Season 2 Episode 13

November 25, 2019

Sisters of Tavares

Fancy Dessert

Yummy Coconut

Fire Alarm #1

Fire Alarm #2

Capivara

Kicking OUR FEET up at the BEACH!

Season 2 Episode 12

Us with Anny at the BEACH

November 18, 2019

This week was so much fun, and it flew by so quickly! Ya know the saying “Time flies when you are having fun!!” And this week it is so true!!!  

Monday my comp and I had a family home evening with a cute little family and we prepared a little message about gratitude and all of the many blessings our Heavenly Father gives us!

Tuesday it rained and rained and rained!!! We went to sweet Miria´s house and she gave us a tour around and showed us basically everything that she has inside her house and all of her photos that she took from her trip to Baiha! She is so funny, we talked a little bit about the Plan of Salvation, we chose to teach this topic because her husband passed away a few months ago and she is really sad. But then we went and had a little photoshoot with Marjorie, we took pictures and ate dinner and of course shared a message!

Wednesday- THE BEST DAY EVER! Okay, so for reals today was such a fun day!! We started out with a fun little lesson with this lady named Maryanne that was at church on Sunday! We taught her and her two kids, it was really good, we learned that her husband is Espirita (a member of a different religion), so that will be interesting... But after this we had a fun lunch with Irma and her daughter who wants to serve a mission herself, so she wanted to sit by me and gave each of us a bag of cute seashells that they picked out at the beach. Afterwards we went to our friend Anny’s house, we started teaching about the Restoration, but there were a bunch of distractions so we couldn’t finish but we invited her to church with us! Then we were on our way to Jeverson´s house and we ran into Desiree so we stopped and chatted with her, she is so excited, and we are too! Her family is finally coming to Brasil to be with her again after a year and half apart! Then we show up to Jeverson’s house and he was making a Churrasco! So we got to eat a giant feast!!! His mom made rice and mayonnaise for us too! It was a really fun night with them, we invited a member to come over and do the dedicatory prayer blessing for his new house which was really really cool. I am so thankful for the members here and really for everyone I get to meet here!

Banana Bread YUM!!!

Thursday- Was very very eventful! We started out the day not waking up to our alarm.... Throwback I honestly think I turned it off during my sleep. But then we start our studying and the fire/carbon monoxide alarm goes off... We hadn’t even been cooking or making any kind of food that day. So I called the fire department and they told me to open a window... So we go back in and make banana bread! We then had a weird lesson with Andiara, she tried to give us back the Book of Mormon and that was really interesting... We will have to see about that... Then we got a call from the secretaries and they told us that we were going to be staying together and that another set of sisters would be coming to live with us and we will be splitting the area, and that they would get there that same night!! So they get here and the two Sisters are both from Recife Brasil: Sister Feitosa and Sister Rodrigues! It has been fun to have them here with us so far!

Friday- We went to the bank but neither of our cards were working so we had to go downtown on a little field trip to the bank. It was a holiday and there was literally no one there!!! It was really interesting and very exciting. Afterwards we went to a lesson and drank chimarrão, which is literally my favorite drink here!

Saturday- So we went to the hospital kkkk my companion got a little cut on her eye, so we got a ride from an uber to go to the hospital and figure out what was up with that. But she is really okay and she got some eye drops and she is doing great now! That was about the highlight for the day, because nothing too interesting happened after that.  

Sunday- Sister Romero and I had to sing during the primary program. We had a bunch of people show up, it was so much fun! Afterwards, we went to Anny’s house and finished our lesson about the Restoration, she was so excited, and we gave her a Livro de Mormon! she couldn’t wait to read it! The funny story about teaching the Restoration is that for some reason something always seems to happen when we go to tell them about Joseph Smith’s first vision. This time the moment that I was saying the first vision, my favorite Brazilian song turned on in the streets... Now that was a little bit of a distraction. Even though that happened it was still a really great lesson. And she was so excited to start reading the Book of Mormon... 

