Fotos!

The most beautiful house in

South America

Me, Sister Fonesca (companion),

Sister Alcantara, Sister Almancio

in front of temple

My kids. I trained them and now we all

live together. Lol!

Sister Fonesca, Me, Sister Amancio

Me and 6 live scrambling crabs.

We cooked them up and ate them later that night.

Thanksgiving dinner with my companion.

Yum Yum!

Hey there!
So I am sending pictures!! Wow! Finally! I know that it has been a really long time because the last ones I sent were when I was in the CTM... So at this rate, these will be the last that you get until you can see my pretty little face again! Lol!
Life is good. I´m cooking here in Brasil. The tempurature has really gotten hot. But with that there is always more people on the street to talk to. Wahoo! And with that there is more alcohol in the people so we don´t like to talk to them. Hmmm... But, we are still talking with lots and lots of people. I like this place during the summer. Everyone comes to life again. And I think that the sun help to get everyone out of their winter depression. That helps us becuase they are willing to stop and listen to 2 girls in the street. We did divisions with an Irmã in the ward and we had such great luck with her when we did contacts. It was fun because she served a mission a few years ago (almost 10) and I challenged her to make a street contact and she was so funny! She stuttered through the whole thing and in the end I teased her about how I should be the one having problems with speaking the language not her. By the end of the night she making contacts like a pro. It was fun and she laughed alot. Hopefully not she will let us teach her friends. Lol!
This is a new technique we are using. We will ask to teach the members friends and when they say now we ask them to make visits with us. Then they realize that if we don´t have anyone to teach we walk around trying to find people to teach. They have pity for us and then they take us to someones house to get to know them. I´m hoping that this will be somthing to help us out alot.
So thanksgiving can and passed by. Oh how TG is so much better in the US. Our lunch appointment had forgotten that we would be eating with her and she had only made ramen noodles. Lol! But she through stuff together real quick and our lunch wasn´t too bad. So we decided to make TG dinner in our apartment that night. As you can see we are poor and without time or patience. We only had onion rings, cake-bread, cheesecake, and maracujá juice. Woo Woo! Life couldn´t be better! Lol! So we had fun, took pictures, ate and went to bed to get up and work the next day. Ha! Oh, how holidays have changed here in the mission.
Every Sunday night we have a FHE night at church. Last night there weren´t too many people that showed up so Bishop said that we could use his office as it is the only room in the chapel with AC. (this room is half the size of the Bishop´s office in our ward) We all entered in there and took more chairs so that everyone could sit down. When we all got situated and were closing the door another family of 4 showed up. We got more chairs and piled them in also. It was a really great lesson and we ate popcorn afterwards. It was great. Our ward is really growing with the Mission work. We still have a few families that need to increase the spirit but all in all this ward is growing incredibly. I love it!
I don´t have much more to talk about. I hope everyone is great. I now my emails are short lately but a picture is worth 1,000 words. And now you have 5! Lol! I love you! Take Care!
Love,
Shelle

Hey

I bought crabs this week! There was a man in the street selling a bunch of crabs and Sister Fonseca said that she new how to cook them and we decided to buy them. Six crabs and two Sisters walking in the street. Try talking to the people now... It was more difficult than before. Lol! The crabs were still alive so it looked like we had a string of nasty football-sized spiders. I was happy to see that people are more willing to talk to missionaries than to men selling crabs. But the long-run is that I won´t try to invite people to go to church when I have crab in my hand. They pay more attention to the crab than the message. But that night we cooked up the crab (not before we startled our roomates with crab in the sink) and ate it. Sister Amancio is a professional crab eater. She could clean those things out in less than a minute. Lol!
I got really sick this week.
Not alot has happened this week because I just wrote Wednesday. But life continues. I´m working hard. Got my first sunburn but it wasn´t bad. I just missed a spot on my upper-arm when I passed sundblock. It was already gone the next day. But the sun in getting really got. There is still one more month until Summer starts. As for today it looks like rain.
I love the work and I love life and I love my companion and I love this mission! I don´t have alot to say. I love you all like the daisies love the sunshine! Take care and have a great week! Sorry about the short email...
Love,
Shelle

Hmmm....

