GETTING PROPOSED TO ON BRAZILIAN VALENTINES DAY

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

story of my life. drunk brazilian men.

So we had a pretty pretty solid week but I already ran out of email time to tell all y'all about it, but just know that Im good and its all good despite the fact that im freezing my toosh off here because saturday night I saw A SHOOTING STAR. THE FIRST ONE IN MY LIFE. It was magical.

Here are some photos from this week: We had divisões with our sister training leaders so it was basically a missionary sleepover! And i got to see my dear Sister Macedo again!

And also me and Sister Neves bought xis at this (literal) hole in the wall place and it was also magical.

Im SO tired but that doesnt even matter because mini miracles are happening here!!

SO ANYBUHJEW, I love you all, I love this gospel and the happiness it brings, and I love being a missionary!!!

SISTA EM DAWG

hey hey heyyyyyyyy

So this week was pretty cray cray because of transfers and everything but IM SO HAPPY I REALLY LIKE BEING A MISSIONARY ITS KINDA RIDICULOUS.

Estou na santa terra de ALEGRETE! Im just this week getting to know the area, getting to know everyone here, including my companion lol. Sister Neves is from MANAUS so thatsd pretty legit because its straight amazon all up in there. She has 4 1/2 months on the mission, but shes a POWERFUL missionary, she's so awesome!! She's kind of a big dork but she's hilarious and sometimes tells me what to do because her personality is like that but I just let her always get her opinion out and then we decide together what we're going to do and it works out just grande! We live by ourselves because were the only sisters in our zone, so that's kind of lame but we make the best of it by being weirdos and jumping up and down in the morning to get eachother pumped! Lol yesterday we accidentally flooded the apartment (well it wasnt us, it was the toilet) SO THAT WAS FUN But we got it all sorted out so yeah thats life.

The people here are REALLY COLD. (literally, its cold here), but yeah theyre a harsher group of people here, not every opens their door for us and it takes everything I have sometimes to not call people out on their blatant lies when we try to do contacts and they make up something, or reject us straight up. BUT IM BUILDING CHARACTER AMIRIGHT. Lol but were working REALLY HARD and managing to teach and yesterday we had a miracle sunday because we had SIX INVESTIGATORS at church!!! (for those who dont know, thats a lot for me. most sundays in São Gabriel we had zero lol life is rough) SO were already super duper blessed.

We had our mission conference this week and it was the last conference of Presidente and SIster Parrela because theyre leaving this month to go home! So it was pretty sentimental but SUPER spiritual. Presidente talked to us alot of happiness, and the difference between being happy in every moment, and being a happy person. Its not possible for us to be happy ALL the time, because thats just life and emotions and its hard. But, we can CHOOSE to live happily every day! It was super awesome, everyone read 2 Nephi 5:27, everyone CHOOSE to be happy.

I love you all, sorry its kind of short this week, my email time was interrupted by a phone call from PRESIDENTE PARRELA, which is heart attack in a box but im alive, he didnt yell at me, were all good!!

AMOR PARA TODOS VOCÊS!

sister lipps

pictures:

MINHA COMPANHERIA SISTER NEVES

Pictures from our mission conference, and i got to see me beloved Sister Barbosa, my bff from the CTM.

IM TURNED 7 MONTHS OLD THIS WEEK! feeling old 

 Pictures from last week:

MY MIRACLE OF THE WEEK

wuddup wuddup wuddup,

ok news flash, I'm in this super sucky internet cafe were you cant send photos, so sorry but I'll send some next week from MY NEW AREA, ALEGRETE.

thats right. I played the hunger games and lost. Sister Condeña and I both cried a little bit, but we trust that Heavenly Father knows what he is doing and when he does it, so it's time to leave my peaceful little São Gabriel :( BUT I think it'll be great! Ill be with a Brazilian, Sister Neves, and ill be leading our companionship so that should be INTERESTING. But with sister condena, we didnt really have a junior companion between us two, haha we both have senior personalities. 

