Week 32 - Jardim Celeste - A Longer Path

This week was full of ups, and full of downs.. A mission is amazing. I don’t think there is any better way of finding out every single one of our weaknesses than this. This week, [some members] got back together and are well all over again!!! WOO HOO!! But, 2 more families left us and said they don’t want to accept us in their house again because of rumors they heard or from pastors of their church. It’s sad and crushing, but we keep our heads up knowing the Lord has other people prepared and waiting.

  

Yesterday we didn’t have a single investigator in the church and it was heart-breaking as well.

This week was more than difficult.. all but 4 compromissos that we had this week fell through.. usually we have 6 a day, and we ended the week with 4. It’s sad. We love these people as soon as we see them and automatically are willing to kill ourselves in work for them, to do everything in our power to make sure we help them in some way.

This week really made me think of Christ and how people treated him. He did everything perfect, he slaved to save people, and in the end he suffered the greatest pain because of the love he had for us. In the end, last night, we were tired and exhausted and ready for a new week, and continued through the street. We were impressioned to walk a different road that was the longer path towards our house.. so we went. On this road, we decided to knock on a door (clap our hands) and talk with someone in a strange looking house.

Last night, after we were almost ready to give up and cry.. we believe we found our miracle. This woman is more than prepared, and basically said she wanted to jump into the baptismal font. It’s true.. when we do our part diligently, the Lord does His and the blessings come. Keep that in mind. When we feel like we can’t go one more step, take 2 and the Lord will catch you and carry you home. 

This week we have multi-zone conference tuesday and then we’re going to the temple afterwards!! WOOOOHOOOOOO! Next Monday I’ll probably email later because we have a meeting with Presidente Del Guerso. He’s going to talk for the last time for the entire mission, then afterwards [a sister] is making lunch for us! Love you all and hope you have a great week!

com amor,

Sister Bido

Week 31 - Jardim Celeste - Clap Your Hands and Yell

This week was a good one yáll. good, hard, long, and tiring. It’s amazing the things we go through here in the mission. without pday this week, we were literally the walking dead in the road.. We even had someone tell us that! but we didn’t once complain, we just accept it and continue on and do our part WITH JOY.

For the first time yesterday, we didn’t have a single investigator at church.. but on the bright side we have 4 new families we’re teaching with a whole lot of potential! tTis week was tense. Thursday we returned to the temple to talk to everyone passing by in the avenue in front and inviting people to enter and doing contacts! I felt like I was in temple square serving a mission there! it was exhausting but we survived!

Friday morning we left with a member to knock on doors (aka yell a name really loud and clap your hands). As we were returning back to drop him of at his house, we decided to try one more house. We screamed the name, and someone apeared. She really lived there and accepted us to enter. It was a miracle! AND her and her husband are legally married!

We starting more work here in the area as we’re finding the people the Lord has prepared for us to baptize and help. I studied a lot in John this week, chapter 10 especially with 3 Néfi 14 I think. Every good pastor knows his sheep, therefore his sheep will always know their pastor and recognize him. As Christ, he will recognize His sheep. So be His sheep. Know Him, and do what be possible to arrive closer to Him so that He too will recognize you as His sheep.

com amor,
Sister Bido

Week 30 - Jardim Celeste - Mother's Day

Justine had her Skype call this week.  She went to the temple later in the week.

Week 29 - Jardim Celeste - Falling Down and Faith

Everything in Jardim Celeste is falling right now.. either falling into place or falling apart.

Yes yáll, I’m super stressed here and this week is blowing me away. First off, IT IS FREEZING COLD. Someone left a jacket in our house that I’ve claimed now but as for tights and leggings I’m in trouble. I’ve developed such a strong love with my area that I’m in, I can’t and don’t want to imagine leaving it. The members joke that I’m an actual member of the ward here, and it’s basically true. 3 months here and my heart is completely in love with this ward.

Our recent converts are being put to the ultimate test this week as Satan is litterally trying everything to pull these 4 families apart. It’s so crazy that as I go through these challenges with my families here, I can literally feel my heart breaking for them. Trying to protect and mend everyone and everything is more than difficult. And doing all this while trying to find other people to help and teach is stressful. But my faith will not shake.

The Lord gave us these families by miracle and I know that he will continue to bless and strengthen these families, and I know they are other families preparing or already prepared to hear about the gospel. This week as we suffered with the suffering, I learned more about the pure love of Christ. When we are sad or faced with difficulties, I know that He too is sad with us and suffered through it with us. This is what it means to be a representative of Christ. To act how He would act, and to say what He would say. These families will grow to be sealed in the temple, I know of this. And we will find more families to bring to the temple and one day after this life, we will all live in the presence of our Heavenly Father together.

P.S. My companion Sister D. Sousa is amazing! She’s very calm, but so nice and smart and supportive. This is going to be a wonderful transfer with her!

AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!! and mom did you know that you can order clothes from Forever 21 and have them shipped here? Yes, Brasil has Forever21!!!!!!!

com amor,
Sister Bido

Week 28 - Jardim Celeste - One More Transfer

Yáll!!!!! I WILL BE STAYING IN JARDIM CELESTE FOR ONE MORE TRANSFER, WOO HOOOOOO!!!!! BUT, Sister Oliveira is being transferred wayyyyyy far away from here.. 3 months together passed by so fast, but my new companion will be amazing as well.

This week was absolutely the most stressful week of my life. How is it that 2 missionaries plan 2 weddings on the same day as well as 3 baptisms.. we don’t know how we did it, BUT IT WAS DONE. Obrigada Senhor! The first wedding was amazing and perfect. The second wedding was so cool and sweet! Sister Oliveira and I sent for our seamstress here to make us dresses to be the bridesmaid. Our dresses turned out to be so cool and everyone loved them! The reception was amazing as well of both couples! This email is short because I’ll be skyping with you guys in 2 weeks!! WOOHOO! BUT, it’s just that. This week was the most exhausting week of my life. Saturday after the last reception we crawled into our beds without changing clothes or even showering, woke up late on Sunday and then called for a member to come pick us up because we were too tired to walk, hahahaha. This area is more than great and the members are incredible! But now, I’m excited to continue working here with my new companion, Sister D. Sousa!

