April 28, 2014- Trees and Cobblestone!

Ola Familia!

So I have been transfered to the SAO PAULO zone! Which means I am serving in the area of the temple!! Once a week we actually stand by the temple and make contacts, give pass along cards and occasionally invite people to take a tour of the gardens and the waiting room of the temple. In fact, they call it the temple square of Brazil. We meet sooo many people passing by, all with different stories and lives. Such a neat opportunity! It also means that parts of my area are very beautiful!! complete with trees and even cobblestones! I feel like I am in Heaven!

But this area is definitely very different than Campo Limpo! Much more chique. Our ward felt just like a regular Utah ward with lots of members and lots of talent. In Campo Limpo we had a few really strong families but lots of people in jeans, shorts and flip flops. While at first it was a little strange, I grew to love the humility and desire to worship that those wonderful people demonstrated. It is a little sad because our investigators definitely stick out like sore thumbs at church. But they come and we are happy about that!

We are teaching quite a lot of families right now! All of which need to be legally married for us to continue, but I love teaching a complete family with a dad, mom and children together. The members are all very willing to help us in our efforts so next week we are starting a Family Home Evening filled May! Every day a different family will host and we will bring investigators and recent converts along for more integration! Such a neat idea.

Actually, my companion is full of great ideas! She is so creative and loving and always always serves the people around her. She makes breakfast for us every morning, plans fun things for us to study, and always is singing and laughing. And she works so so hard. She is just a tad bit bossy but I am starting to think that this might be a typical Brazilian character trait, or maybe just sister missionary trait. Not entirely sure. But I already love her and am very grateful for her!

Also!!! I have another Enlglish opportunity!!! This 21 year old kid named MD moved here from London to work for some internship and by a serious of weird encounters he found the missionaries! He is so confused about life and needs more direction, but the missionaries in his area can´t speak English. So I gladly accepted the challenge! Our first lesson about the restoration was really great and his humble prayer was one I wont easily forget. We all knealed in a circle and he said ´´God, I dont exactly know what I am doing or even if you are listening, but I am trying to figure out these strange happenings in my life and I need your help. Please let me know if these things are true and help me know what I need to do in my own life. In the name of Jesus, Amen´´
Simple and heart felt and I am so excited to teach the plan of salvation tomorrow and enlighten him on the questions of the soul. I am learning that when we realize that we have divine potencial and are part of a divine plan we begin to change our lives naturally. I was preparing for our lesson this morning and found a quote about quality of life from Elder Ballard that  I love...

´´A quality life has more to do with substance than style. A quality life is one that positively influences others and makes the world around it a better place in which to live. A quality life is one that is constantly growing, expanding its horizons and enlarging its borders. A quality life is one that is filled with live and loyalty, patience and perseverance, kindness and compassion. A quality life is one that is based on eternal potential and not confined to this life only. A quality life is a life well lived.´´

I observed two people this week that I think demonstrate a quality life very well.. The first was a woman I say walking down the street on her way to church. It was freezing cold and pouring rain and she was securely holding her Bible in her arms. I have no clue which church she was walking to, but I was touched at her devotion to God and to her faith, rain or shine.
The second we found while making street contacts. Well, we actually found his sister but she invited us to her house and introduced us to her sick mother and to her brother. Turns out, her mom has been on bed rest for the last 20 YEARS. And so, out of pure compassion and charity, this frail womans son gave up everything in his life when he promised to stay next to her bedside and help her with anything and everything she needed. So this man, full of complete charity for his mother cleans the house, washes and irons clothes, and cooks for his mother every day of his life. Wow! What a sacrifice!

People like this and their resolve to to the things they know to be right are so inspiring to me!

So in short, this week has been so great! I am learning lots. And as a side note, I am finally using the more fancy clothes that I was about to box up and send home. With these people a good first impression is vital!

Love you all and miss you dearly! Sorry for the huge letter this week.

