OH MY! Time flies! Being that transfers were today I dont have time to write all the things I want to!! Eee!!But here are the more interesting happenings:1. I was transferred!!! I´m now in a city called "Nova Cidade" (no, thats not a joke, its seriously the name of the city..)and the fun part is: My companion and I are opening this area!! To sisters that is, it was elders before. But that means that neither of us knows where anything is.. fun huh?2. I turned senior! woo! That means I have more time on the mission, and Im in charge of the cell phone.. muahaha..No, just kidding, its more than that, but seeing as I have only a few hours in this new position, Im not sure what the difference.3. My new companion! Sis. Smith! She´s from west Jordan. Fun huh?I´m excited, she´s a fun girl. She has 5 months on the mish.4. I received the birthday package from becky and meg!!! LOOOOOOVE!!! Thankssssssssssssss Im so happy!!!5. My "mom" (my trainer here in the mission) "Died" today! (went home) Wow I feel so old! Its madness!!
Aside from that, theres not a whole lot to say. But with those 5 things, there would potentially be a WHOLE lot to say, but Im out of time.I absolutally loved the area I was in, and my companion Sis. Gaspar as well. But I´m excited to learn new things here in Nova Cidade.Last transfer was really a spiritual one for me, and it has me pumped up to work harder. I love this work. I can´t even put into words how much I love this work. I love being a missionary!!! I can´t believe how much I have learned about my Saviors love for me, how much I have learned about God and our relationship with Him, how much I have learned about eternity!! Not to mention getting being here in Brasil! Its fantastically wonderful. I do miss you all at home though. I got a letter back today that I wrote to the dutchers because somehow the letter got all hashed, so it got sent back. I´ll try sending it again... we´ll see how the second time goes.Anyway, I wish I had more time- but today was transfers, I really am without time. I love and miss you all.Com amor- Sb

Catastrophy keeps us together

Oh my! Well, the weeks are flying! I can´t believe this transfer is almost over (sometimes when I say that phrase i feel like a broken, and very cliché record.. everyone says it. But its true. I can´t believe it.)
Sis. Gaspar is so much fun! She talks pretty much NON-STOP. Its awesome. I love it.anyway, about my week..So one day we were looking for an address, and it was REALLY hot. We were wandering around, and then Sis. Gaspar decided to take a little rest at a bus stop. So we sat in the shade, trying to get the courage to brave the sun again. But it was interesting, we sat down, and although we knew we needed to get going, I (and I believe Sis. G as well) felt like we needed to wait. So we were sitting there, for seemingly nothing. A lady came to the bus stop to catch a bus, and we started talking to her. We sang her a hymn, and marked to visit her at her house. She was very nice and friendly. Her bus came, and she left, and we started on our way again. Well, we had trouble finding her house, and it wasnt near our other investigators, so we werent able to go on the day we marked. In the end we found her house a couple weeks later, and she was SO excited! She was like "I thought you had both left! It feels like its been years since that day at the bus stop! I felt so good when you two sang me that hymn. And that peace I felt was so wonderful! I´m so glad you came to visit! Its funny, I thought you were waiting for a bus, but then when I got onto the bus I saw that you left- that you were waiting there for nothing, and I thought, 'they must have been waiting there for me!' It wasn´t a coincedence that we met that day!" Its incredible to see how the Lord leads us. Something SO simple as just WAITING. So we´ve been teaching her and her daughter (Maria Fatima and Luciene). Maria fatima LOVED church last week, and she´s been working really hard to learn how to pray instead of ... rezar *yeah I dont know if that word even exists in english..* Its rad.We´re also teaching a really cool family, but to explain them and why they´re rad would take forever, so suffice it to say that they LOVE us. The other night we were walking home and we passed by their house, and they live on a fairly busy street. Anyway, so we were on the OTHER side of the street, and the way their house is, you cant see the road very well from inside the house. Anyway, so we´re walking past and Patricia RUNS out and with the Book of Mormon in her hand was like "sisters!! Sisters!!" We got worried that she was trying to give the book back or something (because that happens like that sometimes) and she was like "Hey remember that part you marked in this book? And you asked a question, and said the answer was in this chapter? Well, I want to answer first, so let me tell you right now k?? Then tomorrow when you visit you can tell everyone that I discovered it first!! Everyone else has already read, but I figured it out first!!" Haha! She then explained the rest of the chapter to us. It was so funny. She´s a riot. Someday remind me, and I´ll tell you more about her.
Anyway, Sis. Gaspar said something SO profound on monday:She said that she heard a quote that goes something like this:
Critisism is a very dishonest way of praising yourself.
Soak that one in.When was the last time you critisized someone? And why?Now I´m a lot more conscious of what I´m saying, and recognizing in myself pride that I want to overcome. I think pride is the hardest thing to recognize in oneself - but its a VERY dangerous trait to have.
Can you guys believe its march already? Madness.
2 corinthians 7:4 is a freaking awesome scripture. Ive been thinking a lot about happiness lately.And as everyone knows, but seldom believes:Happiness is NOT the absense of problems.I´m grateful to be learning this amazing lesson!
cool quote from Elder Bednar:"Prayer is a privilege and the souls sincere desire. We can move beyond routine and "Checklist" prayers and engage in meaningful praryer as we appropriately ask in faith AND ACT. As we patiently persevere through the trial of our faith, as we humbly acknowledge and accept 'not my will but Thine be done. .... asking in faith REQUIRES: honesty, effort, commitment and persistence"
Anyway, I´m sorry I dont know how to better capture the misson experience to share with you. But I hope that you all know that I KNOWthis gospel is true. Everyday the Lord is opening my understanding to the truths of these things. I know God loves His children. That means you and me. I´m so grateful to be here!!! Sometimes it takes over all my senses. I love my Savior Jesus Christ. I´m grateful to shout it out to everyone I meet- that He is our Savior. That He lives. That His teachings and gospel are the instructions that lead to eternal and true happiness.
Send me pictures.
kloveyoubye-sbMeg: happy bday last week! Sorry I didnt say it last week. I love you! XDAlex: Im sending you a billion hugs because I miss you like crazy.Gwen- I dreamed we hung out for hours! It was so much fun! I´m sure it will be much more fun when its real... haha I miss and love you! Give everyone in your fam a hug for me, cause Im missing them too. Including your parents! XDMarie: I got an enya CD, and I have a billion flash backs of memories of you everytime I listen to it. I miss you.Becky: I love you! muito!!

