September 4, 2012

Hello! Hello!

So let me start with an awful story. Picture this. Me, this morning, at the Sao Paulo Temple, being super sick, and throwing up in the toilet. Yeah. It was not the best moment of my life, but how many people can say they got sick at the Sao Paulo Temple?? I'm still feeling a little under the weather, but I'm better than I was. Pretty sure it was the gross hamburger type things they fed us last night. My comp. was sort of sick too. But of course I was the only one who had to go through the joy of throwing up. It's been years since I had that nasty experience and hopefully it's years until I do again. So yeah, that was the start of my P day. They had me do initiatories again instead of a session and I understood a lot of it, when I wasn't focused on feeling sick. I prayed really hard to feel better though and after a nap on the bus ride back to the CTM-- I did! It's cool how quickly my prayers are answered as a missionary. It's really true what they say, I'm closer to the Lord than I ever have been before.

It's super fun to have Danny (cousin) here! I see him all the time. Well, sometimes. At least for a minute everyday. He usually arrives to eat when I'm finishing up. He's in my branch though so I see him on Sundays for a while, but they make all the sisters sit on the front row so he didn't sit up there by me last week. I don't blame him. Haha. It's strange to call him Elder Spencer, but I think it's funny. Also, it's nice to have an elder that I can be friendly to and not have to worry about him thinking I'm flirting with him.

This week was a riot here at the CTM. We had a Sexta Festa (Friday Party) with all the new sisters and brought candy and pictures and got to know each other. It was wonderful. Also that day my district did a Portuguese Feast where we only spoke Portuguese the whole day. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be which made me feel really good. My friend Sis. McMullin left the CTM today so now the 4 in my district are the oldest sisters here. It's so weird. My Portuguese is improving really quickly though and I am looking forward to going out into the field. This Sunday I bore my testimony in only Portuguese and it was really awesome to be able to express everything I wanted to. I made some mistakes, but it was an awesome experience. I don't remember exactly when I went from feeling lost all the time to being able to understand and sort of communicate, but all of the sudden it happened. We get to go proselyting this Monday around the CTM and talk to people about the gospel and give Book of Mormons. I'm super excited!! Pray that I'll be able to understand people!!

 Laurel, Sister McMullin and all of the brazilian sisters.

 Sister McMasterson, Laurel, Sister Jackman, Sister Robinson

We got 2 new roommates this week and one of them is from my mission! She's difficult to understand, but they're both absolutely gorgeous and one speaks perfect English so she does a lot of translating for us all. I'm excited to get to know them better! Also, I met my Brazilian best friend. Her name is Sis. Oliveira and I'm so obsessed with her. I don't even know how to describe how great she is. She is loud and sassy and loves to laugh, but also has an incredible testimony and her spirit radiates to everyone around her. I told her she could come visit me in Salt Lake and we could go to the temple together. Her dream is to go to the Salt Lake Temple someday. Oh she's hilarious.

Another friend we made this week is one of the cleaning ladies, Fernanda. Me and my companion complimented her shiny barrettes in her hair and ever since then she always tells us how beautiful we are when she sees us. Our Port. is limited so we only have about 2 sentence conversations, but it's cool to try and communicate with her.

Other favorite part I love about the CTM is all of the elders who do musical numbers that rock my world. Seriously, piano solos and singing and violin playing. People are so talented.

I only have 2 weeks left here!! Start writing me at the mission home.

Sis. Laurel Udy
Brazil João Pessoa Mission
Rua Deputado José Mariz, 515
Tambauzinho, João Pessoa - PB
Brazil 58042-020

Love you all a lot! And I love being a missionary! And I feel your prayers!!

Sister Udy