My last week of the Mission: A bitter sweet feeling

Familia!!

 

ONLY 6 MORE DAYS! AHHH! :) I´m soo excited!  It is a bittersweet feeling though.  I have grown so much on my mission and will miss many here in Brasil but I am also excited to come home.   This week was good! I had my last interview with Presidente and it was great. He gave me a lot of advice to take home after the mission. It was good to talk to him about everything that I felt on the mission and how much I´ve grown since I got to Brasil. I had my last multi-zona yesterday. It was really good. I gave my testimony along with Sister Loefke and Ware. There´s about 11 missionaries leaving the mission. 8 of us are Americans. I won´t lie, i´m counting down the days but i´m MAKING every moment count!

 

Conference was really good! i loved it! My favorite part was hearing Carlos Godoy speak in Portuguese!! :) It was so cool! I took a bunch of notes and i´m going to apply those things that i learned.  This week all the missionaries that are going home get to attend the Campinas Temple one last time.  I am looking forward to that.  It is a pretty place.   I´m sorry this email is short and i don´t have much time. But i´ll write you again next week! :) Thank you for everything and I love you so much!! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah

a baptism! It was wonderful!

Familia,

 

Thaynara was baptized on Friday along with another girl that the other sisters in my ward are teaching. There´s 4 sisters in our ward now. All 4 of us sang the famous primary song called ``I like to look for rainbows``. The Spirit was so strong at that baptismal meeting. Thaynara looked so happy and had a glow in her face. We watched the young women´s general conference last night with Thaynara and Leila. They loved it! Dieter Uchtdorf spoke and i loved everything he said.

 

I´m so glad Bryan is doing a lot better! That´s great how he´s getting back into things. I´m happy for Robbie and Tessa getting that house. I bet they´re excited about that. My plans for p-day are gonna be a little crazy. Today, all of the missionaries in my mission have to get a bus pass. Starting tomorrow, the buses won´t except money anymore, only the cards. So my comp and I will need to get one. I already have one. 

 

Thank you for your prayers. We found a lady this week that looks really awesome! We taught her the 1st lesson and she accepted baptism. We´re gonna teach her again on Tuesday and mark a date with her. Leila (thaynara´s mom) is doing really well. She´s super stoked about her baptism in November and she loved going to Thaynara´s baptism. I think this baptism was a spiritual one for Leila. 

 

That pretty much sums up this week! I love you and hope you have a great week! TE AMO MUITO!

 

-Sister Whitnah

Obedience is the Price

Mom,

 

I´ll definitely keep Bryan in my prayers. I´m glad that he´s doing good and nothing bad showed up on the tests. That´s scary that he´s having seizures. I´m glad that everything is going okay for him now. We finally had some rain for the past 3 weeks. It was great! We´ve been lacking about a year and a half worth of water here and it finally rained! :)

This week was good. I´m gonna have a baptism this Friday! Thayanara will be baptized! I´m so excited for her! We see her pretty much everyday and she loves my comp and I! She loves reading the Book of Mormon and praying with us. We had Stake Conference this weekend and she went to it. She told us how she´s more excited about getting baptized and that she knows it´s the right thing for her. I feel like she was my miracle for this transfer, well their whole family. They´re all just amazing! I love them! Teaching Fátima was a little hard this week. She received an answer to be baptized but hasn´t decided a date yet. She´s been having problems with her boyfriend and he doesn´t want her to get baptized. We´re trying to help her focus on the answer that she received. We´re going to see her tonight and help her more to recognize the promptings of the Spirit. In my area is hard to find new people to teach. We´ve been struggling with that for a couple weeks now. I´m praying a lot that we´ll be able to find some new investigators. 

There´s a quote that I found this week! ``Obedience is the price, faith is the power, love is the motive, the Spirit is the key, and Christ is the reason.`` I thought this was the perfect quote for a missionaries´ purpose. I found that this quote is so true in missionary work. Everything has a purpose and it´s all centered on Christ. 

I´m glad everything is going good, especially that Bryan is getting better. Thank you for the many prayers and for your love every week. I love you so much and i´m happy that you´re so supporting. Know that i´m doing good and that i´m fulfilling my part at not having any regrets after my time is up. I love my mission and I really don´t want to leave. I´m not liking the fact that i´m leaving here soon. I would like to stay longer but oh well. Have a great week and talk to you soon! TE AMO MUITO! :)

-Sister Whitnah




Dad,

I´m glad Bryan is doing better and that Heavenly Father is taking good care of him. I felt that a lot throughout my time here. I pray for you guys every night with the safety and that everything will be okay. I know that my blessing told me that the Lord would protect my family. Know that i´m doing really well and i´m HAPPY. :) i´ve truly learned what it means to be happy. It´s a choice that we make constantly. The attitude to choose to be happy when our circumstances go bad. I´ve chosen to be happy when things go wrong or fall through. 

Love you lots Daddy! :) I hope your week goes good and that jury duty will be fun! :) again, love you!

-Sister Whitnah

Família!                                                                      September 15, 2014

Hey! This week went really well. I went to the temple on Tuesday and that was great! The session was in Portuguese and that was cool. I understood a lot more this time. I went to the temple again on Wednesday. We took our investigator Fátima to have a lesson there. It was so cool! I´ve never had a lesson at the temple before. The spirit was so strong throughout the lesson. It was neat! :)

About a week ago, we found this family. Leila (mom), Taiyana and Neilton are her kids. They have been progressing a lot since we´ve been teaching them. Taiyana will be baptized on September 26th! She´s so excited! She can´t stop talking about it. It´s so cute, she loves to read the Book of Mormon and when she prays she tells Heavenly Father that she knows it´s true. She has grown a ton in this short week. She´s only 12 years old and she loves going to Young Womens. Leila isn´t legally married, so we´re planning her wedding for October.

I got my airplane info today. It was really weird but exciting! :) Hoping everything is going great! This was my week and i´ll send some pics! Have a great week! TE AMO MUITO! :)

-Sister Whitnah

I'm dying In Campinas!! YAY!!

Familia!!

 

So big news, I got transferred and i´m in Campinas! I´m serving in Presidente´s ward Iguatemi. I was a little nervous about that but not anymore ha-ha. I´ve a good companion and her name is Sister Remund. She´s been out a year and she´s from Missouri. We get along pretty well. So far, I like my area and the people that i´m teaching. My area has a couple of huge hills and my legs want to break most of the time. But it will be good! I´m living in an apartment that´s the most beautiful apartment that i´ve ever lived in while being on the mission! I took some pics! :)

 

P-day, I didn´t write yesterday because my zona was going to the TEMPLE today! :) it was awesome! I took a bunch of pics! It was good to go to the temple and be spiritually uplifted! Now this 5 weeks will be a little bit more easier to deal with than stressing it. Oh tomorrow, i´m going to the temple again because we´re taking an investigator there. Her name is Fátima and she´s so awesome! I think she´s going to be my next baptism here in a few weeks! :) she has accepted baptism and we´re planning her date for October 4th! A week before I go home.

 

That´s so cool that we´re going to Utah for Thanksgiving!! You just got me all excited! :) But don´t worry, i´ll try not to loose my focus! :) Today has been a great day with going to the temple and everything! I´m really happy and excited for these last 5 weeks. It´s going by so fast. I hope everyone is doing great and all! Have a great week, TE AMO MUITO!! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah 

One Transfer to go!

