Monday, March 31, 2014

march 31, 2014 milagres en santiago!

Mom editor's note: another "milagre" is that the pictures from last week that didn't come with last week's email randomly showed up in an email that came much later... so here they are:)
                
this is me with the people that i dominated in brazilian style dodgeball:)                        other pday games
this birthday cd makes me sooooo happy! i love you all:)
the woman that feeds us ALL.
sister pereyra & i just walkin and hangin with the cows of santiago

    getting ready for a brazilian birthday party:)

 



used some artsy skill to teach the plan of salvation:)

good
●we are teaching a great family that is a referral from a member. the mom of this family we are teaching literally takes care of everyone-- her kids, her grandkids, her neighbors, this couple with mental problems. i love her so much. oh yeah. and us. she takes care of us. they are always giving us treats, so obviously i love teaching them. she works a ton too. hopefully next week they will be at church! or watching conference with us i mean! even betterJ
bad
all of our investigators flaking out on coming to church :( 
my companion accidentally erased all of my pictures on my camera, including the ones i was going to share with you this week:/
awkward
............ aaa… aaa… i know there’s something. there always is, i just can’t think of itJ
awesome
baptism of the cutest two 8 year olds girls—melane & gabriella 
a visit from the sister training leaders

ok. so i feel like i don’t really have much to say about this week as you can see. but… some really cool things did happen this week. 
first of all saturday was the baptism of the cutest two little girls. they both have interesting stories. melane is from a family we helped to reactivate (bring back to church) and her baptism was a couple months before her 9th birthday. She’s the cutest and i love her family. everyone in gabriella’s family are members but her parents are separated and no one goes to church except for her and one of her brothers. they go to their grandparents' house every saturday and stay the night so they can go to church on sunday. she has been waiting five months to get baptized! our bishop said that usually at baptisms it’s the missionaries and members who are happiest and the newly baptized member is just trying to soak it all in but in this situation these young girls getting baptized were definitely the happiest in the room. they were just so excited and ready. 

then came sunday. i was so sure we would have 4 of our investigators at church that we had been teaching and i was so excited. then on sunday morning things fell apart. no one would be going to church. we wouldn’t have anyone at church. i was so sad. i felt so good about our work and teaching over the past few weeks and didn’t understand why we weren’t seeing results. why couldn’t at least one person we were teaching go to church? just one???
then.... we saw miracles. 
the first two hours before church we waited at the door… greeting people thinking something would change and one of them would come. then. the miracle. a less active member of our ward, who i’ve never seen in my life showed up with his girlfriend and daughter… who live in sister pereyra & my area! they were there for sacrament meeting and we got their address and will visit them this week! then right before things were about to start a part member family showed up with their dad that we have been teaching! he has never came to church just for the sake of coming to church. no special event… he just came. i was sooooo happy and felt so bad that i was so upset earlier when everyone told us they weren’t  coming. the Lord is taking care of us and those that are seeking.
the only picture left on my memory card from this week:( me & sister pereyra on the streets of santiago, brasil today!

THIS WEEKEND IS GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!
if you just read this sentence you best be watching general conference this weekend. I AM SO EXCITED! thomas s monson for the win!!  all of us on this planet have a living prophet! unfortunately, only a few know it! 

i love you all. 
xoxo 
sister faldmo


Monday, March 24, 2014

march 24, 2014 vegas babbbbyyyyyy!!!!

sister pereyra & me from last week at the hawaiian party
good
i gave a talk in church and it wasn’t horrible.
i might have practiced my talk while teaching as a substitute in the primary ctr class with 9 year olds...
it’s getting cold (60s-80s) but i like it! 
lunch fell through for the other elders so six of us had lunch together and it was a blassttttt. 
bad
nothing specific to say here... except my pictures won't load:(... so if that’s the only thing bad, that's actually good, right???!!!!!!
awk
the fact that i’m pretty sure anyone who knows me well enough on the mission answers the phone with ´´what the heck´´ everytime i call. it’s mostly the brazilians. 
also… the fact that all of my district, aka my mostly brazilian district, started using phrases like “what the heck?” “oh my gosh!” etc… more than portuguese phrases. i mean… president wants everyone to learn english? J
awesome
last p-day we played a brazilian version or dodgeball… and i kinda dominated #humility
but serious. ok i didn’t win allll the time, but I definitely didn’t embarrass the family! 
awesome lessons*
I GOT MY BDAY PRESENT—22 DVD!! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!

