2-25-2013

I have so much to tell but little time. transfers are tomorrow. im staying here, my comp sis v costa is opening a new area and training!! im staying here in feira 1 and my comp vai ser sis stewart! shes from utah haha im super stoked!!! well im a mixture of emotions right now!!!  my comp in the ctm sis king is going to train too!!! 5 new brasileiras are coming to our mission and shes going to train!!

 

It was  a good week! we had a baptism!! amanda! she has 9 years and is a darling!!! i only have 10 min to write! sis v costa only wanted to stay on 30 min! but the baptism was so good! shes a kid of a less active family(the same fam that gave me cake for my bday!) um the week was hard for work, plans kept falling and my comp was super focused on transfers.

 

this week i got to hold a lil monkey!! again   I want to send pics but the computer doesnt have a place to put my card.  the new transfer is tomorrow and i really wana work and we have some people here that are so awesome!! sorry this is a mess of a letter, my mind is in 25 diff places today!!

iv been reading in nefi...first part again because i finished the ldm the other week. but ive been reading about lehi and nefi just the faith that nefi had and his obedience and example. i really am grateful that i was brought up in the church. the church here is new and its young! its rare to find whole families here in the church. thank you so much for your support, thank the ward and thank everyone!!
lvoe you sooooo much!

love sis benedict

 

 

 

2-17-13

• here i eat a lot of rice and beans :) and surprisingly...love rice and beans! have a dish here called feijoada...black beans n meat with rice and farinha! i absolutely love feijoada! o farinha is like bread crumbs but its not but i love it!!! you sprinkle it on top of the food! but this week was good!!!
• ZINHO WAS BAPTIZED!!!!!! quarta feira à noite!!! thursday he was baptized and sun received the HG! love that kid!
• but I dont remember if i told you but for my bday we had fhe with a menos ativo...less active! and she surprised me with carrot cake(in honor of my hair!) and empanada!!! i cried haha i was kinda down on my birthday but ana rita really made up for it!! oh also she saw a pic of dad and woudlnt stop talking about him after haha i think she thought dad was really handsome! i said yupp...thats my daddy :)
• ps i think ima start doin bullets....my letters are always so scattered i figured this will be easier for you and me!!!
• OH! we visited this guy marcio, hes married n weve met him a few times on the street and hes always been drunk. wel we finally went to his house and met his wife n everything( he was plastered cuz he drank the night before) so we tried to talk to them, but we went to visit them the next day. wel we went the next morning n he wasn’t drunk( thank goodness!) but mama it was sooo funny. his brother showed up and his sobrinhos...er...nieces! nieces were there and one of them has 14 years i think, well she is INFATUATED with justin beiber haha she kept askin me, do you live in the same place as him and asking questions about him haha i sang a lil justin beiber for her( eugh!!!) the sacrifices you make for some people sheesh...oh she was filming me too...she was perplexed and sat there with her phone filming me haha i felt like an animal at the zoo!
• BUT when we were leaving the house of marcio...he grabbed my comp and kissed her on the cheek and before i knew what was goin on he grabbed me n kissed me on the cheek too haha nossa!....oh...well thanks marcio haha 
• we were teaching a diff ana rita I think it was yesterday and her daughter was SO interested in the church. so we taught them and ana rita already visited the church a year ago and really liked the church and was all set to be baptized and get married, but she heard that we worship satan and that hes an angel and she questioned the missionaries and something to the effect that we do and so she stopped going. i think it was a huge misunderstanding but were teaching them now and i really like their family!!!
• their nabor has a MONKEY as a pet!! we were teachin them and passed by a man walking a monkey haha here they call them neeko! theyre just lil things nossa! i want to teach him so bad...he has a monkey haha ive always wanted to walk a monkey :)
• but ive learned a lot this transfer...OH! somethin that happened last nite i thought was funny! we have a family that lives above us(members) and well nobody here has food so everyone, hey do you have food im starvin...no do you! but sis v costa made a cake of canela...cinnamon! and we wer out on the front porch eatin cake with our nabors last nite haha it was what...9pm! i love our nabors! AND he works at an eye shop so hes got tools that i can fix my glasses im so stoked!
• everyday this week ive had a desire to come home, na verdade, lol but im so happy to be here! i love the people here in feira 1!!!!
• this letter is so long and i feel like i have a mountain of things to say..i hope i write it in my journal all the things! but i love you so much! thank you for the pics and all the support!!! i think about yáll every day and how i can be a better daughter and sister. i hope all is well on your side of the world! things here are hot and humid!! oh found 3 worms in our bathroom today...beleza! but love you so much!

love sister benedict :)

ps tell the yw i love them so much and miss them :)....aaaaaaaaaand hope they all serve missions hehe

 

