12/15/14

Week 49

Hello friends and family! This week has been pretty good! and its one more week closer to Christmas! I dont really feel like its christmas time because its super hot here. like super hot. Monday and Tuesday this week we were in Cuiabá for zone meeting. Then we got back and went to work. 

This week our goal was to talk to everybody about ´´He is the Gift´´. We made lots and lots of contacts. And we ended up getting more than 25 addresses that people said we could teach them more in their houses. Christmas time really is awesome and a wonderful opportunity we have to feel the spirit of christmas in our lifes. And the opportunity to help other people that are in need.

For right now, we have a baptismal date set for December 27th with a young woman named Josiane. She is 17 and she has been reading the Book of Mormon everytime we leave a chapter for her to read. She is currently dating Recent Convert and the RC invited her to know about his faith. She went to church yesterday for the first time and liked it alot! She has already gotten an answer that the Book of Mormon and THe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true! She is truly awesome! 

Yesterday we watched the Christmas Devotional and Elder Christoffersons talk touched my heart. He talked about a family that the parents couldnt get there kids anything for christmas, but on christmas day the kids found a dime and swore it was from santa. The kid went to the grocery store but it was closed. the kid went to the owners house and the owner opened the store for him and gave him lots of candy for him and his little brothers and sisters. We all can do a little bit more to help those in need during this time of year.

I love yall and ill talk to yall next week!!

Feliz Natal,

Elder Marstella 

12/10/14

Week 48

Well Monday i wasnt able to get on because we were in Cuiaba. But im here in Cáceres again. I ended up getting here at 3 am... so last Tuesday i just pretty much slept and unpacked. Tuesday night we went to a member´s house right behind our house. When the wife saw me she started to scream with excitement because I came back. hahah that was cool! 

So my new companions name is Elde Johansson. It looks like an american name, but he is brazilian and he is new to the mission. This is his 7th week in the mission, so im finishing his training. 

This last week, I wanted to meet everyone he and his ex companion have been teaching. There is one family that consists of the mom (Less Active), the dad (non-member), and their son (Recent convert). The dad wants to get  baptized, they are just waiting to get married before he can be baptized. And the son wants to marry a girl who also wants to get married! This family is really cool and they love the Lord! 

Also the wife and Husband from above (the one that screamed when she saw me) brought to non member young women to church. And they really liked it! We have shared the book of mormon with them and talked about baptism with one of them! It really is neat how much the members help in our work! 

So the church worldwide started a program for christmas that is called ´´he is the gift´´ which talks about the true meaning of Christmas. Its a video on youtube and we will start using that to make contacts and meet people! 

So im good, just tired all the time! Monday was my official 11 month anniversary on the mission!! Yay!! Time really does fly! 

Ill send pictures of my couple days in cuiabá next week! I love yall! I love you mom!!

Com Amor,

Elder Marstella

PS Happy birthday to Elder Johansson! 

12/1/14

Week 47

Sooo we got our transfer calls last night. and im going to Cáceres, again! I served there for 9 weeks before i came to Lucas, so I still know alot of the members there! Im excited to go back, but im sad to leave Lucas! Lucas was awesome and it was an honor to serve here. The members here are absolutely awesome and I love them! 

I leave 3:30 and take a bus to Cuiaba, then at midnight, i take a bus to caceres. So itll be a long bus ride for sure haha.

Anyways, this week we taught a family that the sisters met on the street. This family wanted the sisters to visit them, but its in our area, so we did a compromise, 2 sisters and us 2 elders went to go teach them together. This family consists of a wife, husband, a daughter, and a nephew. They are super accepting and wanted to go to church. We taught about the restoration and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Both of those lessons the sisters came to help out. I wont be here to find out what happens with them, but i hope they all get baptized!

And this week we asked the sisters to visit katia with us. They did and we all talked with Katia about making the covenant of being baptized. She is still a little unsure of it, but i hope she gets baptized soon! Im sad i wont be here for when that happens! 

Ohh we went to a less actives house this week and we made a little band. haha the member plays bass, Elder Payne played guitar, and i sang. haha it was actually pretty cool and i wish i would of filmed it, but we didnt. haha 

I dont have much time this week because of transfers, but I love yall and I love you mom! I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving week!!

Com Amor,

Elder Marstella

11/24/14

Week 46

Hello friends and family! This week was another slower week, but we visited alot of Less Actives and Recent Converts.

