December 26th FELIZ NATAL

OI FAMILY AND FRIENDS!
I hope everyone had a happy christmas! It was so good to talk with my cute family yesterday. I love you guys so so much. I am so lucky to have the family i have.
This week was good! I will be returning to Camaçari tomorrow for this next transfer! I am happy to go back and see the members and my pesquisadors but I am sad to leave Cabula! It is so hard leaving areas and people. I will also miss all the sisters I have been living with but hopefully i will see them from time to time.
This week i had 2 experinces that i wanted to share with you guys. Both happened while we were teaching lessons in the homes of 2 awesome investigators. So firstly we went to go teach a woman and her son who live in the favela here. Favelas are the super poor areas where the houses are literally stacked on top of eachother. It is very sad to see the way that some people live and it is truly humbling and makes me realize how blessed and fortunate i am. So the woman rita and her son geovan have been speaking with missionaries for a while now. They are both super receptivo and they have a lot of faith but they need a desire to go to church and read o livro de mormon. They told us that they knew that what we taught was true because they felt peace and calm and a light when they received missionaries into their home. We taught them that they needed to pray to gain a desire to read and to attend church so that they could be baptized and recieve the holy ghost and have access to those peaceful feelings always. They said they would and i hope they do. I am sad that i wont get to continue seeing their progress, but i will be praying for them still. They are very humble and very kind and i feel so much love for them. At the end our lesson rita said the prayer and she automatically got onto her knees which i thought was so cool. I guess the first missionaries who ever taught her, taught her to always kneel when she prays so she always does. She prayed and the spirit was so strong. I have a feeling that they will both be baptized someday.
The second experience was while we were teaching an investigator about the priesthood and his mother was sitting in the other room. She lost her leg to diabetes and is very sick and pretty much cant ever leave the house. When we finished our lesson she shouted out asking us if woman held the priesthood too. I thought Oh great we have to have this conversation. We told her no but that woman have many important roles in life and in our church. She went on quite the feminist rant of which i understood almost nothing. When she finished she started to cry. My companion asked what was wrong and she apologized for the rant and said that she was in a lot of pain and was very frustrated and felt hopeless in her life.  She then looked right at me and said "I know you dont have the priesthood, but will you please say a prayer for my leg and my heath right now?" I was shocked and almost ralphed on the floor but i said ok and i prayed for her and for her leg and for her to feel gods love. I felt gods love for her as i prayed. I felt the spirit hhelping me to know what to say. She showed so much faith in asking for a prayer. She said she knew the prayer came from God. I dont know if the pain in her leg will go away but i hope she felt the spirit and i hope she will want to feel it again. We taught her alittle bit more about the priesthood and hoepfully shhe can come to understand the importance of it and the amazing roles woman have in our church.
Well, christmas was hot here. Hotter than usual haha. But it was awesome. They dont celebarte christmas here in brazil the same way we do back in america. You never hear christmas music or see decorations or lights but its alright because it makes it easier not to focus on thhat part of it. I was able to experience christmas in a whole new way this year. Yes i missed being with my family and hearing christmas music and seeing the tree all decorated BUT i got to focus alot more on others and on the Christ. and it was really cool. I love my savior. I know he lives. I know he performed the atonement for us so that we could repent and so that wwe didnt have to feel sad or alone or hopeless. I know he was born to save us all i know he was born to give us all anothehr chance. I know he loves us and wnats to help us so badly. HHe wants us to return back to our heavenly home someday. He wants us to be happy. I am so thankful for the ooportunity i have to share this with people who dont know. To bring the light of jesus christ into their homes so that they can feel the happiness i feel.
I apppreciate my home and family so much more now that i dont have it for a little while. I realize that there is nothing more important than family.
I am coming to realize Gods love for all of us more and more each day. He loves these people here in brazil so much and they love him. I am learning so much from theh example of these humble beautiful people.
I love you all so much. I hope christmas was happy and i hope that we can remember these happy feelings all year long.
EU AMO VÔCES MUITO!! tchau tchau

One of my favorite scriptures for Christmas:
Isaiah 9:6
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

December 19th! New City, New Companion

Oi family and friends!!  
Well this week has been crazy just like all the other weeks haha. I was suddenly moved out of Camaçari on tuesday becasue i had to go have an MRI and my Sister Lund was going home. I cried and cried when i had to say goodbye to sister Lund because she had literally been such an angel and pretty much my mom for the past 4 weeks. But I'm happy she's home with her family and ill see her in a year and a half. But  So my new area is Salvador Cabula! Im right in the city and its way cool here. At first it was really hard because i loved Camaçari so much and i didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to anyone there. But like I talked about last week i am trying to trust more in god and his plan for me and it always ends up being ok. hopefully i will get to serve in Camaçari again someday though!

So i live with 4 other sisters right now..sister Hamblin my old mtc comp, sister gonzalez from mexico, sister Rhodes from guatemala, sister Tembe from mozambique, and my new companion sister Nogal from Sao Paolo. I LOVE sister Nogal. she calls me gatinho which means kitten because she says thats what i look like haha. Its super fun living with all of them.

