Só Fala

Olá gente!

And before I forget, Happy Halloween! They don´t have Halloween here, so eat some candy for me haha! 

This week was muito bom! We did a lot of talking to anyone and everyone on the streets, knocking doors, etc, etc. It is always funny to see all the different types of reactions we get, and I don´t think I can get embarrassed by anything anymore haha. One experience in particular is hilarious now, but during the fact was very...well, interesting to say the least haha. I don´t have time right now to explain details, but it included a very interesting family, and my companion getting her skirt wet with urine that was soaked onto the part of the couch she sat on hahha. 

And we got our ceiling fixed, so we don´t have to worry about it falling on us at second! 

We have 3 really awesome friends we are teaching right now that just make me so happy.

1. 18 year old P. who has been to church the past 2 weeks and we finally got to meet with him yesterday. He works and studies during the weekdays, so it has been tricky to reach him. But he is a super awesome guy, who got interested in the church when he realized he wanted to change a few things in his life, and admires the example and lifestyle of a member in our ward. He is very open, and has a great perspective on his life right now. It is so neat to see people recognize the spirit and difference that the gospel brings into their lives!

2. Older women M. who we contacted this week and told us she remembers Elders coming to her house some 30 years ago. And she has had a Book of Mormon for the last 6ish years that she found and was just curious about. We taught her a few days later, and she was so receptive and listened to our message with such focus. Coincidence people? Nope! Just tells ya that every opportunity people have knowing the gospel can have a big difference on them later. 

3. 70 year old J. who lost his wife a few weeks ago. The first time we contacted him, his wife was in the hospital. When we returned this week, he was so happy to see us and hear that he can see his wife again and be with her for eternity. He told us he felt a very good, comforting feeling during the lesson, and when we contacted him. And we explained to him that this feeling is the spirit telling him the truth. 

These people are so amazing, and we  are so excited to be helping them come to know Christ better, and the joy of the gospel. It just makes me even more glad to be here!!

One of the focuses we talked about during zone conference this week is developing humility. and It is humbling to develop humility ;) 

Sis. Gomez and I continue to have a good time laughing, learning Portuguese together, and trying to find ways to deny food here!

TE AMO

-Sister Jeppson

Sister Gomez and I when we just met each other

Sisters de zona Itaquira-São Miguel: S. Castillo, S.Andrade, S. Rocha, S. Gomez,
 S. Borges, S. Carlson, S. Hirtle, S. Miller

Awesome member Irmã Cleusa

Family of Irmã Cleusa and P. our friend that we are teaching on the far left side

P-day

Olá Meus Amigos

Well, this week was one of testing how much I actually know here in Brazil haha. So far, its been enough for me and Sister Gomez to survive! I have definitely felt the prayers!! 

It has been a little stressful, but good. I can understand and speak enough to get around and let me just tell you that the gift of tongues is real!! Seriously couldn't do it without the help of the Savior. Seriously the biggest blessing. It is like a light has been turned on that has been waiting for the past 4 months! I still have a long way to go, but it is such a comfort that I am where I am right now.  I am not use to being "in charge". I feel like there is always so much to do and teach and all.  But I just remind myself to take it one day at a time and just be patient and enjoy the good things.  

Sister Gomez is awesome. She is from Colombia, is 21, loves to cook (woo woo), super sweet, and likes to laugh with me and at me haha. I think I have already laughed a lot more this week than the last two transfers combined!  We can communicate pretty well, and it helps a lot that Spanish is very similar to Portuguese. 

On Tuesday, me and all the other trainers welcomed the newbies at the mission office, and went through all the welcoming/intro stuff/lunch with Presidente before leaving for our area. We didn't have too hard of a time getting from the mission office to the metro. And a member was super great and gave us a ride from the metro to our house. 

Sis. Gomez´s first lesson was with our investigator that has more than 20 cats...it was a good start haha. And the rest of this week has been full of walking, contacting, teaching, getting rejected, all the normal stuff of a mission etc etc. We had a baptism marcado, but it fell through right at the end of the week unfortunately. But, we don't let those things discourage us! There are always miracles! We contacted a less active, and some family that she lives with are not members, and they are super awesome. So we are excited to work with them this week. 

