I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Freitas, she's from a sheep farm in Porto Velho, Hondonia, Brasil and was baptized 7 years ago... and is still the only member in her family. She's a tough cookie... and a little weird, but we'll get over that. 

We've been working hard this week and finding some really awesome people to teach in the cobblestone streets of Eldorado, Diadema... the only thing is that no one is in their house when we have marked an appointment with them. This past Sunday, we had every single hour scheduled with a new investigator. And what happened? Every single appointment fell through. SO we basically just walked through the streets in circles like lost sheep. JK, we talked to a ton of people in the streets, but I would have liked to have been teaching instead. BUT, that's the mission life, right?

One of our miracles of the week was Lucas. Lucas was a reference from our Zone Leaders who live near byt. We contacted him on the same day and just invited him to come to church. He told us that he would so we told him wr would come by his house in the morning and walk with him. Not thinking much of it (because everyone tells us that), we passed by his house yesterday morning and HE WAS THERE. AND CAME TO CHURCH WITH US. AND SAID HE LIKED IT. AND THAT WE COULD COME BACK ON MONDAY. It was so great. He's 26 and I think he smokes a lot of pot, but we can work with that.

Last night I had a dream that I got robbed in street, so I have decided to leave my camera at home this week...

"But behold there was never a happier time among the people of [Brazil] since the days of [Sister Hargrove]... in the twenty and first year of [her] reign..." Alma 50:23

Believe it or not, I think I've kept my birthday a complete secret... only my companion knows and she got transferred! So #22 should be relatively tranquil this year.

It's transfers again! My dear Sister Barraza has been transferred. I will be staying in the Eldorado Ward as a Sister Training Leader and will be recieving a new Junior companion. Woopdeedoo!

This week was uneventful... again. Mostly due to the fact that I got a nasty sinus infection. (AKA, my allergies are coming back, Dad.) But it involved a fever, swollen eye, and ear infection... in both ears. All of this added together equals not a whole lot of work got done this week. Sad. But even President told me to go home and take a nap. lol. 

Speaking of President, we had interviews this week! My interview was great! President and Sister Broadbent are just fantastic... even though President started talking about m next big commandment once I finish my mission. Five Reais if you can guess what that one is. But for realzies he gave me a lot of good advice on mission life and we got to know each other a little better. It was great. To top it off, he told me my Portuguese is perfect! (I'm not so sure how true that one is, but I'll take the compliment)

Ready to start my second to last transfer! See you in 12 weeks!

Com Amor,

Sister Hargrove

PS - Who remembers the shaytards?? http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2700253803001&cid=HPFR071114321

Brazil lost. Real bad. Alemanha kicked their butt 7 x 1. Let's just say Brazilians went from an unhealthy obsession with the Soccer Team, to an unhealthy hatred. Yes, they are burning buses and no one wants to buy Neymar's jerseys anymore. But, they'll always have at least one fan! Sister Hargrove! All they've been showing on the news this week (not that I watch the news, but we pass by a lot of bars in the street and they always have it on) is clips of children all dressed up in their brazilian soccer gear sobbing over the game with Alemanha and the clip of José Luiz crying as well. 

This coming week we have interviews with our new mission president and the week after that ismybirthday. 22. #idowhatiwant

This week was busy like crazzzzyyyy. I did two divisions with Sister Cavalcanti, from Pernambuco, and Sister Soares, from Manaus. Two super cool sisters serving in the Mirandopolis and Vila Liviera wards. The divisions were super cool and we had a lot of little miracles happen and found a lot of new people to teach.

I am excited for this coming week because we won't have any soccer games to get in the way of the missionary work!

-Sister HA!

Brazil has made it to the semi-finals! WOOHOO! The party continues with Germany tomorrow! 

 

 

I have special news for you all... we caught one of the rats in our house. After a long day's work, we came home to find an almost dead mouse stuck to our sticky paper trying to eat the cookies I layed out for him. #besta So we layed him to rest in an old grocery bag which we promptly threw out for the garbage men to pick up.

