Mission President Emails

President Cooper

25 Set 2018

Vamos conversando ao longo do tempo. Parabéns pelo batismo com Caio e pelo seu progresso com a língua portuguesa. Cada vez mais você está confiante.

 

President Cooper

01 Out 2018

Obrigado por seu esforço diligente e sua dedicação em melhorar o português.
Parabéns pelos batismos, pelo bom grupo de ensino, pelos quatro que foram à sacramental e cinco que aceitaram uma data batismal.
Cuide de sua saúde, ela é importante para a obra missionária.

 

President Cooper

08 Out 2018

Parabéns pelo batismo na semana. Que trabalheira! Às vezes lutamos muito e às vezes até sozinhos. Mas o Senhor conta conosco.
Peço colocar os números no sistema para acompanhar.

 

President Cooper

15 Out 2018

Ensinar coisas diferentes é atender as necessidades de cada um do grupo de ensino, pois as necessidades deles variam e são diferentes.
Vamos aguardar seus batismos.
Peço colocar os números no sistema para acompanhar.

 

President Cooper

19 Out 2018

Pensar nas pessoas e não nas lições é nosso propósito (ajudar os filhos de Deus a se aproximarem dEle).
Coordenar com o líder da Missão da ala é boa ideia. Às vezes eles estão perdidos ou sem treinamento. Podemos ajudar nisso.
Peço colocar os números no sistema para acompanhar seu trabalho.

 

President Cooper

29 Out 2018

Vamos aguardar a notícia de seu batismo. Espero que vc já tenha se recuperado do susto da rodoviária. 
Lendo o Livro de Mórmon em português, você vai melhorar cada vez mais ao ensinar. e aplicando o que lê vai se aproximar do Salvador mais do que qualquer outro livro.
Parabéns pelo grande grupo de ensino, pelos seis visitantes na sacramental e oito com data batismal. Grande sucesso.
Ao ter o LMA do nosso lado, nosso trabalho será muito apoiado e facilidado.

 

President Cooper

04 Nov 2018

Obrigado por sua fiemeza em Cristo.
Seu português está melhor a cada dia.
Parabéns pelo batismo de Maria.
Peço colocar os números no sistema para acompanhar.

 

President Cooper

29 Out 2018

Você está progredindo com a língua e na obra missionária. Parabéns.
Grato por seu grupo de ensino e pelo visitante na sacramental e que aceitou uma data para ser batizado.

 

President Cooper

12 Nov 2018

Obrigado por sua fiemeza em Cristo.
Seu português está melhor a cada dia.
Parabéns pelo batismo de Maria.
Peço colocar os números no sistema para acompanhar.

 

President Cooper

03 Dez 2018

Ensinar por e com amor, a lição vem fácil porque apoiada pelo espírito de Deus.
Ótimo que houve batismo em sua antiga área. É fruto de seu trabalho também.
Sua nova companheira é ótima. Vocês terão sucesso.
Ser sênior ou qualquer outra responsabilidade nos faz crescer e sair da zona de conforto.
Peço colocar os números no sistema para acompanhar.

 

President Cooper

Cuide de seu joelho. Obrigado por seu esforço consistente e dedicado. Por ter foco em suas metas para alcançá-las.
Vamos batizar seus pesquisadores. 
Peço colocar os números no sistema para acompanhar. 

The Past Year

Here are only a few of the wonderful memories I have had in Brasil, and the amazing people i have been fortunate enough to meet

1. Me and Sister Pinheiro with the most precious investigator known to man: Ana Clara who is 9 and wanted to get baptized so badly! She did our makeup that day haha