Another new contacting experience: a lady told us she wasn't interested in our message because she let a supposed missionary into her house that morning, and this supposed missionary turned out to be a robber....leave it to the robbers to ruin our chances haha. 

"be thou humble and the Lord will lead thee by thy hand and give thee answers to thy prayers"

Other misc:
I have two new nicknames to add to the list: Barbie and Passarinho (means little bird haha) one of my favorite members here calls me passarinho all the time because she says I was just so new and cute, and she said she would have had a hard time letting me go if I were her daughter haha.  She reminds me of you mom!

te amo!!!

Sister Jeppson

Just the Beginning hahaha

Empanada making

Feliz Aniversário Lucy! 

Maria...our practice investigator hehe

We received another fan!! woo woo

New Companion - Sister Gomez from Colombia 

The sky is falling!! (don't worry mom it will probably be fixed this week...probably) 

the lady with all the cats :) 

Cute Baby!! 

Helena, Paulo and Jennifer 

Transfers, Training and No time

Oi gente! 

Today will be super short and quick because I have no time...

It was a good last week of the transfer, and I am done being trained...and to my surprise, I am going to train now! Seriously was a huge shock to me because I feel like I could be trained for a lot more time. I am training Sister Gomez from Colombia. So this is going to be a real adventure since I hardly know Portuguese, and her native language is Spanish....lets just say we are going to learn together haha. I am nervous, but it is going to be good. I need all your prayers please :) 

Two more things...

I finished the Book of Mormon in Portuguese this week, and was once again filled with a knowledge of its truthfulness. It is so amazing that every time I read it, I learn so many new, different things. my advice...READ IT

Also a good scripture I love is 1 Nephi 21:16. read this also ;) "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms my hands.."

Alrighty, next week will have more info for sure haha. 

Sister Jeppson, signing off (com amor)

Conferência Geral!

Oi familia e amigos!

This week was a good one, with general conference being the highlight! 

I have experienced all of Brazil´s seasons this week! We were soaked from sweat the first half of the week, then from rain the last half. It´s a fun surprise what each day brings. 

We taught a family this week that had their Grandma pass away just 10 days ago. The grandaughter has been going to church for a little while now, and asked for us to come over and teach her mom, who is struggling a lot with the death of her mom. We taught the plan of salvation, and we could just tell that it made them happier and more at peace. The comfort and joy that the gospel brings into our lives is amazing!! 

We visited the daughter of one of our investigators this week (we met her when she was at the investigators house) and had a cool experience with her. She had her husband pass away recently and lives with a few grandkids. When we knocked on her door and she recognized us, she was so happy that we came. We shared with her and her grandchildren a message, and she said that she knew it wasn´t a coincidence that we showed up that day, that she was having an especially hard day, but that we made it better. It just shows that this work is led and inspired by the Lord! 

We had yet another funny experience with a contact we made on the street. This time it was an old guy that said "oh, I am Jesus!" He kept saying some pretty funny stuff, and basically we don't know if he was on something, messing with us, or just crazy haha. 

And as for general conference...SO GOOD! There were so many great talks and I got so much out of it, despite being in Portuguese and me not understanding everything completely. 

A few things that stood out to me:

-God is always reaching out to us and knows exactly what we are going through at every moment. He is personally involved in our lives, and as we seek Him with all our heart, might, mind and strength, we will be aware of everything he blesses us with

-have an eternal perspective

-"all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good" (D&C 122:7)

-the importance of taking upon us the name of Christ

-The more we love God and others (by serving..."Feed my sheep") the happier we are

Man there is so much more, but so little time haha. But I am so grateful that we have a living prophet who recieves revelation for us today! And that we can recieve personal revelation. I had a few questions that I made before conference, and every one of them were answered during conference. God wants to answer our questions and help us along the way, we just need to reach out to him!

I am incredibly grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! And to have this opportunity to share this amazing message with the wonderful people of São Paulo! 

