Month: December 2015

28 December 2015

HildieLeave a comment

This week was just downright weird. It was very hard to find people at home, and both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we had to go home by 6pm, because people like to drink and set off fireworks in the street. Like if I didn´t wear earplugs every night i would have had trouble sleeping.

But Tuesday we had mission Christmas! We had a talent show. I did a thing! It´s hard to explain, but basically I can play music with my teeth. Everyone tap on your front tooth with your index fingernail. Notice that there is a pitch. I somehow learned to change that pitch, so I played “Called to Serve” and everyone thought it was awesome.

There were also zones who “sung” and some other stuff that I forgot. (I say “sung” in quotation marks because not many Brazilians have a good sense of pitch or can read music. That´s what happens when schools don´t teach music.) But then we watched the First Presidency devotional. The music was on point! I love “In the Bleak Midwinter”! And we ate lunch” churrasco (bbque), salad, rice and beans, the usual. And we had brownies and ice cream for dessert!! YESSS. But then we had some more talks and music and stuff. It was great!

Christmas Eve was uneventful. I made a cake once we went home, and opened my presents. Thanks Mom!! Here that´s when they open them.
Christmas Day we went and sung Christmas carols at a bus terminal! It was great! But because I´m not accustomed to singing for long periods of time anymore I almost lost my voice. We had lunch with some great members, who kept insisting we eat more! Then we called our families from our ward mission leader´s home, but turns out his internet wasn´t really powerful enough so I had to turn the camera off, and just talk like on the phone. That was a bummer. But it was so nice to talk to everyone. I even got to talk to York in Portuguese and impress my family! Haha.
So the reason why Christmas is so important is that we have a chance to remember the Savior´s birth, but the more significant part of his life came after. He really did pay the price for all of our sins. He felt every pain, shame, sadness, and awful thing we´ve ever felt. He paid the price for justice so that we don´t have to suffer eternal consequences for our sins if we will just repent! He already paid; it´s covered. All you have to do it repent! It´s often easier said than done, but I invite all of you, if there´s anything bugging you, take care of it. Talk to your father in Heaven, and He´ll help you resolve it. This will be a new year! Start fresh.
I love Jesus Christ. He is truly the Redeemer of the World.
Love,
Sister West
P.S. You know you´re a broke missionary when you´re using paperclips as clothespins. Haha

The Week I Almost Got A Rabies Shot

HildieLeave a comment

So first I will address the title of this because I don´t want anyone freaking out. Yes, a dog bit me on Friday. I´ve seen this dog before on the streets many times. But he wears a collar and I know where he lives. So he was sitting by an investigator. And since I´m still used to dogs who behave well, I without thinking reach out to pet the dog. He doesn´t give any signs that he´s angry. And so then he bites me. Just a TINY little bite on my hand. And I go and wash it. But then I told my district leader who told me to call the Secretary of Health. He said I´d be fine but if it got worse to call again. But then Sister Dalton told the Secretary to tell me to go to the hospital to get it looked at. So Sunday after church we went to the hospital and waited for an hour and a half. The verdict was since there were no signs of infection and it had already been 2 days, I didn´t need any vaccines. Just a couple of prescriptions. WHEW. Anyone who knows me knows that I detest anything having to do with needles. So yeah I´m all good.

This week I got a new companion! She´s from Buenos Aires, Argentina, so I´m gonna try learning some Spanish. She loves training new missionaries, and working hard, so this week was great! I honestly have never been happier on my mission. I feel more comfortable talking, and although I kind of have to plan everything (since she doesn´t know the area yet) it was a great week. I felt like every day I really gave it all I had, which is the primary indicator that you´re being a successful missionary. She´s a very humble person and the first thing she said to me when we arrived at home after grocery shopping: “I only have one rule: what´s mine is yours.” That really took me aback; clearly I´ve got a lot to learn here. It´s a different thing when you both buy food but you cook stuff together and share everything. It´s nice!
So we had 3 investigators in the chapel yesterday, which is a great improvement. Viviane wasn´t there (she´s losing her interest) but her friend Laila was! She´s got a lot to learn still but she liked Young Women´s and Sacrament meeting a lot. She´s pretty great!
Also the bishop called me Saturday night and asked me to give a 10-minute talk in Sacrament about how members can get involved in missionary work. With our new mission standard of 20 lessons with a member present per week, I was happy to talk about that! Wasn´t excited to talk in Portuguese, but whatever. I can´t keep being embarrassed about the fact that I´m not fluent. After Sacrament we arranged to have a member with us almost every day! Hallelujah.
I honestly don´t even have a lot to say today because this week was kind of a blur. But I hope everybody has a great Christmas! I love you all! Don´t forget to just think about the real purpose of the holiday. That 2015 years ago the SAvior of the world was born. Just think of him, the most perfect little baby ever to exist, and how no one knew exactly the gravity of the situation. He lived and died for all of us! He felt every pain you´ve ever felt, and he knows you. He would have done the Atonement all over again if that would ensure that you individually would be able to live with God again! And guess what, we can!! We can repent and be clean through His sacrifice. You can choose to follow Him and he will lead you in the path of eternal life. I know he lives and he truly is our Redeemer.
Tchau, e Bom Natal!
Sister Westenhaver

14 December 2015

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Wow, it´s already almost Christmas? And I´ve already been here 3 months? These three past months have seemed simultaneously like the slowest and fastest time of my life. It´s hard to explain. But yeah, I´m already a sixth of the way there!

