Battery Charged!

I had such a great revelation last week on Sunday and totally forgot to tell you all. So last Sunday someone gave a metaphor about recharging our battery at seminary or institute etc. and my mind immediately thought of Sister Act, and Whoopie Goldberg stomping on the ground going, (forgot the nuns name) "Velma! Check you battery!" and having her need to look down and turn on her hearing aid battery haha.  This totally applies to us spiritually. The Lord is probably talking to us or sending us so many inspirations and our battery is either really low or turned off! How many times has that happened to you? Well I can recall a few times when I’ve gotten a wake-up call or when I’ve truly felt the sacrament helping me recharge. Don’t allow laziness or the adversary let you go on less and less power when there are so many resources to recharge that bad boy up! I love the invigorating feeling of the spirit in the simplest of moments. Seeing a baby smile, feeling the great cool breeze, hearing a child’s sincere prayer to Heavenly Father, or me personally bearing my testimony of the Savior’s existence and why He is ours. I’m so blessed to have been given these energizing moments to recharge my constantly in use battery.

I also just want to throw in one more thing, with Matthew 7:20 and just focus on how our fruit is tasting! I hope you guys are producing fruit that others will want to buy, invest in or be grateful for. It’s up to us on who we want to become and what types of fruits we are putting out. I want to be an amazing fresh Brazilian mango! Yum :)

This week was busy but great. We did another exchange with some sisters and I learned a lot! Patience with myself, and my area, relying on the Lord, and trying my best to work the entire day. It’s a bit tiring when not many people let you in so you need to constantly stay walking but we were able to basically walk from one end of my area to the other. My legs are getting so strong! I’m gonna go on so many hikes when I get home :) One member took us out to lunch! A Mexican food place and that was awesome! It’s funny how I haven’t even realized the lack of spicy food until I tried their rice and boy there was quite a kick, but I loved it! and the fresh onion rings they made :)

A tender mercy one day this week was going out of the box....as we were walking around trying to be let in, I saw a very colorful beach scene flag that said "Life is Good" and I just wanted to stop at that house and thank the person for their bright happy flag....so we did :) This really old lady looked out her window a little grumpily but came to the gate. I was honest and just said thank you for your flag and how it brightened my day.....she softened up a little bit and just started talking about her life with us through the gate....eventually she offered to let us in stating " you will be the first people I am letting in who I don’t know personally, but I like your light you have within you" so that was amazing. Vilma let us in and we chatted more about her exotic life and museum like house with various art pieces or historic things...we were able to teach her a bit and then she offered us some homemade peach yogurt that she does herself....I was like, sure! It tasted great! She knows a lot about nature too. She has been growing a garden for a while and has an extinct tree
(well almost extinct). It was great to have rested a bit in someone’s house and see all the diversity. It really was a tender mercy of the Lord and now we can always rely on Vilma if we need a little peach yogurt refresher :)

we successfully made pancakes! yay!

I am pleased to announce that Paola was confirmed this last Sunday! She is still amazing and progressing so well. Unfortunately Satan tries our recent converts a lot and has been trying to destroy her marriage and life...She feels so alone right now but she knows this is the right thing to do! We have been helping her out a lot. We are telling her that’s what Satan wants but to keep the bigger picture in mind. God wants her here. He wants her to be a part of the true church because there she will never feel alone.

Transfer happened and we are staying together! The two crazy Americans from Utah are going strong for one more together. Just you wait :) It’s gonna be fabulous :) Thanks for all your emails and prayers. I’m so happy and feeling so much love every day. My life couldn’t be better than this. I even feel the spirit when sitting on the crazy bus and seeing all the Brasilian culture around me and I think, "Why am I so lucky to be here? Why me? Oh wait....its because He called me. He has work for me to do :) and I say bring it on!

we were worried about transfers and being split up! 

Love you guys, boa semana!
Love, Syd - the still awkward but faith-full sister!

A soul is a soul

9 months!!! And I’m now Brasilian!

Well the week started off great with another English class, taught by yours truly and her companion about how to order food :) Then we had another exchange on Wednesday! I got to go and stay with Sister Macedo in Macedonia and we had a great time! I think I drank more water and juice in one day than I ever have before. Also a really cute little puppy kept biting my foot. It was adorable :) Sister Macedo is ending her mission in a week so it was a really chill exchange. She isn’t that home sick. Then my comp and I had a great bumpy bus ride karaoke time as we were making our way back home. We were singing and the bus was making our voices shake and we thought it was the funniest thing but the lady by us was just smiling and laughing at our happiness in the dumbest things.

So to explain the Brasilian thing, anyone not from Brasil had to create a CPF or social security number in a sense I think. So we gathered together all the "estrangeiros" and went to make one :)  I can officially use my CPF at the grocery store if I want bonus points or something. Haha just kidding but now the mission’s health plan can work better or something. I’m not sure. I just know I need to make a lot of copies of the paper they gave me.

