Bring it On!!

Hello everyone!!!!!

Tuesday: We got to go to the Sao Paulo Temple!!! Woohoo!!

That was pretty awesome, not going to lie. We got there early, but not early enough to do inititiatories before our session, so we got to help out in the lavandaria. That was pretty fun, and for some reason very spiritual. I mean, we were helping prepare things so people could make covenants in the temple. That was pretty cool.
Then, we went back to the dressing room to grab everything for our session, and Sister Rojas dragged me back in the dressing room after we left. I was all like, "What?? We are going to be late!! Why do we have to come back in here... you have everything..." And then she pulled me around the corner by one of the lockers, and I almost died of happiness.
Sister Goimarac was hurrying to get ready for the session!! Man, that was awesome. We embraced, almost cried, smiled so big that we nearly broke bones and then we all went to the session together. It was really neat. Especially because the names that Sister Goimarac and I had were sisters :) And afterwards, I got to sit by her in the Celestial room, and it was just perfect. Thats basically exactly where we were a year ago. It was neat to be able to look back at the beginning and know how far we've both come, and it was just really special and spiritual and I can't even find the right words to describe the moment.
That night, we taught Durival and Nelza, and that was interesting. Durival is more interested than Nelza, but hey. They both participated and asked questions and Elza prayed at the end! Very enthusiastically, Evangelical style.

Wednesday: I read the Consecrated Missionary talk by Tad R Callister. And you know what? I didn1t feel super unconsecrated. Not saying that I am the most consecrated missionary ever, but after reading it I decided to look and see what I still have to give up to become consecrated. And I am actually a lot closer than I thought! I still have a long way to go, but I was able to see that I truly have made a lot of progress towards becoming a truly CONSECRATED missionary.
Sister Rojas was sick that day, so we stayed in for a little bit so she could take a nap and let the medicine take affect. Then we went out, and it was rainy, and dark and cold and of course... Yupp. Everything fell through! Haha, thats the missionary life for ya.
But! We stopped a woman in the street, and come to find out, her aunts are active members in the church in another mission! So we had a really good discussion with her. At one point, she asked us why such bad things happen, to good people, and we were able to testify of truths and the Atonement to her. It was a good way to end a not so great day :) Plus, we ate popcorn that night. Because why not?

Thursday: Heavenly Father saw that we kept working and didn]t get discouraged the day before. Thats my theory for Thursday because ALL of our marked appointments came through and were amazing!!!
First, we had Vitor. He is just so darn cute!! We taught him about baptism, and about truly finding a response. Its kind of hard for him, but we testified that we really care about him and sincerely want to help him and want the best for him. We also promised him that if he prayed THAT NIGHT, sincerely, he would get a response. It was a really good lesson.
Then, we taught Maria, a nonmember grandma of an RM named João. Man, it was like he was the missionary and we were just there to testify!! Which was good, don]t get me wrong. But at one point, for like seven or ten minutes, the Spirit kept telling me to speak up and say something, but between him speaking and his grandma speaking and Sister Rojas speaking, it was hard to get a word in haha. So, before my heart literally broke out of my chest from pounding so hard, when Joao took a pause, I blurted, "Posso falar?!" So I testified to her about my testimony and about the Holy Ghost, and I don't remember a lot of what was said. But folks, something big happened.
I cried.
Yeah, thats right. ME, Sister Shell! I cried during a lesson, which I can literally count on one hand how many times that has happened to me. Because I'm just not a crier. But I cried. So that was a pretty big deal. I was like... "What the heck, am I Sister King now?" Which, by the way, would not be a bad thing to be.
Then, we taught Marcelo. He acknowledged that he needs to be better at daily prayer, so we taught him about prayer and wrote on a sticky not ORAÇÃO and how to pray, and he stuck it on his nightstand. We had some good laughs, he said that coming to church on Sunday felt really good, and said that he's not sure if he will go if he has to go by himself to church. So we set up to walk with him to church again.
Then, we got lost trying to find somebody. And apparently the road we ended up on was very perigoso but hey. We didn't die and we made it home safe and sound. :)

