Nov. 9, 2015 the finding week

        Plans for a white christmas.

This week is the week to shine :) I had a really good vision of the zone and where i want them to be by December. We are planning on how we can get in 25 baptisms in DECEMBER!!!! There is no other zone that has come close to this. We are making a lot of plans. This week was the "finding week" 160 contacts. President said only 140 so we are bumping it up a little to get a little steroid boost in to help us find FAMILIES. Yes. the only way that we can baptize so many is only if we find families. Just think. If Everyone in the zone finds 2 families of at least 3 people its game over. Its a great vision that we have and this week the zone did 808 contacts. That's 160 per area. Only one area didn't get it but everyone else helped out with the rest of theirs by doing a little more.

This week we will be finding the people to teach and marking them for the 6th of December already. 15 new investigators! Should be great. We already have a few families planned for this day. but we are going all out on this idea and helping everyone else see our vision. This weekend we had 4 baptisms in the zone and 3 more planned for this weekend :) We are killing it. :) GH!!!!!!!!

As a reward for a good job we had a special PDAY today and we had breakfast at the chapel and played a few games and we had a lot of fun :) Sorry i dont have pics. i had forgotten my memory card at the lan house..... 

We had mission leadership council and that was about the same thing that happened when Moses went up to Mount Sanai to get the commandments. President was in Recife to get a training and so he wasn't there. Talk about making a golden calf haha. That was the worst thing that has happened in my life. The assistants didn't have any power but wanted all of it. It was crap. 

Thats basically the week. we are working with a lot of families now so it should be going better. 

love, 

Elder Kyson Sullivan

Nov. 2, 2015 wire cutters,a nose piercing, 2 baptisms, and my zone

         ZONA BATIZADORA!!!!

Yup! that's right everyone. I'm super proud of my zone. We hit 10 baptisms this month! The next zone that baptized had 8. We destroyed! This weekend the zone had 4 baptisms and my area had 2 of them! Gus and his brother Rod got baptized. That put up a fight but when they walked in with white shirts and ties (provided by dead missionaries) and without a piercing, there wasn't anything anyone could have said to stop it from happening. It was super great :) The baptism was good and they really liked the clean feeling afterward. Satan was trying super hard this week with Gus. Seemed like every other girl wanted to go over to his house. But he is super strong and locked himself inside. What a champ :)

Basically this week was that right there. a lot of stress to see if we couldn't have gotten in the 4 baptisms and working really closely with Gus and Rod. 

Im noticing that my emails are really kinda GH (gloria dos homens = mans glory) but really its all thats worth saying ;) haha 

I'm starting to make some plans on how i can motivate the zone to keep going. We are making plans to get December on its way to make it so we can baptize weekly. So far its going well. But i was complimented greatly by the assistants and that was a little better than being burned. Im going to keep this up haha ;)

com muito amor,

Elder Sullivan

My beloved zone :)

have you ever taken out a piercing with wire cutters?

me either....

until it finally happened haha ;)

that thing is pure steel. super hard to cut!!!!

Oct. 27, 2015 gus is golden

          Dying....?

Well... I've hit my 6 month mark. That's kinda surprising. It kinda came around the corner quicker than i thought it would. that makes me a little nervous to know that here in a bit I'll be home with you guys. I'll give a little hint to you all. I wont get another mothers day haha ;)

This week was... well... it was super stressful. I have rejected the calling now to be the full time pianist for whatever event needs piano. its taking up too much of my valuable time. taking out a night for the choir and the practice time for the primary and the sacrament meetings I don't have time to go and teach people. of course i can try to keep playing but this week it kinda screwed us over. Ill explain..

So we found this teenager about a month ago.. no.. just 3 weeks ago. he was marked to be baptized this weekend. But this weekend i was asked to play the piano. Normally we would have gone and looked for him and took him to church on time. but we couldn't cause i was at the piano.. and i couldn't just get up and leave... So... my companion after the sacrament took a brother with a car and went and got him. So about 40 min late the meeting that would have been on time. That really isn't the problem. The problem is bishop. Gustavo came in with a nose piercing (which has nothing to do with what we teach) and bishop is COMPLETELY against piercings. Like he has already expulsed a different teen from the church cause he didn't want to take his out. yes.. expulsed. This bishop has been a source of problems for a while but never really messed with the baptisms. When gus came in, bishop came over and said that he isn't converted and that the bishopric doesn't support the baptism. (he was telling us by attacking us) we had 2 options. go ahead and baptize (he was ready to do that but the bishop probably would have attacked him about the piercing too. expulsing our recent convert) or wait a week and teach him things that have nothing to do with the gospel basics such as piercings and get a little more support. We opted to wait a week but told bishop that the piano will have to be cut so we can help him get to church on time. It will be better cause his brother will get baptized as well :) They are excited and after a good lesson with him yesterday he took out his piercing fine and without any arguments :) This dude really is converted. he is super chill too. Way prepared by the lord and super sincere! (btw he passed the interview really well from what i heard)

