Week #4 - One month (almost) in Sao Paulo

How has it already been 4 weeks here in Sao Paulo? Time has definitely flown by. But I sure do love it here. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!

This week has been a blur with all of the classes we have had. I guess the one downfall this week is that I got a cold... Some elders in my district got sick first and our instructor told us, "Wow, you guys are the first district to not all get sick!" He definitely spoke too soon, because we are now all sick with bad colds. But that hasn't stopped me from trying to learn! I am feeling better but that was rough. My district decided to have an "English Fast" meaning we wouldn't speak English for 24 hours. But, then while we were in our meeting for our zone with the district leaders, someone in our Branch Presidency told us that the way we say English Fast it has more of a negative tone to it. So he challenged all of us to call it a "Portuguese Feast." I really liked it when he said that. So we have have had two "Portuguese Feasts" this week and it really helped with our language. 

One new thing is our new roommates we have. One of them is from Brazil, and I can never understand her when she tells us where in Brazil she is from, so I don't know where. But she is such a kind soul. Very quiet. The other one is from Peru, and she is funny. Her bunk is right under mine and sometimes I dangle my feet off the edge (and remember that I am short) as we all talk and get ready for bed.  One night, all of a sudden I feel her face hit my feet (she knew I was there) and she yells OWWWW super loud and then she just stares at me holding her face like she is hurt. I felt so bad and I thought she was serious, but she is just very dramatic but so funny. They love to help us learn Portuguese and read The Book of Mormon with us to help our pronunciation. I love having them with us and meeting other missionaries from all over is so much fun!

This week we went proselyting. When we do this, we go in a bus as a district and get dropped off in the middle of nowhere in Sao Paulo and go and try and get the contact information from people. We had talked to some sisters about it and they said it was so hard and how they usually get only 2-6 contacts. The most we had ever heard of was 12! So we decided not to focus on how many people we get, but to try and share with them what we love, THE GOSPEL!! By the end of it... We had 17 contacts. CRAZY! It was awesome to feel the spirit guide us to the people to talk to here.

We now have a new CTM President and he is amazing. He speaks English, so we no longer need to wear headsets so that is super nice! But since Presidente Milder left, we now don't have anyone who leads our music since all the other people left with him. So last P-Day, some lady came up to me speaking mad fast Portuguese and asked me if I could lead the music.  Next thing you know, I have lead the music for the past 4 Devotionals... LOL!! I love it, though!

Funny story: I was so excited to not get any bug bites this week and then all of a sudden... BOOM! I get one of my foot. Today. It's part of my Brazil experience to get bug bites! 

Thank you for the love and prayers. Remember to let everyone know I love emails!  
(email: caroline.guilott@missionary.org.) 

Eu te amo!!  XXOO

Sister Caroline Guilott


ADDITIONAL PICTURES:

My District - the Elders are all going to Teresina and my companions are going to Curitba.

With my silly companions - I love them!

At the Temple January 29, 2020

Bug Bite Picture #4 (I was all excited I didn't have any new bites this week, and then this happened today!)

Week #3 - Half-Way through the "CTM"

This is Louiza, one of the many incredible miracles of my mission so far:
Story was in last week's post, but I didn't have time to download the picture! 

Oi! 

Holy cow how has it been 3 weeks already? I feel like I have been here for months, but at the same time I and also feel like I have been here for 3 days. It is so fun to see all my friends from back home here in Brazil learning the language like me.  This week I saw Natalie Gustavenson, Tyler Ashby, two of my friends from summer term (Oliver Zaug and Cole Hunter), Sara Rutter my friend from work--her brother is here, two of my friends from my BYU Book of Mormon class, Kaden Genta, and all the people I met online before I came here. It's so awesome after talking about coming here, we are all finally here!

So fun to have "Elder Ashby" in the CTM
(a good friend from HS and my stake in Pleasant Grove!)

