August 27, 2018 - Closed Doors & Cancelled Appointments with Lots of Miracles/Laughing/Learning in Between

This week was a hard week and also an awesome one at the same time. Work-wise, it really wasn't all that productive. Lots of walking in the hot sun half passing out (also, I got sick--more on that later), lots of closed doors and cancelled appointments, but also lots of miracles and learning and laughing in between.

So last monday, after we emailed, we set to work on our epic egg experiment. We spent all last week trying it for this one family we were teaching, but we couldn't get it right, and then we had this lesson Monday night and we were like "no, this has to be it. We have to figure it out!!" and we did! But it involved several ruined eggs, some expensive grape juice (we just wanted the bottle) and some singed eyebrows and lashes (my companions', not mine hahaaha). But anyways, it was the thing where you use a match to make the boiled egg go into the bottle, and you use it to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The girls we're teaching loved it!

The most I remember on Tuesday is that we ate lots and lots and lots of food. Like to the point that someone on the street offered us a popsicle (it was like 100 degrees) and we couldn't even accept that! And then that turned out not to be the best thing, because after complaining the whole day, my comp went to bed and woke up fine, and I woke up very very stomach sick. I got a priesthood blessing, which miraculously (yes i know that's the point haha) let me work the whole day, but I ate just about nothing for Almoço, which made our mission fast very long and painful on Thursday. But I made it!

Highlight of the week would have to be zone conference, as always. I was still a little sick (I got in huge trouble with President for not telling Sister Mazzagardi I was sick--but then she was sick too! So sick that she didn't even come, which was really sad 🙁) but I still got to enjoy all the incredible trainings, participate in the discussion and the many many many practices/role plays, and get my mind blown by all the deep doctrine President Mazzagardi brought up. Usually we hear about focusing on the simple stuff, but President was like "hey you have to know this stuff! Don't you chase the footnotes?!?! Cause you should!" This conference was definitely themed a little bit differently. We were first in the mission last month, and president warned us that "pride comes before the fall," but we weren't expecting to fall quite so hard. Seeing the results, we were expecting a pretty fiery rebuke, but president was as happy as usual. Just a little I-told-you-so haha. Anyways, the conference was also different because it was a lot more council/discussion, like "come follow me" type thing. Because apparently in the new PMG that's coming in January, it's going to be all "council" and not "conference." We had a really good debate about using the Book of Mormon, which led us to two huge miracles Saturday and Sunday!

Sorry I'm out of time so I gotta summerize, but Saturday night we found a family!! On a street we've been looking for for over 2 months. And then on Sunday, we were knocking doors on a street we totally hadn't planned to knock, and we found Magda, who is a breast cancer-survivor that wrote a book about her experiences. She was talking all about it and then was like "I don't even know why I'm telling you all of this" and that's when my brain kicked in and was like "whoa ok that means it's the spirit and I have to figure out why!" And then the prompting came! We taught her about the Book of Mormon, and shared 1 Nephi 1:1, where he talks about his trials, and how he was highly favored by the Lord, and compared it to her and her book. And she LOVED it! She was like "wow. THIS (pointing to the BoM) is why God led you to my door tonight!"

One last thing: my comp and I have had an epidemic lately of saying or thinking the same thing at the same time, and we decided today that it's just like the people of King Benjamin, when they were so united in the spirit that they were able to respond "with one voice" all about their conversion. Companionship unity is soooo important and also sooo cool! My comp and I are very very different, but, unlike my past companionship, we find unity in following the spirit. Like I can't even describe how cool it is when we're trying to come up with a solution for something and then one person tentatively responds and the other is like "whoa I just thought of the same exact thing!" and then we just know it has to be revelation! hahaha :)

Ok I really gotta go, but here's 2 things I'm looking forward to:

We're going to paint our apartment!

Also, this week we have epic plans for a plan of salvation board game--can't wait to show you next week!

There were tons of pictures taken, but sorry I don't have any of them yet! Get them to you as soon as I can. Love you all! wishing you an awesome week!!

-Sister Kirkham

August 20, 2018 - Missionary Parodies!

Sooo much stuff happened this week, but we'll see how much I can get through! Really hope you all had a better week!! Hope the kids are all settling into school, especially Payson! How's Nolan doing? Any more crazy storms?

OK so this Tuesday the topic of our district meeting was about "administering money" (everyone in the mission is focusing on self-reliance right now) so we took some time to organize all of our money, with the goal that it will not simply disappear this month haha. It's funny though that I think everyone in our district said that our biggest spending is on food. Missionaries love food haha. Oh, except one elder said his was by far personal heigyne. Like how many products do elders need?? But whatever.

Tuesday night we taught our college friends about the Plan of Salvation with a cute little graphic that they loved. Two of them came to church yesterday!

This is out of order, but speaking of people that came to church, yesterday we had Patricia, whose brother left on his mission last week, and who was being taught by the elders, before they discovered that she actually lives in our area. She's awesome and also the cutest little thing ever, but she's worried about being baptized because her whole family is very catholic. We would appreciate lots of prayers on her behalf!

Probably the biggest excitement this week was our double splits. The sister training leaders came to Teófilo this time, and they had to stay 2 days because of the bus schedule. It was tons of fun (if a little cramped) to have 4 sisters in the house. Also, they were basically on vacation, so they wanted to explore everything. I convinced one of them to visit the cemetery with me (neither of my comps here has been willing to go!) and then we also got to visit the international rock fair! I bought two pairs of earrings, and also got given a mini turtle and dolphin because people thought I was funny hahahah.

Saturday we got to paint a house! (or at least one room of a house) for our friend Joyce. She absolutely could not believe that we all paint things ourselves there. Apparently it's not something they do here in Brazil!

Our baking continued strong with baked potatoes, torta de mousse, cookies, failed pumpkin bread (and pumpkin pancakes), and calzones (those were the best!).

Our district is also focusing on sacrifice and consecration, so my comp and I gave up on popular songs and decided to put our musical skills to better use...which would be writing impromptu missionary parodies to every single primary song we could remember--and there were many! The corny, bad, and ridiculous ones will stay on the streets of Minas where they were created, but I wrote down and am attaching pictures of the best ones, for your enjoyment :P We plan to continue this project, so if anyone has any ideas or funny stories, please share! (Here's a hint: the next verse of BOM stories will be about crocheting).

Ok that's it for this week! Love you all! Pictures to come (if my comp remembers to send them to me...)

-Love from Sister Kirkham

August 13, 2018 - Pop Songs & Sunday Talk

Happy anniversary mom and dad!!!!

Also, someone wish Rory a happy birthday 12th for me! Can't believe she's going into Young Women's!

I didn't read your emails yet, but it seems like it's been a crazy week for you all. We have been working crazy hard--I think we taught over 20 new people this week, including a couple of families. We have also baked way too much, invented a district t-shirt, and been serenaded by ukelele a couple of times over the phone by the elders (they get bored or something, don't really know...).

My comp and I have also been having way too much fun trying to sing all of the pop songs we remember (which sadly isn't very many haha). The only song that we got close to remembering all the words was "You belong with me" by Taylor Swift, and even then we were missing an entire verse haha.

Because we taught so many people, I won't give you details on all of them until we know who we're going to keep going with. (also because I need to use some of my time to work on this district t-shirt). But I think the highlights would be all the miracles on Tuesday (attaching a picture of my journal pages from that day), giving a talk on Sunday (which I will also send to you, but you're gonna need google translate. I got lots of positive comments :), and then lots of visits to lonely or sick members, and several less-active families. Also, we did family history with Mauro and his sister and niece on Saturday! It was pretty frustrating because Brazil doesn't seem to have the type of records that we have, or maybe their just not digitized yet.

