Hello from Conchal!

Familia!

 

I have so much to tell you! First off, I got my new comp and she´s Brasilian. It´s been a long time since I’ve had a native comp. She looks like an American because she´s a red-head. It´s kind of funny, her last name in English means snow, and her skin is really white. Her name is Sister Neves and she´s from Curitiba, Brasil. She´s been out for 7 months and she´s the same age as me. We get along pretty well. :)

 

My comp and I opened up a new area called Conchal. This area has been closed for 5 years and President decided to open it up again! It´s a little different here, because i´m serving in a branch. There´s only 30 active members. Compared to my other 2 areas, Conchal is super tiny! It’s also really far away from Campinas. It´s about an hour a way and we´re in the country side.

 Yesterday was our first Sunday in Conchal and the Branch President asked me to give a 10 minute talk about missionary work. I was SO nervous and he only gave me a 30 minute warning. It was my first talk in Portuguese. I think I did okay, but my comp said it was good for a first timer. :)

 

I feel like this area is going to have a lot of success. The members here are awesome! This week we set 3 baptism dates for March 15th. We found out that our branch doesn´t have a baptismal font, so they use a plastic swimming pool as their baptismal font. I really want to see what it will be like to have a baptism in a swimming pool ha-ha. We’ve  gotten so many references and think this area will be one of those golden areas!

 

This Wednesday, we´re having a mission tour with one of the counselors in the seventy. I think...? He´s a Brasilian, and his  name is Elder Costas. I know the whole mission will be there!

 

To be honest, it was hard to say goodbye to Barao Geraldo and to Sister Howell. She was one of my favorite comps on the mission. I´m gonna miss her a lot. My last night in Barao, we went to a member´s house and they made me my favorite meal! Stroganoff (brasilian style) is was AMAZING! :) Since i´ve left, i´ve missed Barao a lot. Throughout the week I thought about Barao Geraldo and how much I miss my investigators and the members. It was like I was homesick in a way but for my area. But right now, i´m doing better.

 

I loved the pictures you sent of Duke! He looks really cute! He also looks older every time I see a new picture of him. By the way, Tessa says I look older? To be honest, I feel a little older too. It´s weird to think that I’m one of the older missionaries now.

 

Overall, this week was bittersweet but good. We worked really hard this week and we´re finding success slowly. But I know the Lord is blessing us with this new opportunity to serve in a branch. I love you so much and i´m grateful for everything you have done for me. Have a great week!! :) LOVE YOU LOTS!

 

-Sister Whitnah

I'm getting transferred!!!

Bethany’s short email today.  She will be transferred.  Something she was hoping for, yet as she puts it, kind of sad to leave those that she has gotten to know.  Here are some pics she sent today.  The one girl in the middle is only 18, Her name is Letetia.  She is a member in Barao Geraldo and is planning to serve a mission when she turns 19.  She became great friends with Bethany.  I had to post the photo of the kinder chocolate(German chocolate) she found, she loves this stuff! Her German is still in her, even in Brasil!

 

 

Mom,

 

So, are you ready for the news? I´m being transferred, Sister Howell is staying in Barao Geraldo and will be training! I kind of had a feeling that I would go anyways. I´m excited to be going but at the same time i´m sad to be leaving. I was there for 3 transfers and it gave me time to get to know all the members and to get attached ha-ha. But wherever I go will be good. I won´t know all the details until tomorrow morning when I go to the bus station in Campinas.

 

This week was tough but good. A lot of our investigators aren´t progressing like we want them to. It didn´t work out this weekend to go to the temple with Danuzia. Carol´s birthday was this weekend and they were busy planning her party. We can tell that Carol and Bruno don´t want to be baptized anymore. The biggest thing is that they don´t want to make that change in their life. So we´ve let them go for now. On the other hand... Danuzia wants to get baptized SO badly, but she has to divorce her other husband that lives in Northern Brasil and separate from the other guy that she´s living with now.

 

It´s been hard to communicate with Olifer since Sunday. We found out that his girlfriend doesn´t like the fact that we´re teaching him. The fact that we´re ``sister missionaries``. It´s really dumb. In the lesson last week, there was us, the 3 members, Olifer and his girlfriend. So I don´t get why she doesn´t like us. He still wants to meet with us though, which is awesome! :) he still hasn´t come to church yet....

