Fastest Week Ever

Hello :)

This week went by sooo fast! I just cannot believe it. Time goes by super fast, it's not even fair. But this week went by super fast because it was a really good week. We walked a lot but actually taught some people and were able to make a little progress. It was great :)

We found some great people to teach too, just that they are living with their boyfriends, kids and all but arent married. Why?? Satan has centered his attack on the family in these last days. He will do everything that he can to destroy families. We have to be strong and remember that we were put here on earth to have joy. I know that the only way that we can have true joy is living the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

The cherry on top of the week was the baptism of Dayana! She is absolutely amazing and I am so grateful that we had the opportunity to teach her. She has known the church for years but never had the desire to get baptized, until now. Her family are all members, but have been less active and are slowly coming back. It is amazing to see the light in her eyes and her desire to change and serve the Lord! I love their little family! ( Litterally little because they are all 'fun size' haha i love it!) 

My comp is still loving Brazil and Açaí. We eat açaí all the time now because she loves it, and I dont complain :) Oh my comp and I also made 'Rice crispy treats' on Thanksgiving because it was the only thing we could think of. But Brazil doesnt have rice crispies and the marshmallows had a strong vanilla taste, but it turned out good. And today for P-day me and Sister L. Freitas made mini pizzas! yup, I was the one who made the dough. I can cook! It was delicious :)

Even though life is hard I am loving life! I know I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. He can stregthen you and lift you up. His hands are outstretched and waiting, we just have to reach up. :)

Love you all, 

Sister Berry

God Freely Gives

e aí, Beleza? ;)

Well, things have been a little crazy this week. Something exciting always happens, and thats what makes missions so fun! I love it here.

We have been walking a lot this week and my companion is still getting used to mission life, but like I said, she is amazing. Things are going really well with her and I know that she is going to be a super succesful missionary. She is super shy but she really wants to change. We are both working on ways that we can change for the better. 

Speaking of change, I have changed a lot more than I realized. Being with a newbie has reminded me what I was like when I got here. I didn't know the language, I didnt know how to teach the gospel, I didnt know how to be a missionary yet, and I still hadnt learned a lot about Jesus Christ and His gospel. I don't know how my first companion stood being around me all the time. Sister Beazer is amazing! Seriously I have learned so much, and I want to learn so much more.

We had a zone conference this week with our mission President which was amazing. A sister in the zone gave an amazing training that made me think a lot. She talked about gratitude. Gratitude is something that we all have to have no matter the circumstances that we are in. So she asked each one of us what we are grateful for. The first thing I thought of was the love from my family and my Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for His love!! I don't know what I would do without it. Love is something that we all want to feel and something that God freely gives. I want to help people feel the love of God. I want people to see that I love them too. I want to have the love of Christ in my life.

Other news, today we helped out with a Mormon Helping Hands activity in the stake of loading water onto trucks to send to another state in Brazil that suffered a natural disaster. I love helping people. Show your love for someone this week! Its the little things that make all the difference.

Love Sister Berry :)

A North America Companion!

Well this has been kind of a crazy week! But things are going great! I love my new companion! She is an absolute sweetheart and is excited to be a missionary. So her name is Sister Allred, she is from Indiana (North American!), and came straight from the Brazil MTC. Of course this week was a little hard for her with all the walking and with the language but she is moving forward and willing to do everything that needs to be done. She is a super shy person but is willing to talk portuguese to learn. She is speaking the language really well and I know that she will be fluent in no time. I let her leave little scripture messages most of the time and she talks great, she just gets a little scared sometimes. I am so grateful for this opportunity and I pray that we can learn what we need to learn together. I am ready to work hard and see miracles. I know that I can do hard things with the strength of the Lord!

And there isn't really much more that I can say about this week. We walked a lot, and talked to a lot of people. I am feeling a little overwhelmed with this new responsiblility but I am also super excited. I love being a missionary and I know that I am learning exactly what I need to learn.

So the last day with Sister C. Lima we ate TACOS at a members house and it was amazing! I miss mexican food! The member also knows how to make burritos so hopefully we eat that this week. Yummm!

