Monday, April 28, 2014

april 28, 2014 Y A Y

good
lovin my new comp. shes sassy. 
here we are!!!!
remembering to be grateful even in the rain like president uchtdorf said (when you see the bad)…and then seeing the rainbows after #blessings
one of the elders found PRINGLES!!! now, tell me that isn't good:)
bad
getting caught in the rain. #notromanticasamissionary
                                  
found some less active members along that way that borrowed us these jackets... see the blessing?
awk
the fact that most of friends are in the stores or the post office 
this week we went to the post office to mail a reimbursement and they all were like “you got a package you got a package!!” and i told them “no, its okay i can wait until elder comes to pick up all the mail.” but they insisted that it would be real quick and they would get it for me... obviously i had to accept. (yay for brazil post.. delivering my birthday presents now)
awesome
having investigators at church!!!
blessing from out of nowhere... like unplanned lessons with members present… Heavenly Father truly loves us. :) #miracles
super spiritual lessons that make me realize how grateful i am that i grew up in the gospel and the examples i have in my life 
packages!!! #sorrytobematerialistic  but PEANUT BUTTER in the packages! 
hanging at janianas... her mom was visiting. 
the funny thing is janiana is a member here, but we met her mom first...in another city when we had a zone meeting. she called us out in the road and started talking to us and told us where her daughter lived haha. they are a really fun family! 

então... 
this week was great! things are lookin’ up here in santiago. i’m learning to be happy and grateful no matter what comes my way and i feel like the Lord is blessing us for our desire and hard work. it’s so exciting to have progressing investigators again! pauloma is my new favorite person. she’s 15 and has had it rough but she always reads what we leave her and she will mark the parts she didn’t understand.
mara, sister silva, me & pauloma
and mara's kids... :)
and me trying to tame mara's kids for the pic:)
i know that this gospel can change her life and i want so badly to help her! the more i teach others, the more i learn about myself…the person i want to be and i notice more and more the blessings i have that i’ve take for granted. 

  
the streets we walk of santiago, brasil!!!
but that’s all folks. i love you all. remember to be grateful always k? it really makes life better. 

xoxoxo sister faldmo

















Monday, April 21, 2014

april 21, 2014... feliz pascoa gente

good
transfersssss. always a fun change. even though my new companion was the only change to the district 
my new companion sister danielle sousa silva from sao paulo, brazil
little primary children full of chocolate and sharing with the beloved missionaries 
gifts for the primary from the relief society
we started a mini ctm in the ward and are helping train the members on how to share the gospel with their friends and be member missionaries, we are also helping them to feel more comfortable when they teach with us. i got to prepare the first training for the mini ctm about our purpose as missionaries and for them… member missionaires. we only had the youth who attended, but it was still way fun! yay missionary work! 
bad
homegirl aka my new companion took a few trips to the hospital this week... long story short she choked, threw up, had problems breathing, went to the hospital, and then after…  had more problems with a shot they gave her. needless to say, i will NOT be returning to a brazilian hospital ever again in my lifetime. 
awk
when investigators lie to you on the phone, then later to your companion, then later to a member about the fact that they are on their way to church and no they don’t need a ride because they are almost there… #WHATTHEHECK
awesome
i think this week i’ll be helping someone paint their house. cross your fingers people. 
the fact that i’m emailing right now is a miracle. today is a holiday and everything is closed but our mission president wouldn’t switch our p-day but since we are bffs with the lady that owns this lan house aka cyber cafe she opened up JUST FOR US!!! 

This week our district did a whole family home evening for a family where the mom is an active member of the church but her husband is not a member.  he has been taught the gospel for years by the missionaries but never got baptized.  he had a baptism date set but sadly, it fell through. it was his birthday on this particular night that we did the whole family home evening and he has been having a rough time lately… so we sang hymns for him, played games with he and his family and shared a short gospel message. .. and obviously had cake (as you can tell by our faces) & his little boys are the cutest things on the earth!
                                  FHE this week
  
he's addicted to brownie batter
love their little boys:)

sorry to be lame… but i don’t have lots more than this to tell y’all. i spent a lot of time at the hospital and tried to bring my new companion back to health. life is good. we’re going to get to work here in santiago this next week. hope easter was good for you all and you remembered what it’s all about :)


xoxo ash aka sister faldmo 

Monday, April 14, 2014

april 14, 2014... novos inícios‏

good
super excited about my new companion i’ve heard good things about her and she’s been serving in an area that seriously is the power house of the mission… and she’s brazilian! my portuguese is fine, actually almost good -minus my accent, but it will be good to have my first brazilian companion (i don’t count when i was in trio haha)
pday with the district again… sister pereyra’s last regular pday as a missionary (today she’s in santa maria for interviews with president) 
 
taking sister pereyra to bus stop this morning 




 last sunday with sister pereyra
rain making things cold!!! yayayya. i’m ok with thisJ   
sister williams, pereyra, marinho, faldmo... santiago missionaries
president parella came to town and gave us new mattresses and heaters! heaters… like the kind grandpa ross always used to buy for our bedrooms when he came to south dakota. yayayyay!
bad
having all these pdays with the district with so much to do i don’t get to nap!!
having to lie all week to my companion so we could try and pull off a surprise for her before she leaves to go home from her mission
here we all our with some of our ward in santiago saying goodbye to sister pereyra
awk
the fact that i’m a witch on our district t-shirts because other district missionaries couldn’t say my name “faldmo” so they called me sister voldemort
 
