#54 - "I'm mister White Christmas, I'm mister COLD!"🥶🎶(5/27/24)

[Mom note: Elder Fisher hits his one year mark this week, May 29!]

E aí tudo mundo?! Tudo blz? Para explicar o assunto deste e-mail... está FRIO aqui! Cada dia, eu acordo e penso, "Nossa! Está frio!" Acho que inverno já começou aqui. Somente tenho que vivenciar mais um inverno daí, nunca mais....até Os Estados Unidos 😅[What's up everyone?! Everything ok? To explain the subject of this email... it's COLD in here! Every day, I wake up and think, "Wow! It's cold!" I think winter has already started here. I just have to experience one more winter then, never again....until the United States] 

Cold early mornings

Hey guys!!! To all those who get the movie reference, yeah it is cold here in Brazil again! I went from sleeping in a shirt and shorts to now wearing socks, sweats, a sweatshirt, and a hat😆 It is crazy sometimes how the weather changes so drastically here!

Daisy the dog (that follows us around into someones house and sat on their couch)

But besides the weather, here is what went on for the adventures of "Black Fish" (Elder Black and Elder Fisher):

Monday - Doctor visit! Don't worry, I'm okay, just took a in-grown toenail out a few weeks ago so I'm fine. I went to the Doctors with Elder Lopes because he had a checkup. With the change of the climate, Elder Lopes has had some pain in his throat and we went to see what was going on. Let's just say, it was both pretty cool and really gross to see the inside of Elder Lopes nose thanks to tecnology these days😅 But he is doing okay!

Doctor w/ Elder Lopes

Tuesday - We spent majority of the day finding new people and visiting small neighborhoods in our area. Later that night, we went to visit our friend Sidney who we are helping progress towards baptism. He truly wants to change his life but has a problem with drugs. To help him, we have been visiting each day and I asked him if I could throw away some of his drugs. Let's just say, after our visit we ran to the house and I threw what was in my hand in the toilet, never to be seen again. I'm proud of the progress Sidney is making! Later that night we brought some of our friends to Seminary and may have joined in on their pizza party.... it was pretty good pizza.

 Seminary pizza!

Wednesday -  Went knocking some doors and found a big family! We presented ourselves as missionaries and asked if we could give a short message about Christ. Turns out they are looking for a church and haven't been baptized so we are now helping Luana and her family progress on the path of discipleship! Today we also did a division with my boy Arthur (he is going to be a missionary soon!) I taught Arthur how we work and asked him to contact a reference. Turns out the first person he contacted was a scorpion (for all my missionary friends that know this term)😆 But we got another and found Alessandro! He is a grown man who recently had a divorce and is looking for more companionship. We ended up giving him a book of mormon and teaching about the Holy Ghost. He didn't know much about it and wanted to get baptized so now we are helping him to! We also went to teach Adriele (Recent convert) and her mom told me she had a dream similar to Lehi's vision and that Elder Black and I were in it. It was really cool!

ARTHUR = ELDER FISHER??

Thursday - We had a ward activity tonight and we brought a lot of new friends with us! We even got to play musical chairs and guess what!!!??? ....I still stink at musical chairs and got 3rd😅

Early morning temple

Friday - We went to the temple today but I did not trust the uber we got. The man's car kept on dying. First when we were going up hill and we had to reverse back down, and second while on the high-way. Let's just say, I know God was protecting us (and also, i trust myself when I am driving) Later in the day while teaching a lesson I also found a caterpillar on my pants so quickly moved him out of the way to focus on our message and later that day, played a little b-ball with our boy Alessandro (It wasn't regulation size😂🏀)

Temple with the District

B ball with Alessandro!

Saturday - I OFFICIALLY FINISHED READING THE BOOK OF MORMON IN PORTUGUESE ONLY!!!! WOOHOO!! 🎉🎊🥳 ...now to start all over in english again! (if anyone has any recommendations of how I should go about reading or marking my book of mormon now, let me know!) Also did a division with Elder Niz to do some baptism interviews for their friends and it ended up being a VERY cold night!