And I love this ward so much! They help us so much and always bring friends to church and show us people to teach. That is the best and easiest way to make a missionary happy. Share the gospel with the people that you love. Its also an easy way to make our Heavenly Father happy. Our Heavenly Father loves each of us and wants us all to come back to His presence. I am so happy because I know that my Savior loves me! and He loves you too. Dont forget it. Never forget that you are a child of Heavenly Father, who loves you! So many people in the world dont know that, and it is our responsibility to tell everyone.

Thanks for reading! And maybe send me an email or letter sometime ;)

love, Sister Berry

Sao Paulo east mission
Rua Caa- Acu 229 belenzinho

03171-020 Sao paulo SP

Brazil

I Love Being a Missionary

Olá,

Things are going great here and I cannot believe how fast time flies. Life goes by so fast! So I guess we have to make to most of it while we can. We have to be happy now. I reread an awesome talk by Uchtdorf from General Conference about being grateful in any circumstance. Its really good stuff and super true. So Im going to be happy no matter what. Rain or shine I will have a smile on my face, loving life :D, because that is what life is all about: being happy. 

 Also something super exciting about this week is transfers! Exciting because I am all about new things, and things are going to change a little bit around here. My companion, Sister C. Lima is being transfered, and I'm going to stay here with another companion who is new on the mission! So its super sad that Sister C. Lima is leaving but I know that other people need her too. And I don't know who I will be with yet, only tomorrow at the transfer meeting. I am super excited and a little anxious to see how all this goes. 

So also some exciting things happened this week. Have I already told you how much I love being a missionary? Well, some good things and sad things happened. First something sad-- we were teaching Igor this week. Igor is 17, already went to church and was reading the Book of Mormon. Since the beginning he always said "Sister, i wont get baptized." We stayed with him a bit because he is super good and likes our lessons. But this last lesson was sad because he said he knows it's true but doesnt want to follow it. We bore our testimonies, and told him that we know that the Church is true and that it can bless his life. Sister C. Lima told him that we are here because we want to help people. Finally he agreed to come to church again, but when we passed by Sunday he didn't answer. So that was sad. 

BUT, we found this other great young man on the same street who we taught and came to church on Sunday! Its amazing how sometimes "doors close, but somewhere God opens a window." 

And Antonio got baptized on Sunday! I cant remember if I talked about him or not, sorry that I don't explain much about our investigators. Anyway, Antonio is amazing and was definitely prepared by God to hear about the gospel. A member in the ward gave him a For the Strength of Youth Pamphlet, he read it, came to church and got baptized a little over a month later. He is so happy to have the gospel and wants to share it with others by serving a mission too! You can change peoples lives just by sharing a little bit of what we have. We have the truth. We have the key to happiness. You can do hard things! 

love you all! tchau!

Sister Berry

One Year!

Hello!

Whoa this week I'll be making my one year mark! I cant believe how fast time flies. Well a lot of things happened this week-as always- and I never have enough time to talk about all the miracles that I see here on the mission. I love being a missionary so much! 

So it was my brithday this week! Thanks to the ones that sent me birthday wishes! Thank you for thinking of me! It was a pretty normal day on the mission- studying, walking, visiting people, and talking to everyone about Jesus Christ (that makes it all the better ;). And then to make it even better another Sister that lives in the house with us has the same birthday! So we had a party together at one of the sisters house in the other ward with some missionaries in the zone. We ate a lot of pizza and ate a lot of cake. :) It was a great way to end the day. 

We also had a talent show in the ward on Saturday! My comp and I sang a song in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Just something simple but it was cool to see some of the talents in the ward. Singing, hip hop dancing, Capoeira (Brazilian fight dance), and more. 

And just one of the miracles this week was church on Sunday. It was a holiday on Monday so a lot of people went out of town this weekend to take advantage of the 3 day weekend. And we had nobody to come to church with us. We called all of our investigators and even passed by some houses before church but nobody answered. Then we got to church and THREE members brought their friends to church and we were able to set up appointments with them. Heavenly Father loves them and He knows that we are working diligently here. I love being a missionary and seeing the hand of the Lord in my life!

 

Thank you all for the prayers! 

Com amor, Sister Berry