A Lot Has Happened!--May 8, 2014

Alright Family and Friends, sorry I didnt write this past Monday! I hope that the Assistants sent an email to you, Mom and Dad, explaining the situation. Well, to recap the last 10 days of my mission... A LOT HAS HAPPENED! First off I am super excited to talk to the Family on Sunday! I cannot honestly believe that the time has arrived to talk to you guys again, but I am sooo excited! Happy Early Mothers Day mom! Alright, since Mom and Dad, you guys have church from 11:30 to 2:30 and we are four hours ahead here, soooo I will be online at 7:30 my time and 3:30 your time! I hope this works for you guys! Sorry its so dang late, I just dont think that talking in the morning before church will work and you guys have church dang late! So 7:30 gives you guys time to get home from church so 3:30 YOUR TIME ALRIGHT! Anyways, what happened this week. Sister Cutler got better and we started working like crazy! The problem is we pretty much baptized all of our super strong investigators at the end of April and were looking at our list of investigators and realizing that we need to sanctify and probably leave a lot of investigators that dont have real desire and that werent progressing. Well as we started to pray and make tons of plans for the rest of the transfer during weekly planning Friday morning, we were so ready to start finding new investigators! Well, then Friday afternoon the call came... The Assistants called and said that Sister Cutler was being transferred and we would be going to Goiania on Monday so that I could get my new companion and we would not have Pday this week. We cried right there because we thought for sure we had another transfer together! Apparently, all of the Americans that get their visas for Brasil are doing a 12 day training program in the MTC in Sao Paulo before they enter the mission field in Brasil, that is why we are having transfers two weeks after normal transfers. Well, I started freaking out that I was training. We spent the next two days saying goodbye to everyone. Monday night we arrived about 7 pm and surprisingly, President pretty much transferred all the sisters in the mission so we stayed with the STLs and 12 others sisters, it was a HUGE PARTY :) I love the sisters in our mission, they are amazing! I also got to see Sister Lima again for the last time which was huge treat! Well, the big news is that I am TRAINING! My new companion is Sister Rios, she is from Uruguay and is so stinking smart that she stayed in the MTC for only three weeks because she already speaks Portuguese so well! She is 19 years old, already studied accounting, and speaks English :) I am so excited to be with her this next transfer, but I feel slightly intimidated, she is super smart! We got back to Uberaba last night around 9:30 and then today we had Zone conference with President Kuceki and interviews, so the assistants gave us permission to write families today! All in all, the Lord calls whom he qualifies. The mission and this life is full of tests that we can choose to pass or not. But always the Lord is trying to help us become better! I am super nervous for this new responsiblity, but I am grateful for everything that I will learn with Sister Rios! Love you all, Sister Brotherson © 2014 Microsoft Terms Privacy & cookies Developers English (United States) AdChoices

I Love this Gospel--April 28, 2014

Well, I spent most of the week inside my tiny house taking care of my companion, Sister Cutler, because she got super sick with a huge abcess in her face and had to get a root canal. It was a flurry of activity going to the doctors three time, finally getting to the dentist, and realizing she needed a root canal. Tender mercy of the Lord. She paid exactly 146 dollars, on the mission we have to pay for anything that has to do with the dentist, well when she opened up her email today guess what her parents said? Her tax return was exactly 146 dollars! Goodness, what a tender mercy of the Lord. He is truly in the details of our lives. We did have some miracles like BETEGA AND JOSIANE GOT BAPTIZED AND CONFIRMED THIS WEEK! This is a couple that has been going to church for the last 15 months without being baptized because they were not married. We had tons of members present and the Spirit was very strong and sweet. I am so happy for this family and that in one year they are planning to go to the Temple to be sealed together forever. I also ate at a real Brazillian barbecue restaurant and it was delicious! I ate way too much food! I dont have much time to write, but during lots of my studying this week I learned a few points of doctrine. 1. The Spirit converts. The Holy Ghost is the link between the investigators, the missionaries, and the Godhead. This is one of the reasons that Jesus Christ left the earth, he left, os that the Holy Ghost could begin his work here upon the earth. 2. Often, when we first meet people we judge immediately. We compare ourselves and think how am I better. This needs to change in everyone. You need to think what characteristics do they have that I need to develop in my life? This is seeing with the eyes of Christ. 3. Faith creates miracles. It is only when we BELIEVE AND HAVE A DESIRE that miracles are possible. The church is true. I love this gospel. Pray to have a missionary experience this week. Share the gospel with a friend. Say what you know about Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, and the Savior. You never know who is ready and waiting for the gospel. Sister Brotherson

My Bishop Hit Someone With His Car...Did I Mention I Was in the Car With Him?--April 21, 2014

Yes, it is true. Tuesday afternoon at 1 pm, Sister Cutler and I got a ride with Bishop Robson leaving the Stake Center. We were driving up a hill rather slowly, thank goodness, Bishop Robson is known for driving very, very fast! He was looking in the rearview mirrow while we were eating icecream and next thing we know we hear a huge crash and boom, We look forward and Bishop Robson hit a girl walking on the street! She rolled up on the hood of the car and then fell to the ground. He rushed to a stop, slammed on the breaks and jumped out of the car! We jumped out to thinking that she was dead, but she didnt even have a scratch! Bishop Robson helped her up and all she said I need my shoe! She gets hit by a car and the first thing she says is I need my shoe! The second things she said was Wow you guys are not from here are you? Me and Sister Cutler looked at each other and said No, the US. My thought was you just got hit by a car and our accents are so bad that you recognized we are not from here? Oh bother, we need to practice more :) Then Sister Cutler offered the girl her icecream, I honestly dont know why, but it was super funny. All she said was no I am fine! We kept asking if she was okay and she said yes, yes, yes, I work at the hospital and am going there now! All in all, we got back in the car as she walked away and laughed and laughed and laughed all the way to our house. Be careful when you are driving with your Bishop. All Bishop Robson said it was a good thing we were in the car with him, we were the girls guardian angels :) This week we had transfers and (drumroll please) Sister Cutler and I are staying together another transfer! We are both super grateful because we feel like we have so many people who are ready to be baptized in this area and Betega and Josiene will be getting baptized this coming Friday, so we are working with them every single day to make sure they are truly ready! This week was a very good week. We saw a lot of miracles. I am so grateful that we are witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ during this special time of year, during Easter. I truly felt the Lords power as I tesified of his suffering, death, and resurrection for our investigators and less actives. We had a very powerful lesson with Celimar,the mom of one of our recent converts who hasnt been to church for the last 5 weeks since her baptism date fell through. She says every single week that she will go to church and we show up Sunday morning and has some excuse, this last week we prayed very hard that she would be able to go to church. When we passed by her house Sunday morning, she was sitting at the table looking very sad and said, she wouldnt be able to go because she didnt have clothes! Well, I was not buying it. We talked her over for a good ten minutes saying she didnt need a dress or a skirt, no one cared! We just wanted her there! Well, finally she said alright Ill go, you guys go on ahead and Ill follow in just a few minutes. Well we decided to trust her and sure enough ten minutes later she was in the church ALONE! SUCH A MIRACLE! I studied a lot this week in Jesus the Christ. I understood so much better the last week of Christs life and so many memories from my days in Jerusalem came to my head. I am so grateful for the time that I had to spend in the Holy Land feeling of the spirit there and learning about my Savior in such a personal way and that just 1 year and four months later I am able to be a missionary for the Lord where the Nephites and Lamanites lived so many years ago, I am truly teaching their descendants now on my mission! I found two scriptures that I loved that talked about the blood that Christ spilt for us. The Book of Mormon in Mosias 3:7 has a scripture that perfectly portrays the suffering of the Savior for each and every one of us. I cross referenced this scripture with Luke 22:43-43. And had a reconfirmation that the Book of Mormon is truly another testament of Jesus Christ. Thank you always for your love and prayers. Testify to someone this week of the divinty and life of the Savior. You will feel his overwhelming love in your life. Sister Brotherson

