june 9, 2014... it's game time cougar fans!

good

●my warm boot search finally ended and i spent less than i was planning. ten points for sister faldmo!

in case you're wondering... cows are all good in santiago

●we had four family nights this week! yay. all with less active families but the investigators will come.

this is a video of games we play at FHE... not sure if you'll be able to view. May have to wait for it to load

●world cup starts this week....

bad

●one of the family nights was really interesting… it was with the elders recent convert. the whole family is less active and the message was really good but then the mom interrupted with some “strange” questions and soon I basically didn’t know what we were talking about. so, i just asked her if she loved her kids and she said “honestly… if i loved them i would be active in the church and sealed in the temple so no i don’t truly love them because i won’t live with them forever.” .........awkward silence, (all in front of her kids) i wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that one. 

●this week was way rough and this whole past weekend we didn’t teach. then sunday our investigator didn’t come to church because he stayed up until 6:30 AM on the computer gaming. hmmmmm

●world cup starts this week....

awk

●um yeah we kind of spent like way lots of energy this month because of our heater and i got a nice little call from the financial secretary... oops. #coldinbrasil

comps

●dia dos namorados aka like valentines’ day aka #notfunasamissionary

●world cup starts this week....

awesome

●rafaela (niece of paloma, daughter to paloma’s brother-in-law—remember him?) said the cutest prayer in front of her whole family and everyone… she said she liked our church and baptisms at our church and she knows it’s the only true church and true baptism. hahahahha. you go get ‘em tiger. She’s 7. #futuremissionary

●after months without-- we finally have a ward mission leader!!!!!! but now the young men are without a president... haha. sorry ‘bout that. 

●irma marcia is the coolest ever and made me a new skirt! and it cost me less than 3 US dollars!

$3 skirt folks:)

●yay paloma started seminary this week!

●mission tour with a visiting Seventy (elder soares from recife and his wife) who has the coolest accent everrrrrr

the labeled 14 yr old elder from provo mtc... aka elder knowles

the district

missionary favorite

provo mtc reunion during the seventy mission tour

●world cup starts this week....

this week was.... quite the week. why did it seem impossible to teach? we tried everything. talked to people on streets, knocked doors, prayed, walked and walked… but nothing worked. we couldn’t even teach our investigators. no one was home or no one wanted to talk to us. it was so hard. i still don’t understand it all. and i don’t know when it will get better. i hope soon. my time is winding down here in santiago and i really want to see people progress like paloma. i don’t know…but the Lord definitely works in mysterious ways, that’s for sure! also, with world cup starting this week we probably won’t  teach much unless our investigators don’t care about soccer… which is basically impossible here in brasil. I guess if we can’t teach then we’ll go home and study. wooohoooo. no jk i really like studying but I love teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to people! idk. any advice on finding new investigators would be great.

also on a happy note, because some of you may find this letter kinda depressing. i want you to know that i love irma mara. i think i’ve already talked about her. but let me just refresh your memory. she was baptized a couple years ago and has four kids. all of her children that are eight or older have been baptized. her husband isn’t a member. but minha nossa she is so faithful. the other day we had a family night with a less active that lives close to her. this less 

active invited irma mara to come but we hadn’t had a chance to actually tell her about the family home evening because she works. literally five minutes before it started we passed by her house to invite her and she truly dropped everything and said “let’s go kids.” she seriously is such an example of putting the Lord first  in your life. then at the family night the teenagers didn’t want to participate but she went in their rooms, talked to them, and got them to come out and listen! she changed the whole family night... it would have been a disaster without her. then yesterday she sent two of her kids to the mini CTM with a big thing of cake for everyone. who is this woman? i love her so much. one day i will be like her. 

i love irma mara! (far left)

anyways. go brasil. i’m sorry but the truth is, the US doesn’t have a chance in the world cup. Please join me in praying for success and the people in santiago. pray for miracles, because we literally need miracles here. it’s so hard but i know my time here will be worth it. maybe i’m just here to plant seeds for other missionaries... who knows? I’ll do my part, whatever it is. 

love you all. feliz copa. 

xoxo sister faldmo

june, say what??? june 2, 2014

good 

●it’s kinda weird serving in a country on the other side of the hemisphere because I’m so confused with what month it really is because of the weather, so when it starts getting warm again i will think it will be summer but really it will be time to go home… in january! yeah i’m kinda all confused. 

●elders had a baptism. he is the only member of his family who wasn’t baptized because he wasn’t 8 yet but now he’s 11 and his family has become less active but he wanted to be baptized… almost all of his family came to the baptism. it was so good to see them all back at the church after more than 8 years. 