IMPORTANT. MY NEW MAILING ADDRESS:

Caixa Postal 310

Centro- Alegrete- RS

97541-910

Brazil

OKAY but moving on with things, my last week here was AMAZING! The best yet! (and considering the fact that I had a cold and could talk for 2 days, that's saying something)

So pretty much the reason that this week was so incredible was because of our BAPTISM on Friday! We met Senhor Nóe about 2 months ago, and we already new he was ELECT. But things got in the way and we lost a little contact with him, until God but him right into our path again to be able to start teaching!!

Pretty much everything that couldve happened to stop his baptism happened, his wife not letting him, his own son almost disowning him, then his nephew, then we didnt have anywhere to teach him because no one let us use their house, and then his wife was in the hospital. Every time something like that happened, I thought "this is it, he's going to give up. Satan is going to get him with this" but he is SO STRONG and SO FAITHFUL and will all these trials being thrown at him, he never gave up, he never doubted, he literally just used what was happening to grow even stronger in what he knew was true. I think I'm making him sound like this miracle investigator, but thats because he literally was.

He was SUCH an example and such a miracle in my life. He always called us his "angels" and his "little miracles" but he doesnt realize that that is exactly what he was for me. Ugh, I love this little old man. This week before his baptism, he told us "You two brought me here, you two saved me, and now I'm going to do everything I can to bring more people here to, to be saved" HE DOESNT EVEN SOUND REAL, he was such a golden investigator.

After his baptism Friday, we said the closing prayer and he looked at me with tears streaming down his cheeks and said "I cant even explain how I feel right now. I am so full. Thank you" so DUH I started bawling. It was 30 minutes after that, that I received the call that I was being transferred, and I knew that I had done what I was supposed to do here. On sunday, I told Nóe I was leaving, and we both cried and I hugged him because he's like my grandpa and I think theres a exception to the no hugging thing if its your grandpa. OH HOW I LOVE THIS MAN. I already miss him. Its such a bummer I cant send you guys a picture of him because just his face and composure is so full of light and joy.

SO, in summary, I'm pretty darn happy here, and feeling pretty darn excited to go out and find the other miracles waiting for me here :)

FELIZ FELIZ FELIZ,

Sister Lipps

OPEN ME. I HAVE PICTURES!

I know how this deal works with missionary emails. everyone just wants to look at the pictures, so thats what i got this week for y'all.

1. Super artsy accidentally picture an elder took on my camera, but mom, dad, I think you guys can totally sell this one for big bucks to pay for my plane ticket to come back here in a few years :-)

2. Group picture after one of our lunches!

3. Selfie in the Church bathroom, because Im the same person I was when I left, and bathroom selfies are a part of me (insert demi lovato: THIS IS REAL, THIS IS ME)

4. Lols i tried on Sister Condeña's glasses and learned she's straight bliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind

 

5,6. We found this super cool tank thing one night so we took pictures with it.

7,8. SISTER CONDEÑA'S HALF-MISSION-AVERSARY! I made brownies and we bought pizza and I decorated and scream-singed happy birthday in english to wake her up and she secretly loved every second of it

 

9,10. I MADE A NEW FRIEND. Lol i love sheep. I love Brazil.

11. FAMILY HOME EVENING.

12. our lunch on sunday with Irmã Hilda!

13,14. HAHA I let Irmã Val cut my hair today and I was lowkey pretty nervous but it turned out good! 

Okay so thats about my weekly summary. Im a happy happy happy missionary. Our comp relationship has improved 400% this week, which means we probably wont be staying together after transfers next week, but its okay! We have to keep having challenges so we can keep learning :)

Homework this week is the talk "God is at the helm" by Elder Ballard!