The Lord Answers the Desires of Our Heart--April 14, 2014

It was just a really good week and I dont have a lot of time to write, about five minutes :) I still have Conference ringing in my ears and I just want to watch Conference again and again and again because it was so good! We then got word that probably the Sisters from Patos were coming to visit for Zone Conference! Well, I prayed my little heart out because I had a selfish desire to see Sister Lima again before she finishes her mission next month and guess what happened, they came! We got to have six sisters in our little house for three days, it was quite the party, and such a treat to see Sister Lima again! I love her so much and am so grateful for everything she taught me :) This week we prayed to find more people that were ready to hear the gospel that would be prepared for baptism. We found a mom and her two daughters, they listened to our lesson on the Word of Wisdom and loved it! They also accepted dates for baptism in the next few weeks, it was truly such a miracle! Rarely do you meet people that are so ready and waiting for the gospel! We are also working super hard with Betega and Josiane who will be getting married on Thursday! They have already been going to church for a year, their kids are all baptized, they just didnt have the money to get married until now, so we are reteaching everything for them so that they can be baptized on the 25th of April! We are so excited as are they because they have waited for this day for so long! The devil is truly working as hard as he can to trip them up, but we are going over there every single day to sing, pray, and help them feel the Spirit! More prays would be great for Betega and Josiane that everything will go smoothly! Finally, Adriana and Vitor Hugo received the Holy Ghost yesterday and they were just glowing! Ah I love them so much :) I felt very strongly I needed to bear my testimony and I talked about Christ during the last week of his life. How this next week 2000 years ago he was in Jerusalem finishing his training of the apostles, introducing the sacrament, suffering the Atonement, being judged wrongly, and finally dying on the cross and being resurrected. Many of my memories from Jerusalem are returning as I think about all the Savior did during his life. I know that I am so imperfect, but with his strength we can overcome all things. The thing is he truly WANTS TO BLESS US. He is not witholding blessings because he wants to, but because we are not obeying! If we just obey and ask with a sincere heart he will give us all that we need! Thank you for reading Preach My Gospel, it is truly a tool of the Lord, not just for missionaries, but for members and nonmembers alike! Continue reading and I will FOLLOW UP next week :) Lots of Love and happy easter this coming sunday! Sister Brotherson

Conference Weekend!--April 7, 2014

It was CONFERENCE WEEKEND! I love Conference and seriously received so much spiritual nourishment and power! I sure hope you had questions ready because the Lord truly spoke through his servants during this Conference, I was fortunate enough to watch almost all of Conference in English, only half of Sunday morning was in Portuguese, because there was not enough space in the chapel, so they opened up our little room for everyone else! This was one of the most special Conferences in my whole life because in between conference sessions on Sunday, we were able to have a baptism for Adriana and Vitor Hugo! A mom and her 11 year old son. They are truly two of the most prepared people that I have ever met in my life. We found them only three weeks ago when we talked with them on the street, but they have truly been so converted and accepted everything about this gospel. Adriana says that everything just makes so much sense and she feels so blessed to have found the gospel and she cannot wait for Vitor Hugo to serve a mission in ten years and help other people find this joy :) The baptism was super spiritual and Adriana just cried and cried as she bore her testimony. She has an older daughter who was saying some pretty bad things about the church and asking why in the world would she be baptized after only three weeks, well that night as she and Vitor Hugo were going to bed they both said Nothing has changed for me, I know this church is true and we will be baptized no matter what anyone says. That is true faith. My favorite talk was Elder Eyring, I honestly dont know what he said, but I received a very spiritual, special lesson about how sacred our time is and how very important the convenants we make for our lives are. That this time is the Lords time, he is ever mindful of us, he is preparing us for something more glorious and holy than we can imagine. That every day we have the choice to honor our covenants or not. That we have the choice to be righteous or not. I am realizing more and more how very sacred this time on my mission is and how truly it is setting the habits and pattern for the rest of my life with my future family. This week with Sister Cutler, I finally felt like we hit our rhythm, we are working hard, in sync with the Spirit, and we are giving our all to the Lord. It is so nice to have the same goals and desires as your companion. We are working hard to find new investigators and we are continuing with some others who need more time to prepare for baptism! But, the work is going forward and I am absolutely LOVING IT! Thank you for your prayers, they are truly felt all the way here in Uberaba, Brazil! I ate fish eyes last night...one of our investigators was astounded when I said I had never eaten fish eyes... she decided this needed to be changed, so we ate fish eyes for dinner last which was suprisingly good :) Oh the life of a missionary! Sister Brotherson Shoutout for Mason and Lillie! Hope you had a blast at prom! Congrats to Grace, Taylor, Brother and Sister Barrett, and Anne for their mission calls, you will be amazing!

His Hands Are Extended to Help You--March 31, 2014

Hey all! This will be short and brief because I do not have a lot of time. Oh I also cut my hair! To my shoulders! Mom dont freak out :) Adriana and Vitor Hugo are progressing beautifully and are so ready to be baptized next week! They came to the Ward Family Night, church, and Adriana came to the Womens Conference! Yes, I did get to watch it in Portuguese.... not quite the same as English, but I do get to watch General Conference in English and I am super super excited because my companion is American, so we can watch together with two other elders in our zone that speak English! Anyways, this week was super fast and we spent a lot of time teaching our recent converts that are trying really hard to understand everything about the gospel. It was a nice refresher for me that everyone progresses differently and we need to have patience with the Lords timing. Adriana and Vitor Hugo have accepted the Word of Wisdom without any doubt and already had stopped drinking coffee! A huge miracle, that they are truly so ready and prepared to have this gospel in their lives. We helped plan a huge Family Night for the whole ward Friday night and I spent most of Thursday and Friday calling the whole ward! We ended up with a huge turnout of 50 people and investigators! I am planning on teaching the ward limbo for the next activity... :) It also rained a lot this week, so our house flooded a bit... I guess whenever it rains our kitchen fills with water... that was an interesting battle :) Did I mention that we have church in a house? First time ever in my life! But, its awesome and quite cozy and its nice to squeeze 100 people into our house every Sunday for activities! The already have a chapel, it just needs to be built this year! All in all, the work is progressing. I love my companion, I am learning more and more how to be humble and faithful with her. How to make my scripture study more meaningful, how to make my prayers more sincere and heartfelt, how we need to listen to the spirit in every moment, and how truly this is the work of the Lord. This is the saving of the human soul and it is more important than anything else we will ever do. I am so excited for General Conference this coming weekend, to hear the Prophet and apostles speak directly to our hearts and minds is such a treat and a blessing in this difficult world. Remember the Lord loves you and always has his hands extended to help you.

