Feliz Páscoa!

Hope you all enjoyed church yesterday! I loved Easter here. I didn`t understand too much of the words that were spoken but I felt the love from the people and especially from my Savior. I am grateful for this holiday and time to think about all the blessings that I have in my life because of Jesus Christ and His Atonement. I hope to be able to help others to come unto Christ and feel the light that the restored gospel brings.

This week we had 2 baptism--Gabi and Gabriel, a brother(12) and a sister(14). They are awesome! There mom is preparing to be baptized and there oldest sister and her husband are already members of the church. We have been teaching them pretty consistently since I got here and they just love the gospel and the church. Last night we talked to them about temples and how they can be sealed together forever. I am grateful to be able to help families to have these eternal blessings. It was really awesome because right after that lesson as we were on our way to another lesson, we contacted some great families. The first couple told us that they really like the church, they knew about the Book of Mormon(rare here), and had some friends that are members. They were really happy and nice, and we will hopefully teach them tonight. Then we were really in a hurry because we were meeting with a member of the Stake Presidency to teach his friend. We were already running behind but we passed a lady who looked really nice and smiled at us. We took like 4 steps before we turned around and invited her and her 8 year old son, James, to church. She said she would come and before we could tell her much more, she said, ``It`s at 9:30, right?`` That took us by surprise! She was way cool too, but she lives out of our area. Anyway, we ended up not even being able to meet with President Carrneiro´s friend last night because he wasn´t home. Heavenly Father knew that and put some super great people in our path instead. I was so happy that we followed the promptings of the Holy Ghost last night. It was a blessing because this week was pretty difficult since our street contacts weren´t too interested and a majority of the people that we tried to visit in their houses weren´t home. However, I know that patience and diligence brings blessings. 

Also this week we got to go to the Sao Paulo Temple. What a blessing! It was so awesome! So familiar even when everything is in another language. I am grateful that I can understand the language of the gospel. After the temple, we had lunch at a churrascaria(a barbaque restaurant like Tucanos), which was super good. 

I also learned a lot from a conversation that I had with Sister Dantas this week about a recent convert in our ward. His name is Renato. They contacted him on the street and he said that he would come to church, read the pamphlet and pray, and then get baptized--they thought he was super elect. Then they tried to visit his house twice but he wasn´t home. They thought he was `mole`(noncommital) until they got a call from him. He asked where the church was and what time the meetings were. He had read the pamphlet and wanted to learn more. Since then, he has faithfully kept every commitment that we have given him. My first lesson with him was a recent-convert lesson where we taught him about missionary work and commited him to invite a friend to hear the lessons. Within that week, we taught two of his friends. Sister Dantas thinks he would be a great ward mission leader because he is so obedient. I think I am beginning to understand this law of heaven. I am grateful for his example and the others examples of great obedience in my life. 

Quotes: 

``The world`s greatest champion of woman and womanhood is Jesus the Christ.``--James E. Talmage

``In the sight of the Lord it is not so much what we have done or where we have been but much more where we are willing to go.`` --Elder Edward Dube

Love you! I am very happy and still healthy...at least I´m trying to be--lots of chocolate yesterday here! :)

Sister Sadie Bledsoe

Me and Sister Ames (my friend from the Provo MTC). she is in my zone right now! fun to see a familiar face...especially an American one!

We love Gabriela and Gabriel!!! So happy for them!

Tudo Bem!

Soooo, since I last wrote, I have finished my time at the Missionary Training Center in Sao Paulo and arrived at my first area. My area is called Jardim(Garden) Campinas--i thought that this was pretty ironic because my whole district in the MTC is going to the Campinas mission-- and it is so different that any place I have ever been. I love it! It is a favela with lots of trees and plants. I will try to send pictures.

My companion is Sister Dantas. She is from Brazilia, Brazil and she has been a member of the Church for like 4 years. She is super bold and loud and loves to talk. We get along really well. We also had another companion, Sister Ovejero for like 2 days until she got transferred to another area. 

