June 29 Vem Brincar em Caruaru! A Tradicão do Melhor São João!

(that little diddy has been playing non-stop on every radio station for the past month, I swear)

Oi família! Bem-vindo a Sister Wilkinson News!

So first off this week... Michael Jackson died?! What I can´t believe is that I heard about it the day after it happened—sooner than II heard about that plane crash that happened right outside Recife. Ridículo! I was talking to a guy on the bus and he asked me what I thought of Michael Jackson´s death, and I said “...Michael Jackson? ...He died?!â€� and that guy looked at me strangely and said he thinks I´m the only person in the world who didn´t know, haha.

This week was São João!!!! Tuesday night everyone lit big bonfires in the street outside their houses and set off fireworks and firecrackers and all other sorts of things that would violate every fire code in the USA. It was great =]

We didn´t have a baptism this week because Leuriane drank coffee. But we´re still working with her and she´s still great! This weekend we have the wedding and baptism of our amazing family. I´m excited =] Expect pictures next time!

So something we had for lunch Thursday didn´t sit well with Sis. Jacobs. We both felt a little ill Thursday night/Friday morning, but my body has grown used to that and was fine. Sis Jacobs got worse and worse though, and when we got home at about 5 pm she fell in bed and slept for 3 hours. Then we took her temperature: 103 degrees! She took some meds, rested a bit more, and we took it again. The same. Plus she had a horrible headache. So we called some ward members and they gave her a blessing and we were off to the hospital, where Sis Jacobs was hooked up to na IV for 4 hours and they did a blood test. We left around 2 am. Saturday Sis Jacobs slept almost all day... she was so weak she could barely sit up to take her drugs, poor thing.

Sunday we managed to go to church. And guess what? As I innocently went to get some water during Sunday School, the first counselor in the Bishopric asked me if I would give a talk in Sacrament... That day (we have it last). So I had twenty minutes to prepare a 10-15 minute talk IN PORTUGUESE! AH! I talked about faith, since I talk about that in almost every lesson, so it was easier. Sis Jacobs said I said a few odd words, but overall it went really well and people understood me, huzzah!

An investigator the other day told me he liked my accent, w00t! I´ve wondered how I sound accent-wise. I hope its a pretty accent like a British or Indian accent is in English, ya know? Sis Jacobs says she likes the American accent.

So we have an Assemblia de Deus church across the street from our house. It´s a lot like a Southern Baptist or Born Again Christian church in that the preacher yells a lot and hits people to cure them and they have a rock band (which practices the same song for four hours straight, ugh! Give it up buddy! You´re not getting any better!) Last night was crazy. Brasil won the Confederate Cup (against the US in the finals!) and everyone was in the street yelling and setting off fireworks and the preacher across the street was singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic—Rock version... I seriously half expected to look out my window and see troops of Union soldiers marching down the street. We were trying to study our scriptures and Sis Jacobs was hilarious. She went off for about 10 minutes along the lines of: “Ugh! Kill me!â€� “We have a right proper BABYLON outside our house!â€� “It´s hard to have the gift of tongues with all this NOISE!â€� and, my favorite, in response to the preacher singing, “Hallelulah my BUTT!â€�, hahahaha.

Ok, pictures!

1) Me and my team. We kicked butt. No one died the whole time we played.

2 & 3) some action shots!

4) Lookin all cool

5) Poor Sis Hodson got shot at close range.

6) Everybody that played.

k. love you familia, keep me updated!

~Sis Wilkinson

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June 22 Recife for the day

Oi familia!

Esta semana foi ótimo. estou em recife hoje porque foi....

Desculpe, eu vou falar em ingles...

this week was awesome, im in recife today because it was sis jacobs one year mark, and her district she arrived with had a get together for lunch at a churrascaria. I did splits with the sisters here, so four of us went PAINTBALLING with a bunch of Elders in the Recife zone. SO COOL!! It was great getting to know the other american sisters and another brasilian sister also, and to just have FUN!!!! I´ll send pictures next week.

We have a baptism marked for sunday, Leuriane, a friend of Mercia and Mônica, two recent converts who are seriously like missionarias já!!!! I´m excited, she really is so prepared to hear the gospel. She accepted it right off the bat. We also have our family thats getting baptised next week, Simoni, Edson, and his sons Joel e felix. Simoni and Edson are getting married next friday, then the whole family is getting baptised saturday, the 4th!!!! Yay!!!!

