Email Home to Mom: Monday, August 23, 2021

To: Mom
Date: Monday, August 23, 2021
Subject: Toooooo Many Things

Alright couple things, 1) Hurricane Henri just turned into a tropical storm and nothing happened! Just rain and gloomy skies. 2) Helmer didn't get baptized and that's okay:) 3) I'm training a Brazilian in Salem, MA and we're pink washing an area. I have no idea how or what to feel honestly haha! Alright, this email is long so I hope you're not too busy haha! ;) But as always, your email first! 

- No rain as of right now but we are in a state of emergency, but we're good and everything is fine! 

- Helmer, well he's him and likes to take us on a huge roller-coaster of emotions 

- Jayden is so cute! He loved the pop it things too! :) 

- Jurni kills me! 

-Tatiane and Everton are doing so so good! I'm so excited for them :) 

-I'm excited to hear about his zone conference experience! I wondered about that this week 

-Kaden Whites mom is the cutest! I found her on Facebook and she messaged me instantly! She asked to be on my email list and everything. She's the cutest! 

I'm just gonna get straight into this because I oh man are you in for a ride haha! 

MONDAY 

Today the song 'Manic Monday' was in my head again haha! It really wasn't a crazy day but ldays are always a little crazy just talking to everyone before time runs out haha! Nothing too crazy happened honestly, we just went and and frozen yogurt haha! Also the fact that Tyler  found nothing shows just how little there is to do haha! It's okay though because we're gonna find something fun and make it work;) How was the rest of your day? Tonight we had a lesson with a guy that actually called us and asked for a study! How rad is that?! Come to find out, he's the brother of one of our friends! So crazy! They even live in the same house just different floors, small world. He's super nice and has actually had a baptismal date in the past so who knows. I was so grateful I wore pants today though! I didn't get anymore bug bites so that was a huge bênção! Haha! Anyways, that's pretty much all for today!

TUESDAY 

Today I learned that some people think that missionaries are just therapists. Let me explain haha! We have this less active that wanted to meet with us like every other day to try and get back into some habits. We called him today expecting another like 15 minute lesson because it's early and whatever. NOPE! He literally laid his whole life out for us for AN HOUR! We tried to cut it off but then he'd go off about another thing and another thing. When we hung up I seriously felt so drained haha! I guess not drained, but I just didn't even know how to process what was just thrown at me. Needless to say, it was a crazy morning! This afternoon we went over to Irmã Fatimas house and she had the coolest thing for us today! It was a literal ball of cake! I don't even know how to explain it haha! It was pretty good not gonna lie, but I still don't know what it is, but I would eat it again. Today was also the day we decided to take some time and figure out the português Facebook page. It honestly isn't that bad, so we're chillin. Honestly nothing too crazy happened today haha! We had English class with Lucinie and her daughter woot woot! We also learned the word for handshake, toque! So fun! We learn some fun words from her for sure:) Today was the first day of school back home! The pictures you went make B look so big! Like I know she's older, but in my head she's still little haha! She's super cute though and I'm excited to get to talk to her about it next week:) How does it feel to only have one kid left in school right now?! You gotta celebrate with a swig or something;) Anyways, I love you!

