Last Week in the CTM

HELLOOOOOOOOO!!! So, since I changed districts I also happened to change pdays as well... I forgot to even mention that that might happen last Friday. But I'm glad that you were able to email me anyway. I was so sure I would't have any emails today.

This past few days have been interesting but great. My whole district left early yesterday morning and I headed upstairs for my last week at the CTM. My new companions are great. Their names are Sister Skousen and Sister Burris. They've been really nice and welcoming. It's their last week too, so we'll all be leaving together next week. We went to the Sao Paulo Temple for the last time this morning. It's kind of sad thinking about how I'll never be back there... Maybe someday! It's so beautiful inside. I definitely think it's one of my favorites.

I can't even believe how fast time has flown by. It feels like I have been here for 2 weeks max, but at the same time it feels like I've been here forever. On Sunday, all I wanted to do was leave for the field with the rest of my district, but then when I thought about it, this whole week is going to be such a blessing. It's one more week to brush up on things I'm going to need to know when I'm in the field. I have 2 new instructors(one is really intimidating), but teaching 2 new investigators has been good practice for when I get out in the field. I've also been doing my best to step up during the lessons.

On Sunday I was asked to be the sister training leader during my last week here. I pretty much just keep an eye on the girls in my branch and make sure they're doing well. It's been really great. Plus, having the chance to serve the girls keeps my mind off of the difficulties of the language. It really makes me feel good to help them out. Plus, they're just really great sisters.

Today is my last pday, and then I have only a few more days until I'm out in the field... It's so crazy to think about! I don't feel ready at all! But honestly looking back on even just one week, I can see that I've really learned a lot. I may not sound like a native, but I can at least piece things together and the Brazilians can figure it out. I really need to kick butt this week so I can be blessed to understand more of the language.

I love Brazil, the language is hard, but I love being here. This last weekend with my district was so spiritual, it made me want to be out here even more, working hand in hand with the Lord to bring about miracles in so many lives. I'm so grateful for the teachers that I had, Irmao Anderson and Irmao Armazan. They were so amazing, and I'm pretty sure that Irmao Anderson is going to be an apostle some day. I'm not even kidding when I say that.

I miss you all, and I'm glad to hear that things are going well.

I love you all!

Sister Stevens

Mesmo Coisa

Oi!!!!! Tudo Bem?! I hope so!

Ok, so another week is gone at the CTM and my mind is BLOWN. Where does the time go?! I've been here for a whole month as oftomorrow. It's amazing. the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days when you're on a mission. By the time 10:30 comes around, you're knocked out because you're so exhausted. Or at least you should be sleeping, because that's curfew... BUUUUUTTTT, going to bed on time is a little difficult sometimes when you have Brazilian roommates! We're ALWAYS talking! Plus, it doesn't help that Sister Wright and I take 10 minutes to explain a relatively easy concept in Portuguese. So, the average time I went to bed this week was around 11:10... I tried to go to bed on time, I really tried! Some people might think that that's not a big deal, but when you're constantly on the go on a mission, those 40 minutes are really precious!

So anyway, since I've been in Brazil I've had a pretty hard time recognizing the difference between several words... And this has cause a few embarassing, yet hilarious moments during my stay here. So, there are 2 words that sound very similar that I always mix up... Mulher(woman) and Melhor(best/better). Mesmo Coisa, right?? Nope. Anyway, I was in a lesson with 2 of the elders in my district who we were pretending to teach. It was the first time we "met" so we were trying to get to know them. Well, let's just say, I accidentaly asked these two Elders if they were woman friends... Waaa waaa waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa... EPIC FAIL. At least it got some good laughs though. At my expense, of course. You'd think after making such a ridiculously embarrassing mistake, that I would have learned my lesson, right? Nope! Last night while I was talking to my Brazilian roommate, we were talking about our friends, and I was asking if "he was her best friend..." Well, at least that's what I was trying to ask... I did it again! All of a sudden my roommate, Sister Farreira was doubled over, laughing at me! AAAAHHHHHH!!! Whyyyy meee? Por que?!?!?!?!? At least my lack of language skills makes me funny to all the Brazilians :) It makes life more interesting, that's for sure.

Ok, I'm out of time, and I hope that all my stories make sense. I don't have time to write, and proof read and edit, so ya kinda get what ya get.

Today is the last pday I have with my district here at the CTM. It's bitter sweet for sure. But we'll all be heading off to bigger and better things in no time. We'll be serving in the exact missions that the Lord called us to! I can't wait to see what Porto Alegre is like! I hear that they grill cheese there... WHAAA??? I'm all up for trying some of that!

Be happy! God loves all of His children! The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true! and I love you all!

Love,

Sister Stevens

OHHHHH, we're halfway there....

