THE FALL OF ADAM AND SISTER LIPPS

Ok so I had a bunch of things I wanted to say, but I wasted all my time reading emails instead of writing so FORGIVE ME!

So this week passed by IN A BLINK! 

On monday night, the mission office called me and said that tuesday at noon I had to be on a bus to Santa Maria to renew my visa, so I spent tuesday, wednesday, and thursday travelling/in santa maria with Sister Chaves and Sister Lira.

HAHAHAH I TRIP SO HARD TUESDAY NIGHT WALKING FROM THE BUS STATION AND IT WAS DARK AND I HAD MY BAGS ALL IN MY HANDS SO I COULDNT CATCH MYSELF SO I FELL STRAIGHT ON THE GROUND ON A BUNCH OF ROCKS SO IT WAS A WICKED SOFT LANDING (NOT) AND IT WAS SO FREAKING FUNNY AND EMBARASSING AND I STAYED THERE LAYING ON THE GROUND FOR LIKE 3 SECONDS WHILE THE SISTERS FREAKED OUT AND IT WAS AWESOME. but now, a week later, im basically healed :)

We went to a stake activity in Santa Maria and I got to see a bunch of people from my first area and it made me feel so loved that they remembered me and wanted to take pictures and kiss my cheeks and everything :´-)

When i finally got back to Uruguaiana with sister vera, we spent SO much time just walking because they had marked appointments all over they place and our area is pretty big so we were EXHAUSTED.

Theres a cute little grandma member with 83 years and she cant walk or hear very well but we visited her a few times and she is probably the STRONGEST and most ADORABLE member of out ward and her name is Merência and I love her and im going to take her home with me!!!!!!!!!!

OH YEAH I ALSO TURNED 20 THIS WEEK SO THAT WAS WEIRD. I had a bunch of people calling or singing me happy birthday and I got strangely sentimental and emotional and I think a little trunky because their singing made me cry HA 20 YEARS OLD AND STILL A BABY AMIRIGHT

We were having an AWESOME testimony meeting yesterday, until there were these 2 20 year old guys in front of me that would NOT stop talking, and I was already planning on going up to talk because i always do, but I went up and instead of saying what I had planned on, I looked right at them (but they didnt look at me, because they were still talking lol) and I talked about 3 nephi 11 when God is trying to talk to the nephites to present jesus christ and he had to say it THREE times because the people werent LISTENING, and alot of times this happens to us, God is talking and we are literally not even paying attention. SO yeah I kind of burned them from the pulpit but i tried to say it with love but who knows how it came out hahaha.

EVERYONE STUDY 3 NEPHI 11 PLEASE!

okey have a good week, I know God lives and loves us :)

Sister Lipps 

1. We ran into our zone leaders at the grocery store and they literally just had a cart full of cookies and a bag of sugar........................

2. I found my state WOOHOO!!!!

3. OK SO OUR ZONE T SHIRTS ARE AWESOME. its a play on "mormon helping hands" ("mãos que ajudam") and it says basically "monsters that help" (monstros que ajudam) and has this giant muscle holding a thing of whey protein bursting out of the church building HAHAHAHA I love my zone

4. Tuesday was Dia do Gaucho, the state holiday that is basically bigger than christmas here!!! There was a giant parade with proabably more horses than people and it was super smelly and AWESOME! 

MY TRIP TO SANTA MARIA VACAAAAAAAAAAAATION!

1,2,3. Me and my old friends from my first little area, parque pinheiro!!!!

4. Me and Sister Chaves pretending like she gave me all these wounds but really im the big idiot head that tripped hahaha

5. Sister Chaves, Sister Lira, and PÃO DE QUIEJO THAT A MEMBER MADE FOR US!! 

1. Selfie stick pic from our family home evening!!!

2. My thought process : oh sister vera take a cute portrait pic of me because its my birthday and itll be super cute. Result:...............

