#41 - I think its Spinach...🤮 (2/26/24)

Nice foto for mom

Boa tarde tudo mundo! Como que tá? Está esquentando lá em Os Estados Unidos porque está chovendo bastante aqui em Brazil. Eu ficava molhado praticamente esta semana inteira! Espero que vocês não ficavam assim

[Good afternoon everyone! How are you? It's getting hot there in the United States because it's raining a lot here in Brazil. I was wet practically this entire week! I hope you didn't end up like this😆]

              

[Mom note: Elder Fisher hits his 9 month mark this week and this is the state of one pair of shoes.]

Heys guys! How goes it? Whats new in the US, Chile, Canada, Japan, and whichever place you dwell in right now? We got some new stuff going on here in Palmeira. Here's the recap:

Monday - Elder Salmon and Elder Abreu had to leave to Curitiba today so I got to spend P-day with Elder Zamarron! He showed me a Guaraná fruit which is very common here with Brazils iconic Guaraná soda. Ngl... it looks like and apple😅 Elder Zamarron and I also went to The Secret of Chicken for dinner and man is it good!

Guaraná fruit

Tuesday - While getting ready this morning, I was cooking my breakfast and I saw from the corner of my eye a bird or something fly in the kitchen. I looked around and couldn't find anything but I am pretty sure "Fisher" the bird is stalking us. I ended up doing a Division with Elder Zamarron for a bit and it was awesome to see another missionary work. We ended up meeting this guy who kept talking and talking and Elder Zamarron looked at each other and couldn't help but smile with how much this person would talk and cut us off. We also tried to visit our friend Jose who went to church the Sunday before but when we got their, this man told us he was home but that we should come on Saturday so when I tried to ask how he was he kept saying, "COME BACK ON SATURDAY", so we just thanked him for his time and came back on Saturday (to find they weren't there😆) Then Elder Salmon and I got a free mini pizza with these coupons we had been saving. It was really good!

The boys with Cris!

Wednesday - We had our friend Cris come do visits with us again today and he surprised us with pão de quejo! I need to get a recipe from him. We ended up visiting our recent convert Luiz and sharing a brief message with him about the power in the word of God. We then went looking for the other hours and we were searching for 30 minutes! We thought they had died but they were just visiting a recent convert and didn't respond to our messages. We also ended up traveling to Ponta Grossa with Cris at night and man, note to self, don't drive above 80 behind a truck on a road with a lot of curves, it was both incredible but scary!

Pão de quejo!

Zone conference

Thursday - ZONE CONFERENCE! I was asked to play the piano and also help with a role play practice where our Zone Leaders taught us how to a company someone. The first practice but a bad one where the Elders were on their phones and not helping me (the investigator) progress. The second was an awesome practice where they found my need and truly focus on my. They also focused on the idea of being "firm" but "loving" with our teaching and invites and planning the next contact. To plan for the next possible moment they are available to feel more of the spirit. After the zone conference we had a churrasco with our Branch President and it was the first one Elder Salmon had! We then went to work in a Sisters area called "Nova Esperanca" (New Hope = Star wars anyone?😆) As District leader I will do "divisions" or "splits" where I will help other missionaries in their areas. Elder Salmon and I found some frogs, new people, and met a former missionary Shane and his Brother Gabriel who helped us out a bit. At the end of the day, I found out that I used our preach my gospel app wrong to mark the lessons and things we did so sadly, they didn't save... my bad sisters! At least I had taken screenshots!

Churrasco with Prez

Division with Shane and Gabriel 

Friday - DIVISION WITH MY FELLOW CHICAGOAN: ELDER CHILD!! The AP's came to do a division with us and it was awesome seeing how they work! Elder Child and I had a lot of lessons, gave out like 8 Book of Mormons (we ran out fast), and marked 2 people on date! The Funniest part was when we had lunch at this one restaurant and the salad was free so I made a salad. I put this leaf things on my plate thinking it was spinach but Elder Clawson told me they were spicy. With my natural curosity, I ate it.... 5 seconds later I wanted to throw up so bad! It was spicy and nasty! I ended up using the soda we bought as mouth wash!🤮🤣 But I honestly had a great day working with Elder Child and learned a lot like how he was the one who found Rosa and her family first and then I got to help them get baptized! Its cool to see how these things happen!

ELDER CHILD!

Saturday - Woke up this morning and found Fisher! Sadly though, he wasn't breathing and passed away before we could help him. Rest in peace Fisher. Speaking of animals, today while confirming people for church Elder Salmon and I found a random goat and turkey! Idk why but they were just outside! We also visited the family of one of our recent converts and they gave us half a watermelon! We weren't able to eat it all so we ended up carrying this watermelon with us for like 5 hours until we got home😅

My boy Cauan!

