Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Kids scissors

OKAY Y'ALL THIS WEEK WAS THE BOM.COM CUZ WE HAD A ZONE CONFERENCE WITH THE MISSION PRESIDENT AND SISTER CAMPOS AND IT WAS LEGIT THE BEST. Man, President Campos is literally the best. He based his training off the talk by Tad R. Callister titled "How to Become a Consecrated Missionary" and the funny thing is I read that talk like 3 times this week before the training (not knowing the training would be based off the talk). And honestly I love that talk- 10/10 would recommend for todo mundo. 

Then after the zone conference all the sisters had lunch with President and Sister Campos at the cutest restaurant. AND GUESS WHAT? THEY HAD THAT DESSERT THAT HAS WINE IN IT- AND GUESS WHAT I DIDN'T EAT IT. But President Campos reminded everyone that we couldn't eat it and then some sister who will remain unnamed *cough cough* Sister Nelson decided it would be a good idea to let President know that I had had some that one time before I knew it had wine and legit that man's jaw dropped to the basement- so there's that. Anyways after lunch we had interviews as well and mine went just fine and President didn't ask me anymore about my wine bibber problems (BLESS UP) so hopefully he forgets cuz I already repented! 

But about food problems- ALL 4 OF US GOT FOOD POISONING ON THURSDAY AND I THREW UP 2 TIMES IN THE STREET AND IT WAS LEGIT THE WORST. Honestly I don't think my stomach has ever been in so much pain.

ALSO I'm aboutta become a part time hair dresser cuz yours truly cut Sister F. Oliveira's hair this week--with kids scissors y'all-- KIDS SCISSORS GUYS-- Considering the circumstances I think it turned out well, lolz


 AND THIS WEEK WAS ALSO LEGIT CUZ THE CAMILA'S BROTHER WAS BAPTIZED AND IT WAS SO GREAT! We had a baptismal service for the whole zone in Santa Cruz after District Conference. It was way spiritual, and all the missionaries sang "I Feel the Saviors Love." 



Love you guys!!!
Sister Jolley 

Thursday, August 18, 2016

The Choir

OKAY Y'ALL, ANOTHER GREAT WEEK HAPPENED RIGHT HERE IN YOUR VERY OWN VENÂNCIO AIRES!

So my comp hit 9 months this week and the other companionship and I made a great surprise to celebrate. Honestly it's so hard to hide something from your comp cuz legit it's 24/7 together but we did it and I don't think anyone was ever so surprised! 



Also fun fact about my comp- she loves to sing, and she sings hymns all the time, and sings them in the street and at home and just everywhere. She also makes us sing for our investigators and every day for comp study. BUT the thing is she really can't sing well. And I've never said anything but there have been more times than one when things get a bit (okay a lot) off key while we sing to our investigators and I wonder if they actually feel the Spirit or think this is some kind of torture. ANYWAY the other day, while she was singing, Sister F. Oliveira asked if she had ever been in a choir. OH MAN IT KILLED ME. And she replied "yes" and then she asked if she had to audition to get into the choir and my comp responded "Look sister, Jesus never excluded anyone and neither did my choir" OH MAN I DIED. AND GUESS WHAT- we still sing for our investigators...oh man

This week I went on splits with the sister training leaders and it was legit- knocked down those doors and todo mundo is aboutta get baptized! The splits weren't in my area so none of the investigators were mine. Haha anyway, I learned a ton from them!


Have a great week!!
Sister Jolley

This is Camila! We baptized her last week. She is 15 and she's the best.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

The Un-made Bed

YOOO FAMMMM

This week was the bom.com cuz guess what??

