NEÓPOLIS!!!

ALRIGHT Y'ALL! 

I was transferred to the glorious city of Neopolis! Actually it's a suburb of Gravatai and it's way cool and way different here. I'm so excited to work with the ward here, they are literally amazing and are so excited about missionary work! It's literally the best thing ever. My companion is SISTER LIMA!!! She's from Fortaleza and is way cool! I live with Sister Alves and Sister S. Santos! It's literally the best, they're all so funny. They like to look at my photos of me when my hair was straight and tell me that they will "straighten my big hair and make it pretty." HAHA Y'ALL THE FRIZZ IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS AROUND HERE.

We spent most of the week lost because we're opening an area and we don't exactly have a map and when we arrived our cell phone didn't have anymore minutes.....QUE BENÇÃO BRASIL  And the part we didn't spend lost we spent sick. My dear comp spent 2 days with a really high fever, but the bishop came over and gave her a blessing and the fever broke and now we're all good! The mission is defs full of adventures and blessings y'all. This week is defs looking up! 

Sneak Peak into Real Missionary life:

How to have a great lunch on P DAY- brought to you by Sisteres Jolley, Lima, S. Santos e Alves

Noodles and freezer burnt sausage with a sauce made with strawberry yogurt, mayo and oregano!

For a killer side dish, warm up a can of sardines with cold canned peas and mayo! 

NEVER HAD A BETTER LUNCH IN MY LIFE

BEM-VINDAS A MISSÃO 

I have some killer photos of this delicia but this computer doesn't like my camera so just wait a week!

hahaha but on the real it was a bit of a trial this lunch but next week we'll make it to the supermarket before it closes for lunch! 

ALSO IF ANY OF Y'ALL HAVEN'T READ JESUS THE CHRIST TAKE SOME TIME AND GIVE IT A READ--LEGIT THE BEST BOOK YET WRITTEN. 

I'm learning tons! And I love mission life despite the little hiccups (@sardines--I had sardine pizza this week y'all, talk about trials) 

Study your scriptures fam! say your prayers! Take the sacrament!

Love 

Sister Jolley

Rat in the house!!

ALRIGHT Y'ALL THIS WAS YET ANOTHER FANTASTIC WEEK HERE IN VENANCIO!

and sadly my last week here. I've been transferred. AND THAT'S NOT ALL Yesterday President Campos called and told me that I'm gonna train! AGHHHH--THIS IS CRAZY Y'ALL. And I don't know where I've been transferred to or who my comp is. But I'm pretty sure I'm opening a new area as well.

But this week actually was really good! We found a bunch of new investigators who are so prepared! We have one new one, and boy that guy is a TRIP Y'ALL A STRAIGHT TRIP! LEMME TELL YOU HOW WE FOUND HIM--OR ACTUALLY HOW HE FOUND US! He saw the other sisters in the street and went up and talked to them asking them to visit him, but he actually lives in our area. So the sisters got his number, called me and told me that I needed to drop all my planning and visit this man who was literally dying to hear about the gospel. Well, the number he gave them was incorrect and I wasn't able to talk to him to set up an appointment. WELL homeboy realized that he gave us the wrong number so an hour later HE GOT ON HIS BIKE AND WENT KNOCKING DOORS to find the other sisters and give them the right number! WOWE FAM- so the sisters called us and gave us the right number and we went to go teach him. Wowe what a lesson!

So we arrive there he has some chairs on his patio and one of them looks a little weak, ya know, so I whisper to Sister Clark "you sit there cuz you weigh less!" and we start the lesson and he seats us, goes inside, and brings back 7 BIBLES, SEVEN GUYS, and tells us how each one is important and all sorts of stuff. He's way religious, obviously, but he has a lot of wrong ideas about God cuz homeboy's been interpreting the Bible way wrong. He thought he was a prophet. And all I could think was "oh my oh my not another one, teaching false prophets is such a trial" so there I was trying to help this poor guy understand that he actually isn't a prophet AND ALL THE SUDDEN SISTER CLARK'S CHAIR BREAKS!!! BAHHHHHHH MAN IT WAS HILARIOUS. I was just trying not to laugh but Sister Clark was done with this lesson, man oh man was she done, so she just stands up and says "We have another appointment right now! We need to go" and I try and tell her to sit down but she doesn't have a chair anymore. So the guy goes and gets another chair all the while saying things like "Bah, you're a little heavy, huh?" MAN OH MAN IT WAS TOO MUCH.  

Anyway, when we were all seated again I just bore a quick testimony and set up another appointment for the next day and invited him to say the closing prayer. Well this guy doesn't just say a prayer--he has TODO MUNDO stand up, hold hands,  and then starts this prayer, literally full of apostasy y'all, and then all the sudden the PLAGUES OF MOSES COME AND ATTACK SISTER CLARK-- well actually just a medium sized bug- but you would've thought it was the plagues of Moses cuz she starts flailing her arms and stuff and man I nearly died trying not to laugh. Anyway the next day we returned and set homeboy straight and now he's doing much better and is reading the Book of Mormon and progressing quite nicely. But every time we return he makes some comment about the chair or breaking the chair, or 'being heavy" BAHHH IT''S TOO MUCH

On the other hand, Sister Clark and I have been hit with a plague of acne which Sister Da Silva has ever so kindly taken to naming some of them-

Sister Da Silva- "What's that in between your eyebrows?"

