Week 29- Hello 2026!💌🎆

 Happy New Year everybody! I hope that 2026 is off to a great start for all of you,  and that you guys are doing well! This email is gonna be long, but oh well.

Segunda: The 2⁰ best day of any week... pday! Today's pday was really mellow. We stayed in all day. I read my scriptures and journaled while I waited for my family to wake up. This 4 hour time difference is not it, but oh well! I also tried to answer as many emails as possible. 

I got to call my parents and talk to my sister, Audrey. My dad has the flu, so he is pretty miserable. Poor guy!  Later in the day, I called Steven to chat before he left for his dentist appointment. (Is it weird that I miss going to the dentist?). I am so grateful for technology that allows me to see the faces of my family every single week. It is such a blessing! And the ability to send and receive emails instantaneously?? Such a gift.

We had a mission devotional after pday, where we talked about how we can grow as missionaries. How can we set and make goals that will melhorar our areas, our mission, and our lives? We were reminded that there is always room for improvement.  Now matter how good we are, we are not perfect yet. That comes through Jesus Christ. We were asked to include him more in our goals and in the small moments,  and were promised that we would see miracles!

We ended the night with some açai, and we saw our friend Gabriel! He is a delivery driver for a pizza place. He told us that sometime, he will bring us a pizza from his work. Score!

Terça: Today was... a day. Definitely a day. It started off normal! Lunch canceled on us, but she gave us some money to buy some lunch. We went to the padaria and got something to eat. We had our First Responders shift at 1pm. About 30 minutes into our shift, our account got blocked. We were told that we were in violation of some rule, and we would have to wait for them to review our account. Which could take 24 hours. Awesome! I couldn't work as a First Responder anymore because I don't have a chip, so I decorated the cover of one of my Livro de Mórmon- the one where I marked your guy's scriptures. (PS: if you haven't sent me a scripture yet, please send me one!! Any scripture that is in the Book of Mormon!!!)

We left to go work in the bairro Bela Vista today. Our first stop was visitng a grey bolinha. He said he was mildly interested in going to church again, so we gave him a pamphlet with the address on it. We tried to visit Merilene, but she wasn't home. We hit a green dot that lived nearby (we have tried her so many times, no dice). We made the decision to cut her.

While we were walking, we were flagged down by 2 VERY drunk women. They were sitting in front of their house, drinking. They pulled up some chairs, gave us some orange juice, and started asking us questions.  One of them told me that I am very white, and asked if my parents were as white as I am. I wanted to say "No, they're black." But chose honesty over humor. I have seen some drunk people in my life. Some very drunk people. I haven't seen someone this drunk though. 

Maria was drunk, but at least she could hold a conversation. Chilean was so drunk she kept asking the same questions because she forgot my answer. She kept offering beer to anyone who passed by, she almost tipped out of her chair, trying to offer beer to a dude walking past. In her eagerness to share, she got some beer on my face. Not a lot, but enough for me to be thoroughly grossed out. I really hate the smell of beer.

Chilean's husband got home,  and he didn't seem like he was in a good mood. I don't know if he was in a bad mood already, or if it was seeing missionaries at his house that ticked him off. Either way, he wasn't thrilled. Chilean was talking about how she lost a baby, but she knew she was happy and in a better place. Her husband said "Or not.".

Hearing that made me so sad. It reminded me that not everyone knows what happens to our loved ones when they pass. Because the baby wasn't baptized, the husband doesn't seem to have hope. He then left. Chilean told us that he has a demon in his body, and that is why he acts like this. I'm sorry... what? She kept telling us that he has a demon in his body, and seemed like she really wanted us to agree with her. If you don't like your husband,  just say so! Maybe don't tell people that he is possessed? That's just my opinion though. What do I know?

Okay. Here's the icing on the cake, the cherry on top of my day. (I am being so sarcastic). While we were talking to the drunk ladies, this old guy walked past. He was probably 60s or 70s, and shirtless. He was also flexing his pecs while he strutted past. I was kinda dying. The only 60+ year old guy that I think is good-looking shirtless is Tom Cruise. This guy was NO Tom Cruise. He stopped about 10 feet down the road from us, and while making direct eye-contact, put his hand somewhere he shouldn't and started to do something he shouldn't. All while making DIRECT eye-contact. Lovely. Maria started screaming "O que é esse homem??" (What is this man) and he got spooked and went further down the road to watch us. 

