#58 - "Hey President! ....PRESIDENT!!"🤯(6/24/24)

E aí Galera! Como vai? Estamos tendo um almoço aqui numa buffet livre e de verdade, esta limonada fica bom! Quero este tipo de limonada nos Estados Unidos!🤩[What's up guys! How are you? We're having lunch here at an all-you-can-eat buffet and honestly, this lemonade is good! I want this kind of lemonade in the United States!]

 
Day 1 with Elder Lima!

Hey guys! How's it going? Whats new in the US? Germany? Japan? Argentina? Chile? Canada? And other places of the world? Here in Brazil.... it is both hot and cold😆

But this week I have something different for you guys! It isn't the adventures of Elder Black Fish. Now it is of "Lima Fish, the bean fish"😅(I need to find a new nickname for Fisher and Lima, if anyone has any recommendations, send me a message)

pizza

In other news, here is a look at the week:

Monday - TRANSFERS! I have officially have a new son now! (I have 4 sons now, i think God’s trying to tell me something🤣) His name is Elder Lima, from São Paulo! After saying goodbye to Elder Black and Elder Child (miss you guys!) We then headed back to our house and immediately got to work... cleaning the house!

Spot of tea!

Tuesday - First day working with Elder Lima and it was AWESOME! Elder Lima has an awesome gift to talk to people and find their needs so we spent majority of the day doing contacts and me teaching and sharing brief messages. When we were walking, someones car broke down and ran out of gas. We then walked over to help out and this motorist saw us and because we were the missionaries he stopped and help out this man. It was awesome to see how the example the missionaries show helped this man! We then ended up setting an appointment with the man whose nickname was "gordino", his name was anderson. MIRACLE!

Service

Wednesday - Another day of contacting people and letting my companion get to know the ropes. We met a lot of people who were really interested and looking for the truth and it was awesome! 

Elder Lima

Thursday -  Woke up this morning and learned some portuguese with Elder Lima while I was teaching him english. Turns out, I cannot say "galho" right in portuguese so if anyone knows, id appreciate the help😆 Today while working we went over to have lunch and do some service with Cida and vera. I was wearing my worn out shoes and Vera pointed out that I had a whole in my shoes and I already knew I had a hole but when I looked down and she pointed to it, the hole grew! Let's just say, I am looking forward to getting new shoes soon!

Friday - We got to go to the Temple today! It was awesome to be able to go with Elder Lima for the first time and see some of my fellow missionaries that arrived with me such as Sisters Rodriguez and Anderson! Afterwards we did a division with the AP's and i got to work with my boy, Elder Lizana! I won't lie, for how long I have been training other people and being a district leader, I had began to wonder if really what I was doing with teaching and contacts was good and after doing the divison with Elder Lizana, I got that reassurance that what I am doing is what Elder Fisher should be doing. There are many ways to do missionary work, and I believe I know now how Elder Fisher is guided by the spirit in the work. A funny part was when a car was leaving a house and he told us "Elders, this man needs Jesus" and I immediately went running to talk to Jefferson! He couldn't help but laugh with how fast I ran over and shook his hand😆

Elder Lizana!

Saturday - Today was helped our friend Darwin from Venezuela with his house. He is trying to make an attatchment to his house and so we learned how to build a house! It was really cool to help him out and see the love and effort he puts in for supporting his family. The really cool experience was when we talked with Daniele. We had been teaching her for a while and helped her daughter Adriele be baptized and when we arrived, she told us about a dream she had where in the dream, her grandfather confirmed to her that this is the truth church of Jesus Christ! The promise that the Holy ghost would help her to know the truth came true and she is more excited than ever to get married and get baptized!

Service part 2

Church cleaning

Sunday - During the morning we went around with our onibus and were able to bring 12 people to church! It was awesome! We ended up arriving a few minutes after the meeting started and when we looked inside the sacrament room, we both saw our mission President, President Bikman, and thought "cool..... WAIT PRESIDENT!". We had no idea he was coming but it was awesome to hear him speak about the importance of covenants and the invite to either make or keep our covenants with God. Later that night we went to visit a reference who literally is searching to work in Gods work. He asked us to baptized him and now we are helping him get married to then help us missionaries in God's work. God is preparing people like he did with this man, Duivid.

