MOVING DAY- goodbye dead chickens and cockroaches

 Monday February 17, 2014

Dear family and friends,

            Wow this past week was so busy.  Things are really good though. My health has improved dramatically, the temperature has dropped dramatically, we moved to a dramatically better place, and my companion and I are working well together.  Sister Rosario is very sharp, though she is a bundle of nervous energy.  She is not timid or nervous, but she is always anticipating the next step…kind of like how a thoroughbred is always anticipating your next move.  I am learning how to help her take it down a notch, and how to stop perseverating on one thing.  Also, man is she a talker!  I am realizing that I am not a talker. She is focused on her fiancé and her family and I am hoping that it is just part of the adjustment process.  I am trying to remember that she has only been on a mission for 4 weeks so it is hard for her to remain focused on investigators, working with members, and all of the details of missionary work.  I must admit that it is hard for me to remain focused when my companion is detailing her love story.
           In fact, our entire house has turned a bit “EFY” these past weeks, meaning lots of young energy and talking about boys and stuff… Sister Brown’s companion also has a fiancé, which is pretty common thing down here to serve while being engaged.  Sister B. also has at least 9 guy friends who write her regularly.  Me?  I am the “emotionally liberated”  missionary.  It is really actually the first time in my life that being VERY single has been a pro.  I am able to remain focused on my purpose here and now.  I try to keep our house (or at least my companionship) on task. 

Zone training

Tuesday

            Zone training meeting quote of the day, “ If you don’t have a baptismal date marked for someone, find an inactive family and baptize their kids! The members will be happy to see a baptism.”   Uh…NOT the right way to go about things guys.  They just want numbers and aren’t thinking about whether or not this little child will remain active in the church, or about the family’s welfare.  It’s... whatever.  I’m keeping my mouth shut. For now.  They also call another zone fast (in 95+ degree conditions).  I did not participate but many people did and they were sick Wednesday through Friday.  Ugghh.  The next time this happens, I will directly call Sister Lima.

Wednesday

            It was a pretty chill day that ended by cleaning the chapel in preparation for our zone activity, “Capela Aberta”, that we will have tomorrow.

Thursday

            We had our activity.  I think that I detailed this activity the last time that we did it with Sister S.  It turned out to be a great success!  Carlos, our WML, was a huge help and we had awesome members of every organization explaining basic things to investigators and even people off of the street.  We also invited a lot of people to go on church tours.  Our chapel is one of the biggest and nicest buildings in Santa Margarida, and many people are curious to see inside.  With our zone's help, we managed 542 contact, 93 lessons, 120 people interested in us visiting them, 16 people who completed a church tour, and 4 people who committed to baptism!  It was awesome.  Everything was really well organized (thanks to my OCD and Carlos’s perfectionism.) It seemed like the other missionaries had good experiences too. 

            During the activity, we had J.’s baptismal interview.  We asked her, “Why after 7 years of marriage to a member of the church do you want to be baptized now?”  She answered, “Because I want to have an eternal family.”  It was a beautiful reminder to me that baptism is just the beginning of what we are trying to do to help people.  There are so many steps that lead to more blessings that come after the first step of baptism. 

 Friday – February 14th – SINGLE’S AWARENESS DAY

            Sister R. had a really bad headache and slept through all of our studies and weekly planning meeting. This was actually a blessing for me because I was able to organize all of our referencias da atividado (area record book) the way that I wanted to do it.  I came up with a symbol and color coordinated system based upon the individual’s level of interest. (Which Carlos basically ended up drooling over, haha!)  It was really nice to just be able to “be in my head” and use some of the gifts that I developed while going to school.  This week was a week for decision-making, problem solving, organizing, and prioritizing. 

           Elder A. finally went to the office so I FINALLY got my packages! Holy smokes, I got four packages as once!  I love love love the bag, shoes, candy, DVDs, cards, snowflakes, calendars, cookie mix, etc.  Everything was perfect! I laughed and cried while opening all of them. Thank you so much everyone, the packages definitely help to raise my spirits. The best part was that the valentine’s stuff actually arrived today.  It is definitely the best valentines day of my life. (I do hope for better ones in the future.)

It was a long wait for a messenger bag.

Thanks Mom!

Valentines on Valentine's Day!

Horse Snowflake - by my sister the artist

Angel Moroni Snowflake

Maddie sent me DENTAL FLOSS - she knows me so well!

Maddie's package mailed Dec. 3

         

It's snowing wiener dogs!

