This Week

Well...I got really sick this weekend. I thought I would die. No, I wasn´t that bad but I think that I got food poisoning. Everything that I ate sat up high in my stomach and I fealt the constant need to throw up. All I could eat was water. Then after 3 days my system decided to reject everything and flush out any type of bacteria or poison that I had eaten. But no worries. I still managed to work hard. I just couldn´t eat anything if I wanted to work and so that is what I did. Lol! Just a little rice and beans at lunch and praying hard that I´d last. Lol! And I´m here now. I think that my immune syster fell because now I have a cold but at least I´m alive and working and happy and getting healthy. Life of a missionary in Brasil is incredible!!
We had an activity on Saturday. It was to help our investigators get to know everyone better. It turned out really well. Everyone played around alot and laughed and had a good ol´ time. I really like this ward alot. They are very involved in the missionary work and it makes my life alot more pleasant. It is hard to be a missionary in a place where the members just expect the missionaries to do everything. We work alot but I know that a ward is blessed so much when they are involved in the work.
We had transfers this week and Sister Machado and I will be here for at least another transfer. Which is awesome because we have a lot of fun plans for this transfer and we are teaching some amazing families. It also appears that we will have an Apostle comping to our mission this next month. I have no idea who it is but I´m still excited!
I´m so thankful for all of the good examples that I have in my life. I am blessed to have incredible people in my path that teach me and inspire me to always try to do better. I love this work and I love what I´m doing. I know that the Lord is in the work so much and I know that when we try to do the work alone he will let us and we will fail with flying colors but when we work our butts off and pray until our knees are sending shooting pains through our legs and just trust with all we´ve got and more that He will do His work then we can see the miracles in our lives. I don´t understand it at all. But one day I will and I just have to work until that day arrives. Thanks for everything. Trust in the Lord always. Love you guys!
Love,
Shelle

Cold weather

Hey. I am super happy about life. I don´t know exactly why. Don´t have a reason imparticular to be in such a good mood today other than that I am in São Paulo Brasil in the best mission in the world and loving working and playing and everything crazy that happens to missionaries. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just life.
I really don´t know why I´m so happy today. This week was completely normal. Okay, maybe not. I had a couple people that told me to get out of Brasil because this was their home and they didn´t think that I belong here. Lol! 2 different situations in one day. I´ll tell you, I was ready to go home. Lol! But like any other day if you continue working everything will sooner or later be worth it. We even had a couple that we were planning on being in church this week that weren´t. Everything this week was a little crappy now that I think of it...I don´t know how it happens. I know that our blessings are strong and powerful and that someone must be praying alot to help me stay happy. ha. I am very excited for this week. We have lots of plans and lots of hopes for this week and so I´m way excited even though our money for the next two weeks for some reason didn´t work so all we have to eat is 3 oranges. (there are 4 of us...)
I know that the Lord blesses us and that when everything seems very difficult he will carry us. I´m grateful for all the prayers and thoughts and letters and support and everything that I recieve all the time. I love you guys and I love this work and I love life. Sorry it´s short this week but like I said...this week was full of nothing... Love you all. Have a great week.
Love,
Shelle

Full view | Vida é uma luta.

This week was pretty good. My companion ended up getting sick so I put her on the brat diet. With a little effort and alot of complaints she is now over her sickness and onto a rash that has developed in the crease of her elbows and her neck. I told her that the cure for this one was in a diet also. This diet included shutting your mouth. The weather has turned for sunny recently and that means that we sweat like horses on the ranch. I love the warm weather. It feels great but now I am begining to realize that an umbrella my be the way to go to avoid cancer. Lol!

We did have a little bit of rain this last week. Thank heavens because the polution was getting ridiculous. After the rain I realized it had been a while since I had actually seen the color of the sky. That lasted for 2 days and then it was back to a brownish-greenish-yellowish cloud. But as long as I eat right I know that He will bless me with protection against lung cancer. I don´t know if alimention has anything to do with avoiding lung cancer but I´m doing what I can and He will work the miracles.

I´m in the same house as the Sister that I trained (I´m not her companion right now) and it is her Birthday today. We stayed up late to decorate and woke up early this morning to finish so that we could surprise her bright and early. It was perfect because today is pday so we didn´t have to worry about being late to leave the house. The cake is delicious which is surprising as I am the one that made it.

I made a contact on the street last week and he was a drunk guy (I didn´t know until after I said hello). We just invited him to church and left it at that. Yesterday when we were going to church he was on the street completely drunk and trying to make us stop to talk to him. I didn´t have a good feeling about it so we started walking faster to get to the church soon. Well he started to follow us calling out "Sister! Sister!" He had three dogs with him including a pit bull without a mouth guard and he followed us all the way to the church with us almost running to stay in fron of him. He just hung out in front of the church asking for the Sisters and trying to get our attention. Then after church all the Brothers in the ward came up to us and asked about him and when they heard the story they got very defensive and as a result Sister Machado and I have gained 5 new body-guards. Lol!

I love this work and I love the Lord. I know that He guides us and protects us and our families when we are worthy and obedient to His comands. Thanks for all your support. I love you lots and lots and lots. Take care.

Love,
Shelle

What a week.

So, I had my farewell to the warm weather for now. It´s gone and the only outlook for this week is cold and wet. But there is so much polution in this city that I can´t complain about the weather. It will help to take out the smog. All I have to do is pull out the cold-weather-clothes.

It was my companions birthday this week. We surprised her with a party after working hard and almost completely ignoring her birthday. Lol! She is so sweet she wouldn´t say a thing about how we weren´t doing anything special for her on her birthday but she cried when we threw a party for her. Lol! Needless to say, after this last week, my skirts are still a little bit tight on me. Lol! But the great news is that of the 3 other people that I live with, I´ve talked them in to at least one of them running with me every morning! Man, I´m out of shape! My lungs feel like they will explode every morning which has something to do with the fact that I´ve not run since I left the MTC and alot to do with the fact that I live in São Paulo and I breath this air. Everyone that is born here has asthma or some type of respiratory problem just because of the air.

Tomorrow, September 7, is Independence day here in Brasil. Man, I miss the good ol´ USA. No one here has pride for thier country unless there is a soccer game involved. Every one love being Brasilian but they don´t do anything out of the ordinary for Independence day. I will be wearing a green or yellow shirt. As a missionary I have to stay on the down-low so I can´t paint my cheeks or anything like that. Ah-well, life goes on.

I know that this work is totally run and inspired by the Lord. He´s amazing and He will always bless those who are obedient. Satan tries to take away the influence of the Holy Ghost by tempting us to be disobedient and that´s how is all starts. I know that it is very, very, very important to stay happy and work hard and always try to have the spirit with us. If we are doing things that are good and trying to be worthy of the spirit I know that we can trust in our thoughts and actions because they will be in line with the will of our Heavenly Father.

I love you all lots and lots and hope that you have an excellent week!

Love,

Shelle