This has been one crazy week. So transfers were on Tuesday but we found
out before then that no one in my district was going to be
transferred.... or so we thought.
Wednesday morning, the day AFTER
transfers, Sister Vierra gets a phone call from Presidente Araujo
saying that Sister Brinkerhoff, her companion, is being transferred and
needs to be ready after lunch! It caught all of us off guard! My only
american friend here! We all helped her pack her stuff really quick.
Funny thing was she had just washed all of her clothes and hung them up
to dry. We turned on all the fans and used hair dryers to dry as much of
her clothes as we could. It was a pretty funny experience. But she is
off to some area in the interior of Brasil!
Oh the mission life. So full
of surprises. So there you have the title of this email, tchau to
english. Since Sister Brinkerhoff (my only chance at taking a break and
speaking english sometimes) left it has been really only Portuguese. I
know this is good for me but at the same time it is hard. haha Sister
Nicasio moved in and is now companions with Sister Vierra. She is 33,
sister vierra is 27 and sister dias 25. I am the young 22 year old
americana. I am definitely learning portuguese faster now though.
I finally got letters!!!
After transfers on tuesday all the letters that have been waiting for me
at the mission office finally found their way to me. Thanks fam! Jeff,
Katie, and Caudle! It was so good to hear from ya!
So friday night we went to visit an older couple that we gave a Book of
Mormon to. They are pretty firm 7th day adventist and we didnt realize
that sundown on Friday is when their sabbath is. So of course when we
showed up they invited us in. She said oh we are just preparing for the
sabbath and invited us to join. There was no backing out so we sang some
hymns, read some scriptures and afterwards they all hugged and said
Feliz Sabado Feliz Sabado. Pretty funny experience for Sister Dias and
I. We had a good laugh afterwards. We are convinced they will make great
members someday though.
Cool thing. I talked to this guy in the supermarket the other day
and he asked me if I was a Paulista (from sao paulo). That has got to be
a good sign right? haha my accent cant be that bad. i hope.
Our
recent converts Sergio and Fernanda are doing SO great. The are really
making friends with the members and building their testimony. It is so
amazing to see. We taught them about eternal marriage and how in one
year they can go to the temple. They are so excited. They also asked me
to say the closing prayer in english. It was SO WEIRD! I never pray in
english anymore not even my personal prayers. I struggled saying the
prayer in english and accidently slipped some Portuguese in there. It
was so funny. I am just imagining how weird it will be to speak english
when I get back. Maybe I will just keep speaking portuguese. haha
Can you believe it? This Wednesday will make 6 MONTHS! That
is one third of the mission over. Soooooooooo weird. I cant believe how
fast time flies. This last year will fly by so fast.
If you want to understand what I am saying go on a mission. You will get it.
This
week I really have been seeing how important it is to constantly read
and study the scriptures and to write down the thoughts that come to our
mind. I was reading through one of my study journals and I read some
insight I had had earlier in the mission that I had totally forgotten.
And it was really good! haha if i say so myself. which I do. I couldnt
believe that I had forgotten it in the first place.
I realized how
important it is to CONSTANTLY, like every day, remind ourselves of the
truths we know and remind ourselves what is really important in our
lives. Today I was reading in the scriptures and I noticed how many
times they use the word `remembe.` When the people remembered Jesus
Christ and remembered all of the good past experiences they had a desire
to do what is right. We need to remember too. Cada dia.
The weather heated up again this week and I have a really cute
little tan on my feet where my sandal straps aren´t. haha After a year
its gonna be reeaally good.
Mom, thanks for the email. THey are
always a pleasure and make me laugh... a lot. You got your humor from me
I think. haha Marth I wanna hear about this boy! Did you get my letter
yet? and did you get the one I sent to Rachael? Let me know! I am
sending some pictures home tomorrow! I cant wait for the package mom!
Thanks!
Tchau! Ate mais! I love you all!
Sister Zeller
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Pictures!
 |
| View from the window where she skyped us from |
 |
| That same apartment on Mother's Day |
 |
| Batismos! |
Batismos 20 May 2012
Oh! What a glorious week it was! This week is transfers but our whole
district is staying! Wahoo! I can´t believe I have already been here for
a whole transfer! What!