nothing i say in this email matters because ISAAC IS GOING TO SERVE IN VEGAS BABY!!!!!! Literally… viva las vegas in spanish and i’m so going to visit when i get back!! (sorry dad) i’m so pumped!! watch out world, the faldmos are going to have two missionaries out! 

*yesterday we had a lesson that started crazzzzzzy but turned into something wonderful & powerful. the elders were asked to go to a member’s daughter’s house and give her a blessing. but she lives in our area and they couldn’t go alone, so we all went. shortly after we arrived, she started telling us her life story and all of her problems. she has medical problems but also is severely depressed… even thinking about killing herself. almost everyone has abandoned her and things are really hard in her life. it was soooo difficult to hear and listen to everything she was saying. when she stopped talking…there was so much i wanted to say, but at the same time i wanted so badly to say exactly what she needed to hear. i have never pleaded so strongly in my heart to have the Spirit work perfectly through me and say exactly what our Heavenly Father knew she needed to hear. we all bore testimony to her about the love our Heavenly Father and our Savior have for her and that she is never ever alone, and that our Savior knows exactly what she is going through because He felt all of her pains in the Garden of Gethsemane. I testified that if she would put all of her faith in the priesthood blessing she was about to receive, she would see miracles in her life. 
really, at the end of it, i needed the lesson more than she did i think. i needed to remember why i am here. i needed to remember that the gospel of Jesus Christ is better than any temporary medicine. i needed to remember that i can be a tool in the Lord’s hands. i needed to remember the love that God really does have for every one of us. the Spirit was so strong and all of us left with tears in our eyes and I left with a renewed need to find those searching for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. 

i love you all soooooo much and i’m so psyched for elder faldmo and the people in the NLV mish! wooooohoooo. 


xoxoxoxo sister faldmo aka ash

Monday, March 17, 2014

march 17, 2014 hawaii in brazil, christmas in march

good
our activity this week-- a trip to hawaii, including live music, so you all know i was in heaven. oh and ps… they played wonderwall. 
welcome to hawaii-- in santaigo, brasil:)
 electric beach fire
someone has to be the photographer... missionaries & ward memebers
 hawaiian entertainment, brazilian style:)
guitars & surfboards
zone meetings aka a trip to another city!! 
and here we all are:)
bad
this week we worked in our new area aka part of our old area which also means having to surrender our investigators to the elders 
oops! we missed our bus home from zone meeting and had to wait another 4 and a ½ hours:/
                 elder wants a pic       roommates & companions: williams, pereyra, marinho, faldmo
awk
when sister marinho (roommate) comes into our room and asks me if i “know anyone serving in a war?” ahhh, no.... why? “i’m reading the part in the book of mormon about wars and it’s just really interesting and i want to write someone serving in a war.” ........ hmmmmm
my christmas tree arrived and our house/apartment is celebrating christmas in march! thanks gma julesJ
awesome
i’m sorry to always talk about ice cream but...  i got my companion addicted and we seriously have an ice cream cone almost everyday! 
preparing a talk for church and not having to give it! 5 points for me!

i feel really lame because i really don’t have much to report this week. if i’m being honest… it was a rough one. figuring out our new area and investigators and having to give the other missionaries your old investigators is hard!! i ask the elders every night who they visited and what they taught. but... it’s not important who teaches them, just that they are taught and have the opportunity to be baptized... then i’ll just see them every week in church :)
highlights of this week-
visiting a reference from a member at church. she loved us and started telling all of her neighbors who passed by to come listen to the “word” :) 5 new investigators thank you very much.
a bomb of a family night last night with a less active family and the elders. topic: the atonement. never can teach it enough. never can learn about it enough.