Friday: So, during the World cup we decided to teach English and Spanish classes at the church building on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. We had three kids show up to learn, and so I decided that I wanted to say the opening prayer in English so that they could really hear how English sounds. So I started the prayer.
"Heavenly Father...." and I blanked. For a good ten seconds, I literally couldn't remember how to pray out loud in English. Finally, and super slowly and awkwardly, phrases came to my mind and I said a short prayer in English. And I was super, super happy that I forgot how to pray out loud in English :) CELEBRATE, PEOPLE!! This is a big deal!!
I decided that I need to have more courage in speaking to people, so I studied about courage and found D&C 30:11, which I wrote really big in my journal. Because I love it, and its so true and is such a good reminder. Then!! I talked to a member who speaks REALLY FAST on the phone, understood and replied and had a conversation. Score!!
We also went on exchanges. Sister Carazas was in my area, I knew where we were the whole time, I was able to lead in our appointments, and we stopped everyone in the world.. but nobody wanted to listen. Agency and such.
We wound up at Luis and Santa's house, which is always a hoot haha. But Luis was super cute and told us that when he first saw missionaries in the street, and first had contact with them many years ago, it felt like he was seeing angels in the street. And when he finally made contact with missionaries again (us), he was so happy. He told us that when we extended our hands to shake his hand for the first time, he felt like God was extending His hand to him. Sweet huh? He thanked us for all that we are teaching him and Santa.

Saturday: We taught our second round of classes, and that was fun. Its kind of hard for them to understand the "th" sound and that words that end in "t" don't sound like tchee and the words that end in "d" don't sound like dgee. Plus, I am now learning Spanish from a Portuguese standpoint. Its pretty easy, actually. Not that I remember anything at the moment. But I pretty much understand everything. And the kids are like "Spanish is so much easier!!!"
Yupp, I know. English is so weird.
We were finally able to touch base with a less active. She recounted her miraculous stories about her triumph over cancer and about her son's SERIOUS miraculous triumph over cancer. We shared a thought from General Conference, which she loved, but she still isn't sure about coming to church and stuff.
Then, Elder Hales (our District Leader) and his companion Elder Gauldim came to our area to help us find some new investigators and knocked a few streets for us. We now have 8 references to check out! Woot woot!! And a few of them sound really promising.
Then, we knocked a street but didn't have too much success. Oh well! "Never give up, never surrender!"

Sunday: Well, when Irmão Robson opened the chapel for our first English class, he informed me that I would be giving a talk on Sunday. So, Sunday, I gave my first talk!!! It was about the hastening of the work of salvation, and the whole sacrament meeting was about that. Everybody said that my talk was good and that my Portuguese is awesome. Booyah for the gift of tongues!!
Our Ward Mission Leader spoke, and in his talk he asked the members to think and ask themselves questions like the following, "Did I pray sincerely for missionary opportunities today? Did I pray for the missionaries and their investigators?" Then, he got emotional and said, "I can guaruntee you with absolute certainty that four people here today did." And in my head, I started thinking... Who is he talking about? And I started counting the people that I thought prayed... Bispo, ele.. quem mais??? And then he continued by saying that we have four angels serving in our ward that have left everything behind and are deicated to the work, and that need help. And I realized he was talking about us, and I got all teary eyed with gratitude. People really look up to, respect and hold accountable us missionaries. It was a beautiful moment.
Plus!! In Gospel Principles, we finally had more investigators than members!! And Marcelo came to church with us again!! And cute little Vitor came too!!
Then that night we had a stake meeting about missionary work with all the missionary people and the Bishoprics.
That was awesome and now I am pretty sure everyone in the stake is PUMPED for the work.

BRING IT ON!!!

love,
Sister Shell

Batizar com água frio e confirmar!!

Kirsten and two cuties ready for the first game for Brasil in the World Cup

Well, folks, I ask you... Has the day of miracles ceased?? I say unto you, NAY!

Monday: Made a pizza for P-Day. It was pretty great. I like Brasil pizza :)

For all those who know Kirsten's eating habits, you are shocked that she ate this!!! 

Tuesday: Hmm, the days are all blurring together. Hows about we do things differently for today?