●we had a less active irma we needed to visit and have been trying to for a while now... when we finally caught her at home she was so excited! she made us hot cocoa and basically dinner haha. now i remember why i love inactive members :) 

the things i do to entertain children... i read the story as the witch with my hood for little ana

●good news people... we fixed our shower. well actually an irmao fixed it for us. haha. 

bad

●it was an elder in my district’s birthday and the other sisters planned this surprise for him with members but while they were supposed to be distracting him because it wasn’t time for him to get the the "surprise" house... he got mad because they were basically just walking in circles and he almost refused to go hahhaha. that was fun. 

elder L the 20 year old himself:)

awk

fyi: the day of his little birthday surprise my comp & i literally completely walked this city of santiago with our schedule. i was ready to cut off my legs that night. 

awesome

●ice cream in any weather. 

#sorvete

●i made a pazookie!! (sorry…all of the awesomes are going to be food!)

serving up my pazookie

anyways. that what i have for you this week. it’s been kinda crazy. this week wasn’t way cold which was good but it did rain. always a fun time. especially when i decided to curl my hair that day. this week we have mission tour.. a member of the seventy is coming and will speak to us wednesday with two other zones… then two other days with the rest of the zones. i was hoping we could go to santa maria and i could see some friends from the other district but no such luck. 

this week i studied a lot about personal revelation. i worry that i am not sensitive enough to the spirit and that maybe there are things that could be revealed to me that i don’t receive because i’m not listening. but at the same time one thing i learned is you really have to do your part to receive personal revelation and search the scriptures for your answer.  then the spirit will show you that what you read or learned was specifically for you. it’s actually pretty amazing how it all works. as members of the church we are so lucky that we can always have the companionship of the Holy Ghost and that God speaks… not just to our prophets but He wants to guide our personal lives too. 

so i love you all. i’m jealous it’s summer there. go swimming for me. get pumped for the world cup! and don’t forget to do your part to receive personal revelation, to apply the Atonement in your life, to help the missionaries, or just to make someone’s day :) 

xoxoxo sister fald

mother’s note

we get snail mail letters about every month from Ashley… here’s something that was so sweet that she shared in her letter we got this week:

“today was an awesome day…. we went to a store we passed by yesterday while walking.   We were looking for winter clothes where I, being distracted and sometimes having blonde moments, left my planner.  But while we were there I found a skirt for 20 REALS! (less than $10) but I didn’t have my money with me so the owner said he would hold it for me.  While we were in the store looking around a less active member was also there.  after we left she secretly bought the skirt for me and a shirt my companion had been looking at for her and it was all wrapped up for us WITH MY PLANNER waiting for us.  It was the cutest surprise ever!  #brasiliankindness

a mac & cheese arrival is shared by the whole apartment:)

may 26, 2014 minute to win it in prep for the CUP!

good

●no ward mission leader? no person in charge of ward activities?

do you recognize that girl in the middle running the show??? #futureeventplanner

#olympicsinrio2016hereicome

... no problem. successfully planned and executed our missionary sponsored minute to win it mega family night. it was stressful, of course, but everything worked out and people had a good time!

                   "if he can do it????                                                    i can do it....."

            too cool for school....                           and the purpose of this game is.... ????

#skills

bad

●it’s getting cold!! i thought i was a thick blooded midwest girl but this 9 degrees celcius is already killing me! and it’s just starting! i sleep with leggings and big sweat pants and a shirt and sweat shirt and wool socks with three blankets. this is real life people. enjoy your heating systems. no, but seriously we are so lucky. not just in the states… even here. i know some of the people i visit and some of the members here are much colder every night. #noticeeveryonewearingcoatsinthebuildingatouractivity

●oh yeah, our shower broke the other day... i refuse to take a cold shower. today i washed my hair in the pot of warm water. the things i do to be a missionary...

●found out father’s day is different here than in the states. what the heck??? 

just wait... all of southern brasil will be saying this by the time i leave. #iamacartooncharacternow

awk

●so this week we got locked out of our house.... with the keys. yeah. idk how that happens but it did. and it was night time and it was COLD. we tried for like 5 minutes to get in.. then we were helpless and called the elders… which obviously didn’t help anything. so then we asked our downstairs neighbor for help (we live in a two story apartment house thing and downstairs is the cutest little lady and her son who is like 30 or something). he came and tried but couldn’t get the door to open either. so... then… yeah. long story short, we went to the back of the house, i climbed a ladder, walked across the roof, crawled into our laundry room, and opened the other side of the door with the key and kinda saved the day #nbd.... oh yeah of course i was IN A SKIRT!

awesome

●so for the first time while being a senior companion i knew we realllly needed new investigators and i have absolutely no clue what i am doing. seriously.  but we used the area book and managed to find some really awesome new investigators this week. it’s amazing how missionary work actually works. like people just let us, complete strangers, into their house and when they are seeking they just love us so easily. and we love them too of course. 

