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