Literally I´m in Brasil right now. #mylife

So I don´t even know where to start! First off I get to Belo Horizonte and meet President Fortunato and his wife at the airport. They´re so cute! Then we get to the mission home and they made taco salad for us. They were like we know you were probably expecting a Brasilian meal, but taco salad is nice and easy and we love it. Hahaha it was great. Afterwards president was talking with us going over a few things and he mentioned my name and I was like crap, I literally have no clue what he´s saying, I don´t speak Português! Then I think I heard cinco horas in there somewhere and I was like please tell me he did not just say my area is 5 hours away.. He did. Hahahaha. I met my new companion and he got on a bus for 5 hours to our new area and got there at like 10:00 at night. #mylife It was so fun though. My new companion, Sister Carmago, is from Curitiba Brasil and I LOVE HER SO MUCH. So she´s so fun and she always tells me stories and I just nod and smile because I have no clue what she´s saying. When she laughs, I laugh, when she makes an angry face, so do I. Seriously I feel deaf, I rely soley on facial expressions when I´m talking with people because they speak so fast and I´m like i only speak english right now! I´m not bilingual yet! Relax! Hahahaha. But Português is coming quicker than I thought. I´ve only been here for a few days and I feel like each day I learn soooo much. 

So my area is Ipatinga (ee-pa-ching-a) and my ward is Bethânia, (be-ta-nya) it´s pretty much the best area in the whole mission. #nolie dude everyone is SOO open here! Like, we`ll find people on the street and they take us to their house to teach them, that´s happen countless times. I´m in awe. The work is hastening like crazy over here!!!!! I loveeeee it! 

It´s funny, people will ask me where I´m from and I say the estados unidos (united states) and they´re like oh cooool! Then they turn to Sister Camargo and ask her if I speak Português, and she´ll be like yeah! Talk to her! Then they just smile and stare at me. #itsalwaysawkward Also never in my life have I been asked if my last name is German.  Everyone and their dog here asks me if I´m from Germany? I´m like yeah, close, actually the united states hahaha. Also nobody can pronounce my name here. They´re like bom dia (good morning) sister Camargo and Sister .... long pause... bom dia sister. Hahahahaha. They say Walmart. Walmarch, olemarch, hawmarch, literally it´s the funniest. I´m always like yeah that´s perfect! Hahaha. There was this guy we met, and he found out that I was from the u.s. and he was like oh it´s my dream to go there and speak English! It was so cute! Then he starts speaking to me in his broken English and afterwards I was like your English is sooo good! He smiled. Then when we left Sister Camargo was like, sister, yes be nice, but don´t lie. He couldn´t speak English. Hahahahaha it was so funny. 

I thought the MTC food was good, no. That food was nothing compared to the food here in Minas. Holy cowwwwwww. It´s bomb. So we get fed lunch every day. and if we don´t have a member lunch, we can buy lunch then the mission reimburses us. It´s legit. So the lunches here are soooo big and soooo goood!!! We eat at around 12:30 with a member, then don´t eat again until we get into our apartment that night. It´s crazy. But surprisingly I´m not that hungry. Oh so there are SO many hills here! We literally walk everywhere, and it´s up and down up and down up and down. It´s whipping me into shape so fast.

Oh and it´s like a million degrees outside every day and nobody has ac. Everyone’s houses are like little shacks, in the shade. It´s so cute. I´m gonna get soooo tan here, well hopefully. Haha or really sunburned. 

I cannot say enough, obviously about how much I love Brasil. It´s the BOMB. I feel so blessed to have had 2 missions. Virginia definitely prepared me in every way for this. I love being a missionary. I LOVE this gospel and sharing it with everyone. The church is true!

Ate mais!

Sister Hallmark

 Please write to me!

Missao Brasil Belo Horizonte

Rua São Paulo Edificio 17 De Maio 1781

10 Andar Sala 1001 

Bairro Lourdes 

Belo Horizonte Brasil 30170-132

ESTOU EM BRASILLLLLLLLL

LITERALLY THE BEST WEEK OF MY LIFE. AHHH. The computers are weird here, actually EVERYTHING is weird here, so I don't know if I'll be able to send pictures or not. Hahaha We'll see! But I seriously love it here so much! I don't even know where to begin!

K so they're literally giving us like zero time to email here so I'll write more once I get in the field next week! I'm leaving on Tuesday!!! I'm so excited! :)

I love my companions! I'm in a trio with sisters Anderson, and Dumas! They both were re assigned for a year too before getting their visas. Everyone and their mother are getting their visa now which is soooo good! Each week more and more missionaries show up to the ctm! it's so much fun! My Portugues is coming quicker than I expected! The Lord really does provide for his servants! We have 3 Brasilians in our room with us so we get good practice and speak with them all the time! They're all so cute!! I just LOVEEE Brasilians! Also we just got back from the Sao Paulo temple and it was seriously the prettiest temple ever! I was just sitting there and I was like I'm literally in Brasil right now! I NEVER thought this would happen! I had kind of given up hope of my visa ever coming through but the Lord didn't!

K so the food here. Mmm. LITERALLY we have meat and rice and beans every meal. #breakingthewordofwisdom seriously eat meat sparingly doesn't exist here.. hahaha. I thought I would never get tired of rice and beans and I can successfully say that if I never had them again in my life, I'd be okay with that. And it's only been a weeek! #mylife but the food here is sooo good! So many fruits and the bananas are where it's at! I literally have like 5 a day, there SOOO good here! 

Also I thought it would be like blazing hot here but it's actually not. Like at all. it's cold in the mornings and nights then feels good during the day! But I'm also in sao paulo, not belo horizonte. Anytime I tell a Brasilian here I'm going to Belo Horizonte they tell me that there's GREAT food and it's realllllly hot! I'm like ah no! Haha but it'll be good!