Giving out thr Book of mormon (we had a challenge day who could give the most out)

 Book of Mormon = key cornerstone

Sunday - We were able to bring a few friends with us to church and have a lunch at church! Sadly, Sidney wasn't able to get baptized today but we are helping him prepare for this next week! The rest of the day we went around finding new people and found some young girls that asked to take a picture with us. If anyone find an Isabeli, can you ask her to send me the pic?😆 We then spent the night with our friend Sergio who had 5 new baby kittens and whose kids showed me a lot of toys! (If anyone knows about "gogo crazy bones" I'm pretty sure they had some of those😁 #mychildhood)

This week we recieved a good training for Mission presidents called "The faith to find and baptize converts". One of my take aways is how "Faith is a power, and it can cause things to happen that need to happen. It can cause a soul that is good but dormant to awaken to God". We as Disciples of Christ need to have that continuely growing faith to be able to help the things that need to happen, be ready to happen. God will only send miracles after a demonstration of our faith (2 Nephi 27:23)

Overall, a faith and testimony growing week as I continue to see others come unto Christ through us as instruments in the Lords hands. I know God has a great work for each of us, and he needs you! You are his beloved children forever and ever!

Shopping cart???

Love you all! Ate a proxima!

-Elder Fisher (🐟er)

#53 - Last contact.... Last Book of Mormon📖💪 (5/20/24)

Mini pizzas night!

E aí pessoal?! Tudo blz? Mais uma semana passou e ainda estou aprendendo coisa. Por exemplo, "Yogi Bear" é "Ze colmeia" em português. Quem sabia!😆[Hey guys?! Everything ok? Another week has passed and I'm still learning things. For example, "Yogi Bear" is "Ze hive" in Portuguese. Who knew!]

Cookie?!?!

Whats up guys? Just to explain the paragraph above, we had lunch with Bishop and his family yesterday and we were talking about cartoons and shows we watched as kids and he showed me that "Ze Colmeia" is Yogi Bear🤣 Just goes to show, I still got a lot to learn!

In bishops car

But in other news, heres the update for this last week in one word: RAIN....and lots of it😅

In the rain!

And heres the week in review:

Monday - Elder Black wanted to visit this Country store so we went! While we were there, I helped Elder Black get a cowboy hat and found out how they use steam to bend the hat sides, it was pretty cool! While helping translate for Elder Black, I got to meet Adisson and his wife Jessica who are the owners of the store (Thanks for the help guys and the 3d printed cow skull!)

Nerf Or nothing

Tuesday - The first day of a rain filled week🌊 Here in brazil, when it rains, a lot of people get sick and dont tend to answer the door so it gets a little difficult to work but, we found some awesome people! First, Sueli, who speaks a little english and watched the broadcast of the sacrament meeting this week, and second Alisson who lived in Canada and has friends that were missionarys for the church! Later that night, we went to bring some of our friends to seminary with bishop and we were just talking about the mish and things we cant do, and out of no where bishop said in perfect english, "you cant kiss elder". We bursted out laughing🤣

2 elders in the sun!

Wednesday - ZONE CONFERENCE. My biggest take away was how we as missionaries dont need to make someone perfect to be baptized! We just help give people what they need to progress and be made perfect in Christ (Moroni 10:31-32). We also did a division with the AP's and I worked with Elder Rodrigues! It was cool to see him come back to his original area and he got to surprise some people he taught!

Thursday - Not much happened today but it was cool to find a raspberry bush growing fruit like the one at my house back home! We also had lunch with a member family of venezuelans who were learning english. Let's just say, we all have a lot to learn in regards to how to speak another language🤣

 Segway!

Friday - Do you guys remember that dog from last week? Im pretty sure he is my spirit animal (like in the movie coco) because he walked with us all morning during our visits! We talked to the end of our area for lunch and he came with. He ended up making all the dogs at lunch bark as soon as we arrived.[Mom note: He met another guy today and noticed he had a BYU hat!]