●this week i officially became brazilian when i learned how to make pastels with cheese and another with chocolate. YUM. i’m addicted. so unhealthy but whatever people keep saying i got skinny here, so i can right?

did you read that??? i'm officially brazilian!

anyways. this week was good! things are getting better. i’m really excited for the potential that is building here in santiago, brasil. this week i started studying more of the book Jesus the Christ and that book is seriously amazing. i love how much i learn about my Savior and Heavenly Father. 

so. life is good. things are looking up. two of our new investigators are a mom and her son. we invited them to the minute to win it activity but she couldn’t go because she takes care of her mom, but her son said he would go with us. he’s 12. i didn’t know in the end if he would really have the courage to go alone, but we went to get him and his mom said he was so excited, it’s all he could talk about and then… he got sick! i was so sad. then we tried to visit them the next day and his mom had taken him to the hospital :( things will get better! he has to get baptized so they have to get better :)

yeah well i love you all! have a good week! everyone…. get ready for the CUP!!!! go brasil!

start wearing your green and gold ASAP!!!

xoxo ash aka sister faldmo

may 19, 2014... just a plain out weird week‏

good

●celebrating birthdays with one of my fams here in santiago

●ward bdays 

      happy birthday geovana! she has five years            and happy birthday & baptism andre

parabens!!

●MY LITTLE BROTHER GRADUATED what the heck???? 

bad

●my favorite nude flats are no more. #RIP they did good work for 9 months. 

you served me well...

we'll see if these little brazilian flats will do the trick:)

●i know the new bachelor is going to be starting but i’m in brazil

●went to the hospital again this week with for my comp

awk 

●when sister marinho (who lives in our apartment) doesn’t get a companion at transfers and her old companion leaves..

●so then we are working in trio with her but we work in two different areas with different chapels and everything…

●but then she gets a new companion... who is actually a girl preparing for a mission in the branch where sister marinho serves... 

●imagine that! being a missionary in your own branch! she sleeps at our apartment  and everything. 

awesome

●but it was fun to be in trio again and companions with sister marinho again :) 

●paloma said the prayer at andre’s baptism in front of everyone. i was sooooo proud!

andre's baptism... oh i love the children:)

it was andre’s baptism/birthday this past week. his mom is a member and his older siblings too, and even some of his aunts and uncles and cousins but his not his dad. i love his mom. she is a SAINT. seriously. she is so kind and helps us so much. she always is willing to host a family night on whatever night we need and always wants to make us dinner or snacks haha.  then the other birthday was his sister, geovana.  on that very busy day his their mom (mara) gave us lunch because another member couldn’t as was scheduled… and here it was,  her daughter’s birthday. she’s a gem. 

mara's family at andre's baptism

also, we had our family night this week at  a members house. i won’t lie... he’s kinda crazy. he has a motorized bike and he wanted all these pictures with us (the missionaries) on his bike 

hahaha but he’s so cute!!! he lives alone and he invited everyone to this big family night he organized and he bought treats and made homemade juice and was so excited to share. he loves the gospel... he was baptized only a couple of years ago.  but, as you can tell this week was... interesting. it was weird trying to cover two areas—and one of them isn’t even your area, being in trio again, and i’ll be real honest WE CURRENTLY HAVE NO NEW INVESTIGATORS sooooooo,  until then i don’t have any cool stories to tell you. this week is for sure a “finding” week. sorry to let you all down. i still have six more weeks to do some good work here. and i will, you just wait J

anywaysssssss.... I’ll talk to you all later. happy graduation and summer everyone. do the work. read your scriptures. go to church. help the missionaries. 

sometimes kids just jump in my arms:)

love you lots. 

xoxo sister faldmo

may 12, 2014 feliz dia das mães!!‏

"how great shall be your joy..."

this beautiful girl is paloma and she is a member of 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

good

●ringback tones hahahha. #imissmusic

●writing down where every single sister in the mission is serving to try and guess transfers 

●on sister william’s and my  9 month anniversary both of our comps were sick… so we went on a little division haha. 

sister william's and i getting it done... despite the sick comps

don't freak out... it's just what we sisters do at the 9 month on the mission mark, hahahaha

●not getting transferred… sister silva and I still have work to do here in santiago, brasil

sister silva & i at the end of a long day...

