Feliz Natal e próspero ano novo!

Feliz Natal e próspero ano novo!

This week was great! It was fantastic to talk to everyone about Jesus Christ and help others this Christmas season. We visited a lot of less actives and recent converts this week, but also found some new people to teach. It was a great week! 

The only thing was all the rain. So this time of year, the days are all the same. Scorching hot in the morning, and pouring rain in the afternoon. It's incredible. Many times this week we got caught in the rain and got just a little soaked. I could not believe how what i got even tho I have a giant umbrella. My umbrella broke a bit in one of the storms, so that made things even better. The good thing is that I love rain and my comp and I had a great time soaking it all up and running up the hills to the nearest house of someone we know. 

This week was amazing because I had the opportunity to see the pure love of Christ in action. I have met so many people here on the mission that give everything to the Lord and to others. I want to be that person. I want to be someone who thinks nothing about themselves and only how they can help others. I am definitely not to that point yet, but I am working on it, and with God's help i will get there someday. At church yesterday a member told a stroy that really touched my heart. He said how he will never forget one lady who he met on his mission, who didnt have hardly anything to give, but wanted to give what she had to the missionaries. The lady was a little older, lived all alone and had no family to help her, but was full of charity. The member just cried as he tried to tell us how he could feel the pure love of Christ through that lady as she gave the little that she had to servants of the Lord. 

The love of Christ can change the world. People do not forget the service that others offer. I certainly cannot forget. I am so grateful for the love of God that I can feel every single day. God loves us! Christ lived and died for us! He rose from the dead and He still lives! I know that to be true, and I know that He is our Savior. So remember to help someone this Christmas. "It may be small, but if its your all, its enough."

It was also amazing to talk to my family! Even though it was a little hard to speak just English! I love them! 

Love,

Sister Berry

Aloha!

Aloha!

My comp lived in Hawaii so I think I can say aloha. Plus, I'm just happy. I am getting so excited during this Christmas season. I absolutely love talking about Jesus Christ to anyone and everyone that we see! Have we not reason to rejoice?!

This week was our Christmas conference with half the mission, and it was awesome! I love being a missionary. We got to sing the 12 days of Christmas with the whole mission, which was super hilarious. Brazil doesn,t have this song so we taught it to everyone and made it into a cool activity. We also had a talent show that was great. A lot of good singing and some funny parodies of the mission. The best part was the testimony meeting. President chose 3 missionaries who are going home this week to go first but then left it open to everyone. President chose Elder Correia as one of the first, and it was amazing. He was my Zone Leader in Boa Vista and he is already going home. I think I have said before that my favorite part of zone conferences are the testimonies of the missionaries going home, because they have such a strong spirit. They have learned to love the work with their whole souls, and they give me the strength to keep working hard until the end. I don't want to have any regrets. I cannot believe how fast time flies!

The work has been going good. We have been visiting a lot of less actives, and still trying to find new people to teach. We actually found a family who already met with the missionaries in Bahia (state in Brazil), but moved here and lost contact with the church. They are super nice and are super excited to talk with us. It is amazing how God puts people who are prepared in our path, we just have to have the courage to open our mouths and preach the gospel! I pray for that courage every day.

I have been just loving this gospel this week. I love being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I love even more being a missionary of this church. This scripture has been in my mind all week: 2 Nephi 33:6 "I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell." So I have been 'glorying' in truth and in my Jesus this week. This gospel is amazing, and this Christmas we have more reason than ever to thank God for our blessings and be happy. Lets be happy!!

Some things that I remember about this week: 

• -lots and lots of açaí, Sister Allred also discovered Paçoca, which is kinda like dried peanut butter and really good with açaí. Delicious!!
• -Juice! finally we have been drinking lots more natural juice, which is the best thing in the whole wide world. we tried orange juice with banana this week, good stuff. 
• -Ward christmas party! a little bit of christmas music to brighten the season . I love this ward so much!! the people here are amazing and i love them all!

Until next week, and have a merry, merry Christmas!!

Com todo o meu amor e carinho, 
Sister Berry

Feliz Natal!

It's Beginning to Feel Like Christmas

Meus queridos,

 

So many things happened this week. This week went by so fast. Its true when they say that the day goes by super slow, the weeks fast, and the months even faster. I think yesterday was our last p-day. Crazy how time flies. Especially because this week I finally realized that its almost Christmas!! Say what?! Its hard to be excited about Christmas here because it is so different from home, but now I can say that I am happy for Christmas. The reason that I am happy about Christmas is because my comp and I have been watching a bunch of Christmas videos and messages on lds.org. They are amazing and absolutely beautiful! One of my favorites is from last year: He is the Gift. Really, the Savior, Jesus Christ is the reason that we have Christmas. He gives us peace and joy. Thinking and pondering on Christ's birth and His life, I can find peace, and I can find happiness. It is amazing! 

Some exciting things about this week was our French Toast Friday! My comp is great and decided that we need more french toast in our lives. And she also brought maple flavoring with her from home (so smart!) so we ate delicious french toast with maple syrup. More delicous things that we ate this week was churros at a house of a less active. He made them himself and it was awesome! I am going to buy a churro machine when I get home haha.

Its been a little hard these past few weeks finding new people to teach. Sister Allred is still a little aprehensive about talking to people that she doesn't know, but we are both working about getting better at this. She is really amazing and helps me so much. Its amazing the Spirit that every one can feel when she teaches and bears testimony. She doesn't talk perfectly, so she has to rely on the Spirit to testify to those we are teaching, and we can all feel it. I have forgotten a bit about that. I have been relying more on what I say than how I say it. So that is something that I am working on.

I also wanted to say that it is super important to visit people in the church. People need so much help and want friends in the church. Show people how much you love them! 

Tchau!

Sister Berry