The Lord Makes Up What We Ourselves Cannot Do--March 24, 2014

The Lord truly makes up for what we ourselves cannot do. We are so imperfect and incapable of doing so many things with our physical bodies, but the Lord is perfect and can make up all the rest. This week was an interesting week. Monday and Tuesday, we started out super strong! Teaching, finding, contacting, and reaching all of the goals we had, Me and Sister Cutler truly felt like we were on fire! And then the infamous phone call! One of the Assistants called Tuesday night and asked if we had planned for Wednesday, I said No we are literally running for our house RIGHT NOW! Why, what do we need to plan for tomorrow?? Well, Elder Brito started laughing and said dont plan anything! I literally stopped and said WHAT?? Why? Turns out that two weeks ago when I was in Goiania, the assistants forgot to tell me that I had to sign a piece of paper for my visa so stay in the country of Brazil for the next year... Yup, you betcha. Elder Brito called Tuesday night to inform us that Wednesday morning at 9 am we were getting on the bus for a lovely eight hours. I will be honest I was pretty frustrated because I have only had five days in this area! And we had 3 BAPTISMS for the coming Saturday! We needed to teach them every single day this week to get them ready for Baptism! Well, I didnt really have a choice considering I want to stay on my mission for the next year in Brazil and not be deported to the US.... so we got on the bus and literally within ten minutes of being on the bus I got super nauseous and lets just say I spent the next eight hours vomiting and having diarrhea every time the bus stopped... It was really quite painful and not so fun. We arrived in Goiania and I signed the tiny piece of paper and then We stayed with some other sisters in Goiania and I tried to sleep as much as i could in between running to the bathroom. Thursday morning at 9 am we were again at the bus station and I spent another eight hours being sick. Lets just say it was a pretty miserable two days. I am still trying to figure out if I ate something wrong or if my stomach just decided it didnt like me? Luckily, I am feeling much much better today! Luckily, we share this ward with the elders and they were more than willing to visit Celimar, Beto, and Gabriel to prepare them for baptism for Saturday! I am so grateful they were willing to do this! Then Friday morning was Interviews with the District Leader! Just to explain a little bit about this wonderful family! Ceverino and Celimar are the parents, Celimar is pregnant and they already have one son, Gabriel, who is 10. Beto is Celimars nephew and he lives with them. Three weeks ago on Saturday night, before I arrived in the area, Sister Cutler did a contact with Beto as he was walking down the street. Honestly, she wasnt even going to talk to him because it was super dark and late at night, but she felt compelled to talk to him. She invited him to church and did not think much of it afterwards. Well, she walked into the church the next day and guess who was sitting on the front pew... dum dum dum BETO! He came to church alone! Well, Sister Cutler and Sister Larsen started teaching the whole family that very same day, they invited the whole family for baptism for the 22nd of March and then Sister Larsen got transferred and I came in! We literally spent the first five days of our time here teaching them! Well, interviews happened and Gabriel and Beto cleared with flying colors! Sadly, Celimar and Ceverino are not married :/ We understood incorrectly. The problem in Brazil is that it costs a lot of money to get married! And most people believe that if you are living with someone for a long amount of time then you are married, but many couples dont actually get married legally... So, we understood incorrectly and Celimar was super super sad! But, we have set a date with her and Ceverino to be married in May and to be baptized immediately after! Anyways, after the interviews on Friday Sister Cutler started feeling sick! She got the flu! So we then spent all of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday inside with her sleeping because she could barely walk :/ Luckily, she had enough energy to go to the baptism and help out! Beto and Gabriel were baptized and the spirit was SO STRONG! Sadly, Celimar got super sick and went to the hospital with Ceverino so they were not able to be at the baptism or at church on Sunday, but Gabriel and Beto were confirmed at church on Sunday and Beto leaned over to tell me it was the happiest day of his life! He has plans to go to the temple for the first time in June and is already talking about serving a mission in one year! We also had two HUGE MIRACLES HAPPEN considering we were not able to teach anyone this week! Betega and Josienne, a couple that have been investigators for the last 18 months have been saving money to be married for the last 18 months. They go to church every Sunday, pay their tithing, go to all activities, and all their kids are baptized, they are basically members, they just didnt have the money to get married to be baptized. THEY SET A DATE TO BE MARRIED ON APRIL 17! They will be baptized the following week, I am seriously sooooo happy for them and so grateful that I can be here to help them make this step in their lives. Adriana and Vitor Hugo, a mom and her 11 year old son, were at church on Sunday. We found them one week ago and were unable to return the whole week! The elders passed by just as they were leaving, but they were at church on Sunday and LOVED IT! We were able to teach them after church and they will be baptized on April 5 in between sessions of General Conference! They have already gained testimonies and believe that everything is true! All in all, I am grateful for what the Lord was able to do this week, that our physically limited bodies and minds were unable to do. I am grateful that he touched the hearts of our investigators and created miracles in their lives when we literally were unable to physically be present with them. This church is true. Christ leads and guides this church. He has a Prophet on the earth to lead and guide us. I am seriously counting the days until General Conference, I am soooo excited! And I gave a talk on Reverence on Sunday, second talk in Portuguese! It was scary, but I felt the spirit! Lots of love, Sister Brotherson

