Tag: Christ

Yet they rejoice

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!)
  • Cleaning day
  • This capybara is made out of bottles. The sign says not to litter!
  • Fruits–A still life with caju, pinha, etc.
  • Pitomba?  You break it off the stick, bite the green part open with your teeth, throw away the green part, suck the white fruit meat off the seed, and throw the seed away.
  • Jackfruit!
  • Sisters at Mission Leadership Council
  • These lizards are everywhere.  Sometimes there are teeny tiny ones inside our house (like this morning).

*Names are changed to protect privacy

Partakers of the Consolation

Sister FaulconerLeave a comment
There is a hammock in our apartment

This week we took a new investigator, Rafaela*, to church for the first time.  She said she had visited a number of churches and it was the only one where she felt at home.  I am excited about that!  We told her she was feeling the spirit.  We were excited when we first met her, but I had been worried that we would have to stop visiting her because it was difficult to find her at home, she wasn’t very interested in marking a specific day, and it seemed like maybe she wasn’t super focused on the lessons.  But I have been thinking about what President Houseman said about persistence — it paid off with Rafaela!  

One thing I didn’t mention last week was that I got to talk to the sisters who are in Casa Forte at the Zone Conference. Sister Barros left after the last transfer, so I didn’t get to see her, but it was cool to meet the sister she trained and hear about the area!  When I left the area I had been excited about a family we were teaching (I mentioned them in my e-mail at the time) and hoped they would progress. But I didn’t hear about them until now. We had taught the daughter maybe twice, and then we met her parents the last week I was there. I had been pretty excited about her parents, but it turns out they didn’t end up being very interested  But the daughter who I was also excited about, has been to church many times and is really integrated in the ward! She hasn’t been baptized but she is still going to church!

When I hear about old areas there is always much more bad news than good news.  That’s the nature of missionary work–we talk to lots of people and the vast (vast, vast) majority of them don’t get baptized.  And lots of people who do get baptized don’t continue going to church.  But we ought to look at missionary work through a qualitative lens rather than quantitatively.  How great shall be your joy if you bring one soul to repentance! 

Other good things that have happened in my old areas —- I found out when I went on splits the last time in Palmares that Helena (who I taught for all three transfers in Casa Forte but her mother didn’t want to let her get baptized) was baptized! She moved to Recife shortly afterwards and didn’t give her contact information to the missionaries (sad).  But she is a member of the Church and I really hope she ends up going to church in her new city.   Also I had mentioned before that Isadora, Maria Eduarda’s daughter, ended up getting baptized in Gravatá.  So good news happens!  I don’t know how Isadora is but I think I will have another opportunity to find out at the next zone conference. 

This is a scripture I like: 

3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

7 And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5, 7

Hopefully that is something I can do as a missionary — comfort others with the comfort of God.  How beautiful to think about this subject — as followers of Christ we ought to expect  sufferings  (we are taking up our cross and following him)  but as we are partakers of the sufferings we are also partakers of the consolation! Elder Holland gave a really powerful talk about missionaries being partakers of the sufferings of Christ.  The only time I heard it was in the CTM but I remember how much I liked it.  He said sometimes we might ask ourselves why the only difficulty in the mission field is not risk of pneumonia from spending so much time being wet baptizing people.  His answer (super summarized) was that if we are followers of Christ, we ought to expect to experience at least the tiniest bit of what He went through. 

I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary.

Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

At one point this week I wasn’t having a super great day.  We were going to a teaching appointment and I had been praying to be led to someone we ought to do a street contact with, someone who needed to hear the gospel.  I suddenly had a rather discouraging thought (Moroni 7:13 teaches that “. . behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God,” so this was probably not a God-sent thought): “How many street contacts from my mission have been baptized?” The answer is Isadora and Tiago. Tiago has not been to church for months and does not show signs of returning.  Who knows, maybe others will be baptized as well!  And of course I have no idea what other seeds will sprout. And while, until now, not many people have chosen to get baptized, street contacting has led to many, many lessons.  And teaching can be an inherent good. Not as good as the person actually progressing to make covenants with Heavenly Father, but who knows if our lessons do help them get closer to him? Maybe they will pray more, have a better relationship with God, etc. 

President Nelson’s visit

Sister FaulconerLeave a comment
  • At Marco Zero for Pday last week

Yesterday at 10:00 p.m. we got a phone call.  Instead of spending the rest of the transfer in Madalena (until Wednesday) I ended up going back to Casa Forte today.  I am going to be here for the next two days with Sister Figueira, a STL whose companion went home already.  Then my new companion will get here on Wednesday.  I don’t trust Sunday nights anymore!  Last minute changes always happen.  