Our family that we have been teaching was baptized on Saturday night at 9pm. Yeah, pretty late for a baptism I know. It´s a long story. haha Oh what a day that was. A picture is included. So Fernanda, the wife, was coming back from another city a long ways away and she was supposed to get in at 5 30 and then the baptism would be at 8 because Sergio, the husband, worked until 7. So it´s 7 and sergio calls us and says that he doesnt know where Fernanda is and that she isnt back yet. Oh man I was freaking out. He said he was gonna catch the bus and head to the bus station to find her. We called a member to drive him but he had already got on the bus. We head to the church to get everything ready, we even made a cake. We were praying Fernanda would be found. Then around 7 50 or so Sergio finds Fernanda at the bus terminal. Problem is, she is not feeling well because of the trip and hadn~´t eaten since the day before. They call and are wondering if they can postpone the baptism. Meanwhile people are showing up and we are smiling and inside freaking out a bit. Sister Dias talked to Fernanda on the phone to see if she really was just tired or if she was having doubts about the church. She said she doesn~´t have doubts and what a relief that was. Fernanda decided she was willing to make the sacrifice and so she went home, had a snack and came to the church with Sergio (sergio has such a strong testimony already its amazing). It didnt happen until 9 and we were out a little past curfew that night but tudo bem (what rebel missionaries we are). The baptism was amazing. I felt the spirit so strong. Even more amazing was the confirmation. What a precious gift the Lord has given us. The constant companionship of the holy ghost. THis gospel will bless their family so much. Their two little girls are so precious. What a humbling experience that was. Sometimes a mission is pretty hard and people dont want to listen. We talked about this in our companionship study today. We talk to so many people every day and such a small portion of them are willing to change and accept the Gospel. But there IS a small portion that are ready and waiting. We just have to sift through a TON of people to find them. That is missionary work. Trying your hardest to find those people and trusting that the Lord will guide you. Because he will. I will never forget this family and all the things that they taught me. They are going to be amazing members. Their 3 year old was kind of a handful on sunday during sacrament meeting. oh boy oh boy. Mom, do you think supernanny will come to Brazil??? She is needed. haha
We also had zone conference this week. It was great. Just the spiritual upliftment that I needed. OH yeah, one question, why has no one sent me pictures of stefs wedding yet??? Yes, I´m talkin to you. haha get on it.
This week has been rain rain and more rain. We were going to walk to mcdonalds here for lunch (my companion LOVES it and it is like a super expensive treat here. haha) but the chuva is getting in the way of our dreams. too bad.
I thought you should know I bought some nail polish last week and painted my nails. It was amazing. Trash hole, get this, I didn´t even mess them up!!!! Probably cause I am a missionary. haha
I am started to forget english words. Its weird. I was trying to remember the word cardigan and it WOULD NOT come to me. I kept thinking about macey and her cardigans and it was driving me crazy that i couldnt think of the word. My companion thought it was hilarious.
One last funny story, on our way to zone conference as we were waiting at the bust terminal with the other two sisters that live with us a man came up to me and sister Brinkerhoff (the other american) and was telling us all these things. He said nail polish was of the devil. I held up my hand and said, you mean this? haha he was like yeah yeah the devil the devil. It was really hard not to laugh but I managed pretty well. Oh man.
I read a scripture during personal study today that I really needed to hear. It was in Doctrine and Covenants and it said not to run faster than you have strength but to work diligently. Sometimes in life I think we get so overwhelmed by all the things we have to do, especially as missionaries, and we feel like we have to be perfect at everything all at once. You don´t. I have been learning this. It is a step by step basis. Do your best and work diligently but dont push yourself harder than you are able. Man, aren´t the scriptures great? haha I think so.
Thanks for all the prayers love and support. Dad, the garden looks great! Parabens! I am glad everything is going well at home. I send a prayer your way every day! And thanks for the package! Any idea how long it will take to get here? I haven`t gotten your letter yet because I haven´t gotten mail since my first day here. Probably this week though. I hope. Love you!
Tchau!