AND GIVE THE ADDRESS OF ONE OF YOUR NONMEMBER FRIENDS TO THE MISSIONARIES. Alot of times we get so worried about offending someone, we forget to save them :)

LOVE YOU GUYS!

sister lippsies 

DISNEYLAND IS MY LIFE

OKAY SO

As a missionary, I find myself with a ridiculous amount of time just walking and thinking to myself. Too much time. Whjich leads to weird ideas that I think are funny and usually I just think them to myself, but I guess today Ill share. 

If you know me, you know that I love Disneyland.

And if you have been reading all these emails, you know that I love being a missionary.

So today, Ill share why I think those two things are almost the same. so heres my list:

1. Before you leave, its all hype. Its all anyone can talk about. "hey im going on a mission!" "HEY NEXT WEEK IM GOING TO DISNEYLAND". You get pretty pumped up.

2. Part of the hype, you expect magical things to happen. You are going to become a princess and ride a float. You are going to baptize a whole nation. Then you get here and realize its just alot of WALKING.

3. Everyone who has ever been to Disneyland knows that you have to learn to work the system, the Fast Pass! And the fast pass to missionary is obviously, REFERRALS FROM MEMBERS. More succes, more happiness, more magic.

4. DONT GET LOST. ALWAYS HAVE A MAP. This one is pretty self explanatory.

5. The weather changes every day, but at least the food is amazingggggggggggggg

6. You learn to be SUPER patient, But the HIGHS make everything worth it!!

7. At the end of the day, you are so exhausted, but you still cant deny how good life is.

8. Everyone who goes, cant wait to go back.

9. ITS THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH

:)

a few other things that happened this week, other than me missing disneyland:

We had like 6 tea parties with old ladies, even with little cookies and mini spoons and fancy cups. Every one and their mother (literally) invites you over for tea. Im living my childhood dream.

Yesterday I gave a talk AND taught gospel principles for the second time, so Im pretty much on fire. even though the time flewwwww by. I was halfway through my talk when I got passed "the note" (the "youre out of time note) so I finished and then sat down and realized id talked for 20 minutes haha WHOOPS.

ELECTS. WE GOT TWO OF THEM. AHHHHH we were so blessed this week with two people SO ready for baptism being put into our path. It makes you realize how much missionary work is not about the missionary, but its us doing our best so that Gos trusts us enough to give us the oppourtinty to be HIS

(oops sent that early)

........HANDS it bring His children back to HIM.

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY.

EVERYONE BE OBEDIENT TO SHOW GOD HOW MUCH YOU LOVE HIM (one sentance summary of my 20 min talk from yesterday, lol)

Comin' at ya from the Happiest Place on earth, 

Sista Lipps

pics:

Sister Condeña made fried rice and it was bomb.

Us walking around the city todayyy. oh yeah WARNING im letting a lady in our branch cut my hair tomorrow so brb praying it wont be ugly 

*finishes six months* *starts studying english again*

hay hay hay,

This week I finished the first THIRD of my mission??! How is that even possible, time is flyyingggggggg.

Yesterday I had the WONDERFUL opportunity to Skype my WONDERFUL family for an hour, and in that hour, it discovered I've literally forgotten how to speak English. I didnt expect it to be such a STRUGGLE, but boy oh boy I was struggling. HA the best parts was when other people in the house I was at tried to say something to me while I was skyping and I accidentally responded to them in English because I got so frazzled by the mix of languages and they just responded like "HUH?" Haaaaaaaaaaaaa so thats why I have to start studying english.

Also apologies to my fam because I definitely kept slipping portuguese words in there when I was talking to y'all.

Any buh jew, here are some of the events of the week:

We had a really solid lesson with this 35 year old single guy, and marked a date to come back and follow-up, and I asked him at the end if we could grab his phone number to coordinate (and because every time we forget to get someones number, we end up needing it. Thats just how it goes), and he responded "oh sorry I have a girlfriend, you know how it is" hahahaha WHAT I DIDNT WANT YOUR NUMBER LIKE THAT DUDE. I just didnt even know how to respond so I think i said "oh okay" and then we left.

