I read an awesome talk this week, Parents: The Prime Teachers of the Gospel
by Tad R Callister, in the most recent conference. It was really good, read it!
Crazy thing
for the week…it HAILED. It hailed for reals. It was only about 5 minutes but it
was still bizarre. It’s the middle of summer here! Brazil is so strange. It was
really nice this week though. It rained a lot and it was chilly outside. It was fantastic because I actually had to sleep
with a blanket.
OOHHH. They have churros here! Oh yeah! But the best
part is that you pronounce churros--"Shoohoos." Oh my goodness, I think
it’s hilarious! I laugh all day.
This is my
district. I love missionaries! My DL is
the one in the back with a red tie and he’s great. He always tells us to be
happy "fica feliz" or “seja feliz sempre.”.He’s from Peru and his companion
is from Cape Verde (the tall elder with glasses) and he´s awesome too. He actually
taught me a little Creole but I don’t remember it. Cape Verde sounds super cool
though.
This is my new Brazil shirt that I
bought in Brás--a place where everything is super cheap. I love it. It makes me feel so festive and Brazilian.
This is a picture of all the sister missionaries
with an awesome family from the ward. They are awesome! The little girl in the
front with the dress and crown gave us a little performance from Frozen. She
sang and danced to the song Let It Go exactly
like the movie! It was adorable. Frozen
is super popular here too! Yup, it’s everywhere.
Here are the answers to the questions
from Aunt Kelley…
1.
What is your favorite scripture - right now? Why?
Isaiah 41:10. Because I am scared. I’m scared of a lot of things here. I’ m
scared of speaking Portuguese and giving the lessons and everything. I really
like this verse because it is what How
Firm a Foundation is based on. “Fear not, I am with thee oh be not
dismayed, for I am thy God and will still give thee aid, I’ll strengthen thee
help thee, and cause thee to stand, upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand.” Yeah, I really love that. I really need that
all the time.
2. What does your typical daily schedule look like? What do you do all day?
We get up at 6:30, I kind of sucked at that the first week here but now I am totally cool with it because it doesn’t matter what I want, it is what God wants. Then we do some "exercises" but my comp doesn’t really do any so I kind of just run in place, do some jumping jacks, stretch, and the works. Then we get ready and eat breakfast from 7-8. Breakfast sucks here so I usually just eat some crackers. Then we study for 3 hours! Personal study is my favorite!! And I wish we had more time because there is so much I want to read. Today I actually finished reading all of PMG, looking up scriptures included and I’m reading the BoM in Portuguese and English. Portuguese is going really slow... then comp study is usually just talking about what we studied and then I don’t even know what happens because the time goes by really fast. We leave around 12 or 12:30 to go to a member’s house for lunch. I really like that they give lunches to us here because then I’m not hungry for the rest of the day. They give us so much, so that’s good. But these people love to talk so we don’t normally leave until 3. Then we go to work. Walking everywhere takes up a lot of time, but its ok because we usually do a lot of contacts (just walking up to people and asking them if they want to hear more, or sometimes just giving them a mini-lesson right there) on the way to appointments. If appointments fall through we can always find some random person who will let us in their house to teach them. It’s crazy how these Brazilians are. We don’t normally visit a lot of members, actually none besides lunches. Sometimes we’ll visit less-actives but normally its investigators. Then we always get home at 9:30. We’re supposed to be home at 9 unless we have an appointment, but we hardly ever get home before 9:30 because we are so busy. Which really sucks because then we have 1 hour to take a shower, eat dinner, plan the next day, get ready for bed, and write in our journals. the struggle is real. We are just so busy and the time is flying by for me.
