City Lights Look Like Stars

Olá,

This week was crazy! So many things have changed. My new area is super different than any place I have ever been.There are a lot of high class people here, but also from the lower class too. So far I have been feeling super out of place, but I know it just takes some time to adjust. I miss my old area a lot actually, and all the people that I love. Sister Arzola has been introducing me to the members so little by little it has been getting better. Sister Arzola is super amazing and is a super hard worker, I am loving it! I just feel a little bad for her now because I dont know anything about the area most of the time she is just doing everything. I am trying to learn as fast as I can. I know that it will all turn out great. 

This area is so beautiful! There are lots of apartment buildings (that also provide shade), and lots of trees too. There is a super big park that is part of our area too that I am excited to visit. The only drawback of the city is that everything is super expensive, especially the açai. so that is a little sad for my life. We also have a great view from our apartment, 16 stories up. At night the city nights really looks like stars. The apartment is super tiny but the view makes up for it. I love it. 

I talked to a returned missionary who served in London England in english and it was super hilarious. Imagine a brazilian with an english accent! Awesome!

Well, this transfer I really want to focus on loving everything. The people, the area, the language, the mission, and being a missionary here in Sao paulo. I know I can do hard things!

I am also super excited for Easter! I am so grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that He died for me and for all of us. I know that He lives! I know that He guides this church through living prophets today. 

Have a fantastic week!!

Love, Sister Berry

Look for Little Miracles

So this has been a great week! Sister Pinheiro and I were able to work hard and help a lot of people. But, tomorrow is transfer day, and I am getting transfered! I am finally leaving Itaim after almost 8 months here. It was super hard to say good bye to all the members and people here that I love so much. It was strange because it really felt like I was leaving home. I already felt like I was a part of the ward. That is why I am super excited to be here with Sister Arzola (from Argentina) in Vila Mariana, the center of Sao Paulo. It is going to be super different but I am excited to get to work.

 So a little more about my week: I gave another talk in sacrament meeting yesterday. The members were probably sick of seeing my face, but the bishop wanted to me say a goodbye of sorts. I decided to talk about something that I learned a lot about on the mission: sacrifice. Today God asks us to offer as a sacrifice a broken heart and a contrite spirit. As a missionary, I have been learning how to give everything to the Lord and this work. I have learned how to give up all my wants and dreams for a year and a half and just do His work. And actually, my mission is almost ending. I cannot believe how fast time flies. It still feels like I will be a missionary forever. Lets keep it that way.

Yesterday was also amazing because of Fran and her family. I love them so much. I wish I could stay in Itaim just to stay with them to get to know them even better. I am so happy for Fran that she was able to find the church again and is helping her children to grow in the gospel. God is good.

Yup. I am going to miss so many people but I am excited for this new beginning. This next transfer is going to be absolutely amazing! I know that God loves me. I can feel His love for me every single day, even when I make mistakes. Its all about the little things. For example, Sister Pinheiro has the habit of talking about food all the time (she's tiny but she eats a lot!) and its crazy how she talks about some kind of food that she wants and that day or the next someone offers us that kind of food. Its awesome! One day she asked me what I wanted to eat, and that day I just wanted 'natural juice', juice made from the fruit itself, super delicious and refreshing. I thought of mango or guava (more common), but then we got to talking about suco de acerola and how it has been forever since we have had it and its one of my favorites. We forgot about it and went to lunch. After we had finished eating lunch with a sister in the ward we were just sitting and talking a bit, and out of nowhere she asked us if we liked suco de acerola. Like wait, what? I could not believe it and I just started laughing. Sister Pinheiro pointed out that God really loves us, and I agreed. So we drank delicious suco de acerola and were happy. :)

Make sure to look for the little miracles every day. Your Heavenly Father loves you more than you can imagine! He is always there to help you!

love ya!

Sister Berry

I Love Being a Missionary

Olá!