Something else funny is that we literally ran to the grocery store a couple of times this week, because it closes at 8:30, which is usually right when we finish teaching for the day, and we needed flour and sugar and what not to make a whole ton of desserts we promised to people.  :)

Yeah, ok, I don't think it was all that interesting of a week, sorry! Kind of frustrating too, because we weren't trying to teach so many people, but we weren't able to find/teach those that we had already started teaching. And also, none of them came to church because it was Father's day yesterday. But oh well. Some of these people have to come through, right? :)

Love you all! Hope this week is better!! Praying for you :)

-Sister Kirkham

August 6, 2018 - Travelling is Exhausting

This week wasn't all that exciting. I was either sweating/panting or falling asleep for like all of it. Not sure if I was getting sick or if it was just a side effect of overnight travelling 4 times in the past week and a half. But this week will be better :) And we still worked hard anyways, trying to visit sick members and less actives and all the people that went to church in the past 2 weeks, and all of the people we met in the park that live all across and outside of the city.

Terça-feira I spent in Vitória--feels like I've been away from there for so long!! I was sooooo tempted to take a bus (or 3) over Terceira Ponte for no reason what so ever, but I didn't have time. I got to each lunch with my trainer!!!! And hear all about Cobilândia from her. She spent almost 8 months there! but finally got transferred like 2 areas over. But anyways, that was awesome. Also got to spend time with Sister Levi, my first former comp to go home! (she stayed with us until her taxi to the airport came). In October, 2 more will go, and then my current companion goes home in January, and then--yeah ok we don't need to think that far ahead.

I think I mentioned this last week, but my nova companheira is Sister Creswell, from Utah. I lived with her for the first 3 months of my mission, so it's been fun to think back on a couple of old memories. It's also cool to see how people grow and change--and what things never do :P

Eunice was all set and super prepared to be baptized yesterday, like we had the service planned out, and everyone was informed and prepared (and I yelled at the elders when they unplugged the font on Saturday after their baptism even though I told them not to) and the cake was soooo pretty--and then she didn't show up to church or afterward and her phone isn't working and we knocked on her door and no one answered, so honestly I don't know what happened. I was super nervous all week, and on Saturday during the elder's baptism I asked Heavenly Father for a specific sign that everything would work out for her baptism, and the sign didn't come. So all I can say is that now isn't the time and Heavenly Father must know something that we don't.

The only other interesting things would be our funny (half English) call-ins at night, messing around with our District Leader. Also, we made him and his comp carry a bag of baptism jumpers up 3 hills to our house so we could wash them. Which is fair cause they're the ones that didn't wash them in the first place....

Gotta go cause my time is (already) ending! Love you all!! More next week :)

-Sister Kirkham

July 30, 2018 - A Crazy Awesome Week!

It's been a crazy awesome week and I so wish I had more time to tell you all about it!

Transfers: So today is transfers! President gave out so many hints at the Zone Conference (get to that later) that everyone has been going crazy for days trying to guess everything, but then in the end, only 3 people in the zone are being transferred, and only 1 of them is in my district. Also happens to be my companion haha. So I will be staying in Teófilo Otoni with Sister Creswell, an american from Utah that I lived with for the first few months of my mission. My comp is super sad to be leaving, but she's also going to be companions with her best friend ever (on the mission), so she can't be too sad haha. And then the two new elders will be two greenies (the zone leaders were both called to train--should be interesting!) so I don't know anything about them.

Mauro was confirmed yesterday! He continues to ask really good questions, and is an awesome missionary. We're going to eat burgers with him for our lesson tonight haha.

We've also been working a lot with Eunice. She was interviewed, and passed, but decided to delay her baptism another week, even though she prayed and recieved and answer that she should be baptized yesterday. And then she went out of town, which might have been the reason.. Trying to think positive :P

Thursday was Zone Conference!!! My first time being a part of a conference that only includes one zone, and I loved it! The trainings were absolutely awesome, and exactly what we needed. Our zone is the top zone in the mission, apparently because of some experiment President was trying out, but he's going to start spreading us out now to help the rest of the mission now. We're focusing a lot on humility and unity, and we set some crazy high goals for the next transfer. Like crazy crazy high. But we're going to work and work and work and get as far as we can! Also, president took us out to a super fancy restaurant to break our zone fast (ok that part is normal) and then bought us ice cream!!! Lots of ice cream haha. On top of the candy that Sister Mazzagardi brought. We ate a lot of sugar that day.

Due to a miscommunication, we weren't able to get the right bus to go back to our area, so our entire district ended up staying an extra day up in Nanuque, doing splits. It was super fun and crazy productive and we also got to participate in the branch's Festa Julina!! (Fall festival). We ate corn bread and various soups and pastel and desserts and chá and lots and lots of yummy stuff haha. Oh, and we helped out :P

Ok I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but our mission has a weekly (usually it's monthly or per transfer, but President Mazzagardi is a little overly energetic haha) Padrão de Excelência (standard of excellance) that moves up as the larger part of the mission starts to hit it. Our zone has been 80-90% this transfer, but my comp and I have never hit it personally. We knew this week would be hard because we would be spending 2 days (plus travel time) in another area, but we were determined that this week would be the week. And guys, we were SOOOO CLOSE!!!!! I won't tell you the numbers, because it's not all that important, but we were so so so so so close. A little sad that we didn't make it, but just proves that all things are possibly if you pray, fast, and work hard!

Ok I gotta go now, but I love you all! Pictures to come! (If I finish this survey in time).

-Love, Sister Kirkham

July 23, 2018 - Another Busy Week in Teofilo Otoni

It was another super busy week in Teófilo Otoni! (I don't usually brag, but we got an email from President Mazzagardi just to our zone this week congratulating us for continuing to top the mission). We taught tons and tons of people this week, but I'm gonna focus on the most important ones.

Mauro (I think I called him Fernando last week, which is what he prefers, but his name is Mauro) was baptized yesterday! We've only been teaching him for a week, but he was so ready, and SOO excited! He invited 30 people! Only 8 of them showed up, so he was a little bit disappointed, but it was awesome for us! Well, awesome and stressful haha. The members also brought friends (for a total of 16 visitors!!!), so we were running back and forth the whole day trying to greet everyone and make sure they had a friend and knew how to read the hymn book and writing down their addresses so we could go visit.

On a bit of a sad note, Rodrigo isn't progressing as well as he could be, and also didn't come to church, but we're hoping that he'll participate in seminary when it starts and that that will help him out. He was even interviewed this week, and can be baptized whenever he wants, but he doesn't quite want it yet. But the interview helped us understand a lot better, cause he doesn't open up to us quite as well as he did to the elder.

We've also been working a ton with Eunice. We brought her cevada (which is basically coffee except it's made from barley and a lot healthier. I still think it's gross--even tried it again to make sure haha--but she loved it!!) and took her coffee away, which is the last step she needed to make. In the beginning, she had been having trouble with keeping her promise to pray and ask God if everything that we're teaching is true. We even prayed with her a couple of times, but she didn't ask a specific question, which makes it hard to get an answer. But! one day this week (don't even remember which) we went there and read in the Book of Mormon about the Holy spirit and we asked her if she prayed and she said YES and that she got an answer!!!!!! AND she came to church yesterday! All 3 hours!! She's going to be interviewed on Wednesday before we all leave haha and baptized on Sunday!

The only other person that I want to mention is Pedro, who came to church yesterday. We went to teach him yesterday, and he is literally what I would be like if I were being taught by the missionaries! It was fun haha. I'll let you all think about that one and then tell you more about him next week :P

In other random news, we made this amazing potato/chicken/bacon casserole this week! We were trying to imitate this famous potato dish that Sister Mazzagardi makes every special Almoço. You'd think you'd get sick of it, but it's so good that you want to be called to train just so you can eat it! Anyways, ours didn't turn out quite the same, but it was good :P Also, we went through an entire kilo of flour in like 2 days, but I can't remember what we made haha.