Its been rainy and cold in Caruaru, so ive been using that raincoat a LOT. Im so glad we got it =]

The city is preping for the big são joao party on wednesday. que legal.

thats about it for the week. I dont have much time, but I promise more exciting adventures next week!

~Sis wilkinson

June 15 uma outra semana em caruaru

Oi familia,

I hope you´re excited for another weekly update from Caruaru Brasil. On this keyboard, the exclaimation mark key isnt working, so even though you can´t tell, I really am excited.

First off, Sis Jacobs' foot has healed [heeled, hahaha] and we´re back to work with vigor. And our efforts have payed off because we had TWO baptisms this week [exclaimation mark x10] Oh man, it was awesome. See pictures below. I love seeing these people make the decision to change their lives for the better, and i love being a part of helping them achieve that. Ana, the girl, is SOLID. She went from drinking coffee all the day long to none at all. Cold Turkey. She had a killer headache for three days, but she stuck with it. I was amazed--usually people have to be weaned off it. And Adriano really has the right idea and principles in his life already.

Some other fun things:

This week it was COLD. Which means it was like, 70 degrees, haha. But enough that I actually wore a sweater... Sis Jacobs was bundled up with five layers--she´s from Cuiabá and is always cold.

The Single Young Adults here had a costume party dance on Thursday that we stopped by because we had investigators there [hehe]. it was way fun to see everyone in costume--see pics below.

We had a little visitor in our house the other day.... But he didn´t stay long. It was a dead bird in our back up water supply [not for drinking, but for dishes and baths when our water ceases to function] we had fun getting it out and then dumping out the rest of the water, during which we found out that there was a ton of larvae for dengue mosquitos floating around in it. In the words of Sis Jacobs, "Ay yi yi". At this moment, Sis Jacobs looked at me and said "You know what we need? Repentence"

[we had done a FHE lesson with colored water and bleach representing repentence. It was really funny. Im glad I have a comp with a sense of humor.]

Pictures:

1. Nosso batismo [exclaimation mark] Ana, Adriano [as Sis Jacobs says, he´s "bonitinho", aka, really cute], Sis Jacobs, Me, and Elder Wall in the front.

2. Our impressive comida. We always have a cake for our batismos, but Adriano said he didnt really like sweet cake, so we made him a torta. It was quite the adventure; we had to RUSH home from the other side of town and believe me, I have never chopped vegetables so fast. My tears literally went into that torta [thank you onions]. But we accomplished our feat and were rewarded in a quite scrumptious way.

3. At the dance, Cybelly, Mercia, Me, Sis Jacobs, Renata, M´nica [her wig is HILARIOUS]. Sis Jacobs and I switched nametags for our "costume"

4. I have two extra nametags from the Provo MTC, so Rafaela and Elder Wall were Sis Wilkinson along with Sis Jacobs, haha.

5. Our poor little dead friend, floating in his watery grave.

6. The sewer system of Caruaru. [I´m laughing picturing your face dad.] I like how the pipes just stick out of the wall

7. Oh yeah =] Two months of labor---just imagine after a year and a half

Ok familia, thats about it for this week. I love you all and pray for each of you. Let me know how life is for you, even if you think it´s boring. And send pictures too [exclaimation mark]

~Sister Wilkinson

Still in Caruaru

I didn´t get transfered! That´s right, Sis Jacobs and I are still tearin’ it up here in Caruaru.

Well, this week was quite an eventful one! The fun began when Sis Jacobs twisted her ankle Tuesday morning. It was quite a dainty fall and had me laughing, until I realized she had actually hurt herself. But we still went and taught our lesson to Adriano. It was awesome, because he definitely accepted our invitation to be baptised! We were both like “...wait, what? Uh, Parabens!!!!!!!” becasue we werent expecting him to reply so readily. Sis Jacobs thinks he´s a miracle, because at first he didnt seem that interested, and after he went to church the first time, he left way fast right after, and I thought he had hated it and never would return or something. But obviously, he didn’t hate it.

After we taught him, we limped over to a car dealership that some members work at and they took us to the hospital. They took an x-ray and luckily nothing was broken, just twisted. The doctor said she should avoid walking on it for the next week. Sis Jacobs looked at him, laughed, and said “Doctor, our work IS walking”. So we compromised and spent the rest of Tuesday, and all of Wednesday and Thursday in the apartment.

