"It is such a sacred honor and privilege to wear Christ's name on my chest every single day. How amazing is that."

Some shots from our temple walk our first Sunday here! 

Love me some Sister Johnson!

Hey y'all!

Como vai (what's goin' on/what's happenin/what's shakin'? In Meg speak that's the translation I'll give ya) holy parentheses usage, ha, I apologize folks. Hope everything is going swell por todos (all y'all) missin' ya and praying for ya todos os dias aqui no CTM!

I wanted to start out by doing a little bit of some showin' off. Because yeah, haha, Sister E wants to show off the little bit of good ole Portuguese she knows.. 

Vi um pilar de luz, acima de minha cabeza mais brilliante que o sol que descia gradualmente sobre mim. quando o luz pousou sobre mim, vi dois personages cujo esplendor y gloria desafiam qualquer descricao, parando no ar acima de mim um deles falou-me chamando pelonome e disse, apontando para o outro- este e meu filho amado: ouve-o! 

Bam. Roasted. Haha this right here folks is the First Vision in Portuguese. So if all I hear is blahblah huyuefyhahdui randomness over in Cape Verde and my mind goes absolutely blank, this aqui (here) will be my fall back. pretty brilliant right? haha. 

The language is coming slowly but surely. Cannot wait for the day when I'm just straight up fluent. dia por dia, day by day i know it'll come. the gift of tongues can be mine or (dom de linguas)

Wanted to share some things we've had the privilege of hearing from different speakers we've had. Its like a new celeb's in town around here two times a week! Tuesday nights and Sunday nights we have devotionals given by the brethren and they all just rock. Love them to death. Talk about men called of God. It's like Christmas twice a week ha we love it. 

So this past week we heard from Elder Guodoy of the 70 he's the one who spoke in MY language, good ole Portuguese, in General Conference. Stellar guy haha and oh my heck he's HILAR you guys! He's very fluent in Portuguese AKA his English is very, very broken ha but it was soo cute because he struggled at times but he totally embraced it and just tried to play charades as best he could. 

We had a lot of fun with it. His talk was ooober powerful. In English there's not a tonnnn I could write about it, but you best believe I understood it in Portuguese woot woot. I want to share from Elder Larry Lawrence though if that's okay. He and his wife are from California originally, and wowzerz, that man is genius. 

He had so so many powerful things to share! He talked about the tactics Satan uses to try and bog us all down and talked about how we can protect ourselves. we can always count on Satan to lie to us, but the amazing thing is that the holy ghost will ALWAYS tell us the truth. We need to constantly strive to have the spirit with us in all we do and say. he said quote: Satan trembles when he sees even the weakest saint on his knees! So, so powerful. We all have the power to call upon the powers of heaven. Our heavenly father is always going to be there, but its up to us to call upon him. We must call upon him "Even in our darkest hour!" I know this to be true. 

The MTC pulls you and breaks you down in so many ways you never even thought possible. Haha, Sister E has seen it and felt it. But the amazing thing is, we don't have to do this alone! our Savior walked the path alone so that we didn't have to! The atonement is real, there isn't a thing it can't cover. The love He has for us is incomprehensible, so we must always be doing whatever we can to strengthen our relationship with our Savior. Our father in heaven WANTS to bless us, he WANTS us to succeed. 

We need to learn to humble ourselves and realize that this journey here on life wasn't meant to be journeyed alone. He also said that the lord is the only one who knows the thoughts and intentions of our hearts, so don't let Satan in on your thoughts through negative thoughts and ill words that we speak. Don't let him win. Satan's armies know that their days are numbered, so they are going to do ALL that they can in the time they have to bring us down and make us feel miserable. but always remember: the armies of God are larger than the armies of Satan. ALWAYS. 2/3 of us chose His plan, the plan of happiness. so let us show our valiance and remain faithful,.."Even unto the end." 

I LOVE THIS GOSPEL SO SO MUCH. And I know I will learn to love it in Portuguese com tempo (with time) haha. Just keep me in your prayers y'all. It is such a sacred honor and privilege to wear Christ's name on my chest every single day. How amazing is that. And even though you all don't wear a badge, you are STILL a disciple of Christ. You can help bring souls unto Christ every single day in the way you lead your life. Be the example. Be the ones people look to. 

