A Delightful Christmas and Sister Leader assignment

WOOHOO I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

I wrote a nice long letter BUT the computer crashed and I have no more time :(

This was the happiest Christmas I have ever had!

I LOVED doing Seja a Luz do Mundo! I am so excited for this next transfer!

Love,
Sister Ludlam

A little later...

I am sweating. I am SUPER excited for 2017! AHHHHHH!! I love the new year so much!

My Christmas was SO DELIGHTFUL!!! We got to stay with the family of Irma Gilmara until midnight. She is such a dove. She is going through chemo and had a million people to take care of during the party but was always going out of her way to check up on us. She bought us fancy fans that I will 100% carry with me and use every day. I am not kidding.

Then we had an especially spiritual sacrament meeting and went to lunch. Super yummy, lots of non members and less actives. It did not feel like Christmas. Then we talked to you guys and it was super lovely. REALLY short, but it was just nice to hear your voices. <3

I will stay with Sister de Jesus and will be
Sister Leader. With more time I feel better and better about it. Many fears, but it means there will be lots of growth! WOOHOO!!! 

I love you guys an awful lot.

Heavenly Father Loves Us So Much

Sister Doyle and Ava

 WOOHOO! I LOVE SISTER DE JESUS SO MUCH!!! What an INCREDIBLE week!


Christmas Conference! (on the right) Sister Doyle goes home in a week :( My eyes are red because President sang "I Wonder When He Comes Again," and I wept like a baby. 

I am a little sad because we have been working with a lot of people that KNOW the church is true but don't want commitment and don't want to progress. Really, really sad because we had to drop ... everyone. We now have no investigators at all, but THAT'S OKAY because now all of our time will be dedicated to finding people who are searching for the truth AND willing to it. :)

I saw many little miracles this week, but I will just share a few.

1. Ruth (Potter) has been going through a lot of trials recently. We haven't seen her in weeks nor been able to communicate with her because she has been living in the house of another aunt, but left her cellphone here in this area. We tried many things to get in contact with her, and nothing worked...I started getting scared I would never see her again. Then, Saturday night, Sister and I said a prayer that we could find a way to get in contact with her quickly because she needed to go to church the next day to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The two past weeks had been conferences at the Stake building.

After contacting everyone that could possibly help, we decided maybe it's not meant to happen this week. BUT THEN we showed up to church Sunday morning and RUTH WAS THERE! She woke up early and walked all the way from her other aunt's house to go to church! She said "I just couldn't miss another Sunday." I almost cried with joy when I saw her, I had missed her so much. Then she spent the rest of the day with the Young Women at a special lunch and Young Women in Excellence.  Oh, by the way, in Portuguese Ruth is pronounced Hoo-chee. Super cute.

Vitoria and Irma Maria Jose <3

2. While we were filling up the font for Ruth's baptism, Vitoria, a 10 year old from the primary, came in and asked who was going to be baptized. Elder Marquina said "You are. Didn't you know?" She got a little quiet and said, "I actually haven't been baptized yet..." Whoops. So we passed later that week to talk with her adopted parents. Before we even brought the subject up, Irma Maria Jose said, "After Ruth's baptism, Vitoria would not stop talking about how much she wanted to be baptized! So we went to the Capitol today and did her paperwork so now she can legally be baptized." WOAH! Since she has more than 8 years, she technically is a convert and needed to be taught all the lessons and be interviewed by Elder Vargas. After a glorious 2 weeks of teaching her, she was baptized this Saturday and received the gift of the Holy Ghost right before Ruth did this Sunday. What a miracle! And it is all thanks to Elder Marquina, hahaha!

3. It was really hot yesterday, so Sister de Jesus asked for a cloud to cover the sun. It did. Then she asked for rain. And boy, did it rain!!! Heavenly Father loves us so much <3

We had a Christmas conference it was so much fun. Honestly, this Christmas has been the best Christmas I have ever had because my life.

Love,
Ava

Learning Lessons on Love

Trip to the São Paulo Aquarium

This week I learned about love.

We went to the Area of Brasil Conference with President Holland (just a broadcast - haha) and I had this question in my heart of how to help our companionship. The answer is LOVE. 

All of the misunderstandings and accidents and little tiny things can be swept away in a wave of LOVE. Have you ever noticed that when you are offended or feeling insecure or over-analyzing or irritated, when someone puts their arm around you or gives you a sincere compliment, those feelings just evaporate?

So I put it to the test, and things have been better. Things are not perfect yet because this is honestly new territory for me-- to have my first instinct be reach out in love.

