Hold to the Rod

This week real fast cause I've got to go.  Anyway, it was a very loco week!! We literally walked every rua (street) and knocked every door in the ala itaperi (Itaperi Ward) this week!! Luckily we have two wards haha, but we knocked every door (500 fliers) to tell everyone about our talent show and open house this week!!  It was a great show we had a few people come from interior to present!!! They were fantastic!! We also had ward conference and had it packed with 180 people.  Our building isn’t that big so there were a few people standing in order get everyone in! It was awesome!!! And we had lots of new people there!! So this next week is going to be fantastic!!!!

Also my best friend Rosangela left for her mission this week to Londrina Brasil! I'm so excited for her!!

The most exciting part of this week was when we had a power outage and we were at the end of a big street in our area.  We could see the emergency lights of the church building in the distance and we were like, "Well, what to do now?"  Luckily I had my flashlight on me this day I don’t now know why, but I had it, so we at least had a light and we had the light of the church building in the distance to get to.  So we started walking and wow the amount of people in the streets, kids screaming basically chaos.  But we made it to the building and when we got there luckily Bispo was still there and to top it off he had coxinhas (fried chicken dumplings) for us!! Yay!!  Anyway I was thinking about this experience this morning and I thought about the iron rod and how we have to hold to the rod, but also keep moving on the rod to get to the tree or to the church building in this case.  We also need to be prepared by doing those small and simple things to be ready when disaster hits because we never know when its going to be and we don’t want to lose sight of our goal or lose hold of the iron rod.  It's crazy how well it was like the iron rod because there were so many people screaming and lost in the street, but as we shared our flashlight light with them they could make it to their destination safely and we could get closer to the church building.  As we do those simple things we also have to share our light to help others come to the light of Christ to help them make it home and to his presence. And when we make it there it will be a festival of happiness and coxinhas!! Haha  anyway hope that makes sense because I'm writing fast.  Anyway I love you all soo much!!! Have a 

wonderful week!!

Sister Neuberger

Fourth Floor Last Door

I almost forgot to write a group email hehe whoops. I've been responding individually to all the other emails I've received. Much appreciated!

This week was another full week of lots of walking!  My legs are all muscle now haha. I also think we're hitting the heat of the year.  We had a bunch of appointments fall through this week so it was a little bit of a challenging week, but at the end of the week we found some great miracles!

Our less active is coming back to church and she is starting her mission papers! And her family now wants to possibly be baptized because they remember those times that they went to church and felt such great peace.  We also found a family that lives close to the bispo's house so we're hoping that everyone will keep wanting to learn more!

The bishop's wife made us pancakes well pancake-ish type food this week which was delicious!!!

We also had zone conference this week!  Also was a great inspiration to get to work and work even harder than you're working.  Lots about "fourth floor last door"  if any of you remember the conference talk from Elder Uchtdorf a few conference ago when he talked about the elders that knocked every door in the apartment building and only at the last door on the last floor did they get invited in to talk to the family and because of that they ended up baptizing the family.  Exactly what we needed to hear this week.  Also, always a great reminder that we have to remember to do all that we can to receive the blessing of heaven,.  We have to be ready to receive those blessing because if we're not prepared we can't receive those blessings in full.  Heavenly Father is always extending his hand to help us. We just have to reach out and grab it!  I love seeing those little miracles in people's lives here everyday that help them see the hand of Heavenly Father in their lives.  I hope we all prepare for those amazing blessings that Heavenly Father has in store for us!  

I love you all sooo much!!! have a wonderful week!!! 

Sister Neuberger

Living on the Sun

This week it poured and then two days it was blistering hot and I got
ridiculously burned wahoo!! I love having super inflamed skin! Haha
(sunscreen here does nothing haha)

My new comp is from Sao Paulo (Campinase). She wants to be a lawyer. She
loves chocolate. She was basically raised in the gospel, has one other
brother, and she and he live with her mom.

Also, we had a super spiritual lesson with our investigator Kelly this
week and as we talked about answers to prayers, she told us about
how she's been praying for her sister to get better and a few days
later her sister's health was perfectly normal again and didn’t have to
have surgery or anything. Which is an amazing answer to her prayers.
We're also super happy because she and her future husband have been
reading the Book of Mormon together and they also taught whole family com a familia
dele!  How great is that!!!!!

We also worked with a less active member who is returning to church.
She worked with us all day on Thursday and absolutely loved it. And this
week our bishop is going to see if she wants to serve a mission!! So
excited for her!!!

Our mission president has been talking a lot about M&M (members and
missionaries) and BIZ (a chocolate they have here that’s like kit
kats)(Baptisms endownments sealings). It kinda works with the translation. He talks a lot about how if we work with the ward and the members in the ward we will have more
baptisms more people firme no evangelho which means more people going
to the temple and more families having the chance to be sealed
together forever!  So share you're testimony with everyone you meet
this week! Beause everything comes from those small and simple things!!