Sister Zeller
Our family that we have been teaching was baptized on Saturday night at 9pm. Yeah, pretty late for a baptism I know. It´s a long story. haha Oh what a day that was. A picture is included. So Fernanda, the wife, was coming back from another city a long ways away and she was supposed to get in at 5 30 and then the baptism would be at 8 because Sergio, the husband, worked until 7. So it´s 7 and sergio calls us and says that he doesnt know where Fernanda is and that she isnt back yet. Oh man I was freaking out. He said he was gonna catch the bus and head to the bus station to find her. We called a member to drive him but he had already got on the bus. We head to the church to get everything ready, we even made a cake. We were praying Fernanda would be found. Then around 7 50 or so Sergio finds Fernanda at the bus terminal. Problem is, she is not feeling well because of the trip and hadn~´t eaten since the day before. They call and are wondering if they can postpone the baptism. Meanwhile people are showing up and we are smiling and inside freaking out a bit. Sister Dias talked to Fernanda on the phone to see if she really was just tired or if she was having doubts about the church. She said she doesn~´t have doubts and what a relief that was. Fernanda decided she was willing to make the sacrifice and so she went home, had a snack and came to the church with Sergio (sergio has such a strong testimony already its amazing). It didnt happen until 9 and we were out a little past curfew that night but tudo bem (what rebel missionaries we are). The baptism was amazing. I felt the spirit so strong. Even more amazing was the confirmation. What a precious gift the Lord has given us. The constant companionship of the holy ghost. THis gospel will bless their family so much. Their two little girls are so precious. What a humbling experience that was. Sometimes a mission is pretty hard and people dont want to listen. We talked about this in our companionship study today. We talk to so many people every day and such a small portion of them are willing to change and accept the Gospel. But there IS a small portion that are ready and waiting. We just have to sift through a TON of people to find them. That is missionary work. Trying your hardest to find those people and trusting that the Lord will guide you. Because he will. I will never forget this family and all the things that they taught me. They are going to be amazing members. Their 3 year old was kind of a handful on sunday during sacrament meeting. oh boy oh boy. Mom, do you think supernanny will come to Brazil??? She is needed. haha
We also had zone conference this week. It was great. Just the spiritual upliftment that I needed. OH yeah, one question, why has no one sent me pictures of stefs wedding yet??? Yes, I´m talkin to you. haha get on it.
This week has been rain rain and more rain. We were going to walk to mcdonalds here for lunch (my companion LOVES it and it is like a super expensive treat here. haha) but the chuva is getting in the way of our dreams. too bad.
I thought you should know I bought some nail polish last week and painted my nails. It was amazing. Trash hole, get this, I didn´t even mess them up!!!! Probably cause I am a missionary. haha
I am started to forget english words. Its weird. I was trying to remember the word cardigan and it WOULD NOT come to me. I kept thinking about macey and her cardigans and it was driving me crazy that i couldnt think of the word. My companion thought it was hilarious.
One last funny story, on our way to zone conference as we were waiting at the bust terminal with the other two sisters that live with us a man came up to me and sister Brinkerhoff (the other american) and was telling us all these things. He said nail polish was of the devil. I held up my hand and said, you mean this? haha he was like yeah yeah the devil the devil. It was really hard not to laugh but I managed pretty well. Oh man.
I read a scripture during personal study today that I really needed to hear. It was in Doctrine and Covenants and it said not to run faster than you have strength but to work diligently. Sometimes in life I think we get so overwhelmed by all the things we have to do, especially as missionaries, and we feel like we have to be perfect at everything all at once. You don´t. I have been learning this. It is a step by step basis. Do your best and work diligently but dont push yourself harder than you are able. Man, aren´t the scriptures great? haha I think so.
Thanks for all the prayers love and support. Dad, the garden looks great! Parabens! I am glad everything is going well at home. I send a prayer your way every day! And thanks for the package! Any idea how long it will take to get here? I haven`t gotten your letter yet because I haven´t gotten mail since my first day here. Probably this week though. I hope. Love you!
Tchau!
Sister Zeller
Monday, May 7, 2012
7 May 2012
Wow. It seems like every week goes by faster than the last. This week
FLEW by. It has been crazy rainy all week but still not very cold. The
weather here is so MOODY. Rain rain rain then hot hot hot sun then rain
rain rain. You get the picture.
