Happy 3 months!

Hello everyone!

Wow I can’t believe I have been gone three months now! Looking back I have learned so many things and I know I will continue to learn new things every day. It is hard to describe how hard a mission is, but I know as time goes on I will learn to love it more and more each day!

This past week was good. We had zone conference on Thursday. It was fun to see President Jayme and Sister Jayme again. I was able to talk to Sister Jayme for awhile and get to know her better. Our trainings most of the day dealt with how we can better use the Book of Mormon as missionaries. For the most part I was able to understand what was going on. The President took us to a really nice lunch at a hotel in the Center.

After lunch we had more training and some of the missionaries had to give talks. Then they asked me to bear my testimony. Ah, it was not fun. The president was just staring at me trying to figure out what I was saying. But Sister Boyack said she could understand and that my accent is getting better. Then we had interviews. President Jayme gave me the option of having it in English so I took it, but I should’ve had him give the interview in Português. The interview was good. He asked me what I had learned at the conference and I told him I learned how to use the Book of Mormon better. He said that was the main point of the conference and other missionaries had missed that lesson. So I guess that is good that I understand the important stuff. We didn’t get home from the conference till 7 p.m.

Next week we fly out for Manaus on Tuesday! Sister Boyack is so excited, that is basically all she talks about everyday! I am excited because we are taking a boat ride to see where the two rivers meet and we are having lunch on the boat. We will be staying at the President’s house so that will be interesting. But I’ll admit I am excited for the three day break we will get! It will be like a small vacation. We will fly home on the 24th and then I will be calling you that day to give you the number and time to call me on Christmas day!! Yea, I think about it all the time and I am getting so excited!

This week was good. Helena and Talieta were going to get baptized on Saturday, but Talieta didn’t go to church and Helena missed her interview. So we have moved their baptism dates to the 24th along with, Hosiana (we are asking her tonight if she will be baptized because she has been so busy lately), Neto (Hosiana’s cousin), Claudia (met her last week and she has already been to church and wants to be baptized) Ezeria, and Emerson. I really hope they don’t change their minds while we are in Manaus for those few days. The ward is planning a really special baptism celebration for them so we just keep praying that nothing goes wrong. So, we are working hard to get them all ready for their baptisms in 8 days!! We will just keep praying and teaching them and I know it will work out! I know this gospel will help them all feel so much better about life and I know they will feel so clean afterwards!

We invited Alex and Maria last night to be baptized and it didn’t go so well. They looked so surprised when we asked them! We have been teaching them for more than a month. They basically said no but we encouraged them to pray about it then decide. So tomorrow we will find out.

We also had a little problem with confusion about our area boundaries. Apparently Jouselte and her family is one street into the elder’s boundaries. Sister Boyack didn’t know because she started teaching them with Sister Haiyes. So that has been drama this week because the elders wanted to take the family from us and start teaching them. We are inviting them to be baptized tonight so Sister Boyack has been upset about that. BUT, last night the Elder’s called and said if the Zone leaders say it is ok to let us teach them, then it is fine with them so that was a big relief.

So the work is going great! We had six investigators at church so that was good. We had a zone meeting on Monday and President Souza gave us all gifts! He loves the sisters more than the Elders so he gave us 50 Reis each!! So I am going to get a pedicure or something. It was really nice of him! He is the one that picked me up at the airport when I first arrived here.

So yeah this week has been good. We didn’t end up going on splits because the members bailed on us so that was disappointing, and we had to walk so much on Saturday and Sunday it was rough, but we survived. When we had zone conference the assistants brought our letters but not our packages, sadly. I received letters from you, Grandpa Thaller, Sisters Adams, Peterson, Leitherer and Elder Bateman. So that was a fun surprise to hear from everyone. It sounds like my CTM friends are going through the same problems with the language as I have! So that makes me feel a little better! So yeah that sums up my week. Hopefully I will be able to check my email next p-day, but if I don’t for some reason just know I will be calling on the 24th!!! YAY!!

Love you!
Sista C

ps.. Today we got our eyebrows trimmed by a tranny and I got my hair cut too! It is nice to get a little pampered once in a while!!