3. MY FAVORITE FAMILY OF RECENT CONVERTS IN URUGUAIANA that made me a surprise cake and little party for me on sunday!!!

4.5. And sunday night, the sisters surprised me with an ice cream bar and we had another little party!! they are so cute 

mi lyfe is so boreeing

YOU GUYS, the weeks are passing by SO fast I feel like yesterday was P-day and that basically nothing has happened since Ive last written!! (thats a lie, a ton of stuff has happened, but im so tired i dont even remember anything)

Things I remember:

HAHAAAAAAAAAAAA YOU GUYS I LOVE SISTER VERA. SHES THE MOST ADORABLE FUN AND FORGETFUL PERSON IVE EVER MET IN MY WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE. Seriously. HA she forgets EVERYTHING so its forcing me to have to be the one to remember everything.

example: she had a SUPER important doctors appointment one morning that we were doing exchanges, so for like a week we figured out how to make it work so we could still study and do exchanges and get to lunch and everything. At 10 oclock, i asked her "are you guys getting ready to leave for your appointment?" Sister Vera "what appointment" me: "HAHA SISTER YOU ARE KIDDING"

and things like that happen every single day, forgetting names, appointments, streets, so it keeps life interesting and is keeping me sharp on my feet and more organized

We had a whole day this week when we did visits with our bishop to a ton of less actives and recent converts and it was SUPER cool because our bishop is awesome and a hard worker and loves the ward SO much!!

When we teach, we always try to ask questions to help the investigator understand and apply what we are teaching in their lives and truly to make them pay attention to our lessons hahaha. yesterday, we were teaching this lady about the restoration, and how joseph went to the forest to pray, and we recited the whole first vision (when God and Christ appeared to him) and we always seek to make it a super spiritual moment. so we paused, and asked "Maria, who do you think were those two people he saw in the light?" and she was LITERALLY like "He saw himself in the future, and he told himself that he didnt need a church, because the light was inside of him. He was the church" and it was one of those moments when i didnt even know how to respond without being like "yeah thats actually not what happened at all and i dont have any idea how you understood that but OKAY MOVING ON" HAHAHA it was hilarious and awkward...............

Other cool/weird thing: this week one of our investigators taught us ALL about Umbanda, which is basically the voodoo type religion that HALF the people here in uruguaiana belong to, and it was super interesting/freaky because they kind of pray to demons that they think are saints and make deals with them to "improve" their lives. SO COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (NOT) 

 

Alrighty then, today I was studying about humility (lol because I need alot of it) and I found this really great quote by Presidente Spencer W. Kimball: "How does one get humble? To me, one must constantly be reminded of his dependence. On whom dependent? On the Lord. How reming one's self? By the real, constant, worshipful, grateful, prayer"

How cool is that?????????? PRAYER IS SO EASY AND THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING!

Im so grateful for prayer, and for the relationship that I form with my Heavenly Father everyday. Im so grateful for this gospel, because it is SO freaking simple, everyone can follow it!!!

LOVE LIFE LOVE THE MISSION LOVE BRASIL LOVE XIS AND PIZZA 

loves,

SISTER LIPPS :)

photos:

I FOUND A BAG OF MAIONESE WITH MY SISTERS NAME ON IT HAHA COOL RIGHT!?

lol we played volleyball this morning and the big jerks forgot to tell me that we were all going to use our matching zone t shirt. ahhhhhhhhhh im such a reject.

 

 

OKAY THIS WEEK ROCKED AND NOW IM SO TIRED.

OKAY THIS WEEK ROCKED AND NOW IM SO TIRED.

So in short summary, we did MORE exchanges with the sisters, which meant we were back to back going to the bus station to drop off and pick up people! AND on friday, THE WHOLE MISSION WENT TO SANTA MARIA BECAUSE OUR BELOVED APOSTLE ELDER ANDERSEN WAS GOING TO HAVE A MEETING WITH US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS SO INCREDIBLE! Like, it was madness having 150 missionaries in one city, and everyone traveling and having to find places to stay, but on Saturday morning, our devocional with Elder Andersen made it all soooooooooooo worth it.

Ok so because our meeting, we have 45 minutes of personal study time city in the sacrament meeting room waiting for the apostle, and I found this scripture in D&C 6:14-15 that made a BIG difference in how i looked at my life and my mission and how I got to where I am right now

14 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, blessed art thou for what thou hast done; for thou hast inquired of me, and behold, as often as thou hast inquired thou hast received instruction of my Spirit. If it had not been so, thou wouldst not have come to the place where thou art at this time.

 15 Behold, thou knowest that thou hast inquired of me and I did enlighten thy mind; and now I tell thee these things that thou mayest know that thou hast beenenlightened by the Spirit of truth;

So basically, without even super realizing it, God has ALWAYS been guiding me, through way of his spirit, so that I could be here, in Santa Maria, serving a mission. Because it says "if it werent like that, you wouldnt even be where you are right now" and I read that and realized "holy wow, its so true. I never thought of myself of being instructed by the Spirit alot before the mission, but it says right here that I always was!!'

