Hello!!

So I keep forgetting to send my address so I guess I will do that first off... Missao Brasil Vitoria Avenida Joao Batista Parra, 633 Sala 1501 Praia do Sua Vitoria, ES 29052-123 Brazil AH! Sydney and Alex your at college. Your pictures were so cute. Have people stopped you yet asking why you left your mission? I am so proud of you for going to orientation...that was Rachel and I`s first bonding experience. pha. So this week was possibly the hardest of my mission. We had a bus full of investigators, but we also had a bus full of problems. Let me do a quick summary of this week: - One of our best investigators decided to get drunk and hit his mom twenty minutes before our baptismal interview. The atmosphere was so awful. You could just feel the darkness in the house. He wouldn`t stop crying, making excuses, and yelling "oh gloria." The only thing that calmed him was me singing, "Abide with me it`s Evenin Tide." There is power in music. - Another one of our best investigators (to be honest they are all great) decided to drop us. - And another did the same. - Found a chicken leg in my food... - Another investigator decided that sleeping with her friend`s husband wasn`t that big of a deal. - Oh, and then there was this girl named Hillary Clinton (yes, her name was Hillary Clinton)...Every time I opened my mouth to speak she would say that she didn`t understand a word I was saying. There is nothing more annoying than someone being so preoccupied with your accent that they say that you aren`t speaking Portuguese (happened five times this week...yes I counted), but all the more annoying when the girl is 8, picking her nose, and named Hillary Clinton. - A toothless man nearly kisses me and frightened my companions so much that we got on the wrong bus. (I did get some free gum out of the ordeal). That was more funny than hard though. Men are ridiculous. Anyway, it was a fun week. I can`t remember what else went wrong but that is most likely a good thing. A lot of things went the way they shouldn`t. If there is one thing I am learning, Satan is real. He tries his hardest to stop this work. Be it creating a distraction while we are talking about the first vision or making a person`s life fairly close to hell the week before baptism. He doesn`t want people to find this Gospel, because he knows what it will do for people. He works in our minds as missionaries as well. Doubt is a missionaries worst enemy. He can`t reach us any other way if we are being obedient to the rules, but goodness, he sure can get you with doubt. I was ready to throw in the towel this week. It was the first week I actually wanted to go home (I know awful of me, but it is the truth). I wanted to call you so bad daddy. I was sitting on the bus trying my hardest not to cry in front of my companions and was thinking how much I just wanted to call you so you could fix everything. But then I remembered that I can always talk with my Heavenly Father, so I did. I love prayer. We truly can speak with our Heavenly Father in any moment, and he will always give us the comfort we need. That was a turning point for my week. I will give another quick overview: -Lillian was baptized. I have never felt the Spirit so strong. -We found a family, Aparecida, Paulo, Pedro, and Junior, that I know have been waiting for this message their whole lives, and they were are prepared and willing to accept it. There is nothing so amazing than hearing someone say that they knew we were sent to them from God the moment we stepped into their house. There is nothing so amazing than hearing someone share the experience of praying and finding for themselves that it is true. There is nothing so amazing and so gratifying than realizing that you found someone that you promised you would find. -Maria da dores (spelling???) walking into church with a wonderfully scandalously blue dress and enjoying every minute of it. -Sitting in the bus and realizing that the people were no longer speaking gibber-jabber. I could follow mulitple conversations on the bus. A mission is a roller coaster. That is for sure...this week will be even more so. I just found out that I will be made senior and continue the training of Sister Nicascio and getting our own area. We will stay here but our area will be split. It will be a challenge for sure, but there will be lots to learn. :) O goodness...I AMO YA`LL!! OBRIGADA for EVERYTHING! LOVE SISTER POWELL!