3rd Transfer!

Oi! Family and friends! Feliz Natal! Merry Christmas to all those not speaking Portuguese :) How are you all doing? I hope this Christmas season finds you all happy and sparkly, or very hot and fireworky like here in Brazil! This last week has been CRAZY! I have no other words to describe it other than CRAZY! I spent most of the week in Goiania, I stayed with Sis. Nall in Novo Mundo which was super super fun! We sent our companions, Sis Ball and Sis Mills, off for America with a few tears and goodbyes, I was sad to see Sis Ball go, but I am also happy for her! Sis Nall and I worked really hard Monday night and Tuesday in her area and we marked two dates for baptism which was an awesome Christmas Miracle. It has been amazing to see the Christmas miracles that are happening right now in our mission, so many people have been baptized that were having problems, it has been amazing to see the hand of the Lord and the softening of peoples hearts here! Wednesday was our Mission Christmas Conference! All of the missionaries from our whole mission came into Goiania for the day before transfers that night! Sis Nall and I took the onibus through Goiania with some other elders in her area, when we arrived Christmas music was playing, the chapel and gym was decorated with Christmas decorations, and we had a bunch of missionaries in red and green! No place like Christmas in Goiania, Brazil! We pretty much spent the next three hours taking pictures, singing, eating, writing letters to each other, and just catching up with all of the other missionaries, it was so much fun! It was so neat to be with all the missionaries at Christmas and share stories about all the miracles we are seeing! Then we had a chocolate secret santa which was super fun, the chocolate I got was a little bit strange, but it was Christmas, so I just ate all of it anyways :) Then there was a talent show and we had some awesome talents! One elder blew up a balloon with his nose! Other missionaries sang or played piano or did magic! It was an awesome night! We then had a huge Christmas dinner, where I think I ate a cow a pig and a horse all put together, but it was just soooo good! After our massive dinner, we had TRANSFERS! And two crazy things happened! First, I got my companion, her name is SISTER LIMA! My first Brazilian companion! She has one year on the mission, is from Fortaleza, and she is a very happy, outgoing person! I am super excited for this transfer with her because I know we will see so many miracles! She loves the gospel and loves sharing it with others! The other great surprise is Patos de Minas now has another companionship of sisters! There are four sisters here and only two elders! This was very strange for me, we actually have enough missionaries to split our area into three, we dont have to walk for two hours to reach our investigators, this is a HUGE BLESSING for our areas! Anyways, Thursday morning bright and early we left Goiania for Patos de Minas, what should have been a 10 hour bus ride, which is already long, ended up being 13 HOURS. The bus broke down three times, so we had to stop and wait for an hour or so each time, we didnt make it to Goiania until 11:30 pm that night, it was a very, very long day! But, we made it and our lovely members were there waiting for us to drive us to our houses, it was so nice to make it back to my little Patos. I truly feel at home here! Christmas Miracles! Alessandro, our eternal convert, was BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY! He called President Andre this week and said he wanted to be baptized! We got a call Thursday night! Well, we quickly set up an interview for Friday night and he was baptized Saturday morning at 8 am because his wife works all day! They are planning to be sealed in the Temple next Christmas with their three girls! This was such a huge miracle because he was not progressing for the last month and a half and missionaries have been working with him for eight months since his wife got baptized last April, but he said that he just woke up and knew he needed to get baptized, so that he could be with his family forever! He was confirmed on Sunday as well! Rodrigo, he is amazing! He received the priesthood this Sunday and is truly loving the gospel, he is growing in his testimony of the Book of Mormon, and walks to church every Sunday by himself an hour early just to be at church on time! Our other investigator, Alessandro, he came to church and stayed for all of sacrament! He asked us how long you have to wait for baptism! We just found him knocking doors, but he is totally ready for this gospel! We had a huge Branch Christmas Party Saturday night with tons of less actives and investigators! It was so great to be with everyone again and introduce my new companion! I absolutely love this Branch, they worked so hard to have a super fun, but spiritual activity! Also, they had a dinner, which is amazing as always :) President Kuceki has given us a goal of 100 contacts per week, we need to talk with 100 people per week. Well, since we spent half the week in Goiania and traveling on the bus, we have had no time to get 100 contacts. Well, the zone leaders called us Saturday night and gently demanded that we get 100 contacts by Sunday night. Well, I will be honest I thought there was no way we would be able to do this! I only had 20 contacts for the whole week! Well, we cancelled all of our lessons for the day and walked through Centro and the Bus station for five hours, miracle or miracles it is Christmas, so everyone was walking and shopping! Well, Me and Sis Lima were able to both get 100 CONTACTS! It was seriously such a miracle, but I have truly never talked with so many people in Portuguese in my life! The Lord absolutely provided a way :) Remember, the Lord can do anything. He is a Savior of Miracles. He can soften anyones heart. He loves us and it is only through him that we can return to his presence. Remember the ultimate gift we have in our lives is our Savior. What better gift can we give then to share this gospel and the gift of the Savior with someone else during this Christmas season? Lots of love and Merry Christmas! Sister Brotherson

