#67 - Cachorro Vaca 🐶 🐄 (8/26/24)

Future cougar 

Acabamos um almoço com nosso amigo Ewerson e agora, estou satisfeito e como Elder Black falou, estou grávido!😆

Hey guys! Whats new this week? Has school started back up for everyone? For me, it still hasn't 😉

Im here at a doctors place for Elder Lima. He broke a part of his teeth and its fun to see how even the dentists here in Brasil have the same smell as those of the USA!

But lets go ahead and dive right in to week 65: Cachorro Vaca (cow dog)

Cachorro Vaca

Monday - Zone Meeting! We learned about the things that make a lesson simple: 1. Confidence, 2. Speak less and listen more, 3. Be firm in teaching, 4. Be clear. We then did some practices of identifying if someone is a peixão (ready to learn more) or peixehino (not ready right now and needs more time to grow). We also did pratices of inviting people to be baptized in 5 minutes, 3, and 1. It was pretty funny to see at times how we scrambled to teach and invite within the time😅

Fishers of men

Tuesday - Today we were officially FISHERS OF MEN... bc we used fishing hats🐟 The highlight of today was talking to our friend Patrick. He had some many questions that Elder Lima and Jocel (former missionary) explained practically everything! Lets just say, we were there for a while... 3 hours..

Group shot

Wednesday - MISSION DEVOTIONAL! We studied a seminar that Elder Bednar gave about "moral agency". This seminar is incredible! My only thing to say is to study it below! And as the title of the email says, we found a cachorro vaca! (Cow dog) this dog was huge!

Cachorro Vaca to câmera

Cachorro Vaca licking me

Thursday - Little bit of a slower day today. We had interviews with president and im pretty sure that after this transfer I will be transfered to another area. But today I learned the power of the childrens vídeos in the Gospel Library app! We watched a few of them with some youth we were teaching

Working in the rain

Friday - We went to the temple today and got to bring our recent converts Tayla and Ewerson! After the temple, the weather changed drastically. It was bright and sunny and then turned cold and rainy out of no where! We went back to using the heaters again😅

Visits with Fernanda

Saturday - Cleaned the church (see the photo below for the Avengers) today we went around confirming people for church. We were going around visiting people when we got a message from Fernanda. She told us that her Sister, Amanda, was trying to smoke again. We immediately dropped everything and went to her aid. While we didnt convince her to not do it.... she ended up not smoking anyway! (I call that a win in our book!)

AVENGERS

Sunday - Sadly this week we didnt have any of out baptism work out (please pray for Leticia, Rodrigo, Gustavo, Samuel, and Kauê) but one of our FBC references made it to church out of no where! We then had lunch with Bishop. We talked a bit about the importance of respecting others beliefs and building on common faiths to help people come to Christ. Then to end the night, we burned a couch we found last week and left at a member house🤣

Burning couch

Something I learned this week is the importance of standing for what we know is true and speaking with the authority of God. As Alma 38:12 says about speaking with boldness but not overbearance, you always in love in the end.

visits with youth

I hope that you're all well and that you remember you are a son or daughter of God and he has gone before you to prepare your path, the Path Christ offers.

Até o próximo!

-Elder Fisher

P.S. If you'd like to read Elder Bednar's seminar: "Things to Act and Things to Be Acted Upon”

#66 - BOBBY! COME BACK WITH THE FRISBEE🤣🐶🥏 (8/19/24)

P-day Close up (i should have smoldered)

E aí Galera! Mais uma semana passou e milagres aconteceram mas primeiro milagre.... nossa casa está limpa e organizada novamente!😅[Hey guys! Another week passed and miracles happened but first miracle... our house is clean and organized again]

Fisher of men! [Mom note: sign says "Are you going fishing?
Come to the most complete fishing products store"

Hey guys!!! How goes it? I am looking outside our window right now and holy cow, the sunset is a masterpiece! Elder Lima and I had a pretty chill day with our zone meeting today. We got to practice a little more our teachings and each and everyday it gets better!

But other than the updates of today, here are the events from this last week:

Group p-day

The group pt 2

Monday - GAME DAY! We put together a group of Elders and members of the church here in Jardim Osasco and played a few games: Water balloon volleyball, dodgeball, and frisbee. We also had a dog there that we named Bobby who stole the frisbee and I had to chase him down for 5 minutes! We had someone to also take pictures for us and let me say.... I look good!😆

P-day with the elders

The 4 muskateers

Tuesday - Today we had a interesting experience. We were walking on the road and found a person who wanted to recieve a message from us. He was a little drunk but we walked with him to his house. When we got there, his neighbor said they didn't have time for a message and so we were confused why we were led there. But, as we learned a few weeks ago "peixinho e peixao", we found Jair! Someone who is truly looking for answers. We also got a FBC reference for our friend Patrick! He is someone very knowledge in the Bible and looking for the truth! 

Jocel!

