Imbituba, Week 11

Oi! Feliz Dia de Acoes de Gracas! (Happy Thanksgiving)

This has been one heck of a good week!

Here are some highlights:

-Pday! We taught some lessons in the morning (People that we could only teach then) then walked on the beach, ran errands, then our recent convert Thaina painted our nails, and our friend Bia did my makeup! Then we went to Dom Joao Pizza. OH. My. GOSH. I died. It was the best Pizza ever! Basically they go around with different pizzas every few minutes (sweet and savory) and they offer you a piece, you decide if you want it, then they dish it up. Then they have a plate in the middle to discard if you didn't like it or just wanted to try it. AMAZING. I honest to goodness probably ate over 18 pieces. 

-English class!Had two investigators come!

-Bug pasta: I bought a bag of pasta noodles to cook for lunch, and so Sister Kener and I cooked them, and while we cooked them we found little bugs floating around in the water. We checked the bag and there were bugs everywhere within. We were starving though...so Sis Kener said it was protein and we still ate the noodles. In my prayer blessing the food I said, "Please bless this food, that there won't be any bugs in it. If there are, please bless me not to see them." Heavenly Father answered my prayer! hee hee

-Thanksgiving! I wanted to do something semi special, so I moved part of my study desk to the kitchen, and set up a "fancy" table with name plates and everything for thanksgiving! Then we made mashed potatoes and broccoli, and for desert made homemade apple pie pastels! A real Brazilian thanksgiving. Then we went and knocked doors (found some great people!) then went to Florianopolis for Zone conference!

-We stayed the night, and the next day was so much fun! We got to be with over 100 other missionaries and hear some inspirational things from President, and eat great food! 

-We got packages and letters! I LOVE getting letters, and would love to hear from you guys through letter!!

-I met my sister! (My "mom" aka trainer trained her)

-After we got home from Floripa, we went to a member's wedding! It was so great and sweet, lots of good food, and we had investigators come which was great!

-Saturday we had soo many people to visit, we visited with two people that now have Batismal Dates!!!!!!! One is Luiz. He talks A LOT. usually I get really tired because it is Portuguese, and it takes brain power to listen to that much, but ever since our English class something has changed! He used to live in Utah, and so he usually talks about that the entire lesson, but this time he right away wanted to pray, discuss the scriptures, and hear our lesson! I just saw a change in his face, in his countenance. It was amazing the change. We set a date for him, the 22nd of December!I know God has prepared him for a long time for this. 

The other is Maycon, he is the 11 year old we teach, and he has a date should be this week or next week! Waiting on his mom. 

-Blessing: We have been receiving so much extra food from these events, which is a BLESSING because our lunches have fallen through pretty much every day for the last two weeks...Haha!

Spiritual experiences:

-I pray for the ability to testify with power, with the spirit! My Portuguese is definitely not clear sometimes, but the spirit testifies to and through our hearts. I have felt SO often this week the spirit powerfully testify of Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ, the truthfulness of this Gospel. One time this week we finished testifying, and the man said, "That feels right." I love when I see it click with people, when you can just feel with all your heart the spirit testify of verdade (truth).

[I am giving a talk on Christlike service in church in a couple weeks and asked Sarah to share with me an experience she has had with this.  This is what she shared:]  Brazilians here have a lot of pride.  They don't really want help with anything, even if they need it. We always ask and they never want it! On Saturday it was raining really hard. We had three umbrellas, and were still getting soaked.  We knocked at a door, and this old man we have taught before came out. We were talking through the fence, and started teaching him a lesson.  He was standing in the rain and I realized without asking it would be more important for him to be dry than for me and my bag to be, so I held the umbrella over his head the entire time. I was wet after, but realized that that is what the Savior would do, he would be the first to give us his coat, his umbrella, to put others before himself. We also need to be the kind of people to be humble enough to except help, to let others show their love, and express gratitude. So many people refused the savior, his love and care. When we are serving we are being representatives of Christ. When someone does something for you it is like Christ and God doing it for you. Accept it, be grateful and pass on the love! Simple, small acts of service make all the difference