Daily life here is really different but good. Lots of walking and many mountains to climb (figuratively and literally). On Saturdays and Sundays its like a huge party in the streets because people don`t have work--the music is so loud its comical! Lots of soccer too...shocker there :) 

Portuguese. What can I say about the language?... I am so grateful for the MTC! I learned so much there and can speak quite decently to teach and talk about certain things. Yesterday at church, we had Fast and Testimony Meeting where members can share their beliefs and feelings. Near the end, Sister Dantas said ``Voce vai prestar seu testemunho.`` At first I thought it was a question like will I. Nope it was a command. So we went up. I shared my testimony of the universality of the gospel and the church--how it is for every person in the world and how great of an opportunity we have to share that with other people. I felt pretty good about my Portuguese at that moment--it was probably the most fluid I have ever spoken. A member of the bishopric told me that it was perfect Portuguese. It was a pretty sweet feeling. I am far from fluent but small victories. Also EVERYONE asks me to say the prayers. Oh also, one time when we left the house, I tried to contact a lady we walked by and the first words that came out of my mouth were English....awkward. I tried to recover but it wasn`t great. 

I stick out sooo much here. I am way taller than like everyone and I am so white. I haven`t seen another person here with naturally blonde hair and fair skin. One of the old ladies in the ward told me that I need to wear a ton of sunscreen because I am so white...thanks :) Also one of the members was driving us to the mission office to drop off Sister Ovejero and I tried to nap on the way--which by the way is impossible because the driving is so crazy here--and he commented: ``They like to sleep alot in the United States.`` I was pretty sure that was a slam... haha ;) Overall the people are really chill here and like to hear me speak. 

I´m sure there are a lot of spiritual experiences we have had but I don´t understand really what is going on so I can`t really tell you what happened. Just know that I am happy and healthy and trying to do the Lord`s work here. I love the gospel. It is the same in every country and in every language. I loved, loved, loved General Conference and it totally answered tons of questions that I had. I am grateful for a living prophet and apostles to give us the words of God for our specific concerns at this time. The Church is true. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. We are doing the most important work in the world. 

I love you! 

-Sister Sadie Bledsoe

My district and teachers.

pics from the MTC

brazil week 1

Oi!!!! Tudo bem?? Eu espero que vocês estão tendo um boa semana!

 

Today I went to the São Paulo Temple! It was awesome. I have missed going to the temple frequently so it was really awesome. The MTC is great though; very different than the Provo MTC. We got to proselyte for 3 hours in the middle of the city which was so fun!!! People here are really open to at least talking to us, which is a nice change. We had a lesson with someone who yelled for us to come over and talk to him; we gave him a Book of Mormon and said a prayer with him. From what I understood, he wanted to learn more but he gave us a Jehovah´s witness pamphlet as we left so I´m not so sure anymore... We also met 2 men from Porto Alegra, a man and his 18 year old son actually. They loved us and wanted to take a picture with us #findmeonfacebook. It was so funny. They accepted a Book of Mormon and want to have missioanries come over. The son had been to church with his friends before and he also knew some English which was helpful to get their information. Anyway I loved it. People on the bus were cool with talking about Jesus Christ and their beliefs so we had some cool experiences. One guy saw us and asked us for a Book of Mormon. Another lady that we gave a Book of Mormon too started reading the Introduction on the bus and I was able to testify about it even more. It was funny because a couple people asked us if we were selling the Book of Mormon and we got to say no its a present for you--they lit up and were very grateful.

 

I know that I have so much work to do but I am excited. Last night we had devotional and all the songs we sang had parts in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. It was cool because I felt the Spirit so strongly throughout the whole songs but I especially felt the Spirit when everyone(Brazilians, Hispanics, and Americans) all sang in English. It was powerful to me because it was in my native tongue. I realized that I need to learn Portuguese to adequately teach so that others can feel the spirit by listening to truth in their native tongue. It was a great experience for me to kind of be put in the shoes of my future investigators. I can´t explain it very well but I just know that language training is so important because it is a channel for the Spirit.

 

They call these 12 days in the MTC our graduate school for Portuguese. It is a great refresher. I love it! A couple of Brazilians have complimented me--´`boa sotaque``--which means good accent; I am getting somewhere! I am sooo far from fluent but I can understand way more than I can speak. I can understand the people on the street and at least talk to them about the Book of Mormon or the Church.

 

The food is really good. Different but good. I love the fruit here! My favorite and the breakfast hot cereal is killer--it is like porridge and tastes like frosted flakes or honeycombs depending on the day. They also eat paninis like every morning for breakfast. It is good though.

