Sister Aundrea Evans In Sao Paulo

Disclaimer: Aundrea writes to both of us with different details & answers to questions so I’ve mixed & matched them but I don’t want to change the way she writes. 🙂 

We´re going to draw out the plan of salvation on the side walk next week and explain to people. It will be great!

2 Ne 2:25.  “…men are that they might have JOY!”  I was thinking that one of the perfect gifts we can give Heavenly Father & Jesus to be happy, joyful, & grateful.

 It´s true mom, men are that they might have joy. And even though life sucks a lot of the time, we have to remember that without the sorrow there would be no joy. That’s why Adam and Eve had to eat the fruit. Without opposites, there would be nothing. I have been able to feel true joy this week, as I finally was able to watch two men accept the gospel into their lives. I got to watch them at church and see them feel the spirit and the joy that it brings. Holy cow there is nothing like it. I didn´t know I could feel like that. They both may be in their late 40´s, but they are my little chickens that I will spiritually feed the gospel to. I LOVE THIS WORK!!!!!!!!!! .

 I’m doing great, and GUESS WHAT. I AM FINALLY GOING TO BE A PART OF A BAPTISM FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!! I´VE WAITED MY WHOLE LIFE FOR THIS MOMENT. His name is Abel (ah-bell) and he´s really smart, but he is so willing to learn, and is willing to change his life for this gospel. we have another named Francisco and he´s a little softer on the baptism thing, but when he came to church yesterday he said that he felt the spirit and we explained that that was the spirit telling him that the church is true.so this is so exciting!!!! he´s going to be traveling on Christmas, so he can´t be baptized then, but he may or may not go to the beach on new year’s so he could probably be baptized then so we´ve been praying that he won´t go to the beach for new year’s so we can baptize him this transfer.

I love eating bananas here, no problem. My legs don´t cramp, it´s my feetsies. I AM SO EXCITED FOR NATÁL (CHRISTMAS)!!!!! THANK YOU FOR SENDING shirts I really need that haha. Mom you´re the best wow I will open my presents under our paper Christmas tree. I’ll send you a pic of it next week, it´s all pictures of Christ it´s awesome. I get my packages this weekend at the Christmas conference. So I’ll get to bring them home and open them on Christmas!!

I’m doing great! I have calluses in between my big toe and next toe, and they both blistered over again, so that´s fun. I’m also running out of band aids but they sell them here so I should be okay. I love my roll of moleskin though. Wow. I haven´t had any other sunburns, my face is breaking out like it´s my job, but it´s fine. Other than that I’m good.

 The important thing to remember is that faith is not something that you muster up within yourself – Faith is a gift that is given to you from God – it is earned.  He gives you faith based upon your obedience and actions.   That is why those who wish to see, will see, and those who don’t won’t.   The other important thing to remember is that faith leads to hope and knowledge (remember Alma’s teachings on Faith?)…   

Thanks for that thing about faith, I really needed that. I need to remember that it is still the lords will. Wow also I cannot believe the transfer is almost over. I still don´t really know how to do things, but I feel like this is normal life now, so that´s cool. This church is true let me tell you. No matter what we go through, the savior knows exactly how we´re feeling and how to help. I love this gospel with all my heart.

PICS:  * Sis robbi and I showing off our style

*I wore socks with my shoes because of pain

*Pele vermelha= red skin (which is prolly a derogatory term for someone, but I have red skin because of my sunburns and pinkish complexion so it is my wall and it means we´re almost home too so I love it)

*Sis robbi and I having fun

*Yeah I’m a thug

*Someone painted this on a telephone pole. Don´t ask.

*Our AULA DE INGLES!!! (English class) I don´t look like myself in this picture it´s weird. 

*We got some guarana and a coconut sweetbread roll it was divine. 

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Things are hot and humid here in Brazil. Yes, that´s our church. (We google earthed it- it’s above a pharmacy.) About 25 people are active in our branch. If we don´t get more people, we lose the building and go back to having church in a house. We found one lady who has cancer and a son and husband in prison, but she is golden. We´re teaching her and her daughter and her niece. Wow you´re actually going to study Portuguese for reals? Boa sorte, pai. Hey it´s been raining here too! Like torrents. Like the street floods. It’s awesome. That´s cool about Wilford woodruff! I couldn´t read all of it though because I don´t have time. Sorry. Satan really tried to stop him didn´t he. Well, if he can make it through all that, I guess I can get through this too.