This week was crazy filled with classes and learning Portuguese. Our instructors are starting to talk faster in Portuguese and only in Portuguese. They sometimes ignore us if we talk in English and only listen to us if we speak in Portuguese. My district is really good at understanding Portuguese, but we need to speak it more. So this week are trying to only speak Portuguese and if we don't know what to say, we look it up in our dictionary. Today we all went to the Sao Paulo Temple again. I love it there!

Sister Anderson, Sister De Mille, and Me!
Sao Paulo Temple

So last week I told you guys about TRC's (I don't even know what it stands for) but we had another one on Saturday and we taught Pedro about the atonements and our life here on earth. Sister Anderson was talking about the Atonement and all of a sudden Pedro asked us (in Portuguese) "How can I be saved?" I responded saying, "Baptism." Then there was some silence, and then Sister Anderson asked him "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized?" And he said... YES! Before we went in we were planning what to respond with when he would say no to that question, but he said yes. So we kind of paused and then just went on. Even though he is a member in real life, I still felt the spirit so strongly. 

On Tuesday, I was outside with my district studying during class and all of sudden we were walking back inside and we saw... A LIZARD! So with me being my father's daughter what did I do? I went and picked it up and everyone was so scared I did that. We took some pictures of it that I will attach.

I am my father's daughter!

Today (pday) We got to go to the Sao Paulo temple again and it was amazing. On the drive there, I was sitting by some girls who didn't know English, so I asked them where they were from, and one of them said she was from Santa Cruz Bolivia! I told her that my cousin, Sage, served there and she got so excited and started talking about how nice the missionaries are there. And she told me this in Portuguese! I am understanding a lot more Portuguese, until they start talking fast, but it is fun to be able to understand. I am thankful for my sisters, Emily and Nicole and cousins Anna and Sage, who were such awesome missionaries!   

I love being a missionary. It is so fun and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

Tell people to email me: caroline.guilott@missionary.org.  I would love to hear from everyone. I need the love from back home! 

Eu Te Amo!

Sister Guilott

Note from mom: In her first post from Brazil, Caroline mentioned being asked to sing on day five of her CTM stay. She said it was fun to practice with this awesome Brazilian Elder and then a lady asked if she could film Caroline while Caroline sang; Caroline said yes, and the lady filmed right up close. Well, that video appeared today and it has had over 5,800 views, 150 shares (most are in Brazil) and its so fun that Caroline has no idea!

Click on link to view her singing on FB: Video

Bug Bite Picture #3: The bugs love me!

This snack is called "Pingo's" and they are advertised as
bacon flavored Cheerios...Grossest thing ever!

My companions

Finally: other missionaries going to Brasilia in the CTM with me!
They are all native Spanish or Portuguese speakers.

Sister Call (She lives next door to the Ropers back home in Pleasant Grove)

Week #2 - Amazing Moments from Sao Paulo

Como vai! 

I can't believe it has already been two weeks since I've left home. It definitely feels longer and also it feels shorter. But... This week was crazy fun. We have classes all day every day except for P-Day (our "day off" to take a break from things, and do things like laundry, go to the temple, write letters, etc.) and Sunday, but we still have to study all the time. I am starting to understand more Portuguese each day. Our instructors here are making us start to speak only in Portuguese in the classroom, so that makes us have to learn faster. And you remember my companion Sister Hernandez? Well she isn't my companion anymore--lol. Since she's fluent in Spanish, she is now companions with a Brazilian and is leaving for Brasilia in two weeks. We are the only two in the CTM going to Brasilia. So I am now in a trio with sister Anderson and Sister De Mille. I love them both so much. It is way easier to be in a trio (than I thought) and we have the best of times. We also just started this week something called "TRC" which is when we have a random instructor act like an investigator and over the next few weeks we have to teach him in Portuguese like he has never heard of our church before. I was so nervous the first day and we didn't do too good. The next day was our second one and we did AMAZING! Some cool stories from this week:

We had to go to the Federal Police Department to verify who we are and to get fingerprinted. We were there just sitting for like 3 hours. But I saw Sister Platt there! I was so happy to see her. She is serving in the visitor center at the temple and is loving it there. But while me and Sister De Mille were waiting for Sister Anderson, a random Brazilian guy was walking past us, stopped, and just stared at me. I was kinda creeped out so I smiled and waved. He then came up to me and asked in broken English "Where are you from?" I then replied, "Utah."  He then asked what I was doing there. So I replied: I am a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (in Portuguese) and pointed to my name tag. He stared at my tag, then my face, said nothing and walked away. My first real missionary interaction with a Brazilian outside of the CTM! 