Wahoo!!! I went to the Temple today! Wahoo! It was great and the first time that I got to go in 6 months. It was about time. But as it is I had a lovely, lovely time and I saw the Area Presidency for Brasil. That was pretty cool. And we got a tour of the temple because I happened to know one of the ladies working there. It was my companion in the CTM´s Stake President´s wife. Lol! But because I remembered her she remembered me and we asked if she could give us a tour and she got permision and it was lovely. I love the temple and I will never let it take so long for me to go back. Lol! It was also fun because I was with Sister Amancio and Sister Fonseca my 2 trainees in the mission. So we got to take pictures for memories. Ahhh, good ol´ times...
So I´m training again and this Sister is incredible. I don´t have to train her as a missionary only here in the area. She already is a natural missionary and so it makes my job really easy. She already has the lessons down and she knows the scriptures and isn´t shy to teach so it was good. She had a really great first expirience for her first week in the mission field. I lost my voice. For 3 days. Lol! Poor thing. She was completely scared to death when I told her that she would have to teach most of the lessons. Lol! She did awesome. I wasn´t even worried because I already saw her teach and it was excellent so I trusted that she could do the job. And she did.
Like I said, I lost my voice this last week. It was horrible. I couldn´t talk and I was sick with body-aches, chills, head-ache, cough, runny nose, stuffy nose, fever, nausea, and I think food poisoning. Lol! I don´t know about the last but after I threw up Sunday´s lasagna I fealt better from the nausea. Glad to report that all is better today and I am full of energy to work really, really hard. We have lots of plans for this week. The members in this ward are really great and they love to help the missionaries and they are all really excited about the missionary work right now and I know that they will be blessed because of this. It´s good to work in an area like this.
The other day Sister Fonseca and I were teaching a lady. We started with singing a song. After the first verse of "Love at Home" we both started laughing. I´m telling you we full out broke into a fit of giggles. The poor lady. At least she was someone that knew me more or less so she didn´t get offended. She just thought it was really funny. I don´t know why that happened, but it did and I hope it never happens again...Lol!
Alright. I have to go. I love you all lots and lots and I hope you have an excellent week. I will be writing on Monday next week. This was just a wierd two weeks because of transfers and Temple. But starting next week it will all be back to normal.
Love you all. Take care and have fun.
Love,
Shelle

Transfers

So it is the week of transfers and with luck and blessings I am staying in Campo de Fora! I was hoping that I wouldn´t get yanked out of another area again. Sorry to say, for Sister Machado, she got yanked. The poor thing. She´s been ready for more than a month to have a new area but that didn´t keep her from crying. She couldn´t hardly think strait. This is her first transfer and she just isn´t used to it yet. After 6 transfers I´ve become accostumed. That probable means that I won´t have to pass that trial again. Wahoo! Lol!

This week was good. We are working with a family that is completely made of Gold. Manuel, Regiane and their two kids Luis -16 and Layani- 10. We taught them this week with Bishop on Tuesday and it was really great. They became friends with Bishop and his wife and we laughed and learned and ate and all in all I was content with how is turned out. Then we marked to go back on Thursday. Thursday came around and we got to their house and Regiane let us in and she was a little different. Not in a bad way. She was nervous or something. We made the normal small talk at the begining of every conversation and then Regiane said, " Tenho notícias ruis para vocês." (I´ve got bad news for you guys.) Blink, blink... Okay, so what is it?!?! It turns out that she called her mother and talked to her about how she was having lessons about the Mormon Church and that she was thinking of accepting baptism. Her mother told her that she should never step foot in that church again and that she had to stop recieving our visits and that she should repent quick and never look back. She saidn not to have anything to do with that church again. Go back to the Catholic church and put her kids in Cetasism (youth program in the Catholic Church). Again, blink, blink... I asked Regiane what she thought and she said she was thinking to listen to what her mother said. Eliza, Regiane´s niece, was there and she also was hearning the messages and she said that she was done and that she wouldn´t ever go back to church again and she would stop saying normal prayers and recite the memorized prayers again. Wow! Stop righ there. I started teaching about prayers. It was good. Regiane agreed completely with what we said. Everyone in the end decided that they would continue praying normally. Onto going to church... We talked with them alot. I don´t even remember exactly what was said but in the end Regiane said that she would pray and decide what to do. Layani was all for going to church. She was totally lost because she was at school when her Grandma called. I love the inocense of children!

We passed their house again on Saturday. Everyone was home. Even Manuel! We talked with them about eternal families and the temple and many, many things. Again, alot of which I don´t remember exactly. In the end, everyone decided they would continue. Wahoo!