I love the area and the members and things are super good right now! But so far the mission has been a rollercoaster of emotions so we will see what happens next haha. Ohh and the MRI was scary but everything is fine and i just have to see a physical therapist for a little while. Conquering all the fears here in Brazil mom!!
we had a baptism this week forr maria eduarda! she is 11 and so so cool. her brother is a member but her parents aren't. Her brother has been a huge example for her and so she was baptized by him on Saturday! It was so awesome. She is very smart and so full of the spirit and im just so happy for her and her family. Her dad didnt come to her baptism which was really sad and hard for her but we are going to keep teaching them and hopéfully the parents will accept baptism as well. They are an awwesome family.
Today for pday we went to Pelorinho and im in love with it!! Its the pictures that you see when you type in salvador on the computer. Its seriously beautiful and theres cobblestone streets and people dancing and coconuts and cool chapels and the ocean and uggghhhh HEAVEN for me. Such a cool place.


I can't even express the love I have felt from my heavenly father the past few days as well. I have struggled alot since I had to go to the hospital because I just couldn't understand why these things would happen especially while I'm serving a mission. But like I've said before I have never had to rely on heavenly father in the ways I have had to here. There are just moments of such loneliness and nervousness and anxiety that i have never felt before. But i have no other option other than to get on my knees and pray. And you know what? Help always always comes and the hard days always pass. I am so lucky that i get to be here and i get to see peoples lives change for the better because of this gospel. i especially love the things we get to teach about this time of year because its all about joy and happiness and Jesus Christ. Even though it doesnt feel like christmas at all here haha i still love the spirit of christmas that i can feel. But its gonna be a hot christmas and thats for sure haha.
The people here are amazing and humble and so accepting of our message. They love god. The food is so good. There are monkeys! I still get lots of stares bercause of my glowing whiteness and everyone thinks im from europe and tell me my cheeks are very red haha. But hey its a good conversation starter.
I am so sure that god loves us and that jesus christ is our savior and that he died so that we could live and he suffered so that we could repent and return back home someday. I know that he sends us help and angels every day if we ask and if we have faith. I know that hard times always pass and im learning that attitude and state of mind have such a huge impact on how our days are. We canchoose to be happy if we want to be. it can be tough though. I am learning to that work really is the remedy for any kind of sadness or anxiety or whatever. Getting up and going to work and focusing on other peoples needs instead of our own is the best thing we can do when we are feeling down. Again its not easy to do but its possible and it really works.
I just am trying to remember these things every day. I am so glad that i get to be a missionary. Im so happy i get to serve here in brazil. I miss home some days but i am really trying to make this my home and these people my family for the next little while. I am so excited to skype you family on christmas!! i will proabbly cry the whole time but im so happy to see your faces!!
I love this gospel i love you all and all the support i receive every day. I am so lucky to have such awesome examples and friends back home.
Ohh funny story the other night we were all talking about where is one place you want to visit most in the world and we get to sister tembe (from africa) and she says ventura california. hahaha and i was like sister tembe, thats where i live! haha so funny. She really likes surfing so i told her one day she can come visit me and go surfing in Ventura.
Ok i love you all!! tchau tchau

sister lytle
Enjoy the view.

December 12th- Going to miss Sister Lund!

Oi family and friends!
Well not much to report this week but i did want to share a scripture passage that has helped me alot this week.
Its in Matthew 14 and its the part about Jesus walking on the water.
Jesus is walking on the stormy sea and the disciples are in a ship.
Peter calls out to God and says "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water."
The Lord says come and when peter steps out of the ship he starts walking on the water to go to jesus. a true miracle! and peter shows much faith.
But then Peter becomes afraid because he looks around and realizes that hes in the middle of thsi stormy sea and he gets distracted and starts to sink. He cries out the jesus to save him and of course jesus does. But he says to him "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt."

When peter fixed his eyes on the savior and acted with faith, peter had the power to do what he could never do alone..walk on the water. this is the role of the savior and his grace in our times of need.


i have experienced this alot these past few weeks. There are times when i am struggling so much and i feel like im praying and doing everything im supposed to and i am not recieving any help. this is never true. i can always open my eyes and see the love of my savior all around me. But we get distracted. by physical pain, by fear, by embarrasment, by frustration, and we take our eyes of of the savior and his love and we start to sink. We cannot lose our faith, we cannot doubt. it is hard to do but it is possible. I am still learning this but i see that god is teaching me this for a reason.

i am so thankful for each of you and your love and support. I am learning and growing so much everyday. I am sad to say goodbye to my companion sister lund but i know my next comapanion will be so great. I am so thankful for this opportunity i have to serve a mission in brazil at the time of my life. i am so thanful for my trials because they make me stronger and they make me pray and they make me humble. I love this gospel and i love my salvador jesus cristo.
have a good week everyone. love you all. tchau tchau

Dec. 8th...been a rough week!

Oi family and friends
well this week has been interesting. On friday morning i slipped on the stairs while we were leaving our house. It was raining and super slippery. I hit my head on the back on the edge of the step and my arms and back. It happened very fast and thinking back on it i cant even imagine how funny it mustve looked haha. Anyways the members here found out and were very concerned and took me to the hospital. Well we all know how much i hate anything medical so that was a scary experience for me to be in a tiny hospital in brazil without my mom. Of course the first thing they did was come at me with a needle haha. then i had to wear a diaper and a hospital gown. sounds really fun right? haha and then they did a catscan and found a small idema on my head so they made me stay in the hospital for 4 days. the amount of bloodwork and needles and gross hospital food was really hard for me. They gave me another catscan and found that the swelling had gone down alot but i still had to stay in the hospital for observation. This time was very difficult for me. I was having a really hard time understanding why something like this would happen and why i wasnt able to go out and work like i was supposed to.I felt helpless and alone and really scared. My constant thought was- am i not supposed to be here? is this heavenly father telling me that i had made a mistake in deciding to serve a mission?
Even though i still havent been allowed to go out and serve and work like i want to i have learned alot from this awful experience. I have learned that this is a test of my patience and endurance and faith.