 

Our ward did a fast for it to rain here. It´s been really hot and some members have had no water. Saturday afternoon, we had a rain storm! It was awesome! It rained for a good hour. I took a picture of Sister Howell and I when we came back to our mini house. :) Watching it rain was a huge testimony builder. It showed me that everyone´s prayers and fasts were answered. :)

 

Well, that is pretty much it for this week. I´ll have more news once tomorrow hits. I love you so much and I hope all is well with you guys! :) Take care!

 

-Sister Whitnah

I can't believe it's February. Time is flying quickly!

Mom,

 

I can´t believe it´s already February! Time is flying by so quickly! I´m doing pretty good. This week the weather went from being hot to insanely hot. I completely cut pop out of my meals and I only drink water. A lot of our meals with the members they give us a lot of pop. And sometimes I really don´t want to drink it because I know it will give me headaches. So I only drink water and juice. 

 

This week we visited Danuzia, Bruno and Carol. Our baptismal date with him fell through. :( We really think him and Carol won´t get baptized until Danuzia gets divorced from her husband and moves into a new house. She has told us more than once how badly she wants to get baptized. We´re going to the temple with them this Saturday! Danuzia wanted to see what the temple looked like. She´s pretty excited about that. :)

 

On Thursday, Sister Howell and I went to Village to knock on doors. To explain Village it´s very country. When Robbie was serving in Honduras and would explain what his areas looked like, Village is what I thought of. Dirt roads that would go on forever and all you could see is grass fields. I took a couple pictures to help you see what it looks like. It looks pretty.

 

Yesterday, we had an awesome lesson with a member who brought a friend to FHE. We taught about the Restoration and the Spirit was so powerful! It was incredible! Laura´s friend is named Olifer. He´s 19 years old and he goes to the Congregation church of Jesus Christ. I´ve never heard of this church before. He seems very interested in the church. We committed him to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. 

 

I have something funny to tell you. I can´t remember what day it was but one day this week, Sister Howell and I ate out for lunch. Afterwards, she wanted some chocolate. There was a place that was really close called Caucau Show. It reminded me of Godiva Chocolate. But anyways, we go in and bought a piece of chocolate. I was eating my chocolate and kept thinking how weird it tasted. I looked at the rapper and it had liquor in it ha-ha. Sister Howell laughed at me and said ``I wonder how your parents are going to react when you tell them that you had liquor during your mission? ha-ha`` I thought it was pretty funny! This reminded me when Alina went to Belgium and ate that chocolate covered cherry with alcohol. 

 

For p-day, we´re gonna go to eat some lunch. There´s this place close by the bus terminal. They sell pastels and juice. After that, we´re going to go back home and clean our mini house and SLEEP. I´m exhausted! We´re getting our transfer calls this coming Sunday. I want to organize all my stuff so that if I get transferred, I can be ready. I´ve been in Barao Geraldo for 3 transfers now. I would like to go to another area.

 

I liked the quote you shared with me. Since I´ve left for my mission, I´ve learned a ton! Especially about Jesus Christ and how he means so much to me. My testimony has grown a ton since i´ve been in Brasil. I know the things i´ve learned in Brasil I wouldn´t have learned in Idaho. That i´m grateful to have served in the states as well as in a foreign country. My ward mission leader showed us this book called how to be an everyday missionary. I think Desert Book has it? But I read it and there´s a lot of good advice in that book. It talks about how you can talk about the church in a simple way. At school, work, or pretty much anywhere. It´s really awesome! If you have time, you should take a look at it. :)

 

I hope this week will be great! I hope your foot continues to get better soon! LOVE you so much! Tchau! Amo vocês! :) Enjoy the pics!

 

-Sister Whitnah

Half way through my mission!

Oi Família! :)

 

Hey! I have so much to tell you about this week! First of all, this week was good yet crazy! Tuesday, we taught Danuzia and Bruno all the commandments. Sister Howell taught the word of wisdom and I taught the law of chastity. It was a little awkward but it was good haha. We found out during the lesson that Danuzia is already married to another guy but they broke up. She has been living with this guy that we´re teaching now for 16 years. So she is still legally married to this other guy. It´s kind of complicated. We told her that she would have to get a divorce and remarry the guy that she´s living with now. If she wants to get baptized. Without hesitation she said ``No, I don´t want to get married again!`` We´ll see how that´s gonna go. On the other hand, we have been talking with Bruno. Since the day I first met him, he has been talking about wanting to get baptized. He straight up told us ``if I want to get baptized I need to stop drinking beer?`` Afterwards he said, ``Well, I need to repent of a few things before I can be baptized.`` It was the coolest thing ever. I can totally tell that he´s ready to be baptized. Heavenly Father has helped us so much with this family.