Love you all soo much!! Have a great week!!
Sister Neuberger

Grandma

This is Sister Neuberger's letter about the passing of her grandmother.

Grandma, you were always so happy in whatever came your way, in any situation you were happy with whatever worked best for everyone else. And doing so, it always seemed to bring you even more happiness. I loved how you were always singing a happy song like "little old lady passing by" or "ABCD..." or just saying "ray." There wasn't a moment when you weren't excited about what was happening in life! You always had a smile on and woah how contagious it was because you knew the plan of salvation is real and that we can be familes forever and because of that you didn't let a moment go by when you didn't share your testimony with others who didn't know. You could talk to anyone anywhere and learn about their whole life in a matter of minutes; an attrubute of loving everyone just like Heavenly Father; an atrubute I hope I can obtain just like you have so well. I loved all your helpful tricks and tips for singing, eating, and for whatever life would bring my way. I'll never forget all those wonderul times we spent together whether it was singing around the piano, baking food, birthday calls, walking in Maplewood, skating, sleeping in the car or just talking about all your fantastic adventures. Every moment spent with you was a wonderful moment never to be forgotten. And I'm so uterly grateful for the opportunity to know that I can have these memories forever not just here on Earth, but also in heaven when we are reunited again for all eternity! I'm so grateful that so long ago you decided to accept the Father's plan and bring the joy of the gospel into your home and becasue of that today I could be fully blessed by the blessings the gospel brings. You have and always will be a marvelous mssionary and I know you are continuing the work in heaven helping us find more of those people ready to hear and accept the joy of the gospel. Because that is exactly what the gospel does it lightens and brightens our lives and all those that are around us. And your light was so strong that anyone you came in contact with it wanted and wondered why your glow was so strong and you didn't hide your light from them not to know. In fact you shared your light so the brightness of more lights could grow. You left a wonderful legacy that will never be forgotten. Like Travis' poem from a long time ago says about the World Trade Center, 9/11 the world stopped turning, well 2/11 your heart stopped beating, but your legacy will live on forever in every child, grandchild, great great grandchild becasue of you we all have the light of the gospel in our lives and that's something that can never be taken and though the pain of losing you is so strong and hard and I wish more than anything I could have been there before you left; I know that I can be with you again real soon. I know that this is where you wanted me to be and you were so happy in learning about my mission and excited that I get this chance to serve because it's something you always wanted to do and in fact did, just without the name tag. I'll keep doing all I can to be with you again one day and try my best everyday to spread my light to everyone that passes my way because I know the greater joy the gospel brings because of a lady, my grandma, who blessed me with the joy of knowing so many years ago. I love you soo incredibly much grandma!! Ate logo!

The PERFECT Plan of HAPPINESS

This week was a wonderful week as we had an amazing surprise in sacrament meeting our other long time less active member came to church and he came in and sat in the back and I turned around and was like noo way he came!!!  So great and also that morning our other less active and his soon to be wife that we're helping get married, came to church too!!! 

This week we also found an amazing family tat is so ready to hear the gospel.  The mom lost her sister and her mom 3 years ago and she was so interested in the plan of salvation.  And I was so excited to teach her and her family about it.  Which is so cool because we talked about it last night and how Heavenly Father made a perfect plan for each and everyone of us to come here to the earth and live and learn and really be tested, but learn from our experiences and be prepared to return to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  “This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God” (Alma 34:32).  And it's hard when our family members pass away, but knowing of the plan and how we can all be together again can bring everyone such peace. It is sad with passing of family, but we can feel the Savior's love with us as we remember the plan and our purpose.  

And in that regard, today we had a wonderful day with our mission president where we went to help with a Book of Mormon youth conference and then went to a churrascaria to eat so much delicious food and cheesecake que saudade!!!  Anyway, afterwards my mission president told me of the passing of my grandmother.  It was hard to take it in at first, but after having a moment I thought about how amazing of a women she was and how happy she was here and how happy she is back in the presence of our Heavenly Father.  She was the first to be baptized on my mother's side of the family.  She is the one that started it all. If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be here and all of my family and all the places they have served and the people they’ve met and taught the gospel wouldn’t have happened.  She was such a wonderful person, always happy and singing and always talking to everyone no matter who it was and always sharing the gospel.  She could start meeting a person and in 5 minutes know their whole life story that’s how amazing she is.  She loved singing and she loved dancing and especially doing everything the Lord asked.  I'm so glad and proud to be her granddaughter. It’s a lot to live up to, but I know that with her watching over me I can do all that the Lord asks of me.  And I know that through the plan of salvation or the plan of happiness, we can all be with our families again forever, never to be parted. The plan can bring us so much peace here in this life and the life to come.  There is no other plan greater and more fulfilling than this.  IT is truly perfect and I'm so glad to know of its truths and so glad that I get to share it everyday with thee people here in Brasil!!  I love her so much! And I'm so excited to be with her again someday, but for now I know she is doing a great work and a wonder in heaven and is helping and looking after me here in Brasil.  I love you all sooo much!!!!  Have a wonderful week!!!! 

