Baptism – Headed to Recife

Preparation

March 16, 2020March 29, 2020 Sister FaulconerLeave a comment

This week Bernardo* got baptized! Now their whole family has been baptized. I am super excited to see a photo of their sealing in a year! We didn’t invite anyone to the baptism because all the meetings have been cancelled. So it was him, his family, and a few members of the branch president’s family.

This week Giovanna is marked for baptism. She had been to church several times in a few different wards before we met her. Her boyfriend is a member. She said she had been to a few different churches and never felt the way she feels at church. She said she hasn’t gotten “an answer ” yet but is praying and reading the scriptures faithfully. She said she feels a confirmation (i.e., God confirming that these things are true) is coming little by little. We talked about Alma 32 and how often answers don’t come all at once. We are super excited for her! We have been so blessed this transfer to witness more personal conversions than we usually do.

People aren’t very panicked here, but the news is full of coronavirus. People have started to stop shaking hands — or to think about starting not to shake hands. We are trying to take each investigator to a different member’s house. We are in a branch [tiny congregation] here so there aren’t a lot of members. We have to plan a lot! But nowhere near as much as the branch presidents who have to coordinate all of the sacrament meetings in the wards and branches! That must be a ton of work. This week we had a number of people who said they would go to church — Mateus and Raiane, Mllena and her daughters, and Giovanna. But several people ended up being sick or having other things to do and not wanting to go, so we just took Diane to church. Diane is one of Mllena’s daughters. She is 10 and very smart.

We went shopping for food storage and medication as President Houseman had asked us to do. Food storage is pretty different in Brazil. In Recife I saw all sorts of vacuum packed pre-cooked food, but here in Goiana it’s like the rest of the interior. We have canned peas, corn, and canned peas and corn. We also bought the only three 10-1b cans of fruit in the store — but I thought the store wouldn’t have any canned fruit, so that was a victory! There are no food shortages here yet; they just don’t sell much canned food. We also bought beans, rice, cuscus, ramen, dehydrated soup, milk, pasta, sugar, salt, spices, pasta sauce, crackers, sweet crackers, oatmeal, water, toilet paper and tinned sardines.

As part of my preparation for general conference, I have been studying President Nelson’s talk: “The Book of Mormon: What Would Your Life Be Like Without It?” He listed a number of topics the Book of Mormon clarifies or expands upon, and I have been studying each in the Book of Mormon and the Bible. Recently I studied the topics doctrine of Christ, what it really means to be born again, and the gathering of scattered Israel. It has been super interesting. I have felt the illumination of the mind that Alma talks about in Alma 32 on the mission more than ever before. The Book of Mormon and the Bible complete each other so well! Christ authoritatively states in John 3:5 that we must be born again. Mosiah 5:7-12, 2 Nephi 31, and Mosiah 18 explain what it means to take Christ’s name upon ourselves, the covenants we make at baptism, and what it means to be born again — a change of nature, desire, and action.

Jesus speaking to Nicodemus–Henry Ossawa Tanner

Mosiah 27:25-26
25 And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;

26 And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.

Life is pretty crazy with all of these Covid-19 updates and scary news. It is weird to talk to people on the street and not be able to invite them to church like we normally do. We can’t really invite them to a member’s house if we’ve never taught them before. We are thinking about inviting everyone to church and giving them a card with our number to call if they end up wanting to go! But I am very grateful to be able to continue teaching the precious truths of the Restored gospel. I feel for all the missionaries who can’t do that in person any more!

[Update: Sister Faulconer wrote this March 16. On March 19th, she and her companion were asked by the mission president to stop going out and to remain in their apartment. The morning of March 23, she was asked to pack quickly and jump on a bus in order to join other American missionaries leaving Brazil. On the evening of March 27th, after multiple days of travel and many hours in airports in Recife, Sao Paulo, and Los Angeles, she returned home to Utah].

When I heard that Sacrament Meeting was cancelled, “All is Well” began to play in my head. On Sunday the branch chose that hymn to sing in all of the sacrament meetings! This scripture from D&C 101 was also brought to mind:

Revelation given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Kirtland, Ohio, December 16 and 17, 1833. At this time the Saints who had gathered in Missouri were suffering great persecution. Mobs had driven them from their homes in Jackson County; and some of the Saints had tried to establish themselves in Van Buren, Lafayette, and Ray Counties, but persecution followed them. The main body of the Saints was at that time in Clay County, Missouri. Threats of death against individuals of the Church were many. The Saints in Jackson County had lost household furniture, clothing, livestock, and other personal property; and many of their crops had been destroyed.

D&C 101:12-18

12 And in that day all who are found upon the watch-tower, or in other words, all mine Israel, shall be saved.

13 And they that have been scattered shall be gathered.

14 And all they who have mourned shall be comforted.

15 And all they who have given their lives for my name shall be crowned.

16 Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God.

17 Zion shall not be moved out of her place, notwithstanding her children are scattered.

18 They that remain, and are pure in heart, shall return, and come to their inheritances, they and their children, with songs of everlasting joy, to build up the waste places of Zion.

