Dear Family,
P-day is Monday as you can probably tell by this letter :) But the mission field is so much better than the MTC! So, we wake up at 6:30, Get ready till 8, then personal study for an hour, then companion study for 2 hours, then I have language study for an hour! I wasn't sure if I was going to get any language study time or not, but I'm so happy that I do! It's great. And whenever I speak in English they say "what, I don't understand you." They make me talk in Portuguese first, then translate it into English. It gets kind of annoying sometimes, but it's helping me learn much better.
So, they have me in a trio, I have two companions. One (Elder C____) is from Kansas City, Missouri. And Elder H____ from Virginia. They're awesome; they're super helpful with everything. They have all of the new missionaries on a twelve week program of learning and studying, so that if needs be, we can train new missionaries after the twelve weeks. That's why companionship study is two hours instead of an hour. We don't even leave our apartment until one in the afternoon because lunch is right after language study. Our mission president thinks that's more important right now. Knocking doors isn't very effective in this area, so we only do it if we have nothing else to do, or if it's a backup plan. Which is okay. But, No one seems to respond to it, they're pretty stubborn.
But, the weather is awesome. We can definitely get away with short sleeves. But, it rained/hailed yesterday which made it cold, but still not cold enough for our coats. I love it here, it's beautiful and the weather is much better than Provo, or probably Flagstaff for that matter right now.
This area is pretty much dead. I think we have like one or two investigators that are progressing, so that means we are focusing on part member families and less actives, and finding people. But since tracting isn't very effective it makes it hard! ha ha. So, my first day we chilled at the mission home for a little but( where I wrote the letter the first time) then the assistants to the President came and we ate lunch. He interviewed everyone just to get to know us a little bit better, then our companions showed up. After that, I was half way expecting to go home and unpack and settle in a little bit. But no, as soon as we left the mission home, we went to a lesson! I was so nervous, I had no idea what to expect! But the husband of the family only speaks Spanish, and the kids only speak English, So we turned the husband to the Spanish speaking sister missionaries, and we'll keep teaching the kids and the Mom. And, they had me pray in Portuguese, which was awesome
We went to a home last night of a part member family. There's the mom, 2 older sons and, 2 high school aged daughters. One of the sons is on a mission in the Philippines right now. Elder H____ has taught the mom once before ( with his previous companion). But when we went this last time, she had her daughters join us! It was super cool. We taught them the Restoration of the Gospel, and introduced the Book of Mormon. They committed to read, and the daughters are super interested in out youth program. I'm hoping they'll go to the mutual activity, and get a sense of what the church has to offer. They claim to be Catholic, but not very strong in their religion. We shall see. They invited us back for next week. I hope they live up to their commitment! We can preach about these things all day long, but until they act on their mustard seed of faith, and pray about it, they can never know for themselves!
I love this work! I love helping others, and showing them the light. We witness so many miracles every day! All we need to do is ask for help, and there it is! All we need is faith sufficient. That's it, sincere heart, real intent, and faith. It’s easy!
and tell J____ and M____ to write me! What the heck! ha ha. That's so cool he's got his papers in! I can’t wait to hear where he's going. I'm so excited for him.
Thanks for sending the picture of K____! He looks good! I’m sure he’s doing good. I haven't heard from him, so hopefully he's busy. And what about N____!? I don't have his e-mail.
It was so good to talk to you at the airport too! Elder G____was making fun of me for the rest of the day for crying.. But I don't care! I feel bad that I didn't have time to call everyone else! Make sure they know that I love and care about them too!! And I would love to hear from them!! I might not have as much time to write back as I did in the MTC, but I'll do my best!
And, my challenge for the week.. pray for the name of a person to give to the missionaries. Being out here first hand I know how hard it is to work without help from the members! Continue to pray for us too! We need all the help we can get!
And pray for my visa too please!! I feel like this is just the stop on the way to where I'm going. I will work hard as long as I'm here, but I feel like I just need to get to Brazil, where I am called. I'm ready to find out what I am here to do! Whether it be to find someone specific, or to strengthen my own testimony. I'm ready to find out! I love you all!! I'm happy. I love it here. I love the work.