 

We get to play volleyball. Sister Loefke in my district is from Newport Beach and she played for UCSB for a while until they cut the program. We have had some really fun game. I look forward to sports so much at the MTC because we sit for so long. Another reason why I loved the day we went proseltying--we got to walk around and roam the ruas(streets) of Brazil. It is so cool here. We drive around and it looks a lot like San Francisco, so its not too different from home.

 

What else? Brazilians pronoune my name `Bwedsòwee´`--it is cute. Also here as missionaries we aren´t allowed to talk about football (and politics) because it just gets us into sticky situations.

 

Quotes from this week:

Elder Widtsoe: “In our preexistent state, in the day of the great council, we made a[n] … agreement with the Almighty. The Lord proposed a plan. … We accepted it. Since the plan is intended for all men, we became parties to the salvation of every person under that plan. We agreed, right then and there, to be not only saviors for ourselves but … saviors for the whole human family. We went into a partnership with the Lord. The working out of the plan became then not merely the Father’s work, and the Savior’s work, but also our work. The least of us, the humblest, is in partnership with the Almighty in achieving the purpose of the eternal plan of salvation.”

I am not a foreigner (different, strange, etc) because I am part of the household of God. (Ephesians 2:19). Present Swenson told a story about James who was an investigator who brought his whole family to church. They didn´t have white shirts to wear and they smoked so they smelt like cigarettes. They came to church on Sunday and were really excited about the church. They sat next to the missionaries but no one else came and talked to them. The people in front of them commented on them not wearing the right clothes and someone else commented that they smelt smoke and they thought that people that smoked shouldn´t come here. James and his family never returned to church. I´ve heard many similar stories. They feel like foreigners. How can we help them to feel like citizens? in the household of God? Love one another. It is as simple as this.

 “Some people on the street will not know a single member of the church. You, individually, will represent the Church, the prophet--Thomas S. Monson, the quorum of the 12 apostles, the 15 million other members of the church, and Jesus Christ himself.”

We need to do quality work. We are finding, teaching, and baptizing quality people.

Ask for very specific blessings in your prayers, like to find someone before dinner. If you ask for specific blessings, the Lord can give you specific blessings.

You can trace everything back to prayer. Homesickness, problems with your companion, etc. If you are struggling, ask yourself how your prayers are going. Everything comes back to prayer.

The knees of your pants(skirts) should wear out before the soles of your shoes.

It doesn´t matter if you are right. If you have contention in your heart, you are wrong.

People will not change unless you love them.

Elder M. Russell Ballard: I promise you in the name of the Lord that if you and your companion will each talk to 10 people everyday about the gospel --independent of tracting and other teaching settings--you will double your baptisms.

I love you!  Te amo!

-Sister Sadie Bledsoe

BRAZIL

Just got to the Brazil CTM! It is right in the middle of the city with buildings all around it. It is smaller than the Provo MTC and there is a lot of Portuguese! It has been good to actually start speaking again. People talk really, really fast so that will take some getting used to. Overall, I had a good flight to Sao Paulo and I really like my companion. Her name is Sister Ennis and she served in Knoxville, Tennesse for 7.5 months. There were like 40 or so missionaries that were visa waiters that arrived today. The longest that I have heard is one year to get the visa--that happened to two elders that I met. Well I got to go, but I love it here already and I will write again soon. I don't know when my p-day is yet, but we"ll find out soon. Love you! -Sister Bledsoe

VISA ahhhhhh

Ya' at eeh!!!

sooo I got my VISA. I am leaving tomorrow for the Brazil MTC where I will spend two weeks in "intensive language training" then back into the field. So excited!

Other than that we had a pretty non-eventful week because it was spring break here and everyone was gone or busy. But we did find out that we had an apostate baptism a couple weeks ago. Remember Sylvia whose husband baptized her...yeah, Myron was only a teacher in the aaronic priesthood come to find out. As missionaries we tell people that they need to be baptized by the proper priesthood authority...and then we baptize with the wrong authority. All the missionaries in our district laughed at us. They told us that technically the bishop should have checked, but still we were a part of it so...whoops! Bet only a handful of missionaries have done that before. Now the problem is that someone has to break the news to Sylvia and Myron. I feel bad for leaving Sister Hammond and her new companion to deal with this mess, but its the Lord's work and it will all workout in the end. But yeah, I was part of an apostate baptism...nice.

