(205) Stories Stories Stories

This past week was so crazy! Bobby, our dog/our neighbors dog, totally got our this past wednesday while we were trying to leave to go to District Meeting... and we ending up chasing him up and down all the streets around our house for like 20 minutes... it was horrible. hahah Everybody on the street was just staring and laughing at us, the two americanas, chasing after this HUGE black lab... AND THEN he straight up went out to the main road and almost got hit by a bus... A BUS. We almost killed Bobby! Do you know how horrible that would have been?!? The WHOLE mission knows about Bobby and for the rest of our missions we would have been the Sisters who killed Bobby! And how awkward would that have been to go back and tell Christine and Gilberto... "hi uh sorry but your dog is laying dead in the middle of the street up on Jabaquara... sorry bout that... uh gotta go...district meeting..." yeah that would have been a little awkward...

     Oh and then we had lunch with them this past week to and during lunch they tell us that if we see any strange looking little bugs in our house we need to come get them cuz Bobby has these bugs and you can´t kill them and they stick onto you......... aka bobby has ticks... TICKS.  and not like he just has one.... no this freaking dog has ticks like some dogs have fleas... I have no idea where they came from/keep coming from... We saw one on our ceiling Thrusday night and went and got her and were like "uhhhh one of those bugs are in our house" and so she comes in and is all like "yup. you´ve got them all over!" and she proceeds to collect up like 5 of them.... FIVE.  and half of them were the size of beans... BEANS.  It was one of the grossest moments of my life.... we have since found 5 more... aka we are living in tickcity... because of freaking Bobby... sometimes I really cant tell if i love that dog or just hate him... hahah

     Let´s see what else?? Oh one of the ladies we had lunch with this past week said that she was amazed with how much my Portugues has improved and that I almost speak without an accent! I have no idea when that happened but !!!! How exciting is that?? =] I will know this language and become Brazilian!!!

     Also just a warning... I am totally going to have hippy hair when i get back... I am NOT cutting it down here (I can only imagine what a nightmare that would be trying to explain a hair cut in portugues...) and it´s already halfway down my back... I´m so excited. =]

      OHHHH! Guess how many people we had at church yesturday?!?!?!!? 13!! Yup that´s right! Thirteen people!! Eight investigators and 5 less actives! Sister Dabelko and I pretty much had no idea what to do with all of them. It was so crazy. I never thought I would ever have that many people at church, it was wonderful. We have been having really rough weeks these past couple of weeks and this was just such a blessing. And I am so grateful!

      And also. So ever since I first got here and saw my first Brazilian Prostitute here I have wanted to teach all of them so badly (we have a ton since you know what have all the rich people of Brazil in our area. Seriously I never thought I would come to Brazil and work with people a bajilion times richer than me...) or at least give them all Law of Chastity pamphlets... you know, some literature for while they´re workin the corner... Well.... guess who taught her first prostitute??? That´s right. This Sister Missionary! And quite actually she is the most amazing person I have met so far here in Brazil. Seriously I don´t think I have ever loved a person more... well at least since coming here to Brazil. Her name is Marcela and like I said she is amazing. She has a HUGE testimony in Heavenly Father and totally lit up when she realized that we were missionaries and talked to us for like 45 minutes and told us we had to go and talk with her and her family (she lives with her mom and sister and nieces).  Talking with her about Heavenly Father and her testimony was wonderful and I was so full of love for her, but it was also one of the saddest moments of my mission and maybe even my life... She is 34 years old and have been a prostitute for the past 14 years because she was good at doing hair... I don´t think I´ve ever heard anything sadder in my life.  I was almost crying the whole time we were talking to her.  Here was that amazing wonderful person who really honestly thought that all she could do in her life was sell her body for money... I have never wanted to teach someone the gospel more in my life. I have absolutely no doubt that it would help her.  This gospel is for everyone and helps everyone in every single situation. I don´t know if I will get to be the one that teaches Marecela (she doesn´t live in our mission) but I do know that this gospel can help her.

   Buuuuut I´ve gotta go! I have 20 seconds! ahhh! how do i always run out of time! I love you all!

