Hellllo World! Not really, probably just Texas. :)

This week was SOOOO good! Ahh! Okay, so the past few weeks has been like suuuuper duper hard, I've just been crying and hating life (not really hating but you know, I have to exaggerate) because I reallllly wanted my visa. Not that I hated my area, because I don't, I will BAWL my eyes out when I have to leave! But I just really was longing to be in Brazil! So I decided to fast. My companion, family, friends and I all fasted. I fasted in particular for the Houston Consulate to process things faster, (I called the travel office and they were like yeah the minimum wait for your visa right now is 2 months) so I fasted that they could start progressing it quicker because all I wanted was my visa. But the next day I felt SO happy, I don't even know how to explain, I was so excited to be in Virginia and now I feel like I can wait as long as the Lord wants me to for my visa. :) It was the weirdest thing, I feel like suddenly I have all the patience I need to endure this trial. I made a deal with the Lord. If I continue to be patient in waiting for my visa, He will help me learn the language quickly. :) Then comes the REAL trial! Stinkin Portuguese! Haha 

In other news, John, I really need to get a picture with him, anyway he's getting baptized in 3 weeks!!  STOKED for him! Also, I found out that this girl in my last area, Roshali, who we were teaching before I left is getting baptized the day before John!! I almost peed my pants when I found out!!! I was SOOO excited! So my other mother from Spotsy is picking Sister Chipman and I up for the baptism! I get to go back to SPOTSYYYYYYYYY!!!!! :) Best news in the whole world!!

I. AM. SO. EXCITED. FOR. GENERAL. CONFERENCE. I can't even explain! AHHHH!! It's gonna be awesome!! It will be a little weird not being in my pajamas and eating candy with my family while watching it.. But I'll get over it! We get to watch it with JOHN! Holla!

Line of the week:

*Sister Chipman and I had just shaved our legs for companion study... hehe*

Me: Ahhhh, my legs are so soft I can't stop feeling them!

Sister Chipman: I know! Don't they feel like dolphins?

She was completely serious.. I was DYING. Hahahaha

The church is true!!!

Tchau Tchau,

Sister Hallmark

Looks like I'll be in Virginia for awhile!

Soooo, yeah I probably won't be getting my visa anytime soon. Because of the Soccer World Cup that is coming up in July, Brazil is super stressed out and isn't issuing visas for the time being. I will be fasting tomorrow. All who want to join are welcome. :) I'm starting tomorrow night at 7:00 then ending Wednesday night at 7:00. Just for comfort and peace, it's hard knowing you're also called to another mission but you have no clue when you're gonna get there. Also, for the Houston Consulate, that they will be able to process my visa soon. I love you all so much and am so happy for all the support everyone gives me!

Moving on! We've set one of our investigators, John for baptism on the 19th of April!!! :) We're  pumped! He is so ready! The work here in Charlottesville is amaaaaazing!!!!! :) Also, I didn't get transferred! Sister Chipman and I will both be staying here for another 6 weeks! 

Eu amo voces!! :)

Tchau,

Sister Hallmark

I love it here!

So this week was spring break and we have literally done nothing all week. jk, we've done a little.. No one is home! All of our investigators or potential investigators were gone and no one was on campus, so we couldn't tract or contact anyone. But it's okay, because our now our apartment is suuuuuper clean. Hehe

So we had stake conference this weekend! And Saturday we had the adult session, they were both soooo good! There were only 2 talks given out of the whole weekend that weren't on missionary work and hastening the work of salvation! Obviously it's IMPORTANT. I cannot WAIT to see what this Genera Conference brings! So it was a broadcast from Salt Lake, and L. Tom Perry and a couple other seventy spoke. It was seriously so amazing! 

Well more and more people are getting their visa's so mine's gotta be close, right? Actually I don't remember if I mentioned this last week or not, but from now on when you get your visa after serving in the states you go to the Sao Paulo MT for two weeks before the field! So pumped for that! I'll get to brush up on my Portuguese and slowly get accustomed to the life there before being thrown into the field. Plus, I'll get to go to the temple there!!! I'm mostly excited for that!!! I was so disappointed when I found out that the Belo Horizonte mission doest have a temple in it! But now I'm happier that ever!!! So that's super exciting!

I'll attach a picture of the Sao Paulo temple! ps my camera broke. :( So unless someone who loves meeeee wants to buy me a new camera, hehe jk, I won't be posting pictures for awhile! :( Sorry! 

Com amor de mais!

Sister Hallmark

Spring break...

Spring break = NO LIFE FOR MISSIONARIES WITH THE NAMES SISTER HALLMARK AND CHIPMAN BECAUSE THEY'RE IN A YSA AND EVERYONE IS GOING OUT OF TOWN.  

Yeah..

So we're off to a good start! Before spring break (aka the devil) hit us, we found 4 new investigators this week! SO many miracles!

