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

Transferred Back To Sao Sebastiao...

...I'm a STL with Sis. Moreti.


So you guessed it, transfers came around and I am headed back to Sao Sebastiao! My new companion is Sister Moreti, and we will be the new Sister Training Leaders in that part of the mission. I’m super sad to leave Sister Pinheiro, she is amazing and we had a super good week of work this week. We saw a lot of miracles. 

The first is that I received a package filled with beef jerky. And it had new dresses!!! I was so excited I literally changed right then and there. I am so sick of all my clothes... haha

The next would be Ana Clara, our 9 year old investigator. She literally had a dream after she prayed to know which church is true, which was about God and Jesus Christ pointing to a church that had a sign out front saying "this is the true church". She came to church on Sunday with her mom and the first thing she said was "This is the church in my dream!!" So that was amazing. I’m so excited for her to be baptized.

Another person who came to church was Rafael Henrique who literally said straight up to us he came because he wanted to see me. So yeah. But we ended up running into him looking for the church and he was super lost and about to give up so it was a miracle that we ran into him. With Nalva, who came to church a while ago, she told us that she wanted to be baptized along with her 2 sons. Usually we get this super good feeling when someone says that but both my companion  and I weren’t feeling it. So we started asking questions and turns out she thinks both the catholic church and this church is true. So we are working on that. 

Sister Pinheiro also received a package this week and it had stuff in it from Fortaleza for me!! 

We contacted a reference the other day and we had a super good lesson with her, she even cried because of the spirit. We returned another day and her mom told us that she didn’t want us there ever again and then slammed the door in our face. It was Pinheiro’s first time! 

We also ate a boat of acai. 

I also did splits with Olsen this week and it was AWESOME. I love her!!

So it was a good week, and I am finally feeling a little better. 

I am super sad to leave this area because I love this ward and this area :( but everything has a purpose. 

love you all!

Have a good week everyone,

Sister Cecil