Monday, January 25, 2016

Flooding, Parasites, and Bible Bashs, OH MY!

Hello my friends and family!!  I hope all is well with ya´ll and I miss and pray for you all so much! Thank you for all your support and letters and emails! I love getting them- it MAKES my week each Monday! 

SOOOO... This week a series of unfortunate events occurred, but nothing to unfortunate to make me lose my smile because I have this gospel! :)

Let´s start with our house. On Tuesday we decided to stop by our house after a couple lessons because we had to go to the bathroom (haha). SOOO Thank goodness we made that decision because once we arrived, we noticed the floor of our house filled with about an inch of water everywhere. We don´t have a ton of desk space so we put certain things on the ground- like journals. :/  Sister Gomes´ mission journal and my journal of quotes and scriptures were soaked as well as some other papers and church magazines. We got out hair dryers out and started using them to dry our papers.  We managed to save just about everything, but had to re-write everything as well because everything was just gross and wet and ripped. This was the only time I used my hair dryer in the mission! Put to good use. ;) 

On Wednesday we went the the chapel in Soledade to watch the missionary broadcast! Oh it was so awesome!! I loved knowing I was watching the same broadcast as my missionary friends across the world translated in so many different languages. It was translated into Portuguese here obviously, but I was happy at how much I could truly understand. One thing I liked that Elder Bednar said (or at least I think he said) was that no one would understand our lessons in the mission if we weren´t speaking by the spirit because The Holy Ghost is the teacher and He testifies of truth.  However, during the last talk in the devotional I started to feel really sick and had to throw up.  It happened a few more times so we stayed the night with other sisters in Casa Forte in Recife. Once we got back to our house, Sister Forbush (our mission nurse) had me take a pill for parasites because we couldn´t figure out what was going on... I´ve felt better ever since so perhaps it was that! EW.

AND YESTERDAY! Oh geeze, a member we ate lunch with introduced us to her friend.  We began to tell her about our church and what our purpose was as missionaries, but my goodness she was not interested haha.  We tried to be calm and leave but she wanted to bible bash.  She kept running out of the room to get bibles to "prove us wrong," but the funny thing was one time she ran out of the room to go get us bananas to eat??? Hahaha how nice of her to bash on us and feed us! Too funny- Brasilians are just generous no matter what! We ended up just saying okay ya know what, pray.  You will get an answer of what is true and what God wants from you if you pray.

This week starts a new transfer! But Sister Gomes and I are going to stay here in Vitória! Way cool. I made it through my first 6 weeks in the field! Whoohoo! I love it! Oh this week I tried 2 new fruits- jabuticaba and jaca! SOOO good.  I wish if you guys googled these fruits, you could taste them! As well as acerolas and caju! SOOO YUMMY! 

But this was my week! I love you all and I love this gospel! This gospel is truly of Jesus Christ.  We have a living Prophet today who receives direct revelation for the whole world.  It doesn´t matter who are you or what church you go to- He receives direct revelation for you because he speaks to God! I love this gospel and I love to share it! 

Até Segunda,
Sister Garrick 

Everything wet



Me drinking coconut water to help my stomach (foi muito ben mesmo)



Selfie Sunday with Sister Gomes






Monday, January 18, 2016

DIVISÕES

Tudo Bem!

This week we had divisões! I think that´s divisions?? Basically when the sister trainers come and go proselyting and teaching with you! I went with another sister from São Paulo, Sister Rondon.  It was my favorite day in the mission because she helped me study Portuguese effectively, I learned different ways of teaching and contacting, and she spoke a little English too! ;) We found two awesome families to teach who are already legally married!! (That´s a rarity here)  We took turns choosing people to talk to on the streets which helped me have more courage and truly enjoy contacting. During our last lesson of the day, the family we were teaching had a dog that threw up by our feet and then proceeded to LICK ME!!! NOOOO. HAHAHA how awful, but a funny memory now.  After this day, I feel like Sister Gomes and I worked even harder and became more motivated, consecrated missionaries.

 This week passed one month in the field and 2.5 months in Brasil! CRAZY! Sister Gomes and I have started running in the praça every morning near our house.  It´s so nice to be outside before the sun gets super strong and super hot.  The days are better because of this and we are so lucky to have an outdoor gym so close to our house.

Another funny, yet unfortunate thing that happened this week was before we started teaching a lesson, I was trying to close my umbrella, but the end of it shot up and punched me in the eye, causing into swell up and bleed. :( Sooooo I taught the lesson while ice-ing my eye! HA! 

This past Sunday a very spiritual experience happened.  In the past two weeks we have eaten lunch at a house of the first counselor in the Bishopric.  But we always eat with his wife and their children, because he is always working during the day.  She has been a less-active member of the church for 8 years.  After lunch, we always wash her dishes and share a gospel message with her and her children.  Yesterday, she showed up at church! We were like WHAT?!?!?! After Sacrament Meeting, she came over to us and told us that she used to never feed the missionaries, just gave them money to buy food somewhere else.  She started feeding us and felt the spirit again.  She hadn´t felt this way in 8 years, but she felt like she needed to read The Book of Mormon again and go to church again.  Sister Gomes and I started crying of pure joy.  And so did she.  It was the most amazing feeling hearing that story.  She thanked us, but she shouldn´t have.  Because it was the spirit.  We are just instruments in His hands. I know it.  Experiences like this keep me going each day.  I miss you and love you all. I know The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Christ´s church.