So, when you have a sick day at home, it´s kinda fun because you stay in your PJs and watch movies and drink soup and play around on Facebook. But as a missionary, you don´t do any of that. Well, I stayed in my gym shorts all day, but that´s about it. I read about half of Jesus the Christ, finished 2 Nefi in Portuguese, did the dishes, cleaned the apartment, reorganized my desk, wrote in my journal... We had such an outpouring of love from the members! They brought us out lunch Wednesday and Thursday, and Mercia and Monica, our two first baptisms last transfer, brough us dinner one night. Renata and Rafaela, two member girls here who are amazing, brought us food and hung out with us Wednesday and Thursday, which eliminated a lot of the drearyness. Renata did a split with me Thursday morning, so we could teach Adriano. I got to teach him about the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity (doesnt everyone love that one?). The best part was: he already knew about them! AND he is ALREADY living them! Solid! So, thank you Lord for that blessing.

Friday Sis Jacobs could kinda walk, so we set out for a busy day. We´ve actually had a pretty good week for having three days off. Another one of our investigators, Ana, committed to be baptised this Saturday, and the other son of Ronaldo and Luciana, Bruno, also. And another family we´re working with, Simoni and Edson, filled out their paperwork for getting married, so we´re just waiting for that to come through (it takes 15 days to get married here)! They LOVE the church and are SO excited. Edson is totally going to be a bishop or stake president someday.

This whole month is the festival of São João, and Caruaru has the biggest party in all of Brasil. It´s been crazy. They construct a mini city in the middle of the city for food and dancing and music and as missionaries we can´t go, but the member girls go and have lots of fun for us. But during the day we can go look at the places (see pictures below). It´s pretty fun, and I think I actually like forró, the style of music that is traditionally São João and Caruaru claims to be the birthplace of it.

That’s about all I have to report this week. Next week we’ll have some fun pictures of baptisms =]
Love,
~Sis Wilkinson

Sis wi...wi...wilikson

To explain the subject line, no one here can pronounce my name. Its fun hearing all the variations.
This week was AWESOME!!!!! Seriously. We had a Tour da Missao, where the area leader, Elder Soares, talked to us for 3 hours. It was an amazing training. And it was fun to see all my elder friends and speak in English, haha.

It´s been raining a lot here, with Winter on it´s way. Remember the seasons are reversed here. The river keeps flooding. Sigh.

We had a baptism on Saturday! Everton, the 8 year old son of Luciana and Ronaldo, the family we´ve been working with the entire transfer. He is SO solid. Everytime we visit he wants me tomarkl a new part in the livro de mormon for him to read. I know i wasnt reading the LdM like that when i was 8. How cool is this kid? And the familyis great too, I love them so much =] We´ve finally gotten the paperwork for luciana´s divorce sent in, so we just have to wait for the court date, and then her and ronaldo can get married, and then BAPTISED! YAY! They´re excited =]

We also got some AWESOME new investigators last week, Simoni and Edson, who are firme demais. Last night we commited them to be married and baptised. It was funny, they answered "Claro! COM CERTEZA!" and kinda with an inaudiable "duh!", hahaha They´re going in to get the marriage papers done today. It takes a 15 days to get married in Brasil, so in a few weeks we´ll have another amazing baptism. I´m excited because a year from now, i´ll be able to go to the temple with them and see them be sealed =D How amazing is that? I´m asmazed sometimes at the love I feel for these people that I met less than two weeks ago. I imagine what they´ll be like 10 or 20 years from now, and wonder if I´ll ever see them again in this life. Kinda sad, but I know I will see them again one day at least,ne?

We also have Moises and Claudia, who walked into the church on Wednesday (during a special fireside the members had with elder soares) and were like "hey, we want to know more,teach us" Moises has been looking for the true church of christ for years, so he tells us. I really felt the spirit strongly when we talked to them, the same way with that lady in the CTM i gave a LdM to. The only problem is,once again, they arent married, and also they´re YOUNG. as in, claudia is 17 and so theycant get married until shes 19 unless her dad gives permission, which he already said he wont. But,pela menos, precisamos esperar um ano, ne? er, i mean, at the least, we have to wait a year, ya?