HEY FAMILIA!

 

So, are you ready to hear the news?! I got transferred for the last time. My guess is that i´ll be going to Campinas.  I won’t know till tomorrow where I will be going, but I am guessing Campinas. 

I heard sister Loefke´s comp got transferred and I could have that chance of being her comp again! :) I hope so!

 

I was kind of bummed to be leaving Sister Aquino. I can´t believe  I´ve  got 6 weeks, holy cow! It´s gonna go by really fast! I´m excited and yet nervous. I love Brasil so much that I don´t want to leave but I´m ready to go too. It´s a bittersweet feeling.  Today is going to be super crazy because i´m going to pack my stuff. I´m gonna go to lunch after I’m done emailing.  Thanks for the pictures you sent.  Little Duke is so cute! 

 

 

I got sick with a really bad migraine headache. The weather here is super hot and dry now. I found out that whenever I´m in a temperature that´s super hot, I get headaches really fast. I can´t have chocolate, or milk when I´m in this hot weather. I´m trying to stay away from chocolate anyways because it´s starting to bother my stomach. But other than that my week was good! We marked a couple baptismal dates and some are in 2 weeks.

 

I gave a talk yesterday in sacrament meeting about missionary work. Towards the end of my talk I bore my testimony how missionary work is important and out of no where i started to cry. I was a little surprised, but I knew it was the spirit. :) Well, i´m sorry this email is short, but i´ll have more to talk about next week! LOVE YOU and have a great week! TE AMO! :) btw, enjoy the pics Mom!

 

-Sister Whitnah

A week fo Miracles!

Familia!

The most exciting thing happened to me on Wednesday! I got my death call ha-ha! I go home on October 13th and i´ll leave Brasil at 9 at night, and be in Oregon at 11:40am on October 14! I´m excited! :) I can´t believe it´s going by so fast. Luckily I wasn´t really trunky after the call. I just pretended like it didn´t happen and I kept on working.

This week was an awesome week! We have been working with 2 families, Mariana e Marcelo and Nice e Erlando. Mariana and their son Gabriel went to church yesterday. He liked it a lot! We had FHE with them and a bunch of the members. Afterwards, he told us that he wants to get baptized! :)

We´re gonna mark his batismo this week! Friday we taught the commandments to Nice and Erlando. Erlando has been kinda soft ever since we´ve met him. He wouldn´t really participate in the lessons or anything. But this time we brought a member and I think it did the trick! They went to church!

  Erlando came up to Sister Aquino and I and thanked us for teaching his family and that he wants us to come more often to teach them more! I felt like it was a miracle this Sunday! :)  I felt that this week was my favorite week.

  I could see Heavenly Father guiding me and my comp.  Our friendship has gotten a lot better.    I’ll get my transfer call on Sunday night, transfers are on September 2nd.  I think I’ll get transferred.  Normally Presidente sends all the missionaries that are going home closer to Campinas.  So I think  I’ll go to Campinas.

That´s so awesome about Prem getting his mission call! How is he feeling about going to India? I´ll get to see him before he leaves! I´m excited for him.

 

I realize that my time is going by so fast. I feel that I´m excited to go home but at the same time I don´t want to leave. I´ve learned so much in so little time. I´m grateful for the chance to serve in Brasil. It was hard, really hard at first but I could see why Heavenly Father sent me here.

To learn and grow a ton. My mission has taught me so many lessons that I will never forget. Lessons that will stick with me for the rest of my life.

 I´ve almost 6 weeks left, and I want to make these 6 weeks the best I could have. Heavenly Father has helped me to not be so trunky. I´m more focused on my time here in Brasil than thinking about going home.

I keep reminding myself everyday, ``don´t just count the days, but make the days count!`` This is my motto for the rest of my mission. Make everyday count and to live up to the very end. 

I´ve learned a lot about the atonement, and how to use it in my life better. to never think that it is  impossible to do something without the help of Heavenly Father. 

Thank you for all of your support and love! I appreciate it everyday and for everything you´ve done for me. I hope you have a great week and i´m sending all my love to you guys! TE AMO FAMILIA! :)

-Sister Whitnah

It's beginning to get hot in Brasil once again

Only 9 weeks and she will be home...her time is flying.  Grace

 

 

Familia!

 

Hello! The weather in Brasil is going back to being hot...yay. Luckily I won´t be here too much longer until it gets super hot. That´s a blessing. ha-ha. Some random news, I got a call from the mission office about what airport i´ll be flying into I´m guessing they´re buying my plane ticket. I´m excited but trying not to focus on it too much. :)

 

Mariana is doing really good. She´s been having problems with cousins going to the hospital and some problems with café. We´re helping her and seeing her a lot. She went to church on Sunday and she looked pretty relaxed. Most of the times she´s super stressed out. I´ve planned to see her 2 times this week and to help her stop drinking café. I think her example of going to church, reading the scriptures and praying has helped her 2 kids. Her boyfriend Marcelo doesn´t look interested anymore. He hasn´t given us the okay to get married, but Mariana really wants to get married. The reverence thing has gotten a little better. We had someone from the stake presidency show up and everyone was quiet! It was a miracle! :) plus I know bishop had talked to the parents and their kids. It´s slowly getting better in this ward.

 

I felt like this week my comp and I are becoming a lot closer. In the beginning it was hard, but getting out our feelings and working hard together, we can see why we both need to be in tune with the spirit. Also with my interview with Presidente, he helped me to know how to help my comp out. So, everything is going good and i´m happy! :)

 

My interview with Presidente went good.  It was better than I expected.  I knew you would say something about me putting my all in my mission and focusing.  I want you to know that I’m trying my best everyday.  Especially to live up my last days as a missionary.  I also want you to know that I would never let anything get in my way on my mission.  Don’t worry, I’m not one of those missionaries that wastes their mission for nothing.  I know why I’m here on the mission and I want to be here. 

 

I loved the photos of camp and the beach! They´re awesome! :) i´ll send some photos here. I love you and hope you have a great week! TE AMO FAMILIA!

 

 

I love so much Mom!  TE AMO!

 

Sister Whitnah

The time if flying, only 2 months left on mission!!

Família!  (July 21st 2014)

 

Hey how´s it going in Pennsylvania? I hope you´re having a great time camping and that everyone is doing well! Tell everyone that I love and miss them! :) This week was super tiring and I couldn´t wait for p-day. It was one of those hard working weeks and I got sick from working so hard ha-ha. On Friday, I could tell my body couldn´t handle much walking, talking, and a bunch of headaches. I had a fever and almost went to the hospital. Luckily, I didn´t have to go. I stayed in bed and slept for hours and hours. I´m feeling a little better and i´m hoping it will only continue to get better. Some sad news for this week. We had transfer calls last night, and Sister Loekfe will be leaving us. :( Sister Aquino and I stayed and Sister Loefke´s comp will stay in Mogi Mirim. It was only 3 weeks, but I loved being in the same house as Sister Loekfe! She´s super sweet and fun to be with! It´s a good thing I´ll get to see her again right before we leave to go home! :)

 

One family that we´re teaching this week has grown a ton! Her name is Mariana and she has 2 kids (Gabreil and Patricia). Mariana has had problems with smoking and drinking café. We taught her the commandments and she stopped drinking and smoking. The next 2 days, she told us how she´s getting sick of doing drugs and that her body can´t take it anymore. She´s going completely healthy from not doing drugs. It´s been a huge blessing! Her husband has been in jail for 7 months for something that he was accused of involving drugs. The story is kind of complicated and long. But we was released on Saturday, another blessing. Mariana is super happy and loves him being home. 

