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!