It's true! It's really true!!

My oh my. What a week. Or maybe I should say month, because I think that´s about how long it´s been since I've written an email for the blog.

It´s been so crazy and busy out here. But for a quick update, I left the CTM on October 1st and I´m about to start my 3rd week in the mission field. Waahoo!! It´s been quite the adventure already...

First off, I am now in the Brazil Porto Alegre North Mission serving in an area called Santa Cruz. It´s really beautiful here and the members are fantastic! My first companion is Sister Barros from Cabo Verde, off of the coast of Africa. She´s so sweet. She doesn´t speak any English, so things are always interesting, but I love her.

Secondly, I am feeling MUCH better. Thank you everyone who heard that I wasn´t feeling well and sent prayers my way. I got sick the second day in the field. It was just a general cold, but it never went away. And when you´re working for 13 hours a day in the sun, it´s not very fun. But tudo bem, all is well! My ears got really stuffy and I literally couldn´t hear a single thing anyone said to me. So, to add to the confusion of not understanding a language, there I was without hearing as well... Oi! Talk about a rough time! THEN, on Monday another really fun thing happened. I got pink eye!! Woohoo! For the first time in my life... What an adventure.

There I was on Tuesday morning prying my eyes open with my fingers because they were glued shut... GROSS! So, I called up President Wright and he gave me the direction to head to the doctors to get a perscription. So, Sister Barros and I walked up to the hospital, because that was pretty much the only place to go, and I walked away with 4 different perscriptions. I had no idea what they were for, but I took them religiously and haven´t died yet! Blessings!

Right now we´re doing our best to teach as much as possible here. It´s been really difficult because we´ll hike and hike and hike and then when we get to a house an hour later, nobody´s home. So we hike in another direction and nobody´s home there as well. So then we knock on doors, or actually clap at the gate in front of their house, and hope that they´ll let us teach them about the gospel. It´s a challenge for sure.

Right now it´s the beginning of summer, so it´s been ridiculously hot out in the sun. So, I´ve become one of those people that walk around with an umbrella.

Oh, I do have a story though that I never got to share. When I was on the flight from Sao Paulo to Porto Alegre, I had an awesome missionary opportunity! I was sitting next to this man named Waldir, and I was able to teach him about the restoration and give him a Book of Mormon! It was AWESOME! And I did it all in Portuguese. It wasn´t the best Portuguese in the world, but Waldir was awesome, and patient, and helped me a lot. It was such a cool experience. He promissed me that he would read The Book of Mormon and pray with his family to see if it was true. A lot of people will say things just to appease you, but I honestly believe that he will. He was so sincere.

Anyway, I want you all to know that I love you! I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that it´s true. I wouldn´t be out here sweating and hiking and knocking on doors if it wasn´t. A mission isn´t a vacation. It´s hard work. But it´s worth while to teach people about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Have the best week ever!

Love,
Sister Stevens