November 23, 2015

Weekly Update

A lot happened this week! I was transfered to the area Perdizes which is São Paulo São Paulo. It´s one of the harder areas because lots of the contacts we make in the street don´t live there and its very corrido. It´s also a huge area with lots of apartments, which is tricky. When people ask which area I´m in and I say Perdizes everybody gets the same look like good luck hahaha. But this just means the miracles we recieve will be obvious to see. But the area itself is very cute very city life.  

My new companion is Sister Conde, Minha filha! She is 28 and is from Argentina but lived in Italy and Spain for a long time and likes to travel. She is very relaxed and has a great testimony. 

This week we had tranamento das Sisteres, which is like a multi zona but just sisters. One of the dupla of Sister Training leaders gave a trainamento about aperence, which was pretty funny especially after they passed the microphone around and other sisters shared stories about how their companion stopped them from leaving the house in that outfit and they were very grateful for it haha. Also Sister Cannon arrived!!!!! She is in Butantã, close to the temple and is opening up an area and she will destroy! 

We had Stake conference in the stake here. For the Saturday session we brought an investigator and President Del Guerso called me up to the front to do a practica to explain the importance of the wards helping in the missionary work. The Sunday session was fun too because we got to see a lot of the CTM instructors because our stake encompasses the neighborhood Casa Verde, which is the neighborhood of the CTM. 

Something really sad/funny happened yesterday. So Sister Conde doesn´t know the area here and so in a way we´re reopening this area because neither of us know the area (que bom). And we have to take the bus a lot to get to and from lunch because it's often in the area of the elders and the area is big. So yesterday we took the bus to return to Perdizes and we passed Avenida Paulista which was cool and everything was great, until we realized that we were not returning to our area! We took the bus that was returning to the airport FROM Perdizes! And so we hopped off, waited for an hour for the bus to return because on Sundays they pass a lot less and the bus that returned was the same one and was making a loop to return, so the bus driver thought it was funny too. So ya Perdias em Perdizes!! 

We also had a lunch really cool, where the member chose who gave the message and what it would be about, and so one of the elders, Elder Olsen and I gave our testimonies and it was a great spiritual moment. This area will be a challenge, but I think here I will really learn to develop more faith and strengthen my testimony.

Até próxima semana! 

Sister Haggard

tchau Maria Rosa

tchau Miriam e Jussario

Oi Sister Conde

Oi Sister Cannon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

view outside my window

November 16, 2015

Weekly Update:

This week we taught Guilherme more and are preparing him for his baptism. We taught Eliani about the word of wisdom. She has an addiction to cafine, she´d previously gone to a neurologist when she got a terrrible headache- but she is quitting coffee! It was a great lesson with the Relief society president testifying too. I love it when Eliani talks because she shares her testimony about the church, the Book of Mormon, and even Joseph Smith and it is beautiful to hear. She will get baptized with her daughter Eliza and cousin who lives with them Emily, in two weeks :) Her husband Alexandre will get baptized one day but needs more time to pesquisar :) A sweet thing that happened this week was that we finally found the mother of Taina at home! Taina is 11 yrs old and is friends with Maria Rita and Denise. It was Taina that we made a contact with to get to know Denise. Taina is always playing around the neighborhood, but we never had luck finding the mom at home because she works a lot. But we found her- Cristiane- and taught her about the Restoration and it was a sweet lesson and she is super nice and excited about the church! 

Buuuuut I was transferred! I will go to the area Pergizes, not sure how to spell it yet. There they have lots of hills and buildings I hear -  we´ll see! I was called to finish the training of another Sister. She is from Argentina and is 29 years old so it will be fun! The elders also said I will open up an area again, but I´m not sure, I think I will just train, we´ll see about that too. The mission will get 13 new Sisters!!! This is a lot. 5 of them are Brazilians waiting for their visas for other countries. Sister Cannon arrives tomorrow! I will not see her because I will go straight to Pergizes because the Sister from Argentina is already there. But two days later we have trainamento das Sisteres so I will see her woo hoo!

This week we taught a lesson with a RM and he used Alma 7 to explain the Atonement and it was a great moment. 

Até mais

Sister Haggard 

Day of the Dead - Sister Tesser had a funeral for her shoes.  :)

Sam's look-alike Gustavo

Saying a few goodbyes

Christmas!

November 9, 2015

Weekly update:

Thank you so much Sister Boatman for the letter! I loved it! 