Because of the rain there are huge puddles of water everywhere. Sister Dias and I have been playing the game ``walk really fast by the puddles so cars don't soak you with water.´´ I lost. A couple times. Pois e.
So Tuesday there were no people anywhere. It is was a holiday here. A holiday celebrating work so logically everything was closed and nobody worked. haha
I have been talking more and more and getting more and more comfortable with the language. It is weird that sometimes you can understand everything someone says but the next person you understand absolutely nothing. haha oh man. good times.
We all bought hamburgers the other night and it was sooo good. it had corn and peas and these little potato chip things on them. it was different, but good. (rach and marth, ya catch that?)
We are teaching this awesome family. They are very young and have the most beautiful little girls. They came to church last week and they loved it. The father, serjio, worked until 8am on Sunday but they STILL came to church at 9am. And it was pouring down rain. But they came. We prayed so hard that they would come and they did and I was just giddy when they came and sat down for sacrament meeting.
We had a cool experience this week I want to share. We were studying a chapter in Preach my gospel about finding people to teach and it discussed old investigators. I had a feeling we should take a couple minutes and look through the area book to see if there was anyone we should try and contact. We chose a couple people to find that day.
As the day was winding down we stopped by one old investigator's apartment. When we talked to him he was so happy to see us and said he knows the church is true and everything is true and Sister Dias invited him to be baptized and he said yes. Pretty cool. so we are working with him to get him ready for that. It was a cool experience and helps me remember how essential it is to always follow the promptings of the spirit.
Thanks for all the emails. Mom, the cheese was from the Briggs. I gave them our address before I left because Brother Briggs really wanted you and dad to taste some REAL cheese. He thinks the Tillamook cheese factory is a hoax. We had a discussion about it. I will get you their address. We also got to attend a baptism this week of two children in the ward. It was supposed to start at 7 so we got there a couple minutes early.... it started around 7:50. ha ha that is Brazil for ya. i love it. I am excited to Skype next sunday!!! Sister Dias says `skypie´ . so funny. I love you all!
Also yesterday after church we were waiting for someone on the sidewalk and these little girls came by so we talked to them for a bit and they were all touching my hair and telling me to speak English. its pretty funny because some things i said in Portuguese i think they thought it was English. haha I've got some work to do i guess. haha
Tchau! Até mais!
Sister Zeller
Because of the rain there are huge puddles of water everywhere. Sister Dias and I have been playing the game ``walk really fast by the puddles so cars don't soak you with water.´´ I lost. A couple times. Pois e.
So Tuesday there were no people anywhere. It is was a holiday here. A holiday celebrating work so logically everything was closed and nobody worked. haha
I have been talking more and more and getting more and more comfortable with the language. It is weird that sometimes you can understand everything someone says but the next person you understand absolutely nothing. haha oh man. good times.
We all bought hamburgers the other night and it was sooo good. it had corn and peas and these little potato chip things on them. it was different, but good. (rach and marth, ya catch that?)
We are teaching this awesome family. They are very young and have the most beautiful little girls. They came to church last week and they loved it. The father, serjio, worked until 8am on Sunday but they STILL came to church at 9am. And it was pouring down rain. But they came. We prayed so hard that they would come and they did and I was just giddy when they came and sat down for sacrament meeting.
We had a cool experience this week I want to share. We were studying a chapter in Preach my gospel about finding people to teach and it discussed old investigators. I had a feeling we should take a couple minutes and look through the area book to see if there was anyone we should try and contact. We chose a couple people to find that day.
As the day was winding down we stopped by one old investigator's apartment. When we talked to him he was so happy to see us and said he knows the church is true and everything is true and Sister Dias invited him to be baptized and he said yes. Pretty cool. so we are working with him to get him ready for that. It was a cool experience and helps me remember how essential it is to always follow the promptings of the spirit.
Thanks for all the emails. Mom, the cheese was from the Briggs. I gave them our address before I left because Brother Briggs really wanted you and dad to taste some REAL cheese. He thinks the Tillamook cheese factory is a hoax. We had a discussion about it. I will get you their address. We also got to attend a baptism this week of two children in the ward. It was supposed to start at 7 so we got there a couple minutes early.... it started around 7:50. ha ha that is Brazil for ya. i love it. I am excited to Skype next sunday!!! Sister Dias says `skypie´ . so funny. I love you all!