Also, we found out Friday night that we've been knocking doors on the wrong street the entire week! I mean we were close, but the street doesn't actually continue straight like we thought it did--it doubles back on itself and climbs a mountain. Don't know how we were supposed to figure that out haha. We're planning on going back and finishing the street (I'll tell you why when we get there) but we're going to be gone half this week for Zone Conference, so we'll see!

Gotta go (gonna send lots of pics!) but love you all!!! Have an awesome week!

-Sister Kirkham

July 16, 2018 - Blessings and Really Strange Stuff

I think this week we knocked more doors than I ever have in my life! We walked a lot less, because we've been working a lot closer to home, but we also travelled overnight twice. It's been a week of blessings, but also some really strange stuff haha. We had some miracles show up to church (hallelujah cause Pres Mazzagardi also showed up for the branch conference haha) but none of the people we're teaching, which is a mixed feeling. The water in the whole city was cut off, we taught a women who's almost athiest (which is SUPER rare here!) and also a man who sang an original composition on the spot instead of saying the prayer at the end. Someone stopped us on the street and asked if we were nuns, and another person asked if we were foreign exchange students (hilarious if you remember that my current area is in the middle of nowhere) and then told us we should pick a different street to walk on (I'm assuming she meant for safety reasons, but since it was noon and full of people I'm not positive haha). We ran for excercize time a couple days this week, but also ate quite a bit of sugar (ooh and we have some awesome plans for today!). We ate with our ward members only three times this week (but one of the times was churrasco, AND THERE WAS SOBREMESA), once at this all natural café, and once with a super rich baptist family that invited us haha. Basically, all's well and "normal" in the mission field!

And here are a couple highlights:

Splits. So the overnight travelling was because we did splits in Nanuque, which is even more in the middle of nowhere haha. Nanuque is a bowl surrounded by farms with a giant rock in the middle. Not even exaggerating. But the 30 hours we were there were pretty awesome, and we had a party and made french toast and almost-maple-syrup with the other two american sisters :P

Eunice is the only person from the last 2 weeks that we're actively teaching. She's super sweet, and has great desire to learn, although she wasn't able to go to church yesterday. She works really hard to support her family, and really makes the best of her living circumstances. It was so sweet when she told us that she's praying and trusting in God that he'll help her find a good husband!

Fernando was a bit of a puzzle, because he's very....artistic...in his story telling, but I think it goes like this: About 10 years ago, he visited the church and liked it, but never went back. Over the last couple weeks, he had this random desire to learn more about the church, so he's been searching the neighborhood for the elders, but not finding them (because we're the ones that work in his neighborhood). He also tried to make a request on the church website, but the system didn't accept his email address. Saturday, he wandered into the chapel, which the elders didn't close all the way (shame on them! but it worked out haha), and chatted with the elders while they were getting stuff ready for the baptism yesterday. They invited him to church, and he came! and the rest is history haha. He stayed for all 3 hours and the baptism, and by the end, he was soooo happy that I'm amazed he didn't pass out! He loved the hymns so much that he collected a stack to take home (we let him take ONE). Oh, and he's also the one that sang the prayer yesterday haha.

Yesterday was our Branch conference, and President Mazzagardi and the stake president both gave awesome talks! Other than that, it was normal haha.

Ok I'm almost out of time, but the last thing was that on Tuesday, I'm going to hit my 9 month mark! (YES, it does seem like it haha). It's gonna be a really awesome week, and I'll tell you all about it next p-day :P

Love you all! See you in 9 ;)

-Sister Kirkham

June 9, 2018 - 'Merica Songs

It was another busy week here in Teófilo! Brazil lost and is out of the world cup, so life will go back to normal now. Half the people are sad and angry, and the other half are relieved it's over haha. I had a ton of mission stuff to do today so this probably won't be super detailed (again, sorry!).

This week was 4th of July!!! We had our district meeting half in English and sang the Star Spangled Banner for our opening hymn, and Proud to be an American at every pause. We continued to sing 'merica songs all day Wednesday, plus Disney, plus anything in English we remembered (it's not much haha) and telling everyone it was our independence day haha. Being in another country is interesting, because you get a break from all of your own country's problems, and just really focus on all the good things that you have and others don't. We're so used to Brasil that we don't even notice the differences most of the time, but we started thinking about it on 4th of July and it's a lot! Let's just say that I'm proud to be an american :)

We spent most of this week going back and forth to another city (it's faaaaarrrrr. We know cause my comp borrowed a pedometer from an Elder this week haha) to teach this really awesome family, whose son went to church last week. They're progressing so well, and need the gospel so much, but the parents aren't married, so they can't be baptized :( On that note, just about no one we taught this week is married, but we keep teaching and loving them and hoping that one day they'll be able to join the church!

We've also been working a ton with the members this week, and it's been awesome. Yesterday, the Branch pres told us to tell Pres Mazzagardi not to transfer us--which is high praise coming from him!

Ooh, and that reminds me! President Marcio and some other leaders (not the LMA cause we don't have one, which is weird) came up with a super awesome scavenger hunt-type activity to get the branch (and especially the youth) involved in missionary work! They have to do things like teach a lesson or give a reference or have a family night with the sisters, or bring friends to church and activities and all that and they get points for each item. The branch is split into 4 teams, and they have about 2-3 weeks to gain as many points as possible, plus there will be two big activities with like minute-to-win-it type mini activities that they can also use to get points. I'm SUPER excited!!! Hope the branch gets as excited as we are haha.

Today is the 19th birthday of an elder in our district, so we're gonna have a picnic in the chapel haha. Should be fun!

Anyways, it was an over all busy, productive week!

Gotta go, but I love you all! Lots of hugs :)

-Sister Kirkham

July 2, 2018 - Another Awesome Week & World Cup

Don't have much time this week either, unfortunately :( But I gotta tell you about a couple of things! Before I get there, I promise we worked like crazy this week, but no one managed to progress, even though we fasted twice and did as much as we could. So instead of the people, I'm gonna focus on a couple of interesting events. But don't think it's all we did :P

Brazil in the world cup

So Wednesday was a Brazil game, and let me tell you, these Brazilians are crazy! Can't tell you how many time people set up fireworks or smoke bombs like 5 feet away from us. And we jumped EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I think we were better entertainment than the fireworks hahahaha. There's so much screaming and noise making that it's hard to tell what's a goal and what's not, but about the time the whole sky blue up and this family decked all out in green and yellow and facepaint and noise makers filed out of their house screaming and dancing in the middle of the street, we were pretty sure Brazil won. (They did). The streets had been absolutely EMPTY during the game (oh except for the kids doing the fireworks) but right after it ended, we bought popsicles and sat down to watch the city magically fill up as if nothing had happened. There's a game today, too, so we'll see how it goes.

Fun stuff in the district

So our district is hilarious, in case I didn't tell you last week. We made a bet with our district leader (about how hard we would work) and won by a VERY small margin, so he's gonna make us cookies tomorrow ;) Also, our district is 4 americans (2 companionships) and a dupla of hispanics (don't know what President was thinking but it works I guess) so we're planning to have a fourth of july celebration tomorrow too :P

Quadrilha/Festa Junina

So Brazil has this tradition called Festa Junina, which is like Fall Festival (even though it technically should be winter) that doesn't actually have a date--everyone just celebrates it when they feel like it. Every school, church, community, everything holds a Quadrilha, which is like a Brazilian hoedown--everyone dresses up in patchwork and cowboy hats and does pioneer dances and eats food made of peanuts and corn and potatoes. The two branches here held a combined one this Friday, and there was peanut tea, potato soup, corn cake, corn break, corn cake with filling and frosting, and something that looked like corn brownies. And then there was this herb tea that I swear (and the other americans will back me up on this) smells and tastes exactly like fruit loops! I'm waiting for my comp to send me pictures, and then I'll get them to you!