Transfers?--March 17, 2014

Hey family and friends! Well, for those of you who didnt know, I got transferred this last week after a lovely four months serving in Patos de Minas. It was super sad to say goodbye to everyone, I absolutely loved my time in Patos, but I am super excited for a new area, new comp, and new adventures! I got transferred to UBERABA! Uberaba has five wards and is currently a stake which is super awesome! I am currently serving in the Vallim de Mello Ward in Uberaba, Brazil! My companion is Sister Cutler, she is really, really tall, has huge blue eyes, is from Virginia, and studied at BYU, oh yes she is American! She only has 2 transfers in the field, so guess what else happened.... someone had the crazy idea to make me SENIOR COMP. I am still freaking out on the inside about this HUGE CHANGE, but I am grateful for the opportunity to have more responsibility and truly I feel like I will learn so much about being humble with Sister Cutler. She truly is perfect! She already knows the area, the members, and all the investigators. And the other huge miracle. We have a family being baptized next Saturday, all we have to do is finish teaching them. Sister Cutler and her previous companion were teaching this family and challenged them for baptism on the 22nd of March, well then transfers happened and here I am! They are a super awesome family and I am super excited to work with them, get to know them better, and help them prepare for baptism! Silimar is the mom, Gabriel is her son, and Beto is her nephew. Her husband, Ceverino, will be baptized on the 6th of April! He was unable to be at church this Sunday, so we pushed his baptism back two weeks. Anyways, this week was crazy, emotional and awesome! Monday, the sisters in Patos had a BIRTHDAY PARTY for Sister Brady as it was her birthday, it was then of course raining, so we ran out in the rain and just LOVED IT. I find it ironic that the first night I arrived in Patos, it was raining like crazy and my last night in Patos it was raining like crazy! Tuesday, 10 hours on the bus, it was quite nice to sleep, reflect on my time in Patos, and write in my journal. Tuesday night we stayed with 10 other sisters in a very small apartment, but it was loads of fun to be with all the sisters in the mission because we are so rarely together! Wednesday, it was raining again, so we all piled into taxes with lots of luggage to go to the chapel where Mission Conference was being held with Elder Cruz, a newly ordained Seventy. I will just say this much, He and his wife spoke about missionary work and they were amazing. How there is truly no difference between the missionaries of the Scriptures and us today. They had more faith. So, we need to have more faith that this is the Lords work and that with his help we will find those people who are ready for the gospel! It was truly inspiring and I felt a new determination and drive to work super hard! Then we had Transfer meeting and President Kuceki pretty much transfered the whole mission! Everyone is in new areas, tons of missionaries are training, everyone is opening new areas, we have 8 Sister Training Leaders instead of the 2 we had before! Basically it was a transfer of HUGE CHANGES! But, I am way excited for what will happen! Well, then I got called to serve in Uberaba with Sister Cutler and everyone was just freaking out, crying, and hugging! Then Thursday, we rode in a VAN WITHOUT AIRCONDITIONING for 8 hours with 13 other elders. Oh, I forgot to mention that we are the only sisters in the whole ZONE OF 28 ELDERS... Its fine, I dont mind elders too much haha... but Zone Conference and Zone meetings will be an adventure withotu other sisters... And then Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we went to meet the Bishop, the members, the investigators, EVERYONE! It was super awesome and everyone is so kind and friendly. I really feel like we have so many people in this area who are ready and waiting to hear the gospel. Sister Cutler is a gogetter and truly has a huge desire to work super hard! I feel like we will be able to help this ward a lot! Interesting facts about my area. We live close to an elementary school, so kids are always passing our front door. Every car has music BLASTING super loudly.. it will be interesting to get used to. I am completely lost and have no idea where anything is, I hope I will learn :) Again, dog central. We have dogs on every street corner following us and barking at us. I ate peanut butter today for the first time in four months. Sister Cutlers parents sent her peanut butter for Christmas, it was truly heavenly to eat again. Sorry, I know this is super, super long! It was just one of those weeks. Finally, I just want to end with a talk I read the other day. Cast Not Away Thy confidence from thee. I read this talk the other day and felt truly inspired. Truly, before and after great spiritual moments, is when Satan is working really really hard to tear us down. It is when we have already felt the confirming peach of the Spirit that we need to stand firm and work just a little harder. If it was right the first time, then it will still be right the second time. Ignore the fear and doubts that Satan is sending to you, stay firm in the Faith and listen to the peace and light of the gospel and the answer you already received. Love you all, Sister Brotherson

Well...We All Knew It Was a Possibility--March 10, 2014

Well... we all knew it was a possibility that I would get transferred... I do have four wonderful months here in Patos de Minas where everyone tells me that they have the best cheese and barbecue in the whole country of Brasil, since I have only lived in Patos de Minas, I still dont know about that... but I am placing my bets with Patos :) Anyways, I was TRANSFERRED!?:/:) I really dont know how I feel, sad, scared, nervous, excited, happy! I am excited for a new area, new comp, new adventures, new members, new investigators, but I am sad to be leaving Patos! I have truly come to love Patos with my whole heart, I have made so many close friends that I love! I truly feel like Patos is my home :/ I hate to leave Sister Lima, she has been fabulous these last two transfers, and we have been working with so many investigators who are progressing towards baptism this next month, we have also been working with some less active families to reactive them, so I am sad to leave all of the wonderful people I have come to know and love! But if the Lord needs me somewhere else then I am happy to serve wherever the Lord needs me! We got transfer calls last Thursday night and all they said was that I was transferred and that I was leaving Tuesday morning at 4 am! Ah horrible! But, conveniently we have Mission Conference with the seventy, Elder Cruz, this week, so the whole mission is going to Goiania for three days! I am so excited to see all the misssionaries! So I wont actually know where I am going or my new companion until Wednesday or Thursday this next week! Anyways, this last week was an amazing last week in Patos! We invited Rafael and Ronald, the little brothers of Rodrigo, for baptism this next month, they both said yes! Then they were both at church on Sunday! We invited Julia and her mom Claudia for baptism, Julia accepted without a doubt, and then started crying when we told her that her dad could baptize her! I love this family! Julio was baptized about seven years ago, but he fell away from the church, right now he is trying really hard to come back and stop smoking and drinking, his older daughter, Deborah, was already baptized! Julia, his younger daughter is 11 and she has such a sweet, tender spirit and she truly knows this church is true. Julio accepted the goal to baptize his daughter at the end of the month if he can stop smoking and drinking, his wife, Claudia, smokes as well and is unsure about being baptized... Sis Lima will continue to work with them! And finally, our miracles of miracles! Cisera and Aline, the two friends that w found last Sunday, we have been visiting them almost every single day this week and they are so ready for the gospel! They were at church on Sunday and LOVED IT! We invited them to be baptized this month and they said yes they would prepared to be baptized! I spent the rest of the week running around saying goodbye to everyone in the ward, our investigators, and my recent converts! I feel so blessed to have served here in Patos, but I am excited for the people I will come to know and love in my new area! We also had 120 people in Sacrament meeting, the branch is growing! Lots of love, Sister Brotherson

