natal branco

Merry Christmas!

Hope you all had a merry christmas!
This week was really good. Eva was baptized finally! We had done a practice last week in district meeting about her because we have been trying to figure out her difficulty for a long time. She has been to church consecutively for the past 3 weeks and went a lot a few months ago when her 2 boys were baptized. On Tuesday, we had a zone meeting where we decided that we would fast as a zone for the people that are preparing to be baptized this week because it is a holiday week and its easy to loose focus. We decided to fast and immediately we thought of visiting Eva that day. We went to her house and immediately we got talking about her baptism. We asked her what would stop her from getting baptized, and she said, ``I like pants.`` She said she wanted to wear pants to church and if that was a problem after she got baptized. After quickly resolving that doubt, she was super excited for her baptism that Friday night. She is super sweet and it was just really fun seeing her so happy at her baptism and her family all at church this sunday. It was a happy Christmas miracle. 

Also Daniella and Douglas got baptized on Saturday! They are the kids of a recent convert, Luciana, who was baptized at the beginning of the month. At first, Daniella(9) liked coming to church with her mom but it was hard to find her home to teach her. The past week or two we have been able to teach her daily and she was excited to get baptized with her brother Douglas(10). Douglas is really smart and has been reading the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon but at first he didn´t come to church because he had trouble waking up on sunday mornings. They are really good kids and the two bore very sweet testimonies at their baptisms. 

Luciana is still helping us teach her friends, and we are also working on contacting other referrals we have received from members. The work is going well here and we have a lot to do this week to help our investigators with their commitments to read, pray, and come to church. This week we didn´t have any investigators at church though--most of our teaching pool left for the weekend and the rest we weren´t able to get in contact with so we aren´t sure why they didn´t come. This week we will try to integrate them better with the members and have the members pick them up for church. 

Thanks for the emails and cards! Christmas was fun here--we had a fun Christmas eve with some members and then christmas day we spent with another family who let us use their skype to talk to our families which was awesome--love you guys! Also that morning we went had a missionary choir at the huge bus station that is more or less near our area. Some members came and we sang a bunch of songs. It was cool because we got to had out a bunch of the ´He is the Gift´ pass-along cards. 

Hope you all had a great week and have a safe & happy new years!

Love ya, 

Sister Bledsoe 

singing christmas carols at the bus station

Eva´s baptism

baptism of Daniella and Douglas

merry christmas 

love, 

the sao paulo interlagos mission

I'm sitting next to President Costa

trabalhando com membros

This week we put one of President Costa´s promise to the test; he promised us that the best missionary work is working with members and he gave us a scenario to put in practice: on friday or saturday go to the house of a member and look for their neighbors--pick a family that you see and then on sunday tell the members that you really feel like these neighbors need to hear the gospel then set up a date to talk to the members more about this. at the members house, plan a FHE with the neighbors, make invitations, and deliver the invitations with the members. Do basically all the work but do it with the members. He said that we as missionaries need to be more proactive and if necessary, do the work for the members/make the invitations/etc. 

So, on Friday, we went to the bishop´s street to see who we could invite to a family home evening in his house. We stood in front of his house and at first we saw no one in the street. Then we saw a car pull in front of a house a little bit down the road; a woman came out of the house to talk to her friend in the car. Sister Angulo then told me, ``I think that is the bishop´s old house.`` We then decided to go talk to them. Turns out the woman who lives in the bishop´s old house is from a part member family. She told us that her mom and sisters are members and she has been to church a couple of times. Sister angulo asked why she was never baptized, and she said she has to change some things first. She promised that she would come to church the next week because she would be traveling this sunday and the week of Christmas. We will set up a family home evening for the week she comes home and even better because our bishop is really excited to help us lately! He talked to us yesterday and told us that he wants us to help him get 200 members coming to church before next July; he told us 3 things that he specifically wants us to do--use our area books because he has seen that many times we loose some of our teaching pool when the missionaries are tranferred, do divisions with members every week, and help the ward rescue less actives. 

Also Luciana´s kids will be baptized this week. Luciana has also been inviting a lot of her friends to church. We were visiting one of her friends on saturday when we met two 19 year old boys who agreed to come to church the next day--and they came! Jadsom and Rafael went to church and then we taught them in the chapel with a member; it was a good lesson and Jadsom really understood everything. We also taught Valter, who is Irmã Raimunda´s neighbor who came to church with her. Valter is in his 20s and came to the Ward´s Christmas dinner and is really interested in the church. 

