Email sent: 11/18/2013

So this week we definitely saw the miracles. I always get so impressed with all the miracles that occur. It is the most solid proof that Heavenly Father truly truly loves us and is always watching over us. So as I have said before, we have had a little bit of a hard time finding people to teach. It seemed as if we would make all these plans to teach and then, boom, no one would be home. It can be disheartening, because it is just like AH, I JUST WANT TO TEACH PEOPLE . So we found some people to teach, due to the awesome members of this ward. Wow. They just all really wow me. So I got really really excited. Saturday night rolled around and for some reason, I just felt like good things were coming. Good things are happening. Sunday morning came though and it felt glum though. That soon vanished. We watched the Emma Smith movie with a member this week and it made such a profound impact on my testimony. Something I absolutely loved that she says in the movie is, ´´Sometimes God brings us down low, so He can lift us up higher´´I have seen that pattern happen in my mission almost every other week. It seems glum, but admist it all, Heavenly Father always blesses us. We had five people show up to church this week! One of the five was one of our investigators and at the end of church, we asked how she liked it and she started to cry because she felt the Spirit. Another was the husband of an inactive member and they are both so excited to learn. My prayers of finding people to teach were answered. Heavenly Father provided a miracle. He always does. My scripture study was so correlated to what I was learning as well this week. In Alma 28:14 ( I think it was 14, it was the last verse of the chapter) and it talks about ´´our great call to diligience´´. To me diligence is laboring with your full force despite what conditions surround you. Whether they be great or terrible. I know that as we labor with diligence, the blessings will come. I know that we as members and missionaries, we have this great call to diligence. Yay missionary work! I also read in Alma 27 and in verse 11 I think it says that Ammon´s strength was exhausted because he was so excited. I relate to Ammon because I think he is just as spazzy and crazy as I am. It makes me laugh. But en fim, I love this work. I love seeing all the blessings. Have an awesome week you great people! Also, congratulations to all my friends who got married. Reagan, you looked STUNNING. Seriously all of my friends are married. Hahaha.

Love love love,

Sister Carvalho

Last week on P-Day I got home from emailing and didn´t want to wear my cute
shirt anymore and wanted to be comfy. My companions laughed at me and took
a picture. I think this would make my mother roll her eyes at me. Threw up
some peace signs (hahahahahaha please tell me Iook Asian Meag, Al, and Em)

I have been five months out on the mission! Isn´t that just crazy? It FLIES
by. Whoa. My sweet companions took me to McDonald´s and got me a smoothie.
I love them.

Adventura

  SO this week was a week of adventures. I went to a different mission (sinner), lost the cell phone with one week of having a cell phone, our house is being attacked by bugs, and I have never laughed so hard in my life.  This week my testimony on prayers increased so much. I don´t think I have every prayed so much to see how to best help Sister Oborn and Sister Falcão. I just want to help them become better and feel happy and do good things! When I prayed, I immeadiately just got the answer to read the scriptures. When I read I read things about faith and the Spirit and it was what my companions needed to hear. It wasn´t me though. It was just the Lord acting through me. I just love receiving answers to prayers. I felt reallly low on Saturday. Just inadequate and like this week was a bust. Then I prayed that one thing would happen. Just one shiny moment that day to bring cheer and animo. One of the sisters in the ward was bringing us a chicken for lunch, but instead of just the chicken, she brought lettuce, tomatoes, mangos, bananas, milk, and a box of chocolate. It was exactly what I needed. Those happen to be my favorite things. Salad, chocolate, and shakes.( what I would give to have a costa vida, paradise, or wildflower salad. I miss those things SOOOO much. Nobody even understands)  I know that in that moment, that was a direct answer to my prayer. That Heavenly Father gave me that saving grace. Yesterday at church was so good as well. We had prayed that there would be people at church, but much to our dismay, no one was there. We had also been praying to find people to teach. Well what do you know? We got three references at church. YES! Milagres! And this week we already have kind of a lot of plans set forth. I want to work my hardest, I want to bring people unto Christ. That is our purpose! That is why we are here.  This week will be different, and it will be the best week yet. I have two of the best missionaries with me here in Vila Prudente. We are going to do great things! I know it, and I am excited. Also, another thing. Ramon went to church yesterday in full church attire, and a Preach My Gospel in hand. I wanted to scream in the chapel. It was great. I know that this gospel is absolutely true. I know we have a loving Heavenly Father who hears and answers our prayers. He understands us perfectly and will help us perfectly. All we have to do is kneel down and pray. An answer will always come, because he is our Father and He loves us. I know that everything we do here on the mission should be with love, because that is what our Father would have us do. Love is a powerful thing. I just know it. I know the gospel is true, and that sharing it with others is one of the most loving things we can do. Missions are the best.