-Sister Rice

(198) Transferrrrs

So tomorrow is transfers.... and both Sister Dabelko and I are staying here in Mirandopolis! Which is exciting! I´m pretty excited... I was actually pretty worried that I was going to be transfered for whatever reason and it was actually really terrifying when I realized that if I was transferred I would probably never see these people ever again.... cuz leeeeeets be honesst. The odds of me actually being able to come back to Brazil after the mishh are not in my favor. And so that´s a little upsetting cuz I really do love these people here in Mirandopolis a lot... So I am glad that I get to stay here for another transfer. =] ANND speaking of this upcoming transfer, a bunch of exciting things are going to be happening during it, Carnival for example is the first week of March.... That should be fun... a straight week of studying in the house... hhaha no. I actually have no idea what Carnival consists of to tell you the truth. I don´t know how long it lasts or what we will be doing during it or anything really... but it should be a pretty exciting experience! Also, the end of this transfer could potentially be the 30/31 of march... aka practially April! Nossa! How is that even possible?? Oh and this is going to be my 6th Transfer on my mission... sisters only have 12... aka I will be half way done with my mission at the end of this transfer! Freakin What?! How is that even possible?? I just got goosebumps.
     But yeah. Time for some stories from this past week! YAY! So this past Tuesday we went to a Fruit Fair that apparently has been happening every Tuesday since the beginning of time and how we are just now finding out about it is beyond me... But yeah we went there and bought all of our fruit for the week, aka mangos and pineapples and bananas. BUT we got to try Dragonfruit (yes that´s right, Dragon fruit. it was weird and looked even weirder... dont worry i got pics... you´ll probably see them in a year =]) annd this one fruit called Jaca which was HUGE. Like literally. It probably weighed more than Gid... and they just had like 3 that they were hacking away at getting these little pods of slimy fruit meat or whatever you want to call it that had a giant seed in the middle of each one... When the guys working the stand realized that we were american (which took about .002 seconds...) and had never had it before they demanded that we try it... it was interesting... good. but interesting... But yeah the fruit fair was pretty fun. It filled up this huge parking lot with nothing but just tables of fruit and fish and other weird random things... I almost bought a coconut to drink out of... but it was too expensive... maybe next time =]
     Also I am officially in two knee braces as of today! yay for missions! It´s nothing serious my knees just feel like they are falling apart everytime I sit down or stand up or go down stairs so I figured I´d buy some today... And no I am not still wearing my ankle brace, my new shoes and not walking at the speed of light help with that a lot... which is good cuz two knee braces and an ankle brace would be a little excessive... but yeah i think the braces will help a lot.
    Oh and also I´ve lost 6 more pounds since I last wrote yall about losing 34 pounds! Which roughly about 2 pounds/1 kilo a week... which is crazy! Cuz lets be honest, we are eating all the time down here cuz we have lunch with members everyday (and they refuse to let you eat just a little. Nossa I feel like Im gonna puke all the time after lunches here) and then we just are always hungry! It´s crazy. I feel like Harrison!
    Sorry I have like 30 seconds left before it kicks me off... I love you all!
-Sister Rice

(191) THE WEEK WHEN EVERYTHING THAT COULD POSSIBLY HAPPEN, HAPPENDED!!!!

     haha not really. But that sounded pretty exciting right?? But no, actually a lot happened this week that I really want to write about so hopefully I will have time for it all!

     First things first. The weather. It has been like in the 90s this whole past week, which apparently is record breaking... they actually even changed our schedules because of it... we have like one hour of personal study in the morning at 8 and then go out and work until lunch and then finish up all our studies at home after lunch so we dont have to be out walking in the hot hot heat of the middle of the day, which is a BLESSING. So yeah it´s been pretty hot right? But quite honestly I didn´t think that it was THAT hot... I realize why now... It´s been 90 degrees with only 22% humidity... TWENTYTWO PERCENT! bahahaha! Do you know what that means?? ST. LOUIS is freaking a thousand times hotter than Sao Paulo BRAZIL! Nossa! I don´t think there´s ever a time when our humidity is lower than like 80% during the summer! And here I was all worried about having to spend a year and a half down here cuz it was going to be sooooo hot and it turns out Missouri is hotter than South America! hahah And now all I can think about is all the missionaries in St.Louis who have to walk around in that! hahaha! Suckers. haha j/k that was rude.... but not really...haha

      So yeah that´s fun. Also. We caught a mouse this past week. Yup, I sat down on my bed to put on my shoes and there he was, just chilling under my bag... and so we got some tupperware and masterfully captured him and then went and put him in this grassy jungle patch we have down the street... He was so cute and tiny! Don´t worry I got pictures. =] And I´m not gonna lie I did kind of freak out a little bit when I first saw him, cuz I totally thought it was the rat that lives in our ceiling who likes to have dance parties in the middle of the night and that would have been UNEXCEPTABLE. But thank goodness it was only a cute little mousy...

      Oh! I also got new shoes this past week... and um... well... I am officially a real Sister Missionary with the gross little strappy shoes... They look just like that horrible mary janeish shoes that I promised myself I would never get... And to make it worse, they are like slightly elevaded so like they are like platform mary jane shoe things... And I have not worn anything other than like Toms (aka pretty much nothing on the bottom) for like 7 years... you can imagine how completely ridiculous I looked trying to figure out how to freaking walk in those things... AND to make it even WORSE I got blisters.... that required socks to ease the pain... no not ankle socks... full on regular socks.... Basically it was the worst thing I have ever had to do... I am not even joking... Just picture walking down a Brazilian street and all of a sudden you see this chick coming at you walking like a straight up freak (cuz i cant walk in raised shoes, and have blisters) in tan mary jane strap shoes with baby blue socks... nossa. But dont get me wrong... I can totally rock the i-have-no-idea-how-to-dress-myself-look ... hahah it was a great week... I think my blisters are finally starting to die so hopefully I can kill the socks soon. Pray for me.