Blessed

March 9, 2020March 28, 2020 Sister FaulconerLeave a comment

This week was great. Our investigator/friend Rafaela* was baptized and confirmed this week. It was wonderful to see her having spiritual experiences and gaining a testimony and wanting to be baptized and confirmed. Three-ish weeks ago I think maybe I wrote about an experience I had in the street one day. I was praying in my heart to know who to contact because we had a few minutes before our next appointment. Suddenly I thought about all the people my companions and I had street contacted. How many had been baptized? I saw other people’s street contacts be baptized, and I contacted many people who had spiritual experiences, were marked for baptism, went to church, and almost got baptized. But in terms of actual results there was one man who was a street contact that was baptized. He didn’t go to church one of the last weeks that I was in that area (after going faithfully every Sunday!) and it sounds like he never went again and is super inactive. But I thought about it and realized that he could be reactivated someday. Also, I contacted a young woman who I later found out was baptized a few transfers later when a change of job suddenly let her go to church on Sunday. I hope she is still strong! One soul is an accomplishment. And I know that sometimes God wants our sacrifice, not necessarily our success. So I knew it was important to keep talking to people on the street. But regardless, it was a pretty depressing thought in the moment–I don’t think that thought was inspired by the Holy Ghost. I recommitted to continue working hard regardless of how other people use their agency . . . and then suddenly one of our very molle investigators we were persistent with got baptized this week! We had stopped her on the street to admire her dog near the beginning of last transfer and did a contact.

Rafaela was very excited to be baptized. After we taught her about the Word of Wisdom we asked her what she was going to do with her coffee and she said she would throw it out. We were going to help her throw it out but had to leave because it was late and we forgot. The next day she mentioned that she had thrown it out of her own volition! After being confirmed (she was confirmed on the same day because of Stake Conference [our regional meetings]) she said that she felt really good and at home. She said when she went home she would know she wasn’t alone!

We have also been very blessed in terms of marcados [people marked for baptism] this week. It is amazing how different some weeks are than others. Sometimes we have trouble marking anyone for several weeks in a row! Last week and this week we have been blessed with many opportunities to invite people to baptism — and they have accepted!
We are going to Itambé twice a week recently and teaching Júlia and her family. This week we had a lesson just with Bernardo, who is Júlia’s nephew. His parents and sister were baptized in December and missionaries have been teaching all of them since June. He almost got baptized twice and had accepted a baptismal date the other day in a group lesson. In our lesson together we discussed his concerns and he said he feels better about baptism now. He said he really would be baptized this Saturday! He went to Stake Conference this Saturday with his family. We are excited! It will be interesting because there is no way to personally visit him during the week! He gets out of school at 5 or 5:30 and the last van to Goiana leaves at 5. So we are going to call him during the week and are thinking of trying to do a video call with members.

We are working hard to follow up with the people marked for baptism while still meeting new people. That is a bit tricky because we want to prioritize the people marked for baptism but don’t want to neglect our responsibility to talk with new people!

Another side note — everyone who comes to Goiana (for district council or splits or to do an interview) says “It is really hot here!” Apparently it is hotter in Goiana than in Janga or Timbauba (and Timbauba is part of our district!) I said I wanted a t-shirt prize of “I survived the hottest area in the mission!” But then I realized that if everyone is deserving of said t-shirt it would be Sister Ribeiro II! I’m not sure if I said this the other week, but Sister Ribeiro II started her mission in Goiana 2 (the other half of the city). She often had lunch with members from Goiana 1 so she already knows a lot of people here. After this transfer she will have spent 6 months — a third of her mission in Goiana — and she will probably spend more time here! Those six months include two summers, so she is a trooper. Going from Guaranhuns (cold enough to use a blanket at night!) to Goiana is a bit of a shock!

Splits (companion exchanges) with Sisters Ribeiro II, Faulconer, Chaves and Fernandes

This week we went on splits with the sisters from Janga. I spent the day with Sister Chaves — for the third time! I hope she doesn’t get tired of me!

On Sunday we went to Stake conference [regional church meeting]. We didn’t manage to take many people, but Bernardo went! We really wanted to take Mariana, who is 12 and was excited about going to church and being baptized, but she woke up with a very bad headache. She got up and went to the door, but when we talked to her she went back to bed. So that was too bad. President Houseman [who was a professor of entomology before he became our mission president] gave a great talk about termites and recent converts. Baby termites can’t live off wood — other termites have to feed them. Recent converts can’t be expected to be totally self-sufficient any more than babies can. We have to help them, care for them, visit them, and share the gospel with them!

I noticed that I had written this scripture down earlier to use in my lessons but had forgotten about it. This scripture is interesting because it says “as a lake of fire” which seems to suggest it won’t be an actual fire. People often say that the fire and brimstone in the scriptures isn’t literal, but it is nice to see what the doctrinal source of that belief is!

Mosiah 3:24-27

24 And thus saith the Lord: They shall stand as a bright testimony against this people, at the judgment day; whereof they shall be judged, every man according to his works, whether they be good, or whether they be evil.

25 And if they be evil they are consigned to an awful view of their own guilt and abominations, which doth cause them to shrink from the presence of the Lord into a state of misery and endless torment, from whence they can no more return; therefore they have drunk damnation to their own souls.

26 Therefore, they have drunk out of the cup of the wrath of God, which justice could no more deny unto them than it could deny that Adam should fall because of his partaking of the forbidden fruit; therefore, mercy could have claim on them no more forever.