Te Amo!

Sister Jeppson

Sister Bernabeu and I

Sweatin' it up!

The District...Elder Pinedo, Elder Dangerfield, Elder Camikado, Elder Gillespie, Sister Bernabeu and I 

October Already!!

Woah its crazy to  me that it is already October! Time flies. 

Spring here is crazy haha. It changes from super hot to pouring down rain in minutes. We got caught in a few rainstorms this week, and one in particular was like walking through a river. I will try and send the pics and videos so you can see haha. We got soaked. And the thunder shakes the buildings its so loud. And I promise it does indeed get hot here, I just don't think to take pictures when I am super sweaty and gross haha. 

Last pday we went to a place called Luz where there is a bunch of cool, old buildings and museums. Most of them were closed, but we found a museum that was free, so we messed around there for a bit, which was pretty entertaining. Then we went to the Galleria of Rock for one of the Elders birthday. It is a giant shopping mall of everything rock haha.

During one lunch appointment this week, I had so much gratitude for everything, especially the blessings the gospel brings. The member is an older lady who lives on her own now, still works despite her age, and is just the sweetest, spunkiest cutest person. She has told us a lot about her life, and it is just crazy what she has been through. She has been on her own since 8 years old, and joined the church later in life. But she is just the most humble, grateful, happiest person and despite her challenges even now, she has such a great perspective on life. She is a great example of how the gospel can change lives. 

We  encounter all kinds of responses from people as we contact. This week was a new one. We saw a women entering her house, so we clapped (we clap instead of knocking doors here because everyone has gates in front of their houses) to get her attention and give her a cartel da mensagem. She came out and when we said we wanted to share with her a small message about Jesus, she said, "ja tenho, ja tenho a entrada do ceu!" (translation:).."I already have an entrance into heaven") then grabbed the card and went back into her house. Haha we had a good laugh at that one. 

We had divisions this week, and I was with Sister Rocha from Bahia, Brazil. She is super sweet, and I learned some good tips and such from her. We ended the day meeting back up with the other two sisters in front of a members barber shop. Right when I walked up, a guy said to me, woah, are you from the US, because that is the face of a gringa right there haha. And then a bunch of other people in front of the shop/working at the pizza place right next door started asking me questions, trying to talk in English, and taking pictures with me. I have never been called gringa more in my life haha. It was hilarious. 

We got to watch the movie Coco for a ward family history activity this week! It is just the cutest movie, and we brought one of our investigators who is 9 years old with us. She loved it, and it was a great activity. 

And of course a little something on food hehe. During an especially hot afternoon, we passed by a members house, and they gave us bread and hot chocolate before we left. yikes...not a good combo, especially on a day where you only want to drink very cold water. My stomach is being tested everyday here haha. Glad to say I survived. 

Weekly inspiration from the talk by Elder Lynn G. Robbins, "until 70 times 7"

“Success,” it has been said, “isn’t the absence of failure, but going from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm.” 

We may wonder—if both Nephi and Moses were on the Lord’s errand, why didn’t the Lord intervene and help them achieve success on their first try? Why did He allow them—and why does He allow us—to flounder and fail in our attempts to succeed? Among many important answers to that question, here are a few:

• First, the Lord knows that “these things shall give [us] experience, and shall be for [our] good.”4
• Second, to allow us to “taste the bitter, that [we] may know to prize the good.”5
• Third, to prove that “the battle is the Lord’s,”6 and it is only by His grace that we can accomplish His work and become like Him.7
• Fourth, to help us develop and hone scores of Christlike attributes that cannot be refined except through opposition8 and “in the furnace of affliction.”
• Only with time-lapse photography or growth charts can we discern our physical growth. Likewise, our spiritual growth is usually imperceptible except through the rearview lens of time. It would be wise to regularly take an introspective look through that lens to recognize our progress and inspire us to “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope.”  

Te amo e boa semana!

Sister Jeppson

Pday Crew

Contemplating Art 

Room of Mirrors

Lightbulb Art

Bday Party for 4 Year old Moroni 

Major Rain