 

I´m on my 2nd to last transfer, can you believe it?! It´s going by so fast! Well, i gotta go here soon. I love you and hope your week is GREAT! TE AMOO! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah

 

 

Familia!   (July 28, 2014)

 

This week was pretty good! This last p-day I went to a city named Holambra. It´s a city that has flower pageants. The city is made to look like Holland. It was super pretty and I felt like I was in Europe. :) They had some buildings that look like what you would see in Germany. It was cool. I took a bunch of pictures. That´s so cool Sister Wilcox got her visa! I bet she´s excited to finally go to Brasil (her real mission). 

 

This week we marked a wedding with my investigator Rosi. She´s in her late 40´s and she´s been living with Mauro (her boyfriend) for 9 years. She´s also pregnant and is 6 months along. She seems like an awesome lady but at times she´s kinda lazy with some things. She´s already decided to get baptized until she has the baby. She´s scheduled to have the baby at 8 months because of the risk of how old she is. The other family we´re teaching is Mariana and Marcelo. They´re doing really well! We gave a lesson on Friday that was awesome. The spirit was super strong! They also need to get married but I think it´ll need some more time. Mariana wants to get married so that she can get baptized but Marcelo likes the idea of living together but not being married. Marcelo´s family are active but he´s the only one that´s not a member. 

 

I´m sorry this is short but i have a ton of photos to send! I love you and hope your trip is going great! Have a great week! LOVE YOU and TE AMO!! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah

 

Mom,  (August 11, 2014)

 

You will never believe what I bought this week? I bought a card reader, I can finally send you pictures!! :) it took me long enough, I bought mine for 15 reais. I will send some pictures today. Yesterday was Father´s Day in Brasil.I thought of Dad a lot and how I wish I could give him a hug. Dad has been emailing me a lot and I love that. :) 

 

This week, my comp and I are working things out better. We were able to fix our problem and I was able to have Presidente´s help. The work in Mogi Mirim is going slow. We dropped a few people like Rosi (the one that´s 50 years old and is pregnant) and some others that just didn´t care to continue with us. One of my investigators Mariana has been doing really good. She can´t get baptized yet because she needs to get married. She has been having some problems lately and we´re helping her out with not drinking coffee and smoking. She told us the other day that we´re a blessing to her family. She started crying how much we´ve helped her son and her family to be closer together. It was really cool. I love teaching this family even though it´s super hard, but they´re worth it. The ward is getting a little better at the whole reverence thing. We´re doing training meetings to help the members be more reverent during sacrament. 

 

I´m reading Jesus the Christ. I´ve learned a ton about the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement. The Atonement is becoming more and more special to me. My testimony has grown a lot the more I learn about it. I found a quote in my journal that I don´t remember writing in. But it´s really good. I love this quote because, we all make mistakes and nobody is perfect. If we have faith and continue on, we can learn from our mistakes and the gospel will help us to know how to be happy.

 

``As long as we´re willing to rise up again and continue on the path, we can learn something from failure and become better and happier.`` - Dieter F. Uchtdorf

 

I hope you have a safe trip home and know that you are always in my prayers. I love you so much and i´ll be sending some pics! TE AMO! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah

 

Dad,

 

Yesterday in Brasil was Father´s Day. So Happy Father´s Day! :) I wish I could give you a hug, I can tell you that I love you so much. Thank you for your emails that you send me. Every one of them always has something that I can use to better my life. I´m so grateful that you´re my dad. I love your stories and the advice you give me. I read that mission blessing a lot. I can imagine you reading it to me in person. 

 

I´m glad that high adventure was such a great success. That´s such a crazy story about you ha-ha. Are you okay? :) I´m glad you had a great time! I´m doing better this week than last week. Mom emailed me telling that she told you about me and my comp having problems. I talked to my presidente and he was able to help me out. I feel like my comp and I are more friends than just comps. I felt impressed to share this quote with you about the atonement.

 

my life is a miracle

and death have no hold

on the blessings to come

from the sins i have sold

i gave up my past with an eternal view

to know my Savior

so i can become new

i have taken a new life

and with it a new name

because of my Redeemer

i shall never be the same

 

I love you so much Dad! I know the atonement is real. I know it can work in our lives if we let it. I know Heavenly Father loves me and Jesus Christ is our Savior. I was reading the Jesus the Christ book a lot this week and my testimony for the Savior grew and I know for sure that he was suppose to be our Savior. Again, i love you and I hope you have a awesome week! Talk to you soon! :)

 

- Love, Sister Whitnah

 

 

 

 

The World Cup in Brasil is over!!

Familia!

 

Okay first off, GERMANY WON THE WORLD CUP!!! :D I was so happy that they won! I actually was at a member´s house helping out with scheduling lunches for this coming week and the game was on. I watched Germany make the first goal! It was so awesome! After they made the goal, Argentina pretty much died ha-ha it was kind of funny. They showed Argentina fans crying and all. Most of the Brasilians wanted Germany to win because Brasil hates Argentina. It´s super funny! What did Becky, Sean, and Dad say about the game? This was the only game I watched.  Presidente didn’t want us to watch games at all, but we had to be at this home, so I go to see it  

 

This week was crazy! We had 2 Brasil games and Brasil´s main player Neymar got hurt during the game. We worked for a couple hours and then went home because the streets were going crazy with people. This week we managed to teach a bunch of people with all of the games and Wednesday we had a holiday.  The World Cup was crazy, but it’s good that it is over.  We can get more work done now.  

 

I had my multi-zona on Friday and it was good! I was with Sister Menden when she gave her testimony. It was SO powerful! I gave her a big hug before she left. I am glad that I was able to serve with her.  She’s an amazing missionary.  Her last week is next Monday. The mission office is changing their address. They´re moving to another area in Campinas. I´ve the new address and they asked everyone to not have families/friends send any packages until after August 1st.

 

I learned a lot about the atonement this week. Presidente talked about this during the multi-zona. It´s like he burned everybody but in a loving way. I feel like throughout my mission I´ve learned a ton about the atonement and how it applies specially to me. I still don´t understand everything about the atonement, but I do know that I need it in my life to be more closer to Christ. I´m so thankful for Jesus Cristo and for everything he has done for me. That he knows me personally and knows how to help me overcome my weaknesses and struggles. My mission has taught me this very well. I love you guys so much and have a fun time with Grandma McAndrew and everyone else. Save some peanut butter fudge for me please! :) LOVE YOU LOTS and have a great week! TE AMO!! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah

 

Here is the new mission address:

Mission Brasil Campinas

Rua Duque de Caxias 645

Centro-Campinas 13015-310

Brasil

World Cup and emergency transfer

I was out of town and wanted to send out Bethany’s last 2 emails.  She  has been transferred mid transfer due to an emergency situation in her mission.  She was bummed to leave her new area as she was just getting to know the people and had a great companion.    Grace

 

Familia! (June 23)

 

Hello everyone! This week alright with the World Cup and everything. There´s another Brasil game tonight and i´m glad that it´s on p-day. Oh, I got your package 2 weeks ago! I kept forgetting to tell you. I loved it!! :) I couldn´t believe it was all food! I shared some of my food with the Barbosa family (irmão Paulo, Gustavo, and Luis) when I was still in Conchal.

