Oi gente,

Oi gente. Como estão? Yeah? Great! Me too!
Sounds like life is trucking along over there. Here too. Its been a good week though. Full of ups and downs as missionary life always does, but thankfully much less emotional. Yesterday was interesting, my zone leader and my district leader worked with Sis. Ferreira and I all day. It was weird to have FOUR of us, but it was REALLY good. I learned a LOT. Most importantly I realized I don´t speak nearly as often as I should. I´m very insecure about my portuguese, but Im working through it. We met a lot of cool people yesterday, and made lots of good contacts. Which is good because almost all of our "progressing investigators" in one way or another fell to NOT progressing. :( triste de MAIS! But we´re praying hard and working to do all that we can.
I had an intesting epiphony the other day. Newfound knowledge is to be used. Now, that sounds like a no brainer, but I´ve recognized a lot of things in my life that I KNOW, but don´t act on. Being a missionary and sharing new knowledge and expecting CHANGE from each person has opened my eyes to how priceless a trait it is to ACT on knowledge gained. Here is a simple- and no brainer example, but to further my thought, humor me and apply it to daily life:
I floss (yes michael, I floss daily) my teeth. Because modern day knowledge has given me the information that to properly care for my OWN teeth, that I USE and NEED daily- I need to floss. Ive known this my whole life. But I haven´t acted on it. Its weird how easy it is to DECIDE which things in life are optional, when told they are mandatory. My mission president is a dentist, so one day in a zone conference he compared missionary work to being a dentist. It was really quite interesting. Because it made it so clear! There is only so much we can do- reminders, the tools to take care of themselves, sharing the knowledge of why, and how- and even cleaning their "teeth" (BAPTISM! Woo!) But its not worth anything if they chew gum and lollipops all day long, never floss and brush, and then don´t change things when they feel the pain of "cavities" sabe? And more than that, think about this: As a dentist, theyre calling YOU for appointments, and paying YOU to do this work, but then not doing anything to stand on their own!

Now Im not saying everyone is like this- definitely not, Im just saying that those that actually act on and use knowledge are so much happier and so much wiser. So Ive been trying to make this a habit of mine. Its HARD. I never realized how LAZY I am. But thats the beauty of the mission- recognizing flaws, and CHANGING them!

Oh mom, random coincidence: My zone leader Elder Kent is friends with Stephen Turnbow. They went to school together and know each other really well. Crazy huh? He knows Katrina, and Katie too. Random. How is stephen doing anyway? I never did write him. sad.

Anyway, Things are going well here! Im happy and have found a new drive to work harder.
Oh, the other day in scripture study I was reading D&C 25
;12 and realized that we get blessed EVERY time we sing a hymn!!! AWESOME HUH?! Yeah, I was excited.

joia

AH! I was going to ask when fathers day was.. shoot.. WELL! Happy Fathers day papi!! Youre awesome and miss you!! Thank you for being such an amazing father! I hope you can forgive me for not being as appreciative of this as I shouldve been! I honestly love and miss you so much! I hope you had a fantastic day!

Ok then, how to describe this week.. hm... Não sei..
Well first I´d like to shout out a disclaimer:
Last week I was SO emotional- for who knows why. I mailed out a couple letters, and by the time any one receives them, my mindset will be entirely different- SO! I guess I´m learning day by day that the mission, among a million other things- is an emotional rollar coaster! Really, it´s a very emotional experience, and I´ve never really been good at handling emotion- but I´m learning. That´s the beauty of it.

My next disclaimer-friendsss: I need to be able to write everyone here. *with your email address mom* But its SO hard for me because there are things that I can´t tell everyone, you know? I´m praying to know how to resolve this without breaking any rules, but nothing so far is coming to light. But the fact of the matter is, I can´t email friends. only family. SO! For the time being- as uncomfortable as it may be sometimes- to email friends, it has to be here.
[so to help me, if you could just copy and paste the "becky/meg" sections and email it to them- not post it on the blog. In reality I dont know what is going on the blog and not, but just so you know, the bracketed things for specific people- you included- shouldnt go on the blog. Thanks a billion! I love your guts! oh hey, cool thing for you, hymn number 7- in portuguese, sorry I dont remember what it is in english- you can sing the lyrics to that hymn to the melody of come thou fount! Try it! its amazing!]