1. My trainer left one of our lessons and told me "I feel like an American who can't speak Portuguese."
Lemme tell you how it went down. So the missionaries here have this saying "que chic" and like everyone says it. Honestly I don't know how to translate it but it's sorta like saying "how cool" and we were in a lesson with some of our investigators- a grandpa, dad and son. The dad hasn't had a job, but just recently he found one so my comp said "que chic, you're working now" and ALL THREE OF THEM LOST IT LAUGHING and I was just thinking well maybe he didn't actually get a job? and I looked to my comp to see if she understood why todo mundo was laughing and she looked more lost than I felt. ANYWAY turns out that saying "que chic" isn't cool here and they all thought it was hilarious that she said it. And for the rest of the lesson every time we asked a question they answered with "que chic" OH MAN IT WAS BEYOND HILARIOUS. And then when we left my comp said "why didn't you defend me?" HAHAHA NO WAY JOSE YOU'VE LAUGHED TOO MANY TIMES AT MY LANGUAGE MISTAKES and I legit died when she told me she "felt like an American who can't speak Portuguese" haha well she laughs way less at my Portuguese and it's probably cuz of this but I like to think it's cuz I'm getting better. 

Fun fact-- so this one day we were teaching a lesson and the lady said "wow 3 months later and you're already fluent" and at the next lesson the guy we were teaching said, to my companion mind you, "she knows almost nothing" OKAY 100-0 REAL QUICK-- So there's your update on my language progress lolz

2. WE HAD A BAPTISM SO YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LEGIT OVER THE MOON Y'ALL-- I'LL SEND PICS NEXT WEEK CUZ I FORGOT MY CORD, LOLZ AT MY LIFE. BUT IT WAS WAY AWESOME AND SHE'S 15 AND HER NAME IS CAMILA AND SHE'S THE BEST. LOVE HER.

3. OKAY Y'ALL THIS WEEK I HIT A MILESTONE-- 3 months in the mission y'all!!! The time has legit flown by cuz I honestly still can't believe I've graduated from high school and now I live in BRASIL? I still wake up (at 6:30 mind you) and sometimes think- WOWE I LIVE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD AND SPEAK A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE. 

4. Made pancakes for Sister Portilho and Sister F. Oliveira and THEY LOVED THEM MORE THAN I THOUGHT WOULD BE POSSIBLE- shame syrup doesn't exist here. Lowkey a trial- no syrup or peanut butter kills me. BEANS AND RICE FOR DAYS--BLESS UP FAM

But on the reals y'all this week was actually lowkey rough and we discontinued all of our investigators except Camila and her family (who live on the other side of the world, legit walk an hour to get to her house BUT IT'S WORTH IT CUZ I LOVE THEM) Anyway just wanna let y'all know that if the path was always filled with honeysuckle and roses 
1. You'd have way less adventures and life is all about adventures, right? 
2. You would not have nearly as much of an opportunity for growth. We grow through our trials and when we exercise our faith in Christ we will receive help and comfort. 
"All of us, in a moment of weakness will exclaim "No one understands. No one knows." Maybe no human knows but the Son of God knows and understands perfectly...He can extend a hand, touch, succor- literally run to us- and strengthen us"  -Elder Bednar (also translated this from Portuguese in my head so if you want the real deal google the quote)
I testify that this is true- Jesus Christ knows us perfectly and knows us by name. He knows best how to help us and if we turn to him and ask we will receive. 

Oh ...... and for the subject of this email- so in our last Zone Conference  we had training on how to correctly go on splits and the evaluation thing at the end. The ZL, out of the blue mind you, asked me to act the part of a sister and my companion to act the part of the Sister Training Leader and I ended up evaluating myself out loud in front of the whole zone. Honestly it tanked from the start cuz the first question was about the cleanliness of the house and I ended up having to tell everyone I haven't made my bed in 3 months. YUP. HAHAHAHAHAHA OH MAN Y'ALL HOW EMBARRASSING- SORRY MOM LOLZ. Anyways, I've gotten better at making my bed to say the least.

