Monday, June 6, 2011

Prontos! Sempre prontos! (Ready! Always ready!)

Since coming here, Ive realized what a miracle cars are.  It takes us 30 mins to walk somewhere when it would only take 5 minutes to drive.  Its kind of crazy. Be thankful for our vehicle.
This week the ward had a casa aberta (open house) for the church Friday and Saturday from 8am-6pm both days.  We stood out on the street to invite people in and a few of the other companionships from neighboring areas came to help us as well.  It was a bit hard, but we were able to receive a lot of referances and I had some really good experiences with people that I showed the church to.  It did make the work a little more difficult on Sunday, though, because we hadnt been able to contact many of our investigators the past two days.  It is a little bit discouraging to invite so many people to church and even go to pick them up, and have them not come.  But on the bright side, one of the people in our area who came to the casa aberta came to church and we are going to go visit him this week, which is exciting.  That really was a miracle. 

The casa aberta also cut into a lot of our study time, and at least for me, that made things a little more difficult.  That study in the morning is really important.  But I did study a bit about courage, that Heavenly Father does not give the spirit of fear, and another scripture I dont remember at the moment in the D&C, but Joseph Smith says, Couragem, irmãos, avante, avante para a vitória!  Or something like that.  Its been my theme for this week, and has helped me to talk to more people.

But I have seen miracles this week, too.  We happened to run into a few of our investigators that we havent been able to get a hold of for about a week and were able to set up an appointment with them.  We also had a few less active members show up for church that we had met with during the week, which was so wonderful to see.

Im excited for the week ahead - we have a few people who are ready for baptism and we are going to work with them this week to help them make that step in their lives. 

Love you all!  Até mais!

Sister Petersen

Here are some answers to questions I sent to Erin this week:
Where do you go to write your emails?  Im at an internet cafe.

If mail is sent to the mission home, how do you get it?  Do they send it on to you or wait to give it to you at a meeting of some kind?   I have to wait until the ZLs go there and bring the mail back - they go once a month.  You also send packages to the mission home

What is the best thing you have eaten?  I have eaten so many good things, but I think my favorite is something they call mouse, but its a little bit different.  Bascially, you take 1 part cream, 2 parts sweeten condenced milk and 1 part real fruit juice, blend it all together and freeze it.  Its soooo good.  We always make it with a fruit called maracujá, which is another one of my favorite things here.  Its really tart, so you really only eat it when you make things with it.

How is the language coming?   Good question... Im thinking Im going to take a video of myself talking in portugues every week, that way Ill be able to see my progress, or lack there of. Sister Freitas says its a lot better than when I came here, but its difficult for me to tell, especially because there is still so much I dont understand and so much that I still struggle to say

Can you print out the pictures we send with your emails?  Not really.  There's a way to do it, but I dont know enough portugues to figure it out yet - its a little complicated =]

So, what is a typical day like?  Typical day.... Wake up at 6:30 and exercize for half hour.  Shower, eat, and start personal study at 8, companionship study at 9, and then language study at 11.  We usually leave a little before noon for almoço with a member - lunch is the main meal here, so that is when the members feed us - and so usually by 1, 1:30 we are out walking and talking with people. Usually we will get something to eat really quick around 6 or 7.  But we walk as we eat.  we walk all day long until 9, when we get back home, have planning session for the next day which is only supposed to take a half hour but usually takes longer, and then we get to bed at 10:30.

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