Duivid and family

I know that at times it may seem like we want everyone to progess immediately and be ready right now to recieve the gospel of Jesus Christ, but the gospel of Christ is a gospel of change, and people change. What is important is to have the faith that one day, our help of planting the seeds in peoples hearts will grow one day that the person will accept to learn more and come unto Christ who invites all into his loving arms (2 Nephi 26:24-33).

As I tell to everyone: You are first a son or daughter of God, and He loves each one of you! Remember that.

BOOK OF MORMON GRANDÃO

Amo cada um de voces!

Ate o proximo!

-Elder Fisher 

#57 - YOU SPLIT YOUR PANTS?! (6/17/24)

Wheres waldo

Sim, como falei, um dos Elders aqui rasgaram as calças dele😆 Foi muito engraçado quando recebi uma ligação de que ele precisava alguma ajuda🤣[Yes, as I said, one of the Elders here ripped his pants😆 It was really funny when I got a call that he needed some help]

Hey guys! Sorry I am sending this email later than normal but I need to make this pretty quick since I dont have a lot of time so.... "SEATBELTS EVERYONE!! Please let this be a normal field trip, with Elder Fisher, NO WAY, AAWWWW" (Shoutout to anyone that knows the reference)

Flower power

Monday - We got to go to Sams Club today to help a family with some shopping and moving and as a treat, WE GOT "THE BEST ACAI"🤩🤩

Lição [lesson] with Duda

Tuesday - Today we went around finding new people and did some member visits with Duda (Maria Edward). It was actually funny the number of members we found while just walking around on the road. I thought to myself "are we in Utah?"😆

Division with Niz

Wednesday - Did a division with Elder Niz today! I went with him to visit a reference who asked for a Book of Mormon and had a crazy nice house in the middle of nowhere! He ended up giving us this hand made grape juice (which I first thought was wine) and it was really good! Immediately afterwards, i got a call from Elder Lopes who told me that he had ripped his pants out of nowhere and needed assistance! Because he didnt have uber on his phone, i had to call an uber to help him and my comp Elder Black, get back to the house to change pants🤣

Hills are hard

Thursday - I did another division with Elder Niz today in my area where we had 2 lessons incríveis! The first was with a family of venezuelans. I dont speak much spanish but with what I knew (and the gift of tongues) we were able to explain about the church and leave them with Books of mórmon in portuguese and spanish. And they said they would go to church! We then went to do a member lesson and Elder Niz and I taught the restoration. The spirit was so powerful during that lesson and the family was very engaged. I remember one of the kids looking like the boy from "Home alone" after we gave the first vision😄

In the middle of the road

Daisy and Toby

Friday - First things first, found out that Elder Black knows the game "Hand and foot". I know ive played this game once but I dont remember how it works. If anyone knows.... could you remind me how it works?😅 Today we got to walk around with a dog army all day! Our dog Daisy has gotten some friends so now we have an army. We also ran into an old friend of ours who was drunk and tried to hug and kiss both Elder Black and I. Lets just say, we slowly walked away and didnt look back. 😆

Dog army [Mom note: at least this time they weren't biting him!]

Saturday - We got an Uber to Bocaiuva do Sol to help our fellow elders with a baptism interview. During our ride, we lost Internet and had to result to good old map and instincts to find the house (luckly we found it). Then to head back, we got a bus that made me feel like I was on the bus at BYU provo again. Shoutout to free bus rides with the BYU student ID!

Bus ride

Sunday - Our friends André and Ansly we baptized today! We also found out that it would be the last Sunday for Elder Black in the area and that I.... Drumroll please.......

Até a próxima Elder Black!

Will train again in my area! 

Thats right, im still in Jardim Osasco and now I have a 4th son named Elder Lima, from São Paulo! He is a pretty cool dude and I look forward to telling you guys about him this next week😁

Gigante [Mom note: Coxinhas, its a fried food]

To all those of my fellow missionarys, i highly recommend reading Jacob 5 again and focusing on how you are a part of Gods plan (v. 71)

Unicorn

Love you all

Tenho saudades para vocês!

Até a próxima!

