I felt like I was running a marathon this week.

Mom,

 

This week was SUPER busy for me! I felt like I was running a marathon...literally. This week was good. We had the mission tour on Thursday! It was GREAT! Elder Snow and Presidente Perrotti spoke. When Presidente Perrotti spoke, I could understand a lot. It blew my mind. A lot of what Elder Snow said really helped me to regain my confidence in myself as a missionary. He said a lot of things that I needed to hear. He asked Sister Menden and I if we could have an interview with him one by one. This might sound funny, but he asked me to say a prayer in English. Let me tell you....it was kind of  hard. I could only think of Portuguese words ha ha. But I managed to do it. :)

 

Thursday I hit 6 months in the mission! Sister Menden and I celebrated with ice cream! :) We also had peanut butter M&M´s at our house. 

 

For p-day, we are in Costa e Silva. All the missionaries from my zone are at the stake presidente´s house. His house is a MANSION! It´s so beautiful! :)

 

As I was reading your letter, my heart sank when I read about Tucker. That´s so sad :( I know he´s in a better place where he can´t suffer anymore. But it´s sad to think that he´s gone. he was a good dog.

 

I´m sorry that this letter is short. I don´t have a lot of time. But thank you so much for your love every week! :) Congrats on your job by the way! I love you and hope you have a great week! 

 

-Sister Whitnah

 

I'm tired and exhausted, but it's a good kind of tired

Mom,

 

That´s so cool how there´s a set of Elders and Sisters in your ward! The work there must be growing fast. You should invite your friend to the ward activity! You'll never know if you don't try. I´ve learned that it doesn´t hurt to invite someone to church, an activity or anything in the church. I´ve learned to have courage and to not be afraid.

 

This week was exhausting. Tuesday we had our district meeting. Sister Ware is in my Zone! :) I get to see her every week now! I found out that this transfer is only 5 weeks. It´s really short. I think it´s because next transfer involves a week before Christmas. I´m excited to talk to you during Christmas! I´m noticing that my English is slowly going away. I´m forgetting some words.   I was explaining something in Portuguese and I forgot a word in English that I wanted to say.  i think it´s good that my English is going away.

 

I´m getting along pretty well with my companion, she´s awesome! She helps me a lot with my Portuguese, especially with words and phrases that I don´t know. Sister Menden is a hard worker and she has helped me to become a hard worker too.  We´re always busy! which is a good thing, and I´m happy too :)  This transfer I’ve learned to work hard especially in studying. I’ve grown a greater testimony on studying the lessons and scriptures.  Sister Menden and i bought a pizza on Saturday with guanara! it had tomato, cheese and parmesan! YUM! 

 

 

It´s very difficult to teach people in my area. We have so many less actives that we go and visit. Most of them are nice, but don´t want to come back to church. We come home every night feeling exhausted. I swear this week it felt like my feet were going to fall off because of all the walking we do everyday. I’m tired, but it’s a good type of tired, you  know?

 

On Monday, we had our 1st lesson with Vinisios. It went pretty well! He´s reading the Book of Mormon and praying everyday. He came to church yesterday and last week. He loves coming to church. He told us that he loves the feelings he gets when he goes to church. I noticed this Sunday, he cried a little bit during sacrament meeting while a member was giving a talk about feeling the spirit. We´re giving the 2nd lesson tonight (The Plan of Salvation). I can tell the spirit is working with him a lot :)  I´m kind of nervous about teaching this lesson, because it´s the hardest one to teach in my opinion. At least in Portuguese. I can tell the more we visit Vinisios, the more he looks happier.  I swear he is GOLDEN!   I think he is one of those people that is fully prepared to hear the Gospel!  He does everything we invite him to do.  He is so obedient!

 

 

I read the Joseph Smith story in the Pearl of Great Price. I learn something new every time I read it. Thank you for the idea of reading it once a week. :)

 

This week we´re having the mission tour! I´m excited! The president of the seventy is speaking. Elder Snow and his wife. That´s my highlight of the week and visiting with Vinisios! 

 

I hope you have a great week! Love and miss you!

 

-Sister Whitnah

 

Sister Whitnah and Sister Menden enjoying lunch on P day. 