We had a lesson with one of our investigators, Crystal, on Saturday night. She is so cute. She has been reading a little bit of the Book of Mormon and it is confusing to her, so we read effectively with her from 1 Nephi 2. It went really well, but one of the most powerful parts of the lesson was when Morgan, a 16 year old member who came to the lesson with us, bore testimony about how living the gospel is hard but worth it. It really made Crystal think about it and I could tell that she felt the Spirit. I am grateful for the power of the spirit that we feel when we bear testimony or hear testimonies being born. The Spirit also touched the heart of Crystal's dad who is also a non-member. He had never made a comment in any of our lessons before but always sat there quietly. This time he made a couple comments about faith. Sister Hammond was able to testify to him, and he seemed pretty receptive. With some people, it is a slow process but I know that the Spirit was there and was able to touch his heart, his wife's heart (his wife is less active and trying to get back with her family), and Crystal's heart (Crystal is 14 and excited about the gospel for the most part). I am grateful to be able to teach families because they can one day receive temple blessings together. I love the plan of salvation. One sister made a comment in Relief Society about how science can show how the world/universe works (a leads to b; b makes c; etc), but science cannot tell us WHY; the plan of salvation can. I am grateful for the answers that I have and the purpose that guides my life.

Yesterday, a high councilman spoke about commitment, basically conversion to the gospel. He talked about how Arabian horses are trained. Basically, the master rings a bell and the horses must come immediately. These horses are trained to race and obey. They need to be broken because they are naturally stubborn. When they are babies, they grow up running with their mothers to answer the call of the master. Then when the colt is 2 or 3 years old, the master has to see how obedient that really are. After 3 days and nights of no food or water, the colt is put to the test. Food/hay and water are brought right outside the corral. The horse is excited and ready to eat. The gate is opened and as the horse is about to run and eat and drink, the master rings the bell. The horse is expected to deny the pangs of hunger and answer the call of the master. If he does, he is chosen to race. When we are called, do we answer? do we deny our appetites(what we want) and obey? There is a cool video on lds.org about it- "Arabian horse". There is also a talk by Royden G. Derrick called "The Beatitudes and Our Perfection" where he compares the master to missionaries. He says:

"Under a mandate from the Lord we have 25,000 young men who are sifting the people of the world to find those that are submissive to Him and to thewhisperings of the Holy Spirit. We are finding an increasing number throughout the nations of the world who respond, but the vast majority prefer to satisfytheir own appetites and to do things their own way instead of the Lord’s way. When we love the Lord we will submit ourselves to his plan and serve him with allof our heart, might, mind, and strength. This is the first step. We must take it in order to qualify for exaltation. The miracle of change begins when we comeforth with a contrite spirit." 

 I have also been thinking about the scripture in 1 Nephi 17 where Laman and Lemuel complain about living in the wilderness and following the commandments of the Lord. They say in verse 21: "Behold, these many years we have suffered in the wilderness, which time we might have enjoyed ourpossessions and the land of our inheritance; yea, and we might have been happy." Sometimes I feel like I think like that about my mission; like if I was home and had my cell phone/computer/luxuries/etc. I would be more happy (especially when members or investigators play with them or when I am surrounded by them). I was humbled by this scripture because my attitude is a lot like Laman and Lemuel sometimes. It was just surprised at that verse because I should know better that those things really don't make us happy. 

Also, someone here asked for my email and she was shocked that my first name was Sadie. She said, "Sadie... really?! That sounds like the name of an omish farm girl." Definitely never got that one before! That made me laugh for a couple days.

Well I am sad to leave Page and my investigators and the awesome members. It will be fun to come back one summer and go to Lake Powell and see everyone. I am excited to go to Brazil though! 

Tchau, Tchau (the Portuguese is coming back to my emails folks)

Com amor, Sister Bledsoe

baptism! whoop whoop

BIG week: a baptism, exchanges, and interviews with President Batt :) good stuff. 

Where to start... first, Sylvia got baptized on Monday! It was kind of crazy because it was on p-day and FHE, but somehow it all worked out. 