Also yesterday after church we were waiting for someone on the sidewalk and these little girls came by so we talked to them for a bit and they were all touching my hair and telling me to speak English. its pretty funny because some things i said in Portuguese i think they thought it was English. haha I've got some work to do i guess. haha
Tchau! Até mais!
Sister Zeller
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
30 April 2012
Oi Minha Familia! This week went by faster than any week in my entire
life. Seriously. I have a feeling this next year is going to fly by. Do
any of you know what today is? It´s my FIVE MONTH
mark. I know, I can´t believe it either. where has the time gone?
Anywhoo, this week was jam packed with awesome experiences. I think the highlight though was wednesday when we went to Vitoria and had a meeting with Elder Cooke. It was amazing.
It was cool to meet all of the other sisters in the mission too. There are 12 total and only 4 are american, including me. I was in the the third row and hearing Elder Cooke speak was so inspirational. sounds cheesy I know but it´s oh so true. The spirit was so strong.
Before the meeting started we all got to go up and shake hands with him and he thanked US for being there. No, Elder Cooke, thank YOU! It was awesome. He said SO many things that I desperately needed to hear.
He talked about truly trying to establish the church and be an instrument in the Lords hands. He also gave us an Apostolic blessing which had me in tears. It was so powerful and so special to me. A great experience all together.
So to get to the church in vitoria we took the bus. My first experience on the onibus (bus). It was similar to a ride at six flags except without the seatbelt. haha it was crazy. and hot. and crowded. and awesome. We rode it for about 40 minutes each way. Let me just say it was quite the arm workout trying to stay standing on that thing. One of the sisters said it reminded her of the bus in harry potter. you know, the crazy one with the jamaican head. i think. Anyways, it was a great experience.
The other day we had lunch with some members and they made PASTA. oh boy do i love pasta. The food here is soooo good. This week was very very hot and i already have a tan line where my watch is. haha yes mom, I wear sun screen. 100spf. Happy? We also had dinner for the first time, sort of. We stopped back at the apartment and I had some popcorn and sister dias had a yogurt. haha
So last monday was the only time i have really had culture shock. it was after we had emailed and we went to the supermarket. i walked in and couldn´t read any of the labels. i had a moment of panic and kind of freaked out in my head for a little while. but everything was fine. haha
So the Brazilian missionaries are supposed to try and learn english so I have been helping my companion learn words here and there. it´s pretty funny. she learned somewhere the phrase ´game over´and she says it all the time. haha especially when it doesn´t apply. it cracks me up. Probably the same way it cracks her up when i say anything in portuguese. haha but tudo bem. the portuguese is definitely coming along. speaking is harder than understanding though and i am working on that. that is where prayer really comes in.
Lately in the lessons sister dias has a habit of just stopping and looking at me until i start teaching. it is SO scary but i know its good for me. One really cool experience i had this week was when we were teaching our investigators serjio and fernanda. we had finished the lesson and sister dias asked me to mark a chapter for them to read for the next week.
I was taken by surprise and had no idea what to mark but then i thought of the typically missionary chapter and planned to mark it. as i was flipping to the chapter i was praying in my head for heavenly father to help me know what to mark. then a different chapter popped into my head and i marked that one instead.
Later that night when we were planning sister dias told me she was SO glad i marked the scripture i did because that was the exact one she was hoping and praying i would mark. How cool? The Spirit is so awesome and without it we wouldn´t be able to teach anyone.
Well, my friends, i don´t have much time. thanks for all the love and support and all the prayers. they really do help. Love you all! Tchau! Ate mais!
Sister Zeller
Also, if anyone feels like sending me a package (which you should, cause i´m totally worth it) the address is slightly different and you need this telephone number on the package. Also, when you have to mark on the package how much it is worth DO NOT put a large sum of money. 10 bucks tops. or they will charge me a bunch of taxes to get it. Thanks!
Sister Margarette Emily Zeller
Brazil Vitòria Mission
Avendia João Baptista Parra, 633
Salas 1501/1502
Edf. Enseada Office, Praia do Suá
29052-123 Vitória-ES
Phone: 55 27-3325-3703
Popcorn is always appreciated!
