Brasil

So this area is turning out to be really great. Even though it´s like any other area where many, many, many appointments fall through, I´m still very excited for everything. I don´t even know what everthing is but I know that I´m excited for it. This week we bought around 4 churros, 2 ice creams and 2 hot dogs because of appointments that fell through. When 3 in a row fall through we bought something to eat. We don´t buy anything on Sunday so that left 6 days with 8 things that we bought. But looking back at the week we were still laughing and working and finding someone to teach. The life of a missionary can be pretty miserable when there is no one to teach so the recipe to stay happy is find someone and teach them something that will help them. I´ve changed my way to talk to people from "Should I talk to this person or no?" to "I will talk to this person. What do they need to hear today?" Sometimes inspiration doesn´t come and you walk away thinking "Well that was different," but many times you end up teaching something that you will learn from also. The secret is to open your mouth.

I´ve been in this area for 2 weeks now and I haven´t even seen Bishop yet. He is a very difficult man to find. Even on the phone. I asked his wife if it would be possible that I could call and talk to him about our goals for Baptism this month and she said, "Good Luck, if you can talk to him I´ll buy ya dinner." She isn´t buying me dinner this week. Lol!

The weather has been lovely and hot these last few days. I´ve been using Sunblock and being smart and just soaking in the lovely hot sun. But as all good things do, it´s coming to an end. The wind is picking up and I have to use a sweater today. My companion is happy. I work better in the heat. The cold weather hurts all the way to the bone. The heat just leaves me sweaty. Maybe the members will complain about me but I like the heat! So I will have this cold spell for a while but spring is coming up. Wahoo!

So my ward talked about the mission fund this Sunday. It was really good. I wanted to help and almost gave my mesada to my companion to help in the work. Good thing I didn´t cause I had to buy food today. But now the ward is really wanting to help out and give great big lunches to us. I won´t complain but my skirts will. The good thing about skirts is that you can wear them a little higher and they still fit. As long as they cover my knees I´m still abiding by the rules. Lol! One thing that I am sick of is chicken. I have only had one meal without chicken in the last 2 weeks. That was yesterday and I prayed that it wouldn´t be. I know He hears and answers the prayers of His missionaries. I don´t even like chicken anymore. I´m also getting a little worried about any type of meat that I eat. I think that I will have to raise all the food that I eat because after some of the stories that I´ve heard here I will never know exactly what I will eat when I buy it in the supermarket. Shudder.

I hope that everyone is likeing being back so school and working hard. I love you all alot and hope you have an excellent week. Take care.

Love,
Shelle

Hey

Best area in the Mission! Casa Grande! This was the member family that I lived with. Ivone is great and an exemplar crazy Brazilian Grandma. Luana and I became great friends. About 3 minutes after this photo, we were all bawling because it was the morning of transfers and I was leaving the area. Man, I miss them!

Me, Ivone, Luana

In the good ol' mission office. This is pretty accurate for my weight gain as it is only a coupole weeks old. One year and 17 lbs. later...urgh....lol!

Sister Pradeira (mother of the mission who is going home in August. Sniff. lol!), Elder Almeida (Mom and Dad and Family talked with him at Christmas), Sister DaSilva (record holder for the longest time as my companion--4 1/2 mos.), and me (looks like I've been eating cupcakes for every time I miss you guys.)

Closest thing to a monkey I've seen in Brasil!

P-day with members

Carine (back)

Me, Irma Carleine, Sister Amancio

This was my jungle area. I never saw them, but they said that sometimes you could see monkey's in this neighborhood.

Cartoon.

Me and Sister DaSilva

Festa Junina--June Party

Midsommer. He was awesome!

Go Brasil!

First game of BBrasil during the cup. We were stuck in our apartment so we put on all our things of Brasil to feel a little better. It worked for a minute or so, but depression kicked in when we decided what we were doing with the clothes was pathetic compared to watching the game. lol!

Sister DaSilva & Me

(Butanta)

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Some of the sisters in the mission and Sister Jackson (far right).

Multi-Zone in Casa Grande, March 2010

Sister Macedo, Sister Viera, Sister Amancio, Sister Helse, Me, Sister Wasnjuk, Sister Assuncao, Sister Rolland, Sister Sales, Sister Jackson

I've already been companions with the ones underlined.

