Week 24💌 - Happy Birthday to me and Thanksgiving to you!

 Bom dia a todos! Como vocês estão?

This week was a really great week. Let's get into it! I am a week behind in my journaling... so let's see how much I can remember. 

Segunda: Pday! This pday was so much fun. We had a Pday de Sisteres with all of the Sisters of Zonas Planalto, Horto e Teresina. I got to see minha mãe,  Sister Maciel.  I also got to meet the filha of Sister Oliveira,  her name is Sister Gomez. She's from Australia! Her accent is so cool!! It was Sister Gomez's birthday, and mine was later this week, so the LTS brought candles and party hats! I stuck my candle in a ham and cheese pastry. It was such a fun morning. 

After that, we did a mini division with the LTS. Sister Price and Sister Dinsdale wanted to stay in Teresina and shop, Sister Cayax and I wanted to go home. So I went to the LTS house with Sister Cayax and we called our families. It was nice having that time outside of the house, and then having time to rest and talk with my parents.

We had a mission devotional,  it was really good. President talked about how the mission as a whole needs to have more respect for the Youth Leaders (Sister Training Leaders, Trainador(a), District Leaders, Zone Leaders and Assistentes do Presidente). 

Terça: We started off our morning with Conselho de Distrito. Guys. What the heck. We started it at 10 am. We didn't end until 11:36. 1 hour and 36 minutes!!! It took us an hour just to get through our numbers! Our LZ was literally sleeping, on camera, during the meeting. Everyone was so done. Pro tip to all of you LDs or future LD... please don't make CDD more than an hour and 15. 

We didn't have a scheduled lunch, so we went to a restaurant. I ate sausage and pasta. It wasn't bad. I also got a Coke 0...but man was I eyeing the Monster Energy drinks that they sold there. 

I got to practice the piano during Noite de Integração again. I swear, I am bringing a piano to college next time. This is so hard! But, our LTSs said that they would give us the keys to the chapel and I can practice on pday. Vai dar certo!

Quarta: We had lunch with Matteus at his friend's restaurant.  I got lasagna and sausage. Guys, Mateus gave me a birthday present! I got a My Little Pony on a keychain. It's the pony with the apples and the farm hat? I think her name is Apple Jack.  Sei lá... I have never seen My Little Pony. But it was so sweet!

We had a Noite Familar and ate pizza and watched part of an episode of The Chosen. I got to watch the beginning of my favorite episode: the one where Peter walks on water. It is such a powerful episode, and I would HIGHLY recommend it.

Quinta: Happy Thanksgiving!!🦃🍗🥧

This was my first major holiday away from home. I honestly wasn't as homesick as I was expecting.  Maybe because I don't like 95% of the Thanksgiving food... 

Our LTS told us that we were going to do a divisão on Sexta-feira,  and that they wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving juntos and then do a sleepover. So after Noite de Integração,  Sister Dinsdale and I hurried home to call our families.  I caught my family right as they were starting dinner. It was such a blessing to be able to talk to my family and my Grandma and Grandpa Bonk. After our time was up, we packed some stuff and left to the LTS apartment. 

Once we got there, we all talked about how sad it is that Stranger Things was released today, and we are all in Brazil. Mas, vai dar certo.  Our Thanksgiving dinner was pizza and açai. Maybe not as good as homemade rolls and pie... but still delicious. Then we stayed up way too late yapping. I love our LTS though. They are so amazing!

As a Thanksgiving message- 10 things I am grateful for:

1: The opportunity to serve a mission in Teresina, Brazil

2: My wonderful family 

3: My amazing companion, Sis Dinsdale 

4: My friends back home and my friends here on the mission

5: The Atonement of Jesus Christ

6: Eternal families and the sealing power of temples

7: Even though I can't use it, my temple recommend

8: Heavenly Parents who know and love me

9: The ability to repent and melhorar when I fall short

10: Stranger Things 5 came out!!! (Sorry, I had to!)

Sexta: Happy 20th birthday to me! 🎈🎉🎊Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes! I really appreciated it. 

I woke up to a cute birthday message from my comp. The wind messed up the letters, and I wasn't paying attention when I fixed it. That is why it says Fliez Aniversario... my bad haha. Sister Price and I worked out, and then we had study time and then lunch.