We are apart of God's army, so lets strengthen our numbers and bring in more troops! MUITO AMOR FROM SISTER E (p.s. it's hilar because I swear half the people I know if you were to ask them my name is literally Sister E and nothing more... trying to keep things simple for the missionaries round here, just lookin' out for them ha Eliason is far too hard to remember). Keep the faith, xoxoxo

Com amor, 

Irma Eliason 

"I'm struggling to remember what day the madness all began haha"

Pics of Da Zone

K HOLY COWZERZ Y'ALL!

 haha what a week it's been in the life of the Sister mish irma (sister) Eliason! I may as well write this baby in all caps so you can just feel of the craziness that's gone on, haha. Okay now I am just hyping it up waaay to much now but its been an interesting one to say the least ha. It has definitely solidified my testimony that heavenly father HANDS DOWN has one of the greatest senses of humor of all time, and that He is definitely in control and is over all. Haha bless me, I'm struggling to remember what day the madness all began haha.

So last Wednesday I woke up not feeling all the hot, but for me here as a missionary half the time I'm so consumed in what we've got planned for the day I don't even look in the mirror that day to see what kind of havoc my hair is going to raise for me that day or whether or not my patterns are matching, so I just proceeded on with the day and prayed that I would be able to truck through. 

It came time for gym time so of course you have to get your game face on and me and this sister in my district were doing these crazy wall sits and (obv) competing to see who could hold it the longest with the person standing on your knees. (yeah, we go hard here) so, in all humility, I beat her by a solid like ten seconds and got like 2 mins and 20 seconds or something. so uh yeah, after that things just went on fast downward slope to #STRUGGGLE. I ended up uh heaving (ralphing, vomiting I don't know how to use it politely) and was so out of it the rest of that night that my companion and I missed dinner and classes and the whole shibang... 

Little did we know we would be becoming best friends with our dorm room and bunk beds and the other sickly sisters that are in our residence throughout the rest of the week. Raise the roof, raise the roof! Bless sister haycock's heart, OMG the Lord surely prepared the best and thee most patient human being. She stuck through it with me through EVERY SINGLE BIT of it. I know she has a spot reserved for her in the celestial kingdom no doubt about it! 

But yeah, I made all kinds of friends and had all kinds of embarrassing moments that I didn't ever quite plan on and moments most people shouldn't plan on haha. All aboard the struggle bus! Party of 1 good ole sister E! Ya gotta love it. 

So the next morning I was praying it would be just a quick passing by of the flu bug or something but it lingered and lingered and wore me out to the bone. p.s. mom when ya said in your card ya sent that you were praying it would be an "extra special week for me" haha yeah, your prayers were definitely answered! one of the more "special" weeks I've had in quite some time, hahaha. Me and sister Haycock got a good laugh out of the irony, so thank you. love ya to pieces. 

So anyways that morning hahaha yes, this is a true story, I had thee incredibly humbling opportunity, to be wheeled into the health clinic from all the way across campus. yeah. Probs had all kinds of missionary paparatzzi all around me saying bless that sister's heart! Super super humbling, but have no fear, I  made friends with the cute little nurse lady oh my heavens to Betsy she was THE CUTEST little grandma you ever did see and took such good care of me! She has the most darling tender voice and was warning me that I'd wanna kick her after the shot she put into my hip, but good grief are yakiddin? wouldn't dreeeeaaammm of doin that to this sweet little soul. 

Long story short y'all I've never been so exhausted in my life and have never slept so peacefully than the way I did at the health clinic! There's beds open available morning til' about 4:30 monday-friday y'all so come get your spot!

So long story short, they couldn't quite pin point what exactly was going on but the doc thought the stress, some dehydration, the latter part of my cold, and some other fun things are what contributed to my blessed affliction last week. but don't worry after about Sunday morning I was as good as new, until this morning I woke up with a scare of pink eye! but we detected it quick and its going away faster than it came on and we aint gonna let it do any more damage to sister E! She's got work to do here and it doesn't quiiiiite involve makin' friends with the elderly and with your pillow/psychiatrists/docs/wheelchairs/and funny yet sickly sisters you find roaming in the blessed hallways of your residence!

