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)