2nd Transfer in Brazil

Dear family and friends! Merry Christmas or Feliz Natal em Portugues! I hope this email finds you all happy and cuddled up in your blankets because from what I have heard most of you are freezing to death! I am sorry that it is so cold for you all because it is a blazing 90 degrees here every day and I am pretty sure I am as red as a lobster! I need to use more sunscreen! I promise I put it on like three times a day and it is never enough! Anyways! I do not even know where to begin! This last week has been absolutely exhausting! With it being Sister Balls last week, we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get everything done for her, for our investigators, and for our ward! Well to start out the week, two families decided to have family home evenings this last week which was awesome, but that meant we needed to plan them! Food, activity, lesson, tudu! So, we invited all of our investigators that we could and less actives and NO SA! We had such a good turnout for both FHEs, it was seriously a miracle! We even had a crazy man from the street come in and listen and he was super Evangelical, and thought that we mormons were crazy, but he came in and listened to the message and was silent the whole time! Rodrigo was also at one of the Family Nights and he totally loved it, the ward is realy stepping up to work with him and fellowship him in the ward which is so awesome! We also were sitting in church last Sunday when President Andre, gets up and announces a missionary fireside for that Wednesday, haha we all turned and stared at each other in shock because we had absolutely no idea about any of this! Well, we talked with President Andre after and he said that we needed to have a fireside, so in three days we put met every single morning and put together a fireside for Wednesday night! The turnout was not as good as we wanted, but for only three days of warning it went surprisingly well and the branch really enjoyed it! Of course we ate hot dogs after because everyone in Brazil eats hotdogs after any and every event! Well, then Friday morning rolled around and we got a call from our district leader, he said we had to go bail out the faunt because it was broken and had not drained since the last baptisms three weeks ago. So we spent Friday morning in the faunt using buckets to pour the bug infested water down the toilets. My arms and legs are still hurting! But, we did HAVE A BAPTISM FOR RODRIGO! He is seriously the most humble, spiritual young man I have ever met! And he was just so ready to be baptized! I truly feel so blessed that we have been able to teach him and work with him! In our last lesson with him he asked if he could receive the Holy Ghost on his knees because he saw a picture in the pamphlet of Joseph Smith on his knees receiving the priesthood... WE tried really really hard to not laugh, but it was just so funny and he was so serious! We said we would talk with our district leader about this... The baptism went really well and ALL of the young men were there to support him, it was so awesome! Then we spent Friday night packing for Sister Ball and cleaning the apartment and at 3 am we got a ride to the Bus station and waited for three hours for the bus! We then rode the bus for ten hours, got in super late Saturday night, and Sister Ball left me :( I am super sad about this, but I know she has completed her time and it is time for me to have a new comp! So I am currently staying in Goiania with another sister until Wednesday when we have transfers and our Mission Christmas Conference with a TALENT SHOW! So excited! We also got to watch the Mission Choir sing in a concert last night which was super awesome! I am super excited for my new companion! But, also slightly nervous about someone new! I know it is for the best! Merry Christmas, I love you all! I know this gospel is true and I am so grateful for all of the wonderful blessings it has given us! Sister Brotherson

A Few Pictures from Houston and Arriving in Brazil

Week Number 6 in Brazil!