Patience--March 3, 2014

Sometimes you just need a little patience. I have been working with Vanessa for the last three months, visiting her Family three or four times a week, and it has been amazing to see the changes in her and the rest of her Family, remember Vanessa is the younger sister of Rodrigo who was baptized in December when I first arrived in Patos. Well, after inviting Vanessa for baptism almost seven times over the last three months, she finally accepted, AND WAS BAPTIZED! Rodrigo baptized her and it was seriously one of the best moments of my mission to see Rodrigo use the power of the priesthood to baptize his little sister. Of course the baptism started 30 minutes late, but we had tons of youth and families there! We made cake and juice and Vanessas mom and little Brothers were at the baptism! I loved seeing the joy on her face after she was baptized knowing that she has chosen this right path for her life. Her little Brothers told us that they love church and are thinking about baptism too because they want to do the right thing that God wants, so precious :) I truly feel like I have stayed in Patos for the last four months to help this Family find the gospel, we will continue to work with Vanessas little Brothers and hopefully they can be baptized in the next few weeks, and we will continue with Vanessas mom and stepdad as well, they are truly such good people who just need to continue feeling the presence of the Holy Ghost! Also, Rodrigo and Vanessa, were able to go to Youth Camp this weekend! Every year in Brasil has Carnival which is a HUGE HOLIDAY! Luckily, we are in Patos, so nothing toooooo crazy is happening, but the Ward Always has a huge youth camp, and this year they had over 45 youth, which was more than they ever had before! I will be a tiny bit prideful in saying that Sis Lima and I ran around like crazy last week getting signatures for all of our less actives and investigators that are youth, it was pretty amazing! And then we got permission from President Kuceki that we could spend Pday with our investigators at CAMP! So, I am currently writing after 4 pm and I spent the whole day playing volleyball, football, taking pictures, and just playing games with all the youth out at camp, IT WAS SO AWESOME! I love the youth here so much! Our investigator, Julia, she told us today that she wants to be baptized this month! Truly such a miracle! Her older sister and father are already baptized and are slowly returning to church, we are working a lot with her mom to prepare to be baptized this month! This work changes lives. The Atonement changes lives. But, sometimes people need time to accept these truths and allow the Holy Ghost to work in their hearts and minds to prepare them for baptism. I had a neat experience last night that reminded me how truly the Lord is aware of us, our thoughts and desires. We were walking along the street, it was about 8 o clock. No one was at home almost the whole day after church and I was just praying that we would find someone to teach and share the gospel. Well, we were walking down the street, we passed a woman sitting on the ground and she just looked super sad. Well, we continued walking for a few seconds and then BAM, THE SPIRIT said You need to talk to her now, so I turned around right then and said We are missionaries, we have a message that will bring you comfort and Peace, can we share it with you? And she said yes! We taught her and two of her friends, they all agreed to come to church next Sunday, and Aline, one of her friends was just crying and crying during the lesson the Spirit was SO STRONG! Ah I love the gospel! I know this gospel is true with all my heart! Unfortunately, Sister Lima and I both feel that our time together is almost over and that one of us will be leaving next week, we receive transfer calls next Saturday or Sunday, I honestly do not know what I am feeling, I truly just want to stay in Patos with Sister Lima for the rest of my mission because I lover her so much and I love working with her :) Love you all and until next week! Sister Brotherson ps! Matt! I cannot believe you are home from the mission! Write me a quick email!

The Heavens Are Open for our Day

The heavens are open for our days. Who closed the heavens? Who put a limit on Gods power? Man. The pride and wickedness of man put a limit on Gods power after Christ, the Great Jehovah died and was resurrected. The gospel of Christ was distorted and changed, therefore taken from the earth. Who are men to say today that God and Christ cannot appear to man face to face? Who are men to say that God cannot reveal scriptures for our days, that we receive CONTINUING REVELATION? That God cannot call another prophet for our days? Who are men to LIMIT THE POWER OF GOD? Man is imperfect. God is perfect. We are fortunate to receive even a sliver of the knowlede we have today of the Plan of Salvation, the Nature of God, and of the eternities that occured before this life and will continue after. Sory for the rant, but I am amazed that some people will not accept God and Jesus Christ appearing to a young boy, 14 years old, in a forest, I am amazed that they will not even read one verse in the Book of Mormon to know if it is true or not. Why can God call a prophet, like Samuel or Abraham or David, in the days of the Old Testament, but for our days man can worship and be saved in any church that claims Jesus Christ as the Savior? I am here today to testify with my heart and soul that Christ lives. He leads and guides a church today upon the earth. THE POWERS OF HEAVEN, THE POWERS OF GOD, are not limited, they are omnipotent, and continue despite the ignorance of man. I am here today to give my firm witness and testimony that God and Jesus Christ appeared to the boy, Joseph Smith. The powers of heaven are open for our days. God can and does appear and speak to his children here upon the earth today and he has called prophets again to lead and guide the church of Jesus Christ. I invite all to read the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, and ask with a sincere heart and real intent to know if these things are true. Dont take my word for it, test and experiment what I am saying. The Book of Mormon testifies for itself that it is true, it testifies of Christ, and teaches all children of God what we need to do to return to Heaven and our Heavenly Father. I taught a lesson yesterday to a couple that I really love, we found them a few weeks doing contacts on the streets and were finally able to visit them this last week. They were so kind and welcoming, but they have hearts very closed to the idea of God and Jesus Christ appearing to a young boy, and the idea of another Bible, they did not accept at all. We testified and gave them the Book of Mormon anyways and invited them to read and pray. I hope that their hearts will change and be open because they are truly very good people and I desire so much that they can have all the truth in their lives. This week was fabulous as usual. Miracle 1- 5 investigators at church, with three companionships, we had 12 and 5 less active familes! Miracle 2- Our goal for people in Sacrament meeting was 120, we had 130! Miracle 3- Vanessa showed up at church! We were shocked because she was out of town, well she showed up and the first thing she said was I want to get baptized on February 28 and I want my brother, Rodrigo, to baptize me! Of course, Rodrigo started crying and they just hugged and hugged and hugged! I was trying my hardest to not cry as sacrament meeting was about to start! Ahhh it was sweet music to my ears! I think I have invited her to be baptized six or seven times now and finally she accepted! She will be baptized this Friday and then leave for camp with all of the other youth and she will be confirmed at camp! I did 200 contacts this week. President is uping our numbers, but 200 contacts this week truly brought miracles. Always fast, the Lord blesses us when we sacrifice. I saw that this week when we fasted to have investigators at church. Monday night, we witnessed a motorcycle accident. Sis Lima and I ran over to help. Delio and his girlfriend, Alise, flew through the air and were in a lot of pain. It was raining, so we held umbrellas over them, until the Police and Ambulances arrived. I stayed with Delio and talked with him about his family and job and school. He said he had already met me somewhere before, but I knew that I had never talked to him before. We got his address and he asked for us to come and visit him after he gets out of the hospital. I am grateful the Lord put me in the path of someone who needed help. Sister Lima and I saved a dog from drowning, some rowdy kids were throwing an abandoned dog into the lake and trying to drown him, we stopped them, and some nice ladies called the police, we stayed with the dog to make sure he was okay :) And finally, a couple that we had taught this week, but were pretty sure would not progress showed up at church, when all of the other families we had confirmed didnt show up. This couple that showed up loved it and had tons of questions! They said they would stay the whole time next week and bring their families! I cannot even judge who is ready for the gospel and who is not! Only the Lord knows! Finally, I bought a hammock! I still dont know when I will use it on my mission, but I LOVE IT! Love, Sister Brotherson

