Graças a Ele

June 23, 2014

Eeentao. This week I have been with my new companhera, Sister Cox! She's from Montanha and we are getting along simply famously, I am so, SO grateful, I'll tell you what, she's like a breath of fresh air, and Heavenly Father is so aware of each of us, He knew what I needed:) I think it's interesting that for my first 3 weeks on top of adjusting to everything I also had a kind of difficult companion. . . The Lord works in mysterious ways:) But Mom, like we decided, the refiner's fire, we can't be molded into what Heavenly Father wants if we aren't. . . .  molded. . . ok:)

Tuesday: Brazil had a jogue so we got to stay in our house for 5 ours. . . I say got because it was actually really nice and emotionally needed. Last p-day was stressful because of the switch so Tuesday was like our real p-day. Sister Cox and I spent a significant amount of time cleaning a wall in our study room that   was black because it was covered in mold. Everything here is covered in mold, even my clothes sometimes, it's impossible! Anyway, then we did language study, and some other study and then ordered a "biggy" pizza for the four of us. Oh, minha nossa, it was fantastic, Brazillin pizzas are the best! They have dulce pizzas too, and we got a peantu butter chocolate one. . . oh man:)

Wednesday: Sis Cox and I had a great day getting to know each other better and teaching all of our great investigators. I still really love Sis Dias, she's a character, but it's great just living in the same house:)

Thursday: The weather here is loco. . . Seriously, in the mornings it's soooo cold, so I wear, a scarf, tights, a coat etc. But, during the day, it gets soooo hot and I am dying with my black tights, but then again in the night it's so cold and the air is full of water. . . it's impossible to plan for! Being with another American is reealy great but definitley changes the way that people see us. We get a lot more creepiness, for example: The other day, there was this cowboy dude walking down the street, us and him. . . "oi, bom dia etc etc" He all of a sudden stopped in the middle of the street and started remarking about how beautiful we were and  to come back and talk with him, etc etc for like 3 minutes. We were dying laughing as we kept walking briskly away, loco. People receive us in one of two ways.. . they're honored to have us in their house because we're 2 americans, and they want to feed us and talk with us but not really listen to our message, or they treat us like salesman and feed us all sorts of balogne excuses because we're americans. . . . so yeah. We're trying to figure out how to work with this fact because it is a fact my friends, we are indeed 2 Americans:)

Friday: There is no better feeling than truly being an instrument in the Lord's hands:) It was my turn to give the thought for almoço right? During my personal study i had the thought to read helaman 5:12 and the Watch "Graças a Ele" ( becauseo of him.) It turned out to be a really neat moment ( I LOVE that video! Fam, do this for^for fhe!:) and Sister Cox was crying and told me later that she really needed that message, she woke up really bummed, hadn't told anyone but Heavenly Father knew:) There were other times this week during lessons where we both felt prompted to promise very specific blessings if investigators would do something, it was cool:) Yesterday we walked at least 7 miles in the stinkin' heat to make sure this lady, Suele would receive the Holy Ghost. She had been throwing up, she didn't know anyone, etc. etc.  We promised her that if she would come to church and receive a blessing and the Holy Ghost she wouldn't throw up anymore. She came ( gah!) And when the Bishop gave her a blessing it was the most beautiful thing. She was all stressed and telling him evrerything and he just said" Do you have faith that Jesus Christ can heal you from this infirmity?"  Seule,  "Tenho. . ." Boom, the spirit hit me like a wall and I was crying the whole time, I have no idea what the blessing said but the Spirit and the reality of the Priesthood was so real. It was a beautiful moment and I am so grateful for it because. . .

Saturday: We literally did everthing we could followed every prompting, talked, taught, invited and had no one to come to church ( which means probobaly no one to baptize next week. . . ) and I was feeling pretty discouraged, "Heavenly Father, I am doing everything that I can! Why aren't you using me to help these people?" Yes, I was a little frustrated with Him, hahah silly me!:) I know that God's timing is perfect, I know it! So  we'll keep working!

As usual people, I didn't tell half of what I wanted but here's a great story for the wrap-up:

So there's one lady in the ward who can play the piano  right? So it's her calling right? But she doesn't like to ( Brazillians are really a lovely people but also really lazy. . . haha) so last week I did right? Yesterday literally 2 minutes before sacrament meeting I was informed that I would play again. Fine, awesome, seriously happy to help! Umm all they hymns are fine except the first, I had no idea what it was, and unfortunately neither did anyone else but. . . here we go! I started playing and it was pretty rough but was getting progressively worse. . . "hmm Brazillians have a horrilbe sense of pitch,( which is also really true) Then the chorister stops us and says, "The sister doesn't know this hymn we'll just start over with out the piano" Ouch! After about 30 seconds I realized  I hadn't seend the repeat sign. .. . .I stil have no idea what that hymn was. . hahahahah Oh my life. This isn't even all just because of the life of a missionary, no, this is just me:) hahah Dad, I thought of you and how much you would appreciate it.

