Another awesome week!

This week was once again, awesome. It is always an awesome week though. This Friday was the wedding! It went so well! This computer won´t let me send pictures outherwise there would be a picture overload because last week the computer was dumb too. Dang it! Cida and Claudinei! Ahhhhhhhhh I am so happy for them!! Cida decided not to be baptized this week because she has a phobia of water, she almost drowned twice, so yeah. But we are hopíng that she will this week! We know that she knows it is true. Claudinei´s baptism. Oh my gosh! There has beeen the most incredible difference in him since we first met him. He was kind of a sad looking person before, but now he is always so happy and smiling. He is so solid. He always wants to do what is right. The Spirit was strong at his baptism. To know that he has made that specail covenant with his Heavenly Father and is on his way is truly amazing. He can be sealed with his family one day! He can hold the preisthood!  It makes me so happy for him. Just pure happiness for him! When people are baptized, you just think holy cow this is what it is all about. Bringing people unto Christ! The same day as the wedding we visited a reference we had waited on visiting all week, her name is Camila. We talked to her for a little, and invited her to the wedding. She said she would come, so we arranged for a ride to pick her up because she lives far! When we got there she was waiting with her daughter at the gate. After the wedding we were showing her around the chapel and she started talking to Sister Waite and I and said that she felt so much peace around us. She also said that she felt like she had known us her whole life. I then bore my testimony of why we are happy, and we bring peace, because of the gospel! There was a sweet spirit. Yesterday we visited her and her mother and it went super well. Later that night, Sister Waite and I were planning when we get a phone call. It was Camila. At first she just asked if we got home okay, and made remarks about it being cold. After a little she says, so I read that chapter you marked and at first I was a little unsure if I should be baptized. But after reading that chapter, I want to baptized, I know it is true! I started jumping up and down in the kitchen. When we visited her, her sister in law and Mom were super receptive as well. I am so excited for them! What is funny is  that my second week here, none of our investigators showed up for church. Zero. It is a sad feeling. Then that Sunday we met Claudinei´s family. This Sunday no one showed up again. Que tristeza. Then we taught Camila and her family. Da hora. We knew that this week would be slowing down, and we kept praying that the Lord would guide us to find more people. When we do that, we need to put in the work though. We just can´t pray and wait for things to happen. At first, it seemed like not much was going on, but the Lord will ALWAYS answer our prayers. He also promises us in 3rd Nephi that if we pray for something good, with real intent, He will give it to us.I have a testimony of that! Because not only has it happened this week, but many times. Thanks so much for all the prayers! I can feel them! I love you guys!

Love love love love,

Sister Carvalho

Good week!