Stragest Saturday ever

So Saturday here is a little hard, since everyone either goes out to their ranch, or plays football, or parties/drinks etc. Basically, no one has time for missionaries. But this Satuday was like beyond strange. We had doors slammed on us, people hung up the phone, yelled at us, threatened to call the police, you name it, and the only person that invited us in was the pastor of this one church that basically wanted to show us off to his family and be like "hey, this is what our church should do!" so that was weird... I've literally never felt time pass so slow! At the end of the night, we finally ended up finding one person to teach, and then a family that the elders used to visit a lot invited us in and fought with us until we accepted hot chocolate and bread and crackers and fruit (all of it. And we were fasting) because they said it was too dangerous to be out on the street.

Sunday Miracles

In a stark contrast to Saturday, Sunday was the day of miracles. Not ONE of the people we're teaching showed up to church, but six miracles did! SIX!!!!! All friends of members, and many of which have a ton of potential. Oh, and then there was barbeque (churrasco) for Almoço, so that was awesome :)

Ok I gotta go! Sorry for emailing so early! We're pretty sure everything is going to close for the game, so we had to make the best of our time.

Love you all! Sending hugs to everyone :)

-Sister Kirkham

June 25, 2018 - Quick Note from Teofilo Otoni

Praying this computer doesn't shut off on me in the middle! Gotta write fast cause I'm pretty out of time.

Basically, it's been an awesome week in Teófilo Otoni! We are basically out in the middle of nowhere, and a 20 hour bus ride from the center of the mission. The péople here are even more open and friendly here, and super duper receptive!

My district is awesome, and my companion and I get along really well. Her name is actually Sister Withers haha, although you'd never know that from how the brazillians say it haha. Anyways, she's also pretty quiet, and quite a nerd :P we spent most of the bus ride (you know, when we weren't sleeping) talking about book series.

I'll send some pictures of the house so you all can see it. Well actually it's an apartment. It's pretty small, but there's a ton of stuff crammed into that little amount of space! We have a seperate dining room and kitchen, 2 bathrooms, our bedroom, a study room, a closet-room, and a laundry room, and a balcony! It's really nice!

The area itself is gorgeous, although really hilly, and paved with these weird sticking up rocks. Gonna need new shoes after this I think haha.

The branch here is small, and has a lot of less actives, partly due to the leadership, but there's some super sweet people, as well as some youth that help a lot. We just have to be a little more self-reliant with a couple of things.

This week was work work work work work! But it was fun :) We met a ton of awesome people, which I don't have time to tell you about, sorry! The most interesting parts of the week were the world cup (Brazil won in the last 2 minutes!!!! You should have heard the fireworks and the screaming! Also, all the classes are cancelled next week just because there's a game on Wednesday. Crazy.) and the day that I got super bad cramps and spent an hour on the bathroom floor (my companion and an awesome member rescused me, and then the member took us out to a really nice restaurant for lunch) and the fact that I sliced my finger open this morning. But don't worry, I'm ok :)

Although I'm also out of time, sorry!

I love you all, and I'll tell you more about it next week!

-Sister Kirkham

June 18, 2018 - Another Transfer and Dia dos Namorados

Just to clear a few things up, yes, the trucker strike has ended, and no, we aren't starving haha.

To start back to front, it's been an interesting weekend! Today we walked a few miles in the pouring rain (y'all don't want to know what we looked like when we walked in to Subway for lunch) due to a doctors appointment and a lost umbrella (mine.  oops.) but it was all worth it cause everyone's healthy and I got a package!!

Oh but also, I got a call last night that I'm being transfered! (It was supposed to be tonight, but thank heavens it got moved to tomorrow!) I'll be going all the way to the end of the world (or the mission, I guess), way interior to Ipiranga, Teofolo, which is actually part of the neighboring state, Minas Gerais. I'll be with another American, Sister Whitters, from Idaho, who only has 3 transfers left. I'm sad to leave this awesome ward (more about that later) and our trunky trio (also more later) but I'm excited for a new adventure :) Just means it will be hard to get letters and stuff there. Oh, and there aren't any hospitals, apparently, according to Sister Sena (she would know hahha).

And speaking of hospitals! No, I did not go to one this week haha. But I also didn't go to church yesterday, because about 8:30am, I got violently sick, and ended up spending the whole day (or most of it) throwing up and all that fun stuff. But don't worry, I have bossy companions taking care of me, ward members checking up every few hours (I mentioned they're awesome, right?) and I've been drinking tons of water and electrolytes and I got a blessing and I'm feeling tons better and eating normally today. (OK mom? ;)

Our other fun activity this week was Dia dos Namorados, which is the Brazillian equivalent of Valentine's day. I wasn't all that bothered by all the couples (it's hard to be when you have the best (and trunkiest) trio ever) but I did get really into our romantic dinner. We order burgers from the burger place next door and listened to music and filmed a video, while eating dinner on our balcony in our pjs with our stuffed animals. Just one of those mission moments you never forget :P

Oh but we did work this week! Tons haha. We are working with some really awesome people this week, (especially Rosa and Fleverson and his whole family, plus Ericson) and we had a couple of really awesomely spiritual lessons, a couple of finding miracles (including an entire family!) a couple of promptings followed and a couple ignored (which was sad, in the end, but we learn and we grow) and another awesome meeting with our ward mission leaders. I really love the ward here, and I'm really sad not to be able to keep up with those that we're teaching, but I know that God (and my companions) will take good care of them :)

All in all, it was another awesome week in the field, and I wish I had a whole nother hour to tell you all about it. Something that we do here and that I want to continue, is our daily inventory. Every single day, we come home and we talk about our day--what we learned, what we're thankful for, what the miracles was, and what we're going to improve. And it's amazing that every single day, no matter how the day went, we're all able to come up with something (or lot's of somethings--especially miracles!!) for every category.  Missionary work is exhausting and relentless and extremely unpredictable, but trust me, it's worth it.

Wishing you all a good (dry) week!!

-Sister Kirkham

PS: Yes, the world cup started this week. No, we aren't watching the games, but yes, we are extremely curious as to how it's going hhaha. I won't send pictures, but Brazil is crazy, in case you all didn't know :P

June 13, 2018 - Random Surprise Transfers

So as you can see in the title, we had our first (of many) random surprise transfer this week! Our mission no longer has scheduled 6 week transfers (aside from people coming and going, which has to happen every 6 weeks), so you could (theoretically) be transfered at any moment. Yup. Scary. But it breaks the cycle of working well at the beginning of the transfer and then slowing down. And people have to just pack and go, instead of making a big deal of it. Which is cool, I guess, but we didn't really get any sleep Monday night as we were last-minute packing sister Levie's bags. I am still in Marcílio, and we are still in trio, and it is awesome, but we are now together with Sister Jeremias, who is from my group (we were in the MTC together), and absolutely adorable. She's from Anapolis, Goiania, and is engaged to be married like as soon as she gets home.

Anyways, on to our awesome week! I got my package!!! Everyone who reads a little bit of english was laughing pretty hard at how well it suits me. Ooh, and I also got given a recees peanut butter cup (the sister that taught and baptized our financial secretary sends him packages full of american sweets) so those two things about made my day!

During District Meeting this week we were instructed to make an action plan, including our goal for the month, what we were going to do personally to accomplish this goal, what the Lord was going to do for us (according to our faith), and what sacrifices we were willing to make. And then we went home and wrote it up and signed it. It was really an awesome experience, and we've been trying hard to follow it throughout the week. We've been noticing a lot of distinct opposition to some of the sacrifices we decided to make, but we know that just means it all the more important. For example, we decided that we were going to fast once a week, and also that we were not going to think/talk about the things we miss during the day. It's not that we'd been super unfocused before, but we wanted to really devote 100% of our energy to the work. And it's been almost hilarious to see all the things that have randomly shown up just to distract us. Or the fact that all 3 of us wrote down a reminder to fast this Saturday in our planners, and ALL THREE of us still forgot! So we decided to start our fast yesterday afternoon, and break it with Almoço today. Unlike last week, we didn't see any visible miracles, but I know that the Lord will bless us for our faith!