 

We have a good group of people that Sister Sá and I are teaching. We´re teaching this old lady named Célia. She´s in her late 70´s, she´s super sweet. We set her baptism date for this past Saturday but that fell through. She´s a smoker. We set a goal with her to stop smoking and i´m hoping it will work out. We see her every night and share a message with her to help her stay strong. Her baptism will be this Saturday! I´m excited! We´re also teaching this older couple named Lázaro and Alexandra. I swear they´re golden!! :) We taught the 1st lesson and planned to come back. Alexandra made a comment about how she believes she can be with her husband forever even after she dies. We talked about how families can be together forever and she had this relief on her face. She told us how excited she was to have found a religion that believes in that. She looked at the LDS.org website and found more info about our religion.

 

the world cup is crazy. when i went to pouso alegre for my district
meeting, they were putting up this big screen tv in the middle of the
street to show the brasil game. i heard germany is super good this year. i
hope they win the cup ;) no offense to usa. i heard they won last night.

 

I hope everyone is doing great! Loved the photos of my newest nephew! :) Can´t wait to meet him soon! Hope you have a great time in Utah and be safe! LOVE YOU LOTS! TE AMO! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah

 

 

Familia, (June 30)

This week was really good! We made a goal to do 25 other lessons with our zone. By Sunday night, if anyone didn´t do 25 lessons would have to buy a açai for everyone. So Sister Sá and I worked our butts off to not have to buy a açai for our zone. My week was really tiring but rewarding. We made it to 25 other lessons and we got a bunch of new investigators. Brasil played Chile on Saturday and it was difficult to visit people. Brasil won and will play Colombia on Friday.

I´m really sad. I got emergency transferred today. That´s why I wasn´t on earlier. I got transferred to Mogi Mirim. I´m with a brasilian named Sister Aquino. I guess Presidente is making some last minute mix ups and decided that I should leave Ouro Fino. He called Saturday night and said I would be transferred Monday morning. I thought it was a joke. But he was being serious. I was just getting to know the members and the area. It sucks...and I won´t spend my birthday there. :( I´m sorry this email is kind of short. I´ll write more next week. My comp and I have a lot of things to do. But i love you and thank you for the early birthday wish! :) LOVE YOU! TE AMO!!!

-Sister Whitnah

 

If the Lord calls, just do it. Don't say no!

Família!

 

I´m an aunt again! WOO :) Thank you for the pics. Domenic looks super duper cute! :) 

LOVE the pics!! Domenic is so cute! I love the one of him smiling and the Yankee pic! :) 

 

Tuesday we had transfers and I got transferred to Ouro Fino, Minas Gerais. It´s REALLY far away. We took a 4 hour bus ride to get to my area. It´s at the end of the mission boundaries. And it´s also in another state. It´s pretty cool, the people talk a different here. Their accents sound a little hick ha-ha. They push their R´s a lot. But I like it here! It has a lot of green hills and the city is bigger than Conchal. A little bit more movement and it feels a little more city like. My comp is Brasilian, her name is Sister Sá and she´s from Fortaleza. She´s been out about the same time as me but i´m 1 transfer older than her. I like her a lot. She super friendly, loves to joke around, and she´s bold. It´s only been a week, but i´m learning a lot from her.

 

Ouro Fino is a small city like Conchal, but it´s a bit bigger. It has about 35,000 people, Conchal had 33,000 or less. I´m serving in another branch again. There´s 40 active members. There´s 37 women and 3 men. It was really interesting yesterday at sacrament meeting. All these women singing. It felt like we had Relief Society 2 times because there´s so many women. I wasn´t to thrilled to serve in a branch. Sister Sá knew she was coming to Ouro Fino since Monday and she told me that she wasn´t excited either. But Presidente told the both of us that he trusts us being in Ouro Fino. So, I guess that helps a little bit. If the Lord calls, just do it. Don´t say no.

 

Thursday, COPO DO MUNDO started! Man, don´t know what´s its like in Campinas, but here it´s SUPER crazy! We aren´t allowed to watch it. We have to stay in our house an hour before the game starts until the game is over. It´s funny, every time Brasil scores a goal, I hear all these fireworks going off, cars beeping their horns, people screaming their heads off. It´s like 4th of July! It´s super crazy here. Brasil is going to play again on Tuesday and i´m going to be in Pouso Alegre for my district meeting. It´s an hour from my area. Luckily it starts at 3 but still, it´s going to be crazy traveling back to our house.

 

Well, this was my week. I´m going to try my best here in Ouro Fino and have a positive attitude. I love you guys! Thank you for your love and support. Have a great week! TE AMO! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah

I'm being transferred! I'm excited for a new area!

Família!!

Hey everyone, how´s it going? So... I got transferred out of Conchal along with Sister Morgan.   It will be good.   That´s my news! I was super shocked that Presidente took us both out of here. I think he´ll put elders in Conchal now. I stayed up till 11:30 packing my stuff so I wouldn´t have to do a lot of it today. I´m excited to go to another area! Sister Morgan says that I´ll go to Itatiba. They have a açaí there and there´s a ton of hills, so I can get a beach body in a transfer ha-ha. Overall, i´m okay with leaving and going to another area to get to know a different city. It will be a good change. 

This area has taught me to love the people when they were really hard to love. It  also taught me to not to judge.  I’ve learned criticizing people doesn’t get you anywhere, and your heart just becomes more bitter towards that person.

 

I know I will miss Irmao Paulo and his family.  They have been so supportive of us.   That is the family’s house that we skyped from.   We’re planning to have dinner at their place tonight as a last hoorah.  I will miss them a ton.  They are one of the best families in Conchal.

 

Yesterday we had stake conference and we watched it over the projector. Elder M. Russell Ballard and Richard G. Scott talked. Their talks were super good! Richard G. Scott served a mission in Brasil and he spoke in Portuguese! That was pretty cool. He talked about prayer and how we should always know that we have Heavenly Father hearing our prayers. He talked about when we ask for things and the type of responses to our prayers and how we should be obedient to act on those responses. Elder Ballard talked about missionary work and how we can help our families become stronger in the Gospel. I thought this was pretty neat, he said reading the Ensign, and scriptures, and doing FHE will strengthen your family the most.

This week was a little tough trying to contact Silvana. We couldn´t teach her at all this week because, her aunt was putting a party together and needed Silvana´s help. We wanted to set her baptismal date, but couldn´t find a day to visit with her. It was kind of annoying.

 

On Tuesday, we had another investigator named Sarah. She goes to the congregation church, but she loves hearing and talking with us about the church. We talked about the Book of Mormon with her and she knows it´s true. We invited her to be baptized, but she didn´t accept. Although she wants to know more about the Gospel. Her brother is a little weird. He started yelling at us about random stuff he has heard about the different beliefs of churches. He didn´t give us a chance to talk. He told us that God doesn´t love us and that he abandoned us. Then out of the blue Sister Morgan said ``No, Heavenly Father does loves us and he will never abandon us. I know this because i´ve felt his love in my life.`` After that the man shut up and was quiet. It was so funny and awesome. The Spirit was so strong when she bore her testimony. Sarah felt so bad with what had happened, and what her brother said.  She asked that we come back and teach her more because she still wants to learn about the Gospel. 

