CHUVA! CHUVA!

Brazil is so weird. 

Brazil itself is great. I love Brazil. But serving a mission in Brazil is weird.

 

Everything is different. Days pass faster and sooo much slower at the same time. I don´t know how to describe it. I love it here. The people are fabulous. The food is great. I´ve got guaraná for yearrrrrrs here. This place is wonderful. I´m even more cut off from the rest of the world haha, but I adore everything about this place.

The craziness began a week ago after our p-day festivities (pretty sure the crazy things always happen Monday night...dunno why, but ALWAYS).. 

Então... We were walking...and walking...and walking.. and walking under a sketch bridge.. and crossing a street... and out of nowhere this middle aged man with flip flops and a suit jacket is running towards us yelling ´´IRMAS!......IRMAS!!!´´ (Sisters) and flailing his arms to get our attention. I was scared for my life. I kinda wanted to start running the other direction. But my comp? nope. Wait, sister! WAIT FOR WHAT? WE ARE GOING TO DIE. I DONT WANT TO WAIT. But we waited. The man caught up, caught his breath, and started talking. This is all happening in português, remember. I don´t have a clue. He starts going on and mentioned that he talked to some irmas from some other church yesterday and he thought we were them and i´m not sure if he wanted us to preach to him or preach WITH him but he had some motive behind talking to us and we gave him an invite to come to church on Sunday and he started this very animated prayer, and he was holding the invite in his hand, looking up at the sky, and walking in circles as he spoke (much like the Princess Bride...please guide this sword to the man with the mask-esque...impressive) and he´s praying to God to know if this is what he was meant to cross our path and if we´re telling the truth and all kinds of stuff. The prayer itself was very sincere. It lasted a solid 10 minutes, but it was great. We stood there and when he threw in an ´´amen´´ we shook his hand and went on our way. He didn´t come to church and im not actually sure that we´ll ever see him again, but its cool.

we went to visit this rockin awesome family the other day (they live in a sketchy sketch bairro.. drugs by the truck load, but almost everyone we´re working with lives there so... eh. it happens.) we were just arriving and some man starts screaming and running down the road ´´CHUUUUVA! CHUUUUUVVAAAA!´´ ...Chuva meaning RAIN. Sister Novoa and I looked up to the overcast (but rainless) sky, looked at each other and thought ´´´hmmmmm eu acho que não... Don´t think so.´´ No rain. Turns out ´´chuva´´ is code word for ´POLICE. THE POLICE ARE COMING. HIDE THE MONEY. HIDE THE DRUGS. IF YOU´RE ON DRUGS, HIDE.´´ Everyone is going crazy and running and shutting doors and this woman is running and dancing in the street with this huge branch in hand, some guy is busting it to the mercado, everyone is nuts. We see this police car come through and drive to the sketchy street...people were still going crazy and i dunno what happened but everything went silent and we decided to go inside before we got shot and talk about the gospel. 

I´m in Brasil, guys.

Earlier that day we taught Rillary and Ágata, and their friend Isadora came with them to a young women activity and we showed them the baptismal font and they loved it and they´re both hardcore feeling the spirit and we´re going to see if they want to be baptized next week...SUPER prepared family, love them all. This place is the best.

Wellllll I gotta go but I love yall a ton. Keep some letters coming down south por favor, i only get them like once every 6 weeks so it´s like CHRISTMAS every transfer.

Paz, gente.

Sister Morrill

Feliz Páscoa

HEY YALL

Ummm I don´t even know what to tell you about this week but there´s lots of excitement in Cali-Sac!............buuuuut I´ll see them next summer so it´s fine. Outta sight outta mind for a minute. But PS if you´re out there Brother Gosney and Walsh family HEY THERE, Tahoe prep is commencing NOW on this side of the world, getting the worst tanlines evaaaa in Brasil. It´s great.

This week is transfer week.. I´m staying here with Sister Novoa... IM PUMPED. Life is great here. My portugues is always bettering..... bettering? getting better. I can´t speak like an american anymore, it´s a problem. 

Oh Easter was Sunday. That was good. We got chocolate for dayyyyys and I make my companion eat all of it. Sister Pereira´s comp (roommates) had to go home last monday because of back probs, and Sister Pereira has been trio-ing it up with us all week, so it´s been a little weird and we haven´t worked as much in our own area since we have to work oficinas também, mas it´s all good. I´m  outta time but life is good and the language is better and im so stinking happy here.

