Dates Serving

Serving November 2014 to May 2016. Includes weekly emails from the mission and updates as a returned missionary.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Locked Gates and Churros



Hello Everyone!!

Well, it has been a crazy week full of ups and downs. Some of the BEST stuff happened this week, but also the worst. I guess the sad part first: we had a baptism fall through this Sunday. Diéron is 9 years old and Rosangela´s grandson. He was super excited to be baptized and listened to all of the lessons. He doesn’t live with his parents, but he visited his Dad on Saturday and his dad told him that he was too young to be baptized. So after spending time with his father, Diéron didn’t want to be baptized anymore. He told us this Sunday at church when the baptism was scheduled to be immediately after. Even worse, his whole family showed up- uncles and even his dad! We had to tell them that he didn’t want to get baptized anymore. We could not believe it. Sister Beazer and I were so sad after that. Dieron had such a strong desire to be baptized and then he didn’t follow through with it. I know that he´ll keep coming to church with Rosangela and one day he’ll decide to be baptized for real.

More news… I’m getting a new companion! I’m staying here in Nova Cidade with the same other sisters that are in the ward, but Sister Beazer is getting transferred. I won’t find out who I’m with until tomorrow, so we´ll see if they put me with a Brazilian! I’m excited for the change but I’m sad that Sister Beazer is leaving. She is an amazing missionary and I learned so much from her! 

Good news: I finally got to eat a churro (pronounced shoohoo) and it was DELICIOUS. Sadly, I might have to say that they are better than the ones at Disneyland. It was really good :) 

For our English class this week we went to a legit school with a Sister from the ward that teaches English and talked to all the students. Everyone loves Americans here! People love our accents too. I´ll be talking about Jesus Christ, ask them a question ( or sometimes they just interrupt) and they’ll ask me where I’m from.  It’s a good way to talk to people sometimes. People are really nice here but I hope I can lose my American accent a little more. With time, who knows?

We found some great people to teach this week, with some great stories to go with it ;). We were trying to meet with a girl at her house, but she wasn’t answering, and after a little bit, a man comes to the gate. So we ask him about the girl, but he couldn’t really understand what we were saying (our lovely accents) but in the end he lets us in and tells us something about his sister in the back. So we start walking down this hallway and my comp turns back to ask him if we could go up…and we see him locking the gate and leaving! We were like- wait what? So I start laughing hysterically and my comp just has the funniest look on her face-- like 'What do we do?" We decided to walk up the stairs and explain to this other lady that her brother let us in and he left, but could we share a message about Jesus Christ with you? ;) He eventually came back and we all laughed about the situation afterwards. He is super cool though. We´ve been visiting them all week and he told us that since we came he can tell that there is something different about us. He said that we have a 'good energy' and feeling about us—to the point where he forgets about all the wrong things in his life when we visit. The Holy Ghost is a powerful thing, and I am so grateful to have it with me always. We are teaching him, his sister, and a friend of theirs at the same time, and they are all great. Elieudo and Edivan were at church yesterday and really loved it. I am so happy that I am a missionary!

Real quick: my comp made an awesome discovery this week. You cannot gain eternal life if you do not read/listen to the scriptures. John 17:3, John 5:39, and 2 Nephi 31:20. Eternal life is to know the Savior and our Heavenly Father, and how do we get to know them? Through the scriptures and feasting upon the words of Christ. So read the scriptures, and get to know your Savior and Redeemer. Get to know the Ones who love you more than you could imagine. Doing that will bring happiness and joy, and eternal life. 

Com amor, Sister Berry