I cannot believe that it is March already! This year has been going by so fast! I now have 1 year and 4 months as a missionary! Crazy!

This week has been great; Sister Pinheiro and I have finally gotten into the swing of things and are working hard and great together. We have met some wonderful families these past few weeks that we have been visiting and helping a lot. First was Ana, who got baptized yesterday! She has been faced with a lot of persecution from her family but she was determined to be baptized. I am so grateful for the members here who have helped us out so much and have been visiting her. We also have been visiting a great family that I have grown to love. Fran is coming back to church after many years out of it and is bringing here whole family with her. She is not legally married to her husband yet, so we are helping them with that. They have 5 kids that are just adorable! The two oldest are old enough to get baptized so we are teaching them more about that. Fran has a really great desire to relearn and remember all that she once knew, and really wants her children on the right path. Her husbund is a little more closed to things with religion, but we are helping him little by little.

I love being a missionary! Every day I have a greater desire to work and talk to everyone about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am really learning how to be patient. Heavenly Father has shown me so many of my weaknesses. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and the strength that He has given me. I know that we can do hard things. Trust in Him and everything will be alright. :)

love, Sister Berry

Hey Hey Hey

 What a great week! We were able to work a lot this week and we saw the results. We have been receiving a lot of references lately and it is going fantastic. We are now teaching some good, solid people and i am excited to see where they will go from here. 

We met with an awesome family this week! The mother is actually coming back to church after being less active for more than 10 years. She is married and has 5 kids now and they are all great! Just that the dad doesn't really want anything to do with the church for now, but we will continue visiting with them and help some of her oldest children prepare for baptism.

Sao paulo is super weird. It is scorching hot in the morning and then in the afternoon its cold and it rains. Except this week it hailed one day. It hailed! It was super hot and then it hailed in the afternoon. Crazy. It was funny too because it was the first time that my comp saw hail and she freaked out a little bit haha. I guess it never hails in the northern part of Brazil. My comp also likes to pick strange fruit off of trees on the street and make me eat them. She says that she knows what kind of fruit it is, but it never really works out good. So far I havent died, so everything is fine. 

I wanted to thank my parents for all that they do for me and for my siblings. I have heard so many people here say that after having one kid they don't want anymore or that they could have done so much more in life if they didn't have any kids. But I know that having a family is an essential part of the plan of happiness. I am so grateful for my family, and I know that my parents and so many others, have given all that they have for their children. Thank you for all the love and support!

This week was also great because of Ana and Pat, who came to church this Sunday. Their family life is a little complicated because of their brothers who have problems with drinking and doing drugs. These two women really want to change their lives and feel more peace at home. I know that they can find it in the gospel.
 love Sister Berry 

A Mission Isn't Easy

Oi,

This has been a crazy week, full of ups and downs as always. I just want to say how happy I am to be a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am grateful to have a strong testimony that this is the only true and living church on the earth today. Jesus Christ leads this church through prophets and apostles today! Heavenly Father always answers our prayers and He is always listening. 

So this week was a lot of walking. We have received a lot of references recently from members (which is awesome!) but they all live in a neighborhood super far away. So, we walked a lot. We have found some good people but it has been difficult to get these people to come to church. I am hoping that things will get better because "summer break" has ended so more people will be at home now. Sister Pinheiro has some good ideas for us to have more success here in the area, and we are working at putting them all in place.

 

This week we had an amazing conference with President Silcox and the assistants. I am so grateful for our President, he really is inspired. He talked about being exactly obedient and doing God's will. When we do what God wants us to do, we are happy and we are blessed. When we do only what we want to do, we are sad, frustrated, and cannot receive all the blessings that God wants to give us. They also talked about love. We are nothing without the pure love of Christ in our hearts. I want to love everyone. I want everyone to feel Gods love. So after the conference I felt revigorated and reminded that God trusts in me to teach His children here in this area. He trusts in me and He will give me the help i need to do His work.

