#85 - The Christmas Hunt 🎄🎁🎅🔫(12/30/24)

Pistachio 

Feliz Natal e Ano Novo galera!!! Eu sinto que Natal passou rápido de mais. Pra mim, eu me sinto em Verão por causa da calor aqui 🤣[Merry Christmas and New Year guys!! I feel that Natal has gone by too quickly. For me, I feel like summer because of the heat here]

Early morning suits

Hey guys!! "We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, and a happy baptism!". And that is what happened this week! From celebrating the birth of our Savior to helping people recieve the greatest Christmas gift, the gift of the Holy Ghost, this week was busy! 

Elders Assemble

Here are just a few of the highlights from the week:

Bruna and family

Monday - I met Elder Christakis family!! They passed by Curitiba and Ponta Grossa on their way to visit family for Christmas and they got permission to visit us! It was awesome to get to know his parents and hear their mission stories. The funniest part was when we went shopping and his dad bought a GIANT SPEAKER for their shack. IT WAS HUGE. and guess who had to carry it to the car😅 we then ended the day with a churrasco with some members to welcome Elder Christakis family.

Lunch with Christakis fam

Churrasco!!

Tuesday - nothing says Christmas like CHRISTMAS CAROLS!! So as a zone we went caroling around the center of Ponta Grossa. Afterwards, we went to support some of our elders who had a baptism in Bonsucesso. Then I did a mini divison with Elder Gomes in his area. We went to converse with some baptismal dates in their area but (bc of Christmas eve) no one was home😅 we did end up finding Camilly who had already been to church a few times and was wanting to be baptized. She is now on date. Then to celebrate Christmas eve, we had some Elder over to have a churrasco!!!🍖🔥

Caroling with the zone

Elder Gomes

Wednesday - MERRY CHRISTMAS!! We had a nice Christmas meal with members where Elder Christakis and I sang a few Christmas hymns and then.... we went to work! People in brazil commerate more on Christmas eve than Christmas day and we had some people who were wanting to be baptized but needed a little help from the spirit. I went with Elder Groscost to an area that is 30 minutes away from Ponta Grossa. After getting an uber (100 reais 😅) we went to hunt down Felipe. We knew that he was still in Guaragi but he wasn't at home. We were just led by the spirit. We first went to him home where we found no one. When we started to leave, his mom arrived in a truck and said that Felipe was coming on his horse. Felipe arrived and I started to talk to him. He had a date of baptism for this day but wasn't 100% sure. I talked to him about what a privilege it would be to be born again on the day Christ was born and he agreed! After calling our friend Chris, we went to the church and Felipe received the Holy Ghost with a few other friends! Christmas miracles

Hunting for Felipe

Felipe baptism

Thursday - Today we worked in our area and we went singing to our Recent converts. In the afternoon, we did another division to help other people who wanted to be baptized but needed a little push. I went with Elder Peterson to help Jaqueline and even though we weren't able to help that day to be baptized, she was baptized this Sunday! And then random note, a girl who went with us to talk to Jaqueline bit me on the shoulder. Idk why but... ow!😵

Friday - We did a division in Bonsucesso to help out in their area and we met a few awesome people who were curious in the church and already knew a bit. Our divison got cut short when the Sisters from Nova Esperança asked for some help with a mother and her kids. The mother wants to start over again and be baptized but had this fear. We went over, sang a hymn for her, gave her a brief message, and she felt better to be baptized the next day!

Bonsucesso baptism

Saturday - Back in our area today, we did some service with members. There was a member who needed to refix his roof. What better people to help than the ELDERS!! So after getting a change of clothes and playing around with a parrot the family had (his name is Kevin) we did some service. We also found a member who resigned from the church but is wanting to come back. Please pray for França

Sunday -

2 red ties

We had the baptism of Sirlene and Claudio! (A couple that Elder Christakis was teaching) it was amazing to see how after 5 months of trial and faith, there were finally baptized! We also may have visited a catholic church today that had a nativity presentation! It was really cool! We didn't really know why we were prompted to enter until we found another less active member there! God put us there to offer something to him and I hope he recieved it!

Sirlene e Claudio baptism

Miracles are around every corner and we can treat each day as if it were Christmas. Jesus Christ doesn't just come around once a year like Santa. Jesus Christ is always near and is always making a difference in our lives. He is the prince of peace, our Savior and Redeemer! (2 Nephi 19:6)

SANTA

Amo vocês!

Até o próximo!

- Elder Fisher

Mission baptisms this month!