And I am most definitely livin' on a prayer... Or maybe 5,000... It's at least somewhere between 1 and 5,000. I've lost count by now.

Life has been pretty good this past week. There were a few crazy stressful moments, but overall things are up and I'm learning Portuguese one word at a time!

This week we taught a lot of lessons. And during those lessons miracles happened, the spirit was felt, and people are getting baptized! Oh yeah! Now, if only these investigators were real... I have to say though, it's amazing how much you can love a fake investigator! It feels so real when you're teaching. You're completely following the direction of the spirit and relying on His guidance during the whole lesson, and then when you leave, you feel so giddy and excited because the person prayed or went to church or said they believed what you were saying was true! But then you come back to reality and realize that in the CTM, it's all practice. But the thing is, that doesn't matter! Because, even though the investigators are actually our instructors pretending to be someone else, we're still missionaries. We feel the spirit while we're teaching, because 1. It' s truth. 2. because we're not acting, we're being who we really are, representatives of the Lord's church!

This week was not easy by any means, but since when is life easy? I've learned a lot of things. I've learned that when I desire something, and exercise faith toward that desire, the Lord will bless me. For example, I have a desire to learn Portuguese, and so, I've decided to read The Book of Mormon in Portuguese. The. Whole. Thing. Gordon B. Hinckley promised that if you have a desire to learn a language, and you read The Book of Mormon in that language, you will become fluent. I'm trusting in the Lord on this one. He sent me here for a reason, and that's to teach the people of Brazil in their own language the truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's a very daunting task, but in the word's of Cinderella(the brandy, Whitney Houston version) Impossible things are happening EVERY DAY! It's so true!

I love the Lord, I love you all, and I am so grateful to be here in Brazil! I wish I had more time to write and respond, but I have 30 seconds left...

Have the best week ever!

Love,

Sister Stevens

At the Campinas, Brazil Temple

Another One Bites the Dust...

Another week gone???? Where does the time go?!

It's been a great week here at the CTM. Another week of change and transition, but that's ok. I got a new companion last week and she's still awesome! Sister Wright is so sweet and helpful. I don't know what I would do without her! She was definitely a blessing!

This past week was almost just like any other week, except for the fact that we went proselyting! WHA WHA?! We ran up hill to catch the city bus, and drove for an hour to get to the main business district of Sao Paulo. It's kind of like Sao Paulo's version of NYC. It was pretty cool. There were people performing for money, and the normal hustle and bustle of people rushing to get where they need to be. So, it kind of made things interesting when we wanted to have conversations with them... Each of us were given 2 Book of Mormons to hand out on the streets of Brazil. So, the first person my companion and I talked to was a man that was waiting at the crosswalk to cross the street. He made eye contact, so it was his own fault! haha I have to say the best part of proselyting for me is actually saying hi to people. It's the whole talking Portuguese thing that scares the dickens out of me! So, there I was saying hi to every last person that I could, and then we caught the guy at the crosswalk! SCORE! We had to talk while we walked and eventually we got him to stop so we could finish teaching him about The Book of Mormon. He was very nice, and was incredibly shocked when he found out that we were giving it to him for FREE! "Eu nao tenho dinero" That's ok, good sir, because this is a gift for you! Trust me, if you read it, it will bless your life!

We walked up and down the street, and within 30 minutes we had accomplished our goal! The second guy we talked to thought my Portuguese was so bad that he suggested that we talk in English... OOOOHHHHH... Low blow! haha I'll get there eventually.

Oh, and another funny thing that I did. When I was practicing Portuguese with my district before going to the city, I accidentally called our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of AWESOME Days... Otimo means awesome, and Ultimo means Latter or last... But hey, it's true either way I say it!

Things are looking up! We've been teaching and studying and eating lots and lots of food... They pile our plates with meat in the cafeteria each day, and then every night we get launche! Which means snack. It's the Elder's favorite part of the day, I think.

Anyway, I'm so grateful for all of your love and prayers! I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is here on the Earth. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ that goes hand in hand with the Bible. I love the church and I know it's true!

Good luck and god bless, and I look forward to hearing from you next week!

Love,

Sister Stevens

So much to say and only 15 minutes to say it...

Hello from Brazil!

Please forgive all misspelling because I have only a few minutes to write and i am super bad at typing!

Anyway, I first want to say that life has been a whirlwind adventure. And i've only been here a week and a half! Geesh.. I don't even know where to begin...

Well, I already mentioned how they didnt know i was coming, and they moved me ahead a week so that I would be with some other sisters. Well, I love those sisters to death, but they are miles a head of me! I was litterally thrown into the deep end! So, that was last week. I learned to adjust to being a week ahead, and things were actually going really awesome! I made friends with my district, I worked well in my companionship, I ate cookies on p day! Everything was great! I even learned how to pray in Portuguese!

