Email Home: Monday, March 21, 2022

From: Kaitlyn.garcia@missionary.org
Date: Monday, March 21, 2022
Subject: Entrevistas, Messenger, e Conferencia

Hello hello! Okay okay inhale some more time this week so I'll get into your email first and then I'll get into my week :) Oh! Today is Zone pday AND I get to use messenger to talk to people! Woot woot! That doesn't really have anything to do with this week but that's my news haha! 

- I loved in person interviews with Presidente Nordfelt:) 

- Shayla and shall both came home this past week! Lauren went to see Shayla at the airport and pregnant Aubrinn...

- 1. I love that Brynlee stayed that long:) 2. I knew her grandma's house was bad but I didn't know about the flooding 3. That would lowkey be fun for her to live at tbe house until the wedding haha! 

- Brysons mom always put rules on everything, that doesn't surprise me but it is dumb 

- Tyler's funny haha! I think deep down Brynlee knows he's serious but still hard to wrap your mind around ya know?

- I asked Bryson how wedding planning was going and he told me he's just kinda there haha! I need to see her dress! I'll ask her for a picture 

- It's funny that real life just sets in haha! Bryson had a minivan for a long time, he doesn't need a truck right now ;) but I'm so so happy that she's happy :) 

- I can't wait to see what you guys found shopping wise! I seriously miss just getting out and window shopping at least 

- I love Robyn and Sean! How are they?? 

- I miss working out like I did at home, mainly just the bike. I think the days I have at home will be spent in the bike at the pool 

- You'll have to let me know how Sarah's homecoming was... 

- I think being released and then having something at the house would be fun! I think it'll all just depend on when I land and how soon I can be released

- B is funny! I knew she loved me but I think being away really has shown for me at least just how much I actually mean to her ya know? 

- 

Monday! Whatta day! It was actually a really fun day and it was good to get out. We got to go to Marco Zero and see the ocean! I wanted to give swimming so bad, I can't lie ;) But we did take some fun pictures and it was fun to get to see it again and not just on my first day. We also went on a huge goose chase to find a white shirt to go under my dress to go home and a dress that Sister Scioli has. It was seriously the biggest struggle of my whole life haha! But thankfully we found one and it works with me dress. It was also so hard to not want to buy literally everything, I think I have a shopping problem ;) We wrapped up just in time to because it started to rain pretty good and we literally walked right in the apartment as it started. Bênçãos! We had a pretty chill rest of the day though, we thought maybe we would have a visit from President Nordfelt but that didn't happen. We did have a few people to contact from the social media world but nothing too wild to end the night:)

Tuesday was your birthday! It was so good to get to talk to you and 'celebrate' haha! I hope it was a good day :) After lunch we had some big plans! We got out on the street but before we got going we went to the super market to buy food and we bought so much fruit! It made my heart so happy! We then went out and street contacted because our lessons fell through. Street contacting is harder here because it's just a whole bunch of buildings and the people on the streets want nothing to do with us. It's alright though, I have faith ;) We did end up coming back to the apartment for a minute though because Sister Scioli and her knees were not having it haha! We did have a contact with our friend Sergio though! We planned a lesson but it was more of a contact at the end of the day. He just needs to get married like everyone else haha! Not only that but we were hoping his wife would be there but she wasn't so that was kind of a sad day, but hey, we were able to at least get a contact! We decided to keep trying our luck with some more street contacting and it wasn't half bad but no one lived in our area :/ We did get some really yummy açaí and the guy who was selling it to us wanted to hear more messages but he lives in Olinda. He's super nice though and I'm sure the sisters there will have a new friend from him ;) Tueaday night was really were the big stuff happened haha! We got a referencia from the AP's for a woman named Sandra. She was taught in the past, stopped, and now she's back to being taught. They didn't really tell us anything they just told us that she lives in our area and that she really wants prayers. We called her and come to find out, she doesn't feel like there's a good spirit in her house and wanted us to come to her house to say a prayer. Well okay then haha! She also asked for a couple to come with us. We ended up calling the Stake President and his wife to come with us. I had no idea what I was walking into that's for sure haha! Basically she's called every religion you can think of to come and say a prayer in her house, she has some WEIRD decorations, her daughter is a spiritualist, she had a houka on her side table, and she laid out all her life problems (literally everything!) for us. It was quite the night haha! Presidente Oliveria was a literal trooper too! We ended up talking a lot about the Holy Ghost and the Book of Mormon. She told us that she feels really good when she reads the Book of Mormon so we used that and kinda ran with it. We finished off by having Presidente Oliveria bless the house and we were outta there. We literally walked in the door at 9:30pm. It was quite the night haha! 

Wednesday was social media day and such a blessing of a day too! We planned a visit to take a Book of Mormon to one of our social media referrals! How rad is that!? Her name is Fabiana and she's seriously the best! She lives in Cavaleiro so it was about 45 minutes to get there but it was 100% worth it! We got a little lost because the Uber dropped us off in the wrong spot but we eventually got there and we had such a good lesson! We got to know her a little bit more and we talked about the Book of Mormon, it was so so good :) Fabiana is literally amazing and so open to the gospel! It was such a good lesson and we were able to talk about the gospel with her so easily. It was so good and I was only a little sad that she's not in our area ;) it was a longer day just because we got lost but it made for a fun adventure haha! I was only a little worried about Sister Scioli's knees but it all worked out in the end. We even got a picture with her! She asked of we could take a picture at the end too, how rad! When we got back to Torreão we got to calling people and we put some ice on Sister Scioli's knees. It was a good night as far as calls go though, we had a lot of people answer and we were able to teach. I seriously love getting to teach and to hear what other people have to say. I also was able to call Tyler for his birthday! Woot woot! I hope your day was good Tyler ;) I literally feel like I called home so much this week but it's because I lowkey did haha! But it was good to get to talk to you guys :) 