   So now I will explain my adventures. SISTER OBORN HAS DECIDED TO STAY! YESSSS! Thank you to whoever prayed for her, I know it has made a huge difference. We went to the Interlagos mission to go to one of her doctor´s appointments, so it wasn´t rule breaking. That was an adventure, we had to take lots of subways! On Thursday I lost the cell phone on the bus....after having it for a week. Fail. We went and waited almost two hours for the bus to pass by again because I had faith there was still good people in the world but it had gotten stolen. Way to go Tiff! I have learned my lesson. This morning, Sister Oborn walks down stairs and looks at me and goes ´´WE ARE BEING ATTACKED!´´ There is a a huge huge amount of these black flying bugs. We also have an ant problem. It is grand. But not really becuase I loathe bugs. Sister Falcão is one of the funniest weirdest girls I have ever met.I love her. Last week for P-Day we went to the aquarium. There was an alligator exhibit and she just kept looking at it. We went to our zone meeting after then home. As we were laying in bed, out of no where she goes ´´I can´t stop thinking about the alligators eyes.´´ So we were cracking up and she goes ´´It doesn´t help that our zone leaders have eyes like the alligator´´ They are American and have blue eyes. So then I laughed so hard I cried. 

Love, Sister Carvalho

Sister Conference! I am hidden in the back because I am short. These are
all the sisters in my mission! Yahoo! Except Elder Bangerter and Correa.
They are the AP´s.

It's such a warm December

Someone please know what song I copied. So precisely to the day one year ago, I was certain I would go on a mission. Today is the year mark of when I got my patriarchal blessing, and even though it had already been confirmed to me, it was more than crystal clear that I was going on a mission. Now I am sitting in a hot lan house in Brazil, and have almost six months on my mission. How crazy is that? I couldn´t be more grateful that I am here. I love my mission so much, and it is going by so quickly so I really want to just soak up every single moment. I don´t want anything to be jaded. This past transfer went by in the blink of an eye, it freaks me out. This is the last week! Ahhhhhh! Missions are the greatest thing ever. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father answered me so clearly, and gave this once in a lifetime experience to serve. I am more than 100% confident I made the greatest decision in my life coming here.

   I am trying to work on the spacing of my emails, I realize I just send this huge ugly block because I am too impatient to space it nicely. Patience is a virtue. So this week I was refelcting lots on faith. In Alma 37:40 it talks about the Liahona and it worked ACCORDING to their faith. Everything is ignited by our faith. If we don´t have faith, how can we be led by the Lord? I know that Heavenly Father truly wants to lead us and help us each day of our lives, but we have to let Him. If we don´t allow faith in our hearts, then He can´t communicate with us. Miracles are worked by our faith! We can have them every single day like this verse says. We are in the month of December. Which means CHRISTMAS! I am obsessed with Christmas and all of my companions know it. In the Christmas season, there is just such a different Spirit. Everyone is happier and cheerier, and more miracles happen. Why? Because everyone has more faith. This faith comes from our Savior´s birth and the whole reason why I am here! I love my Savior so very much. I want to work my hardest ever this next month, because I would like that to be my gift. Something else I realized this week is that we are the Savior´s hands. It is all a perfect circle. We are in need, so we pray to the Lord. In turn, he helps to answer our prayers by sending another person to help that person. That helper person has problems too though, so they pray and the circle just continues on and on. If Christ were here, He would help everyone. He would love everyone. Sister Ferrin had an idea of us marking the Book of Mormon each day in December with specfic chapters marked about Christ for each day of December. On Christmas we will give it to someone! WAHOO I am so excited for that! This month is going to be great I can just feel it!

I have also been pindering creativity. I love creative things, and PMG is great because it allows you to be so creative on how you approach missionary work. I am trying to brainstorm some real good ideas. My patience has been tried here, because we have so many awesome potential péople. Seriously, so many. We plan each day to visit them, and then no one is ever home. I am going to think of a good idea. I think I am on the brink of something brilliant maybe. Maybe not, we will see! We met this awesome girl named N this week, and she really liked church! We also have S and R who are still solid as ever, but super busy. I am pretty excited though, because good things are happening. Really good things. It is just grand.

Now for funny things. My life is a mess seriously. Last Monday we ended our zone meeting and Sister Oborn and I were so determined to get McDonalds so we ran out of there. We ate whatever, got home and my keys were gone. I had left them at the office. So we had to go ALL the way back. Also, this great thing:

Sister Oborn: I hope you get to come to my wedding, I feel bad that all your friends are getting married without you.

Yeah... this is what my life is coming to. Hahahahha I love it.

Love love love,

Sister Carvalho