3. How is the Sunday church experience? Is it the same as here?
Church is hard for me. The first Sunday was horrible. I thought it was going to be great talking to members but it really sucks because everyone is just speaking Portuguese and I’m just like –“wait… what?” I have no idea what is happening most of the time. It’s so hard to understand people who are in the front of the room or other people answering questions or reading scriptures. Impossible for me actually. But it’s the same church. The weird thing is that they have Relief society first and Sacrament last. My comp usually leaves me out and talks to everyone and I have no idea what to do. It’s getting better. I understand more, not a lot, but more. Sundays in general kind of suck actually because we don’t get any time to study. Church is from 9-12 (right during our normal study time) and then we go to lunch and to work again. Definitely not a day of rest for missionaries. But I’m learning to love it. Oh, one of the best things about church is the sacrament. A sister in the ward makes the bread special. She makes it, and it is soooo good. My comp says that it’s a secret recipe too and they only use it for the sacrament, which I think is awesome.
2. What does your typical daily schedule look like? What do you do all day?
We get up at 6:30, I kind of sucked at that the first week here but now I am totally cool with it because it doesn’t matter what I want, it is what God wants. Then we do some "exercises" but my comp doesn’t really do any so I kind of just run in place, do some jumping jacks, stretch, and the works. Then we get ready and eat breakfast from 7-8. Breakfast sucks here so I usually just eat some crackers. Then we study for 3 hours! Personal study is my favorite!! And I wish we had more time because there is so much I want to read. Today I actually finished reading all of PMG, looking up scriptures included and I’m reading the BoM in Portuguese and English. Portuguese is going really slow... then comp study is usually just talking about what we studied and then I don’t even know what happens because the time goes by really fast. We leave around 12 or 12:30 to go to a member’s house for lunch. I really like that they give lunches to us here because then I’m not hungry for the rest of the day. They give us so much, so that’s good. But these people love to talk so we don’t normally leave until 3. Then we go to work. Walking everywhere takes up a lot of time, but its ok because we usually do a lot of contacts (just walking up to people and asking them if they want to hear more, or sometimes just giving them a mini-lesson right there) on the way to appointments. If appointments fall through we can always find some random person who will let us in their house to teach them. It’s crazy how these Brazilians are. We don’t normally visit a lot of members, actually none besides lunches. Sometimes we’ll visit less-actives but normally its investigators. Then we always get home at 9:30. We’re supposed to be home at 9 unless we have an appointment, but we hardly ever get home before 9:30 because we are so busy. Which really sucks because then we have 1 hour to take a shower, eat dinner, plan the next day, get ready for bed, and write in our journals. the struggle is real. We are just so busy and the time is flying by for me.
3. How is the Sunday church experience? Is it the same as here?
Church is hard for me. The first Sunday was horrible. I thought it was going to be great talking to members but it really sucks because everyone is just speaking Portuguese and I’m just like –“wait… what?” I have no idea what is happening most of the time. It’s so hard to understand people who are in the front of the room or other people answering questions or reading scriptures. Impossible for me actually. But it’s the same church. The weird thing is that they have Relief society first and Sacrament last. My comp usually leaves me out and talks to everyone and I have no idea what to do. It’s getting better. I understand more, not a lot, but more. Sundays in general kind of suck actually because we don’t get any time to study. Church is from 9-12 (right during our normal study time) and then we go to lunch and to work again. Definitely not a day of rest for missionaries. But I’m learning to love it. Oh, one of the best things about church is the sacrament. A sister in the ward makes the bread special. She makes it, and it is soooo good. My comp says that it’s a secret recipe too and they only use it for the sacrament, which I think is awesome.
4. Can you see the Lord's hand in the work? How?
I totally can, just by the way he
supports his missionaries. I would not be able to do any of this without
the strength of the Lord. We are still looking for the people that have been
prepared for the gospel, but it’s going good.
5. Are you growing up on the inside? How do you know?
I don’t know. It doesn’t feel like
it. I think I’m the same I just spend more time doing things that are more
important in life. I’m reading scriptures, studying them, reading conference
talks and searching for answers to questions that only my Heavenly Father can
answer. I still have a lot of weaknesses, and I’m working on making them into
strengths. so maybe i am growing up inside, not sure though.