Lunch at the churrascaria. Can you find me?

Youth Book of Mormon Project

Sister Neuberger

What Will Be Your 4 Minutes

This  week we ate well. One day we ate so much açaí…a lot…three different times in fact hehehe.  And each time it seemed to get  just a little bit bigger.  The first was a little small sampling the next was a little bigger(the size of our blue green red plastic cups at home) and the last one was a large cup (because the member that was treating us to açaí kept telling us to put more and more in our cup haha. If you say so haha).

We also had a the baptism of Mayra this week!! It was wonderful. Soo many people came!!  And her and her kids were all there and then again on Sunday!! It was beautiful!!!

Coolest thing this week we found out that our less active member that has started coming back to church has totally changed his life around from sleeping in till about 12, kind of going to work and living with his girlfriend to now changing his life completely so he can work to go on a mission and now he's back living with his parents till he can head out on a mission!! Coolest news of the week!!

I was thinking about he Olympics this week and I thought of the talk about "What will your 4 minutes be." The talk that was given a few conferences ago.  And I think its such a good thing to think about when it's all said and done how will you be remembered? What will be your legacy?  I think we all want to have a  great legacy and I think that comes when we put our times and talents into serving others.  As we turn outward our lives will become so much better and though time passes by fast we can look back and see that we have done all that we possibly could and we in fact have left the legacy we wanted.  It's one of those things where we worry about it, but in fact we need to not worry about it not even think about it because we need to not even have time to think about it and if we use our time well all will be well and our 4 minutes will be an amazing story!  (sorry writing/thinking fast hope that makes sense)

We also walked home from district meeting not realizing how long the walk was in the hot sun#ridiculouslyburned .

Have a great week!! Love yo all soo much!!

Sister Neuberger

The Train of Life

January 29, 2018

Super cool experience this week as we were looking for this family that just was recently baptized in the last few months we ended up finding another family.  Here is what happened: we were looking for the family that was recently baptized with the address that we were given and it turns out it was the entirely wrong address, but we didn’t know that so we arrived at the door as this lady was in her front room talking on the phone and she got up and opened the gate and let us in and we sat down, thinking it was the family because the lady didn’t act surprised at all so we assumed she knew the elders that had been serving in our area.  About 5 minutes later after she got off the phone we learned that she wasn’t the mom of the family we were looking for, but it turns out one of her friends was talking to her about our church these last few weeks. So when we showed up she thought that we had been sent by her friend, but really that's not what happened at all.  But it was awesome because like 5 minutes into getting to know her she told us about the crazy story about her son getting super sick and was in the hospital for 3 months and they didn’t think he was going to make it but he and his mom had faith that he would and he made it. Now he's out of the hospital and getting better and better everyday.  Anyway from this experience they know miracles happen and want to get baptized as soon as her son is capable to get into water again.  Basically what missionaries dream of and what an awesome miracle for us!  We were soo excited the rest of the day!

We also met the mom of a recent convert in our other ward and she just got back from traveling and is super excited to get baptized too! And it was suppose to happen this week but she and the rest of her kids got pink eye so were thinking Saturday is when she will be baptized!

We also had zone conference this week and amongst convincing our zone that me and Elder Chandler are cousins because he lives in Chicago and I live close by so to Brasilians we have to be related some how, we also learned about how being diligent also means being positive in all things!  It was a fantastic conference!

We also had a wedding this week and I got to see all my ctm district buddies!! It was soo fun!! And I hopefully will get to see them all again soon to get our visas renewed yay!

I also killed it this week in our ward activity night where we had to suck beans through a straw and carry them to another cup across the room. Hehe swimming and singing have payed off haha.

My comp also gave a talk this week and it was so good. She made an analogy with a train of life where everyone that wants to live with Heavenly Father can enter the train, but there are a few stops along the way before we get to the celestial kingdom.  The first stop being baptism, the next being  keeping the commandments, the next fulfilling your calling, the next paying tithing, the next going to church, the last sharing your testimony with others and helping them know of the truths.  At every stop the angel driving the train would say all those who “didn’t share your testimony please leave the train” and so on and so forth at every stop until the last stop  the celestial kingdom.  So with this analogy are we all doing everything in our power to arrive in the celestial kingdom or are we fogetting to do things here and there, are we forgetting to share our testimony with others to help them on the way to the celestial kingdom.  Don’t let those small and simple things go because those are the things that will help us keep on the straight and narrow e chegar la, no celestial kingdom.

Love you all soo much!!! Have a marvelous week!!!!

Sister Neuberger