Nothing to Post

Sorry, Everyone. There's nothing to post this week. Suzie ran out of time. She says she is well and very happy, so no worries.

This Week

Thanks to Robbie: QUIZ TIME! WOO!


Welcome to the 2009 edition of getting to know your friends. Press 'FORWARD' then change all the answers so they apply to you, and then send this to your friends including the person who sent it to you. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little things about your friends that you might not have known!

1. What time did you get up this morning?
6:30am *surprise surprise*

2. Diamonds or pearls?
I enjoy stones that have lots of colors. But if I had to chose, it´d be diamonds.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
You know, everyone always asks that, and I just don´t remember. Does anyone remember for me? What was the last movie I saw in the theaters??? Please, really do let me know if you remember..

4. What is your favorite TV show?
Pica-pau (woody woodpecker) or chaves. Because thats the only tv I see these days. These two shows play in EVERY house- any given hour of the day.. so when we to to lunch or any house really, its always playing.
..in reality I don´t like either. Though pica-pau makes me nastaulgic.

5. What do you usually have for breakfast?
I dont even know anymore. Today it was cereal. Yesterday was yogurt.

6. What is your middle name?
MICHELLE ! Though Ive yet to hear that beatles song.. yikes.

7. What food do you dislike?
Meat. Yes, ALL meat. Even fish. Even Chicken. Yes, Chicken is meat.

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment?
The one with the Belle sticker... ??

9. What kind of car do you drive?
I like to call her "Ônibus" she´s the real deal.

10. Favorite sandwich?
the ones with lots of veggies. (que saudades..)

11. What characteristics do you despise?
Selfishness and small mindedness. Lack of common curtesy or decency.

12. Favorite item of clothing?
currently? uh.. my yellow skirt that Tereza made me.

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
Everywhere. I HAVE to see: Japan, England, Nicaragua and the rest of Brasil.

14. Favorite brand of clothing?
uh... jody? she makes some pretty sweet dresses... lol

15. Where would you retire to?
PA. washington maybe. somewhere near an ocean.

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday?
VINTE DOIS! yeah I´m pretty old.

17. Favorite sport to watch?
Pateca

18. Furthest place you are sending this?
Everything is far from here.

19. Person you expect to send it back first?
Becky. She loves me like that.

20. When is your birthday?
JANEIRO 31 1987

21. Are you a morning person or a night person?
I definitely am [[[being forced to be]] a morning person [[right now]] haha

22. What is your shoe size?
7 or 7-1/2 (now don´t you have the urge to buy me shoes?? I know you do.. go on. Follow your instincts.. jk ... )

23. Pets?
I´m still dealing with the trauma of losing Jupiro, I don´t think I should try another pet for a while...

24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us?
I made german pancake for breakfast.

