Week 1 Aventuras

During a long week of running to and fro, some spectacular things happened...

::a man who stopped us on the street and started to cry when we told him we were missionaries of our Savior Jesus Christ

::we knocked the door of an English Club and got the owner to agree to let us do a Christmas night with all of his students.  hellooo referrals!

::all of the Sister training leaders had a meeting with President Del Guerso and after we got to eat free churrasco, whoop whoop!

::we found a family of 6 who are all wonderful people.  This Sunday, they showed up at church all by themselves!

::we have been doing family home evenings with all of the members.  Our theme is Christmas!!!  (Thanksgiving does not exist here, so they just jump to Christmas) Our message is simple and creative and involves a manger that I made myself.  We are proud of it.  

I love you all!  The church is true!

beijos,

Sister Burch

The Baptism that fell from... Bahia

What a transfer it has been!  I could write a 10 page love letter to this transfer, to Educandário, to the members in this ward, and to my companion.  

Instead, I will just quote what Sister Borges said in our companionship study this morning;

"Sister... eu vou casar com um homem igual você."

I love the mission.  And I hate transfers.  Sister Borges got sent away to Osasco, minha terra de infância.  But the crazy, unbelievable, insane, not expected, bombshell news of this transfer is that of my new companion....

Sister Tait!!!

My first companion from back in the day at the Provo MTC.  We started this journey together and it looks like we will finish it together as well.  How poetic!  I am so excited and happy and I know there are big things ahead!

This weekend God sent us a tender mercy from Bahia.  Antonio moved to São Paulo about 3 weeks ago and stopped us on the street.  He admitted that he had already been going to church for a year and had already been taught by 10 pairs of elders.  We taught Antonio with power and authority and he finally made his own decision.  And was baptized!!!  It was such a powerful and spiritual experience.  I am amazed at how aware God is of each one of us.  

And if you do the math correctly, 10 pairs of elders=1 pair of sisters.

Just kidding, elders.  You are great :)

I know that God lives and that He has prepared a "foolproof plan" for each one of us.  I know that when we ask, he answers, and when we seek of him, we find.

Mormon Helping Hands

This week in the Raposo Tavares Stake center, we had an open house!!!  We volunteered to help out and were pumped to use our yellow vests!  There were hundreds of visitors and we were instructed not to talk about the church with anyone unless they specifically asked us for information.  Welp... Sister Borges and I were slightly disobedient to that instruction and talked to every single person who passed us by.  Success!  And we got nearly 90% more addresses and referrals than the elders.  #glóriadasmulheres  

Street Contacts

Being a missionary requires a lot of work and effort.  Nothing can happen until we find someone to teach.  This week on that quest, we talked to 230 people on the street.  The people ranged from kind and receptive to extremely rude.  The experience gave me some insight and the oppurtunity to understand São Paulo a little better.  

São Paulo is the strangest mixture of people and things.  It is probably the city with the most crime and iniquity in Brazil, whilst also being the city with the most churches in the entire world.  Okay, I have no statistical information or proof, but it has got to be true.  There is a church on every corner, in every hole in the ground, 3 on every block.  There are churches next to bars, in bars (really), on top of supermarkets, and in the parks.  There are churches entitled...

"Queen of the Apostles"

"Snowball"

"Jesus, the fragrant and beautiful" 

There are churches in São Paulo that jump and yell, churches that 'cast out demons,' and churches that do animal sacrifices.

Like I said, São Paulo is diverse.  There are people who stop to talk to us, people who run from us, people who are 'in a hurry,' and people who would rather cross 6 lanes of freeway traffic than pass us by.  True story.  

But every day we miraculously find the few who are truly searching for truth.  And when they come and see what we have to offer, and take a tour of the temple grounds, every time, they see and feel why the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is very different from the rest.

sisters working hard... photo by cassia

Come and See

Oi povo!  My life is right in line with spring here in São Paulo.  (Spring in October?... the southern hemisphere is confusing.  And the toilets really do flush in the other direction).  The flowers are blossoming in the trees and I am on to new beginnings as well.  Week one in my new area was perfection.  My new companion, Sister Borges, is wonderful and is from Rondônia.  I think that is somewhere near the Amazon...?  Educandário is a lot like Campo Limpo, but a little less poor, and the people actually stop to talk to us on the street.  Success!  I am loving it!  We live in a tiny house on the major avenue and when busses pass by, our whole house shakes. Sometimes I think it will collapse hahaha.  #firstworldthirdworldproblems  

But what made this week truly special was General Conference!  What a privilege it was to hear the PROPHET and APOSTLES speak to us in OUR DAYS.  Did you miss it?  Come and see!  

https://www.lds.org/general-conference?lang=eng

God lives and loves us.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  And although we change, he does not.  And since the very beginning of the world, God has worked in one way; by calling prophets.

 Amos 3:7 "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets."

God made it very clear that he would never do anything without first calling a prophet.  He did not leave us abandoned and lost.  Since Adam he has called prophets to lead and to guide us.  Why would today be different?  If God never changes, why would his church be any different from the church that CHRIST established himself? Christ established his church with a foundation of prophets and apostles who had the authority of God on the earth.  This church was lost when Jesus and all of his apostles were rejected and killed.  But God does not forget about us.  And he called a prophet again.  Until today, there is a living prophet on the earth.  There are 12 apostles, and they have the authority of God.  

The Church of Jesus Christ, the same church that He, the son of God, established, is on the earth today.  

"To comprehend the works of Christ, one must know Him as the Son of God; to the man who has not yet learned to know, to the honest soul who would inquire after the Lord, the invitation is ready; let him 'come and see.'" 

My invitation to all is to watch the conference, and ask God if it is all true.  Come and see for yourself!  

com todo meu AMOR e CARINHO,

sua querida sistinha  

3 Reasons why I love Educandário

1.  It is the home of the Pullman bread factory, which makes the entire neighborhood smell like bread baking and donuts.  

2.  There is a farmers market every Thursday right outside our house.  This week I bought a dozen bananas and 3 avacados for 2 dollars.  #lovebrazil

3.  Nearly every person we talk to lets us inside to share our message.  We are ALWAYS BUSY!!!!!  

I <3 Educandário

I got to go to the temple 3 times this week, so needless to say, I am insanely happy.  We continue to work in front of the São Paulo temple every 2 weeks, as the church is constructing a visitor's center!  This week Sister Borges and I talked to 108 people in one afternoon.  It was awesome. 

I love you all so MUCH and send you all hugs and kisses (if that is allowed?)

:)

com amor,

Sister Burch