We are working a ton with the members here and it is going really well. We had another ward integration activity and a ton of members showed up along with a family that we have been teaching--they went to the chapel for the english class at 6:30 and stayed for the activity after and loved it. They just need to get to church on sunday.

We are excited for this week--hopefully we will find people home! 

Love you! Merry Christmas!

Sister Bledsoe

mission tour

Wow another crazy week--yesterday we didnt email because we had a christmas program with the mission and it lasted mostly all day. 

This week was another great one for the work here in Aracati, but we also had a great conference with President Claudio M. Costa, the area president of Brazil. 

Here in aracati:

--we started weekly activities here in the ward on wednesday nights to work on integration. President Dalton wants us to have weekly activies, even if they are as simple as Family home evenings, to strengthen the wards and use our chapels better(because everyone always comments that our chapels are always closed). This week we showed the little film He is the Gift and played Indian Chief. The ward loved it! 

--Luciana who was baptized this week is on fire and introduced us to like all of her neighbors. She even brought 7 people to a baptism and the ward christmas party on saturday night. We are teaching her kids and neighbors now. 

--Eva, the mom of 2 boys that are recent converts, came to church on sunday and wants to get baptized. She has tons of desire make this christmas special for her family even though they are going through a lot. 

--I am starting up an english class here on wednesday before our ward activies and on saturday because we want to get more members at the activies(lots want to learn english) and help our investigators, who want to learn english, get into the chapel and feel the spirit there.  

Also this week we had a very special conference with President Costa. He is a spiritual GIANT. He was called to be a general authority the same day as Pres. Uchtdorf. He was in the presidency of the seventy but now he is the area president of Brazil. He has been a general authority for more than 20 years. President Dalton told us that he looked up some numbers to see a better perspective and saw that President Costa, as the area president of Brazil, is in charge of more members of the church than President David O McKay when he was prophet. Brazil is the 3rd largest country in membership (after the US and mexico) and the 2nd largest in number of stakes (after the US). He was also a recent convert at 27,when his whole family was members and one day sister missionaries were in their home teaching about the restoration. that night, he decided to read Joseph smith history and pray after each paragraph. 14 hours later at 6 in the morning, he knew with a perfect knowledge that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and he asked to be baptized that weekend (incredible witness of how to gain a testimony). Anyway, it was incredible to hear from him. But first to start the meeting, he told us that he wanted to shake all of our hands.He said that for a general authority a handshake is the equivalent of an interview. He would know what he needed to say to our mission after he shook all of our hands. (I didn´t know that before). Then he shared a bunch of counsel--I could write pages of what he said. He counseled us to follow whatever counsel we receive from our mission president. To show us how much he and the other leaders trust these men as mission presidents, he told us that we as member have to have 3 signatures to enter the temple(bishop, stake president and ours), but the mission president gives himself an interview and signs his own recommend. (at that moment, President Dalton was sitting behind him and he said ``I didn´t know that`` it was really funny but a powerful lesson--our mission presidents are the best of the best) Then he told a really cool story that I will sum up because I just loved it. When he was the mission president of Manuas(he opened that mission as the president), 2 elders called him because they wanted him to come to a lesson where their investigators had invited their pastor(7th day adventist). President accepted and felt a prompting to bring a copy of the Bible in english. when they got there that night, there wasn´t only the local pastor but also the area pastor of the area of the amazons, and also the pastor of the whole 7th day adventist church in Brazil. He first had the impression of the scripture that the small and weak will confound the strong and wise. He asked the ministers how much they studied to be pastors (8years, 9 years, etc. the pastor of all of brazil spoke fluent english and knew hebrew and greek). Then the pastors asked how much training they received-19 days for the brazilian elder, 2 months in the mtc for the american elder, and 3days for the president of all of the mission in brazil. Then the pastor asked the big question, ``What day of the week is the sabbath day?`` In the portuguese bible it says in the commandments to keep the day of `sabado` which is a direct translation to saturday. The pastor showed that verse and then President Costa asked if he had read the bible in english, yes. What word does the english bible use? sabbath day. President Costa asked him to find the english word saturday in the bible; doesn´t exist. Then he asked about the hebrew word for sabbath--what it means? the pastor said ``day of rest`. Then president asked everyone in the room: what is your day of rest? they all said sunday. Then he had the prompting ``do what Nephi did to Laban`` and he thought ´´cut off his head???`` yeah spiritually. He then opened the bible to where the jews condemn jesus for doing miracles on the sabbath day and he said ``i always wanted to know what religion these men were and now I know they of your religion.`` Then he said the pastor didn´t say one more word (if you cut off someone´s head they can´t speak anymore).He told us that we have to know the scriptures well, use them well, and follow the spirit with exactness.  

