may 5, 2014 amor verdadeiro‏

here i am folks... 

yes... here i am:)

good

●the past weeks have mostly just been hard, but now they are hard with more tender mercies and miracles. it makes it all worth it :)

●during testimony meeting i got a shout out for harassing one of the young men to study preach my gospel to prepare for the mini ctm. what can i say??? ... i do what i can. 

●get to a house with a less active.. they made us cake. #3slices #longday #wheninbrasil #cominghomechubby #itswhatever

●miraculous lessons with members 

bad

●being trunky as i was thinking about my family this weekend and my dad’s release as stake pres. it’s hard to miss important moments in my family’s life but i know this is exactly where i need to be right now. 

●mom said she wonders if I still walk alot. just know i walk A LOT. like 45- 60 minutes just to get home some nights. other nights its 30 minutes or so. 

●mom also wonders how many lessons i teach. ok well, i’ll be real... not that many, or as many as i want because we spend a lot of time walking, but it’s quality not quantity guys.. 

awesome

●testimony meeting yesterday turned into testimonies about missionary work. the longer i am here in santiago, i am really learning to appreciate and love this ward. they are trying! yesterday we had less than 50 people at church because of the rain, but the members are trying to help in the ways they know how. 

●one of our progressing investigators comes from really really humble circumstances. her life has been so hard, and i am loving watching her grasp this gospel and let the happiness it brings into her life and feel more of her Savior’s love. we picked her up for church yesterday with a member. it was raining like crazy! her clothes that i watched her hand wash yesterday were already soaking wet. when she came out of the house in the same shirt as yesterday. she looked really cold and was without a coat or jacket. the member stopped by her own house before we went to church, i wasn’t quite sure why? but she’s crazy, so i didn’t questions her :) she returned to the car with a jacket for our investigator, and told her it was hers to keep. what an example to me and a really sweet moment! our investigator doesn’t talk much but i knew she was so happy. 

●less actives opening up to us about why they aren’t going to church. after months of working with them i have finally earned their trust and now we can help them based on what they really need. 

here's some pics from a zone meeting:)

awkward

…that i don’t have anything to put here right now. now that’s awkward itself 

this week was good! after testimony meeting yesterday i was so happy. i felt the love this ward has for missionary work… finally! it has been hard because the missionaries in the past here where I’m serving hadn’t been that impressive, so why should they trust us? but i feel like we are making real progress, with members, less actives, and investigators. and now that they are starting to get to know us better and work with us more their testimonies are growing too. how can they not? this work is amazing and when we take part it changes us for the better. as we teach others and watch them grow, we ourselves grow. we realize how important this gospel is and why literally EVERY PERSON IN THE WORLD NEEDS IT!

i just want to give a shout out to my parents. one: my dad who was released as our stake president this weekend. i am a better missionary because of the example of Christlike service he set for me. i am happy to come home and have more time with him, but i know our family was SO BLESSED because of his service and time. i don’t know what it will be like without those blessings? thank goodness isaac will be serving soon enough and maybe he and i can make up for those blessing. 

and obviously a word for my mother. :) and all others out there. where would we be without you? my mom’s support on my mission has helped me so much, but more importantly how she prepared me before the mission. she has always taught gospel principles in such a loving way in our house, but also through example. her thirst for gospel knowledge is inspiring. AND I CANT WAIT TO SEE HER BEAUTIFUL FACE IN SIX DAYS ON SKYPE!!

this week is big. there’s a possibility of a baptism. not for sure though. could be my last week here. they say when you learn to love your area you leave.. and i’m loving it :( but it’s been three transfers here which is usually the norm. let’s see :) whatever happens will be for the best. 

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo love you 

ash aka sister faldmo 

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

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 

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.

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