Family Home Evening

After that we went home! It was such a great week, and I am so "Thankful" to be a missionary!!!

love you all...

XOXO Sister Sanovich

Sweet Gift of Sea Shells

Photo shoot with Marjorie

Marjorie and Stefany

Season 2 Episode 11 - Rapido (Fast)

November 11, 2019

Well this week absolutely FLEW by!! The weeks just seem to be passing quicker and quicker. There was so much that happened in such a short amount of time, so here are the updates this past week! 

Monday! PDAY!! So we have this lady that we are teaching that lives super close to our house, her name is Simone. and as we were walking to the Lan House to talk to our families, we ran into her and she says "Minhas filhas Americanas! Minhas Princessas!" (My American daughters! My princesses!) Haha, so we stop and chat for awhile, she has a very difficult life and she is going through a bunch of things right now. She is a very sad person, but when we are able to say a quick prayer and share a quick testimony with her the spirit touches her and she almost cries every time. She is always so thankful to have met us, and at the same time I am so extremely thankful too! I am thankful that we can give her a little bit of hope to continue on. So that night we went to the house of Jamily and Evandro, and it started to downpour, and it takes about 30 minutes to walk to get to their house. But the weather here recently has started to be like that, one moment sunny and the next raining so much! I always need my umbrella either for the sun or for the rain! Even though the weather was a little weird today, the night was really good. We were able to help Evandro understand a little more about the Plan of Salvation! 

Tuesday- We left our lunch and as we were walking to our lesson and Sister Romero goes, "Did you notice that I pulled out 3 dog hairs of my cake?" Hahaha, Thank You Brasil! I've finally gotten to the point where I just stop looking at the food that we are given and just start eating it haha!! The rest of the day wasn’t that exciting, but we did meet a new friend that we are going to start teaching later this week! We were sitting at the bus stop taking a break after walking for quite a ways, and I was reading O Livro de Mormon and this man comes to the bus stop and started to ask us questions that we were able to respond to and we got his contact information and we are going there this week, we are very excited to go and teach him some more! 

Wednesday- We had our district meeting and so we went to the Centro in downtown Floripa and that’s always a fun experience to hang out there for a while! We got to meet our new district and I made cake so that was a highlight for sure! Then in the night we went to a recent convert Jeverson's house, and he always makes us food for our lessons and it is always delicious! We shared a message with him, the classic Joao (John) 3:16 but it was perfect and exactly what he needed!

Thursday- Okay, so talking about that rain! It's crazy!!! It was raining and then it was calm and all was good! We got a reference from the mission office to go and visit! Her name is Anny, we marked with her, and she didn’t think we would actually show up so she was still sleeping when we got there! She is really cool and is really interested in the church and learning more about the gospel!  We then walked to the church to visit with a recent convert before seminary, she is really strong in the church and we all just ended up at the seminary hanging out with all the youth! It was really fun!! Then we went to Andiara's house and we started to teach her about the Plan of Salvation, she had a few questions so we were able to help her understand them a little more. 

Friday- We had lunch with one of our favorite members here, Irma Vanessa! She is awesome and then we had a long day of walking after that... We were trying to find people that were in their houses, and we ended up taking a little detour to the beach for a few! It was a beautiful day! After this we had a lesson with the mom of Irma Vanesa, and she is really great we are going to start teaching her and we hope that she will come to church next week with the primary program and see her granddaughter will even speak! 

Saturday- Another very rainy day! We went to our friend Oberson's house and he made us fried bananas, SO GOOD! That is another food that I'll be making when I get back home, it's actually not Brasilian, but he is from Haiti so it is Haitian food! We were able to talk a while with him! After this we went to another lesson with Raquel, the lady that just had the baby last week! We found out that her daughter is studying with the Assembleia de Deus church, and it was very weird when we got there but we shared our message and we will see what will happen. 