Being a zone leader is fun. It keeps you on your toes for sure haha. We are planning on how to make the zone baptize every week in the month and how we can get 10 baptisms each month in the zone. its a great challenge and uses a lot of teamwork and a lot of planning and strategy. I hate thinking of the people as numbers but really I feel like im playing a strategy game of who will be baptized and how I can help that along so it doesn't fall. Its great! also fixing problems and helping out wards is not too easy. We are trying to fix one now but its being a little more difficult. We have a great vision of whats going on and what needs to take place. The hardest part is finding time... haha. I've been a zone leader now for about 9 months. Crazy to think that I've come this far since then. Its been a great learning experience and good to learn to work in a team/group. 

We went to the temple today and that was a great experience. We were able to feel the spirit strongly and have a good session. That's why Pday is today and wasn't yesterday. 

This next week has some promises. A couple baptisms, lots of lessons, and french toast with maple syrup and root beer floats.  haha :) 

love, 

Elder Kyson Sullivan

p.s. i forgot my camera at home so next week will have lots of pictures :)

Oct. 19, 2015 golden baptism

         Ama got baptized! :)

This week has been pretty good. I had to go back to the federal police department and get my visa renewed. Don't worry. They will only kick me out of here on the 28th of may haha. But it was a good little throwback to when i had gotten here in brazil. 

My new companion is pretty cool. we have had a lot of good times already and he is helping me a little with the language. Staying with 2 americans over 6 months can kill whatever type of accent they had before. He likes telling everyone im an american to see if that makes them listen even more. haha its pretty funny to see the expressions on their faces and hear them ask, "What are you doing here?" haha. 

This week we worked hard to get a baptism in. Ama got baptized!! whooo!!! she was a reference from a member and she progressed so well and really was one of the easiest baptisms I've had. Like.. I didnt have to do the contact.. she doesnt work.. she went to church every week, she marked the BoM and accepted the date super easy. Whatever we tell her to do she does it. Like... super elect. Our next goal will be to take her to the temple to baptize her ancestors. :)

We had the Dessert Night in our ward that the missionaries put together. It was a success. We had about 50 - 60 people show up and we played a fun chair switching game and also had a really good message about being friendly. We also had 8 visiters that the members had brought. So they were our judges. We bought way too much soda and so we ended up taking about 16 liters of Dolly guaraná home. Dolly is like that cheap off brand soda that only the poor people get. we are poor so we just got that. We have been drinking so much this last week haha

I hope you have a good week. :) 

Elder Sullivan

Oct.12, 2015 ward pianist lol

         New Transfer. New Companion.

This week was pretty cool. We destroyed. Like we absolutely just took this week and wrecked it. We started visiting all of our NTM (nem todos são membros = not all are members) and we got a ton of new investigators. Like.. over 20. Lots of families to complete. But we arent just working with them but with our contacts that we do daily as well. We are setting up a lot of really good appointments and just with people that would like to go to church. So we are going to be doing some more inviting and following up this week. 

My companion is Elder Claud. He is from Santa Catarina (the south of brazil) and he is super cool. He has a lot of good ideas and is SUPER obedient. But still its super fun to be here. This area has turned from great to zion. We should be seeing a lot more baptisms here shortly. He has about a year and a half on the mission. So well trained and teaches well. Its so nice to be with people who know what theyre doing :)

We had leadership councel in the mission this week and they brought up some good points to help out the mission so we will start working these things in our zone. starting tomorrow in our soon to be super cool training. Our zone has shot up in all that we do. Everyone is working hard and we dont have bad people in this zone. definitely the hardest working people that i know are here. 

Because my companion left i have now been "called" as the ward pianist. haha. the real one is kinda less active so we´ll see how it turns out.

This week kinda just flew by and there isnt a lot to say really. I love you all and thanks for the support and the prayers. 

Elder Sullivan

This shovel was used at the ground breaking at the são paulo temple like 40 years ago. that was cool :)

leadership councel!

This is a river in my area. those pipes are the drainage from the washing machines and other things like rain water and stuff. This river smells REALLY bad.

FBI = Firm Believer In 

Jesus. 

Amen!

This is a dog in that previously mentioned river...