#84 - In the Woods🌳🛻 (12/23/24)

Feliz Natal Galera!! Vocês acreditam que Natal é em só 2 dias!!! É estranho! Estou aqui no shopping com a família de Elder Christakis fazendo algumas compras. Talvez vou comprar alguma coisa bem chique pra mim também 😉[Merry Christmas Guys!! Do you believe that Christmas is in just 2 days!!! It's strange! I'm here at the mall with Elder Christakis' family doing some shopping. Maybe I'll buy something really fancy for myself too]

Companions of Elder Christakis 1

Merry Christmas to one and all, and to all a good day! (I would say goodnight but it's not even mid day yet😆) Can you all believe that Christmas is this week!! It is insane to think that I am already on my second Christmas here on the mish and that this will be my last. I honestly don't know what I will be doing to celebrate but, I know it will be special and a day to remember the Birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

This week was pretty packed of cool moments! Here's my update:

Monday - We went to Parguayzinho today! It is a shopping mall of knock off cheaper things. The best purchase I made: a comb butterfly knife😁😁 when we got back home from working, I was so tired that I just fell on the bed and went to sleep but shoutout to Elder Christakis for getting me a blanket and pillow while I was sleeping 😴 

Na rua

Tuesday - District Counsel.... that was just singing Christmas Carols with the zone😁 (I got to sing alto with the Sisters bc no one knew the alto part😅) afterwards we went over to lunch and we got to try HOT SAUCE. Let's just say, regrets we made. But we had an awesome lesson with our friend Vinícius. It was the first time we met him and he was in the house of our mission coordination leader. He was with his wife (a less active member) and he ended up teaching the Restoration (the first time I taught the Restoration with Elder Christakis). It was incredible! We made Vinícius cry and he fulfilled our invite to read the BOM and pray and then he sent us this message (look below). Heading back home, we also got Shawarma. It was good

Shawarma 

Wednesday - Divison with Elder Benjamin! I went over to his area to find that they were actually moving their house. So I waited until after lunch for our divison. We went around acompanying his dates and we ended up playing a little soccer with some kids. The gifts of the Holy Ghost are real bc we ended up winning and I got 2 goals!⚽️🏟

Division with Benjamin and Daniel

Thursday - Divison with Elder Rodrigues! I went with him to a small town in their area called Guaragi. They had been working their for a bit and brought a good amount of people to church. I went around with Elder Rodrigues and we marked 5 people on date for baptism! While ending our last lesson, a thunderstorm came out of nowhere and we're caught in the middle of it! We ran until the bus and went back to Ponta Grossa. When we arrived at his house, Elder Christakis and Groscost attacked us with Orbees!!! Not cool but lowkey really funny🔫🔵

Cows

On top of the truck

Friday - Temple and Christmas Devotional!!! Our zone sang a Christmas hymn together and then I played guitar for a Sister to sing. The funny part was that they left the treble really high so all the high notes I played were really loud but, it was really good! We also had a Sister, Sister Oliveria, who has an AMAZING VOICE! She sang an arrangement of "O Holy Night" (foi top!!) After we went back to Ponta Grossa, we went to save a baptismal date in Jardim Osasco, Mycon. He was having doubts about baptism but we passed by and helped so that...

Saturday - Mycon got baptized!! After his baptism, we went to get some of our friends to go to our ward Christmas dinner. One of them lives in the middle of the forest😆 So with help from our member friend Edison, off we, driving in the woods for 2 hours😆😆 At the dinner, we were talking with 2 of our investigators and they were wanting a change in their lives and to feel closer to God, so after talking about baptism and inviting them...

Maycon bap with Sisters

In the woods

Sunday - Eloísa and her son Gabriel were baptized!! (I may have needed to kick Gabriels legs a little bc he had fear of the water😅) But the cool part about today is that Elder Christakis family came to town and went with us to help at a FamilySearch event!

Eloisa and Gabriel

Baptism with Pres of relief Society

 

Me and Gabriel in water

It is incredible how much I continue to learn, not only about the gospel but life skills as well. I have truly come to see how the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his life and mission has purpose in everything I do. Bc of him, everything is possible and his spirit can guide and bless me.

Shadrak

Merry Christmas to all! (Feliz Natal)

Bird on Elder Christakis

 

BIRD

 
Até o próximo!

- Elder Fisher

#83 - Oorbeis Gun and birthdays 🔫🟠(12/16/24)

Temple

 Eau blz galera!!! Como que foi a semana para vocês? Pra mim, CANSATIVO. Tivemos os AP's da missão conosco e vamos dizer que fomos a dormir às 2h da manhã cada dia 😅[Hey blz guys!!! How was the week for you? For me, TIRING. We had the AP's from the mission with us and let's say we went to sleep at 2am each day]

Young men

Hey guys!!!! Is there snow yet in the states? Is it still hot in Chile? And what's the weather like in Germany? Here it is nothing but rain and sun. I have already pulled out the umbrella, sunscreen, and fishermans hat😆

Rain

This week was pretty busy because we had the AP's staying with us to help out in our zone and each day was long and tiring. Here are the highlights from this last week:

