Email Home: Monday, December 6, 2021

From: Kaitlyn.garcia@missionary.org
Date: Monday, December 6, 2021
Subject: The 12th and United Nations

Hello to the Griswalds ! ;) 

Your party looked like such a hit! I love all the costumes too! How was it really?? 

Unfortunately Mayara has COVID so we had to push her baptism to the 12th. She's still super strong but we have to make sure everyone is safe too ;) 

As far as transfers go, we find out today. When? That I don't know, I just know that we're gonna get a call from President Nordfelt sometime today with the news. I have no idea how I'm feeling honestly. I'm honestly just here for the ride, I'll do whatever I need to :) I just hope that my suitcases are a little bit lighter than when I got here haha!

Monday was crazy. For one we had Zone pday as you know but getting there, Irmão Amon started to drive like speed racer and I was literally inside a video game haha! I should've snagged a video but I forgot :/ He also LOVES Avengers and was talking about that and the nee Spider Man movie that's coming out. You know the scene "On your left" ? He was explaining that and literally got goosebumps haha! Anywho, pday was alright. Not my favorite but it wasn't the worst either. We had a long car ride that was a little speed racer like haha! But it was alright :) We had referrals to contact but no one answered us so that was a bummer:/ Nothing too crazy for Monday night:) 

Tuesday! Tuesdays are the weirdest days haha! I feel like most of the time I think it's Wednesday but it's not. Tuesday I woke up at 6:27am and had to go to the bathroom. I was a little sad that I didn't get to sleep more haha! I haven't been sleeping good and you can really tell by the (designer!) bags under my eyes ;) Tuesday we had to get up early and get our shopping done because we had no time yesterday because of Zone pday. We didnt get much because we have transfers next week so just enough to last a week. On our way back we also had an interesting conversation with a guy on the street that was trying to tell us that he has a book about Mormons. Not the Book of Mormon, a book about Mormons. It was pretty interesting to say the least haha! I'm pretty sure he was just drunk. We stopped at our favorite bakery to grab some lunch too before heading to grocery store. I realized how much we go to padarias and that when I get home we done have any so that's gonna be weird haha! It was a quick trip and we were back to the apartment. No one really answered us all afternoon so it was a lot of just a waiting game. With that being said I had a few extra minutes to read my Book of Mormon and stick some notes in that I made during my studies. As time went on people started to answer us more so things started to really pick up. We had a really good lesson with our new friend Vanessa! She loved the Plan of Salvation and wants to hear more :) We also had a lesson with out friend Maciano. We planned to invite him to baptism this week and during our lesson Sister Da Mata was ready. Infelizmente, he said that his work is too busy and that he would let us know. Sad day! I feel like there's more to the story than just work but we'll see. We had all our referrals respond at the same time, all right at 9:30pm haha! Once it hits 9:30pm we can't respond anymore so we had to just watch all the messages come in. What can you do? 

Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday! Before I get too far into today, ITS DECEMBER FIRST!! Today started Light the World too! I'm so excited to have this as part of my mission:) It's sad that I'm not home but I'm just choosing to focus on all the good and I'm only gonna get one Christmas on the mission so I gotta make it great! Anyways, today went by so quick! I don't know how it happened or even what we really did today but it went by so fast. Today I tried to put together a study plan for Christmas and let me tell you, I struggled haha!  I'm planning on asking President Nordfelt too, that's how lost I am haha! Today we had lunch at this self service buffet and let me tell you, it's so weird to walk into a Brazilian buffet. I knew it was gonna be different but in my head I was waiting for normal buffet foods. Boy was I wrong! It was still super yummy but a curve ball in my mind for sure. The day was going by pretty quick but no one was responding:/ I hate when that happens! We also got a call from one of our members asking if we could come over for a family night and dinner. We were able to move some stuff around and make it over there. I seriously love all our members here in Carpina. I'm starting to get a little worried about transfer news on Monday... I also realized something too. Since the beginning of my mission I've prayed for the help of the Holy Ghost to know what to do in every moment including walking on the street, especially at night. I've never been one to really be scared of things but I realized that on the mission I've never had a moment (besides Thais' husband haha!) that I've been scared. Sister Da Mata I've learned is scared of pretty much everything but I realized that I've been way more in tune with the Spirit on my mission and I've been able to see answers to my prayers in little ways. Anyways, I hope that makes sense haha! It was just something cool that I realized as we walked back to our apartment :)  Also uhhhh, *Alexa, play 'It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas'* ;) I think you have more snow than I do ;) Thursday nothing too crazy happened honestly. It was a bit of a slower day I won't lie. I don't know what it was but the day seemed to go by slower than normal. Sister Da Mata wasn't feeling today either, she told me in comp study that she felt absolutely no motivation to work today, so that was a good start to the day haha! We did have a virtual Zone Conference today too! It's always different online instead of in person, but it was still good :) We actually got to hear from Presidente Silva e Presidente Tavares, the mission counselors! They had some good analogies and questions too. I always love hearing from leadership honestly, they think of things that I never would have thought of. Thursday I felt like the worst missarionary too. Okay so a little back story, Sister Da Mata's birthday is coming up and her mom told her to find some dresses she likes and buy them as her gift. Okay beleza, the only thing is that she doesn't like to leave the apartment on pdays. That means that she always wants to do stuff during the week. For example, Thursday after a quick lunch she wanted to stop at every store and look at what they had. We had a few things marked so as she was shopping and trying things on, I sent messages and confirmed for calls. We ended up spending a solid amount of the day looking for dresses for her and ended up with nothing. She's picky about clothes and garments make dresses hard. Em fim, I felt like a trash missionary. The day seemed to drag on too when we got back, but when it finally hit 8pm I started to get some butterflies haha! We got to call Mayara and go over the baptismal questions with her. It's always nerve wrecking for me! I had NOTHING to worry about though! She literally is so so solid and bore such powerful testimonies. We told her that Elder Reis was going to call her on Friday and she was tranquilo about it :) The only thing I'm worried about is that she's feeling sick. She's been sick since last Sunday and when we called she still wasn't feeling good :/ Hopefully everything goes as planned though! :) 