Anyway, I love you guys like crazy and miss you so much! I love the Book of Mormon too! Man, Heavenly Father is so ready to forgive us every time we repent, He did it over and over and over! The people begin to prosper right away and then get prideful! Don't get prideful peeps! It's so easy, we are so blessed but everything we have is graças a Ele! Everything! Speaking of which, my language is no longer my biggest stress factor.:) It's so cool and amazing to be able to measure myself- having almocos with members that we ate with my first or second week here, I can really see the difference! Man, I want to keep improving and improving. I know that my language ability is helped so so much:)

I love my Savior, I know that the Book of Mormon is true with all of my heart! I'm coming to know my Savior and Heavenly Father better every day!!

Love you guys!!

Sister 

Sister Dias and I on my second day:)

The Shift

June 16, 2014

Eeeeentao. This week WAS  much better, thank you all for your prayers and your kinds words of encouragement and love:) This week was much better because I had an epiphany. Thanks to your advice Mom about soaking things in, being humble and learning from my companion, Dad, your advice about letting things roll off of my shoulders and Grandpa, that awesome poem about choosing to enjoy the beautiful things that are always there. Also, thanks to the Book or Mormon and my Heavenly Father:)

My epiphany ( I really hope I'm spelling that right!) I'm a looker forwarder (how's that for offensive grammer?) I always have been. When things aren't going ideally I always am consoled by the next thing I have to look forward to. For example: In the MTC, it was the field. In N.Y it was Brazil. In Sao Paulo, it was Curitiba. All of a sudden I got here and things were HARD, so hard and I had nothing to look forward to except (so I thought) this intense sadness for a whole year. So I started looking forward to the end of the day when we could go home, p-days when I could just thing about me. . . Dang.

And then. I was reading the Book of Mormon during personal study and I realized all of that^^ and realized that I seriously needed a shift in my way of thinking. HELLO SISTER VENTURA, YOU ONLY HAVE 1 YEAR LEFT OF THIS ADVENTURE! I realized that in order to appreciate my time left here I need to appreciate what I'm doing when I'm doing it. Granted, much easier said than done, it's somethig I've wanted to be better at my whole life. But seriously, Heavenly Father is helping me. 

This shift thing. In order to shift your way of thinking you have to start thought by thought. Every time this week I thought about how frustrated I was, how much I missed you guys and everything that is familiar to me, every time I thought I can't wait until it's finally time to sleep, or hear from my family I shifted my thoughts. Woah, how cool is it that I am (semi;) commincating in another language right now: How cool is it that I only associate with Brazillians and somehow convey most of what I want to? How cool is it that I'm with an adorable brazillian family right now? How cool is it that I'm living IN BRAZIL?! Etc; etc; This week was amazing. Sister Dias and I got along pretty darn well and had a fun time doing it. I didn't spend my days wishing them away and I enjoyed being with Brazillians in Brazil! Imagine that!

Dad, on Wednesday, I did get to see Sister Barker and Sister Burte it was SOOO nice and so needed:) It was cool to see how much they have both changed for the better, they are great examples for me and it was like filling up my cantine to be albe to talk with the both:) Hopefully I'll be able to attach pics. Everyone at the Sister's conference was telling my how good my language was for only being here 3 weeks and remembering how it was for them. People have been telling me how good i'm doing I just realized on Saturday that maybe they're not all lying and i'm doing a little better than I think I am (imagine that?;) On saturday we had a lesson with some of our investigators that we hadn't taught since like my 2nd day. Without invitation the lady made a comment about how my language had improved and how she remembered our first lesson. . . yay! It really has improved in just 3 weeks and SOSOSOSO much of that is due to my companion, she has taught me so much about how the culture and the language here are linked and how to best communicate with the people etc. I'm really grateful to her:) I really want to keep improving and learning just as much as I have these 3 weeks every 3 weeks for the rest of my mission and not start thinking that because things are a little better I'm good to go and can relax now. .. NOOO.

Yesterday we had 2 baptisms that were so, so special, I am so grateful to have been a part of them. If I can't attach pictures, sorry. . .The first was Thayara. She's 10 and such a smart pants (reminds me of you kali bear!) and has just soaked up everything we have taught her. She didn't even have a skirt or dress to be baptized in. When I found this out i asked Sis Dias if there was a member we could ask so she could borrow one. One of my favorite families was so glad to help and gave us a whole bag of clothes for Thayara! She ended up looking so adorable and had painted her nails and did her hair and was all ready to go when we got there, it was so cute how excited she was:) It was a beautiful moment and she she is so excited to be a member of this Church! The second was our investigator Francisco who had a seizure last week. He has a lot of mental and physical dissabilities so we were kind of nervous about him. The Elder who baptized him was perfect and it was such a beautiful moment. Our ward mission leader said it was one of the most spiritual baptisms he's ever seen, it was so great:) The rest of the day he (Fran) was so happy and it's so cool to see how much he's changed in just 3 weeks.

