MONDAY - August 27, 2012

Dearest people of the world, (world-a hard word for Brazilians to say. it normally comes out like waaaaaald)

This week has flown by and i cant believe we are here again typing up emails. The week has been great and I am enjoying life here in Brazil. (and that was an awkward sentence brought to you by an awkward sister missionary). 

Also my Portuguese is getting really good. We went and visited one of my favorite people, Carlos, this past week. He was the very first person i taught and one day he will be baptized. Anyways, i shared a scripture with him and after i had talked for a solid 10 minutes he looked at me and then at Sister Arnell, and i was waiting for him to say não intende, but instead he was like I understood what you were saying!! And we both threw our arms in the air and celebrated that he actually got what i said without having to ask for clarification. I felt like a million bucks after that. 

So first off, we had a total of three sleepovers this past week. THREE. And all three were with Brazilians. And I totally loved it. Elder Costa from the seventy was in town and so we had mission conferences with him. Because of this, we had three sets of sisters spend the night with us three different nights. So first off-sleepovers. 

Brazilians are crazy and love getting all dressed up for special occasions. (same with us, but its totally different.) they curl and straighten and cut and primp and lotion everything. The night before we had Elder Costa two sisters came and stayed with us. Sister Lima is from the South and she is hilarious. She reminded me a lot of Virginia. She comes into the house and is all oh my goodness sister Sackley you have to shower right now and let me do your hair. you can not look like that for Elder Costa. Which i believe. Because my hair these days goes into french braids or a bun pretty much the minute i wake up in the morning. But `doing hair` is way different here. She pulled out the hairdryer and the straightener and some product and i sat in a chair for a solid hour while she fixed it all up. And to her credit, she knew what she was doing. I felt like i was in a salon. And I can promise that it was probably the last time i straighten my hair here because i am starting to like the bun and the french braids.....okay that was a joke but still. 

So we had Elder Costa on Friday and we took the bus bright and early to get there on time and not be ``those sisters``. We were early, it was fantastic. We sat for a solid hour and then right before Elder Costa came in, another sister comes running up and is like we need a piano player stat!! So she gets an Elder to play the spirit of God...and he is practicing and he CAN NOT PLAY IT. So I start freaking out because i know i can play it. But it has been MONTHS since i have practiced. So i get up and say i can do it and i have no time to practice before Elder Costa comes in the door and we sit back down. 

I will say this-my Portuguese isn't half bad anymore. If you put me in the middle of the city, i could navigate and talk to people just fine. But the minute i start stressing, all Portuguese goes out the window and i just start panicking. So of course, this is what is happening. And Sister Arnell is like grow a pair and man up Sister Sackley! So they are making announcements and then President Fortunato sits back down and i assume its time to play the opening song because everyone is standing up. So i go up to the stage and sit down at the piano and look up to see everyone staring blankly at me. And i go back down and Elder Costa looks at me like `come here....` and i am still confused so in his broken nacho libre accent English hes like here sister you come up here and shake my hand and then you sit down. And that was the moment Sister Sackley embarrassed herself in front of a member of the seventy, the mission president and half the mission. Win. Elder Costa was like ``you must be new.....`` umm yep.

The rest of the conference was great and i was able to relax and get what i needed out of conference. Also random side note for Logan-yes the world is coming to an end, I am in love with the beans here. They are nothing like the beans in the states, and they are DELICIOUS. I might even say i crave them. 

The week was really good. We met some awesome people and we are seeing some success. Which is why its so sad its the end of the transfer. We are hoping we both stay here because we have finally gained the wards trust and we are finally seeing progress. Saturday night we were knocking doors-we knock a lot of doors. And around 6pm every night it becomes pointless because no one lets us in by that hour. We call it the three hours of pointlessness. And a lot of the time they go by slowly. Well we are knocking apartments Saturday night which is even more ridiculous because its just a pager and no one gives us the time of day, but we hit one and we have hit it five times already and no one has answered. But this time a girl is like oh give me a minute, i will come down. So we both stare blankly at each other like...did that just happen? And then Amalia, a 20 year old girl comes down and shes in her pajamas and she opens the gate and is all...so do you sisters want to come in? 

And we look at each other like....uh....and she explains she lived in Arizona for a year. And she lived with a Mormon family that had 9 kids and she went to our church every Sunday in America. And she knows exactly who we are. But she didn't have a lot of time so we left her with a pamphlet and told her she should come to church and we would pick her up in the morning. She said yes and she would see us then. 