 

After we were done with the lesson, we had a really bad thunder storm. The power went out and we were stuck in their house for 3 hours. It was fun! We got to their house at 5 and left around 8ish to go back to our mini house. There were trees in the streets. Like full grown trees. We later found out that a tornado was near by. But everyone was okay. The same thing happened on Wednesday but we were with Claudia and Sabrina. The power was out and everything. We left from the lesson early to go home and it was getting late. It took us a hour and a half to get home because of the thunderstorm. It was raining so much that the streets were flooded. It was crazy!

 

Saturday and Sunday we had our stake conference. It was really good! Presidente Perrotti, Sister Perrotti, our ward mission leader, and another member from our ward spoke. All the talks were about missionary work. 

 

This Friday we´re having our multizona with Presidente Perrotti. We have them every 3 months with at least 1 or 2 other zones. Everyone has to prepare a lesson on the Atonement and Presidente will have a hat of all the names of the missionaries. He will randomly pick a missionary to give the lesson. And they have to give it all by themselves. I´m hoping that I won´t get picked. I´m crossing my fingers ha-ha.

 

So that was my week! I can´t believe i´ll have 9 months in the mission. It´s gone by slow and fast. I´m trying not to think about it. I´m trying to enjoy what I have now. I´m glad to hear everyone is doing good! Let me know anything big comes up. I love you so much and hope you have a great week! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah

 

Good but Tough week

Oi Mamãe! 

 

That´s so cool that Tyson is going to Africa! How cool! That must be exciting for the Barfuss family! Tell him I said congrats! And as well for the Gibson family. This is the 2nd person that I know that´s going to Texas for their mission. It must be a popular place like Brasil. But Brasil is a lot cooler in my opinion ha-ha. 

 

This week was good but tough. This week the weather has been pounding on us. It´s getting hotter everyday and it´s harder to work. We switched our schedule so that we work in the mornings until lunch and then do our studies in the afternoon when it´s super hot. I thinking it will work out better that way. The heat is also making me really tired. We found 2 people to teach this week! One lady named Danielle. She´s 31 but looks like she´s 24. We talked for 2 hours...(that normally never happens but it did). We taught here the 1st and 2nd lesson. She believes in a lot of what we believe in but she thinks any type of church is true. I don´t know what to do in that situation, but i´m sure i´ll figure it out with Sister Howell. Another person we found was a guy named Mauicio. He´s in his early 50´s. He´s youngest kid is about 24 years old. Mauicio has been going to the baptist church for a couple years. We taught him the first lesson and he was eagered to learn more. We invited him to read the Book of Mormon and he was excited to read it! We´re going to go back and teach them more.

 

P-day was pretty chill. We went to this place that had fresh homemade mango juice and had cheese bread. Man, it was SO good! We´re emailing now and probably after this we will go home and sleep. I´m super tired. Tonight we have FHE with a family, so that will be fun! :) A little about Sister Howell. She´s 24 and has already done college. She´s a message therapist. She was asked to be a teacher and work down in Dallas Texas for a year before her mission. And she´s from Gilbert Arizona.

 

Well I love you so much! I´m excited to get your package soon! Have a great week! LOVE YOU LOTS!

 

-Sister Whitnah

We had an AMAZING week!

Mom,

 

This week was really good! We had FHE at a member´s house on Saturday night. We invited Danuzia, Carol, and Bruno. The member is in the stake presidency. He´s really awesome! He talked about the Book of Mormon and shared his experiences with us. I never knew how much impact members have on investigators. Meaning, having the investigators come to a member´s house to hear a message. When it´s at an investigator´s house you can feel the spirit, but at a member´s house there´s a huge difference! Danuzia, Carol, and Bruno LOVED FHE and they want to have one every week! 

 

On New Year´s Day was our p-day. Sister Howell and I made some goals for this transfer. We made a goal to have
FHE every Monday night with a member family and with an investigator. We looked at our list of members and prayed which ones would be willing to do a FHE night at their home. 

