September 24, 2018 - Food & Shops in Linhares

I have a million emails to respond to and I'm not liking the new google look so it's stressing me out, but lets see what I have to say about this week.

So this week was long, hot, and tiring. My companion passed the whole week sneezing, and I had quite a bit of sinus pressure. BUT. I found Sudafed!! Well, it's more like Tylenol sinus, but it works and I'm so happy. Also, we bought lots of food on the street. We like to eat (haha). The other sisters are always like "you brought home MORE food?" and we're like "well yeah! there's nothing to eat in this house. How do you two survive?"  

But the cool thing is that Linhares has lots of shopping options. Today we went into this SUPER ADORABLE and CHEAP wood store that you would all spend hours and hours in! I wanted to buy everything. Oh goodness.. We'll see how many more times we go there before we're transferred.  :)

Oh. Linhares also has lots of cacau trees (I thought they weren't good for anything except chocolate, but I was wrong I guess) and lakes that don't look like lakes because they're literally FULL of water reeds. It's the weirdest thing, but also cool. I promise we'll take pictures at some point.

We managed to teach lots of people this week! It's slowly getting easier. My favorite person this week was Breno. He already went to church and was taught by the elders a couple of years ago, but he doesn't remember much. We were so excited to teach him the whole week, and yesterday we finally did! It was seriously one of the best lessons this week. He understands so well, and has such a good relationship with God. He totally understands how the little things can be miracles, and also answers to prayers. And it was really funny cause at the end of the lesson I used an example about pudim [a brazilian dessert like flan] and tomatoes to demonstrate how we need to "ask of God" (James 1:5) and he was like "whoa that's so weird.. Just this week my girlfriend brought me pudim and I bought her tomatoes...." which is such a little thing, but definitely not a coincidence, and we all just sat back a little and admired how things work by divine design.

We also started teaching a family! But I'm running out of time, so I'll talk more about them next week.

This week we official started splits with the sisters, which was cool. And we also had our first district meeting, which we have to take aguia branca [a big bus] to get to. This coming week we're doing splits with the sisters in Nanuque, so we're going to travel 3 times, and be doing a lot of waking up in the middle of the night. Should be fun!

Love you all, and have a great week!

-Sister Kirkham :)

September 17, 2018 - "We're Not In Minas Anymore!" said Dorothy.

Ok so just so you all know, Minas Gerais is the best state in all of Brazil (to serve a mission, not to live in) and Espírito Santo is VERY VERY different!! My companion and I both came from there, and we literally spent the ENTIRE week saying things like "whoa. That doesn't happen in Minas" or "ohmygosh I forgot that ES does that!" or "wow, capixabas are different..." or "oh gosh sister, I forgot... We're in Espírito Santo!" Very very very weird. Here's a couple of examples;

It doesn't rain in Minas. Or at least not this time of year. And when it does rain, it's about 5 minutes of sporadic drops that don't even wet a piece of paper. Also, the numbering of the houses is much more organized in Minas. We tried to use the Area Book this week, but we always got to a point on the street where the numbers were all jumbled together, and it was impossible to tell if the number we were looking for actually exists or not. Another thing--both of us were in pretty small half-farming cities out in the middle of nowhere. And while we are still in the middle of nowhere (we have to travel--like actually travel, with Agui Branca (think Greyhound)--to district meeting every week, as well as to leadership council, and of course for our splits in minas) this town is SIGNIFICANTLY bigger. It's awesome because there's a lot bigger selection as far as shopping, but there are also a heck of a lot more cars, which means we have to be really careful where we cross the street. (Teófilo not so much, but in Nanuque it was more likely to be run over by a goat or a cow).

So yeah, in case you missed last week, I was transfered! To Linhares, ES, with Sister Parente. She is about the cutest, sweetest, sister that ever served here, and we'd already worked together a little bit, so that part was easy. The hard part was saying goodbye to the few people I managed to, and also packing my bags, and trying not to think about all the things I'm going to miss there. Oh, and then our ride didn't manage to find our house, so, a little before 6am, we decided to walk down a couple of giant, badly paved hills, with my rather large suitcases, and then drag them accross a couple of large streets to the bus station. We managed to get there only 5-7 minutes late, but my bus wasn't there. Well, a little bit later, we found out that I had been misinformed about which line I was taking, and that my bus actually HAD been there when we arrived. So we took the next possible bus to Nanuque (which wasn't until 8am) and arrived there JUST in time to catch the other bus (and my companion, who was also scarily late) to Linhares.