We made a break for it pretty soon after that. We went to go visit Merilene, and this time she was home. We extended a baptismal invite, and she accepted! But she didn't want to commit to a date yet. We invited her to pray about it, and then we headed out. We got Guaraná de Amazônia as a little reward for surviving today. 

Quarta: FELIZ VÉSPERA DE NATAL! HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE!! I cannot believe that today is the last day of 2025. This year went by so fast. And SO much has happened.  It's absolutely nuts! Here is a brief list of some of the things I have done in 2025:

• Lived in 6 houses: SUU dorm, home, CTM, Uruguai #1 and #2, and Bela Vista
• Lived with 19 different people: my 5 college roommates,  my family,  Sis Tueller,  Sis Ruchti,  Sis Egbert, Sis Maciel, Sis Oliveira,  Sister Centeno,  Sis R Smith, Sis Dinsdale and Sis Leite
• I have traveled to 9 places: Colorado,  NYC, Texas, Coco Cay, Jamaica,  another island, São Paulo, Uruguai and Bela Vista
• I saw a play on Broadway
• I went on a cruise
• I have lived in 2 countries: United States of America and Brazil 
• I completed another semester of prenursing and psychology at SUU
• I read 4 out of the 5 standard works: Book of Mormon,  Pearl of Great Price,  Doctrine and Covenants, and the New Testament. 
• I filled out my mission papers, submitted,  received a call, and WENT. 
• I served as a missionary for 6 months

I feel like that is a lot for one year.  And I am so grateful for every experience that I have had, the good AND the bad. All of it has taught me something, and has helped me to grow so much. 

We woke up to a message today saying that our WhatsApp was restored, yay! As soon as we logged Sis Leite in, we were blocked again. Argh! We got lunch at the marmita place near our house. I really wanted a salad, but all they had for salad was beets and mayonnaise.  THIS IS NOT A SALAD!!! 

We tried to meet with Gabriel,  but he had to go into work. He had tried to tell us, but we are sem WhatsApp.  My waterbottle fell in the gross curb-algae water! Yummy! We then went to meet with a grey bolinha.  She was super friendly and invited us in. She said she had been to church once, and liked it. When we asked if she would like to go again, she said "hmmm... no." Uh okay... neither of us really knew what to say.

We visited with Maria Fátima, the less active member with 16 cats. She was super happy to see us. She asked for help downloading the Gospel Library app on her new phone, so she could read old General Conference talks. After that,  we caught an Uber to Irmã Katiany's house. She was throwing a NYE party. Unfortunately people were late, so we didn't get to eat there.  She did give us some Tupperware so we could bring dinner home with us!!

When we got home, we ate dinner and then cleaned the house. We wanted to start the New Year off on the right foot. Neither of us were planning on being up until midnight, but by the time we finished cleaning and showering, it was 12. We got to watch the fireworks though! We have a gorgeous view from our windows. 

Quinta: HAPPY NEW YEAR! FELIZ ANO NOVO!! I can't believe it's 2026. In January of 2025, I was filling out and submitting my mission papers. Now, I am on said mission. And...Guess what? I'm coming home this year!

We woke up this morning to a notification saying that our WhatsApp is permanently blocked. Awesome. "Cool cool cool cool" -Jake Peralta. We got in contact with our LTS through SMS, and they got in contact with the escritório.  The escritório said that they put in a request for a new chip, but because it's a holiday,  we probably wouldn't hear anything until tomorrow.  

Without WhatsApp,  we had no way to contact the ward and find out if we had lunch or not. We ate leftovers from dinner last night. We headed to go work in a part of San Antonio 2 that I had never been in before. We have to cross a bridge to get there,  and it has a grand total of 5 referências. We felt like we needed to go there today, and we found a woman named Cecília.  We were able to give her a Livro de Mórmon and talk to her about it. She said she is going to be out of town this weekend, but she would like to go to church next weekend. 

