Amazing!!

View from the back porch!

Ola!! Can't believe that its P-Day again already. Time truly does fly by here.

Monday: Sister Rojas and I had Noite Familiar with Irma Deborah, Irmão Robson, and a part member family. Irma Natara is a member and her husband Fabio is not. Irma Deborah gave a beautiful lesson, and afterwards Sister Rojas and I did a little message about the Atonement. The Spirit was very strong as we testified to Fabio, and we could all tell that he felt the Spirit as he sat there holding their 6 (ish) year old son. We invited him to be baptized on the 7th of June and he accepted!!! Everybody was so happy. It was beautiful.

Tuesday: Somebody in one of our street contacts couldn't understand me, or at least said that he couldn't... awkward. But then, later, another street contact said that my Portuguese was super good!! I choose to believe the second guy. He was nicer and more receptive anyway.
Basically, all of our appointments fell through. Oh well! Carry on! That night, we were supposed to have a joint Noite Familiar member present lesson with the other sisters in our ward. However, when we got there, we discovered that they had to cancel it. We'd made cake for it, and were disappointed. The other sisters had appointments cancel on them all day too. So... There we were, sitting at an onibus stop in Brasil, eating chocolate cake. It was perfect, hilarious, and fun.
Plus!! While we were eating away our disappointments, a lady came to wait for an onibus, and we had a really good gospel conversation with her. It was awesome!! We were able to clear a lot of things up and answer a lot of her questions. Everything happens for a reason.

Wednesday: Happy birthday, mom!!! Hope it was amazing!! I ate some chocolate cake for you.

We were supposed to have a joint mission conference with the Sao Paulo Interlagos mission, with Elder Anderson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, but unfortunately, it was cancelled. Something was going on in Sao Paulo, and President Tanner told us that we needed to stay indoors all day, and not leave for anything.
But! It was a good day! Sister Price, in our home ward, suggested something very profound in my halfway mark package. She suggested that when I make it to a year, that I should make goals for my life after the mission. So, since on Wednesday I was only 15 days away from one year and I had plenty of time, that is just what I did!! It was amazing, and I feel like the goals I made were really inspired.
At 6, we got the okay to go out and get to work, so we did a lot of contacting!! It was fun.
That night, we were super hungry so we ordered pizza. And oh my goodness, was it good! My favorite was the frando com catupiri (I think thats how you spell it..) and it was delicious!

Thursday: We got caught in a downpour, which was super fun! No really, I love rain. It was a good thing we were close to the house, so we could stop by and grab an umbrella.

Caught in the rain

That night, we had a lesson with Vera, our investigator who came to church. I knew right away that something bad was coming though. And I was right. Well, I guess I should say that the Spirit warned me. Vera told us that she didn't want us to teach her anymore, but that she loved church, but was done and didn't want to learn any more. It was just so sad. I really felt, I think, part of how the Savior feels when people reject Him. It is so sad, because you know exactly what they're missing out on.

Friday: We had a lesson with an investigator named Maria and Irmão João. That went pretty well! I gave the opening prayer, and after, Irmão João asked me how long I'd been in Brasil. When I told him 4 weeks, he didn't believe me and told me that my Portuguese was very good!! That made me feel good. I was also able to follow the Spirit a lot, and testify strongly to Maria that she WILL receive an answer about what we are teaching her. The Spirit was very strong.
Also, I made Sister Rojas laugh her head off while tracting. To keep things fun, we were telling stories. I told her the story of how in 6th grade, during a math test, I was wounded by a pencil and to this day I still have pencil lead in my hand. I guess the way I told it was just funny because she kept laughing and laughing.