I love yall.... until next week!

Sister Morrill

PS SISTER OSBORN... you´re right. Roberto Carlos. Fantastic. That´s all.

FORGET YOURSELF AND GET TO WORK

Hey yall :)

Life is good here.

Really good.

I love these people so much.

I just love this gospel and everything about my life.

The difficulties are NOTHING compared to the happiness the gospel brings. I am so lucky to be here. I can´t even tell you. I don´t get it, because I´m out here trying to help other people and what not and my family is thousands of miles away, but i feel like the MOST blessed person in the entire planet. I´m here serving the greatest people in the world. I´m learning the language. I´m beginning to understand what they´re saying to me. I don´t think I have half of the conveniences that I had in Florida or California, but I´m still happier and happier as my mission continues. I´ve felt God´s love for me and for these people stronger than I´ve felt in my whole life. I KNOW he wants these people to follow him. I KNOW he´s there picking them up when they fall, because I felt it when I arrived here. I feel it when I talk to our investigators or when we talk to people in the street. He loves them all SO MUCH. It´s incredible.

     I´ve learned so much this week. I was thinking about the advice from Gordon B Hinckley´s father when President Hinckley arrived to his mission. He was having the hardest time and didn´t feel like it was worth it, but his father sent him a letter with the message ´´FORGET YOURSELF AND GET TO WORK``.  I thought about that and also recieved an email from a friend who had essentially the same message for me haha... forget about Sac for now. I´ll get back there. Right now I´m in Brasil. I have a lot to do right NOW. People need me and here and I need them. This week i tried to forget myself. My mission isn´t for me. It´s to invite OTHERS to come unto Christ. I know that the happiness I´ve found is because I quit turning inward and I started looking outward. (If ya´ll have read or heard Character of Christ by Elder Bednar.. ya know)

Anyways that´s the basis of everything that happened this week. My companion is rockin. We´re finding lots of people to teach. The people we´re finding are legitimately interested and excited about it haha, NOT like California.

People are super pumped to talk to americans. They´re curious. They like differences. They love different cultures. They all love trying to speak inglês with me.... I love it too baha.

On Wednesday we were talking to people in the centro of our area. Sister Novoa tried to contact some lady and give her an invite to church and she just was NOT having it. We were all awkwardly walking the same direction and I decided not to let it go that easily.. I turn to her and ask ´´have you ever spoken to an american before?´´ and suddenly BOOM conversation and she told us about her experience with an american and asked what we´re doing and talked about the gospel in stuff....... ´MURICAH.

OKAY I GOTTA TELL YOU THIS ONE. Lost in translation. Needless to say I still don´t understand everything the Brasilians say but I´m trying to speak more and what not.. We were visiting this less active family. They´re hilarious. I think I´ve told ya about em before.. super fun. The dad calls me brasileirinha and nega (?)... he thinks I act/look more black and/or brasilian than they do.. (Russ, ya get me thurr). He´s a bit crazy but he cracks me up. ANYWAYS. He was talking about the color of people´s skin for whatever reason, and out of the blue he asks me if I had a boyfriend before the mission.... WELLLL being the gringo I am... didn´t catch the topic of conversation, and I thought he asked if I´ve always been so white or if I was tan pre-mish or something along those lines, so I proceeded to talk about going to the beach a lot and I don´t even remember what I said.. but what they UNDERSTOOD in português is ´´yeah... I´d go to the beach and get a new boy almost every day´´ or something along those lines.... i dunno. And everyone is just kind of awkwardly smiling at me wondering if I´m serious or not or if I´m that american.... and Sister Novoa just exclaims ´´UHHH I DON´T THINK SHE UNDERSTOOD YOUR QUESTION..´

The feelings in that room were about equal with the ´´I DONT DO HUGS´´ moment with the Walsh family (and brotha Gosney).

......Bem vindos à brasil, Sister Morrill.. YOU. ARE. A GRINGO.

Welllllll I´m out of time againnnn, but I love yall. Ate o próxima semana ;)

ATE LOGO,

Sister Morrill

Vou vencer!

HI FAMILY.

HI FRIENDS. 

HI STRANGERS. 

Whoever the heck ya are, HEY THERE.

This week was still punch you in the face, spit in your guaraná, rain on your parade, kick your trash.... difficult.. But it was FANTASTIC. 