bad

●4:30 am wake up call for zone conference saying the van is picking us up a little earlier than expected #shootme

a realllllllly long day on tues at the tri ward zone conference

●a failure of a district pday… basically it just consisted of us trying to make 8 pizzas (to feed 4 elders and 4 sisters) with one oven and so when pday ended is we finally finished the pizzas. #fail

i think like 10% of our transfers guesses were right. probably less..

awk

●technical difficulties and ending up riding to lunch with president and sister parrella and the assistants… 

●on our way home from zone conference there was an accident on the highway so we had to stop for a while so we all got out on the side of the road. there was a long line of cars and there was some guys way far away with white shirts and maybe ties that got out of their car so naturally we assumed it was other missionaries and started yelling at them... yeah it wasn’t.

took a moment to take some snaps of us before sister williams is transferred

awesome

●PALOMA GOT BAPTIZED! 

●TALKING TO THE FAM ON MOTHERS DAY!!!!!

so the big news of this week is the baptism of paloma!! this week was CRAZY. my goodness our little nemesis Satan did not make this easy on me. Heavenly Father saw that i really wanted this more than anything else. so long story short it was a battle just to make sure paloma could get baptized saturday. but when everything happened the way it needed to i was literally on top of the world. it all started wednesday, my 9 month anniversary of the mish. the best present i could ever receive. 

paloma decided to be baptized

but it didn’t get any easier...

saturday came. i was so excited.. we told her to come to the church at 5 and we would get her all ready… hair and make-up. we made a cake for her. everything was all set. we got to the church and waited. nothing. the font was all ready. nothing. so finally at about 5:15 or so i called her sister. there was a bunch of confusion on the phone but then she gave it to her husband, he told me paloma would not be getting baptized today. he said she didn’t want to and she wanted to get baptized in his church. i kept asking if i could talk to her. finally he gave her the phone. i asked her what was up? she said she wasn’t getting baptized. my heart broke and i asked what happened. she said he wouldn’t let her leave the house to go to the church. so, i just asked her if she wanted to get baptized.... the phone hung up. i’m not going to lie. i started bawling like maggie dru during one of her tantrums. at the church many members totally saw or heard me. my companion tried to tell me everything was going to be okay but she wasn’t on the phone, she didn’t hear how her brother-in-law  talked to me. i was convinced this man was ruining paloma’s baptism. i finally calmed down. we said a prayer. then we went to work. the elders were getting to the church and still probably way confused what was going on but came with us. we went to paloma’s house. on the way there things were almost completely silent... other than us awkwardly asking each other what we were planning on saying to him. we all had nothing in our heads… just the Spirit. we got there and i had a second before we went in to talk to her alone and i quickly asked her if she wanted to get baptized in her brother-in-law’s church. she said no. i asked her if she wanted to get baptized today in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. she said yes. we awkwardly entered. he (the man.. sister’s hasband) tried to act like everything was normal and made small talk about the weather (gag me). half of me wanted to start screaming half of me wanted to cry.  finally, one of the elders asked him if he would be going to paloma’s baptism today. he said no. so people, at this point it is not really necessary to give you a play by play on the conversation, but he told us his pastor doesn’t let him go to other baptisms, he only believes in one baptism… during all this i saw paloma behind him getting ready in a dress and i almost started crying again because i knew what she truly wanted. at the end, one of the elders basically straight up called him to repentance, and we went to the baptism :) 

so you can see... my eyes are a bit teary after what we have been through

it was so great. there were other youth there, the talks were great. i walked with her to the door of the baptismal font and she said “i think sister is happier than i am.” it’s could be true,  let’s be real. i was so happy. then after we had treats and she got to know some of the youth of our ward better, which also made me so happy. then yesterday at church she received the gift of the holy ghost. life is so perfect!

and then just a few hours after that…. i met the families on skype of my companion and elders that i work with and then I TALKED WITH MY FAMILY! life is so good. things are changing but luckily they are changing for the better. i can’t be sad people are going on missions. dad is the new WML!! aka LMA here. what upppp???  what i wouldn’t give to have dr dave for my ward mission leader. isaac is graduating so that’s just straight up weird. and everyone else is just cute as ever. 

anyways.  Our Heavenly Father has sent lots of trials my way this week but it made the success of this week that much sweeter. i’m lucky lucky blessed blessed to be here, to be serving, and to have met paloma. on to the next challenge...

have a good week! i love and miss you all!

beijos, sister faldmo

here is our zone at the tri zone conference on tuesday

and here's a bunch of random pics from all the people i saw on tuesday