Week #13 - Home

Monday, March 30, 2020

Last day with Sister Cunha

Well this week was definitely different... I HAD TO LEAVE BRAZILLLL!! But I made it home safely, and now am in quarantine for 14 days like all other missionaries coming home to help keep everyone safe. Only 10 more days left hahaha! I was definitely a mess the first couple days home (with being jet lagged and sleep deprived) but also because I miss Brazil so much. My travel home was an adventure...

Random picture my mom found on FB
to know I had made it to Sao Paulo.

I had to be at the mission office at midnight on Tuesday and we left for the Brasilia airport around 2 AM. Then we flew to Sao Paulo, waited there the whole day, then flew all night arriving in LA, and then I waited there the whole day... FINALLY after 50+ hours of trying to come back to Utah, I MADE IT! Funniest part is that my mom didn't get any information about me coming home. Luckily, I had found an Apple store in the Sao Paulo airport and had quickly messaged her telling her my tentative flight plans. I didn't know this until 2 days ago, but my mom and dad had pulled up into the SLC airport 30 seconds before I had come out of the airport... So I am glad that I didn't have to wait for them and be lost hahaha! But it has been so weird to be home, especially since I only said goodbye to my family three months ago (actually three months ago today woot woot). 

My parents found me--even without an itinerary or
phone call letting them know I was coming home!

Cheerios and safe water! Two things I MISSED!

One of the hardest parts for me was saying goodbye to my companion Sister Cunha. She is literally one of my best friends and I know she will always be in my life. Her family already told me after my mission I can go and live with them in Sao Paulo hahaha! 

Sister Cunha shared this on FB - so sweet!

I have had the best support from my family and friends this last week with all these new adjustments. My mom is helping me with the language, my dad is doing companion study with me, and Emily watches Disney movies with me hahaha! And my friends have been so nice with keeping in touch with me. 

Social distancing and quarantining! 

This week was one of the hardest for me, but I'm trying to stay HAPPY :)  ALSO yesterday, one of my moms best friend's in the ward had the idea to have everyone in our ward to do a drive-by for all the missionaries that had to come home early because of coronavirus, and wowza I felt so loved during that. THANK YOU to everyone for all you've done!!! 

My neighbors did a parade to welcome home
all of us quarantined missionaries!

I am so thankful to be a missionary, and to still be a missionary right now while at home. I know that this is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that through prayer and scripture reading we can feel the love our Savior has for us. HE DOES LOVE EVERYONE! This is my fifth week of quarantine, so I have been able to get in a lot of scripture reading, and everyday I learn something new.  I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!! It is so true! I am excited to have the chance to share it here in the States, but hope I can go to Brazil and continue the work there as well :)

Love you all!

Sister Guilott <3

My companion!

Week #12 - Intermission

Monday, March 23, 2020

OIIII AMIGOS!!!! 

Let me just start out saying how much I love my Savior and how He truly does know everything and is our best friend. I found out last night that I am to return home and be in self isolation  quarantine for 2 weeks then will be temporarily reassigned somewhere in the US... This definitely hasn't been what I thought my mission would be like in the beginning, but I have definitely learned so much. I have learned how to trust my Savior more than anyone. 

Thankfully, this past was definitely fun so I leave with some fabulous memories. It started out boring because me and Sister Cunha were in quarantine, the only missionaries in Brasilia still. In fact, I think we were quarantined first out of the whole country! Then Thursday our STLs told us they were coming over to have a slumber party with us, hahaha, and while on their way over, we got a message from our Mission Presidente saying that all missions in Brazil were being placed on quarantine... but the STLs still came over. That next day, we went to their area with them. It was nice to get out of our apartment for a day and to be somewhere else. And Saturday we got to go to a baptism for a lady named Léa. She was adorable. And Sister Moreti (our stl) asked me to give a little talk about baptism and... I DID!!! And it was amazing to be able to share my testimony in Português about baptism. At least I got do that before I left. It was an awesome experience and one I will treasure always.

I am so happy for my time here in Brazil. I am heartbroken to be leaving, but I am praying and hoping that I will be able to come back here and continue serving  as a missionary here. I will also miss Sister Cunha so much. She has become one of my best friends. I told her earlier today in all seriousness... "Sister Cunha, you have been my favorite companion I've had here in Brazil." We both started laughing so hard hahaha!! 