Love you alllllll, have a good week!!
com amor,
Sister Bido

ps MOM, tell me what time you want to skype! I already have a member, we just need to know what time. probably 6 or 7 o’clock my time here!

Week 27 - Jardim Celeste - Traveling to Preach the Gospel

It’s Monday, I don’t have a voice, Mucinex doesn’t work in Brasil, and this week was awesome.

Yes, I’m sick with who knows what kind of cold. BUT, this week was awesome. Monday, we went into the city with [two ward members]! She drove us half way there, then we parked and took the subway the rest of the way. It was so nice to have a little break and explore other territory! Tuesday we had interviews with Presidente Del Guerso, which was really sad actually. This was our last interview with him since he’ll be leaving in June!!

Thursday night was the ward temple trip, with which all of our recent converts were prepared to go.. so we also were going, right? HAHAHA WRONG :) The zone leaders refused to give us permission, which actually left us really upset and really sad. Taking your recent converts to the temple is amazing, and we were given the opportunity, mas eles não deixaram (but they have left). Sister Oliveira was even more upset about it because Presidente told her in her interview that she’ll be transferred this coming transfer. And when Sister Oliveira is upset, everyone in the city is upset. It ended up being a rough night for us.

I was really sick, losing my voice, and trying to keep my companion calm. Friday was her 1 year mark, so I bought pizza and coke to celebrate and decorated our house with all kinds of stuff while she was sleeping! It cheered her up a lot, but the week ended slowly and we continued through dead. She was without energy and excitement because of the argument with the elders Thursday and I was too sick to try to excite her. So it was rough.

But one thing we learned together, at times we have to understand that here in the mission, I’m Sister Bido and she’s Sister Oliveira, not Justine and Dani. We have to do what Christ himself would do, ou seja (that is), representatives of Christ would do. I can’t respond how Justine would normally respond, sarcastically and sassy with some answer that would make someone want to smack me. And Sister Oliveira can’t respond how Dani would normally respond. And sometimes that frustrates us, but at the same time we’re thankful to have this opportunity to learn and to grow and to be a better person than we were yesterday. But that was our week for yáll in a wrap! I studied a lot about friendships this week. Did you know we have the commandment to make Christ our friend and to be a Christ-like friend to others?

DC 84:77!!

By the way amigos, 2 weddings this Saturday, followed by the baptisms! Pray that everything works out please!!

Tchau, boa semana para vocês!
com amor,
Sister Bido

Week 26 - Jardim Celeste - Citizenship

YÁLL! I’M LEGAL IN BRASIL. Yes, I was already legal here, but now I’m almost a citizen here I think!

So this week F L E W by, but was awesome!!

So first off, we started our week off with a pizza party in the house of [some members]! I’m actually addicted to pizza with chocolate filled crust.. it’s marvellous.

So back to how I’m legal now..

WEDNESDAY. All missionaries have a health insurance card from the church, right? Well a new protocol came out that Americans in Brazil in our area need a CPF number to be able to use the health plan on spot.. what’s a CPF number? Just a social security number. So Wednesday, me.. along with 3 other Americans in my zone went on splits from our companions and got sent on a journey into the middle of Sao Paulo, out of our mission, to find a certain federal department to apply for our CPF and have all these things made. 4 Americans in the middle of the biggest city in Brasil, not having any idea where they were headed or what they were even looking for.. yeah that was us. 3 buses, and a train later.. we finally arrived. Then 3 trains (because we caught the wrong one at first then had to turn around) and more 3 buses.. FINALLY we arrived back to Taboão safely, legally, and as official Brasileiros. It was the most adventurous, funnest, and confusing part of my mission yet! Now that I successfully accomplished that, I feel like I can conquer anything. Which is why this email is going to be super short! We’re leaving here in just a little bit to catch 2 buses, then a train and headed off into the very center of São Paulo to explore!!!

Just one more detail of what happened this week: I ate ants.. actually no I didn’t. I DRANK ants. Friday was super hot and we were literally being fried in the street.. LITERALLY. Our water evaporated out of our water bottles.......so when someone offered us water in one of our lessons, we accepted of course. Beleza (beautiful). BUT, when she handed me the glass of water, the cup had at least 12 ants floating in it. If I didn’t drink it, she would have been offended and question why on earth I didn’t want her water when we were dying of thirst.. So I drank it while praying in my rapidly beating heart that these little ants wouldn’t bite my insides or something crazy.

So that was my week. The weddings are still on! We’re still planning like crazy to make sure everything goes right, and we’re also praying we stay together for one more transfer! Transfers are in 2 weeks, it’s crazy how time flies!! BUT, the church is true, Pai Celestial (Heavenly Father) loves you, annnnnd I know have a social security number in 2 countries :)

Tchau amo todos vocês! Com grande amor,
Sister Bido

Week 25 - Jardim Celeste - Great Talk by Elder Holland

GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS MY WEEK. We spent the entire week rushing and rushing to prepare all of our investigators for general conference Saturday and Domingo.. it was a long, hard, tiring week.. but we had almost everyone in the capela and tudo deu certo (chapel and everything worked). Thank goodness! Nothing else too interesting happened this week, other than the fact that we went to the courthouse and marked another wedding!!!!!!!

dia 23 de Abril: Juliene and Reginaldo
Tamires and José

2 weddings on the same day, with 3 baptisms to follow! it’ll be a wonderful weekend to end the transfer!

I absolutely loved, loved, loved General Conference and all of the talks. I loved even more that this morning we went to the temple and there were a few zones from Sao Paulo North mission and I got to talk with 2 elders that were in my district in the CTM.