Friday we had a division with the sister training leaders, I went to Ferreira again. Wow Ferriera is a super super chique area. We taught two moças at a member’s house and wow. It was one floor of an apartment, an awesome view, and had statues. The member was a girl who is 18 and studied in London and travels the world and is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and English. She says she wants to study at BYU so we´ll hang out when I get back. The family of Eliani is great! The husband Alexande didn´t come to church but logo logo. We found a less active family that everyone is a member except one 10 yr old son and the dad because the dad is still married to another person but the paper work has taken years and he has two kids with the mom.  It is a complicated situation, but they came to church this Sunday! The doctrine hour was about Eternal Marriage. This class always is spot on every Sunday for our investigators. 

Today we went to 25 de Mayo which is a street with a ton of stores and you can find some good deals, but there is literally SOOOO many people it´s nuts but we found a cute store. I´ll return again some day.

Only one more week in the transfer. WooHoo! This transfer was a bit difficult for me and I´m excited to see the changes that will come with the transfer :)

I more week until Sister Cannon is welcomed into Missão São Paulo Oeste!

This week we were talking to a less active and she said in summary that she wanted to see a miracle. I explained that we already have the greatest miracle- the Atonement. The ability we have to change and the changes in our lives changing from the natural to becoming more like Christ! When we use this gift we will truly see miracles in our lives 

Sister Haggard 

November 3, 2015

Weekly Update

Got a letter from Sister Cannon from the CTM! Two weeks! 

Correction from lasts weeks update- ter bom ânimo- Mosiah 24:13-14 

Yesterday was a holiday here Day of the Dead. A few weeks ago I was excited because I thought day of the dead here was like Mexico- uma festa! Mas na verdade it´s a super sad holiday here everybody visits the cemetery and cries. So yesterday all of the missions in São Paulo went to the cemeteries to pass out little passouts that talk about the Plan of Salvation and to make contacts and referrals during the morning. It was super interesting- how am I going to talk to this person who is visiting their  family member who´s passed away- especially when the companion pulls out the "So how was the death of your Father for you?" @_@ But we only talked to one man in the cemetery because we got kicked out after not very long because it was a private cemetery. So we made contacts in front and it was good. Our P day got switched so today is Pday.

In truth this week was a bit of a doosy. The mom of Matues finally said she would talk to the dad of Mateus that day and so I was super excited and really thought I would get to baptize Mateus, but the mom said that the dad said no and got angry and so the mom won´t support Mateus because she´s afraid the dad won´t allow her and her daughter to continue coming to church. It was a bit of a blow, we´ve been visiting Mateus for 4 months. This among other stuff made this week difficult. But really God loves his children. Yesterday we got to teach Julia another lesson. We taught her the Restoration and she is super great, but the next week she gave birth to her son and we didn´t find her em casa and so 20 days after we visited she´s still great and wants to come to church :) Also we have a miracle family. The mom, Elani, knows a friend who is Mormon and came to church all by herself and loved it. She is reading the Book of Mormon and is loving it. She read what we marked for her and the introduction and started reading from the beginning. She has a husband, Alexandre two little girls, one will turn 8 on the 22nd of November- perfect timing for baptism! Also we had another miracle within the family because when we visited yesterday a cousin of 16 yrs moved in with them, Emily. Emily is super excited about the church and visited the church when she was younger! I´m so happy to have the opportunity to share the gospel and my testimony with this family. They will be baptized probably at the end of the month and so I will most likely be transferred to another area at this time because the transfer is on the day 17 and it´s my 3rd transfer here, so I will probably leave for another area. I´m sad I probably won´t see them baptized but happy to teach them and prepare them. I´m really trying to learn more patience and perseverance and more faith to have more confidence in myself! A mission is really trying at times, but I´ve never had such opportunities to use the Atonement in my life to become a better person.

Beijos e abraços

Sister Haggard

with Sister Marques

Divisions when Sister D Sousa came back 

October 26, 2015

Weekly update (in 5 minutes :))

We marked Luana for baptism- she is very adventista (they´re tricky ones) but super sweet and very open minded. We will see! She likes to cook and has baked me a cake 3 times! Woo hoo!

Also This week we taught Gabriela and Pat more (fofas de mais!) It´s a little sad because they really want to be baptized, but their mom doesn´t want them to be until they´re much older, but I´m so grateful for the opportunity to know them and share the gospel with them. The video of the talk Elder Costa gave at the CTM was shown in every ward in Brazil and portuguese wards in the US and there are a couple unflatering moments where I am shown hahaha mas tudo bem. 