Me "A ZIT"

Sister Da Silva "Bahh Sister, looks like Mt Sinai"

In other news, I cleaned out Sister Clark's hairbrush for her and made a pet rat! 

LOVE YOU GUYS!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!

SISTER JOLLEY

Highlights

Alright y'all! This was just another fantastic week in the Porto Alegre Norte Mission! 

I'm running really short on time today so you'll get the highlights of the highlights! 

1. We found an investigator who is legally married (honestly this never happens) and who told us that he's catholic BUT he knows that the Catholic church is not the same church that Jesus Christ established, and homeboy said this all by himself. I nearly fell off the sofa y'all! The Lord really prepares people to hear the gospel!

2. We got a new Branch Mission Leader and life is aboutta get real great! Y'all cant even imagine! Legit so pumped about this.

3. Sister Clark and I are really taking to heart the counsel in the white bible (missionary handbook) about "attractive shoes" see the pic! LOLZ MY FORMER SELF WOULD DIE

Crocs all day, every day

4. It rained a couple of times this week and yep we didn't have our umbrellas so we got real wet but miracles of miracles we still ended up with a lot of lessons and one dear lady, while sitting on her porch yelled "Girls it's raining!" HA as if we didn't already know! 

5. Taught a man who thought he was a prophet--really rocked his boat to know that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet. The truth is hard sometimes y'all 

6. Also here's a sneak peak into the reality of the mirror situation in my life. It's weird to never actually see yourself. 

Life is great here on the other side of the world--and my 3rd transfer has just about finished up! Which is actually really sad-- time flies--

have a great week!

I LOVE Y'ALL

Sister Jolley 

cinderella!

YOOO FAM!

This week was fantastic! Last Monday after I emailed you, we went to Santa Cruz to find some shoes for my dearest comp...we left there having spent way to much money on ice cream and some shoes that we thought were fantastic but actually were horrible and in the words of Sister Clark "I bought diabetic elf shoes for 170 reales!" To be quite honest, they are really funny looking. But after she wore them she had 9 blisters :( but I'm here to tell y'all that God has a sense of humor because the next day during comp study we found Romans 10:15- give it a read!

Also this week a less active member called us and asked us to visit her so we went there and turns out she wanted marriage advice and I didn't have a clue what to say and neither did my comp. (Missionaries don't think about marriage...like at all) And she was crying. And it looked like it was gonna be a disaster, but then I remembered that the Spirit would actually be the one helping her, and in the end it turned out all right.

Also that one young man that turned up at church last week? yeah he's probs the best investigator that ever existed. We met with him this week and he's reading the Book of Mormon. When we returned and asked him if he prayed, he gave a beautiful testimony of how he knows the book is true and how he felt when he received an answer to his prayer. The Spirit was so strong. I know that the Lord prepares people to for us to teach. Also homeboy watched conference with us and his favorite talk was Elder Anderson's about missionary work and man it just touched my heart. I love being a missionary so much. Every single day I see miracles and feel the Spirit so strongly as we testify of the reality of Christ and His divine love for all of us and His amazing plan of happiness. I know that Christ lives and loves us. 

line of the week

*after a session of conference*

Me 'Sister, were you sleeping during conference?"

Sister Clark "Um...look Sister I slept during work! I have a problem."

Me "You worked at a doctors office!"

Sister Clark "and at a theater!"

part 2

Sister Clark "what are you writing your family this week?"

Me "Our Cinderella experience"

Sister Clark "hmm maybe I'll just respond to my family's questions"

HAHAHA I DIED Y'ALL

have a great week

love you guys!

Sister Jolley

Bom.com

YO FAM!!

This week was pretty much fantastic because yesterday the greatest thing happened!

 

So Sister Clark and I knew that none of our investigators were gonna go to church cuz we called them and they all gave the lamest excuses on the planet. And when your investigators don't go to church its real sad and that means they aren't actually progressing. BUT a miracle happened! We got to church and right before the last hour one of the members introduced us to a young man that had been at church and I saw him there and said Hi but I thought he was an investigator of the other Sisters but actually HE DECIDED TO COME TO CHURCH JUST BECAUSE HE "ALWAYS FELT A DESIRE TO GO INSIDE THIS CHURCH" and the best part is---he lives in our area!! I'm legit so pumped! The elects are coming to us! BLESS UP Y'ALL

In other news we got a new Branch President and he's the bom.com and things are looking up for our little Branch here on the other side of the world! 

And the other parts of our week weren't that exciting besides walking 3000 miles a day and making banana bread til kingdom come! 

