Week 18💌 - Happy Birthday Dad and Jamilly, and new First Presidency

 Hi everyone!

I love and miss you all! Today was a good week!

Segunda: We had a dia das garotas (girl's day) with some of the young women in our ward, and a returned missionary. So we went over to Jamilly's house at 10 and spent the rest of our pday there.  Jamilly gave my hair a much needed trim, and then gave 6 other people haircuts. Lunch was the most girl-dinner thing: rice, french fries and Coca-Cola. 

Terça: Happy Birthday dad! Terça was a really great day. We found out that the Church was doing a broadcast to announce the new first Presidency. We now have a President and Counselors of the Church. Dallin H Oaks was called as President, Henry B Eyring was called as 1⁰ counselor, and D Todd Christofferson was called as 2⁰ counselor with Jeffrey R Holland as President of the Quorom of the 12. We invited one of our baptism dates, Ayla, to pray about our message to know if it's true. She said that she doesn't need to pray, because she knows it's true.  She believes in God, we said the Book of Mormon contains the words of God, so that's enough for her. We still told her to pray though. We ate dinner at Bishop's house: pizza with a chocolate border!  And then at the end of the night, I got to call my dad and wish him a happy birthday!

Quarta: We had District Council. Our District Leader brought bananas for us, but they were so sour it's almost comical. We ate lunch at Kita's house. Her mom has Alzheimers, and it's pretty advanced. We have to reintroduce ourselves every 5 minutes. We also talked to João Henrique,  and he said that he is starting to read the BOM cover to cover. 

Quinta: Comp exchange day! Our Sister Training Leaders (LTS) showed up around 0830. None of us had a scheduled lunch, so we called Tia Rosa and asked if we could eat there, thankfully she said yes! I worked with Sister Silupu today in Santa Barbara. As we were leaving our house, I shut our giant metal door on my hand, so I had to get a bandaid from Fatima because it wouldn't stop bleeding. Fun times! But Fatima gave us mousse de tamarindo, so all is well. After Fatima, we tried 4 people, none of whom were home. 

But, we were able to talk to their neighbors and meet some new people. We then picked up William (He is not a member, but his mom and sister are recent converts) and brought him to Irmão Nelson's. I feel so bad. So I don't drink caffeine late at night because of my insomnia. And usually the drink that he has is Coca-Cola. But this time, knowing that I can't drink it, he bought guaraná. Guys... I don't like guaraná. But I drank a giant cup, and then he immediately poured me a 2⁰. Gah! But I drank it! We then met up with Sis Maciel and Sis Tomaz to eat pizza, and Cid Leste showed up too. 

Oh! Sis Maciel told me this fun story that she heared during exchanges. They went to meet with a woman we had met on Sunday. She told them that the day before,  she has been robbed at gunpoint, on a street that we have to use to get to either of our neighborhoods. You'd think that this would've happened at night, right? Nope! 1pm! A guy pulled a gun on her and took all she had in broad-daylight. Super comforting!

Sexta: Cid Leste had their comp exchanges, so the LTSs came over again around 0830. Sis Smith made a banana cake, and gave me the recipe. We then ate lunch at Irmã Rosa's (There is Tia Rosa and Irmã Rosa). Lunch was Uruguai,  Cid Leste, Pedra Mole, and then the 4 secretaries. 10 missionaries! My 1x eating lunch at Irmã Rosa's , was Cid Leste, Uruguai and the secretaries. And no one was talking, everyone was super reservered bc it was week 2 of transfers. This time... everyone was SCREAMING at each other. The sisters were yelling at the Elders that "WE WANT OUR AIR CONDITIONING. YOU DON'T GET IT, YOUR HOUSE HAS AC". And the Elders are yelling back "WE ARE WORKING ON IT, PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE". And then Tia Rosa started chewing out the closest Elder, Elder Machado. He is Secretary of Finances. He has nothing to do with our lack of AC, but she was chewing him out anyways. She told him that she will be sending a message to President Tonini because it is unacceptable that we do not have AC (I agree). 

We visited Thonny Black, and dude. The guy has everything! He has all of the lessons and principles, and then some. He also had 13 sacrament meetings. Everything he needs to be baptized... minus a desire. We have tried 2x to mark a date with him, and he always says that he wants to know more first. I think it's curiosity, not genuine interest. 