Well yesterday morning we go and get her and she is dressed like a Mormon girl from Arizona. Complete with cute straight hair and the stylish Mormon get up. And the best part was everyone at church LOVED her. And she is fabulous, we love her just as much. We are hoping she feels the love as well. 

The last thing I will say is the culture difference here in Brazil. Mallory wanted to know what cultural difference i love here and which one i think is the weirdest. The one I love is how energetic and crazy everyone is. Especially Sunday nights. Its futbol night and the streets just light up in crazy people. I love it. I was born to be here. 

The weird thing that I will NEVER get use to is the over affectionate men. I am getting use to men whistling and saying I loooove youuuu in broken English and blowing kisses and staring. That is getting pretty normal. The old men do it, the 14 year old's do it. That's fine. What I wont ever get use to however is how affectionate they are with their moms...and sisters...and cousins. Seriously. Just as an example-we are having lunch with a woman in the ward and her perfectly normal, sweet 20 something year old son starts kissing her neck over and over again...uh.....or my first week here i thought a couple in the ward were dating because he had his arm around her and he kissed her cheek multiple times. they are just cousins. It freaks me out. And the weirdest part is they are affectionate with everyone except their wives....go figure. 

Oh also-a man talked to us this past week about American music and he told us how much he LOVES hocky hole. We were like...uh what? And he starts singing Elvis...which is funny because listening to someone sing American music who don't know English is a crack up...and then we realized he meant rock and role. They pronounce their R-s like H-s here. Also dad you would be proud, I sang U2 for a few recent converts the other night and they were dying. They loved it. Brazilians. oh such a funny people. 

love you all! 
sister mad

MONDAY - August 20, 2012

adelly, brasilero red heads and unicorn girl.

Dearest Blog friends,

Hello! I just thought I would start off this letter by saying I am loving Brasil. And that I dont understand ANYONE and sometimes people talk fast or pretend to not understand me, but I love it here. The people are beautiful, the streets are beautiful and so is the language. Brazillians are VERY animated with their words and hands and sometimes I feel like I am in my big fat greek wedding where everyone is shaking their hands and yelling. Its a loving yell obviously, but I am getting very good at whooping my arms and yelling at people. I know, its a talent. 

On that note, since Sister Arnell and I are the closest home to the mission office for sisters, we get to have sleepovers ALL THE TIME with other sisters in the mission. This week we have three nights of sleepovers. We love it...most of the time. This past week we had sister barão and sister bezerra (two brazillians) come stay with us. They are very animated and LOUD. We had a great time and Sister Barão told me that I have beautiful hair...(it is starting to get shades of red from the sun...which makes me nervous for what it will be in 14 months...) she told me i was a ruivo....a brasillero redhead. I have freckles and brasillero red hair and she told me its probably why the men like us so much-because my hair color is very uncommon here. 

And while we are talking about my hair, I made the decision before my mission to not cut my hair on the mission...especially not in a foreign country...anyways, there is something in the water or food because my hair is growing like harry potters. Its already mid back and I am realizing very quickly i will be far beyond unicorn girl by christmas time. oh boy. I think first thing on my list of things to do when i get home will be to chop it all off...if i last that long....

The air here is strange as well...or something because i am experiencing all sorts of strange things here. My earing hole decided to start closing up as well...I pierced my ears at 12 and have never had an ear infection before but i do now. And all the American sisters I have talked to so far have had the same problem, so i constantly have to have earrings in or they will close. 

Brasilleros love americans. And they love american music too. Our neighbors house is seperated from ours only by a small thin paper wall. And thank goodness our neighbor has good taste in music. Many nights we go to bed listening to Adele or some other beautiful music. Also, Brasilleros LOVE adele. And they call her adelly and they dont even know what she is saying. Sometimes they will ask you to try and translate. But they love her. And Amy Winehouse. Weird right? They LOVE amy winehouse. 

So we had a lot of great moments this past week with investigators. We had FIVE investigators we found this week that we committed to baptism. And they were great investigators. Anna, my favorite ever who was meant to be taught by portlanders because she is all save the whales and stuff, anyways her boyfriend sat in on a lesson this past week and she bore her testimony to him that she knew this church was true and that the book of mormon was the word of God. It was a great moment and he felt the spirit and wanted to be baptized as well. 

We also knock a lot of doors...i mean A LOT OF DOORS. Somedays we are on our feet all day long without sitting from around 1pm-9pm. Its long. So we knock apartments and it feels like a joke because we ring the bell and they talk to us over the intercom, and maybe its my western wats training, but we get rejected a lot and it doesnt bother me because i must be use to people rejecting me over the phone? haha. Anyways we were knocking a fairly rich area which is dumb and a girl answered and all we said was we were representitives of Jesus and she beeped us in. It was strange, NO ONE lets us in they normally come down...but she lets us in and she told us she was having a lot of trials and problems lately and that we were an answer to prayers. We shared the first lesson and she invited us back for tomorrow. Her name is Ana and she is 21 (just like our other anna) and we love her just as much. 