My feet hurt so badly. I have a shooting pain that goes through them when I think about moving. You think I’m exaggerating, but I’m not. That´s awesome about that couple! It´s so cool to hear stuff like that! I haven´t actually seen the gospel change anyone yet, as I don´t have any converts. Wait actually. We have 2 women who have been baptized, but still need to be confirmed. They struggle with smoking, but they have progressed so much, and have been able to understand the atonement and utilize it. So that´s cool.

Yes we travel to Tatuí and Itapetininga for zone and district meetings. We do not work with elders except for over the phone. We teach a lot of discussions usually, but this week has been slow. Also most everyone fell through. That´s cool about trump, I’m glad it´s working out okay. Everyone in Brazil hates him. But I’m glad to hear that everything is good at home.

It´s going pretty well here, I’m just tired. Honestly my faith is being tried as well. I feel like I’m working really hard and doing my part, but I’m not seeing results. I always thought I had sufficient faith… but now idk. I’m studying faith, and how to strengthen it, and I guess it´s a matter of you have to cause things to happen. I’m still not exactly sure how that works so if you could help me out a little bit that would be great thanks. But I do have a testimony that this gospel is true, because it has brought me so much joy in my life. I have been praying so hard recently to know what we need to change in order to get more investigators and baptize more, because we have baptized 0. And last night while I was praying, I received a revelation that our contact invitations needed to be changed. I felt that we should focus primarily on the plan of salvation, because that is was is different about us. (also the restoration) but we believe that families can be together forever, and we have the answers to where we came from, what our purpose is here, and where we go after this life. We are children of god, and “men are that they might have joy´´. You can be happy without this gospel, but not truly happy, because you´ll always wonder what the heck is the point of this life, and why is it just heaven and hell, and is there more?

I can testify this day that the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints is the same church that Jesus Christ established on the earth during his ministry. We are led by a prophet and apostles called by god. I know that my life is the way it is because of this gospel, and without it, I would probably be dead. This gospel has pulled me out of some pretty dark places, and I am eternally grateful for that. I love Jesus Christ, and am so grateful for His atonement. Because of His suffering, we are never alone. We can always repent and be at peace. We can live with our Father in heaven again. This life is an upward struggle. Each trial you have makes you that much better than before. All we have to do is do our best, and strive to progress. I know these things are true, and I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Love you all, keep me updated!

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Thanks mom, I am feeling better. Foot pain is just a normal thing now. I already have a lovely farmer´s tan, and a tan from my shoes. Although that could be dirt. The dirt is red, so it blends in with my pink skin so who knows. Also I am visibly losing weight. Especially in my face and stomach. It´s great. It helps that I am sweating nearly non-stop and I don´t eat dinner. 

We are the only missionaries in Cerquilho. We´re teaching a lot of people. 4 invest. Went to church yesterday! 2 have already been baptized and need confirmations and the other two are normal investigators. Except one is crazy evangelical haha. The other is Felipe and he is so great. We´ve been teaching this family with a mom, dad, 15-ish yr old daughter, and an 8 year old named Cadu. This kid is so great. They are reading the BOM, and I literally can envision them in their temple clothes together. But they didn´t go to church like they said they would, and it kind of broke my heart. So we´ll see how it goes. a typical day is assim: wake up like you got hit by a truck, do a few ab exercises, get ready, personal study, companionship study, training, leave, meet with investigators, clap gates, (everyone has gates and walls around their houses it´s great I want one), climb a couple hills, eat lunch with a member, ask people for water them smoothly tell them about the gospel while holding their cups so they can´t leave, listening to people tell us about how they´ve already been baptized, finding a couple people who would like to hear our message, meet with more investigators, stop people on the street to invite them, go home, plan, drink water, eat a banana, go to sleep, repeat. But it doesn´t get boring because we meet new people every day, and I’m a represent ante of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful to have the power and authority to bring god´s children unto him again.

 Also the mangoes here are AHmazing. And I didn´t like mangoes before. Please keep sending pictures, I like seeing you guys. Guess what we get to skype in 3 weeks!!! Thanks for the packages! I’m so excited! I know I’m loved, I just sometimes forget because I’m across the equator. I think the biggest problem I am having is the fact that you can´t flush toilet paper here. You just put it in the garbage basket by the toilet. It´s disgusting. But at least it´s not on the floor. Here´s some pictures!!! 