This week was another week of traveling between Casa Forte and Madalena.  The highlight was definitely hearing President Nelson speak on Friday to the missionaries and on Sunday to the church in Brazil.  I think my testimony of the leaders of the church has definitely been strengthened on the mission. In the CTM I felt the spirit so strongly during general conference, and I have felt some of that same spirit at the April conference and at the transmissions from President Nelson this week. I am working on remembering these moments — it is so easy to forget spiritual experiences!  In the missionary  broadcast, he emphasized the importance of talking about Christ’s visit to the Americas.  He said we shouldn’t let people start at 1 Nephi 1–that won’t capture their attention!  They have to start at 3 Nephi 11, when Christ visits the Americas.  It is important not to forget how monumental this is.  We have a book about Christ’s visit to the American continent! 

2 Nephi 29

8 Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also.

9 And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever.

10 Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written.

11 For I command all men, both in the east and in the west, and in the north, and in the south, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them; for out of the books which shall be written I will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that which is written.

  • We had Family Home Evening with the family of Thais, the little girl who just got baptized.

I have been reading the Old Testament and have really enjoyed the end of Isaiah.  There are a lot of chapters of Isaiah that seem difficult to understand or apply to your life, but there are some wonderful chapters of Isaiah.  I had already heard the most beautiful verses in church talks before, but it is more moving when you read them altogether in Isaiah!   

Isaiah 54:

10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.

11 O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. . . .

13 And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.

Adding On

Sister FaulconerLeave a comment
9 months on the mission!
(Don’t worry, no rocks were defaced in the making of this photo, it’s just dust from another rock.)

This week we had an adventure!  We did splits with the sisters of Guaranhuns but while I went to Guaranhuns, the keys to the apartment in Guaranhuns went to my apartment in Gravatá! [hours away by bus]. We ended up sleeping in a vacant apartment with sheets borrowed from the owner. 

We started teaching a new family — Marcos and Carolina, and their daughters Fernanda and Raissa.* We taught Carolina the The Restoration the other day.  She said she believed that the Book of Mormon is from God.  We could tell she understood the lesson because she told us she was sad that her baptism, something very special to her, hadn’t happened the way Christ told us it needs to  — with the proper authority.  We had the opportunity to tell her that we don’t share our message to take things away from people, but to add on to the wonderful things they already have.  She already chose to be baptized to follow Christ, and for sure she’s been blessed for that!

Bring with you all that you have of good and truth which you have received from whatever source, and come and let us see if we may add to it.

General Conference 2002, President Gordon B. Hinckley

One funny moment was when we did a contact with a Catholic lady.  People here are very loud in their devotion to Mary — it’s very common to see people with t-shirts that have Mary’s face on them.  Sometimes her face is the size of their entire chest.  This woman didn’t have a Mary shirt but she had a little Mary necklace.  We tried to tell her about the Book of Mormon, set up an appointment to talk more about the scriptures, but she was not interested.  She kept saying “you have a mother!!  You don’t just have a father in heaven, you have a mother” really loudly, because we aren’t Catholic and therefore don’t worship Mary.  It made me think of the wonderful doctrine of our Heavenly Mother.  She’s right, we have a Heavenly Father, and that seems to suggest we ought to have a Mother in Heaven as well.  And we do, and she is just as divine as our Father in Heaven.  

  • [Click to Enlarge]
  • Capybaras in real life!

Capybaras are related to guinea pigs, but much larger–as big as 145 lbs! The world’s largest rodents, capybaras are herbivores, semi-aquatic mammals that live in groups near the banks of rivers and lakes.

We have zone conference this week, so we are preparing talks.  I haven’t had to talk at zone conference yet, but it could happen!  

Bolo de Chuva– Raindrop doughnuts
After this step, we rolled them in sugar.  They are supposed to be rounder but they were good.

Other cool fact: our ward had a temple trip and two recent converts went — 
Lucas and Victor!! 

We have had a lot of trouble with getting people to church and finding people at home this week, but we have a ton of new contacts and we’re excited to meet them all this week!

[*As always, names are changed to protect investigator privacy].

The Way of Happiness

Sister FaulconerLeave a comment

The way of happiness
The living Christ–Cristo Vivo

Last week we went to Cruzeiro to see the Cristo Vivo.  You can see it from the city.  Cool fact: there is a staircase that goes up to a big cross next to Christ.  It is called the Way (Path) of Happiness.  Cool that the the Way of Happiness leads to Christ, right?  **Deeper meaning**  Wickedness never was happiness!  

I forgot to tell about a miracle we had last week.  We had a district meeting and then the car that takes us home was super late.  We needed to visit Victor to teach him some things he had to know before getting baptized.  We had moved the appointment forward an hour but we ended up leaving lunch at the time we needed to be at his house . . . and he lives 40 minutes (walking distance) away!  Just as we were talking about how late we were, we saw a member of the church in the distance.  As we walked towards her her neighbor passed by and offered to pick her up.  She invited us too!  We arrived about eight minutes later and had enough time to teach the lessons we needed to. 