So, Brasil had their first game last Thursday and that was INSANE. Haha, people were so pumped. The only way I can think to describe it is.. Well, think of the Whos in Whoville, and how much they love Christmas. Thats Brasil right now with the World Cup going on. It was awesome. I could literally hear the reactions of the whole country as we were inside studying. I didn't even have to watch the game to know that Brasil won. After that, we headed out to have a meeting with our ward mission leader. Everyone was celebrating, and then there are these four missionarias walking down the street, not paying any attention to the fireworks going off everywhere and singing Called to Serve and other hymns quite loudly. I felt like those heroes in the movies who are walking away from an explosion, all cool and stuff. And we really were singing hymns. Because why not?

Then, Friday. Nayara had her baptismal interview!!! Oh, let me back up. So, Nayara is a 17 year old young woman who is the daughter of a member. Her dad didn't really want her to get baptized when the rest of her family got baptized, so she didn't. But she always comes to church and participates and knows EVERYTHING that she needs to know. I actually thought she was a member until we visted her and Sister Rojas told me that we should invite her to be baptized. And she accepted!! She felt like now is the right time for her. So, we went over the baptismal questions with her and set up an interview, and she passed!! Seriously, miracles. Every day.
That night, after studying (we switched our study schedule because of all the soccer games) we decided to take a different route to our appointment. As we were walking down this street, we see this kid who is probably 12 or 13 freaking out and holding his arm. I just thought that he had watched one of the games in the world cup and was emotionally charged. However, as we got closer, he spotted us, and sobbed,"Oh, as moças, por favor, me ajuda, me ajuda!!!" And as we walked up and stopped, I saw that his forearm was covered in blood. But you know what, I felt completely calm. He was scared out of his mind, you could see it in his eyes. I put my hand on his shoulder, told him to stay calm and asked him what happened. As he started explaining, I looked more at his arm. He had a good, deep little chunk missing and another gash. It was easy to tell that he had scaled one of the fences and impaled himself on one of the spikes momentarily.
Then, as he was explaining, this older woman came out of the house and started angrily scolding him. I was so confused at first. I was like... why is she mad at him for bleeding?! He needs help!! And then... he just walked off with this other rapaz, and Sister Rojas was talking to the lady and I was like... WHAT IS GOING ON?! Then, the woman opens her gate, asks where the boy is, next thing I know, Sister Rojas promised that we'd go find him. So there we were, traipsing about, trying to find him. Meanwhile, Sister Rojas told me that the older woman told her that the boy was her grandson, that the other rapaz wanted her grandson to leave with him, that the grandma said no, an argument resulted, and she refused to open the gate. The rebellious grandson decided to climb over, and, as Sister Rojas put it, was paying a heavy price for his disobedience. We found him, with the other rapaz and the father of the rapaz, and told him that his grandma was waiting for him and that he was going to be okay and get help. He thanked us and they helped him back to his grandma.
Moral of the story is, disobedience is never worth it. And Sister Rojas and I plan to go back because they clearly need the gospel. It was a crazy experience, but I also know that we were there at the right time to help out a little.

Saturday, we had a lesson with cute old Vitor!! Man, I just love him. He is so sweet!! He is having a hard time committing to baptism, and he won't pray in front of us. But he is reading and praying, and he loves our visits. What a cutie pie!

I don't know what day this happened, but one day at lunch I told the Irma that I wanted about 4 kids, and she thought I was absolutely crazy. "So many!!!! You are going to have two kids, think of me, and just stop right there. FOUR!!! Crazy!!!! Thats a huge family!!!" And I thought that was funny.
Also, whenever I show people pictures of my family. they always think Brayden is older. What the heck?! They also comment on how young my parents are!!! Parabens, mom and dad!!!

Saturday, we also visited an inactive that we visited my first or second week here, and invited him to church. Like we have been doing. And he always accepts but he never comes. However, this time, we had a really good discussion with him, and asked him if we could swing by and walk with him to church on Sunday. He said that of course we could. Now, I was a bit skeptical.
However.