😅 But the cool experience was when we were heading back home at 9PM and I felt the need to talk with this man sitting on the corner. His name was Anderson and he explained how we really wants to change his life and have a better connection with God. We talked with him for a bit and felt that I needed to give him a Book of Mormon. When I showed it to him, he told us that last week he said he wanted a Book of Mormon and that we were that answer to his prayer. The last Book of Mormon I was holding onto for the day, was his.

 Members and cleaning

Saturday - Went to go visit a reference that Elder Lopes and Niz left for Elder Black and I. His name is Sidney. He truly wants to change his life for the better and he admite to use that he uses drugs. It was the first time someone showed me crack and I thought it was one of those 4th of July bomb things you throw on the sidewalk😅 We ended up teaching him and inviting him to be baptized and he accepted! Afterwards we went to clean the church with some members and went to visit some investigators with Bishop and his wife, Sirlei. It went very long but we somehow ended up reading the 13 articles of faith and got a new family to church!

AP'S

Sunday - Sadly the baptisms we had marked today fell but it was still a pleasant Sunday. We actually got a call from Fernanda, a recent convert, who said she had investigators over. We came over and they started asking us all sorts of questions. I knew based on the questions, that this was a prank and they were members😆 turns out one of them does Professional photography for temples of the church!

Fernanda visit

Even though I had an experience this week when someone else confirmed a spiritual prompting for me like with Anderson, I like to think that we are always recieving these answers and directions. The spirit of the Lord is given to us and we can know promptings come from it by what it calls us to do. I think this is how I truly have learned to recognize the spirit and so can you! (Moroni 7:15-17)

Elder Niz sleeping

Love you all! Even though we may be miles away, we share the same sky! (Shoutout to anyone who knows the reference😉)

Até a próxima!

- Elder Dfish

#52 - You have a fear of.... bunnys?!🐇 (5/13/24)

Bananas?!?

E aí tudo mundo? Como que tá? Como foi a semana para vocês? Alguém viu a luz em Utah, a luzes do norte? Eu queria estar lá mas eu estava aqui😅 Talvez a próxima vez..

Hey guys! How's it going?? Elder Fisher here after another week of climbing hills, getting jumped on by dogs, and the nice hot brazilian sun! (The tan is getting better!🤣)

   

Me and Elder Lopes

   But as always, here is my week in review here in Jardim Osasco:

Monday - Transfers!! Normally with transfers our President will call us to let us know what will change and if he doesn't call you, you will stay in the same place with the same call. President never called us so I figured, "Guess we are staying!". Later in the day, after playing with and watching Oorbies grow, I got an email that only District Leaders get and when I updated out Preach My Gospel app, it said I was "District Leader and Trainer". So, I am officially training and being District Leader again without even knowing! 🤣

Oorbeis

Tuesday - Today we focused on finding new people and visiting references (I think missionaries say referrals in english, but they are when someone requests a visit or book of mormon from the missionaries, if your interested in a visit go to ComeUntoChrist.org). While knocking doors, we found Jessica who asked us if we worked with Family Search! It caught me so surprised that I asked if she had the app and we checked if we were related (we weren't🥲) but she has interest in learning more so we connected her with people from Family Search! It was cool to see how people from around the world are using this resource to get to know their families. Later that night, we brought our friends Murilo, Kaue, and Adriele to Seminary.... may or may not have crashed Seminary😅

Walking with the boys at night

Wednesday - Lesson of the day: In-grown toenails HURT!😆🫠 Woke up this morning and spoke with Sister Bikman about an in-grown toenail (unha encravada) that I thought I had and she said I could ask around about visiting a doctor about it. I asked the bishops wife, Sirlei, and she immediately marked an appointment for me that same day! So, I worked, enduring every bit of pain walking, and actually got to talk a little Librus (sign language) with someone! (I also used google translate). Then I went to my appointment and let me say.... "...ow... I don't want to do that again!😂". From what I saw, I think I had 2 small in-grown toenails and now, im better! I'll see if my mom can put the video on my blog. 