....With this all being said, we had 5 ready to be baptized this next sunday. FIVE. And Saturday afternoon we tracted and between the hours of 1-6pm every single one of the five dropped. They called and told us no or we went to visit and they tried giving us the Livros back. It was the most horrible experience ever. And the worst part was they ALL have testimonies. And they didnt deny it either. One woman was like yeah i know your church is true and joseph smith is a prophet of God but I dont want to get baptized. 

So we are yet again, starting from square one. And its ridiculous and it feels like we are getting no where. Fortunately though, we because friends with Fernanda (the heart of the ward) this past week. Fernandas husband and father are both in the bishopbric and she knows EVERYONE. Get her on your side and you are golden. She is beautiful and mid 20s and has great style, its not a problem liking her, its her liking you. And we accomplished this this past week. We decided to stop working in the favelas (long story) and we told her and her hursband about it....that was tuesday. We had not recieved one referral from the ward in the whole transfer....and then all of a sudden, we recieved 7. Just this past week. Some are dead ends, but we are hoping a lot will lead to good things. Fernanda is great too, she is helping out a lot so at least that is a start! 

Photos for the week!

1. my favorite poster here in brasil (God loves you!) 

2. This is Gethlerme. He is a creep. One time we knocked his house and he answered and told us he wanted to preach to us....uh.....so we went in and he began telling us how he was catholic and evangelical and now he isnt anything because of his horrible experiences. We tried teaching him but long story short, it was a joke. And when we asked him to say the closing prayer he prayed and prayed and then stopped talking so sister arnell was like this is how you close...and he yelled at her that he wasnt done! So we see him ALL THE TIME now on the street. And he has a book about his horrible experiences that he tries selling. And he was the one that tried kissing us. We love him basically. 

3. I love Brasil. SO colorful. 

4. a home that belongs in the favelas. you know. 

5. pão de quecho day. (cheesy bread day) our favorite day in america. We celebrate every friday with a roll that on the inside is basically cheese. It is delicious. And since fridays are long and hard we take a break at 5 and eat Pão. 

also note for sisters serving in brasil-

i dont ever wear my toms outside because the roads are soooo steep and i am scared to fall, but i wear them in our house ALL THE TIME. Also, I have yet to wear my danskos. Big fat waste of money. Chacos every day. I will have a picture next week of my already growing tanline. And they dont have ice cream here. Or they do and it is SO expensive. the ice cream I am eating here costed 5 bucks. YEAH. I took that picture this morning at the office. Also, I got all the packages this past week from Cathy Grether and mom and mallory. I love the pictures from cooper and emma as well as the posters from the fam. A few cousins have really good handwriting and it made me realize they arent as little as i think of them being anymore!  

I hope everyone is doing great, 

Love sister mad.

p.s. a note for just girls to read-no really. dont read it if you are a boy. 

So they have tampons here in brasil. But they are very different and dont work. Anyways, I had a tampon in my bag this past week and I dropped it on the ground and a man picked it up and was all Menina you dropped your candy! Sister Arnell died. Also, woman here dont wear deoderant. Its like a spray on hairspray for your pits. Warning to all sisters going out of the states-bring face wash and deoderant. They dont have either in brasil. ALSO FOR SISTERS GOING TO BRASIL-Buy neutrogena SPF 50 for your face. Its super super super good and it costs about 80 reihas here. (EXPENSIVE). I will need more soon mommy...  :) 

MONDAY - August 13, 2012

"with the spirit you can succeed, but the sisters always do it better than the elders"

Quoted from a man in church this past week. hahahaha

Alright fam and friends its only been four days so I figured I'd write about the goodness of this past week.

1. The food in Brazil is AMAZING. holy cow. We eat almoco with women every day around noon (lunch) and it consists of beans, rice, lettuce, tomatoes, lasagna, cheese, fruit, chicken or beef and then a dessert. and they are all offended if you don't eat three servings. because we eat mid day though, we don't eat much else at all the rest of the day. and you would be surprised to know i now eat beans and tomatoes and everything in my plate ends up mashing all together-yes everything touches these days. I am a changed woman.