It’s absolutely crazy that I’ve been here for 6 months.. the time is literally flying byyyyyyyy!!!


BUT I want everyone who didn’t watch Elder Holland talk in conference to go right now onto the church website and watch it. That’s all I have to say.

Love you alllllllllllll!
com amor,
Sister Bido 

Week 24 - Jardim Celeste - Happy Easter

Happy Easter!!

First off, I didn’t even know it was Easter until yesterday at church.. whoooops. The culture here for Easter is so different. Everyone eats fish starting on Friday until Sunday! The holiday here is actually more of the Catholic’s holiday! And they don’t have Easter Egg hunts here or dye eggs! Actually, all they do is buy a giant chocolate egg that’s hollow.. that’s it. No Easter Bunny, no basket of chocolate.. nada.

So Friday was crazy. I knew that it was a Catholic Holiday, but I didn’t know what it meant. To start the day off, it was raining. As the day continued, the flood of water washing the side of the street away to grasp of the foot of Sister Oliveira and she went tumbling in the road river with me chasing behind her! It was probably the craziest thing these people have ever seen on the street. She hurt her ankle and could hardly walk.. so what did we do? Call for help..... nope. She jumped on one foot for half a mile to the house of Juliene and her family. On the path to her house, there were torches with bottles holding candles spaced every 2 feet the entire way!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS PART OF THE CATHOLIC HOLIDAY. We ate dinner with the family- fish- then had to leave to our next appointment on the other end of our area. As we were leaving the house, the road was filled with students from Hogwarts!!!! ........ okay not really, but ALMOST!! A TRILLION people filled the streets with red capes holding candles and chanting or maybe singing.. traffic was stopped all over the entire area. AND THIS is what happens on the holiday.. it was the craziest sight I think I’ve ever seen; I had no idea, but in the moment I literally felt like I too was from Hogwarts and felt self conscience for the first time in the mission because we were the only people without capes in the road..

But anyways, Saturday everything worked out perfect. [A family of four was] baptized and Sunday were confirmed. The bishop thanked us for our 6 baptisms in 1 month with 3 more planned and marker that are coming up.. and we responded that yes, we also are very thankful. What a beautiful Easter weekend, the saving of 4 more souls being brought to Christ and confirmed as members of The Restored Church of Christ on earth Easter morning. How great is this work and how grateful I am to be a part of it.

[A couple we have been teaching] will be married on the 23th and baptized after!!!! We went to the courthouse and set the date so it’s official finally!!

Mark 16:16

Week 23 - Jardim Celeste - Because I am on a Mission

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Well, nothing bad happened this week. this week flew byyyyyyy!

Our zone has been having a lot of trouble this transfer, so Presidente flew in some spies! I was sent to Villa Sonia on splits Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday! So I missed almost the entire week here in Jardim Celeste! But I returned Friday night and we just hung out at the church and ate pizza that some of the members bought for us! (Even the members missed my presence for 3 days). After the pizza, we went back to our routine of cleaning the baptismal font. Because guess what? It was stopped up again! But this time was still full of the water from the baptism of João! So again, we spent 3 hours emptying the water out with buckets in an assembly line and emptying it into the toilets in the bathroom!

Saturday foi perfeito, perfeito, perfeito (it was perfect, perfect, perfect)!!! The baptism was exactly how she imagined it and that we were wanting it to be. Her entire family came and there were so many people and support from the ward e os membros! She was so scared when it was time for her to enter the font with the bishop that she started to cry. So what do you do when an 8 year old who has never been in a pool or swimming before or even a bathtub starts crying and refusing to enter.. you sit on the ground with her and make her pray to ask her Heavenly Father to take away her fear. And then you sit there and watch her stand up, take the hand of the bishop, and enter into the water.

Sunday, she was confirmed a member de A Igreja De Jesus Cristo Dos Santos Dos Últimos Dias e recebeu o Dom do Espírito Santo pelo bispo. Her dad walked her to the front and the ward was in tears to see him back in the church for the first time in 3 years. The spirit was so incredibly strong once again. After sacrament meeting her mom hugged us in teras thanking us for saving her family and helping them get back on the right path. And this is why I’m serving the mission of The Lord.

Continue praying that everything goes well this week for this Saturday’s batismos!

Have a good week, love y’all!!

Week 22 - Jardim Celeste - Having Done All, To Stand

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This week was so EXHAUSTING!!! But honestly every week is. I just wanted to start off to say that we literally rocked this week.. in the most humble way I can put it.

Joao’s baptism was perfect. LITERALLY PERFECT. The entire room was in silence and tears as Pastor pulled him out of the water. I don’t think anyone even breathed during that moment. The spirit was so incredibly strong and powerful, Joao’s cried in the baptismal font with Pastor and it was like the world just stopped. Time stopped. No one breathed, talked, nothing.. not even the primary class we had.

(funny note: we went to the church early in the morning to make sure everything was good, found out the baptismal font was stopped up because it hadn’t been used in quite some time. spent 2 hours trying to unclog it, but instead we just filled buckets up with the water and dumped the water into the bathroom sinks. When we were almost done, we prayed that everything would work out. Then we continues breaking our backs trying to empty the water. We had an idea to test the water to see if that even worked, so we turned on the water to fill it up and what do you know.. the water starting draining back to normal and all was well.)

On top of that, we had 18 investigators come to church yesterday! One will be baptized Saturday and I’m even more excited than ever before! She’s is absolutely the cutest!!

Our family that we’ve been focusing on has been progressing fastly. They are all set to be baptized on the 26th! Their parents can’t be baptized yet because they aren’t legally married. The biggest, most annoying thing about Brasil. No one is legally married, which makes our work difficult. But on the bright side, we’re working on their wedding as well!!

The members in this ward are amazing. I’m so in love with this area and all the people here! I’m actually just in love with the mission and our work. Transfers are this coming Sunday, but I’m almost positive President Del Guerso will leave us alone here because of our success and feedback from the ward. I really hope so!!