We've been working with a ton of people this week, but I think the ones that deserve the most mention (and prayers please!) are Rosa, her neice Fabiana, (and Fabiana's kids: Hychard, Sayonara, and Sofia) Fleverson, and Ericson.

So Rosa was our Saturday miracle from last week. We didn't manage to teach her at all this week, but we did stop by her house at one point, and she told us we didn't need to come by Sunday morning, because she was scheduled to work through the night, and said she would take the bus directly from work to the church building. And guess what? she did! She was fighting sleepiness and embarrassed about being in pants, but she came to church on her own, inspite of everything. Can't explain  how much of a miracle that is to us.

With a lot of divine help, we managed to find Fabiana's house without knowing her address or anything. She wasn't there when we found it the first time, but the spirit led us back there (rather last minute) on Saturday, and we were amazed at how awesome her family is. They didn't make it to church yesterday, but we have FHE scheduled with them tonight, and we are SUPER excited!

So Fleverson was the other person who came to church last week. He arranged for us to teach his whole guitar class (or the people who showed up anyway) which, although it got scheduled and unscheduled all week, ended up being a really awesome experience. And that's how we found Ericson! He claims not to be religious, but he came to church yesterday (WALKED AN HOUR ON HIS OWN TO GET THERE) and stayed all 3 hours, and loved it! At the end of church, I asked him if he had any questions, and he was like "yeah actually I do... who's mormon?!" hhahaha so we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon to read, along with a quick introduction. He started to walk home on his own, but we sent a member family who lives near him to go intercept him on the path, and it ended up being a really good thing, because the family loved him, and wants to participate when we go to teach him!

Oh, and a bonus, one of our favorite member couples brought a friend to chruch with them yesterday. Her name is Patricia, and she lives in the area of the elders, so she's being taught by them, but we got to get to know her and teach her a little bit during Almoço yesterday. She appears to be awesome (and single) and got along really well with our assistant ward mission leader. Just sayin...

Ok the last cool thing is that we have official started our weekly trips up to Marechal, and it gets better every time. We got a ton more references, and people wanting to go out and teach with us. It's quite literally an all day thing, but the bus is surprisingly comfortable, and I got to get a ton of reading done, which made the trip more than worth it.

All in all, misison life continues to be awesome, and I can't wait to tell you more of my adventures next week!

-Love and hugs and handshakes from Sister Kirkham :)

June 4, 2018 - Hard Work and Bananas

This week was awesome! I think we worked harder than I've worked in my entire mission, despite how tired we all were, and it really paid off in blessings. We've been following the council of the bishop, making an effort to visit members, active and inactive, and really be a part of their lives. We also got to teach with a couple of them, and do service, and were really well fed haha. As far as our own efforts, we focused a lot on following up with people, which we hadn't been doing so well on before, and trying to hit our mission's contacting goal--even and especially because this week was a holiday week, which means lots of drinking and partying, and just about nobody walking around and going places. We also last-minute decided to fast, even though everyone was feeling a little sick, and more than a little worn out, and it turned out to be the best decision of the week! but ok, here's the details.

One awesome experience we had this week was teaching with Menekin, who came home from her mission last week. We spent the whole day talking about misison life, and she got to pretend she was still a missionary haha.

We also had a super amazing, emotional Almoço with two RMs, who talked all about the realities of post-mission life, and being released and all that. It was great for us, but I think (hope) it was also a really positive experience for them too!

I got to be a romantic pianist this week, during the fancy dinner the youth out on for Bishop and his family. It was a really cute activity, and I got to pretend that I wasn't there while the bishop got emotional and his wife was singing along to my music, and his youngest daughter decided she didn't want to be a part of it hahhah. But no, it was good :)

A couple weeks ago, I made a last-minute contact with a 16-yr-old named Pedro. We had a hard time scheduling with him, and ended up walking a ton to this really far neighborhood and back before Almoço, but it was totally worth it when we got there and ended up teaching him and his cousin and aunt and 4 sisters! Seriously an awesome, spiritual lesson!

We worked quite a bit with Railom this week, and he finally started to pray on his own! That, alone, is super amazing. But anyway, we had some difficulty getting in contact with him at the end of the week, and we walked all around and up and down (quite literally--you should see the mountains) his neighborhood before finding him (thanks to many miracles and much patience) in a park with his friends. We were (unfortunately) too embarrassed to call after him--but he left his friends and came over to talk to us! It was super sweet. He came to church yesterday, too! And so did...

...Rose the miracle! (fasting works!) We met Rose a while ago, on the bus in Vitória, but didn't end up visiting her until Saturday. I'm running out of time, but long story short she was a huge miracle for us! She came to church with her neice and her niece's 3 kids, and loved it so much that she said she's going to "always go there from now on"! And on top of that, 2 members brought friends to church, AND a man that was invited to church and promissed to go and never went (like thousands of others that we talk to) several MONTHS ago, showed up during sacrament meeting! Miracles, miracles miracles!

The hunt for bananas: On a bit of a different note, I spent literally all afternoon/evening yesterday calling and visiting everyone asking for bananas. A banana, to be specific. (I wanted to make banana bread for our unofficial mission seamstress, but I was one short). And NO ONE had any!!! For those of you who have never been to ES, that probably doesn't sound that weird, but here, it's seriously abnormal! We had some hilarious conversations, but I was getting more and more disappointed as the night went on. But guess what! Another miracles happened :) At about 9ish last night, arriving at our house, we decided to ask our next door neighbor who has an amazingly smelling/tasting burger place, if he had a banana. He said he only had one, but then he came out with 2, plus a bag of tangerines (more or less). Seriously awesome! Heavenly Father answers even our smallest prayers :)

Oh and in case you're wondering, the truck strike "ended," but everything is still a little up in the air. There's talk that it might start up again today or this week, and whether or not it starts up, it's gonna take a while for things to get normal again. We weren't allowed to leave our area last week, because of protests, and we've been hearing stories of crazy price hikes, but it hasn't affected us at all, so that's good. 

In other news, we are getting new dresses today, and scared that president will have to unmake our trio, because there's only one sister leaving, which will make our numbers even again. Nooooo!

It's been pretty hot this week, which wasn't so fun, but then it decided to be cold and rainy today, and we are far away and without jackets. Thanks a lot brazil haha.

We'e all (as in the entire country. Literally. You should see it) getting pretty excited for the world cup here, although it's still a little ways a way. Sister Sena gets emotional every time she sees anything yellow and green hahaha.

Ooh last announcement: Happy birthday Spencer!!!! Can't believe you're 22! (Also, good thing mommy reminded me cause I thought it wasn't until Wednesday. Forgot that Brazil writes their dates backwards..)

I spent WAYYYY  too long on this email, sorry to all of you that wanted responses! Hugs and handshakes for all! Have a great week!

-Sister Kirkham

May 28, 2018 - Truck Strike!

Got a lot on my mind today, and not a lot of time, but here goes.

Happy Birthday to Daddy! Video to come.

Yes, I did get your emails. I will respond to them in a bit, but I'm gonna focus on this first.

So the craziest thing this week is the semi-truck driver strike. Yup. All of them. In all of Brazil. Nothing new is coming in anywhere. Not mail, not subway sandwich ingredients, not rice and definitely not gasoline. Crazy how much the country depends on a small job like that! But luckily, because the church is cool like that, as soon as the strike started, we were called and told to use our reserve funds (kinda sucks if you didn't have one haha) to buy a whole bunch of food and necessities before the prices went up (which they did). The buses are still working (for now) and the government stepped in on a couple other things, so life isn't stopped or anything, but like the bishop walked to church for the first time in forever yesterday (he says he almost died hahaha) so he has a newfound respect for missionaries :P Not that he didn't before, but it was pretty funny. I'm sure you all have access to way more information than me, but don't worry we're being well taken care of.