I love this gospel and know it is so true!! Dont be afraid to share your testimony to other people. Even if you guys are 6 ft apart ;) 

Brazil, God be with you 'til we meet again!

Love you all so much <3 

Sister Guilott :)

Before we knew I would leave, we went to the store. They still have TP. 

So glad I brought yard to make bracelets for people. It has helped the time go by!

Surviving the quarantine-various things going on at once...That is me with my Tiger Pet studying.

Week #11 - Ubers, Teaching, and Guacamole!

Monday, March 16, 2020

Oiiii!!!

We got a brief break from quarantine this week!

You guys remember how I was quarantined and couldn't go outside and teach..? Well, we could go outside this week!!! And we taught some awesome people!! Last pday, we went to a family's house for dinner and they had an Uber pick us up. Me and Sister Cunha love Uber's because then people are stuck with us and they have to listen because they get money from us and then they're nice as well. Anyways this Uber driver told us his mom had a Book of Mormon and would want to be taught the lessons.... WELL OKAY!!! So we got his number; we called and set up a time and went and taught him and his mom a couple days later. They loved our message and you could feel the spirit so strongly in that room!! 

So happy to be out with the people and teaching!!

We also went out and gave pamphlets to people, and just talked with so many people. I even was able to talk a lot more to people this week. I still don't understand as much as I want to, but I can tell I'm so close... Anyways life was going great, we had a whole bunch of lessons planned for next week with different people and then.... our mission presidents wife called us and told us that we are now being quarantined again.... to say I was sad is an understatement. I was devastated because I finally was able to teach and feel like a real missionary, and now I have to stay inside again? But I quickly turned to prayer and the scriptures and came across the scripture Alma 38:5 that says, "As much as ye shall put your trust in God, even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions." I loved this scripture and it helped me so much because when we put all our faith and trust in our Savior, He will help us. I know that the start of my mission has been very different than I every imagined and has been hard for me, but I TRUST MY SAVIOR!!! Thank you again to everyone and all your prayers!! 

Outside feels good! Love my companion!

Funny story now... we were eating a meal with this cute old Brazilian family and when we walked in their house, I saw QUACAMOLE and was so excited. Then we didn't eat it and I was confused... then for dessert they brought out the guacamole and I was like "heck ya, chips and guac for dessert woohoo!" And then they told me that you add sugar to the avocados and I was a little grossed out and prayed that it would not be as gross as it sounded. Guess what? IT'S AMAZING--HOLY COW!!! Who knew avocados with sugar would actually sound appetizing?? Everyone stay healthy!

Love you all so much!!

Love,
Sister Guilott

A member gave us some peanut butter-a luxury item in Brazil!

Finding out we would be quarantined again

Some sort of yummy drink!

Something to pass the time-learning primary songs together!

Ice Cream cone my companion sculpted into me! lol

Week #10 - One Month this week in Brasilia!

March 9, 2020

We got to leave once this week: to go teach our English class

This week marks ONE MONTH IN BRASILIA!! And what a crazy month it has been... 

As most of you know, I had pneumonia last week and I feel so much better now. Thank you for all the prayers! I felt the love from everyone this week. I felt better really fast and was ready to go out and do the work, but then we got a call from our mission president... and someone in our area, Lago Sul, has the coronavirus and now we are on lockdown in our apartment... Let me just say that this has been soooo hard for me. All I want to do is just go out and work, but now we have been stuck inside our apartment for 2 weeks. Even though it has been hard, I have learned so much. Nothing exciting happened this week expect 2 baratas (cockroaches) flew into our apartment and we screamed like little girls. So, I will just share what I learned this week since all I did was study. I have been able to study more about our gospel and my testimony of it has grown so much. 

Since being a missionary, I have gained an understanding for many more things and things are just starting to click in my head. I read so much in the Book of Mormon that it is now 100% my favorite book. I know it is the true word of God. I know that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon and that he was a Prophet of God. I have loved being able to learn more about Joseph Smith and my testimony of him has grown so much. I am so ready to go out and just share my testimony with the people here. Even though the start of my mission has not been what I thought it would be, I have seen God's hand in my life so much!!