tonight we’re doing another family night with my favorite less active family and i’m making a map to have them find puzzle pieces that will make a temple... every piece is a part of the preparation for going to the temple. it’s something they want-- to be sealed as a family for time and all eternity. i love them lots and hope it works out!
this week was kinda tough… we didn’t teach as much as i would have liked and i have to get excited all over again about the this “new” area and new investigators because we have to make it successful!!! it’s sister pereyra's (my companion) last transfer and she can’t go out and leave her mission like this. today she got her flight itinerary to go home and she started crying, poor thing. she’s my first companion that’ll “die” with me (finish her mission) but, not until the last day :)

welp. that’s about all. i love you like a love song and hope all is well in ‘merica.

lots of love from rio grande do sul.
 
xoxo sister faldmo


Monday, March 10, 2014

march 10, 2014 surrrrppprrrissssseeeee!!!!

good
sister williams is here! together again. #mtcdistrictforlife
 
cake for breakfast. i do what i want. 
bad
lessons that have a JW there that you didnt know about. thus after about 2 minutes he starts attacking us. awesome. WE BELIEVE IN THE BIBLE PEOPLE!!
i miss sonic so much. and corn dogs.

awk
christmas and valentines day cards and presents the week of your birthday... #ithinkiminbrazil
thinking you already had transfers... and then president calls *details below
when sister shumway wishes you a happy bday on the wrong day and you don’t know if you should let her down easy or just leave it. of course i called her out :)

awesome
surprise parties. *details below

bday week what uppppp??? i was totally ready for a chill b-day but that never happens. and im not sure who told everyone here that i love surprises but i have to say.. they did it better than you all... jk i love you. i was thinking about my past b-days. 18- dc and new york with meus pais and bff. 19- freshmen year, friends tried to throw a surprise party but then bryn straight up told me everyone was waiting to surprise me—lol. 20- charles abouo. ok that one doesn’t need a description. 21- 20 people were shoved into a bathroom waiting for me… never will forget that one. and 22...

district meeting tuesday. had my interview with my dl. he said this week i had to interview him. i didn’t really understand but he’s weird so i just went with it. then i went to go get my companion for the next interview but he said he and his companion wanted to show me something, so we went into the next room and all of the district was waiting for me with a cake and starting singing to me. i seriously was SO surprised. better yet, it was all the elders, my companions didn’t know anything!! then elder dias is super talented and everyone knows that i love tswift and that I was super sad about not blasting 22 so he drew me a little thing with his drawing of taylor and said “i don’t know about you... i’m feeling 22” and they all signed it. 
BEST BDAY EVER.  
 
                                                                  bless their hearts.... :)
then my bday came and went thursday… nothing too special. lunch fell through but i was secretly happy to cook something i wanted. and I bought coca cola… oopsJ
then saturday we had our day planned out but then the sisters said we had a family night we had to go to. i didn’t understand because we hadn’t planned it with our investigators so i didn’t know who we would bring and it was at a way inconvenient time and place. i was kinda bugged but just went with it and knew something was kinda weird but didn’t want to suspect anything and then be wrong so i detested a bit but then gave in. we got to the members house and lots of ward members were there waiting her us and it was a surprise party! 
 
it was the cutest thing ever. it was sister williams b-day too the next day so we celebrated together. the cake was super yummy and they even gave us gifts! 
 
this is suzere and margot. they are the cutest friends ever. they got baptized around the same time and both of them have become inactive once or twice since then, but the other one always helps bring her friend back :) this past transfer we helped bring  margot back to church.
 i love them both of them soooo much!
suzere's daughter maria
it was maria's birthday too!!!!
sister williams, me, suzere & her husband
suzere's parents, me & sister williams
i was overwhelmed with the kindness of people that i have only known for 6 weeks… but, yet again i’ve found a another family here in my new area of brazil. i don’t know why, but Heavenly Father has always blessed me with the best people in my life and i have always felt so loved. 
                                      