This week was soooooo good! Yay! So starting with last Monday. We had a P-Day with our zone and I had my first chuhassco while in Brasil! So good. Followed by, Pedro´s batismo! That little boy is incredible. When we first started teaching his family it was through Josi who gave us a reference to his mom, Cida. As a newbie, it is my job to invite people to be baptized. As soon as I invited him and Cida, he raised his hand right as I was done talking and said `Can I please give my opinion´and we were like yes of course! I want to baptized. Ahhhhhhhhhh. Except he didn´t turn 8 until last Monday and he chose to be baptized on his birthday! Cida and Claudinei (his parents) are getting married this Friday at the church and baptized on Saturday. I love that family SO much. Holy cow. They all have changed so much. But I will write more about the rest of the family next week. Just to show you the type of little boy Pedro is, I want to share a story his Mom (cida) told us. During that week she said Pedro, after church next week we can stop by the feira (like a farmer´s market) and get you a pastel. He looked at Cida and said no mom we can´t do that! When she asked him why he said, because at church we learned that we need to keep the sabbath day holy, and if we buy that pastel, the man will have to work to make it for me and that isn´t keeping the sabbath day holy. He then suggested that they buy some coxinhas (brasilian food, mmm so good) and that Cida fry them for him the night before on a Saturday so that no one would have to work. I love Pedro!!!! After his baptism we had a family home evening with Pedro´s family at Luzia´s house because it was her birthday too and a few people from the ward came as well. So much good food. It´s a killer. Sister Waite and I then taught a lesson on D&C 137 and eternal families. At the end, Sister Waite bore her testimony and the Spirit was so strong. Then I bore mine, and the Spirit was so so strong. I know that this gospel is true and that families can be together forever! When I bore my testimony, it made me think of my family and how much I love them. And that the gospel, makes me so happy. I can´t help but say that every email because it does. You want true happiness~ Then anchor your life in the gosepl and in Christ. I promise you that you will feel happiness. Bearing my testimony made me feel so alive and it truly showed me why I am here in Brasil. It was so good. I now would like to share an adventure I had with Sister Waite this week. (Oh ps everyone keeps asking me about bugs because they know I am terrified. I haven´t seen any besides a huge spider but I think that is because the first time we went shopping here I bought a can of Raid and I spray it around the house at least twice a week. The goal here is to avoid bugs) So we were trying to get to a neighborhood called Cecap and I wanted to take the bus because it was hot. It´s hot here and it is winter. I am so scared for summer. Anyways, I could tell that Sister Waite wasn´t as enthused but didn´t say no either so we took the bus. This was the first ´shortcut´. When we reached the stop I was like okay let´s go and Sister Waite was just like oh no, it will drop off closer. One more stop. No it will drop us off closer. We started going down this highway and I am like ahhhhh so the next stop we got off and had a long ways to walk. After 15 minutes of walking we finally can see the neighborhood and we see these little boys running into this huge huge field with horses in it. If we crossed the field it would be another shortcut. Sister Waite loves adventure and turns to me and says Sister, let´s cross the field. I was just like uhhh, are you sure~ Sister Waite just said yeah yeah yeah, let´s go! I relucantly went, because I felt bad after the whole bus fiasco. We start trekking this field and my feet would go in past my  ankles in this grass. Sister Waite is just laughing and is like ahhhhhh this is so cool, and I am thinking there is probably super scary bugs in this and snakes and I was just stressed. We were almost done crossing it when I stepped in a little bit of water and I was like what is this. Sister Waite was ahead and 20 seconds later she says sister, I just stepped in water past my ankles. She was like let´s just go, and I said no thank you I will cross the field and go around. We stood there trying to decide what to do when the little boys who were on the other side of the field yelled, Girls over here! We cross the field to where they were and they said just go through here it is just water. We went through it and the water literally went up to my knees almost. It was so funny. I then quoted Pride and Prejudice after and said, ´did you see her hem~Six inches deep in mud´ Except I had pulled my skirt so it was fine. The moral of the story here is don´t take shortcuts. They are never worth it, and good hard work will always pay off in the end. Thank you all so much for your prayers and examples. I love all of you lots!!!

An update!