OH!!! Funny thing of the week!!!! We were at a members house teaching a lesson to their neighbor, and after he was showing us mission pictures, and who should I see but JEREMY WALTON!!!! NOT EVEN KIDDING!!! So dad! You HAVE TO talk to mark walton and tell him to tell JEremy I met Elder Rogerio Araujo, who he know when he was Assistant or Secretary, in the Brasil Londrina missao. Ok? I just about died when I saw that picture. THe world of mormons is SO small, hahaha.

Transfers are Wednesday, so who knows where i´ll be writing from next week?!
Love you all! Remember I´m praying for all of you =]

I swear the hour for email goes by the fastest out of any during the week.

FIRST OFF!!!! IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

My call packet lied. There is only ONE address for letters AND packages:
Sister Ashley Alaina Wilkinson
Missão Brasil Recife
R. Sao Francisco 110/102
Paissandu
52010-020
Recife PE
BRASIL

For those of you who have sent packages, do not fear. It´s the address of the old mission office, which is around the corner from the new one, and they save any packages they get, and the APs go around every once and a while and get them. I let them know im expecting packages, so they´re on the look out. But from now on, JUST that address!!!!

Moving on, This week was kinda a dead one, not gonna lie. We do all we can, but then our investigators don´t show up to church or dont pray or dont read, and we can´t progress without them doing their part, sabe? Porque, como missionárias, estamos aqui pra ensinar e ajudar as pessoas, mas não podemos se eles não fazem as coisas eles precisam fazer!!!!and i definitely didnt mean to slip into portugese right there. My mind is right at the point when English and Portuguese are getting mixed into one and the same thing in my mind. This morning I was writing a bunch of letters to some of my Elder friends in Portuguese, then I started writing one to my friend in the US in English, and it was hard. But when I speak POrtuguese, I keep thinking in English... Gah. Give me another transfer or two and English will be out the window.

I realized yesterday how well I do know Portuguese. For the first few weeks here, I understood NO ONE. But I realized, at a lesson yesterday (a couple that is a reference from a member and is AWESOME and totally loves the church already and wants to learn more and its just great. The Lord ALWAYS gives blessings), that I understood almost everything they were saying. And the other day we were teaching this guy who was kinda bible bashing with us, and I just kinda laid it on him, in Portuguese, that we´re here to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the same gospel in the Bible. The book of Mormon testifies that Jesus is the Christ, and we as missionaries are here to share that message: that Christ lives! And if he really wants to know, no amount of scriptures we share will prove it to him, he just has to pray. In PORTUGUESE! I´m sure half of it was wrong, though Sis Jacobs said I actually spoke really well. I understand 99% of what I read in Portuguese... Really about 100%, except for random words I run across that I dont know, but then I guess them from context. It´s the Isaiah parts in 2 Nephi that are giving me a run for my money ;)

Speaking of which, I read 2 Nefi 2 this week, where Lehi explains the doctrine of the Fall of Adam. It´s fascinating HOW PERFECT the plan of our heavenly father is. He´s God, he knows all. Its amazing how little we comprehend it all. I feel like I´m learning and realizing so much here. And Its more of a feeling like "Oh yeah, I knew that. I forgot, but now I remember!" because i DID know all of this before! Its amazing what the spirit can reveal =] READ YOUR SCRIPTURES!!! Seriously, right now. Go. Leia! (read!)

Good news though! The son of Luciana and Ronaldo, the family we´ve been working with, is going to be baptised on Friday, and their other son probably next Sunday (after he goes to church the second time). I love this little family. Luciana is so ótimo (awesome). She really wants the best for her and her family and knows that this church, this gospel, is the way to get it. She´s so excited for us to teach her family and loves church and her 'husband", ronaldo, does too. They´re excited to get married and be baptised, and the divorce of her with her first husband is almost done =] I´m excited because a year from now, I´ll be able to go with them to the temple when they get sealed. How amazing is that?

Other things... The river flooded again, BIG TIME. It was so louco. So we have to take the long way around every day. It´s finally winter here, raining every day. And I mean, when it rains, it POURS. Evertime we have our rainsoats, it stops, but as soon as we leave them in the house because it looks like its warm and sunny... CHUVA! (rain) Moral of the story: Always have your raincoat and you´ll never have rain.