Also yesterday I talked to the elders and sisters serving in some of my old areas and they had some good news. First, in Jardim Campinas, my first area, Jennifer was baptized this weekend! Her mom finally let her get baptized and even went to her baptism with some of her siblings. Second, when I was in Parelheiros, it was like my last week there with Sister Mota and I felt like we needed to visit some of the less-actives in our area. One day we knocked on the door of Talita, a less-active and the only member in the family; she lost all contact with the church and hadn´t been visited in years. Her husband, Washington answered the door and we talked to him and set up a return appointment. Anyway, he ended up going to church that week and wanted to get baptized and now he just recently received the priesthood--that ward really needed more priesthood holders and he is such a cool person. I don´t say that to be a ``G.H.``--which stands for ``gloria dos homens``(glory of men) but I was happy to hear that something I did had later consequences down the road. I like the song more holiness give me and especially the line that I have come to love since the MTC when we sang it in General Conference ``more fit for the kingdom, more used would I be.`` 

Love you!

Sister Bledsoe

mundo feliz, nasceu Jesus

It has been a real blessing to be here in Aracati with Sister Angulo. It´s incredible how well we work together and even better that we are able to see so many miracles together. I feel like when I am working with her we are really in tune with each other and the spirit. This week we were led to many places at exactly the right time. We have been able to get referrals from members(2 of them came to church on sunday), we found Luciana in the street after not being able to find her at home for over a week, we started teaching a new family that has a lot of potential, and it has just been really busy here. We are really trying to work on retaining our converts and teaching their families. We have also been teaching former investigators here and that has been working a ton. For example, Luciana was baptized yesterday--she was an investigator of some sisters awhile back, and finally we were able to find her and help her to get baptized. 

The program `he is the gift´is helping us with finding(referrals from members and contacts) and teaching(committing our investigators to baptism--that their baptism will be the greatest present that they can give to the Savior).

Hope you all have seen that video and are sharing it!
Thanks for the emails and everything! You guys are the best!
Sister Bledsoe

left to right: Elder Oliveira& Elder Lund(zone leaders), Luciana, her daughter Daniella, an investigator of the elders Natalia, Sister angulo, me (in front) Francilton(investigator of the elders), Bruno(recent convert that baptized Francilton), Elder Fuentealba(our district leader whol baptized Luciana)

Aracati

I got transferred to Aracati and my new companion is Sister Angulo from Argentina!!!  

This week in Aracati, Bea(16) was baptized! She had been going to church for like 6 months or more and finally her mom let her get baptized. We worked a lot with her mom this week and helping Bea have the courage to act because in the 6 months or so that she has been going to church a lot had happened and she wanted to wait a little longer. She ended up deciding to get baptized and she was so happy that day. Sister Robbins, who goes home with me, came to the baptism because she taught Bea for a long time. It was a fun day! 

We also had a really cool experience with the program ``He is the gift``-- everyone should go to christmas.mormon.org if you haven´t already and watch that video and SHARE IT. We have been using the pass-along cards with that program and it has been really cool to talk to people on the streets about God´s love for them/what He have us and what gifts they can give to Him. We have also been showing this program to all the members we come in contact with and one member, Ivanilde(the mom of a missionary) was just on fire. She went through all her friends on facebook and wrote down the names of those who she wanted to send the video to--she came up with like 50 names(non-members, less-actives, etc.). Then she sent that video to their pages and wrote ``if you want to learn more, call ****`` with our phone number. It worked!! We got tons of referrals and that member was just on fire. She said, ``I don´t even like the internet, but I LOVE this. I will do this all night.`` She got her daughter to help her and they were just so happý. Lots of times, missionary work is more for us than those we share it with. 

