Oh boy... sounds like Nate is just a PEACH. Boa Sorte. AH! That's so cool that you've been talking to my members! You've actually been talking to their 12 year old son. He came up to me after Sacrament yesterday and was like "SISTER HAHA! [which is what the ward calls me because no one can prounounce/likes to say my name] I TALKED TO YOUR MOM YESTERDAY!"It was awesome! He said he's been putting everything through google translator haha but that's way cool. We have a FHE with them every single week and I just love them. It's really awesome because they were less-active when we got into the area and now they come to church every Sunday! The family is Katia and her husband, N, and their three kids and two chihuahuas. I'm glad that President Most finally received my card! Glad to hear that dad is doing good... Haven't heard from him in a while... HINT! I haven't been sending a lot of pictures lately because my card reader won't work and so I have to find my camera cord, but I will send pictures next week of our baptism and everything...
Last P-Day we went to the happiest place on earth... AKA Rua 25 de Marzo. It's a huge street lined with shops that sell tons and tons of anything your could imagine for super cheap. Heavenly. Believe it or not, I actually didn't buy anything... Partly because my money is a little low at the moment because I just had to pay our water/energy bill and partly because I was so overwhelmed by all of the different things I wouldn't have been able to choose! The streets there were PACKED. hundreds and hundreds of people. literally.
Last Tuesday I went on Splits with a sister in our zone, Sister W. She's from Georgia and is 19 and I freaking love that girl. I got to spend the night and day in her area and it was way fun! She's only been here for 3 weeks so her portuguese was a little... limited... so I had to talk a LOT, which was good. Definitely helpe me to step up my Portuguese a little bit. It's always really nice to go on splits with other missionaries because it helps you to get out of the 'pattern' of the transfer. Sister Wilcox taught me a lot of really great things. It was such a testimony builder to me to see her on her mission and so dedicated to the work. Missionary Work is truly the most important work that you could be doing right now.
Wednesday I got to go back to my area with sister M and it was SO stinking hot. Actually, it probably wasn't even that hot, it's just so stinking humid her that when you step outside you're pretty much instantly drenched in sweat. awesome. we were walking to go and try and visit some less actives near our house and we decided to stop by a members house and let her know about the baptism on saturday. literally 3 minutes after we entered her house, the rain started. But it wasnt just a sprinkle, it was hard, big, fat, noahs ark raindrops. in 10 minutes the streets were rivers and flooded with water and the thunder was so loud it made the house shake! AND THEN - - the hail. oh my heck. hail the size of ping pong balls started pelting the house. it was nuts. obviously we stayed in the house until it stopped because that would have punched holes in my umbrella! After that we had our Baptismal interview at the capella!! G was interviewed and found worthy to be baptized and was so excited. He was beaming. Great day. It was also a special day for me because I turned 21 1/4. Happy Birthday to me!
Thursday was my SIX MONTH BIRTHDAY on the mish! I can't believe it! I actually feel like I have no time left! I'm kind of praying that Prophet Monson will announce next general conference that sisters can stay for 2 years because i don't think ill ever want to leave Brazil. But, anyways. Thursday was kind of NUTS. Let me explain... We went to lunch a a members house who lives an hour away on foot, then we had to go fnd our map (that i lost...oops) so we walked 30 min to the capella, the map wasn't there, so we walked 30 minutes to a members house to see if the map was there, it wasn't, so we walked 30 minutes back to the capella to catch a bus to our next appointment. i thought i knew which bus to take but i definitely didnt because we ended up on the wrong one and in another area an hour away, so we road the but back around to our area and got of the same spot that we got on and walked an hour to our Appointment... yikes. lol. To top it all off, I spent the rest of our night in an evangelical church again. I told our bible basher investigators that if they would let our member take them to see the sao paulo temple that i would go to their church again... lets just say it was just as ridiculous as the first time, except this time they were speaking in tongues. It sounded exactly like in harry potter, the second movie, when harry is speaking in parseltongue... and everyone in the congregation is yelling amen! and hallelujah! and glory to god! Once again I am so grateful for the gospel when I can truly feel the whisperings of the spirit. We also met a family to teach! Our fabulous ward missionaries introduced us to their neighbors, husband and wife and 2 kids. They're great. The wife said that she was already frequenting a church, but that lately she had been feeling that there is something missing... THE BOOK OF MORMON! :D The lesson was awesome and I could feel the spirit really strong. and we are going back to teach them this week!
Friday wasn't too excited, but I did get to learn how to make some great Brazilian food when we went to lunch! So good. Friday night we had a lesson with G just to see how he was doing before his baptism on saturday. He told us that he was so excited he went and got a haircut and invited his whole family!
Saturday we had our baptism! :D Baptismal days are always really hard for me because I always just want to skip right to the baptism! We made a bunch of visits in the morning (which was so HOT) and then made our way home to freshen up and put on another layer of deodorant... lol. We had to have the baptism in another capella because our capella was hosting a youth dance. G brought his entire family and girlfriend, who cried, and were all so sweet... we'll work on them next ;)
Yesterday, G was confirmed! He bought new clothes for church and looked so snappy! It was so precious and such a happy moment. We had a meeting at the stake center with all of the priesthood leaders, but our district leader forgot to tell us that they rescheduled one with the missionaries... so just imagine all of the stake priesthood leaders in a meeting and two sister missionaries as well. how embarrassing. we ended up leaving after the opening hymn when we realize that no other missionaries were coming... oops again... That night we had a family home evening with some members and investigators who we are teaching how to read! I'll update you more on that next time, but it was great!
I think thats all for now... Be good and don't forget to share your testimony!
Com amor,
sister hargrove