Folks, I've learned A LOT this past week and I know for a fact I wont quite be able to spit it all out but I'll sure try! THE LORD IS OVER ALL & EVEN THOUGH HE DOESN'T STILL WALK THIS EARTH, HIS POWER IS STILL PRESENT BY WAY OF THE PRIESTHOOD. I was able to receive not only one, but two priesthood blessings from Elders within my district as well as my zone. I seriously love these guys (elders, sorry, have to be MTC approved on here somewhat) like my brothers. 

It was the cutest darnest thing! This elder Elder Noyes was SO thrilled to jump at the opportunity to help give me a blessing and anoint me. I, not for one second, felt alone throughout these sicknesses. I've had my companion and everyone you could possibly imagine praying for me, carrying me, monitoring me while I was getting a bit cray cray post-meds, giving me blessings, praying for me, and Sunday morning we had these two cute cute sisters whose names I don't even know bring us the sacrament. How loved can one sister missionary be! 

The love I have felt from everyone has been OVERWHELMING! God truly is watching over us and sends tender mercies our ways through the amazing individuals that surround us. I am literally surrounded by angels here. mom, dad, don't you worry, I am in good hands! Our teacher kind of had a little sit down/pow wow with us last night because he felt inclined to do so. Omg y'all I know 100000% this man is going to be the next prophet and he is definitely going to give district 7C a shoutout at general conf! This guy is incredible. He brings the spirit the SECOND he walks through the door. His experiences and knowledge and even his jokes are sooo insanely spiritual ha he makes class so so intriguing. I know he is called of God. 

But anywhoo last night he was talking to us about our mish experience and how we, as missionaries, are taking sips of the atonement every single day that we're out here. When Christ performed the atonement, he experienced every single pain that we would ever experience here in this life and every negative feeling we'd ever feel. He experienced it through excruciating pain, one. by. one. he pictured me, he pictured you, he pictured Sister Haycock, Elder Poulson, Elder Higginbotham, Sister Nielsen, he had every single one of us in mind through it all. 

As we are out here serving, we experience just mere SIPS of what that pain was like. We experience homesickness, doubts, lack of confidence, we struggle IMMENSELY with the language, learning how to teach and knowing what to say. When he referred to homesickness he said do you wanna know why you have to say goodbye to your family for 2 years or 18 mos? You are doing that because, when you are out in the field, you will come into contact with fams and investigators and when you have done all you can to invite them to come unto Christ, you too will then be asking them to give up all they have and all they've ever known to The Lord..you may be asking them to say goodbye to their families for a lifetime...and it is then in that moment you can tell them you've walked where they have, and you can be there for them because you yourself have experienced that same pain, just as the Savior endured all the pains we will ever go through in this life. 

HALLELUIGH irmao (brother) Buttars! Words from a future prophet y'all!

Anywhoo I LOVE YOU ALL EU SEI QUE O EVANGELHO E VERDADEIRO CON TODOS MINHA CORACAO

xoxoxo

Muito amor from Sister Eliason

"I am so privileged to take on such a sacred responsibility to help bring others unto Christ."

Goin' to Cape Verde! Can't wait!

Me and Sister Haycock, Whaddupp?

This is Kenzie Ogletree, a family friend from my early days growing up in Texas. She teaches at the MTC!

Ola minha familia e meus amigos!

How goes it? Haha... So I sure hope y'all embraced every little bit of last week's email because that's probably the most you will hear from Sis Eli her whole time out in the mish field. Totes joking...well sort of, haha. It sounds like good ole Cabo Verde just don't gots lots goin' on over there internet wise. but we shall see in due time. Meanwhile, I don't have to worry about that because the good ole MTC is the place I call home for the next 4ish weeks. Weeeirrrd that I've already been here dois semanas. Holy cowzerzzz. 

So Dad, haha, to answer your blessed bullet points yes, I HAVE as a matter of fact taken Sister Johnson to the rack and it felt perty dang good. In my sick neon nikes and all. they probably blinded her so that's where the advantage came in. Go Sis Eli. gotta use the only tools ya still got left... Ha an elder did comment that I had a Harlem Globetrotters type finish and sick assist the other day so that was sweet! 