So I studied a lot this week about missionaries. We are literally representatives of Christ here. We were called to take care of the area that we are in. Jardim Celeste, Sister Oliveira and I were called by The Lord in revelation give to our mission president to be the hands of Christ here and take care of every person living in our boundaries. To act as if we were Christ Himself acting, and to respond as if it were Christ Himself responding. What an honor and what a responsibility.

As we’re thriving in success right now, we’re remaining humble. We didn’t do anything here, the Lord did it all. We know that. We know we are nothing and we know that in all we do, we need Him. I’ve learned to fully rely on The Lord with all my heart and strength. And with that, I am made strong.

com amor,
Sister Bido
Ephesians 6:13-17

Week 21 - Jardim Celeste - And of Some Have Compassion, Making a Difference

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Gente!!!! WHAT A WEEK pela madrugada! A lot happened and went on, which is good.

Yes Mom, I received the package but either someone robbed my sunscreen or you forgot to send some.. :( either way, THANK YOU FOR THE PACKAGE!!!!!

So my highlights from this week. We were walking in the street contacting referências. I looked across the street and saw a girl staring at us that obviously was homeless. Sister Oliveira and I decided that we wanted to talk with her. I looked back at her and smiled and she smiled at me and then ran away, running barefoot on the side of the street. I pulled Sister behind me by the hand and chased after her. We crossed the street and caught up to her! As we started to get close to her she stopped running and turned around and ran into me and hugged me!!!! Then hugged Sister Oliveira. We talked with her and it was obvious she had a mental problem and I felt so sad. She had a baby but was taken away from her and she showed us a stash of grocery store adds and newspapers of pictures of babies she had found and kept because she is looking for her baby.. but we’re almost positive she is (I forget the word but it’s when you hear voices and have people talking to you in your head). I asked if she had already eaten lunch but she couldn’t make up her mind if she had or not. So we took her to the bakery so she could eat bread and ham. She was content, but then had to leave to continue looking for her baby.

Then the same night we were walking through a part of the area mais sketchy towards our house when we heard someone screaming "MISSIONARIAS". It was a woman sitting on a bench crying, drunk, wanting us to let her stay the night with us because she didn’t want to stay on the street another night. We gave her O Livro De Mormon and talked with her about changing her life and that we’re here to help, because that’s all we could at 9:12pm. We said we would meet here in the same spot the next morning at 9am. But with this woman it was different. I didn’t feel sad for her and I searched in my heart for the sorrowness and guilt I wanted to feel for her, but I didn’t.. and on our way home I didn’t understand. Sister Oliveir wanted to call o bispo and ask what we could do and see if she could stay there with him, but I said no.. I wanted to say yes, but it didn’t feel right.

The next morning we arrived at the bench and waiting an hour for Zilda.. she never showed up. So we left, and kept walking. Instead, not far from the same street we saw a little girl holding a baby sitting down crying and had O Licro De Mormon beside her that was a little ripped and so dirty. It was the one we gave Zilda. The girl Samara, said she saw a woman throw it down so she picked it up. She’s 14yrs old and the 1 yr old baby is hers. Yesterday she came to church with us and we started teaching her entire family last night. I don’t think it was a coincidence that I felt wrong about Zilda. I think The Lord put her in our path so we could find Samara and be able to help her and her family. I’m sure of this, absolutely sure of it.

I’ve been studying Christ-like attributes and my heart has opened so much more. I’m also learning how to rely fully on the Spirit. We really have a purpose here, every one of us missionaries in every area we go in. At times we go and leave and never know why, other times the why slaps us in the face. Either way, I love being a missionary and helping these people here. Every person that walks by us in the streets is going through something in their life and has problems or trials. The one thing we all have in common that we cannot live without and need to survive, is the love of Christ. And this is why we’re here.

com caridade,
Sister Bido

Week 20 - Jardim Celeste - No More Mold

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Olááááááááááááááááááá!! This week was an especially good one, and an especially interesting one.

So Terça-feira, Sister Oliveira received special permission to go and enter the temple! While we were there waiting to enter (because we arrived 2 hours early), we saw the missionaries from the Sao Paulo south mission exiting! So we got to meet the mission president and his wife and talk with the missionaries. they even took a giant group mission foto with all the missionaries, so Sister Oliveira and I snuck in it! We’re right smack dap in the front! So mom you might see a picture of me on your moms page from a different mission.. hope you enjoy it! :) But after the temple, we ate subway and headed back home because the session ended late. But it was a marvelous experience.

Wednesday the president came to our house, and saw that we had an old refrigerator in the garage. He told us we needed to clean it up or throw it out. IT WAS COVERED IN MOLD. So I asked if we cleaned it out if he would fill it with food.. and he said YES. So we did, but we only had 30 minutes to do it.. so we dumped bleach everywhere, scrubbed and scrubbed and I hung the inside parts on the clothes line to dry! It worked!

Later that night when we returned to the house, Presidente called us and was outside with his wife with 13 bags of groceries. Ice cream, tapioca, oranges, cereal, 5 cartons of milk, peanut butter, cookies, I don’t even remember what else but it was a lot. A lot for a house of 2 missionaries to have in the house at one time! So it was a milagre com certeza!! We literally jumped up and down screaming and crying tears of joy!!!

Sexta-feira was when it got interesting. It rained a monsoon and the city FLOODED! Sao Paulo is dirty, everyone knows that. So when there is water flooding the streets, it picks up all the poop and trash and diseases and the nastiest things you can imagine with it! Well as we were caught in the monsoon, we saw one road that wasn’t completed flooding that we were going to walk on to get back to our house. As we were walking a huge garbage truck is coming, its tires splashing through the water and it basically looks like a tsunami of a blackish muddy river coming at us. So what do we do? We look at each other and scream and start running away as fast as my chacos would let me. The sight of a title wave of Sao Paulo water coming at me was enough to make me pee my skirt in fear. But I didn’t. Instead, the truck was obviously faster than us and yes were hit by the diseased watery flood. Then walk home in water above my knees to our house and showered.