2. We have run into many Bible bashers lately. they're all Catholics and evangelicals and they LOVE talking to us about how our religion isn't true. We even got invited into a home this past Friday in which she prayed to the pictures of Mary she had and then lit some candles before scolding us. When this happens i am very good at taking control of the situation. I say in my super good Portuguese (haha) we are representatives of Jesus Christ here in Brazil to help you come unto him. this is not how he would want his messengers to be treated. also have you read the Book of Mormon? it has changed my life and I know it will change yours. they never have read it. I then offer them my copy ...and they never take it....and we leave. I am learning very quickly how to be bold here.

3. Along with the boldness, people are what we call moley. its short for moleza and it means lazy. we tract a lot of tall buildings and talk to people on their intercoms all day long. I have gotten very good at telling people that we are representatives of their savior and that we have a message straight from him to them. also that all we want is their salvation. It is a lot harder to turn us down when I say that....although people still do sometimes.

4. Yesterday we had dinner with a family in the ward who lived on the brink of the favelas. They are a very sweet family, they have 3 kids and its a one bedroom home with the kitchen and stove outside. While we waited for lunch we sat on the kids bed. The children have very few toys and the floor is dirt and a little tile, and yet they were the happiest little family. The eleven year old boy had a lot of fun with us making hand puppets with our fingers and they all got a long so well. We ate lunch while they watched (they only have three plates) and the dad fed the two little ones with the third plate. They had nothing and yet, they had everything. I have never seen a happier family. it made me realize at the end of the day, all that matters is family.

5. Our one and only progressing investigator, Carlos broke my heart this past week. he is not progressing anymore and we are back to the drawing board. It is a crazy week ahead of us that is for sure.

6. Last night we were chatting with a bible basher (but he was nice) and all of a sudden it sounded like a bomb went off. like fireworks and gunshots and people SCREAMING and cars honking their horns and people stomping....it came from everywhere and i was really nervous for about 3 seconds before i realized futbol had started for the night. It was insane how the entire city goes into party mode for the games. Everyone was drunk last night. EVERYONE. And every few minutes we would hear screams and shouts...they ended up winning last night, or that's what it sounded like because around 8 everyone went ballistic. its definitely not America-that is for sure.

7. With that in mind, we have helped a lot of people lately get home. Last Monday we saw a old woman caiu em a rua (cay-oo em a hoo-ah) she fell in the street and I like that sentence because it sounds funny....and I will be honest, seeing people fall is funny but seeing old people fall into busy roads is not AT ALL. We walked her home and when we got to the door her daughter answered and was like anjos de Deus! (angels of God!) Someday that family will be baptized. Last night we were guardian angels for another woman who was plainly DRUNK and we walked her home up the road and she fell over many times. She also told us her life story and how her husband left her. just goes to show you how great life is when you don't obey the word of wisdom....not.....also, no lie had we not walked her home she would have died in the street. She couldn't put one foot in front of the other.

8. Last but not least, PLEASE PRAY FOR THE MINAS GERAIS FEDERAL POLICE. they are all on strike and because of this, I can not get my visa validated with the state. Meaning August 23rd I become an illegal in Brazil and if they find me without papers, who knows what will happen. They are on strike until at least September 15th and there are MANY of us in this mission that will be out of date on papers by then...the office is having a bit of a freak out about this so please keep that whole situation in mind.

Love you all!
sister mad

First pictures from Brazil

A picture before Sister Silva left

our house

my hair in brazil...hahaha

    my favorite street here

things that wouldn't fly in America

and the favelas.

and our prophet wall in the house.

also, note that my hair is always in braids or a bun. my life.

Last Picture from Arizona

WEDNESDAY - August 8, 2012

and then there were two americans. and no one believed in them....except for themselves. 

Dearest darling family,

"A lot of things have happened since the last time we spoke, some of them are funny and some of them ain't no joke... "(ten points to Griffindor for whoever can remember that song)

Sister Silva, our Brazilian companion was transferred this week. So now its just me and Sister Arnell.

Back story-Sister Arnell is the one from Portland as well, and she has been on the mission for 10 months now...however, 6 of those months she spent in California speaking Spanish....and she didn't know any Portuguese when she got here 4 months ago. she is very good now, but its good for being here for 4 months...not really quite fluent...

SO

We were expecting to get another new Brazilian companion Friday morning who could speak well and could help us out with translating people. Umm....well Friday morning came and Sister Silva left....and we didn't get another companion. They left two green American girls together to fend for themselves.

And the first few minutes it was a bit of like....so....what now.....but we finally have picked up speed and we are doing well. Things that happen when you are two American girls in Brazil-men flirt a WHOLE LOT MORE. Holy cow we've been called at and people have followed us and a few men have tried kissing us-it is ridiculous. And people are a whole lot nicer to two American girls who speak bad Portuguese. They want to know all about our lives and why we are here...which is fine, because our lives are Christ so it works out nicely.