Sunday morning, we went by, and he was ready and waiting for us!!! We headed to church, and he had a marvelous time!!! Plus, the lesson in Gospel Principles was all about the sacrament, and it was perfect for him.
Then, after church, we had the baptism of Nayara!!! Basically everyone in the ward knows who she is, so it was pretty packed. It was special and beautiful, and very humbling for me. Because I literally did nothing for this baptism. At least, thats what I feel like. I feel like Heavenly Father saw how hard we were working, saw that nothing was working out but that we were continuing on anyway, and nudged us in the direction of Nayara. All we did was invite her to be baptized. But then again, thats my whole purpose as a missionary. To invite.
It was pretty incredible, especially since our zone has been in a bit of a famine as far as bringing sheep into the fold and having baptisms. I am sure this will motivate and cheer everyone up :) Heavenly Father really is blessing us so much.

Sorry this email is so scatter brained!! I didn't prep my email before hand like I usually do. See, our P-day is actually tomorrow because we are going to the temple tomorrow, but nothing will be open because of the Brasil vs. Mexico game tomorrow when we get back, so we got permission to email today. So I thought I would have another day to prep, but I didn't... But! Next week will be better!!!!

Shoutout- Happy Father's Day to the best dad in the whole world!!! And to all the other father figures in my life- uncles, grandpas, Brothers in the ward, etc. Thank you for all you do. I love you all!!!

Tchau!!!


Sister Shell

4 Sisters on the Onibus (Fondly named The Knight Bus)

Everything That Hath Breath

Kirsten's District.  I find it funny that she is the tallest of the Sisters, all 5'4" of her. :)

Hello!!
We are using a new internet house this week, so I am not sure if I will be able to figure out how to send pictures. And right now we are in the middle of a conference call about transfers... EEP!
Okay, nothing's changing for the four sisters in my ward. Woot woot!!!! :D

Monday: Well we cleaned our new house for a few hours. Its pretty big, so it took a lot of work. We were supposed to have a lesson with Solange but that didn't pan out :( That night, we put all of our stuff into suitcases and boxes.

Tuesday: Well, most of our lessons fell through. But all is well!! We had the big move! A lot of Irmãos in our ward showed up to help us out, and one of them had rented a trailer for us to use. I don't know if I've ever seen people work harder, faster or be better at tetris than those members. It was so awesome!! I just felt so grateful for all the people who showed up to help us. Our district leader, Elder Hales, and his companion Elder Gauldim also showed up to help. It was amazing!! We finally got everything in and settled into our new house at about 9 o'clock. We planned, and then zonked out on our mattresses on the floor because our bed frames weren't set up yet. And you know what? I slept as good as I always do!

Wednesday: We did weekly planning because we had Nova Forças scheduled for Thursday. Nova Forças is a meeting for all the missionaries who are new to the mission and their trainers, to evaluate how well the first transfer went and what could be improved upon. Anyways, so we did weekly planning! We had a good lesson with Natanael that night. Natanael is a recent convert/less active member. We walked in, and his nonmember mother asked us to help her with some things she was putting together. We couldn't say no, so there we sat on the couch slipping white index cards into tiny folder things. The whole time I was thinking "There are THOUSANDS of these! How are we ever going to teach Natanael?? Its already 8:10, and we live far away now... What do we do?" And I could tell that Sister Rojas was thinking the same thing.
Here's where the Spirit comes into play. A thought came into my mind; "Have him teach you!" So when Natanael left the room for a minute, I turned to Sister Rojas and told her that we should have him teach us about the Restoration instead of us teaching him the Restoration like we planned. So when he came back in, thats exactly what we did. He laughed at first, but then realized that we were serious. So he talked about Joseph Smith and the experiences he had and the Spirit was so strong! He remembered so many things, and didn't really need any help at all. And all the while, his non member family members were listening. It was so cool! We had a prayer at the end, and then his mom fed us some home made sweets.
The Spirit always helps us when we don't know what to do. I am so grateful that I have the gift of the Holy Ghost!!