 

 

Our new President and his wife, President and Sister Broadbent, got here this past week. They are just so stinking great. We had a mission wide conference and Liders Council with them recently and I am so excited to have them as our new 'mission parents.' They are so loving and ready to work hard with us! In the Leader's council we restablished some of our mission goals and talked about how we can all be better missionaries and examples and I felt really excited afterwards. I learned that as missionaries and members of the church we have a responsibility to open our mouths and talk about the Gospel. In everyway possible. Sometimes we forget that it's the Gospel of Jesus Christ that brings us the biggest joy, so TALK about it! We also talked a lot about our purpose as missioaries. That is, not, just to throw people in the baptisimal font, but to walk them to the Temple. Because the Temple is where we make the most important covenants that lasts for eterinity.

Two VERY Special Kids. :)

The work here in the Eldorado Ward has been... rough. We have a lot of visitors coming to church, but it seems that no one wants to make any sort of commitment. With the Cup and meetings and all sorts of other things, the work has been a little slow here.

Yes Mother, I know... LESS THAN A HUNDRED SAYS LEFT. I'm trying not to get trunky...

Com muito amor e carinho,

Sister Hargrove

 

 

SO WHO WATCHED THE GAME ON FRIDAY? It was NUTSO. We had a lot of exciting things happen this week, including the arrivel of President and Sister Broadbent (and leaving of President and Sister Tanner).

This past Monday we had a dandy time watching the game (Brazil vs. Camarões), that Brasil won with flying colors. Eldorado went absolutely NUTS. Music, fireworks, dancing and drinking in the streets, everything. 

On Tuesday I made 14 months on the mission. Holy moly. It is absolutely crazy how fast my mission has passed by. It makes me want to cry a little, BUT, I'm excited to continue being a full-time member missionary. But anyways, we had a lesson with our awesome investigator, Roque. He's about 70, and we found him taking to people in the street. He's been to church for the past two Sundays. This week we taught him about the Word of Wisdom and how important it is to keep our 'temples' clean. He drinking coffee, beer, and smokes a pack of cigarettes every day, but comitted to keeping the word of wisdom the best he could. He said that he smokes everyday before he leaves for work. So we have been running to his house every morning at 6 o'clock to sing hin a hymn and get him started off right for the day. Let me tell you, it's tiring, but worth it. He only smokes five cigarettes a day now. Sweet success. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have of how to keep my body clean. I can see the blessings of this commandment every single day of my mission when I dont have to drink coffee to wake up in the morning or smoke to calm my self down during the day. 

On Thursday I went on Divisions! We had an awesome and craaaazyyy day. First event of the day, I gained an even stringer testimony of the Word of Wisdom. We found a woman passed out, cold on the sidewalk. We tried to wake her up, but she was out. So we ran in to the nearest person (in a bar, lol) and asked for help. They helped us call the ambulance (which never came, btw.) and help this lady out. We got her to wake up and it turns out she had been drinking... a lot. This lady couldn't even stand on her own two feet or pick up her glasses. So Sister Diaz (from Argentina) and I practically carried this lady home. We used her cell phone to call her son to wait up for us and walked her all the way to her house to make sure she was ok. So sad. We then went to visit a less-active, recent convert, 14 year old. Started talking to him and in comes his mother, fuming mad, who preceeded to beat him. We pulled her off of him screaming and crying. SO sad. Why don't they know that their family is eternal?

We woke up the next morning to a frantic call from my companion in Eldorado telling me we have rats in our house. RATS. And don't even try and tell me that we need to clean our house. The mission is coming over today to help us our with that problemo.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

I love you all.

Sister Hargrove 

 

Cupa do Mundo em Brasil!

 

trunky email

First order of business... Everyone is telling me that Beyonce and President Obama are getting together. Is there any truth to that? Also, I'm still waiting for an answer about whether Michael Jackson is alive or not... #ineedanswers

Second order of business, We sang "I stand all amazed" and I thought of Tina Most, so about a week ago I sent letter to her, but I didn't know her home address so I just sent it to the house address. Could you get that to her?