Since i'm enjoying anything and everything that's happening to me here let me share the joy a little bit:

The other day we were out after a rainstorm and the roads were even more muddy than usual. There was this spot that was covered in water and like a mini river. Sister Dias. " Hmm sister, I don't know if we'll be able to go there after all. . . " Being the super resourceful, person that I am, I spot a long plank of wood not far off *lightbulb moment* We then spent the next while crossing the muddy river one plank at a time. Imagine 2 sister missionaries squealing as they pass a 8 foot long wooden plank back and forth, it was epic. Last moment: We were in the middle of the first lesson when the lady's neighbor stops by with a bright orange sofa in a wheelbarrow ( sofa delivery, duh?) it soon became apparent that they were going to move it into the house right then so we spent the next 15 minutes manuevering a sofa into a house with 2 old Brazillinas ladies, it rocked my world.  There were and are of course, so many things that happened that i want to tell you guys that I learned and laughed at but alas. . . :( Time! 

We found out about transfers yesterady. All four of us sisters are staying in this areas but we're switching companionships. . . wierdest thing ever right?? umm yeah. So now i'll be with Sister cox who is from Montanha and super awesome buuuuut she's american, dang it! Should be intersting:)

I love you guys so much and want you to know that I also love the Book of Mormon So so much! Please read Alma 58:7-12:)

Until next week my dears;)

Love,

Sister Ventura

Adrienne in Curitiba, Brazil with President and Sister Monteiro

P O R T U G U E S E

aAAAAAAh Minha familia!! Wow, so much to say, so much that I've been experiencing!

Hmmm let's (attn. family, I just found the apostrophe button, you're welcome!) start with the frustrating stuff to get it out of the way... . (see above) Gah. It is absolutely the most frustrating thing in the world to not be able to commonicate what I want to say 99% of the time. SO frustrating! Especially because I already (seriously since day 1!) have this intense love for the people here, I want to help them so badly, especially because I know I have the answers they need! BUT, when I can't understand what they're saying and vice versa.... gah! But it's ok because I have the drive to learn the language for the people:) I don't know why, I haven't cried yet but I've felt likeit many times:) Sister B, I keep thinking about something you said when your first arrived, I'm used to being funny.... ummm, the only reason people laugh at me here is because I can't say anything! hahaha, definitely different than what I'm used to, and humbling! Dad, like you always say, I'm trying to just laugh at myself too and I keep trying to open my mouth over and over again. Seriously, I've never been so out of my comfort zone! Not only am i trying to tell people how to live their lives differently but now I don't know the words to say it! Out of my comfor zone 24-7 = always growing I guess:)

Aaand the peeps here- soooo cool. Like,everyone says, they are VERY open, the hard this here is not to get into a home to teach but to get the people to keep their commitments, they just say yes to everything! Family- I come across and teach so many kids and teenagers here, I love it! They're so cool and make fun of me a lot ahahah:) Seriously whenever I meet someone with the same age as one of you guys I get so excited and tell them (try;) that i have a sibling the same age! It's groovy sauce. Coltran, my second day, we were at a member's house for lunch ( we have lunche EVERY day here, the members love missionaries. Sister C, you would die if you saw our food calendar!) and they had a son that was 11 too! I was trying to tell him about you and ended up sayint that I have a son with 11 years. ... word.

My area- I'm in one of the poorest areas in my mission (Piraquara) and it's the best. It's mostly dirt roads and the people live in shacks (many of them) but they are happy and treat us like royalty. They always let us in, sit us down, talk with us,offer us food or drinks, anything we need really, they're wonderful!

My comp- I'll try to send pics next week! Her name is Sister Dias, she's 22 and from Sao Paulo and a convert of only 3 years! She is a really hard worker and really good with the people. She knows how to get them to do whatever... anyone, seriously. She's very fiesty, and take chargy and not very flexible thus far... :) But, she's very patient with me and is helping me with my language tons:)

Another difficult thing- besides the doctrine, basically everything here is different than N.Y. EVERYTHING. Sister C, we don't even have an area book because people usually get baptized so fast, gah, I'm dying. We use the Bible so much, we drop poeple really easily, we baptize really easily and it feels like the missionaries here are a little to focused on numbers. .. " I had ... baptisms this month. How many baptisms did so and so have this month?" etc. Not a fan at all.

But, overall I am VERY happy, and trying and trying and loving and loving and missing you guys a lot:) I wish you all could experience this awesomeness with me! Looks like you're able to have a a little Brazillian joy there too though:) I had my first legit brazillian bbq yesterday... Tayler yes, they really do eat that much meat and more, ay carumba!

I LOVE  you guys! Alma 48 (I think, it's the chapter about Amalikiah)

 -my take away- Don't ever come down, not even a little!

Loooove,

Sister Ventura :)