Sunday was SO fast! Church as a missionary is wild! We are running around and everyone wants to talk to us haha! We were almost leaving our house to go to church when the ward mission leader gave me a call telling me that we needed to get to the church early because there was a lady and her son that were there already and he told us that they are interested in the church! So we ran out the door to go and meet her! She is definitely what we would consider a golden investigator that's for sure! I'm soo excited to see her and her family this week! For lunch I helped put chicken hearts on skewers to barbecue... That was definitely a new adventure so there is a video of that for sure! Then we were supposed to have a lesson with another recent convert here but the bus system on Sunday is really strange and by the time we got to his house he wasn’t there!!! We were able to share a message with his dad, that was really really cool! I was joking around with him and invited him to come to church and usually he is a little shut off  but because we were joking around and talking to him in a more chill way it was really good and really cool. At the end he goes ( "I think I’m starting to like Mormons" Hahaha I love being a missionary and being able to help people find happiness!

I love you all and I hope you have a great week! 

The next pictures are of the BEAUTIFUL scenery here. 

I am definitely Blessed!!! 

Season 2 Episodes 9 & 10 - Playing Catch UP!

We don't have a cookie sheet so we were creative and
made some cookies in a Bundt pan

October 28, 2019

November 14, 2019

Oi!

*So I have not written in a little while and my family has been holding onto my communication for a bit, because I have been making them type up my emails. (hahaha)

I will do my BEST to try and "catch" you all up here with my ADVENTURES on the island!

Monday, the 21^st of October, me and my companion were at home and it was almost 9:30 at night and the other sisters that we live with were not back at the apartment yet. Then we got an unexpected phone call from them and ended up telling us that they were getting emergency transferred out of the area! At first we thought that they were kidding, but that didn’t last very long because as soon as they got home they started packing up all of their things. They were really leaving!! Turns out that there was a sister that had to get surgery and could not leave the house, so they were going to Centro in order to make sure that there would be a companionship working in that area while the other sister got better. Which now leaves Sister Romero and I with a HUGE area!!! We are covering what basically turns out to be the whole Southern part of the Island Floripa. This change meant that we spent the majority of the next week trying to figure out our new area and learning about the people that the other set of sisters were teaching.

Thursday 10/24/2019: We were at one of our investigator’s, whose name is Andiara, house and it started HAILING!! The next thing we knew she came out of her bathroom with coconut oil on her hands and started giving us foot massages. That was definitely a first that’s for sure, it was a little random, but we are happy that she is progressing and learning a lot about the gospel. She absolutely loves our messages!

The next day Friday 10/25/2019 we got to have an American lunch!!! We got to eat American lasagna and a really good American style salad. It is really fun to have family that is from the United States in the ward! After our lunch we went to our friend Miria’s house (she is the lady that was in the motorcycle group), we talked with her and shared a quick message when we were getting ready to leave it started to rain so she told us that she would drive us to our next appointment. We got to Irma Vanessa’s house and she started to make a cake for us and starts telling us that she is going to take us to her friend’s house, that is in the middle of nowhere, so that we can teach her! We were able to teach Dana Cida, and it was perfect timing! We were able to finish teaching our lesson and praying with her right before her daughter got home and she needed to pay attention to her.

Sunday 10/27/2019 I hit 8 MONTHS in the mission!! How crazy is that? Time really is going really really fast!! I have absolutely no idea how it has already been 8 moths! Today was fun though, there is a recent convert in the ward that spoke in church today, his name is Wesley, he brought his friend Kaue to church! Kaue seemed super excited about everything at church, and we marked to visit with him this week! We then had an amazing lunch, with a really cool member family. She had made 8 pans of pankekas (which are basically like crepes, but they are filled with meat) needless to say it was absolutely delicious!! Turns out that the dad of this family is from Uruguay and that he served his mission there as well! He served in a lot of the same areas as my sister Cassidy, only that he served there a long time ago. It is really funny because he still has a hard time with Portuguese and sometimes just starts speaking Spanish, but most of the time his words are similar enough that I can still understand.

