Singing in the Rain

Alrighty y’all this week was great!

Sister de Paula is literally amazing and I’m so glad to be her comp! I’m learning tons, she might just end up training me again. lolz

This week we had tons and tons of miracles, we received a lot of referrals from members each one has so much potential! We're really excited to start teaching them!

We're teaching a really special family, a mom and dad and their 13 year old daughter. They are receiving the messages really well and I’ll never forget when the mom said "I’ve been feeling like my family isn’t progressing anymore spiritually and I know that we need to change" or when she said "so right now my family is living a life that will lead us to the terrestrial kingdom" THEY ARE GOLDEN. They have  accepted baptismal dates for the end of the month! 

We are also teaching some other really special people, a young man named Franklin. I’ll tell you about him next week!

So on Monday I finally got back to Bento  with my  new comp (with the keys)  we  arrived about 8:30 and Irma Marlene came to get us at the bus station. And while I was really excited to get back to my own home, I knew that we didn’t have a lick of food at home and we were both dying of hunger. But I also didn’t have the nerve to ask Irma Marlene for food so I just thought well we have one package of Ramon, that’ll do. Anyway we got home and we were just both dying of hunger and I knew that a little package of Ramon wasn’t gonna do anything to help the situation but in true missionary fashion we just decided to do the best with what we had. And as we started to prep the food the phone rang and it was Irma Marlene, and she asked "sister do you guys have food?" within a few minutes she had brought us over dinner. I am so grateful for people that are willing and worthy to act on the promptings of the Spirit! 

line of the week

Elder "Sister do you guys have food at home"

Me "Yup-half a bag of rice and a liter of guarana"

Elder "Bah sister you're living in some state of poverty"

Me "Well do you have food"

Elder "A fridge full of cold water"

Missionary poverty is real! But it’s not cuz we don’t have money its cuz we don’t have time to buy food! But don’t worry Mom, today I loaded the fridge with fruits and veggies! 

Have a great week

Say your prayers and read your scriptures!!

love, Sister Jolley

Annelise sent these pictures taken with her companions’ camera.

the week of fiascos

Y'all don't even know what happened this week---IT WAS CRAZY and full of fiascos, so sit down and hold your horses--

So on Tuesday we went to Porto Alegre to go to the temple and it was really great and after a bit of a trial we got there right on time and after the session we took tons of great photos on the grounds!

On Wednesday we had a great day planned but ended up with everything falling through and getting chased by a few dogs. At the end of the day we had an appointment on the other side of town and had to walk an hour to get there (vou ter a panturrilha do PODER! BLESS UP) but the appointment was really good. It was with Carmen, an investigator who is literally amazing! The sisters had an open house a few transfers back and she and her boy friend walked in the church and ever since then she's gone to church every Sunday and her dream is to be baptized, the only problem is that she isn't legally married and her boy friend doesn't wanna get married :( BUT God is a God of miracles and the Lord will provide a way for her to be baptized!

On Thurdsay we went to Porto Alegre again for our leadership meeting and this is where things start to get a little rough-- I LOST MY CAMERA and 11 MONTHS OF PHOTOS IN PORTO ALEGRE--so that was a real low blow 

cried a bit but reality is rough sometimes but as my mom would say "it's not the worst thing that can happen."

So Sister Montecinos for 18 months didn't buy one gift for her family (she told me she spent all her money on makeup lolz) so Saturday morning we went to the center of town to buy 7 gifts with 100 reais--it was a little bit of a mess but we ran around town like 2  crazies and got all her gifts! But after this we couldn't go back home to leave them there so we just had to walk with them all day! We had a really busy day Saturday with tons of appointments but at about 6 o'clock we remembered that we didn't have any food at home, just half a package of saltines so we went to a little market and bought 16 hot dog buns, 4 eggs, and 3 mangos and a kilo of sugar! If you're wondering why we bought hot dog buns its because they were the cheapest. Brazil you can buy eggs separately, but when you do you they just put them in a sack. So just imagine us walking around with a sack of eggs, hotdog buns, mangos and 18 months worth of presents! And we still had 2 appointments and a baptism to watch and 6 hills to climb up and down to get there! We looked like little pack mules!