Sunday was better! In church we had 3 return missionaries talk and it was so cool! Then we had lunch with the stake president and his family and it was sooooo good. And of course has a buffet of ice cream afterwards! On our way to the house last night it rained a monsoon again.. so Sister Oliveira looked at me and I looked at her and we both knew. We put away our umbrellas that weren’t helping us at all and just let the rain soak the 3 inches of dry clothing we had left! The saying of let it be took affect as we just let it be.

Now, No I’m not using bug spray but I really do need to start. we spray this rely strong bug repellent on the doors and windows in the house every day. But there’s so much talk about diseases from the favela because of the dirtiness there that’s spread by the mosquitos. And since we’re working in the favela that’s something I need to do! But this was my week for yáll!

com amor,
Sister Bido

Week 19 - Jardim Celeste - Planted Seeds Sprouting

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ONE MORE BATISMO DOWN!!!

The rest of São Paulo to go ;) Andre was baptized Sunday finally and I was so happy! I didn’t get to go because my new area is far from there, but he and Sister Tesser called me and thanked me as he was crying. It was such an awesome feeling, I really wish I could’ve been there!!

BUT HAPPY BELATED VALENTINE’S DAY!!

I’m still trying to get used to my new area and the city. It’s such a crazy different life! So yesterday at church was the best Sunday of my mission! The ward here is amazing and so spiritually strong! The members are crazy helpful and nice and welcoming, and the ward here is huge! We attend the stake center in our city so the building is absolutely enormous and beautiful!!

Yesterday we had two investigators in the church that I saw in the street and talked with on Friday and invited to church. They actually came and loveddddd it!! I’m still lost here and don’t know my way around, but I’m learning!! My district here isn’t quite as great as it was in Vargem Grande, but the zone of Taboão is pretty great too.

I’m so happy here and excited to meet more of the people! We’re teaching 2 different families right now and they’re both really interested and smart. We just need to get them to come to church! Here in this area we work more with the less-active members because there are a ton!!!

I think I’m going to gain weight in this area because we’re always in the house of members and they always feed us. So pray that we have one day where no one offers us food, we need it!! But I absolutely love my companion, Sister Oliveira. It’s just us in our 3 story house here but we’re already super close. She’s the perfect companion, really! I’m so happy and excited to be serving in this area, I really have such great feelings about being here. Until next week, tchau!!

Com Grande Amor,
Sister Bido

Week 18 - Jardim Celeste - Transfer

Welllllllp, sorry about the Panthers.. we even threw a super bowl party in our house for them!! BUT I was transferred to JARDIM CELESTE! Vargem Grande sure was good, and waaaaay different. It was as far from the city you could get.. and now i'm as close to the city you can get without being in the actual city! So basically I'm being forced to accustom to city life! Our house here is 3 stories and it's just me and my new companion, Sister Oliveira! She has almost 10 months in the mission and is 21yrs old. But she's so nice and funny!

How was my last week in Vargem? Let's just say, Carnival here was a success. With the rule to return into house by 8 o'clock, it was great. Except for the fact that we could never follow the rule... I learned something really good Saturday. When the Spirit is trying to tell you something, do it. Don't wait and don't question it, just do it.
So Saturday we went to Jardim Japao after lunch. I don't remember if I said this before but it's not the safest area and the elders used to have to escort us there and back. Well we had permission to go alone without them! So we got there, one man in the rua was selling Venus fly traps and I invited him to church sunday. He thought it was the nicest thing in the world so he gave me and Sister Tesser a little baby Venus fly trap plant! FOFO DEMAIS!!!!! Anyways, so we asked around what time the last bus leaves so we'd know and be able to return on time. The last bus leaves at 7:15 and its 30 minutes from our house by bus so we'd return in house at 7:45. Perfect, right? So 6:30 we're in the middle of the lesson and it starts raining. Pouring as if Heavenly Father was about to flood the earth again. And I just could not sit still. I was really unpatient and remained with the feeling that we needed to end the lesson and leave. But the woman talked our heads off and everything we said she went off on a tangent! I stopped and kicked sister Tesser so she'd get the hint but instead the woman saw me and everyone stopped and asked what was wrong. Well here, you can't just say you need to leave or anything because that's extremely offensive. So finally we left her house after the lesson at 7:05 and ran to the bus in the rain. I was so annoyed and upset and I asked my companion why she wasn't trying to hurry along too. She said she had forgotten we needed to return home early and kept feeling like we needed to leave but she pushed it aside too. So here's what happened next. We arrived at the bus stop which is in the very center of the town, and its pouring down rain and we have Venus fly traps in our hands. We see the bus, but he just passes us.. so we chase it. Bad idea. Bus is gone. There wasn't another bus coming until 11:25pm and we have to arrive in house in 45 minutos. Its already pitch black dark, in Jardim Japao (where were not allowed to work after dark) and the festas of carnival have begun. Long story short, we found our way to the entrance of the town and waited for a member to come and get us.. and arrived in house at 9:45. Moral of the story.. listen to the spirit, it's our protection.

If you've never seen an elder freak out before, you don't want too. The elders were freaking out over the phone worried about us because they couldn't do anything to help and I'm pretty sure they were more scared than we were!!! It's actually crazy how worried they were about us, I felt weird that I wasn't more worried about myself. But it all ended good, we ended up safe, my plant is still alive and eating flies, and now I' drinking city water from the faucet! 

OH!!!! I forgot, and we have a baptism Sunday for someone who I started teaching with Sister Modesto. After 3 months he's going to be baptized finally and I won't be there to see! I asked for permission to return but Vargem Grande is 2 hours from my area now so I won't get to.