Recently I have just loved a scripture that has motivated me when things are hard. It´s alma 30:24:  And now, if we do not receive anything for our labors in the  church, what doth it profit us to labor in the church save it  were to declare the truth, that we may have rejoicings in the  joy of our brethren?

So true. I am loving rejoicing in the joy of my brothers and sisters--that´s why I want to be here. I love seeing people happy and happiness is exactly what the restored gospel brings.

 Love you all! Hope you have a great week!

Sister Bledsoe

my last p-day with Sister Ovejero

Sister Rodriguez(companion of Sister Robbins), Sister Angulo, BEA, Sister Robbins, &me

YESSSSS, NOOOOOOO

So I am getting transferred... they are taking the sister missionaries out of our ward. Our mission is apparently getting smaller so they have to close some areas and since our ward had 6 missionaries they decided to close our area for sisters. 

Happy news though--I saw so many miracles this week! It was incredible. First, JILVAN got baptized by Wellington,who got ordained as a priest last week! Jilvan(14) is the brother of a recent-convert here(Ivania,19). We have been teaching him really consistently lately and he has been going to church for the past month. He really likes the church and everything--he has been reading the Book of Mormon, but he didn´t understand much. On Thursday, I went on splits with Sister Vizzo(STL) and we taught Jilvan the Restoration using the cups/apostacy visual (where you build the church of Jesus Christ with apostles, priesthood, and tons of references from the Bible). It worked perfectly for him because he used to always say he doesn´t believe in anything that isn´t in the Bible. We were able to help him see how our church really is a new-testament church and  then when the spirit was super strong and he was really understanding everything, Sister Vizzo asked him a bunch of inspired questions. Jilvan confessed that he already had already received an answer that Joseph Smith was a prophet when other sisters were teaching him, but at that time, he decided to be baptized in the 7th day adventist church. He felt like get baptized a second time would be a sin. We were able to help him see that it wouldn´t be a sin to get baptized again and to become a member of the church. He decided to get baptized on saturday and it was sooo cool.  His mom was super supportive and came to the baptism. Ivania was super happy too--she is trying to convert her whole family and her boyfriend Robson! Saturday morning, the morning of the baptism, they(Jilvan and Ivania) went to the garden of the temple for the first time--the ward carpooled and took our investigators and recent-converts to the temple.  It was just the coolest day. Edileusa, Jilvan´s mom, is super receptive to the discussions now and Robson, Ivania´s boyfriend, got interviewed with Ivania by a member of the bishopric and he is now committed to read the Book of Mormon. I´m so happy for Ivania and her determination to share the gospel with her family. 

I was really sad to leave this area. I have only been here for 6 weeks but I really feel like I saw some of the greatest miracles on my mission here. I am so grateful for this work. There aren´t many words to describe how I feel right now--I guess it ´s just really bittersweet. 

Love you all!

Sister Bledsoe

Baptism of Jilvan! 

(me, Ivania[Jilvan´s older sister], Robson[her boyfriend], Jilvan, Wellington[our recent-convert], Sister Ovejero)

lunch in the church with the district

my unbirthday with the members we live with-- Sister Vanuza(she is barely in the pic because Mauricio is in front of her) thought it was my birthdy last monday so she made me a cake and cochinas...it was delicious!

Some of our favorite members

Wellington´s family (us, wellington, his mom, his dad, Flavielle, Flavia and her boyfriend)

november 15th

Hello! Hope you all are happy and healthy! The work is going well--we are working a lot with the families of recent-converts and helping our recent-converts. They are going out teaching with us, going to the temple, planning on going on missions, etc. It is what President Dalton calls the double harvest--when recent-converts help us teach and baptize and retain because they have such strong testimonies and an incredible impact on their families and other investigators. 

On saturday, a member(Erik) took Wellington to the garden of the temple. Wellington loved it! On sunday before church, he had an interview with the bishop (he also received the priesthood after church--we got to be there for the ordination--I felt like a proud mother lol) and bishop asked him to bear his testimony during sacrament meeting--Wellington told how he got to know the church and was converted--how he met an elder a while ago and went to church but then the elder stopped coming over(he was transferred). Then one day he got a text from his sister that said, ``two of your friends are here. one is american and the other is argentinan. they are pretty.``(haha). He said he thought, ``but I don´t know an american or argentinan.`` Then that weekend he met us and we taught him and now he is a member. He gave a powerful testimony and the spirit was really strong--it seemed like he was a pro at giving talks, it was really cool. He told about a dream that he had where he was dressed as an elder or something--he said he will go on a mission. Then a returned missionary, Jefferson, gave a homecoming talk and the spirit of missionary work was very strong. Jefferson talked about being a witness at all times. He told a story that is more or less...