Also this computer doesn't like my camera as well so I'll try again next week. 

quote of the week

"Missions sure are the best years of our lives, huh?"

Sister Clark  "Kindergarten was the best year of my life"

Love  

Sister Jolley

oatmeal

OIII Y'ALL!!!!

Here in Venancio Aires things are going well! This week was great cuz 

1) I found oatmeal in the grocery store for the first time since I got to Brasil! 

2) Sister Clark has maple flavoring so at our last District meeting we made pancakes! 

3) Elder Rais of the Area Seventy visited our mission and it was LEGIT THE BEST THING EVER! LEARNED TONS FROM THAT GUY. ALSO HE'S HILARIOUS.

He visited us on Friday so everyone went to Porto Alegre and it was the first time the whole mission has been together! (ALSO IT MEANT I GOT TO SEE SISTER COREY WHICH WAS THE BEST!!!) Our zone took a van there, and here in Brasil you gotta have an ID to ride these vans. And Sister Clark and McCandless forgot their IDs and there we were walking to the bus station and suddenly they remember (it's 6am mind you) and were running late (not a surprise) and in the end Sister Cark and I ended up running back to our apartment which is actually pretty far and we were fasting as well but we got the IDs and made it to Porto Alegre in time so it's all good! One thing I really liked that Elder Rais said is for everyone to think about the question "what am I doing today that I need to stop doing?" and "what am I not doing today that I need to start doing?" It's really important that we are constantly evaluating ourselves and repenting so that we can be the best people we can possibly be! 

This week was a little rough cuz we ended up cutting almost all of our investigators and we're starting out new this week. But I know that there are people out there waiting- and Sister Clark and I will find them!! 

Also I got to use some of my first aid skills I didn't even know I had this week! (Katana I needed you!) We were meeting up with the other sisters to go to our lunch appointment and one of them was in the act of fainting as we arrived and yours truly brought her back. BLESS UP Y'ALL

Also I don't think I'll be able to send all my way legit and cool pics cuz this computer is real sad, so sit tight and wait for next week y'all.

quote of the week

Sister Clark "I need healthier food"

We found a bakery last week and its a taking a bit of a toll y'all- whoops...

Also to all y'all suffering in school, go read Ecclesiastes 12:12 

love you guys!

Sister Jolley 

"i want to vomit"

OIIIIIIIII FAM! THIS WEEK HAS BEEN FAN-FLIPPEN-TASTIC! 

It started out with Sister Portilho leaving which was actually really sad but I got Sister Clark in exchange and she is the bom.com! But we both has the same time out here in the field so sometimes we're lacking in the Portuguese part of life but it's all good! 

Sister Clark and I have honestly been so blessed and we've found so many people prepared to accept the gospel this week! We found one family, a mom and a son and they are honestly the greatest! Our first lesson there was fantastic and as we left they told us that the night before the son had been talking with his mom and told her, "I want to be happy but I don't know how. I want God to send me angels to tell me how," and the next day WE SHOWED UP! MIRACLES FAM MIRACLES.  The mom is super caring and feeds us and has the best questions and one night we were there and it was almost 9 o'clock and she lives on the other side of town and HOMEGIRL CALLED A TAXI AND WE MADE IT HOME BEFORE 9- BLESS UP FAM-

Also I think I've worked poor Sister Clark to the bone, we walk a lot here in Venancio (like legit 20 miles some days- not exaggerating) and today she bought new shoes! Haha and we've started running in the morning cuz beans and rice don't do good things for the waistline. We'll see if we make it out of Venancio alive! 

ALSO Y'ALL ELDER NEIL A. ANDERSON  CAME TO OUR MISSION AND GAVE A BOM.COM DEVO AND IT WAS THE BEST. Elder Anderson is a member of the quorum of the twelve apostles. Sadly we didn't get to see it in person cuz there wasn't space for todo mundo in Porto Alegre. So our whole zone traveled to Caxias do Sul and watched it there and after our Zone Leaders made us lunch. It was really good! and Sister Clark and I brought banana bread and it was a hit! One thing I really liked that Elder Anderson said was, "if a person is not honest they cannot progress spiritually. It is impossible," in short- honesty is way important y'all! 

Quote of the week

*during the Sister Clark's first lunch appointment with me and the other sisters here in Venancio*

Sister Clark *trying to tell the member that she was full* "I'm full and if I eat more I think I'll throw up."

Member "what?"

Sister Clark "I want to vomit"

My goodness I don't think I've ever laughed so hard during a lunch appointment. Portuguese is a struggle y'all-LOST IN TRANSLATION ALL DAY EVERYDAY

quote of the week part 2 

Me *reading John 3:5 (go read it)*

Investigator- "I don't think I can enter the kingdom of God anyway, the Bible says the gate is narrow and I'm fat. I won't fit"

LEGIT SO FUNNY Y'ALL

Anyway I loving being a missionary and I see God working miracles here in Venancio everyday. I love my Savior and I know He lives and answers our prayers!

Sister Jolley