Waiting on the Road to Damascus

The weeks pass by so slow and so fast at the same time! Well, this week was especially crazy because my comp has been having knee problems and a sister in the other dupla (companionship) has been sick a lot this week. So, I’ve gone on a lot of exchanges with different Sisters this week. It’s really great to do exchanges though. I love talking with missionaries! I am so thankful for my health! You don’t know how good you have it until its gone, or until you see someone without it. So, if you can keep my companion in your prayers! 

Some good news for the week: we found THE BEST place with açaí ever! It is so delicious! So now we go there all the time, it’s great. 

We have been talking a lot with Diéron still, and his family. He is so special, and he has such a strong desire to get baptized, but the problem is his family. Everyone keeps telling him that he's too young to get baptized and he doesn’t know what he's doing. But Diéron is coming to Church with his grandma and he's reading the Book of Mormon. He really just wants to follow Christ. We are going to talk to his Dad about it tonight. (His dad lives in a different house not too far away, but works a lot), and help him realize that this is a good thing to do.

I am so excited for general conference this weekend! We have the amazing opportunity to hear from the prophet and apostles of the Lord! I read some old conference talks this week from April 2011 that were really good. One was 'Waiting on the Road to Damascus" by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf. He talked about how sometimes we just wait for a huge sign from God before doing the things that we are supposed to do. Instead of moving forward doing the little things, like reading the scriptures, saying prayers, and going to church, we think that an angel needs to come down and tell us to do those things. Most of the time our “angels” are the people around us. The Lord works through other people to answer prayers. Don’t wait to do the right thing. Just keep moving forward, and the Lord will bless you with what you need. Good stuff. 

Turn to the Lord in all that you do. Pray always, and be strong.

Love ya,
Sister Berry

Frisbee in the Rain

Aloha everyone! (I feel like mixing it up today).

The weeks are going by so fast now! I don’t even know what’s happening. But so much stuff happened this week. Last p-day we went on an adventure to the mall to eat Subway (one of the sisters loves it, it’s almost the same thing but with a twist). Then we played Frisbee at the church in the pouring rain with some Elders in our district. It was fun :). 

We had stake conference this week, and it was really exciting because my comps dad is an Area Seventy and came here to speak at the conference. So we (me, my comp, and the 2 other sisters in our area) got some perks this week, which included: eating a fancy lunch with Elder Fernandes (the Area Seventy), getting to ride in the mission president’s car, and taking a picture with the Mission President, his wife and the Stake President.

We had some amazing lessons with Deiron this week, which I don’t have time to talk about. But I want you all to know that you are children of God. You are a child of God!! That is so amazing to know! You have a FATHER in Heaven who loves you and knows your name! Remember that.

With love, Sister Berry

It's Time for Transfers

My last picture with Sister Beazer

Note: Sister Berry and the missionaries in Brazil are safe in the midst of the protests. They were told to stay inside during this time. In a personal email sent to me (Beth),  Sister Berry mentioned that they "had to come home straight after lunch because of a protest thing all over Brazil, I think." She is not up to speed with the politics of Brazil as missionaries don't watch television or read the newspapers while they are serving the Lord. She is an obedient missionary and will listen to the guidance of the Mission President as he helps them remain safe during the turbulence.

Well this has been a crazy, crazy week, but isn’t it always. First, I have a new companion!! Sister Fernandes is awesome! She is from Fortaleza, Brazil, and she knows a lot of English, which helps. So far things are going fantastic and I am excited for this transfer! With transfers and all we didn’t really do a lot this week. Oh yeah… it was super fun to have all her suitcases on the train and on the bus on the way home from the Mission office. It was super stressful and super crowded, but we got home safely! Sister Fernandes also knows how to cook (hallelujah)!  She made Tapioca (she taught me how too, its super easy!) and made some other stuff. She's teaching me how to cook, so I am really excited.

One highlight of the week: We had a lunch without rice and beans! It was strange, but awesome! The sister made us pasta, with white sauce and a red sauce, and chicken on the side. I felt like I was in Italy it was so good! I love rice and beans, but that was just amazing.