So yes, this week was tough but I AM SO GRATEFUL for these priceless lessons!! I'm sorry I don't have "mission stories," but we are giving our all! Walking in the streets all day long and meeting tons of people, doing our part :) Lots and lots of contacts :D

  I told President this transfer has been hard for me because when I was in Jardim Satelite, I always felt very confident and comfortable, thinking I had finally got the hang of the mission. But being in a new area with a new companion has made me extremely aware of my weaknesses. It's good for me! ;)

LOVE TO ALL!

Sister Ludlam

Like the Moon, we do not Shine without the Sun/Son.

My lovely companion, Hermana de Jesus

Hi!

I can't explain how much I love my companion. She is literally the Bahian missionary version of Allison Garner. How cool is it that I walk about teaching the restored gospel with my best friend?

Thanksgiving without the family was just fine, I was so busy that I didnt even realize what day it was until Sister pointed out I was fasting on Thanksgiving. Hahaha!

An irma invited us over to meet some "friends" and we figured out they were 7 young men studying to be PADRES (Priests) in the Catholic church...and they were SO MUCH FUN!! Teaching them the Restoration was something I'll never forget, that's for sure! They said they admired our courage, hahaha!! They are bright lovely people, and they accepted our invite to read the Book of Mormon (Irma just happened to have 7 hardback Book of Mormons in her cupboard ;)

This week I learned SO MUCH and I still don't know what I should share because time is limited! I learned about pride, faith, light, and the word of wisdom.:)

Teaching Seven Catholic Priests

I think I will talk about light. :) Light has always fascinated me and has an extremely special meaning to me. I believe it has everything to do with who God is, progression, and who I want to be! This transfer I put a picture of "The Light Bearer" (a picture mum sent to Ava a few weeks ago, see below) on my planner as a reminder that my goal is shine so that others will be drawn to Christ! I also learned after chosing my personal theme the the church's  Christmas theme for the year is also Seja a Luz do Mundo (#LighttheWorld)! We hand out cute little cards to everyone we meet and invite them to shine, too. Also, my companion is one of the most light-filled people I have met!

SO! The plan was to show up in Vila Virginia and just SHINE...but it didn't really work out that way. I was absolutely EXHAUSTED for the first 2 weeks, and found it almost impossible to summon the energy to shine all day. One day this week, I was thinking "Heavenly Father set all this up for me to truly learn how to be a light, so why am I failing?" I then began to study my favorite scriptures about light and my patriarchal blessing and realized I was going about it all wrong!

Ruth's Baptism

I, Ava Ludlam, nao tenho minha propria luz! (I do not have my own light) But I can shine when I look towards the source of true light: Christ. Like the moon, we do not shine without the sun/Son. It is not MY LIGHT that I need to be shining, it is the light of Christ! This week has been incredible because I began to find strength beyond my own and shine HIS light into the lives of others.

Also, if you haven't checked out the Light of the World site on mormon.org, come and see! It will make this Christmas the happiest one yet because it will be centered on Christ and shining light into the lives of Gods children.

LOVE YOU ALL!!

RUTH POTTER: the girl who received an answer

Hello World!

Well, I have about 500 things I want to tell you about because with Sister de Jesus, a ton of crazy things happen every day, but Ruth's story takes priority.

RUTH POTTER: the girl who received an answer

Ruth never really had a place in the world until she found the church. No one that really cared for her or loved her, yet she was just something so different and special

My first night here in Vila Virginia, I met Ruth (14 yrs) and her cousin Gabriel (11 yrs). Gabriel already received many of the lessons, but that night was the first time for Ruth even though she had been reading the Book of Mormon for quite some time and already went to church. We taught her the Restoration, and I was just in shock how perfectly she understood everything and had such good questions. 

As she started going to church every week, the ward just enveloped her with love and adopted her as their own, a whole new strange world filled with incredible people who saw her for who she was, a precious daughter of God with a divine destiny! With time, she and Gabriel decided that he wanted to be baptized, but there was one problem. She lives with her aunt, Jackie, who isn't too fond of the church. We waited for Jackie to get home to ask her for permission, and I haven't been scared for a long time, but WOW my heart was beating so fast!!! 

Ruth's Baptism

She allowed Ruth to be baptized, even though she strongly discouraged it, but told Gabriel he couldn't because he is too young to know what he wants. Gabriel cried which broke my heart in half, and it shook Ruth up pretty badly. She began to doubt and said she wanted to wait to be baptized with Gabriel. But after a week filled with fasting, prayers and miracles, Ruth commented, "Before I was asking myself why should I be baptized NOW, but now the question is why SHOULDN'T I be baptized now?" We weren't planning this at all, but somehow she ended up getting interviewed that night before the Young Women activity.  She was baptized after....such a crazy day and I still can't believe it all happened! I know the Lord is taking very, very good care of his precious daughter, Ruth.