My companion has been so awesome and has literally been my mom since i dont have my real mom here with me. She sings christmas hymns to me and reads my scriptures to me. She cheers me up when i start feeling down. She lets me cry and she is so patient. I see that throughout this i am being so blessed. The members are so concerned about me and bring food to our house every day. They pick up my medicine and kiss my face. I see that it was a huge blessing from god that i didnt get hurt worse than i did. It couldve been so much worse. While i was in the ICU i saw a woman come in with bleeding in her brain. Shortly after the doctors put her into a coma. I saw another lady come in with a heart attack. She cried alot. I realize now that my pain and suffering was so small in comparison. A woman who we have been teaching was attacked by her son this past week and was stabbed and her eyes were swollen shut. She wasnt even worried about herself and her pain because she was so worried about how i was doing. She said she wants to be baptized because she has seen the lord bless her life so much during this awful experince.
I am trying my best to count my blessings. I have so so so many. All is well. I know that so many of you have been worried and praying and im so thanful and i feel your prayers. Even though there were moments this week where i really wanted to give up i didnt and i know its because of the help heavenly father has given me.
I know that god lives. i know he sends angels to comfort us in hard times. I know that this gospel is true and can help us through any sickness any pain any trial. I know that jesus christ is my savior. I love being a missionary. I love this work. Is it hard? so hard. but so worth it and i see light at the end of this tunnel. I miss you all and love you all and hope all is well back home. Tchau until next week
Eu amo vôces!

Christmas Zone Conference

Nov. 28th ~ week two in Camaçari

Oi family and friends!!
This week has been crazy! Let me start off with some interesting
things here in good ole Bahia. So the bugs are insane here. I swear
they all look like they are from another planet and i could cry
everytime i think about it. I wake up with bugs on me every morning
and swatting bugs off my face and arms and legs is becoming very
normal haha. The heat is also seriously intense here. I have lost
weight from all the sweating and walking in the heat. I have mais
freckles than before and even tan lines! who wouldve ever thought i
would have tan lines?! Its so hot here that everyone is half naked and
i rarely see a man actually wearing a shirt. So thats fun. There are
randomly horses walking around here and at first i thought it was the
weirdest thing  but now its pretty normal haha. OH i had my first
experience with black magic yesterday! There was an old woman crying
in the street so me and my companion went over and asked if she needed
help. She started talking and talking about who knows what and about
how she had been involved in black magic and her brother died or
something and then she grabbed me and whispered something about death
in my ear haha so i might be cursed. So far ive been ok though. Black
magic is a big problem here in Bahia though and its pretty dark stuff.
But its ok i know i am being protected so i dont feel scared of it.
Something else that scary here is the Ônibus. Which is just the public
bus. I hate public transportation with a passion so it has been rough.
The buses are disgusting and i feel like im risking my life everytime
i get on one. Imagine the indiana jones ride at disneyland without the
seatbelt and thats a pretty perfect description of what its like
hahaha. Its funny now but let me tell you its not funny when your on
one.
This week we visited with our investigator Antonia and her 2 sons and
nephew. They are 10 11 and 12 years old. Antonia is awesome and is
ready and waiting to be baptized but has to wait until she is legally
married which is super expensive here. NO ONE is legally married here.
It makes baptism really difficult. Anyways, while we wait for her to
be married we have been teaching her and these boys. We had a really
awesome experience with them this week. So they dont have any laws or
restrictions on how loud you can play music here. So people literally
sit outside of their houses with a massive stereo just blaring music.
So we were in Antonias house and out front there was a group of men
doing just that but also drinking and yelling. It was so loud and im
not even kidding i could not hear myself talking. So here we are
sitting in their house trying to teach them about baptism and
confirmation and we are literally yelling the lesson at them haha.
They acted like it was totally normal and just yelled back at us. So
it went like this: We said DO YOU WANT TO FOLLOW JESUS CHRIST BY BEING
BAPTIZED? and then they said WHAT? and then we said DO YOU WNAT TO
FOLLOW JESUS CHRIST BY BEING BAPTIZED and then they said (SOMETHING IN
PORTUGUESE THAT NEITHER OF US HEARD OR UNDERSTOOD) and then we all
looked at eachother really confused and that about how the lesson
went. At one point Sister Lund looked over at me and said "Sister
Lytle, pode prestar seu testemunho sobre batismo?" (Can you bear your
testimony about baptism?) and then i probably looked at her like she
was crazy and maybe thought about punching her for a second haha and
the  the craziest thing happened. Even though all around us was
absolute chaos and my head hurt so bad from trying to figure out was
everyone was saying and from the music, suddenly this calm came over
me and i knew exactly what i wanted to say and i said it. It was like
for a minute, i was in this bubble where the music didnt exist and the
nervousness of not understanding was gone. The reason I share this
story is because I know that the spirit can be anywhere. The spirit is
such a powerful presence- even more powerful than Reggae music turned
up the loudest it can go. What a blessing and comfort that is to know
that no matter the chaos and loudness and wickedness of the world
around us, the spirit is stronger and more powerful. The light ALWAYS
overcomes the dark.
Antonia and the boys have accepted the invitation to be baptized and
are currently preparing. I love meeting with them. Yesterday i gave
the boys CTR rings and we explained the significance and how they can
always choose the right no matter what. (THANK YOU sister snyder for
the CTR rings:) They were super excited and kept saying obrigado
obrigado. Ill send a picture of them wearing them.