Spiritual thought:

In the New Testament, after his Resurrection, Jesus is talking to Peter after he found him gone back to fishing. And he asks peter if he loves him. And peter says, "Yes, thou knowest that I love thee." and Christ says, "well then feed my sheep." This repeats 3 times to make it clear to Peter that as soon as he became a disciple, he couldn't go back to his old life anymore. The same goes for us, when we are baptized we become disciples of Jesus Christ, we promise to exemplify him in all we do. We promise to Feed his sheep. That is the ultimate way of showing our love for our savior, is helping, serving, uplifting others around you. Just as Christ did. Show your love for him, don't go back to the old life. Feed his sheep, exemplify Christ! You will never be happier. 

Love you all lots and lots! Send letters and emails! I pray for you all!

Love,

--

Sister Sarah Crofts

Brazil Florianópolis Mission

Zone Conference! And missionaries from the MTC

Companions with Sister Cox and Sister Amorim

Thanksgiving apple pastels!

Frozen treat! Chup Chup/Geladinho

Dessert pizza. SO good!

Rodizio!

Beautiful Imbituba

Imbituba, Week 10

Oi! Tudo Bem:

This has been one eventful week (As always)! A mission definitely never gets boring!

Highlights from this week:

-Pday:Shopping, Brownies (best ever), Hike!

-We woke up at 5 am to go to a district meeting that got canceled. We didn't find out till we were at the bus station! Got to love the organizational skills of elders... HA!

-Braulio! My fave old man investigator. He calls us his "Filhas do Coracao"(Daughters of the heart) and the next time we came to his house he had hearts with our names on them taped to the speakers! -Sad update, today he told us his daughter forbade him from meeting with us. He was crying.

-Michael, who we have been teaching for awhile (11yr old), is going to be baptized! His mom just needs to set a date, we are so excited for him! He is the cutest ever!

-This is not a highlight, but Sister Gruwell had this pimple like ball growing in her nose, and it was getting big and making her nose, head, and even teeth hurt! We went to the hospital here (SKETCHY) and they caused her more pain then she originally had.. so we had a nice relaxing time in the house that night. She is all good now!

-Taught at an English school in Imbituba, always fun, and always food!

-It has been HOT as heck here, which means my missionary tan lines are getting good, and that people take pity on us walking around and can be more receptive!

-Acai=THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD. We have the best Acai place here, I was going to take a picture, but I ate it too fast. Next time!

-There is a bakery pretty much on every corner. Which is bad news when you are trying to stay healthy, but good news because Brazilian sweets are waaay amazing. My gosh. Not a good thing to think about while fasting...

-We have this one town called Divenea which is all up hill... beautiful views, and beautiful for the bunda (Butt).

-We incorporate singing into our lessons and Brasilians loove it. And I love it! Because you can always feel the spirit so strongly.

-Pastels, they can be baked, fried, any way they are they are amazing. And we ate way to many this week. They are sweet or savory pastry pockets of deliciousness. I'm telling you, the sweets in Brazil mucccch better than the U.S.A.

-Everyone here thinks I'm 14 when they guess how old I am. I'm sure I'll be grateful when I'm 40, but guyys I'm 19.

-In Church we sang "Savior Redeemer of my Soul" which was good--major throw back to when Rach left on her mission!

-We taught 31 lessons this week. A new record for us! It's an awesome sign that we are working hard, sharing our testimonies, and lots of people are hearing the Gospel!

Spiritual thought:

Part of Ether 12:6 reads, "Faith is things which are hoped for and not seen wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."