sister marinho & i sporting the district tshirt... can you see me-- faldmo/voldemort in the hood???
can you see what i'm famous for saying around the missionaries???
i did a quick little division with a member and it may have included dropping off her daughter (maria) at school (who i love soooo much. she’s the cutest). it was so weird… like i was back at DV dropping off maggie and sam. but she was so cute she introduced me to her teacher and friends. 
darling maria... the cutest little girl in all of santiago:)
awesome
our district t-shirts with the design elder dias did of us all

elder dias has quite the artistic hand to design a district tshirt before our group breaks up

two people baptized in our little district and city!! 
this 12 year old boy is named gilerme(sp?)... the elders taught him and he was baptized sat. he stopped the missionaries on the street and asked why all the cities have mormons? he was baptized 10 days after meeting the missionaries and always beats us to church on sunday:)
pulled a little surprise for sister pereyra the end of the young women’s new beginnings program with the help of some ward members
1/2 uruguay, 1/2 brasil... saying good bye to sis pereyra
rio grando do sul flag... the state of brasil where you can find this santiago district of missionaries

a young man in the ward got his call. here they do things a little different and your stake president gets your call and gives it to you. so sometimes they pull surprises on you. we were planning an easter activity to give it to him and surprise him but the bishop got his itinerary for his flight to the brazilian ctm and he reports may 1st! so after sacrament meeting our bishop announced he had a surprise and asked him to come to the front. when he saw the bishop had his call, he started crying and it honestly was such a tender moment. he has been waiting a long time because his call got sent back to him because there was some things that needed to be completed but he is so ready to go. before he even started opening his mission call literally almost everyone in the congregation was crying. he opened it and he will be going to the same mission that one of the elders from this ward is already in. he’s leaving in two weeks! way crazy. it was awesome to see though and also to think about when i opened my call and all of the thoughts and excitement i had before i got here... not that i don’t have the same feelings now but missions truly are so life changing. 
a last stop at the town entrance for those leaving santiago, brasil
the activity the ward had saturday was new beginnings, or novos inicios… it’s when the young women welcome the new girls that will be coming into young womens’ during the calendar year. i got thinking about the new beginnings that we all can have. for me.. this week is full of new beginnings. a new transfer with a new companion. i truly am excited about this opportunity and new beginning. i’ll stay in the same area here in santiago, but there is still lots of work to do here and we will get it done :) but also… every week as members of the church we have a new beginning. after we worthily take the sacrament, we experience a new beginning. our sins are washed away, like they were after we were baptized. we don’t have to wait for transfers or new years for new beginnings, we just have to go to church on sunday and renew our covenants through the sacred ordinance of the sacrament.
sister pereyra and i at her going away surprise... from uruguay to brasil and back to uruguay.

butttttt. sorry about the past weeks and my letters being lame. i’m trying to do better... but by the time monday comes, I’ve forgotten so much of what happened during the week! hahah. i love you all!!

xoxo sister faldmo
we are teaching this sweet family and they are very special to me...
stay posted to see what is up and coming for them.

Monday, April 7, 2014

april 7, 2014 conference weekend... aka better than the superbowl

good
●although some families don't always make it to church, they are kind and feed us well.
this is just one of those nice families i am working with to bring back to church
bad
●i forgot about april fools… and likewise got punkd (see below)
●last week of the mish for my companion. my first time killing a companion (as missionaries sometimes say). she is struggling with her mission coming to an end.  i wish i knew better how to help her.
sister pereyra and me with an elder from our district
awk 
●i’m planning future coupling of all of my friends with elders and members here... watch out for when i get home. 
awesome
●conference! personal favorite was elder holland’s talk. 
my whole santiago district after general conference

so sorry......... this email is so short but the reality is that this week we just taught and taught and no one came to church. that’s my life.  i don’t know what i’m doing wrong but we aren’t seeing results. no one went to conference. there is always an excuse, but never one worth missing an opportunity to hear the prophet and apostles speak!  idk why it is so hard for people to keep commitments. thank heaven’s I was able to listen to conference.  I really needed it!

one funny/ bad thing happened on april fools. our zone leader was visiting for district meeting and he totally punked us all. he explained that our mission president decided to plan transfers early because he’s going out of town and so he had come to tell us about transfers. i freaked out and told him i didn’t want to know it was two weeks early! but at the same time (secretly) i was curious. so then he gave us the lowdown and it was kinda hilarious how perfect things were. and for some if they weren’t perfect they were hilariously imperfect. one elder left and was basically crying. then our zone leader came back in the room a couple of minutes later and wrote “happy april fools” on the board. of course, everyone freaked out even more. but it was pretty hilarious. 

 
and then someone gets squirted with water after district meeting... this is war
so that’s all i really have for now folks. life is good. transfers are around the corner and i have no clue what will happen. but i know for sure i’ll get a new companion haha. sorry this letter is super lame. write me letters and stuff k? just know that i am trying, working and praying for those I teach here in santiago, brasil. love you all and always know… i love the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

xoxox sister faldmo


meet a mini sister faldmo... love this little gal

just cruisin home through downtown santiago, brasil