An Answer to My Prayers!!!

Week 23

Sister Robyn Perez in Campinas, Brazil

Received 06/16/14

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Communicate with Robyn:

 

Email at   robyn.perez@myldsmail.net>

 

Or write using www.MissionTies.com, letter service in Brazil for faster delivery! Login in as my guest and you can send a letter or quick note free of charge!

 

Use login ID: roobensmail@yahoo.com

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Select the: Send Letters/Photos Option (right side menu options)

Write your letter and then click “Send Letter”

 

The letter is printed, stuffed in an envelope and mailed from the MissionTies office in Brazil.

It’s fast, easy and free for you!  

 

Or write and mail via US Post Office:

Sister Robyn A. Perez

C/O Brazil Campinas Mission 
Rua 10 de Setembro, N. 38, Cambui
13023 Campinas SP, 
Brazil

 

This week doesn’t even compare to last week! 

 

I´ll have to start with my happenings on Monday. Since Sister Mota and Ware were getting transferred, Sister Pontes and I spent all day together. Over the past 5ish weeks we´ve become like best friends and when we are together we are crazy!! So we did the usual p-day stuff and then we went all out in decorating our apartment in blue, green and yellow. Then we painted our toe nails the same colors and then our finger nails had little Brazilian flags and soccer balls. You could say Sister Pontes and Pérez were more than ready for the Copa Mundial (soccer) to start!! 

 

Tuesday was transfer day! I got to see sister Dickson (Provo Mission Training Center companion)!! We talked for like an hour and then she told me that sister Mota is her new comp!!! Sadly I had to say goodbye to them and then I got my new comp, Sister Becker! She’s from the same estado de (as) sister Mota, but she looks Americana. Jaguariúna is her last area (Ruben’ note: Well, we finally know the name of the city where Robyn is!!! Jaguariúna is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population in 2012 was 53.311 and the area is 142.88 km. This name comes from the Tupi language and means the land of the black Jaguars)...so I’m pretty much digging her hole to bury her. (Ruben’s note: This is typical missionary language and refers to this being the end of Sister Becker’s mission and this will be her last area before going home. Robyn is the last companion she’ll have, so in essence Robyn is finishing her off.)  

 

So, since this is her last transfer...she is a POWER HOUSE!! But man was I so, so, so nervous when I picked her up! I had no clue what to do when we got back home or anything! For the past 4 weeks sister Mota did everything. Well when we got on our bus, I put my big girl saia (skirt) on and pretended like I knew what I had to do.

 

First thing, I had to call a few members to get us a carona (ride) from the Rodoviaria (bus terminal). That was scary...BUT I DID IT!! When we finally got home I was like "uhhh...so we can go grab lunch and then...." Sister Becker was like "you can take me out to meet some of your investigators" Oh yeah...that! I have no clue where any of them live!! AHHHHHH!!!! After we ate we (I) planned our day in Bairro (district) 12 de Setembro.

 

The only solid investigators I knew there are Alberto e Ariane. But I also had a ton of people we needed to contact. So we contacted people, and then went and saw Alberto e Ari. The last time we saw them Alberto wasmuito concerned because he just wasn’t certo with the gospel. But when we walked in and saw them he was like super happy to see us! Ari said "Sister Pérez, do you remember when you asked Alberto why he isn’t sure about the gospel, well he got his answer at stake conference." Alberto then went on to tell us that he knows this is the path that he and his wife need to be on!!!!! So I shared a scripture about batismo and THEY ARE ON DATE FOR NEXT SÁBADO!!!!! And the week after we are going on a templo trip with them!!!!!!!!! Oh yeah and Alberto´s brother is a member! So my first day was awesome with Sister Becker! But then planning happened and I about died!! We have like NO new investigators. So our plano do jogo is to work a ton with menos ativosand get to know the members since I pretty much only know two irmãs (sisters)....

 

Every other day this week has been super solid! We work, work, work and don’t waste any time!! I feel like I’mback with Sister Johnson! Sister Becker also speaks pretty good English and when I don’t know a word I first attempt to describe it in Português and then if I can’t, I ask in English. She’s ALWAYS correcting me on mypronunciation which is good! She’s like the missionary you get whenever Presidente Perrotti wants you to speak like a Brazilian. In fact, he told her to "help sister Pérez with Portuguese,” so I’m glad I have her!

 

This week was also a huge step for me in talking. Normally I just listen at lunches and try not to talk too much to people. But I was talking at every lunch and at church I had like 10 conversations!!! Half were with little kids, but hey, I talked!!! Even Sister Pontes pointed it out!! It was just an awesome week!! 