We taught a man P--- who is this head honcho of a company and has so many questions and a bit tough on the outside but is such a sweet man on the inside. He really wants to turn his life around and we are trying to help him see the gospel as his new path to that! Our goals are God’s if we invite him to help us and if they are sincere.

Friday was another exchange and this time I went to Intercape to be with Sister C. Silva. Her companion Sister T. Silva came to stay with my comp. Haha yes, it’s a joke about why President put them together but they are doing great. Sister C. Silva has 5 months on the mission and has so much faith and love. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing her teach and seeing her area and where they work. She is so wanting to do her best and is a great missionary.

That Friday with her I actually had my 9 month mark! and it was just my luck that my mommy Sis Rodrigues is one of the other missionaries who is serving in Intercape so I passed my 9 month mark with her! She made pastel  (cake) and juice :) and gave me a stack of different exercise cards as a present so I can "survive the remaining 9 months" haha.

So real good news too was that Paola got baptized!! She was so ready and is going to help her dad become more active now. We even had a tender mercy from the Lord as we were running to fill up the font to find two delicious cakes for only 30 reais. Yup, that was a blessing :) It was an awesome baptism with cake!!

Thanks for all the love and support! Know that my appreciation for Family History has grown as I’ve helped a recent convert do some of his, and that I am so grateful for the sacrament. It is so important that we help others be a part of this gospel whether they are living or have passed on. A soul is a soul :) and to God that’s all that matters! We are His children! Never forget your worth, the worth of "souls" is great in the sight of God; Not if you have money, a pretty face, or great clothes...it’s all in the soul :) Have a great week!

Love Sister Oldroyd, A soul seeking other souls :)

So Much Love

When you’re working you’re happy and we sing as we go, for we like to help Sister Oldroyd cause the Lord loves her so.....anyway. My week was crazy! It started off with the Elders scheduling my visa renewal the next day and calling me to tell me they needed a new picture of me....so Tuesday I took one and then slept over in Vila Sonia after our English class so I could just leave straight from their area to meet up with the Elders in the mission home to go to the federal polica place. Then of course, we get there early at 8 ish and find out that I can’t renew it until it actually expires on the 29th of April....great stuff. We just gotta wait there for two other Elders to actually create new ones for the next half of their missions.(it took about 2 and a half hours)

Then we went on splits after getting back from that and I gotta do it with Sister Rodrigues, that’s right! I went on splits as the STL with my beloved mother. It felt so great to work with her a little again and hear all the new stuff going on in her life and helping her out with the mission. We have been teaching Paola, who is seriously ready to be baptized. She is amazing and so spiritual and is going to be baptized this Saturday! She knows so strongly in her heart that this is the right path; that this really is the Church of Jesus Christ and she wants to bring her husband to it as well :) We have also been helping Aparecido and Gabriel progress as recent converts. Aparecido is like our grandpa, he’s hilarious and loves it when we sing for him and just smile. He calls us his little angels. Gabriel has been busy with lots of tests but was confirmed this last Sunday and is really excited to progress and eventually serve a mission! Also, it’s just such a tender mercy when a random contact in the street we do, lets us mark a day in the week to actually stop by and is home and remembered and lets us in!!! We usually mark it, (they forget) we show up and the door man tells us no one is home or they are busy....but the other day the gate clicked open and there we were teaching Luciana about the restoration! She even understood the Apostasy part which not many understand ;)

I couldn't help thinking of grandpa Glazier. It's in my blood!

I was able to play silent night pretty well! Aparecido is really impressed

It was such a tender mercy from the Lord, you don’t know how wonderful the sound of those apartment gate doors clicking open means to me. We were also blessed with a whole family! a member was blessing their baby and their friends came, we hadn’t anyone marked to come to church with us and woah! the Lord blessed us with four people :) we have marked to visit them this week!

After that splits we went on another one....but not until after our interviews with President Del Guerso! It was so hard to know it was our last one together but I got the privilege of being the last person out of the group to talk with him. He gave me so much counsel and help with my new calling and what he is hoping for me in the future. A lot of the STLs are going to be released cause they’ve been in for so long sooooooo I’m gonna need to be prepared to help the new ones that’ll come in. After the interviews we started out other split with another two sisters, and as we were leaving the interviews president invited to eat with him! it was another blessing from the lord because we were just going to go buy something cause it was money that day. I had a great time with Sis Lockhart and working with her and seeing her light and testimony.

