Seriously I have so much to tell you it isnt even funny. Im
worried that Im going to leave some things out!! Ok so my last few days at the
CTM were bittersweet. Saturday was our last lesson with our teachers and our
female instructor shared her testimony with us in PERFECT English. We were
shocked and kind of mad that she understood everything we said in english from
the beginning!! so funny but i love her. one thing she told us was that if we
were real missionaries on the street and we contacted her she would let us into
her house because your spirits were so strong. that was what i needed to hear.
Sunday was the last sunday and
in our branch they dont announce before who will be speaking. they just call
you right up after the sacrament. Before church Elder Nickerson said, who do
you think theyre going to call? I said there is no way that theyll call 4 from
our district because there were 2 other districts in our branch. Well i totally
jinxed it. all the speakers were from our district including yours truly. I
wrote a talk the second week in the CTM so it was pretty rough but I honestly
was thankful to have words on paper cause once i stood up my mind went blank.
Monday starting at 8 am and finishing at 9 pm we had
orientation. If i thought i knew a little portuguese at this point it went
right out the window.Literally knew nada. The best part of the whole day
was that my friend Sister Morley leaned over to me and said, How much of this
are you understanding right now. I said 10% and she goes me too. made me feel
so much better. all of us americans were scared because we were going
into the field the next day and we didnt understand anything that was going on.
oh well.
later that day all of our instructors came in to take final
pictures. and literally the second i saw my instructors a river of tears just
started to flow. I love them so much and I just wish they could be here with
me. I have to many pictures to send but i forgot my cord so ill send some next
week.
we got done at 9 and then they
gave us an HOUR to pack. 1 hour!! well i didnt finish until 12 and sister
swensen yelled at me a few times. oh well it needed to get done because i was
waking up at 4.45 the nest morning and knowing me i wouldnt wake up in time.
mom packing was so incredibly easy. maybe because i didnt take everything out
but it was a success and the weight didnt matter! it was a miracle.
next morning i left with sister Aune, a sister who was going
to Santa Maria which is right next to Porto Alegre. I was so glad to have
someone i knew with me.
The flight was about 2 hours and I knocked out. mouth open
and everything,we landed, picked up our bags and were met by the
presidents assistants. so many Americans and they were so nice. later the
president and his wife walked in and love just radiated from them. They are
just simply incredible. So kind.
There were 18 missionaries from
the CTM and 2 of us were American. We then went to dinner and the food was to
die for but i didnt eat a lot because i didnt want to look like a pig.after
dinner i think we went to the mission home but i have no idea because it didnt
really look like a home. there we had more orientation and i just sat there and
went into my thought because i knew nothing. when we had breaks, the american
elder was like i understand nothing. I felt so much better because he was one
of the brightest in his district. I had an interviewwith the president and it
was great because i understood what he was saying/asking.
My companion is Sister Costa. She is Brasilian and speaks no
English. She is absolutely adorable. She has been out for 3 months so im here
first trainee which scares me a little.We´ve had a few instances where you can
tell this is new for her. But shes great love her.
After we boarded the bus and
were dropped off at the bus station. I had no idea what was going on but all i
knew was that we had to wait an hour for the bus to arrive. S. Costa asked if i
was hungry and i was but i thought that we were going to a house for dinner and
didnt want to ruin my appetite but she went and bought cookies and water. and
thank heavens she did because guess what. we werent geting dinner. in fact we
were riding a bus for 4 hours to our area. ya 4 hours. we got on at 7 and
arrived at 1020. sister costa had to ride the bus here to get me and then ride
it back once she had me to go home. crazy day for her.
a member picked up us and
dropped us off at my new home. the area im in is called Cachoeira and its very
rural. but i like it. we share an apartment with another companionship and one
of the sisters is american thankfully. sometimes there is too much portuguese
that i just need a break and its so nice becuase she said she went through the
same thing so she knows exactly how i feel. her name is Sister Foutz and shes
been out 11 months. her companion is sister A. Oliveria and shes brazilian and
loud and hilarious.
our apartment is gross. the
tile is just dirty and we wear flipflops everywhere. there are two separate
rooms and we all share a bathroom. But the longer im here the more i like our
apartment. dont worry the area we are in is so safe. not dangerous at all.
ok so the first real day i was here i was starving cause i
didnt eat the night before except for some oreo things and one thing i learned
really fast is that there is no food in our apart. none. what was for breakfast
the first morning? cookies a member brought. not very nutritious. we left at
like 930 that morning in the pouring rain to attend my first district meeting.
we had to take the bus because its far away. we have 12 missionaries and 8 of
them are american. we introduced ourselves and then practiced contacting. i
failed and i understood nothing so i was a little down and of course they asked
me to say the closing prayer. lol.
oh in our meeting we made a goal to have 3 baptisms by the
end of the month and to fast that day. so i was starving and they were already
asking me to fast? seriously?? But i learned that we would fast after lunch.
hallelujiah.
When i was in the CTm the last
day, pres swensen told us that we would have a baptism our first week and i
learned that a woman we were teaching, lucia was scheduled to be baptized on
saturday!! except she cant quit smoking. i met her and immediately loved her. i
had no idea what she was saying but i wanted to help her so much. She wasnt
baptized this week but hopefully in a couple more lessons we can get her to
commit.
the streets here are
cobblestone and only the main streets are paved nicely. the poorer areas are
dirt. so when it rained the first day i ruined my leather shoes. some members
here live in shacks. legit shacks. i have no idea how some have electricity but
they do. one thing that amazed me this week was that these people are so
giving. they are thankful for what they have and when they have extra they
give. for example. we have a recent convert whos name is joão and his two kids
are taking the discussions. they live in one of these shacks that has four
wooden walls, a mud floor, two mattresses and a bathroom all in the same room.
its quite uncomfortable and i am so mad at explaining. but they have nothing.
yet when we stopped by he save us a bag full of potatoes. he could have saved
them for the next nights meal. but he gave them to us. such humble people.
this week we talked to 81
people about the gospel and some even gave us their addresses to come back. the
work is good and itll be awesome once i understand and can speak the language.
oh sunday i was asked to come up introduce myself and bear my testimony. i was
shaking i was so nervous. but the second i stood up in front of the
congregation, i was washed over with a feeling of peace and comfort and i
delivered as much as i knew in portuguese and sat down. Sister foutz said i did
better than she did the first week so that was comfoting.
oh my gosh i forgot to tell
you. there are dogs EVERYWHERE. literally everywhere. people here have at least
3 dogs and none of them have bit me so i think im good with the rabbies. we had
dinner at a member house the other day and she had 9 cats. 9!!!!!! the sister
wished us luck and told me, if you dont look for hair in the food you wont find
it. hilarious. hilarious. didnt look for it,or at least tried not to.
love you so so much! xoxo
sister harrick
