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