Sweet Week! 5/12/2014

Well Hello There World.

I was thinking about it and I write my whole life on these emails. Which is pretty weird, because I felt exposed or something. Do not worry though, I like being really detailed with everything that happens.

This week we continued teaching Marcelo. He is awesome. We also met his brother named Vando! Marcelo also gave us three references this week which was so cool. He is awesome. Unfortunately, he hasn´t been able to make it to church because of his leg. He can´t sleep at night at all, so he can´t ever wake up. Prayers for him to make it to church this week would be AWESOME! He has such faith, he even did a fast with us for him to wake up, but he still didn´t wake up. It is okay though, because I know that Heavenly Father will help him wake up this week!!

In other news, we met an AMAZING family Saturday night. We met the mom Tiana, and she gave us t he normal responses like oh, I am really busy, sorry I just don´t know when we can meet. After chatting with her for a while though, she just asked if we wanted to come in. We accepted and as we talked she just said, you know I am really surprised I let you guys come in. Usually I let no one come in. After a little bit, her daughter came home. We started teaching them the Restoration, and before the lesson her daughter was like I have some questions. Everyone always says their church is right. And there are lots of churches. So which is right? And what happens after we die? We we were just like WHOA! Tiana couldn´t come to church because she had  to work yesterdya, but her daughter and a friend came! We are super excited to teach them.

There is more, but I have got to run! I also haven´t forgotten about charity, and will write my thoughts next week!

Love love love,

Sister Carvalho

Gems of the Week:

SIster Beazer: Você.É.Loca.Sister. (she tells me this everyday)

Sister Beazer: I am starting a quote book for you.

Me: Awwww, are you serious? Thank you! (thinking she is giving me a book with quotes because I love quotes)

Sister Beazer: No, I am starting a book full of things you say.

Me: Oh.

This is where I am serving.Whoa.

The other night we bought Mariana a hamburger because she had helped us lots. Then she just said I don´t believe it, I just ordered you guys pizza. Here is our pizza.

The other day I bought MnMs. Mmmmm. Name the movie. Sister Beazer got it on her first try!

ELDER RUSSEL M.NELSON IS COMING TO MY MISSION MAY 21st! AHHHHHHH! 5/5/2014

Hi Lovely People!!!

I am sorry I am just so so so so so so excited about Elder Nelson coming. I think about it at least twice a day. Okay, let´s be honest, more than two times a day. Also, I am listening to this currently : https://www.lds.org/youth/music?lang=eng Christmas music in May. YES!

Wow. This week was probably the craziest week of my whole mission for a myriad of reasons. There was lots of miracles that happened here in Cachoeira. A total flip from last week! I think it is interesting that our entire mission is focusing on charity because I have pondered lots on charity this week. I was reading letters from my family and friends at home, and it sounds funny but I remembered that there is actually people that love me and I used to be around all the time at home. I just felt so much love and happiness for them. It then made me remember all of the people from my areas. Lorena, Cumbica, Vila Prudente, and Cachoeira. All of the sweet people I have had the privilege of teaching, all of the amazing members, and I just kind of sat on my bed and was just filled with gratitude and love. One of my favorite quotes says "All that we love deeply becomes a part of us" I carry all of these people in my pocket with me, I could never ever forget them. I believe that charity just expands and grows and all of a sudden pieces of your heart are just everywhere! On the flip side, I was also talking to a member in our branch who is a return missionary and she is awesome! We were talking about missions, and something she said impacted me a lot. On her mission, she was having a hard time finding people to teach and her president said "Have charity sister" to which she said, what I have charity, I pray for these people, I love these people. He then said no Sister, you just simply need to love everyone as Christ would. Not expecting to teach them, but just love them. It just hit me like a ton of bricks. If we see all of the people around us for who they truly are, sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father and had the purest love for them, we would treat each other very differently. This week I want to study charity more and develop more charity for all those around me. I want to encourage all of you to study Chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel, the charity section, and find all the scriptures you can! I will be doing the same and report next week.