A story from my first day because now its quite funny-we were in a sketch area of town around 7 at night and trying to locate an inactive. So we are in the middle of the street and we hear three popping noises...and it sounded like gun shots but my companions weren't moving....and all of a sudden some woman comes out of her house and starts yelling at us in Portuguese and I have no idea whats going on but all of a sudden we are running and running. We run a few blocks and Sister Arnell explains they WERE gunshots and that we needed to get out of the area it had happened. things like this happen every once and a while these days and it cracks me up to think of ever being scared in Portland or Rexburg.

Along with that, we live in a cute little house that is comparable to....nothing I know of. we love it and it seems kinda safe....we don't live in our area because its not a good place to be at night so I feel good about the fact that its at least not there...although we do have a crazy man that comes up to us every now and again and chants moh-mons moh-mons.....

Despite all of the elements working against us, we are seeing a lot of progress with our investigators. We met a girl named Ana this past week and she was made to be taught by two Portland girls. she would fit in with the hipster scene of Portland and we love her. Shes got a lot of questions and we have a lot of answers.

Random-our p day just got switched to Monday so i will now be writing on Mondays again. Also, just a reminder-if you email me and you aren't my mom or dad or sibling, I can not and will not open it. Sorry, I wish I could but that is the rule here! Just email my parents or talk to them if you have something you need to tell me.

Love you all!
sister mad

WEDNESDAY - August 1, 2012

Hello Everyone!

This week in one word-FAITH. Holy holy holy cow.

First though-i am loving Brazil. no one speaks English and everyone is all speak English to me! Its very strange to be in such a new environment that is for sure. I am loving the people, they are beautiful and so is the city....but....

So I had a little anxiety attack this past Monday night. I should also add that I realized this past week I hate big cities. And I live in a HUGE one. We work all day in the favelas and I think a lot of my stories might have to wait until after the mission....We leave the favelas by sunset because its not safe by then and on Monday it was past sunset when we were leaving. I was freaking out because the home we were in right before wasn't very sturdy and my wild imagination kept picturing earthquakes and us all coming crashing down. And to make it worse, fireworks were going off. I am getting really good at telling the difference between gun shots and fireworks, but still they scare me.

So anyways, we are walking back and I just had a panic moment and went into shock and did a little girl tantrum in the middle of the freaking favela.  And all the black guys are all why is this white girl here....and CRYING?!

Anyways, we left fast and Elder Brierly gave me a blessing as soon as we got back to the safe parts of the city. He spoke in English, thank goodness and told me exactly what i needed to here. The Lord didn't send me to Brazil to die, and I felt very safe after that. I would love prayers for safety and feeling safe though.

If there is one thing I have realized this past week, it is to have faith in the Lord. There are lots of things to be worried about, lots of things to be scared of or doubt....but when you trust in the Lord, everything will work out. I thought I had a lot of faith before my mission, turns out I am just now learning what faith is. My situation has not changed whatsoever, but my feelings about the area are so much better and i feel safe here. The Lord will not leave you comfortless.

With that being said, my mission is now just email mom and dad mission. If you email me, i can not open it and i can not respond. I wish I could! If you have any questions for me or anything to tell me, please please just contact my parents or Mallory or something and they can send it to me. Also I wouldn't hate getting letters....just saying :)

You would think that being in Brazil I would have baptisms up the whazoo, however we do not. An Elder made the mistake of telling me my area is the hardest in the mission my first day here...thanks....Apparently there have been transfers where no one baptizes in the area....but you know what? We are experiencing miracles and have had a few great people to teach this past week. I think we have a great transfer ahead of us. The Lord has people prepared and we just have to find them.

Okay last story-my goal here in Brazil is to not let anyone know that I hate fruit...not even my companions....so yesterday we got fed bananas with ice cream for dessert....and if you don't remember, I gag when it comes to bananas. So I am thinking okay trial of my faith here we go. And I start eating. And I ate it so fast so that I wouldn't gag. and I didn't and the lady thought i liked the bananas so she gave me ANOTHER. That time around i gagged but it sounded more like a cough and then swallowed little bites of banana whole. Someday ill get over that fear i swear.

Also sorry there are no pictures this week, I brought my camera but forgot the connector. I promise pictures next!

Love you all, Sister Mad


p.s. pray for Elder Webb (my MTC comp) he got very sick and had to go home. Keep him in your prayers!