Something this calling has brought me is so much love. I am feeling soooo much love for these sisters and I just want the best for them. My little slip up for the week was after all that.....I dozed off a bit in Sunday school haha my comp told me that in Gospel Principles, the teacher said "sister, what’s one of the best things Christ did for you..." and then he turned to me to answer but.....my heavy eyes were closed and I was apparently out...so he did a quick turn to my companion and she answered for me...what a great companion right? She said a few people chuckled and smiled and our teacher whispered to her "poor thing" I swear I was doing a really good job raising my eyelids every time they dozed down but unfortunately I didn’t prevail.....I’m so grateful for these experiences. I know that a busy week means lots got done and I can only do my best. And being tired just means I’m working! which is exactly what I want to be doing. I’m so blessed to be a part of this work and that we are finding new people and teaching of this truth. I suggest you all start reading D&C because there are some really great insights on things! as a mission we are reading it and trying to finish by the end of our transfer on the 26th of April. Well love you all. Some insights "Never defile the Lords temples: including yourself" "Be a lively member!"" Don’t allow fear to cause heart failure" That’s all folks, until next week! loves sister Oldroyd tired but tranquilo :)

on our way home from the temple, I got us on the wrong bus to lan house (computer place) so we had a little detour...all the way to that bridge I've always wanted to see! maybe it was a good thing we got on the wrong one

Their Goals are our Goals

Well this week flew by!!! I gotta start my week off with a great district meeting, then my first leadership meeting with the LZs and other STLs :) We talked on how to be better and how March went and what are plans are for April. Something I got out of it was "Their Goals are our Goals". If we want to be good leaders, we should know their desires, goals, and dreams and make them our own. They are our priority, just how we are God’s priority.

during splits, we were eating lunch in a member's house or apartment and I saw Fereira in the distance....yep its where all the skyscrapers are and ours is near the darkest one

Lunch on Tuesday was hilarious because it just so happened to be in the safest, most heavily secured group of condominiums and I didn’t have my color copy of my Visa....sooooo they didn’t let us in and to get a little bus ride to their building but made the member come drive and pick us up. Well now I know! She made us chocolate chip cookies, and she had Olive Garden dressing! That was a treat :) We also got to give the lunch message in English and Portuguese because we invited the maid to listen in on the song we sang and quick message for her and after one for the member’s mother who had just flown in. Maybe this English immersion is good for me and my ability to switch the two. Well we will just wait and see :)

tried making cookies that didn't really work out....oh well!

We also got to help another family in the ward this week and had dinner with them first cause she really wanted us to talk to her 8 year old about the importance of baptism. It was such a sweet experience to see his mind process all we were saying and seeing the light in his mother’s eyes as she testified along with us of its importance. Let’s also just say, puzzles are always my back up plan. My mom made me some popsicle stick puzzles of Christ that have been amazing! We have been able to teach people in so many ways with them, like how our life slowly comes together as we apply the principles of the gospel, or how everyone has an important role in the puzzle (or plan) of God, OR how we can’t complete the puzzle without the last piece : Our Savior. I usually hand out all the pieces except for one (but they don’t know) and invite them to put it together, then when the piece with his eyes are missing they always look in confusion at me.....then I bear a solemn testimony that without Him, the puzzle is only partly complete and we can’t see the whole picture, we can’t enjoy this life completely without Him.

first conselho!!! (council meeting)

I also got to go on an exchange with a wonderful sister this week and learned a lot from her, that it’s all about LOVE! On the mission we have both been just overwhelmed with His love, the love of members, my own love has grown and this love helps with everything else. If we are in a loving mindset, it wipes away the simple confusion that at times directs us in the wrong way.

Conference just blew me away. Remember the last one I got to watch in Portuguese and really try to hear the spirit???? Well this time I got to listen in English and the spirit! It was the best of both worlds :) Saturday was my day of heavy revelation. And to be honest the music just took me to heaven :) who didn’t just get the chills when they sang "Come Thou Fount?" I’ll try to write a few things I got out of conference :) " Keep a prayer in your heart" Be a hungry humble listener" "The Great Elohim loves us" "Rid myself of worldly weight" "I have an Eternal Identity" I loved the whole talk about hymns....hands down :) I was just in awe. "As a serving missionary, I am under the direction of the keys" "Choose to be more spiritually in-tune" I thought that was cool with the word in-tune haha "The legacy of Hymns, helps us worship Him" " Do not waste my days on sin or grief" As for the tab choir, " The power of many, in just one voice" but a testimony all the same :) "It’s not a sacrifice but a privilege to obey God" I also thought Elder Arnold was such a sweet spirit, his sobs were a spiritual indicator of his sincerity and strength. Elder Bednar just explained everything so clearly as well! That blew me away :)

Well, I could go on and on but I’m not going to. You all should already know that it is necessary that we have a living prophet, that we sincerely and strongly sustain him, and that we humbly listen and act on his teachings because with certainty conference is like our letter from God. Did we even open the envelope? Did we read it quickly skimming over parts? How are we going to respond to it? You can answer these questions personally, consider it your conference homework, just as Holland said "always remember tomorrow how we felt today" and God will never abandon us. We are His treasure. He doesn’t bury us, but puts us on mountain tops and in valleys to see us shine and see us rejoice. You can count on sister Oldroyd, cause she’s rejoicing, she’s singing and won’t stop for intermission :) love you all, I’ve talked long enough, go talk to God or write him even.

Love Sis Oldroyd a more inspired member and missionary who’s singing on the mountain tops :) (yes I thought of Sound of Music kkk)