This sums up my week and i´ll let you know where i´ll be at and who my comp will be! Love you guys and thank you for always being here whenever I need it! Have a great week! TE AMO!! :)

-Sister Whitnah

 

 

 

A Week of Learning

Familia,

 

This week was alright, but towards the end it got really rough. The best part of my week was we had a division with Sister Ware and her comp. I was with Sister Ware and her comp went with Sister Morgan. It was really good to be with Sister Ware and catch up. Since she was made the sister training leader, I´ve been able to talk with her much. So it was good to finally talk to her! I enjoyed it a lot! During that division, I learned a lot from her. How to be bold, but doing it in a loving way. All the people that we came in contact with she was fearless and bold. I really admire that about her. At times I´m too soft with people and I don´t want to offend them. She taught me how I can be more bold with my investigators without being overbearing. This was my favorite division and one that I won´t forget.

 

This week we had a lot of people that we shared the 1st lesson with. When we made an appointment with them to go back and teach them more, they wouldn´t be home or they would be leaving their house. On Friday we found this awesome lady that accepted everything we taught her! I was super excited to go back and teach her more. We went by her house yesterday and she told us that she´s made up her mind about our religion and doesn´t want us to come back. I was so bummed. I thought things were going good, until she told us what was going on. I thought about what I could have done better to help her with her doubts. But I felt that she really didn´t want more.

 

I´m hoping this week will be a lot better. I know Heavenly Father puts tests in front of us to see if we´re doing our best. We had a lesson in Sunday School about the trials we have and how we can endure them. It taught me that our testimonies are the ones that will help us in our trials. When we are ready or not, we should have a strong testimony about the Gospel.

 

We walk a ton here so  for p-day my comp and I are going to get a pedicure and manicure. a member´s cousin suggested that we should see her cousin to get one. she charges $18 for hands and feet together! Are you going to write Sister Neves?  I can give you her email but she doesn’t understand English, ha-ha.

 

I´m thankful to have the chance to be in Brasil when there´s others waiting to be here. It has taught me to be grateful for the things I have. I love Brasil! I will literally miss everything when my mission is over. The people that I´ve come really close with and the food, the culture.  Everything!

 

I love you guys! I´m excited for Robbie and Tessa! Tell them congrats on their new house! Thank you for the love and encouragement. At times it´s hard to give up when things go wrong but that´s when we need to be the strongest. LOVE YOU and hope your week goes good! TE AMO!!

 

-Sister Whitnah

A so-so week

Familia!

 

Hey everyone! This week was alright. I got sick really bad on Tuesday. I had strep throat and it´s slowly going away. I was mostly in the house and it was hard to work. Friday was a little better and I could go out without feeling crappy. The weather here is changing a lot. It feels like it´s bipolar haha. One day it´s sunny and warm, and the other it´s freezing and windy. Hopefully the weather will make up it´s mind. But it is starting to get cold here finally.

 

I feel like my area is getting harder and harder as the transfer goes on. Having solid investigators here is difficult. We found a bunch of new people to teach and the only down side is hunting them down. Trying to find them in their house so we can teach them. In our practices this week for our district meeting, we practiced on being direct with our investigators about the commandments. Through that practice I learned how to be more direct but in a loving way to show we care. There was one day this week where I wasn´t feeling too good but I didn´t want to go home early because I felt so tired and wanted to sleep. I stuck it out. We found this girl about 2 weeks ago and she told us when she would be in her house. Almost everyday we passed by and she would never be there. I was getting really frustrated and wanted to give up on her. We would see her little sister and she lied that she wasn´t there but she really was. By then I knew she didn´t want to meet with us. I remembered the practice from Wednesday and tried to do what I learned. I let her know of our purpose as missionaries and that we´re there to help people be baptized and follow Jesus Christ. And if this was something she wanted, I wanted a yes or no answer. In the end, she said no and I thanked her for being honest with me. 

 

I´m getting to the point on my mission that I only want to focus on the people who want to learn more about the gospel and who want to be baptized. I´m learning each day how to find those golden people. I know that Heavenly Father puts those special people in my comp and I´s path.

 

Love you lots! Thank you for the pictures! Have a great week!! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah

It was great to Skype with you on Mother's Day!

Familia!

 

Hey it was SO good to talk to you! I was really happy to see everyone and make the most of my time with you guys! I´m glad you liked the songs that I sang to you. I was practicing all week so that they would be perfect by the time I would sing them. I really can´t believe my mission is ending in 5 months! I don´t want it to end so fast. :( but like you said, i´m going to bust my butt for these last 5 months! I know it will be great. I made some goals to end out my mission strong! :)

 

This area has been tough.  We don’t get much support from our Branch or the Branch President.  It makes it hard as a missionary.  I am learning though.  I am learning from this and how important it is to be of  help to others. We have found and taught some goldens and now we are teaching mission prep classes to them so that they can prepare to serve missions someday.  It’s pretty cool.  President asked that we stop teaching the English class.  I have made a goal to only speak English with my comp on P day.  President also wants us to do that.  He doesn’t want the US missionaries to lose what Portuguese we have gained.  I like that goal. 

 

I’ve learned a lot from my mission so far.  Big things and small things.  One thing I know for sure is that I am glad that I came.  I think every Sister should serve a mission.  I think there are things in the Gospel you can  learn SO much better if you serve a mission.  I have gained a ton.  I have read the Book of Mormon more on my mission then ever before in my life.  I know the work that I am doing is true.  I am so glad to be here in Brasil and I love the people here.   I’ve also learned to understand people better. 

 

This week was all about finding new people to teach! We did a lot of contacts and knocking doors (which aren´t my favorite..) but what can you do right? We found a couple of people that look interested. We plan to teach them this week and hopefully become new investigators. We went to different parts of the town that I haven´t worked in yet. We´re hoping to find elects!

 

I pretty much said a lot of what I wanted to tell you yesterday. Once again, it was so good to talk to you. I loved every minute of it. I haven´t gotten that emotional when I started to sing ``Families Can Be Together Forever``. I know that song is a true testimony to me. That we can have a eternal family forever. I missed hearing your voices and the way you say things. But in 5 months I´ll get to hear that again. I love you so much and i´m glad everyone is doing great! Have a great week minha família! TE AMO!! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah

I've been serving a year! wow!

Familia!

Yeah it´s crazy 1 year on Thursday! It´s hard to believe! It doesn´t feel like it´s been that long. I´m gonna try and do something awesome for that day! :)

Overall, this week was alright. We had our multi-zona on Wednesday. It went good and there were a lot of training meetings. I learned a lot throughout those meetings and will apply them in my mission. Presidente shared a video with us about Easter. On LDS.ORG it´s called Gracas a Ele. It was a great video. If you have time, watch it! I cried a little bit ha-ha! :) It was great to see Sister Loefke! She looks really good! Her Portuguese is really good! We talked a lot throughout the meeting. WE gave each other a huge hug when she saw me! Saturday, we had a lesson with a 15 year old guy named Ramon. He´s pretty cool! He loved the lesson we gave him and already accepted to be baptized! Yesterday, we taught him the 2nd lesson and agreed with everything we said. We set the date for 3rd of May for his baptism. I´m super excited!

For Easter, we got a ton of chocolate! I felt sick after eating a bunch of chocolate throughout the day. Our lunch was good. We had pretty much the regular food we would have in a lunch meal. Nothing too special, but it was still yummy. Thank you for the pics of Bryan! He looked cute with Emma! I´m glad he had a good time! I´m glad you guys had a great week too! I sure missed your baked corn this year!! Did you make it? I gotta go here in a bit! LOVE YOU LOTS! Have a great week!