 

My new area: Barao Geraldo

Mom,

 

So... I got transferred to an area called Barao Geraldo! It´s about 15-20 minutes outside of Campinas. So far I like it a lot. I have to walk a lot. There are some parts where it´s country and others where it´s city like. It´s pretty! The ward is fairly big. There´s around 470 members, but only 70 are active. It´s kind of sad. So we do a lot of less active member work. We have a couple of people that we are teaching. The members here are super friendly and welcoming. I was walking in a neighborhood and I found a sign that said ``Welcome to Brookelyn`` in Portuguese. I thought it was funny, so I took a picture of it. My comp is Sister Menden and she´s from Gilbert Arizona. She´s 21, has been out for 9 months, and she´s studying nursing at BYU. We get along pretty well! 

 

This week was SO busy! I´ve never felt so tired in my life! We taught a lot of lessons and we have a new investigator! On Saturday, we were doing street contacting. We saw this guy and invited him to come to church the next day. When we invite people to come to church, most of the time they say yes and don´t come to church. This guy said he would come. We walked into Sacrament Meeting and this guy was at church. I was pretty excited. Oh his name is Vinisios by the way. He´s in his early 20´s. He went to all 3 hours of church. After church, he told us that he really likes our church. He agreed to take the lessons with us. We´re teaching the 1st lesson tonight! I´m excited! 

 

I received your package at transfer site. It only took 3 weeks to get here! I loved all of the goodies you put in there. I didn´t realize how much I missed eating peanut butter! The peanut butter m&m´s were so good! You should put some in my Christmas package! I also enjoyed reading Bryan´s letter and yours too. Thank you for the package! I´m sending you a letter tomorrow. 

 

I liked the photos of Tessa´s baby shower. Thank you for sending me some. I bet her and Robbie are getting excited for the baby to come. It´s weird to me that they are going to be parents.

 

This week is going to be filled with a lot of finding new investigators and teaching! I´m way excited! I´m looking forward to another busy week! I want to let you know that i´m doing great and i like my new area. I love you so much! I hope you have a great week! Talk to you soon!

General Conference was just what I needed to hear. I loved it!

Mom,

 

I got my transfer call late last night. I´m leaving Jundiai and going to a new area. I will find out tomorrow where i´m going. I do know that my new comp is American. Sister Gomez is staying in Jundiai and will be training a new sister. She´s excited! :) oh Sister Gomez is 22 years old by the way. The other two sisters, Sister Colombre and Martins, they are both training and Sister Martins will leave Jundiai too. I´m kinda sad to be leaving Jundiai, but I know Heavenly Father wants me somewhere else. I know it will be okay.

 

I LOVED General Conference! I would have to agree with you, it went by really fast! I told a bunch of notes. I loved hearing Elder Holland´s talk as well as President Uchtdorf´s. It seemed like everything said in conference was what I needed to hear. It was different looking at conference in a missionary perspective. I was excited to hear from Robbie´s mission president. I loved his talk as well. Did you noticed that President Dyches talked?

 

For conference, we went to the stake center in Parque and watched conference there. The chapel was for Portuguese and the Relief Society room was for English. Conference in Brasil doesn´t start until 1pm. We went to a member´s house for lunch and the food was great as always. We had rice and black beans with this special meat, spinach, and squash. It was really good! For dessert, we had a different types of fruit mixed together with this sweet sauce that people use to put in their ice cream. The whole meal was so good! The members surprised me with... DR.PEPPER! :) I was so excited!

 

I think I will read Joseph Smith´s story in the pearl of great price. I´ve been watching the Work and the Glory movies lately. We have all three of the movies. I´ve been thinking about how I need to strengthen my testimony more in the Livro de Mormon. I know the book is true, but I want to have a firm testimony of it.

 

Overall, this week was bittersweet. A lot of the people we invited to General Conference didn´t come except for Brandao. We have been trying to get Silvia to come to conference, but she didn´t come. She also told us that she has no desire to get baptized, yet she goes to church every week. We have been desperately trying to find new people. It seems like everything isn´t working out. But i´m trying to have faith that we will have miracle.

 

Becky has been a huge example to me. Someone who never gives up on hard things. I love her so much. There have been times where I truly have wanted to go home. I´ve thought that a mission was too hard and that I couldn´t handle it. I´ve felt those same feelings as her. Her example has lead me to never want to give up. Especially when it´s during the hard times. I know that during the hard times we grow the most. I noticed the pattern in conference was have faith and believe in the Savior. I´ve decided, whatever happens in my mission weather it be easy or hard, I will strong and not give up.

 

Thank you for everything that you have given me. I´m so grateful for you and your testimony. I know that this church is true. Conference was exactly what I needed. I´m so grateful for President Monson and all that he does for us in the church. To help guide us in these latter days. I love you so much and pray for you every night. Please pray that this next transfer will be great and pray for miracles. I love you and I hope you have a great week!

 

-Sister Whitnah