Oi familia,
So my area is SMALL. We can walk from one end to the other in about a half hour. Its actually one of the larger sister areas, but after Caruaru, where it was walking 15 minutes to get the bus, its pretty darn small. It covers a wide range of social classes, from the favalas and the Blocks (Brasilian equivilent of the projects) to REALLY ritzy high-rise apartments with amazing views. We're also within walking distance of the temple!!!!!!!!!!! It's so beautiful =]
The members are really friendly. I was a little intimidated because the last sister here, sis solesbee, is really good and fun and everyone loves her and i was nervous about taking her place. But we've visited with a few members already and they're all super friendly and like me =] So thats good.
They also make really good food. I'll be glad to get back to things like hamburgers and pizza and mexican, even though i didnt eat very much of those in the US anyway. But i think i'll still have to have rice and beans at least every other day. If we pass a day without, i sense a fault of them (? that sentence was strange, but im not sure how to say it in english..)
We also have an awesome District Leader, Elder Whiting, who is always looking for ways to serve us. Oh! He lent me a book that his grandpa wrote, called "Leverage", and it's waaaay good. It's about creating leverage and tipping points in your life to set good goals and achieve them and really get what you want out of life. Its pretty easy to read but has a lot of good things. I would recommend it. Leverage by Darby Checketts.
As for the work... its going. We spent a lot of time this week chuting (dropping) investigators and finding new ones. We did mark a baptism!!! That was way cool. its the brother-in-law of a recent convert. He went to church on sunday and we taught him the first lesson that night, and marked his baptism for the 24! How cool is that?
Today me and Sis Oliveira and Elders Whiting and Levesque went to the zoo!!!!! Today is also a holiday, "Children's day" kinda the same and mothers day or fathers day. So the Zoo was PACKED. It was a small zoo and kinda lame, but it was still way fun to get out and do something like that. And we saw monkeys, camels, lions and tigers and bears (oh my!) and everyone stared at us also more than the animals. i dont blame them, 3 americans and 2 in business attire at the zoo, haha.
One thing I want to say. If there's one thing i've really seen on the mission, especially these last two transfers, its that if you do your part, and you do the best you can with the most you can, you CAN NOT FAIL. Even when everything is going wrong and looks like its about to fall apart, just keep working and doing everything you can, and have faith that the Lord will do the rest. I know this because i've seen it. The last transfer with sis lemos everything was going wrong, but all of our baptisms still happened and inactive people started going back to church. Yesterday we had an investigator walk out of church and we every appointment we had fell through and no one else was home so sis oliveira felt like we wasted the day, but we contacted one reference and we marked the baptism of the other. So all was not in vain. In fact, everything turned out perfect.
Also, remember to laugh and to not stress. Life is meant to be happy and to have fun. Enjoy the things you do. Work hard, play hard. At the end of each day, ask yourself if you really did the thing that mattered most. If the answer is yes, you'll have a much more satisfying life.
I'll send fotos next week. I didnt bring my cable with me, sooooo já era!
I love you all! keep doing whats right!
~Ashley
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