District Sisters at the Provo Temple

Sister Jacobsen, Sister Shell, Sister Goimerac, and Sister Paravan

  

Apparently Kirsten likes to sit up on top of her closet and wait for the other companionship to come back so she can scare them.  

District Navy and White Day (Gotta love Sisters)

Second P-Day!! June 21, 2013... BROADCAST WEEKEND!!!!! :D

Ola, everyone!! I really wish that the accent marks would work so that it doesn't look like my Portuguese is comletely terrible.

This week has been pretty busy, as usual. I'll start off by answering some questions. Sister Goimerac is, in fact, going to Sao Paulo South. Actually, everyone in my district is going there aside from Elders Kohls, Underwood, Bravo and Poulsen. Oh, and Elder Cisneros is our District Leader and he does remember the Millers!! Good call, Sister Miller! Connections everywhere. Also, everyone thinks our stake back home is pretty cool because of all the cool stuff I've told them that y'all have told me about Trek. Good job, everyone! We don't have culture classes at the CTM anymore. We just ask our teachers questions. Our two teachers are Irmao Durfee (Durf-Durf) and Irmao Duerden (Joao). Although I do like both teachers a lot, I'd have to say that if I had to pick a favorite, it would be Brother Durf-Durf. He's married and his kid, named Rad, just turned one. He tells us all kinds of stories about how his son is a MAN and is pretty nice and hilarious. Its interesting to see how both teachers deal with Elder Underwood. Also, we have gym time almost every single day. If you don't have scheduled gym time, you stil have your own Personal Fitness time. They have two gyms here. One has a track and a basketball court, volleyball and a few elliptcals and bike machines and weights. Its fun if you want to be social. However, I like the gym in 2M. Thats actually the one I would recommend Spencer to go to while he's here. There's a bunch of weightlifting stuff, a whole lot more machines, and you can also watch church movies/videos/conference talks while you work out if you want. You just have to bring your own headphones if you want to listen to the videos. I like it better because its not as crowded. There´s also a field where you can go jog or play soccer or sand volleyball. Its pretty cool. Also for the sisters, every morning at 6 they have fitness classes. Yoga, pilates, kick boxing, zumba. I haven´t tried any yet though. Next time. Also, mom, Sister Goimerac says she knows Sister Meyehara and that she hopes she is doing well! They went to Brazil together, you´re right.
Loo will have soooo much fun at EFY! Sounds like her summer is packed with a bunch of amazing experiences. Tanner, if you are EVER bored, WRITE ME. Seriously. A lot.

So, one day this past week, Sister Goimerac and Sister Jacobsen were super tired. So we left our personal gym time a little early so that they could take a bit of a nap. I don't know if that's technically allowed, but they really needed it. Hopefully the Lord understands. Anyways, I woke Sister Goimerac up when we had about 10 minutes until we had to be back in the classroom. Sisters Goimerac and Jacobsen both have the top bunks. Sister Goimerac threw a pillow at Sister Jacobsen to wake her up. Immediately, Sister Jacobsen sat up and exclaimed "OI!!!!" (by the way, thats like saying hi in Portuguese). It was hilarious. The funniest part, though, is that later Sister Jacobsen didn't even remember doing that.
We have 2 new investigators who look surprisingly very similar to our teachers. Their names are Marcos (aka Joao or Irmao Duerden) and Jairo (aka Durf-Durf). Marcos is so supremely frustrating. He is a religious person but doesn't really go to church. He is also VERY logical. He doesn't really take into account his feelings, which can be pretty frustrating. The first lesson where we taught him was pretty frustrating for me. Aside from introducing ourselves to him and bearing my testimony at the end, I didn't speak at all. I couldn't understand a word he said. It was sooo supremely frustrating!! After our lesson, Sister Goimerac and I went back to the dorm to grab her journal and I launched a pillow across the room as a healthy way to get out my frustration. Apparently my face was terrifying. Sister Goimerac said "Like a she-bear!!!" I probably won't do that again... But it did help! Our first lesson with Jairo was completely different. He's a Catholic and believes strongly in God. In his first lesson, I was able to speak so much more than I could with Marcos and I understood him a ton better. I also teared up when telling him the 1st Vision story in Joseph's words. I KNOW he felt the Spirit. We realized what the difference was and it was kind of like a DUH moment. Before Jairo's lesson, we said a companionship prayer together. We forgot to before Marcos' lesson. DUH! So for our second lesson with Marcos, we said a prayer before going inside. It went better, but I still couldn't speak much. I have a feeling that its because we are not teaching what he needs to hear. When we teach what people need to hear, the Lord helps out a bunch. I feel like thats what happened with Jairo. We just need to find out what Marcos needs to hear!
Last Sunday we also finally had our temple walk! It was a ton of fun. We also watched The Testaments after devotional. It was incredible. Sister Goimerac and I got closer because of it, I think. It may have been because at the end both of our eyes were leaking...
THE BROADCAST IS THIS SUNDAY!!!! I am pretty excited. I'll be in the choir for it, and that is such an amazing thing. Oh, shoutout to Mr. Doke! So, our choir director, after we sing at devotionals, always does a nod and mouths good job, and that reminded me of Mr. Doke because he does the same thing.
Also, something amazing happened on Wednesday night. We went to bed at 10!! It was amazing. We felt so refreshed the next day!
Here are some of the quotes that I absolutely loved from this week. "Their hearts will soften because of your vulnerability." I just love that. The woman speaking was talking about speaking another language. She said even if you don't know what you're saying, speak it anyway! Then she said that quote. It just made so much sense to me. It really is true, as well. Another one I loved was "Its not who you AREN'T, its who you ARE." That one is pretty self explanatory. Basically, its saying that you ARE enough. And I really needed to hear that.
Everything is pretty hectic with trying to set up for the Broadcast this week! All the new Mission Presidents will be here, along with several General Authorities. In fact, we aren't supposed to use the usual cafeteria anymore. That is strictly for those authorities and mission presidents. We may see some of them walking around the campus. We've been instructed to give them their space and only talk to and shake their hands if they come up to us. These times are super exciting!
I can't really think of anything else to say right now, so I guess this is it for this week! If I forgot anything, I'll just send it in a letter to my mom :P