Thursday was the weirdest day of my entire life haha! To kick off the day we called an Uber to get to DC and it went to the wrong address so we were 5 minutes late to DC. I decided that I literally hate being late and that's one thing about the Brazilian culture that's so hard for me. They always show up late haha! When we got to DC we also had the ZL's there because they were doing an exchange. It was a little weird to have Elder Reis and Elder Baldwin there I can't lie, but what was to come was even weirder. We sang an opening hino and said a prayer and then Elder Gerlach told us that for DC we were gonna go out and street contact to help the Sisters in Madelena. I thought it was a joke but he was 100% serious. So that's what we did haha! Sister Scioli and I went out for an hour and street contacted around the capela. It was so weird and when we got back to the church we said a closing prayer and went our separate ways. That also meant that we started our exchange with the Sisters in Madelena. Sister Scioli stayed there with Sister Jones and Sister Morais came with me to Torreão! I was so happy to be with Sister Morais you have no idea! It was such a good night too, na verdade we didn't have a ton of lessons go through but I was able to help her with some goals and she let a lot of stuff out. I seriously loved getting to teach with her and just talk with her again. She had some questions and it was weird to think that I needed to have an answer for her. Still weird that I'm an STL haha! It was a good day though! It was also her 1 year mark so of course we needed to do something ;) She told me that in Madelana there isn't anything sweet, just salty foods so it got me thinking. We ended up getting some super yummy brownies that had fillings! So much for wanting to go home without gaining too much weight ;) Kinda worried about it but we'll get there when we get there haha! It was a good way to celebrate and end off the night. 

Friday was kind of a mess haha! We got up and played the biggest waiting game for Sister Scioli and Sister Jones to show up. They had a few problems with confirming lunch. They showed up and we were able to finish up our exchange and then get going for the day in our areas. But we had some problems with the Uber and they didn't end up leaving our apartment until way later. We ended up seeing them out the door and then we left to go to our lunch. We had lunch with a recent convert and she's my favorite! She's older but she seriously loves the gospel so much and you can just tell that it really did change her life :) We also helped her with some technology problems and I realized that it's been a far minute since I've really done anything with technology. I know we use it and all but it's so different haha! We went straight from her house to the escritório for our interviews! I love interviews and it was my first interview with President Nordfelt in person, in the past it's been video calls. I had a lot on my mind and I was excited to get to talk to him. He gave me some really good advice to just finish out my mission strong. He always was super sweet and thanked me for my hard work and told me that he knows I'm a good hardworking missionary. I asked him what I can be doing better and his answer was nothing. He literally told me nothing. How is that possible?? So I'm currently on the hunt to find something I can really focus on to be betterm But it was a good interview :) He was a little behind because he had to do a baptism interview so we didn't get back until later. It was a little bit of a blessing that we were on social media and nothing was marked. We had a little bit of a slower day as far as calls go on Friday. I did call this lady and she just kept asking how we got her number and after explaining 3 times she just hung up haha! It was pretty funny! 

Saturday! Saturday! Saturday! Do you remember that Elton John song? I hope so! Saturday I was excited for all of our lessons but then things kinda took a turn for the worst haha! Our lunch fell through but it was fine because we had a ton of food left over from an Irmã. Okay beleza. We were eating lunch and do nada Sister Scioli told me that she wasn't feeling too good. We needed to plan our training for Zone Conference so we sat down and she was starting to go pale and didn't have much to say. After a little while she told me she was feeling a little better and changed so we could leave. We had 3 people we really wanted to visit and teach so I was excited to get out there! We made a pit stop at the Americanas to get some gum and that's when I knee none of that was going to happen. Sister Scioli literally couldn't even stand up straight. We grabbed some stuff and made our way back to the apartment. She laid down in front of the fan and I got to sending messages and calling people. It made for a little bit of a longer night and teaching on the phone but she literally slept so hard. I felt bad that I couldn't do anything to help :/ But on the bright side! I found 4 new people to teach! Woot woot! Sister Scioli ended up sleeping on my lap too for a fat minute so when 9pm came around I was ready to get up, take a shower, and sleep haha! We weren't done yet though, we had a call with a set of STL's to plan for our Zone Conference (because it's 2 zones) to try an figure out how we want to do this. We shared our ideas and everything but ultimately we decided to have another call on Monday night to really decide and plan everything. I was just ready for bed haha! 

Sunday was Stake Conference! I seriously love Stake Conference and it was so good to hear all the talks :) We started off the morning by going to Sergio's house to take him and his family to church. When we got there we called him to answer the door and we've decided that he was home but that he had his son answer the phone and say that he wasn't home. Poxa! We did get a ride to church though so that was a real blessing! Stake Conference was just too good! We heard from the stake President, the temple President, AND President Nordfelt! How rad is that!? We also had huge miracles! For starters, Sandra came to church! She told us she would come and I was seriously so so happy to see her walk through the doors! We also had our friend Thales come! He was a total surprise too. Basically he'd been taught in the past and we almost stopped teaching him last week but we decided to try this week one last time. He didn't answer our calls all week but he totally came to church! Both of them really loved it and had good things to say :) I was over the moon! We also had a super yummy lunch with one of my favorites, Camila and Rafael. They have the super cute fluff ball dog;) When we got back from lunch we got right into our weekly planning and boy do we have a busy week haha! We have exchanges and zone Conference. I'm super excited for this week :) We had so many referencias too it was a busy night haha! I can't wait to talk to you! We have Zone pday so I don't know what it'll look like but nonetheless it's pday :) I love you forever!