     This week we had three huge miracles. The first was Tuesday night. We were walking to an appointment and this guy rode by me in a bicycle. Normally it is really hard to talk to people on bikes because they move speedy quick, but I felt like I should talk to him. I just yelled after him, Hey what is your name!?! He then stopped and his name is Ulisses. During a nice chat, he told us that he was really wanting the gospel in his life and that he has already taken the discussions and been to church. WHAT! We invited him to baptism and he accepted just like that! Unfortunately, he has been really busy this week so we didn´t get to teach him, but we are looking forward to it!! A similar incident happened, when we met Marcelo. He is the sweetest. He was in an accident and has his leg with a cage thing on it with pins that go through his bones. Marcelo has also been to church already, and when we taught him he said "I believe! I will be baptized!!" We then felt impressed to talk to him about the Word of Wisdom. He doesn´t drink, smoke, and when we asked about coffee, hw just says I never drink coffee I don´t even like coffee! I was FREAKING out. Marcelo has a date set for the 18th and we are so so so so happy for him. A complete miracle.  We also met a lady named Roseli, and as we spoke to her she just said she has been to a lot of churches and she just wants to find the right one. All of these people, are all people who have been prepared by the Lord. Two weeks ago I felt so strongly that the Lord was preparing people, and this week we have been finding these people who are prepared by the Lord. It so humbling to know that this is the Lord´s work. Not mine, nor Sister Beazer´s but His work, and if we are following His will, we can be effective instruments in His hands. More and more I am realizing that the whisperings of the Spirit aren´t a GO TALK TO HER, but it is very gentle, and subtle. When we follow the Spirit´s promptings, we can do the Lord´s will. It is awesome.

 

PLease please pray for Marcelo, Bette, Ulisses, and Roseli. Your prayers most defintely worked last week, because we found AMAZING people this week. I am grateful for all of you and your prayers!!! OH ONE MORE THING. Tomorrow are interviews with President and I am going to ask him if I can stay until December 16th instead of November 5th which is my current return date. If I leave in Novemeber I won´t even complete 17 months! On December 16th it  will be three days after my 18th month mark. PROJECT: KEEP SISTER TIFFANY CARVALHO IN BRAZIL UNTIL DECEMBER 16th! Love you guys!

Love,

Sister Carvalho

Gems of the Week:

We always walk by this fruit tree (acerola) and it smells SO good. Everytime Sister Beazer goes "Oh my gosh, is that a pear tree it smells so good" After the third time, I was just like "Sister, when have y ou smelled a pear tree?" 

Sister Beazer: " Uh, well I´ve smelled an apple tree and a pine tree."

Sister Carvalho: But not a pear tree? So how do you know what one smells like?

LOTS OF LAUGHING FOLLOWED.

This one day was a little hard so I took a picture pretending I was depressed. I think it is hilarious.

  Sister Beazer needed to get her foot inserts from Lorena so we went and had lunch at..... BIANCA´S!!!!!!!!!! I love Bianca!!! She has this fluffy snob dog named Toby. I like him.

 Bianca!!!

 Some of my favorite people! Carols and Lais took us to McDonald´s as a farewell. Notice our brick phone on the table. I might have been anxious to get transfer calls.

 I love this family SO much. Silvia got baptized this SUnday:) She is in the pink!!

 CREEPY bug. 

 Mark 16:15; Preach the gospel unto every creature they said. Okay!

 A cute member made me this!!

Last day with the bestest sisters!

 I LOVE LOVE LOVE STELLA AND ANA!!

 NADIA!!! AND IRMA LUZIA! Nadia is now a ward missionary and does visits every Sunday. Tender moments.

 These are real pictures I have taken without ANY effects, Brasil is BEAUTIFUL.

 The P-day before transfers Sister Jensen and I had a clothing exchange and we took a selfie. Hahahah

 We got an Easter egg from Mariana!!! She always tells me "Sister, I like offering you chocolate because you always accept!" Hahahahhaa

Cool poster!

HI I AM IN CACHOEIRA PAULISTA. WHICH IS NEXT TO LORENA. WHAT!?! 4/21/2014

Hello all you cutie people I love,

I am so excited to be able to work in Cachoeira Paulista! I almost did a flip when they called saying I was being transferred there. The members of this branch are awesome. I am so grateful to be here! There is tons of work to be done here. I have noticed that we can work lots more with the members and we have lots of ideas of things we can do here. It is our work as missionaries to get everyone else excited and full of joy about the work. It is going to be great!