Third order of business, IV'E BEEN TRANSFERRED! ...toooooo the Diadema First Stake, Eldorado Ward. It is TINY. But great... and only favella and a HUGE amazon forest. awesome. We live pretty far from the city and sometimes I think to myself, "Is this what Shay served in in Manaus?" There are bugs and huge spiders and snakes everywhere. I found three Daddy Longlegs this morning (one on my bed when I woke up). Speaking of our house, our toilet doesn't flush, so everytime we have to go, we fill a bucket up with water and dump it down. Also the door doesn't shut... Not to mention that I've almost gotten bit by a dog at least once a day. The bishop here is great. He's 27 and just got back from him mission in Boston, MA a year (or two?) ago. My companion is Sister Barraza, from Santiago, Chile (again). She's 22 and great and also a Sister Training Leader and has one year on the mission. 

The World Cup here is just stinking nuts. The crazy things y'all are seeing on the news? #TRUTH. President Tanner has banned us to the house for the entire day when Brazil plays and I think we're going to stay in a lot more with other teams as well because... Brazil looooves football. Buuutttt... GO USA!

We started off our transfer with awesome miracles... and TWO baptisms. (Sidenote: In the history of all history, I am the third Sister to serve in this ward. Just elders before us!) We baptized Glaucia and her son "CaDoo" (Carlos Eduardo). They are so stinking awesome. Especially CaDo. Hes almost 11 and loves the gospel and learning everything about it. He loves playing soccer and videogames just like Nate and Matt. SO. I have a special request for Matt. It would be super cool if he could write CaDo a letter! (Don't worry, I can translate it) Talk about stinky boy stuff and about how you felt on your baptismial day. It would be super cool for him to hear about your experiance, Matt! Por Favor!

This week, I also got the dreaded "trunky email". Asking about all my personal info about going home so they can buy my plane ticket. :´(

I think that's all for this week. I looooove my mission. I know that this church is true and that miracles are REAL.

com amor,

sister hargrove

Pre-World Cup

The World Cup is cominnnggggg! The first game is on the 12th of this month and unfortunately, the missionaries have not been liberated to watch the games... We will be switching our study hours to the hours of the games. :( But we'll see if that doesn't change. São Paulo has already gone into party mode preparing for the games. The streets are painted, banners are up, and the drunks are out. Lots of barbeques and soccer talk here. Also, the metros have been on strike for the past week and a half, which has put a damper on my Sister Leader duties. No divisions this week because we are out of options (except our feet) for how to get to the other areas. Everyone is struggling with this metro strike. It's becoming more and more difficult to get investigators to church, get to our meetings, and lots of other things...

 

 

On Tuesday I went to the dentist. It was painful, but don't worry, it was free. I've also been banned officially from eating popcorn. It's a hard-knock-life. Today we are suppsoed to be getting transfers, BUT we still have not gotten the call yet... I'm pretty sure I'll be staying here in the Bosque ward until the end of my mission (there's an END?!), so I'm pretty excited.

Sorry the email is so short, things were a little slow this week due to the cup festivities.

com amor,

sister hargrove

Mais 20 Semanas!

Another week ooofffffffff... everything falling through #welcometothemission Litereally everything. Appointments with investigators, lunches with members, divsions with sisters, meetings with leaders. everything.  We are stugglebusin' it for sure. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday our plan A, B, and C to everything fell through, so we wandered around, got to know our area a little more, found a quaint little favella, and made street contacts after street contacts after street contacts until a member found us far from home and gave us ride to the chapel. This area needs some serious work. The missionaries before me taught a lot of eternal investigators, which kind of sucked for us because we're realizing that these people like because of the following reasons... we have blue eyes, we're foreign, we have an accent, I know how to make cookies, and sometimes I show them cute little mormon message videos.... and the gospel? nope. So we are rebuilding our teaching pool right now and forcing the members to help us out by guilt triping them into giving us references (what?) and teaching them how to open their mouths and share their happiness! 