-Sister Whitnah

 

This week was rewarding :)

Família!

 

I can´t believe Easter is this coming Sunday! Everyone here is preparing for Easter. There´s a bunch of chocolate sales and stuffed bunnies. Also the World Cup is coming soon. I´ve been seeing a lot of Brasil decorations. The World Cup doesn´t start until the beginning of June. Oh just a heads up! Mother´s Day is coming up in a few weeks. I´m SUPER excited! :) We´re getting our transfer call in about a week and a half, and i´m not sure if i´ll leave Conchal. So whatever happens, i´ll let you know and it will be easier to plan things for Mother´s Day. Btw Mom, I planned a surprise for you! :) I´m hoping that Skype won´t be a pain in the butt.

 

GOOD NEWS! I found out that Sister Loefke is in my zona! Sister Howell is training her! She´s really lucky to have her. I didn´t get the chance to see her but our leaders told us who the new missionaries were. We´re having our multi-zona on Wednesday and i´ll get to see her then! :)

 

This week was really good! First off, Sister Ware is one of the sister training leaders and she came to my area to do splits. Sister Ware is training a newbie and I got a taste of what training is like. I went out with her comp and Ware went with Neves. By the end of the day, I was sweating, my legs were hurting, and I felt really tired. I can see what it´s going to be like to train. You get to teach a new missionary literally everything. From planning appointments, talking with people, doing contacts , and so on. It was fun but I was tired...in a good way.

 

Sister Neves and I focused a lot about how we could help our investigators to come to church. We shared a message about the importance of church and gave them the invitation to go. We felt like it was more important that we invited them to church before giving them the 1st lesson. And I agree with that 100%. They need to know why church is important and how it can make a difference in our week. In the 1st lesson commitments in our planner, it says to invite your investigator to church. I thought a lot about why that´s in that lesson. I learned that if we just give a lesson to people and invite them to church, they probably won´t come after the 1st lesson. But if they come to church first, they will understand a little bit better about the 1st lesson. So, this week we invited literally everyone we could possibly think of to come to church. We planned with 13 people. 8 out of the 13 came. I was happy! Our Sunday was a bit more noisy than usual. :) it was a good feeling! My fast really paid off, but I know Heavenly Father was the one helping out with most.

 

I learned in my personal study this week about how I can strengthen my testimony. One thing that popped into my brain was what I know to be true and how I can recognize the Spirit more effectively. I learned what it really means to be fully converted to the Gospel and how that can bless my life. I know his role and that he can only tell us what is true. That was a comfort to me. He can never lie, only tell the truth.Every time I prayed and asked, I got an answer of you already know it´s true.

I felt like Heavenly Father was helping me realize that all I need to do is strengthen my knowledge of it and my faith. I do know those things are true, but at times we doubt our testimonies. I know the more we ask with real intent, God will answer our prayers and will help our faith to know it´s true and He will help us to grow. 

 

This week was rewarding! I learned a lot! I´m grateful for this Gospel in my life and how it´s blessed me. And I know this Gospel can only bless us if we let it and if we live it. I love you so much! I hope you have a wonderful week! TE AMO FAMILIA! :) beijinhos! 

 

-Sister Whitnah


Bethany's message to her Dad follows:


Dad,

That´s really cute how Bryan asked Emma to prom! The photos are great! I can´t believe he´s that old enough to go to prom. I remember getting ready for the LDS Prom was my favorite dance. I mostly spent it was Alina, but I remembered it was always a blast. I hope they have a good time!

What were some of your favorite conference talks? I didn´t get the chance to hear all of Elder Holland´s talk, because the internet connection at the church was really bad. So i´m going to print it off and read it that way. I always love hearing from Presidente Uchtdorf. The way he words things and how he explains doctrine is easy to understand and it´s simple. But most of all I like hearing his German accent ha-ha. :) he´s a great speaker! 

In a couple of weeks, i´m excited to talk with you and Mom. My Portuguese has gotten a lot better. I´ve been practicing my English for when I talk to you ha-ha. It might sound funny, but when I speak English it´s hard to remember some words. Writing in English isn´t a problem but speaking is a whole other story. I´m almost a Brasilian at heart now. :)

Thank you for emailing me. It was great to hear from you and how things are going. I want to let you know how much I love you and appreciate you. I´m really thankful for you and I pray about you everyday. I hope you have a great week at work and at home. LOVE YOU LOTS PAPPAI! :)

Love, Sister Whitnah

Conference was Great!

Família!

 

This week was pretty good! I was so excited for General Conference! I watched it in Portuguese for the first time. It was pretty cool! The only parts I heard in English were when they announced who would be the next speaker and when the choir would sing. I really wanted to hear it in English but hearing it in Portuguese was awesome.

 

I remembered this week was April Fools. The day before April Fools Day, Sister Neves told me to not believe what anyone would say the next day. We had our zone meeting on April Fools Day. Our meeting was about 30 minutes away and we needed to take a bus. On the way there, our bus broke down. We called our leaders to tell them what was going on. They didn´t believe us that our bus broke down ha-ha. They thought it was a joke. We showed up about an hour later explaining that our bus really did break down and that it wasn´t a joke.

 

Later that day, a member from our branch told us that our mission president would come to Conchal to see our English class and to see if our house was clean. Sister Neves started freaking out. I thought it was funny because I knew it was a lie! I told her to calm down and reminded her that it was April Fools Day. The look on her face was priceless when she told me president was coming to our area ha-ha.

 

I had a lot of talks that I really liked throughout General Conference. My favorite was by Dieter F. Uchtdorf, how he talked about the spirit of gratitude. I also liked M. Russell Ballard´s talk too about missionary work.

 

In the breaks between the sessions, my comp and I went on splits with the youth to find new investigators. We found a bunch of people that look very promising! :) about 5 want us to come back and teach them! We have one appointment tonight that i´m really excited about! I´m hoping there will be a few baptisms here coming soon! :)

 

I learned a lot about the atonement during Conference and made me realize how much Jesus Christ loves us. I´m so grateful for the atonement in my life and how I can use it to become closer to my Savior. I´m so grateful for this time to serve in Brasil, and how it´s blessing my life everyday. I love you so much and I hope all is well! Have a great week! Tchau! TE AMO!

 

-Sister Whitnah

she added a short 2nd message to this one:

I would really like to come back to Brasil if i have the chance, you know. Brasil is so different than the US but the culture is cool. it´s funny, i thought eating beans and rice everyday would get annoying or i would get sick of it. but since i´ve been here, i can´t imagine not eating beans and rice everyday. i love it! i´m soaking in the culture and my mission. i won´t get another opportunity like this again. i´ve thought a lot about how hard it´s going to be when i come home from my mission. i´ve grown to love Brasil and have made so many friendships here. i know it will be a HUGE adjustment, but Heavenly Father will help me to get back in the swing of things. 

 

i´ve thought about when i´ll get to train. at times I’m  really super ready and other times I have doubts that my Portuguese isn´t good enough. but i´ve learned that it doesn´t matter if i´m fluent or not, the Lord will help me with the language no matter what. i´m hoping to train here soon. maybe the next transfer coming up.