Sunday - Today was probably one of the lowest days on my mission. All the people that we confirmed for church fell through and we only had 3 recent converts out of 17. Church was really small. We also recieved 2 messages from people we were teaching saying they admire the work we do and thanked us for the time they spent with us but they don't want to recieve any more lessons or messages. I was honestly stunned yesterday and was placed with a choice to let these things linger in my mind, or continue to press forward. I was reminded of something the CTM told us: if you feel worried or depressed, read Alma 26:27-31. Reading the first verse, "now when our hearts wer depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amogst they brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with PATIENCE thine afflictions, and I will give unto you SUCCESS." After I read this and verse 30 (my mission scripture) and 31, I knew I had no reason to be sad or give into these thoughts for the Lord has brought me thus far and has already used me to help those of his children. And actually, later that day, we marked 2 dates with our friend Ari and his wife! We just have to trust in God's word.

Carmel the dog

I think we all have that personal trial of faith where we begin to question whether God truly is carrying our burdens and blessing us. If you are going through this right now, I ask you to remember the good things God has done for you, for there are many, this I know. God loves you and will show his miracles after you show your faith (Ether 12:12)

Goat

Continue to press forward with faith! Continue to have charity and love for one another and above all, remember who you are as a child of God and a child of the Covenant. Love you all! Ate o proximo!

-Elder Fisher 

[Mom note: There's a man in Brazil who offers
a type of delivery service to missionaries.
I asked him to create an all GREEN St. Patrick's Day box]

Giant Easter eggs in Brazil

#40 - Keeping it on the "DL"🤣 (2/19/24)

[Mom note: This week was harder to guess which notes went with which pics, but I did my best]

Boa tarde todos! Como vocês estão? Hoje é dia dos presidentes né? Não vou mentir, completamente esqueci sobre este dia😅 meu mal!

Boys in the rain 

Hey guys, what's up!? As always, another week has gone by and here I am to let you know about the week of a "Fisherman" and his pet fish, "Salmon":

Lunch with Leonaldo

Monday - Transfers! Sadly Elder Cardoso has left Palmeira🥺 But no worries, he is going to work in the office after this transfer so I will probably see him again very soon! We ended up recieving a new Elder, Elder Abreu! He is from Venezuela and he speaks both really good Spanish and Portugues. He is also learning English because he hopes to attend BYU Provo after the mish so I think I can help him learn english. It was also my first day as a District Leader and I led our district counsel and practices. It was awesome!

Rosa and family

Tuesday - I first need to give some context before I talk about this week. This last week, Brasil had a holiday called "Carnaval". From what I know, it is where a lot of people have a lot of parties, drink a lot, and celebrate a lot! (we found someone who told us the origin of Carnaval but I don't remember so if anyone knows, let me know!) A lot of people in the small town of Palmeira don't celebrate Carnaval but a lot of them go to the beach during this time so a lot of our day was spent knocking doors or walking in a desert town cause no one was home! We did end up helping some of our recent converts make "family trees" and it was an awesome experience to see them prepare to visit the temple! We also visited our friends Edilani, Eduardo, and Sydney and of course, Zeus the dog! Zeus ended up jumping on Elder Salmon and kept on licking him. We had a good "Q&A" lesson since they had some questions about the Church and it's history.

Vinicius

Wednesday - A LOT OF RAIN TODAY!🌊 The highlight of today was finding a random family that let us enter their house to get out of the rain. We got to know them and asked if we could share a message with him and they accepted. We presented the Book of Mormon to them and told them how this book has answers to our questions of the souls and we read a little with them. Afterwards they asked if we had lunch plans and they ended up giving us lunch! We don't really get member lunchs here in Palmeira so it was a very nice gesture from them. Thanks Bianca and family!

Luiz and family

Thursday - Funny moment from today was when we had lunch at home and Elder Salmon started eating with 2 forks. It wasn't until 2 bites in that he realized he grabbed another fork and not a knife! 🤣 While finding people today we knocked this one house that has a glass front door. A young child appeared and I started talking with him with my face expressions! I ended up doing that for 2 minutes and the whole time the child was smiling and laughing. I think I made his day. But the highlight of the day was doing visits with our friend Cris! Elder Abreu and I visited people in our area with Cris and we confirmed Edilani and Eduardo for church and.... MARKED A DATE WITH LUIS! We listened to Luis's stories (he talks a lot) and got him marked for baptism this Sunday!