Sister Lauren

p.s. my companion is great!  I am serving in the area of the temple right now actually! Yeah the lost credit card card story is strange and luckily I put a little bit of money in my suitcase but I definitely feel veryy poor right now. 

p.s.s. But I got my package for mothers day! wow I think you are the only mom that sends her daughter something for this holiday. I think it is a little backwards but I am excited to open it!

Saying good Bye to Campo Limpo and "Fancy Nancy!"

                                                                                             dinner with nancy!

                                                                        a prank from the other sisters. so not funny

                                                                    look who I found at the temple.. Sister Tanner!

Susan Winder Tanner (born January 10, 1953 (age 61)) served from 2002 to 2008 as the twelfth general president of the Young Women organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Tanner is currently serving with her husband, who is president of the church's Brazil Sao Paulo South Mission; this assignment began in 2011 and is expected to end in 2014.

Letter from Steve to Lauren 4/21/14

Dear Lauren,

I hope your creamed eggs and Easter celebration were as good for you today as they were for us.  I have been on call this weekend so I have been busy but I was able to see my patients in the hospital early this morning then to make it home to finish making the breakfast (mom and Rachel were my sous chefs) and watch the kids hunt down their Easter baskets that mom did a good job creating and I did a pretty good job hiding--so much so that Katie got annoyed because she couldn't find hers!  Like all special days with our family, our thoughts turned to you. We all commented how much we missed you and how, from past experience, you would have even had a harder time than Katie to find your Easter basket. I have to say that the eggs were delicious (see attached photo) even though you weren't here. Let me know if your recipe was successful.

I am now here at the hospital waiting to start an appendectomy on an 11 year old girl.  It turns out I know her dad from some HealthEquity business. He just told me, "I don't want to put any pressure on you but now that I know you will be doing her case, I feel great!"  It does put a bit of pressure on me but I have always found that surgery is very humbling. You never know exactly what you are going to find when you look inside someone. Even the most routine cases can be stressful and weird. I have found the only force I can rely on sometimes in surgery is our Father in Heaven. I always say a prayer when I a standing at the scrub sink washing my hands before I go I to the operating room. I think of my favorite quote from Victor Hugo: "Certain thoughts are prayers. There are times when whatever the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees."  So remember, you can always have a prayer in your heart, even if you are walking down the street.

Being on call can be really tough, especially on Holiday weekends. It is common for me to have experiences with patients that bring me closer to God. There is a great old parable about a man who was walking down the beach when a huge wave rolled in and left thousands of starfish stranded helpless on the sand, baking in the sun. The man began tossing the starfish, one at a time, back in the water. Another man came up to him and said, "What are to doing?  There are thousands of dying starfish on this beach. Do you really think you are making a difference. The starfish savior calmly stated as he tossed another starfish in the water, "For this one, I just made a difference."  I think about that story a lot when I am here on call. I will probably operate on a few thousand patients during my career as a surgeon. Whereas at HealthEquity, we  feel like we are making a difference for millions of people. Yet it still feels good to take care of one starfish at a time.

I did have a remarkable patient that I took care if yesterday. She came in with a ruptured appendix and I operated in her last night. She was really sick but she was so nice when she came out of surgery.  She thanked me for helping her. The remarkable thing is that even though she was so nice, she is a woman who was addicted to meth and cocaine a few years ago. Sometimes we get in the habit of thinking that all drug addicts and people who have bad choices in their lives are bad people. Then we meet people that seem to be redeemed by the love of our Savior. It helps to remind us of the great healing influence we have access to.