We got here in Cachoeira and had a total of one investigator. We are really focusing on finding more people to add to our teaching pool. The key to this is to work with the members! We would walk on the streets this week, and we were like hey, can we share a message with you about Christ? We have found some pretty awesome people. Angela is a lady we met who is the owner of a baptist church. We decided to share the Plan of Salvation with her, and focused on families and gave her a proclamation. I really realized in that moment that no matter where you go, or who you talk to that everyone has the same focus on the family. We may not agree on everything , but family is the greatest and most important thing in every persn´s life, whether they realize it or not. On Saturday we had amazing things happen. We found this sweet sweet family that was just sitting out on their porch and we taught them the Restoratoion. All the kids gathered around, and it was awesome.We got a solid reference from a member, and we will be visii]ting them this week!  Sunday was discouraging when we went to pick up people, and no one came. But, the work presses forward! This week we are going to work our tails off. 

As we visited people, we also visited a recent convert named Vilma. She has had REALLY hard trials in her life. I bore my testimony to her of the Savior and His Atonement. I think in that moment, I felt everything SO strongly. Everything just fel intensified. My testimony was strengthened and it was the perfect Easter treat. I know my Savior lives. I am so grateful forHis sacrifice and that we were able to celebrate His life and our love for Him yesterday.

I am out of time!!

love love love,

SIster Carvalho

Elder Costa with the old zone! This is from probably more than a month ago

Lovely and perfect endings. 4/14/2014

Hi!

So, just as a starter, I am being transferred tomorrow! Yesterday we had a ward activity (I´ll explain later) and President came and I just asked, so should I say my goodbyes President? Yeah you probably should sister. No!!! I am so grateful that I have had the oppurtunity to serve in Vila Prudente. I absolutely love love love this area.I love all of the sweet investigators and experiences I have had here. Ramon, Silvia, Cesar, Gemeul, Tereza, and many more, I have gained a fuller testimony from these sweet people. I love the ward.  The ward here really feels like my home ward and family, and I have such a love for these members. They are incredible. I have learned so much from their examples, and charity they have for others.  I have just felt so much sincere love from this ward. AH I just love them so much. They will have a special place in my heart. I am grateful that I have had Sister Jensen as a companion. She is amazing. It was honestly so easy to be a missionary with her. Everything just flowed perfectly, and we had the same vision on everything. She has the best attitude towards learning quickly, loves the people, loves the work. I could go on and on about her, she is a powerhouse! I have learned lots from her, and am grateful that we got to work together.


                 I also couldn´t have asked for a better ending to such a great chapter of my mission. This week was perfect.  So we finished preparing Gemeul for his baptism this week. That entire family has the sweetest spirit and the most faith. He understood everything so simply and was so willing to do whatever it took to be prepared for baptism. He would read every pamphlet and then ask really thoughtful questions. The day of his baptism was perfect. Sister Jensen and I tried getting all of the youth to come to the baptism on a Saturday night because it was Gemeul´s birthday. He turned 18 and was baptized on the same day! I won´t lie, I was a little nervous that no one would come. We got there, set everything up, and then 3 young men from our ward came. My stomach dropped a little, and then somehow, all of the youth showed up one by one. Every single one of them. It was so sweet, they even sang a musical number for him!! The baptism was so sweet. People always say cliché things like oh, you were glowing but Gemeul really was glowing. The whole baptism just had a sweet feling about it.