Tchau tchau!

Sister Anna Kirsten Shell

June 14, 2013 First P-Day!!

Oi, everyone!! Its finally our first P-Day!!! Took long enough, right??

I'll just jump right in with whats been going on.

So, I arrived here at 12:30, Wednesday June 5th, and was greeted by my host missionary who also happened to be going to Brazil! She helped with my luggage and waited outside with it while I went inside, got my badge of honor (aka name-tag) and keys and a map. We took my luggage to my room and went to the bookstore to get a huge yellow bag full of learning materials. Then, we headed to my classroom. There I was greeted by my teacher, Irmao Durfee, who began speaking rapid Portuguese to me. Somehow I was able to comprehend the gist of what he was saying and followed him to a computer lab where I was instructed (in Portuguese, of course) to do the training programs for new missionaries on the computer. I finished after twenty minutes and headed back to the room. There were two elders in there so far, Elders Fillmore and Underwood. There were basic Portuguese phrases on the board that we were told to practice with. (Remember that all the instructions were given in Portuguese). More and more missionaries showed up, including my companion, Sister Goimerac!

When everyone was there, we went around the classroom and told everyone our name, where we were from, what mission we were going to, what we liked to do, and what we did before the mission. (Eu sou de Georgia... Eu gosta de escrever etc.... PS my spelling may be off since I'm trying to hurry! and I can't really do accent marks on this computer... grrrrr). We spent the next few hours learning some Portuguese basics, ate some dinner, then went through in large groups with all the newbies and taught 'investigators' in the evening. It was all about learning what people need, and learning how to best adjust things to what they need. That's what missionary work is all about- helping people the best you can. Dinner is like the Cannon Center all over again- woohoo!!

The next day, I ran into Hermana Arntsen!! Sister Goimerac and I were walking back from breakfast or maybe lunch and randomly we heard, "SISTER SHELL SISTER SHELL SISTER SHELL SISTER SHELL SISTER SHELL!!!!" and then I was hug tackled by Hermana Arntsen. It was good to see her and talk to her for a minute!! She said that Spanish is going really well for her and asked how I felt about Portuguese. The typical response is "overwhelmed." However, I am confident I will get it!! Thursday we also found out that we had to teach our first 'investigator' Friday evening. Not a problem right? Wrong, because we were also told that we would have to teach entirely in Portuguese. To say we were slightly nervous might be an understatement. We also found out a few other nerve-wracking things- like how sacrament meeting is done in Portuguese and one elder and one sister are randomly called up to give a talk in Portuguese. Eep!! At least by the time I hit the field I'll have six talks prepared. We spent the rest of the day preparing for our lesson, and I believe we also met the Branch Presidency that night. The days are becoming a blur so its hard to remember everything that has happened!

Oh! I also got a package and several letters on Friday! It basically made my day. My package was a whole huge thing of fudge brownies with chocolate chips in them from my mom. Sister Goimerac and I decided to save them for Sunday night to celebrate making it through to Sunday. Its a pretty big deal.

Friday was a pretty good day. Sister Goimerac and I were pretty much already best friends for life by the time Friday rolled around. We are very similar people, and are always making each other laugh. On Friday she decided that she would love to see me at 2 am because apparently I would be hilarious. It's true. Anyways. The lesson did not happen on Friday, unfortunately, because 'Joao' (our investigator) was unable to make it. So, it was rescheduled until Saturday night. Needless to say we were slightly relieved.

So, at the CTM (pronounced say-tay-emee) we have little id things to swipe us into buildings and into the cafeteria. EVERY SINGLE BUILDING IS ALWAYS LOCKED. I have honestly never felt so safe. Anyways, because you ALWAYS need your id thingy on you, they have these little circular things that you can clip onto your skirt/belt/cardigan that you can hook your id to. It has retractable string so you can just pull it and swipe and then let go, and it stays with you. It's pretty handy. Sister Goimerac and I have taken to calling them "retractable ninja stars" or "spiderman thingies" because we feel pretty cool using them. Like secret agents.