             

          We came home early today so that we could MOVE!!!!  No more cockroaches and living next to a chicken slaughterhouse (oops, I don’t think that I ever told you about that part of my living conditions.) We all worked on getting things ready to go.  Sister B and I tried to keep our young companions on task and we managed to finish the packing around 11:00 pm.

Saturday

            Our District and Zone leaders showed up around 7:30 am to help with the move. Carlos and our truck showed up shortly after that.  Carlos earned at least a 1,000 brownie points this week for being an amazing WML and problem solver.  I am so grateful that we have a mutual respect that has led to a desire to go the extra mile.  I am really going to miss him.  I am pretty sure that I will be here to finish Sister R.’s 12 week training, and then I will get transferred.  President Lima wrote me a letter last week telling me that I am doing exceptional work (quite a change from “what happened?” a few weeks earlier.) Of course, just as I know that my time is coming to a close here, I am getting really attached to Santa Margarida.  Like I legitimately love the members and feel like a real part of the ward.  It will be hard to leave after all that I have been through.

It is a happy move!

The Moving Crew

            Anyways, back to the move.  It was actually legitimately fun.  P-day clothes, cool weather, and a break from the daily grind.  The Elders were beasts and we got just about everything moved in and unpacked and organized by 12:30 pm.  I made the Elders cookies and French toast so they were pretty happy.  Our new house is PERFECT.  It is nice, and not just “Brazil nice”, but actually nice-nice!  (minus the cold showers which is next on my problems that need to be solved list).  The house is huge and has THREE bathrooms! 

Do you remember the Sim’s game where you could tell how you were doing based on the color diamond that floated above their head?  The color would vary from bright green to deep red.  I feel like at the old house I average a pee- yellow color.  But our quality of life has significantly improved and I am now at a bright green!  Our house is also 1 minute from a supermarket, and 3 minutes from the church.  It’s PERFECT!

New bathroom

New Patio

New Kitchen

            We had J.’s baptism in the afternoon.  It was simple and special.  Eduardo worked hard to be worthy to baptize and confirm his wife.  It was a special moment to witness this little family make the first steps to an eternal relationship. 

The BEST part of my great week.

            S. was on date to also be baptized today, but we got a call from our WML about 2 hours before the baptism.  His voice sounded tight and worried. S. called him and said she couldn’t be baptized because she was having “lady problems”.  Carlos was like, “Uhh, I’ve never run into this problem before, what do we do?”  We called our District leader and told him and he was like, “ Uhh, I don’t know what to do, let me call the Zone leaders.”  Haha…all of the priesthood leaders were flustered over menstruation!  We got things sorted out and S. will be baptized next week.  Side Note:  There is a reason why us Americans have to bring our personal hygiene supplies with us to Brazil….because people don't use tampons at all down here.  There are lots of fears and misconceptions down here, which have led to a few biology lessons with the companions.

S. and her son M with the missionaries.

M. is an outstanding young man, son, and future missionary.

Sunday

            It was a good day.  J. was confirmed, our investigators came to church, and the weather was so pleasant.  We also got rain for the first time in a long time.  Well folks, I think that brings me up to date.  Things are going really well right at the moment, but I have a feeling that more trials are coming.  It is the Lord’s way to teach and strengthen his people. I am grateful for the good times and the hard times on my mission so far. I know that the Lord answers prayers.  I know that He always will points in the right directions, but that it is our responsibility to start walking. I love seeing people make the first few critical steps of conversion.  It is wonderful.  My theme for this week is Alma 29.  I love you guys.  Thanks for the packages, the prayers and the love.

Sister Colvin

                        

Good Timber

 Letter written on Monday, February 10

My New Companion - Sister R. from Fortaleza

Wow, time is speeding by.  I’ll try to give an abbreviated version of what’s happened the past two weeks since I didn’t have time to write a real update last week.

Sunday, February 2

             Sister Sousa and I worked really well together today.  She bore her testimony and finally taught with confidence.  It was really neat to see her progress.  She has some learning difficulties, but she has so many other abilities and she is eager and obedient.  It was really cool to recognize how much we both grew this transfer.

SIDE NOTE: English is getting much much harder to remember. 

            Sister Brown and I were stressed to know whether or not we would be training.  We had already been told that we weren’t moving.  Usually the AP’s call on Sunday night to tell you if you are training so that you can make plans to go to the chapel near the office to receive the training on how to train….?  Anyway we were anxious, but the hours passed without a phone call and I was thinking, “YESSSS!!! I am going to get a seasoned companion and have less stress and responsibility!”  Sister Brown on the other hand really wanted to train and so she was pretty bummed out.