Happy Is as Happy Does

Dear family and friends! I love you all and I dont have much time! I sat down in Julios house this week, he is a less active returning to activity, we are working with his wife and daughter to be baptized. And I picked up the Book of Mormon on the couch, well I started looking inside and was very confused because I didnt understand the writing. Well, the writing was in English, not in Portuguese! I didnt recognize the Book of Mormon in English because I was expecting it to be in Portuguese, BREAKTHROUGH! Sis Lima laughed for about an hour for that one! We had divisions this week? I honestly dont remember the word in English... haha but after our district meeting, our Zone Leaders called and said we would be trading for the day! Well, I took Sis Graziella back to our area and Sis Lima left with Sis Brady for the other side of the city! I was super nervous and scared to be in charge of the area and our investigators because Sis Lima is Senior and knows everything, but somehow we survived and it was awesome! We taught Julios family about how families can be together forever in the Temple. It was the first time that Claudia was actually quiet during our lesson and just listened and felt the Spirit. I am so grateful that the Spirit spoke through me in that moment to touch this family and that we were able to teach them how families can be together forever. Vitoria was baptized this Saturday! She is the younger sister of Leticia, these two girls are seriously elect daughters of God! Vitoria is 9 years old and has been coming to church every Sunday for the last two months with Leticia! We were teaching her for three months, but had to hand her off to the elders because she lives in their area. She was baptized on Saturday and she was so sweet and beautiful! She and Leticia sat with us on Sunday and she drew me a picture that said She was super happy with her baptism and she wants us to come to her house next week :) We have tons of new investigators right now, but we are just barely starting to work with them and its a slow process, but they have tons of potential and this week our goal is to invite everyone to be baptized! I love this work, I love the Lord, and I know that missionary work is really and truly the work of salvation. Lots of love! Sister Brotherson

Our Search for Happiness

Happy Valentines Day and Happy Six months for me on the mis! Goodness the time has gone so fast I cannot even believe it! Here in Brasil, they only have Valentines Day in June and its actually called Day of boyfriends and girlfriends, which is the literal translation which I think is quite funny. Anywhoo... this week was super fast and a whirlwind and also quite normal, but really lets be honest a day on the mission in Brasil is never Normal! Well last week, Monday and Tuesday, we were led by the Spirit and found two awesome couples who really want to learn about the gospel. We have started working with them. The focus of our ward is families and priesthood holders, for this branch to split this year, we need more priesthood holders, so our focus is finding and teaching families together! They were not able to be in church this week, but they will be next Sunday for sure! We spent Wednesday in the Hospital because Sis Lima has some pretty bad pains in her back and spine, so we spent the day in the hospital doing xrays and tests, please pray for her that her pains will go away! The rest of the week was great because we finally had rain! I have been praying for rain for weeks because it has been sooooo deadly hot here! We were able to help the young women a lot this week with their fundraisers for camp, making desserts, painting nails, and doing hair for all the ladies in the ward was super fun! I am just grateful we were able to help some of our less active young women be there and feel the happiness and spirit the other girls have! funny experience: Maria Isabelle gave me a ride on her bike, I sat on the handle bars and thought that I would die going up and down hills here in Patos de Minas, but we somehow made it safely :) Last, but not least, honestly, the most important part. This week I have been reading the book Our Search for Happiness by Elder Ballard and it is seriously amazing. He invites everyone to read this book to learn and understand the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He talks about our purpose here as children of God and why we came to this earth. The first and ultimate gift that we received in Heaven before this life was mortal agency, to choose right or wrong before this life and here on the earth. Elder Ballard says Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ entered into a covenant with us before this life that they would do everything possible to help us return to our Heavenly home, IF WE SO CHOOSE. This life is our choice. We need to choose now to accept the Lords will in our lives. We need to choose now to accept the Atonement. We need to choose now to change and become better, because we cannot return to live with our Heavenly Father without the help of the Savior. It is only through him that we can return. But first, everyone, all the children of God need to know there is a better option, there is a better way, and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is why I am a missionary. That is why I will proclaim the gospel to all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people. Everyone needs the opportunity to hear and accept the gospel. Elder Ballard closed with this thought which I loved If during the course of our time here on earth, we learn to use that wondrous gift of agency in positive ways to bless our own lives and the lives of others then our journey will have been successful. This is sooooo true! We need to live our lives in reflection of the Savior, blessing the lives of others. Love, Sister Brotherson

The Church Is True!

I have some news for all of you, I am finally dreaming in Portuguese! This has been my goal for the last six months, so lets all just take a second and give a round of applause! Haha just kidding, but really English is super hard. I eat, dream, write, read, jump, sing, talk, and think in Portuguese all day every day.Thinking or talking in English truly gives me the heebiejeebies. I am super scared for the end of my mission after speaking and thinking and doing all of these things in Portuguese for 15 months, I dont think I will be able to say anything in English! But writing all of you in English is good practice :) The beginning of last week was hard, Sister Lima was sick for two days and we were stuck inside. I do not like being inside all the time, I get restless and think too much, and man I just love walking in the sunlight, talking with everyone, and just knowing I am working hard for the Lord! Staying inside is not fun! So, I was a little down in the dumps because we werent working and we just didnt have a ton of investigators. And then after praying and reading a few talks, I realized who is choosing my attitude right now? Satan. He was taking my bad mood and making it 10 TIMES WORSE! Holy cow, after realizing that Satan was actually trying to make me more sad and annoyed about staying inside, I decided to change my attitude, right then! Well, what I have discovered this week is that my thoughts, my desires, and my attitude determine everything in the mission! If I will have joy and if we will have success in this work, it all depends on if my desire is to help people come unto Christ, my desire to share the gospel, and my attitude that no matter what happens I will be positive and hopeful for the future! This applies to all aspects of our lives, we cannot get down just because we have to stay inside for a few days, we need to pick up our heads and be positive! Vilma and Marcos, they were a contact on the street, we finally visited them this week and Vilma said We have been waiting for you guys for two weeks, where have you been! They arent married, but have one son and they truly want to know what church is true. They were at church on Sunday and it was Testimony Sunday and they truly enjoyed it! We taught them the Restoration and how to pray. Vilma is 23 years old and has never prayed before. We asked if she would like to pray and she said she was way too nervous and did not want to. I said I will talk first and you just repeat after me. Goodness, she was soooo scared! I felt the Lords love for her so strongly in that moment, she was only able to say a few simple things because she was so nervous, but she did ask during the prayer that she would be able to know if this was the right path for her. We are teaching Julio and his family. He is a less active who showed up at church three weeks ago with his daugther Deborah, who is also less active. This is truly a story. Me and Sister Ball were at a store on a Pday about two months ago, some guy waiting in line talked with us, Sadayuki. Well he saide he had been baptized years ago by other sisters, but went inactive. Well, we got his number and invited him to church. He never came. About three weeks ago Me and Sister Lima were walking down the streeet when oh there goes Sadayuki! I stopped to talk with him and we invited him again! Well he came with Julio and Deborah. Well, we went to visit Julio and Deborah and lo and behold, his wife and younger daughter are not baptized but want to learn about the church! He has a smoking problem, but he truly has the strongest testimony of the gospel and the Book of Mormon I have ever seen. We taught their little family twice this week and finally, his wife shared with us how she wants to learn more, but is scared to change! I truly felt the spirit when I testified that Christ is waiting on his side of the door and all we need to do is open the door for him to enter! We felt the Spirit super strongly to visit one of our investigators Friday night, we entered her house and she just started crying and crying. It is a very long story, but we were able to comfort her with a hymn and a scripture from the Book of Mormon. Saturday night, we felt strongly we needed to visit a less active, Yuri, who is returning to church, his best friend, Ricardo, is super inactive, and he was there! We have been trying to teach Ricardo for months, but he is never home! But he was at Yuris house that night, again we sang and shared a simple message about the Restored Gospel. The Lord truly puts us where he needs us! Finally, one of the happiest moments of my mission was to see Rodrigo with a suit and tie blessing the sacrament this Sunday. He then shared his testimony about how the gospel has truly changed his life. He is reading the Book of Mormon every day, ten chapters, and he had a huge fight with his stepdad this week. His stepdad is a hard man and never asks for forgiveness, but this week he asked for forgiveness! This was truly a miracle. I have been awed and so honored to see how the gospel changes peoples lives and how the Atonement truly, pefectly takes our hurts and pains away. We had 113 in church again! Another miracle! And we had two families and five investigators at church this sunday! The work is growing so fast! Our district has a goal of 10 baptisms for this month and already we marked seven dates for baptism! This work is so real and so true, I love it with all my heart. Sorry this one was sooo long! Sweet is the work. Loves, Sister Brotherson

