November 4, 2012

The 1st picture is with the bishop's daughter, Esther. She is learning to walk and it is so cute! The other is just Sis. F and I around Caicó. The sunset is always the best part of the day. One because it is beautiful and two because it is when I stop feeling my skin sizzling. I have a nice tan already though, especially on my forearms.

Every 6 weeks I will write on Wednesday because we have transfers so P Day is different. The next one is December 12 when Sister Ferreira goes home. I am dreading it. I love serving with her. We have so much fun and work together really well. It will be so strange to have a new companion here!! Aunt JoLynn told me that when she was on her mission she always was blessed with either a good ward, a good companion, or a good something to help her endure when other things were difficult. I know I will be fine because Heavenly Father is merciful, but it is just really sad to think about saying goodbye to Sis. F. 

I got my new hammock today!! It was so hard to decide what color I wanted. I ended up with one that is pink with small orange stripes and some cool designs painted on it. It is really girly, but I think it will be really good. I will try to remember to take a picture!

Our family has had a lot of blessings this last year. That is what happens when you obey the commandments! Really it isn't as hard as people act like to go to church on Sunday and pray daily and read scriptures. People think it is a huge sacrifice, but it is more of a blessing. I try to tell people this everyday, but they don't believe me. 

 

It was a holiday so most people didn't work on Nov. 2, but there wasn't a celebration or anything and our day was normal except more people were at home getting drunk and not wanting to talk to the missionaries. Actually I think that was the day that Josemar told us he didn't want to live the Law of Chastity. Yeah, way sad. He didn't accept baptism, but at least he knows more about how to have eternal salvation now and someday he might accept. We have another man we are teaching who was at church this Sunday though, Edmilson. He is really great, but loves to talk so we spend most of the lesson trying to cut in and teach some sort of principle. It is always an interesting experience. I like his stories... when I understand them. We have some other progressing investigators that we are going to invite to be baptized this week. Things change really quickly from week to week here. One day we have a super powerful lesson with someone and they read the Book of Mormon and love it and the next time they tell us they are Catholic and don't want to learn more about other religions because it is confusing and they want to stick to family traditions. Lots of people have big doubts that the Evangelical pastors put into their heads about Mormons too. It is pretty ridiculous, but I am always grateful when people are smart enough to ask us about our religion and not ask someone else who is a different religion.

 

I heard there was a big tornado in NY. Everyone was asking about how my family was... I told them I live on the otherside of the country and that was hard for them to understand. Lots of people think that the U.S. is like one big city or something. I am sure I will hear all about who wins the election because people love giving me the most recent news about the U.S. along with their thoughts and opinions. The better my portuguese gets the more I realize that people say really ridiculous things about the U.S. straight to my face. Things that really aren't nice at all, but I just smile and try to change the subject. 

 

Two funny things this week. Sis. F likes to play this game where we choose a word to use in the contact that we make with someone. It is way funny, she is much better at it than me because her Port. is perfect, but she always gets a good laugh from the words she chooses. It makes knocking doors much more fun. When we knock doors lots of people say "who is it?" and instead of missionaries Sis. F always says "the sisters" and then people open the door and we introduce ourselves. It is great. Other funny thing. I told a woman that I liked her daughters dog hair instead of curly hair. Yeah, everyone was laughing real hard. I definitely am learning humility. 

Oh and I have a question. Someone told me that the Vatican has parts of the Bible that haven't been published because they don't support the changes the Catholic church made to the gospel. Do you think that is true?

Love you all! Until next week! Tchau!

Sister Udy