This week I really learned the importance of patience but more about having a good atitude. (If i remember right) Alma 17:11-12 (ter bom ânimo)  has really helped me. God wants us to be happy. He has given us his son, the gospel, our families, and all the tools to be happy but we have to choose for ourselves! Changing your atitude to a positive one not only changes your self but everything around you! 

3 more weeks until Sister Cannon hits the pavement here in São Paulo Oeste! 

Also this week was the birthday of Miriam, we made the brigadeiro and it was a great surprise :)  

Abraços e beijos,

Sister Haggard 

Foto Entrevistas com Presi - Ferreira

October 19, 2015

Weekly Update.

God really loves his children! These past couple of weeks have been a little tricky for me but this past week I have been really appreciative of all the opportunities I´m having to learn and grow. 

One day all of our appointments fell through and I was standing on the sidewalk thinking what we were going to to when an elderlyish woman walked by and I talked with her and asked her if she was busy and had time for a message. She said yes and that she was walking to the house that we were standing near. We entered the house and there was Gabriela who has 14 yrs. We taught about the plan of salvation. The woman was Seeda, grandmother of her. Gabriela said her older sister was a member and when we talked about baptism she got very excited. At the end of the lesson her mom and sister came in the house so we got to talk with them. Gabriela is underage and so we need the signature of Clarice the mom to teach and baptize her. Clarice was resistant at first because she also has another son who is baptised but doesn´t go to church any more and she didn´t want Gabriela to be baptized and later not want it anymore. I´m so grateful for the Holy Ghost because I said exactly what I needed to say, that baptism will bless the life of Gabriella and recieving the Gift of the Holy Ghost will help guide her and make the right choices in life. I asked Karen, the older sister to share her testimony about the Holy Ghost and at the end Clarice signed. Gabriela also has a younger sister Patricia who is 8 and super super cute. Both went to church this Sunday and loved it. It´s still early but I´m so excited we found this family. 

Another moment that was a miracle was also when we didn´t have any appointments. I was standing on the street thinking what were we going to do and I saw a house and went to knock on it. There was a little interphone box and when we interphoned up a person asked who we were and I said we were looking for Maria (because Maria ia a common name) and that we talked with her and she said we could share a message. The door buzzed and opened! A man was leaving and said Maria was upstairs. He was super nice, said he was baptised and now was catholic. We entered the house and met the elderly couple Maria Rosa and João. They are super nice and hadn´t been to the church in many years. I´m not sure how else we would have found them without the Holy Ghost.

I also had a very tender moment yesterday. Two weeks ago Denisse and Maria Rita were supposed to be confirmed, but they had to pick up a friend at the airport. So this Sunday they were confirmed and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost by the bishop. I felt the Spirit strong and felt so happy in that moment. They really are so special to me and such a miracle. Two weeks ago Arthur was also confirmed by his dad Jussario too and it was also great. 

This transfer I will learn a lot and grow too. Growth has a lot of pain involved, but I´m learning to develop my relationship with my Father in Heaven and one day I will laugh about it some of the challenges I have now. Oh this week Sister Garcia had a division with Sister D. Sousa so it was fun seeing her and we ate pizza with crust stuffed with chocolate. So good and so terrible for my body! Also we are teaching a "scorpion" in missionary terms or someone who likes to flirt a lot. The first time we talked with him he said he needed a church because he was looking to get married. He is very funny but I really think he will like the church and he has a real desire to know more about Christ so we will see. We also had interviews with the president of the mission. President Del Guerso is really a cara- he is super awesome. Very very smart and funny and he always has good advice. 

That is about it 

Beijos e abraços

Sister Haggard 

October 5, 2015

Hey!

This week went by really fast! We worked in front of the temple- making contacts and referals- with Sister Carovana and Sister Sanchez. We also had trainamento dos novos! I gave the theme and our purpose. This weekend was also General Conference! It was so nice, what a testimony builder to listen to the Prophet and Apostles. I loved the talk by Elder Holland compairing the love of a mother to her children and the sacrifice of Christ. 

Tomorrow Sister D. Sousa will be transferd to Ferreiera! She will be Sister Training leader! We were both surprised because she only has 7 months in the mission, but it will be a great experience for her. My new companion will be Sister Marques! I have only talked to her once or twice but she seems really great, I´m excited.  Ali Cannon will enter the CTM in a day! Woo hoo! 

My Sister Grace finished her mission in Costa Rica and returned home! I know her work there changed the lives of many people and she served the Lord will all her heart. Parabéns Grace! 

Abraços e beijos 

Sister Haggard

Last day with Sister Carovana

Trainamento dos novos!

Presidente and Sister Guerso

First planejamento I made for myself