Your great missionary example has been rubbing off on me. This week I gave away 2 copies of the Book of Mormon over the last couple weeks, one to a cab driver in San Francisco named Kuma and last week I sent one to another taxi driver named Faruk. It is amazing how both of these men seemed to be thirsty for the truth. Faruk was a non-practicing Muslim from Turkey who kept asking me questions about our beliefs around fasting, the law of chastity, and the Word of Wisdom. He seemed so impressed that then he asked me how he could find a Mormon Church and if I thought there would be any eligible women his age at church. Kuma told me that he was agnostic but that he wanted to be religious--he just couldn't find a faith that made him want to believe. He was from Ethiopia and he said he had seen the missionaries there. He also said he wanted to read the Book if Mormon so I ordered him one as well off of your blog. I hope I will hear from these men someday.

Well Laur, I just finished my appendectomy. It seemed to go well. It is almost 1 AM and I am very tired.  Please know how much we love and miss you. We are so proud good work you're doing to help people have hope and faith in Jesus Christ. I can't wait to read your letter tomorrow. Just be careful and know that you are always in our prayers. Love dad

Letter from Lauren to Steve

thank you for this and all of your other letters! I know how much of your precious time you spend on them but I love you and am so so grateful for you! And great job with the book of Mormons. My creamed eggs were okay but yours were probably better. I found sushi this week and absolutely loved it! It is only a block away from our house so I went back the next day! the problem is, now I am getting transfered so I have to find a new place.

Oh and this week two of our lunches fell through. The first day I whipped up a butternut squash soup, grilled cheese, a salad with a palmitos and a balsamic vinegar dressing and brigadeiros. I thought of you because you are always great at finding something to eat when we have NOTHING in the house. The second day I was lazy so we went to a restaraunt and I just payed for everyone. 

Love you!

Laur

Excellent. Don't stress the transfer thing. Just think of it as another adventure to see new places, find new cheap hole in the wall restaurants, and best of all, meet new interesting people. You are great with adventures. 

I love you,

Dad

Guessing where Lauren will go next!

April 21, 2014, EASTER, pascoa and agua!

Oi all! 

I hope you had a wonderful Pascoa! My week was so incredible! As I mentioned last week, we were very busy preparing our 4 investigators for baptism. I did not quite realize what a task that would be. In one of dads letters he advised me to warn our investigators that as they came closer to baptism they would feel opposition in a big way as Satan would be working hard with them to prevent them from entering the waters of baptism. He said he basically lived at their houses of his investigators for the feeks before their baptisms and oh how true that statement turned out to be! Luckily they live close together because we definitely made our rounds of the Favela Andrea Firenze this week. And like clockwork, all four had their individual doubts and fears. 

I remembered so clearly the months before my mission when I was so scared and experienced every doubt and fear about myself, my testimony, and my capabilities as a missionary (or lack there of). It was horrible. By some miracle I made it here, a little in shambles, but I was quickly healed by the good word of God and the opportunity to help others find this same peace in a really noisy world. And at the time I wondered ´´why me?´´ I wanted to feel as excited as all of my missionary friends seemed but I was a basket of nerves. 

But as I was talking to my favorite little new convert Jefferson about the doubts he was having I shared my experience and my testimony that sometimes before we have a really great experience in life (like a baptism or a mission) we have to feel a little opposition. It is just a part of life.And a testimony to the fact that these things are worthwhile.   

But, they all went through with it and it was a wonderful day! President and Sister Del Guerso came and everything. Our little boys turned out to be very popular and the managed to bring about 17 kids!! Us walking down the street with a herd of crazy children was probably quite the sight to see. We looked a little bit like a babysitting service. And now all the little ones want to know how they can be baptized too!

 In celebration I had the brilliant idea to make a beautiful fruit pizza. yeahh bad idea. I forgot that the stake centers here are not equiped with plates, knives, napkins, etc. and so I ended up stabbing at my masterpiece with a spatula as everyone was crowded around me yelling for more and fruit was flying everywhere! Next time I will definitely be making cookies. 