Once there was a minister who gave a sermon on Matthew 3. He taught that it doesn´t say that Jesus entered the waters when he was baptized, he was just baptized along side the River Jordan. One man in the congregation thanked the minister at the end of the meeting and said, ``That was the best sermon I´ve ever heard. Now the Bible makes so much more sense to me. I was always confused by so many of the stories, but now I understand them now. When it says that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were in the fire, they weren´t actually IN the fire, just close by. Daniel wasn´t really in the lion´s den, just close by, right next to the cave. Jonah wasn´t actually IN the whale, just swimming along side...``

Jefferson expounded using similar logic, ``Now we don´t really have to go to church, just live really close to one. We don´t need to really read the scriptures, just open them....`` The principle was comical but it´s a good one. We can justify so many things because of our unbelief/human logic. But the truth is that miracles happen when we act and exercise our faith. Many miracles are unbelievable to many--miracles in the Bible, modern-day miracles(the story of Joseph Smith, etc), but they are still real. Miracles do happen today. The heavens are not closed. We just need to be examples at all times by acting on our faith instead of making excuses and encourage others to act on their faith(like test Moroni´s promise about the Book of Mormon) too. His talk was really inspiring; I hope I can apply the lessons I learned.  I hope that I can continue to do that throughout my mission and for the rest of my life. I have gained such a testimony of this work and I am so grateful for my mission. Hope you all have a great week and see the miracles everyday!

--Sister Sadie Bledsoe

a famìlia è um dom de Deus

This week was awesome! Wellington was baptized amd confirmed!

He helped us teach a new investigator yesterday in the chapel--he bore powerful testimony and is planning on working with the elders(he invited them over for lunch on sunday then they will go out and work together!). He even went to a priesthood meeting last night--he is being integrated really well. Seriously, he is super elect! He will be a great missionary!

We also got a new Ward Mission Leader and he is SUPER excited to help us. His son comes home from his mission this thursday. On Friday, we have an activity planned. Brother Gerson(our WML) is helping us integrate our investigators and converts, and the ward here is really on fire. The work will continue to grow here in Itapecerica and we are happy to be a part of it. All of the missionaries here are having success and our gospel principle's class is consistently full! 

This week I also got to go to the temple! Such a sweet spirit there...

I just feel so blessed. Yesterday was the primary program and the kids here are just so cute. All the primary songs in Portuguese are just so beautiful. I teared up as they sang ``A Família é um dom de Deus``(the family is a gift of God)--I don´t know what song it is in English but it was sooo cute and I remembered my primary days and how blessed I was to grow up in the church with wonderful parents and siblings. Thank you, thank you mom, dad, elissa, nathan and haley!

Love you! 

Sister Bledsoe

Erik(RM) and Wellington

Elias(member), Erik, Wellington, and Brother Gerson(WML)

Temple with the district (Elder Beck, Elder V. Santos (ZLs), Elder Escajeda(DL), Elder Cordova, me, Sister Ovejero)

CHURRASCO!

obra do Senhor

Happy Halloween!!! they don´t celebrate halloween here, but I bought myself stickers to commemorate... I might have an obsession. 

also shoutout to Haley---HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Crazy that this is the 2nd birthday of yours that I´ve missed, but I hope it´s a good one!!!

Here in Sao Paulo, we´ve been hearing that on November 15th, we will run out of water. Our area president, President Claudio Costa, asked us to fast on the 16th. Yesterday at church, our bishop reminded us that many times in General Conference we were counselled to support our leaders--we have to do so now, especially supporting our local and general leaders of the church. That was a good lesson for me. I remembered the first presidency message like 2 months ago in the Ensign/Liahona was ``are you prepared?`` Here everyone is asking themselves that. How grateful we should be for a prophet, and how wise it would be to heed their counsel. 

We have also been working with Wellington more--he is super solid. This week...