I Don't Know What to Call this Week...

Hi everybody! We had transfers and Guess what? I am staying in Patos with Sister Lima, I am truly grateful that nothing is changing because we have so much work to do here! Our whole district is actually staying together, so that is a huge blessing! This last week was goooood as always, I am a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of course my life is wonderful! Marisa, the YWs President asked us to sing with the girls for New Beginnings, so we practiced every day this last week with them! It was so fun singing and practicing with them, these girls are such amazing examples of virtue and integrity. I am truly amazed at the little Branch, we have some of the kindest, strongest families ever. And almost everyone is a convert to the church in the last 20 years. I dont think any of these families had parents that were members of the church, they are truly the pioneers of their families and it is amazing to see how the conversion of the parents have absolutely changed the lives of the youth here in Patos. I ended up directing the music for New Beginnings, the girls sang two songs and I guess I had the most experience with leading music? I think this is a big lie, but I was willing to do whatever they asked me, I think it went okay? Even though the songs were in Portuguese, so it was a little more difficult to sing :) At church on Sunday, I became a mother for all of the little kids that did not have parents there. For all those little kids who want to be in church, but their parents are not members and have yet to choose the gospel. It was so fun having them sit all around me and sing hymns and ah I just love our little primary kids! We had 113 people in Sacrament meeting this Sunday, two more than last week, if we can have more than 100 every Sunday for three months we can divide the branch, everyone is working really hard to do this because we need this branch to grow grow grow! I dont have much time right now, but my thought is this We need to do our part. We need to do the best we can, that is all the Lord is asking for. He is not asking for our lives, just for the best that we can give, and he will do the rest. The Lord loves us, he is ever merciful, and ever forgiving. When we fall down, who is there to pick us back up? The Lord, his hands are outstretched and will always pick us up. I want to share a poem with you all that I wrote in the MTC. We watched the video about Jesus Christ when he visits the Americas, in the video it shows a young girl leading her mother who is blind to the Lord. This video touched me deeply and I wrote a poem about the woman who was blind, but was made to see through Jesus Christ. My Eyes Always dar, never seeing, only voices can be heard. Rays of Sun forever setting, stars of night still never gleaming. Never to see the clear blue of flowing rivers or a mother mare with her foal. Never to see the rising smoke of hearth fire that always calls me home. My daughters earth brown eyes and constant-guiding hand kept from my ever-seeking face. Oh my daughter, my leader, my guider-she-always at my side to direct and aid down twisting paths of gray. If food I lack, she provides. If lost and alone, she always finds, when chill night comes against my frail bones-a blanket she gives because I cannot find my own. Daughter whispers of glories soon to appear, my life-so long, Moses Law, is it wrong? Do I believe? My heart is unsure. My daughter knows, of that I am sure. I may not see, but I feel her light when seh speaks of Jesus Christ. Will he come? It is unclear, Will I ever know? I hope so. Will my eyes ever look upon his face? It is hard to trust what my eyes are not shown. Days pass, weeks go by, one day the dark I see is further darker for much too long. I hear frantic whispers and feel running feet. The earth is groaning, her tears are shed. Montains tremble, rivers bend, ground is shifting, valleys descend. Is the time long prophecied near at hand? Has the Savior of the world come, so that I might look upon his face? My daughter takes my hands and pulls me eagerly to the others, the members of my family and people. I hear a voice within the crowd, a beautiful, joyful voice that brings to memory a place of white, a place of peace and safety. I feel two soft, roughened hands grasp my own. I know two eyes watch my face, these eyes I knew before, they see into my soul. This man knows my thoughts, my heart, my very inner being. I feel the cuts within his hands and wrists, the nails that cute and pierced him, that caused blood to flow, and his final death to come. It is him, the one spoken of before, the One who would redeem us all. I feel his hands touch my head, a deep power resides in there. No words are said, I cannot see, but his touch do I feel to the inner most part of me. I open my eyes, and no darkness is there. I never imagined the face that I would see, when someday in a faroff place my sight returned to me, but here today I see the loving, shining face of Christ full of love and peace. Why me? Why does he heal me? My joy is unexpressable, I cannot control my tears. The Savior of the world loves me, tiny, little me so much that he would give me such a blessing as this-my eyes, my life. I turn my head and behold the face of my daughter-my leader, my guider-the one who showed me when I could not see. I love you all, this church is true. Christ stands at the head. He directs this work. It is only through him that we can return to the glorious realms above to live in peace and love with our Beloved Heavenly Father. Sister Brotherson

