Friday, October 1, 2010

Minha Familia!

Ola!
O my goodness, it is that time again.
Writing these emails always kind of stresses me out..too much to say and so little time to do it.
This week has been the most difficult since I have been here. I'm not sure why...just has been. I can't seem to get my mind to silence at night. I lay there for hours repeating things I've memorized or learned over and over in my head. And then the longer I lay there the more I start thinking...and not always about things I should be thinking about.
A few sisters left this week. I loved sisters Cidry, Johnson, and Egbert and was really sad to see them go. They have such a great energy about them and I know they will make great missionaries. The sisters that replaced them are very negative and very stressed out. Happy and positive responses only seem to make it worse...
But now I sound like the sour one so let me move on.
Despite it being one of the more difficult weeks, I'm loving it. It is absolutely amazing how no matter hard the work gets, you can still be so happy.
We are learning so much. They have thrown at us almost every possible verb tense and expect us to be ready to teach and prepare a lesson entirely in Portuguese. haha yeah. It will be interesting.
To further prove my point of how interesting that lesson will be let me tell you a story:
I'm sitting in the cafeteria when one of my elders informs me that there is Brazilian that just arrived. I looked over and found her sitting next to sister Michelson and decided what better way to spend my lunch time but to sit by the both of them. I proceed to pick up my tray, strut my way to her table, introduce myself in Portuguese, and ask a few of the questions that I have mastered. If I could send a picture of my face when she responded, I would...She spoke at a hundred miles a minute using words that were definitely not part of the minuscule vocabulary I have learned in my three weeks here. When she saw my flabbergasted face she laughed...yes laughed. I thought maybe she would repeat what she had said in English but instead she chose to speak even faster..I didn't have to speak the language to know that she was blatantly making fun of me. I chose to laugh rather than be offended. I hadn't expected to hold a conversation with her anyway, but I will say that that was a reality check of what I was getting myself into. In about a month (if all goes well) everyone will be speaking that language at me...I just hope I can be a little more composed when they do it. She is going to temple square and I very much enjoy speaking to her...in english.
This place is absolutely amazing. The love that people have for this gospel is so evident. Sister Stahly and I came across three Japanese sisters who had just arrived two days before. I had been watching them from where I was studying for a while. They had just gotten done sharing a message with some other sisters. I could tell that they were having a hard time (it was written all over their faces) so I decided to go and talk to them. I asked them if I could share a message about prayer with them. They willingly agreed. I gave it to them in my broken portuguese. I struggled with my words but I got them out. They then asked if they could share something with me. I have had a lot of missionaries share with me their testimonies while being here, but I have never heard anything as powerful as theirs. They told me very slowly and in horrible English that they knew that God loved them. They knew because Jesus Christ had come to save them from all their sins. They knew Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. And that Thomas S Monson is one today. It was so simple and so humble that I couldn't help but cry. I gave each of them a hug and told them that they were going to make excellent missionaries. They left me touched with smiles on their faces. They really will make amazing missionaries.
I have learned a lot these last few weeks (can you beleive it will be four weeks this Wednesday??). But the most important thing is that the Lord works through the humble and the simple. I don't have to be perfect for the Lord will make up the rest.
I am so blessed to be in a place in which there is a lesson to learn in everything.
I hope that I can take that attitude with me when I leave here.
Like I've said, it is hard. But I wouldn't have it any other way.
I love each of you so much. Thank you for being in my life. Thank you for being my friends. Thank you for loving me.
Love,
Sister Powell


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