2 Meses!

Oi Everyone! 
 
I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and is doing well! I cannot belive that 
I have been on the mission for 2 monthes! Where has the time gone?! Anyway, 
stories from this week... 
 
On Christmas Eve me and the other sisters we live with made cookies and caroled 
and sang to the members so that was alot of fun and then on Christmas we had a 
pretty lazy day- or as lazy as you can get with being a missionary :) We woke up 
at 6:30 like normal, but we sat around opened presents that we had and didn´t 
leave the house until 11 for our lunch appointment. It was so nice to just relax 
and enjoy the day. It still didn´t really feel like Christmas though because it 
was sunny and super warm. 
 
A perk from being a missionary this week- so if the members cannot feed us one 
day for some reason they always give us money and that happened twice this week 
and my comp and I went to the little buffet- to- go food place about 2 minutes 
from our apartment. We got there, got our food and then the person who owns the 
places we had tracted into days before and he gave us our meal for free! It was 
super nice and the food was so amazing too, which is also a plus :) 
 
On Saturday we went to a ward activity which reminded me of the Labor Day Picnic 
we have at home except and it was hotter at this activity than at the picnic at 
home, it was for Christmas/New Years and people were swimming... Brasil :) It 
was a good time though. 
 
Another perk this week- I got out of speaking in sacarment meeting because I can 
play the piano. The bishop called at about 7 Sunday morning and asked with I 
would speak for 5 minutes about the Atonment of Cristo and of course I was 
freaking out, but we got to church and were sitting there when the bishop went 
to the piano/keyboard and set it to play prelude. It only played one song and 
then stopped so I thought I would asked if he wanted me to play. Of course he 
said yes so I went and was playing prelude and then he came up to me and asked 
me how many hymns I knew and I knew all of the ones he wanted to sing that day, 
so I played the piano/organ/keyboard for sacarment meeting and he said I didn´t 
have to speak.. yes! I always knew playing the piano was a good idea :) Just 
kidding. It was so awesome to be able to play again and honestly, if I play 
every Sunday for the rest of the mission, I would be perfectly happy :) 
 
Nothing else crazy happend this week. It wasn´t a good week for missionary work 
because everyone was out of town or with the family for the holidays, so we did 
alot of contacting, but I am hopeful that next week will be better :) 
 
I hope you all have a fabulous New Year!! I cannot believe that it is going to 
be 2014! Times goes to fast! 
 
I love you all and miss you everyday!! 
 
Com Amor, Sister Chilson 

 

                     Sarah and her companion Sister Martin 

Feliz Natal!

 Hello Everyone!!

I hope that you are all doing well and are getting ready for Feliz Natal (Christmas) :) I am so excited and cannot believe that it is Christmas already!!

I do not have aton of time today, so I am sorry, but I do have some things to tell you. I am doing well though- I promise :)

First off, I realized that I never told you what area I was in last week! I am in Antares. The ward is split into two areas and I am in one area with my companion and there is another set of sisters in the other area. We do alot of tracting and contacting, which is not very fun, but every moment where I get to testify to people and tell them about this wonderful gospel is so special and makes everything else worth it :)

Yesterday at church the bishop had me and my companion stand up in sacarment meeting so the ward could see us and then in the third hour me and my companion went to talk with the young women. It seems like just yesterday I was in their shoes and the sisters were talking to me. How time flies! 

Sorry, I don´t have much time left today, but I know that Heavenly Father watches out for each one of us. He knows us and gives us the strength to keep going when we think we cannot do anymore. I have learned this lesson many times over since I have been here. The mission is definately stretching me, but I am learning so much and loving every minute. I know that Heavenly Father loves us each so much and hears our every prayer. He wants what is best for us and to become the best we can be. He never gives us anything we cannot handle. 

I love this gospel so much and am so grateful for the opportunity I have to share it with the people here in Maceio. It is so wonderful to watch that light bulb go off in their head when things make sense to them and they understand. It brings a smile to my face! I know that this gospel is true with all of my heart and I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father who has blessed me more than I could have ever wanted. 

I hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy this wonderful time of year. I pray for you all everyday. I love you!!

Com Amor,

Sister Chilson 

Attached are pictures... I hope they load! Me and my MTC companion- sister Pew and my district at the CTM I promise more pictures next time when I know what I am doing :)

Maceio!

Oi Everyone!

Well, I made it to Maceiò! It was quite the adventure, but I made it. We had to be in the parking lot at 4:20AM last Tuesday, and we were packing the night before, so I got maybe 3 hours of sleep... We had two flights though from São Paulo to Rio and from Rio to Maceiò. The mission president, his wife and some other missionaries were there when we got there. I already love them! Sister Gonzaga is seriously the sweetest person ever! We rode from the airport to the mission home and my goodness it was beautiful! The weather here is so much nicer than I thougt it would be and where I am there is always a breeze and by breeze I mean gusts of wind where you have to make sure your skirt doesn´t fly up, but I love it :)

I met my companion the same day... she is American!! Such a blessing from Heavenly Father! She has been out for 8 monthes and is 21 years old. She is super nice, but we are still getting to know each other.I know that I can learn so much from her.