Monday, February 3

            We had just finished our morning studies and started our P-day, when I got a phone call from the assistant: “Good morning Sister Colvin, you are going to train and BTW, you need to be here (2 hours away) in 4 hours.”  Awesome. It is Sister S. birthday today and we won’t even have a P-day.  Great.  Anyways, after some planning, Sister S. and I did a companion exchange with Sister C. (the super cute young looking Brazilian that arrived with me and is serving in Campo Grande.)  THREE hours of hell  public transportation (106+ degrees on an unairconditioned bus) later, we arrived to receive our “training”.  It was 45 minutes of keep the rules, do practices, and whatever mistake your newbie makes is your fault.  Then we spent the next FOUR hours getting back to our area.  Long. Frustrating.  On the upside, Sister C. is a delight! She’s super positive and kind.

Tuesday, February 4

            We left early for transfers and this time we took a nice bus, with AIR conditioning #bigindulgenceoftheday #Immissingmycar.  We went to a stadium thing where all of the missionaries who were being transferred gathered.  It was really fun to see everyone again especially Sister Z. I miss that hard-working little Bolivian.  I got to talk to Sister S. family when they picked her up so that was pretty neat. 

            Anyways, we arrived at the chapel and were still waiting on the American visa-waiters to arrive, so we got to talk to the other newbies – a LOT of American elders, Sister R, and only one other Peruvian sister.  I talked with the sisters and afterwards thought to myself, “this tiny Brazilian sister is really sharp!”  We hit it off well. 

            We then had some downtime to chat with the other trainers and eat lunch.  Elder B. and Elder Neu are also training.  We also practiced a musical number.  After watching some Elders try to over-complicate things, I took the lead and we ended up sounding pretty good.  I was grateful for my conducting experience.

            It was SO GOOD to see Sister Tingey again.  She’s remembered quite a bit of Portuguese and the same with Elder Papworth.  Sister Conde and I headed out with our new companions and the AP’s, who were headed in the same directions.  They helped us with the bags.  Sister C. new companion is an American named Sister Jameison, and man o man did she looked shell shocked!  Like deer-in-the-headlights, frazzled hair, mouth gaping, disheveled clothes – poor girl.  I imagine that I looked quite similar upon arrival.  After 3 delightful hours of being sandwiched on a hot stinky train, we got back to our area and got right to work!

 

My new companion out in front of the chapel.

           HOLY SMOKES, my new companion is sharp!  She is 21, grew up in the church, was in college studying nutrition, is a middle child, and is dedicated to serving.  Also, she love to ride horses and loves all animals. She obviously worked hard in the MTC and long before because she is very familiar with all of the missionary lessons.  She teaches well and looks to teach to the needs of our investigators.

            That being said, she is focused on missing home and her fiancé.  She talks about them all of the time, and is definitely a verbal processor which helps me with the language.  I am NOT a verbal processor.  I am an internal processor and I like my down time to think about things.  There are a very few moments when she is not talking. I always try to steer the discussions towards our missionary work, but her mind isn’t quite there yet.  She is from Calceia (close to Fortaleza) – actually from the ward where our bishop's son, Elder Curty, is serving.  It is a small world!

Wednesday, Feb 5 – District Meeting

            We had practices and Sister R. and I taught super well.  I just about cried because last transfer was so hard and slow.  I am running out of time once again.  I think that I already wrote mom about my health concerns and such.  Things are looking up down here – thought it is unrelentlessingly (unedited on purpose to show you how difficult it is to transcribe her letters now that she is forgetting her English.)  It never drops below 86 degrees even at night. Yesterday it was 104.8 with a heat index of 113.0…HOT! 

            It is incredible to see how much the last transfer helped me to prepare for this one.  I was reflecting on how this principle applies to so many aspects of our lives. We are constantly being refined and prepared for the next challenge in our life.  I love the poem that our prophet quoted last conference.   GOOD TIMBER.  I am starting to realize how the Lord tests, strengthens, weakens, and re-strengthens his followers in order to increase their faith, deflate their pride, and turn them into dedicated servants.  I have a long ways to go yet.  Heavens knows that there will be other down days or weeks or months, but that is part of becoming “good timber” – strong people, and strong followers of Christ.