Today we got to go to the Campinas Temple. It is so beautiful. While waiting there, a lot of people showed up and were talking to everyone. All of a sudden, a Brazilian girl randomly came up to me and my companions and starting asking us about our Portuguese. Then we made eye contact and I realized it was my friend I met on instagram from my mission, a girl name Luiza. I mentioned her in my farewell talk (story added below) and I didn't know if I would ever be able to meet her, since she would be leaving to the CTM a week after I'd get to Brasilia. But she was there. It was really her!  We screamed and hugged each other and everyone looked at us weird. But I felt the spirit so strongly when I saw her. I knew that God had planned that encounter and it was amazing to be able to meet her in real life, in front of the Campinas temple.

I love being a missionary. I have never felt so happy doing something in my life. I will talk to you all next week!!

Love Sister Guilott <3

With Sister De Mille and Sister Anderson at the Campinas Brazil Temple

*Story of Louiza: "When I received my mission call in early September, I excitedly looked on social media at sites reserved for those who have received their call. You can look up others going to your same mission.  I posted that I was going to Brasilia and a young girl named Luiza reached out to me and said she was from Brasilia and was so excited I would be serving in her country and city. We started to correspond back and forth, which was difficult with the language barrier as her English was limited and my Portuguese consisted of four words. She started asking me how I knew that I wanted to serve a mission and then asked me about the specifics: like how do you start your papers, what is the process. I shared with her my story of my experience and my excitement to be serving a mission. We continued to correspond as she made that first appointment with her bishop and started her papers. She would text me about her progress. She received her call last month and texted me and made sure that her mission call opening would be at a time that I could participate and watch. It was such a tender moment to watch my new friend open her call, and in a foreign language I have hope to one day understand, receive her call to Mexico City. She leaves in February and I don’t know if I will have the opportunity to meet her in person, but we were able to strengthen one another through this experience as we both are preparing to serve missions, to become missionaries. Her love for me, a stranger from Brasilia, Brazil, has blessed my life." 

Thank you Mindy for the awesome clothesline!  I love it!

Daily exercise at 9:00 AM - it's soooo hot!

Bug Bite Picture #2

Note from Mom: The following picture was posted on the FB missionary site for Caroline's grandfather's (Brazil Sao Paulo Mission - President Beitler) mission site. The CTM President, Presidente Milder posted this picture and said, "Ela será Sister Guilott. Neta do Presidente Baitler. Filha de Juliet Beitler, que foi missionária na Missão Lisboa. Sister Guilott servirá na Missão Brasília." He served as a missionary under Caroline's grandfather. We loved getting that picture of her, and cherished the opportunity to reconnect this past week with so many wonderful missionaries who I knew in Brazil where we lived for 3 years while my father was the mission president in Sao Paulo, one of the 4 missions at that time (now there are 36).

Week #1 - Hello From Sao Paulo!

First off I need to say that Sao Paulo is super hot and humid. Walking off the airplane, I immediately started sweating. The flight over was super long and boring and I was stuck on the airplane in between two big Brazilians... So that was fun lol. The first day here was horrible because we didn't really do anything and we were all just thinking about how we had just said goodbye to our families for 18 months, but the next day was amazing. Right when we got to the CTM, I found out my companion is Sister Hernandez! We are the only two missionaries in the CTM going to Brasilia. She is amazing. Sister Hernandez is fluent in Spanish, so she is going to learn the language really fast which stressed me at first, but then I realized that she would be able to then help me learn the language. Yesterday we found out that Sister Hernandez isn't going to be my companion anymore. Since she's already fluent in Spanish, she's going to be companions with a Brazilian. So now I will be companions with Sister Anderson (one of the cute twins in my district that you met in SLC at the airport when I left) and Sister De Mille. I was sad when I found out since this week with Sister Hernandez has been awesome, but I know that this is all happening for a reason. And now I am excited to be in a trio! 

