This week has been even busier than the last! And all in Portuguese. They still translate during choir practice and devotionals, but all our teachers and even our roommates have started all of a sudden pretending they don't speak English anymore (haha). It's good though. Mostly it just means my comp and I have to translate for the rest of the class whenever we're given a specific instruction.
We teach 3 times a day now! With the exception of p-day, Sunday, and Tuesday, because of the devotional. We have 2 fake investigators (which we alternately call fisherman or sinners, depending on which/how many syllable(s) of the word we forget to pronounce), plus fake members (it's called TRC, and it's pretty low-key, but I have yet to see the point) and then we also do splits with Brazilians and teach other missionaries. I was most stressed about the last one, but it's awesome!! My splits comp and I get along pretty well, and I was able to understand and contribute to the lesson, which was super cool. One of our investigators is throwing us for a loop (the Elders in our district say she's not half as hard on them, so I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not), but our lessons are getting better and better. We taught 2 lessons this week without anything written out at all! And we can almost make complete sentences now too ;)
I was also sick this whole week. Elder Cowley came with a cold, which got worse throughout the first week until his eyes were red and swollen, but he got a priesthood blessing and some eye drops, so he's totally ok now. We joked a lot at first that our district goal for the week was to infect the entire zone (5 people a day--we can totally do it!) but so far the only one is me (haha). No, my eyes aren't red, I've just been sneezing and blowing my nose a lot. But it's been getting a lot better, and I'm sure I'll be over it this week.
I had a couple hard moments at the beginning of the week, mostly right before meals. So that hasn't changed. We keep getting more and more responsibilities, and I was feeling pretty overwhelmed. But then our lessons and language ability and everything took a turn for the better, almost all of a sudden, and now I'm super enthusiastic again!
I listened to the Tuesday devotional in Portuguese, and still was able to take notes and everything! The only thing I didn't get was a story about a blown tire on the side of a highway. Don't know enough words about cars apparently (haha). Also listened to the temple session Portuguese too! I keep thinking I totally get it (and I do get more than before) but then people will come up and want to have an actual conversation, and I won't understand any of it. We just don't learn a lot of normal words I guess. ;)
I have tons of funny stories (I've been journaling every day, don't worry!) but no time to type them! Here's a sweet one though:
Not sure if I mentioned this, but last week Sis Bourdeau and I wrote letters to each of the elders, telling them what we appreciated about them and everything. They thanked us, but didn't really react much, so I was super surprised when I was packing my bag one morning and I found a copy of Jesus the Christ (I guess I mentioned that I wanted to read it, and one of the Elders had an extra) with notes from each of them tucked in the front cover! Not sure how I missed all the laughter and meaningful looks and hints they left, but whatever. I found them eventually!
Ooh I haven't told you about p-day! Most of last week we spent waiting in line at the post office (expect a letter for the kids in about a week or two) but we also got candy and açai bowls. You know those wafer things that dad buys every once in a while? The long thing rectangle ones that come in chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla? They have those here, too, except miniature, and about twice as much chocolate and half the wafer. (They have lots more flavors, too, but why bother when there's chocolate?) Anyways, they're called Bis, and I'm absolutely addicted! Also, Elder Conklin brought back these butter toffees that are super amazing. Can't wait to try some more stuff today! We had second session at the temple, so we won't have tons of time to explore, but we're going to go to a grocery store and get some good snacks.
Oh! I almost forgot! I got asked to accompany the choir next Tuesday. We're singing The Miracle, except in Portuguese. I'm glad the kids sang that for months on end, because otherwise I would have no idea what I'm playing! As it is, I had to re-write the accompaniment to include the melody, since it's not a super common song.
I actually don't know if I've said anything at all about Choir! We have devotionals every Tuesday and Sunday, and there's always choir before. We practice whatever musical number we're going to sing that night, and then they call up different districts to sing their favorite hymn. Generally, the district sings the first verse, and then the choir joins in for the rest, but some districts have gotten really into it, and done arrangements and stuff. We lost our paper, so we haven't sung yet, but we will.
District is still awesome, and the food is good. It's been raining off and on, but it's mostly warm. Or at least no one but me ever considers it cold.
I better go respond to some others, but I love you all!! Keep writing :) Two p-days down, 4 to go!
-Sister Kirkham
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