One funny story... We have a little grocery store right by our house and there's this one guy that is always outside all day everyday selling pao de quejo. So we decided to buy some from him and he started talking to us. He knew I was American and was talking to Sister Cunha and was telling her to ask me something. I was understanding him and then he started saying words I didn't know and I got confused... Found out, he wanted to know my opinion about Trump and terrorist attacks.... I just stared at him and didn't know what to say--hahaha. So I just said that I didn't have an opinion lol.  That was a funny experience. I hope this week we can actually go outside. We are waiting to get the news it is safe to go out. I love you all and miss you all so much!! 

Com Amor! Eu te amo!

Sister Guilott

I finally was able to buy a pillow case and sheet today!!! I have
not had them this whole time! Simple things that make me happy!

Week #9 - Pneumonia

Monday, March 2, 2020

Rainy days and tracting -- may cause pneumonia!

WOWZA what a week I had... Lets just say that it wasn't what I expected... Tuesday morning I woke up not feeling to good, so my companion Sister Cunha told me I should sleep a little bit more. After another half an hour, I woke up and I knew I wasn't okay. That's when I realized I had a fever of 102... We called our mission president's wife, who is over medical, and she told us to go to the nearby hospital to be checked. So we went to the hospital and they did a whole bunch of weird tests and said something was wrong with my kidneys? Yeah, confusing. This happened to the be the first day a case of coronovirus was discovered in Brasilia, so when I walked in as a foreigner having just arrived 14 days before on an airplane, with symptoms of a high fever and weird cough....lets just say it was a bit crazy.

World's Best Companion

Anyways, the next couple days we just took it slow, in and out of hospitals to see what was going on with me. But my fever won't go away. Thursday we went back to the hospital, spend more time there, did more tests, and guess what... they still didn't know what was going on and although they still thought my kidneys were messed up (they aren't, lol). The next day we had zone conference and before that, me and my companion went with our mission president's wife, Sister Cooper to an appointment that I had with a nephrologist because of some abnormal tests from the day before. (Yeah, a lot of new words I never knew before.) And let me just add that I did not understand anything these past days because I already don't understand Portuguese, and I for sure don't understand medical terms in Portuguese. The nephrologist didn't think anything was wrong with my kidneys, so we went over to zone conference, even though it was day four that I still had a fever that didn't go away, and a strange cough. As Sister Cooper was driving us home (I looked to sick to go home on public transportation so she offered us a ride), all of a sudden my throat started to close up and I couldn't breath! And what happened to be right by us? A HOSPITAL!! So we went in... I once again experienced a Brazilian emergency room not understanding anything and again more tests were done. I had to get more blood drawn (my least favorite thing), get an IV, get an x-ray, get a ct-scan, get a weird q-tip shoved up my nose and I still didn't know what was wrong with me. They had ruled out coronavirus (lol) the couple days before, and so they now thought it was maybe Dengue Fever. But then they were all confused when that test came back negative. FINALLY!! After being so sick for 4 days and not understanding anything that was wrong with me, I found out I have... PNEUMONIA from the chest xray and I was then transferred (by ambulance) to a different hospital that was literally a 5 star hotel and stayed there until last night.... 

The doctors kept thinking I had scary things...

Smiling because my IV is out and I get to go back to my area!

Breathing treatments--they helped a lot!

So, I guess you could say this week was exciting. Even though these experiences literally were all my least favorite things (needles, hospitals, being sick), I could not get over how much peace I felt. My companion was amazing and treated me so kindly and has been my so helpful. My Mission President and his wife have been amazing. All the missionaries here have been so kind. Some Elders were able to come and give us the sacrament in the hospital and what a cool experience that was. My ward here in Lago Sul have only wanted to help and have been so kind. All the doctors here, even though I didn't understand them too well most of the time, were so nice and treated me with love. We definitely gave out a few pamphlets to some nurses and doctors. I felt the prayers of my family and friends at home who were praying so much for me. 

Thank you all so much for your love and support. But most importantly, I felt my Savior's love this week. Through Him, I was able to handle this situation with grace and patience. I know that God gives us trials for a reason, and it is hard to have this one with only being in Brazil for two months, and Brasilia for three weeks. But I feel so much love from everyone. Thank you again for all your help this past week. <3

LOVE,

Sister Guilott

On the bus, before getting sick!