So we find most of our investigators by street contacting on grounds of UVA. We just walk around and talk to students. It's way fun! So we ran into this girl Elise, who was super nice, said she was Christian, but still would meet with us. Well, she was leaving for spring break that next day and she was like I probably won't be able to meet until after spring break! But we kept the faith and called her that night anyway just to see if we could meet her before she left that next day. We called and left her a voicemail, and no response. That next morning, we were having companion study and we decided to text her and maybe she would respond to that. WELL SHE DID. She was like yeah sorry I forgot to call y'all back! My plans changed and I won't be leaving until tomorrow, so we can meet today if you want. Also my friend would like to come, if that's okay. IF THAT'S OKAY? IF THAT'S OKAY?! OF COURSE THAT'S OKAY! THAT'S FANTASTIC! We almost peed our pants with excitement! Then we asked what time would work best and she said that they would like to take us out to dinner! I was like IS THIS REAL?! Is this really happening right now?! So we met them at Cook Out and talked forever about their families and stuff, they were SO nice!!! They were mega Christians though, so we subtly started teaching the restoration. Hehe. It went wonderfully! And when my companion invited them to be baptized, they accepted!! We're meeting with them after spring break, so needless to say, we're a little excited to meet with them again!

The same thing happen that week! We had an appointment with a new investigator and he brought his friend! It was so amazing!

I KNOW the Book of Mormon is the word of God! Read it! Everyday! Alma 13:20. I'm soooooo happy to be on a mission! It is the BEST! I know this is where I'm supposed to be!

Love y'all! Tchau,

Sister Hallmark 

                          Oh yeah! We visited Thomas Jefferson's house today! It was soooooo coool!!:)

pictures

Sister Chipman and I! :)

The chalk wall! So cool! We blew it up with Mormon.org 

I am Dobby, the house elf!!! I love him. 

Short email!

This week's email is going to be short! I waited until the last minute to write this and now I have like 12 seconds left. Oopsie. PS sorry if I don't write everyone back, I try! But I love you all!! :)

Okay, so first off let me just reiterate the fact that I LOVE BEING IN A YSA. Seriously. Being able to teach people who are my age and I can relate with is so cool! Sister Chipman andI live like 10 minutes away from UVA, The University of Virginia and we just walk all over campus contacting people all the time! It's so much fun! I've never laughed so hard in my life. Some people are just so weird.

I'm praying for everyone back at home I hope you're all doing great! It's such a great time to be a missionary! The work is FANTASTIC wherever you are! I know that this church is true with my whole heart!

Line of the week:

We were reading a scripture about godliness and trying to describe it to her.

Beth: (less active) Yeah, so like godliness is next to happiness!

Long pause
Me: Yeah... It's cleanliness is next to godliness..

We were all dying laughing! Hahaha

Tchau com muito amor,

Sister Hallmark

Charlottesville! :)

SO. As you can clearly see, I've been transferred to Charlottesville! Waddup. It's so awesome! Just the name alone, Charlottesville. It's so cute!!!! :) But wait, it gets better. I'M IN A YSA ward. I almost peed my pants when President announced I'd be in the Charlottesville YSA. I was praying and praying and PRAYING I'd be in a ysa! See, Heavenly Father answers prayers. The church is true. There you have it. Also, my lil trainee, Sister Chipman is awesome! I have been so blessed to have amazing companions! I have yet to meet a single person who doesn't tell me how amazing. Seriously, everyone loves her. I'm just like, heck yeah, and she's my companion, back up. She's already such an amazing missionary! I'm so impressed. 

So this week, besides transfers we didn't really do much. It snowed, DANGIT. I just realized I forgot to take pictures of the snow. Anywho, it snowed a TON here, like 187 feet. I was like, what does all of this even mean?! So, obviously we were stuck inside all day. Which I was alright with. I've never taken such a long nap in my entire life. Literally. After day 1 of being inside and doing nothing but sleep, eat, and play ukulele, I was like I CAN'T DO ANOTHER DAY OF THIS. So we hung out with the Fitzgeralds, it was way fun. We went sledding outside in their backyard. Whether or not we're allowed to go sledding or not is a mystery, but I'm too afraid to ask, I don't want the answer to be NO. Hehe

I miss Spotsylvania SOO much it's retarded. The ward here is awesome! I love being in a YSA so much! It's so different from a family ward. It'll take some adjusting to the way things work, but I'm so pumped to be here! Also, we share our apartment with Hermana's, the spanish speaking sisters. Dude, it's so much fun! They're awesome! It's like a party every night!

I know this church is true! I know this new area will be amazing and I will witness so many miracles! I'm so grateful for the Lord's hand in my life and for sending me to Charlottesville Virginia! I KNOW I'm needed here! I can't wait to go to work! It's crazy, Sister Nelson and I were talking the other day about mission life and we were thinking about all of our investigators. We came to the conclusion that we were so selfish for thinking of NOT serving a mission. Like, there were and still are people in Virginia that are just waiting for me. Like Joan for example, one of our recent converts. The Lord prepared her and she was just waiting, waiting for us to share the gospel with her. She knew she was missing something in her life, but she wasn't sure what that was until she came to church for the first time. So before my mission, and Sister Nelsons as well, we were like, I will NEVER serve a mission! Heck no! That's only for the guys! But now that I'm here and I know how AMAZING it is, I'm like, how could I have been so selfish? Those people were just waiting for me to share the gospel with them. They needed me, and my companion. Not anyone else. I'm sad I wasted so much time before coming out, but now that I'm here, and I know the people, I NEVER WANT TO LEAVE. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY AND THIS CHURCH!!!

ps. I got a new address: 864 Ashley Court, Charlottesville Virginia 22901.

So if anyone was thinking of writing me, NOW'S THE PERFECT TIME. How convenient! :) I'll be checking the mail everyday at 1:00 in case anyone is wondering. ;) Love y'all! 

Tchau com muito amor,

Sister Hallmark