Anywhoo, this week was jam packed with awesome experiences. I think the highlight though was wednesday when we went to Vitoria and had a meeting with Elder Cooke. It was amazing.
It was cool to meet all of the other sisters in the mission too. There are 12 total and only 4 are american, including me. I was in the the third row and hearing Elder Cooke speak was so inspirational. sounds cheesy I know but it´s oh so true. The spirit was so strong.
Before the meeting started we all got to go up and shake hands with him and he thanked US for being there. No, Elder Cooke, thank YOU! It was awesome. He said SO many things that I desperately needed to hear.
He talked about truly trying to establish the church and be an instrument in the Lords hands. He also gave us an Apostolic blessing which had me in tears. It was so powerful and so special to me. A great experience all together.
So to get to the church in vitoria we took the bus. My first experience on the onibus (bus). It was similar to a ride at six flags except without the seatbelt. haha it was crazy. and hot. and crowded. and awesome. We rode it for about 40 minutes each way. Let me just say it was quite the arm workout trying to stay standing on that thing. One of the sisters said it reminded her of the bus in harry potter. you know, the crazy one with the jamaican head. i think. Anyways, it was a great experience.
The other day we had lunch with some members and they made PASTA. oh boy do i love pasta. The food here is soooo good. This week was very very hot and i already have a tan line where my watch is. haha yes mom, I wear sun screen. 100spf. Happy? We also had dinner for the first time, sort of. We stopped back at the apartment and I had some popcorn and sister dias had a yogurt. haha
So last monday was the only time i have really had culture shock. it was after we had emailed and we went to the supermarket. i walked in and couldn´t read any of the labels. i had a moment of panic and kind of freaked out in my head for a little while. but everything was fine. haha
So the Brazilian missionaries are supposed to try and learn english so I have been helping my companion learn words here and there. it´s pretty funny. she learned somewhere the phrase ´game over´and she says it all the time. haha especially when it doesn´t apply. it cracks me up. Probably the same way it cracks her up when i say anything in portuguese. haha but tudo bem. the portuguese is definitely coming along. speaking is harder than understanding though and i am working on that. that is where prayer really comes in.
Lately in the lessons sister dias has a habit of just stopping and looking at me until i start teaching. it is SO scary but i know its good for me. One really cool experience i had this week was when we were teaching our investigators serjio and fernanda. we had finished the lesson and sister dias asked me to mark a chapter for them to read for the next week.
I was taken by surprise and had no idea what to mark but then i thought of the typically missionary chapter and planned to mark it. as i was flipping to the chapter i was praying in my head for heavenly father to help me know what to mark. then a different chapter popped into my head and i marked that one instead.
Later that night when we were planning sister dias told me she was SO glad i marked the scripture i did because that was the exact one she was hoping and praying i would mark. How cool? The Spirit is so awesome and without it we wouldn´t be able to teach anyone.
Well, my friends, i don´t have much time. thanks for all the love and support and all the prayers. they really do help. Love you all! Tchau! Ate mais!
Sister Zeller
Also, if anyone feels like sending me a package (which you should, cause i´m totally worth it) the address is slightly different and you need this telephone number on the package. Also, when you have to mark on the package how much it is worth DO NOT put a large sum of money. 10 bucks tops. or they will charge me a bunch of taxes to get it. Thanks!
Sister Margarette Emily Zeller
Brazil Vitòria Mission
Avendia João Baptista Parra, 633
Salas 1501/1502
Edf. Enseada Office, Praia do Suá
29052-123 Vitória-ES
Phone: 55 27-3325-3703
Popcorn is always appreciated!