That's all I have for now, hope you all have a fantastic week as well :)

com grande amor,
Sister Bido

Week 17 - Ibiúna and Vargem Grande - Remember the Power of Prayer

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Well this week was H O T !!!!!! And just so you all I know, I need to say something very important and obvious. The Lord does truly bless the lives of missionaries and the place in which they came from. We can all testify of this thanks to the Panthers.. :)

Pday was good! Everyone slept last pday so I just read my scriptures. I don’t like sleeping my pday away, it’s pointless. Today Sister covey and I are going to start packing and next pday we’re going shopping.

This Friday night starts Carnival here, so Brasil is about to get WILD!!!!!!!! This week was really easy going, not much to talk about. Sorry about the delay of pictures, I’ve been leaving my camera in the house because any extra weight in my bag counts after walking 9 hours.

So Tuesday was the hottest day I’ve ever experienced in my life! My companion passed out from heat in the middle of the road so I had to deal with that. But she’s fine and everything ended good!

Wednesday it rained a monsoon and we looked like we went swimming.. or more like the world tilted a little bit and the ocean was dumped on our heads!!!!

We went to the temple Saturday to watch a sealing, then after ate McDonalds! And McDonalds here is expensive oh my gosh!!!!!!! It’s 24 reais here for a McChicken and small fry! How crazy.

But then Saturday night, we had stake conference and Elder Gral from the 70’s spoke. He asked for all the missionaries to come up to the pulpit that were there and he spoke about us being the generation of the "spoken generation" and we are whom the Lord is pleased with today. He then asked for us to sing Called To Serve and then the congregation sang the second verse with us. It was so awesome. He basically spoke about how members of the church have a commandment to help the missionaries serving in their ward. We literally cannot succeed without the help of the members and that it so true. At times I know it’s really annoying, but the salvation of the people of the area depend on every member in the area. The missionaries are here to do the part we have to do, but there’s a part just for the members.

This week was a slow week, our investigators were not home, and it was so hot that everyone else we tried to find were too busy sleeping or in bars with air conditioning! We don’t have any serious investigators right now. Just Jucimar and Aline, mas everyone continue to pray for Jucimar please. He’s still struggling to find faith in what we teach and faith in general. We’ve fasted, prayed, fasted again, and prayed out our souls for him. One day he will, absolutely, find the faith.

So my invitation for you guys this week is to be a missionary and help your missionaries. When they come to your house and ask if there is anything they can do to help, they answer is usually always a no. but try turning the question around and ask them what you can do to help THEM. I love you all and hope you have a great week! Remember the power of prayer always.

com amor,

Sister Bido

Rua Doutor Rui Batista Pereira, 165
Jardim Caxingui
Sao Paulo, SP - 05517-080
BRASIL

Week 16 - Ibiúna and Vargem Grande - Every Member a Missionary

OLA AMIGOSSSSSSSS!!!!! 

Então desculpe, mas eu não quero falar muito sobre esta semana porque foi horrível!!!!!! Na verdade, foi muito bom.. quase.

Translation: So sorry, but I do not want to talk much about this week because it was horrible!!!!!! In fact, it was very nice .. almost.

So we went to Ibiuna Monday and shopped in the central of the city. We returned and had a birthday party/ family home evening at Irma Ana´s house for sister Covey.

Wednesday we had a broadcast from Provo CTM for all missionaries and it was kind of cool. It was really repetitive but good! BUT, before the broadcast, my zone got to pass through the temple finally and it was so great! The feeling of being in the Celestial Room is a feeling I want to always return to in my life. 

Thursday was my companion´s 1 year aniversario na missão, so we kind of had a party all day while working! Then we had family home evening with a family that is less active, and they made us dinner! I have no idea what it was, some kind of rice with stuff and burrito pancake with stuff. Whatever, it was good! Except for the fact that it´s a 34 minute walk/jog back to our house and they didn't finish cooking until 9:12pm.  So we returned to our house at 10:21pm.. which is one of the biggest no´s in the mission rule book. I felt so horrible but we literally tried our best. I rather return late than offend a family and not eat the food they bought and slaved to make.

But Friday morning, we had interviews with the president! Mine was really short because I had nothing to talk about! I've only been here 3 months, I don´t have any requests or problems!! But he did tell me that I´ll be changing areas this coming transfer when I finish my training!

ASK THE MISSIONARIES IN THE WARD ABOUT 12 SEMANAS (weeks)! It´s the most annoying thing in the freaking world. So I'm excited to only have 2 more weeks of it! I´m hoping he opens the area around the CTM for sisters, because right now it's closed but I have an obsessing hope that he will, so por favor pray with me that he will!!!!!!

Anyways Friday, sucked. No one opened there door for us or was too busy for us. We visited 21 people and no one.. literally NO ONE. We even had 3 hours of service planned and that fell through too.

Saturday was better, except that we missed the bus for Jardim Japao and walk 2 and a half hours there!!! So we didn't get much done. This week was a week, but nothing special!

I relearned in greater detail something I already knew.. members are missionaries too. We're all missionaries, and I think this may be one of the greatest commandments we have. Think of every one you love that doesn't have the gospel in their life right now. When the last day comes, and they're not saved with you.. how does that make you feel? and how will you feel when they ask you "Why didn't you teach me, why didn't you help me?" This is actually something that breaks my heart and makes me cringe inside. Our investigator Jucimar told us he is really interested in our church because of the faith the members have. He doesn't have faith. He literally doesn't have the faith that if he prays, He´ll receive an answer. He wants to have that faith, but it's just not there. Right now my companion and i are fasting for him, but it tears me apart that if we can´t teach him to have faith.. it's just scary! So my message for you all this week- be a missionary. Save those you love and bring them unto Christ.

com amor,
Sister Bido

Week 15 - Ibiúna and Vargem Grande - Strangers in strange places...

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HELLO WORLD (America)!!