Only that wasn't the end of the adventures. We slept there one night, and then the next night we had to travel to Vitória for Leadership Council. The council itself was really awesome, although really long, and I loved being able to see everyone. Also, my old friend Elder Boswell was recently called as assistant to the President, and he did the favor of asking me to play piano. As if I wasn't already stressed enough! But it went well haha, so I forgive him. Anyways, after the meeting, my comp and I had various disasters on our way to and from the big mall in Vitória (our official reason was that we needed to buy a hair dryer to replace mine that broke, but really we were just missing big cities, and really wanted milk shakes) most of which involved stressed out (and apparently blind) uber drivers that couldn't manage to find us. So yeah, we missed our bus, and had to take a later one haha. But it worked out cause we got to go to the office and pick up our letters!

Wow this is kind of a very long email, and not very much about missionary work haha. But that's mostly because we still haven't found very many people to teach. The people of Minas might not be all that into committment, but they're very very receptive. Even if they don't want to hear anything you say, they invite you in and offer you crackers and juice. Espírito Santo, not so much. We're trying super hard to stay positive, and diligent, and listen really hard to the spirit telling us where to go, but it's really strange and sad to have worked here almost a week (ok, we only worked 4 days haha, but still) and have just about no one to teach. We would love some prayers, please! We're going to have to travel every week to be able to take care of and do splits with the sisters we're in charge of, but we still really really want to have success and make a difference here in Linhares!

Ok I think that's it for this week. Hopefully I'll have some stories and miracles to tell about next week :) Love you all!

-Sister Kirkham

September 10, 2018 - Goodbye Teofilo

Ok I honestly don't remember what happened this week, but I will try. Today is transfers, so we are all a little stressed out. (Or a LOT). There are going to be 4 sisters in this area (at least temporarily) and we are trying to figure out how to rearrange the furniture and get both the bathrooms in working order, and I am packing my bags! I will be going to Linhares, which is still pretty far away from the mission home, but at least a little closer to here, and my new companion will be Sister Parente, who is super awesome and sweet and adorable, and I am being called as Sister Training Leader as well. To be completely honest, I'm not super thrilled about the calling, and much less about being transfered (I love Teófilo, and we have so so so many plans!!! AND the sister I trained, Sister Rodrigues, is coming in my place! so jealous!!), but I'm trying to calm down because if not I think I'm going to be sick again. (Oh yeah I got sick again this week. But I think it must be something I'm eating. I'm trying to cut down on milk and also beans because I think they upset my stomach). I was sitting at the table writing a letter while my companion made lunch and the song "I'll go where you want me to go" came on and I was like "wow, this one's for me" so I made her play it twice haha. And honestly, the change will be good, and I know it will be a great learning experience :)

I'm sending journal pages about most of the week, which is good cause I'm running a little late, but here is a summary:

This week was difficult in that almost none of our appointments worked out. We went from one cancelled appointment to another, and then we would be like "okaaay. Where does the Lord want us to work today?" and we would take turns deciding where to turn/walk and which houses to knock on. We had some pretty cool experiences that way (and also some 4th floor, last door moments), some of which I wrote about in my journal, but we still don't have anyone progressing :/ We also had lots of help from the Lord in finishing our contacting goals. Friday was a national holiday, which always makes it a little difficult here in Brazil (before, during, and after the holiday), but we would always pray as we started to head home that the Lord would put just 4 or just  7 more people in our path--and He did! Every. Single. Time. Not more, and not less. Just proves how important goals are! Especially "couselling with the Lord" to help you set and also accomplish them.

I wrote more about her in my journal, but Tais was a pretty big miracle this week. We only managed to teach her once (and she didn't come to the activity or to church) but that one lesson was just amazing. I've never had anyone understand the restoration of the gospel so well! she was absolutely floored that we have a living prophet! Kept asking when was the next time he's coming to brasil, and if she could meet him hahahah. Hope the sisters get to keep teaching her!

Leide Laura was also a miracle. We taught this woman last sunday who didn't seem to understand much of our message, but she liked us, and told us we should go visit her daughter--which we did, even though we had to climb up and over a mountain to get there haha. She's only 15 and living with her boyfriend, but she recognizes that she's made a lot of wrong choices in her life, and she cried when we testified to her that God is not far away, and that the Book of Mormon can bring her closer to God than ever.

Like I already mentioned, Friday was a holiday. Independence Day, to be exact. They definitely  aren't as hyped up as we are for independence day  (for once we beat them on a holiday hahhaha) but the schools all do a drum march/parade thing (I mean it's a parade, just a lot more military than we usually think of. Definitely no throwing candy hahahah) so we left early in the morning to be able to see it.

Last two things: we helped two families make cookies this week--the first time they honestly weren't so great, but the second time they were quite literally the best cookies either me or my comp have ever eaten on the mission!

