Email Home: Monday, March 7, 2022

From: Kaitlyn.garcia@missionary.org
Date: Monday, March 7, 2022
Subject: Rain and a Geladera

Hey hey hey! This week was all over the place so I'm just gonna let you read all about it haha! :) 

Monday was quite the day haha! Well it doesn't really seem like it was a lot but it was kind of a lot. For starters it was our limpeza profunda buttttt we were smart this time around and cleaned little by little and on Monday it was all done by 9:30am. Bênçãos!! We snagged our videos and than the waiting game started. We were waiting for transfer news and it literally was causing me so much anxiety haha! I also learned something about myself, when I get anxious I scratch my head by the nape of my neck pretty good. Let's just say I found some pretty sore spots because I was anxious. After a few hours we came to know that we're staying together here in Torreão! I'm actually so excited and it's gonna be filled with miracles I can just feel it :) Monday I also got to talk to Chrish so that's always a tender mercy :) Oh! I've also become a professional singer, I hope you enjoyed that haha! Monday night was good too, we were on the call center and we had some solid people answer the phone! Not only that but some of them actually seem interested so we got them sent to their areas. We also had such a good lesson with our friend Paulina. She's so solid but I'm sad that she doesn't live in our area :/ What can you do though. Thanks for chatting with me too! It seriously made my whole day :) 

Tuesday was just a day! I don't have words haha! Let's start from the beginning shall we? I had some solid studies and I've been loving  rereading the Conference talks, they're so good:) We also had a killer lunch and it had so many veggies! I miss veggies haha! They aren't really anything too big here so I haven't eaten a ton of them but Tuesday was a miracle. Not only that but Vivi called us and told us all about this drama that's happening in the ward and in her life so I love that. After all that was said and done we went to a lesson with our friend Carlos. He's actually Sister Canha's cousin haha! He was a little busy when we got there so we just had a contact with him but it was good to meet him nonetheless. We also met this woman named Gabriela and she's amazing! We talked to her about the Book of Mormon and she accepted a copy and was so happy that we had one for her. When we asked for her address we learned that she doesn't live in our area. Você está brincando! Sad day! But I'm hopeful that the Elders will take good care of her :) We decided that we would send her on Wednesday because of transfers and stuff, we don't want her to get lost in the shuffle of everything. We had some pretty good lessons too :) One thing that President Nordfelt has really been talking about lately is having extraordinary faith for things. I have faith don't get me wrong but since I've been more aware of it I feel like more things have been happening. We also had our calling with the Sisters in Vasco and learned so so much about transfers haha! Basically it's nothing like we had thought and in literally shocked. Sister Scioli and I were so excited to see all the adjustments on Wednesday to say the least. I did learn that one of my favorites, Sister Morais, is coming to our district and I'm gonna a be her STL woot woot! It was a crazy phone call to say the least haha! We finished off the night with a killer lesson with our new friend Maria Silva. She actually saw a post for the Book of Mormon and we called to talk to her about it a little bit and she told us that she was super curious about it. We set up a day to take her a copy! It was too good:) We also decided to get some açaí because well, I have a problem and so does Sister Scioli haha! Also side note, Willamis (that got baptized in Carpina) sent me a friend request on Facebook and he literally has so many posts about the church :) Ahhh it makes my heart so happy! 

Wednesday was the big day! Transfers phew phew phew! Well nothing changed for me or Sister Scioli but we got to see all the changes and talk to the new sisters. I was making some breakfast before planning and Sister Scioli starts screaming that we had news. I stopped what I was doing and looked ar everything. Literally shook haha! I just hope that everything is gonna work out this transfer. As far as Sisters go, I'm a little worried about some stuff but I'm just gonna keep up my faith ;) I'll have to keep you updated on the whole situation that's for sure haha!  Anywho, nothing too wild happened today as far as social media work goes. We do have new ads so I'm hopeful that more people will click on them. The people that we contacted actually were really solid and we taught a lot more than normal so thay was a tender mercy:) We also went to the bank twice on Wednesday. Basically none of the ATM's were working and people were starting to form some big lines so we decided to leave and tey again later. When we went back a little later there was still a huge line but a few ATM's were working so we were able to get our MSF out with no problem. But we did witness a lot of people yelling at each other haha! Brazilians get angry man! I've never missed being able to use my MSF card so much haha! 

