Week 23 Email: The One With In Person!

From: Kaitlyn.garcia@missionary.org
Date: Monday, June 21, 2021
Subject: The One With In Person!

Oi todos! Como vai?

I hope you all are doing well and that you're surviving the insane warm temperatures you're all experiencing ;) I'm jealous you have the sun, but not of the heat haha! The weeks just keep getting faster and faster I swear. This transfer (only 5 weeks, more to come later) is already coming to a close and I don't know where the time went! I'm gonna keep this part short because my highlights are a bit bigger this week :)

- We had district pday and we went bowling! Not only that but we had some killer breakfast at Denny's too. For the record, Sister Garcia is not a pro bowler, God did not bless me with that haha!

- I had my very FIRST IN PERSON LESSON! Ahhhhh! Sister Parrish and I went and taught one of our members daughters in person! I can not begin to explain the spirit that I felt and just how happy I was in that moment :)

- We had in person exchanges this week too! I got to go with Sister Florence! She was my very fist exchange when I got to the mission and i was her very last, she goes home in 10 days. So crazy! I just love her and she'll be missed in the MBM

- I had ANOTHER in person lesson! Funny story (shout out to Jason Miller ;) The Elders had our car and it was a very impromptu in person lesson so we mapped the house and it was only a 15 minute walk. Sister Parrish and I were genuinely real life missionaries and walked to out lesson. Francisco is so enthusiastic about the spirit of God and it was so cool to be able to talk with him in person :)

- We had Stake Conference yesterday! It was my first time being back in an English ward since I've left and man was it weird haha! It was so great to see all the missionaries, everyone was together, and there wasn't a mask in sight! Things are slowly but surely going back to normal and I couldn't be happier :) President and Sister Mavromatis also attended and so did his mom! She's the cutest little lady and I was actually able to talk to her in Português (side note: President Mavromatis was born and raised in my original assignment, Recife, Brasil!)

- This week we also got transfer texts! So this transfer is only 5 weeks instead of 6 because President and Sister Mavromatis are finishing their service here and going back to Brasil. That means we're getting a new mission President and it messed up transfers. The good news is, I'M STAYING! Not only that but so is Sister Parrish! I'm super excited to get to stay with her and really help our friends progress:)

Spiritual Thought

Yesterday at Stake Conference there were a lot of really amazing talks and things that stuck out to me. I love when that happens! The one message that really got me was from the bishop of the ward. He said that the only thing the Lord truly desires is a relationship with us. It's as simple as that! The Lord has given us so so much and we will never be able to repay Him, but one thing we can do is have a firm and solid relationship with Him. So in typical missionary fashion, I invite all of you to do something this week to strengthen your relationship with the Lord. If you can't think of anything, feel free to email me :)

If you made it this far, you get a gold star!

Haha! Thanks for taking the time to read my emails and for all your kind emails! Vocês são incríveis! Feel free to email me too! I'll do my best to get back to you as soon as I can :) Let me know if there's anything I can do for you guys!