Things are getting better. I´m understanding my companion better. We´re conversing. No raised voices this week We´ve actually laughed a ton. Comic relief is a MUST on the mission. For real. 

Even the night after I emailed last week was better. 

We worked, visited people, walked like five hundred miles (mmkay, not quite, but kudos if ya know that song), and came home and planned and I was pretty much exhausted. Sister Anjos (super cool, from São Paulo) snuck in our room and said she needed to talk to the two of us... she was super sketch and I was nervous baha, but we came out and they opened the kitchen door and all 5 sisters broke out in PARABÉNS PARA VOCÊ, na na na na na na na (Brasilian birthday song), and we ate ICE CREAM and I taught the brasileiras how to cat daddy and bernie and i´m going to teach them the Haka and they want me to make them american cookies (they don´t know i can´t cook to save my life.. we will be experimenting this week. They don´t need to know that) and basically they love americans and I adore them so it works out pretty well.. SO FUN.

The next day... I ATE CHICKEN GUTS. I GOT A PLATE FULL OF RICE AND BEANS AND CHICKEN GUTS FOR LUNCH. I AM A BRASILIAN. It´s official. After I finished the plate, irmão decided to scoop up ANOTHER plate of chicken guts because he didn´t think I had enough. AI DE MIM. NO IRMÃO, I HAD PLENTY. Mas... I ate it. It´s fine. Bem vindos a brasil, né?

Later we were walking around in this bairro and there´s this MASSIVE muddy puddle on the side fo the road... we walk and walk and I pass the puddle... then my companion reaches the puddle.. and falls into the puddle. I was terrified. I really wanted to laugh but I didn´t know if she had a sense of humor at this point and i was terrified that she was going to be LIVID. So she pulls herself up, tries to get out, and falls AGAIN.... Same puddle.. busted her knee. s o a k i n g wet. soaked. I decide to help her out this time. She stand up...... and she LAUGHS. Tender mercy. I laughed. It was fabulous. some people were watching the whole thing down the road.. eek. But we kept going. She looked up and there was a massive rainbow in the sky... Tender mercies all over the place. God´s watching, just telling us to keep on going, take a few more steps. try one more person. Talk to someone. Try again. Stand up and go until you think you can´t go anymore, and I´ll help you keep going. 

So we kept going... and found ourselves in the middle of a torrential DOWNPOUR. we were soaked almost instantly. Didn´t have umbrellas with us. No raincoat. Nothing. Just soaking wet. We met a less active member of the church in a little hair salon in the rain. God absolutely had a hand in that haha. She feels like she can´t come to church because she´s seperated from her husband. She´s one of the sweetest ladies i´ve ever met (there´s a lot of sweet people here). She tended to Sister Novoa´s bloody knee. She let us stay in the salon until the rain passed. Gave us a towel to dry off a bit. So sweet. 

We left..... it started raining again. we were soaked again. We went to the other side of town for an appointment. We got stood up.. ha. It´s dark. We decide to contact people on the street. Torrential downpour AGAIN. We just laughed. We laughed basically all day long. 

I think it was President Hinckley´s wife, said something along the lines of how things happen and you can choose to laugh or cry about it it, and I chose to laugh. I don´t remember all of it. But the first week there was crying. Everyone was miserable. This week, we laugh. We saw God´s tender mercies and miracles in our days, even when they were difficult. All these thing will be for our good, and will give us experience. Tudo bem. All is well. 

The brasilians found out I can beatbox..... I tried to teach them. My companion is determined. YOU HAVE NOT LIVED UNTIL YOU´VE LISTENED TO A FOREIGNER (yes i am the foreigner here, but what i mean is essentially someone who doesnt speak fluent english) TRY TO BEATBOX. Find an asian or a south american or german or something, and teach them to beat box. boots-and-cats-and-boots-and-cats. Life does not get better than this, people.

I can´t even count how many people have told me im going to marry a brasilian. I think it´s mostly because they want me to marry their sons. It´s fine. 

I hope general conference was rockin! I saw the very last session in english and it was exactly what I needed to hear, but the other 3 sessions were only portuguese and I didn´t understand a THING.

We´ve gotta go, but know I love yall and I´m thinkin of yall and what not :)

AMO VOCÊS. 

Até mais,

Sister Morrill

QUE HORROR

Hey yall.