This past Tuesday, we had a party in our house. So all of the new american missionaries have to make a trip to the federal police department soon after they get into the field to pick up their visa. And since our house/area is in the central part of our mission, they all get to sleep at our house. Soooooo, TEN sisters sleeping in our house on Tuesday. TEN. It was a hot mess of pizza, blow up mattresses, and mission gossip. Woof. It was a looonngggg night. BUT I got to be reunited with my Chilean companion from a couple transfers ago, Sister Cañas, woohoo! Another supla of sisters stayed in our area and did some street contacts for us and found two people that would let us teach them in their house. We went to contact one yesterday. ot to his house and were greeted by a cute little group of gang members smoking pot. yes. We talking to the guys mom and she told us to come back on Monday. While we were walking away from the house, me and my big mouth decided it would be a good idea to invite the pot-smoking-gang-members to church on Sunday and that if they would let Him, Jesus Christ could change their lives. Woops. They politely thanked me for the invite and then told me that the area I was in was dangerous and that they are part of such-and-such gang and that people are killed right where I was standing. Then one of the dudes said, "organiiiiiiiized crimmmmme." And that was enough for me, I said #thanksBYE and took off as fast as my sister missionary shoes could take me. 

We have a really, really, really awesome investigator, C. She's in er 30's and was a referance from the stake presidents wife. She has two kids and is pregnant, but a widow. She is AWESOME. And super sweet. She has lived a really hard life and she is really growing and progressing in the gospel. The coolest thing is that the relief society and the primary are taking really good care of her and her family. Her kids LOVE church. And C is preparing for baptism. :)

 

This week we also had our last conference with President and Sister Tanner. Everyone cried, felt the Spirit and sang 'God Be With You 'Till We Meet Again', the official goodbye hymn. I am so grateful for them as my mission mom and dad. They have changed my life and I am more than excited to welcom President and Sister Broadbent into the mission and send President Tanner off to his new calling.

13 Months!

Transfers are this coming week. Hoping to continue in the Bosque ward! :) Still waiting for letters...

Sister Nicole Hargrove

Missão Brasil São Paulo Sul

Rua Dr. Luis da Rocha Miranda, N°159
8° Andar
São Paulo, SP
Brazil/Brasil
CEP 04344-900

Com Amor,

Sister Hargrove

So we have this investigator named Sandra. She's in her 40's and from Chile and doesn't speak Portuguese, just Spanish. So I've been doing my best to remember everything I learned from high school Spanish Class (nothing) and we've been teaching her. She's here visiting her cousin, who's an active member in our ward. She had a really great experiance in Church this past Mother's Day Sunday. We get to Church and she doesn't understand anything for the first two house (Rel. Soc. and Sun. School). Then we get to Sacrament Meeting and she jsut starts to understand everything. It was awesome and truly the gift of tongues. She turns to me and her cousin, with tears in her eyes and says, "Everything they're saying is just for me!" It was so cool. We taught her last night with a kid in our ward that just got back from his mission in Ecuador, so his Spanish is a little better than mine. We taught her the Restauration and it went really well! Pray for her!

This past Friday, we had an interesting experiance... We had just gotten home (on time! 9 o'clock.) and about five minutes in to our daily planning session we hear a bunch of noise outside out front window and a man yelling "Rapido! Rapido!" ("Fast! Fast!") we go over to the window, open the curtains and see a car parked in front of our house and three or four men robbing the people in the car at gunpoint. "Sister! I saw a gun!" We quickly shut the curtains and the car eventually drove off after about a minute. Can I just tell you about my testimony of the missionary curfew. THAT RULE WAS INSPIRED! For sure. We are home. On time. Everyday. Nothing else sketchy has happened since that incident. So all is well, mom.

We have another really awesome investigator that was a referance from our Stake President's wife. Her name is Cibele, she's super cute and pregnant with her third, and is in her 30's. She came to Church this Sunday and loved it. Her daughter also adored the Primary class. She's really great because you call tell that she is really searching for truth, not only for her, but for her family as well. It's really sweet.

I'm in charge of making breakfast for our zone tomorrow. Someone let it out that I know how to cook. So we'll see how that goes. This week should be really great because we are going to have a mission conference with Elder Anderson! Everyone is super excited. My new calling is going well. I got my first dose of dealing with some sweet sister drama. But, no worrie, I told them to suck it up and get to work. :)

I love my mission and y'all too!

com amor,

Sister Hargrove