Email Home: Monday, May 16, 2022

From: Kaitlyn.garcia@missionary.org
Date: Monday, May 16, 2022
Subject: 16 months and Zone Conference

Hello hello! This week seriously FLEW by and I can't believe Sister Scioli is leaving me. But let's get into the good stuff;) 

Hello there cutie :) 

Monday went by so quick and I don't even know how. Sorry I didn't have a ton of time. We went to this place called Marcado São José to buy some souvenirs for Sister Scioli because she only has one more pday. It's literally so crazy how fast everything has gone. Monday was pretty low key honestly, nothing too wild. We were able to start planning another ward activity and get some ideas going. I'm excited rhat we're doing ward activities but it's a lot of work to set them up and still teach and get everything done that we need to. I hope you had the best Monday and you know how much I love you :) 

Tuesday was a wild day haha! We were on media stuff but it was just al over the place haha! To start the day Sister Scioli told me that she lost some bracelets she bought to give to sisters so that resulted in me cleaning all her stuff to tey and find them. It was a total disaster and I didn't find anything. It was also just more proof that I really do have OCD when it comes to cleanliness and organization haha! While we were looking for that I totally lost track of time but we needed to go take a Book of Mormon to our friend Roseane. We literally ran to get to her work to drop off it off for her. When we got there I noticed that the door had the name 'Sandra' on it. I thought of our friend but I didn't think it was possible, well it was haha! We went to Sandra's office sem querer haha! Basically Sandra had talked about the Book of Mormon in her office and Roseane saw an ad on Facebook about it so she filled it out and we were able to get one to her. It was wild! It was super crazy though just how it all worked out. We came back and got I our social media stuff, nothing wild to report but we had a few more people to contact so that's always a plus :)

Wednesday we had Zone Conference woot woot! I love Zone Conference and it was even better because I got to see Sister Bradbeer again! We left early so that we could take pictures and get all settled before we needed to start. It was so so good and Sister Nordfelt talked a lot about the Savior's yoke and even did a three legged race analogy. It was so good and Let's just say that I took a ton of notes;) It was so good to see Sister Bradbeer too! I can't lie, I was nervous she wouldn't want to talk to me or that I'm just her trainer or something but she was so sweet! I miss her :) We also has fun surprise after Zone Conference... a flu shot haha! We all had to get s flu shot but it was de boa. Elder Prosser literally almost cried but other than him, everyone was bem tranquilo and didn't have anything to say about it. We left from there and headed back to the apartment. I was a little sad because it was our area day and we only had a few hours but it was worth it for Zone Conference. Oh! We also gave a training and I think it wasn't terrible so that's always a win ;) We were able to have a video call with our homie Felipe! We did a video call with him and Irmão Oscar. He was super receptive and Irmão Oscar was a huge help! It was such a good lesson and he literally stayed later at his work to talk to us instead of going home first. I'm honestly so excited about this one ;) We then went to Bispo's house for jantar. Our lunch was with him and his wife but because of Zone Conference we had to cancel so they invited us for dinner. It was super fun and it was kinda like a mini conselho so that was good too:) It was such a good day! 

Thursday would normally be DC but because of Zone Conference we didn't have it. It worked out for the better though! Thursday we were able to do one last exchange with the Sisters in Madalena. Sister Morais recently had a hernia surgery so she can't walk or really do anything missionary related so this exchange had a lot on the line. It was a media day in Torreão so she stayed with Sister Scioli to contact people and I went to Madalena with Sistet Jones. Sister Jones is hard for me and I knew that going in, but Thursday was another level. When I got there we went to the grocery store because they desperately needed food and she wanted to buy the most unpractical things. And she did not like me when I told her that it made ZERO sense to buy 5 gallons of juice instead of bread, eggs, etc,. We got it all figured out though and we were able to eat lunch and get se contacts in too before everything went down hill. Sister Jones proceeded to go to the bathroom for AN HOUR AND A HALF..... I asked her of she was okay various vezes but she just kept saying she was okay and she would be out in a minute. I was so frustrated but once she left I told her we'd be staying on the street until the very last minute. She was not very happy with me but it needed to happen. We were able able see some miracles and it was good for Sister Jones to get out of the apartment. It was a long day and a lot of walking but it was good in the end. 