23 April 2012
write me!
so i dont really know how to use the keyboard here so this email is going to have a lot of grammar issues. i know, it bugs me too. haha but what can ya do? so on monday i hopped on a plane to detroit then from there i hopped on another plane, had a good nap on the plane that night and then arrived in sau paulo the next morning. let me just say, it is SO hot in that airport. and it was so crazy to hear everyone speaking portuguese at one million miles an hour. i flew from detriot to sau paulo with a missionary from the mtc. when we arrived in sau paulo there was a lady there to help us get to our next flight to vitoria. we went through customs and all that jazz and it was no biggie at all. we hopped on the flight to vitoria and oh man, i was so excited. it is SO beautiful and green here! i love it! when we got to the airport two missionaries took us in a van to the mission home. more like mission apartment. the mission president and his wife live in an apartment building right on the coast. the view is beautiful! we had the most delicious lunch with fresh fruit and meat and of course rice and beans. i have had rice and beans every day since i got here. good thing i love it so much. one funny thing, in the sau paulo airport i saw a white red headed brazilian. i thought it was funny. haha anyways. i love it here. it is definitely a huge change from wisconsin and the united states in general but i love it. we walk so much i feel like a pioneer. you know the primary song, they walked and walked and walked and... yeah. you get it. we walk a lot. it will be good though. i can already feel my leg muscles growing. oh and did i mention how hot it is? haha mom, the shoes are great, i love the crocs cause they dont give me blisters. i had about 5 blisters in the first two days. haha but its fine cause i love it. also, i got to meet that sister whose blog i was reading when i first got my call. she went home the day i got here but i got to meet her! so we teach a ton. all day every day. i mostly just bear my testimony at the end and do my best to follow the conversation. its crazy because i can understand more and more every day. thanks so much for all the prayers. they really are helping me. so just like i was waiting for my visa, they were waiting for me here. when i met the mission president and his wife they were like 'oh sister zeller, finally, we have all been wondering, when will sister zeller arrive?" she said it was kind of a joke in the mission. "where is sister zeller" my companions name is sister dias and yes she is brazilian. we live with two other sisters and one of them is american. sister dias was alone for the whole last transfer waiting for me. she didn~t have a companion. weird huh? so she loved me the minute i got here. haha she is so great though. we have a fun time trying to communicate. its pretty funny. she helps me with portuguese and i help her with english. my portuguese is coming along...... slowly. i said a prayer for lunch with members one day and after i finished their 4 year old said "i didn't understand, was she speaking english or something" hahaha so apparently my portuguese needs some work. but i haven~t even been here a week yet so i think i am okay for now. kids are funny. and the kids here are so darn cute! the food here is great! i love it so much. they also drink juice ALL the time. its a little bit hard because i love water so much. the water in this area isn't even bad. oh yeah, i will tell you about my area. so i am in gloria. it is kind of in the city. it is great and i love it. we talk to people on the street (well, sister dias talks to them while i nod my head and act like i understand) and they are so receptive... most of the time. haha the drivers here are crazy! i saw someone on a motorcycle get hit by a car yesterday. he was fine but it scared me so bad. mom, i got your dear elder that you sent the day i arrived here and caudle thank you for the birthday present! it was so great. and i got those two letters from jimmy. they were awesome and i read them in the airport. thanks jim. keep em comin. the other night we were walking down the street and this lady comes up and starts talking and talking to us about america and she keeps kissing my hands and saying how someday she will go to america and how she has visions about it. so ALL of the girls here want to serve missions. it is the coolest thing. they come with us to lessons and are so excited to serve. pretty much all the girls here have served or want to. how awesome is that? pretty darn. anyways, i will definitely get a bit skinnier here because we don't eat dinner really. haha my first day i was so hungry but i am getting used to it. we met this family the other night and gave them a book of mormon and asked them to read and pray. they were so receptive. we went back and the wife said she read and she loved it. we are going back tonight. i am so excited. they have the cutest little kids. yesterday was my first sunday in portuguese! i actually understood a lot of it because i can understand churchy words. the gospel is the same everywhere and it is so cool. the people here do the hug and kiss on the cheek thing and it is the BESHT! i love it. the people here just have so much love for everyone. i love it. i love being here. i love learning portuguese. it is definitely a challenge but i think because i had to wait so long i just love everything. even the hard things. which is good. Elder Cook is coming to speak to us on wednesday! its going to be awesome! i hope you all have a great week! I know that there is no way i could do this without my Savior right beside me. i know He has helped me so much and will continue to help me. i am so grateful for His sacrifice. the church is true. tchau!
sister zeller or "seester zellair" that is how they say my name. haha
stef, parabens and i am sure your wedding will be great! i love you!
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