I know that Heavenly Father guides us, he takes us, not always where we want to go, but where he needs us to be!

I love this Church and this Gospel and this Week and Year and Life! 

Love,

Sister Lipps 

Exchanges this week with some more sisters!!

I found a mini me at a members house!!!!!!!!!!!! Literally we were wearing the same clothes and everything, it was awesome.

Us waiting for our bus, and all the elders to show up, before our trip to santa maria!

 

 

PARTY ON THE ÔNIBUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol just kidding

We had 16 sisters sleeping in ONE apartment so it was pretty pretty cooooozy 

Me and Sister Chaves :)

Me and Sister Vera :)

OUR AWESOME ZONE TSHIRT FROM ALEGRETE IN HONOR OF THE OLMYPICS!

 

 

ME AND SISTER VERA ARE RIDICULOUSLY MENTALLY CONNECTED, ITS SO AWESOME.

Literally I had like 6 moments this week when we were teaching and I thought "bah, I really want to talk about such and such scripture or thing, I hope I can before the subject changes" and then 5 SECONDS LATER, SISTER VERA SAID THAT EXACT THING THAT I WAS THINKING AND HOPING I COULD SAY. SO we were basically on our A-game this week in being able to both of us follow the Spirit in our lessons.

THIS WEEK WAS SO FUN!!!!!

Ok so on Tuesday, we gave the training on our zone meeting and it was awesome! I love teaching!! We talk about Love and Knowledge, and how these two these are SO ESSENCIAL in missionary work!! WE, has missionaries and people, have to get to know the savior, through our own conversion and repentence and development of our Faith. And THEN, we love the Savior and love all the knowledge we've aquired! And THEN, WE GOTTA HELP OTHER PEOPLE KNOW AND LOVE THE SAVIOR SO THEY CAN BE BAPTIZED AND GET THE KEY TO HEAVEN'S DOOR!

And then our zone leaders talk about the Title of Liberty and gave us all our own little White flag, title of liberty with the baptism symbol on it and it was adorable and i was like "aww so cute the elders sometimes like to do crafts and make cute things for the missionaries too"

We also had our first week of EXCHANGES with the other sisters, which was SUPER fun and also such a learning experience for the both of us!! Also my prayers were answered because I didnt get lost by myself in this área where i dont know where anything is :-) #blessin´s

Also, because we had two companionships working in the same área, and I was working closer to our apartment, me and the sister I was with also got home before Sister Vera and the sister she was with, so OBVIOUSLY we hid in the dark and scared them MWHAHHA I love scaring people

Ok so this week we were teaching these two girls about how importante it is to read the scriptures, and sister Vera gave them each a little slip of paper, and told them they had to write a final message to their Family, as if they were lost in the desert and knew they wouldnt survive, so they wrote little things like "love you guys, stay Strong" and whatever, and then then Sister Vera took them, and said that she was the mailman and that I was their families, waiting for these letters. And then, instead of delivering me the letters, SHE RIPPED UP THE PAPERS. And i was like "SISTER VERA WHAT THE HECK?????" And she was like "yeah you feel pretty bad because you'll never know what they wanted you to know, huh?" and then she said "PRETTY ,MUCH WE DO THAT TO OUR OWN FAMILY WHEN WE DONT READ THE SCRIPTURES" #BOMBA and it was super awesome hehe I love Sister Vera. and then she showed us that she ripped up another paper and pretended it was their letters and then gave me their letters and proved to the world shes not a horrible person :-)

SO, IN CONCLUSION, EVERYONE, DONT BE A JERK TO YOUR ANCESTORS AND READ THE SCRIPTURES

Ok also I wanted to share this talk with y'all, "That I might draw all men unto me" by Daler G. Renlund from this past April, so we can all remember that the closer we are to our heavenly father, the less we will feel entitled to his blessings and the more we will feel grateful for his grace :)

I LOVE PAI CELESTIAL AND ALL YOU GUYS MY READERS MY FANS THCAU THCAU BEIJOSSSSSSSSSSSS

Sister Lipps

PICTURES:

a bunch of pictures of the sisters in our zone!