She was sooo happy. Except I got her a suit that was WAY to big for her. Whoops! It was a beautiful baptismal service. Sister Hammond gave a talk on baptism and I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. Her husband Myron baptized her, and now they can get sealed in the temple next year. It was an awesome day. We were on Cloud 9. 

However, that afternoon, I said goodbye to Kelly. She is leaving to go home to Michigan while she gets surgery. She was the first person that I taught that got baptized. It was sad to say goodbye for now. I am so excited to go to the temple with her someday though. It will be awesome!

Then Tuesday and Wednesday we drove 4 hours to Holbrook for exchanges with our STLs. It was fun because I also got to see Sister Askren, who is their companion also since they are in a trio. It was fun. 

They showed us the Ward Mission Plan for one of their wards and I thought that it was really cool. It refers to the talk "7 Lessons on Sharing the gospel" by Elder Clayton M. Christensen. 

In the talk, he says, "Even more than other members, the busy men and women who lead our wards and stakes (or branches and districts) need to exercise this simple faith--because if they cannot speak in present-tense verbs and first-person pronouns about sharing the gospel, they cannot inspire others to fulfill our prophet's member missionary call." 

It was cool to read. We had a few other really good lessons this week with Crystal and some less active members. The work is working. 

Some gems of wisdom that I love:

"You should give 100% in everything you do, except when you are giving blood." --President Batt

"'Bridle your passions, that ye may be filled with love.' Through bridling our passions, we gain more love. This is an eternal truth. This is how God knows that love works, not how the way that the world teaches us about love."--Brother Lotze (seminary and institute teacher in Page)

1 Nephi 10:14--"Grafting is a slow process--you wait for a long time then you see fruit in bushels and bushels and bushels."--Elder Huff (my Zone Leader in Tube City)

"The truth is like a lion. You don't have to defend it; let it loose and it will defend itself."--Sister Roundtree's pinterest quote in her talk about missionary work

Love you all! Have a wonderful day!

-Sister Sadie Bledsoe

the work is working

Another really good week! We had more investigators come to church yesterday than the past couple transfers. Got a new invetsigator who is epic; her name is Rhythm; more about her soon. Put a couple more people on date which was exciting. Still have to resolve some major concerns and follow up with missed commitments, but I am hopeful that our investigators are continuing to progress towards baptism and the temple. We tried to make an effort to talk about temples more with our investigators; since people are naturally interested in families forever, it makes baptism and church attendance and scripture study more important to reach a goal that they want so badly. 

On Wednesday, we had an epic lesson with Quintana. We taught the Restoration. We used the cups that represent different pieces of Christ's church. She loved the object lesson! She thought it made so much sense. When we talked about the Holy Ghost she said that she felt it when she left the church a couple Sundays ago. She first felt that when her daughter Jewel was born. She said she has been chasing that feeling ever since. She said she didn't really know it until she felt it again at the church. She said that when she was going home she wanted to share it. I thought of how much she sounds like Lehi so I shared 1 Nephi 8 with her where Lehi describes the fruit and wants other people to taste it. She then told us about a dream she had where she was sitting in front of a tiny little plant. She started to dig it up and around it. She dug and dug until she had dug up this huge green apple tree. The apples were so green and she picked one and was about to bite into it, but an amber alert woke her up. She had that dream like a week ago. she thought it was so cool that I read a scripture that was similar to her dream--I was like coincidence? I think not. The Spirit is so cool. That also really motivated her to read the Book of Mormon because now it sounded like something that she could relate to and find interesting. Then we committed her to baptism on April 12. I had no idea what date to say but as I was speaking April 12 just came out. She was shocked because that date is always a bad day for her since its the day her uncle had his service after committing suicide. As she told us that I was like "OH NO. what have I done???" Then her boyfriend Kyle and her talked about it. They talked about how it would be good for her to have something good on that date. Like his grandma died on Oct 13 but that day his daughter was also born. She said that it was so weird that out of all dates I would pick that one. Weird...still a mystery to me. Anyway, she pretty much committed to that date, so I was happy that it all worked out. 

On Friday, we had a cool lesson with Crystal, the 14 year old. She is awesome. We watched the Restoration video and it made her "happy." Her mom was in tears and very overwhelmed by the Spirit which was sweet to see--I'm not the only one! 