Fruits of Brasil

BRASIL CULTURE

This fruit is called Jaca and all Americans hate it.  It is SUPER UGLY, but Sister de Jesus made me try it and...it was really good. Don't judge a jaca by its spikes!

Language: instead of saying "we" (nos in Portuguese), they say "the people" (a gente) so it's not "we are going to call you tomorrow", it's "the people are going to call." A gente vai ligar! I think its hilarious. 

Love,  Sister Ava

Best Week Ever!!

Goodbye, Sister Souza!

BEST WEEK EVERR!!

My heart is just over-flowing with gratitude.

Jaggi Gratitude List:

1.  I learned that President was actually planning to keep me in Satelite another transfer with Sister Souza, but early Sunday morning, he received revelation to move me to this area. Heavenly Father is SO aware of each of us and our needs!! This last week has been one of the happiest weeks of my life, and I am so so grateful that President was sensitive enough to the Spirit to send me here. 

Sister de Jesus, me, Nayara (member)

2. How do I even describe Sister de Jesus (picture on right(!?! She is on the dove level of Sophie Wilson or Emily Burnett. I have just been basking in her glow all week. It is extremely rare that we find people so filled with light, so humble, so pure, and so Christ-like. I wish I could describe how much she has already impacted me, how grateful I am for her <3 

3. I heard a lot of negative things about this area before arriving, but when I arrived and began to walk through the streets, I immediately fell in love. I feel like I am at home. It has a very Bronx-y feel, but the houses are all vibrant crazy colors and there is TONS of art-work type graffiti--this place has so much personality!  Not a white wall in this entire city. I'll try to take a picture this week that captures its splendor. GAHHHH! I LOVE IT HERE.

4. I don't think this has ever happened in my life before, but I have had no negative emotions this week...I didn't think it was possible, but it is. Sure, lots of negative things happened, but Sister de Jesus has such a positive bright outlook on life that its started rubbing off on me. I have been EXHAUSTED this week, but I fall asleep every night happy and excited. <3

5. I got to meet Ruth this week!!! She is 14, and is marked for baptism this week if she can continue to not drink coffee. She reminds me a lot of Harry Potter. Grew up in a world where no one realizes she is there or loves her that much, but once missionaries showed up on her doorstep and her life was never the same. The members have adopted her and given so much love. She is the sweetest most intelligent and precious girl. She understands the Book of Mormon SO well, better than any adult investigator I have had. I love her so so much.

My food that actually turned out really good :D

 6. I was COOKING this week (that's right Mom) but I cut my finger open nice and deep. Miraculously is healed super fast and hasn't been giving me much grief. Little things like that make me really grateful.

7. I found a CD in our house with Frank Sinatra singing Christmas music and Phil Collins singing Brother Bear it makes me SO HAPPY. I've never been more pumped about Christmas in my life!! 1 month until I get to talk to my fambly!! ♥

8. Nobody forces you to eat here so I have been feeling very light and healthy and refreshed :)

Every day is filled with many tender mercies, but these are just a few. I have been just filled with love for my Savior this week. I just read Luci's email and realized this week is Thanksgiving. A gratitude list is rather appropriate, isn't it! :)   LOVE TO ALL~

Pidge Pot Pie

Off to Vila Virginia!

Sister Souza made this for me!

I will be leaving Satelite after almost half a year to Vila Virginia, Itaquaquecituba, with Sister Jesus! WOOHOO!! I feel like my time here has a happily ever after ending because Ana Maria is engaged and she is being freed from a life of 47 years filled with struggling. She said the closing prayer after a visit yesterday, and sincerely thanked Heavenly Father for us and our patience and that we never abandoned or gave up on her. It was a very sweet moment for me.

I shared Isaiah 40 with Frank, the menos ativo, because hes lacking vigor to keep enduring to the end. I told him I have been leaning on the Lord because I feel so emotionally tired and discouraged because it seems like my work hasn't amounted to much these past 6 months, and that I know the Lord will give him strength and

Feeding the rabid dogs of Sao Paolo

motivation if he asks for it. Instead of him being comforted, he comforted ME, telling me this area is one of the oldest and most difficult areas in this mission, and that "Heavenly Father sends his most beloved spirits here" because it is so hard to keep going. That gave me so much comfort, and I once again received a confirmation that I have done what the Lord wanted done and He is pleased. Many seeds planted :)

Britto Art

A little nervous for what is to come, but I know it's exactly where the Lord wants me. All things work together for the good of those who love God :) I LOVE YOU ALL!

Sister Ludlam

CULTURE: Britto is an extremely famous Brasilian artist, who I have fallen in love with. At first I thought his work was tacky, and then it grew on me, and then I became obsessed. This was my planner from last transfer- hahaha