Email Home: September 13, 2021
From: Kaitlyn.garcia@missionary.org
Date: Monday, September 13, 2021
Subject: Brasil?! 8 months?!
Alright well you know as much as I do
that this week was absolutely crazy haha! I'm just gonna get straight
into this and we can talk more later ;) But your email first!
- Low-key weeks are so needed, we'll until I call ;)
- How were Reed and Lorraine? Weird as always?
- That video of the deer was crazy!!
- B will always be going:) She's always been that way haha!
- Honestly this week hasn't been too different since my email haha! I honestly haven't had much time to really think about it
-
I feel so mixed on emotions. I don't think I've ever prayed for more
comfort or validation of my time here more than I have. I also am
worried about cute Sister Soares, but that's a whole other thing
- I'll have to tell chrish! I wonder what he'll say?? I'll be a little closer when it comes to time zones.
- Brooklyn makes my heart melt! I have a lot of questions for poor Sister Zaugg to answer haha!
- That picture of Brynlee and Bryson makes me so happy! I miss them so so much!
Alright now onto the craziness! Haha!
MONDAY
Man
oh man time goes so much faster on pdays that's for sure! The ward BBQ
thing was fun but it just took up so much of the day. I hope I can get
to know the ward better and remember all their needs and such. I think
with time it'll come :) I just wanted to say thanks for letting me vent
too! I know I just dumped a bunch of stuff out there but it was just a
weeks worth of buildup. I'm doing so much better and I'm excited to get
to work this week :) Tonight we obly had 1 of our 3 lessons go through
and it was just an English class. It was good though and he could
potentially be a new friend! All was well until I got that message! I
wanted to badly to just respond and lay into her, but I didn't and just
left it. Such a joke! Thanks so much for ordering those t-shirts too!
Hopefully the sale was still there and they were $6! When I saw that I
was like "Yes!" Haha! Thanks for being the best listener and for being
the best friend I could ever ask for :) I love you to the moon and back!
TUESDAY
Oiiii
bom dia! Tudo bom? Today officially starts our mission tour here in the
MBM! So crazy cool! Today we had service but we had to cut it short
because of the mission tour. We rushed back home and changed with just
enough time to hop on the zoom call. Also can we talk about how fast
zoom kills my phone battery haha! Anyways, Elder Bennett and Elder
Douglas of the 70 were on the call! Elder Douglas and his wife are the
sweetest couple too! It was such a good meeting though! I felt so
uplifted and so inspired to just go out and work extra hard. We also got
a little sneak peak of conference! Sooo you need to lookout for Elder
Douglas on the Sunday (afternoon I think!) session :) Elder Bennett said
it's super good;) That took up most of the day but pros is really where
we saw miracles! We were invited to have a member lesson tonight and
use what we have been talking about. We had a lesson but then it fell
through and we were determined to get another one. Only problem was that
NO ONE wanted to talk to us! Haha! We seriously knocked so so many
member doors and got nada coisa. We finally decided to come back to the
apartment and I thought of this member and felt like we should call her.
It was a milagre if I've ever seen one! We caught her at just the right
time and we were able to have a lesson over the phone with her! Que
bênção!! It was super cool to get to use everything that we've been
learning too :) We finished off the night with a super solid English
class with our friend Vilmar. He honestly has a lot of potential too!
Vamos ver! How was your day? How's this week looking? Hopefully not too
crazy busy?
WEDNESDAY
Mission
tour pt 2! I've actually really loved getting to hear from Elder
Bennett and Elder Douglas! They are some great insights obviously but I
feel so edified after our meetings too. Today we focused a lot on
teaching with the Book of Mormon. We have to let it speak for itself, if
we are constantly telling people what it means they'll never know for
themselves. It's been super cool to be reading the Book of Mormon too
and marking it the way I am too. It's just too cool :) It's also cool to
see how President Broughs challenge for me to teach with the Book of
Mormon has tied in. Today we also had weekly planning! It was a super
nice day so we grabbed a bite to eat and then went to the park. We ended
up at this vegetarian Cafe and let me say, it wasn't my most favorite
haha! I did get a whoppie pie though because Sister Soares had never had
one. That I would eat again ;) Today we were challenged to use the Book
of Mormon in our teaching even more too. We had a family lesson with a
family in our ward but also a lesson with one of our friends. The family
we went to visit was super cute! Their kids were all over the place so
it was hard to even get a word in, but overall it was a really good
lesson. We tried to get the Book of Mormon in but their attention span
is too short haha! It's okay though because we had a redemption round
with our friend Daniele! We got to talk about the Plan of Salvation woot
woot! We really emphasized the Book of Mormon and it went so so good!
The spirit was so strong and she has such an open heart and understood
everything really well:) It was kind of a crazy day of running around,
but ended on such a good note. We love when that happens :)
THURSDAY
Well.