Saturday: We had another lesson with Fabio!! It was my turn to start off the lesson, and I was able to speak and do everything that the Spirit told me to do!! It felt good to know that I was able to really help him out. He made some goals to progress towards baptism, and he seems like he is really and truly and earnestly seeking for answers. His wife, Irma Natara, went through the temple on Saturday, and so that was neat. I am confident that next year, they will be able to be sealed as a family for all time and eternity in the temple. This truly is the work of eternity and happiness :)
Also, a dude named Pedro said that I practically sound like a native. I am pretty sure he was trying to flirt with me, but hey, I'll take what I can get as far as Portuguese goes.
We also visited Irma Alice. She has been having a rough time lately, so we were able to really listen to her. Sister Rojas shared a great scripture, and asked what her favorite hymn was so we could sing it to her. She told us Bela Sião. So, we sang it. The Spirit was super strong and she shed a few tears. She thanked me for my strong voice, and bore a little of her testimony. I was able to bear my testimony to her as well. The Spirit was so strong, so tangible. It was amazing.

Sunday: After church, an 8 year old named Artur got baptized!! It was such a precious moment. His father was so overcome with the Spirit and emotion. I am so glad I was able to be there to be part of it. It was just so beautiful.
We had a member present lesson with Irma Vilma and two teenage girls. The Spirit was strong as we watched the Restoration DVD and testified of the truthfulness of the First Vision, of the prophet Joseph Smith, and of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Truly, it was amazing.
That night, we had a meeting with our ward mission leader, so that was pretty good. His wife made us popcorn, and I was so, so happy!!!

I guess the best word to describe everything and all the miracles here is amazing. I truly feel so blessed to be here.

I love y'all!

Sister Shell

Parabens!!

Sisters in Sister Shell's District in the CTM

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST DAD IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!! :D I love you dad. Know that I thought about you all day and that I sang happy birthday to you in my head several times.
Second, parabens Aubrey!!! Hope your wedding day was super special. I got some pictures, and I´m glad to see that Leah was not wearing a hoodie and that your hair looked fabulous.

Monday (last day at the CTM): Man, it was a whirlwind. We got to take some pictures with everybody, and Irmão Ricardo.

District Selfie

Sister Shell and Sister Green

He had us go around and each share our testimonies in Portuguese. And remember how in Texas, I never cried? Because that was Sister King´s job... well, I seem to have tapped into my sensitive side here because I totally cried all throughout my testimony. The Spirit was so strong. I´m so glad that I made the decision to come on a mission. Its the best decision I´ve made so far in life. And I never want to leave.

Tuesday: We hopped in a 9 passenger van, me, Sister Green and a couple other missionaries headed to Sao Paulo South. And we got here, and I finally got to meet President and Sister Tanner!! They are so sweet and nice.

We had some orientation stuff in their amazing apartment, and then headed over to the local church building to meet our trainers. Because, I have to be retrained. Because I don´t know Portuguese yet. Oh well! Sister Rojas is my trainer, and she is absolutely amazing. I love her. She is from Paraguay, and thankfully knows enough English to help me stay sane.

That first day is all a blur to me. As soon as we hit the streets, I just thought ´´Oh no.´´ And I won´t lie, I panicked a bit. Actually, all throughout the day. ´´Take me back to Texas!!! This was a nice trip and all, and I´m glad that I got to see a bit of Brazil... But I think its time to go back to the THM. Everybody here speaks Portuguese, and I am in a foreign country and ahhhhhhhhh!!´´ is basically how my day went. I honestly don´t remember a lot of it because I was just sort of in shock all day. But! I do remember that we taught somebody on the street, and I invited him to be baptized and he said yes.
Booyah! We basically do that every day. And almost every day, somebody says yes. Its crazy!! People talk to us, accept copies of the Book of Mormon, and give us their addresses like nobody´s business.