Thursday: We didn't have Nova Forças because the Metro decided to go on strike. As far as I know, its still on strike. At any rate, they called off Nova Forças to be cautious, and because nobody would be able to get there anway.
Also, I hit ONE YEAR on my mission!! Can you believe it? Over a year ago, I said goodbye to my loved ones and hopped on a plane to the Provo MTC. And from there, the biggest adventure of my life started. Who knew ome year would pass by so quickly? Omly Heavenly Father. That morning, I made some goals for my last six months. The kind of missionary I want to be at the end and such. The weeks are already flying by, and I really don't want them to. I love my mission.

1 Year Celebration Pizza

Also, found this cool scripture "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord." Psalm 150:6
Once again, most of our appointments fell through. But! All is well! We had some good lessons! We were able to visit cute little Vitor, and he made us pão de queixo. Basically, cheese bread. I had in TX with Sister King and Kevin and I've had it so many times here. But its sooo good. And he gave us the recipe!

Friday:
Sister Rojas and Sister Laura did exchanges. For the day, I was with Sister Carazas in her area! We got to go to the Brazilian ghetto. And maybe Sister King remembers that I was super timid in the ghetto areas in TX, and basically we never really got out of the car there. But let me just tell you, for some reason I have no qualms about traipsing around the Brazilian ghetto. Its fun!

Anyways, we had some really good lessons. At one point, we were reading in the Book of Mormon with one of their investigators and Sister Carazas stopped to explain something. The girl couldn't understand Sister Carazas. So she tried again, two more times, before turning to me. I figured out what Sister Carazas was trying to say, and the girl understood me!! It was a miracle!! I was also able to have a really positive street contact while Sister Carazas was talking to an investigator. I was able to share about missionary work and missions and our church, and the lady was very impressed with us and my Portuguese! Thats basically how the whole day went, except for in our amazing lesson that night. Those people had a harder time understanding me. But all is well! They are definitely prepared by the Lord. We taught the Plan of Salvation because we knew that their grandpa had passed away. But then they started asking questions about why there are so many churches when there should only be one, and next thing you know we taught the Restoration! It was so awesome!

Saturday: It was an absolutely gorgeous day!! We did lots of contacting, and then...
That night we also had a session of Stake Conference. The last talk was so amazing. During it we watched several videos about missionary work, including one from the Worldwide broadcast a year ago. It was fun to relive that moment, and watch it and know that I was there! Then, the Irmão giving the talk asked all of the RMs to stand up. There were a ton! He commented on how strong our stake was, with all of the RMs. Then, he got emotional as he pulled out his own nametag from his mission, and told everybody that its time to put the tag back on. It was so cool, and the Spirit was so strong!

Sunday: Stake Conference was amazing! It was broadcast from Salt Lake, and I found out that Elder Richard G Scott can speak Portuguese. Who knew?? Not I!
We had lunch with Irma Adriana and her son Iegon (the guy in love with Alyssa and I thought he said that his name was Diego but its not....) and Bispo Tiago and his wife Andrea. It was so fun! I just love all of these people.

We had some good contacts and a fabulous first lesson with Fernando.

Ahh I don't have any time!! Gotta try and email some pictures... Love you all!

Sister Shell

Kirsten with Sister Tanner her Mission Mom

One Month in Brasil!! :D

First things first, PARABENS Gabi!!! Man, you are getting old. Haha, love ya! Hope today is great and wonderful!!
Also, one month until Brayden reports for his mission in Chile!! AHH!!! So exciting!!

To start off, I need to tell a funny story about some of our investigators that I forgot to tell last week. We were trying to contact a referral, but it didn't work out. So a woman named Santa (yes, as in Santa Claus) invited us in because her husband, Luis, loves the church and was so sad when they moved and he couldn't find the missionaries. So we taught them the first lesson, about the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ. They liked that, a lot. At the end, we asked if either of them would like to say the prayer. Santa said that she would, but that she would say it the only way she knew how, and knelt down. Luis started saying, "No!!! No, Santa! Santa, no, we don't have time! No, YOU (aka me) say it!" But during all of this, Santa had already started the prayer!! So Sister Rojas and I closed our eyes and bowed our heads, and Luis knelt down muttering. After a good thirty seconds, Luis starts saying, "Amen! AMEN, Santa!! Santa, AMEN!! Amen!! Santa, amen!! Stop! Too long!! Amen, amen, amen, amen Santa!! Santa, finish the prayer! Amen!!" It was sooooo funny. Sister Rojas and I were trying so hard not to laugh our heads off. When Santa finally finished her prayer, Luis made us say another one.
Yupp. Thats Santa and Luis for ya.