Before surgery and video of his reaction. [Mom note: Ingrown toenails are hereditary,
sorry Bud, that you had to go through this] They walk A LOT!

Thursday - Honestly don't remember much from this day besides putting sunflower oil and cottenballs in my foot to care for my in-grown toenail but I remember I recieved a random message from someone named Jailson saying how he is the next Christ. I honestly didn't know how to respond so I said "cool!" and asked if he would be interested in a Book of Mormon.

Boys and the temple

Friday - TEMPLE TRIP! I love going to the temple and how much it has been emphasized these days. I truly know that all the promises that President Russell M. Nelson has said about the temple, are true! There is no other better place to communicate with our Heavenly Father or feel peace than their is in the temple. We should truly strive to go when we have time and try to make our home like the temple. The Home is the second holiest place in the world after the temple. After visiting the temple we had a member lunch and it turns out, the members had some farm animals! They had chickens, pigs, and bunnies! When we were going to see the bunnies (coelho) Elder Lopes ran away! It turns out, he has a fear of bunnies! I tried my best to help him give it a piece of lettuce but Elder Lopes freaked. Maybe when Elder Lopes goes to the US I can help him overcome this fear😉

BUNNY

 

 Boys and a porco

Saturday - Today we were confirming people for church and during our member lunch we had lunch with some of my favorite members: Raquel and Ozair. At times, we will teach them some english phrases and right now they like the phrase "YEAH BUDDY!". They also burst out laughing when I said "minha celular" instead of "meu celular" (they both mean my phone). Yeah... still working on the portuguese at times😅     

 

    

Sunday - Woke up early and got right to waking up everyone for church! While knocking doors, my dog friend kept jumping on me and ended up getting my clothes all dirty before church even started! But it was all good because we got 7 people to church, one of which was Adriele who got baptized! We have been teaching Adrieles family for some time and it is remarkable to see the difference the presence of the gospel of Christ has made in their life as the Father, who doesn't believe in God, now wants to believe! They have such a strong desire to follow Christ and we are slowly but surely helping them progress.

 Baptism of Adriele

Honestly in review, this week was miraclous! Even though at times I felt that I wasn't doing much as I could or that people weren't as open to messages, God provides! His work cannot be frustrated (D&C 3) and if we countinue with all diligence (Jacob 1:19) God will provide. That's Faith for ya!

Baptism with everyone!

Hope that your all doing good and that you all remember the small and simples moments that God has given you to help you and others come back unto Him. He is truly walking beside and carrying your load with you!

Ate a proxima!

-Elder Fisher

#51 - "TODAY" Baptisms🌊🔥 (5/6/24)

E aí blz? Como vocês estão galera? Mais uma semana passou cheia de momentos e experiências sagradas e aleatórias! Mas, com certeza foi uma semana muito abençoada e guiada por Deus! [What's up? How are you guys? Another week has passed full of sacred and random moments and experiences! But it was certainly a very blessed week guided by God!]

Golden hour!

Hey guys! How are things? Each time that I write this first paragraph I feel that I am putting my english to the test and warming up the english again!🤣 So if there is anything I type that doesnt make sense, just read Mormon 9:31😉

The 4 Elders lunch division

But in other news, here is the run down of this last week!

Hamburger!!

Monday - Spent the P-day at a members house and had a terrific lunch! I also got to play some ping-pong against Arthur (who is insanely good!) and in the wise words of Flinn Rider: "Guys, I want a ping-pong table!"😂

 MASSAGER!

Tuesday - Finding day! While knocking around doors and acting like Gandalf to everyone ("YOU SHALL NOT PASS... without talking to us!😁") We stumbled upon this little alleyway with some houses. We had a good lesson with Paulo and Leticia talking about how we can recieve forgiveness from God and then immeditely depois we knocked this one door and awoke an army of Dogs! No one answered the door so we ended up moving on to another spot. Afterwards we decided to leave and the dogs were right there ready to attack us! (I may or may not have sung to myself, "WHO LET THE DOGS OUT?!") It turns out the gate wasn't closed so the Dogs got out and were barking up a storm, ready to bite us. We then immediately reached for the ground, grabbed some rocks and herded the Dogs back to the house and locked the gate. No dog bites this time! Later at night, we went to seminary with some of our recent converts and one of them had a mini massage machine. Out of no where he put it on me on the highest setting and immediately I jumped! Let's just say, that small thing packs a punch!