Wednesday: Less shock. I felt pretty good. Plus, tender mercies of the Lord are everywhere. I remembered parts of the blessing I got from President Pingree, and I always see things that remind me of home. Like somebody wearing a Harry Potter sweatshirt. Hee hee
We had district meeting that morning. It was different, because we start out as a zone and then divide into our districts. Cool, huh? The Zone Leaders had me and Elder Palmer come up and introduce ourselves. Elder Palmer went first, and when he said that he had two sisters, all of the elders cheered and snapped their fingers (Brasil style). So I got up and said that I had two brothers and a sister. One elder held up his fingers to snap, and looked around awkwardly when no one else did. So I told him that he could, and everyone laughed and all of the elders cheered and snapped their fingers.
We went tracting, and talked to a woman named Leda. We talked to her for a while, and honestly, I don´t remember a lot of it. But!! At one point, the Holy Ghost told me to read a scripture to her. Alma 36:24. So I did, and we talked about God´s love for her, and I bore my testimony to her. And she really listened, and understood, and she kept saying ´´amem, amem!´´ Woohoo!!! That was a pretty good moment for me.

Thursday: So, during studies, Sister Laura and Sister Carazas (the two cute sisters we live with from Bolivia and Peru)

 opened their window and what did they see? No, not popcorn popping on the apricot tree. A parrot!!! A PARROT!!! Just chillin´ outside on our little back balcony with our laundry. So cool!!!!

Picture from the balcony

Later that day, we were doing street contacts (like we do every day since a lot of our appointments fall through) and met Rair. Oh dear. He is 19 years old, and is interested in the church. I think. When we started to walk away, he said, ´´Call me!´´ in English to me. Awkward. So Sister Rojas and I were laughing, and I sang ´´Can you feel the love tonight?´´ and she laughed some more. We continued walking, and Sister Rojas started talking to a man on the street. But she couldn´t stop laughing!!!! All three of us just laughed through it. Man, it was so funny.

Friday: We did exchanges!! Sister Laura and Sister Rojas are both sister training leaders here. After this transfer, they each only have one left before they return home. Sad day. But! It was fun!! They are in the same ward as us (Utinga) and so I got to see the other half of our ward. We had some awesome lunch, but we all ate too much and it was pretty strong, and we all had baaaaad stomach aches throughout the day. But, all is well! We survived!!
That night I was SUPER hungry. Ridiculously hungry. Because people here don´t really eat dinner. And during nightly planning, I was praying in my head. I told Heavenly Father that I just wanted some mac and cheese! Cute little Sister Carazas found out I was hungry and started making something, so I told myself that I would like it no matter what. When she was done, I came into the kitchen and guess what!! She made me cheesy pasta with ham!!! Basically, mac and cheese!! I was sooooo grateful, I almost pulled an Elder Valdez and cried. No joke. I told her that she was going to the Celestial kingdom for sure.

Saturday: I thought of dad and Aubrey!! And, that morning, cute Sister Carazas almost made me cry again!! Because she remembered that I like pancakes.. and she made pancakes for breakfast!!! It was seriously amazing.

That night, we met Danilo when we were trying to find a street contact. We talked with him and shared most of the first lesson about the restoration, gave him a Book of Mormon, and asked him to be baptized on June 7th. He agreed!! And he already wants to share the gospel with his family, and we haven´t even taught him anything yet!! He truly is an elect, as we say here. Or, as we would say in TX, one of the tens of thousands. He is prepared!

Sunday: I met the ward!!! It was crazy because it was ward conference. Everyone was so happy and excited to meet me, and we had an investigator named Vera come. She is a cute little old lady, and I just love her! She is not sure if she wants to get baptized yet though.
The rest of the day was fun! Thunderstorms!!! Which, by the way, I love. We stayed inside for part of it at a members house. When her 16 year old son, Iego, found out that I had a sister, he cheered and said that he will marry Alyssa, and that she better start learning Portuguese and write him a letter.
Oh dear. Even in Brasil, boys are in love with my sister!! Lock her up, dad. Lock her up.

And today, I´m emailing y´all!! I love you so much!! I will try and send some pictures now... Tchau!!!

love,
Sister Shell

AND!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST MOM IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!!! I love you mommy :) All the way from here in Brasil.