LOVE YOU GUYS,
SISTER JOLLEY 

Pictured above: Annelise's fave top bunk

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

The Week of Adam

oiiiiiiiiiii fam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So this week was, well it was a week, but it was still a good week, cuz every week as a missionary is a good week, right? That's what I tell myself when everyone falls through, I didn't think it was possible for plan A, plan B, and plan C to fall through. But, I can testify that it's possible because it happened everyday this week. When it falls through, it really falls through BUT MIRACLES ARE STILL REAL AND THE WORK IS GOING FORWARD HERE CUZ WE FOUND THIS FAMILY AND I'M WAY PUMPED BUT I'M NOT GONNA SAY ANYMORE CUZ I DON'T WANNA JINX IT

Okay but last Monday the funniest thing happened--so on Friday we were in Porto Alegre and we ran into some elders at the bus stop and we were talking with them and one of the elders told us how he's been out for 18 months but has never been the district leader for sisters before  (2 or more companionship make up a district and the district leader takes care of the district and makes sure todo mundo is happy and working and stuff) and GUESS WHAT TRANSFERS CAME AND HE'S OUR NEW DISTRICT LEADER. So when he called us on Monday (it was 9:40 and we have to be home at 9) he introduced himself and all of the sudden Sister F Oliveira and I had a fantastic idea, we were doing each others eyebrows (BLESS UP cuz mine were scaring people I'm sure) and decided to tell him we were actually at the beauty salon and to call us back later...oh man his voice changed and he said "Sister! it's past 9:30, you have to be home" "Elder, we can't leave. But we'll try and leave a message with her, ya know" Oh man it was hilarious, he actually believed us a for a few minutes.

I think the whole idea of having sisters in his district is a bit much for him...he called on Saturday to see if he was gonna come and give a baptismal interview for one of our investigators, but actually we ended up discontinuing her instead and it was the worst and he called and Sister Portilho and I were crying in the street. I don't think he's ever talked to a crying female before lolz and he called us again and then he must've called the zone leaders cuz  later they called us and todo mundo was way worried about us. Anyway I cant even imagine what his opinion of sister missionaries is now lolz....

Everyone down here really loves BYU stuff. Shout out to all those free shirts I got freshman year.
ALSO SO I'VE FASTED EVERY WEEK OF JULY AND EVERYONE WHO KNOWS ME KNOWS I HATE FASTING....SO if that hasn't been a trial of faith I don't know what is. ALSO WHY DID JULY HAVE TO HAVE 5 WEEKS??? So after the 2nd time fasting, I finally told my comp that I actually don't like fasting very much and every subsequent week afterwards she suggested we fast, in zone conferences, district meetings, and if all else fails a companionship fast- WOWE LEMME TELL Y'ALL I'VE GOT A TESTIMONY OF FASTING NOW AND I DON'T HATE IT ANYMORE CUZ FASTING BRINGS MIRACLES but every week is a low blow, honestly. AND I HAD HIGH HOPES FOR THIS WEEK, BUT I'M CERTAIN WE WILL FAST AGAIN CUZ GUESS WHAT IT'S FAST SUNDAY. Also I'm convinced that God has a sense of humor cuz everyday during personal study, I flip open to a scripture about fasting. SMH.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Sister F. Oliveira: "Oi Sister, I found the scripture of Venancio Aires"
Me "Which one?"
Sister F. Oliveira "Alma 8:8"
Me "Ahh actually I think its the whole chapter"
Sister F. Olivieira "Com certeza, sister"
(give it a read fam, never read a truer scripture in my life. Every time it says Alma put sisters and every time it says Amonnihah put Venancio Aires, really hilarious actually) 
We're really taking "apply the scriptures in your life" to the next level here in Venancio 

Quote of the week pt 2
Me "Sister this was the week of Adam"
Sister "Why"
Me "cuz todo mundo caiu"
2 Nephi 2:25--scripture mastery coming in clutch, I didn't wake up early for 4 years for nothing, right? lolz

love you guys!!!
Sister Jolley