27 And their torment is as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flames are unquenchable, and whose smoke ascendeth up forever and ever. Thus hath the Lord commanded me. Amen.

Brazilian fruit of the week: Jaboticaba. You bite it, throw away the peel and eat the flesh surrounding the seed or the flesh and the seed. It looks like a blueberry but is quite different.

Yet they rejoice

March 2, 2020March 24, 2020 Sister FaulconerLeave a comment

This week was good. Rafaela* came back early from the beach. Unfortunately she wasn’t very interested in receiving a visit, so we were feeling a bit sad about that. But she went to church on Sunday! And then she asked Sister Ribeiro out of the blue “What hours will my baptismal service be?” She said she was trying to schedule her Saturday and wanted to know what time it would be. Lots of people are marked for baptism but aren’t actually planning on getting baptized. We tell them to pray about it and plan to get baptized if they get an answer. People in this situation are marked for baptism but haven’t confirmed it yet. So it was super exciting when Rafaela asked what time her baptism was because that means she is actually planning on being baptized! She has been feeling and recognizing the spirit a lot while reading the Book of Mormon and at church. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to teach her the commandments as early as we would have liked to because she was busy, but hopefully that works out.

This week a man walked up to us on the street and said he wanted to go to church. He said he had been taught by the Sisters and was almost baptized. We were super excited but we didn’t find his house and when we called him he hung up when we started talking. And he didn’t go to church. So that was too bad — life is weird sometimes!

A number of people said they would go to church and didn’t, but more people than usual went! Rafaela went, which was great because we thought she wouldn’t be able to go until next week. The owner of the LAN house we are using today also went with her four young daughters. That was cool because when we taught her she wasn’t initially very interested in going, but ended up being excited about it! We are teaching a young man called Joao Vitor who said he would go. We thought he hadn’t made it but after the Sacrament Meeting we saw him! He had come in late and we hadn’t seen — we were excited! He is marked for baptism.

We went to Itambé twice this week. You pay six reais, and everyone smashes themselves into the sardine-can-van and then we drive forty-ish minutes to Itambé. It’s an adventure! We went to see Júlia and her family. The first time we met we met her son and niece. We also said a prayer in her grandma-by-consideration (grandma of the heart –not her actual grandma but she might as well be)’s house. The second time we got there and she said “I invited two people to hear the message, okay?” That’s more than okay! She had invited her two friends and we met her younger son. She’s already a great missionary! She is reading the general conference talks that we will discuss at the next Relief Society meeting! I think she is more involved in the Ward Whatsapp group (Whatsapp is a text messaging and videocall app that is very popular internationally) than most members. She and her family are definitely worth going to Itambé for. We invited her children and her sister (who is a member)’s son, Bernardo, to baptism, as well as her two friends and several of them accepted. Unfortunately, because of scheduling and transportation issues, only her sister and brother-in-law made it to church. So that was too bad. But hopefully they manage to go next week. Mostly fortunately (but a little unfortunately) next week is Stake conference [a big regional church meeting held twice a year], which will happen in a different city — Paulista. We are hoping for a miracle this week of having more success than usual at taking investigators to stake conference.

It was a miracle this week with baptismal invitations–we managed to meet a lot more people this week who we had the opportunity and privilege to invite for baptism! And two of them went to church and stayed marked for baptism (Joao Vitor and Rafaela)!

One interesting thing about studying the scriptures without a search engine (i.e., studying paper scriptures without a smartphone) is that there is no way to look up all the results for faith in the Book of Mormon or all the scriptures about prophets or death. This highlights the importance of reading the scriptures straight through as part of scripture study. If you don’t read the scriptures, you won’t find many helpful passages not included in the topical guide. A few months ago I noticed this scripture while reading the Book of Mormon:

11 And the bodies of many thousands are laid low in the earth, while the bodies of many thousands are moldering in heaps upon the face of the earth; yea, and many thousands are mourning for the loss of their kindred, because they have reason to fear, according to the promises of the Lord, that they are consigned to a state of endless wo.
12 While many thousands of others truly mourn for the loss of their kindred, yet they rejoice and exult in the hope, and even know, according to the promises of the Lord, that they are raised to dwell at the right hand of God, in a state of never-ending happiness.
13 And thus we see how great the inequality of man is because of sin and transgression, and the power of the devil, which comes by the cunning plans which he hath devised to ensnare the hearts of men.
14 And thus we see the great call of diligence of men to labor in the vineyards of the Lord; and thus we see the great reason of sorrow, and also of rejoicing—sorrow because of death and destruction among men, and joy because of the light of Christ unto life.
Alma 28:11-14

I really like how this scripture highlights how the gospel can help us when we lose a loved one. It also mentions the importance of diligent missionary work and that Christ is the reason for hope and joy in our lives! It is only because of his sacrifice for us –the Atonement that we hope for a better world (Ether 12:4), the resurrection of ourselves and our loved ones, and have access to the power of repentance in our lives. We can also know that he can comfort us because he hath borne our griefs (Isaiah 53:4 — in Portuguese it says that he took upon himself our pains) so he knows how we feel.

The number of talks I am assigned to read per week for the missionaries who are returning home is increasing! I think that means the end of my mission is getting closer! The talks are very good; this week was about serving others and the welfare program in the church.

