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