Mad's Happy Life: MONDAY

haircuts, hospitals and happiness at a year

dear blog readers,

I was walking to the church this past week when a less-active, Julio pulled over to talk to us. He was wanting to know how to talk to the Bishop because welp, he was wanting to change his life. After talking with him for a solid 10 minutes about everything from coming back to church to speed racing in the street we got his contact information and promised we would pay him a visit within the week. Before shaking hands goodbye he asked if i had been out on the mission for a year. Without thinking I smiled and shook my head no, and told him it had been just 8 months. He shook his head in disbelief and commented there was no way an American was speaking that good of portugues in just 8 months. Which is when i turned to my companion, then looked at my watch and realized...holy cow its april...2013. Julio could tell by my reaction he had caught me off guard and he began to laugh. ``oh sister time flies doesnt it?`` Yes, yes it does Julio. And I can not believe its already April.

So of course, after a year of NOT cutting the hair, you can probably imagine the frightful sight that is sister sackley´s flock of seagulls. I mean for reals people, the hair was getting mean and ferocious. Our biggest problem? Sister sackley is a rarety here in Brasil. People here have curly hair, and they have lots of it too. But the type of curly hair sister sackley has, and the golden color its become because of the sun, is never seen here. You can imagine the ruckus that occurs when sister friend actually washes her hair and makes the mistake of leaving the house before tying it down. All I will say about the above is if i have no prospects come october, i will just be returning to brasil with the hair down.....so you can imagine how horrible it is as a sister missionary with all that going on. It got so bad that a few of the old men-recent converts began making comments. And a girl can wear her hair in a bun for only so long before she seriously considers joining a polygamist sect (thats a joke.) But for reals. This past week we were reading the white handbook when i came upon a little paragraph i had never really looked at before-it said something to the effect of do not let your appearance take away from your message. I stopped, looked at my companion with somewhat wild eyes and made a mad dash to the bathroom with the scissors. Snip snip, and away went all the comments about being a `cat`. The hair is short, looks a little like shirly temple and i am feeling less of the heat and hearing less comments. Its a win, especially knowing i have another 6 months for the hair to grow grow grow!

Tuesday we had a conference in which president and sister were in attendance-which means sister mad´s body decided to wake up with red splotches all over-just to scare sister fortunato. And low and behold, it totally worked. So much to the point, that after the conference sister mad wound up with a nice drive in presidents car to the hospital to find out if she really had dengue. Lessons learned from Tuesday´s doctor visit-upon entry of the hospital you go from feeling like you are in a first world, normal country (only in the favela do i feel like we are in a third world status). But no, entering the hospital is like entering the scenes of hotel rwanda. People everywhere. And it just looks dirty and i swear, if i hadnt have caught dengue before, i definitely caught it while waiting the 3 hours to be checked out. If you arent believeing me, note that my companion became extremely sick as we entered and spent most of the three hours in the bathroom throwing up. (you are welcome). While waiting, I made the promise...or covenant with myself i would rather die in the street then ever return to the hospital here in brasil. pregnant women with IVs stuck in them, holding up their own bags of fluids, people walking around with needles in their forearms, old yellow colored ladies being wheeled around in wheelchairs while throwing cookies. I was scared out of my mind. And after five hours of tests and being poked with a few needles Dr. Daniel came out to tell sister mad that yes indeed, she had dengue. And that she needed to drink lots of fluids and sleep for the rest of the week. What a blessing. Five hours for that diagnoses.

Although the above paragraph probably sounds like i am less than thrilled to be here, I am still loving life here in BH. While sitting and eating lunch during the conference this past week, i had a sweet elder come up and ask if i was ``sister mad``. It took me off guard and i could tell he was more than embarassed to be talking to a sister missionary, but i nodded and affirmed his suspicion. With a sigh of relief he said ``oh i thought so, my mom reads your blog-she really likes it``.

So to whoever is reading this-wherever you are-know that this past year has been a ball, and i am looking forward to the upcoming year too. Also, 2013 is sister mad´s year to find happiness. So if you have any sort of story or quote or picture or thought or really anything that makes YOU happy, write me! (or email) I would love to hear what makes YOU happy and how you have found happiness, wherever you are.

peace and love and liquids,

sister mad

Pictures!