My group (We all got to Recife together . . . and we´re going to leave together this transfer!)

*Names are changed to protect privacy

All things work together for good

February 24, 2020March 2, 2020 Sister FaulconerLeave a comment

My new companion is Sister Ribeiro II! [She is Sis. Ribeiro II here on the blog because Sister Faulconer was previously companions with Sister M. Ribeiro (the missionary who is a wonderful photographer)]. She is from Sao Paulo, just like Sister M. Ribeiro! Until now she was serving in the city Guaranhuns with Sister Nogueira — so she had to travel for about eight hours to get here!

Sister Ribeiro II enjoys the fast food lunch at mission leadership council while Sister Faulconer looks on.
Photo, Courtesy Sister Lori Houseman

This week is Carnaval. Carnaval is mostly celebrated on the other half of town that isn’t our area, so we have been mostly following normal hours here. We have seen a lot of burras [donkey costumes] and bois [oxen costumes?] in the street as well as some other costumes that are hard to remember the name of. Look up images for “burrinha carnaval Pernambuco” and you should get some good pictures. They walk around with a few people banging on drums and occasionally people with saxophones and marching band/battle standard-like banners. But three guys with drums sound like two entire marching bands–those drums are powerful!

We marked our investigator Rafaela* for baptism this week, which was great!. Last week we were excited because she went to church, read the Book of Mormon, and progressed after being molle [soft = not very interested, doesn’t keep invitations to read, go to church, etc., consistently] for a while. Unfortunately, at the last second she ended up going to the beach with her employer for a week and wasn’t able to go to church last week or next Sunday. So that was too bad; it’s amazing how these things always happen with marcados [people who have committed to be baptized]! But we re-marked her for two weeks later, so hopefully it will work out in the end. But it was too bad because although we had a number of people who said they would go to church, no one did–not even the very long-time investigator who always goes.

It was not the first time no one has come to church, but it is always too bad. That morning we invited some people in the street to go to church and accept visits. No one was very interested. There was one couple who was very against eternal families–they said what everyone here says: we will all be brothers and sisters after this life. There won’t be special marriage and family relationships. I shared that experience in the talk I gave in church that day. A brother who works at the temple with FamilySearch mentioned my talk and talked more about eternal families. It wasn’t until later we found out that a new family that had moved in had brought their son, who has been marked for baptism but not baptized, and the mom’s sister to the meeting. The mom’s sister had a Book of Mormon and described feeling a great desire to read more and more! She said that she had been deeply involved in the Catholic church — she taught crisma [confirmation] classes, etc. But she had always had a few questions about Catholic teachings–like why we won’t be able to recognize or remember our family members after this life. So all things worked together for good! Our negative experience that morning helped her feel the spirit and recognize the truth at church!

Here is a scripture I like. There are lots of sayings and quotes that talk about being in trouble, persecuted, etc., but not vanquished. What I like about this one is how Paul mentions feelings. Although the trials he went through caused negative feelings (he was perplexed) all was not lost (he was not in despair)!

8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
2 Corinthians 4:8-9

Mission Council

October 28, 2019November 3, 2019 Sister FaulconerLeave a comment

This morning I made mango juice —- mango season is starting! I am excited! This week was pretty different — we got home at 7:30 on Tuesday from new leader training and 7:15-ish on Wednesday from Mission Council. I learned a lot!

Sister Anaya and Sister Faulconer at the mission home

A couple highlights:
President Houseman said that the pattern for making decisions in the Church is group revelation in councils. Lots of people say “Wow, President Nelson changed . . .” but actually these things are decided in council and prepared for and discussed ahead of time. Everything is done in order. In councils, the members receive revelation, everyone discusses, and the leader makes the final decision. People might receive conflicting inspiration, and maybe the final decision will be different than the inspiration someone had. But it is all part of the process.

There is a difference between following-up and demanding [acompanhar and cobrar in Portuguese] information. Leaders follow-up to help you make progress with the goals you set for yourself. Not-so-great leaders give you quotas and then demand the results. In Zion’s Camp, when the wagons got stuck, Joseph Smith was the first one to take off his shoes, roll up his trousers, and get in the mud to pull them. Good leaders are the first ones to go to work with others, motivating them along the way, rather than staying on the sidelines to shout orders. Even if you shout orders in a really charismatic, motivational way, that’s not enough!

Sister Houseman gave a really great talk on leadership. She had an amazing stake president who felt really inadequate when he was called. He decided to use his leadership calling as an opportunity for personal growth. At every opportunity he thought “How would a stake president act?” Running late and want to leave the shopping cart in the parking space? What would a ward member think if they saw that? A stake president would take the shopping cart back to the right spot, so he did!

Even though Sister Anaya and I had a lot less time to work than we had last week, we managed to teach first lessons with more people than last week and we have more new investigators than last week! Little miracles.

Speaking of miracles, Davi* got baptized!! He is doing great! On Monday he was fasting with us in order to be able to resist temptation and get baptized. Before lunch (when he would break his fast) he was feeling really hungry, so he left the house in order to avoid eating. He went to a relative’s house —- and the relative was drinking (alcohol) and eating. His relative repeatedly invited him to drink and eat, but he stayed strong! It’s great because it seems like the ward is doing a good job of integrating him already. One of the recent converts stopped by throughout the week to ask him how he was, read scripture verses (he can’t read), and tell him he was excited for his baptism!