 

Oh yeah, and for the games we have to stay in. The whole country literally shuts down!!!! But then the whole city goes wild when Brazil scores!!!!! Sister Pontes and I ran around our apartment with our little flag whenever Brasil scored!!! Tomorrow is another game!

 

My testimony of prayers has seriously grown! I know that my Pai Celestial is aware of me and that he wants the best for me. That’s why he gave me Sister Becker and is loosening my tongue to be able to talk to the people of Brazil! 

 

Gentes...te amo!!!!

 

P.S. Today I said "I não understand"....yeah my English is leaving me 

 

      

                                   

         

                                   

                                   

           

Sail Through!

Week 22

Sister Robyn Perez in Campinas, Brazil

Received 06/09/14

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Communicate with her:

 

Email at   robyn.perez@myldsmail.net>

 

Or write using www.MissionTies.com, letter service in Brazil for faster delivery!

 

Or write and mail via US Post Office:

Sister Robyn A. Perez

C/O Brazil Campinas Mission 
Rua 10 de Setembro, N. 38, Cambui
13023 Campinas SP, 
Brazil

 

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   First things first....this week was really good. Last week I was a little bummed and having a hard time...then I looked through my study journal and saw where I wrote something from Irmão Paulich... "Humildade eAtitude" According to him those two things will make or break your mission...and boy was he right! So Ichanged my attitude and decided that every day I was going to have humility and an Awesome day no matter what happened. I never dwelt on the things that were bad or went wrong...And well, I had a great week!! 

 

   Tuesday at our zone training Presidente Perrotti and the APs showed up. I got nervous because of course I wasgoing to have to talk to him and I don’t want him to think my Português is bad!! Well that day Sister Mota decided to be a mute....ughhhh!! But apparently I did pretty good. And then later on I had to do a role play with him!! It turned out to be a good zone training! After we got back we missed the bus to the centro, so we walked.....a ton....ha, ha it was super-hot that day too! But it was all good. We taught this family of 4 the restoration later that night and it was so, so good! When we pulled out the Book of Mormon the daughter Michelle was like "I´ve seen that book before!! I´ve even looked through it!! And now I get one all for myself" I´ve never seen someone so excited to get a Book of Mormon! We invited them to Noite de Intregação and theypromised us they would be there!! 

 

The next day we went back to that neighborhood and went and tried to drop a few people. One wasn’t home, butAriane and Alberto where home. We told them that our purpose is to bring people unto Christ, but if they don’tkeep the commitments they aren’t doing their part. Ariane said she wants to keep having us over and that she will start coming to church and reading and praying. Alberto was a little "ehhhh" about it. So we gave them one last invitation to come to Noite de Intregação. They said they would be there, and man were our hearts hopeful! That day we also spent a ton of time looking for menos activos. A lot of them had moved away or weren’t home or didn’t want to go back to church. One lady was so happy that when we saw her she gave us a hug; you could just feel her happiness!! Another lady we saw was a really interesting experience. We batar palmas, her son told us to wait, we waited for 15 minutes before we batar palmas again...and then she finally came out. When sisterMota asked how she was she burst into tears! And then I didn’t understand the rest of what she said. Sister Mota did most of the talking and then at the end she looked at me and with a huge smile on my face I said " Hoje nostemos Noite de Intregação e se você queria vir!" She looked at me like I was crazy and heartless....Sister Mota was trying not to laugh. She said thanks and we ended our chat and walked away. Then I asked Mota what just happened! Apparently her husband left her because she didn’t want him doing drugs and other stuff...yep, I totally did not catch ANY of that!! Ha, ha Later that night we had 2 miracles! Michelle and her family AND Alberto e Ariane came to Noite de Intregação!!!! And they LOVED IT!!! Michelle´s dad said he felt super peaceful, and it’s not like other churches. Her mom asked us when we were coming back. And then Michelle said she had already read the chapter we left her with and she’s now starting from the beginning and she is writing stuff down in her study journal!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Sister Mota and I were so, so, so, so happy!! Ariane told us that they would be coming to Stake conference too!! It was a great night! 

 

We had two batismos (baptisms) this week! Beatiz e Vitor. They are the kids of super menos ativos (lessactives) and they have been coming to church on their own for 3 months!! They kept putting off their batismobecause they really wanted their dad to be able to perform the baptism for them but he never went to church. They´re uncle baptized them instead. It was awesome! They had a lot of youth there to support them and a lot of the ward is sure that their example will help reactivate their parents!! I’m sure they will be great examples to not only their parents, but everyone around them! I love them so, so much!