WEDNESDAY 

Whatta day! Well really nothing too crazy but we had another devotional this morning. It's honestly so cool to get to hear from President Brough and Sister Brough, I can't imagine what their house is like! Today was also a pretty big day. So the past couple days Helmer has been dealing with his ex girlfriend and mother of his daughter. We wanted to set something up last night for today but he said that he has court today...We have no idea what's even happening. He said that he might be able to meet with us here soon so hopefully we can and figure stuff out. He has a date for this Sunday but I have a feeling we may have to move it. Besides that, we had service today haha! We found a literal HUGE bee at service today! I decided to name him Benny but he didn't stick around for long. I also got a few new bruises so that's pretty exciting haha! The real big news for the day is Helmer! So he had to go to court today to deal with some stuff with his ex girlfriend, daughters mom, but we had a time to meet. He told us we could and literally the whole drive back I was racking my brain to figure out what to do. He literally has a date. After a long drive I still had nothing and neither did Sister Parrish. I hopped in the shower and it hit me! I found this talk and it was exactly what we needed. We headed over to his lesson and before getting out of the car we said a prayer just to be extra safe. We were able to study with him and talk too. Then we had to bring up baptism because his date is literally on Sunday. We talked about a few things and he said he wants to keep going with it. You're joking me!! I genuinely was convinced that we'd have to move it. We came back and got in contact with everyone under the sun to get everything going. We would've done it earlier but we didn't think this was gonna happen haha! We still have a few things to do but God is so good and He always prevails. He never had asked for a lot but sometimes it feels like He does, that's when we know for sure that it's the adversary. I don't know, it's just being a missionary is the coolest thing I've ever done and I've truly never loved my Savior more or felt closer to Him. Anyways, I hope you had the best day today!

THURSDAY 

Today was the absolute craziest day of my entire life! Not only were we blessed enough to have lesson after lesson today, but we also had to figure out the baptismal interview for Helmer! I'll have to screenshot my day and send it to you because Holy cow. Today we had weekly planning and I felt like we just had so much to plan for. I don't know if we really did, but it felt like so much. We were able to plan and we even made some brownies for Mons 1 year mark today and his greenie hit 1 month too. We also decided to take the leftovers to our lesson we had today, more to come later. This is where it gets crazy! So we scheduled a time to meet with Helmer and give him the baptismal interview right? Well Mons can't do it because of the language so we had to have the zone leaders do it. It was a huge mess because they didn't have time so they told us thay we could do it. I didn't know how I felt about that, but I hoped somehow something would fall through and they could do it. This afternoon we stopped by our less active members house and had a quick lesson with her and then headed straight to a lesson with our friend Any. We decided to just start reading and studying the Book of Mormon with her and her family. We started at the beginning and studied Lehis Dream. It was actually so fun and we were able to get her kids involved too. We ended up using the video as a commitment too so hopefully they watch it haha! We booked it from there to our friend CiCi's house. She's also been taught forever so our plan was the same. This time in English though;) Jayden is her son and he was so cute! He was answering l the questions too and eventually her boyfriend and her cousin (both been taught in the past) came into the lesson. It was crazy! The Lord truly blessed us! It was such a spirit filled lesson :) Tonight was even crazier! It ended up working out that Helmer could be interviewed by the ZL's tonight! We called him and then added them into the call so they could talk. HE PASSED! That was the longest 30 minutes of my whole life honestly! Haha! We also had to hop onto onto English class with our new Brazilian family. It was going so good and I love talking to them! But then we got a message from Helmer saying that he was done! The English class took up the rest of the night so we didn't really get to talk with him but he seemed really excited :) It was a crazy day but so so worth it! I love days that are busy and I love it even more when Helmer is excited about baptism! I hope you had the best day and that things are settling down a little bit too :) I sure love and miss you!

FRIDAY 

Well, my mission has never been normal and it continues haha! Today we had out last DC with Mons here, triste! He's headed to Canada on Wednesday so he gave our final training. It was actually so good and I really enjoyed it :) We also had a special guest, Sister Brough! It was interesting though because the fire alarm was being tested towards the end, oh well! After DC we got into our normal day and started planning for a baptism! Then we got a text from Helmer saying that he could meet with us but that he didn't feel ready to be baptized on Sunday. This man likes to change his mind every day. At this point I don't know if it's the adversary or if he really isn't ready or what is even going on. We told him that we could meet whenever he was free. We set a time but we still decided to keep going with preparations just in case. We went to make up a program and everything. We actually ended up having an English class with his mom today was well. It was going really well until we got a phone call from President Brough right in the middle. Why the heck was he calling us?? We had like 5 minutes left of the class so we finished up and called him right back. The first thought I had was that he had my flight plans for Brasil. Sike! He continues to tell Sister Parrish and I that we're both going going be training. But not only that, Sister Parrish is staying here and I'm headed to Salem, MA to shotgun train a native Brazilian. At this point I think my mind just went numb but also 100 mph. He told us the AP's would be in touch and that was that. Holy cow. We decided to process that for a minute and then keep going with our day. It was the longest night ever and when it finally came time to call Helmer, he didn't even pick up. I don't think I've ever felt more defeated in my whole life. I could care less about the baptism date, I just wanna know what happened in the 13 hours after the interview. He eventually responded at 11pm when we were sleeping saying that he was busy. It was a roller-coaster of a day to say that least! I'm excited to train but also have ZERO clue what I'm doing, I'm sad that Helmer doesn't feel ready because I know that he is, I don't know. I don't know, missions are crazy and I'm probably being dramatic but man haha! Anyways, I hope ypubhaf the best day at home and I can't wait to hear all about your back to school party! I'm sure it went so good!