We did some street contacting later, and I gave out our last BOM to this guy named Elio. He then brought over his 4 brothers to chat. They said that my Portuguese is impressive (I feel like a toddler showing their parents a page with scribbles on it and the parents are like "Wow!! So pretty, I can definitely tell that it's a dog!") And then one of them asked if I wanted to hear his english, and I said sure! He immediately said "F you B! F you B!" On repeat with this giant grin on his face. We quickly excused ourselves.

We then had an acompanhamento with Elder Machado. He called at 2150, and yapped for 30 minutes. After about 20, we said the closing prayer. I start to say goodnight, tchau, etc. Because I am tired! But right before I can hang up, bro starts yapping for another 10 minutes about podcasts. GOODNIGHT ELDER. He is super sweet and helpful though. Just poor timing. 

Sábado: Saturday, we had lunch with Sarah's family. It was lasagna,  and it was so good! After studies, we met with Noemia. I don't think she is going to progress. She is too scared of what Fatima will think if she gets baptized. We then got a call from Tia Marlene and she said that she needed help preparing for the parties this weekend. Sábado was Jacó's homecoming party, and Domingo was Jamilly's 18th birthday party. So we went over to help. We made a ton of brigadeiro (little fudge balls). We also got guaraná de Amazônia as a treat (think milkshake). 

Domingo: Happy birthday Jamilly!! We went to church, and João Henrique and Thonny Black were there! Thonny now has 14 sacrament visits. Both of them stayed for classes, which is super impressive,  because I didn't even do that in my singles ward. I would take the sacrament, wait untik sacrament meeting had ended, and dip. But since coming on the mission, I have a new appreciation for classes. They are actually pretty fun! 

We then ate lunch at Klebios, he made Churrasco. It was delicious! During lunch, I started to feel a headache coming on. I took an ibuprofen because that's all I had, but it wasn't doing much. After lunch, we headed to Jamilly's.  Now, we weren't supposed to do any of the following. After lunch, we are supposed to go home for studies. But my companion wanted to go to Jamilly's for the afternoon part of the party (she had a luncheon and then a dinner). I tried to tell her that we should go home, and that I wasn't feeling well. But she really wanted to go. 

So we went, and I just laid down in Tia Marlene's room, on the verge of death (I am being dramatic, but man this headache sucked). Once I was feeling better, I assumed that we would leave for a few hours and then come back for the dinner. Nope! Sister Maciel wanted to help Jamilly get ready. Once the party actuallh started at 7, the secretaries all showed up. At around 8, Cidade Leste showed up. Mission rules say thag we need to br home by 9, and Sister Maciel and Sister Oliveira made no signs that they were ready to leave by 9. So at 9:15, Sis Smith and I decided to head out. We asked if they wanted to come, and they said no. We got home and started cleaning. The other sisters got home at 10. I then looked at my phone, and saw a missed phone call from the Assistant to the President... and the Zone Leaders were trying to call Cidade Leste. The AP sent a text and said that he heard about a party where a lot of missionaries were there, very late. He then asked if we were home,  and we said yes. And that was the end of it. But not a great feeling. 

Spiritual Thought: Sometimes we think of repentance as a negative thing. Something to be avoided at all costs. Because if you're repenting, that means you screwed up, right? But that just isn't it. Repentance has 2 parts. 1: turning away from your sins or mistakes and 2: turning towards God. We don't only have to repent when we commit some grievous sin. Repentance means turning away from anything that puts distmace between us and God. Anger, pride, etc. It means using His divine power to become clean again, and it brings us one step closer to Him. President Nelson encouraged us to repent every day. And it's a challege I would like to re-extend to all of you now. Take part in the divine power of the Atonement! 

Anyways, that's all! I am going to do my best to respond to all of your guy's emails today, but please don't be offended if I don’t get to yours! I swear, I read them and love them all. It makes my day when someone sends me an email. I'm just sometimes short on time to respond. 

Now for the part that you all actually care about: 

Pictures!

Picture Descriptions:

1. Trying to stay cool last PDay

2. We have a Presidency!

3.  Lunch with Tia Rosa

4.  Dinner with the LTSs

5.  Lunch at Irmã Rosa's!

6. I think we have enough watermelon...

7. Breakfast! Watermelon, mango and watermelon juice!

8. Helping Jamilly get ready!

That's all for this week, I love you all!!