a random thought for your monday
Dear Blog Readers,
It was 7:30am October 27, 2011. I am walking in negative degree weather to mission prep, wondering if today would be the day. And secretly pondering the possibility of getting called somewhere warm. Or at least not as cold as Rexburg, Idaho.
Come 9:00 I am already in front of the mailbox waiting for the mailman. He is finishing off Birch Place, making his way to Carriage House. I close my eyes and count and wait for him to make it there. I am barefoot, and the frost is already up my nose and making its way to my brain. Brain freeze.
But he is here, and he knows why I am waiting. I sit patiently as he pulls out a white envelope and nods as he hands it over. I grab it unpatiently. ``Say a prayer`` he says before leaving. I look from the mailman, then back to the envelope, and then close my eyes.
Heavenly Father, let it be good.
And I lose patience and rip the white envelope open. My toes are already frozen and I read every sentence only halfway, waiting for the news.
Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
Brasil? BRASIL?? What. And then I stop. And I close my eyes again and before I know it, I imagine myself walking through dirt roads and beans and dirt and dirty people and no electricity and then the thought...when will I go? And I look and see the horrible horror of a day- April 11, 2012. APRIL??
And I call my Grandma, and she is excited. I kind of nod as I talk to her on the phone-she cant see that I am more than confused. Why on Earth has the Lord called me to Brasil?? We end the conversation and I walk back to the apartment...slightly disappointed, but more than anything else, confused. Brasil? April?
Hours go past, I call home and tell the family. They are excited and happy. I open the letter again to make sure I read it right. To make sure that really I had read Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
It is night time and after a day of confusion I am exhausted and pull myself into bed, covers on, when I hear the mailman in my head. Say a prayer. And so i pull off the covers and get on my hands and knees and before I know it, I am asking the big man upstairs Himself what on Earth He was doing sending sister mad to Brasil.
And it is quiet, and I wait.
It is hard to describe the feelings that come from the Lord, harder to write them down. But it begins inside the center of your chest and quickly spreads outward until it feels like your whole being is just thumping hard and you feel your heart pulsing through your toes and the tips of your hair. And I felt the most unreal love. Love for a people that lived on a part of the map I still can not identify. And before i knew it, I was filled with a sort of love that I have never felt before, and I knew there was reason in my call. Reason for Brasil. Reason for April.
Last night as we watched the broadcast from the MTC with the stake, and a million and a half missionaries and members, with the smell of barbeque and the noises of fireworks in the background, I was reminded of this moment. The moment I questioned my call. And then the moment I got here, and had the first Irma kiss me hardly on the cheek and begin speaking quickly.
And I love Brasil. Just thought you should know.
love, sister mad
p.s. thank you allll for your letters this past month. Nothing brings more joy then letters waiting for you!
PICTURES!
waiting for the bus=our lives
the way to curvelo and my camera
the way to curvelo and my camera
what i do to the eggs when sis chaves isnt looking
our bathroom has a sprayer....uh....
lemon pie!!
e nos! Obrigada sister fortunato, nos amamos voce!
sometimes we match without knowing it
the best part about traveling is seeing all the green here. love it.
...and going insane in the process of it all.
ice cream
teaching a drunk but sane man
tea parties with investigators.
sometimes we wish we were as cool as the sisters online, so we take pictures of ourselves teaching joseph smith.
i am a woman from minas. watch out.
eating sugar cane
that one time i alsmost lit our house on fire...
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