so this week has been good! Crazy! but good! Oh, I have a story:
K, every day we eat lunch (lunch here is the "big" meal, not dinner.) with a member at their house. Everyday its rice, beans, some form of meat, and sometimes salad. Sometimes it varies slightly, or there is another thing to eat- but thats really my lunch in a nutshell-
For a while I was eating the meat, but if I didn´t have to- like if I was in a home where the hostess didn´t eat with us (which happens surprisingly a lot) or if they seemed like the type that didnt care, then I´d skip the meat. Well the other night Antonia (our landlady and neighbor) made us some meatloaf and rice. So I ate it. and I was sooooooooo sick after. So I re-anylized my ability to eat meat. So the next day at lunch I didn´t eat the meat. And the hostess, Ana paula- seemed like the type that wouldnt care! Apparently I was wrong. She asked why I didn´t take any meat, and EVERYONE all at once explained that I have an "allergy" to meat- which Im actually finding is more and more true- and she had this MAD look on her face, grabbed some money and ran out the door. I was terrified. I decided to ALWAYS eat the meat even if I get sick! She came back with some beans for me. I TRIED to tell her a MILLION times that it wasn´t necessary, but in my broken portuguese... she didn´t care. She understood, but bought it anyway. So the NEXT day I ate the meat. It was good too! It was this amazing eggplant/ham lasagna and a crepe like pancake with some kind of meat in the middle.
And I was soooooooooooooooo sick after. SO. I´ve prayed and prayed- and come to 2 conclusions about my eating habits: its not a sin to not eat meat sometimes! I can say no to the meat. I seriously, as a health reason, just can´t eat it.
2nd: Its not a crime to eat sugar either. This past week I fasted sugar (besides desserts at lunch, because I really didn´t want to cause too much drama refusing the meat AND the dessert.. and I love sugar.. but mostly to not offend anyone..XD) And my body went CRAZY! I LOVE SUGAR! But I need to find a balance. This is an ongoing battle for me, battling the balance of healthy living. Bah. But as long as I remember that my vision of everything in this life isn´t complete. SO. yeah. Trusting the Lord to help me figure myself out- in EVERYWAY. One thing that I learned while on this adventure is this:

Its been said that one must lose themselves in the work of the Lord to find themselves. Before now, I never really realized what a scary thought that is. LOSING oneself is a terrifying experience! But I´m finding that the things I thought defined me, aren´t a part of me at all. And I have to take that leap of faith out of my comfort zone, and into the darkness of the unknown- TO find the light that will illuminate who I actually am. But Its the momentary darkness that I´m struggling with. As of yet, I don´t think I´ve really "lost" myself. I´m not "in" the darkness yet. I´m standing at the mouth of the cave trying to find a way through without going THROUGH..
Its rough. But I´m praying for strength. Its kind of astounding how I find myself spiriling deeper and deeper inside myself, and finding all the things I need to change and get rid of about myself. All at once. Fixing myself of all my flaws is a daunting task. And there it is again- lose myself to find myself. There is a reason Christ is called the light of the world. He lights the way in the dark cavern of confusion that is my doubts and fears. I know that with Him I can become the person I need to be- but I am just NOT there yet. But with Him I will be. I am exhausted in everyway. But I´m finding that my limits are when I DECIDE to 'give up". Its interesting, today I was pondering about this, and I realized that probably everytime I think Ive reached my limits- I stop either emotionally or physically- not because I actually HAD to. Not because I actually couldnt go any more,but because I decided that was my stopping point. Wow! How much more rich could every persons life be if we never decided to stop prematurely! The satisfaction of doing ALL that we could in EVERYTHING would be indescribable! Serving with all my heart, might, mind and strength has found new meaning in my life.
This last sunday there was a conference for all the stakes in brasil (I think. something like that) and Pres. Eyring, Elder Richard G. Scott, and Mary N.Cook spoke to us via satellite. It was amazing! I only wish I spoke more portuguese so I couldve understood it more fully! I dont have my notes with me, so I don´t really know how to tell you what they said, but overall they said something to the effect of:
Budget time wisely- it is essential to be able to budget time effectively to be successful in this life.
Also- cherish family! Take time to know and love them!