Reunion

Familiar Faces at transfer time!

All the trainers were stuck in the primary room for lunch while the new arrivals were oriented.

New to Rio - Sister Tingey arrives!

Yeah, Elder Papworth made it too!

Perspective

 27 January 2014

Housemates

            Sister Brown has been a lifesaver to me.  She helps me keep things in perspective and has taught me how to not be so critical of myself.  She has reminded me that the Lord is happy and pleased when we are making forward progress and making good decisions.  He does not expect that we are going to be perfect.  So, I am going to be more patient and forgiving of myself. 

30 January 2014

Why I wear a pony tail or braid.

            Today was awesome.  We finally began to work together and teach in harmony as a companionship.  We knocked on doors for 2-ish hours this afternoon on a road close to our chapel, and it was great!  We ended up finding several people to teach.

1 February 2014

            Today marks 4 months in Brazil!  Man time sure has gone by fast.  Things are really improving right now.  We have three solid investigators who are progressing.  J. is a 22-year-old young mother who is married to a member and basically told us that it was time for her to prepare for baptism.  S. is the sister-in-law of a member. She is a sweet quiet lady with a tender heart who cares for her elderly father-in-law.  Sh. is the mother of a recent convert to the church.  She has been to church many times and is now starting to read the Book of Mormon. The common theme in all of our investigators is that they have family who are members of the church. This shows how important member missionary work is. 

The backpack named George

Happy Sister S.

Walking home!

           Sister S. has made a lot of progress this past week.  I just love how things seem to get sorted out in the last week of the transfer.  For her sake, I am glad that she gets to end with some really positive teaching experiences. It was a little sad to say goodbye, but it was fun to meet Sister S's family!.  Her sister and her mother picked her up from the mission home.  Sister Brown's companion also finished her mission this week and went home.

Sister S and her Mom and Sister!

 8 February 2014

            I am having a problem today of a recurrent UTI/kidney infection.  IT SUCKS!  It is not debilitating , but it is a pain because if I push through I end up feeling 10 times worse at the end of the day.  I went back to the doctor and he changed my antibiotics so I hope this one works better.  We had orders from Sister Lima to stay in the house all day yesterday and to drink 5 liters of water….that seemed like a LOT of water to me!  (side note: we sent her some information on water toxicity, and when too much is harmful.) But I did it and but I really don’t feel well.  One thing that I know for sure is that I will not be fasting again when I am sick.  

            In other news, I am training again.  This time around I have Sister R.   She has a lot of really good instincts when it comes to helping people.  She is very sharp, quick, hard working, energetic, and a little bit of a perfectionist. She is from Fortaleza, Brasil. I am really looking forward to training with her.

New Companions!

Will I ever adjust to the heat?

 Jan. 27, 2014 – The week in review

Tuesday:

            Time is such a weird thing on a mission….the actually “missionary mission” as well as the mission of life.  Some days drag on and I wonder if it will ever end.  Other days pass as mere blips on the radar.  I am in an emotional funk right now. Things are fine when I am out teaching and working, but in our house I am struck with homesickness and wanting to be anti-social.  I think it must be PMS, hopefully. Thankfully, Sister S. is a very sweet companion.  She is generally very positive and happy which has helped lift my spirits more than once this transfer.  She will be going home in 2 weeks.

Wednesday:

            Our Zone Leaders called a zone fast yesterday, and my immediate response was, “I am sick and it is over 95 degrees…I’m not fasting.”  However, I have learned from past experiences not to voice my concern or rationalizations.  Once, the zone leader said (when I voiced that I would not be fasting from water in 104 degree conditions) that my “biology knowledge” was getting in the way, and that I needed to have more faith.  Three days later we got strict guidelines from the Mission president’s wife to NOT fast in these extreme conditions, and if necessary, schedule the fast on a P-day so that we would not be out in the heat working.  There have been a lot of health problems in the mission related to this lately.  The other time I raised my concern, this same leader made it a point to lecture us on obeying our leaders, having “real” faith and the “correct way to fast – maintaining eye contact with me nearly the whole time. Ugghh!  It’s just not right to make accusations or lectures on a personal matter that should be between a person and the Lord.  I believe that the Lord has power to do all things, but I also know that as our loving Father, he wants us to do all things in wisdom.  For me, that means not fasting from water in 100 degree plus weather, especially when I am sick, and especially during a full day of proselyting. Anyway, I kept my mouth shut yesterday and said a private prayer to know for myself if I needed to or should fast.  I received a comforting feeling that it was up to me, but that I would receive help if I decided to fast.  So, I decided to fast and it went well.