I love this scripture so much. First, we will receive answers, but sometimes they don't come when we want them. And Heavenly Father wants to know that we really want to know! So He is going to try us and see if we really have the faith to receive that sure witness. I also love that our trials are opportunities to grow and become more like Christ. They are part of that refining process. When we have an eternal perspective through out our trials, we know that they are only but a glimpse in eternity. If we endure them well, our faith will grow and we will be much more than we were before our trials.
As a missionary I face rejection, disappointment, frustration with the language, complete tiredness, etc. Every day. But I know that after and through all of this, that Christ is there beside me, helping me, strengthening me! I know that when I have faith throughout every little thing, and show God I am in it for the long hall, Heavenly Father gives me miracles! He shows himself and his nature to me through the Holy Ghost, through answers to prayers. Stay strong in your faith, your trials are only but a blink in the timeline of eternity! Remember who you are, and that you have a God, and Savior on your side, hands outstretched to guide and help strengthen you.
I know that this church is the same church Christ established on the earth. I know Christ lives, I know we have a living prophet today, I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.

And that is why I am in Imbituba!
Love you all, send me an email! Love to hear how you are doing!

Love,

--
Sister Sarah Crofts
Brazil Florianópolis Mission

Pday Hike!

Braulio

Braulio put hears with our names on them on his speakers!

Jussara

NOT a bad place to serve a mission!

Yikes!

Ola All! Imbituba, Week 9

Ola All!

It has been another GREAT week here in Imbituba.

Here are some of the weekly highlights:

-PDAY! Watched 17 Miracles, ate cake, had a fun ping pong FHE with a family in the ward and some of the inactive members.

-Tuesday it was QUENTE (HOT) and I got burned so badly, that the burn on my back was kinda purpleish! I was reminded all day by Brazilians that I am too white to not wear sunscreen.

-English class!We teach an English class for pesquisadores (Investigators) and members every Tuesday, and it is so fun! I love teaching so much, and we plan fun activities, and eat food! I love this branch, the members are so caring, thoughtful, and hilarious!

-We have 90 investigators... Crazy! The branch is definitely starting to see the fruits of our efforts, we have about 7 on average come to church each Sunday, but this week we had 15!

-DEATH BY LASAGNA The members always serve Costco size portions, the lasagna we got fed for lunch took us hours to recover from.

 -Ways to get into peoples houses (We aren't creepy I promise) ask for water, then make one of your comps drink it all.

-New food I love Coxinhas-look it up!

-Morning runs to the beach! I hate running, but the destination definitely makes it worth it!

-Our area we cover is huge, so we haven't even been to some of the areas yet! Saturday we went to Barra (Baha) and visited with an investigator. On the way there the bus dropped us off way far from where we were supposed to go, but a kind lady stopped with her son and drove us all the way (FAR). I know Heavenly Father is watching out for me, I can see his hand every day. If you look for it you can too!

-Getting poured on at 9pm is a blessing! My comps didn't thing so, but I thought it was the funnest thing ever, and made my heart happy!

-We met this man from England that is bed ridden with an infection that we visit now. I had a feeling to keep all of my English pamphlets and have an English BoM, so we are super excited to get to speak and teach in English!

-Gave my first real talk in the mission Sunday on enduring to the end. It wasn't half bad, and people said it was good so I hope they at least understood me.

Things I have learned this week:

-God strengthens us to be better than we are.

-When we give our will to the Lord, serving becomes so much easier. I know that Heavenly Father is directing my path. His will for us may be harder, but it is always BETTER.

-Always teach by the spirit. Always bear testimony when you think you should, and don't be afraid to be a little pushy with people... after all it is Salvation on the line.

-Portuguese is hard, and tiring, but also beautiful!  I have moments of clear understanding, and with every moment I speak I can feel the gift of tongues work through me.

-A description of door knocking :Success is going from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm!

-I have learned how fast I can love people here on the mission, all thanks to Christ!

Spiritual thought:
I have been thinking a lot of what I would  be willing to give up to follow God and Jesus Christ.
In Alma it talks about the father of king Lamoni, and how he would give up all his lands just to know God.
Nephi and his family gave up everything to follow God's will.
Job lost everything, but was faithful through it.
Abinadi gave his life.
What are you willing to give? Are you willing to leave it all? Would you stay faithful through it all:?
Think about it, and if your true answer isn´t what you want it to be, change.
I know this Gospel is true, I know Christ is my Savior, and I know that through him and God anything is possible. I haven't made such a grand sacrifice by going on a mission compared to some sacrifices made, but I know that when we give things up to follow Christ, that is when we find true Joy.