P-day lunch

Friday - While doing my exercises today, I tried doing the shoe trick (shoutout to Sister Doss!) and I WAS ABLE TO DO IT! The goal is to place a shoe on your foot and turn yourself around on the floor without the shoe falling and I was able to do it now. So, if you want a fun challenge, try this one! Today I also did my first baptism interview! As a District Leader, I interview people before they are baptized to see if they have any questions and if they are ready and I performed my first interview. I recieved a call and quickly sat right next to a truck and performed the interview. It is remarkable to see how God is helping his children through me to help them prepare for baptism! Funny moment today is when we were walking back to our house and a runner appeared out of nowhere and scared Elder Salmon that he started speaking english because he was freaked out!

Saturday - Went to go clean the church today and found a pile of dead flowers on the ground! Not sure why but, I am glad we could clean it up before church! Today we visited people to confirm them for church and we actually went to a hotel to confirm someone and it was weird to be in a hotel again and ngl, it seems like hotels here are very similar to the States. Cool moment was when we were talking with Luis and for whatever reason, we talked about PANTS! Yep, pants. He explained to us why jeans have those buttons on them (safety when moving things) and how he bought some shoes for 800 reais (maybe like 150 dollars). It was a funny conversation for sure.

Baptism of Palmyra and Luiz

The behind the scences

Sunday - Worked the van today with Elder Zamarron and while we were going to get Palmyra (who was going to be baptized) we found her outside her house in her pajamas. She forgot it was Sunday! So we ended up waiting 15-20 minutes for her to get ready and it made us loose quite a bit of time (we ended up getting to church late😅) But while waiting, we ended up feeding this horse and got some nice pictures. After church we then had the baptism of Luis and Palmyra AND, EDILANI AND EDUARDO WATCHED THE BAPTISM! WOOHOO! It was a remarkable experience to see 2 more of Gods children make covenants with him especially after how long these 2 people have been visiting the church. A day I won't forget!

Horse feeding

The horse looked funny

Ngl, when I started this week as a District Leader, I felt very inadequate with my missionary experience and felt there are others who are WAY better than I. But I also came to realize, no where does it say I need to be perfect or be like another missionary. God called me here because I need to be here and someone needs what I can offer. So long as I offer what I can and follow the spirit, I will do what no other person can. I just need to do what Elder Fisher is called to do. Like as 2 Nephi 4:19-21 talks about, I know in whom I trust and i have a contrite spirit to learn. 

 

I love you all and hope your doing well! Enjoy Presidents day and remember...1 + 1 = window 🤣 Tchau!

-Elder Fisher

#39 - "I'd Take a Selfie with Christ!"📸🤣

Boa tarde tudo mundo! Como que tá? Como está escola? Faz tempo que eu fazia escola😅 Espero que vocês estejam bem e têm planos ótimos pela semana! [Good afternoon everyone! How are you? How is school? It's been a while since I went to school😅 I hope you're doing well and have great plans for the week!]

Watermelon

Hey everyone! How are you guys? What did you guys do this last week? This last week was awesome and a lot has happened! Here is my week in review:

Late night hike!

Monday - During our p-day today, we went on a hike to a farm at night! Our friend Juliana told us about this man who does these hikes and we decided to go. It was really weird cause during the hike, some parts reminded me of hiking in Utah and hiking timp (shoutout to those who hiked timp with me until 3 in the morning with injured ankles🤣). During the hike we met this cool dog who didn't have a name so we named him "Mormon". He's honestly really cool!

 
Mormon the dog at night!

Tuesday - Today Elder Salmon tried a fruit that looked like a pear mixed with an apple (idk know the name) and he said he fruit tastes like the fruit on the tree of life so, it was pretty good! Today we were focusing on finding new people and we found some awesome people! We first ran into these kids who called me "Tio" (I am now certain that every child calls me "Tio" or "Uncle" now so.... I'M AN UNCLE! 🤣) and later the family of Suzani. We just walked up to their door and they were cleaning and we started talking with them. They then told us it was time for ice cream and invited us in and gave us ice cream! WOOHOO! We then taught about The Book of Mormon and started trading beliefs (we had a lot in common!) Other highlights included the Sisters using our Facebook post for our daily post and beating Cardoso at Pokemon the Card game (He told me that I now need to buy a deck😅)

Wednesday - Now to talk about the Title of this email. We went to go visit Mayra who we are helping to change her life. She is a single mom with a daughter and she would like to stop smoking before being baptized. So when we went to visit her, we found her other friends and famiy there and started to introduce ourselves. We ended up sharing a message with like 8 people and the cool part was I felt like Alma preaching to a crowd! I explained The Book of Mormon to them and then asked, "If Jesus Christ was with us right now and you could ask him for anything, what would it be?". One of the women there, Raissa, immediately responded: "I'd like to take a selfie with him!". Everyone started laughing but honestly, it was a really good answer! We ended up giving them each a Book of Mormon and inviting them to church.