Sister Price and I walked 19860 steps. I was so tired by the end of the day, but it was such a blast. Every Sexta, my zone does a Sexta-Festa. So there is a challenge.  This week was a Scavenger Hunt. You earned points by doing a variety of things: spinning 2x in a circle during a contact, singing a song to someone, marking a baptism date using the word pie, wishing Sis Starley a "Happy Birthday!", eat something good, find a dead frog (don't ask me why), etc. Price and I were in it to win it. Unfortunately, someone else beat us out. 

One thing I don't think I will ever be used to is how comfortable people are here. We knocked on a door, and this lady opened in a towel. Just a towel. I expected her to go get dressed before inviting us in... nope! She invited us in, fixed her towel (flashing us in the process) and then sat down. We taught her about the Livro de Mórmon while she sat on her couch in her towel. Aight!

We ended the night with a Noite Familar,  where Sis Dinsdale and Cayax surprised me with cake and candles. I am so grateful for my wonderful friends on the mission!

Sabado: Today was such a blast! We had lunch at Bispo's house. He and his wife know how to cook. We had strogonoff and suco de melancia. 10/10.

Today was also the Flamengos vs Palmeiras game!! Sister Dinsdale informed me that I am a Flamenguista, which is a Rio de Janeiro team. So go Flamengos! There were fireworks going off every 2 minutes and we could hear people screaming inside every house. While walking the streets, every place of business was watching the game. 

Cars had stereos in the trunks so that people on the streets could listen, and people had even set up TVs on the side of the road. The energy was contagious. We went to our scheduled Noite Familar,  which turns out was a watch party for the game. I never watched professional soccer premission... but I was invested! And... FLAMENGOS GANHOU!! 1-0!! WAHOO!!🥳❤️🖤❤️🖤 Such a fun day. 

Domingo: We were supposed to have lunch at the church... but they canceled it and no one told us. So we scrambled to find someone who could feed us. Tomorrow is the day when we will shop,  and we maybe forgot to go shopping last week...so our fridge has: 6 eggs(who knows if they are still good), butter, flour, sugar, cereal (no milk), nutella, leite em pó,  my birthday chocolates and our skincare. Yeah...

We ended up having lunch at Irmã Theresa's house. I love her so much. We ate cuscuz with calabresa. She has also started calling me Disney Princess. She said that I am a mix of Snow White and Rapunzel. I guess something in my mannerisms? My comp told her that I act like a Disney Princess, and so she ran with that idea.

Spiritual Thought: This one involves all of you, so please don't skip it!

One of the things that I have been most grateful for on my mission is my amazing support system. I am so grateful for your emails, your thoughts and your prayers. This week, I got a new Livro de Mórmon. This one isn't for me to read cover to cover (I already have one for that). This one serves a different purpose.

The Come Follow Me manual states: "Discussing insights from your personal study is a good way to teach others, and it also helps strengthen your understanding of what you have read. Share what you’re learning with family members and friends (in person or digitally), and invite them to do the same."

I want to mark up this Livro de Mórmon with your guys' favorite verses. That way, I can learn from you all. No two people are going to read the scriptures the same way. Everyone sees something different,  because the Spirit speaks to everyone differently. What stands out to me, might not catch your eye and vice versa.

I would like to ask every single one of you to send me your favorite scripture from the Book of Mormon. It can be your favorite of all time, or maybe one you feel like could benefit me. Whatever you are feeling! I will highlight the verse(s) and write your name down next to it. That way, when I am flipping through, I can know who shared what. 

One thing about me is, I don't like a blank page in my scriptures.  I love to mark up every single page. Please help me to make this book just as colorful and special as my other scriptures! I would love to learn right along side you all, and carry you all with me throughout my mission. 

I love you all so much! I am so grateful for all of the apoio that you have given me, and continue to give. I am so grateful that I have such an amazing team of cheerleaders.  I hope that all of you know that I am here cheering for you all as well. You are all in my prayers continuously.  Stay safe!

That is all for this week! I love you all, have a great one! 

Pictures:

1. Sister Oliveira,  Sister Gomez, Eu and minha mãe (Sister Maciel)

2. Ahhh I am going to miss her so much!!

3. Birthday pastry!

4. Heading out!

5. Thanksgiving dinner!!

6. Fliez Aniversario!

7. Divisão com Sis Price

8. Finding a Flamenguista for the Scavenger Hunt 

9. Eat something delicious +1

10. The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ is in all hearts