Thursday we had the best DC! Well maybe not the best but it was pretty solid :)  For starters we had a few changes in the district because of transfers woot woot! Sister Morais is now in my district! I seriously love her :) Her and Sister Jones are pink washing Madelena and they said the apartment was disgusting. It got me thinking about Salem, man am I glad those Elders had done some cleaning haha! We also got a new Elder (from Utah of course) but other than that, nothing too crazy changed. It was such a good DC though, we talked a lot about how we can better use the Book of Mormon. Elder Cowley (that's from Riverton haha!) did a really good job and I really liked it :) When we got back from DC and lunch we had to get ready for a huge technology meeting. Because we're in charge of the social media referrals we have a huge meeting with all the mission in Brasil. How rad is that!? Not only that but I got to see Sister Lindberg from the MBM! She's in Natal right now and she's in charge of them too so I got to see her :) It was actually a pretty good meeting too and I learned a lot. Not only that but after we got on a call with the AP's, the technology specialist, and the other set of sisters that we split with to talk about everything. I really want to help the page but it's hard to not compare this page and the pages in the MBM. Just because the pages in the MBM were already established and we were just adding to it, here we're starting from the very bottom and building up. Anywho, we had some bigger plans for Thursday but during DC Sister Scioli literally destroyed her knee and I didn't feel good walking with her. She has some knee problems and during DC she went to go straighten her leg and it literally let out the loudest pop I've ever heard and you could tell it hurt her. Let's just say that on Monday we're going to the hospital to get some physical therapy done ;) I also somehow got wrapped up into teaching English to some lady the Elders found. They passed her info so we just had a quick phone call to get to know her and see what she expects. Basically she told us that she wants to be fluent in English because she has 2 guys in the states that talk to her and she has to use Google Translate haha! So basically she wants to learn English to get a green card from one of these guys. Gotta love it! We told her that as missionaries we share messages and all that good stuff and as soon as we said that she didn't seem too interested haha! So we'll see what happens with her. It was a weird phone call to say the least. I don't mind teaching English but when the person isn't even open to a scripture at the end you know they just want to use the American you know? Anywho, Thursday was a pretty solid day :) 

Friday was my first MLC! Woot woot! I honestly had no clue what to expect or even what was really gonna happen. Sister Scioli just told me that we were basically going to be at President's house all day. We work a lot closer to President Nordfelt now and I always feel like I did something wrong haha! I did decide that because we were going to be at President's house and it's a bigger meeting I needed to actually but some more effort into my appearance haha! I decided that I miss wearing makeup a little bit but that it's also gonna be weird to wear makeup and not sweat it all off or be worried about mascara running. It was actually a really good MLC and I learned a ton. We talked a LOT, ate some yummy food, planned our topic for Zone Conference, and heard a departing testimony from one of the Zone Leaders. I also got to see Sister Da Mata again! She's an STL now so I got to see her and man do I miss her :) Definitely getting WhatsApp at home to be able to talk to her and Sister Scioli ;) We decided that for Zone Conference we want to talk about focusing on our purpose and being more motivated. We have a few missionaries that are tough so we're hoping this is gonna help them and the mission as a whole. It was a lot of information but it was so good and there was a lot that I learned and what to apply to be a better STL. Still crazy by the way, just saying. When we got back to the apartment Sister Scioli and I talked a lot about what we learned and what we want to apply and all that good stuff. We also got into the grind of referencias! We have some new ads and the people that have been soliciting our contact have actually been more receptive, bênçãos!! We were doing pretty good until we got to the end of the night haha! It's been a raining a TON here lately and it made all the power go out. With that being said we didn't have WiFi to see who we needed to call. It came back on with about 10 minutes left of the night so we decided to call this woman and give her a message. I'm not even joking, this woman talked for 15 minutes about her entire life and all I said was that we were the missionaries and wanted to share a message with her. I now know this womans whole life and she lives in a whole other area haha! It was wild! The power went about 3 times on Friday but by the time we were getting ready for bed it was back in and everything was a-okay :) 