Me and Sister Barboza hiding in the kitchen waiting to scare the sisters (she was on the phone telling them that we werent home yet, and we left the front room a mess, with things thrown on the floor, as if someone had broken in HAHAH i love us)

Me and Sister Barboza hit 10 months this week on the mission and Sister Vera made us crowns!! Hehe freaking fofinho 

 

 

 

 

Overstaying my welcome, all day err day

Did you guys know that being a missionary is so awesome because you invite yourselves into peoples houses and then overstay your welcome? :-)))

Seriously, we do anything to get people to let us in "WE JUST WANT TO SAY A PRAYER WITH YOU GUYS!" and then we sing a hymn and say a prayer and theyre like "alright, thanks, nice  meet you guys" and before they can finish we just start talking and start teaching and talk about the restoration of the gospel for an hour, and then invite them to be baptized and mark another visit and we leave and the second we are out the door they probably all think "what the heck just happened? that was a lot more than just a prayer" and it is THE BEST!

OKAY HOLY GUACAMOLE SO MUCH HAPPENED THIS WEEK I WANT TO TELL YOU GUYS.

okay so starting off, I went to Santa Maria on monday because tuesday morning we had our Mission Counsel (i think thats what it is in English, haha who knows) and guess who picked me up from the bus station? SISTER CHAVES! MY BELOVED TRAINER AND MOM WHO I HADNT SEEN FOR 6 MONTHS! Ugh it was awesome. And she gave me our "sister hood of the travelling shirt" that started with the trainer of her trainer who became Sister Training Leader, and then passed to her trainer, and then passed to Sister Chaves, and now I have it!! #love

Tuesday we had an AWESOME training about how we have to have alot of love but also high expectations, and with those two things, we will have MIRACLES in our mission! and then Presidente Louza was talking about rules, because Presidente Parrela haf 1769028 rules about every LITTLE detail, and Presidente Louza was like "The only necessary rules we have are what is written in Preach My Gospel and our White Bible" and we were like "PRESIDENTE!!!! THAT'S A RULE!!! WE ARENT ALLOWED TO CALL THE MISSIONARY HANDBOOK 'WHITE BIBLE'!!" HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA It was the funniest thing in the world

MY NEW COMPANION IS AWESOME! SIster Vera, my third companion from PERU (Pai Celestial really wants me to learn Spanish lol) and she is literally one of the happiest péople I have ever met, and with us two together, or companionship is this little ball of sunshine and jumping up and down when something good happens. I LOVE IT! And our first night together she plucked my eyebrows so now we are eternally bonded, right?

Also she always says "freaking" in the middle of her portuguese sentences and its my favorite thing. 

Also Im addicted to saying "MAS QUE BABARIDADE TCHÊ" and I cant even give you guys a good translation........................like "thats ridiculous" or something like that haha

Best prayer of our investigator of the week:

"heavenly father,

please help me forgive the sisters because its 7:30 and they told me they would be here at 1 pm.

Amen"

HAHAH shes 10, but yeah it was totally OUR BAD. 

OH HEY IM A SCREWUP AND MISTYPED MY ADDRESS LAST WEEK:

Caixa Postal 179

Uruguaiana-RS

97501-970

Brasil

so yeah life is good and im happy and weve already found lots of miracles in our path :) 

Spiritual Homework:

1 Corinthions 13:2

If we do things, but we dont do them with love, its not even worth anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO EVERYONE LOVE EVERYONE, OKAY?

LOVE Y'ALL,

SISTER LIPPS 

Pictures:

At the bus station saying goodbye to my peeps from Alegrete!

ME and Sister Vera tried to take a cute picture under a pretty tree, and the other sisters were taking in, and there were cars passing in the street and they were like "hurry up, you guys are embarrassing us" and we started laughing, but in the picture it looks like we were throwing up. ENJOY :)

 

 

I DIDNT SLEEP AT ALL THIS WEEK :-)

I DIDNT SURVIVE TRANSFERS YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!! WHY DOES MY PRESIDENT LIKE TO MAKE ME SWITCH AREA EVERY 12 WEEKS? IT'S PRETTY SUCKY.