So... a lot happened this week but I only have the time to tell you the best parts. I left off last week that we received a call from someone wanting a visit from the missionaries and we made an appointment to visit his family. So our investigators, his family lives very far away in our area. At least we THINK it's our area. But anyways, so Tuesday we had almoço close to Jardim Japao where they live, so we decided to go to his house. The thing about this is that Jardim Japao doesn´t have missionaries working there because of its reputation for being extremely dangerous and not safe. But.. we have a precious family wanting and begging us to teach them. So we did. We had to get special permission from the bishop, our president, and had the elders escort us there and back and remain in the lesson with us. So if that tells you anything about this area... yeah! But it is marvelous! Our investigators aren't married, so we marked a date and invited them to be married and they said yes.. JUST LIKE THAT!!!!!!!!!! Like, what the heck obrigada Senhor!!!!!!!

So we returned back to Jardim Japao Saturday and had another lesson and they already want to be baptized, before we even invited them to be. So this is definitely a miracle. But, now I will rewind and talk about all the weird parts of the week.

Another day, I don't remember which one, Sister Tesser and I were on the bridge near our bairro fazendo contatos e falando com as pessoas lá and a drunk man came up to us yelling that we needed to leave and preach the gospel in places where it was needed, which wasn´t there because he already believes in God! So my companion said sorry eu no entende, (sorry I don't understand) and pretended to be an American that couldn't speak the language very good! and sense she looks American, he believed her and came up to me to translate for her!!!!! it was so funny. But then he tried to give me a hug and grab my hand to kiss it and a literally jumped back and the man fell forward and almost fell off the bridge onto the highway!!!!!!!!! and we didn't exactly want to help him up (sorry that´s mean and unkind, but it was necessary) so we ran as fast as we could! 

Another day, I tried guiaba! a fruit here that's so good. I’ve eaten it before here, but this day was different. Our investigator has a tree of the fruit in the yard of her and invited us to pick some and eat it! just like that.... and it all looked rotten and had black holes and obviously the tree itself was sick. but I picked one, took a bite of it and just ate it. I looked down to take another bite and saw something moving in it.. and closed my eyes and took another bite because our investigator was staring at me! Then I looked down to take another bite and saw the longest skinniest worm I’ve ever seen in my freaking life just swimming its way around in my fruit! with a mouthful of fruit and a sight of what i=I practically almost ate, I swallowed everything in my mouth without chewing, then just told her I didn't like it and threw the rest on the ground. She was fine with it.. so yeah. So I probably ate another worm, I later found out it's normal for this fruit to have worms. They´re called bichos de guiaba.. yay. MAS!

Saturday again, we had almoço com another investigator. They grilled sausage and steak and we ate with them, and the pastor of their church and his missionary wife! Just imagine what that was like guys, please just think of all the things that could happen, because they all happened! The pastor is the pastor of A Assembleia De Deus... one of the 3 biggest churches in all of Brasil!!!!!!! I´m just going to leave it that it was a day I’ll never forget.

And after this, we went to Jardim Japao where one woman in the streets grabbed my arm and starting prophesying my life for me. It was actually really scary! Nothing she said made sense or was true, but it freaked me out. Like what in the world is wrong with this creepy place!! 

Anyways, we have 2 weddings coming up in the next month so that will be amazing! My spiritual thought for this week is just about faith. I preach about faith to everyone who will listen, but it’s something I need to work on too. In Mark chapter 4, the last parable, I think verses 36-41 talk about Christ calming the storms and the people say, who is this, that even the seas listen and calm? He is Christ and He lives and He is here to guide us back to the Kingdom of God. I invite you all to read it and apply it into your lives in whatever way you can.

I've never truly wanted to come home from my mission. In the very beginning when I arrived in the field I was really homesick and discouraged because of the language. My Portuguese vocabulary was limited and I wanted to help these people more. I wanted to be a hero for these people and help them in every possible way, but it was literally always above my head because I just didn't have the words to say everything I wanted to say or to express what they needed to do or even talk about my experiences. Now, my Portuguese is still limited, obviously not as limited, but at times I still feel the same. But this is gift of tongues. The gift that everyone can speak the language of the Holy Ghost through feelings and when I talk and can’t get my entire point across, they will understand and they will receive witness that it is true through the testimony of the spirit of God bearing unto them the truth of my words. And for this, I need to always have my cup filled with faith. I'm understanding this more and more each day, because literally without faith we are nothing. E deixo estas palavras contigo em nome de Jesus Cristo, Amém. 

Oh and Monday night, Sister Moreira had a fever and throwing up in the middle of the night so I put a cold washcloth on her head and a hot one on her feet like I saw in some movie one time to pull the fever down from her head! AND IT WORKED!!!!!! So that explains one of the pictures I sent you if you look closely you can see her head peeking out from the covers. Today is Sister Covey´s birthday so we´re going to Ibiúnato hang out and go shopping with the sisters there!

eu

com amor,

Sister Bido

Week 14 - Ibiúna and Vargem Grande - Vistas e Opiniões

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Ólaaaaaaa!

Se vocês querem saber, esta semana foi muito bom graças a Deus.

Monday was really fun, Sister Covey and I decided to study our scriptures while the other two sisters slept! But then Sister Covey had a question.. in the Bible it talks about Cherebum and a flaming sword... but never explains what they actually are. Is a cherub that horse from Hercules? and is the flaming sword symbolism or literally a sword of fire that was placed in front of The Tree? It´s pretty interesting to search in the scriptures. We called the elders and none of them knew either, they hadn't really thought about it. But we gave up on that and played uno for 2 hours and ate skittles, sour patch kids and lemon heads (which i´m now out of Mom so hint hint for próximo vez).

Tuesday was a good, normal day.