We got some pizza to celebrate the new year. The pizza was delicious! We went home to prepare for a divisão with our LTS. We did send them a message and ask if we could do it next Tuesday,  because we don't have WhatsApp which means no way to confirm lunches. They agreed to postpone the divisão. 

Sexta: Last night I got the notification that it is time for me to take the language exam. I took it this morning and got a 6.0. The first time I took it was during my last week in the CTM and I got a 4.3. I was hoping for a bit more progress after 4 months in the field, because a 7.0 is considered fluent. But, I will just have to keep working harder!

I did my personal study, I am going to finish the Book of Mormon on Tuesday! Which I feel like is so soon. I also read the Old Testament.  Guys,  the Old Testament is WEIRD. So weird. But, we will power through!

We were able to teach Gabriel today about O Restauração e Batismo. He accepted a baptism date! And then told us that he actually doesn't live here! ...what?? He said that this house is his mom's,  and that he stays here during the day until work, and sleeps in his apartment. This means that we have to send him to the missionaries where he actually lives... arghhh. I want to keep teaching him! After he dropped this bombshell, he left to go get us treats. As soon as he was gone, his grandma came in and sat down.

She asked if he was gone, and we said yes. She asked us what church we were from, and we told her A Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Últimos Dias.  I was expecting her to tell us to get lost, and that we weren't welcome (my faith in humanity was low this week).  Instead, she asked us not to give up on her neto. She said he is a sweet boy, but he lacks direction and responsibility. She asked us to keep on trying, he needs Jesus to guide him. 

Gabriel returned, and his grandma booked it. He said he didn't know what we liked, so he bought three types of pastries. He is a really sweet guy. After visiting him, we tried to visit more people in the area. We weren't having a lot of success,  people are still out of town. Towards the end of the night, we decided to visit a Menos Ativo that Daniel told me about, his name is Weverton. He is about 25 years old. 

When we got there, this lady (who turned out to be his tia) was super excited to see us. She got brought out chairs to the porch. Weverton's dad said hello, and then left. The only person who DIDN'T seem excited to see us was Weverton himself. He did not look at us, and he barely spoke to us. He said he quit going to church when the Sisters who baptized him were transferred. 

His mom came out and invited us inside. We sat down on the couch, and Weverton stayed outside. If this sounds awkward,  it was. After about 5 minutes,  Weverton got up and came inside. I thought he was going to sit down with us, nope! He went into his bedroom and shut the door. A few minutes later, his dad returned with a 2L coke and a mini cake. He told us that they were super happy that we were here.

Weverton's parents aren't members of the church, but they are 2 more people who recognized the change that the church brings into our lives. They said that their son seemed to have more purpose and more joy while he was attending church. When we left, the mom gave us her number and said we can come back whenever we would like.

Sabado: We are still sem WhatsApp. Awesome. We asked the escritório when we would get our new chip, and they just told us to have some patience.  Uhhh easy for you to say... you all have your own WhatsApp account! Thankfully we were able to get in contact with the family we had lunch with to confirm lunch. Leftovers get old,  really fast.

Lunch today was in Vamos Ver O Sol, so we knew we had to stay there and work after lunch. Goodbye afternoon nap... Lunch was delicious.  Irmã Kassia made enchiladas for us. Irmão Fernando kept trying to tell us that the meat was Armadillo. After lunch ended, we were so exhausted. Irmão Fernando is a yapper. We walked down the street and around the corner and sat down in the shade. We decided to take a 15 minute nap. Then a car drove by and we heard this dude who said "price of liquor ". He thought we were passed out DRUNK. We started laughing so hard. 

We were able to teach Felippe today. We taught him the Plan of Salvation.  He said that our explanation of the Spirit World being divided into 2 makes more sense to him than other explanations, and now he believes it too. He also said he believes in 3 kingdoms. He asked if he could be baptized,  and we said of course! He didn't want to commit to a date though.

After that, we tried to visit Lucas Rafael.  He ended up not being able to leave work on time, so we went home. We were so exhausted that we were in bed, lights out at 9:15. Heck yeah!