 

i love you so much and i´m grateful for your testimony. i know that the church is true and the we have a loving Heavenly Father that knows us personally. My mission had blessed me in so many ways and has taught me so many lessons that i know that i couldn´t have learned anywhere else. Brasil was the place i needed to be to learn the things i know now. i´m so grateful for my call and the opportunity to know my Savior more. once again, LOVE YOU so much and hope your week will be great! :)

 

Love your Brasilian chicka! :)

 

A tough week :(

Família!

Thank you for sending the pictures! It looks like you guys had a great time. :) I´m in the mood for Tillamook ice cream now ha-ha. I´ll keep little Dominic in my prayers as well as Becky, Jeff, and Ryan. I hope little Dominic gets better and nothing serious will come along. Btw, I thought Becky and Jeff would choose to name their boy Dominic. I think it´s a cute name! I can´t believe Alina is going to college at Disney World!! she wrote me a couple weeks ago that she applied for it but wasn´t sure if she would get it. That´s so awesome! :) I´m happy for her! I also can´t believe how many people are already married or getting pregnant! I´ve heard a couple people from school or from our stake that got married. It´s so crazy!

This week was a little tough. First off, one of the members in my branch, his wife (Aparacida) passed away. The member was a convert for over 30 years and his wife never got baptized. When Sister Neves and I first got to Conchal, we made a plan to teach her and then baptize her. There was one day where we were doing contacts and we were close by this cemetery. For some reason we entered the cemetery and looked at the grave sites. Afterwards we felt really weird and had an impression to go to this member´s house to visit his wife. She was home alone and we shared a message and invited her to be baptized. Aparacida said a BUNCH of excuses and didn´t give us a yes or no answer. She complained to us how she had feet problems and that she would have to get surgery on them soon. By that point we were both really annoyed and Sister Neves shared a scripture that talks about the right baptism. I think it´s in the Bible, I can´t remember. But after she read it, she said ``God is really sad with you Aparacida. You´ve had so many chances and this could be your last one. He can take your life away at any moment. I´m going to ask you again and I want a yes or no answer.`` She said no in the end. She told her that she is still welcomed to come to church and we left. We both had a feeling that this would be the last time we would see her. Aparacida had surgery on her feet and it didn´t turn out well. She died during the surgery. Sister Neves and I both felt sad that she died, but we also felt that Heavenly Father literally gave this lady her last chance but she didn´t care.

We tried to teach Edson (the homeless guy) 3 times this week, but he wouldn´t show up to our appointments or he would be at the bar. He promised to come to church, but didn´t come. We set up another appointment this week and i´m hoping it will turn out okay. The family that we taught, they´re doing good but every time we visit them, the dad is always sleeping on the coach. We had an idea to sing them Families Can Be Together Forever. The mom loved it! She told us how we needed to come by more often and sing her hymns.

I can´t believe General Conference is already this weekend! Crazy huh? I´m way excited to see if there´s any new and exciting going on. I know the last conference I found a lot of insight and advice I needed to learn. I´m hoping this one will be the same.

Thank you for your emails every week! I love hearing from you and i´m glad everyone is doing great! I will pray for Becky and Jeff. I love you so much and hope you guys will have a great week! TE AMO!

-Sister Whitnah

I'm staying in Conchal! and the Mission Tour from the week before

Familia!

 

We received our transfer calls last night. Sister Neves and I are staying together in Conchal! I was really excited to hear that we´re going to be together for another transfer. This past transfer went by really fast and one that I really enjoyed. We´ve become really close and i´m glad that i´m serving with her! We were both kind of worried if one of us was going to be transferred. 

 

This week, we worked really hard to find new people to teach. We found a family to teach. We gave the 1st lesson and the next day we talked about the Plan of Salvation. The dad told us how he smokes and that he wants to quit. Sister Neves asked the dad, ``So, you want to quit smoking? Great! I know a trick that will help you to not smoke again!`` She grabbed a cup full of water and asked for his cigarettes. She broke a part 3 or 4 cigarettes, put them in the water and mixed it all together. After doing that, she asked the dad to drink the cup. He was a little resistant but he did it. He told us how he felt sick afterwards. My comp showed a point to him that every time he wanted to smoke, he would remember that sick vomiting feeling. I thought it was an awesome way to help someone to quit smoking. We went back the next day and found out he had smoked that very night. We were annoyed but we´re going to go back and help this guy and his family. 

 

Last night, we had another lesson with a member and his friend. His friend was really excited about the Gospel. His name is Edson. The sad thing about this guy is that he lives on the street. His wife abandoned him because he started using drugs and became obsessive. But last night, I could tell he really wanted to make a huge change in his life. We´re going to help him to stop drinking and smoking for good! :)

 

Some food that I love in Brasil are stroganoff, I believe or not I love the beans and rice here! Especially black beans! :) I love how they make mashed potatoes. They put meat in their mashed potatoes to make it look like a casserole! They also use a lot of corn. I see a lot of corn bread and food that has corn in it. Another food I like is pão de queijo (cheese bread). I´ve bought it many times when it comes right out of the oven! It is SO GOOD! Another one I love is açaí. It´s a type of fruit and it´s kind of like a ice cream/slushly. You can put strawberries, granola, leite candansado, and bananas. It´s really yummy!

 

To be honest, i´ve only eaten a few weird things. I tried corn flavored popsicles. And it tasted like I was eating a stick of butter. It´s really gross. I´ve eaten cow intestines ha-ha. I thought that I was going to eat fried chicken, but when I took a bite it was really slimely-like. Ahh just thinking about it makes me sick. A dessert that I don´t like very much is maracujá mousse. It´s a passion fruit pudding. I don´t like the texture and the flavor. It´s kind of bittersweet. It´s a type of dessert if you try it and like it or you don´t like it. I had to eat it 3-5 times in my first area.

 

I hope you enjoy your Spring Break at the beach. Be safe and have fun! LOVE YOU LOTS! Te amo! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah

Familia!

 

Hey this week went really well but at the same time it was kind of stressful. The mission tour was awesome! Elder Costas talked about his conversion story. He gave us great advice on how we can improve the work in Brasil. And he also talked a lot about the Spirit and how we can following it´s promptings when we´re teaching our investigators. I took a bunch of notes!

 

Junino went to the temple this week and he loved it! He told us how he has never felt the Spirit so strongly that he began to cry. I thought that was cute. He will be receiving the Aaronic priesthood this coming Sunday! :)

 

As for finding more people to teach, it´s been kind of hard. There´s a lot of people here that are very strict on their religions and won´t let us come back. We´ve ran into a couple people that might be interested but i´m not sure if they really want to learn more. 

 

My English class is going good. We´re getting more people as i´m teaching. I´m teaching them the basics of English. Like numbers, colors, days of the week, how to create sentences and so on. 

 

I´m hoping this next week will be easier to find more people to teach. I really want to find those people that are waiting to hear the gospel. I´m praying that we´ll find them! I love you so much! And hope you have a good week! Talk to you soon!

 

-Sister Whitnah

This week was great!

