Week 25 -- Feliz semana (happy week) of never ending surprises

OH MY GOODNESS. 

I AM STILL KIND OF IN SHOCK OF ALL THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK.

Wow okay first of all, want to say a late Feliz dia da Ação das Graças (Thanksgiving)!! We were walking on the street at night for a compromisso (teaching commitment) and I remembered that it was Thursday and that it was the 3rd week of November and it was like, ´Woah.. IT'S THANKSGIVING.' And I just got so giddy and excited because I remembered all those years and that TODA FAMÍLIA (all my family) was together at my grandparents and probably already playing ultimate frisbee in the barn and I just got so ridiculously happy. Man I love them all - shout out fam, YOU ROCK.

Ok so this week, my companion was returning home after finishing her mission and so we headed for the mission office to drop her off and pass transfers there. As we are sitting there, one of the assistants to the President goes "hey Sister Staheli, you're going to be happy with transfers today' with this kind of mischievous grin which immediately puts me on the defensive like what does THAT mean right. And come to find out that not only was I to be the SENIOR missionary (meaning the most time on the mission), but that I would be TRAINING A NOVINHA (brand new sister) FROM THE CTM (missionary training center). 

Sister Mendonca

Her name is Sister Mendonça and she's from Rio Grande do Sul, which is funny because that's exactly where my trainor was from #ironicright? But let's just say she's amazing, burning with a powerful testimony and great ideas, everyone thinks she's American (#someonemorewhitethanme), and I definitely feel like I am learning more from her than I am probably teaching her  :)

ahhhhh needless to say I was stoked and also scared out of my mind (and definitely still in disbelief), but this week has been one of the happiest and most fulfilling weeks yet on the mission. One where we really worked our hardest every moment. And where the Lord really came through and delivered some pretty amazing miracles. I don't have time to tell you guys about everything (neither do you probably want to hear) but let's just hit the funniest/highlights of the week shall we?

PRIMEIRO DIA DA FILHA: (which of course was ANOTHER holiday #literallyoneeveryweek)

We've been having recurring problems with this leaking shower head in one of our bathrooms so we called to have one of the men in our ward come fix it, which at the time seemed like a good idea because he would do it for free and he lives relatively close. But the maintenance man said that in order to turn off the water for our apartment, he would have to disligar (switch off) the water for the ENTIRE BUILDING and that it wouldn't work today. Unshaken Irmão Julio goes, hey let's do this anyways. 

Okay beleza he knows what he's doing. 

soaked with the spirit (or a spewing fire house you choose)

Enter the bathroom, he starts tinkering and then things get a little out of hand. He starts by pulling the knob that activates the water out of the wall to replace a part inside, but because of the fact we live on the 2nd floor and the water starts from the top of the building, the water pressure in our apartment is RIDICULOUSLY strong and as he pulls off this knob, a FIRE HOSE of water starts spewing out of the bathroom wall and starts going everywhere - ceiling, floor, and especially all over poor Julio. So he's shouting for us to turn on every faucet in the apartment and the other shower and we run around turning everything on, but absolutely NOTHING is stopping this torrent of a geyser right and soon every sink is overflowing and the bathroom and kitchen are sitting in pools of water. He asks me if I'm prepared to 'tomar banho' (take a shower) and soon I am in the shower helping him try to shove this little gadget back into the wall to stop the flow but literally NOTHING is working. Before I know it, he goes hey I have another part in my house and LEAVES FOR 30 MIN while I am still holding this knob and pushing with all my might and my poor filha is just standing there like what is going on, is this normal and I'm soaking wet yelling that it's okay for her to take a shower and start studying, apologizing profusely that this is NOT normal and just dying of laughter that it was actually real life. Needless to say it was quite the experience.

THEN, we are walking 10 km to get to a restaurant of a member in the ward whose day it was to offer lunch only to find them closed because #holiday. Then walking the 30 min BACK to the house in the burning sun where we didn't have ANYTHING, but luckily found a restaurant to eat. 