                              all of my favorite people in santiago together for the surprise:)
                                      
                                                    i made these bows for little maria:)
another birthday year for the books! 

also random fact, on my b-day, president called to tell us that the other sisters were going to start serving on the other side of town in the branch starting sunday and two of the elders in our ward. alrighty. he always keeps us on our toes! having lunch with elders was and is super weird but we will get used to it. i’m soooooo glad we got to stay in our ward though :)

welp. thats all folks. talk to you later!
santiago... land of the poets:)

xoxo sister faldmo




































Monday, March 3, 2014

march 3, 2014 carnival

In akasisterfaldmo's honor... let's start out with something awesome, here's "22" for Ashley, hopefully arriving in Santiago, Brazil on DVD on her birthday March 6:)  Shout out to Elizabeth Hemmingsen that always can work her magic! Click the link vimeo link below:

good
cutest thing ever when the little kids call us “tia”… aka aunt
funny story...this little girl in the picture was on my team at the avengers activity. she came and sat by me and asked why i talked different then everyone? i told her i am not from here. she asked where i was from. i said the united states. she asked if everyone there talks how i talk. i said in the united states we speak english. she asked if even my family spoke english. i said yes. then she told me she realllly really wants to talk like i talk. i told her.. no she doesn't. no one understands me :) 
bad
bano na rua. duas vezes!!! i need to start carrying an umbrella.
the trio is splitting up #transfers
awk
a dog followed us for 45 MINUTES! all the way home. it was way weird and awk at first but then it was way cute. he was the first random dog i’ve liked in brazil and i wanted to adopt him. he was watching over us! then, like two days after a whole gang of dogs started following us. THAT was totally weird and creepy! 
brazilian hipsters
my christmas tree/decorations arrived...... #thecorreioshateamericans
awesome
2.50 ice cream on the streets all day err day. 
when the sister training leaders come and treat us to ice cream at the ice cream palor. #whydoeseverythinggoodincludeicecream
our sister training leader
an activity centered around the avengers that the elders put on. not gonna lie, i was kinda impressed and it was really fun
 
a good testimony meeting in church sunday 
sister williams from my provo mtc district got transferred to santiago and we will be roommates!! yay for friends and not being the only american anymore!


so this week is carnival which just means bad things and the city is dead because everyone is partying or hung over or they are hiding haha. all of the youth of basically our whole santa maria mission are at youth conference aka efy/aka called fsy now in camobi. i’m super jealous… i want to go! but it’s way cool because the division between the things of the Lord and the things of the world is SO clear. also, yesterday lots of the youth in our wards had parents who bore testimony during fast and testimony meeting about how grateful they were that they had the safety that comes from the gospel and they know that their kids couldn’t be in any greater place then with other youth of the church during this scary week. 

this was the last week of transfers and sadly josiani was not baptized. 
still teaching josiani (2nd from right)... had a family home evening with her this week
we worked a lot with less active members here and i wasn’t quite sure what we had to show for it and was a little discouraged, but it’s the Lord’s time is not ours and he came through :) yesterday, at church FINALLY a less active family we have been working with all month showed up. they all are baptized members except the youngest child who wants to be baptized. the parents and all 4 of their kids came to church yesterday! i really needed that pick me up, to remember that i am never doing anything in vain here as long as i am working. and again i was able to remember a part of the happiness God feels when we do what is right! i was so so so happy to see them at church, the girls were even dressed in a skirt and boys in a white shirt and tie! it took a little more encouragement, more than others, but it was all so worth it! one of my companions literally screamed with joy when i told them they were there. this is why i love being a missionary!!!
just a day in the life in #santiagobrasil with my companions

anyways. got to go. this week i will be missing you all and taylor swift but it’s okay. i know i need to be here doing my thing. we will just throw a party next year and awkwardly blast 22 and act like we didn’t have march 6 this year. thanks for all the kind emails. i loveeeee you. 


xoxo sister faldmo