SATURDAY 

Well the saga continues haha! Today we woke up to a really nice text from President Brough saying that a literal HURRICANE is coming and we need to make preparations. We headed to the store to grab some waterbottles and other little things all before studies today. You've got wildfires and the sun and I've got a hurricane, whatta time to be alive! Today was pretty uneventful not even gonna lie, pretty slow day and now that I know that I'm leaving I've started to gather my things up. Being here for going on 4 transfers, I've got some stuff haha! We also didn't know what to do because what happens if a hurricane actually comes? Haha! Side note, Irmã Guzman brought us the best tacos today! She always comes through with the best food honestly. Tonight we had a lesson with a new friend, José. His story is a little crazy on how we found him but he was willing to meet with us so Claro que sim, we did. It was so hard though. He just did not pay any attention at all. He was looking everywhere and had the same answer to every single question that we asked. We tried but both Sister Parrish and we looked at eachother and wrapped it up in about 20 minutes. It was a good lesson but he just didn't pay attention, what can you do? I honestly think that's about it haha! I told you, today was nothing crazy! I honestly don't know how I'm feeling with everything, I feel very overwhelmed but excited, I think every emotion you could feel, I'm feeling right now haha! It's okay though, I'm gonna take it day by day :) I love you!

SUNDAY 

Well the day has come, Hurricane Henri has arrived! Well, not really because nothing really happened to us. We thought it was going to but thankfully it turned into a tropical storm here in Rhode Island. But to be extra safe, we canceled church sooooo we had to stay inside. It was the weirdest day honestly. I felt like I needed to be worried about something but at the same time nothing was happening. We ended up getting the sacrament from the ZL's, Mons had to come every 2 hours to check up on us, and we were told to stay in our apartments until further notice. It was wild! With that being said though, we didn't know what to do because if the power goes out and our phones die, what happens? It was the weirdest day byyyyyy far haha! After the longest day it felt like, right before dinner President Brough messaged and said that it was a tropical storm and we were okay. Honestly it worked out the way it needed to. Helmer date was today but with everything that's been going on with him and the weather, it all worked out the way that it needed to :) Helmer did say that he could talk tonight so we crossed our fingers and hoped that it would actually go through. I ended up having to tell all the members on the phone that I'm leaving because we didn't have church :/ It all worked though. I am sad to have to leave this area though, the friends, the members, Sister Parrish, just everything. I know at the beginning  Sister Parrish was hard for me but as time has gone on, she's the comp I'm gonna miss the most. It all just feels so weird. Helmers lesson actually went through today woot woot! It actually broke my heart mom. He said that he wants to be baptized but that he feels like he needs to be perfect before and after baptism. We had a really spiritual lesson with him. We answered some of the questions he had and just talked to him. I also told him that I'm leaving. It was such a good lesson but it was so sad too. I said the closing prayer and as soon as I closed my eyes the spirit just filled me. I tried to hold back my tears honestly, I made it through the prayer and the lesson was done. It honestly made my heart so sad. It was just so heavy honestly. Now I really don't want to leave. Ughhh! I just really hope all the prayers can help him feel better and the things we talked about. Anyways, it's late and this email is crazy long I think so I'm gonna end it here haha! I love love love you! I can't wait to talk to you tomorrow!