 

After church, we met with a couple of families, and without knowing we made 5 FHE nights this week alone! Our goal was to only have 1 per week. It was so cool to think that Heavenly Father is helping us to overcome our goal. That with him, anything is possible! 

 

 I felt a need to make some changes, I had been feeling this for a while.  It´s moments like these where I need to listen to Him and then ``JUST DO IT!`` you know? But i´m grateful that I listened and chose to act on my prompting.  The Lord is truly helping us out!  He´s blessing me with this opportunity to get to know our members and investigators more. I think it´s so cool!  I am SO glad I followed the Spirit and listened and acted. 

 

We met with the Marinho family last night. Their son just left for the MTC on Thursday. He´s going to the João Pessoa Mission. But anyways, we shared a message with them about how members have a great impact on their friends. Afterwards we showed them a video about the Atonement with Elder Holland talking in the background. It´s really good! We then invited them to think of a friend that they would want to have FHE with. The dad mentioned a guy named Ju, more than 3 times. We set Wednesday to be the FHE night. They´re really excited!

 

For p-day, Howell and I went to Central and did some shopping! I bought this cool shirt for 10 dollars and I bought some perfume for 25 dollars. Here it´s ``cheap`` ha-ha. So far that´s all we have done today. I ran into a couple of elders while we were there.

 

That´s so cute how Mollie adores Sean. How she slept with him every night while he was visiting. I bet she misses him a lot right now. But anyways, I love you so much and thank you for everything! You are the best! Have a great week! :) Eu amo vocês!

 

Tell Dad thank you for the pen drive! And yes, the socks that you bought were from REI. Thank you for taking the time to do this for me. I really appreciate it. :) LOVE YOU GUYS! Btw, thanks for the pictures and the quote! I loved them!

 

-Sister Whitnah 

I am staying in Barao Geraldo with Sister Howell! :)

Família!

 

Happy New Year (Feliz Ano Novo)!! I can´t believe 2014 is already here. Sister Howell and I were saying that this year both of us go home. She leaves in June and I leave in October. For New Years Eve, we went to our ward mission leader´s house for dinner. Howell and I stayed up til midnight watched the fireworks from our mini house. I only got 2 good pictures of the fireworks.

 

Sister Howell and I are staying together for this transfer! :) I´m really happy! This will be my 3rd transfer in Barao Geraldo. I´m thinking i´ll get transferred soon. Oh, sorry that I didn´t email you until today. My zone leaders told us that our p-day was Wednesday but didn´t tell us that we could email on Monday. So we waited pretty much all week to email.

 

Becky is having another boy! That´s awesome! Do they have names picked out? I wonder if this one will look like Ryan? When is he due again? How´s Robbie and Tessa doing?

 

It was really good to see all of you guys! There was so much that I wanted to say. I noticed that Mollie looked at me while I was talking. I miss her so much! I wanted to say more things in Portuguese, but I kept having brain farts. It sucked ha-ha! Sister Howell got to talk to her family but she couldn´t see them until the very end.

 

This week was difficult to visit investigators and even members. Everyone was on vacation or visiting their families. We did get some lessons in this week! :)

 

I´m glad that this week was great! Happy 2014! :) LOVE YOU GUYS!

 

-Sister Whitnah

 

Mom,

Thanks for the package! All the music and the goodies! :) The sandals are a little tight on me. I wore them once and I got blisters on my feet. :( but they look really cute! I´m on my last pair of those socks. I´ve had to throw away the other socks because they have big holes. I think you should buy at least 6 pairs. I also got your conversion story and I loved reading it! Oh if you could, send me my other USB pen drive. I think it´s in my laptop bag? I wanna have it so I can have more space to put mission photos or music. And maybe another memory card just to be safe. I´ve been taking a lot of pictures and my memory card is filling up fast! This package don´t send that much granola bars and beef jerky. It´s kind of funny. When I ate the beef jerky, I thought it was really salty.

 

Anyways, how´s your foot? Is it getting better? It was nice to see all the photos of Braden´s wedding. Alina still looks the same but she always looks pretty! :) 

 

Thank you for everything! LOVE YOU LOTS!

 

-Bethany ;)

 Sister Howell and Whitnah's Christmas tree
 
 

 

fireworks from New years!