Domingo: I am so grateful that our ward time changed to 10h! Amen, HALLELUJAH! We were able to have a nice morning. We finally took pictures for my 6 mês-versario,  and photos for Sister Leite's 1 year. My photos were only about 2 weeks late, today was Sister Leite's 14 mêses. After that, we went to church.

When we got there, Matheus told us that the big man was here. I got excited because maybe it was one of our friends. He said no, it's your Presidente.  Uhhh what? When we entered the chapel, sure enough, Presidente and Sister Tonini were sitting up front. And of course the Sunday that they choose to visit is the Sunday where we have 0 friends and only 2 RCs at church.

After sacrament, we had our entrevistas with President.  Because of Conferências de Natal, we hadn't been able to do our entrevistas. He said he doesn't like doing them virtually,  and we live close enough for a visit. I told him about our WhatsApp problem, and he said that we could download Messenger for pday tomorrow.  Sweet! I also asked Presidente if he and Sister Tonini wanted a little pack of Dr. Pepper water flavoring. He accepted, and said he would give us a ride home and to lunch. 

I was expecting them to wait in the car while we ran up and got the stuff...nope. They wanted to come SEE our apartment.  Yes we cleaned it on Quarta, but it gets dirty quickly.  President looked at our desks which were covered in stuff (all from getting ready for church) and said "I hope these aren't your study tables!" Uhhhh... I told him that I study in my comfortable bed. He was shocked that I sleep on the floor.

Literally que vergonha.  How embarrassing! I had been doing laundry the day before, so I had clothes hang drying,  our fridge was a mess... not how I wanted Presidente to see our house. It could've been worse, true. But arghhh. He kept asking questions about every little thing, and my answer was "I dunno, it was like that when I got here.". Thankfully, they left and gave us a ride to lunch.

We had lunch with Irmã Helena and her family. Lunch is always delicious there, and she had a salad! And actual salad that isn't beets and mayonnaise. After lunch, I tried ro nap but no dice. It was too hot. We cleaned the house before going to bed, just in case Presidente asks us to show our house tomorrow night during the devotional.  We also cleaned out our gross fridge. I think I am still going to be cringing about this 20 years down the line...maybe even on my deathbed.

Spiritual Thought: I was reading in Mormon chapter 9 this week, and I just loved the entire chapter.  If you guys have time, I would recommend reading the whole thing.  Here is a brief part though:

7 And again I speak unto you who deny the revelations of God, and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor speaking with tongues, and the interpretation of tongues;

8 Behold I say unto you, he that denieth these things knoweth not the gospel of Christ; yea, he has not read the scriptures; if so, he does not understand them.

9 For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing?

10 And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in whom there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles.

18 And who shall say that Jesus Christ did not do many mighty miracles? And there were many mighty miracles wrought by the hands of the apostles.

19 And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles.

God is a God of miracles. I have been asked many times during these last 6 months if I believe that God can still perform miracles.  My answer is a resounding yes. I do not have a shadow of a doubt that God was a God of miracles, that He IS a God of miracles,  and that He WILL BE a God of miracles forevermore. 

I invite you all to look for the miracles in your life. They can be something small, like finding your car keys when you are running late. They could be something big, like a loved one getting over an illness that seemed impossible to beat. God is performing miracles in all of our lives, we just need to train ourselves to recognize them.

I love you all so much, and I will see you this year!! Happy New Year, Feliz Ano Novo! Eu amo vocês. 

That is all for this week! If you made it this far, congratulations! There are more photos on my Google Photos album, let me know if you would like to be added. Peace out!

Pictures:

1. I love how green it is here!

2. Getting guaraná de Amazônia as a treat for surving Terça

3. My new cover for my Livro de Mórmon!

4. I always look FEIA when on the rua.

5. New Year's pizza...why do I always look transparent next to Sis Leite??

6. Only faith the whole time!

7. 6 mêses!

8. I saw a cat and got distracted

9. My hair is finally getting long again

10. 6 months (and 2 weeks) + 1 year (and 2 months)

11. I love my comp!