We live in an apartment with 4 other sisters. There isn´t really room for us there (it is only meant for 4) so we will be moving the beginning of this week to somewhere else,but they are all so nice and patient with me and my Português.

So a normal day for me is wake up, a little devotional with all the sisters (a song, prayer, someone shares a sciprture, and another prayer), exercise, then get ready for the day and eat, an hour of personal study, an hour of companionship study, training (it is just for me in my first 12 weeks here as I get used to missionary life) and langugage study... so lots of study :) Then we have our lunch appointment at a members house. Lunch is the big meal for them here, so that is when we eat with members. We have 2 hours to eat with them and then from 2 in the afternoon until 9 at night we work! We have been doing alot of tracting because they just spilt our area and the area book had pretty much nothing in it.We are working hard though and we will have success with time. Then at 9 we go home, shower, get ready for bed and sleep! Every night I am so exhaused and an grateful that I made it through another day.

This is by far the hardest thing I have ever done, physically, mentally, and emotionally. I know that with time I will come to love it, right now it is all just so new to me that I am taking it all in as it comes.

I want to share one thing I learned this week with all of you.I always knew it before, but since I have been on the mission it has been reafirmed to me that Heavenly Father is always watching over us. He knows us individually and provides us with the strength when we think we cannot do it anymore. I know that whereever you are in your life it where you need to be and every person you meet, every experience you have is what you need. I have felt Heavenly Father´s hand in my life and I know that He is right here with me when I think I cannot take another step and I know He is with all of you as well.

I love this gospel so much and an so grateful for the opportunity I have to share it with these wonderful people of Maceiò. I am so sorry for the lack of pictures... I will get better at this whole thing- I promise :)

I hope that you each have a wonderful week and Christmas approaches! I love and miss you all and pray for you each every day!

Com Amor,

Sister Chilsona

Almost Done!

Oi Everyone!

 

I cannot believe that on Tuesay I will be flying to Maceió! Time has flown by here and I finally feel like I am getting into a routine, which means that it is time for me to go :) I don´t know my flight plans yet, but I will be flying with 3 other Americans, 2 Hispanics and a few Brasilians (at least that is all I know if right now), so I will most definitely not be alone, which is nice :)

 

Nothing too crazy happened this week. I pretty much do the same things everyday, so nothing too exciting, but there are some nice random things that happened, so I will share those with all of you. I promise that when I get out into the field life will become more interesting and I will hopefully have some nice stories to share :)

 

I played the piano for a musical number this past Domingo. I never realized I had gotten spoiled with music conductors who knew what they were doing, like Trista until now. The woman who was leading the music, bless her heart, is so sweet, but she knows nothing about music. She knows it too, but there is no one else to do it, so she does. She doesn´t know all the music terms, she speaks in half Português, half English and we practice in a big room so I can´t always hear her and of course if something goes wrong, it is my fault, but honestly it was great. I love playing the piano and I forgot how much I missed accompanying. I am playing two musical numbers this coming Domingo. My distrito is singing Be Still My Soul and then all of the missionaries who leave the CTM this week sing as well and they are singing the EFY Medly, so that will be a good time :)

 

I think my Português is coming along better. I can usually understand when people talk as long as they don´t talk crazy fast or mumble. It is funny because out of me and my companion, I understand Português better, but she speaks Português better, so we work together and make it through. Everyone has said not to worry though because once I get out into the field I will most likely have a Brazilian companion and so of course we will be speaking Português 24/7. I am kind of nervous, but I know that my mission president would not put me with someone mean or patient. At least I hope not... :)

 

I bore my testimony in Português this past domingo. My district leader said that all of us in our district should bear our testimonies and I sat there for a while and then Elder Freeman started giving me looks and I thought why not. It was pretty rough Português, but hopefully people felt the Spirit and understood what I was trying to say. I was pretty proud of myself though :)

 

In my studies this week I read D&C 138 and it is so good. If you have not read it recently, you definately should.

 

Hopefully next week I will be able to attach pictures so you can see what beautiful Brasil looks like and everyone in my district here at the CTM!

 

I know this gospel is true with all of my heart. I know Heavenly Father watches over each one of us and puts people in our path who can help us, guide us and support us. I know He loves each one of you more than you could ever comprehend.

 

I love you all and miss you!! Enjoy the snow for me :)

 

Com amor,

Sister Chilson