Everyday and all day we have classes and all last week, we were only having classes about learning Portuguese. That was definitely stressful, but still fun. I love the Portuguese language, it is beautiful. And all the Brazilians are so nice and only want to help us learn the language. Me and Sister Hernandez are the only two sisters on our floor that share a room with just two other sisters. Everyone else has six girls in their room. Something awesome about our roommates: Sister Dominguez is from Honduras and is learning Portuguese, and Sister Braga is from Brazil speaking her native language. But the hard part is that they don't speak any English at all. So Sister Hernandez and Sister Dominguez (who both speak Spanish) have to translate for us. We also all decided to pray together at night in our native languages. Saturday night, Sister Braga prayed and she told me and Sister Hernandez that she would pray slowly for us so we could understand some of the stuff she was telling us. AND I UNDERSTOOD HER!! We had learned how to pray that day, and being able to hear her was amazing. Also, Sister Hernandez and I got called out of our class Sunday before church to meet with someone in our branch presidency... we looked at each other scared. We are now Sister Training Leaders for our zone!! We were shocked that they would call us as that, especially on our first week. But it was awesome and I was very humbled by that. (I don't know what will happen now that we will have new companions, so I will let you know.)

When we arrived to the CTM, we took pictures with our CTM president, Presidente Milder. He has lived in Sao Paulo for all his life, so I asked him if he knew my Grandpa (since my grandpa was a mission president in Sao Paulo in 1976) and he looked at me for a moment and then said: "That was my mission president!!" He then went around to everyone and was telling them about my grandpa and how I was President Beitler's granddaughter. And a lot of people knew "Presidente Beitler" which is crazy! 

Monday and Tuesday were just classes and learning the language. My district is great! Our teachers have told us that we are learning a lot faster than a lot of other classes. We already did a lesson with our teacher in Portuguese! It was scary, mostly because we couldn't understand him that well, but it was still fun. Today (p-day) we got to go to the Sao Paulo Temple. It was amazing. Literally no words. 

My first week in the CTM has been amazing. So many missionaries here have told us how hard it is the first week and how they always cried and hated it ... But so far I love it and I love learning the language and learning more about my Savior. I was asked to sing a solo tonight at the Welcome Devotional for the new missionaries arriving today.  Pray for me!

Love you all and miss you guys!! 

Sister Guilott <3

New Missionaries CTM 1/1/2020 with Presidente and Sister Milder

My district (my new companions will be the ones on the right). 

Sister Hernandez and me in our room - We like sleeping on the top bunks. It's too hot on the bottom.
No A/C in the bedrooms. We have A/C in the classrooms only. No where else.  It is soooooo hot! 
The A/C broke last night and we were so sweaty when we woke up. 

Taking a "selfie" at the Sao Paulo Temple with my digital camera!

Bite Picture #1 - I got these just sitting in class!! 

I Am in Sao Paulo!

Last picture before "good-bye"

Hello! 

I made it to the CTM safely. The airplane ride was so long but it was fun. It was also fun to see Sao Paulo. On the bus ride over we were with all of the Brazilians and that was so fun to hear them speak Portuguese. I asked a couple of them, "Como se diz" and then said a word and then they told me what it was. My companion is Sister Hernandez, the one who is going to my same mission. Our district is 1B, so our p-day is next Wednesday, so I will email you then and send my blog and some fun pictures then. I love you! Also, IT IS SO HUMID!! I miss you lots but I know that I am going to have such an amazing time here. 

The Group Going to Brazil 12/31/19

Eating her PBJ made with love by her father