One of our Recent Converts name is Anderson. He is 17 and he was baptized in Setember. He is really cool! These past Sundays his family went fishing and he went with them. We focused on him this week to go to church yesterday, and he went!! And he even picked us up in his brothers car! It was awesome! He really is an amazing guy and we are trying to help him have a desire to serve a mission in a year! We love him! I gave him a tie and my last comp gave him a white shirt so now he looks the priests here! Ahh he is awesome!!  haha

On Thursday, we had a BBQ with another Less Active. His name is Rafael and he is super sweet. He is 28 and has been a member all his life. He now works on Sundays, so we are just trying to help him keep the gospel as the number thing in his life. We try to visit him a couple times a week just to talk and ask if he needs help with anything.

Im running out of time again, but I love yall and in one month ill be able to skype home!! Im sooooo excited!!!

Com Amor,
Elder Marstella

Next Monday is Transfers so depending on what happens, im not sure when ill get on!

11/18/14

Week 45

Oí minha familia e meu amigos!! This week was a pretty good week! 

We focused on Katia again this week! She accepted to be baptized this Sunday. She is truly amazing and we love her and her family! We taught alot of Less Actives again this week. 

On Friday, we went to Novo Mutum again to do a Family Home Evening. We went to the members house there, and they invited family friends to come over and we ate BBQ and then shared a message. We talked about the Apostasy. We taught it really clear so the kids could understand too! It was really spiritual. 

On Saturday, we came back and the Sisters had a baptism! A 17 year old young woman got baptized! She is awesome! Then that night we had a missionary activity at the church that was pretty fun! 

On Sunday, we did exchanges with the young men in our branch. The Branch President said that this branch could have 7 missionaries in the field next year so we need to help them as much as possible. The young men here are awesome!! Then last night we had another Family Home Evening with our branch. 

That was the main events this week. I love yall and Congratulations to gma!!! Happy Birthday grandma!! I love you!!

Com Amor,
Elder Marstella 

11/11/14

Week 44

Hello family and friends!! This week was a pretty good one! And again, I love Elder Payne. He is super funny and we get along pretty well. And he speaks Portuguese like a native Brazilian, so he is helping we a bunch. anddddd This week I officially hit my 10 month mark on the mission!! I cant beleive Ive been out for that long already... Time is just moving super fast!! And I forgot to say, congratulations to my older sister! She found out that she will be having a baby girl!!! Yay!!! 

This week we focused on Less Actives. We taught some really good lessons but nothing too too exciting. I think the best part of week was on Friday. President came Friday to do interviews with us. I love President and Sister Reber. They are awesome. I got to talk with President, then we had English class. We planned to teach the song Over the Rainbow in english, but we had technical dificulties haha. So we ended up teaching a simple primary song which was awesome haha. Then after that, an investigator picked us up and we went to her house and ate cake with her and her husband for her birthday!! It was super cool! and super good! hahah 

We visited Katia almost everyday this week to help her towards baptism. She ended up traveling yesterday so she couldnt make it to church. But on Friday night, we went to her house to eat cake with her, because saturday was her birthday. Before we starting eating, she started saying thank you to us and how she is going to tell all her friends that she was eating cake with 2 americans. haha and we just started laughing. hahah Ohh and we were talking to her and she called herself a Mormon! haha i love that, especially because she hasnt been baptized yet. haha but she will for sure!! 

Thats all the time i have right now, but i love yall sooo so very much! 

Com Amor,

Elder Marstella 

11/3/14

Week 43

Hello friends and family!! This was another pretty good week!! Ill just start with that I love Elder Payne. He is super funny. He is my first american companion so after 9 long long months I can fully express my mind in English. haha But he helps me a ton, especially with my Portuguese accent. He speaks pretty much like a native brazilian. 

So this week we had a couple days where we didnt teach that much because 1) On wednesday we got new beds and the store said they would drop it off at our house at 2 PM, but they didnt show up until7:30PM. We were so bummed. then 2) We helped a family move on friday then we had our English Class after the move. But its alright, as long as we are helping people, im happy! :)

So I weighed myself this week, and im about 84 kg, which is 185 lbs. I think i started my mission with 215 pounds, maybe more. So ive lost at least 40 pounds already! And my new comp likes to work out, so Im starting to work out with him!! 

We had a Zone Meeting this week and our Zone Leader started with a simple question, he wrote on the board ´´Who am I?´´ He gave us a couple seconds to think about the question. The first thing that came to my mind was that I am a child of God. And he is my loving Heavenly Father and that he knows me personally. Then the 2nd question was this, ´´Why am I here?´´ And along that same line, I know every person is a child of God. And I´m here on a mission to help His children, my brothers and sisters, return to him after this life. And to feel the greatest amount of joy possible that only this gosple can give. I know I am a child of God and that we are all children of our Heavenly Father. I am here to help families be eternal. I get so much joy from knowing that my family is forever. And I want every family to be together forever! 

I love my family so much and am so thankful for all of there examples to me! I love yall so much!! 

Com Amor,
Elder Marstella