Well, the work is moving forward. We are talking to anyone and everyone about the joy the gospel brings to our lives. I really loved church yesterday. The lesson in Relief Society was about how we know that Jesus Christ lives and that He is our Savior. Also, it was about how we know that there is a God. How do I know? I know because I can feel it in my heart. I know it when I look at a beautiful sky full of clouds, when I look at a tree, animals, people, at the beauty of the earth- I can feel it. Like it says in Alma 30:44 "All things denote there is a God." If you don’t know that you have a loving Father in Heaven, or that there is a Savior, even Jesus Christ, you can find out through prayer and reading the scriptures. Come unto Christ and feel His love! I find comfort every day in knowing that God loves me and will help me in all that I do if I ask Him. I love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ; even though I have never seen them, I know that they are there and are cheering me on and pushing me forward.

Thank you all for your amazing examples! Love you all! 

Love,

Sister Berry

 

Our Zone at the last transfer-- I just love them!

My new companion on the very steep hill that is a bear to climb. It's worse in 

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

Rosangela

Whoa what a week! I get exhausted just thinking about it! But it was good, we are working hard. Good news: Rosangela got baptized!! She completely quit smoking and wanted to get baptized! She is absolutely amazing! I know that she was prepared by the Lord before we came to hear our message. Thank you so much for your prayers- they helped more than you know.  Now we just need find more people to teach and more people to baptize! This gospel is AMAZING and it changes lives. I cannot tell you how much Rosangela has changed this past 3 weeks. She is so much happier.

And Happy Birthday Malachi!! Have a great day tomorrow!! 

A crazy thing that happened this week was the rain. It rained sooo much! (We are still praying for rain in the reserve place- apparently that’s where it’s not getting rain so that’s why no one has water in their houses, but outside we're getting buckets full- oh the irony). We had the Elders with us to go to our appointments and of course they didn’t have their umbrellas, so they were soaked and freezing. We stopped to wait it out for a bit but it didn’t really stop. My shoes were soaked and they dyed my feet black- so that was fun ;)

 I love this, even though it’s hard. I know that Heavenly Father is watching over us and helping us along our way. I miss you all and love you! 

Love, Sister Berry 

Happy Late Valentine's Day!

Brazil doesn't have Valentine’s Day (only a day of boy/girlfriends in July or something), but my comp got a little into it and made a bunch of hearts and looked up a bunch of scriptures about love. It was really cute; you should look up the scriptures about love in the Bible and Book of Mormon sometime. Good stuff. :) Some I wrote down were 1 Corinthians 2:9, Deuteronomy 13:3, and Jeremiah 31:3. 

  Today was a really busy crazy week (as usual), and things are going great! We had a zone conference this week that was amazing. Its 3 or 4 districts so about 20 missionaries were there. Our Zone leader is absolutely awesome and told us some great stuff. Some notes I wrote down:

· The Spirit talks to us in different ways, we need to recognize how it talk to us, and then listen to it.

·  Don’t hesitate, just do it!

·  Am I doing everything possible to follow the Spirit?

·  We will have lots of difficulties because Satan wants us to fail and will do everything he can.

·  We need to follow the whisperings of the spirit and always choose the right.

·  Make goals with yourself to get better each day.

We met some great people this week and are teaching some great lessons! It’s really easy to find people to teach here, it’s just kind of hard to find people that aren’t breaking the law of chastity (sex before marriage) or have addictions such as coffee, cigarettes, or tea. The struggle is real. But we are helping the people we are teaching and things are really looking great.  We are teaching a great family right now too.  Rosangela is awesome; she is so humble and so willing to do the things the Lord wants her to do. She just has a little problem with smoking a pack a day right now, so we are helping her to quit so that she will be prepared for baptism. She is amazing, she’s reading the BoM and praying for strength.