And then finally, my comp and I did a Book of Mormon debate with the relief society, which was super cool. Something I really liked about this branch is the close relationship we have with the RS president here. This is the first area on my mission that I really felt like I was a member of the RS and not just a visitor. I'm going to miss her and her family and all of the other women so much!

Ok I gotta go, but next week I'll get you all filled in on my new comp, area, and calling.

Love you all!!

-Sister Kirkham

September 3, 2018 - Jogo Da Vida

Sorry we're on so late!! It's been a crazy day. This week hasn't honestly been all that productive. Lot's of running around, and lots of teaching, but not a lot of people progressing. Can't count how many lessons we taught this week that didn't end up going anywhere. But anyways, seeds planted, right? And this week we're going to use our time (on the street anyways. We've been very creative with our time in the house, as you'll see by the pictures) much better this week, and have better stories to tell :P But at least this week we both started writing in our journals again! Won't say how long it had been since I last wrote though, cause it's pretty embarrassing.

In general, this week we cooked a lot less, partially because we ran out of flour at the beginning of the week, and partially because we were working on other stuff, but we did get super creative with our juice intake! Basically, I had told my companion like forever ago about this spinach and lime juice that this member makes, and she finally tried it and loved it so then we bought a bunch of spinach and have been trying to use it all, together with various combinations of apples, oranges, and carrots. Don't judge until you try it, cause it was all really good! this week we are going to mix in pineapple, too.

As I hinted last week, we made a board game! I was planning to write out the rules (in English--we already have them in Portuguese) to send to you all, but I didn't have time, due to our crazy day today (more on that later). But anyways, it's awesome, and we've already played it 4 times in the past 2 days, changing the rules slightly depending on the circumstance, and really seeing some miracles!

One of these miracles was a baptismal date with Olivia. So Olivia actually lives in our area, but we didn't know that, so she was going to the other branch (she's already been 4 times!) and being taught by the elders. She's seriously awesome, but loves to talk (and her mom talks more) so long story short, they hadn't been able to mark a baptismal date with her. We knew she wasn't super comfortable with us taking over teaching her, so we basically created the board game (Jogo da Vida) to gain her confidence--and it worked!!! Seriously, it was awesome :)

Before we went to teach Olivia, though, we finally managed to teach Sara, which is also a miracle. Her husband Romario works with the branch president, and was a reference from him. They've already been to chruch a couple times, but stopped progressing, and kind of put off investigating the church right when I got here. But anyways, long story short, after a lot of patience and a couple of crazy children, we managed to teach her on Saturday (we played Jogo da Vida with her too haha but this time we tied it more into eternal families) and she told us that she wants to be baptized, but first she's going to read the Book of Mormon and get an answer that it's true. And then at the very end, she thanked God in her prayer for sending us right in the moment that she was needing it! There's just about nothing better you can hear as a missionary :)

Just some other fun stuff. I was asked to give the training this Tuesday at district meeting--and the topic was "use your time wisely." Heaven knows I needed that topic! I had some fun sending the elders on random useless errand to demonstrate the need to prioritize (one of them was pretty annoyed with me by the end haha) and then we brought french toast and strawberries for our treat :P Also, Saturday morning we played a couple quick games of ping pong at the chruch with Mauro and a couple others. I'm not as bad as I thought I was! Ok I'm still bad haha but all the practice at the institute in college has definitely paid off haha.

So that brings me to our crazy day today. Not sure if I mentioned, but we had this old wooden table that we realized was being slowly eaten by some sort of insect/worm. It's been on our list to throw away for quite a while, but we never had time. And today was the day! We manuvered and manuvered and manuvered but that stupid thing just wasn't coming out. (Don't ask me how they got it in there in the first place!) soooooooo we ended up breaking it a little bit. And then a lot. And then it broke more while we were trying to carry the pieces out. So then we had a teetering stack of smaller pieces that we managed to carry out the house and down the street and up the little hill and then it finally fell over in the middle of the street (I screamed and dropped all of it. My comp was not too happy hhahhhaha). So yeah, that was fun :P and then we were finally leaving and our neighbor was like "hey wait I have time right now to hang your new curtains up!" and we were like "uhhhhhh ok..." (THAT was an adventure too hahhaha. It even involves a lizard) so then we actually left like 40 minutes later but my comp had to mail a package home, which also took forever. So yup, here we are!

I'm running low on time, but I've got pictures to come and another great week ahead of me. We're gonna work super hard and be super productive and I'll tell you all about it next Monday :P Love you all!!!! Hugs and kisses :)

-Sister Kirkham