This week we took a road trip to a mountain/german community called Marechal Florenes (or something like that). There's a little group of church members there that we now have the opportunity to work with! It's really beautiful there, and it's gonna be a little hard because of the distance, but we're planning on going up once a week, and we're excited to be able to do some good there!

We had an awesomely productive Thursday, because we did splits with our SLT's. Sister Sena was also celebrating 1 year on the mission so the whole day she was like 'look! I just said my first prayer with 1 year on the mission' and stuff like that haha. We also had 7 sisters in the house that night (I was the ONLY one that slept), and we all ate burgers together and then they proceeded to do hair and trade dresses and do nails for...

...Zone Conference (Mission Tour) with Elder Fortunato! Crazily amazingly spiritual and motivational and awesome. I took tons of notes, but I don't remember any of them right now haha.

As far as the work and the people, we're still working with all the same people, plus a few. No one came to church, and we hit a couple of walls we weren't expecting, but we have an awesome plan and a great attitude, so it'll all go well in the end :) Oh but it was Antonio's birthday this week, so we threw a party for him, which was super fun! Also, we attended the YSA FHE yesterday, which was hilarious.

Today we travelled quite a bit, first for a doctors appt, and then to buy fabric because my comp is going home in a month and wants a couple new dresses, which is why I'm on so late.

Love you all, and hope you have a great week!

-Sister Kirkham

May 21, 2018 - Fasting Brings Miracles!

It has seriously been a packed week! The summary is that this ward and area and trio are turning out to be awesome, and that fasting brings miracles!

So probably the most exciting thing for me (outside of the mission miracles) is that I got a package!! Sorry family, but it was not yours :( :( told the secretaries that I'm expecting a personal phone call when that one finally gets there! But anyways, after interviews with Pres on Thursday, we had to go to the office (and a couple other places, including a trip to the mall, where we ate imported fast food haha) to do some visa stuff, and I was suprised with a package full of mission books and other goodies from Jacob. Totally made my day :)

Later that night we were also surprised with a house visit from the leadership. THANK HEAVENS we were home (starting weekly planning) AND THEY GOT LOST so we had time to pick up a little bit! Like I promise we cleaned the house on p-day, but by thursday, things get a little iffy. Especially the week after transfers. But anyways, we didn't get fined, so all's well that ends well :P

We are still working very hard with Ana and João Pedro, and had some very major breakthroughs this week, but unfortunately, they went on vacation last minute and didn't go to church :( We need lots and lots of prayers for them!

This week we also started teaching Angelica, the miracle. She's a single (pregnant) mother of 2 boys, and really needing to see God's love in her life. Even in just the few days we've been teaching her, we've been able to see a huge difference in her life, and I really hope and pray that she'll continue to progress!! She also didn't make it to church, but hey, there's always next week.

To top it all off, Railom also didn't go to church, and his phone was turned off, so we don't know why, but he's also been progressing well, and we are working towards baptism this week! I've probably said that before about him, but hey sometimes you just have to be a hopeless optimist haha.

Seriously though, this work is pretty relentless, so the only way to be happy is to keep watering and weeding, and to appreciate the growth and color of the leaves and every new bud that appears, even when all you want to do is smell the flowers. It's been a week of huge growth, personal and in companionship, and in the people we're teaching, and I know I'll never regret the experiences we've been having with these people, even if they never get baptized.

The only other thing is that last night was mission choir practice, and I got last minute asked to play one of the songs, and then ended up having to practically re-write half of it haha. Always super fun ;) but I'm grateful for the opportunity to participate, and to develop my talents. And I'm super excited for this week! We're gonna work in a new area (a group in the middle of nowhere that president is giving us a chance to teach there) and have splits and a whole mission conference with a general authority! And I can't wait to tell you all about it :)

Hope you all have just as awesome of a week as I'm going to have!!

-Sister Kirkham

May 14, 2018 - Marcilio de Noronha

It was so good to talk to you all last night!! Hope you all got all of  your questions answered, and no one was too frustrated from having to wait for lunch!

I already talked quite a bit about my area, and I'm gonna send pictures too, but summary is that the area is really pretty, but a little more rural and a lot more hilly, and the ward seems to be really great, but a little smaller and a lot less formal. Also, being in Trio is awesome! And now about my week:

So I found out Monday morning that I would be leaving Cobilândia, and I spent Monday and Tuesday frantically packing. Monday night we had a little FHE, and then Sister Farias and I literally ran to say goodbye to Joana Vitòria. We made it home by 8:57, which totally should not have been possible, since we didn't even leave until 8:30, so I'm putting that on my list of mission miracles! Luis Arthur and Luis Phelipe were at their grandma's house, so I had to say goodbye on the phone, which was super sad!

After transfers on Tuesday, we spent the week cooking tons, listening to music every possibly moment, laughing lots, and working like crazy. Here's a couple of the people we're working with:

Ana and João Pedro: a rather crazy but lovable senhora and her grandson. She hasn't made it to church yet because of her health (physical and emotional) but she surprised us the other day with her progress in the BoM! Marilda we found knocking doors looking for a bathroom haha, and Aparacida was a street contact by the sisters before I got here, but both absolutely loved the spirit that we bring. Actually Aparacida, Marilda, and Ana have all been drawn in by the hymns. Sister Sena absolutely loves it haha. Every lesson, she's like "and now my americans will sing you a song!" hahaha.

We've spent quite a bit of time knocking doors, but we've also gotten pretty into contacting on the bus lately. Haven't gone to teach any of them yet, but we've had some really cool experiences! Oh and Sis Levie also got caught in the closing doors because we were already at our stop but we hadn't finished our contact haha. That was hilarious, although it probably shouldn't be hahaha.

Oh and I almost forgot about Railom and Richard! Railom was another street contact that came to church last week. We taught him just once this week, and met his friends Richard at the same time. We invited them to mututal and they came--except that mutual was cancelled...awkward... but it worked out well cause we invited a young man in the ward to come teach with us instead. Except we ended up just eating french fries and playing games because we couldn't find a quiet enough place to teach. But whatever haha. I'm excited to keep working with everyone, and to keep finding more :)

Saturday night we had choir practice, and a devotional with two 70's, which was super cool! Lot's of awesome mission stories to get us all hyped up. Basically the theme was that it's worth it to be a missionary. "Vale a pena"

Ok the last thing I have to share is Fernanda, the miracle. See my journal page that I'm going to send for more details, but basically she showed up at church out of the blue wanting a book of mormon and to know more about the church! Super cool.

Oh and a funny story: we're here in this internet cafe, quietly listening to hymns and writing emails, with a whole bunch of youth playing games and yelling and then all of a sudden the power goes off hahhaha. It was like being in a movie theater, at the climax of a film, the whole room filled with tension--and then someone pulls the plug. But anyway, it came back on after a few mins, so we're all good :P

Anyways, I'm running out of time, but I'll be back next week :) Love you all!!! Have an awesome week!

-Sister Kirkham

May 7, 2018 - Transfers

For the first time in a while, it was a really good week! I was still struggling with my leg until about Wednesday, and then all of a sudden it wasn't bothering me at all. It was really good to get back into the flow of things, and meet some awesome people on the street, and teach some really good lessons. It's been a week of really awesome Almoços, and endless jokes by Sister Sena (more on that later), and just an all around good mix of missionary work!

Probably my favorite thing we did this week was a family home evening with a family of less actives/recent converts. We brought our favorite Irmã Fatima (I think I mentioned last week that she'd been complaining about not getting to go on walking tours with us anymore) and the Primary Pres and her kids, and everyone brought a little bit of food and a lot of enthusiasm. We struggled a lot deciding what to do/teach, but in the end, we taught the plan of salvation as a series of skits/improv. It was hilarious, and kept all of the kids/youth engaged, and the Irmãs loved it! Here's a short clip:

Sisters: Maison, be the snake! We'll be Adam and Eve, but we need a snake!