Wednesday - Division with Elder Gonzalez! Elder Gonzalvez was a little sick so we didn't do too much but I remember when we were going around in my area, we started talking to someone when out of no where a car drove right at us and almost hit us! We ended up avoiding it but the driver drove right into this stairs going down. It was really weird but thanks to our Heavenly Father, we were alright.

Elder Gonzalez

Thursday -  VISITING THE TEMPLE WITH ELIAS AND HIS MOM!!🤩 Elias's mom was baptized when I arrived in Osasco 5 months ago and finally we could bring her to the temple! Sadly she couldn't enter (still needs to get her recommend) but we showed her around the garden and the spirit was confirming to her a dream she had of visiting a place similar to the temple before! Then while in the car going back home, I swear I heard one of the songs from the movie "Quest for Camelot" (shoutout to anyone that remembers that film!) and a Michael Buble song! (Michael Bubble😆) It was something like "I'll Never not love you". If it is an old one, I don't remember it and if it is new... someone add it to my spotify like right now!

Temple with Elias and Débora

Friday - Our day was pretty slow. Elder Lima and I were trying our best to talk to everyone but a lot of people didn't really have interest. We started to doubt a bit in our faith that Satan tried us. While we went into a Super market to grab water, we ran into a lady that started talking to us. She told us she doesn't see the importance of missionaries and didn't believe we were working in the favelas or in our area (the poorer areas in brazil). Instead of trying to convince her and bring the spirit of contention, I respectfully told her our purpose as missionaries and invited her to church to learn more. During this experience, I did feel upset that this lady said these things but I am glad that God offered me the direction to remember the importance of our call and remember the divine truths and promises God offers to us when we lead with charity and love. 

Ward activity

Saturday - Elder Quorum activity! The Elders quorum invited us to participate in an activity with them where they had churrasco, FIFA, and a version of mexican train! It was great to connect with the ward more! I also saw how the Lord answered my pray and helped us find Marcia, a recent convert that hasn't been to church for 8 months! We passed by her house and she was there! She ended up going to church with us on Sunday. We also went to visit our friend Rodrigo. He had his batism interview and passed but then told us he wouldn't be able to make it to church the next day🤦

Filling The font

Sunday - We didn't end up having a baptism today but we brought 10 investigators to church! One of which was the daughter of a member who hasn't been to church in years. He actually asked us to help with some construction and so we passed by. Let's just say, I think I now know how to make a house using bricks and cement! (Thanks Bryan!)

Overall a blessed week! I think something I really learned this week is how many revelations we actually recieve! We recieve more than we think. In President Eyring talk "Our constant companion" he talks about this. In the scriptures, people recieved revelations daily (Helaman 11:23) and a revelation can be as simple as a good thought (Moroni 7:13, 15-17). Just act on a good thought and the Holy ghost will guide you!

We may have stolen a couch...

Ate o proximo!

-Elder Fisher

#65 - It's back again...🤦‍♂️ (8/12/24)

Sunday photos

E aí blz galera?! Quais são os novidades? Estamos agui no parque da uva jogando frisbee com alguns Elders e membros da igreja. Acabei correndo atrás um cachorro que roubou nossa disca 😆😆

[What's up guys?! What's new? We are now at the uva park playing Frisbee with some Elders and church members. I ended up chasing a dog that stole our record]

Frisbee with the boys

Hey guys! Elder Fisher here with another week of miracles and funny moments. And the best way to write about them is to sit on a tree... i hope my legs dont fall asleep during this😅

Frisbee with group 

But in other news, heres the updates:

Frisbee with the boys and aliena

Monday - PLAYING FRISBEE!!! WOOHOOO!! AND THEN.... buying over 200 reais worth of ice cream and pizza (no i did not pay for it all, but I was forced to pay a good chunk🫠)

Ice cream

Tuesday - I dont remember much of this day besides having the elders come stay the night with us. Gotta say, I miss having 4 elders in the house or even 6 roommates in college (love you fellow roomies!! "FOR THE ROOMIES!", for those that remember😉)

Pizza!

Wednesday - Zone conference! Some of the biggest take aways from our training were:

Zone conference [Mom note: Dev is right in the middle]

1. Peixehino vs peixão (finding and deciding the people that are ready to recieve the gospel rn or no)

2. The 2nd question: "Do you know of anyone that is in need of help or a prayer or our message" to find those that are ready

3. The importance of inviting people to be baptized. It can happen anywhere, anytime, it just needs to be guided by the spirit and done with Christs words

Elder Platt!!

After zone conference, I did a divison with Elder Platt in our area and put all of this to work! It worked really well and was really funny when we found someone that said God is everything and started talking about atoms. It was interesting... but also confusing😅

Visits at night  [Mom note: It's winter there]

Thursday - Scripture for the day: Romans 8:35-39. Today we worked a lot on using what we learned at our zone conference and making our goals of 150 contacts, 10 batismal invites, 4 baptismal dates marked! Honestly, it is cool to see now how natural it is to talk about christ in situations (2 nephi 25:26) And also Vanessa was bpatized!