And just when I was thinking that the week of fiascos was finishing up another one happened! Sister Montecinos left Sunday afternoon for Porto Alegre so the sisters from the neighboring town traveled to Bento to stay with me--well Sister Montecinos took the house keys with her to Porto Alegre! so we ended up traveling back to Carlos Barbosa so that we could all sleep there! (the only thing I had with me was my Book of Mormon, 20 reais and a notebook to take notes for conference so shout out for 2 days in the same clothes!) and I'll get my house key back 8:30 tonight with my new companion who is SISTER DE PAULA!!!

line of the week 

backstory- we were going to a follow up appointment after we had taught the Restoration to a family 

Maria "it's you guys who have 12 apostles?"

Me "Yup" *shows photo*

Maria *looks at the photo for a bit and points to Elder Rasband* "This man is corrupt"

Me "So actually that man is an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ (quick testimony about the character of Elder Rasband)"

Maria "I saw him on the TV, that man is corrupt"

Daughter "Mom you're talking about Donald Trump"

me *almost keeled over trying not to laugh*

Alrighty folks so if you're wondering why this email is really long it's cuz I'm here repenting because my sister told me that she waits all week to read my email and I only send a few sentences!

Have a great week!!!

Love,

Sister Jolley

miracles

This week was really great and we saw and had tons of miracles! 

I don't have much time so I'll tell you guys one of them!

So here in Bento we've been having a lot of trouble bringing our investigators to church and if you don't bring anyone to church no one gets baptized! So it's been a bit of a problem. This whole entire week we worked and worked to have 8 people at church and all the recent converts and Saturday night at 9:30 everyone had confirmed that they would be there and had car rides but then at about 8 am the next day the phone calls started rolling in and from headaches to a death in the family we got just about every excuse and we arrived at church and just had one investigator and I was so incredibly disappointed and I just thought well I did my best, I can't make people come to church. Well after sacrament meeting was over it turned out that there were some members that brought friends to church (which never happens) and the elders ended up bringing people to their ward that actually live in our ward. I felt so incredibly blessed, after we do all that we can do the Lord always makes up the difference when we are worthy and makes miracles happen.

This is Sister Monetecinos last week so tomorrow we're going to the temple! It's different having a companion that's getting ready to go home but it has it benefits!

Have a great week!

Love
Sister Jolley 

a trip to the hospital

Olá Família!! 

This week was really good! Lotsa of crazy stuff happened!

So on Wednesday I woke up all normal and left to go work with Sister Villanueva (we were on splits) and as the day went on I just started feeling lotsa pain and had a huge stomach ache and couldn't eat a bite of lunch, so we went back to our apartment and Sister Villanueva called Sister Campos and I got sent to the hospital!!!! (I had a goal to never go to the hospital during my mission más JÀ ERA) and then after hours of waiting I got an iv and threw up a few times and left feeling fantastic! I don't know what they put in that IV but it did miracles.

The hills in Bento are not joke y'all

So on Friday we went to sleep with the sisters of Farropilha so that we could all leave really early to be in Porto Alegre to see Elder Christofferson! It was a blast being with them! We left at 5 in the morning and the whole zone was one the same bus! The whole mission got to listen and participate in a devotional with Elder Christofferson! It was really amazing and really spiritual! I learned a ton! One thing he said that really touched me was "keeping commandments brings blessings but keeping covenants brings exaltation" Anyone in the world can decide to keep the commandments and be blessed, but only through the the saving ordinances of the gospel, like baptism, can we enter into the kingdom of God to be exalted and these ordinances need to done using the priesthood or God will not recognize them! Keep your covenants y'all! 

After the devotional we went back to Bento and got here at 5 o'clock! Just in time for Muriel to have his baptism interview! and then an hour later he was baptized! It was amazing and really spiritual! He's been waiting so long to be baptized. He started going to church alone in January (he's 11) and hasn't missed a week since then and has a really strong testimony. The only problem was that his mom didn't wanna let him be baptized so Sister Montecinos and I were just praying and fasting that she would let him be baptized and miracles of miracles she signed the ficha batismal!!! She even went to the baptism! Afterwards me and Sister Montecinos gave her a tour of the chapel and in the sacrament room she started to cry as she told us that she "felt something really special and really different during the baptism" and "knows that Muriel being baptized was the right thing" and "will support him" It was so incredibly special to see her so touched by the spirit!

line of the week

"Sister, losing weight is like the parable of the ten virgins, when the apostle arrives there just isn't anymore time to lose weight"

Sister Jolley

teaching pastors and hunting for a padre

YOOOOOOOO FAMILY 

THIS WEEK WAS KILLER AND FILLED WITH SOME LEGIT MIRACLES!