Family search

Elders and sisters

 Monday - Sleep.... that is all I remember 😆

Baptism tree

Tuesday - Zone Meeting! We called our entire zone to have a meeting where we had a TREASURE HUNT! Normally what happens at these meetings, we have a few presentations about improving our work and teaching but we wanted to do something fun so we made a treasure hunt. It was pretty funny to see all the missionaries running around the church trying to finding and answer riddles we made. The other highlight of the day was having lunch with Bruna! She is a recent convert here and the cool thing I learned about her.... SHE WATCHED BARBIE MOVIES!! (may or may not have geeked out with her about this😉)

Treasure hunt meeting

Wednesday - The AP's arrived!! We waited until the AP's, Elder Eduards and Hyatt, arrived and did a small division with Elder Hyatt. We first went to lunch with a part member family and actually invited the father to be baptized. He accepted... but for sometime in the future. Pray for Valdivino. Then while walking around we found... and oorbi gun! This toy is very popular here so what did we do.... we bought 2 for the 3 of us. I'll explain more in a sec but first, Rainha. We went to visit our friend Daiana, and we found her friend Rainha there. We started teaching them and then Rainha opened up to us. She told us she was looking for more peace and that she had been thinking of taking her own life and prayed to God to help her. She made that prayer the day before we came. We are now helping her come unto Christ. And to end the night, remember that oorbi gun?? We waited until Elder Eduards got back from a different division to then ambush him with oorbis.... it was pretty funny🤣

Rainha and daiana

Thursday - 2 division in 1! Elder Hyatt was going to do a divison with an Elder in a different area but he got sick. We had medicine in our house so they came over to our area. After resting a bit, I went to work with Elder Latus (the elder that was going to go with Hyatt) in our area. It was cool to see a new missionary having a stronger desire to serve. We also found our friends Erika and Natali and marked them on date for the 29th of December for baptism! And to end the night, we took some cigarettes from one of our investigators to help him with the word of wisdom🚬

Elder Latus and amigas

Friday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELDER FISHER!! I first want to say thank you to everyone who sent me a message. Sorry I can't respond to all of the messages but I truly do appreciate it. For my birthday, the Elders decided that I needed to be shot 21 times with oorbis (for my age) and that we would get CHINA BOX (Bascially panda express) the day was honestly pretty chill and I ended the day getting a cake from Cris. Like last year, he remembered my bday

China box and a small chair

China box [like Panda Express]

Cris bday cake

Saturday - Palmeira... I am back again!!!😆😆 I went to Palmeira with Elder Hyatt to help with some baptism dates in their area. I went with Elders Bear and Frederickson to help Eliskar and Bianca. We went to visit Eliskar and got the signature of the mom for her to be baptized. We then went to visit Bianca and tried to get the signature of the parents. Sadly the parents want her to wait longer but I know one day Bianca will be baptized.

Sunday - We stayed in Palmeira for church and had the baptism of Eliskar while Elder Christakis had the baptism of our friend Lorena in out area. We then headed back to Ponta Grossa with Cris (I got to sleep for a bit). When we got back, we immediately starting looking for our friend Raquel. She was going to be baptized today but no one knew where she was. Elder Hyatt and I walked around for about an hour until we found her. She actually forgot about her baptism so he helped bring her to church and she got baptized! 

Baptism of Raquel

During my study this week, I read a scripture that I always knew but didn't put into perspective until now. Moroni 7:45. I read the part at the start that says how "Charity suffereth longeth". The more and more that I com to meet people and understand their situations and connect it with Christ, the more I come to feel for them and carry their sufferings with them. As disciples of christ, we promise to help other people carry their sufferings and I find it a way to better connect with the person and connect them to Christ!

McDonald's and sonic

But that's about all for now. I look forward to seeing what this next week has in store! 

Até o próximo!

- Elder Fisher

#82 - Welcome back to Palmeira!!🌴🏄‍♂️ (12/9/24)

Opa amigos!!! Como vocês estão? Desculpe que não mandei um e-mail semana passada, foi corrida pra nós aqui com a transferência. Muitas pessoas perderam as viajem delas e as mochilas também. Ficamos na capela organizando tudo e esperando desde 6h da manhã até 7h da noite. Basicamente, não tivemos p-day 😅[Hey friends!!! How are you? Sorry I didn't send an email last week, it was a rush for us here with the transfer. Many people lost their trips and their backpacks too. We stayed in the chapel organizing everything and waiting from 6am until 7pm. Basically we had no p-day]

Your a wizard Harry!

Hey guys how are you?! Sorry that I didn't get an email out last week, we had a lot of problems with the transfer that we were trying to resolve. But today, I'M HERE AND STILL ALIVE! 

It has been a very busy and crazy last 2 weeks. I will have my parents send out week 79 to everyone but now it is time for WEEK 80!!!!