And THANK YOU for the package ha we have been freezin' our little missionary buns here ha. It's definitely not Cabo Verde status weather here right now. Def getting into them autumn/winter months but OMG the leaves are GORG, It's the cutest little view you ever did see. And going to the temple? It's amazazazingggg. Speaking of which we are going in a couple of hours. Ha going to the temple is like RECESS, it's the best part of the day. Us sisters wish we could just do every single session every single day. the peace and happiness we feel as we leave every time is unreal. Fave, fave, fave part of p-day. 

​

This past week ha to be honest was suuuper long so the days just kind of all mesh together. Can't even pick them apart really, but I am definitely learning lots and lots. Retaining? trying to. Ha we set a goal as a district to have an English fast (SO STRAIGHT UP PORTGUESE) every Thursday until we leave. And me and my roomies are gonna try and pull an English fast all of next week so yeah prayers in my behalf are muchly appreciated. Sis Eliason is definitely going to be calling upon the powers of heaven haha. 

I super love my district though ha it's funny how fast you become fam. We are already at times getting impatient with one another because we basically are shacked up with one another every day in class for like 24 hours but it's great. I'm really gonna miss these guys (I mean elders and sisters) when we leave here in a few weeks. Totes friendships that'll last for a long time. 

I have to run but I want to let y'all know that this mission is already changing me and molding me into the missionary heavenly father needs me to be. We've had all kinds of fantab speakers come and there has def been a common theme. This mission is not ours. This gospel is not ours. This is not OUR message to teach. this is the LORD's work and we are his messengers. 

I am so privileged to take on such a sacred responsibility to help bring others unto Christ. I don't know if I mentioned this in the email last week or not but we as missionaries truly are the version of the Lord walking the earth in these latter days because He can't be here with us. We are representatives of Jesus Christ. think of how AWESOME that is! and guys I aint just talkin' about me. We are ALL representatives of Christ whether we own a tag that proves it or not. 

In Alma we read about our purpose here in life which is "a time to prepare to meet God"... the time is nigh folks. We need to do everything in our power to find those who haven't had the opportunity of hearing this great message and SHARE it gosh darnet. Haha. Sorry I don't know if sis missionaries can get that passionate but wouldn't we rather, when it comes time for judgement day to say we did ALL we could to help share this beautiful message with our brothers and sisters. He wants us to come back home. We need to find those who aren't aware of their purpose and help bring them home with us to our father in heaven. 

Don't be afraid to open your mouths. We're mormons. We know it. We live it. And we love it. LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! And please write me and I will do my best to get back to ya but if not we can always have a virtual hug via email! 

THE CHURCH IS TRUE. EU SEI QUE O EVANGELHO E VERDADEIRO!

Sista E

Over & Out

We are like in our own little spiritual world set apart from everything...I know the Lord wouldn't want me to be anywhere else but here...

District 7C!

Ola Meu Familia! 

How goes it y'all? Or I guess in meu language here at the MTC and for the rest of my mish life ha we say como vai? For starters I've just gotta say holy Toledo this MTC thing is...so stinkin' awesome! Def not like anything I've ever done before haha. We are like in our own little spiritual world set apart from everything. Which is both crazy weird to think about but crazy AWESOME. I know the Lord wouldn't want me to be anywhere else but here in such a sacred, dedicated place. 

There are still adjustments I'm having to make such as um saying "hey guys!" aint' allowed. We are all elders and sisters here so we have to drop the blessed slang stuff. It will come, it will come. Con tempo... Haha. Oh, and the gals in my dorm with me (I guess I should say sisters but shh) sometimes find ourselves singing all these Disney songs while we are getting ready in the mornings. 

Like this morning for me and Sister Cordner (shes from Alpine & we totes went to Timberline middle together) it was cheetah girls and singing our favorite song from the second movie "strut like ya mean it!" Ha we will have to fix that for next week since we are all trying to tell ourselves we're going on an English fast AKA no English and just straight up #PORTUGUESE.. yeah. We reach for the stars here at the MTC. Haha but yeah, definitely gonna need some prayers on my behalf next week as we try to conquer this blessed English fast. Gah. 

So here's for Papa E as he sent me some bullet points to answer because we all know my writing and responses can be all over the place. So I will do my best to answer all your ever so wanting to know questions and hopefully it'll just make your whole week haha.