So emailing stresses me out. It is official. I haveen´t quite figured out the tatic yet to get to everyone. And I feel SO bad when I can only write a short response, or don´t write back at all. Also, everyone probably thinks I am a spaz. Which I am. But it´s cool. But truly, all the emails mean so much to me. And make me so happy! I read them all, and I promise to get back to you all eventually. I am sorry if I have hurt anyone´s feelings. I had uploaded all the pictures last week and then they wouldn´t send and Sister Waite said we could only send two at a time. So only two random ones got sent. I am going to try an cover lots of questions that were asked. So I live in an apartment a house away from the church building just Sister Waite and I. It is on top of a Xerox place. It is sweet! The members here are so good! I have a firm testimony that missionary work best happens through the members. At home I was always really passive on sharing the gospel. I didn´t want to offend anyone or make things weird. But it is so important. And it won´t be weird if you share it with love. Don´t we all want others to know how happy the gospel makes us? All of the people we baptized were all references from the members. All of them! Something else that I am sure of is that the Lord prepares people. I am nothing but an instrument in the Lord´s hands.My job is to be prepared by having the Spirit with me and reading my scriptures. I know that if I am doing those things, the Lord will guide me to the right people, and have me know exactly what He wants me to say. Just this week we visited a less active member that said she just didn´t feel like going to church. Nothing had happened, no one had offended her, she just felt most comfortable at home. She just always wants to stay home. Just that morning I had read 3rd Nephi 9:13-14(I am nt 100% sure it was 9. It might have been 10) where Christ says to come unto Him. It is so simple! The gospel is so simple. We are the ones that complicate it. All Christ wants is for us to come unto Him. We can be our happiest and best if we have faith in the Lord and come unto Him. Ahhhh the gospel is so good! So good. So I was able to share that with this lady, because I know that the Lord wants her to come unt Him! And she will be happy again and not want to stay home all the time! This week we had four baptisms, and one later on today at 5! Lorena is blessed. The members are excited about missionary work, they love the missionaries, and the references they have are prepared! During all four of their baptisms, I just felt warm. Like a blanket was wrapped around me. I am so happy for them! I know that this choice that they made will bless their lives so much. I am so happy that the happiness the gospel brings me, they can have it too! Ahhhhhh BATISMOS! First there was Silvia and Ana Marcia. Their mom was baptized 13 years ago and is inactive. We found them because we were teaching another family (their story soon to come) and Silvia is their neighbor so she was always there. We taught them and they both got so excited. Alessandra their mom was really quiet at first but after the baptism something within her awakened. We visited her after and she was just like I need to do what is right!  I know what is true, and I am going at it full force. I am so excited for them. Next is Kaylane! Her two brothers were baptized last month, and now she was! Their family is so sweet! They already all read scriptures together and they are so well mannered! I love them. Lastly we have Felipe. Poliana gave him as a reference and HOLY COW. We stopped by at first and just gave him a pamphlet on the Restoration because we were on our way to another visit. When we came back the next day, he was just like yeah all of this stuff is stuff I had already believed in before. I just have a few questions on the preisthood and how the church was restored.  WHAT!? Okay! His faith and prepardeness just amazes me. I am so so so happy for all these people. And I am so happy that they have the gospel in their lives now. I know it will change their lives for the absolute best. I know that Christ lives, and loves us. I know that if we come unto Him everything will just fall into place. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God and that he restored the true church on the earth. I love the gospel, and I am so grateful that I can share it with everyone. Thank you so much to everyone that has influnced my life thus far and has helped me get here. Love you!

PS If you send me a letter by the end of this week, I will for sure get it the 30th because Sister Waite and I have to go to the mission officce then to renew her visa. Wooo.

Pictures!

I have no more time because my computer crashed but here are a few pictures! I am loving it here. Missions are the best ever!! Bianca made American food for us on Fourth of July. I made my flag cake that I make every year but there wasn´t any strawberries so I used MnMs. I love America! Love you all, thank you for the support and prayers!

Sister Rodriguez my CTM companion! I love her! 

Sister Correa is from Columbia and is one of my most favorite people!

My MTC district! Love them longtime.

My Chilean twin

The other fake Brazilians like me! Woooo

Sister Waite

Be at peace Father. I crack myself up sometimes.

Marco De Paz at Aparecida. 

The ward members that came plus everyone!!!

All the people being baptized and the baptizers!

Your thumb is always bigger than the moon old sport. 

 Kaylane!! Her two brothers were baptized a month ago and the parents have to wait for the husbands divorce to go through so they can get married and hen be baptized. I LOVE this family.

 Felipe! Ah they are so cool. They were baptzed yesterday!

Festa Julinha!! Those little girls make me feel like a big sister still. I miss my sisters too much.

Cristina! She is like the missionary mom. She feeds us and loves us. She tells me I remind her of her daughter that I met at the MTC. I will say stuff and they are like she is Samantha.(her daughter)

that bird was frightening. I only smiled for the picture. 

BREVI!!!! Tell them I love them.

Fourth of July at Bianca´s 

My traditional flag cake!

Two p days ago we went to Aparecida! The Pope is coming herre the 24th. Sister Waite and I sang The Sound of Music the WHOLE time.

Blessings! So many blessings!