Maison: ahhh I don't know, the snake is evil, I don't want to be the snake

[The other kids keep encouraging, but Maison gets a little embarrassed so we decide to drop it]

Narrator/Sister Kirkham: ok so we're in the garden, with all of our animals (I'm acting this out btw) eating our fruit

Eve/also sister Kirkham: Adam try this fruit, it's really good!

Adam/Sister Rodrigues: Eve! You know God told us not to---

Maison: WAIT! YOU CAN'T EAT THE FRUIT YET BECAUSE I DIDN'T COME GIVE IT TO YOU

[Histerical laughter from everyone, and a look of confusion on my face--he said he didn't want to be the snake!]

So then we had to start the garden scene over and include the snake...

Anyways, we also visited quite a few recent converts this week, including our friend João. He was really unsure about callings and just church responsibilities, so we taught about that and he is willing to accept a calling, but he still won't say public prayers! Oh João...

Oh yeah Saturday Luzinete (João's wife) picked us up early and took us to the street fair (farmer's market) to buy pastels and caldo de cana (google it) because João was appalled that I'd never tried caldo de cana. Then we helped them clean  up their house and get ready for her son's birthday party, which was basically a repeat of their wedding, and also our second time this week eating churrasco at the Rochas. Have I mentioned this ward is awesome?!?!

In awesome (but expectable) news, Luis Phelipe and Luis Arthur were confirmed yesterday and recieved the Gift of the Holy Ghost! And Luis Phelipe also recieved the Aaronic Priesthood, and is now officially a deacon. He's thrilled haha. Now he just has to get to church on time to help pass the sacrament! I wasn't doing so well Tuesday, and neither was Sister Sena, so Sister Farias and Sister Rodrigues taught them plan of salvation (that's where the skit idea came from actually haha) and then me and my comp worked with them the rest of the week. They continue to be awesome and intelligent, but were super sad when I wasn't there on Tuesday (sister Rodrigues said that I had been transfered--it's funny how many times we freak people out like that) and now I'm going to have to say goodbye!!

Which brings me to.... Transfer day!

And yes, I'm going to be transferred.

It's been a super good week and I'm excited for the next one :) And for mother's day!! See you all soon!

-Sister Kirkham

Haha jk... I won't leave you all hanging. I'm going to be serving in Marcilio de Noronha, which I'm pretty sure is as far interior as you can get without leaving what we call the Grande Vitória, which is the center of the state, and of church activity. So I'll be a little far away, but I'll still get to participate in the multi-zone conferences and activities! And I'm going to be in a TRIO, with Sister Sena (my crazy tia who has already served there and is thrilled to return) and another americana, Sister Levie, who is just about at the end of her mission, and has served half of it there haha. It should be pretty fun! Marcilio is generally know to be hot and hilly, but at least it's (kind of sort of) winter haha.

I'm sad to be leaving Cobilândia, but I know it's time, and I'm excited to get to know new people. I'll tell you all about it next week!!

-Sister Kirkham ;)

April 30, 2018 - Tropical Disease

So it was a pretty interesting week! And by interesting, I really mean long and painful haha, but it had its highlights.

Oh, and a housekeeping notice. I mentioned in my journal page that my package arrived, because that's what my District Leader told me, but I got to the office today and it wasn't there :(((( Buuut I have to go back to the office on Thursday for Visa stuff, so I hope it comes by then!

-So because life has a great sense of humor, I have contracted another lovely tropical disease. ok that's a little dramatic haha. Basically, I had this little rash on my legs that all of a sudden got super bad this week, including swelling up (the sore/puss ball swelled up, not the leg) and turning purple and hurting like crazy on the back of my thigh. Made it seriously hard to walk, and yet harder to sit. When it was little rash, I was taking care of it myself, but when it took a turn for the worse, I (and by "I" I mean my companion hahahah) called Sister Mazzagardi, and long story short, I had to wait until today to have a 5 minute dermatologist appt. Basically, I have a bacterial infection in the skin, which is generally caused by sweat and humidity. Super simple, except now I have to take an antibiotic 4 times a day (which includes waking up at midnight--super thrilled about that) and use an antibiotic ointment (a different one, because I already was using one) twice a day, and shower with antibiotic soap, and use a hot pack 3 times a day on the one that's super swollen. I'm super thrilled, trust me. But anyways, I pretty much gritted my teeth and winced the whole week, cause you know, we have stuff to do, but by Saturday, I could barely keep standing, so we ended up staying home Saturday and sunday night. Yes, I realize that was a lot of pointless details, but whatever haha.

-In good news, this week was also my birthday!! Friday was pretty hard pain-wise, and also just kind of a difficult day in general, but we took a break in the middle for ice cream and strawberries (it's not my bday w/o strawberries!) and then that night we had the baptism interviews for Luis Phelipe and Luis Arthur (they LOVED the elders--go figure) and THEN a couple of families in the ward threw a surprise party for me!!! Sorry I don't have pictures of the party yet, but I promise I will get them! But I did send my journal pages detailing the day. Hope it's legible hahaha.

-Also because life can't be eventful enough, Sister Farias and Sister Sena were emergency transfered back to Cobilândia. They were robbed (like stopped on the street with a gun and lost their mission bags and scriptures and cell phone and everything) on monday night, which was already super crazy and shocking, and then Saturday afternoon, in broad daylight, on the same exact street, a man on a motorcycle started following them, doing very inappropriate things. They got away (my personal opinion is that one of the 3 nephites, or maybe john the revelator came to save them, but I won't go into details) but President was like "yeah no that's not going to work." So literally one week before transfers, they had to pack up and leave--even though they'd already been promised they would be staying for next transfer too, and then our district leader and his comp had to switch areas to take over for them. No one is exactly happy with the move, but at least we're going to have a hilarious last week! Sister Sena really is ridiculous hahaha. I'll try to remember a specific funny story for next week, but right now you'll all just have to take my word for it.

-Aaaand the last thing is baptisms!! my comp should be sending me the pics any minute now, but Luis Phelipe and Luis Arthur were baptized!!! Their grandma (who has custody) and their mom (who has lifestyle issues, but they love her very much) both came!!!! And, because they're actually long-lost members, they found a couple of old friends :) The baptism was stressful, but wonderful, and involved cake, cookies, presents, all of their family, and the baptism/rainbow song in portuguese. I really hope it was special for them, cause it was very special for us :)

We didn't really do much else this week. (oh but we did start practicing English on the street! That was fun haha) Just focused a lot on the boys, and tried not to walk too much because of my leg. But this week will probably be lots and lots better! Thank you all for the birthday wishes! Suuuuuuper excited for skyping on Mother's day!! And nervous about transfers cause everyone tells me I'm gonna leave :/

Lots and lots of love, all the way from Brazil!

-Sister Kirkham

April 23, 2018 - No Kayaking.

I hope you all enjoyed my pictures of the rain! Especially since I don't really have pictures this week haha. But anyway, those were from last p-day, and it (thankfully) got better from there and not worse (even though it kept raining for a bit and then stopped for a few days and started again last night. This country is crazy! Oh and btw, someone on the street was commenting about the floods and told us it was like São Paulo! hahaha. Sis Rodrigues laughed but said only zona leste floods like crazy--how is it there, Jacob?) so we were able to work without too much trouble. Oh and Vitória was much worse! We have interviews with Pres this Wednesday, and he showed us a video of a man using a kayak in the street! I was so jealous! Oh but the elders couldn't leave their house, and also the church flooded, so maybe I'm not THAT jealous.

