November 26, 2014

First Week in the Brasil CTM

Oi!

I have tons to tell y'all about! (and sorry but there's gonna be typos, i'm not used to these Brazilian keyboards yet...)
São Paulo is huge and crazy!! I slept for maybe two hours of that ten hour flight, but right when we got here it's work work work! The city is beautiful in the way that chaos and personality is beautiful. I honestly am in love with all the graffiti on the walls of EVERYTHING. It's art. Sister Knapp is my companheira and we both came from Provo together. She was a week ahead of me so she's going to be leaving this week for Teresina, and I'll be back with my old companheira and homies. It's seriously so much fun here! We are working so hard to learn the language and I've definitely learned twice as much being here in a week than I did in Provo! Learning language by immersion is a real thing, but even more real is the gift of tongues! It blows my mind every day. So yeah, most days sis Knapp and I are somente falando em Portuguese and it's awesome. We've made a ton of brasileiro friends and I'm actually really glad I learned how to sing Let It Go in Portuguese before I came because now I have a friend who's from Rio de Janeiro and yeah we sing frozen together in the cafeteria. Speaking of the cafeteria.... the food here is straight from heaven. There's always feijoada (rice and beans) with every lunch and dinner, pão de queijo, super good bananas, pinapple, papaya, and watermelon, and reeeally good meat and stuff. And in the morning we can always count on this like cream of wheat mystery goodness. muito bom. Anyway, enough about food, last Friday we had the opportunidade for PROSELITISMO. Yeah so on like our 3rd day here our district hopped on the onibus and we rode it to the middle of São Paulo to teach real people who have never heard of the gospel. We each had 2 copies of the Book of Mormon and we went and taught. I'm so lucky to have sister Knapp as my companion, she's learned a ton of Portuguese already and she already knew Spanish before. Anyway, as we taught I have never felt the Spirit like that before! We went up to people and at first some of them didn't want to hear our message, but we explained a little more what it was about and asked them to just read and invited them to pray about it and it was AMAZING how their countenances changed! Particularly one woman who was sitting on the corner texting and we walked over to her with some other elders to help them give out their last book. She just kept looking down as sis Knapp was talking to her and she seemed a little annoyed at us being there, so I said a quick prayer in my heart that her heart would be softened and as soon as I finished she looked up and started to talk with us. I literally have never felt the spirit so strongly as when we were teaching this woman. That feeling left as soon as it came though because some homeless druggie came up to us and stared putting his arm around me and saying a bunch of things I didn’t understand!! Ahh! Thankfully the elders got him to get away from me, but as i found our later, as this guy was giving elder pitcher a hug he lifted his yellow laminated verb card out of his front pocket thinking it was money. Well that guy could have the gospel and really great Portuguese one day! When I finally did turn around after the commotion was over, the woman was smiling and thanking US for giving her the book and talking to her. That's basically how every one of our mini lessons ended and I have such a strong testimony now of the spirit teaching people. Ahh man missionary work is so cool and I am seriously having the time of my life. Once again, its hard, but it's already the best thing I've ever done in my 19 years of life here on earth.

I also want to just include some other fun things that have happened this week:
-I was talking to a sister about star trek and she was saying that she liked Spock more than.... and she couldn't think of the other character's name so I was like "oh Elder Kirk?" and that's when you realize that you've been in the MTC for a while...
-We have a brasileira roommate who is the cutest thing since puppies. She doesn’t know any English so she helps us with our Portuguese and we basically play charades every night. and she gave us earrings and chocolate. She's from Bahia:)
-We went to the Sao Paulo temple today and I was gorgeous. I listened to have the session in Portuguese:)
-I play volei now. What? I'm still pretty bad though haha
-Our teachers here are absolutely hilarious! Irmao Mello has a song about the lei de castidade so that's fun…

I love you all so much have and otimo semana!
Vida Longa e Prospera.

-sis Pace



November 17, 2014

What is Life?!! Going to BRAZIL!

Todos,

My visa came! Tomorrow morning I'm leaving the Provo MTC for Sao Paulo at 6am! I'm so excited, like SO EXCITED! I'm going to miss the Portugal sisters in my district who are staying here because they have gotten me through this visa and upside down craziness, but I'm excited to leave with basically our entire district and be reunited with my homies in Brazil!! 