Querida familia e amigos! Como voces estao?? Alright, I will switch to English now because I think that is much easier for all of you to understand! This last week was super good, a little bit difficult, but still awesome! I just love working with Sister Ball, I am seriously learning so much from her! She is very wise and is basically the perfect missionary and SHE IS LEAVING ME! I am so sad about this, but she is actually finishing her mission next week and will be returning to her home for Christmas! I will miss her a lot, but she has faithfully served for 18 months! So with her leaving and me being companionless, we will be traveling to Goiania AGAIN on the onibus! This Saturday for ten hours! You know I never thought I would spend over 50 hours riding a bus in my first month in Brasil, but that is exactly what I am doing! We are leaving Saturday at 4 am for a ten hour bus ride and then I will stay in Goiania with other sisters UNTIL WEDNESDAY when we have transfer meeting! I have no idea who my new comp will be, but I am excited and nervous and have all sorts of feelings! We will stay in Goiania next Wednesday night and then take the bus back for ten hours! I am nearly positive my next comp will be Brazilian, so I will be speaking in Portuguese 24/7 :) Sometimes, Sister Ball and I slip into English... not a lot, but sometimes! More news! We are having a baptism! His name is Rodrigo, he is 16 and so golden it is ridiculous! I am so excited for him! A less active, Yuri, came to church last week and brought his friend Rodrigo who just moved her and is looking for a church! Well we scooped him up real fast, went over to meet Rodrigo last week and taught him the Restoration! He totally accepted it and loved it! We then invited him for seminary on Wednesday and he walked with us all the way there, it is is like a 40 minute walk! Well, when we got to the chapel, Robinho, the teacher was there, but he said seminary was done until school started again! We were like WHAT?? NOOO!!! Well, miracle of miracles, three other seminary kids showed up and we taught Rodrigo the third lesson, and showed him the baptismal font, and the spirit was so strong, and everyone shared their testimonies about the restored gopsel and then we challenged him for Baptism on the 21st of December and he said CAN I BE BAPTIZED SOONER??? Now, this does not happen very often at all! But, he is getting baptized this Friday, the 13th, the day before we leave! His father has passed away, so we taught him the Plan of Salvation and he just has so many questions! He prayed and knows the Book of Mormon is true and wants to be baptized so badly! Truly a miracle in our lives! We taught a lot of new investigators this week! We are having trouble with getting people to church. A lot of people say they will come and then the morning of they cancel. We are praying hard to figure out what better we can do to get our investigators to church and for them to have an enjoyable experience! We are still working with Ozvudo, Jacqueline, and Marcia. We challenged for baptism last week and they said no, they are not ready to take that step, but they want to keep meeting with us. Jacqueline is super ready and totally has a testimony! Every time we go over she has so many questions and just wants to read the Book of Mormon with us, but her parents are not fully supportive yet! Pray for them! This week we knocked A LOT A LOT A LOT of doors. I am still trying to gain a testimony of knocking doors and we actually did teach a lot of lessons and we found quite a few new investigators, I think I will have a testimony of this eventually :) It was super, super hot on Friday! WE got super, super sunburnt! Ouch, my skin still hurts thinking about it! I have never been so red in my life! And then on Saturday, it totally DOWNPOURED! Like there were rivers in the street and we got soaked head to toe. We had almoco or lunch about 20 minutes away NO SA it was loco! We were super scared to go outside because there was so much rain, thunder, and lightning, but we said a prayer and somehow we made it to almoco! Completely soaking wet, but safe! I have never been so grateful for my yellow shoes, my blue rain coat, and my green umbrella! I make quite the fashion statement here in Brazil :) I just want to leave my testimony with you that this Church is true. That when we choose to keep the commandments, all the commandments, we will be blessed. The Lord wants us to be happy in this life and to learn and grow. We are here to prepare to return to live with our Heavenly Father. Sometimes we are given challenges, but they are ALWAYS FOR OUR GOOD. The Lord never gives a command without FIRST PREPARING A WAY. If we have faith in the Lord, then all things are possible through him. That is essential in Missionary work and in life in general. We need to remember the sacrifice our Savior made for us. And truly the sacrifice we are asked to make is so small in comparision with the Atonement. I am grateful for this Christmas season where I can remember my Savior and all that he has done for me. I am so grateful I have the privilege to share this message with everyone! Hurrah for Israel! We also learned how to make Pao de cuejo this week! Ah it was so delicious! And we found Papa Noel! We took a picture with Santa! And I have awesome tan lines on my feet! Loves, Sister Brotherson ps Here are some funny moments from the last few weeks! Everyone here eats corn with hotdogs and burgers and it is super good! A drunk man stopped us in the street, began to sing, and then shook his butt. We walked away very quickly. Another man told us the world had AIDS and that we were all going to die, oh and he sang to us too, I guess random singing men is common here in Brazil?? Who knew? I got gum stuck on my shoe. We visited Irmao Kennedy again and put up his tree again... I am still trying to come to terms with this. Apparently, the missionaries have done it every year for well forever? We will be eating there again this Friday and I am praying that the tree does not lean one little bit! Whenever we leave our house, there is a very large apartment building with construction workers, they have begun whistling at us and drawing hearts at us. I think we will invite them for baptism next week :) That is all for now! Oh the funny things of being a missionary!

Oh Brazil I Love You!