Today is all happened. We started out as a normal day at service. It
was a little bit rainy but it was still a good day of service. We had to
leave early to finish up our mission tour! It's seriously been the
coolest experience:) As we were walking back to the car I noticed that
we got a referral so I looked at our email and that's that's I saw it. I
had an email that said I leaving. Not just to another area but to
another country. It said I can go to Brasil! It honestly didn't even
really hit me haha! We got in the car and had to go. As we pulled into
the parking garage I got your text and I realized that I had no time to
talk but that I had to tell you haha! After I hung up, we booked it
inside to change and get on the zoom link. For the next 2 hours I tried
SO hard to pay attention and not think about the email that I knew was
sitting in my inbox. It was a really good meeting though and we got a
training and some statistics about referrals and how we can better
approach them. After we left the zoom link, I almost immediately called
you haha! I couldn't wait any longer! But it says that I'll be leaving
on the 23rd and I'll make it to Recife on the 24th. I don't know how it
all worked out but we have transfers on the 22nd. Kinda crazy! I still
don't feel like this is real at all haha! It feels weird to be doing
this part without you or Tyler with me not gonna lie. I'm not worried
about it but it's just off. I'm sad to be leaving the MBM honestly. I
was determined to not let affect the day though so I kept pushing
through;) We had a really good family call with a member in our ward
too. Remind me to make you a video on the new focus that we've been
learning, or just remind me on Monday. We also had correlation tonight
and man did it really take an hour haha! President Brough's email about
no eating has really caused such a stir in the ward and it was hard to
try to explain to them (between us and the elders) the idea behind it.
After our meeting though I finally had some time to just sit and process
what the heck happened today haha! I feel like there is still so much
work for me to do here, I don't want to leave. But on the same note it's
Brasil! That's where I was called and where I've looked forward to
being. It's such a double ended thing. I still don't feel like this is
real! I hope you had the best day today even though I probably gave you a
heart attack haha! Thanks for being the best and for always knowing
what to say to make my heart feel better
FRIDAY
The
day has finally come for our district training! Yesterday we started to
plan it, but we got a call from Elder Bawden and he asked if we could
gear it more towards motivation. The district right now is sooooo dry.
It's like they're all dead inside or something haha! With that being
said we had to scratch our plan and start over, so going into today I
was a little nervous about how it was all going to play out. I think it
went pretty well? I don't know haha! But it was a good council session
and we got it done :) Also the talk 'This is Our Time' from the past
conference is pretty good ;) Today is also Brigadero day! Woot woot!
During lunch we decided that we of course needed to make some! Let me
just say too, Sister Soares has opened my mind! Haha! This time around
the brigadero was sooooo good! I gotta make it this way from now on ;)
Guess what happened today too?? We started teaching a new referral!
She's just an English class right now but hopefully she'll accept our
message. We end with a scripture so hopefully we can transition it.
She's super sweet though! Other than that though tonight was pretty full
of just contacts trying to set up lessons with dots and with members. I
need to make a video explaining the focus now and the mission tour
haha! It'll just make more sense. I hope you had the best day
SATURDAY
Whatta
day! First off, how are you?! I've been thinking about you a lot and I
wonder how you are :) How are you feeling about Brasil? Today was kinda
crazy not gonna lie haha! We decided to do some street contacting woot
woot! I have no clue what I'm even doing, but hey we all have to start
somewhere;) Last night we found a super cool Brazilian market so we
decided to go back today and see what we could do. It turned out to be
kind of a bust but you can't win em all. We instead found a padaria! I
got my first ever sonho and pão de meio. It made my heart so happy!
Sister Soares was in heaven too haha! We stuck those in the car and then
decided to knock on a few dots doors. We had a miracle! We knocked on
this guys door and he answered! Not only that but we continued to have a
20 minute conversation with him on the doorstep! Que milagre! It was so
cool! I'm sad that I have to leave this area but I'm so excited for
Sister Soares to keep working here and to see all the great things she
can do here:) I can't really think of much else from today haha! I'm
also typing this on Sunday because I had like no time this week haha!
Missions are never boring, never stop, and never cease to amaze me haha!
SUNDAY
Sunday!
My favorite day! I love getting to go to church and just be there:) We
had a really good sacrament meeting and relief society today. Sister
Soares and I were even asked to say the opening and closing prayers for
sacrament, they even let us say them in português:) It made my heart so
happy! We also got to meet this super sweet old man and he loves having
sisters here! He offered to bring us Gatorade and breakfast at some
point. What a sweetheart! I also received the cutest drawing from a
little boy in the ward today! He drew it for me in sacrament and then
walked it over to me and it made my whole heart melt. Today honestly
flew by! I feel like Sundays always do and pday sneaks up on me haha!
Tonight we had a super awesome lesson with the Wood family! Their kids
are so smart and so talented too! Their daughter that's in 4th grade
just got accepted to this super chique violin school. She even played us
a hymn before we left:) That family is super cool though and I loved
being there. We also had a super impromptu lesson tonight during our
noite familiar! Long story short a gray dot showed up and we had a
member present lesson. So rad! Overall a pretty good Sunday:) I hope you
had the best Sunday and I can't wait to talk to you tomorrow! I love
you!
