OH MY GOSH THEY ARE ONLY GIVING US 30 MINUTES THIS WEEK.
Ok so I am going to try to give this week justice in the
crazy short amount of time, but there are really no amount of words for how
amazing it was!! I have absolutely NO clue why, but this past week was just
such an anomaly it was crazy so I am going to try to bullet point list this out:
- Oh my goodness. MY INSTRUCTOR IS GETTING MARRIED. He
literally walks into class one day and we know that he has been dating one of
the other teachers here so we tease him about it a little, but apparently he
was at the temple and he prayed about it and he just knew. So no ring, growing
up not even thinking he might get married PERIOD, in his broken English he is
telling us this and Irmao just got so bashful and happy about it ahhh it was
the best.
----Ok so of course we flip out and are so
excited for him right and we all ate dinner that night as a little familia and
the GREATEST THING happened. So we were talking about pets and one of the
elders asks Dilhea if he has any dogs right and he goes yeah one, and then poor
elder Pabst (who is seriously one of the nicest guys but really REALLY doesn’t
know Portugues) turns to Dilhea's fiance and means to say 'e voce?' but he
forgets right and just says 'voce????' and everyone kind of stops because it
sounds like he just asked if Dilhea's pet dog was his new fiance-soon-to-be-wife
and then his face goes super red and he looks at this beef cake of an
instructor scared for his life and the fiance is practically rolling on the
floor she's laughing so hard it was great hahaha
But for real for real, the MOST AMAZING PART of this week
was that they actually released us, RELEASED US like lost guppies into the
streets of Sao Paulo to go proselyting!!!!! Ok they amp you up right and they
say ok I know you guys know hardly any of this language but we're dropping you
off in the middle of the equivalent of Time's Square in New York to try to talk
to people and come away with their phone number and address for missionaries to
share a message with them. TALK ABOUT STRESSFUL HOLY COW.
If I am being completely honest right now though, it was the
most amazing experience of my entire life. Even though we really had such a
small overlap in language, there are no words needed for shared emotions you
know? We went up and would ask people if they could help us try to learn some
new words and it just hit me how much I loved each and every one of them. We
met a sweet older lady who LOVES to cook named Maria whose favorite food is
stroganoff and that she has the most amazing recipe that she cannot WAIT to
make for us one day, another man named Sergio sitting waiting for the bus
reading a book by Orson Scott and is a Buddhist who came from Brasilia and
hates it, I tried to express to him through wild hand gestures and the limited
vocab I DID have (insecto insecto!) about how I had an uncle who served there
and who TO THIS DAY has a little stomach parasite (lol sorry Glenn hehe) and we
shared laughs even though we couldn't say the same words. Every one of them
smiling and laughing, helping us learn, and I just sat basking in the awe of it
all. I love how each one of them just burned with this inner light of Christ,
each one so kind and bright. It was one of those moments when you realize that
we are all just here on earth together you know as brothers and sisters, and
that we just need to be there for each other. Each one so excited to have us
return and share our testimonies and love of Christ, but I will probably never
see them ever again, they'll be visited by other missionaries who are serving
here in Sao Paulo but I just can't imagine being anywhere else.
Especially in the temple today, I really just sat and
contemplated how I wanted my life to be, and whether I was the same person that
I was before I started my mission. Man I just want to feel this close to God,
the strength and support of His spirit ALL THE TIME and it hit me that we
totally can. We just owe every blessing that we have to Him, and especially I
can't get over how much we are blessed to have families.
I LOVE CHRIST. I LOVE MY
FAMILY. I LOVE BRASIL.
Next week will be my last email before the field!! Can't
believe I've been here that long, but love you all! Thank you for the letters I
am so sorry I had such little time this week, I promise to write you all next
week!!
HAPPY FOURTH AMERICA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Com muito amor,
Sister Staheli