So we went out and proselyted a couple times and it was sooo cool! Like straight up on the streets on brasil! Teaching lessons in Portuguese! #giftoftongues I LOVE BRASIL!!!!

I have SUCH a testimony of the power of the Lord! I KNOW He's there for all his children, especially His missionaries! ;) I know I wouldn't be able to learn this language without Him! I loveeeeee being a missionary so much! And being in Brasil is AMAZINGGGGG!!!!!

Line of the week:

(Some brasilian was giving us a lecture about something I don't even remember what)

Brasilian: Tudo bem? (like do you understand?)

Me: Tudo bom (yeah)

Sister Dumas: What'd he say?

Me: I have no idea..

We were literally DYING, like crying in class. Literally this happens allll the time! They talk so fast here! hahaha

So next week when I'm in the field, I'll write personal emails, but since we have like no time here, I'm just gonna send one big email! I love you all!!

Ate logo!

Sister Hallmark

BRAZIL

K so remember my blog from last week? When I said that I'd got permanently re assigned to Virginia??   Well......My mission president called me on Saturday and he said "Sister Hallmark, you got your visa" and I WAS Like WHAT??!! I AM SOOOO EXCITED!!!  I AM GOING TO BRAZIL!!! I am leaving tomorrow!! (Tuesday) The Lord works in mysterious ways I tell you. MYSTERIOUS. I'm sure I'll never know why I was called to Brazil then got sent to Virginia for a year while I waited for it. But I do know that I wouldn't be the person I am today if this hadn't happen. Serving in Virginia has opened my eyes to SO much. I am forever grateful to my Father in Heaven for loving me enough to put my through this trial so I can grow SO MUCH. I never thought I'd say that. Ever. But I really am thankful. Everyday.

So I don't think I've mentioned Betty before. We just found her 2 weeks ago. We decided to go to a park and contact because tracting is not effective and I hate it. So we went contacting. :) The first person we found was this cute little lady named Betty just walking her dog. She's probably in her late 40's, early 50's. So we shared the Restoration with her and she was amazed. We gave her a Book of Mormon and committed her to read Alma chapter 32 before we met again. Oh also, she committed to be baptized on September 27th. She told us she would read the Book of Mormon that night. So we left and Sister Fuhriman and I were SO HAPPY! Because we've seriously been struggling so much with finding investigators then we found her! :) A week goes by and she texted us and had to cancel our appointment because she wasn't feeling well. But we rescheduled! So we finally meet with her 2 weeks later at a members home and we're kind of unsure if she had read the Book of Mormon or not, but she did! Not only did she read Alma 32 but she read all the way to chapter 49! We were so shocked. I almost peed my pants. So she totally understood the Plan of Salvation and the spirit world becasue she had read about it in Alma! It's like she knew we were gonna be talking about that! The lesson was amazing and she came to church the next day! We had another lesson with her afterwards and she was just in tears at how much she loves the Book of Mormon and how she was in a really low place in her life, then we found her at the park and it wasn't a coincidence! She was like I'm so excited to be baptized! I just can't wait!! We have been sooo blessed by the Lord!

I know the Lord is preparing the hearts of many to receive our message! The words of the Book of Mormon are true! I am so overjoyed to be on a mission still. The Lord blesses me with opportunities to grow everyday. I'm so blessed to be a member of His church and know about His restored gospel. :)

I love you all!!!! :) Pray for me! These next few weeks are going to be CRAZY. 

Love,

Sister Hallmark

Line of the week:

K I'm trying to figure out if I should go to Brazil or stay in Virginia.

Me: Ughhh. What do I do?! I don't know which one to pick!!

Sister Fuhriman: Yeah I know! This is the hardest decision next to marriage!!!

Me: uhh yeah… hahahahahaha too far

Home Home on the Rangeeeeeeeeee.

I don't know why that's the title, but it's been stuck in my head all day. It's kind of appropriate because Virginia is now my new home, well officially. I got re assigned to the Richmond Virginia Mish permanently. It's bittersweet. But I know the Lord wouldn't have sent me here if he didn't intend for me to be here. :) Be happy. :) Missions are the best!

 

So this week we had return and report. Which is basically a meeting for the trainers and trainee's and this meeting was bomb! Dude we went out to Richmond and street contacted which I MISS SO MUCH! Not being in a YSA is killllling me! I was born for YSA! Haha. Sister Fuhriman has never street contacted before so it was so fun to do it together! I just love it here. I love sister Fuhriman! Seriously the Lord has blessed me with all amazing companions! I love them all so much and we all get along so well! Or maybe I like them but they secretly hate me and think I'm annoying. Haha jk jk. It's a good time though. 

Sorry I don't have much time to write but I have a few pictures! 

I love everyone so much! My testimony is stronger than ever! It was crazy, I was struggling a little bit the other day, then we were driving and I felt prompted to park and go talk to these people outside, so we did. Turns out, they're devout Baptist, slash crazy devout hate mormons. It was a good time. When sister Fuhriman and I left laughing a little bit. We knew our message was true. My testimony was strengthened SO much in talking with them. Crazy how the Lord works. I love this gospel so much. And I LOVEEEEE the Book of Mormon! I can go to it with any of my questions!

The church is true!

Tchau tchau

Sister Hallmark

Line of the Week:

Me: Ugh, I need to fix my eyebrows! 

Sister Fuhriman: I need to fix my face and get plastic surgery.

Well then. Tell us how you really feel. Hahahaha, we were dying. She's so funny!

K so this is a huge spider and we caught it in perfect lighting! It looks like a crab! Haha

 

Creeeeeepy. Sister Fuhriman is suuuuper duper flexible so she's teaching me her ways. haha