Tuesday: At lunch, it was my turn to give the message. We were eating with Irma Alice, and I prayed really hard before searching the scriptures to know what to say. Because I knew that it needed to be one that would really strengthen her. After a while, I turned to Romans 8 and found some incredibly good scriptures about trials, and the blessings that await us. At lunch, I shared those scriptures with her and the Spirit was very strong. I know that it really helped her and that she really appreciated the thought. I know that the Holy Ghost led me through that message, and that Heavenly Father loves each of us as His children. I could really feel the love that He has for her, and that helped me realize (once again) just how much he loves all of us.

Wednesday: I had my first Zone Conference in Brasil!! Sadly, it was also President and Sister Tanner's last Zone Conference. We traveled there with most of our Zone early in the morning, and when we got there, some missionaries from another Zone were already there. And my heart did a little leap of joy because who did I see? Sister Paravan, from my Provo MTC district!!

She was so happy to see me and I was so beyond happy to see her. She got her visa a transfer before me, when Elder Wible (from my Texas Houston Mission) got his visa. We had so much fun talking together! During lunch, two other zones came for the next Zone Conference, and I saw Elder Wible, and Elder Cisneros & Elder Lewis from my Provo MTC district!! That was pretty awesome. We all took a picture together. Hopefully I will see the rest of the gang soon!! We just need Elder Fillmore and Sister Jacobsen here! And I was told that Sister Jacobsen got her visa!! Woohoo!
We sang for Presidente and Sister Tanner, as Sisters, and then after we all sang Called to Serve to them. That one is so fun!! I recorded it because I want to remember that forever. We sing it a little differently here in the São Paulo Sul missão! There's a part where we all shout "SÃO PAULO SUL SUCESSO!" And its pretty fun.

After Zone Conference, we went back to work!! Had some good lessons, and some good contacts, and were able to get a few more investigators! Woot woot!

Thursday: We had weekly planning! My favorite thing ever! We had an appointment with a girl named Linda, and her mom was there too, so she joined in. At the beginning of our lesosns, we always sings hymns. So Sister Rojas said that she would explain to Isabel, the mom, how we sing hymns, and told me to explain to Linda. I started explaining how we sing hymns- first line, and then you skip to the next first line, and the next one, and then you go back to the second and sing all the second lines- and was showing her with my hymn book and tracing my finger on the page. In the middle of my explanation, Linda just started giggling and patting me on the head, and said, "I can't understand anything you are saying." And she continued to laugh and pat me on the head. If we were in Texas, I am pretty sure that she would have said, "Bless your heart, you are trying to explain." As she was laughing and patting my head, she looked over at her mom and said, "I can't understand..." And Sister Rojas had to re-explain for her.
Awkward. Ouch.
However, during our lesson, I still spoke up and she understood me then. The Spirit was very strong, and Sister Rojas started the invitation to be baptized when outside we heard, "O ISABEL!!" Right in the middle of the question. They ignored the person outside, and so Sister Rojas started the invitation again. Once again, "O ISABEL!!!!" Isabel got up, explaining that it was her sister. Spirit was gone, and we couldn't finish the invitation because both Isabel and Linda started helping Solange, the sister of Isabel, with groceries. Isabel explained that we were missionaries and Solange was so clearly not interested. She glanced at us, and then didn't look at us. Awkward.. So we continued our lesson, and testified of prayer. The Spirit returned, and Solange started listening. She asked us if we had already prayed, and Isabel told her yes. Solange got tears and her eyes and basically said, "Oh, never mind then... But when you pray, please remember my son in your prayers. He really needs them." She started crying as she explained the situation her son is in currently, and I just felt a wave of love for her. I got up and shared a scripture about hope and told her that the Savior is there for her, as well as her son, and that we could help her. She continued crying and just kept nodding her head and thanking us. Then, she started saying "I don't have work on Mondays, Wednesdays or Saturdays. You can visit me on any of those days." So, we will be visiting her later today. And as we had that last prayer with her, the Spirit was so strong. I know Heavenly Father set that up perfectly. What seemed like awful timing turned out to be the best timing.
That night, we left for São Paulo to stay with some other sisters that night. I slept on a tiny couch, and I am pretty sure I got 2 hours of sleep tops. But all is well! Sleep is sleep!! All of the new sisters and elders were staying São Paulo because we all needed to go to the Policia Federal on Friday morning.

