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