Com amor,
Sister Garrick


ICE CREAM! (This is the hottest month in Brasil- January)


My area!




Monday, January 11, 2016

Mosquitos são mortes, mas, O Sacerdocio é ótimo!

BOM DIA

Mosquitoes are death people!!! Seriously, yes.  One of the sisters I live with just got what we are being told is Dengue (a deathly disease spread by mosquitoes- wow and I literally just got bit by a mosquito as I was typing this) this week and it´s sad to see the pain she´s in, but the reason I´m telling you this to start out my email, is because last night her fever was increasing dangerously fast.  So we had two Priesthood holders from their branch come and give her a blessing.  She was able to fall asleep and her fever broke! She can only get better from here! SO, mosquitoes are death, but the Priesthood is excellent! I know that The Priesthood is the power of God and it is soooo real! :)

Anyways, this week was very good! On the way to our last District Meeting I lost my name tag, so I had to get a new one with a label of my name on it really quickly in the city of Recife.  I´m sad because it had all my stickers from the CTM on the back :( but tudo bem.  We had to move the baptism of Julio Cesar because he is not ready and hasn't been able to understand all the lessons and really gain a testimony, so we hope and pray we can have it soon! We set three more baptismal dates for Lorinaldo, Camilla, and Terezina. They are so awesome and just so receptive to the gospel, and it makes me feel really blessed to be in this area!

When I teach a lesson, and the people understand me, I've come to realize that that is when they have their hearts open and are able to look past my white, American skin and my strange stoaque (accent) and feel the Spirit and hear the message of the gospel.  In other words, they have been prepared to hear the gospel! I was teaching a lesson to Terezina, and I had to teach a little more this time... and I had never taught this certain part before.  I prayed to be able to have the courage to try to teach it and to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord and bring the spirit and make sense.  I don´t remember what I said, but I do remember that as I was talking, I conjugated a verb I never use without even thinking, and I ALWAYS have to think hard to be able to conjugate correctly, and usually it´s still wrong haha.  BUT, I know the spirit helped me do that.  He put the words in my mouth.  It's exciting to see how much more I learn each day.

I know the Gifts of the Spirit are real. I know this church is the original church that Jesus Christ established on the earth.  We have all the parts today (as mentioned in Ephesians 4:11) including a living Prophet, Thomas S. Monson! How blessed are we to know of the true gospel of Jesus Christ! I am so grateful to have this knowledge, and that´s why I agreed to learn a new language so that everyone could hear this gospel in their native tongue! I´m so grateful for all my missionary friends! I love you all and I pray for all of you friends and family! Miss you!

Love, 
Sister Garrick

lots of cows in the street



cute little aqua-verde chapel

Monday, January 4, 2016

FELIZ ANO NOVO!


Happy New Year- 2016!!  

I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve!! I went to sleep at 10:30. :( But it was a great night! We taught a lesson to a less active member of the church named Helamã.  The spirit was so strong and it was very awesome! His grandma made us AMERICAN pancakes with syrup and we had some straight Italian cheese and it was life.  Seriously amazing.  We had to be back in our apartment at 6:00 so us sisters sang hymns together and "Glorious," by David Archuleta! It was so so so fun.

This week we worked a lot! We have a baptism for Julio César this Sunday! He is so interested in the gospel and the Book of Mormon and even wants to be a missionary! He is going to introduce us to some of his friends and go contacting with us on Wednesday probably.  He is way cool and way ready to become a member of the church! 

This past Sunday was one of the hottest days I have ever witnessed in my entire life.  As we were walking home from lunch, the sun was beating down on me so hard.  I forgot  my umbrella (which we normally use to shade us from the sun more than rain) so there was no point of wiping my face of sweat because it just was not stopping.  We got to our apartment and I was trying to cool down but it wasn´t working.  My companion had to lay down as well because her foot was hurting really badly and couldn´t walk.  We called Sister Bigelow (Mission President´s wife) and she told us to stay in for the day because her foot was injured and I had heat stroke.  BAD heat stroke.  After a few hours, my face became very itchy and red, and we think it´s a heat rash! So I´m not looking the best these days, but I feel fine! Haha. 

Another interesting thing that happened as we were knocking on doors this week was this: I started to talking to a man and his daughter about the gospel and asked if we could come back another day to teach a full lesson.  They said yes and then the dad asked me,"You´re not from here, right?" "No, I´m from the United States" "Oh, wow, your Portuguese is very very good, how many years have you been living in Brasil?" "HA! 3 weeks!" Needless to say he was surprised.  The Lord blesses His missionaries! But, then I get the contrasting, "I don´t understand what you said, I´m going to talk to your companion." Haha... but the work moves forward. 

OH! On New Years Eve, we passed by an old man on a hammock and he FREAKED OUT that I was American and kissed my hand :/ and showed me these pictures he photo shopped of him and Obama hahahahahaha! The days are hard, hot, and long, but funny here too. 

But I know that this gospel is true! I know it, I live it, and I love it.  Thank you for all your prayers and love! I miss and love you all every day! 

Rock e Roll,
Sister Garrick

P.S. Today marks 2 months in Brasil! 

Photo 1: My companion wants to be a photographer (during bater portas)




Photo 2: There is a huge Catholic chapel on every corner 

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