Wednesday we had zone conference in Cotia and Treinamento and was really interesting. It was great because I´m finally at the point where I always understand what´s going on. I don´t understand cada palavra ainda, mas sempre a ideia do que esta acontecendo. My companhion and I got into a little bit of an argument afterwards, but in the end we were good and now we have companheirismo that is really strong. I was worried at the beginning of the tranferencia, mas now I really feel like this will be a great 6 weeks.

Thursday we had trainamento dos novos, entao all of the new missionaraies had training in Sao Paulo! The church there is beside the temple, so part of the training was doing contatos outside and handing out LDM´s to people in front of the temple and getting to talk to péople about the temple. Oh my gosh it was amazing and I literally felt like I had Christ walking beside me as my companion the entire time. The lunch was great, and we had great snacks and it was just a really good day! When I got back to my area, my companion and sister covey planned a little festa pra mim because it was my 3 month anniversary! which is a big deal, obviously! 

But to answer your questions! So the picture of the pile of clothes on the road was when one day someone just dropped off clothes in the rain, and thinking about Fátima who asked for clothes a while back, Sister Modesto and I grabbed as much as we could in the rain and carried them back to our house to wash. The trees are just weird odd looking but strangely cool plants I thought yáll would like to see! I did receive the book and the picture book.. and this is what happened. So the mail here is unreliable as vezes, and the packages got rained on so they were soaked and the envelopes ripped open.. so the Brazilian post office repacked them in a like a mail type grocery form bag so they wouldn't get wet. But when I received them, all the pages of the picture book were ruined and stuck together and I tried to pull them apart but they just ripped even more.. so that was really sad.

It´s raining every day all day. I think that this is just a sign that summer started. People say it always rains during the summer and it´s always worse the further away from the city. 

So here´s some food for thought for yáll that I´ve discovered more about this week. Views and opinions.. everyone has their own. This is something really important to learn and to respect. Our thought are sempre triggered because of actions or coisas happening in our lives at that moment, so one problem that we may have right now may be affecting the way we view a certain sinario. When reading the scriptures, its important to discuss and talk about o que você entendeu from reading and share your thoughts, views, and opinions. It´s important because the person you´re discussing with, perhaps never looked at it from your point of view or never thought about applying it to their lives. We can always boost our knowledge and understanding by doing this with muitas coisas. So think about that during your week!

Anyways, I´m good, my health is good, I´m eating and yes drinking water! OH! Yesterday one of the elders was sick (he´s American and doesn´t confia in the medicine here either) so I pulled out my suitcase of medicine and he should be good in a few days!!! 

Em fim, I hope you all have a wonderful week full of milagres and learn about new vistas! 

Com amor,

Sister Bido

Week 13 - Ibiúna and Vargem Grande - FELIZ ANO NOVO GENTE!!!!!

OKAYYYYY, so this week was good. It was a hard one, but minha nossa it was good. I got my new companion Tuesday, and my life changed. 

Not in a bad way, ainda.. mas madou com certeza. Why you ask? I will tell you. Sister Tesser is muita boa mesmo! She teaches wonderfully and personally and me ensinei muitas coisas já. But I can´t rely on her. With Sister Modesto, whenever I felt uncomfortable or felt like I literally couldn´t do something, she was there to step up and take control. But now, nope… part of my training now is to learn all the things I should have been doing during the last transfer. If I don´t feel comfortable, oh well. I better learn how to feel comfortable. So it was hard and frustrating and difficult this week adapting to that.. But like you said Mom- it will take at least 4 weeks. Now, with my pesquisadores.. Our investigator said that she doesn´t want to be baptized.  Continue praying for her and for her heart to be opened because I know there´s something else there about her. Fatima told us the other day that she always has trouble sleeping at night and feels like she´s being attacked in the middle of the night. I was really scared when she said this because of what happened with her last week and that Sister Modesto and I were talking about this.. We tried to do something about it but she won´t come to church or meet with a member. But her daughter Vanessa came to church Sunday and loved it!

Also, one day this week we went to the neighborhood/ city called Nagoya with the different temple to work… and we had success! One family was like farming beans or something so we offered to help and did that for 3 hours! Then they cut down 3 canes.. SUGAR CANE! i think. We just chewed the inside of the plant and it was so good hahaha; ANYWAYS. New Years was a blast. It was basically PDAY. We spent the whole day baking and I baked 56 cookies. I´m literally a pro and everyone is always asking me to make more. So New Year’s Eve, all 8 of us missionaries and the other missionaries in our zone had dinner together in the church and sang and played guitar and it was really fun! After, the other sisters from Ibiuna stayed at our house because it was too late for them to return. So we made beds in the living room and waited until midnight and banged pots and spoons and had a million huge fireworks in front of our house! It was awesome and Brazilians learned about our tradition with the pots and pans! The next day, we were allowed to sleep in until 8 o´clock! It was magnificent. My language is improving rapidly and for the first time, I can actually tell. By the end of this transfer I want to be almost fluent and I think I will be if I keep studying. I´m busting my tail studying right now and learning everything about the gospel in Portuguese because it´s easier to teach that way. Some mornings I wake up and feel really alone during study time but I know it´s just the adversary trying to bring my focus away. I learned so much in the past week about myself and everything I´m capable of that I hope and pray I can progress just as much every week for the rest of my life! Everything I do here, I literally throw my hands up and leave it to The Lord. I do my part first and then I put every cell in my body in a giant cup of faith and just go with it. At times I´m still really sensitive when people are rude about my language skills but I´m learning to let it go. I´ve learned one thing about myself and it´s this: If I want, I can be the most patient person in the world with other people. But with myself, no can do. So this year as a meta, I will focus on being patient com mi mesmo. This is one attribute of Christ that many people lack, but I will improve on this.. or try at least. I always want to be better and do more than I can in a certain moment and forget tp breath. I´m really hard on myself when I shouldn´t be, so I will work on that. Feliz Ano Novo to you all. Think of all your goals for the New Year and think of how you can receive help to achieve those goals. We don´t ever to do anything alone, ask The Lord.

com amor,

Sister Bido