Saturday was such a good day! But it was full of adventures that I never thought haha! We had our power go out right? Well it was a miracle and our phone was charged and our alarm went off woot woot! We also went and took a Book of Mormon to one of our new friends, Gideão. He seems a little weird so we don't know how go go about it yet but we're excited to teach him :) We dropped off his Book of Mormon and then headed to lunch. We went to this yummy Japanese place and it made me miss sushi! I can't wait to eat sushi again haha! We made a quick pit stop back at the apartment because the restuarant is literally next door so why not? I went to go put the food in the fridge and I realized that the light wasn't coming on. Sister Scioli and I started to try everything haha! We changed the outlets, moved the fridge, literally everything we could think of we did, but with no luck. Because it was Saturday the whole escritorio had pday so we knew that no one would really answer us so we decided to do the next best thing, we called Irmão Amon haha! He came to the conclusion that because the power was going in and out that something probably just got burned and now the fridge won't work. Love that for us haha! We did get in touch with Elder Ritta and he told us that in Monday there would probably be someone here to try and fix it. The worst is that the fridge is new, like literally got here in December. We threw out some stuff and made a plan on what was going to bad or not and then we had to get going. We got to take another Book of Mormon to our other friend Maria Silva. She's curious about what it is and what we believe but she didn't have a ton of time to talk to us so we marked for other time to explain a little bit more about it :) We dropped it off and then made our way to Flavia's house. We really have just been at a lost with her and how to help her so Saturday was kind of the day to decide the next step. A while back her son accepted baptism but since then we've gotten nothing. We got there and just started to talk to her to see what we could get out of her. She literally is that memeber that just isn't baptized but she knows that she just needs to get married. We tried to talk to her son but he was literally not having any of it and it made for kind of an awkward lesson I can't lie. It was a little all over the place because of her son, Agusto, but it was good and helped us know what to do for weekly planning. It started to rain (again haha!) and Flavia was super nice and gave us a ride home. I felt like I was breaking rules but Sister Scioli said that Presidente Nordfelt gave permission or something so I guess I just have to trust. When we got back we had a few lessons and then it was time to close up shop. We wanted something to eat but because of the whole fridge situation we didn't have a ton of options because any left overs we had were already in the trash. We decided to go with the next best thing, açai ;) It was 100% worth it and a good way to end a crazy Saturday. 

Fast Sunday in Brasil, really the only thing that I ever want is water haha! It actually has been kind of cold here because of the rain, I know. It's hard to think but I'm used to just sweating all the time that I really do get cold here haha! I was just grateful that it stopped raining so that we could walk to church. We're still going to the Stake Center/Mission Office because our capela still is being fixed. It was good though and we actually were asked by the office Elders to sit with one of their friends that came to church for the first time. She's super great but man has she been through a lot. I actually was so sad listening to her life story. Sister Scioli and I just kinda sat there and were hoping that what we had to say would help her. It was a lot but I guess I'm glad that she felt comfortable haha! After church we had lunch, fast Sunday is hard here in Brasil haha! Basically I started my fast on Sunday afternoon and will stop on Monday after lunch haha! It was good though and I seriously love the couple! They're so funny and it was funny to watch the Elders interact with them because they didn't get the jokes that they were making haha! It was a good lunch though and I love getting to talk to all our members :) We had a pretty good weekly planning too and we have some big plans for this week so I hope that tudo vai dar certo! I hope that you had the best week and I can't wait to talk to you! I love you to the moon and back!