Alright.
So last week I only really had time to email about the freaking crazy
driving here, and it really is just the most ridiculous thing ever. But
let´s see what´s the next thing that you notice about Brazil... oh, the
smell. It smells funny here. Not like a bad funny, but just a different
kind of funny... it´s probably all the pollution/smog...It took me
awhile to get used to it... But yeah it smells weird... Ít might also
just be my companions deodorant...they have weird deodorant here... I
haven´t figured it out yet... hahaha
Anyways but yeah those were
the first two things that I noticed... you know, other than the
Portugues... Yeah I still don´t really have any idea what people are
saying... I just kind of nod my head and smile and hope they aren´t
asking me a question... which they usually are. Seriously, I am just not
getting it yet... It´s getting better, but I am still just so lost all
the time. And I swear half the time it sounds like they are speaking
straight up chinese... And I don´t mean like the phrase or whatever, I
mean they straight up sound asian sometimes and it´s just weird... but
you know whatever, one day i am going to be one of them! =D
My companion´s name is
Sister Viana. I don´t remember if I talked about her last time or not.
She´s Brazilian and speaks very little english and is pretty cool.
Oh!
and we have a dog! Well the people we live behind has a dog. A big
ol´black lab named Bobby. I have to manhandle him everytime we go to leave our house cuz Sister Viana is scared of him, but he´s a
sweety.
Let´s see what else....??
Oh yeah. The sidewalks here. Ohmygosh. They all slant. they all slope
down towards the road and are uneven and everybody used different
cobblestone for in front of their own house and I can´t even count the
number of times I've almost twisted my ankle a day. It´s so ridiculous.
Seriously, I am going to be so buff by the end of this thing. I´m gonna
have the greatest looking calves ever. I´m gonna come back and people
are just gonna stare at the legends that are my calves. =]
But yeah. So now for a
rundown of this past week. So this past Tuesday was pretty awesome. I
got to hear from all of you guys and finally figured out how to flush the
toilet properly. That was
a pretty big deal... only took me a week. haha. Wednesday was pretty
much the worst day of my life. I don´t think I have ever been more
miserable or lonely in my life. Seriously. You don´t know misery until
you are sitting in a tiny bathroom in Brazil trying to sob as quietly as
possible so your companion wont hear, all the while drenched and
dripping with sweat, to the point where you can´t tell the diference
between your tears and your sweat. Seriously. You know that saying that
floats around the internet,´Í love the rain cuz no one can tell I´m
crying´... yeah that was me. except the rain was my sweat... so yeah
that was great. BUT it was later that night that I met Claudia. I
honestly just spent the whole day praying, just praying with every
step. I didn´t really know what I needed, I just needed something (not
to die, really, if we´re being honest, but that´s beside the point...)
And we end up at this house and I figure out about 10 minutes into it
that the lady is a member and that her daughter speaks english. and so I
talk to her a little bit and that was nice, and then they all talked
together and then Sister Viana starts in with the teaching. And I really
do try to pay attention. I really do. It´s just so incredibly hard to
be interested in a conversation you cannot understand, but I was trying
and then Claudia, the daughter who speaks english, interupts Sister
Viana in the middle of her, I mean, our, lesson and tells me that she is
worried about me and felt bad that I couldn´t understand and had been
praying to know what she could do to help me, to help me understand and
she said that if I read the book of mórmon out loud it would help a lot.
Which I already knew, but I´m not gonna lie, i kind of completely lost
it. I tried so hard not to cry in the middle of that lesson in these
stranger´s home and I failed. Just the fact that this lady who didn´t
even know me, had seen how hard it was for me and how much I was trying
and had been worried and praying for me... She was the answer to my
prayers all day. It was the most love I had felt since getting to
Brazil, other than from President and Sister Tanner. Heavenly Father
answered my prayers and gave me the comfort I needed through Claudia and
she made the most miserable day of my life so much more bearable.
But yeah, so that was
Wednesday... Thurday it was super hot (It´s been fairly cloudy the whole
time so far... they must have known I was coming =]) and so I just kind
of offhandedly prayed for rain as we were scaling this street. And
about 20 minutes later the clouds started rolling in... and it stormed.
Basically, I´m a prophet. hahah no. never. But yeah, it was quite the
storm. The wind was crazy. My skirt was all over the place. All these people
seeing my knees. It was quite the show. =]
Hahah oh and speaking of
shows, I saw my first Brazilian prostitute on Friday. And let´s just say
she was showing a little bit more than just knees... as in she had no
pants on... yup. no pants. a shirt, but no pants. Welcome to Brasil.
hahah
But yeah, those are the
highlights of this past week. Pretty dang exciting huh? But I guess to
move towards a more spiritual side, I´ve been thinking a lot about the
condescension of God lately and His atonement... is that weird? Maybe
it´s just because it´s close to Christmas or probably more likely
because I´ve been needing His help more than ever lately, but it´s been
on my mind. And I think I am finally starting to have a baby
understanding of it. It really is just mind-boggling and just
incredible to think of what the Savior did for us. The choir diretor in
the MTC told us one night that he had heard somewhere that if you took
all the intelligence and creativity and just goodness of every single
person on the Earth, who has ever been on the Earth or will be, and put
it all together, you wouldn´t even be able to begin to touch the glory
and majesty of the Savior. And then when you think about Him having all
that glorious power, and choosing to be born on this Earth as a small
mortal baby to live a mortal life... it´s not really fathomable. He was a
small child. He got sick. He went through puberty. He had to go to the
bathroom... The Creator of this world and everything in it and all of
us, had to use the bathroom because of His mortal body... And then He was
tortured and killed. That alone is too much to take in and understand
and then when I think about the reason why He did all these things, it
just really becomes even more unbelieveable beause He did it all for me.
And for my Family, and my friends and everybody on this Earth. He did
it all simply because He loves us. And I think learning Portugues and
walking up some hills is hard... I have a very basic understanding of
the atonement, but I have felt it so much in my life these past two
weeks. I have felt that love so much these past two weeks. His love and
your guys love. There are days (everyday) where all I do all day
is pray. Just pray with every step because I really honestly don´t
believe I am going to make it through. But yáll believe that I can and
He believes that I can and so I pray for that strength. The strength
that everybody else believes that I have and He gives it to me and I
have never been more grateful in my life.
Thank you all for your
prayers and support. I feel it everyday. I love you all so much . I´m
gonna try to send pictures real quick in the couple of minutes I have
left. Love you so much! Talk to yáll next week!
-Sister Rice