Anyways, this week was also Tri-Zone Conference! It was AWESOME and AMAZINGLY SPIRITUAL. But I also learned that I've been counting some of our numbers wrong (which also influences our planning and just how we work) wrong my entire mission. But I'm happy because I feel like this change (well it's not a change, just me doing it wrong, along with half the mission) is really going to change things for the better! And oh gosh President played a clip of the solemn assembly, and the spirit testified SO strongly that President Nelson is our new prophet!! Not that I didn't know before, but it was really cool.

Here's an honesty note: My companion and I fought really bad this week (all about small, stupid things, but I sobbed for an entire hour and really dehydrated myself) so I called president and he sent our sister training leaders to help us (and split us up, if necessary, but obviously it's not). They were really pretty hard on us, but helped us do a really good comp inventory, and create a plan to improve our relationship. Just little things, like focusing on our comp prayers, singing hymns to bring the spirit, and not going too long without talking (we're both on the quiet side). And really, I think the best thing they did was help us laugh and have fun, and destress a bit (ok a lot). My comp especially has been making a HUGE effort, and we pulled ourselves together super well, and in time to have the BEST MISSION EXPERIENCE EVER with our progressing investigators...

Luis and Luis! Luis Phelipe (Felipe) and Luis Arthur (Artú) are 13- and 10-year-old nephews of a woman in the ward. Not sure if I already talked about them, but they are super duper awesome and smart and love the book of mormon and the church, but didn't think they needed to be baptized right now. Read my journal pages for more details, but long story short, Saturday night we stopped in the middle of the lesson for both of them to pray and ask God if Joseph Smith was a prophet. I'd never done that before in my life, but President taught us at zone conference that "leaving investigators with the challenge to pray" is wrong--we need to do it with them, while the spirit is there, and with the faith that they can get an answer right now. And it happened!!!!!!! Both of them, young as they are, got their answers plain and clear and undeniable. It was a HUGE lesson/witness to me and my comp, and also and experiene that I hope they'll remember for the rest of their lives. And they're going to be baptized this week!!!! Seriously can't describe how amazing it was :)

Joana Vitória! She's the special needs cousin of Luis and Luis, and she is adorable! She didn't want to go to church yesterday, which means her mom didn't waste effort in doing her hair, so we weren't able to take a picture (oh the whims of 13 year olds)  :)

Ok the only last thing is that we had an FHE transmission from the Area Presidency for all of Brazil last night. It was super cool, with original songs and everything, and all about the Book of Mormon. Clearly there's something in our study and use of the Book of Mormon that we need to improve!

Ok that's it for this amazing week (all in all, anyway). Super hyped up for life, and to read what you've all been up to. Love you all!!

-Sister Kirkham :)

April 16, 2018 - Six Months!

This computer is not working right, which is super frustrating, but I'll see what I can do!

Oh and I'm super sorry about [not sending a letter home] last week!! 

Happy birthday to Dallin!! 16 years old tomorrow!! Send me pictures if you do anything please! I miss my dessert for dinner...

Oh and also, that means I hit my 6 month mark :) Just one more year ;)

In other big news, all of Brazil was invited by President Nelson to triple our number of baptisms in the next 3 months. So we are kind of going crazy here haha.

This week has been a week of lots and lots of miracles. I can't even count all the crazy situations that led us to someone showing up out of the blue and accepting everything! So so so many people that are needed and wanting the gospel right in front of us! Unfortunately, none of these people went to church, but they will. One day...

Also, João was baptized on Saturday! He's absolutely hilarious, in case I haven't mentioned. We called to check in every day this week (if we weren't able to visit) and we always asked him if he's excited. His monotone response always came back with "oh yeah. I'm just full of happiness and excitement" or something like that--but don't let it fool you! He really is excited ahhahaha.

Don't know if I mentioned, but this transfer only has 5 weeks, so it is ending fast. We had splits this week with Sister Farias and Sister Sena in Ibes, and then this coming week we have interviews with Pres, and our tri-zone conference. super duper excited!

Ok my pictures are being difficult, so I'm gonna send this and go try to get them to work. But I'll have more next week, I promise!

Love you all! Hope you're all surviving the end of the school year! (almost haha) Brazil is awesome, in case I haven't said it enough.

Love from Mariah :)

WATER WATER EVERYWHERE!!!

April 2, 2018 - General Conference WOW!

Sooo this week wasn't really any better than the last one. Maybe harder. Definitely more frustrating. I was feeling better Tuesday morning, so I went to work after lunch like usual (Tuesday morning was our last District meeting before transfers. Oh yeah it's transfers! But wait, I will get to transfers later) and long story short, it did not go well, and I ended up in Pronto Socorro, which is like Urgent Care. IV's are awful, in case you're all wondering. But anyways, there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with me, except that I've been super sick and nauseous all week and also feverish and ridiculously exhausted. So you know, just that. I took another round of anti-parasite medicine, and I think I've been getting better, but I haven't eaten lunch yet today, so we'll see how that goes. But anyway! Happy things. Between the nausea and the fatigue, this week was anything but productive, but it had some good moments.

Splits: This week we did splits with our sister training leaders, Sister Sena and Sister Gauto. I love Sister Gauto (although she was sick too, so she kept pretty quiet) but it was my first time meeting Sister Sena. She was trained by the same sisters as Sister Farias, so they consider themselves sisters (I know, we're all sisters, but they mean in the familial sense, not the missionary sense. Yeah, it's confusing haha). And also, she's absolutely hilarious. Took to me really quickly, although she thought I was super serious at first ahahhaha. But anyway, she's struggled with a LOT of health challenges on her mission, and she really helped me understand that health challenges not only have a part in our plan of happiness, but also that they don't diminish our value as a missionary. Everything I'd been needing :) Literally a Godsend! And a reminder that sometimes the other people we serve with are our biggest missions.

Personal Study: I never understood why people got so hung up on the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi--until I started reading the BoM in Portuguese. Now I understand. So anyway, I started jumping around this week, and ended up reading a lot in Alma and Ether. And of course, every single day, I found something I was really really needing. Personal Study really is my favorite part of the day! (Make it yours too!)

Aaaand that brings me to General Conference! Wow. Just wow. Solemn assembly, a new prophet, new "ministering" program, a temple in India and in RUSSIA! Like seriously, did you all hear that? They're going to build a temple in Russia! Ok I'll stop obsessing. Wait. One more thing. One of the new apostles is Brazillian!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You all have no idea how excited everyone was haha. They've been talking about a Brazillian apostle since I got here, and they got their wish! I mean I know he's foreordained and called of God and all that, but he's also Brasiliero, so we're celebrating. haha ;)

Life can't ever get boring, so on top of new prophets, apostles, temples, and programs, we also have transfers! I haven't actually gotten the transfer yet because they Executive Secretary forgot about me I think (he's pretty busy, so I forgive him) but our very kind (or spoilsport, not sure which) District Leader called us and told us all about it. (Me and my comp are staying, of course). In sad news, Sister Farias (and also our entire district) is getting transfered, BUT she was called as a Sister Training Leader (because she's awesome) AND transferred into our sister district! I have no idea who our new district leader is, or who's coming to live with us, but I know it's likely to be awesome :P

Pascua! Oh, and I can't forget about Easter! Of course the best thing we did to celebrate was listen to the Prophet and apostles, but we also made chocolate eggs with a super awesome member, and also the elders made us some as a goodbye present, and also one of our favorite families gave us two boxes of Garoto, so yeah we have lots of chocolate haha. My favorite :)

We've also taken a TON of pictures this week, which I will get out as soon as Sister Farias gets them to me haha. But it won't be today, because she's in Jardim da Penha saying goodbye to her trainer, who goes home tomorrow. Oh, and I wrote about 6 letters this morning, so I'll send those as soon as my email time ends!

Ok I think that's it! Love you all! Have a great week :) Hopefully I'll have some great teaching stories next week!

-Sister Kirkham