12-6-12

oh mama!!! its so good to hear from you! this week was by far the hardest week of my life! idont remember if i told you but last week one of my comp really wanted to go home. shes just a corto prazo(3month long mission) and had a really hard time last week! so we didnt get out and work all that much. and i feel like we break rules left and right and there is nothing i can do about it. like right now...were emailing today because we didnt have time on p day and i feel bad about it! y´kno things that you think you will have a hard time with and things you think you are good at are completely opposite here for me! ive discovered that i like to follow the rules! following rules really makes me happy. so few experiences this week i want to share:

1. my bed broke while i was sleeping!!!! my bed is held up by a bunch of 2x4s and during the night like 5 of them fell haha so i basically slept in a recliner! the mattress was elevated on both ends..que legal!

2. i tried to pray in english the other day...não consegui!!! i cant do it. it was so hard to pray in english. i think my companions can pray in english better than me haha tá bom!

3. sunday we didnt have anyone set for lunch and i really hate making food em casa so porque they take FOREVER to make and eat lunch. i just sit there thinking...we could be teaching someone right now or doing something productive! but thats not my story! during church i had a thought that we needed to visit this family before we went home and made lunch. i told my companions and they werent really excited with the idea of visiting this family before lunch but i was persistent and on the way to their house we met up with a member who takes care of us! por exemplo..lunches! he always asks where lunch is and wont let us eat em casa. well we met up with him irmão maikon and told us he was going to feed us! it was a miracle we met up with him bc he doesnt even live anywhere close to the family we went to visit(who ended up not even being home)!

4.i climbed a mountain on pday!!! we went to bomfim (2hrs away) and it was BEAUTIFUL!! i took so many pics. i really felt like i was in brasil haha but i ate the best bananas ever in my life! seriously..pluck off a tree and eat! they were the size of my palm and they were so good! a lady who lived in the boonies gave us water and her bannaas! omylanta! o and i let sis. oliveira wear my shoes..i think ive gone soft.. haha this mission has done a number on me!

shoot i want to tell you everything..i really cant wait to talk to you on christmas!! nossa! thats soon!!!

the work hasnt gone really well, were working with a couple people, the hard thing is just finding time to visit everyone. they are all home at the same time and our area is big and we(my comps) walk slow!! but people here are really receptive!!

one thing i learned this week that hard work doesnt always mean physical. exíste a citaçaõ que fala siguinte: "99% of problems on the mission can be solved by hard work" i was thinking about that quote and thinking man i havent been working hard enough, we dont walk fast enough or visit that many people tal tal tal..but i was thinking that the hard work im lacking on is my attitude, my study, my compassion, my patience! i realy have to work on those things here. so im trying to change my attitude from negative to positive. instead of saying were late and leaving super late from the house instead im trying to say great! more time to study!!!..im trying my hardest!!!

hopefuly we have a baptism this week! i think that will help all of us out! next pday is transfers, i bet sis namura and i will stay here, but only the Lord knows that! time here really does fly by. i look back on the transfer and say nossa!  I really should have been working harder!

i love you so much and pray for yáll every day! tell everyone i say oí and miss them bunches!

love you soooo much

sister benedict

ps they call spongebob here boby sponge haha love ya dad!