We started teaching a family that's legally married and has 2 kids! I'm legit so pumped! They are really religious so we hope we can help them gain a testimony of the restoration and that next week they'll be at church! We're also teaching a couple of other really amazing people! Bento has its hills but it looks like maybe they'll pay off lolz

This week I got to go on splits with my trainer!!! It was legit so surreal, I never thought I would have the opportunity to work with her again! It's so crazy, she'll be home in less than 2 months! Time flies y'all! 

So my comp is in her last transfer and her dream is to bible bash with a padre (I don't remember what to call them in English) and so we're on the hunt together to find a padre! She just tells me "Sister I know we aren't really allowed to debate with people but I've been here for 18 months and I just wanna QUEIMA ELE" haha I'll let you guys know if we find one...

This week we taught 2 pastors and one of them just asked us to come back and that he had a lot of questions and the other decided not to say anything, but when he said the closing prayer for our lesson he gave us a lesson in the prayer, citing scriptures and everything, HA that's one way to get the last word! But thanks to all the pastors we teach I'm getting to know the Bible real well.

ALSO ELDER CHRISTOFFERSON IS VISITING OUR MISSION ON SATURDAY AND I'M REAL PUMPED! 

LOVE YOU GUYS 

SISTER JOLLEY

Me, Sister McCandless, Montecinos, Dos Santos

Me Sister Alves, Montecins e PORTILHO!!

line of the week

Sister Montecinos "Sister, did you know that if you climb up hills backwards you won't get Alzheimer's?

Me "Is that why you're always walking backwards?

Sister Montecinos "Yup"

Me "Do you really believe that?"

Sister Montecinos "Uh yeah"

some people have some ideas y'all

BUSES

Alrighty y'all! This week was full of traveling! and climbing hills! 

We had our leadership meeting this week in Porto Alegre and lemme tell you I learned a ton, we came up with lots of ideas of how we can help the missionarios hasten the work and help more people have the opportunity to accept the gospel and return to live with Heavenly Father.

Then on Friday we gave a training to our zone here and it was really great, so great that it went overtime and we missed our bus and got back to our area at 6 at night so we spent the rest of the weekend working like crazy to try and make up for it. 

We're preparing Muriel to be baptized this Saturday! He's been going to church to 2 months all by himself and he is just 11 years old! He's so great and the whole ward loves him!  It'll all work out! TEMOS FÈ 

line of the week

Elder "Sister Jolley the letters on your nametag are turning yellow"

Me "Really?" 

Elder "I just don't believe it, I saw you on the first day you were here in Porto Alegre. How long have you been out?"

Me "10 months"

Elder "I've been out for here for 18 months and my nametag is still really white"

THE DIRT ROADS IN NEOPOLIS AREN'T A JOKE Y'ALL. 

Also this week I ran up the steepest hill in Bento and almost died, but I did it and my comp took a video 

Have a great week!

Next week I'll write a better letter lolz

Love

Sister Jolley 

ps this letter was bad cuz I spent all week on a bus, alright?

Bento Bento Bento

Alrighty ya'll this week was full ups and downs...literally 

hills and hills and when you think that you've finished climbing up one you go down and then you're going up again. Some of the hills are so steep that there are stairs on the side. TÀ LOUCO ISSO!! I'll send pictures next week! 

My companion is sister Montecinos from Chile! She's on her last transfer YIKES

She is also the shortest missionary in the mission!! haha She's really funny. 

The ward I'm serving in is really great! They just divided the ward a few months back and want to divide again in a year or so, so they are really pushing missionary work! I'm way excited, its so great when the ward wants to help!

I love being a missionary and helping others see the love of Christ and watching them change as they start to repent and move their lives! It's amazing and it's a miracle.

Have a great week

Love you guys

Sister Jolley 

photo---face masks!!