Friday was quite the day haha! Sister Da Mata had this weird craving to want to make coxinha so that's what we did. We had to start cooking everything around 7am to have it ready to go by 8:30am before our planning. By the time lunch came around we were ready to get them all formed and ready to fry. I'm no professional but they didnt turn out too bad so that was a total win! I have room to improve though so I'll be making them when I get home to really master my Brazilian cooking skills ;) Friday must have been a big party day or something for the rest of the world because not a soul wanted to talk to us. We sent messages, we called people, we sent audios, and nothing! I don't know what it was but everyone must've been at some big party or something haha! We were staring to wrap up the night when we got the best referencia of all time though;) So we got this referencia for this guy named Vitor and the only thing the other sisters had to say was that they had a special first lesson and that they're praying he'll have a soft heart. When we looked back at the first lesson the principles made absolutely zero sense, but we sent a message anyways. When he responded we tried to set something up but he said that he was really busy and wanted to mark for next week. Okay beleza, but then about 2 hours later we got another message from him. He goes, "I changed my mind, can you call tomorrow?" We were both a little confused on what was happening but then he sent us a screenshot of a post on Instagram. Basically the United Nations have some statue now that is meant to be a symbol of peace but people that belong to the Assemblia (a BIG church here in Brasil) have decided that this statue is now a sign of the second coming and that someone in United Nations is an Anti Christ. Anyways, he sends us this screenshot and then asks, "Do you think this is real??" Sister Da Mata and I couldn't believe what was happening haha! This post had all sorts of scriptures too and honestly it just made absolutely zero sense. Long story short, after a few laughs and messages we set an appointment to call dear Vitor on Saturday. He's probably the most interesting referencia I've ever received haha! Friday was also Sister Da Mata's 10 months and she wanted sushi for dinner. We ordered up some sushi and called it a day. The highlight was 100% Vitor though haha! 

Saturday we managed to take 2 Livro De Mormons to people woot woot!! There are days where I really miss driving because life is just more convenient haha! We had a pretty normal day but the afternoon was full! We ended up at our friend Claudia's house to give her a Livro de Mormon. She's super awesome in all of our lessons so we had big hopes for this lesson. She welcomed us with super open arms and even made a lanche while we talked about everything. She's super Catholic though. Like SUPER, she literally had the Last Supper hanging over the dining room table and it was staring at us while we talked haha! Sister Da Mata was also giving me hints about inviting her to baptism. Let's just say that Sister Da Mata gave an invite and Claudia said no. It's a long story. We left from her house to go to our friend Junior's. He's a referencia from other missionaries that already taught the Restoration but when they realized he lives here they passed him to us. We were able to talk a little bit more about the Book of Mormon and were on our way. It was a run around kind of day. Sister Da Mata needed to stop at the supermarket too so we had another pitstop. Nothing really too crazy happened though. We didn't end up having a lesson with our new friend Vitor though. He sent us a message that said that he wasn't in a good place and didnt want to talk to us. But then he continued to send us messages so we had more of a conversation while trying to mark something. We also learned that he's probably anywhere from 17-24 years old so that just makes all this better haha! 

Sunday! We have transfers this week (we find out today) so this was our last Sunday juntos here in Carpina. I have no idea what's going to happen so I was just here the ride. We also fidnt have Mayaras baptism today because she has COVID so it's marked armor the 12th instead. Super sad but she's still really solid and I'm excited for her to be better :) We had a huge combined lunch today after church too. It was originally Irmã Renata and her family for today but she planned a huge lunch with her, Irmã Roberta, and Irmão Eric. Sister Da Mata's birthday is Tuesday and we have transfers so it was a going away/birthday situation. It was super sweet of them to put that all together for us:) Irmã Renata also told me that I'm looking really skinny and literally put a MOUNTAIN of food on my plate  haha! I think it's her personal goal to make me fat now haha! They were all super sweet too and went around and said some really sweet things about us and the work we've done here in the ward. When we were walking back to the apartment to get into our weekly planning we got a message from Léi, the bishops son. He's just waiting for his call to get here and he helps the ward out a ton so we're basically homies. He had a meeting at the church so we made a stop there because he had little going away letters for each of us. It was super sweet honestly that he thought of us enough to write letters. We also made our way to the Padaria to say tchau to Thais. She was super sad that this is just apart of the mission but we got her Facebook so that's what matters haha! Irmão Fabricio is also just the best! We had a pretty good weekly planning, nothing too crazy for a Sunday night. We did get our weekly journal for the mission and it said that we have to DEEP clean our apartments and send a video to Sister Nordfelt today :/ Sister Da Mata is super ticked about this though, why? Who knows haha! But if I'm slower at responding today that's why. I love you to the moon and back!