OK, So this week was PRETTY ROUGH. My companion had some health issues going on, so we didn´t work nearly as much as I would have liked. But we have some promising investigators. Viviane is 13 and we talked to her on the street a few weeks back. We visited her again about a week ago, and to our delight, she had read the pamphlet we left, and prayed about the Restoration like we asked, and she received an answer and recognized it! She´s eager to learn and always has great questions. One time we taught her and a couple friends, and a sister, and her friend Laila is actually interested also! She wants to be baptized too, and is keeping her commitments. The caveat… We wanted to baptize them both next week, but they haven´t gone to church yet. They were both so excited to go, but then that dang opposition… Viviane was sleeping and her mom wouldn´t wake her up for us. And someone asked Laila to babysit (I think it was her neighbor who was about to have a baby)… So they can´t be baptized yet. But I like these two girls a lot.
We´ve been reading the Book of Mormon with our recent convert, Albert. He likes it a lot, and reads every day. This week the Bishop is gonna interview him, and set some goals as to when he can receive the Aaronic priesthood (the priesthood is authority from God given to men to guide the church, and to perform ordinances like baptism). He´s super great and I can tell he´s gonna stay strong in the church.
One annoying thing. Literally nothing made of tomatoes here is good. I bought prepackaged tomato sauce. Terrible. I bought diced tomatoes to make my own tomato sauce. TERRIBLE TOO. What do I do here? I need marinara sauce.
Also I´ve been craving pizza like crazy. Seriously, the pizza here with the chocolate filled crust is to die for. Mom, try making pizza for the kids one day and put pieces of chocolate or chocoalte chips in the crust. Then you´ll understand.
Also, my companion is being transferred tomorrow! There are a couple of sisters going home (they extended their missions by 2 weeks) so Presidente had to do some flip-flopping. It will be good to get the experience of a new trainer, but I´m nervous becasue now I´ll be the senior in the area, and this week I have to keep the phone on me, make plans, and show my new comp the area. Gulp. I hate answering phones. And it´s super hard to understand Portugues over the phone. Super muffled and fast. But I´ll be okay. After about a week she´ll be able to take the lead.
That´s it for now. Hope you all have a good week. Please talk to me! I´d love to hear from you!

7 December 2015

HildieLeave a comment

This week was TOUGH. But I learned a lot… I´ve started figuring out my mission a little bit. Here, we have a very high number to reach for new investigators per week. We´re supposed to have 21 by Thursday. And the reason for this is cultural. We have a huge turnover rate. For every probably 5 or 6 new investigators (AKA a person who agrees to let us come to their home to teach a lesson), only one will be at home when we come to teach. And then not even all of them will be all that interested. There are a lot of  “soft” people (the portugues word is moles, pronounced “mo-LESH”) the people who don´t really care.

People who aren´t all that concerned that we´re climbing hills, praying our tails off for them, practicing lessons, sweating, and just generally working very very hard to teach them about the best thing they´ll ever learn here on Earth. And last week Presidente Dalton told us that we are not to spend our time with moles. So when we find an investigator and they don´t show up or we can tell they´re not really interested, we drop them. It sounds harsh, but we are harvesters. There are people here who have been prepared by the Lord, who REALLY want to hear our message, who will be ready for baptism after we teach them. That is ultimately our purpose. To find them. That means statistically if we want to find a person who is ready, we have to talk to A LOT of people. We make street contacts, we knock on doors, we talk to friends of members, we pray, and we search, and every once in a while we find someone like Albert, who is READY.  It is very different here than the US, but I´m starting to get accustomed to it.

Also the American I live with got transferred, so I´ve basically spoken no English this week. But that´s good because I´m starting to realize what I don´t know in Portuguese…. So now I´m trying to learn the subjunctive mood, which is very hard becasue we DON´T HAVE IT in English. Ugh.
Also, I ALMOST DIED THIS WEEK. So it´s night. And rainy. And I´m crossing the street. I look both ways, and cross to the median safely. At a stop light that has been red for a good while. Then I prepare to cross the second half. The light has been red for at least 10 seconds, and I look and every vehicle has stopped. So I go. And 3 steps later, a MOTORCYCLE comes out of NOWHERE and doesn´t stop at the light, and I jump out of the way. It almost hit me!! I swear an angel pushed me or something. Then I´m running, and pass another lane, and then in the final lane, ANOTHER MOTORCYCLE nearly hits me AGAIN. What on earth???? Why on earth would you be exempt from a traffic light, huh? TEll me that. Terrible people. But I´m alive, though I did hurt my leg a little in my panicked flight.
Also some things. There are trucks and cars that drive around selling various things. Eggs, propane, tapioca, chips, and *drumroll* CHURROS. The cars are generally super annoying, but I do not mind when a churro car drives by. A little churro for one real?? Heck yes! The guy who runs the truck knows us now. They´re also filled with either chocolate sauce or doce de leite (like caramel). But I seriosly love these churros (pronounced SHOO-hohs).
Also no, I´m not losing weight here. The sisters in my ward are all great cooks, and they all say “Comi mais, Sister!!” which means “Eat more, sister!” Seriously I eat a ton and still they all think I´m anorexic or something…
A good thing this week was that we worked better with members! We had 23 lessons with a member present as opposed to our last week, in which we had TWO. Yikes.. But I had my first division with a member, which while terrifying, really helped me know what my weaknesses are. I am scared out of my wits at starting a street contact, because usually the people just stare at me all confused, like they don´t understand my accent. All I´m saying is “Boa tarde, tudo bem?” Which is NOT UNUSUAL. But so I taught the Restoration to a girl who we already marked for baptism, her sister, and 2 friends. It was rough, but the Spirit was there. And all three of the other girls said yes when I asked them to be baptized! They´re moles, so we´ll see… Gulp.
But yeah that was terrifying.
Overall the week was quick and I learned a lot.
Much love,
India
PS Please email me, people! I wanna hear what´s going on in your lives!