Okay and lastly a MILAGRE (miracle) happened this week! So at the
beginning of this week our district leader called us and said that for
us to meet our baptism goal for the month, each companionship in the
area would have to have a baptism by Saturday. Well that pretty much
seemed impossible because our investigators who had accepted baptism
would not be ready until next month. So we fasted and prayed and
prayed and prayed that we could find someone who was ready. Well on
Wednesday night my companion felt like we should visit a man named
Voltar who was the brother of a woman in the ward. Voltar is 63 and
has like 4 teeth ahha. The elders who were in this area before us had
taught him most of the lessons but had kind of given up because he was
never home when they came by to visit.  Haha long story short we
taught him about baptism, invited him to be baptized, and set a date
for Saturday. He clapped his hands and had the biggest smile. Fasting
and prayer works miracles and my testimony of fasting grew so much
with this experience. Voltar was baptized on saturday and confirmed on
sunday and my joy is FULL! God is preparing so many beautiful humble
people for us and its so cool to see them understand, accept, and act
upon the things we teach them. I feel like my contribution to finding
Voltar was small but i am so happy that i was able to witness his joy.
Everytime i think of him i just see his big toothless smile and
clapping hands. I now see where the joy in this difficult work comes
from.



This week was difficult and long and amazing and full of miracles. I
cry alot because of the language. I cry alot because im always outside
of my comfort zone. I cry alot because my feet hurt or because i miss
my family. i cry alot because im an emotional person hahah BUT i also
cry alot because i have never felt so much love for people in my whole
life. I cry alot because i feel the spirit. I cry alot because i cant
even count all the blessing i have. There is SO MUCH GOOD in between
the tough stuff. So much to be happy about so much to be thankful for.
I love it here. I love the people. I love the food. I love the flowers
and rain and laid back way of living. I am so happy that i get to do
the lords work here in camaçari.



I love you all!! Its officially the holiday season so crank up the
christmas music and put up the decorations and be a little extra
giving and kind. I am going to try to do the same. EU AMO VÔCES MUITO
MUITO MUITO. Tchau tchau



A good scripture that i used alot this week: alma 38:5

November 21st....First week in the field!

Oi family and friends! Well i made it to Salvador. My first area is called Camaçari. My companion is wonderful and this is her last transfer before she goes home. She is American and is from Virginia but she speaks Portugeuse so well that everyone just thinks shes a brasilera haha. As for me its pretty clear that im as white as white gets and that im not from here. I get alot of stares because pretty sure im the only white person here. Also everyone i meet makes sure to tell me to put sunscreen on haha so dont worry mom im not gonna get burned.
Adgusting to life as a real missionary has been extremely hard.Im not gonna sugarcoat it. This is hard hard work. Our apartment was so disgusting and we spent the whole first few days cleaning. We only have water every other day and its always cold. Our washer is broken.The toilet doesnt flush so we have to pour a bucket of water into it to flush it. Real glamorous stuff happenin over here haha. Its really hot and im always sweaty..so sweaty! My feetare bloody and blistered. We walk so much.My second day a lady fed us liver for lunch and you can bet i threw that up as soon as we left. A stray dog tried to attack me the other day but luckily we had a member with us and he saved me haha. The language is so hard for me. The CTM taught me nothing and i feel unprepared and scared to talk to people. I cry alot and when im not crying i feel like i could. But its ok! All of these things cause me to pray pray pray harder than i ever have before. I am climbing hills literally as well as emotionally and physically and mentally. Every day is a battle of can i walk for so many miles and can i understand anything anyone says to me and can i get over my homesickness and focus? And the answer always comes that YES i can. This is not supposed to be easy. Not even a little bit. This is supposed to be hard. Within the struggles i am feeling heavenly fathers hand in my life. I am seeing miracles in the peoples lives that we teach. There are the chubbiest cutest babies ive ever seen in my life and the happiest most humble people. There is real fruit juice and fruit everywhere. There are cats everywhere! People are always dancing and there is always Bob Marley being played super loud. There are beautiful flowers and trees and butterflies (grandpa bluth would love it) There are good things in my life. Happy peaceful moments. The scriptures have been such a source of comfort.
We are teaching a mother and son- Rosa and Nadsen. Rosa was recently baptized and now her son is taking the lessons. They are awesome and live in the tiniest most decrepit house ive ever seen. They dont have enough chairs for us all to sit in for lessons.But they are strong and humble. One day we were teaching them and i really felt like i needed to bear my testimony of gods love for us. I was SO nervous beacsue i knew that i didnt know all the words but i had a moment of bravery and i started to talk. They cried and i cried and the spirit was so strong. I didnt know why i felt the need to say that or why they needed to hear it but God did. The spirit taught them and bore tetsimony to them- not me. It was amazing and it strengthened my own testimony so much. God is helping me so much.
Another thing that helps within the hard times is humor and laughter. You all know how much I love to laugh. So last night we were out proselyting and it started POURING rain. We were probably 2 miles from our apartment. We were soaked and the streets were completely flooded.My first thought was seriously? Why does it have to rain right now? My dress is ruined and my feets are muddy. And then i stepped into the deepest puddle and fell on my butt and just started laughing. Here i am somewhere in salvador brazil on a sunday night walking around in a storm trying to find someone to teach about jesus christ in a language i dont know. And now here i am sitting in a puddle in the middle of the road and im laughing because this is funny and who wouldve ever thought that i would ever be here?? haha i am learning so much already. About patience and humility and loving strangers. Its all gonna be ok though. I know that i am in gods hands and he is sending me angels to bear me up. I miss my family and my home but this is where im supposed to be and i feel that so much. Salvador is awesome. This gospel is awesome. Eu amo voces muito!
Next week i will probably havemore to say but for today this is all ive got. I hope everyone has a happy thanksgiving and that you can remember to be grateful for your blessings and families. I have so so much to be thankful for! Eat lots of pie and stuffing for me!!
jeffrey r holland:

If it was right when you prayed about it and trusted it and lived for it, it is right now. Dont give up when the pressure mounts. Certainly dont give into that being who is bent on the destruction of your happiness.Face your doubts. Master your fears. Cast not therefore your confidence. Stay the course and see the beauty of life unfold for you.