We went on vacation this week!! or about as close to it as you get as a mission, we had a division with our sister training leaders so we got to take a 3 hour bus ride to Santa Maria! which sounds awful, but it was the best thing in the world because we slept on the bus.

EM TRIES TO BE AN ADULT- EPISODE 38:

Yesterday Sister Codeña tried to convice me that I had a fever, and I was like "wow its a good thing im so responsible and all and brought this thermometer from home to check my temperature!!" and I went and got my thermometer, only to realize I had already thrown away the box and didnt know how it worked...........I dont even know if its a ear thermometer or a tongue thermometer...............................SO YEAH end of story I couldnt check my temperature and I still dont know how that thermometer works. Its hard to be an adult without google on hand :-(

We have 2 investigators we found this week with a BUTT-TON of potencial!! We had a celestial lesson, and they told us that her husband/dad had passed away, and how worried they were about him, that he had sinned so much before he died and they didnt know if we would make it to heaven (insert all 4 of us crying), and we got to teach them about where people go after they day, and the opportunity they have to repent, and we have to do baptisms for them in the temple!! It was awesome. The gospel is awesome. Gosh this church is so true. 

My study today:

2 nephi 33:3- Nephi is ending his writings, and talks about how great was his wish to save his people, he never stopped praying for them, and at night, his pillow stayed wet with his tears because he was so worried about the salvation of this people and his family. WHY IS NEPHI SO AWESOME 

Moroni 10:3-5 (classic)

I love aaaaalllllllllllllllllllll you guys (lol i feel like im demi lovato giving a shout out to my fans)

SHOUT OUT TO MY FANS

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY.

LOVE, SISTER LIPPS 

PICTURES:

1. My birthday! we ate xis

2. Our santa maria vacation with all the sistrers there!

3. We made mothers days presents for some of the ladies in our ward. Arent we so cute?

4. FAMILY PHOTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YES

 

 

diary of a wimpy missionária

Wow I felt like such a wimp this week.

wanna know why?

BECAUSE ITS SO COLD.

Literally it came overnight, but holy guacamole you guys I've never been so cold in my life, just because theres no escape. Indoors, outdoors, in my bed, in the church, everywhere is the same temperature. On sunday I used 3 long sleeve shirts, a sweater, beanie, my down jacket, 2 skirts, tights, knee high socks, gloves and a scarf and I dont know how it was possible that I STILL felt cold. So there's my rant. Ive already started asking people when winter will end and they respond "you dont even know whats coming" and I cry. Since when is Brazil cold. Ok rant over.

Also Im a wimp this week because the work has been rough. You cant trust ANYONE these days. People arent home when they said they would be, people dont read or pray when they said they would, people dont come to church, even though we stop by 4 times and call twice to confirm, and walk to their house at 7 am to wake them up, and arranged them a ride with a member. Do you guys even believe that????

Also we came across a big mess this week, because we are teaching and had a baptism date for the husband of a less active who is starting to come back to church. She was baptized a year ago, and they got married legally before so she could be baptized, and this week we found out that apparently the elders never finalized the marriage with the papers in the court so THEYRE NOT ACTUALLY MARRIED. OH my WE ALMOST FLIPPED A BRICK. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh gosh, and they elders that baptized them already finished their missions so we dont have all the information and its a BIG MESS. #dramainthelifeofamissionary

Despite ALL that, I'm still very happy and grateful to be here guys :)

OK reading assignment this week is hands down the best talk ever given "missionary work and the atonement" by Elder Holland because it applies to every single one of us, every day.

 "When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the BEST life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived"

I testify that God lives, that he loves us, and that there is no other way we would be able to return to him, to have an eternal family, were it not for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whose name I am so grateful to wear every day!

I LOVE YOU GUYS!

Sista Lippsies 

Photos:

Our family home evening with investigators and like half of our branch hahaha

When no one invites you to your brother's graduation and you dont have access to photoshop so you have to improvise. Momma, Ill give you 10 bucks if you make this our family christmas card.