2. Sister Silva, Sister Helu, Sister Pinheiro and I with an acai boat

3. Us 4 again on a bus adventure around our area

4. Me and Pinheiro and a beautiful sunrise in Brasilia as we are waiting for Mission Tour

5. Hammocks and Chaco tan lines

6. Sao Sebastiao

7. The view from the chapel in Brasilia Asa Sul

8. Sister Ribeiro, Barrios, and I at general conference

9. A fun hospital trip with Sister Cooper

10. The miracle baptism of Lindenbergue and Yasmim with Sister Jarrett

11. Smores in a toaster oven

12. View from a passarela when Sister Jarrett and I got lost taking the wrong bus

15. Jarretts umbrella broke and she said that represented how her semana senior was gonna go

16. So people use these carts driven by donkeys or horses here

17. Me and Jarrett in the Plano, the center of Brasilia looking at the congress

18. Funky Cathedral in Brasilia

etc etc

And the last photo is a family i met my first transfer on the mission. I taught them for about 5 months, left for 3 months and they got baptized. Now i am back again and it was so nice to see them! they are preparing to go to the temple next year

Os Ultimos Dias

I am sad to announce that this is my last email as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Unfortunately, my health has not gotten better, and after 8 months of being sick including some other trials at home, the mission has decided that it would be best for me to return home. I have been fighting this for a while (because they have tried to send me home before) but recently I have very strongly felt that it is in my best interest, and in my families best interest, to be at home right now. I sincerely know that this is God's will after a lot of prayer and fasting. 


I will be leaving here on Friday, at 7am in the morning and getting into Kalispell at 12:30 pm on Saturday July 13th! If anyone wants to come say hi, feel free to join my family at the airport


This week wasn't super great because we weren't able to work because I just felt sick. But, we were able to confirm a baptism for this Saturday! I will have to skype them to watch it, but I'm super happy. His name is Miguel and he is the son of a recent convert. He is 13 and we have been teaching him for about 5 months. I started teaching him and it has been nice to see him progress. He started going to church after his dad was baptized, and started becoming more and more converted, but his dad didn't want him to be baptized because he wanted it to be his decision and his desire. He told us 3 times that he wanted to be baptized, but his dad was so focused on making sure he was certain about the decision that he wouldn't let him be baptized! Finally we did the interview and he told his dad he wanted to be baptized for sure and his dad finally realized he was sincere. He got super excited and was announcing it in the group chat of the church and at church etc and I'm so sad I can't be there to see it, but it still makes me super happy! 


It's been a hard past year, but I honestly wouldn't trade it for anything. It was worth it to watch lives changed and to be able to play a small part in that. I love everyone who I have met here, and I love Brasil and I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to serve here, even for a short time. As I gave my last talk in church last sunday, I remembered that I was literally in that exact same place about a year ago, in the same ward. I was reminded of how much has changed, how much I have grown, and how much I've seen the people around me change. I am grateful for all that has happened and I know that the trials in our life shape us to be the people God wants us to be, as long as we choose to react in a positive way. 


Thank you everyone for all the support and for all the love you all have shown me. 
Sister Cecil

Uma Verdade Feliz

Oi:

So first we are gonna start with the happy thing: Baptism!! I have known Nazireu my entire mission and now was just the right time. He has been trying to quit smoking for over a year and finally we were able to help him this past week! He has been going to church for over a year. 

This week I was blessed enough to do splits with my daughter Sister Jarrett, and we had a real fun time. I'm glad I got to be her companion for 2ish days!! She's just killin' it and I'm so proud. 

I dont' have a lot of time today, I'm sorry! Next week will be better

Sister Cecil

Baptism, Splits, I Got Sick, Zone Conference

Oi!

We kinda had a Baptism this week? Not really ours, but we ended up going to Aguas Claras because the Assistants to the President were baptizing a woman named Debora. We had met her at the Festa Junina the past week and had really gotten to know her, and talk to her about the church. She really wanted to be a member, and asked for us to come to her Baptism! She shared her testimony at her Baptism, and it was awesome because she really has been being prepared for this moment, and it was just the right time for her to accept the gospel. 

We went on splits this week with Sobradinho, and I stayed in my area with Sister Peres, who is new in the mission. She was having a little trouble with confidence and courage...so I had her stand up in front of everyone on the bus and invite them all to go to church! She rocked at it, and now everything is so much easier to her because she got that out of her system haha. She is a recent convert of 2 years and it is so wonderful to hear her share her testimony about how she converted from the catholic church, and brought her whole family with her. 