Looks hot!  Luckily they have great juice bar next to their apartment!


  

Making her apt homey:)

Sister Lytle made it to Salvador! November 15, 2016

Got these pictures and little letter from the Mission Presidents wife.  

arrival at the Salvador Airport

We are so excited to have your beautiful daughter in our mission. She will be serving in a city called Camaçari which is about an hour from Salvador. Her companion is a wonderful American sister named Sister Lund. 

Mission President and his wife

 Aubrey and her new companion Sister Lund

The newbies and their trainers

We did also receive a quick email from Aubrey letting us know she arrived:)
here are a couple excerpts....

"I made it to Salvador, we missed our fight and had to go from bus to airport to bus to airport and as you can imagine it was really fun and I didn't cry at all....ya right.  today has been rough and I am very scared and nervous.  i met my mission president and his wife and they are wonderful and my trainer is american and so amazing."
"its hot here and I'm gross right now sitting in an internet cafe at a bus station somewhere in salvador. who would've thought id ever be here. "

*Next time we hear will be Monday.  Hopes for a great week!! *

Week 5 1/2 Nov. 2nd- Nov. 9th

**LAST week at the CTM!  Aubrey heads for Salvador next Tuesday!  Not sure when we will hear from her next week....I'm sure it will be a little nerve wracking waiting! 
 Aubrey mentioned in her personal letter to us again how.... "I can't get over the amount of emails I receive each week.  I seriously just sit there and cry for a minute because I didn't realize how many people cared about me.  I am so blessed with such beautiful family and friends.  Please let everyone know how thankful I am and that I'm sorry if I don't respond right away."  We also can't thank you enough for your love and support to her!!!   

Oi Family and friends!! this is my last email from the CTM! Time has
seriously flown and i cannot believe that i will be heading to
Salvador on Tuesday. Im so so nervous and i feel so unprepared but at
the same time i am so ready to get out of the CTM. Its really
frustrating trying to learn a language as im sure alot of you already
know. Like i can feel super confident in gospel words and phrases and
i can teach you about the restoration in Portugeuse like its no ones
business but the second some brazilian tries to have a normal
conversation with me its all downhill and i dont know anything. But
its ok. My splits companion this week has not been the most patient or
kind with me and its been hard but i just try to talk slowly and think
alot and usually i can get my point across. It rained SOOOO much and
so hard this week. Thunder and lightning and everything. Its so fun
especially when your stuck inside all day anyways haha. Also i have
one complaint and then the rest of this email should be fairly happy
but OH MY GOSH i cannot handle the amount of singing that goes on
here. Dont get me wrong singing is beautiful and good and can bring
the spirit so strong but its a little over the top here. If i hear
Called to Serve one more time i might scream. Oh and one more not so
good thing is that sister i was talking about last week ended up going
home. It was sad and i had a really hard time with it but i guess if
she really didnt want to be here then she shouldnt. Still sad though
and i hope she doesnt regret her decision. Everyday i repeat over and
over agin in my mind I can do all things through Christ and then i
remind myself why im here and why this is so worth it. Missions are
hard though and that is becoming more and more real to me everyday.
But im so happy to be here. Oh today was my last temple trip for a
year and a half. It was so good and peaceful and i just love the
temple. I am sad io wont be able to go for so long but its ok because
i can be so excited to go to my favorite temple in LA when i get home!
So we had proselyting again on saturday and it didnt go as well as
last time. We didnt give out a single O Livro de Mormon and no one was
wanting to talk to us. But again I just keep reminding myslef that
there will be successes and happiness in my mission but there will
also be really tough and discouarging moments and you know what? its
ok. This isnt supposed to be easy. Elder holland said it best
(Missionary work is not easy because salvation was not a cheap
experience) So its ok!!! Especially because of first proselyting
experience was so good. OH so i just love my district and its going to
be really sad to say goodbye to them. But we play this game in our
classroom everyday called Onde está bebê? which means Wheres the baby?
hahaha because one of the elders in our district fount this tiny
plastic baby and now multiple times a day the baby is moves to a new
hiding spot and whoever hid it has to say Onde está bebê? and then
everyone tries to find it. As im writing this i realized how weird it
sounds but when your stuck in the same classroom for 8 hours a day you
get creative haha. Anyways things are really good. Hiding plastic
babies and being positive makes all the differnce i guess. The also
the thing i want to talk about is just how humble the people are here.
I have already seen so much poverty and awful living conditions since
being here. People in the city literally sleep on the side of the road
or in a cardboard box and look through the trashcan for food.There are
missonaries who come with one carry on suitcase and who never want to
leave the CTM because its the nicest place theyve ever been. They are
so so humble and even though they have barely anything themselves,
they still want to give all they have left to the Lord. And that is
truly amazing to me. And here i am complaining that the water pressure
in the shower just isnt cutting it for me. I have already been changed
by these things and i think its so important that we all remember how
fortunate and blessed we are. i have been given everything i have ever
needed my whole life and i still find things to complain about but
these beautiful people have nothing and still give and give and give.
Anyways just something to think about this thansgiving season. I LOVE
YOU ALL SO SO MUCH. i hope things are happy back home. Next time you

hear from me ill be in SALVADOR!!! WOOOOOO tchau! sister lytle

Week 4 1/2 since her Pday is Wednesday Oct. 26th-Nov 2nd

 Sao Paulo

 District

 Miss that cute face!

