January 14, 2013

HELLO!!

Another week. Time is flying. Probably because I am loving this transfer. Too bad it will end next week. And maybe next Wednesday/Thursday I will be writing you from a new area!!! I want to stay with Sister Matos because she is wonderful and I love this area, but I want to see other areas too. I will be happy no matter what happens this transfer I think. I hope. In my interview with President Hall this week he said that I need to get ready to train because by the end of July we'll get 30 more sisters than we have now. We have about 20 I think, so we will have 50 sisters in the mission and everyone will need to train. Good luck, eh?

Before I forget HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CAMERON this week! Hope it's great. Wahoo. I'll be coming home when his next birthday arrives!! January 18 I will reach 6 months in the mission! One third, já era!

So the big news of the week. I played piano yesterday in Sacrament Meeting. What a joke. I know 4 hymns more or less, but it's been months since I practiced. They borrowed a keyboard from a music store where José Carlos works and hooked it up to an amp. The opening hymn (Now Let Us Rejoice) was the roughest, I played the first two verses almost perfect, but the third time through I got a little off and it was all downhill from there. I think I got back on for the last 2 lines. Then the Sacramental hymn I was wimpy and just played the right hand to avoid another catastrophe. The intermediate hymn I played Choose the Right and it wasn't perfect, but it wasn't awful. It is probably the hymn I know best, but the audience was singing really fast so I was feeling the pressure to keep up, you know? Then the closing hymn was Sweet Hour of Prayer and I had some wrong notes in the first verse, but once again I finished strong. Needless to say, nobody complimented my skills, but they were grateful for my effort. It was a great opportunity to develop my talents... we'll see if they bring the keyboard back again this week.

Funny experience of the week. We were contacting and we used a picture of Jesus to talk with people and I asked an old man, "What does this picture of Jesus represent to you?" or something like that and he responded by telling us he didn't know because he didn't know how to read. So funny. We explained that the picture didn't have words, we just wanted to know the importance of Jesus in his life. It was a great contact.

I had a lot of men shouting at me this week. Every Sunday there is a group of men who have a BBQ on our street and they like to scream things like "galega" (white girl) at me. Another drunk man who we pass almost everyday confessed his love for me this week. I told him all I wanted from him was to change his life and go to church. He gave us a good laugh. Also, there is a 5 year old in the ward, Joseph, who is becoming my new best friend. He called me a princess the other day out of nowhere, it was great. Not because I am super vain and love attention, but because he is 5 years old and it was super unexpected. I let him have a drink out of my waterbottle and he announced to everyone that I was a princess because of this. So funny. Lots of times when we walk away after a contact we hear people saying things about my accent, usually it is how much they like it and they could listen to it all day. Too bad they listen to how I say things and not what I am saying. Oh well. At least they say nice things.

That's it for this week! I love you all! We'll see what happens this transfer!

Tchau!!

Sister Udy