This week I get to go on splits with Sister Jarrett, my mission daughter! Sooo excited to be her companion again for like 2 whole days wohoooo. 

Yesterday was the first day I have missed church on the mission because I may have spent the whole night in the hospital throwing up, but it's okay because our UBER driver was a great reference we gave to the Assistants, we even ended up giving him a Book of Mormon!

Speaking of Book of Mormon, Sister Moreti and I have felt super inspired to carry one in our hands at all time, that has been our goal this transfer. We end up talking about it with every single person, and it's so wonderful to see how people recognize and accept the importance of the Book of Mormon. 

Also, Sister Pinheiro got sent to England randomly in the middle of last week and I am sad; but at least I got to talk to her and say goodbye! She is going to do great in England

We also had a Zone Conference this week which was fun, and we have 2 more this week to go to so our week is crowdedddd

Have a good week everyoneee

Sister Cecil

I Solved A Rubik Cube

Oi!

As the title states, I finally solved a rubik cube with NO help, or guide. I am very proud. Unfortunately I don't think I will be able to do it again. 

We got to go to Plantaltina de Goiais which meant I got to leave Brasilia for the first time on my mission!!! Goiais is super cool, and the coolest part about it was that Sister Jarrett is there! We surprised her and her companion by just showing up out of nowhere haha. It was super fun, I did splits with her companion Sister Obille from the Philippines and she is just precious. We were able to spend 2 nights with them, and I learned a lot. 

I had my first Festa Junina in Brasil! It's like a huge festival here, kinda like a country festival, with food etc. We got to go to the activity the church was putting on and we literally had like 20 investigators there, it was so fun. I got to see members from my last areas which was awesome!

Also, got a call last week, and mine and Sister Pinheiros' investigator Rafael Henrique was baptized!! I was so excited to hear that, and super proud of her.

We had a busy week this week but ended up seeing a lot of miracles and meeting a lot of good people that we will start teaching next week.

Love you guys!

Sister Cecil

The Saga Of Sao Sebastiao

So this week was honestly really hard. But, I am so grateful that I am on this mission because of all of the support.

For example: The Assistants convinced Sister Cooper (our mission president’s wife) to drive them all the way from her home to our area (which is not even close) to give me a blessing. They technically came to get a bed of ours, but they told us they were really there just to give me a blessing. It was an amazing priesthood blessing, and as I looked up from it my companion was just crying it was that powerful, the priesthood is so real.

My companion is Sister Moreti, and she is from Sao Paulo, but she lived in the US for 10 years. We are happy to be Sister Training Leaders, except we have no clue what we are doing. The power is getting to our heads (jk) But we are winging it together and it’s been a lot of fun and she has been a lot of help to me this past week. I feel like I have known her for years and then I forget it’s only been like 5 days. We already have decided how to divide out our companionship: I’m the executive secretary which means I have to deal with the phone and the keys and the references. She’s the financial secretary and deals with the area book. We don’t really have any money and we get so many phone calls so I am just finding out that I got the bum end of the deal. haha

I guess I will start off with the not so great thing of this week: Had a little fight with our Bishop this Sunday, but we are trying super hard to unify this ward because it just isn’t. We might have cried in the fight because we don’t like people yelling at us, but we are going to clean it all up. I think that’s why I came back to this area again.

So we were trying to baptize someone who is named Joaberson this week. The other Sisters who were in this area before us had been teaching him. The thing is...we haven’t met him. He moved and we don’t have his new address. And his number is from a different state so we can’t call him. He’s super ready to be baptized (I think) so we are just trying to have enough faith that one day he will just show up at the baptismal font lol. This week we are going to do 3 splits with the Sisters, so it’s gonna be busy. But I’m excited, and trying to just get lost in the work.

Thank you everyone for all the support, 

Have a good week

Sister Cecil

I did not take photos this week haha sorry these are old