                         *Sao Paulo CTM~  Sister Lytle leaves November 15th for Salvador!*

Oi family and friends!! i cant believe i only have 2 more weeks here
in the CTM. Time is moving so fast! This week has been good. Alot of
the Americans left for the field last week and it was so sad to say
goodbye to them! They had all benn super nice and helpful since the
day my district got to the CTM. We sang and prayed together and said
our goodbyes and it was so bittersweet! My district is now the oldest
american district in the CTM which is crazy and people are asking me
for advice and expecting me to speak fluent portugeuse and let me tell
you i am not good at either of those things haha. I taught relief
society on sunday and it went better than expected. I was so nervous
but everyone participated and it was good. Portugeuse is moving along.
Im not sure if im moving along at the quite the same speed but im
trying to keep up. Splits are awesome because you have no choice but
to speak portugeuse and its nice to experience what it will be like to
have a brazilian companion in the field. So far my companions have all
been super sweet and patient but they all talk REALLY fast. Like
faster than i can talk in english and thats pretty impressive. Seeing
the new american sisters come each week is always so exciting! Its so
fun  getting to know them. This week we had a huge group of 10 sisters
come! they all look pretty shocked and nervouse when they show up and
they are all probably wondering what they just got themselves into
(just like i did) One particular sister has really struggled since she
got here last week. On her first night i saw her in the bathroom and i
could tell that she had been crying. I had the strongest feeling that
i needed to talk to her and i really didnt want to because i didnt
know what to say. The feeling continued and i gathered up the courage
to talk to her. I pulled her aside and asked how her first week was
going and she just burst into tears. I put my arms around her and told
her it would be ok and that it gets better. I had a really tough first
week to so i just knew exactly how she was feeling and all i wnated to
do was help her. She said she was thinking about going home and that
she was homesick and scared. I dont even remember most of what i said
but we talked for like 30 minutes. I just continued to tell her that
it gets better and that if i could make it 5 weeks here she could too.
I told her how much prayer and fasting and asking for a blessing
helped me and how i knew it could help her too. I felt really
impressed to share John 14:27 with her because its one of my favorite
scriptures and it has given me so much comfort in tough times. Anyways
i share this story because i felt the spirit speak through me to this
sweet misisonary and it was so weird because i swear the words i said
were not my own. I have only seen the sister in passing since and i
dont know if what i said helped but it wa ssuch a testimony bulider
for me and at least shes still here. Oh yesterday in our lesson with
our fake investigator we had a cool experience. So we had a class
earlier in the day about teaching to the investigators needs and
speaking through the spirit. So  Sister Hamblin and I were already to
teach Francisco about the 10 commandments and we had this awesome
lesson set up. Well we show up to his house and he is sad because his
friends wont talk to him because he is planning on getting baptized
and they think mormons are weird and strict ahha. Well in my head i
was all like what the heck francisco we have this great lesson planned
but since your sad now we have to pull a whole different lesson out of
somehwere and could you please be sad tomorrow instead?? And then i
had to stop myself and remember the class we had and how this was
totally a test to see if we could teach to his needs. So i tried to
bring the spirit back into my heart hahah and we taught him a whole
lesson about having faith in this gospel and enduring to the end. It
was really cool to see the spirit guide me and my companion on what to
say even though we were terrified and didnt have any notes. DOM DE
LINGUAS (gift of tongues) IS REAL!! It so cool to hear myslef saying
words and phrases that i didnt think i could ever remember. Anyways my
district is so funny and i laugh alot. My companion is great ans she
is a pro at memorizing anything and she pulls random scriptures out of
nowhere in the middle of our lessons. She is also super funny and is
always wondering when we can go to a mall so she can buy some makeup.
haha i dont have the heart to tell her she probably wont see a mall
for another year and a half. but things are good here in brazil. Its
hot and people really like to set off fireworks at 3 am but you know
what its ok cause im happy!! misisonary work is so cool!! This gsopel
is true and it can help us through any trial that comes our way. i
really believe that ebcause it had gotten me through every trial in my
life. I hope all is well back in america. Also ive been out 1 month
already! so 17 more months doesnt seem so bad:) love you all. TCHAU!
love sister lytle