                This Sunday was also really special. We had two people set for going to church and one didn´t show up, and the other we went to pickup and she wasn´t there. We were determined to have one person at church, because we promised that we would have at least one investigator every week for church. So, we left and hit the streets to find someone. The streets were pretty much empty, but we happened upon this woman named Maria. She was dirty, had tattered clothes, and just seemed like she lived a hard life. We invited her to come, and she accepted the invitation. As we sat there during sacrament meeting, I just kind of observed her and started thinking. What would Christ have done? He would have been with this woman and loved her the same as everyone else. I could see her divine worth shining through. We read in the scriptures that he went about the publicans and sinners, and said that those who are well don´t need a physician. He loves each of us, equally, and wants each of us to feel of His love for us. The amazing thing of missions is that we feel so close to Christ and we get to share of His message of love to everyone we meet. I was able to learn a valuable lesson through Maria, of how the gospel is for anyone and everyone. I testify that Christ´s gospel and His Atonement is truly for all mankind, and that it is the remedy for all of life´s trials. Sunday evening we had our ward´s mini MTC, an activity Sister Falcão and I had high hopes of doing. It was perfect. So many members came, and really the members are the ones who put on the activity. I know that missionary work is going to take wildfire in Vila Prudente. To really connect and see the member´s testimonies of the work in action was so neat. I felt the Spirit so strongly throughout the whole activity.

I am excited for transfers and feel a peace about what will happen. I am sad to leave Vila Prudente, but I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for me. I know that it will be amazing and I will love it. Hurrah for Israel!!

love love love,

SIster Caravalho

Gems of the Week:

When I was saying goodbye to my ward yesterday I might have cried a little, and irmão Wilson is hilarious and just comes up to me, and goes. well see you in the millenium Sister Carvalho!

Sister O´Brien: Sister you look hot tonight. Your eyes are sparkling. 

Me: uh, because I have been crying.

Sister O´Brien: You should do it more often it looks good on ya.

SIster Jensen´s prank with the roach. Pictures to come.

I love love. I love being in love. (with my mission) 4/7/2014

Hey all you cuties,

CONFERENCE. Holy cow! Wow. I love conference. Conference week just makes everything much happier and brighter. Saturday as Sister Jensen and I walked to go to conference, we were just like, a prophet is about to speak. A real life prophet! We have Heavenly Father leading us today. How grateful am I for conference. I am just real razzed about conference!

With conference, we had loads of miracles happen all week. It is interesting that Elder Nelson spoke on faith, and how it is truly through faith in our Savior. This faith is what truly leads to incredible miracles. We live in a world where it seems that faith is discouraged, like you are silly if you have faith. I know and can testify that faith will carry us through our lives. Sister Jensen were reflecting on the most successful times on our missions. Why were they so successful? We came to the conclusion that is our faith. If we truly believe that the Lord will help us, then He will. He will help us find, teach, convert, through the Spirit. He will carry us through our lowest of lows and help us be our happiest!! So we are trying to build our faith each day. We decided we really needed to focus on the members this week, so we visited seminary, visited members, and had a family home evening, the results were four references! If we really do our part as missionaries and try connect, and work the way the Lord has shown us these past few conferences, the Lord WILL bless the work. We are having a mini MTC in the ward this Sunday, and we are SO pumped. It is going to be awesome! The ward members of Vila Prudente are INCREDIBLE. I could go on and on and on about them. I love this ward so much. I have seen some of the best examples in this ward.

We have continued to teach Danilo and Mariza. They are doing awesome. Mariza hasn´t been able to make it to church yet, but Danilo went last week and he went to conference both days! We were a little scared he maybe wouldn´t go on Saturday, so we were hoping so much that he would. When he answered and said he was going, Sister Jensen and I hung up the phone and screamed. We screamed so loud that Irma Cida, our neighbor, came and was like "Sisters, are you okay?" Uh, yeah Irma Cida, we just get overly excited sometimes. He loved conference! We really want to focus on getting Mariza to church this week. I am positive that she has a testimony already, and going to church will just strengthen her testimony even more. She has read The Book of Mormon and loved it. Something she said was was something along the lines was it is just so simple. Yes we have a gospel of simplicty, and I love it. She also told us that she had been praying for something in her life and then we came along. She said she just knows that we were the answers to her prayers. Ah, she is such a sweetheart. Now just come to church Mariza!!

SOMETHING AMAZING HAPPENED THIS WEEK. You guys! Missions are the best. Ever since I have been here we have tried teaching Gemmeul, Amanda, Geovana, and Cesar´s oldest brother. He has always been kinda like ehhhh whatever, tchau sisters. Okay! Well, he has come to church and still kind of avoided us, but after having gone to church, he wants to be baptized! AHHH! He is getting baptized this Saturday on his 18th birthday. It is so interesting to me how the Lord has timing for everything. Gemmeul was sharing with us how he has been to lots of churches and how he kind of became disenchanted with all of them. He said after going to church, he just feels something different there. Ah, we are so excited! 