Today was also transfer day, but luckily Sister Romero and I will be serving together here in Rio Tavares! So everyone always says the first week of the transfer is always the hardest… Ain’t that the truth!! Even though it was a pretty difficult week, we still had some really awesome moments! 

Tuesday 10/29/2019 We started out our day with a lesson with Kaue and Wesley came with us to that, was really great and we are super excited to see that he is really interested! Then after lunch I made a contact with a lady that was sitting outside her house, a way that has been fun for us to meet new people is to ask for water when it is 100000 degrees outside, so I decided to do that with this woman. This lady gave me a glass of water so of course I had to drink it, but I am pretty convinced that it was contaminated, so far, I’ve been fine, but I will keep you updated on that one. There were some floaties in the water and the cup was not clear, but it definitely should have been, so it was a little concerning. We started walking to Marcelo’s house it usually does not take that long but today, it took us about an hour and a half to get there. It ended up taking us this long because all of a sudden there was rain and a really strong wind that was slowing us down on our way there. We got to Marcelo’s house, and he was not home!! We had a different appointment to get to after that with Desiree, she is from Venezuela and is super awesome! We taught her about the Restoration of the gospel, the spirit was really strong, and she loved it! After this, we went to a community service project called “Sopa Communitaria” they make food for the homeless and take it to the Centro of the city. The other sisters had told us about it and we decided to go! We got there and started helping to make the food and clean up some dishes. Unfortunately, we can’t go into the Centro because it is out of our area and they take the food over very late at night, but it was really awesome!

Look at my creativity MOM!

Our carved "Pumpkins"

Thursday 10/31/2019 

It was Halloween!! Me and my companion made some tacos and decided that for our costumes this year we would be each other!! So I dressed up like Sister Romero with her name tag and she dressed up like me and used my name tag, that was as creative as we got. Halloween as a holiday is not celebrated in Brazil, but we did have an awesome lesson with Andiara. We are helping her right now try and get responses and talking about prayer with her, we tried to do something different in this lesson by singing a hymn with her. We sang “Mais Perto Quero Estar” which is Nearer My God To Thee in English, it was really cool because her baby was right there listening in awe instead of crying. The baby did not cry the whole time that we were singing, how real is the Spirit of music?

Friday 11/1/2019 This day was not very exciting, no one was home, but we ended up going to a recent convert home instead and had the chance to answer her questions about the Plan of Salvation.

Saturday 11/2/2019 was a really fun day! We had an awesome lunch with members that are in the new half of our area and had an amazing lesson with a lady that the other sisters were teaching. They were teaching this woman named Raquel and her children, she actually just had another baby on 

Sunday 11/3/2019 We got to church and Kaue was there again! We were so excited that he made it again and scheduled another meeting with him this week. Everything else ended up falling through today, it could have been because in Brazil November 1^st and 2^nd are considered Day of the Dead! I didn’t even know that people celebrated that holiday here, so that was kind of fun to find out about. Sunday night we got invited to eat some guacamole at the house of Alice and Camillo, who are both members in our ward. Their son had learned how to make it on his mission and was going to be making it that night! That was a fun highlight of this week, but these two parts have been, and I have learned a lot. With Raquel and Mylka we talked about the scripture in Mosiah 2:41. It talks a bit about the things we shared with them, the closer we live to God here on Earth, the more likely we are to receive eternal happiness! That as we follow him and have blessings beyond measure. 

Monday 11/4/2019 We were talking with them and they are very humble and down to Earth, Mylka one of her daughters, was telling us that there are some really rich girls at school that are not very nice and that they get everything that they want but still aren’t happy. She also told us that she recognizes that since she has Heavenly Father and Christ in her life that she could not be any happier! Mylka also told us that she might not have a dad but that her mom is the best and her biggest super hero. Sister Romero and I left their house realizing what is truly important in this life, not things or worldly possession, but it is about the people and the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was definitely an eye opening conversation with a young girl that really impressed me.

XOXO Sister Sanovich

Our little DOG friend and his Sweater

A girl and her DOugHNuT!