This week was great. New area, new companion, new roomates... My companion is Sister Machado from the Bahia. We are in Campo de Fora and we live with another companionship. Sister Macedo and Sister Amancio. We have fun. Our apartment is big wich is awesome. It´s been a while since I´ve had a good apartment to live in. And the best thing about this apartment is that we have a member next door and she washes our clothes for us!!!!!! She´s already washed one batch and they came back clean! I´d forgotten that my clothes had such color! It´s amazing what a washing machine does. I´ve just been using a big bucket that spins the clothes in the water for a little bit. I love washing machines!!!

Sister Machado and I are teaching like crazy. I love it. We are finding so many people that are soo acceptive. We´ve even had a couple that invite us to their house before we can invite ourselves. That´s something that really doesn´t happen ofter in missionary work. There are still the people that don´t want to let you in or don´t have time. I tried one of them one time. She said she didn´t have time at the moment so I asked if I could just use her bathroom real quick. She let me and one hour later we left the house. I wasn´t my fault that we stayed so long. Turns out she was quite the chatter box. She hasn´t gone to church yet but she´s reading the Book of Mormon at least. I know becuase we´ve passed by again to read it with her. Lol! One problem is that she believes in reincarnation not ressurection...we´ll work on that...

So in the mission field we are couneled to talk to at least 10 different people every day. The more the merrier. Saturday night we were getting to the house (We live in an apartment complex) and there was a great party going on. Someones birthday or something. Lots of people and free cake. If were weren´t running late it would have been a great opportunity. Sister Machado says that there is a party every weekend there. Hmmm....New plans to find people to teach. We will always hit up the party saturday night to eat cake and find people in the condominium to teach. Good side: We will be neighbors with all of our investigators and we can construct a chapel in the condominium. Bad side: We won´t ever have to walk very far and we´ll be eating cake every weekend so we´ll fatten up like the turkey at Thanksgiving. I think I need to find balance in my life...Lol

It´s usually pretty easy to ignore the music here because it´s Brazilian or Shakira which I can ignore pretty easily. The new internet place is only playing Lifehouse, Creed, and some others that I´ve already forgotten their names...wow...It will be more of a challenge to ingnore but bring it on...

Love you guys lots. Have a great week.
Love,
Shelle

Mudanças

Hey Everyone! This week has been really good. Its been freezing cold weather!! I don´t even know what to do with myself. I found only one thing that helps...We were walking down the street, I was on the sidewalk (Not a smart idea in São Paulo) and my companions were by my side but closer to the street than me. We were all hunched over to block the wind and next thing I know I smacked my head pretty good on a metal box that holds trash. Ouch! Dang sidwalks! But after that I really didn´t feel the cold so strongly. Had I known that that was all I had to do I would have bang my head against something much earlier. Lol! Jk.

We had a meeting with President and Sister Jackson this week. It was really great. It was just for the sisters in the mission and it was 2 days. I loved it! There are alot of changes in the mission happening and it was a meeting to get us up to date on all the things that should be obvious but I really learned alot. It was great. And I also got to see 2 of my companions before they took off. They are leaving the mission today. Man, how I learned alot from them and I´ve got so much respect and love for them. Maybe you remember when I mentioned them earlier. Sister Pradera and Sister Viera. They were my companions when we were in a quartet. The Fantastic Four! Ha! I appreciate how much you can learn from each of your campions here on the mission. It is an expirience that you can never get in any other place. I love it!!

Let´s see...what else...Life is good. Sorry that this email is shorter than usual. Pday is shorter also because we have a lot to do. I hope everyone has a great week. Love you all alot!

Love,
Shelle

It´s Me

Hello there. This week was really good. I´m loving my new area and my companions. We are working really hard and playing the same way. This is a great way to do mission work. Playing alot but actually doing the work. Everything is better. We´ve got a problem though...We are getting incredibly tired. We are going to bed at 10:30 and waking up at 6:30 but we are almost dying of drowsiness. It might have something to do with the fact that we live across the street from a park where the kids stay up playing around until all hours of the morning. We´re sleeping but not feeling well-rested. But we are trying things to make it better and I feel pretty good today so I think that it´s working. Wahoo!

