This week was good. My new companion is Sister Mendes and she´s still getting used to the area. It will take some time though as it´s a big, oddly-shaped area. She´s from São Paulo, and even though she´s been out for 7 months, this is her second area. So this is the first time since she arrived that she has to meet everyone all over again. So we´re taking it slow and visiting more of the members for her to get to know them. Oh, and also, I gave a talk yesterday in church. I was a little nervous, just because of my Portuguese, but I wrote everything out and had my companion correct my grammar and then I was able to read it with some phrases and parts memorized so it didn´t look like I was reading it the whole time. But anyways, the ward was really nice and everyone complimented me like everyone does for all the speakers, except for me it was also them complimenting me on how well I speak Portuguese and how I´m learning really fast. Even the Bishop said that I´m learning really fast and really increasing my vocabulary. (I didn´t mention that there were some quotes that contained words that I didn´t know, lol). Anyways, it was good. We´re really having a lot of support from the ward to get the missionary work going once again.
When I arrived here in the field, idk why, but I´ve been put with Sisters who love to talk and talk and talk and talk. Probably it´s just with the whole fact that they´re girls. So with four of us, it´s hard to get planning done at night because as soon as the other companionship arrives back home everyone just wants to talk about everything that happened to them that day.
Also, Happy Valentines Day to everyone. Here, they have something like it, but it´s not until June or something like that, so I´ll just have to wait a bit longer here, lol.
I´ve just had a craving for Skittles. Don´t know why, but I´ve just been craving those little fruity pieces that they don´t have here. That and cereal, but cereal would be a little more difficult just because the milk here is different, so I´d need milk shipped too, which wouldn´t end well. Especially here where milk is so processed it doesn´t need to be refrigerated and the chocolate bars are found in the refrigerated section of the store, lol.
So this week was pretty normal missionary life. I could really see that we´ve been guided by the Spirit here. There were many things that happened that you just know weren´t coincidence that you were just follow the promptings in your head. It´s when you don´t exactly know why you´re doing it, it generally turns out to be the Lord guiding us. Gosh, I feel like my English isn´t flowing the way it used to. I had to re-write the last phrase becuase after reading what I´d written, it didn´t make much sense. Or maybe it´s just me. All I know is that it will get a lot worse (I was about to write ´really worse´)
And as for the work, it was really cool seeing the Lord guide our steps this week. My companion was sick for two days so I went with Sister Carvalho (the Senior companion in her area of the ward) and together we covered both areas. It was hard to do everything we had scheduled, but it was time to just accept that we weren´t going to cover everything and that we just needed to trust in the Lord and let Him guide us to the things and the lessons that He knows would be most important. It was cool because even though we didn´t get everything covered in both areas, I still feel like we had great days and were really led to people who needed us.
As for the work we had a confirmation yesterday (that was put off for a couple of weeks) and he also received the Aaronic Priesthood (same day). So it was really cool to see. He is 14 years old and will be a powerful missionary as well as a great help to his younger siblings who were already baptized last month as well as his older brother (who still needs to visit the church on Sunday) and for his mom (who has a date to be married this week and baptized the next Sunday). So things are going. We also have other investigators who show real potential, we just need to continue to visit them this week and help them make the changes necessary to join the church. But I really feel like things will pick up soon. The ward is starting to help out more and give more references and the more they give, the more baptisms we´ll have, and the more members will get excited and want to give more references. I´ve really seen that there is a cycle here that´s hard to build, but once it´s started will continue to get bigger and bigger. And our bishop has been helping a lot as he wants to grow our ward to be split by next year (because of a large frequencia). It was cool how he said that he isn´t happy with a ward that just sits. He wants a ward that is growing because that´s really a ward that is progressing. So its really cool to have such a support by the bishop.
Gosh, I know my English is getting worse. The flow is all wrong. But whatever. Just as long as you can understand me it´s good. I feel like my companion who speaks like a Brasilian as she translates and speaks more in phrases translated directly from Portuguese, which don´t make sense in English. But I´m not that bad yet. I just have a hard time with the flow. So just remember my e-mails definitely won´t sound like a novel, lol.
Oh, and one last thing... I saw President Reber and Sister Reber for the first time since Christmas and Sister Reber said that my hair is a lot lighter. And even members in my ward are saying how I´m a lot darker-skinned now too! Claro, I definitely won´t pass for a Brasilian, but I still think it´s cool. I feel like when I was younger and played soccer during the summer. I´d get darker and my hair lighter. Shows that I´m actually doing something. But at the same time, when I get home I probably won´t like having the stripes on my feet from my sandals. But whatever, haha! Just remember, I´ll come home looking like I vacationed at the beach (except for my really bad tan lines) and speaking like a Brazilian (I hope!)
Well, I gotta go, mas tem uma boa semana!! Eu amo vocês muito!!! Fique segura e continua com força! Obrigada por suas orações. Eu posso sentir o poder delas. Até mais! Ou melhor, até a proxima semana!!
Translated: Well, I gotta go, but have a good week! I love you so much!! Stay safe and continue with strength! Thank you for your prayers. I can feel their power. Even more! Or rather, until next week!
Sister Grimes
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