Thursday - While knocking doors today we found a lady named Nilza who said she had special gifts such as prophecy, gift of tongues, and was also a Prophet! We started talking about religion and what she does as a Prophet. After she explained her beliefs we talked about what we believed as well and we asked if we could talk with her again another time and she said yes! Later that day we also visited our friend Sebastion who says he is also a Prophet so, I saw 2 Prophets in 1 day! We also tried to find an american named Kevin in the downtown area but couldn't find him so instead we enjoyed the late night down town vibes and got some Acai.

The boys, and Elder hogge

Friday - We woke up at 5 today to go to the Temple! We tried using a van this time instead of leaving a day earlier with a bus. The temple is always an awesome experience and to anyone that lives next to a temple, I recommend you go do a session right now because the temple is awesome! When we got back from the temple we found Fisher the Bird in our yard again! I think he now just lives in our backyard. Cool moment from today is when we were teaching Edilani and her family. We had talked to them earlier in the week and invited them all to be baptized and Edilani explained to us today that she had been thinking of talking to her son, Eduardo, about baptism on the day we arrive earlier that week. Let's just say, God plans for his children!

MY DAD!! [His trainer, Elder Hall, on right]

Saturday - While having lunch with the Elders today, we somehow talked about tv shows and it turns out the Elders know "Lazy Town" and "Jackie Chan"! (If anyone knows these shows, let me know!) We went around confirming people for church and with our van today and this dog, Carmel, kept following us. While walking, I am pretty sure he was sniffing me the entire time😆 But he is a really gentle dog

Carmel liked me

Sunday - Today was a whirlpool of events! Beatriz was baptized today and I got to perform the confirmation! IT WAS SO COOL! I am glad to see how much her faith has helped her follow Christ for so long to finally be baptized. We also visited Arianne (who broke her toes a few weeks ago) and met her mom who cooked this authentic Amazon food and it was delicious! After visiting Arianne, we did some visits with Elder Cardoso so that he could say goodbye to people because he got transferred to Curitiba. Not going to lie, I am going to miss him! I also got a call from President today saying that I would still train Elder Salmon but that I would take Elder Cardosos place and be: DISTRICT LEADER! Not sure if I am ready but if I have learned anything on the mission, "It isn't a matter if your ready, but if your willing" and God loves work, so good luck to me!

Beatriz baptism 

Today officially starts my 6th transfer out of 16 transfers in the field. I honestly look forward to seeing what is in store for me and how much I will learn and grow              this transfer. Thought for this week: 1 Nephi 11:16-17. We know not the condescension of God but we still move forward because we know God loves us and does what is good for us.

The boys and hats

Love you all and as always, let me know if there is anything I can do for you guys! As always D&C 66:6 and Moroni 8:3

-Elder Fisher!

#38 - "Marriage is what brings us together today!"💍🎭

 

            [Mom note: Dev knows I like 'nice' pics, so is trying to send at least one each week]

Boa tarde pessoal! Como vocês estão? Espero que vocês estejam bem e que vocês tiveram bastante milagres esta semana atrás! [Good afternoon people! How are you? I hope you guys are doing well and that you had plenty of miracles this past week!]

Mission Curitiba logo!

 

 

ELDER MORTENSON!

What's up guys! I hope everyone is doing well and that people recognize the movie reference here (The Princess Bride). It has been a pretty busy week so lets get to it!

Monday - Woke up this morning and did my usually get out of bed routine. It was then 15 minutes after I had gotten out of bed that I heard a loud sound and thought, "what the?!". I then went to the other Elders room where I found Elder Cardoso snoring up a storm. I ended up recording a little audio of it and sharing it with him after I woke him up. We got a good laugh out of that. Later that day Elder Salmon and I went shopping and he begun his tereré journey (similar to matte if anyone knows). It is this herbal drink that you put juice in and he has already gone through like 8 liters this week. (I think my sons addicted 😆) No worries, it isnt bad for you, I just don't like the taste yet!