- Elder Fisher

#56 - Ward Balé (DANCE)🕺💃🪩(6/10/24)

 Opa galera! Tudo bem com vocês? Não vou mentir, a música e dance de Brazil é muito bom mas difícil para aprender😂😂[Hey guys! All right with you? I'm not going to lie, Brazilian music and dance is very good but difficult to learn]

Hey everyone! How's it going! Elder Fisher here with another email and another week of performing the most important work taking place today, "The Gathering of Israel"!

Fusca [beetle car]

I don't have too much time today because we are about to visit "The Best Acai" because Elder Black hasn't gone yet so here is a quick update on the week:

Monday - Zone Counsel! We met up with everyone from our zone and the AP's to have a little conference and do some practices. Before we entered into the church, a person from the road came over to talk to us. Turns out he is a member who hasn't been to the church for a long time. I'm pretty sure he was also drunk but when were were talking to him he said I had a "pure heart"... so... thanks John! I hope to see you at church soon!

Mcqueen!

Tuesday - CONTACTING! Honestly one of my favorite things to do! I love talking to people on the road and at homes to get to know them and see their faith in Christ! While knocking a door, these two dogs came rushing at me and almost bit me! (thank you mankind for gates!) We found a lot of cool people and also cool things like LIGHTING MCQUEEN! (pictures below). We also set some people on date but... sadly none of them made it to church so, we will try and help them a little😅

Cleaning

Dog

Wednesday - Woke up this morning and found Daisy our dog OUTSIDE OUR HOUSE! I think she now knows where we live! Sadly it wasn't time for us to leave yet so she was gone by the time we left the house. Today was our day of service for a member family: Vera and Cida! They live on a farm like area and needed help putting rocks down on the grass and also preparing for a birthday party. We helped paint their driveway and it was a really nice change of pace! We also went to seminary at night to help the youth learn about testimonys. And as part of our pay, we got nachos! ALSO I FOUND OUT THAT PEOPLE HERE KNOW THE "HIGH 5 SONG" AND ITS IN PORTUGUESE!!! AHAHAHA!!! 

Nachos!

Thursday - This morning, I had a trial of faith. We went about making contacts and knocking doors and no one wanted to talk to us. We would make eye contact with people at houses and they wouldnt answer. I honestly began to think if there was something we did wrong bc nothing seemed to be going right. Right before I was about to give up, we finally found someone who let us in. It turns out, this man, Junior, had been praying for God to send him help and we were the answer to his prayer. I think it goes to show how at our lowest moments, God is preparing something for us but needs us to continue with faith to receive the "Ray of light" he offers for us! We are now helping our friend Junior prepare for baptism to recieve more of the blessings of God! Another fun experience was teaching a referral in a drinking distributor. Lets just say there was a strong smell of cigars and beer🤢

Dinner with members

Friday - We went back to help Vera and Cida today and found out they told us about their son who is away from the church and about 2 family that live in the same área that want to know the church! WORKING WITH MEMBERS WOOHOO! Then at night, our ward had a dance at the stake center and it was awesome! I actually had a women ask me to dance with her and sadly, I told her I cant as a missionary. But i promised her a dance in a year!🤣 (i also found out that Elder Niz knows how to do the foot thing! Ill send the vídeo to my mom and she send it out)

 Swing dance with Niz

Saturday - Today while we were trying to find a referral, we found a lady named Josi who is going through a hard time and wants to go back to church to help her son Alan (who also calls me Tio). I gave her the address and she ended up coming to church on sunday with her son! And one last time we helped with Vera and Cidas party😆

Cida and family

Service!

Sunday - Sadly our friends that were going to be baptized couldnt make it but we had our friends James, Josi, Alan, and Junior at church! To end of the day, we crashed the party of Vera and Cida and I may or may not have been force to sing Moana for everyone there😅

Scripture for the week: 2 nephi 22:2. Trust in God, he is our salavtion and his son as well

Love you all!

Tenho saudades para vocês!

Até a próxima!

- Elder Fisher (🐟er)

#55 - Checklist: Bag, BOM, Tag, and... yoga mat?🤸‍♂️ (6/3/24)

E aí tudo mundo! Como vocês estão? Não vou mentir, tive um churrasco alguns minutos atrás e agora, minha barriga está me machucando🤣 Eu comi de mais! [And then everyone! How are you? I'm not going to lie, I had a barbecue a few minutes ago and now, my belly is hurting me🤣 I ate too much!]