and lots more that I just can´t remember. It was very cool though. Rafaela came with us, and the night before she had expressed her doubts about whether the Apostles were actually apostles of Jesus Christ. I LOVE THE HOLY GHOST!!!! Yeah, it finished, she stood up and said "yup, those are real apostles." She was crying all through Pres. Eyrings testimony. AWESOME!! We are working with a lot of cool people right now. Jessica, Daiane, Ana Paula (not the member who bought me beans..), Jose and his family (ARE awesome! and so hard! they ask a lot of deep doctrine questions and I´m pretty sure jose himself is trying to convert us,but everyone else is really attentive an interesting in learning about our message.. actually I think Jose was baptized like 40 years ago.. ??) and various others that are a bit wishy-washy (Ricardo, Arieli, Lucia, Juliana, Camilla, etc). All in all! I´m working hard to express what needs to be expressed. ITS SO HARD!!! AH! I feel like I´m regressing in portuguese some days. Most of the time I finally get a thought out, and I feel relieved because I did it portuguese!!!! And then realize that they didn´t understand me at all. BUT! Yesterday I was gently reminded of the Lord´s response when Moses had a similar complaint upon being asked to preach the gospel. SO! My goal this week is to OPEN MY MOUTH more! Even if they don´t understand. Bah. I´m every emotion. But that most definitely includes happy!

[Mom! How are ya? I have some FHE ideas for you:
Have everyone list every person they know. Every single one. Then ask how many of them in the last week you have shared the gospel- even if theyre members, a spiritual thought counts!- with. Share the gospel!
Also, List the 10 commandments and go through and anylize how you can live EACH one a little better. I kinda skimmed over the 10 commandments growing up (studywise) because it was assumed that "everyone knows them" so It was assumed that everyone was already living them= but in reality we as members of the church need to continually analyze how we can better live the principles of the gospel, and the most definitly includes the 10 commandments. Woot!
só isso.]

Oh one more thought for everyone:

True freedom is knowing how to govern oneself.
Soak that in. soooooooooooooooooak it all in..

Also, Michael, what did YOU listen to on your mission? Where is all your mission music?? Oh and marin too!! Guess what, learning portuguese is like playing mow. Did I already tell you that? hey marin, did you know I havent cut my hair since you last did? I´m trying to be like your sister.. we´ll see how long that lasts..
KLOVEYOUBYE

oi minha familia

Ah! how can I possibly put into words this week?!?! Well, I´ll start with the basics:
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! Learning a new language is the craziest experience! Its ridiculously hard and FUN. I´m catching on- but ONNNNNNNLY when my heart and mind are in the right place, aka, only when I have the spirit with me. But things are going well! I´m learning so much!
Oh! Awesome news:

RAFAELA WAS BAPTIZED!!! And this sunday she´ll be confirmed!!! Oh, Im so happy! It was an incredible day! I wish I knew how to email pictures! Shes such a rad girl! We have some really awesome investigators right now. One family particularly ( I actually dont know their last name, but we just call them Alex´s family, cause we met alex first) are all really interesting people. very loving, excited, intelectual people. They really think about things and internalize- which is fantastic! Alex´s aunt Lucia is a riot, I love her! She came out one night when we were talking to alex and she started telling us we couldnt teach her daughter, and its great we´re teaching about Christ, but they´re CATHOLICS, so we can´t teach her daughter (who was listening in on the first lesson we gave, but her mom wasn´t there at the time)
Well it ended up that we taught her the first lesson, and the next day lended her a BoM, and she is such a loving, animated person. Shes awesome. And her daughter arieli is adorable too.
Anyway, also we´re working with some inactive members. Theyre pretty stubborn, but the spirit is SO strong in the promptings that these people need to come back to church!

This week has been a good one. Ive done a lot of pondering, and have had a lot of awesome experiences. I miss everyone like crazy this week though. Its a good thing its pday, cause I needed some time to focus on everyone I miss so that I can get back to work!