A mission isn't easy. Life isn't easy. I have become aware of so many of my weaknesses. I have so much that I need to do better. This week especially God has shown me some of my weaknesses. But now I am grateful for this opportunity to become better, to overcome my weaknesses and turn them into strengths. 

Sorry I dont have any experiences to share. The week goes by so fast and when pday comes I cant remember anything that happened. Next week will be better, I promise. 

With love, Sister Berry

Six Sisters in One House

Olá!

Another week gone by! What a crazy week! I think I forgot to mention last week, but there are now two other missionaries living in our house. That equals 6 sisters in one house. The house is big, but there is only one bathroom. I thought it would be crazy, but it has been working out pretty well. Who knew that hard things were possible? ;) The other sisters are great too. One from Manaus, another from Ecuador, and another from México (wooo hooo I am going to make some mexican food!). I love missionaries!

Things are going great with Sister Pinheiro and I. She is super fun and always makes me laugh. We are ready to work hard this transfer and see some miracles. Something that she and I have started doing is saying Bom dia or Boa tarde or noite to everyone on the street that passes by. People give us weird looks sometimes, but it is pretty awesome. It actually makes me a little happy when I look for people to say Bom dia to. Something small and simple that really makes a difference.

So this weekend is Carnaval- a huge party here in Brazil. But holidays here are some of the worst days for missionaries because everyone here goes to the beach or travels to visit Family. So Sunday at church was a little sad because we had some good people that said they would come to church that didnt show up. So this week we have to work even harder and next Sunday will be a lot better.

Exciting news: i ate a part of a pigs foot! For lunch on Sunday a member made Fejoada, with every part of the pig that you can imagine. A lot of the times people dont add the ears or the tail, just meat and sausage, but sometimes people put it all. So I started eating and then as the member was serving herself she puts a pig foot on her plate along with the rice and beans. Say what?! She offered me a little bit and of course I accepted. Nothing special, but I dont think i need to eat it again. I love Brazil!

So this morning I read a talk in the Liahona from Elder Oaks. He talked about how we can find joy in the  gospel. Members of the church should be the happiest people on Earth. Lately I have been struggling a little with that. So Elder Oaks invites all of us to search for the happiness that comes from obedience and keeping the commandments that God gives us. I know God loves me, and I know that He wants me to be happy. So lets be happy. May we choose to be happy today, tomorrow and forever because God is on our side, and we cannot fail. I love you all and I am so very grateful for all your prayers and support.

With love, Sister Berry

Week as a Trio

Well, we survived our week as a trio! Woo hoo! It actually went really well and I love these two sisters. They are complete opposites but are both adorable because they are both 'greenie' missionaries. It was great to see their light shine this week. We were able to work hard and find some new people to teach, but no one new came to church! Church is the most important and at times the most difficult for the people here that don't like to get up early or dont have a car. We are working hard and trusting in the Lord all the same. 

This week I also had to go to the police station or someplace like that to renew my visa for the year. It was only awesome because I got to talk to some new Elders that had just arrived in Brazil. It was hard to speak only English but I think they understood. They wanted to know about the food and if anything was super gross here. Good thing about Brazil is that everything is delicious! Rice, beans and meat. Yum!

I also made some awesome pancakes this week! Strawberries, bananas and maple syrup equals perfection on top of a pancake. They were not the best ever, but I am going to work on perfecting them a bit. 

Oh, Transfers! This week is transfers and sadly Sister Allred will be leaving tomorrow for a new area. But she is going to be companions with an amazing Brazilian Sister that I know will be perfect. I will be staying here with Sister Pinheiro. One more transfer here in Itaim Paulista. Its a long time, but I know that there are still people waiting for the gospel in this area, and they are waiting for me. 

I know that God answers our prayers, and I believe in miracles. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary here in Brazil. I love this gospel and my testimony grows every single day that I do the work of the Lord. Remember to serve others and look for the little miracles in your life. 

Com amor, Sister Berry