This last week was Thanksgiving! Except Brasil does not have Thanksgiving, yet we still had HUGE almocos every single day, so basically I eat Thanksgiving dinner every single day! This week was a lot better! We definitely saw some major mirales and my testimony of fasting every Saturday, knocking doors,and contacting on the street have all grown a lot. We found a family knocking doors about two weeks ago, the parents are actually married which is a miracle here in Brazil! We had taught the first two lessons and were not sure if we would continue teaching, but we walked in that night and Jacquline, the daughter who is 14! She ran in saying I have three members in my class and I want to go to Seminary and I read the Intro of the Book of Mormon and prayed and I know that it is true! Ah the Spirit was so strong and we were so excited for her! We invited her for seminary, but she did not want to go without her parents! Well, Ozvuldo and Marcia, were not so sure they wanted to go to the church and were very evasive. But,the next night we went by the church to talk with President Andre and Guess who was at the church?! Ozvuldo, Marcia, and Jacqueline for seminary! And Ozvuldo and Marcia were talking with a bunch of the other parents! It was such a miracle! And then all of our investigators cancelled Sunday morning for church and none of them were coming, but we had fasted and prayed so hard that we would have at least one there! Well, we decided that sitting in our apartment Sunday morning was not going to do anything for us, and it is so true, The Lord will give you miracles when you are up and moving and doing the work! As we were walking to Ozvuldo, Marcia, and Jacquelines house we ran into a less active who was bringing his friend to church! We then got to Ozvuldos house, they had said they would not be able to come because they were at the farm. Well, Ozvuldo was sitting outside his house! We walked right inside, woke up Jacquline, and said we will see you at church in twenty minutes! We were not quite sure if they would come, but THEY CAME TO CHURCH FOR ALL THREE HOURS AND THEY BROUGHT THEIR COUSIN who wants to learn more! Ah we saw so many miracles with our investigators! Tiese brought her boyfriend who we will start teaching and our less active brought Rodrigo who we taught yesterday! He is so golden it is ridiculous! We also had a baptism for Mariana! She was already baptized haha. But they lost the paperwork, so she needed baptism and confirmation again. We still had to teach her all the lessons and her mom is not active, so we were able to work with her a lot! Sorry I dont have more pictures or more time to write! Love you all, the church is true, keep praying, and answers and blessings will come! Sister Brotherson

What I Am Grateful For...

Querida Familia e amigos! Another week in Duckberg! It rained a lot this week, I am grateful for the coolness because it has been super hot and sweaty especially walking up giant hills all day every day! Feliz por Dia de Gracas! Unfortunately, Thanksgiving is not celebrated here in Brazil, but I will celebrate with Sis. Ball in our tiny, little apartment! This week I want to share what I am grateful for because I have much to be grateful for! I am grateful for my body. That I have a strong body that can work hard and walk for miles every day. I am grateful for my mind and spirit that I can continue to develop attributes of Christ every day in my mission. I am grateful for my family. For their love, support, and example to me. I could not serve a mission without them. I am grateful for the members in Brazil, in this little Ramo. They already make me feel right at home! We eat meals every single day with the members and they always hug and kiss me on my cheeks when they see me! They like to touch my hair and ask if I am American or Brazilian and they always tell me I speak really good Portuguese, haha I think they are just being nice! I am grateful for Sundays, days that we can have time to partake of the sacrament and remember the sacrifice of the Savior. I am grateful that we have a day set aside each week for this opportunity. I am grateful for our investigators, those progressing and the new ones. I am grateful for their desire to do what is right, to change their lives, and I am so grateful that I can be here to see it. I am grateful for Sis. Ball. I am ever so grateful for her love, faith, and desire to serve the Lord. I am especially grateful for her patience with me and how diligently she works every single day to teach me and help me. I am grateful that the Lord is helping me to share the gospel every single day with people on the street. That we walk into peoples homes every single day and teach about the gospel and that I have a chance to tell others about the Restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for my Savior. For his sacrifice for me. That the Atonement can and does change peoples lives every single day. I am so grateful that I can share this knowledge with others and help them come to the understanding that they have a Father in Heaven who loves them and has a plan for them. That I can share my knowledge of the Savior and Atonement with everyone. This week was difficult, we have not been able to find a lot of new investigators and we were rejected a lot. I am grateful when people are honest and just tell us they do not want to listen. A lot of our investigators were not home when we went by and none of them were at church on Sunday. But, I know with all of my heart the Lord is mindful of this work! I know that his hand is here in Patos and he will direct the work every single day if we are faithful and work hard! Miracles! We did find a few investigators with a lot of potential all because we knocked doors! I will gain a testimony of knocking doors eventually! We had no luck on Saturday afternoon almost all day, but finally we were able to teach two different women that evening and they were both powerful, spiritual lessons! Thought for this week. The gospel of Jesus Christ requires sacrifice. We need to sacrifice something every single day to be closer to the Lord. This gospel, this church, is a gospel of sacrifice. Joseph Smith said we do not deserve salvation if we are not willing to SACRIFICE EVERYTHING for the Lord, just as he did for us. Truly, my sacrifice as a missionary is so small in comparision with what the Lord did for me and what he does every single day. Love you all and I am so grateful for all of you! Flying high from Duckberg, Brasil and Happy Thanksgiving for all of you! Enjoy the torta bobra! Pumpkin pie! Sister Brotherson