The Sisters doing the S sign for Superman and Sister Shell

Holy cow, I'm in Brazil!! :D

Ahhh!! Okay, so we only get forty five minutes to email and so far I have used up fifteen... Man, this is crazy.
Y'all.
I AM IN BRAZIL!!!!
I seriously have a moment every day here at the CTM where I stop my companion, Sister Green, and say, "Sister Green. Somos aqui no Brasil!!!!!" And she just goes "Ahhh!!!"
Its cool.
Fun little tangled triangle.. So, at the MTC in Provo, Sister Goimarac was my companion and in another district, Sister Green had Sister Rose as her companion. Sister Green and Sister Goimarac were companions in Colorado, and then when Sister Goimarac got here she was companions with Sister Rose!! And now Sister Green and I are companions. So basically, all that needs to happen for the circle to be complete is for me to be companions with Sister Rose when I get to my actual mission.
Okay, I don't know if I'll have time to do my usual weekly update because there's a lot to update on!

The day I left: It was a Tuesday, and I got to go to MLC with Sister King. I really enjoyed that, got to see a lot of my THM buddies and then have lunch with them at the mission home. Sister King took some last minute pictures for me becuase all of my stuff was already packed up and I was a bit nervous. Then, I had to say goodbye to Sister King. Which was sad. I totally thought she was coming with me. But then they made her get out of my suitcase.
And I think my eyes were sweating a little bit.
I had my last interview with President Pingree, and asked him to give me a blessing since I was nervous. He did, and it was perfect for me. After that, I was still nervous, but I knew that everything would be okay and that it would all work out amazingly well.
I jumped in the car with President and Sister Pingree, and we were off to the airport. It was so strange. I felt like I was going home, but I wasn't. And I definitely did not want to leave. The whole time I was just thinking "Don't make me, don't make me, don't make me, please!! Don't make me leave!!!" But, its what the Lord wants, not what I want. We got to the airport, took some last pictures (for now) with President and Sister Pingree, and then President walked me in. I hated saying goodbye. That was super difficult for me. And I'll be honest, I was a bit terrified. Especially walking through the airport by myself. Without my companion with me. So strange. I got to my gate and had some time, and had a nice conversation with a lady from Honduras who only speaks Spanish. But, I was able to use my Portuguese with her! So that was neat. Her three little kids were so super cute. I helped her figure out her ticket and how to get on the plane, and I entertained her kids a little bit. That helped a lot to calm me down. And then, the wonderful woman gave me a headband that she'd made herself!! I wore it on the plane. It was so sweet and made me feel really good.
We flew to ATL and I saw my brother, Brayden!! Woot woot! That was really nice. I loved seeing him, and I'm glad that | was able to before he goes off to Chili, on the wrong side of the South American continent. Tudo bem, brincando...

Then, I had to say goodbye to him. And me and 30 ish other missionaries got on this plane and suddenly, Portuguese. Portuguese everywhere. I sat down by somebody who is going to the Campinas mission! So that was fun. We took off and they fed us breakfast, and I attempted to sleep. Some lady had her cute little dog with her on the plane, and the poor dog was super scared, and everybody knew it.
That with the uncomfortable position of the chair and being in a skirt the whole time with a tiny little red blanket... Suffice to say that I got maybe two hours of actual sleep. But, its all part of the experience, eh?

The day I arrived: We got to Brazil early in the morning and I made it through customs and to where the church travel agents were waiting for us. And then... I went outside and caught my first glimpse of Sao Paulo! Cars, trees, buses, humid air and it just felt... alive and right. It was great. We got on a bus and my eyes were huge. I tried to take everything in, but then I woke up and we were in the CTM parking lot thing.