So my comp? Um hashtag LOVE HER. I seriously have witnessed so many miracles being here just since my arrival only 6 days ago... (pushin a week holla). But yeah she has been suuuuuch a blessing. She and I are like the same human being and it rocks ha. We have thee same exact humor ha we could laugh for days. She is like the cutest petite little thing ever, oh and believe it or not she like totalllly accepts my blessed little lingo and goes along with it and even includes some crazy hilar vocab from her own life. 

Haha its the best. We get along super super well. We've both just been praying our guts out that the language will come sooner rather than later! There's been times it has gotten a bit frustrating because all we want is to share this amazing message with people and let them FEEL OF THE LOVE THEIR HEAVENLY FATHER HAS FOR THEM BECAUSE HE IS THERE & WANTS TO HELP US. 

We have had some maj anxiety attacks ha because um day 2 or I think it was 3 here we had an investigator named Samira and we were like k so we've obv got this gospel down in our native tongue, but NOT Portuguese! And Samira could definitely tell! HAHA. We talk about it every day how Samira probably wanted to just record us and show everyone and their dog how BLESSED we sounded haha oh my dear. It was the biggest struggle our Portuguese was soo broken. 

Sister Haycock by the way sorry ha (forgot to mention her name) told me afterwards she was like dude there were like at least a handful of phrases I didn't catch at ALLL ha like what in the world, how did you get those words out? She kept saying like omg I'm so proud of you you totally let the spirit take over and he clearly took over and put those words into your mind and you were able to help Samira feel something. But I'm basically like 100% positive I whipped out all my Spanish knowledge from high school ha because when in doubt revert to espanol right?

But yeah ha I was a biiiit overwhelmed after that experience thinking holy moly how in the world are these Cape Verdians going to feel anything when I'm speaking some like alien language to them?! BUT, tudo bem (its all good/everything's good) because the dom de linguas (gift of tongues) is a very verdadeiro (real) thing and I know my companion and I will qualify for it if we study diligently and have faith that The Lord will provide a way for us to accomplish this... (stay tuned for some Portuguese later) 

Oh and Dad I think by Kiana you meant Sister Johnson:) Yes I totes saw her last week after getting dropped off and it was the sweetest tender mercy ever! Heavenly Father knew I needed to have a familiar face out there in Cape Verde (CV) ha and boy did he pick a good one. Ha bless Kiana's heart, she's somethin else that sista. We hugged the biggest hug you could ever imagine ha it was great. She be rockin her braid things (cornrows) and I'm lovin it and know she will fit right on in with the people of CV. 

Haha funny thing is though she hasn't changed a bit. Gotta love it. More competitive than ever out on the bball court but I haven't let her 1 v. 1 me yet because the MTC needs to humble her a bit more before I can play her because omg that girl has mastered the art of trash talk. Pretty sure she invented it ha. But love her. She and I have already set our goal of baptizing everyone out in CV so go us!

Our district is pretty stellar. We're district 7C haha not that you really care but yeah we pretty much rock. There are about 12 of us in our district and they're all pretty sick. Elder Poulson and Elder Cook are going to um somewhere in Brazil ha p.s. no shocker like this entire MTC has 378274289 missionaries going there its nuts. But yeah they are kinda the strugglers of the group ha because they have zero experience like taking any form of any language...but we're all qualified like our teacher tells us for the gift of tongues so I know they'll be alright. 

Oh and p.s. quick side story ha Elder Poulson he just graduated this past year he went to AF as well and his little "significant other friend" I got to know super well like senior year so he wanted to take a pic with me out on the temple walk so we start to position when a huge voice popped in my head "omg sister e bless you you arent allowed to be with an elder alone haha get the heck outta there!" Ha so we quickly made adjustments and grabbed another sister and another elder and the prob was solved. Don't worry. Exact obedience my friends. Exact obedience brings exact blessings. Holla. 

So yeah and then there's another companionship going to Lisbon, Portugal, they are elders and they are like geniuses. Pretty sure they did Rosetta Stone before they came in ha well and one of them is Asian so ya know. Given. They need to share the wealth. And then another set they are the other 2 sisters besides Sis Haycock and I they are going to that same mission as well. They are just darlinnnnn. Love them. One of them is pretty fresh outta high school and just knows the whole world here at the MTC and tells us all about it ha so we just laugh with her and are like dang sis you're up there in the world. 