 

My sister training leader told me that she told Presidente Perrotti that I’m doing super good with the language and I know my area.....well........last night when we found out transfer news I about cried because Sister Mota is leaving....I don’t even know my AREAS all that well and minha nossa the language is another story!!!! UGHHH! But its ok!! I’m going to have an "I can do it" attitude. I don’t know who my new comp is yet...and Iwon’t find out until tomorrow at the Rodoviária in Campinas! I’m pumped for this new (and a little nerve-racking) adventure!!! 

 

So people...lesson learned this week: there is no reason to be sad or depressed or annoyed! You are the sailor of your own ship! So you can either sail through happy seas or stormy ones...your choose!

 

I love my life! I will keep my faith! And I will stay positive!

 

Te amo!!!

 

Sister Perez  

    

 

       

       

        

        

        

   

 

Patience

Week 21

Sister Robyn Perez in Campinas, Brazil

Received 06/02/14

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Communicate with her:

 

Email at   robyn.perez@myldsmail.net>

 

Or write using www.MissionTies.com, letter service in Brazil for faster delivery!

 

Or write and mail via US Post Office:

Sister Robyn A. Perez

C/O Brazil Campinas Mission 
Rua 10 de Setembro, N. 38, Cambui
13023 Campinas SP, 
Brazil

 

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I’ve just been working really hard on my Portuguese and talking to everyone! This week we had 203 contacts...and Sister Mota made me do a lot of them. I’m always trying to talk to everyone. I still get really nervous about it, but now when they talk back to me I can sorta understand them!! 

 

We are trying to help our pesquisadores have a super strong testimony of the Book of Mormon. So Sister Mota and I have been doing a lot of studies on the Book of Mormon. I love the Book of Mormon and I know that if we can get our pesquisadores to really read and gain that testimony, they will want to be baptized. I read this super awesome talk by Elder Holland, Safety for the Soul, and I pretty much highlighted every part because it’sthat good! See talk at this link: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/10/safety-for-the-soul?lang=eng&query=Jeffrey+R.+Holland

 

Something I’m working on is patience with myself. I just want to be able to speak Português flawlessly right now!! But I´ve only been here 1 month and I still have a lot to learn and work on. Sister Mota told me she knows I can be fluent in 2 months and she has a lot of confidence in me...I just need to have that confidence in myself. But hey, that’s why we are here to learn and grow!! 

 

Well, that’s all for this week...more to come next!

 

Te amo peeps! 

        

            

            D&C 4

       

                                  

                                  

          

 

Wouldn't trade this for the world

Week 20

Sister Robyn Perez in Campinas, Brazil

Received 05/26/14

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Communicate with her:

Email at   robyn.perez@myldsmail.net>

Or write using www.MissionTies.com, letter service in Brazil for faster delivery!

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P-day (= weekly day off to do laundry, write home, explore local sites and just relax for half a day) was the most chill day I have ever had on my mission and I loved it!! 

 

Then the rest of the week was a little rough. I was so frustrated on Tuesday because I couldn’t understand anything! I couldn’t express myself, I couldn’t understand the people, and I was thinking, “How am I supposed to be a missionary right now!!” So I just broke down in the middle of the street! And then I expressed everything I was feeling to Sister Mota and somehow I was able to say what I felt! ...um, how could that be! Sister Mota was like, “you just told me everything! You can do that in a lesson!!” So I pulled it together and then we went and had an awesome lesson with this lady, Nici! And I was able to talk about all the points in the first lesson. Granted it wasn’t awesome, but she understood me!

 

The next day I woke up with a killer migraine...and I ended up staying in bed all day till like 4 when I decided I wanted to go out. It ended up storming that night so we had to camp out in the church building. Sister Mota just called our investigators and I memorized irregular verbs. 

 

I’ve been doing contacts on my own lately! I can tell them how to get a free DVD about Christ and where the church is! I don’t really need Sister Mota by my side...but I like it when she is, just in case the people start really talking to me!  

 

Ok, so for the best experience I’ve had on my WHOLE MISSION. We went and saw a new investigator,Rosanne. We were teaching the Restoration and by Saturday I was getting pretty good at teaching it! So I started it...and then I ended up teaching about Joseph Smith. As I was saying the first vision, Rosanne started getting tears in her eyes! And you could already feel the spirit so strong! By the time I was about to finish I started tocry; because I got this overwhelming feeling that Joseph Smith really did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ! And as I bore my testimony I knew that what I was saying was true. It was crazy, because that was all that I had, my testimony about Joseph Smith and I know she felt the spirit and I know that she knows that what I was saying is true. There’s a song that Sister Johnson and I would listen to, that talked about sharing your testimony in some strangers house and how the Spirit would testify that your words are true. For those few minutes in that lesson...I was living that song.