So yeah, IM GOING TO URUGUAIANA!!! Im actually REALLY excited because Ive already gone on exchanges in that area and its awesome, AND I got called to be Sister Training Leader, which I guess means that Heavenly Father thinks Ive got this whole mission thing figured out enough to help the other sisters figure out this mission thing too!!!!! WOOHOO ITS GONNA BE AWESOME! Getting to do exchanges and hang out with more sisters so I can help them :)

IMPORTANT THING: 

my new mailing address:

Caixa Postal 179

Uruguaiana- RS

97501-976

Brasil 

So yeah, in 3 hours im on a bus going to santa maria for a meeting tomorrow morning, and then tomorrow at 8 o'clock at night ill have arrived in my new area!

SO, as the last week before a transfer always goes, I spent a stupid amount of time just crying my face off because I hate saying goodbye to people. I GOT SO ATTACHED TO THIS PLACE, I HATE IT. yesterday after church was the literal WORST because I had to say bye to our convert and one of my favorite people on the planet, Nelson, and we BOTH balled our eyes out and then it ruined my face for all the pictures after. (and i accidentally (intentioally) hugged him and didnt regret it) 

And then last night we were at our investigator Isac and Glaucia's house and we were about to start teaching and then someone knocked at the door and in waltzed all my favorite members and best friends carrying plates of food and drink and THEY THREW ME A FREAKING SURPRISE FAREWELL PARTY. and then they all went around saying stupid nice things about me and all that I did for them and I just sat there crying like a dumb head and I hated (loved) it.

SO yeah that was my week in a nutshell..............

OKAY SPIRITUAL THOUGHT TIME:

so these past few weeks everyone and their mother has just been watching the olympics right?

okay so we were teaching Nelson about the Plan of Salvation again, and at the end we asked him why he things it is important to know this plan, and what kind of motivation it gives us. and his response WAS SO PERFECT IT SHOULD BE IN A CONFERENCE TALK.

He said "you know in the olympics when the team or person that wins goes to their family and their coaches and the crowd goes crazy, and every applauds and cheers and the winner feels so loved? I think that if we follow this plan, that'll happen with us and Heavenly Father and our family when we get to the Celestial Kingdom"

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YOU GUYS IT IS SO TRUE!!!!!!!!!!! Its so simple. If we follow this plan, we'll get the Gold. and God will be so proud of us, and all our family and friends on the other side of the veil with cheer with us and run with us until we finish and until we win. But the difference is that, MORE THAN ONE PERSON CAN GET THE GOLD! WE CAN ALL WIN!

ugh this gospel is so perfect I literally cant even.

I know that Christ lives, and loves us, and he is ROOTING FOR US!!!

I love being a missionary

Love, Sister Lipps

Pictures:

my suprise party :) 

Pictures of my week/crying in public saying bye to people

 

 

 

TRUE STORY: EVER SINCE THE CTM MY DREAM WAS TO FIND A BABY SHEEP AND TAKE A PICTURE LIKE THE COVER OF THE RESTORATION PAMPHLET. AND THIS WEEK MY DREAM CAME TRUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

I WAS ON FREAKING CLOUD 9 YOU GUYS.

I LOVE BRASIL

 

 

 

Pictures of my week/crying in public saying bye to people

 

 

 

TRUE STORY: EVER SINCE THE CTM MY DREAM WAS TO FIND A BABY SHEEP AND TAKE A PICTURE LIKE THE COVER OF THE RESTORATION PAMPHLET. AND THIS WEEK MY DREAM CAME TRUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

I WAS ON FREAKING CLOUD 9 YOU GUYS.

I LOVE BRASIL

 

My Camera Roll

So this week was good and a little uneventful and I already told my family all the good things yesterday so here are my pictures of the week:

Pictures:

we are the most fotogenic companionship you've ever seen 

opening my birthday package that arrived early and I was going to wait until my birthday to open it and that idea lasted for about 10 days until my patience wore out WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I bought a pizza for Sister Carriels missiaversary because Im a good companion :)

Me being blinded by the sun yesterday after church :-)))))))))

TALKING TO MY FAMILY BECAUSE I SERVE IN THE BEST MISSION IN THE WORLD THAT LET US SYKPE ON BRASIL'S FATHERS DAY!!!!!!!!!!!! boutta make this years christmas card

shoutout to roseville girls camp for sending me letters!!

Love, Sister Lipps 

 

Pictures:

ZONE P-DAY!! We played volleyball and it was a grande old time :)

Us giving our district leader a chocolate bar because he had a miracle baptismal interview last week with Irmão Nelson :)