On Wednesday, we spent almost the entire day walking around--we were finding seriously no one home. We kept working and everything until we decided to try to visit a recent-convert. On our way to her house, guess who we found in the street...Wellington!(miracle that we found him--met up with him at that very second! it was a tender mercy. diligence brings blessings!) He felt sick that day and didn´t stay for school. He ended up just going home after work, which is super rare for him. He told us that he had read up to 1 Nephi 6 that day on the bus and really liked the Introduction and everything so far. He invited us over to his house and we had a quick follow-up and gave him the rest of the pamphlets. It´s also been perfect because at church the past 2 sundays the lessons have been the law of chastity and temple work--2 lessons that we NEEDED to teach him. Then on Sunday, as we walked to church that morning, Wellington told us that he has read a lot of 1 nephi and loves Lehi´s dream--he taught us more about opposition; that his family has been super burdened lately--especially since we started coming over. However, he talked a lot about his faith and how he believes that he will be blessed for doing eveything that he´s doing. It was amazing; he was teaching us. Then after church, we felt prompted to teach him again in the chapel with Evelin, a returned missionary. The lesson went so well. It started off with a prayer then Evelin said, ``Sisters, I think Wellington has something to tell you.`` Then he said, ``Saturday, I´m going to get baptized.`` YES!!!! We then had an incredible lesson with them and the spirit was so strong. Evelin was able to really encourage Wellington because she is the only member in her family and she served a mission. Now Wellington is talking about a mission and his biggest difficulty is that he wants so badly for his family to be a part of the church. I´m so grateful that Evelin could be there. It seems like EVERYTHING fell into place this week to prepare Wellington to be baptized--he has been taught all the lessons(even lesson 5) and yesterday night we did a review with him and gave him a pre-baptismal interview. I´m so grateful to be a part of teaching Wellington. This week I was reminded of a story in Acts about the apostles: 

``Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space; And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men. For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God. (Acts 5:34-39).``

Gamaliel didn´t have much faith in the apostles, but I love his logic--if this was my work( the work of men), there would have been no way for Wellington to be prepared for baptism. 

Wellington is super excited to invite everyone to his baptism and he wants to visit the temple later that day. Tomorrow we, as missionaries, get to go to the temple--yay!!!

--Sister Sadie Bledsoe

aula de inglês

Another awesome week!!! Itapecerica is cool--very in the middle of all the business! We live in the same house as members so that´s really sweet--they give us food at night! YES! One thing that is really common in Brazil is JELLO! Today for lunch Irmã(Sister) Vanuza made us lunch(a blessing on p-day) and jello. Expect there's a twist, we put powered milk in jello here after it sets... you should try it! experiment that Brazilian life--it´s really quite good. You can also try making jello then when it´s done you mix it with condensed milk--another favorite of the brazilians here. 

Wellington (19) is continuing to progress! He says he agrees with everything. He works and studies right now so monday-friday he gets up early and comes home at 11. He is doing his homework for us--aka reading the pamphlets and the Restoration film we left with him--but he still hasn´t read the Book of Mormon. He told us that he doesn´t want to read it on the bus--which is his only option-- because people would mock him and make a scene. I told him about the Book of Mormon app and he downloaded that, so I have high hopes that this week he will read and get a more solid answer. He really does love the church though! He told us that he didn´t need us to walk with him to church--and when we got there he was already sitting in Elder´s Quorum in a white shirt, a tie, slacks, and dress shoes--OPA! We have been talking about baptism a lot with him and he didn´t commit to a date because he said he wants to learn a bit more about the commandments; we explained a few things to him and then he asked, ``If i showed up on Sunday and asked to get baptized, could I?`` We were like YES. 

Also we are seeing some fruits from our English class. 1st, I taught the English class last week and Jefferson (22?) showed up. Apparently, he once went to a baptism at the church and then heard about the english class, so he´s been coming. We invite him every week and he was pretty mole...until we walk into church on sunday and guess who is sitting on the back pew in the chapel...JEFFERSON! It was a miracle! He came by himself and stayed for the whole thing. We wanted to take advantage of the opportunity on him being their for the spiritual side, so we asked if we could talk with him quickly after church. We invited a young married couple, our Ward mission leader and his wife, to join us(because we needed a woman with us and our Ward Mission Leader has been integrating Wellington) for the lesson. It was SUPER spiritual. We taught the Restoration and it was an incredible spirit. I want to take advantage of the chapel more often--I know that teaching in the chapel makes all the difference and even better that we taught after sacrament meeting, where the spirit was so strong. I have high hopes for Jefferson, even though he is in the same situation as Wellington--he only can meet on the weekends because he studies and works until late at night. 