Sister Ribeiro and Sister Faulconer

One awesome experience we had is teaching our investigator “Maria Eduarda.” When we met her she started saying that she didn’t believe in God.  We listened and tried to read some scriptures with her, but she was pretty upset and kept cutting us off.  But it quickly became obvious that she did believe in God — she was just upset about the situation she was in.  She didn’t understand why God lets so many people suffer so much.  She felt he didn’t listen.  But we listened, testified of our belief in God’s love for us, invited her to pray, and marked a different day to go back.  When we went back, she hadn’t prayed.  We taught her, invited her to pray again, and left. The next time we went she had prayed!  She said she felt so much better, and she knew that our visit was an answer from God.  She felt like he didn’t listen, but our presence was a sign that he cared about her.  She is reading the Book of Mormon too!  She did not go to church because of a headache but we have high hopes for next week.  This is a huge example of someone changing their life through the gospel for me.  She feels better and she is praying and reading the scriptures for the first time in a long time!

Acaraje: These brown things are fried bean balls.  Like falafel but not quite as amazing. 

Tomorrow is Christmas

Sister FaulconerLeave a comment

I’m very excited for Christmas! It’s great to be a missionary at Christmastime — we get to spend all day inviting people to be more Christmassy by coming unto Christ.  It’s also fun to share the church’s Christmas program with people (Illumine o Mundo — Light the World.  I remember watching videos from the church’s program other years with the missionaries and now I’m the one presenting the videos!

We had some wonderful little miracles this week with finding people.  When we had a division [when you switch companions with another sister temporarily] my sister training leader and I marked a man named “Daniel” for baptism.  He didn’t give us his address because he didn’t spend any time there and apparently it’s hard to describe, but he was really special and I wanted to teach him again.  He said he would visit the church but wasn’t able to go on Sunday.  Two weeks later our investigators (reference of a recent convert) gave us a reference of a neighbor, “Douglas.”  On Sunday we took “Douglas” to church and I asked him about his family.  He started talking about his siblings — and I recognized the description of one of them.  “Daniel” is his brother!  


I asked a different member, “Rodrigo” for a reference this week while my companion was calling someone.  He thought about it and suggested we visit a less-active member of the church, “Júlia”, who I had never heard of before.  He started to explain where she lived “in front of the postal office, on the side of road xxx” and at the same time my companion [on the phone] said “Ok, so your house is in front of the postal office on the side of road xxx.”  She had finished her first call when she randomly had the thought to call “Júlia.” I’ve asked “Rodrigo” for references many times, and only this time he suggested “Júlia.” Clearly she needs a visit!

This is the son of a member in our ward.  He is great. He is showing off his cool clothes here.  It is too hot outside for that jacket!  He is getting surgery right now so he can use some prayers.  We are at the grocery store.

[For regular readers of this blog: it turns out there was a letter from Sister Faulconer last week that somehow didn’t get sent. I added the text to the pictures in last week’s post.]

Christmas is coming!

Sister FaulconerLeave a comment

Oi! I have no time this week but hope you are all great! Here is a picture of us with a Christmas box we made.  We collected food from ward members [people in the local church congregation] for a family of a recent convert that really needed help.  The mother of the family has been working for the city for three months without pay — apparently this is not uncommon here. 

Sister Faulconer and Sister Porcote, Sister missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are holding a box of food and other things they put together for a family who needed help. In the background, the green, red and purple Christmas lights they strung up around their apartment are visible.
Sister Faulconer and Sister Porcote–Lovers of Christmas!

That was a great experience because I know we were really helping them. It was a little miracle because members answered the phone and found things to donate really quickly — we made the box and gathered the donations, and did some things to help at their house house in just a few hours! Service is the true spirit of Christmas! We always have a goal of doing planned and unplanned acts of service but we have a lot of people to visit so we’ve been having a little trouble following through. One unplanned act of service this week was carrying some heavy bags for some member missionaries from a different church. That was a great experience. They were doing a service project as well and I could feel the spirit strongly talking to them — I know they are following Christ´s example through the work they are doing.

Also on display: some Christmas lights we got for our house!  We are both people who really like Christmas and of course we’re very excited to talk to our families too!  

It is getting closer to Christmas and there are more and more Christmas decorations up. It’s weird that it’s still so warm but I’m getting more used to the idea that Christmas is coming now. As missionaries, we’re especially excited for the church Christmas program this year! [Some have already seen it. Watch it here.]

This week had several difficult parts but I have high hopes for next week. We spent several hours one day looking for a man who was supposed to be at the church for an interview. We waited and waited and waited at the church–we walked all the way to his house with the district leader [the missionary responsible for interviewing him to see if he’s ready for baptism] and his companion, but the man wasn’t there and a family member said he had left hours before–then we walked around the streets looking for him. We finally heard several hours later that he had had some questions on the way to the church and apparently decided to take a verrry long walk instead of being interviewed! Then he didn’t show up to church. 😦 Hopefully we can figure out how to best help him next week.

Sister Faulconer and Sister Porcote, sister missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are pictured smiling and holding coconuts with a straw sticking out. They appear to be at some sort of a coconut juice vendor stand as there are several other people with coconuts.

Love you all!