 

I know that this is the Lords gospel, and it is true. And being out here in another country is hard...but the Spirit can speak to everyone and let them know that the message we share is true. 

 

I wouldn’t trade these past, almost 5, months for the world. 

 

te amo,

Sister Robyn Perez

 

          

         

                                     

           

Hello Brazil!!

Week 19

Sister Robyn Perez is now in Brazil

Received 05/19/14

 

Communicate with her:

Email at   robyn.perez@myldsmail.net>

Or write using www.MissionTies.com, letter service in Brazil for faster delivery!

 

Let’s catch up, since there were no letters for Weeks 17 (May 5th) and 18 (May 12th).

 

Tuesday, 04/29/14 – flew to Brazil from the New Mexico Farmington Mission via Durango, New Mexico (alone!) >>>Denver, Colorado (alone!) >>>Atlanta, Georgia (about 30 missionaries from all areas of the USA congregated in Atlanta for the trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil at “6:50 in the morning!!! ughhh all day travel!”

 

Wednesday, 04/30/14 – arrived in Sao Paulo approximately 7am. Took a taxi to Missionary Training Center (CTM) in Sao Paulo. Great experience at the CTM, but daily language overload, extremely exhausted!

 

Tuesday, 05/13/14 – left MTC for Campinas. En route stopped at a local square, was given 6 Books of Mormon and told to go hand them out! Arrived at the mission home and met new companion, Sister Mota.

 

05/19/14  

Sorry about not being so communicative...I had like no time to email in the CTM and the computers were very slow...so my bad!! 

 

So, the CTM in Sao Paulo was awesome! Granted, my brain hurt every night from speaking and listening to Portuguese (they allowed no English to be spoken)!! But it was a much needed 12 day refresher! Sometimes I felt like I was in a daycare because we always had babysitters and then we got launches (???) at night after planning! The food there was super awesome and they had a sports track!!!!! So of course I ran daily!!! My comp was Sister Stevens and she was actually in the Provo missionary training center when I was there! Crazy huh?! She was awesome!! I love her and miss her!! We got to go out in the street to hand out copies of the book of Mormon twice...the first time Sister Stevens and I tried to give a Book of Mormon, we walked up to a woman who was nicely dressed. We kept trying to give her a message, but she kept trying to send us away. Being the good missionaries we were, we wouldn’t give up. Finally, the woman told us she was trying to work and we finally realized she was a prostitute and left her to work....hey everyone deserves to hear the gospel right?!?! It has surprised me how open the people are here to listening to the missionaries! They are really nice and help us when we say the wrong things!

 

All the Elders going to Campinas at the same time as me had been waiting for their visas in the field in the USAfor like a year!!! I was also the only sister from the American group going to Campinas! When we left the CTM we all had to do orientation first and then we had lunch with Presidente Perotti and his wife. His house is awesome!! Their car also sounds like an 18wheeler, it’s a diesel engine....ha, ha. After lunch they took us to meet our new companions, but we had to stop at the square...where we handed out OLDMs (Book of Mormon)...they brought in a sister for me and she spoke Portuguese at 1000 miles per hour!!! This sister, SisterMota, also turned out to be my companion! She’s from Brazil and has been out for 8 months! She is awesome and is the perfect comp for me! I’m always asking her to write things out for me and she is always willing to do it. She also makes me do a lot of the talking...I sort of hate it, but I know it’s only going to help me learn the language faster. I’m getting better at understanding her when she is talking super-fast! People also never believe me when I say I’m from the USA...they all say I look Brazilian!! Oh yeah in our house/apartment we have two other sister missionaries...Sister Pontes (from Fortaleza) and Sister Ware (from Kentucky; she knows my friendAlex Nickell!!!). The other Sister Missionaries are so awesome and I love them! They all really help me out here! 

 

This is the funnest AND hardest thing I’ve done...but I have to constantly remind myself that 4 months ago Icouldn’t even speak português! Now I can at least say a few things. Last night we had planning and sister Motaand I were making my goals for this week. One of them is to give the spiritual thought at 3 lunches (the Church members feed us lunch every day and it is the main meal of the day). Also, talk to people on my own when wemake a contact....ahhhh, I know it’s going to be tough but I can do it!! The Lord called me here so He will help me learn how to speak the language so the Brazilian people can hear the gospel! Scripture of the week 1Nefi 3:7! “And it came to pass that, I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord has commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.”  

 

Eu amo vocês!!!   

 

Sister Perez #slayinit