I have really learned out here how bad these addictions are. Especially coffee. We were teaching this amazing family and they were reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church but when we told them they couldn't drink coffee-they changed. They love their coffee in the morning and they don’t want to stop because it is a tradition here in Brazil. We tried to tell them that coffee is addictive and bad for our bodies and our spirits (read Doctrine and Covenants 89). It’s just really sad to see that people won’t change just one aspect of their lives for the Lord. We’re going to visit them again this week so please pray for this family that they will be able understand and have the Spirit touch their hearts.

I know that this church is true. I know that the Lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them to accomplish the thing which he hath commanded. I’m grateful that I was taught these things and that I don’t have any addictions and that I never will.
Remember that God loves you, and He wants you to return to live with Him again. And the only way that you can do that is through the gospel. This church contains the fullness of the living gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s why I am here in Brazil.

I love Brazil btw :) Pictures: Me and the other sisters in our ward. Love em :) The view from one of the church buildings we were at, and Maracujá fanta (passion fruit). Why don’t we have this in America?? 

I love you all! You are always in my prayers!
Com Amor, Sister Berry

Falta de Agua

Oi!

So much stuff happened this week, as always. We are just so busy that it all blurs together! We also taught some amazing lessons this week, and had some crazy experiences with some contacts. Overall this week was great! It’s really hard, but it’s good. 

We have had some great lessons with Leonardo and Isabelly. Isabelly is 15, less active from the church, and is a rebel. She loves to party, smoke, and ´hang out´ with her boyfriend, Leonardo, who isn’t a member. They are both awesome and I love them! Isabelly has been trying for a long time to change and become better, and she really has a strong testimony, but is just caught in the trap of sin and addictions. Leonardo does all this bad stuff with her too so we are trying to help him so he can help her and vice versa. Anyway, we had a member come with us to teach Leonardo about the Restoration of the Gospel and to ask him to live the law of chastity and the word of wisdom. It was a great lesson. Leandro (the member) is a returned missionary and just took over the lesson but it went really well. He told this amazing story to Isabelly that reminded me of the kind of stories that Grandma tells about Francine the fish and stuff like that. Here’s the rough translation…without the beauty of the language…

So Satan is having a party in hell and he wants to honor the three people/things that brought the most souls down to him. So he calls out the third person- who’s big and strong and explains that this person told the people to fight and kill. Then he calls out the second person who explains that he told the people to lie, cheat, smoke, and drink. That was the one that brought the second most. Then Satan calls for the one that brought the most souls to hell, and out walks this tiny little person. Satan puts the little guy on his shoulder and explains that this person told the people to go to church, read the scriptures, say their prayers-- but to do it tomorrow. The thing is tomorrow never comes for those people. We need to decide now to do all the things we need to do to be saved- and do it now! There is no time to procrastinate the day of your repentance. Grandma I think you should take this story and make it your own because I think it would be perfect for you. Think about it.

Another thing I loved about this week was church because it was fast and testimony meeting. Every first Sunday of the month during sacrament meeting at church the meeting is left open for the members to go up and bear their testimonies. To say what they believe and what they know. I just love this ward. As soon as the counselor says that it is time to bear testimonies it seems like the whole congregation immediately gets up and goes to the front to wait in line. The testimonies of these people are so strong! I love them so much, and I am so grateful for this wonderful opportunity to be in Brazil and meet so many wonderful people. I have so much that I can learn from them.

A huge thing that everyone in Sao Paulo is talking about is the falta de agua (drought- literally translated to “lack of water” because they don’t have a word for drought in Portuguese). They just announced that people here are going to have only 2 days with water and 5 days without. It was already pretty bad- some people only have 30 minutes of water a day to do laundry, take a shower, wash the dishes, and flush the toilet. Yup, it is really bad. Pray for water in Sao Paulo. This has never happened in Sao Paulo before so people are really stressed out about it. 

I want you all to know that Heavenly Father loves you, and He hears and answers your prayers. Go to him with full purpose of heart and He will comfort you. I know this is true because I do it every day. Stay strong, pray always!

Love ya! Sister Berry

The "Hill of Death"...it goes straight up and is so difficult to walk up!