Gift of Interpretation

So this week we had Elder Antunes come and speak to our mission! :) He´s an area 70, I´m pretty sure.. haha. Anyway it was in Belo  Horizonte, and our zone traveled by TRAIN. It was super duper nice. Elder Antunes talked a lot about having the spirit with us when we´re teaching our investigators. It was really interesting, because I feel like I rely sooo much on the spirit to know what to say and do because of my Português. The whole meeting was just really cool. The Lord truly blessed me with the Gift of Interpretation of Tongues because I understood everything. Haha

Time is FLYING here. Literally! I´ve already been in Ipatinga for over a month. What is that?! Crazy! It´s also really funny because I was talking with Sister Camargo the other day and I literally know NO ONES name in the ward. Literally. Like I call bishop, bishop. I don´t even know the bishops name of our ward!! I just know what everyone looks like. Because they all have really weird names like Cleonice, Sindalaline, or Sulameta I am sorry MY BRAIN DOESN´T UNDERSTAND. #desculpa 

OH! So something suuuuper funny slash really weird slash why would anyone ever do that. Sister Camargo told me this just happen to a sister here a couple months ago. So these sisters were leaving a members house and talking about the foods they liked and random stuff, then as they were leaving the member turns to the one of the sisters and asks hey what does your companion like? And she was like hmmm well she really loves animals, dogs especially! You know, no big deal, ain´t nothin wrong with some doggy lovin. #JUSTWAIT The sisters had lunch with them the next day and they´re in the middle of eating lunch and one of the sisters notices that she´s the only one eating the meat, no one else and she´s like what´s up? What am I the only one eating this? The family was so happy and they were like oh because we made it especially for you! It´s dog meat! :) They literally killed a dog, and cooked it for this sister to eat. The member apparently was asking the sister what the sister liked to EAT, not just what she liked in general. I wanted to cry when I heard the story because I love dogs but I´ve honestly never laughed so hard when I found out. WHO DOES THAT?! 

Anyway! This week was awesome! I´m understand and speaking better! I KNOW this is the true church of Jesus Christ. He is the cornerstone. I am so grateful for my testimony of Him and our Heavenly Father. I know They´re there and Heavenly Father hears and answers each one of our prayers, in His own time. We are His and He is ours. 

I love you all! :)

Sister Hallmark

Hot!

As the weeks progress, the HOTTER it gets up in here. Literally, like I have never sweat so much in my entire life. It´s funny, so I´ll wear a white shirt and when we get home that night, it´s like all yellow. #thankyoubrasil And apparently summer just started, so we haven´t even gotten to the real heat yet, is what everyone says. Or at least that´s what I think everyone says, I honestly have no idea, I´m just guessing here. Haha, I still can´t understand people. 

Oh super cool miracle. So as a district we all fasted that we could each find 2 families with 4 kids and are legally married. Because everyone and their dog here has a family with kids but aren´t married. #realcoolguys Anyway so after we ended our fast we received a referral from our investigator Sebastiana, for her friends Lena and Adilson. So we went over to their house and they have 4 kids! We taught them the restoration and they committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. After we found out they aren´t legally married. :( BUT they want to be! That´s at least a start! Haha. It was really cool to see the Lords hand in this work. 

So last week, one of the things I fasted for was to learn this language quickly, clearly. And oh my gosh, it has been coming SO fast. It´s crazy because people will talk to me and sometimes I can actually understand what they´re saying. I still get made fun of on the daily by my companion and other Brasilians for having an American accent, but I´ve learned to just laugh it off. Even if I really wanna scream and tell them that I´m trying my best to speak their language and I´ve only been here for a month so relax. But I haven´t learned how to say that in Português yet.. hahaha. But seriously though, I´m speaking more in lessons and to people on the street. I cannot IMAGINE having to learn Português alone. I´m soooooooooo grateful for the Lords help and guidance. I thank Him every night.

I STILL can´t wrap my mind around the fact that I´m in Brasil right now. It´s surreal. I feel like I´ve grown SO much this week. It´s been really hard, but so rewarding. I´m recognizing everyday the Lords hand in my life. It´s what I rely on. I´m grateful for the strength and power that comes from reading the Book of Mormon everyday. It´s so good to have the opportunity start everyday off with studying it. It helps me so much! I´m so grateful for this gospel! :)

Amo vocês! Atè mais!

Sister Hallmark

Each week here is a new adventure! I love it!

So this week we received a referral from a member, to go visit this girl, Carla. Oh my gosh, she´s amazing. She´s so prepared. We went back the next day after teaching her the Restoration and she was like yeah, I prayed about the Book of Mormon last night and I know it´s true. I wanted to cry. Literally, that´s all I could do because I can´t speak Portugues yet. Haha she´s so nice. She´s 21, married and pregnant. I know super young. But the member who referred us to her is 19, married and pregnant.. Even more craaazy. #onlymormons

So one of the rules in this mission is that all the missionaries have to get up during fast and testimony meeting and bear their testimonies. I found out a couple days before Sunday, and I was like whattttttt. So during the Sacrament, first of all, fasting here is like suicide attempt. Literally. Like I´ve never been so thirsty in my entire life. I wanted to take like 8461652198 cups of water. Anyway, during the sacrament, I felt so much love for my Savior, Jesus Christ. I was absolutely terrified to get up there and bear my memorized testimony. But I knew the the Lord would help me. When I got up there I started talking and was like stumbling on my words, then I was overcome with the spirit and started crying. I knew that the Lord helped me finish my testimony. First of all, you can´t understand what I say in English, when I cry. So you definitely can´t understand what I say in Português. hahaha. Then I saw this guy in the congregation laughing at me, I was like oh cool. So afterwards he came up to me and was like hey sister I was laughing at your Português, not your testimony, ta bom? I was like oh because that´s so much better! Thanks! hahaha #gottalovebrasil 

I´m so grateful to be a missionary. I have so much grattitude in my heart. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon, I KNOW it´s true. I have no doubts about that. Or about Joseph Smith, I know he was a prophet of God. I love this gospel! 

Line of the Week:

(while we were street contacting)

Me: We`re missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Random guy: Oh where is it located?

Me: I´m from the United States! Sorry, I know my Português is bad, I´m still learning.

Random guy: Okay...

Afterwards Sister Camargo repeated slowly his question and I was like HOW EMBARRASSING. SERIOUSLY. Hahahaha. Every time. People just talk so fast here! I thought he was asking me where I was from! But I mean, we do have churches located in the United States! Hahaha 

Amo vocês! Atè mais! 

Sister Hallmark