Friday: We left the house at 6 in the morning. Way too early!! But, we made our way into the heart of the city and went to the Policia Federal. Its like the DMV times 500, and I was super nervous for some reason. Nonetheless, I was not deported and I now have my legal documentation to be in Brasil!! Even if my picture looks like I seriously want to kill someone. And it was fun to see Sister Green again!! Also, I finally got some letters when we went to the Mission Office after to sign some papers. But none from Dad. One of the office elders said that he hasn't seen any missionties letters, doesn't actually know what they are, and doesn't know how they work... I don't know how to fix that Dad :/ sorry. He never went to the Brasil MTC so he's never heard of mission ties. But I did get two from my amigo serving here, Elder Sears, and one from a Cannon Center coworker thats a year old! Haha.
When we got back to our area, we had lunch and she made some lasagna pasta stuff and I was literally in heaven. I ate entirely too much. Every day here, for lunch, is literally like Thanksgiving. And every single meal, at least one person says, "Eat more, Sister, eat more!!!"
We had a lesson with Victor, a cute little old man in a cute little green house. Irma Alice came along and helped us with that. It went really well. We watched the Restoration DVD with him, and the Spirit was very strong. After, we ate some cheese and I thought "Oh man, Syster Miller would love this so much."
We had another lesson with Fabio, about the Restoration, and showed the DVD to him too. The Spirit was pretty strong, and we moved his baptism to a later date.

Saturday: We were able to finally visit some less actives! Irma Claudia, and her son Gabriel! She has three other sons too, but I believe that only the two oldest were baptized. Guilherme, one of the brothers, was there and participated in the lesson. We shared Boyd K Packer's testimony with them, at the end of his talk this conference. It was powerful, and the Spirit was strong. Guilherme wanted to come to church with us!! Woohoo!!

Sunday: We walked with Guilherme (11 yo) and Victor (80 ish yo) to church, with Irma Alice! And then, Luis showed up for part of church!! And then we went to go get a recent convert, Natanael, and his non member brother Emerson (11 yo) for church, but they were asleep. But Natanael called us on our way back to church, said that he just woke up and that he and Emerson were coming!! And they came!! It was seriously a miracle. And it was perfect, because it was fast Sunday, and the Spirit was so strong. And, like every Fast Sunday, I bore my testimony in Sacrament meeting. I know Heavenly Father helped me say what He wanted me to say, in my rather limited Portuguese, and I and I am so glad that I shared my testimony. The Spirit was so strong in that meeting, and several members expressed their desire to do more missionary work! Woohoo!!!
We also had some good lessons, and a bunch of conversations in the street. Good way to end the week.

Tomorrow, we are moving to a new house in our area, so today we will be cleaning not only our current house but our new one! Yay!

Some thoughts that I have had:
Sometimes, I like to add ".. in Brasil!!" to thoughts that I have. Like "Oh, I'm eating a sandwich.. IN BRASIL!!" or "I'm walking up a GINORMOUS hill.... IN BRASIL!!"
Also, I get hungry a lot. And I am pretty sure the sisters I live with think things like, "Oh, the American's hungry again. Better feed it." And then they hand me some snack, and I have no idea what it is, but I eat it and like it.
It is really hard to shower with just a bucket full of water. Yupp. Our electricity is being all weird, And that means no hot water for us, and that most of our outlets don't work except for the ones in our bedroom. So we make our little grilled ham and cheese breakfast sandwiches in our bedroom. And I just have to laugh.

I love you all!! The church is so true!!

Tchau!
Sister Shell

Sister Shell and others on the public transportation (the Onibus) that she affectionately calls the Knight Bus from Harry Potter because it is that crazy of a ride! :)