The Lord's Strength Is Always Greater than Our Own

Dear Family and Friends! You should all be happy to know that doing anything in English is becoming more and more difficult, I think this is a good sign for my Portuguese. Even writing right now in English is difficult! But I can still say what I need too :) This was an awesome week! Okay, every week is awesome on the mission, and I probably say this every week, but really it was awesome! Monday night: We had a family night at the Relief Society Presidents house, name is Ariadyne! I love her and her family, she is my adoptive mother on my mission right now! We had almost half the ward there and me and Elder Cheney taught everyone how to play Ninja! I have never seen so many people hitting each other and enjoying it in my life! The youth have continued to play at every available moment, I am very proud :) We then had the two winners dunk their heads in water and then in flour to try and find a piece of chocolate, it was HILARIOUS! And of course one of the winners was President Andre, he was such a good sport :) Tuesday and Wednesday: We walked a lot... which is quite normal. I think I say this every week as well. We set a goal in District meeting to have four new investigator families at church this Sunday! Well, Sister Lima and I put our heads together in prayer and fasting that we would find these families and reach our goals for our district. We have not had investigators at church in 3 weeks and I will be honest it has been hard to not have anyone at church when we teach, invite, feel the Spirit so strongly in our lessons, and they say they will go, and then that morning they are not at home or do not wake up. We prayed we would have miracles for this next Sunday, especially President Kuceki and the assistants were visiting Patos this weekend! Thursday through Sunday: It was super, super hot! More than ever before I think. I also woke up with a very painful, dry throat and started coughing that day. Well, we decided that we would continue to work throughout the day as long as I had enough strenth, I really did not feel good at all. Well, somehow I managed to have enough strenght Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I felt so tired and just had the worse cold ever, but the Lord gave me the strength to carry on. It was really hard to continue walking and talking to people, but the Lord gave me the strenth I needed. I know without a doubt that it WAS NOT ME. It was the Lord helping me because I could not do it alone. Well, miracles happened as always! We found two awesome families that agreed to go to church and totally want to change their lives, unfortunately they were unable to be at church, but I know that it was not a lack of faith, it was their agency, but we will continue to work with them and they will for sure be at church next week! We did have Gabrielle and Terezinha at church on Sunday which was a miracle and they loved it! Terezinha also accepted a baptismal date for February 1st! We have been working with Terezinha for the last few weeks while the other sisters covering that area were in Goiania being sick :/ But Terezinha will get baptized, so happy for her! President Kuceki was here with the assistants and it was awesome to talk to him one on one and truly feel his love for the missionaries. He spoke in church and gave a fabulous talk about member missionary work! We also had 111 people in Sacrament meeting, which was our record for the last year! We had tons of less actives and recent converts who brought friends and family! It was so amazing to see the Lord truly working in these peoples hearts! I also got my Christmas package! Thank you so much Mom and Dad! I absolutely loved the cookies, poptarts, sweets, my NEW Jerusalem scripture case, almost cried when I saw it, and my new shoes are fabulous! Love you all and thanks so much! Sister Brotherson

It's the Little Things that Count

I would like to call this week It is the little things that count. This week was super super hot, like I need to shower every hour because I am sweating so much and I cannot sleep at night with blankets because it is soooo hot! All is well, I will survive, I think :) This week was humbling, I learned a lot about how people have agency, this is the Lords plan and he is orchestrating every single detail, and it is the little things in life that really count. I had some really neat experiences this week that testified to me how it is the little things that truly matter. We had a family home evening with Alessandro and Mariana, and their three little girls and President Andre and his family. Alessandro was baptized two weeks ago. He shared a thought from the Book of Mormon about families and how he received an answer that the gospel is true because he read the Book of Mormon. I almost started crying to hear these words come out of Alessandros mouth because two months ago I will be honest I thought he would be an eternal investigator forever and whenever we went to teach him he just was not progressing, but two months of prayers and fasting and help from the Lord, he was baptized and now this family will be sealed in one year in the Temple and goodness to see the joy on Marianas face when Alessandro shared this thought, brought me so much joy and gratitude. We invited another investigator, Alessandro, for baptism this week after reading 3 Nephi 11 with him, he said he did not feel ready to be baptized at this time, but that he wanted to continue learning and that he truly wanted to know that these things were true before he was baptized. I completely understood him in that moment, he has agency and he wants a sure knowledge that these are true. I am grateful that we can continue to work with him and we will continue praying for him that he will receive an answer and prepare for baptism in the coming weeks. We taught Rodrigo this week who was baptized, received the Holy Ghost, and received the Priesthood. He was not at church on Sunday and I felt very strongly we needed to visit him because Rodrigo has such a genuine testimony and such a strong desire to do what is right. We went to visit him and he broke down in tears telling us he had a very very strong fear of blessing the sacrament in front of other people and he did not feel ready for this responsibility. The Spirit literally spoke through me and comforted him with words that I did not have. I have never so badly wanted to hug a boy on my mission as when I saw him crying and asking him how he could do it because he was scared. I testified that through the Savior HE COULD DO ALL THINGS. Especially bless the sacrament and he did not need to feel scared. I have multiple experiences this week where I literally felt the Spirit speaking through me. He spoke words of comfort, encouragement, and pure testimony to reach straight into the hearts of our investigators and recent converts. I know that it was not me, but I am grateful the Lord is using me as his instrument. This sunday we fasted to have investigators at church, not one showed up, but Rodrigo brought his brother, Rojerio! This was seriously a miracle because Rojerio never ever spoke with us when we visit Rodrigo, I know without a doubt that this was a tender mercy of the Lord and yes our other investigators were no there, but the Lord knows! And it is okay, as long as we do all we can, he will do the rest! This week I love the scripture in Helaman 10:4-5. It truly touched my heart, we need to look for the Lords will and apply it in our lives! Love you all so much! Love, Sister Brotherson Our district on Christmas eve! ps. We helped paint Aparecidas house! For four hours Thursday morning it was so much fun! The brightest blue, orange, and purple you will ever see in your life! Pictures next week!

Churrasco Christmas

Churrasco or BARBECUE! We had a barbecue on Christmas day, probably one of the strangest things on my mission to be able to be outside in the sun in short sleeves on Christmas day, this has never happened before in my entire life, but it was awesome! I do not have much time today, but this last week was amazing. True, I was far away from my home, my family, and everything that I know for Christmas, yet I still felt the love of the Lord so completely. We were able to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day sharing messages about the birth of Christ with members, recent converts, and less actives. I am so grateful that I am a missionary and I can share the message of the life of the Savior with so many people. I loved talking with my family and yes there were a few tears shed, but it was totally worth it to see their faces and just talk about life, the mission, and I am truly so grateful for your support and love for me during my mission! Knowing that you are being blessed because of my mission is truly a comfort and support for me. I have a new companion! Sis Lima! She is fabulous, I was worried about having a new comanion who only spoke Portuguese, but she is great! We are working really hard this transfer to FIND AND BAPTIZE! We want this branch to grow and grow and grow until it can split into two wards! We are also planning on doing a lot of work with our less actives, keep them in your prayers because we have a lot! This last Sunday was truly a miracle, we had people at church that have not stepped foot in the church for months, I was truly grateful for this Christmas miracle, that the Lord softened these peoples hearts and made it possible for them to be in church this Sunday. I am so grateful for my Savior, for his love, and for the infinite, atoning sacrifice he made for me. I am so grateful that I have been able to be here in Patos and see his guiding hand in every aspect of my mission. I truly am so humbled to be an instrument in his hands, because none of the miracles I have seen were me, they were all the Lord. I love you all and wish you a happy new year! Remember the light of Christ is within us and we can have the spirit of Christmas all year round. Sister Brotherson Photo 1- Me and Sister Lima! Photo 2- We, our district, had a french toast breakfast! Photo 3- Our baptism with Alessandor and his family!