Mamãe,

 

This week went really well. We had Junino´s baptism on Saturday. It was one of the most spiritual baptisms i´ve experienced on my mission. It was so cool to experience an investigator get baptized in a pool. Juninio wanted the branch president to baptize him, but he was on a business trip in Mogi Mirim. So one of the priests in the branch baptized him. All of the young women sang the primary song ``I like to look for rainbows``. After the baptism, we celebrated with cake and ice cream. My comp and I made a mint chocolate cake! It was really yummy! :)

 

Sunday, Junino received the Holy Ghost. The blessing he received was so cool! Some of what was said made me a little emotional. I´m so excited for him and the choice he made in his life. I´m so proud of him. I know that he´ll be an awesome member and someday a future missionary.

i think what made this baptism so special was Junino has gone through a lot in his life. His older brother is anti Mormon and it was hard for Junino to tell his family that he was going to get baptized. he has a good support system in the church. his blessing said that he would be firm in the church and someday share his testimony with others that are not LDS. I looked at it as he would serve a mission someday. that would be so cool! :)

 

This coming Wednesday we have another mission tour with Elder Claudio Costas. The last mission tour was mainly focused on Elder Evans. This one is going to be more focused on Elder Costas. It´s going to be 2 days. Some zones with go on Wednesday and the other zones with go on Thursday. I´m pretty excited!

 

My English class is going pretty well! I taught everyone this week the days of the week and the months of the year. I asked everyone to tell me their birthdays so I could tell them how to say it in English. I really like teaching English! The members help me with my Portuguese and I´m helping them with their English. It´s a nice trade! :)

 

I remembered on Saturday that it has been 6 years since Ross passed away. He really did touch so many lives in a short time. This past week, I heard 2 boys from my comp´s stake died. When Carnaval starts, all of the youth go to a campamento for 5 days. It´s kind of like EFY. Well anyways, these 2 boys both drowned in a lake. My comp knew one of the boys. It so sad. She later found out that the mom of the boy, had a dream that her son would die before the accident happened. In the dream she got impressions that her son and this other boy needed to be missionaries in the Spirit World. Isn’t  that crazy?

 

 

Btw, thank you for the quotes! Oh I already got that picture of my zone. I´m glad you liked it! :) I´m going to send pictures of Junino´s baptism. I´m glad everyone is doing great, happy and healthy! :) Have a good time at General Conference! Lucky duck! Have an awesome week and I LOVE YOU! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah

 

I've got exciting news!

Mamãe!

 

I have some exciting news! We will have a baptism this Saturday! :) Our investigator Junino wanted to be baptized this coming Saturday. A member from our branch introduced him to the church. He has been coming to church for a month, and when we came to Conchal he was ready to take the lessons. I´m so excited for him! And I finally get to see an investigator get baptized in a pool! Sister Neves and I are planning to bake a cake for him. It´s common here to do that when someone gets baptized. They act like it´s your wedding day. It´s been difficult to reach the other girl Garde. We´ve been trying to contact her, but we haven´t gotten anything back.

 

Carnival started on Friday. There´s one street close by our house that has been closed off for Carnival. Every night we hear this annoying pounding sound of music and people screaming. It´s been really hard to sleep for the pass couple of nights. It will end on Tuesday, thank goodness!

 

In Conchal, there´s a huge statue of Christ. It looks a lot like the statue that´s in Rio de Janeiro! But not as huge as the one there. So I got a picture of myself with the statue! I´m gonna try and send it. It looks pretty cool.

 

I liked the picture you sent of Duke and Becky. She´s a cute pregnant lady! Tell her I like the name that she´s thinking of picking. It´s different but I like it! Duke looks a lot like Robbie in that photo. He looks so cute! :)

 

This was my 2nd week of teaching English. It´s getting a little easier to speak English now. It´s starting to come back to me. I taught my students to sing Called to Serve in English. There´s one member in our ward that speaks really good English. He always helps anyone who is struggling. Sister Neves is learning English and when we are on the streets, she asks me how to say things or points out what certain objects are in English.

 

That´s really sad about that family who died of CO poisoning. I remember when I was in Pocatello, I served in 6 different wards. Could you find out what the family´s name was? Maybe I might know them?

 

Nothing too much has happened this week other than we have a baptism coming up! I hope everyone is doing well! Thank you for your emails and such. Love you lots and have a great week! Eu te amo! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah 

 

I want to stay on my mission forever!

Oi Familia!

Life in Conchal is going good. This week we set 2 more baptismal dates! A guy named Junior and the other Diante. They both have been coming to church for awhile. We gave the 1st lesson to them and they accepted baptism pretty easily. We plan to have their baptism on March 15th along with 2 other people.

I forgot to tell you that I already got my package. I got it when we had our transfers. I loved everything that you put in it! Thank you! :)  I also got the letter from Dad.

Wednesday was my favorite day of this past week! I mentioned how we were going to have our mission tour. We had 2 speakers. Claudio Costas, the area president in Brasil and Elder Evans. I can´t remember his calling but he use to be a member of the seventy. I was expecting this conference to be another ordinary conference where they would talk about missionary work. They did, but it was better than I expected. Claudio Costas talked about his conversion story. He was  a teenager when he was taught by sister missionaries. It didn´t take him too long until he was baptized. He told us countless times how the Spirit can play a huge role while we´re teaching our investigators. He told us, it does matter what is being taught but more importantly that the Spirit is there testifying that truth. I thought that was a pretty cool.

Elder Evans talked about marriage, families, and missionary work. He told us how he met his wife. He told us when he came home from his mission it took him 3 months to get married. He went to a mission conference in Japan and was asked how long it took him to get married. He stood up and said ``3 months!``  and the mission president said ``it only took me 6 days!`` I couldn´t believe it! Only 6 days ha-ha. Elder Evans gave us a little advice about marriage. When you know it´s right and the other person knows it´s right, don´t delay. He quoted President Monson, ``Never deny a prompting or you will always regret it.`` That reminded me a lot of when I received my answer to serve a mission. That it was the right decision for me to go when I did. He talked a lot about the importance of families. He quoted a lot from the Proclamation to the Family and even talked about our Heavenly Mother. I´ve never heard anyone talk about our Heavenly Mother over the pulpit. It was pretty cool. He gave us a doctrine about how to use the Spirit more effectively in our lessons and teach them what it really means to be converted to the Gospel. One of the problems in Brasil is that a lot of people live together and aren´t married. He taught us how we can teach them to not only decide if they want to get married or separate, but to help them realize that living together is breaking the commandments. To help them see that what they´re doing is wrong. The way he said it was powerful. We want them to get married but what do they need to do before they can make that commitment? They need to have a sincere heart and a contrite spirit and repent our their mistakes and change. Learning this changed my whole outlook on how I will teach my investigators. To really help them understand the importance of the Atonement and why we need the Savior in our life. 

I do have some pictures to send you. One of them is a picture of a fruit here in Brasil. It´s called caju, it looks different but it takes really good! Btw, thank you for the picture of the Portland Temple! That´s probably the coolest picture I´ve seen of that temple. And thank you for the scriptures that you sent me! :)

Friday, we started an English class at the branch. And guess who´s teaching English?! ME! :) my comp doesn´t know any English so she made me be the teacher. To be honest, since I started learning Portuguese i´ve forgotten a little bit of my English. I could explain everything in Portuguese but when it came to speaking in English, it was hard. I´m teaching the basics of English and i´m also teaching how to say a prayer in English. One of the members gave a prayer in English. It was pretty cool!

 

For p-day my comp wants to get her hair cut and i´m thinking I might get mine cut as well. We´re going to celebrate my 10 month anniversary by getting ice cream! I can´t believe 10 months...the more I think about it the more I don´t want to go home. I want to stay on the mission forever. But anyways, this was my week. It went by really fast and we worked really hard this week. I hope all is well and I love you so much! Have an awesome week!

-Sister Whitnah