Where do I even start? I don´t know. Last day in the MTC. I got a priesthood blessing the night before we all left. First blessing everrrr. Definitely needed it. Dont have time to tell ya bout it. Sorry. 

Next. 

First day in Florianopolis. Fabulous. Not even a little bit like the rest of the week, but we got to eat out with President and Sister Fernandes and Floripa is beautiful.

Day 2. 

I went out with some other sisters in an area a few hours away from floripa. it was cool. all the appointments cancelled. couldnt understand the brazilians but the sisters i were with were both americanas luckily. 

Day 3. 

Zone Conference. Didn´t understand A THING that President Fernandes said all day long. The magic of being in brazil wore off pretty quickly.

Day 4

I met my ´´Trainer´´, Sister Novoa. She´s 24. From Chile. Has a crazy accent. (Because president had to throw one more twist into my mission.. ha cool.) 3 hour bus ride to our area. We´re opening a new area in the middle of a transfer. Dont know anyone. don´t know anything. don´t know what they´re saying. I´ve been out longer than she has. it´s a blast. We got to our apartment..

Moldy mattress. Moldy wall. No actual bed. No furniture. We live with 4 other sisters (who are AWESOME) ... none of which speak english but it´s fine. 

Day 5. Saturday. Sábado.

Walked further than I´ve ever walked in my life. Physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausted. Sunburn... eek. Sunscreen is mega expensive here. Our area is LEGIT. We have a portion of São João ward and Oficinas ward. They´re hoping to make our area it´s own ward! It will start as a grupo, grow into a branch and hopefully spring into an overflowing ward of rockin brasilians. This is a crazy place to be. President definitely took advantage of having visa waiters that already have done work haha... this is a TASK. It´s all on us to take our area and the people in it and help it grow enough that they CAN split it. I´m excited and nervous and every other emotion under the sun. 

We got to see a baptism our first full day here :) Funny story: We were at the church wicked early to fill the baptismal font. I was just singin myself a happy little ENGLISH american song. Fact: Brasilians can NOT sing. Nope. The brazilians heard me. They asked if I knew a primary song in english. I didn´t know the lyrics. They threw a copy of the music at me. I´m sitting in the room and they´re starting the service and suddenly I find out that I´m singing for this girls baptism. EEK. WHAT?!  Sneaky brazilians, man. 

Day 6. Domingo.

Church. Holy cow the members are incredible. So fun. We were at church early this week... I was playing the piano before anyone was there. They have the ´´hymns made easy`` (português version) at the piano, which i can actually kind of play, so i was just playing my little heart out, and suddenly there are a swarm of brazilians around me. The bishop comes up and asks me to play the prelude music... Turns out Brazilians can´t play piano either. Compared to everyone else in the church at home I can´t play a THING, but these people were so excited about it. I have a feeling this won´t be the last time this happens...

Uhhh after church things got a lot harder again.

My companion and I were walking to an appointment and suddenly we´re flat out yelling at each other and it was the worst moment of my life. I never yell at anyone. It was better later and we had a killer comp inventory this morning to figure out how the junk we can work together, but this has been the hardest companionship of my mission, on top of everything else that comes with culture shock and inability to do a thinggggg. God´s testing me like nobody´s business, but I know it´s gotta get better eventually, so I´ll keep chuggin along. 

We didn´t get a p-day on monday because we ended up travelling on the onibus for 12 hours total because junk happened, but at least i got to email today!

We have an investigator with a baptismal date already... so cool! Brasil is incredible. This is so hard and I want nothing more than to be able to go home and see my family and not be soaking wet in the rain for all the appointments to fall through and i want to go back to SAC or home where I know people love me and I know what everyone is saying, but I can´t right now and someone needs me here and I need to find them and I´m sure as heck not going to find them sitting around dreaming about home. Soooooo I´ll just keep going and wait until the language clicks and me and my companion get along and everything is good again. I want to embrace this place so badly, to the point where I don´t want to come home in November (I absolutely will, but I want to love it here as much as I loved sac and as much as i love FL) I have to go and meet our ward mission leader, but i love you all so much.

Keep in touch :) Love love love yall.

Ate logo,

Sister Morrill

ps que horror is Sister Novoa´s catch phrase.. awful QUE HORROR BOO WHY  yeah mmkay gotta go.... peace yall