            We invited A., a young 14 years old recent convert of about 9 months, to join us in our teaching.  We don’t normally asked such young members to teach with us, but I felt that she would be great.  Her mother recently started chemotherapy and is having lots of trials.  Our appointment was actually home (milagre #1), and Sister S. taught well (milagre #2), and N. accepted to be baptized (milagre #3).  Her son-in-law then arrived and we ended up teaching him more about the Book of Mormon, then he too accepted to be baptized! (milagre #4) Little A. bore a sweet and simple testimony.  She seemed to be in much higher spirits after the lesson, and asked if she could go out with us again.  I am so glad that she had a good experience!

            We also had a good lesson with F., mostly because Irma Leia surprised us by signing up to come teaching with us.  She is an older lady who can’t walk super fast, so we made really good plans to teach people that live near her.  Our “Plan A” fell through, but we ended up teaching their neighbor and he was really open to our message and told us that he would like to prepare for baptism.  WHAT???!!!

Thursday

            My companion is sick and we stayed in almost the whole day.  I only then realized how wired I have become for working.  The biggest part of me felt lazy and guilty for staying in all day, but I must admit that there was a part of me that felt like the day was a nice relief from the heat and the exertion. It is pretty easy to give into the natural man.  Overall, this has been a tough week for me as far as homesickness, leadership frustrations, and feeling overwhelmed and inadequate.  I have no idea what this next transfer will bring for Sister Brown and I.  Both of our companions are leaving the mission so we will most likely stay here to train someone to this area.  I have been here in this ward for almost 5 months so I would not imagine that I would stay much longer than one more transfer here!  But who knows?

Friday

            It was so HOT.  My companion was still feeling heat stroked/dizzy/nauseous, and it was 100+, so I decided that it was best to rest for an hour or so in the chapel in the middle of the heat of the day.  We then got a phone call from our District Leader to get busy doing all of our contacts, teach more discussions, push harder, have more faith…etc. So we did what we were told  for the rest of the day and pushed hard.  We got our numbers …but didn’t have any real success.

Saturday

Sister B. my housemate

Sister S, my companion

            The highlight of the day was teaching with a 12 year old deacon’s quorum president.  He looks like a stout 16 year old and he has a great testimony.  It was fun to teach with him.  The low point of the day was walking for hours in the hot sun.  I think that I might be heat stroked after today, either that or I am getting what my companion had.  Version:1.0 

The low point of the day was walking a long long way to C. and F.’s house ( this is a less active family where the young 25 year old father is a returned missionary.)  The husband, F., has given us a few referrals and we set an appointment with him to go with us to teach his neighbors.  We showed up around 5:30 p.m., already hot and worn out, and F., who had been napping, forgot about our appointment despite confirming it the night before.  F. was very vocal about not wanting to go out…he was too tired and it was so hot.  We asked nicely again and testified that we needed his help, but he refused saying, “it’s too hot and I’m, tired.”   

After a long day in the hot sun.

            I have to admit that I lost it a little bit with my response.  I said, “You know what F.? It is hot, and I am tired too, but I am working and sacrificing everything to be here because people – your neighbors – need what we have to share with them.  And I am going to work, hot or cold, tired or full of energy, to give people that opportunity.”  He just laughed at my sincerity.  I turned on my heels, walked down the street a block and contacted his referrals on my own. 

            Sister Sousa was shocked saying, “Sister Colvin, I don’t think that you can act like that as a missionary!”

            I responded, “and F. can’t act like that as a returned missionary.”   NOT my most shining moment.  By the end of the extremely hot day of work I was probably heat-stroked because I was feeling dizzy and weak.

Sunday

            M. told us that he passed his interview to receive the priesthood.  He is our shining hope that there are people prepared and willing to learn, grow, serve, and progress. 

            I was feeling sick and dizzy after church, I think due to the heat, so I rested a couple of hours and then went back to work.  We visited M. and her cute 11 year old neighbor E.  I have to admit that I am terrified of teaching and baptizing children because it is so easy for them to fall away without family support.  But E. is not your typical 11 year old.  She has already visited a lot of other churches and is actively searching for the truth….seriously, at 11 years old!  …Time will tell, but I am very very cautious.  I think that my realism is impeding my ablity.

My housemates before the start of a long hot day!

The best looking part of us at the end of a long day!