Also, Caruaru should have a subtitle: The city of wild cats. Seriously, I´ve never seen soooo many wild cats running around. Mom would have had a hay-day trying to save all the little kittens. Sis Jacobs rolls her eyes everytime I go "Awww, gatinho!!!"SPEAKING of which, sis Jacobs said THE funniest thing last night. When I pray, I kneel on my bed and hunch over so my head is resting on my pillow, and last night she was like "Did you always pray like taht or only after you lived in a muslim country?" Hahahahahahaha, oh man, i laughed for a LONG time.

Anyway, life is good, we´re teaching and contacting and having a good time, despite the little bumps the devil throws our way. I love being here, and I´m grateful for your support. I pray for all of you! Let me know
how life is going!~Sis Wilkinson

18 de maio de 2009

Not gonna lie... Kinda hurt to open my inbox and have NO NEW MESSAGES. Prov 25:25.

Today is my three month mark!!!! Only 15 months left!

This week passed rapidly. We have some great new investigators and others that are progressing fantastically. We´re teaching a woman, Alcione, and oh man, she is SOLID. Her mom is a member and she went to our district conference last Sunday and the first time we taught her she said she had felt the Spirit and new the church was true and wants to be baptised. She already lives the Word of Wisdom and everything! Its amazing when you find those elect that have been prepared by the Lord. The only problem is her "husband", who she isn´t married to, even though they´ve lived together for 11 years. She wants to get married, he doesnt. He also believes in the church and wants to be baptised, but seriously, I was reminded of a 5 year old being told he had to clean his room before he could play when we told him he has to get married to get baptised. Men... We told him, after 11 years, a piece of paper isnt going to change ANYTHING about their situation, but he still is having a hard time accepting it. But Alcione wants to be baptised sooo bad. It´s sad that someone she loves is keeping her from that =[We had another little miracle this week, once again reemphasizing my new theme of "Everytime something goes wrong, something goes right". We tried to find the house of a contact, which once again didn´t exist, and as we were walking down the street, Sis. Jacobs started talking to this young guy in his late 20´s who was sitting out in front of his house. His name is Igor (people here in Brasil have THE weirdest randomest names) and he invited us in to teach the lesson and he readily accepted it all. When we asked him if he believes God answers prayers, he told us how he had been sitting outside waiting for his friend, but then his friend didn´t come. He decided to stay a little longer and was just kinda praying to God. He didn´t tell us what about, but he said that then we appeared and that we were the answer to his prayer. WHOA!!! How cool is that? He came to church with us on Sunday and loved it. The only problem is he can´t read... So I don´t know what we´re going to do about the Book of Mormon... Sis Jacobs will know =] But man, he´s solid. We asked him to be baptised and he said he´ll pray about it. Once again, I admire the faith of people who can make such a huge change in their life like that. I know for me, even now, even when I know something is right, I hesitate. It´s a wonderful example to me of trusting in the Lord. I love that I can learn from the people I´m teaching.We´re still teaching Luciana and Ronaldo and working on the divorce of Luciana. They´re amazing too. They came to church on Sunday and loved it. We taught them about the Word of Wisdom this week, and Luciana got up, got all the coffee they had in the house, and gave it to us. WHOA! Man, these people here are amazing. Sis Jacobsand I were joking about Presidente Emerick making a surprise visit and finding us with two packages of coffee in our bag, haha.We did a little service project for Mônica and Mercia this week and put up a screen on their porch gate so they could leave the front door open in the evening and it wouldnt be soooo stuffy and hot in their house. It was fun, and we got to listen to the radio. Every song I was like "Quem é isso? Quem é isso?" (who is this?) and Sis Jacobs would say "Sei lá, Sister!" (I dunno, sister!). It was fun =] I´m looking forward to having a great collection of Brasilian music. I miss music... I think I´m going to buy a cheap little mp3 player here and get some of the church music Sis Jacobs has.Once again, I find the things I´m nostalgic for the most are american toilets and a good Caeser salad. Mmmmm.... But man, there is some good food here in Brasil, let me tell you. I love rice and beans with all my heart.Ok, picture time! My battery is fully charged, so it´d better work.1) Me and my huge green sprinkle covered birthday cake2) The fruit of my labor3) Mônica´s baptism4) View from the front porch of Mercia and MônicaLove you all,~Sis Wilkinson