Friday, June 20, 2014

June 19, 2014

ahhhhh family!!! There is so much to tell you and I only get 45 minutes of emailing here, so I'll try my best to fit everything in and answer all of your questions!! Brazil is so amazing!!!! I can't even believe I am here! I am loving it sooo much! It was really hard to leave DC but once I saw Sao Paulo and got to meet more Brasillians, i just feel so blessed to be here!! I had amazing experiences before leaving DC and I will forever be grateful for serving there!!! Tuesday was super weird because president Riggs and Sister Riggs came and picked me up and drove me to the airport. We had great talks and then when they tried to check me in at the airport, the people said my flight had been delayed until 2 in the morning and it wasn't even for sure that it would leave at 2, so they said they could rebook me for the next day. I was disappointed at first but then I realized that Heavenly Father needed missionaries in Vienna that night so me and sister Egbert got back together and did work! We saw a few investigators and had a grand ol' time haha. The next morning President picked me up and off we went!! I expected that day to be crazy, but it turned out way crazier than I could have imagined!! I went from DC to Minneapolis, Minneapolis to Detroit, and Detroit to Sao Paulo. People kept saying weird things when they looked at my visa, but they all eventually let me through. All was well until I tried to get on my last plane from Detroit to Sao Paulo. There was a paper stapled to my passport that the missionaries in DC said was my Visa. I assumed was my Visa so when the lady in Detroit asked to see my Visa I showed her that. All the employees are looking at it and I am the only one still waiting at the gate. That is when this lady told me I didn't have my visa!!! i didn't know what to do or think or anything! I just started to cry because I was so confused and I thought about the fact that I had no where to go that night and all of this craziness was running through my head. The employees felt really bad and kept telling me to stop crying. Then one of them let me use his phone, so I called the church office and explained the situation and the girl says "Look on all the pages in your passport because they usually don't put it right on the first page" so I looked and there was my Visa!! I ran to the people and got on my flight 10 minutes before we took off....close one right! They ended up upgrading me to first class (i think because they felt so bad for me) and so I had a pretty great flight! My steward guy was actually an Returned Missionary who served in Curitiba! haha! That experience taught me a whole lot about if I really have trust in Heavenly Father or not. I was so upset when I thought I didn't have my visa!! I had so many questions and doubts and so it was a really good learning experience for me and helped me see that I need to learn to really trust in the Lord!! I left Detroit at 8 pm and got to Brazil at 8 am. Brazil really is one big party right now!! The airport was crazy busy with World Cup traffic and there was a Mariachi Band playing and all these Brazilians were singing and passing around tequila....at 8 AM! I got to the CTM Thursday morning and the guy who drove me there left me standing alone with my bags in the lobby. All of a sudden 5 or 6 Brasilleras (female brazilains) ran up and started hugging me and kissing me and welcoming me to the CTM! The people here are so amazing and charitable and i love them sooo much!! I had a little time to change clothes and then I met up with my district. I'm in a trio w sister Sanchez who is from CA and served in TX for 11 months and also sister Openshaw who is from CA and served in OH for one year! She was companions in Ohio with Sister Allen, my sweet MTC comp!!! Sis Sanchez will go to Londrina, Brazil and Sister Openshaw will serve in Rio. They are great and we really love each other! We have 2 elders who are also in our district. One will go to Fortaleza with me!! That night was the first World Cup game and the city was just crazy! Every few minutes we'd hear horns and cheering and screaming and music! haha its a blast! I have been learning sooo much Portuguese! It's awesome being in our district because we all want to learn really badly and we are strict about only speaking Portuguese. It's helping so much and we also have the opportunity to be around other missionaries who speak the language so it's soo much easier to learn! We live with 3 other Brasilleras and they are the sweetest girls! ahh I love them so much! Its actually a lot of fun being the minority...its a first for me and I really love it! :) something cool about the CTM is that we get to leave a lot. So Saturday we did what we call proselitismo. Its when we go out with one of our instructors and street contact! We went to this street by a huge theater and it was so much fun! we gave out 6 copies of the livro de mormon and only one person said they didn't want to talk with us!! Brasillians are so nice!! it's almost shocking that so many people want to talk with us haha!! Sunday was awesome! We had an interview with one of the members of our Branch Presidency. He is really great and did the whole interview in Portuguese! We are the only Americans in our branch so that's a lot of fun! I actually understood the talks too which made me happy! It was really cool to hear the talks that were given because almost all the speakers were converts. one girl was baptized 2 yrs ago and is now on her mission which is just so amazing to see! These missionaries have some of the strongest testimonies I've ever heard! I love them! After church we had a meeting for the new Americans in the CTM. It basically answered all my questions I've ever had about Brazil!! That night we had an awesome devotional. It was given in the MTC in Provo last week. It was Quinten L. Cook and it was so powerful! I feel like its a huge blessing to be in the CTM again because not only am I learning the language but I really get to refocus on my purpose as a missionary and I just love it! Yesterday we had an awesome devotional from a Stake pPresident here in Brazil and it was just super powerful! I was again reminded of the love my Heavenly Father has for me and how blessed I am to serve two missions!Its the best! Today we got a bunch of new Americans and I know some of them! One was my visiting teacher at BYUI and the other was in the mtc with me in Provo! its great! to sum up my feelings and thoughts this week I decided to create a list of what I like and don't like about Brasil!! Likes: • The people!! we have a lot of Hispanic people here in the CTM too. It's seriously the best! all the sisters are just constantly hugging you and talking to you and smiling at you! I've never felt so loved (besides by you mom!! =) ) • The food!!! seriously AMAZING!!!! • Guarana. enough said. • The weather! Sao Paulo has really beautiful weather! I think Fortaleza will be super super hot but I'll love it :) • The Temple! I got to go to the sao paulo temple this morning! beautiful experience! • The language! • The crazy parties people have! • How happy everyone is Dislikes: • Cockroaches the size of the palm of my hand...... FYI I leave the CTM next week! crazy right?! I love you all so much!! I'm sorry this is so short but I do love you all and hope you are not worried about me or anything! I am loving life and loving Brasil!! Thanks for all you guys do and for all the prayers! LOVE YOU! ate logo! Sister Pehrson

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