Week 3!! October 19th-26th

Oi family and friends! Its me sister lytle here in brazil. being a
misisonary was CrAzY this week. On saturday we went proselyting for
the first time.  Scariest/best experience ever. So here at the CTM
they love to just throw you into things without giving you any time to
prepare or really any helpful directions. So that fun except for oh
wait no its not and i almost pee my pants every time. So they bus like
50 plus of us misisonaries into the middle of the city here in Sao
Paulo and hand us 4 book of mormons and say ok good luck meet back
here in 2 hours! and then they smile at you all nice like they didnt
just tell you to go preach the gospel in a foreign land for the first
time. Anyways my comapnion and i started walking and i was literally
just saying prayers over and over again just asking heavenly father to
please place some people in our path. well, God is so good and he did
just that. The first person was an older man who was coming out of his
apartment building. sister hamblin and i both felt like we should talk
to him so we quickly started running through all the portugeuse we
knew. Well we must´ve looked as scared as we felt because ´he sais
dont look so scared! I speak a little bit of english! hahah we all
just started cracking up and then he told us that he could tell we
were americans and that we had something important to tell him. OH BOY
did we! Anyways turns out this man recently had a stroke and had
really been struggling to be happy ever since. His children lived far
away and he had no family close by to be with him. He cried and we
cried and in awful broken portugeuse sister hamblin told him how much
god loves him and how he is never alone and then inj even worse
portugeuse i told him we had this free book for him that would help
him in times of struggle and he took it and we told him the
missionaries in his area would be in contact with him!! It was truly
amazing and i have never experienced something like it before. The
second person was a woman named Tanya who was sweeping the streets. We
stopped and told her who we were and she looks pretty suspicious but
then her face broke into the happiest smile and she started speaking
really really fast in portuegeuse and then she hugged us for like 2
minutes each and kissed our faces. Honestly i dont know if she
understood what we were saying to her but she seemed happy and she
took the book of mormon. so successful?? maybe. at least she was
happy. So proselyting got me way out of my comfort zone but it was
such a cool experience. I am learning more and more everyday to let
the spirit guide my words instead of worrying about how bad my
portugeuse or being nervous to talk to strangers. Oh dang i am running
out of time!! But things are good here i got asked to teach relief
society on sunday so thats scary but ill let you know next week how
that goes. we had splits this week and my companheira is so so cool.
ill send a photo with sister ferraira:) She speaks really fast but she
is so patient with me and helps me and im learning so much from her.
Oh man being a missionary is so great. there are definetly hard times
and difficult situations but overall i am just happy. I cant wait to
get to the field though!! Salvador is calling my name but the CTM is
just dragging on haha. All is well. Heavenly Father is so merciful and
he loves us so so much and i cant express that enough. Scripture study
is probably one of my favorite times of the day here becasue i get to
study and feel the spirit and find guidance and help. The food is
still weird. I eat alot of rice and beans and bread. ok i have to go
but everyone please wish my mommy a happy birthday tomorrow! I have
the best mom. I could write about her forever but i have to go. Love
you alll so so much talk to you next week!

Splits with Sister Ferraira this week







My Birthday treat:)

Week 2!! OCTOBER 12TH-19TH

city of  Sao Paulo

 Sao Paulo LDS Temple

Oi from Brazil!!

I cant even express the love i felt this week as i checked my email. I am so lucky to have such beautiful people in my life. also i need to apologize in advance for any mistakes in this email because this keyboard IS THE WORST. Also im typing fast because i have no time!! For all you you who sent me emails i am so sorry if i dont respond right away but please know that i am getting them and crying because i love you all so much. 

Let me tell you all whats new around these parts!!

There are cockroaches everywhere. They are massive and the best part is they can fly! So its super fun. Im trying to be ok with the bug situation but lets be honest i will never be ok with it. 

Every day my district has actividade fisica (physical activity) and we always play volleyball. Everyone is always so shocked and impressed with my skills and i dont understand why because why wouldnt a small white girl whos super emotional and talks about bunny rabbits be a straight baller on the court 

Humidity is not my friend! Its so dang hot and its supoosed to be even hotter in Salvador. But you know what cold showers might actually be a blessing in the field!

 An elder in my district who was also going to Salvador went home last week. My heart is so sad for him. It was really hard for our whole district but especially the elders. We have gotten super close as a district though and im thankful for that.

Portugeuse is still pretty rough. Im usually confused but more things are stciking in my brain then i realize because sometime sill be writing in my journal and ill write a word in portugeuse instead of english haha. Sometimes i wonder why God sent me portugeuse speaking. I know that i would be a better teacher if i could speak english. But i am always reminded that God wouldnt have called me here if he didnt think i could learn portugeuse or if he didnt have some purpose for me here. So im trying to find faith and hope in that. 

None of the Brazilians can say Lytle so they eiether say Little or Leetlay. I just kind of go with it and i stopped correcting them after week 1 haha. 

The days are pretty exhausting here and the schedule is pretty much the same every day and i can tell its gonna get old REAL fast. But its crazy to me that its already week 3 so i think ill be out of here before i know it. On tuesday and sunday nights we have devotionals and they are always SO GOOD. We always sing a hymn in portugeuse before and it just gets me every time. We heard from bednar this week and wow he is such a powerful smart speaker. 

I saw this huge bird the other day that actually might have been a small dragon or a pteradactyl. 

Today we went to the Sao Paulo temple and it is so tiny and so beautiful! 

I have focused alot on faith since being a missionary. I am a worrier and I think about things too much but i ahve learned that through faith i can put all of my worries into Gods hands and he will strengthen me and help me to focus on the moment and be happy and not afraid. Alma 32 26-27 is a really good scripture about that and it always helps me to feel comforted when i am worried or anxious. 

I am so happy that i get to be a missionary. I am so happy that i get to wear a name tag with the three most important things in my life written on it. The name of my family, the name of my church, and the name of my savior. I am doing this for my savior and im doing it because he has done everything for me. I want to serve him and i wnat to bring his children back to his gospel because this gospel makes me happy and strong and confident and everything i want to be. Prayer works and it only works if you are faithful and diligent and thats something i didnt know for a long time. I am so so so blessed and so excited to serve and be here in Brazil as a missionary of God. 

