serve cheese bars in the same vending machines. I wasn’t brave enough to try these until yesterday evening. Long story short, I will not be trying them again. Luckily they also serve Snickers and Sprite so that’s been my go-to snack this week. 

5. Very little outside time. The Provo MTC is set up on a hill with acres of land and grounds for missionaries to enjoy. The São Paulo CTM is right in the middle of the city surrounded by houses, businesses, and apartment buildings on all sides. We have a little garden courtyard in the middle of the building and outdoor volleyball and basketball but that’s it. We relish physical activity time and try to study out in the courtyard whenever possible.

I had many great experiences this week that I would love to share but this is already long so I’ll just relate one and what I learned from it. On Thursday, we had our first in-person Portuguese class with our instructor Irmão Proença. During our online week, we learned a whole bunch of “survival” phrases. Things that we can say when we don’t understand or can’t think of a word. One of these phrases is “Como se diz ____” which means “How do you say ____”. During this lesson, somebody asked me to turn the heat down cause I was sitting near the thermostat. Trying to do everything in Portuguese, and knowing very little about thermostats, I asked my entire district “Como se diz ‘how'” or “how do you say how”. We laughed for a very long time once we got it and although I felt very stupid, I loved laughing with my district.

I later in the week was struggling with doubts and fears about pretty much everything. It got very overwhelming with all the things being thrown at me and I felt disconnected spiritually. It took me until about Friday to realize that I had been putting all my energy into studying Portuguese, mission rules, Brazilian culture, and Church news and I had not read my scriptures personally all week. Once I realized this, I began studying so hard and felt instantly better. Afterwards, this whole experience had me slapping myself in the head. It was like my “How do you say how” moment. I already knew what I should be doing and if I had thought a little harder or a little quicker, I wouldn’t have felt so stupid afterwards. But like my Portuguese experience, I laughed at myself, moved on, and made a plan not to make the same mistake again. 

God wants us to recognize our faults but to not get hung up on them. He wants us to learn, laugh, and then change. You just have to let Him work with what you have to offer. 

I would love to hear from you all and I think about you often in my prayers. I’ll send out the photos from this week in a reply to this email. Tchau Tchau!

Love,

Sister Alyssa Grace

São Paulo, Brazil