Friday we finished up our exchange with Madalena and man was it an adventure! It was raining a ton and a literal nightmare to walk in the puddles but it was a good time ;) We made it to the bus stop and we almost got splashed on like in the movies haha! Here's the kicker though, the bus that said it would pass never did. This resulted in Sister Garcia asking all the bus drivers if they would pass in Encruzilhada or not. They kept saying the bus that never passed! I was frustrated to say the least haha! We ended up getting on a bus that said it would pass by but instead it went the OPPOSITE direction. Ughhh! We got off the bus and ended up calling an Uber because I was so frustrated. By the time we got back to the apartment in Torreão I was just ready to work and get the day going. We saw the Sisters off and then headed to our lunch. Boy was it a lunch! We had lunch with the Granja family and normally Irmã Jacinéa doesn't come out of her room (she has major depression) but Friday was our lucky day. She started talking about who knows what but then she got into politics... oh boy. She's a judge and her husband is a lawyer so you imagine just how awkward it was for me and Sister Scioli to sit there and listen to the both of them. We made it out of there alive and in one piece so that was a total win! We had a few things things finish up and then headed to a lesson with Carlos. While we were walking this woman stopped us and asked if we had been into this newly renovated Cafe, we said no and she took us to see it. It's seriously so cool amor! I loved it and they have everything! Not only that but I made a new homie named Gabriel. He was shocked rhat I really am from the states and he's actually an English teacher after he studied abroad. It was a super cool contact and we're definitely going back :) Once we left we ran into Irmão Wellington and he told us that we needed to go to the dance that was gonna happen because it was gonna be a lot of non members. We told him that we would tey but not promise anything. Carlos fell through so we stopped by Paula's house but she wasn't feeling too good so it was more of just a contact. We decided to give the dance a shot haha! Unfortunately there weren't too many non members but there were a TON of youth! From different wards and everything. We did get to talk to a lot of menos ativos though so that was good and I think it helped their view on missionaries and that they come to church ;) But there was a youth that asked me to dance forro and he was sad when I said no, Sister Scioli thinks that's just the funniest thing ever haha! I feel bad bur what else what I was supposed to do?! 

Saturday was just quite the day haha! We started off by heading to Joanas house to take her a giant Book of Mormon so that she can see the letters. She got to talking and she was like, 'I'm gonna go tell all the other churches that they're wrong because they don't use the Book of Mormon' Well okay then! She also of course had a lanche for us so hy 11am I had already eaten mini coxinhas. Love that haha! We then tried to get a few studies done before leaving for lunch with Presidente Bandeira. It was super yummy but I felt bad because I wasn't wasn't hungry. We ate real quick and then got grinding on our media stuff. We had so much going on but we managed to get it all done and just in time to leave again to go to our ward activity we planned. I was hoping for more people but this time around we did have more youth so that was nice! It was a total hit and Irmã Luciana even made cachorro gente! 

Sunday came so quick, I swear I'm just blinking at this point and it's all flying by. Sunday we got to hear from Elder Evans one last time and Sister Scioli will be next week. Sad day! We also had a huge surprise and had Antônio come to church! He's the one that gave us flowers haha! It was good to have him there and he promised that next week he'd come a little earlier. We also had a really good lunch with Irmã Angela and Irmão Marques. They're just the best and they actually gave us an idea for a Saturday activity so I may or may not be singing or something... vamos ver. We had a good time though and I seriously love them so much :) We got back and got into all our weekly planning. I didn't sleep too well so it was a struggle haha! Anywho, we ended up having a video call with Irmão Wellington and Antônio and man was it so Unplanned haha! Antônio has been taught in the past but clearly nothing was explained very well and he's a curious person so those two things together made for quite the phone call. He literally talks so much too. I felt bad just because we planned with Irmão Wellington to talk about the Restoration and it was nada ver haha! I guess that's just Sunday for you ;) I hope you had the best Sunday and i can't wait to talk to you! I love you to the moon and back