Funky beanie

What's up everybody?!?!?! Elder Fisher back at it with another summary of the week of "Black Fish". This weeks episode: Yoga mat. I will explain....

In the alley

Monday - Elder Black and I got hungry and we decided, "Lets make chicken nuggets!". And so, we did just that! And let me also say, they were FIRE. I think we could start our own chicken nugget business and call it: Chicken Nuggets.... its got a nice ring right?😉🤣

Chicken nuggets

Tuesday - Made a lot of contacts today! But also had 2 cool, and funny experiences. They both happened when we were going back home. 1st, we found a phone on the ground and immediately thought, "what do we do?". We tried to see if anyone was nearby but no one was around and all the houses didnt have light. So we decided to bring it home and find someone in the morning until it rang. I answered the phone and explained the situation. We then coordinated and a dude on a bike passed by in 3 minutes asking for the phone. Im glad to see how God used us to help that man get his phone back. The 2nd thing, we enter the house and there is water EVERYWHERE on the floor! Turns out our fridge was not... fridging (new word😆). So we did some cleaning😅

Bike (dont worry i didnt ride it!)

Wednesday - MISSION DEVOTIONAL and Interviews! Something I loved that President explained to me is that we each have a level of ability and a level of faith. When we start the mish, the level of faith should be higher than our ability and when we end the mish, the level of faith should still be greater but be MUCH higher than our level of ability. I thought it was cool to show how we have our abilities but with faith, the spirit magnifies our abilities to new heights that are unatainable with just our physical or intelectual abilities. I also got to do a division with Elder Vasconcelos in his area and Sister Bikman had given me a Yoga mat to take back to our house so.... i did a division with a Yoga mat on my mat all day😂

YOGA MAT DIVISION

Elder Vasconcelos 

Thursday - I honestly always forget what happens on Thursday😅. Made contacts, visited and taught people, and sufferes in the cold. Yeah thats about it🤣

Daisy the dog.. in my lap

Friday - THE CHICAGUISTAS ARE BACK ONCE AGAIN!! (Play "the boys are back" from High School Musical 3) That's right, another division with my boy Elder Child! (And possibly the last one🥹) We did so many contacts but found some really good people! The highlight of the night was when Elder Child did a baptism interview with someone on the phone who was at a restaurant birthday party!🤣 I couldn't help but hear Elder Child repeat each question 3-5 times. He asked me, "is it me?" And i told him it couldnt be. This was confirmed to us when we heard a young boy at the restaurant yell, "Dad! Im hungry!". Shoutout to Elder Child for pushing through

Elder Child division

Saturday - Phrase of the day when talking to Elder Lopes: "Elder Fisher is a Fisher of men, Elder Black is a hunter of men" (Elder Black likes to go hunting) We went to confirm our friends for church today and met Alessandros kids! These guys are awesome! They know how to do wheelies (grão em português). I have officially told myself, i need to learn how to do a wheelie when I get back. We also knocked some doors and some random person gave us a bag of fruit which turned out to be a miracle as we gave it to a family that didnt have any food!

These guys are insane!

Sunday - Ngl, it was a difficult Sunday morning. Only one of our friends was able to make it to church and people we had on date for today didnt make it but, D&C 123:17 right! Something that stood out to me during fast and testimony is when our bishop explained that we can see a miracle each day in the mirror, we are the proper miracle of God! I thought that was so cool! I also learned today how much we need to include members in the work. One of the people in our ward, Duda (Maria Edwarda) felt like she wasn't doing much to help so I asked if we could do a few visits with her. It was awesome to see her share her testimony and when I thanked her, she thanked me for finally having a chance to help!

3 Nephi 11:37 - And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and become as a little child,
and be baptized in my name, or ye can in nowise receive these things.

I think as people, we rely a lot on our proper ability and skills instead of Gods. When we rely more on our faith in Christ and God, our efforts are magnified a million times more than our ability! Alma 36:3, trust in God, and he will deliver you... always.

Puppies

I have also officially hit 1 year as a missionary! Thank you to everyone for the help and support and I look forward to seeing what else is in store for me this next year. I'll see you all in a year!

They celebrated his 1 year mark by having churrasco

Até o próximo ano😉

- Elder Fisher