Monday, July 28, 2014

July 28, 2014

Wooo! Today marks 2 months of being a missionary. Looking back i have come quite a ways. But looking ahead makes me excited. I cant wait to get this language down. to meet more people. to learn how to teach different types of people.

When we had reunião de distrito a elder gave a talk about being a successful missionary that i liked a lot. My favorite line that he used was,"to be a successful missionary you do all you can do that day" people still have their agency and we arent here to force them, but to invite them. Like the BoM says in the introduction. We invite all men. I really enjoyed that and our week needed that too.


My 3 favorite books :)





We did all we could this week but our numbers dont really show it. The one that shows is 100 contacts this week!! which was our goal. One day we did a double rainbow. Which is what they call it when you do 30+ contacts in one day. This is funny cause of the youtube video of they guy who is high admiring a double rainbow. I had to explain this to my companion haha. 

So we have this new family. It started with one man. his name is "P". We visited his house and taught him a lesson. the next visit he wasnt there but his nephew answered the door and we talked with him. When we were leaving his mom was walking up the stairs to her apartment. Whe used to be a member when she was 9 but moved and stopped going. Her and her dad were baptized about 20 years ago. So now we are teaching her and her children, her dad, her brother and her sister. They all seem interested and im excited to see where it goes. We have only taught the restauration and the dad seemed to light up. Like he remembered the truth of our message. way cool! 

Sorry no pics yet. I need to get an adapter for my card. hopefully it will be soon. :)

Well, I think thats all for this week. fica em Deus. as all the people say here. 
Have a good week and thanks for the prayers and support!

Love ya!
Elder Sullivan

Sunday, July 20, 2014

July 20, 2014 My First Baptism!

Monday, July 20, 2014


Yes its true!!! We had 2 baptisms this week and im way happy for it! I was able to baptize little "M". He is 8 years old and is really smart! It was a fun experience and i didnt even mess up the baptism prayer in portuguese! Such a good experience for me. And no I wasnt trying to look like a superhero in the picture. Its just how it turned out. haha. His moms name is "R".
So i would like to explain a little about the pizza here. ITS AWFUL. They havent found out how to put sauce on it so it like eating straight cheese. or straight meat. I really miss american. haha. But its all good. They make up for it by putting chocolate in the crust. Kinda like we put cheese in the crust. It makes for a weird twist but something to look forward to at the end of the pizza!
We had a divisão this week. or a companion exchange. I was with the district leader cause he needed to interview the 2 people for baptisms. I learned a lot from him and he is a way chill guy. The only problem with the exchange is that i was now the senior companion cause its my area. so... i had this map and addresses and tried my best not to get lost. Fortunately we did pretty good. Marked a baptism date and got 2 new investigators. He also broke my window. haha. He had an umbrella but didnt know that it extended when you push the button.. so.. he was pointing it at the window and it broke. Thanks to duck tape its fixed ;)
Feijoada. look it up. Had it twice this week and its the heaviest food i have eaten. Its almost like uncooked but cooked meat (all sorts) with beans and rice. Its not bad but if i have more of it i will explode haha.




beans with beef and pork
This week was pretty hard for me. i am way home sick. Which didnt happen in the CTM or last week. Only this week. I hear music, or people ask about home and its just hard. I know that satan beats on us most when something good is going to happen so i just need to buckle up and take the hits. I am trying my hardest to work hard.
My thought for this week: in the book, as a man thinketh, there are many ideas. One of the ideas is that whatever you think, you are. Your thoughts lead to your actions. (proverbs 23:7) Well because we are all trying to be like Christ we also need to try to think like christ would. Something that I  have been working on this week. I also challenge you to do as well. 
with love and thanks,

Elder Sullivan 

My address: 
Rua Rui Batista Pereira, 165
Jardim Caxingui
São Paulo - SP
CEP: 05517-080
Brazil

Monday, July 14, 2014

July 14, 2014


Opa família e amigos. eu espera tudo é bem e vocês é feliz. 

So this week and a half were a little crazy cause of the WC. When i was still in the CTM there were about 6 Bolivians who ran into my room with a flag, radio and a lot of energy trying to watch the game from my window. They werent really invited they just did it haha. Pretty crazy how important futebol is down here. I was able to watch the game against Alemanha (germany) and that was great cause we lost 7-1 haha. The only game i got to watch lol. Everyone here now refers to me as the Alemão cause im white lol. Todos os pessoas, "hey alemão! como sentir ganhar? " muito engraçado. But germany won and now its over and now we can really get our proselyting going cause it was suffering cause of the games going on.