Saturday we finally taught our first lesson to Joao in Portuguese!! It went pretty well, but he asked a whole lot of questions in Portuguese that we weren't really prepared for, especially with our limited vocabulary. It was sort of frustrating to me, especially since Sister Goimerac can communicate more. She did, however, do a study abroad in Spain so the Spanish she knows helps a lot. I was able to talk with him though, so I know that the Lord is blessing me with the ability to learn Portuguese.

First off, my district is fabulous. I love them all a ton! Elder Underwood is quite a character. He has some very interesting stories that he loves to tell. Basically for any topic. His companion is Elder Kohls and they get along really well. Muito bem.

Sundays are my favorite days at the CTM because they are so amazingly spiritual. All the sisters in the whole CTM have relief society together in the gym. That's 1297 sisters. Its amazing. One of the things we discussed a lot all day was "BE BOLD, know your purpose, and expect miracles." A phrase that was quoted a few times was from Elder Holland, who said, "Welcome to the work of angels." I just love that phrase, and I know that its true. This really is the work of angels. The Spirit here is so incredibly strong. Everyone is kind, loving and supportive. Everyone smiles and everyone loves the work. After the Relief Society meeting, Sister Goimerac leaned over and gave me a hug and told me how glad she was that I was her companion. She truly is the sister of my heart. Honestly.

I didn't have to give a talk the first Sunday, which was a huge relief!! We were also supposed to have a walk to the temple, but we ended up having a long discussion with our branch president. It was cool, even if I felt like I didn't know nearly as much as him about the gospel!! I will though. I know it.

That night we went to the CTM choir practice. Here's where it gets realllllly cool and neat. On the 23 of June, there is going to be a huge missionary training broadcast that will be shown to thousands of members and missionaries throughout the world. The 12 apostles will be there, as will the first presidency. There will be a choir of about 1200 missionaries and 1100 members. I will be in that choir!! They are also going to put it up on lds.org so people can watch it whenever they want. Basically, I'm a rockstar. (Just kidding.) I am so excited!! It will be a wonderful experience, and a wonderful way to share our talents.

This week has been going by so fast!! We taught Joao a few times before we were told that he is actually our second professor and will be teaching us in the evenings from now on!! Sneaky sneaky. Both of our teachers are married, and Irmao Durfee has a son named Rad who just had his first  birthday this week! We had some Hermanas in our room that moved out at 3 in the morning this week on Tuesday, so we were a bit tired that day. But that meant that Sister Jacobsen and Paravan were able to move into our room with us!! They're in our District. District 54E!! Tuesdays are also our service days. We did some custodial work in one of the buildings. It made me feel like I was back working at the Cannon Center again!! A sort of weird feeling. We also sang in the CTM choir at the first ever devotional INSIDE the Marriott Center. It was amazing. I learned some really amazing things there and ran into Hermana Arntsen again. Wednesday was fun because we were no longer newbies!! It was fun to see the new missionaries walking around with their dork dots (little orange dots to show that they're new) and to yell things like "Benvindo!" and "Bom sorte!!"

It has been so humbling to teach and to try and communicate in Portuguese. I know that the Lord will bless me with the ability to learn, and I know that this is what I am supposed to do. I will be able to understand all that is going on. Despite being thrown into 3rd year Portuguese, I already understand and can speak so much. It truly is a miracle.

EEP! My time has run out!! I'll try to send some pictures. Hopefully everything works out. If not, know that I love you all and that I'm sorry if I didn't answer all your questions!! This truly is the Lord's work. We are blessed to be here, and are taken care of. I know that He loves and protects His missionaries. I feel so happy here and I always have so much more energy than I think I will. This truly is the work of the Lord.

I promise that I will share more next week!

Tchau tchau!

love,

Sister Shell

PS- HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO THE BEST DAD IN THE WHOLE WORLD!! :D

Up, up and away!

Okay, everyone. This is it!!
It's been a crazy time preparing for my mission. Super crazy, super fun, super amazing. There are so many things and people that have helped me, and I will be forever grateful.
I get set apart as an official missionary tonight, fly out tomorrow night and report Wednesday to the Provo MTC (Missionary Training Center) because my visa for Brazil has not gone through yet. Which is fine with me- this way, I'll actually learn some Portuguese before I go to Brazil, and maybe I'll see some of my friends that are there right now! (Shout out to the 110 ward and especially my suitemate Sister Megan Arntsen) Plus, that means I'll probably fly out with a group of missionaries going to Brazil. That way I won't be completely by myself.
So, for those of you who wish to contact me, my MTC mail address has (obviously) changed. Here it is:
Sister Anna Kirsten Shell
JUL16 BRA-SPS
2011 N 900 E Unit 294
Provo UT 84602

My email address is still anna.shell@myldsmail.net

My mom (and possibly my dad) will update this blog as frequently as they can with my emails and pictures. 

Please, please, please feel free to send me an email or a letter or even just a picture of any event in your life! I would love that. 

Thank you so much to all the people who have helped me, and who have wished me luck. 

God speed, everyone, and Hurrah for Israel!