So I was having a hard time figuring out why I needed to stay here one extra week and I know it's a thousand different things! Sister Anaya and I taught some amazing lessons on the Restoration and baptism and I cannot wait to do it for real. Again, the gift of tongues is no joke. (Portuguese speaking family: If we talked right now, we could hold a pretty decent conversation!! How amazing is that?! 3weeks I've been here!! Nossa!) Also, I've just seen a thousand little miracles and lessons that I needed to learn. It's amazing. Missionary work is amazing and I KNOW that exact obedience brings miracles. I love it. 

Haha my email makes this all sound like the craziest, happiest, best thing ever. Let's be honest, a mission is hard, but it is the craziest, happiest, best thing ever too:)

Anyway, eu amo vocês e a Igreja é VERDADEIRA! Sempre!!

-Sister Pace



November 11, 2014

Solo Sister

So this week was really fun! We've been teaching  more and our "investigator" that we've been teaching is now our new professora! My MTC teachers are seriously the best! Irmao Gray and Irma Kimball love us sooooo much. Anyway, last p-day after I emailed y'all  was probably the only time I've felt homesick because we went to the temple. My companion was the sweetest though. I've really come to love her sooooooo much, as well as Sister Houskin and Sister Belluomini in my district. It's crazy how fast you come to love people when you are so united in purpose. And what greater purpose than the gospel of Jesus Christ? Sis. Andersen and I have gotten to a point now where we can teach a simple lesson in Portuguese with no script, we love the MTC, we love our district! We heard from a bunch of general authorities this week too, like Sister Bonnie L Oscarson, the Young Women president of the church. She was lovely and talked about how vital having the Spirit is in teaching and that when we bear our testimonies from our hearts no matter how little of the language we know, it will always bring the Spirit. And that is SO true. I am already seeing that in the few lessons we've had!

Now here's the kicker...

Life kind of turns you on you head right when you start to get the hang of things. So yesterday in class with Irmao Gray we got an announcement for 6 people in our districts to go to the travel office. Sisters Andersen, Belluomini, and Houskin, as well as Elders Brailsford, Johnson, and Merrill got their visas and leave tomorrow. I'm heartbroken right now that my companion and friends are leaving, but also pretty honored that the Lord must have something else in store for me right now. There's a pretty good chance that my visa could get here this week and I, as well as a bunch more from our districts, will meet up with our friends in the Sao Paulo MTC. So pray for our visas please:) Right after I got the news I had my interview with Irmao Gray and we talked about how we don't always know what Heavenly Father has planned for us, but we do know that he cares and He is leading us where we need to be. I am SO grateful for every experience I've had here already and I know I am forever changed for the better because of it.

O Evangelho e verdadeiro!

Paz e Bencoes,
Solo Sister Pace





November 4, 2014

Conquered the first week at the MTC

Oh my gosh this week has been a whirlwind! I have never felt so busy, tired, and blessed in my entire life. After 6 days here minha companheira and I have taught 3 20min lessons in Portuguese! O Dom de Linguas right here! My companion Sis. Andersen is from Pleasant Grove and she went to BYU. She speaks a bunch of spanish and I can pronounce things well in Portuguese so basically we are a power team at learning this language. We also have the exact same birthday and both worked at the creamery in college! She is going to Riberao Preto. We share a room with sisters Houskin and Belluomini and they are going to freaking Manaus. AKA the Amazon jungle!! I love all of them!!! And we are in a class with 2 districts. All of the elders feel like they are my little brothers! They are hilarious! It's crazy how it hasn't even been a week and I would do anything for any of these people. 

Also, mom, I saw the kid we met in the temple on tuesday, Elder Allred! When I saw him I ran over and asked if he remembered me. Haha he had. I see him everyday now because we study in the same building and have the same gym time and such and such. And I've seen a bunch of friends from high school too! Kate Hales, Justin Brown, Becca Flores, and Isaac Bridge. It's so nice to see people from home:) Not like I've been here that long lol! Anyway, it's kind of a problem that my whole district is going to northern Brazil and it's winter in Provo. I'm freezing, but it's okay.

Besides the cold and all the craziness of the MTC. It's amazing here. In everything I do I see Heavenly Father's hand in my life as I'm doing his work. Me-time doesn't exist on a mission because this is the Lord's time. Eu sei que o evangelho e verdadeiro e o Livro de Mormon e o palavra de Deus. Eu amo meu Salvador e eu sei que a Igreja e verdadeira!!

I love you all! Tchau!
-Sister Pace

My address is:
Sister Terra Pace
DEC08 BRA-NAT
2013 N 900 E Unit 352
Provo, UT 84602