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
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