2-12-13

 i have a mountain of things i want to share with you!!! i really want to send pics but the computer here...well...doesnt like america  I think haha but anyways didnt have baptizm saturday. zinho fugiu...er he..idk how to say this in english!!! but we were all set for him and he didnt show up. we were waitin and waitin for him but he didnt show up. it was weird because i wasnt all broken over it!! ithink i was more sad that he wasnt baptized but i wasnt so distraught over it. we got ahold of him sunday and he was outa town for carnaval! nossa mae! everybodys in salvador for carnaval! yesterday we tried to email and went downtown....not a soul in sight! 

oh spiritual thing that happened yesterday! sunday night i prayed for a present from god! i prayed for a  miracle to happen on my bday...well mama we were downtown waiting for other elders to  show up and we saw!!! JOSE!! he was a person we were teaching and teaching and he disappeared too! we put a date on him too and he disappeared. well we were waitin downtown and we saw him! talked to him a little bit,man hes had a rough life. he was at a party sat nite and hada bullet wound! but we talked to him and really hope hes at the baptizm of zinho tomorrow!!!! i have so much to tell but nowhere to start!!

 

im feeling more myself here. Im feeling more happy and filled with love, my comp and i work together and its good. nossa mama we had fhe with a less active yesterday and they made me a cake and sang to me. mama these people have nothing and yet they did this for me. i love these people so much! and nosso ld got me a hat and drew me something haha it was a good day!

i love this work so much! im making so many friends and i feel myself growing and learning every single day! i cried when i saw the pic of my car being taken away..black beauty finally is gone! How sad

but i love you so much. thank you for the letters and thank the ward for asking about me and caring! love you tona

love sister benedict

i still have a little time. I want to write so much but im at the same computer that has a problem with the space bar and its kinda annoying! our district leaders are frightous! aha they r supercool. one of them elder garnier looks like a teddy bear. I forget the name of the movie but its an animated movie about teddy bears, its a classic but he looks like a teddy bear...

thanks a ton!

love you

2-4-13

 

 

soooo much has happened on this end!!! ill start with the...(everything is good on the mission) and end with the great!!!!
the work has been slow. the area im in we need to do more reactivating than baptizing. we met jose, he was at church sunday and so we taught him a few lessons and he was all set to be baptized saturday...well he fled! we didnt have any info on him and was taught a few lessons and thats it. same thing happened with the last sisters who tried to teach him...so it was kinda sad. BUT...we met zinho!!!!!

 zinho! he was a reference dos elderes and so we called and set up an appt to meet him at the church..well later that day we met him on the street while lookin for another reference!!! not a coincidence!!! we met that night and he met the other sisters about 2 years ago but never went to church or anything. but he already knows a ton of people in the church. we had a church dance and he went to that. and sunday he was there!! oh i lead the music sunday haha kinda fun. but it was fasting meeting and sis v costa n i bore our testimonies...well we were joking around wit zinho sis v costa and i and said hey...you should get up and bear your testimony! he said...welllllll idont knooow. but he got to thinkin and he really likes 1ne1:20 the last frase and so he said y´kno what, i think i will! mama he got up and he bore his testimony!! it was funny but he lost the page of the scripture when he got up there but he bore his  testimony anyways! he said that the church makes him feel really good and that reading the scriptures makes him feel happy. nossa mama. i was beaming from ear to ear! i really feel like he is one of those people i was sent here for. he already knew the church and other missionaries, but for some reason hes choosing now to make that change in his life. i asked when we could meet him this week and he said well im goin out of town wit some coleguas minha...o que você acha?...er what do you think i should do? i told him that i didnt think it was a good idea and explained about satan and the week of the baptism, but i said it was his choice. he said ok..iwont go! he is so cool!!!! hes all set to be baptized on saturday!!! gah im so stoked! we just clicked too, were super friends haha he looks a lil like akon...hes a rapper mama but he looks like the jamaican version of akon!

oh so we live under members! they are so funny! but lastnite i was trying to explain hot chocolate to them haha sis king left hot chocolate packets in the fridge and sis v costa wanted me to explain. well i was tryna explain to her and our neighbors about hot chocolate haha it was so funny! they gave us crackers too because we have literally nothing in our house to eat!! we have a sack of oranges too acidic to eat and canela(iforget the word in englis)..CINNAMON!!!....aaand sugar...thats it lol we are so poor haha

i have had experiences here that have really changed my life. i am so grateful to be a sister. its crazy to think my birthday is next week. ive been so super tired too. the other night the neighbors dog was barking ALL NIGHT LONG!!! i couldnt sleep! they dont believe in anything soundproof here so you hear everything!


i love you soooo much!
love sister benedict

ps....yes i dream in portuguese! lol i was doin that in the ctm...but the funny thing about that...i remember the first time i dreamt in port. iwas in the ctm and i woke up and i remember that i couldnt understand a word of what i dreamt hahah but it was in portuguese lol