Tuesday - Woke up this morning with some startling news. We recieved a message from Marilda (a recent convert) after asking how her and her husband, Claudiomar, were doing. Claudio (Claudiomar) has been having health problems for a while so they were at the hospital. The message that Marilda sent was that Claudio has passed away a few days earlier on the 27th. It was a big shock to me to hear and caught me off guard. Even though I only knew Claudio for about 4 months, I remember how he always shared his travel stories with us while fighting the pain he has. The last thing I remember him telling us before I saw him last was "don't forget me. Keep living and telling my story". While it is sad to see someone move on to the next part of life, I know that Claudio is in a better state now without these physical pains and I promise I will remember him.

Later that same day Elder Salmon tried a corn popsicle and he agress with me that they are LIT! We also helped out our friend Cris and got to speak english with a class of Brazilians that are learning english! Let's just say, I think some of them speak better english than I do now!🤣 

Battle bus (quote Elder salmon)

Wednesday - QUESTION: Which is the best spiderman and which is the best Peter Parker? We were having this debate with the Elders and honestly, I got no idea! We traveled to Curitiba today to attend "The Mission Tour" with Elder Koch and his wife. While traveling we found this lady who was sleeping in two of our seats and she didn't want to move so... we ended up finding other seats. When we actually got to Curitiba it was GOLDEN HOUR outside (it looked awesome!) We then helped setup for the mission tour at a church building and got to watch some people play volleyball and I gotta say, I think all Brasilians play volleyball professionally! They are really good! (too bad I couldn't play in church shoes, maybe next time!)

Golden hour with the boys

Thursday - MISSION TOUR TAKE AWAYS: 

1. You can't have 2 lessons the same 

2. Do your personal and comp study with questions of other people in mind 

3. Lessons with the spirit need be and have:

- Short, Frequent, with specific and individual invites and promised blessings, and a testimony

4. God is able to do his own work (2 Nephi 27:21) but he still calls us to labor WITH him (Jacob 5:71-72)

5. If you want more spiritual power, be less selfish (see chart at bottom)

While at the conference I also got to sing in a quartet and may or may not have spilled chocolate on my suit... I'm going to the dry cleaners later. 😆 ALSO, while waiting for Elder Salmon to use the bathroom, this random dude came up to me and asked me to help him take out his nose piercing. I honestly had no idea how and I tried my best but couldn't help him. He thanked me for trying and then walked away. I hope he got the piercing off!

Marriage of Rosa and fam

Friday - MARRIAGE IS WHAT BRINGS US TOGETHER TODAY! Before being witnesses for the weddings of Rosa, Maria, and Beatriz, we all went back to our house to put on suits but when we tried to open the door, the keys weren't working. Without other options, Elder Salmon climbed our wall and pulled himself up our balcony to get in through the upstairs door! May or may not have been very dangerous but, thanks son! We ended up getting our suits and went to the Cartorio for the weddings. (There may or may not have been tears shed, and also, on which hand and finger does the ring go for the man and women? Is it the same? Cause it was different each time) But now, I AM OFFICIALLY A GODFATHER!! WOOHOO! One more title for my collection!🤣

Marriage of Beatriz

Saturday - While cleaning our baptismal "pool" for the next day, Elder Salmon didn't want to get his pants wet so he found a skirt in the back and put that on while cleaning. Let's just say, it was pretty funny and now I am not the only guy I know that has worn a dress or skirt before😂 AND GUESS WHAT! FISHER THE BIRD CAME BACK! Right now he is in a box outside and I think Elder Cardoso is going to keep him this time. 

Elder salmon... with a skirt

Boys on the tv

Boys and a bear

Cool Dudes

  

[Mom note: I think Devin was reliving his childhood with the

 Kingdom Hearts keyblade and Speed Racer car]

Sunday - With the marriages done, we had the baptisms of Rosa, Maria, and Marias daughter Keila (Beatriz had some health problems so she will be baptized next week with Rosas daughter Michelle). I had been teaching Rosa and her family for a while ever since I got to Palmeira so it was a very touching experience for me to finally see her faith in action of following the example of Jesus Christ and being the instrument to help her perform this ordinance. Truly a day and moment I will never forget.

Baptism of Keila

   

    

Rosa Baptism

Baptism

I think there will always come times in our lives when we will have up's and down's as seen with this week for me. But I think what is essential to remember here, is what are you going to do after these trials of faith. We have opposition in all things to learn and Christ knows our pains, weakness, and difficulties. As Moroni says in Moroni 7 verse 41 we need to hope "through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal" because of our faith. We always need to keep going and know, God knows better and knows when to best bless us.

After church lunch

I love you all and I hope your doing well. As always, Moroni 8:3 and D&C 66:6!

 

Ate o proximo!

-Elder Fisher