We´re teaching lots of people and finding lots of people too. It´s pretty great. I love teaching people and helping them to understand about the restored gospel. It´s even better when they listen! Lol! We´re teaching a few people that are exactly like that. We teach, they listen, they read, they pray, they apply what they learn, we smile. One of the women we are teaching really has a hunger to know what else she can do to follow Christ. We will teach her about something and usually it is something that she has a problem with and the next time that we pass by she has gotten rid of that problem and is ready to know what else she can do. The only problem is that she isn´t married. That would be alright but she´s living with the father of her kids. Can´t leave him but he doesn´t want to get married. Many people in Brasil think that it´s a bad omen to get married. They think that you have a higher liklihood to seperate after marriage. We also have another couple that we are teaching that is incredible. They apply everything we teach also. (They are working on getting married) The study the lessons for church and Davidson (the husband) says that he would like to have a chance to teach a lesson also. And they have a little baby that they are all excited about raising him in the church and going to the Temple to get sealed. They are really great. And another that is working on leaving a life of Alcohol and smoking behind. It´s very difficult for these people but so satisfying to see them progressing in the gospel.

I´m realizing that I´m not writing in English anymore...I´m translating to English. If I was writing what I am thinking you guys wouldn´t understand a thing. Maybe occasionally.

The weather was really cold this week. But I think that it´s warming up a little bit. That´s a good thing. I like the hot weather better.

I´m learning alot about the scriptures. I love the stories and the princliples that they have in them. It´s amazing how every story has a principle that will apply to your situation in the moment that you read it. As a missionary it´s even better cause it doesn´t only apply to your situation but it apllies to how you can help your investigators and companions in the difficulties that they are having. The scriptures are an ocean of knowlege and I´ve only begun to water skit on the surface. I need to get certified to do some deep-sea-diving! Lol!

Love you guys lots and lots.

Have a great week.

Love,
Shelle

It´s me.

Hello Hello!

Nothing like the rain that doesn´t fall from the sky but just hits you in the face when you´re walking. Lol! São Paulo is famous for this type of rain. I love it!!

This week has been interesting. I´m in a new area and I´m in a trio!! It´s really good actually. We are getting twice the work done as any other companionship. Jk. But we are really working hard and I´m my companions are incredilbe and love to work just as much as I do and we are all excited about the work and the ward is excited and this area has a feeling that is so incredible. I know that when the ward is excited and so are the missionaries that Heavenly Father will pour out His spirit in the area preparing it for His gospel. This area is incredible!!!

My companions are Sister Santos from the Bahia!! Finally!!! I´ve always wanted a companion from the Bahia. I´ll start working on my Bahiain accent now. Wahoo! She is really great and we laugh alot. She is really a great missionary and I´m excited to work with her and learn from her.

My other companion is Sister Hulse from Kayesville Utah. She is also really amazing! It´s fun having another American companion and it helps with the language a bit. She doesn´t have much more time than me but we help each other with the language cause I know words she doesn´t and she knows words and verbs that I don´t so together we can speak the language. Lol!

As for me in the companionship, I keep them laughing and we have a good ol´ time.

We celebrated Pioneer day last week with an activity with Pres. and Sis. Jackson. It was great! BBQ with hamburgers and hot dogs and root beer floats for dessert!! And with luck this transfer has placed me in another area that will have this activity again today! Woo Woo!!

There are so many things in the mission that are amazing! I love to be a missionary! But with the happy things there is opposition in all things. There are things that are difficult to hear about the people you know. There are many emotions that you expirience in the mission. Complete happiness when you watch a family that has been waithing soo long to enter into a covenant with our Heavenly Father by being baptised and preparing to go to the Temple, someone overcomeing addiction, depression, and death. But there is nothing more difficult to expirience than someone that has given up and the devil has gotten ahold of them so strong that they don´t even want to try to find a desire to follow Christ. This mission is wonderful but it´s so hard to share somthing that is so precious and have some people reject all the happiness you want to give them. I still love this work even though there are many hard-hearted people out there. I´ve already met the used-to-be-hard-hearted people that have eventually changed their minds and found that desire. The only thing that we can do until they are ready is pray, pray, pray. I love my Heavenly Father. He is amazing! And I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!

I love you guys bunches!

Love,
Shelle