Crashing Seminary!

Wednesday - Mission Devocional! The biggest thing that stood out to me is when our President talked about how things aren't supposed to remain "static". We as people change. We never know who will accept the Gospel or what someone could be going through and how that might change them. Everyone has their time and circumstances to recieve the gospel message, we just need to be patient and keep trying until they are ready! Biggest thing that happened today: WE FINALLY GOT OUR OWN HOUSE!! We had been living in a house with 4 Elders and 1 bathroom and washing machine. Now, it is just Elder Black and I here and the other Elders got an apartment (that is a lot fancier than ours😅)

Right before I broke the chair!

Thursday - Today I recieved a question I honestly wasn't expecting! We met a lady named Pamela who was very intrigued with our work as missionaries. She asked a lot of questions about, where we are from, why we are here, and then she asked me "have you thought about giving up?". It caught me off guard and sincerly I responded, "I have thought about it once, but I know I can't." I then shared with her one of my mission scriptures (Mosiah 28:3). She liked the scripture and my resolve that she accepted a book of mormon and it was awesome to see how much my resolve as a missionary has grown! Later in the day, Elder Black and I tried to make a facebook post with this handmade chair outside and I may or may not have broken it while sitting on it! We then enjoyed a ward activity and brought a lot of investigators, one of which was Adriele!

Temple

Friday - Went to the temple today and saw my CTM district friends! Turns out that my first companion in the CTM, Elder Mortenson, is training!! It was awesome to see how much he has progressed! As I mentioned on Thursday, we brought our friend Adriele to the activity and we passed by today to teach her and her family. My intention was to invite her to be baptized but God had different plans. As we began talking, Adriele said she loved the church and the activity and that she felt something different but good while she was there! I explained it was the presence of the Holy Ghost and we began to read 3 Nephi 11 to understand how we can have the presence of the Holy Ghost with us through baptism and while reading, Adrieles mom, Daniele, asked "If Adriele wants to follow your church, does she have to be baptized again?" and immediately Adriele said "I WANT TO!". Thanks to Gods design we now have her on date for this coming Sunday! 

After temple lunch

Saturday - Had Venezuela type pizza today! SO GOOD! I also found another Dog that looks and acts the same as Caramel in Palmeira! And now, the highlight of this email! We had talked with a lady, Sandra, about passing by today to share a message with her and her kids, Kauê and Murilo. When we passed by, Sandra said she talked to her kids about baptism (since they aren't baptized yet) and that they wanted to be baptized immediately! So, I asked our Bishop and President and they gave us the okay. So after teaching everything they needed to know (practically 3 lessons in 1) we marked them on date for the next day! And this is what happened...

CARAMEL THE DOG!

Sunday - We got everyone with our Onibus and went to the church! Murilo, Kauê, and Sandra loved it and after church... they were baptized (so technically not a "today" but basically😂) We are going to bring Murilo and Kauê to seminary this week but after only knowing them for 3 days, we are already brothers from another mother! And then maybe during a member lunch, the members asked for a song suggestion and I said "I see country everywhere" (Shoutout to my swing dance friends, Love you guys!)

Bus!

Overall, this week was full of a lot of crazy moments but I was amazed to see God's hand in it all and how he is preparing his Children, every step. While at times we may feel that we are working our best and not getting results, keep going! Be like Mormon and Moroni in Moroni 9:6, continue to labor diligently as we have a labor to perform in this "tabernacle of clay".

Baptism of Murilo, Kauê, and Sandra

Filling the font

Love you guys! I'm praying for ya everyday and I know that God is with you every step of the way!

Ate a proxima!

-Elder Fisher