But then it all changed..... Dun dun duuuuunnnnnnnnnn

On Tuesday night I was sitting in class with my district, and it was getting close to the end of the night, when all of a sudden my teacher Irmao Anderson was pulled out of the room by the guy who works out all of the CTM logistics. Well, apparently he was telling irmao anderson that I was leaving the district the next day and going back to my original district because a new sister missionary was coming from Provo... WHAT! No way! I was just starting to feel like I was getting how things worked around here... Then they were gonna thrust me back down! BOOOOO! I was super upset, and my district rallied behind me! haha REVOLT! So Irmao Anderson told me that he would plead my case and see what he could do.

WEEELLLLLLLLLL let's just say his pleading didnt work...

The next morning I was told to pack my bags and move up stairs because I would be starting a brand new district. At this point I had kind of come to terms with being changed, and I actually saw it as a blessing because I wouldn't be a week behind anymore. So, I packed up my stuff(I have wayyyy too many things) and huffed it all up to my new room.

BUT that's not the end of the story!

That night during dinner(pizza night. Brazilian style!), Irmao Paulo(the man in charge of logistics) came up to me and told me that I would be staying a week ahead with my current district. WHAT is happening?! First I'm in one district, then I'm moved, and then I'm back! GAH! Im scared to know what's going to happen next week... Anyway, So now instead of being in a trio, I have a new companion that just came from Provo. Her name is sister wright, and she is so fantastic and so helpful! We taught our first lesson last night and it went really well. Yes, I had to pull out the dictionary a few times, but oh well, they know I'm a stupid american that can't speak the language!

I really love brazil! The Brazilians are so helpful and nice! The weather has been muito frio and I actually heard that it snowed down in Porto Alegre... Man, I'm in for it!

Anyway, I love you all and I wish I had more time to write a better email. But now it's time to go out and buy some churros!

I know that gospel of Jesus Christ is true. It's here on the Earth!

Love,
Sister Stevens

Three Days and it Feels Like a Dream

Oi minha familia e amigos!

I can't believe that I've been in the field for less than 3 days and I'm already emailing you on pday... Let me just say, that that is REALLY unusual.

When I arrived at the CTM on Wednesday, apparently they had no idea that I was coming. WHAT! (insert a question mark in your mind, because mine isn't working) Anyway, that's just typical Emily luck that they wouldn't have anything ready for me. So here I am, a lone sister in a district full of 18 and 19 year old boys... yeesh! They're really nice and everything, but c'mon, they're 18 year old boys... and i'm all alone! They didn't have a companion for me, so I was sort of allowed to break mission rules for about 24 hours. I wandered the halls alone. I went to my room alone. I walked the streets of Sao Paulo with a group of elders. Alone. It was actually sort of heavenly! Until I had free time and didn't know what to do with myself!

Since they couldn't have me being alone each day, they decided that the best option would be to move me ahead to be companions with 2 sisters who've been here for about 10 days. Oh my gosh! Talk about intimidating! Even though they've only been here for 10 days, it feels like they're already light years ahead of me. I've skipped learning how to teach an investigator for the first time, and instead had to sit in on probably the 9th lesson with an investigator that was completely in Portuguese! This is tough! Muito deficil! 

It's been a bit of a hard transition having to leave my original district to be with a district ahead, but at the same time it's been a blessing. My companions are so sweet, and since I moved ahead a week or so, I'm able to be writing you today! Yay for pday! 

The missionaries are also allowed to go to the temple each pday! So, I've been here for 3 days, and have also been blessed to go to the temple! The Sao Paulo temple has been closed for cleaning, so we got to go 2 hours away to the campinas(I think that's right) temple. It was so beautiful! 

Oh, I forgot to mention, last night while I was sitting in on the lesson with an investigator, he asked me to pray! I literally had to hold back tears because I was so terrified! I think I ended up starting my prayer out by saying, THE Heavenly Father and I closed in MY name of Jesus Christ, amen.. Oh man, that lesson was sure to be doomed right from the get go with that prayer! Oh, and all the words in between were in English...

Despite struggling with the language and with not having companions for a while, the MTC has been great. The missionaries are so wonderful, and the Brazilians are always more than willing to patiently wait for you to ask them a question. Those poor Brazilians! They just smile and nod and say you're doing great, but you know it's all LIES! haha

I hope that you're all surviving life without me! Yes, It's hard to imagine that happening, but it must! Please keep me in your prayers as I continue to keep you in mine. I know that the Lord has asked me to come here for a reason. He knows that I'm capable of learning this language and doing these hard things, now I just have to show my faith in Him. 

The church is true!

I love you all, and miss you!

Love,
Sister Stevens