EUO Lavras

 

Song of the week-pumped up kicks by Foster the people---this is a song about running away from a shooter...which leads into my week 

A member spoke in sacrament meeting about a story of a bunch of frogs in a bucket. ( I love frogs 💓 fun fact) all the frogs in the bucket would spend their time trying to jump out of the bucket, but it was too hard and too high to jump out so the frogs stopped trying. except for one. This frog spent each moment of everyday Consistently trying to jump out of the bucket, despite the continuous failure of not being able to jump out. Finally, after jumping and jumping every day, the frog Finally found himself making it out of the bucket. The frog realized that if it wasn't for his continuous effort to take the jump every day, he would have never been able to build up the strength he needed to be able to jump out of the bucket. This really spoke to me, I think we are all in our own personal buckets at times and its super easy to be like the other frogs and just give up and dwindle in self-pity at the bottom. However, we are promised that by " small and simple things are great things brought to pass " ( Alma 37: 6) I know by giving one jump per day, my efforts will eventually lead me to jumping out of the pits of the bucket, despite the feelings of inadequacy, My last DL elder hammer shared a scripture with me that I really like and now sticks with me and i find myself saying it all the time " I know in whom I have trusted" ( 2 Nephi 4: 19.... but also read verses 19-35 super POWERFUL). This has helped me in some of my hard moments. I know who I have put my faith in; I know God never faileth. And I know I will always make it out of my bucket because of him......................... speaking Portuguese I hope 😜

🚨Weekly🚨 also sorry its long .. but you will get blessings from reading it 🫵🏼 #missionarypromise

Ok so I know your probably all dying to know why my song choice was pumped up kicks..... well literally I was trying to run faster than the bullets this week..

So, Monday night we are in the middle of teaching a lesson to one of our investigators and things were going pretty well but it was super hard to have the spirit with us because of the distraction outside the window. There was a fight breaking loose, between this lady and her husband. we thought nothing of it, because this is Brazil everyone is a little crazy and always screaming about something. But we are sitting there and all the sudden we hear A huge Bang then following the bang almost all the windows in the house we are teaching in breaks.... we all dropped to the floor and started crawling to the back of the house and all huddled in this back room. Me and sister Rocha Immediately kneed and proceed to pray out loud and everyone else followed. Immediately starting the prayer, I felt an overwhelming sense of peace and safety. I knew we were gonna be ok. ...... apparently this guy had a psychotic break and just went on a rampage and was breaking everything in sight and throwing rocks at peoples windows and breaking basically everything in sight and was yelling and beating up on his wife. After probably 1 hour of this the cops came and stopped it and arrested the guy. We didn't get home until 12, we had our branch president come pick us up, and ironically the ZLs were in town for district council the next day, and they gave us both blessings of comfort then after words we talked to president about the situation. Was a super crazy experience..... super grateful everyone made it out of it safe and unharmed. The lady called us the next morning and said that everyone on the street was safe, and the guy is now in jail. And told us what broke her window were gun shots..... Super crazy to think about. Like such a miracle no one got hurt. I know God watches over us and protects us! Just Want to make it clear I am safe and I feel safe; my area is safe. I also feel extra safe because we are friends with the thugs that are here in the area and they actually look after us well. 🤣 along with everyone else in the community!!! But rest of the week was a pretty chill and normal missionary week 😅 we made a goal that this week I would be leading all the contacting and lessons and it was the most humbling experience... some moments I felt the gift tongues but most the time was just a stumbling over words giving my comp the look of " Save me right now or imma kill you ". She saved me don't worry. Super good learning opportunity though. Also, I HAD THE COOLEST spiritual experience! Felt like a real missionary.....

So, we were teaching a lesson at this bar, bc the peoples house is a bar/ there home, fun fact about them they don't smoke or drink but they own a bar bc it makes good money!!! they had a friend join us and he really liked what we said, so we gave him a BOM and he was so excited about it, and then he left. And as we saw him walking away getting into his truck, we realized we never got his number so we were bummed about that. But later we were walking around making some new contacts because our lessons fell through and we past this house and I had the feeling that we needed to stop there. Wasn't anything crazy big it was honestly just a super quick thought. So, I knocked and when the door opened it was the guy FROM THE BARRRR!!!! We all laughed and he was thrilled to see us and he invited us in and we had a mini lesson with his 3yr son and his wife!

Felt so Skibbdie afterwards... ( my cousins Jaren, Aubrey, bailey would get the feeling) 😎

We also taught some powerful lessons later in the week and I think we are finally making some progress with a few of our investigators! So please everyone Keep the following people in your prayers Ian, Simone, Felipe, Julio, Jane Mary Jesus (jane Mary Jesus is actually her name yes)! 🙏🏼

Highlights 🥳

☆ met this super sweet guy named Bruno, he is living in a rough living situation and looks kinda ragged (homeless basically his house is literally like ruins) but we walked pasted him sitting on the steps of his house and he seemed really sad, so I said Hi to him and we started talking about god and how he has a purpose for him and that he loves him. And he started crying and said he loved our message then said " you know I have lived here for 3 years and I've seen sisters and elders walk my street and they always past by my house and look at me and never once do they stop and say hi or talk to me..... i feel invisible in this world, so thank you so much for stopping today it means more then you know" ❤️🥲

That is why I love being a missionary and I'm still here *^^

☆ sister Rocha told me I give off princess Poppy vibes from Trolls.... and now whenever I complain about the language she starts singing the song that poppy sings that's like ".... hey im not giving up today, nothings standing in my way, and when you knock knock me over. I . WILL. GET BACK UP AGAIN.... " super annoying but motivational I guess 😅🤷🏽‍♀️ ( video in google photos)

☆ we told our investigator ian to be a lion and not a sheep and he agreed and then he said " well I can also be the Ni*** sheep, yk like the black sheep"..... I could not stop laughing 😆 🤣 ☆ didn't die from a bullet 😜🥳🙌🏼

☆ having sister Rocha as the best trainer ever, could not be more grateful for her!

☆ being invited to our investigators daughters birthday party where she only invited us 🥲😭 ate the best cake of my life too, and I don't like cake so I was shocked !

☆ watched a grown man like obsessed over the ugliest/ littlest funniest looking dog ever ( video in google photos)

☆ was walking out of a lesson, and this guy like basically raped hugged me it happened so fast, and then he grabbed my face and gave me the fattest wettest kiss on the cheek like inchs away from my mouth...... i was so SHOCKED 😅 then after we kindly told him he cant do that again bc we are sisters, and he felt bad so it was chill. ( just culture he wasn't being weird)

Was so weird getting a hug from a man... been too long 😭😭 (miss my little brother hugs. and tackling my dad)

☆ STLs came into town and so we got our traditional meal... Pizza 💓 and also recelebrated sis Rocha's birthday! Was a fun night 😁

☆ found a tire swing in some park 😇🥰🤭  ( pics in Photos)

☆ we shared all our mission memes and i couldn't stop laughing ( if you wants some email me )

☆ Elder Ulisses Soares worldwide devotional that he did IN BRAZIL AT THE CRISTO STATUE 🇧🇷❤️

Was so good!! New fav apostle unlocked.

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH 🫶🏽🫶🏽

Love you all! I appreciate all the prayers!! And most importantly all the kind emails and messages that come threw on Pday and throughout the week! Truly is the best thing ever to receive as a missionary!!! ❤️ ( makes me still feel apart of the world and remember ☝🏼 ) I always do my best to respond but if I don't it doesn't mean I don't love you!!!! Hope you all have an incredible week!

Isso é viver. Amo todos vocês 💗😇🫵🏼

- SISTER TEBBES 🇧🇷