Easter was also incredible! The two chique women in the ward, Fancy Nancy and Eny fought over the opportunity to have Easter Dinner with. We had a simple solution... we ate twice and I felt oh so sick afterwards. They have this wonderful Easter tradition here: an egg made of chocolate and filled with surprises. And Nancy HANDMADE us an egg filled with coconut and handmade truffles. did I mention that at one point she hade a little bakery and gave the missionaries free treats every day? Yeah let´s just say its probably a good thing for my figure that I am leaving. haha. And best believe I will make my own chocolate eggs when I return. I love cultural traditions!

But to my next big news... I am leaving Campo Limpo tomorrow. So sad. I am actually pretty depressed and I have oh so many thank you cards and letters to write tonight. I´ll admit, at first I thought this place was the ugliest little city on the planet. But in retrospect I could not ask for a better place to learn and grow and I will miss this place a lot. I promised my new converts I would return and check in on their progress in just over a year. 

So pretty please pray for my new adventure... companion, area ward etc.I am pretty nervous but I am hoping and praying I have good things to report in my next leter. 

xoxo

Sister Lauren

                                                                                             churrascaria

                                                                                                       sushiii!

                                                                                             we love baptisms!!

                                                             Anderson, son of Joana. We baptized a family!!

                                                                                               Teresinha!

                                                                                 i love this little boys!

                                                                    a recent convert Mauriza and her sister

April 15, 2014, week #17

Boa Tarde everyone!

Sorry I did not write yesterday. Because we have the temple in our area we get to go about every month and when we do that our schedule is all jacked up. But I am glad you are back from spring break safe and sound.

I am one happy girl because we are so busy! If all goes as planned (I am praying like crazy and you guys are welcome to do the same) we should have 4 baptisms this week! Just in time for Easter! This weekend should be pretty special.
Terezinha is the woman who decided to wait for her May birthday to get baptized but that would mean us waiting another month and into the next transfer. So we explained transfers and told her about how special recieving the Holy Ghost on easter could be and she agreed. I love her because she is always always happy. She actually reminds me a little of Aunt Julie because she always is smiling.  Also she has two  louca but well meaning daughters and a son who will probably follow suit after they witness the mom getting baptized.

Jefferson and Adrian are two studly 14 year olds who learned about the church from their friend, our recent convert Danilo. I swear, he is a better missionary than some guys wearing suits and ties in this world. Everyday he introduces us to a new friend and they ALL want to hear more. He reminded me of JD ever since I met him and at first I could not put my finger on the reason why but now I know that he just does his thing confidently and others want to follow his lead. These kind of people have the power to influence people and the responsibility to be an influence for good. **So shout out to my cute brother: do good things. Your friends and classmates will follow you whether you like it or not.
But these cute boys are reading and praying and it is just wonderful. And their moms gave their written consent so all systems are a go! yay!

And Anderson! The son of our recent convert Joana. After she got baptized I played mom and helped her get ready. I asked how she felt and she said, so clean and so happy and that she wanted her son to feel the same way. I promised I would do all I could to help him and so this Saturday he too will be baptized!! yay. He does tattoos for a job and we were a little worried about this but as luck would have it, my district leader has tattoos too because during his teenage years he went a little cray cray. So they had a bonding moment as Elder Merchado talked about how while he would like to get more he knows better now and Anderson promised to find a new job. I am starting to truly believe that each and every one of us are in our areas because we have certain life experience that can bless the lives of the individuals we meet. It is so complicated but really cool.

Other funny story, yesterday we had a churrascaria with our zone. I have lots of pictures that I will send next week because they do a better job explaining than I could but it was oh so ghetto and hilarious. They made a fire in the back of our stake center. Or I guess they attempted unsuccessfully and so my gruff and tuff Amazonian companion had to show them how it is done. As soon as I smelled the fire I could not help but think that we needed smores so we ran to the nearest store and found the equivalent grahm crackers and marshmallows and I taught all the Brazilians our favorite summer treat. It was such a successful party!

I hope all of you have a wonderful, Christ-filled, Easter. And eat lots of cadburry chocolate and creamed eggs. And enjoy the tulips and flowers. The weather is starting to get cooler here and this is such a blessing.