Also our ward mission leader was at my last english class and asked if I had experience with teaching. Not really,,, just on the mission. He told me that I should really think about teaching english to brazilians when i get home...perhaps teaching via internet. I´m not sure, but I think I´d like that. I have a lot of fun with the class. 

Thanks for the emails and cards! Your support is INCREDIBLE! Thanks!

Love you guys so much! 

Sister Sadie Bledsoe

So Jefferson gave me this paper of english he wrote... I´m thinking he put something into google translate and this is what it gave him... I thought it was funny. my district leader read it as a rap song and it worked pretty well ....hahaha... (in brazil they write ....KKKKKK....fun fact)

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Itapecerica

Sorry this email is getting to you late...yesterday turned out to be a bit of a mess. We tried to find Western Union because dad sent me money but we ended up getting sent to 2 wrong addresses--I didn´t check my email 1st where dad had already sent me the addresses....whoops! At least we got to tour the fancy/rich part of Sao Paulo, but things would have been easier with GPS #missionaryproblems. Anyway, lesson learned. 

My new area is Itapecerica and my companion is Sister Ovejero from Argentina(my 1st non-brazilian comp here). She has 9 months on the mission and is 24. She was my companion for like 3 days when I first got her eand we were in a trio. She´s awesome! Our ward is huge---compared to my other 2 wards here. We have tons of youth here and lots of active member. However, on sunday the choristor wasn´t there so they asked me. I´ve never led the music in sacrament meeting and well, it was a semi-trainwreck. I don´t think they will ask me again...lol. I forgot to have everyone stand up for the intermediate hymn but luckily my companion motioned to me at the last second and it all worked out. It was stressful though because I had never even heard of the closing hymn before. I don´t think I had ever even sung it in English...Oh well, I´m grateful for those who have a talent for that kind of thing. That´s really the beauty of the church--we bring talents and learn others. 

This is my view from our house. It´s like the Lion King where Simba sees the Elephant Graveyard(or favela) ``as far as the eye can see.``​

This week was really wonderful! On Thursday, we fasted to find new investigators and prayed to find families to teach and it worked!We have been inviting everyone to our English class and that has opened MANY doors for us so far. We were trying to contact a referral, Wellington, and we ended up talking to his mom. We told her about our sunday meetings and the english class. She wasn´t too interested in the sunday meetings but she was super interested in the english class. She invited us in and had us invite her 2 daughters to the class. At the time, Wellington was at school so we didn´t get to meet him yet. Then we talked a bit and said we would return on Saturday when Wellington is home. When we came back on Saturday, we talked to Wellington and he is super elect! He had been to church once with Elder Chavier like 4-5 months ago(?) and loved it. When the elders got transferred, he didn´t receive anymore visits and was shy so he didn´t go back to church. We didn´t even have to invite him to church--he told us he would go and he invited his whole family, telling them how wonderful it is. They all stopped going to church because they were disappointed in many and have doubts about tithing. When we were on our way out, Wellington told us that his mom has some sort of depression and that their family has been going through a lot lately; he said he believes God sent us there because his mom loved us and is really interested--that like never happens (they have had visits from like every denomination--Jehovah´s Witness, etc.). On sunday, Wellington went to church and loved it! He is already integrated with our Ward Mission Leader and we had a lesson with them later that day. The whole family is really receptive and we had a really spiritual experience watching ``Because of Him``--the mom was really touched. As we left, Wellington told us that things have been worse since we got there but he believes it´s because we are bringing a good thing--he basically taught us the law of opposition. I´m really excited for him! 