     Let´s see... what else...?Oh! hahahah So Sister Dabelko and I were in this lesson the other day and we are reading to this old lady right, I´m pretty sure she can´t rread, but yeah so we´re reading to her, and Sister Dabelko is reading and like I start noticing that she´s kind of really slurring her words and struggling a little and I´m just like what the heck is happening?? Is my companion dying?? Nope. She was just falling asleep... while reading... out loud... in a lesson... bahahah oh goodness. I could barely keep it together when I realized what was happening! hahah I ended up just reading the rest of the chapter we were reading myself and it was so funny! I didn´t even think that was possible! hahah You know you are on a mission when...your so tired you fall asleep during lessons while reading outloud! hahahh

     Also Sister Dabelko and I had Big Macs this week.  We were at Irma Cida´s and her daughter was all like ´have you guys had McDonalds here yet??´ And we hadn´t (we were going to a couple weeks ago but that fell through) so she rode her bike to Micky D´s and bought us both Big Macs... and let me tell you it was the most delicious thing I have ever had. Sister Dabelko and I both just demolished them in like 2 seconds... It was great to feel like an American again... haha just kidding, I feel like an American everyday with my horrible Portugues that everybody laughs at... hahah =]

     But yeah I have to go! I´m out of time! I love you all!

-Sister Rice

(184) once again I am lame, cannot even come up with a title for this...do not judge me :]

So this past week was pretty good. Well, actually it was pretty hard, but good. Sister Dabelko are finally hitting that wall and finding out why everybody always tells us that our area, Mirandopolis, is so hard. Which I mean it really is... It´s all rich people who have everything they want and dont want to listen to a bunch of Americans butcher their language and rather spend their time washing their 5 cars... aka the United States! haha j/k (rowling) but seriously when you think of missionary work in Brazil you do not think of slamming doors and rudeness... you think of rainbows and unicorns and baptisms, BUT  we are working hard and even with the wall we managed to get 18 lessons this week which really was a miracle and we are so excited to continue on this week!
     We are actually working a lot more with the members this past week which really is a blessing.  Everything is so much easier when you have member help, especially when they know portugues and you do not... we went on divisions with some members in our ward last Monday and it was really good! I went with a ladt named Cida (She is amazing! Oh I love her!) and we taught one of our investigators Luiz, and it actually went good! Even though like I was the one in charge of the lesson and teaching and it was actually really good and like I could understand everything for the most part and all the things i couldn´t Cida helped with and it was surprising awesome. And like I was able to have full conversations with Cida while we were walking so that´s pretty awesome.
     We also had a Zone Breakfast this past week! That was pretty fun! We made french toast and pancakes and bacon and there was PEANUT BUTTER AND NUTELA! They have nutela here, it´s just very expensive and I havent had peanut butter in like a 1000000000000 years so it was wonderful! Yay for being on a mission in Brazil where they dont have necessities like peanut butter and 500 different types of oreos to eat it with... hahaha =]
     No but seriously, it´s kind of actually funny how much your perspective changes being on a mission... Like ok so before my mission I would stalk all these mission blogs of other sister missionaries down here in Brazil cuz I really had no idea what to expect... And I remember one sister in one of her letters was talking about how one night they had to run home like halfway across their area to get home on time before 930 after a lesson... and I remember thinking ´ha yeah no. That better not happen to me/I am never doing that´ and I was like freaking out about what on earth i had signed up for (definitely not running down random foreign streets in the dark, righhhht?) weeeeeelll guess who had to run home this week??? In the rain.... That´s right. This guy. And you know what?? It was the best I´ve felt on my mission. It was like the greatest feeling ever. We cut a half an hour walk into 10 minutes and made it home at exactly 930 and it was wonderful. In that moment it was the most grateful I have been to be on a mission... I have no idea why... I was just so happy to be here and having these experiences, even the experiences that I never thought I would be happy for...
      But yeah, so that was cool. But time for a funny story! So Irma Cida comes out with us to lessons all the time right, and this past week we go to her house, sit down on her couch, and promptly fall asleep waiting for her to be ready to go... both of us... in like 2 seconds... And I´m pretty sure she told some of the other sisters in the ward about it and now they are all worried about our health and telling us we can sleep at their houses during the day if we want and giving us food and everything which is pretty funny... haha
   But yeah I have like no time left! I love you all! Talk to you next week!