All the missionaries,along with the CTM President and his wife, that enter the CTM with Sister Shell on April 30th

We got out and got all of our stuff upstairs to our awesome rooms! We have a bathroom in our room! Its amazing!
Sister Green became my companion, and honestly I don't remember most of that day because I was literally a zombie. Oh, and we found out that night that we have two Brazilian roommates- Sister Lima and Sister F Lima. They are super cute and adorable, and love us even though they can't understand us well and they can't understand us well.
Sister Lima was having a bit of a rough time that night, and I knew I needed to help her. I was trying to get to know Sister F Lima when I saw Sister Lima laying on her bed with tears in her eyes. I stopped Sister F Lima and sat down next to her and asked her if she was okay. She said no, and I asked her what was wrong. She talked to me, and all I really got was that she missed her family and that it was just a rough day. Her companion understood more than I did. I didn't know the words to say, but I know how to hug. So I gave her a hug, and a scripture that she marked and thanked me for.
The Spirit always will help us know what to do, no matter what the difficulties may be.

Thursday: We got right at it. We had early breakfast, we had teachers show up, I'm pretty sure I was still a zombie and literally every five seconds I had my "AHH we are in Brazil" moment.
We got to know our teachers Irmaos Magustero (sp), Ribeiro, and Ricardo. They are all awesome! And they really don't speak English.
I don't know if you know this, but everyone here speaks Portuguese.
We had a few lessons Thursday and Friday, and then...

Saturday: We had a field trip.
We left the safety of the MTC, and with 3 copies of o Livro de Mormon each, walked out of the gates with our teachers. I was so stinking nervous, I'll be honest. But it was AWESOME!!! We got on the onibus and I felt like I was on a roller coaster. I was so happy the whole time it was ridiculous. Elder Light, man, I will have to tell you more about this other ginger later. But he talked to everyone and made everyone laugh and so that gave the rest of us courage to talk to the people on the onibus too!
The city is crazy people. Its like... lets cram as much city as we can RIGHT HERE in this very spot. And then, lets tell everyone that we have traffic laws but lets not go by them. Once upon a time, when we were walking to the onibus stop, Sister Green and I literally almost got hit by a motorcycle and I just had to laugh. Because it was awesome!! It was just finally real. And houses are literally stacked one right on top of the other. "How many houses do you think we can fit here? One? Okay, lets cram ten in here."
Its crazy.
But the people. Oh man, the people are totally and completely amazing and I love them.
Everybody is in a hurry, but most people, when we asked if we could talk with them for a minute were like "of course!!" And they'd laugh and talk with us for a little while, and we'd tell them about the Book of Mormon, and then tell them we had a present for them. And they would get so excited and be so grateful for that copy of the Book of Mormon and would promise to read it. It was so cool. Sister Green and I handed out NINE copies of the Book of Mormon!! 9!!! Thats more than I ever handed out in one day before, and we handed them out in about two hours. Seriously. And that was us talking to everyone we could in Portuguese. It was SO COOL. One time, our teacher came with us and that guy really got it, and understood, and asked if he could learn more.
PLEASE LEARN MORE!!!!
Seriously, people are so open and amazing and wonderful and just gah. I love them all!! All the people here!

We had fast Sunday, and I bore my testimony in Portuguese and everyone understood, we went proselyting one other time. Life is good.

My brain is having a hard time because Portuguese and English are battling right now. And my teacher made me write a breakup letter to English... Its very confusing.

I only have about 2 minutes left, mas, tudo bem.

I can't send pictures while at the CTM, so you'll have to wait until I'm out in the field!! Which will be next Tuesday I believe. Or maybe earlier. I dunno actually.

But, mom, happy mother's day!!! I love you!! Glad you got the mother's day stuff! And thanks Sister King, for sending off those girls camp videos for me :)

I miss everyone in TX, and I love everyone here in Brazil!!!!!

I wish I had more time. More next week, and I promise that it won't be as scatterbrained.

com amor,
Sister Shell

PS.... I AM IN BRAZIL!! :D And everyone speaks Portuguese.... Life is amazing