Also we had a super spiritual experience with the sister, Mariana, of a returned missionary, Evelin. Mariana was once close to being baptized but an inactive member told her a bunch of anti-mormon things. Because of that she still has doubts about the Book of Mormon. On Saturday, we visited Camila, a recent-convert who was introduced to the church by Evelin. Mariana showed up there and we shared a spiritual thought about the atonement. Everyone was in tears and bearing their testimony. Mariana told usw how much she wants an anwser and how she thought, ``Camila got an answer, why can´t I?`` We testified that she could and talked about a lot of related things. Camila bore her testimony, which was really powerful, and told Mariana to have an open heart. It was a really cool experience. I´m grateful for such a good companion, who is already teaching me so much. 

​I realized that I haven´t straightened my hair for like 6 months so it has gotten really long. I´m scared to get it cut because of Elissa´s experience in Peru. Anyway, I might come house as Rapunzel...lol ;)

Thanks!

Sister Bledsoe

nada nada nada

Ok so I got transferred! I will find out my new companion and area tomorrow at the transfer meeting... sad to leave Parelheiros but I´m sure my new area will be awesome too.

This week, we didn´t do much because Sister Mota was still contagious, so we did a lot of reading--apparently the book is Drawing on the Powers of Heaven (not evoking...I tried to translate the title directly...). Also since we weren´t allowed to leave the house to watch General Conference last weekend, the elders brought us a pendrive with conference downloaded onto it, and we watched the sessions on a portable DVD player. It was kind of cool being able to watch conference at home...I haven´t done that for a year. But Conference was soooo goood! I can´t wait for the November Ensign to get here! 

Also here are President Dalton´s rules for goal setting (they are like SMART goals but better): His acronym is DREAMS

 D = Deadline

R = Realistic

E = Etched in Stone ( written down)

A = Always Reviewing (review daily)

M = Measurable (smaller plans and goals)

S = Supreme Being (share your goals with God--prayer). He has done a bunch of professional conferences teaching people about goal setting and he always includes this step and says something like, ``Some of you might not like this step and will not do it, but I will do it and I know I will be more successful.´` This step is heavily tied to the book Drawing on the Powers of Heaven.

He talked about how reviewing them daily makes them a part of who we are because it becomes a part of our subconscious. He talked about his professional experience a lot and his schooling to teach a lot of principles about setting goals. He told us about his dream to go to Harvard when he was a student at a junior college. He said he only told his wife and parents about that goal because no one would have believed that he could get in because he was starting off at a JR college. (one of his rules for goals is that if it is a goal to stop doing something like stop smoking or losing weight, you should share them with everyone because you want their help, but when it is a goal to grow, you should only share those goals with special people and God). He ended up going to Harvard and has been super successful in his professional life (as well as in the church, with his family, etc.), as the president of many companies and turning them into successes. 

Also we had a really good fireside for our ward last night. A brother taught the Plan of Salvation to really emphasize the basic doctrines because of the wuote by President Packer :``The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quickerthan a study of behavior will improve behavior.`´

He first talked about the Lion King. He explained the story--Simba is the rightful heir to be king, but after his father dies and he meets Timon and Pumba, whose motto is ``Hakuna Matata``/no worries about anything, Simba grows up and forgets who he really is. We watched a clip of the movie where when he grows a little older Rafinki brings him to a pond where he looks at his reflection and sees the face of his father. Rafinki says, ``He lives in you.`` Then the clouds turn into the figure of Mufasa and Mufasa talks to Simba and reminds him who he is and what his potential is--he can be king/he is an heir. It was a really spiritual experience watching that part of the film because it teaches a really important gospel principle--do we know who we are and what we can inherit? He talked about Romans 8: 16-17

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

And then Revelations 21:7 

He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God,and he shall be my son.

Anyway, I just thought it was really cool that he tied the Plan of Salvation to the Lion King. He also talked about the degrees of glory in a powerful way .He talked about what kinds of Mormons will be in the 3 degrees(these are just possibilities to make his point that our decisions in this life really do matter): those who do not magnify their callings here will go to the terrestrial kingdom, and those who leave the church/reject the gospel/break their covenants will go to the telestial kingdom. He talked about how not magnifying our callings is not living our covenants. He talked about the law of consecration and how we should consecrate our whole lives to this work. He showed the film about John Tanner--watch it if you haven´t seen it yet--Treasure in Heaven, the John Tanner story: https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2010-07-139-treasure-in-heaven-the-john-tanner-story?lang=eng

Anyway, I am grateful for good teachers and good firesides--how blessed we are to be a part of such a great church. Love you all! 

--Sister Sadie Bledsoe