Talk about 'welcome to the field - we don't have working showers or time to study or food to eat' #whoopwhoop #totallykiddingbutwow 

Even with such a hilariously ridiculous first day for my companion, the rest of the week was SO AMAZING. I finally had the ability to work as I knew we should and we really poured every effort into meeting new people, teaching lessons, and really striving to rely on the Lord to guide us and man did He provide. I felt His guiding hand helping us know what to say to people, putting people in our path that are really prepared which is SO essential. Because sometimes it's easy to get in your head that it is completely up to you to find these lost souls, the people who really are seeking for something deeper in their life and who feel the absence of God, but that responsibility is not completely in our hands. It's our Father in Heaven who knows the hearts of His children and He is doing everything in His power to put them in our paths, we just have to have the faith to search and find. Working with members and less actives, as well as doing everything physically possible to be His hands, we arrived to find our capela filled with 108 PEOPLE (with a norm of 83) including 4 (!!!) other people we are teaching.

Irmã Raimunda (she always gives us jewelry and makes chocolate mousse)

Added to that fact, this week the Lord has blessed us with a baptism planned for the 30th for a woman named Erika who has two adorable meninos (boys), a marriage for a couple and another baptism for another woman, AND really amazing people including an incredible woman named Socorro (who I promise to tell you more about next week). 

Wow I really appreciate that we can never be afraid to take on a challenge or something unknown in our lives, because we always have God at our side to comfort, teach, and guide us when we are uncertain and don't know what to do. 

Have faith friends and move your feet. 

It really works.

LOVE YOU ALL, 

Sister Staheli

Week 24 -- The last coxinha

This week was so amazing and filled with so many tender mercies it really was SO GOOD. You know those people that when you are with them, just fill your soul?
When you're with them, you forget about all those things that always occupied your mind and seemed so important and get a taste of what it really means to feel alive? 

Woah maybe got a little deep there but hey life was really real this week. I am sending a companion home for the second time, which has its advantages and disadvantages but really you get to be a part of the best part of the mission - when they sit and bear testimony of what they've learned over the past year and a half, which really is THE COOLEST THING. #wisdomwhoopwhoop 

But there are some pretty amazing people that mean a lot to me that I wanted to write home about so here we go (this time with pictures #FINALLY):

1. I asked my mom to send the Mrs. Field's oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe that we always make at home for my dad's bday and is literally THE GREATEST - because of all the american foods, people always get a little starry-eyed over them - because literally NO ONE knows how to make them. So essentially I've been dealing the goods to every Brasileiro I can.  And this week we went over and had a little "aula de cozinhar" (cooking class) and I taught one of my favorite families how to make them. The thing with this recipe though is that it literally makes 112 cookies and so.. needless to say we got pretty creative (#oatmealsnickerdoodles #chocochipnormal #chocochipwithnesquick)! But it was really cool because they really don't have a lot of money and Cynthia the mom got really excited because after passing the recipe, they are going to start selling them to people to raise their humble income a little more to support the 2 kids and grandparents. #thanksmomyouarealiterallifesaver

2. My mom also sent clothing in the package that I got for my birthday (like when I say clothing I mean like 7 shirts, 3 skirts, a small child TUDO). And if you remember the story of that poor mom that we cleaned the kitchen for, Marlene, they all luckily found a home. She wore one of the outfits the next day to church  bearing the biggest smile that's ever touched my heart.

3. And now for the best one. There have been a lot of people that have touched and impacted me so far in the mission but one of the most impactful has definitely been Marco. Just as a little background, Marco (like many people here) has AVC (I think it might be CVA in English - Cerebral Vascular Accident) a pretty crippling disease that bounds you to your bed and you begin to lose all sense in your body, including the ability to talk, and is a fatal disease that is really hard to watch a person go through. But there is a couple in our ward who have not been able to go to church for the past 8 years because Marco, the husband,got AVC and Francisca stays with him day and night to care for him. But man if you think that the inability to talk or move has stripped this man of his love or personality - boy are we all wrong. He is literally the most tender, humble, genuine, and bursting with humor person I have ever met. Really one of those people that I mentioned in the beginning of the email and has forever changed my life. We usually stop by at least once a week to visit them and leave a message. 