LOVE YOU ALL! Love to get your emails, keep writing, hope everything is well!

--
Sister Sarah Crofts
Brazil Florianópolis Mission

Ouch!

Nice tan lines!

Happy two months!

OI! Tudo Bem? Imbituba, Week 8

OI! Tudo Bem?

This week has been a good one! I remember my sister saying that once she wrote her day down in her journal it went out of her brain... I definitely feel like that!
But this week was a good one, here is what happened:

-Went to Floripa and got our Visa paper work done, and got to get awesome Acai, then walked forever to a chic mall that was way to chic for us haha!

-We taught Braulio this week, who is pretty much the sweetest old man you ever did see. I love him, and love trying to communicate and bear testimony to him! We teach lots of lessons--I think we got to over 30 this week!! It's crazy, we have probably about 60 investigators, but our progressing investigators are few.

-The church branch is good, probably about 50 members come on a good day! We usually have about 5 to 7 investigators come which is good! It is a small two story branch building! Super close to our apartment. Which is great!

-Had English class this week! We held one and went to an English school as guests for them to practice conversing with!

-RAIN! I have never seen it rain so much as it has my first few weeks here... seriously cats and dogs people. Thunder, lighting, and wind! And we still go out and knock doors, rain or shine, the message of the gospel can't be stopped!

-At the English class we went to, this Brazilian lady was saying she loved IHOP. And we were like cool, we do too. And then she said she would love to study there. And we were like okay... I guess you can study how to make pancakes? Then she kept talking about how much she wants to go and experience it and study, and I was thinking, "Okay, we are not on the same page" and so finally we said, you want to study at the INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PANCAKES? And she was like NO, "INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PRAYER!" we all died.

-SONHOS. These dreamy (Sonho means dream) donut things that are filled with dulce de leche.  Literally a life changer, my comps can attest, I died. I ate that thing in probs 5 seconds. I love the little bakeries here, but gosh, I'm going to become gordinha! HA!

-We teach a lot of strange people. I love them all, but in the small city of Imbituba, there are lots of crazy stories, and people! BUTTT Everyone needs the Gospel of Jesus Christ! We teach all from prostitutes, people on probation from selling drugs, etc. Everyone has a secret, and EVERYONE has a strange story. It definitely makes things interesting. But I love them all, and we are definitely kept on our toes.

-Our area is seriously probably one of the prettiest places I have ever seen. I am constantly in awe. Heavenly father blessed me with Imbituba, the rolling hills, ocean always close by in sight, and beautiful lakes and villages. I love it. And the people make the place all the more beautiful.

-This week I have learned a lot. I learned to be bold and not beat around the bush. I learned that Heavenly Father can give us a special love, charity, for those around us. I learned to try every food, and to not step on the little frogs that are all over the side walk when it rains.

-One of my favorite things to talk about/share is my testimony of my purpose as a missionary. I'm not just in Brazil learning Portuguese, and walking miles on end for nothing. I am here because I love my Savior. I love his gospel, and gosh darn it, I am going to work my hardest to help others to come unto Christ, and this Gospel. That is why I am learning Portuguese, that is what brings me so much JOY! I challenge you to ponder and think about your purpose in the things you do. Do you have one? Is it a good, Christ centered one? If not, change it.

Also... Gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon, read Mosiah 10:4-5. Pray and follow his invitation!

Love you all!
Send letters/emails!!

--
Sister Sarah Crofts
Brazil Florianópolis Mission

Lunch with Thaina, a recent convert

Delicious Acai and blue tongues

Sarah loves the food lol

Sarah and Thaina

Sisters Crofts, Kener, and Gruwell

Beautiful Imbituba

You can see the ocean from almost anywhere in Imbituba

Beautiful sunsets!

At the Beach!

Thank goodness for Chacos!

Fransisco and Miguel