We have a few people in our ward that are alot to swallow. If you don´t get to know them then you would think that they had completley lost is. Our Patriarch is one of them. Lol! He sat with some of our investigators during the Sacrament Meeting. He talked with them about how he and Selson (another Irmão in the ward) were making bets to see who would die first. uh... Then he should them a picture of the temple. (He was telling us this afterwards) When he showed this picture he talked about how this was the most beautiful house in all of South America. He talked it up alot and then he looked at them and said, "I can go in there but you can´t. But don´t worry it isn´t only you, the Governer or São Paulo can´t go in too." When he told me this I began thinking, "Man, I have to monitor the members in this ward. I can´t even let some of them close to the investigators. How many do we have in this ward already. 4? 5? 12? What am I going to say to them when we visit tonight....ah geeze..." Then he said, "Those sisteres that are sitting over there can enter this house also. Their purpose is to help you prepare so that you can enter in this house also. You guys will have an oppurtunity to enter in the most beautiful house ever if you will listen and apply what those girls are teaching you." Opa! Thank you Patriach! We now have a very intrigued, maybe confused, married couple that loved church and want to learn more and prepare for baptism. This ward is full of nuts but I love all sorts of nuts so this is the place for me.

I´m loving life and I´m working hard. I know that this work is His and He´s trusting me to be where He wants me to be when He wants me there, saying what He wants me to say. I love it!

Thanks for everything and take care and have a great week. Love you lots!

Love,

Shelle

Halloween!

So this year for Halloween my companion and I decided that we would be vampires and knock on all the doors trying to teach the Gospel. The first door, no luck... The next door, no luck... The third door, Yes!!! We got in. It was a little different because there was a few witches in costume and a few that I think maybe practice magic in real life.... Just kidding. We didn´t do anything for Halloween. Brasil does nothing in the way of celebrating Halloween. Last year there were a few kids that toilet papered some houses but this year it came and passed by like any other Sunday. Just so that you know, there are actually quite a few people here that practice dark magic. It is a religion known as macumba (spelling?) and there are a surprising number of members. It would be one of my worst nightmares to enter into a house where one of those people live. But with luck they don´t let in members of our church until we remove our "protection." I thought it was just our name badge but I was wrong... Anyways... The most recent encounter I´ve had with macumba is to see some plates of food on the side of the road. They do this so that you will put money in it and not be cursed. All in all a wierd religion but you can´t deny that there is a bad side here in the world.

I had the opportunity this last week to shake hands with Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the quorum of the twelve Apostles. Opa! That was a pretty incredible conference. I loved it! Learned alot. He was pretty witty and was always cracking jokes to keep us entertained. After 2 1/2 hours with him, his wife, President and Sister Jackson, and the area president Elder Soares, he opened up the remainder of the time to questions. Blink, blink... My mind went blank. Actually no. I had a few questions that I wanted to ask him but he also gave a few rules that we had to follow with these questions so I decided that these questions had to wait for another time. But all in all Thursday was really, really awesome and our entire mission was there and we all got to be in the same place at the same time with is the first time that this has happened in all of my mission. It was undescribable the feeling in that Chapel. I want it to happen every Thursday! Lol!

I ate cow stomach this week. Talk about a nasty meat. The texture is somewhere in between a balloon and fat. You chew and chew and chew and finally have to swallow. The only thing that saved me was the flavor. The Irmã that made it is an excellent cook so the flavor was delicious but the actually meat...blegh! They are already talking about cow hoof for the next time. I´ve already had an expirience with pig hoof on my plate and it didn´t end happily. I don´t know what I will do. Probably eat it but I don´t know how much I will be able to work after that...

The work is great. I love this area and I love the leadership in the ward! They are way excited about the work with makes it way easy for us to be excited and work hard all day everyday even when everything falls through and no one wants to talk to you. You keep going until you find someone and that´s why it is great because you will always find at least one person. They are ready and waiting but you just have to show that you are ready and willing to do your best and realize that your best is being ignored and then leave the rest to the Lord and you will find His elects. You just have to be His elect first.

I´m happy and working hard. I´m learning lots and growing lots. (Luckily I´m not growing in dress size anymore. Lol!) I love you guys lots and lots and I hope you had a great Halloween and will have a great week with lots of fun time and work and good things like that. Don´t forget to read the scriptures daily and pray always. Take care.

Love,

Shelle