Soooooo my area is Lorena! Me and my companion SIster Waite are opening the area. She reminds me of a mixture of Alison and Lexi. Sooo she s great. Ta da! It took three and half hours to get here from Sao Paulo, it super close to the borders of my mission. It is a little town "no interior" so none of the violence or protests is going  on here. The protests kind of remind me of Les Mis "Do you hear the people singgg!" hahahaha. So I can´t really recount the mtc because it feels like forever ago. But it was really good and I learned a lot. Lorena is incredible. We didn´t even get to the city and the bishop already called us to pick us up On Tuesday we went to Lorena with some Elders who were also being tranferred near there. and take us to our house. All of the elders kept making fun of me for having two suitcases and one carry on, they kept asking if I was serving a three year mission. I am not even sorry about it, I need all that stuff! Lorena is incredible. We didn´t even get to the city and the bishop already called us to pick us up and take us to our house. We got there at like10:30 and then at 11:30 his wide came and brought us Brazilian hot dogs. So nice. The members here are incredible! Ahhhh! The next day Cristina ( a lady from the ward) called us to say that her daughter would show us around town. We visited a some members, then went to Bianca´s house for lunch, who Poliana ( Cristina´s daghter) said spoke English so she would be thrilled to talk to us. We get there and this Brazilian lady starts whipping out perfect SOUTHERN English. It is so funny! She made such good food and then we were talking to her and her husband Alessandro about conversion stories, and he said he took a five years to get baptized after his sister ANdrea but that the pioneer missionary in his family was Elder McDonald in 1988. I was like WHAT!? He doesn´t remember his name though, or where he was from, or if the mission was SAo Paulo or Campinas. So someone figure out if that is Jarom´s dad please. As we were leaving the message, Bianca´s friend came for an English class, and listened to the message and said her and her husband would love a visit. WHAT? We just got here, and we already have an investigator! Her name is Bruna, and her husband is Pedro. More stuff happened obviously but I want to focus on the last two days. Soooo many miracles. We visited a family whose boy´s just got baptized, and the want to teach their sister and the parents. The parents are named Maria and Carlos and they aren´t married but hope that they soon will be! They bth want to be baptized. As we were talking, one of the nieghbors came up and said he talked to one of his Mormon friends and would like us to stop by. His name is Elio. Well we didn´t go back for a few days because it is on the other side of town, but we did one day and they weren´t home. That same day As we were walking home, we were so tired. We probably walk 10-12 miles a day. Anyways, I was thinking I really wish a member would show up with a ride. We had a forty minute walk ahead of us. When puff, Elio and his wife Priscilla show up and offfer us a ride! And we had been wanting to talk to them. We were feeling so blessed! That was Saturday. Sunday none of our investigators came to church. Which was sad. But then things got incredible. After church, the ward missionaries, Suely and Josi, came with us on visits. Josi had a reference that we went to visit. The parents aren´t married, but they said they would this week to get baptized! And there son wants to be baptized too! The lady´s name is Cida. As we were teaching, the scripture John 3:5 popped into my head. I didn´t even know that scirpture. I decided to look it up quietly while SIster Waite was talking and it had everything to do with baptism. Which minutes later, she asked me to explain. Miracle number two.Also that this family wants to be baptized. It feels like there are just golden investigators being dropped from Heaven. Ahhhhhhhh. Miracle number three happened when we went back to visit Elio and Priscilla. We taught them, and they aren´t married either. They love each other so much and want to be with each other for eternity. So guess where I am going tomorrow? THE CARTORIO so they can get married! And they are getting baptized. Wooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Also, I saw a HUGE spider in their house and I kept praying that it wouldn´t come out or come by me, and that prayer was answered. I love my mission. I love it I love it I love it! I have grown already, and have learned already. This work isn´t our work. This isn´t my mission, it´s the Lord´s! So all of these incredible things come through Him. He wants everyone to be happ and have this gospel. Yay I just love everything. I wanted to put in pictures, but don´t have time! Also, 30 emails. Holy cow you guys. I love all of you!!!!

SIster Carvalho