From this conference I think what stuck out to me most is charity. We need to simply love others. When others show charity to me, I can just feel it so strongly. I feel so happy, and it just makes you feel great. I want to make others feel that way. We live in a world where men´s hearts are growing colder. I think ours need to grow warmer and brighter than ever. I really want to strive to make others feel charity. This gospel really is a gospel of love, and as we share that love with others we can perhaps make them feel Heavenly Father´s love for them as Elder Scott said. 

I LOVE YOU GUYS. SO MUCH!!!

Love love love,

Sister Carvalho

Gems Of The Week:

We got home and Irma Cida is chatting with us and A COCKAROACH FLEW ON MY SHIRT. IT FLEW. I think I almost had a panic attack. All I saw was Irma Cida hit my shirt, and Sister Jensen scream. I was almost crying and then decided I was 20 years old and a missionary and I shouldn´t cry.

I threw up on the side of the road. I wasn´t sick or felt sick though. it just kinda happened.

Felipe and Erica Cascardi got us Cheesecake Factory cheesecake for dessert. I died.

American food makes American missionaries hearts happy. 3.31.2014

First Day with Sister Jensen! 

Meeting with our ward mission leader!

 I might have fallen down the stairs at our house. It is fine. I am clumsy. 

We had a fireside and we were matching! We ddidn´t even plan it! I love Sister Ferrin and Sister Jensen!

We went to Paulista today! We ate all American. Starbucks frap, Subway, and McDonalds Mcflurry. It is just hard to come by these things here, ya know?

Avenida Paulista 

We planned on going to the art museum but it is closed on Mondays. No! In front of the museum was this random jungle park. It was sweet!

 Found this random wooden table set and decided to take a poser picture.

Being weird. 

 Eliana is from Ceara and is one of my most favorite people. She is a spaz. She cooks SO good.

Sorry it is short. I also haven´t written anyone because I was doing schooling stuff. Gracias. 3/24/2014

Hello World,

This week Sister Jensen got here! WOWIE. I just love her LOADS. She is the best ever. This week has been crazy cool.

I have been learning so much about how to really let the Spirit take control of lessons lately. On Tuesday we visited Yuni, and boy were we in for a surprise. We got there and when she rung us in the interfone, she wasjust like, I need talk to guys, really bluntly. Uh okay, except I was freaked because she didn´t sound very happy. We got there and she was like I looked up your religion and you guys are a cult, and you make secret promises to get money and I am in no way wanting to be a part of this. I want to worship God and God only! The Book of Mormon is talked about in the Bible ever. I know the Bible! That was my first experience like this on my mission and I wasjust like oh my gosh, what do I do? Sister Jensen is the best at prayers and luckily we had prayed right before going in. I prayed in my mind, and just asked if we could share a few scriptures with her which she then allowed. Since we were led by the Spirit, the lesson took a whole different route. Through the Spirit she understood, and by the end agreed to come to church again. It was a miracle!! Unfortunately she didn´t come on Sunday but I am excited to see her on our visit tomorrow!! I don´t know if I have mentioned, but Adrianna can´t read or write. However, when we taught the gospel of Christ and she understod perfectly, but through the Spirit. Everytime we teach now I just think of Elder Evans, "They taught by the Spirit, they learned by the Spirit, they both rejoiced!" It was honestly so cool.

Another really cool miracle happened this week. We have been trying really hard to get the 20 addresses every day. On one of these days, we were walking and contacting when Sister Jensen went up to this guy at a gate and started to talk to him. His name was Celio and he asked us if we were gypsies because of our clothing. It was really funny. As we started to talk to him he goes, did you know I was baptized in that church 40 years ago? He is a inactive of 20 years and none of his family is baptized! He invited us in, and wants us to teach his whole family. When we were leaving he kept saying yeah, I know lots of people you can teach! Well great!!! It was such a cool miracle to see.