On Saturday morning, we helped Kelly pack up her classroom. She is leaving for Michigan. I will miss her a lot. She is an amazing person. I look forward to going to the temple with her when I get home! 

Then on Saturday night, Brother and Sister Saccomanno invited us over for dinner. They also invited their new friend Rhythm, who is in her late 60s or early 70s. Rhythm has had a very "colorful" life. When she was 4 or 5 she became an orphan which led to a life of much abuse. At 16, she tried to commit suicide by drinking hydro-chloric acid. That didn't kill her but she lost a lot of teeth from it. At one point she worshipped Satan. She got into Satan's church and witchcraft for a season. Then somehow she made it to Churchwells, Utah. 

 She has lived in Churchwells for a while and has lived amongst Mormons for quite some time since Churchwells is heavily populated with Mormons and like less than 50 people live out there. Anyway, she used to live with a less-active Mormon and there she came across the Book of Mormon. She was curious and decided to read it. She has already read in twice and is starting her third time. She has also read the entire Gospel Principles book and went to church in St. George once. She has also read the Bible more times than she can count; it is very evident because she can quote it so well and had great questions about the scripture in John 1 about no man seeing God and she also wanted to know the difference between the Holy Ghost and the gift of the Holy Ghost. She already feels the Spirit a lot because she prays so much and reads the scriptures so she invites his influence into her life a lot; but we told her that he could be her constant companion. She was so excited and wanted to know when she could get that--perfect segway into a baptismal commitment. 

Also when we first met with her, she was almost in tears as she thanked us for living what we believe. She said she has been watching us (Mormons) for a while now and she has seen that we "walk the talk." She has been baptized in 40 different "flavors of Christianity" because she has seen over and over again that so many people are hypocrites and do not at all live the gospel. I thought that was cool and it made me want to be better because I know that I don't live the gospel as well as I should. I know a lot of members, even myself, who belong to the church but do not necessarily live it, so I was impressed that she recognized that in general members of the Church live the teachings.

We watched the Restoration video with her and she LOVED it. She was on the edge of her chair some of the time, and made a lot of comments in agreement with Joseph Smith and how "right" everything was and felt. When Joseph asked one of the pastors/preaches: "Shouldn't there be one answer that is right for everyone?" She said under her breath "Good question." She was really listening--to the movie and to the Spirit. She was in tears at the end. We knelt in prayer and the Spirit was so strong. Brother and Sister Saccomanno thanked us and told us that they were on Cloud 9. I was so grateful for them; they have such a strong desire to be a part of the hastening of the work. 

 Rhythm came to church on Sunday and two members bore their testimony that through their relationships with Rhythm they have come to better understand the Savior. Rhythm has a light about her because she lives the teachings and loves her Savior. It strengthened my faith. I truly believe that sharing the gospel strengthens your testimony way more than it strengthens the other person. I am grateful for members who get involved in missionary work. Nothing would have happened with Rhythm if the members didn't open their mouths and invite her to meet with us. 

Overall I am overwhelmed by the opportunity to be a part of this great work. I encourage all to get involved; however, it does require work. 

 Over and over, I think about the quote by Elder Holland that goes along the lines of "Salvation is not a cheap experience. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him?" In contrast, lehi teaches "Adam fell that men might be: men are that they might have joy." 

The work of salvation is awesome. It is the only thing that matters in this life--your own salvation and then helping others with theirs. It is the most joyful experience. 

We share it because we want to. We have tasted of it and it is delicious to us and we want to share it. Continue to invite. "Would you like to learn a little bit more about my church?" It is not enough to just be an example and answer questions; we have to open our mouths and invite. You can't be pushy if you aren't even asking. If they say no, just thank them; it is valuable to you and if they are interested we want to share more. 

Members have so much power as missionaries. All it takes is giving their friends opportunities to have a spiritual conversion IF their interested. We can't judge who is ready because we see the outward appearance but Heavenly Father knows the situation better--he knows their heart. Just invite; "come and see."

Today Sylvia is getting baptized so we will have a busy p-day: getting the font filled, still have to make programs, laundry still to do, we want to get ice cream with Kelly since today is the last day we can see her this week, etc. 

Great week! Thanks for the letters. I love reading your emails. I print them out even though I don't respond. If you give me your address, then I will respond with a letter though!

Love, Tchau,
Sister Sadie Bledsoe