Sisters in front of the church

Beautiful Rainbow

Our street view

Our neighbor is a "Horse"

 

Season 2 Episode 8 - Humidade vai me mata “Humidity will kill me!”

October 21, 2019

Monday: Little did I know this P-Day would be my last sleeping in, the rules about when we wake up were changed so that we now are getting up early every morning and so here we come early 6:30 am alarm every day!! We ended up going and trying to Jamiley’s house and I tried to call but she was not answering her phone or her door, so we decided to sit down on the sidewalk in front of their house because we had a few people to call. Next thing we knew they showed up, and we were so excited!!! Instead of just going home we stayed for a bit and decided to share a message with them, and they really seemed to like it. We marked for next P-day too, we were a little bummed that they can only meet on Mondays, but we are excited to keep teaching them.

Tuesday: Conferencia de Zona (Zone Conference)!!! I got to see minha filha (my mission trainee) Sister AnunciaCAo!! She was emergency transferred to Florida because of all the allergies that she has to the bugs in the area in Efapi. So I was excited to see her!!! We had such a great conference, and as always it was the best to learn from President and Sister Goncalves. 

Wednesday: We had an awesome lesson with a new friend Desiree she is from Venezuela!! So she mixes Spanish and Portugues together and we definitely need to pay really close attention when she speaks! We invited her to come to Church with us on Sunday so we hope that she will be there the rest of the day we visited an area we have never been before and talked to a bunch of new people. There was a lady that came up to us and asked if we are Americans. We said that we are, and she immediately started speaking English with us, I guess she lived in Miami for a few years and we got to set up an appointment to visit her next week.

Thursday: We had a lesson about the Book of Mormon with Andiara she seems really interested and we are very excited to start teaching her more!! She gave us a cute little tin full of jam, she is so nice and that was a very sweet gift to give us. Then we had a lesson with a Recent Convert, whose name is Jeverson he is always a fun person to visit and he is currently re-doing his house and is putting a bunch of really cool and antique items in his house. The best part is that he is still learning and progressing in the gospel a bunch and we get to help him in that process. We were able to visit him and still have an hour before we needed to go back home, and we decided to explore more new parts of the area.

Friday: One of the coolest things that happened today was when my companion and I were clapping in front of some doors, and usually when we do this we introduce ourselves. We got to the door and I almost starting introducing myself, like normal, but instead this time I just asked for a glass of water. The lady was really awesome and she invited us into her house and gave us some food and juice. She told us all about how her and her husband were in a motorcycle group before he passed away, and then she gave us buttons and stickers to remember her. We shared a message with her and she was so extremely thankful to hear from us. Afterwards we went to a friends house and shared a quick message while we drank some chimarrao, it has been a long time since I have had any of this drink because everyone in Efapi drinks it but hardly anyone drinks it here.

Saturday: We had fast and testimony meeting today and a less active member we were sitting by asked me to go up to the stand with her because she was really nervous. Afterwards we had a few lessons with some other less active members and some other recent converts. We made a contact in the street and the guy was very curious to know where we were from, and once again this week when we answered him that we were from the United States and he started speaking really good English!! That night we taught a family, the mom and dad will be getting married and then baptized soon and their kids are already members so teaching them is really fun!!!

That’s about it for this past week!! For a spiritual thought this week, I challenge you all to read in the Book of Mormon Alma 17! This is an important chapter especially for those of you that are considering going on a mission. I read this chapter so much because it talks so much about mission work, and how the Lord will always bless us. If anyone is thinking about serving a mission, my advice is to “GO”. It will completely change your life!! I can’t believe how fast time and how amazing the experiences are here. How close we live to the Savior and how we are always relying on him.

XOXO, Sister Sanovich    

Our Bishops FOOD from his restaurant 

Season 2 Episode 7 - Zone Conference

October 7, 2019 - October 13, 2019

My Oldest "DAUGHTER"

My "DAUGHTERS"

With the Bishop at the Grand Opening

Miria - Such a SWEET lady

Sunset