But yeah and then another set is going to uh Salvador South Brazil mission and the other one is going to somewhere in Portugal and his comp is the only elder going to CV with us! Haha hes super funny he's hispanic-ish so he knows tons of Spanish so he and I tend to bond via Spanish when we can't spit out any Portuguese. Oh and his fave word we have learned so far is bascech (me and Sis Haycock blanked on how to spell it) but it means basketball in Portuguese so that's kind of awesome. It is everyone's go-to word in the class ha well mostly just me and the elders. 

Our zone is super great they are probably like 40-50 people in it. Oh and yeah total the amount of us going to CV together is 6 of us. Myself, Sister Haycock, Sister Johnson, Sister Tongi, Elder Artaega, and the other sis omg I am drawing a blank on but we are super stoked. Elder Artaega aren't super big on fish though so we are gonna have to try some blessed dishes here in the MTC that are as close to it as possible ha. 

Our teacher Irmao Buttars (Brother Buttars) is so so sick. We are so blessed to have him. We actually didn't even meet him until uh Saturday I think it was. We had Irmao Smith before him, he was great too. Super nice. But this guy... he's super intense, super animated, and super dedicated to our class and I love it/it freaks me out! The first day in class with him was a BIT overwhelming because he was throwing out alllll this Portuguese at us and we were like QUE?

But he finally came to his senses and caved and spoke in English the last like 20 or so mins of class and told us that would be the only day from there on out that we would hear him speak in English. He wants us to get completely immersed while we are here so we can be as prepared as possible. He told us some of his story and its awesome. He was inactive for like 10 years or so but the missionaries stuck with him week after week and finally were able to bring him unto Christ and he eventually served his mish in Sao Paulo I think it was... (Brazil of course) 

He's such a neat guy. You can tell he's lots of fun and has an awesome personality, I just pray that he will have patience with me because he is definitely going to push us and get us out of our comfort zones ha there's no question. He's totally that type, but I think that's just what Sister E needs! Every single time he bears his testimony I feel the spirit so so strong. It's brought me to tears just about every time. But he holds suuuch a special place in his heart for missionaries you can tell! 

He bore witness to us that he KNOWS we as missionaries have been called of God and we are the only people here on earth that have that sacred calling to invite people to come unto Christ. We are the version of Christ here on earth because He cannot be here with us right now. We are His messengers, and it's up to us to gather all His lost sheep and bring them home with us to our Heavenly Father. I'm muito animada for these next 5.5 weeks with him and for all the things we are going to learn and study together!

I only have like 5 mins left so I have to run soon but CONFERENCE? Wasn't it INCREDIBLE? Oh. My. Lanta. The spirit in the room with all of us 3827497 missionaries was something I will never forget and probably won't ever be able to put it into words. Definitely went into my journal haha. Every single talk was out of this world! And how SICK was it that they let the authorities speak in their native tongues?

And even cooler that we got to hear PORTUGUESE! Haha our whole zone was flippin out when Elder Gudouy got up to speak. So awesome. But I would like to bear my testimony to y'all in Portuguese (what I have so far) if that would be alright:

Eu sei que o evangelho e verdadeiro. Jesus Cristo e o nosso salvador e nosso redentor. Eu sou grata pelo amor do nosso pai celestial e este conhecimento me ajuda quando em preciso de consolo. Eu amo jesus cristo e meu famila muito. Digo estas coisas em nome Jesus Cristo, Amem. 

I LOVE YOU ALL AND AM SO GRATEFUL FOR ALL YOUR LOVE AND SUPPORT! KNOW THAT I'M PRAYING FOR Y'ALL DAY AND NIGHT..AND HOPING YA HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN ABOUT SISTER ELIASON JUST YET! LOVE YA WITH ALL THAT I AM. THE CHURCH IS TRUE AND I WILL GO TO MY GRAVE DECLARING THIS WORD TO BE TRUE.

XOXO

P.S. please send this out to peeps dad love ya 

The day has come...Sister Megan Eliason enters the MTC

Back to Utah for the last hurrah...