Over and out,

Sister Carvalho

This Monumento of Brasil´s independance is in our zone and we went there last week!!

 I really love this guy. His name is Pedro. Because of Dom Pedro. (ya´ll can look up Brasil´s history)

Ed Sheeraning it.

 Monumento!

I forgot it was St. Patricks Day. SO I had to re-send this. Don´t read the other one, it isn´t even green. 3/17/2014

Hey all you cool cats, how are all of you?? I am doing great because everything is going just so. I have seen so many miracles and so many greats things have happened.

This week it seems that everything went just as it was supposed to. All of our investigators had miraculous progress. That is all I can describe it as. We visited Yuni to teach her the Restoration. When we got there, she happened to be walking in with her friend, and was like I was just telling her (Rosi) about you guys and how much I have loved your church. Rosi, you aren´t going to a church, come talk with us! It was so cool. Rosi used to be part of the Pentecostal church but then her pastor went off the deep end and started to drink and stuff, and as she put it "All the little sheeps got lost, and are trying to find their way back" Isn´t incredible how we are all part of the Lord´s fold? He truly wants every single one of His sheep to be found. I think that lots of times each and everyone of us feels a little lost. A little like we don´t quite know what to do, or how to approach life´s many situations. The Lord is aware and is conscious though, and is trying to safely and lovingly guide us. It was really cool to see how the Lord is trying to bring Rosi back, and how we met her friend who met us in that instant. We then taught them the Restoartion and they just believed in everything so willingly. I think it is kind of funny and amazing when all the little quotes and such from PMG come true and then they pop into your head. I just kept thinking, these ladies were just waiting to hear the truth. Yuni´s story is just a miracle though. At the end of the lesson Yuni was sharing about how she acutally went to church that first Sunday. She said that she is/was a partier. She would always go to balladas and ragers and what not and just have a good time. She had been praying to find a church because she wants to be baptized and to be a good servant in the Lord´s hands. She said she had gone to a party on Saturday and just wasn´t feeling happy the way she used to. The next morning, she got home with only a few hours of sleep and went to the market to buy stuff for lunch. She walked in front of the church, and someone invited her in. She was telling us how the more she goes, the more peace she feels in her life. Wow. My testimony of the Lord´s hand guiding us is so strong. I know that He will always show us the way.
            We hadn´t gone to Sonia´s on Tuesday or on Wednesday just because there wasn´t enough time to. We got there on Thursday night and were talking to her, and I was just like so, how are your prayers Sonia? Sonia: They are good! Me: Do you feel like you have gotten an answer yet? Sonia: Well, you guys hadn´t come here for two days, and the Jehovah´s Witness came and taught me some things that just didn´t seem right. It didn´t feel like it was right. You guys hadn´t come, and I just missed your teachings so much. I prayed that if it was the Lord´s will, you guys would come back. Now you guys are here. So I think my prayers have been answered." AHHHHH SHE FINALLY RECIEVED AN ANSWER TO HER PRAYERS! I couldn´t be happier. I love that lady so so much. When we went to her house yesterday night, she invited two friends to hear the lessons as well. It was so so so cool. I am so excited for Sonia, I know that she is truly a prepared lady. We also saw the two Adrianna´s. One was the super super amazing reference that we haven´t been able to see because her husband has been in and out of the hospital. We always walk in front of her house, and the other day I just prayed she would happen to come out of her house so that we could talk to her. It didn´t happen and I didn´t think much of it. On Wednesday we walked past and guess who comes out right when we are directly in front of her house!? Adrianna!! She told us she has been reading the Book of Mormon and is really liking it a lot. She said her husband is almost better and when he is, she is going to call us! Yahoo! Cleo´s Adrianna is also doing so well! We are getting ready for her wedding!! She is so tender spirited.

I am out of time!!! But I love all of you, and am really grateful for all the useful advice you guys have given. Thank you for the letters, packages, and emails. They mean the WORLD as a missionary. I have made it a new goal to write back every single letter. So if you send me something, I pinky promise I will write back. Send me a letter, why dontcha?

Love love love,

Sister Carvalho

PS Sister Jensen gets here tomorrow. Woo hoo! And next week I will have a trillion pictures I promise.