L to R; Sister Anaya, Sister Faulconer and Davi*

Sacrament meeting attendance was less-than-stellar. Read: our recent investigators did not go to church. But I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the area and discovered that there are two couples who aren’t married but have been consistently going to church! I knew that this happened but in my past areas the plethora of people who needed to get married were not religious church-goers– maybe they went a few times but they never stayed strong. Here there are two women, Daniela and Juliana, who have children that are recent converts and are consistently going to church, going to activities, reading the scriptures, etc. Unfortunately, one of them has a husband who doesn’t want to get married and also doesn’t have documents. The other one also doesn’t have the right documents, but they just need to go to the marriage office. It is a bit difficult because of work hours, but hopefully it all works out!

Today we are going to start making horchata! I mentioned to Sister Anaya that I like it and she mentioned that she knows how to make it. This week we are also going to do a split with the sisters of Palmares. I am going to Palmares — it will be weird! Hopefully good too. Sister Anaya did a split with a sister training leader who had already served in the area once. The sister ran into an ancient investigator and found out she had separated from her husband (she hadn’t been able to get baptized before because they weren’t married. They had been deciding if they would separate or not). She got baptized! Not expecting that kind of miracle necessarily but a cool story, right?

I don’t remember if I said this before, but a lot of people here think that after you die you won’t remember anything. God will tell you how your past life was. You will see your relatives but you won’t remember they were your relatives. I respect other people’s right to choose their religion, but I am grateful to believe that families can be together forever. It’s a truth that is truly wonderful — our loving relationships continue after this life! — and also makes sense — why would you be punished for something you don’t remember? It is also a good warning — we will remember our lives on judgement day! A guilty conscience could be worse than fire and brimstone.

Alma 5:15-18

15 Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?

16 I say unto you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?

17 Or do ye imagine to yourselves that ye can lie unto the Lord in that day, and say—Lord, our works have been righteous works upon the face of the earth—and that he will save you?

18 Or otherwise, can ye imagine yourselves brought before the tribunal of God with your souls filled with guilt and remorse, having a remembrance of all your guilt, yea, a perfect remembrance of all your wickedness, yea, a remembrance that ye have set at defiance the commandments of God?

I would like to be the first person described, not the second!

A funny moment: I forgot to say that last Sunday I was asked to give a testimony at the last minute. I thought it went okay, but afterwards I found out that I had said I was glad to be in Carpina (a different area) instead of Candeias. You can learn the language but you can’t stop goofing up! Luckily there are worse errors that could be made. But it was funny, because I was trying to tell people how happy I was to be in their ward — except I said the wrong ward. Ooops!

*Investigators names are always changed

God Gives the Increase

August 26, 2019August 27, 2019 Sister FaulconerLeave a comment

This week has been crazy! We have spent 120 reais [about $29] going back and forth between Casa Forte and Madalena this week! The problem is that in theory it would be more effective to just pick a few days where we only work in Madalena and a few days where we only work in Casa Forte. But in practice you can’t just neatly plan out the investigators on the preferred days — they all have their individual schedules, etc. So we actually did a better job of following up with people in Casa Forte, going there almost every single day. Crazy, but way better than just leaving Casa Forte without missionaries for two weeks.

This week we had three baptisms in Madalena! It was eventful. Things were a bit stressful, but it all worked out!

I have an Alma-ish (probably misguided) wish to find people and teach them and then have them get baptized so that I can feel like someone got baptized just because of me, but that doesn’t happen very often. This week I suddenly thought of the New Testament scripture 1 Cor 3:6-7 that happens to be part of the Come Follow Me readings this week about how one person plants, another waters, but God gives the increase. You get the crown based on your work not the watering. Paul says he was not called to baptize but to preach (1 Cor 1:17). I was thinking about other investigators that weren’t my contacts who I wished I had been the one to initially make contact. Then afterwards I realized this was especially applicable for this week. I haven’t had a huge part in these three baptisms but it is a privilege to see them and have a little part in them.

One of the people baptized this week was Vitor.* He first met the sisters in 2015! He didn’t believe in God. But he has been learning and strengthening his testimony a little more each day. Before I got here, the sisters had used an excellent metaphor of a staircase. He said he started at 0 — not believing anything. This past week he was still having a few moments of doubt even though he had progressed a lot. He said he wasn’t sure if Christ really was the Savior, had done miracles, etc. But after our lesson he said he was half a stair step higher on the staircase — at 2.9 (instead of 0)! We could see his testimony growing more and more each day this week, and when he got baptized, he said he was at step infinity! We told him he can now start climbing staircase 2.0. He really looked like the sort of person who was starting a new life.

Unfortunately, one of the young men who was baptized on Saturday overslept and didn’t get confirmed on Sunday. I felt very bad about that. This prophetic quote was playing over and over again in my head:

You might as well baptize a bag of sand as a man, if not done in view of the remission of sins and getting of the Holy Ghost. Baptism by water is but half a baptism, and is good for nothing without the other half—that is, the baptism of the Holy Ghost.”
Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (2007), p. 95

Fortunately, I think João Pedro* really will end up getting confirmed next week.