I love you all and feel oh so blessed to have each of you in my life!
Sister laurr

April 7, 2014, Conference!!! (16 weeks)

Oi!! 

I am one happy girl today family! For lots of reasons but first and foremot conference!! Oh it was so great! It was such an answer to prayers and it gave me a well needed boost. All week I prayed to have a great experience at conference because I knew it would be different than any conference at home. I was worried I would miss the conference center, PJ´s, conference BINGO, creamed eggs, crepes, and all the wonderful traditions we have for conference. But, similar to my wonderful first Christmas in the mission field, I loved it for all different reasons. 

As preparation, I made conference BINGO cards for the younger people that we are teaching. I have learned here that it is important to encorporate traditions from home or we would go crazy of homesickness. (Now I am on to preparing a special easter celebration. A little creativity goes a long way here!) 

Buttt, we got to listen in English!!! What a blessing. I just cringe to think of a conference without hearing the booming voice of President Holland but rather an awkward voice over in a language I have to work hard to understand. But we did not have that problem because they prepared a special room for us with comfortable chairs, air conditioning, and the entire 10 hours all in english. We basically had an American party complete with Oreos and Peanut Butter. At times I almost cried of nostalgia and joy. 

What made the experience even better was when the ocasional Brasileiro decided to give the English room a chance for a few minutes. Two elders who have tried to study English for their who lives were determined to watch a session in English to test their knowledge. After 2.5 minutes they left frusterated. I secretly love when they try to learn our language and get a taste of how difficult it is to be completely immersed, all the time, in  Portuguese. 

Also, it was just so neat to hear the voice of the prophet and apostles from the ears of a missionary. It is so cool to think that we are so united in purpose, them and us, and I loved feeling how strong their testemonies are. I can´t really pinpoint one theme from conference because I feel like there were many but they talked a lot about love, service, missionary work, and obedience. And right now I have a unique opportunity to develop in all of these areas. I especially loved the talk by Gary Stevens about the olympic athletes. He related our life to a brief 4 minutes to perform. We, like the athletes prepared for a really long time for our brief moments of mortality, and we will have an eternity to remember the things we did here, but we have a very short time, relatively, to live. 

I did some math and found that if our life is 4 minutes and I live to be 90 years old, the time I have to be a missionary is the equivalent of 4 seconds. That is so SHORT! This is motivation to work hard and make every moment count. It is truly a privilidge to wear this badge. 

Also, we had some very special visits at conference. First, Paulinho and his family!!! They hand delivered a package for me and it was just so wonderful to see them. I am so lucky to have so many familiar faces! And our investigator Anderson (son of Joana.) He liked his experience a lot, he was well recepted by the ward members, and if all goes as planned he will be getting baptized in the next couple weeks. So wonderful! This week we had an opportunity to hear Joana bear her testimony to her son a little bit and hear her side of her conversion story. Turns out she had secret problems with the Law of Chastity too. Who knew!? These Brasileiras get it on way past their expiration date. But my favorite part was when she said that God sent two angels into her life to eternally bless it. Being called an angel is a rare opportunity!

And one of my favorite families Jose, Marlene, and Aline came to conference too! Jose was baptized about 20 years ago but he fell away. He stopped us on the streets about a month ago and asked if we could teach his family. We said absolutely and have been teaching them since. Aline, especially seems really interested, but it was really neat to talk to all of them about the stories they remembered from conference. Jose told us that he began to read the Book of Mormon again and he reallyyy enjoyed conference. 

Love you all! Hope you guys have lots of fun on spring break! I miss you very much. Know that my week will probably be anything from relaxing as you sip endless pina coladas. 

Tchau!

Sister Lauren

Conference Bingo cards Lauren made for the kids!

Paulino and his family delivering a package and watching conference!

"My area, isn't it a beleza (beauty).