Monday - We arrivd at the stake center @ 5 in the morning so that Elder Amaral and the other missionarys being transferred to Curitiba could take a van there. After saying our goodbyes, the van left and was scheduled to come back at 10 in the morning. It didn't come back until 2 in the afternoon! When it arrived we presented all the missionarys and found out another problem. Some of the luggage wasn't sent or was sent to the wrong place! Elder Cristakis and I ended up staying at the church until 7, waiting for missionarys to leave, sending out luggage with ubers. So we didn't get a p-day but, at least I had the chance to buy new shoes! I then finished the night with my first CLM where all the missionary leader talked about their areas and goals.

On the bus

Tuesday - Early morning bus ride to.... PALMEIRA!! One of my old áreas! Palmeira had been having a rough time baptizing because of some missionarys that didn't work and argued with the branch President, President John. Our goal was to change that. After we arrived and had district counsel, the first person I saw was Arianne! A former missionary that served in California and speaks fluent English! We divided into companionships of 3 to work and we went around inviting everyone to come unto Christ. It was cool to work in an area I already knew and my goal was to help my friend Pablo. I ended up visiting him with Elder Cristakis late at night and we talked with him and his family about being baptized tomorrow. After talking, he accepted so..

Arianne and the boys!

Palmeira 1 (Elder Bear and Frederickson)

Italo and fam

Wednesday - I traded with Cristakis to work with the other dupla in Palmeira and guess what?! I visited Vinícius family! Vinícius is a young man I baptized a year agora and his younger brother, Italo, will be baptized next week!! It was a tender moment to see them still strong in the gospel. Cris also came to help us visit other recent converts I baptized: Rosa and family, Leonildes, Luiz. Then we went to the church to prepare for the baptism. We got word from the other Elders that Pablo wasn't feeling so sure about the baptism but that we was ready. Pablo's mom got home late and said they needed to eat first and that they would arrive to the baptism in a bit. All of us were waiting, and they never arrived. We then got a message that Pablo's mom saying they were too tired and we should do it another day. Elder Cristakas and I got in Cris car and drove over. I talked with Pablo, explaining Mosiah 28:3, that I couldn't bear another minute of leaving him without the spirit. He was being tried by satan but... it worked out. And now, he has the Holy Ghost with him after more than a year of knowing the church and being tried by the enemy🥹

Me and Pablo (not in pool)

Pablo's baptism

 
                        Me and Pablo (in the pool)                                                        The aftermath                                           

Sleep time

Thursday - We may have slept in a little today because we got back home from Palmeira at 1 in the morning😅 Today we worked in our area and marked baptismal dates with Daiane (mother of recent converts) and Kátia family!! Pray for them so that on the 15th of December they can recieve the Holy Ghost! We also did a challenge with our zone that if a dupla marks 3 dates or more, we would buy pizza for them. (We ended up needing to buy 3 pizzas😅 🍕) 

Dinner with Daiane and fam

Kátia and family

Pizza delivery

Friday - EARLY MORNING TEMPLE TRIP! Because the temple is in Curitiba, we had to leave in a van at 5am to get there on time. During the ride Elder Cristakis and I planned our zone conference training for after the temple. It ended up being great! We talked about 9 points of presentation and body language when teaching. President liked it so much that be added a 10 point: don't use your phone while teaching😆. After getting back to our area, we then went to a doctor to check up on my in-grown toenail (all is well) and take out some dead skin from Elder Cristakis foot. The funny part is that he is ticklish! He could stop laughing the entire time😂 I think we are a lot more alike than I thought 

Foot Surgery

Saturday - Confirming people for church..... in the rain 🌧 . We also talked to our baptismal date Raquel about her baptism the next day. Then late at night, we were trying to call an uber back to our house when out of nowhere, someone drives by and asks if we needed a ride. It turns out that they already knew the missionaries and had a lot of friends of the church and they ended up helping us out!

2 guys in the rain

Sunday - Sadly Raquel didn't make it to church and a lot of other people that were going to be baptized in our zone also didn't make it. But, we had a miracle! Jardim Verona had a baptism date that already had everything but just didn't make it to church. We passed by to help out and ended up baptizing Damiris! (Rescuing dates!!)

Damiris bap

Kauan baptism

We are always told to not compare ourselves to others and at times it is hard not to do. We honestly felt like our zone fell through a lot because we only had 8 baptisms instead of 16 (our goal). But comparison is only good when you use it to improve. We also found out that we still baptized more than any other zone. Looks like satan was working hard this week but, we still will work in this tabernacle of clay (Moroni 9:6) We must bear our afflictions with the patience and faith that God is detecting his proper work (Alma 26:27)

This week though, we are going to go ALL OUT!! Our goal this week: 30 baptisms 🤩 

Faith+works=miracles (James 2:17)

Pringle! (Thx mom bday box)

Ate o próximo!

- Elder Fisher