Before I left the CTM there was 8 hours of oreintation. All in portugues. I gave up after hour 3 and just nodded my head. I do that a lot out here in the field haha. I dont really understand a whole ton but i do understand the jist of what they are saying. Like if they are talking about food or cities or people but i dont really know all of what is happening. My portuguese is improving though. dia a dia. I am trying to do 15 words a day and i only speak portuguese all day so that comes pretty easy. The hardest part is subjunctive and sentence order.

I'm in Chora Menino which translates to crying boy.

My trainer is Elder Cinezzio (pictures to come hopefully next week). He is from Brazil and is 20 years old.
He knows how to do things like speak português. haha We have a lot of fun joking and learning. I am teaching him English as he helps me with Portuguese. A good little trade we have. He has been in the field for 3 months now so he is pretty new but he knows what he is doing. A lot of our talking is slow and he is always asking if i know what words mean. When i dont its either the dictionary or a game of charades or a really good description in words i do know. The only bad part of this is that we cant really do it in lessons. So a lot of lessons are nodding when he is nodding and laughing when other laugh haha. I see improvement though and i keep a prayer in my heart for understanding. 



So my first day in the field i unpacked a little. and we went to this ladies house. Her name is rute. (hoo-chi) we invited her to be baptized and she accepted. Way cool for day 1!

A couple days later we went and visited another pesquisador named "R". She is really sweet and is really interested in the church. She has a son and he is also investigating. On my 3rd visit to her we showed her a video of the atonement for missionary work. Which is mostly for missionaries but we showed her so she could better understand it. Its a compilation of 2 talks by Harrold B Eiring and Jeffrey R Holland. Very cool and spiritual. After the talks she said she wanted to be baptized on the 19. We were way shocked cause we didnt ask her. I know she is being taught by ther spirit.

This sunday i was asked to bear my testimony in church. That was fun and way sketch. I think the ward is accepting of me and I hope I can help them in anyway possible. Should be fun.

Every day we have lunch provided for us by a member. Its way nice. Lunch is the big meal here and ward members are nice to let us come join them. The food is way good. My favorite fruit so far is a mango. But there have been other close ones that are really strange and only found here..

I am out of time now but i want you to know of my love for you guys and my prayers are always for you!

I know this church is true and the lord watches out for his missionaries! 

Vai Brasil even though we suck now. and tchau!

Elder Kyson Sullivan



















Friday, July 4, 2014

July 4, 2014

I remember when i was first getting here and not believing i could continue on for another 6 weeks. It dragged. Well.... its over and i cant believe it haha.






Not a lot happened this week that was notable and worthy. Other than i got a hair cut... yay. 

We took a test on our language skills... i think i passed cuz they didnt send me home yet haha. Well thats basically it. OH! its 4th of july! And i could have been at a barbeque! haha jk I am enjoying it here and the lunch ladies are giving us a "american" meal today. We can hope its good! The food has been pretty good but dont trust the desserts... thats all for that. 

Sorry for the meshed up together (mom edited a lot of it) but my enter button isnt working today. 

So about grandma's passing. Thats super sad. President called us in and sat us down and told us that she had passed away. I'm glad that it was him that was able to tell me and not my next president cuz i dont know my other president like i know President Swenson. He is one powerful man and has been there when i grew the most. I was also way blessed to have Koby there with me. Man is that a blessing. At the time i didnt really have a testimony of the plan of salvation. But when President said how great is it that we know of the plan i got on it and studied like crazy. I now have a testimony of the plan and the happiness that grandma is in with her husband. I had a letter written to her but i never got it sent off. I'm kicking myself cuz of it but its all good. I'm glad that she was able to hear of my growth here. Thanks mom :) 

Something cool that happened about 1 hour after the news was we were in class and the teacher ( the next prophet ) was teaching us and he told us a story. He thought about not telling us though. He said that his president told him at his last interview before he went home to smile everyday. He got home Wednesday and his dad died on Friday. Super sad. I know he was prompted to tell me that when i needed it. So ...  smile everyday everyone :) 

Also we got new revelation. Brazil baptizes the most people every year. Sadly, only 4% stay active. So now we have new revelation. not sure if its for just Brazil or for the world. But we now teach all 5 lessons BEFORE and AFTER. not just 4 before. And we also stay in contact with the investigators for the next 3 or 4 months afterwards too. 

Alright I'm out of time. and thats really all that happened. 

I hope you didnt have a hard time decifering this haha. 

I have a testimony of this gospel and I know that God loves all of us and knows what we need when we need it! 

I love you all and thank you for the support you have been giving me. I can feel it all the way over here! 

Vai Brazil! 

Love, Elder Sullivan (Kyson)