Para de Minas

So here I am, kicking it in a new area! Leaving Janaúba was a trip- but change is all part of the process of life. Especially life on the mission..
So I´m about an hour and half away from Belo Horizonte. Its nice to not be so far away. Although, the city we´re in still feels a bit isolated, because it´s just us 2 missionaries here. In the whole city. I´m sure that doesn´t mean a whole lot to you, but its weird. Usually there is a dupla of elders. The closest elders are our district leaders, and the live in the neighboring city, 45min away. But still. Its rad. My district is cool so far. Some random member from their ward got so excited to meet me (apparently someone told him about me, what he heard, I have no idea) that he called me and sang me happy birthday, then bought me a birthday present (a porciline owl playing the cello) ALL before I ever met him..So to say the least, I´ve felt very welcomed here. The members of the branch have ooed and awed about me playing the organ (a lovely contrast to the reactions Ive gotten in the past...)The branch here is very small, but the members are all really excited and willing to work to help the branch grow.
On another note, I read a cool quote the other day: Soak it into your bones:
"Prayer is not a substitute for work; it is a sometimes desperate effort to work FURTHER and to be efficient beyond the range of one´s powers. It is not the lazy who are most inclined to prayer; those pray most who care most, and who, having WORKED HARD, find it INTOLERABLE to be defeated." George Sahtayana (whoever that is)
But this was a eye opener for me. Prayer is not a substitute for work. Its not a substitute for doing our part, for following through, for working out our own problems. It is however a source of strength and further illumination. I saw that a LOT this past week, and it was INCREDIBLE! This week was so awesome because I saw the help of the Lord- because I understood how to look for it.
Another cool quote is:"Desire can be measured through preparation."
So what are you preparing for? And what SHOULD you be preparing for? and what are you going to START preparing for as of THIS very moment?
Anyway, so yeah. Things are good. Next week I´ll send pix.A quick shout out to Daniel Carter and Becky Liebing for sending me letters!! thaaaaaaaaaaaank you! love love love!Which reminds me! I had the craziest dream the other night! It was one of those dreams that I thought was REAL life! (which rarely happens to me) I was hanging out with the Carters (michael, daniel and lisa) and we were all talking about our missions, and I kept saying "it passed by so fast." and then I stopped and I was like "wait a minute, it passed by WAY fast! What happened?! I had way more time left! Someone stole 8 months of my mission!" and I was running around like crazy trying to find someone to give me the rest of my mission time back. I was SO sad! and then I woke upppppppppppppp: Here! I was so stoked! It was straight out of a movie- I was like "I´m back!" lol Anyway, so needless to say, I´m happy to be here. But I am working harder to appreciate every minute- just a little bit more.mmmk loveyoubye sb