But the thing is Marco never eats anything but this horrible oatmeal porridge that he eats every meal because his body can't handle really solid or fatty foods but we made a promise that we would bring him a coxinha (which is like this fried chicken potato dumpling that they sell on every street corner) the next time we saw them. And let me tell you, they have 10 MILLION coxinhas on EVERY CORNER, but as we are finishing up the day and headed over to visit them, we realized that we still hadn't bought one and run desperately to literally every stand:

"have a coxinha??"

"have no" (x10)

Until we finally see one last stand closing up and what do they have sitting there in it's perfectly fried crust? The very literal last coxinha in probably all of Natal. 

But really no words to describe how much I love these people or for how much I am learning what it really means not only to be a missionary, but a true follower of Christ. 

Love you all and sending my prayers across the miles! Thank you for all the love and support, it really means the world <3

COM MUITO AMOR,

Sister Staheli

Week 23

Life is good and I eat a fresh mango almost every day.

Sister Feitosa

Week 22 - Week of Miracles

Wow okay something that I will absolutely NEVER get tired of is all the new tropical fruits they have here that neither I nor my companion (who is BRASILEIRA) have ever heard of. 

banana de cozinha (banana to cook)

The fruits I have eaten so far:

- at least 4 different types of bananas (ranging from the size of your pinky to the size of your forearm)

- Goiba ( which I think is guava)

- Maracuaja (passion fruit)

- 3 different types of MANGOS (I think this is my favorite)

- Acerola (I don't think this has a translation in English)

- Mamão (papaya -- hehe @meganstaheli ;) ) 

- Abacaxi (pineapple), melancia (watermelon)

- Coco Verde (green coconut)

- AÇAI

Jambo

and the newest from the week: Jambo (which if I'm being completely honest, doesn't taste all that good but hey we don't discriminate)

Wow - had a lot of miracles this week, sometimes so many and so frequent that I forget how miraculous they all are.

One with a recent convert who had literally NOTHING in the house to make for us that day, but it was her day to feed the missionaries. When we called, she desperately scrounged the house but came up with little more than rice and beans, but not wanting to turn us away and in a complete act of faith - confirmed lunch and tried to think of what to do. They have about 4 or 5 people who live in that house and as she is scrounging for money looking for money to buy at least a little bit of sausage, there's a clap at the door. Turns out her neighbor (who is not a member) found that she had too much chicken and carne (meat) in her fridge and was on her way to give it away to a friend but felt impressed to drop by Cynthia to ask if they needed it. Needless to say that she was shaken with the almost immediate result of her faith and selfless desire to serve the missionaries the best that she could no matter that she had nothing herself to give. She stood up and bore her testimony crying this Sunday just overwhelmed with the hand of the Lord in her life. So we arrived that day, not realizing that anything was that different or spectacularly different about another meal with an amazing member that we love, but for her it was the most powerful manifestation of God being aware of her. My companion was reminded of the widow in the bible (1 Kings 17) who had only a little bit of flour in her house to make a meal for her starving son, but was approached by the prophet Elijah and asked to make him food first and THEN for her son. Overwhelmed because she knew that she really didn't have anything to give but filled with faith, she obediently made the bread for the prophet and only after her selfless sacrifice realized that she had more than enough to fill the empty bellies of both her and her starving child. 

God really blesses those who put their faith in Him, and sacrifice for Him even when they think they have nothing to give. 

Hope that Halloween was popping and that every child out there reined in a king's feast of candy. I tried to get the people of Natal hyped about Halloween but apparently Dia dos Bruxas (day of the witches) really doesn't have as positive connotations here. But had the cute little 2 year old menina (girl) of Cynthia on my side who was riding around with a broom in between her legs and offered to say the prayer that went a little like this:

Thank you for our table.

Halloween #bee #nailedit

I'm a bad witch. 

AMEN.

Love you all and hope that you make an effort to act in faith and trust that He will bless you more than you can imagine. 

MUITO AMOR,

Jessi

Sister Staheli