I cant remember if I said this in my last letter, if so- sorry.
if not: here you go:
There was an elder who was explaining to me that on the mission you go through every phase that you go through in life. Right now Im a baby. And its SO true! I am completely dependant on everyone around me, and I have to RELEARN everything I thought I knew! I have to trust others vision because to me- things just arent how they seem. Eating, sleeping, walking, talking, everything is new- and I have to take everything step by step. actually Im pretty sure Im still in the crawling phase. BUT the beauty of it is that recognizing this, I can appreciate this time in the mission. The spirit supports me SSOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much. And I have to work SO hard- and it is NEVER enough to get the message across, so thankfully, the Holy Ghost makes up that difference. Its incredible. I´m really starting to understand things these days, but still there are a lot of phrases and words that I JUST don´t understand. So of course I can understand everyone elses conversation, but as soon as someone directs anything to me, I cant understand it at all. Pois é. But Im loving it.
I went bowling today. I was awful. It was so fun. The mall we went to, to go bowling was HUGE. I think possibly the biggest Ive ever seen in my life. Madness. But I am here in the city, so its to be expected I hear.
Hey, you know what would be cool? Simple recipes. I miss pancakes. But yeah, nothing fancy or with a lot of ingredients, just a couple simple simple recipes I could fix up really quick in the mornings. Its really only breakfast that I need, cause we´re either eating with members or out, during the other hours of the day.
Oh my gosh mom, do you remember those blue rings you sent in the package? I think chelsea got those for me. Anyway, everyone here LOVES them- and Im just talking about the missionaries in my zone! I made the mistake (not really mistake, but I didnt really think about it much) of giving one to a sister who was really sad, and then one to an elder who was leaving (both are brasilian)- and then other missionaries came up and started asking for them! One elder asked for like 15 minutes straight- for like 4 days straight! But I really felt that there were investigators that had a greater need- that really NEED the reminder that they are a "child of God" as the ring says. Anyway, so wow. They caused a bit of a riot. Madness. But its all good now.
Oh hey, could you email me the sheet music to "together forever" by michael mclain? A sister in my ward wants it, and doesnt know where to get it. Itd be good to have in anycase.
Oh hey, were you going to send me a sheet of the thumbnails of the pictures I sent you? I cant remember which are on the CD so I dont know which I can delete.

Cool scriptures: D&C 67:10 and mosiah 29:20
I dont remember now why I wanted to send these to you, but I have them written down. So there. Read them. Love them. Live them.

Wow! Full house is right! Sounds awesome! you´ll have to let me know what happens with Jason and the architecture, pay close attention to the advice for me, cause Im hoping to jump right into that when I get back.

My current saudade: wheat bread. Its ridiculously expensive, so I dont buy it, but i miss it. Oh my, but I LOVE pão de quijo. Its my current addiction. Aside from, obviously, sugar. ooooooooooooooooh sugar..
Im hoping to kick that habit soon though. Not kick, just train it.

Thats exciting the house is getting all organized and clean! Have you thrown all my stuff away :s eh, jk, if you have, I dont want to know, if you havent, thank you.
Yeah, so wednesdays are my pday. Its kinda weird, because I just assumed every missionary everywhere had monday as their pday, but apparently not. not even close.

Ok, well I love and miss you all soooooooooo much! Thank you for your amazing love and support!
até mais! Eu amo vocês para sempre!
This weeks thing to appreciate:
Toilet seats. c´mon kids, seriously, take some time and really appreciate them. They´re a thing of beauty if you look at it right.
ALSO: Much more importantly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Footnotes in the scriptures. I didnt know they dont have them in every language, but I know they DONT have the bible footnotes in the portuguese bible. I never realized how amazing they actually are! Love them!! oooooooooooooh love them!
De novo: Happy birthday matthew! I love your guts! Work hard to learn to work hard, and you´ll enjoy your life 3x as much, I promise! I love you tons and tonssssssssss!