Baptism of Vanessa with boys

Baptism of Vanessa with everyone

Friday - And now the title of this email...My ingrown toenail came back🤦🤦‍♀️🤦‍♂️ this time I made sure to get it checked sooner than later. All I will say is... it was big😅 the cool thing I learned today is what to do when I dont know what to say. We were talking to a revent convert that was in need of help and I didnt know what to share. I thought to myself first "I am a disciple of Christ" and then D&C 122:7-9 came to my head and it was what they need. It is remarkable to see how God knows how to guide us like that. Just trust in him!

Part 2 of ingrown toenail [Mom note: they are hereditary, unfortunately]

Saturday - THE CAT IS BACK IN THE CHURCH!! After we finished cleaning the church and people left, a cat fell from the ceiling! Elder Lima and I tried to get it out with some...miner damages.... The cat may have peed on a chair out of fear....i had to wash a chair😂 while confirming people for church we ran into 2 people. 1 that asked us what the shortest verse in the bible is and the other that has been to every church in a vision. It was cool to converse with them and get to know.

CAT

Sunday - The power of pray and fasting. Elder Lima and I have gotten back in the habit to do fasts before church on Sunday and while I know that all prays and fasts will be answered, this time I saw responses in ways I didnt expect. I asked to bring our goal of 9 investigators to church and right before we started with our van, 3 kids called us asking when we would pass by. They ended up going to church! The other answer was to have someone feel the need to be baptized and it came true! Our friend Adreine finally was able to go to church and she had been having some struggles with God but I was told she gave a power testimony in relief Society and that she wants to get baptized next week!

Service

While at times as a missionary it feels that nothing is happening, the work of God is always continuing and each day is a day to grow our testimonies and prepare for the future. Só lets work in this tabernacle of clay! (Mormon 9:6)

Amo vocês!

- Elder Fisher

#64 - Im Playing Frisbee in Brasil🥏(8/5/24)

De fato, você pode jogar frisbee em Brazil se você trouxe uma disca! Agora estamos jogando num campo perto de nossa casa e é muito legal. [In fact, you can play frisbee in Brazil if you brought a disc! Now we're playing on a field near our house and it's really cool.]

Visits with Fernanda

Im guessing my mom will translate the part before this but that's right! Im playing frisbee in Brasil and it is awesome how you can ask a few people to play and they will play! [Pday only]

Foto from festival last week

But, while I am playing, heres some of the highlights from the week:

Monday - TRANSFERÊNCIA!! ....no one in my zone or district changed😅

Artur!

Tuesday - Today we went about finding new people and while knocking doors to visit a recent convert, one of the recent converts dogs peed on my shoes!! I guess it is better than getting bitten but, now I have a count for how many times a dog has peed on me😅

Cat in church

Wednesday - Mission Devotional: President Góis spoke to us about his conversion story. He talked about the importance of the second question: "Do you know of anyone that needs to hear our message or is going through a hard time". 2 Elders did this questions for someone they were teaching and they found the family of Góis and they didnt judge the situation they we in without food or appliances. I thought it was remarkable bc we never know who will accept the Gospel. Other random highlights, I heard dinossaurs dying during a lesson (i think they were pigs squalling) and I found a cat in our church building!

Fish-filet [Mom note: The 2 missionaries names together for fun]

Thursday - Fish-filet!!! I did a division with Elder Filleti in Rio Verde! It was cool to see how quick he has learned and adjust to working in Brasil after starting the mission in Utah.

Fish-filet w/ Gustavo

Fish-filet PT 2 [Mom note: Looks like it got warmer throughout the day]

Friday - Temple... x2! We went to the temple with other missionarys in the morning and performed batisms. Then after confirming our ward and recent converts, we went back to the temple at night! It was a remarkable experience to bring our recent converts and I cant forget what Ewerson told me. He began to cry as he felt confirmed in his heart that he helped 3 people on the other side of the veil follow Christ and now he wants to help his family to also do this!🥹

VAN

The Boys at the Temple 

Curitiba Temple 

Saturday - We went around confirming people for church and whenever we leave peoples houses, I always ask "can we do anything to help you guys? Maybe wash a dish?". This was the first time someone answered yes 😆 we ended up washing all of their dishes and... it was a lot

  

                                                                 Temple 

Temple 

Sunday - Sadly we weren't able to bring our friends to church today BUT, the Lord provided and we had some people arrive! Some of them were friends of Bishops son! The funny part was when Sunday school started and the young singlr adults didnt have a teacher só.... someone I taught😅 We studyed Alma 36-38 and I talked about the importance of trusting in the Lord and (after trusting in the lord) i was able to give a good sunday school lesson. Later that night we started talking to people that were going to church and they invited us to church. We ended up going! Lets just say, it was cool and different!

Crashing church with our new friend

As we learn in Alma 36-38, trust in the Lord and you WILL be delivered from your trials (Alma 37:37, 38:5)

Mormon 9:25

Amo vocês! Até o próximo!

- Elder Fisher