Aw thanks for doing a fast for me! I’ve already done 2 fasts here, and it´s been interesting. It´s not the hunger that bothers me, it´s the thirst. guh. But I have already seen so many blessings from fasting it´s pretty awesome. Haha at least people put up Christmas lights there. People here just put a tiny tree in their houses and call it good. It´s funny though to me, because it is summer. It´s not Christmas. Although I am excited, because maybe the hearts of the people here will be softened. Thanks for the packages, I’m excited. Hopefully they´ll be there in time for the Christmas conference. The zone conference was pretty awesome. It really helped me change my attitude. There was a whole section about not being a victim, and I was like ´´ok dad thanks´´ haha jk but it really was great. 

It really is pretty clean here in Cerquilho, especially compared to other areas. We hung with the sisters in Sorocaba after the multizona, and there is trash everywhere. It also smells really bad. So I am grateful to be here. Although this area is fairly rich, the contrast to the US is incredible. The floors are either concrete or tile. The tap water tastes like dirt, but is safe to drink. I can´t really explain it. It´s just so different. The people here are all really nice, but also very stubborn and hard-hearted. Especially the Catholics haha. It´s tradition so they don´t change even if they want to. But sometimes we´ll get people who surprise us by saying, yes they would like to be baptized. we´re so used to hearing people be like ummmm I don´t think so, or not right now, or no. so it´s great when that happens. Also, we have this recent convert who has a major drinking problem. It´s complicated and his wife came to the church yesterday begging us for help. We talked to him, and he is just so stubborn. He comes home drunk, and she beats him because he keeps drinking, so he drinks to drown his sorrows. Repeat. It literally breaks my heart. And he will not stop drinking. He will not. as we were talking to him yesterday, I felt impressed to tell him, “(his name), I am a representative of Jesus Christ, and I promise you, right now, that if you do everything you can to change your life, God will do the same.´´ hopefully that sunk in. I don´t know what to do with him. But we also found a lady while we were fasting, who, when we invited her, immediately said, yes ii want to be baptized I want to change my life. Wahaaaaaaaaaaat. And then another lady accepted right after her, who has cancer, and her son is in prison. All I can say is the lord works in mysterious ways. That´s my testimony of fasting right there. 

Anywayyyy, this is the letter I wrote to the prez, (weekly email to mission president),  but it sounded like a normal mission email so here you go. 

“This week was a lot better than last. We had 4 investigators come to church, two of which have already been baptized and need to be confirmed. We were hoping this family we are teaching would come, but they didn´t and it kind of broke my heart. I could literally see them in their baptismal clothes, and temple clothes. They were reading the LDM (Book of Mormon), but they didn´t come to church. But maybe next week. 

I´m starting to get used to foot pain now, and although sometimes I have to limp along, we still get where we need to go. I´m pretty sure I have people carrying me sometimes though, because sometimes the hills seem unconquerable. They´re honestly not even that bad usually, they just look really foreboding when I´ve been sweating and limping for 13 hours already. But I always make it. Not gonna lie, this is really hard, but I have already seen the blessings. The other day it hit me that I am actually a representative of Jesus Christ, and it is my duty to invite people to accept the gospel. I usually am rather timid around others, and it takes a lot for me to talk to strangers, but I now know that it´s not me who is speaking. I am speaking for the Lord. And when I think of it that way, I am able to speak with the power and authority I need to penetrate people´s hearts.”

Anyway I love you guys so much, and I miss hanging out with you too dad. Your letters are great as they are, there´s always a part that makes me laugh out loud and people look at me weird. But it´s great. Also you think the pizza in the US is good? Weeeellll let´s just say they have a type of pizza here that is normal pizza, but inside the crust? Melted chocolate. Yeah. I know. I haven´t tried it, but it is my dreaaaaaaaaaaaaam. nossa. Also we have this investigator named Felipe that has been going to our English class, and he is super great, and he gave sis Robinson and I little finger puppets of batman and robin which is perfect because she is my trainer and batman is robin´s trainer!!

LOVE YOU ALLLLLL!!!!

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