Esta Semana

Woo! Well I made it through my first week! Haha, and I say that like its was a hard thing. Yes, it was hard. I was lost, I was confused, I was even a little sad sometimes because I couldnt tell people what I felt they needed to know. But It is amazing the support and the strength the Lord gives me. I think the hardest day was yesterday. For some UNKNOWN reason I was just really sad! I couldnt really pinpoint what I was sad about! But then I got to my zone conference and received that marvelous package. I could EXPLODE from happiness. That book was INCREDIBLE! And I showed as many people I could get to hold still!!! AA! Its amazing! I cant even put into words how much it means to me! Its everything I could possibly need for a good pick me up at ANY TIME!! And it represents the most important people in my life ALL IN ONE BOOK!! Thank you thank you!So yeah, mission life is crazy. Already Ive learned so much about myself and where I am vs. where I want to be. Most of all Ive learned how amazingly spoiled Ive been my whole life. Its seriously unbelievable what an amazing life Ive had. Thank you all SOOOOO much for contributing to the miracle that is my life! Truly the Lord shows His love to His children in as many ways as possible.Right now we´re teaching some really cool people. They are all really patient with me and try to understand my ridiculous accent, haha.Today Sis. Emiéli Ferreira (thats for you mom, thats her whole name.. more or less.. its at least her first and last.) and I are going to take one of our investigators, Rafaela, with us to the zoo. WOOT! Rafaela is a really cool . She has a baptismal date for sunday, but monday she said she wont get baptised. But we´re still working with her. Its hard for people to change their lives, even when the recognize the truth of the things we´ve taught them. Its SO hard. Its so hard to be SO excited to give them -what I believe with ALL my heart- they need to overcome the trials theyre going through, and be happy in this life- AS WELL AS eternally happy. Such a bizaar concept isnt it? Eternal happiness. But its REAL, and its completely possible! But showing someone the reality of this is so difficult. In this or any other language.BUT! I know Im where the Lord wants me to be, and I just have to do EVERYTHING I can to do it. Its interesting as well, cause I am trying to learn the "culture" persay, of being a missionary, so its hard for me to decide if Im following my companions opinion or the mission standard.My companion is amazing though, SO sweet, and VERY upbeat and excited. Shes really patient too. Shes a very VERY good teacher as well, just overall good. A good good companion. Also, shes very upfront. If there is something I need to do, she doesnt beat around the bush or try and hint- she just tells me. It is AWESOME. That was something I struggled with previously, so its particularly refreshing. OH!This week also, I received a letter from Sis. Hodgson! She was in a trio with a sister who had to leave MY mission to go home temporarily for health reasons, anyway, and the sister came back and brought me a letter from her! What are the chances huh? (Chance? I think not...) and she is doing well, which is good to hear, I had said a little prayer- seriously, a little tiny prayer- that I wish I knew how she was doing. AH! Isnt Heavenly Father AWESOME?!?! I was so happy.Today I did laundry. A very different experience here.SUGAR! my sugar addiction was CRAZY this morning! hopefully I´ll figure out how to get more control over that. :s But yeah.Fun fact: I paid 40 centavas (so 20 or 30 cents) for an avacado bigger than the average grapefruit. Amazing, na??
MATTHEW!!! I wrote you a letter today, but it will get there late so HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Its amazing youre so old.
GWEN!!! I wrote you a letter today too, so I~ll just quick say THANK YOU!!! Your section of the book is so awesome! I cant believe you had the time to make it for me! Im SO flattered, I cant even tell you! And to have a picture of your family warms and lifts my spirits SO much. I miss you all like CRAZY. Oh, I especially loved all the quotes and prayers, they are so perfect. SO perfect! Ah! let me say it again, just for emphasis! So perfect! I love your style of expression, its so unique! Youre amazing. Also thank you for the jacket! Its so cute! and POCKETS! ooooh pockets.. such love.. Youre amazing! Keep up the good work, and know that I love you and your family limitlessly!
Robbie and Lucas: I think of you two everyday because they have some of the most incredible graffiti here. seriously its ART. Beautiful inexplainable art. I wish I could take pictures, but I see all the best ones while on the bus, so there isnt really a way to. But Ill be sure to at least get SOME. Btw, How are you guys? I miss your guts! Each and every one of them! I hope youre both doing well, I love you soo soo much! Lucas, still have a friend? Robbie, you´d better still have a friend! Cause Becca is made of awesome, and it´d be a shame to lose that!
K well Im off to the zoo!! I´ll send pictures when I can, but ... I have no Idea how to.. so.. yeah. ok. I LOVE YOU ALL!!

Suzie's address

Sister Suzanne Blandon
Brazil Belo Horizonte Mission
Rua São Paulo 1781 10° Andar
Bairro Lourdes, Belo Horizonte, MG 30170-132
Brazil