By My Side

So this week went by super fast, as always. I'm not even sure what happened this week. The only thing I can remember for now is that Saturday we received a new companion! Now we are in a trio! And thats only part of it. The sister that we are with now will actually be leaving for another area today and we will be receiving another Sister to stay with us ( Sister Allred and I) for the rest of the transfer. So last week during our weekly planning session, Sister Allred and I decided to make a goal of having 'the best week ever' this week. And that is exactly what we are going to do! 

Super exciting thing that happened this week was a worldwide devotional from members of the quorum of the twelve and other general authorities of the church. I am so happy to be a missionary in this day and age! We we able to be inspired and reminded why we are here. I am here to help people to come unto Christ through faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. I am not alone in this work. Jesus Christ is by my side every step of the way. Its amazing because every single day I can feel my heart full of joy and gratitude for this church. That we have living prophets on the earth today! We are not alone! We have so many people here to help us on our path back to our heavenly home. 

Sorry that I dont have much experiences to share from this week. I'll make sure to share some next week. We see little miracles every day out here. 

With love,

Sister Berry

The Rainy Season

This week was great! It rained a lot but we were able to work in spite of it. The rain here really is something else. We also discovered that last week the Lord really watched over us. Remember how I talked about the day when we didnt have anything to do and my comp felt like going to a certain area and we stayed at the house of a less active until the rain passed. Well, that rain was a lot more serious than it appeared. This week we heard about other places in our area that flooded completely and destroyed people's houses and many belongings of lots of people. The Lord led us to areas of higher ground so we didnt even realize what was happening. It is amazing to me how God protects us! 

Also this week we have been trying to trust more in the Lord and ask Him where we need to go to find people to teach. After lots of pondering and prayer we chose some streets to go to this week and found some amazing people to teach. We were walking from door to door on one street, and when we got to one, a lady answered. I just said "We are missionaries-" and then she said "wait a minute" and came out with a key to the gate and let us in. :) She then told us how she has been having problems in the church that she and her husbund go to and that she had been fasting to find out when she needed to do. Then we showed up at her door! I love miracles! She accepted to read and pray about our message and the Book of Mormon, so now its all up to her. We are here to help people come unto Christ and become a part of His church, we dont force people to do anything. My comp and I are praying that she can have the desire to know the truth so she can receive an answer. We did the same thing the next day and found another lady who was willing to listen to our message. I love being a missionary! 

The sad news about this week was the rainy, chilly weather. This weather coupled with summer break equals everyone sleeping or out of the house. So that was a little rough, but I know that we can do hard things and that it will all work out. 

Finally, the Bishop asked me and Sister Allred to give talks in Sacrament meeting on Sunday. Luckily we had a couple days to prepare. Sister Allred gave an amazing talk, especially because she's only been in Brazil 3 months. She talked about three basic things that we always need to do to build our testimony. Pray, read the scriptures and go to church. Simple, easy, just do it.

I gave a talk about testimony and conversion, that we need to be converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ, not just have a testimony. We need to want to be more like Jesus Christ, and that involves a lot of change and a lot of sacrifice. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It is truly another testament of Jesus Christ. And because I know that the Book of Mormon is true, I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God, and that we have a living prophet today. I love this Church. I know that Jesus Christ leads this church through the prophet and apostles. And because I know this, I live differently. This gospel is amazing. Let it change your life for the better. 

Love, Sister Berry

Look for the Little Miracles

This week was a great week full of hard work, little miracles, but a little bit of tears too. Being a missionary is hard. No one said it would be easy, and every day I am a witness to that. But I know that this church is the true church of Jesus Christ. I know that we have a living Prophet who leads the church today by revelation from God. It is truly amazing!

So an exciting thing this week was a missionary homecoming. We have been teaching this Family for a long time, ever since I arrived in the área, and I love them. I have been able to see the return of some less active members, a baptism, and we are helping Nilta to be baptized this month. So the past 5 months everyone has been talking about this missionary and he finally finished his mission and is home safe. We stopped by his little coming home party and it was soooo strange to see him. He still looked like a missionary, and I could tell that he still felt like a missionary and didnt know what to do in a house full of people ( his Family) that he hadnt seen in two years. He told us that his mission was really the best two years of his life. It is hard, but it is worth it. Seeing that made me just a little less excited to come home, because I know that it is going to be strange, just like it was strange for him. I love my Family, but for now I am so grateful to be here in Brazil sharing the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Another little miracle, one day this week was especially rough. It was right after lunch and the two good appointments that we had for the day had called to cancel so we had nothing to do. We sat down to pray and decide what we were going to do with our day. I was ready to give up and just go home and cry, but my comp said she felt good about doing contacts in a particular área. So we walked and talked to some good people, and ended up finding ourselves on a street of a less active that we had tried to visit before but never did. We decided to stop there for a bit to talk with her, also because it was starting to rain. Not five minutes after entering the less active's house, a huge storm started. We were able to stay safe and dry until the storm passed. Before that, I wanted to give up and just cry because things hadnt gone the way that I had planned, but God had other plans in mind. He knows what we need to do and He is watching over us. I am so grateful for His love and support.

Make sure to look for the little miracles in you life. They are always there!

love Sister Berry

Feliz 2016!

So new years was great! We had to be home early because its a little dangerous on the streets at night because everyone just drinks during new year. But we had a fun time at home watching all the fireworks from our house. We made mini pizza again and ate a lot. Here everyone lets off their own fireworks, so there were fireworks in every direction in every place that we could see. It is really cool :)

There has still been a lot of rain, but we have gotten better at being inside people's houses during the rain so we haven't been getting so wet. This time of year is a little difficult to find people at home because everyone is on break from work and school and everyone goes to the beach. We are just praying and working hard that everything will work out and that we will find the people that are prepared to accept the gospel. 

And of course, I have been thinking a lot about my goals for the year and who I want to become. I cannot believe that this year I will be going home. The time goes by so fast! I read an amazing talk that my aunt Beth sent me about change. We are all going to change, but we can choose who we become. I want to become more like Christ, so I will always strive to think and live like our Savior would. So this is going to be the best year yet, because Im going to make it that way. I am excited for all the possibilities. Especially to be able to end my mission strong. No regrets. 

Thank you for all the support and the prayers! They are appreciated and needed. I know that Heavenly Father loves us all and He wants us all to return to His presence. So let's live the gospel of Jesus Christ and be happy!