Splitting their time between Casa Forte and Madalena–Sisters Faulconer, M. Ribeiro, and Delmiro

Funny thing that happened the other day it was raining as usual (winter in Recife) and we saw rain falling on the other side of the street — but we were dry. As we were watching, the rain got closer until we got wet, and then it went away down the street! This happened about four times– we saw the rain coming, it rained on us, and then we saw it going away down the street! It was so funny; I thought that only happened in movies. It reminded me of Harry Potter or Flubber 2 where there are magical (or science-induced) rain clouds for specific people. We joked that maybe someone was praying for rain and we were watching God send it to them!

Sad thing that happened– Iara* doesn’t want more visits. She is going through some personal struggles she didn’t feel comfortable enough to share and doesn’t feel she can focus on reading the scriptures and praying right now. But she said she wants to continue going to church, so I hope that her heart will be touched eventually. It was frustrating that we couldn’t go to church in Casa Forte so that we could see her (We were in the Madalena ward), but next week. It is sad when this sort of thing happens. We were so unsure afterwards if we should have been more insistent or persistent or said things other than what we said . . . But hopefully we can see her at church in Casa Forte next week.

Recife to Provo to Edmonton!

August 20, 2019August 27, 2019 Sister FaulconerLeave a comment

Farewell Sister Sousa! Best wishes learning English in Provo and teaching in Edmonton

Yesterday, just as Sister Sousa and I were finishing a weekly planning session and had put something important in every single hour of the week, we got a phone call. It was our mission president, President Houseman. Sister Sousa got on a plane to Provo to the Missionary Training Center this morning! After waiting such a long time, she will finally be able to study English and then finish her mission in Edmonton, Canada, where she was originally called.

I am now in my third trio of the mission . . . with Sister M. Ribeiro and Sister Delmiro! I trained Sister M. Ribeiro and am happy to be with her again! They are serving in the Madalena area of Recife, and have four people marked for baptism this week and one marked next week and think they all have potential to actually be baptized. So that is crazy! Sister Sousa and I also had a few good people who need to be followed-up with in the Casa Forte area. So, our new trio will work in both areas. It will be an adventure. I am excited to work hard and help all these people. It will be hard to figure out where to go and what to do but it will work out!

Sister M. Ribeiro and Sister Delmiro are the two sisters on the right–Sis. Faulconer is not pictured
Photo courtesy of Sister Lori Houseman

Iara* did not get baptized this Saturday but she is marked for two weeks from now. Please pray for her! She is great and went to church this week. It can be scary and different to change and decide to get baptized but I believe it will work out for her!

We have been teaching Willian for a while–He is 19 and wants to get baptized! He is great but hasn’t been able to go to church yet. It was another week in which he reallly wanted to go to church, we realllly wanted him to go to church . . . but his mother asked him to help with something at the last second and he couldn’t go. I sure hope he can go next week.

Funny moments: the other week one of our investigators told us that some ladies that we taught once were talking badly about us. We asked what they were saying and she said “they said that you guys are huge gossips!” That was hilarious, because you could accuse us of all sorts of things that are true or rooted in truth that could sound bad (“They think their church is the only true church” “really pushy´” “annoying”) but we are definitely not guilty of being gossipers! We don´t know anything about those women to gossip about!

Here is a cool scripture — On the mission and in my life I want to be like Nephi:

2 And it came to pass that Nephi went his way towards his own house, pondering upon the things which the Lord had shown unto him.
3 And it came to pass as he was thus pondering—being much cast down because of the wickedness of the people of the Nephites, their secret works of darkness, and their murderings, and their plunderings, and all manner of iniquities—and it came to pass as he was thus pondering in his heart, behold, a voice came unto him saying:
4 Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments.
5 And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will.
6 Behold, thou art Nephi, and I am God.
Helaman 10:2-6

*Names of investigators are always changed

Arthur got baptized!

August 6, 2019August 20, 2019 Sister FaulconerLeave a comment

Sister Sousa, Arthur, Sister Faulconer
Photo Credit: Elder Richard and Sister Sandy Tidwell

Arthur* got baptized!!! We had been visiting him basically every day for more than a transfer, so we have been praying and hoping for this baptism for a very long time! It seems like he decided to change his life all of a sudden, and that’s made all the difference! One day we went to visit him and found out that he had gone to a friend’s house after leaving church early. This was a bad sign, so we showed up to his work thinking about ultimatums. E.g., you need to do x thing —we like you, but we can’t continue to visit people who don’t try to change, but then we found out that he hadn’t smoked in two days! We taught him about Christ and the rich young man. I was going to explain the parable but he started explaining it! He said that for him, smoking was like the young man’s riches! It was very special. Two weeks later he still hasn’t smoked! We are so excited for him.

Caroline still really wants to get baptized. She bore a great testimony yesterday! Unfortunately she and Luan are having serious troubles with their proof of residence, without which you cannot get married. Her niece, Ana (from last week’s post), did not get baptized this week, which was too bad. But we are in hopes of helping the young women integrate her a bit more — I think befriending other young women will help a lot.