I want to bear a very very simple testimony in portugeuse for you all...

Eu sei que Jesus Cristo e nosso salvador. Eu sei que ele vive. Eu sei que o livro de mormon e verdedairo. Eu sou grato pelo evangelho e meu pai celestial. Eu amo Jesus Cristo. Eu amo missionario trabalho. Em nome de jesus cristo amem. 

I love you all so much. Tchau tchau!!

I was so happy when these pictures showed up in my email today!

First P-Day began at the Sao Paulo Temple

Sister Lytle and her district

Sister Lytle and her companion Sister Hamblin from Kentucky

Week One! Oct. 4th -Oct. 12th

Oi friends and family!! i´m in Brazil! What the heck! I dont have much

time to write but i want to update you on how everything is going

here. This last week was without a doubt the longest and hardest week

of my life so far. haha that is not an exaggeration!! The first 3 days

seemed pretty hopeless and I really didnt think i was gonna make it

but because of prayers and fasting and kind people i am still here and

im doing SO well. The CTM is way cool! Its 7 stories high and its

surrounded by like a million other huge buildings. Sao Paulo is a like

jungle city! So many trees and plants but also alot of buildings and

people. The food is weird here haha but im learning to just take a

bite even if i dont know what the heck it is and usually it turns out

tasting ok. unless its the purple grape jello because i almost threw

that up everywhere. Pretty much my schedule is the same everyday. At

least 8 hours sitting in class learning portugeuse. Portugeuse is

MUITO DIFICILE. I definitly spelled that wrong but its very hard and

im struggling with it but also chillin because i know it will get

better and that heavenly father will help me. Its mostly frustrating

because right now i can pretty much get the idea of what someone is

saying to me but i have no idea how to respond to them. My district is

4 sets of elders and 2 sets of sisters. The elders are all only 18 and

they are a little hyper but overall they are good guys. OMG my

companion! So i met her in the Atlanta airport and after talking to

her for like 10 minutes (lol) found out she was a sister missionary

and was also going to....GUESS WHERE. salavdor. I cried, she cried it

was the first little miracle of many since being here. Sister Hamblin

is from Kentucky and is super tall and funny. We will for sure be

friends forever. I have two Brazilian roomates who are SO cute and so

funny. They are both going to Tokyo so they are learning Japanese

which is cool and super crazy. The other night we all prayed together

before bed in japanese, portuegeuse and english and it was so cool

because no matter what language we prayed in, the spirit was there. So

its pretty great here. Things are looking up and seriously there is no

way you can be unhappy or scared here because everyone is so nice.

Around every corner soemone is smiling and saying Bom Gia! or Tudo

Bem! There are always going to be hard and frustrating things but

being around good happy people makes a big difference. We are already

teaching fake investigators which is the scariest thing ever but its

also cool to listen to myself speak and here how much i already know

in a week of being here. Oh funny story- so we were teaching our very

first lesson ever and i walked in all confident and I told her that we

had a massagem (massage) instead of a mensagem (message) for her. So

confidence went out the door after that ahhaha. On sunday nights we

have devotional and the other night we got to see a broadcast from the

provo MTC and the speaker was Holland and it was of course amazing! I

wish I had time to tell you what he said but I will some other time!!

We also sang Reunidos nos estamos (come thou fount of every blessing)

my favorite hymn. Today we went to the temple in campinos and it was

so beautiful but also hard because it was all in Portugeuse. But it is

really cool that we can go to a temple anywhere in the world and feel

that it is the house of god. You guys i just want you to know that i

have no idea how or why im here yet. Like i said it has been very hard

for me and sometimes i wonder if i can do it. But since being here i

have never felt more like i belong. i cannot even begin to tell you

the amount of blessing and miracles i have alreday experienced.

Heavenly father answers prayers and sends us the holy ghost in times

of doubt and frustration and anxiety.  I know that this is Gods work.

I already love brazil and brazilians so much. im not so sure if i love

portugeuse but i guess we willl see where im at next week. I just love

you all so much and i hope all is well back home! Be happy and be kind

to everyone around you!!! LOVE YOU LOVE YOU TCHAU love, sister lytle

Enjoy the view.

Welcome letter from the CTM

Dear Parents,

Sister Grahl and I are very happy to let you know that your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil Missionary Training Center.  What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary as they begin their missionary experiences with us! We will surely take good care of your missionary.                                                                                                     

The missionaries now have companions and are settled into their rooms.  They are assigned to a district with capable and caring instructors for language and lesson study.  Their branch presidents and wives will meet them this Sunday.  These wonderful couples are richly blessed as they work with, motivate, and interview the missionaries assigned to their branch.

The MTC has a full-time live-in physician to care for their health needs.  He is assisted by his able wife who is a nurse. We are also happy to report that the MTC food is plentiful, healthy and very good.

Your missionary will be able to e-mail home on Preparation Day after a morning at the Temple.  This will be either Wednesday or Friday, depending on individual assignments.

Your missionary is about to make an eternal difference in the lives of many others. President Lorenzo Snow said: “There is no mortal man that is as interested in the success of an elder when he is preaching the Gospel as is the Lord who sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord's children".  We love these missionaries as if they were our own.  We will watch over them carefully to ensure they are ready for a wonderful missionary experience after the rewarding time they will have in the MTC.

We thank you for preparing such a wonderful representative of the Lord.

Pres. Paulo R. Grahl and Sister Zuleika M. Grahl