25. What did you want to be when you were little?
A music teacher

26. How are you today?
Allergetic.
27. What is your favorite candy?
almost any and every form of chocolate.

28. What is your favorite flower?
I´m fond of the flower trees we have here. the bright pink and purple ones.

29. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to?
Well TODAY is pday so... NEXT pday?

30. What is your first name?
Sister XP
31. What are you listening to right now?
switchfoot

32. What was the last thing you ate?
german pancakes.. delicious.
33. Do you wish on stars?
These days I´m a bigger fan of asking GOD for my wishes and needs, rather than balls of fire in the sky.. Though I´m pretty sure I´m in love with the stars.Random fact: I was looking at orians belt last night and missed Marie.
34. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Literally: BROWNBut if I could choose: Blue, teal or grass green. (possibly swirly crayon with all three..)

35. How is the weather right now?
Perfect. Seriously. Perfect.

36. The first person you spoke to on the phone today?
Elder Do Vale. He wanted to know how we are feeling today.

37. Favorite soft drink?
I´m not a huge soda fan. Were I to base it on which I drink the MOST- it would be Guarana. But then again, I don´t really get to choose..

38. Favorite restaurant?
Stop & shop. I´m a sandwich fan.

39. Real hair color?
You know, I actually can see my real hair color these days. Its a bit of a trip. Its brown. yeah. Pretty exciting.

40. What was your favorite toy as a child?
I liked a little Wendy´s toy. It was a little guy who had lips for a head. He wore yellow polka dotted pj´s and was holding a teddy bear. He was standing so that his toes were touching.

41. Summer or winter?
winter? Where?

42. Hugs or kisses?
Não pode.

43. Chocolate or vanilla?
Chocolate (!x100000000000)

44. Coffee or tea?
blech, neither.

45. Do you want your friends to email you back?
YES! But can they? No. Snailmail me. you know you want to.

46. When was the last time you cried?
A couple weeks ago. I thought about crying yesterday. No dice.

47. What is under your bed?
I don´t know, but it smells so foul.. I keep looking, but to my primitive eyes, there is nothing..

48. What did you do last night?
I walked for about an hour to find Vinicius, but in the end we just ended up inviting him to church and marking another hour to teach him and his girlfriend.

49. What are you afraid of?
oct ´09

50. Salty or sweet?
..::**¨%SWEET%¨**::..

51. How many keys are on your key ring?
4

52. How many years at your current job?
Jobs are for suckers.
53. Favorite day of the week?
Wednesdays, tuesdays and sundays.

54. How many towns have you lived in?
Here in Brasil: 3 Belo Horizonte, Janaúba and Pará de Minas

55. Do you make friends easily?
I´m a bit hazy on the definition of "friend" But I´d like to think so, yeah.

56. How many people will you send this to?
? one.. my mom :D

57. How many will respond?
2500!!
(I´m hopeful)

Anyway, now that we have all had a trip down memory lane (who isnt remembering high school right now??)This week has been rad. Gloria received the Holy Ghost this sunday. It was really awesome to see the glow in her face. She has really worked hard to be obedient to the Lord and His commandments.Yesterday in district meeting I gave a training about obedience. It was really fun. I had a lock and various keys, and I talked about how obedience is the key to everything we want and need to acheive in this life. God knows exactly what we need to be happy. To be as happy as possible- and that is exactly why He has given us the commandments and modern day prophets that He has. I read a lot of scriptures. Here are some:D&C: -78:7 -130:18-21 - 107:99-100 - 82:9-10
These scriptures are incredibly profound. I invite ALL of you to read them, and really ponder what this means in your life.A cool quote I heard the other day:"It makes ALL the difference to eternity whether we do right or wrong today." - James F. Clark
And its so true. It was a cool experience to teach.Then afterward I was talking to Elder Jackson. He just got here this transfer, and he was like "wow, how long did it take you to get fluent?" I laughed and said "oh, I´m not fluent, I´m not even close" and he said "by the sounds of that training it looks like you´re pretty fluent to me!" it was a good feel good moment for me.
Sis. Gaspar and I have been having an "English Hour."Where we speak in english for an hour a day. She´s learning really well. Its fun too. She´s such a riot.
Oh, belated Happy Valentines day to all you happy couples out there. And a happy singles awareness day to everyone else :)Although here, valentines day isn´t until june... so.. yeah.
Anyway, I´m really grateful to be here right now. This week I´ve had a lot of little reminders and testimonies that God knows and loves me- and didn´t put me just anywhere. I love that feeling.
Alrighty then- COM AMOR, ATÉ SEMANA QUE VEM.. ... (se der.. jk)
- sb

Last Week's letter (Sorry, Everybody!)