Two people stopped us in the street this week to ask to be visited. Isabella told us she wanted to get baptized but her parents hadn’t let her. She was taught two years ago and went to church five times Later we met her father, who said he has also been to church and loves the Book of Mormon! It was a miracle. Unfortunately they and a lot of our other investigators who were all set to go to church had a variety of disasters Sunday morning. The power in their whole house burned out and they couldn’t go! That was too bad, but hopefully next week works out better. Although a lot of investigators did not go to church, a few investigators did manage to go, which was great. Caroline and Ana went, as well as two awesome new investigators who are member references and a couple that are the parents of a missionary from Casa Forte!

The missionary’s mother has started reading the Book of Mormon every day and praying about it! We hadn’t seen them for a few days, and when we showed up they said they were really wanting to go to church! She said she wants to go to the Church of Jesus Christ every week now! A miracle — her husband had been taught for a while without any progress but apparently she hadn’t really been to church or been taught before. She says she hasn’t received an answer yet, but I think she must be feeling the spirit!

Iara was one of the member references. We have been trying hard to invite all the members to pray about references. Then we follow up to see if they have prayed and thought of anyone. It worked! Sister Andressa took her friend to church on Sunday and then we taught her a lesson afterwards! It was overall a great lesson. Andressa bore her testimony and I think everyone felt the spirit.

It has been raining every day for the last two weeks! It’s funny; I read my Grandpa Trent’s missionary letters the other day. HE said the same thing! Tomorrow we are going to get Sister Sousa’s passport and then go to interviews at the mission office. Fun fact — we are reimbursed for the travel we do to district meetings, splits, interviews, etc. Our reimbursement here is less than a tenth of our reimbursement in Gravatá!

Sister Faulconer, Sister Sousa, Sister Houseman, and the Houseman’s daughter
Courtesy of Lori Houseman

Last week we traveled for visa things for the third week in a row, so today our plans include staying at home. I am going to make Thai curry! Brazil has many wonderful foods (this week I ate at a vegan shop that had the most heavenly Brazilian vegan food) but it is seriously curry-deprived!
Love you all!

The Come, Follow Me manual is great. I am inspired by Paul’s missionary efforts and his faithful attitude. It seems like every verse of the New Testament is packed with meaning.

This verse from Romans 1 is a classic

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Romans 1:16

Thanks for your prayers! Like Paul, I am praying for all of you!

For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers . . .
Romans 1:9

*As always, names of investigators are changed to protect their privacy.

Agency

May 13, 2019May 13, 2019 Sister Faulconer1 Comment

This week Victor got baptized! He is a great example to me. When we taught him about the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity he thanked God for the commandments (“which I will definitely work to keep”) in the closing prayer! He is so happy about getting closer to the Savior, being baptized, and changing his life for the better! His baptismal interview finished about an hour or an hour and a half before he had to be at the church to get dressed for his baptism. We did not feel very comfortable with that time frame but everything turned out well. The only hitch was that we filled up the baptismal font the day before the baptism, but when we got there it was empty! I think the problem was that the pump is so slow and quiet that it got turned on and no one noticed. We put a bucket and a kitchen pot in the bathroom and the janitor’s closet to fill up and went back and forth with them to help the baptismal font fill up faster. Luckily it was just high enough by the time we got to the baptism part.

Sister Ribeiro, Victor, and I– my shirt is slightly wet because we were carrying buckets of water to help the font fill up faster — we had filled it up but then it emptied again!

Another investigator, we’ll call him “João,” is being an excellent example of praying and reading the scriptures regularly. He hasn’t gotten an answer from God yet about the truthfulness of the First Vision and the Book of Mormon, but maybe this week! We are also having a lot of trouble with coffee right now — João and Matheus are both struggling with not drinking coffee. But I think a testimony of Joseph Smith will definitely help João with that.

Mother’s Day is popular in Brazil. Here there are lots of “cars of sound” that drive around with loudspeakers playing ads. This week there was a car of sound from the city congratulating all of the mothers. Store fronts have lots of “mother” signs and balloons and it looks like the cake, chocolate, and flower shops have good business here as well. It was good for building excitement for Sister Ribeiro and I about calling our families on Sunday! Unfortunately, Mother’s Day is bad for taking people to church. But we have high hopes for next week!

We found a Subway shop. I do not find Subway particularly exciting in the United States but it´s more exciting now that I’m here.

Hopefully Emily and her family can go to church next week. We talked with one of her daughters, I’ll call her “Amanda,” this week. She had prayed and asked if “that church is worth it” but said she hadn’t gotten an answer. We asked her how she felt when she prayed and she said “Well, I felt a really good, happy feeling and I got chills/goosebumps all over.” ! That reminded me of a scripture we often read with investigators:

And it came to pass that while they were thus conversing one with another, they heard a voice as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn.
3 Nephi 11:3

This is how the Nephites felt God’s voice when Christ came to visit the Americas. This is the spirit! We asked her if she thought that feeling was from God and what He was trying to tell her. She thought about it and said “He was telling me the church is worth it!” We told her how special it was that God had responded to her question and she couldn’t stop smiling.

One thing we have been thinking about recently is agency. We know some people who have difficult family situations — for example, living with spouses (but not legally married) who treat them quite badly. These people have lots of faith in God, and they use this faith to pray to God about the trials they’re passing through. But they are only praying that God will make their husbands stop drinking, or shape up, or choose to get married to them. And when their spouses don’t change they feel frustrated that God isn’t hearing them, or they say they trust in His timing but are just waiting and watching to see what he’ll do. The sad and very frustrating truth is that God can’t force people to change. And while he can and does help us, he might want us to act as well. It’s terrible, but the truth is that some of these people might need to choose to leave their spouses in order to follow God’s commandments (like the law of chastity) or to help their children and themselves (in cases of serious alcoholism.)

Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.
2 Nephi 2:27

Sometimes this seems really really sad. But also it can be very happy — Victor is choosing liberty and eternal life! When we follow the commandments we’re that much closer to liberty and eternal life — and eternal joy, rest, peace, etc. And we can always hope and pray for people. Alma the younger was visited by an angel that appeared because of the prayers of faith from his father and friends. He chose to repent after remembering his father’s teachings about Christ.

Hope you all have a great week!

The Spirit of Elijah

April 28, 2019 Sister Faulconer2 Comments

At Zone Conference, Courtesy Sister Lori Houseman

We had an interesting lesson this week: We met with a woman, call her “Mllena,” who has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, but she didn’t want to leave her current church, so she said she wouldn’t get baptized. We invited her to pray about whether it was God’s will. Then I asked her if Christ were there and he invited her to get baptized if she would (I wanted to help her develop real intent — to decide that if God answered her prayer she would follow his will and get baptized). She said “No, I would say ‘Sorry God, I want to die in the Catholic church!'” That was a bit of a shock to me. Later she said she would do whatever God told her to do — I think she responded that way in the moment because she was feeling a lot of fear about change. We were unsure about how to help her after that, but we wanted to give it one more try. She is one of the precious souls who really want to be righteous and do the right things, so we really wanted to help her.

We decided to give a lesson about temples and how her family can be together forever (some of her family members are members already). This is such a special message! (I love the new church website that emphasizes how special this message is: t emples.churchofjesuschrist.org.) She was touched. She has a son who died at 24-ish and definitely wants to live with him and her husband after this life. She and her husband were married only for this life, but she said she wants to be with him forever! I asked her if she would like to be sealed in the temple in the future and she said yes!

Sister Ribeiro asked her what she thought she needed to do to get ready for that and after a pause she said “Well, I need to get baptized.” She wanted to think more before actually committing to baptism but I know the spirit touched her heart! This is the spirit of Elijah and it is real. Russell M. Nelson, now our prophet, taught that the spirit of Elijah is “a manifestation of the Holy Ghost bearing witness of the divine nature of the family.” Elijah, the Old Testament prophet, returned to earth, bringing keys of priesthood authority. Elder Nelson explained that “Elijah came . . . to enabl[e] families to be eternally linked beyond the bounds of mortality.” Today we are going to visit Mllena with the ward family history consultant to help her start her family history. I am praying that she will have the courage to be baptized! She needs the blessings waiting for her in the temple.

Tiago* got baptized this week! We were worried that something would happen to call it off or postpone it one or two days before his baptism like the other weeks, but he stayed firm until the end! David got confirmed with Tiago on Sunday, and Lucas, who got baptized two weeks before David, got a calling and received the Aaronic priesthood!

A couple people stopped us in the street this week, which is every missionary’s dream. We met some church members who haven’t been to church in a while, but want to return. One of them was drinking and smoking and said “I felt so happy in the church; I don’t know why I left.” I hope he can return. We also talked to a man who isn’t a member but wants a visit! That was very special.

Another special moment happened on Sunday. You know the little kid in The Incredibles who is riding a bike and staring at Mr. Incredible while he lifts up his car with super-strength? A little while ago we were doing a street contact when a little girl started driving around us in circles, staring at us just like the little kid in The Incredibles. When we started talking to her she said she wanted the book we gave to our contact (the Book of Mormon). Later some of her friends walked up with their dad, Renan, and started pleading for a Book of Mormon too! It was very cute.

When we returned to that neighborhood, we could not find her house, but then we saw her in the street! That was a miracle, because she lives in a tiny alleyway we never would have found. The little girl, “Isabela,” had already read the part we marked in the Book of Mormon (something many adults fail to do). We said we would visit her at five on Thursday, and she said “Ok, I’ll wait in the street starting at four! Do you promise to come?” We promised, but when we showed up she was not there, so we planned to visit her some day this week.

On Sunday we decided to visit another investigator we hadn’t been able to visit with over conference weekend when we had planned. Partway there I started feeling like going there was very stupid and a waste of time, because we didn’t have tons of information about exactly where he lived, his house number was twenty and we were seeing numbers in the 500s, and he lives far away so I figured we would just spend a lot of time wandering around but not doing anything. But at that point we were almost to Isabela’s alley anyway so we decided to see if maybe he had said his street name wrong and actually lived on the same street. We found his house, but he wasn’t at home, so we went to visit Isabela. She was there with her two sisters and three friends. All of them were excited to hear our message! Her sister “Camila” said she had been waiting to find the right church to get baptized. They all accepted our invitation to read the Book of Mormon and pray about whether it is true and if Joseph Smith was a prophet. Then they accepted our invitation to get baptized if they receive an answer that it is! They said they would go to an activity we have at church this week and visit church on Sunday! We asked Camila to give the closing prayer and after some gentle prodding and encouragement she did, and started crying when she thanked God for our visit. It was a very special, spiritual lesson.

Love you all!

*Names are changed to ensure investigator and new members’ privacy is respected.

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