Missionaries walk too much. #ineedacar

Oct. 5, 2015 baptisms, conference, temple trip, habibs, pizza, bbq, killed a comp

Conference Weekend

This week will be a week of story telling with pictures :) 

Well this our nice District meeting. the last of the transfer. 2 missionaries have died and we are killing one more next transfer. Should be cool :) These guys are really cool and work really hard. Party even harder too haha 

after district meeting we had money to go buy our lunch. Well at our house we have a churrasqueira. Its AMAZING. so with about 12 US$ we bought some meat and some charcoal. it was a good day :)

this is our awesome hammock that we set up for days like this. Poor guy. Walked for 23 months. he deserves a break haha. 

this is our BBQ. 

brazillian bbq :)

look at all this meat! and thats only half ;)

then in the middle of the week we took isabel and jose to the temple. it was isa first time and so Elder Will who baptized her went as well. :) She loved it. 

After the temple some young women from our stake bought us some habibs :) this day was awesome :) 

The next part of the email will jump to conference. We decided that we should buy a pizza. Go ENGLISH speaking missionaries :) 

remember how i said we were done baptizing for a little? well.. that was a lie... This area is too good. Lied was taught and interviewed and baptized this week. he´d gone to church more than 20x but we were just waiting for him to get firmer. Well his uncle baptized him this weekend. Super cool baptism! we combined with 3 other wards and had 3 young men be baptized this week. 

it was packed :)

and that was conference weekend :)

Im going to miss Elder Pha but im excited to get my new companion who is from santa catarina (the south of brazil) and learn more portuguese haha. im done with americans for a while ;) His name is Elder Claud. 

Until next week. :) 

com amor,

Elder Kyson Sullivan

Sept. 28, 2015 more baptisms and temple visits

          how to kill a missionary (send him home)

Well.. we are on Elder Ph´s last week. We have had a good run together. here comes the GH. 6 baptisms. 3 different famílies. Holding the record at the temple for 195 addresses gotten for 3 weeks. Taking a recent convert to the temple. Singing at baptisms and making people cry. and lots of pizza :) haha. He is a great companion and even though sometimes we dont agree we get by. It really makes a difference having someone that can help you along and make you a better missionary. 

We are going to try to get one more this weekend. Yup baptizing at conference :) Lied is a boy thats 12 years old. he´s probably gone at least 20 times to church and just needs to get watered. We are spending this week getting all the ends tied together to make a great baptism. He is well integrated by his aunt and uncle who take care of him on the weekends. They are recent converts and are now taking the rest of their family there too :) Super chill.

Jose went to the temple this week. Wednesday she took 8 names to the temple to get done. Her 2 brothers, her parents, and her grandparents. We somehow didnt have her husband on the papers so we have to go back this week to get it done with her. She LOVED it. oh my she just feels the spirit so strongly. she explained her visit as MA-RA-VI-LHOSA! which means WON-DER-FUL!!! super great! :)

This week we confirmed Lili and joé. they have decided to start reading the BoM together every night. they are already in 1 nephi 16. Super awesome these converts :) 

Ala Pirajussara is baptizing like a champ this month. Every week this month there is one more. You guys remember Káti? well her sister is also in this ward and also got baptized by the other companionship in the area. There are still 3 more potential baptisms in this family :) really a golden family! 

I think i gave you a little taste of everyting that happened this week. I hope you all have a great week and enjoy conference. im betting on a brazillian apostle! ;)

Elder Kyson Sullivan

Clari's baptism :)

Some pimenta i got from a person for free. Its pretty strong :) Pimenta is like hot sauce. Ill see if some still makes it home ;) (Think that only 2 drops is enough for your plate)

Irmã sefa :) too happy :)

The house of the Lord - Holiness to the Lord

He´s telling you to come home!

My companion was a little upset while he was in his mission in the states waiting 10 months for his VISA. hahaha. he draws really well! 

Sept. 21, 2015 two more baptisms

          Hydrated.

This week we had 2 more baptisms :) WHOO!!!! Lilian and José both got baptized. I really doubted at the first time we met them cause lilian was a super SNAKE (snake: a girl who likes you a lot on your mission and wants to have a relationship with you against your will.) It took us about a month of me telling her that i dont like her and another month to actually teach her the gospel haha. But she passed the interview. And got baptized with her son who is 9. I baptized him and Phair baptized the ex snake ;) 

Pretty cool huh? 

Another thing that happened this week was that we had a multi zone conference and we had a stake president come and talk to us. Something he said was super cool. he said"if your last spiritual experience wasnt your last prayer you need to work on your relationship with heavenly father. pretty cool way to look at things :) 

we also did a contact yesterday and he seemed pretty interested in our message. we talked to him for about 20 min. in the street. He has a wife and a daughter. Perfect! I love teaching families! :) :)

Thats all for this week! :) 

com amor,

Elder Sulliver (how people say my name sometimes haha)

at the feira (farmers market) 21 R$. about 5 dollars. good luck finding that at the states :)

Super hot here right now!

Clima Local
Liberdade, Sao Paulo

Temperatura Atual: 86°F 30°C 

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