Olá!Well this week has been incredible! This week we had a baptism. It was a little bit out of the norm, because I can honestly say I hadn´t taught this woman a single lesson. I don´t think my companion ever taught her a LESSOn, though she´s shared some scriptures with her..Because this woman, Gloria, has been going to church here in Pará de Minas for FOUR years!! But she couldnt get baptized because of family problems. She told me her story yesterday- it was incredible!! She was living in another state, when her mom died. She was so sad. She was walking through town one day, and some sisters stopped her to make a quick contact. They didn´t have much time, but they gave her a book of mormon right then and there and told her they´d go to her house another day to explain it. They mentioned that she could help her mom, who had passed away, have salvation too! This line stuck out to her, and she remembered it throughout the years! But she moved, so those sisters werent able to teach her. I´m sure they have no idea what a difference that 5 minute contact made in the life of this woman. Afterward she was studying with the jehovah´s witness, and they told her she would never see Jesus. She cried and cried and cried!!! And decided that she didnt agree with that religion. She searched others, but never felt right about any of them. One day at work a friend of her´s asked her what religion she was, and she said “estou sem religion agora.” I´m without religion right now. So this friend said “come visit mine!” Explained when and where it was. She asked “it it those mormons?” and he got a little worried (because everything people associate with the title “mormon” is 90% of the time COMPLETELY wrong..) so he was like.. “Uh.. well it´s a nick name yeah, but the name of the church is (etc)” and she said “Then I will be there FOR SURE this Sunday!” But although she didn´t have any problems accepting the message, she had one problem. She had to get married legally. So the misionaries that were teaching her set everything up, and she was about to be married, when her husband (because of a comment someone made about his religion) went all ANTI on her, and so he kicked the missionaries out, he refused to marry her JUST so that she couldnt get baptized. Wow, this story is taking forever.. I don´t have time to explain everything, but suffice it to say that she remained firm in the church, shes dont geneology already, she´s been paying tithing for the past 4 years, and has an INCREDIBLE testimony. She had to seriously fight SO much to stand up for her beliefs! In the end, her and her husband ended their whatnot, but she had no other place to live, so she just moved into a separate room, and started working to be able to feed herself and the missionaries every week. So she got special permission to get baptized this past week, because she´s keeping all of the commandments, and is worthy. She cried SO much. She kept saying “see! The Lord never forgets us.”She cried all through the talks and hymns before the baptism, up until she came out of the water. It was a very cool experience to watch.
Anyway, I was extremely impressed by this woman. It wasn´t ever easy for her. It made me think about all the things that are so easy to take for granted. So often we hear stories like this, or stories of people who sold their houses and possesions to get to the temple, and we say “wow. What an incredible story. Good for them.” But we TOO should be working JUST as hard to give all we can to “work out [our] own salvation”There is a scripture that comes to mind, the one that says we shouldn´t be slothful because of the easiness of the way. (al. 37:46) Its easy to go to church every week- but where is our heart? What about our personal preparation to really GET something out of every week? What about our fasts? Or how are we helping the missionaries in our stake? Or working with inactive or less active members? What are we doing to actually WORK? Don´t take it for granted! Dont let these opportunities for spiritual growth pass you by! Our time here is precious, we need to utilize every second. Anyway, all in all, this week has been incredible. Ive seriously learned SO much. I feel like Ive grown a lot as a person. I´ve got to run, but I wanted to give a quick shout out to the birthdays of today: Grandma!!! And (formerly known as: ) Sis. Sorenson!!! Happy birthday! I love you! alrighty then- até mais com amor- sb Ps- Next week I´m totally posting that quiz robbie sent me..

P.S.

Also, THANK YOU to the Lawson (*brett and roselee) family for the necklace!!! I loooooooooooooooove it! I wear it every day, and write "smile 2 Nephi 9:39" to everyone.
Also, my bday was rad. Everyone and their dog sang me happy birthday (all my leaders in my zone, as well as that random kid) and Presidente Frei called me and told me happy birthday. One of the girls in our branch gave me a pair of earrings. IT was sweet. Sis. Gaspar bought me a chocolate cake!! and sang me happy birthdya, gave me a card, and put up a banner with spiderman stickers all over it that said "feliz aniversario!" She´s so rad.
I´ll send pix next week. (I was going to this week, mas não deu. Desculpe)

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