week 11

Week 10 Bore my testimony in Church yesterday.

Alright, so this week was a little crazy!! So it started out as any other week! Sister Coelho and I (she´s from Porto Alegre and her name is Lara) are teaching some great people! But we got a call on Terca-feira (Wednesday) that we will be doing a transfer for 2 days até sexta-feira (Friday). So that night I had to pack my stuff for 2 days to spend the next 2 days in Alecrine (idk how to spell that) with Sister Rios!! it´s about 20 minutes from my area, Natal. Being with sister Rios was awesome...she is so cool! She is from Guatemala but she knows English because she worked as a nanny in Baltimore (shout out to my family).   We get along GREAT!!! The next 2 days were a little rough though because I had to get accustomed to a new way of teaching with a new companion and with new people, but as always, every day has its ups and downs! I REALLY try to focus on being an example to others and having faith that everything will be okay... especially when I don´t teach very well or I don´t explain something in Portuguese very well, and I get frustrated! But it´s honestly so edifying when you know someone understands what you are teaching them and you can just see it in their eyes that they are understanding and accepting what you say!!  
Sometimes I feel like the Penguins in Madagascar when they say `´Just smile and wave boys, just smile and wave`´ haha.  Pretty much my life sometimes!!  So many people here say that I look like a doll!  And I also got proposed to this week by one of the youth playing soccer at the church for youth night.

 I want to talk about an experience that I had about faith!  Sister Coelho and I were walking back to our casa (house) and we were making contacts in the street and sister Coelho was on the phone with some elders and I was just walking without really thinking, but I turned onto this street that was the opposite direction to our house (I don’t know why, but I did). We were talking to some people and then, all of a sudden, we run into a guy named Wellyington! He has been taught by the missionaries before but he has a REAL problem with smoking and drinking!! We were talking to him and he said that he was about to go somewhere and drink (I think) and then, like a ray of light, we walked up to him and started talking to him!! I´m like woaahhh, serio...that just happened!! We taught him again on Saturday and we marked him for bautizmo the 18th and he went to church with us yesterday!! WAHHOOOOO. He smokes about 2 packs of cigarettes a day and drinks coffee and alcohol! But we helped him set goals to stop with smoking the cigarettes!! I have faith he can stop.  He just has to do his part!! Yesterday, getting people to go to church was a MAD HOUSE!!! No one was ready on time so we say alright we´ll come back in 10 minutes and you better be ready!! We had Wellyington and 4 little girls come with us, Julia and Julianna, Rabecca and Eduarda! All of them are friends and we are teaching their families!!  Families are so important!!! Missionary work is hard but it is so amazing to see the small miracles that happen everyday!! Have faith that heavenly Father has a plan for you and that he doesn´t give us a trial we can´t handle!!! Pray, have faith, and smile! :) 

LOVE,

Sister Talentino

PS:   I bore my testimony in church yesterday and people were like OH MY GOODNESS YOU HAVE ONLY BEEN HERE 3 WEEKS YOU SPEAK REALLY WELL!!! well sometimes I'm like ugh, no I don't but other times I feel blessed that I can carry a conversation sometimes!!
CHAU EU AMO VOCÊ

Transfers

P-Day Adventure

Week 9 The Conference Message for Me = Faith and the Spirit

Lunch with the sisters

Conference was amazing!! I was REALLY looking forward to it this week because this week was a little rough...I feel EVERY emotion EVERY day haha one minute I´m so happy and confident and feel like I can talk with everyone, then the next minute I’m down because I can't understand or I didn´t say something right!! I know it´s normal but I just keep smiling and trying to stay positive. To answer all your questions...No one came to conference that we invited.  I was disappointed because we put forth a lot of effort to get them to come and then boom, nothing! But then I think when we do something wrong or when we don´t use the Atonement in our life our Heavenly Father must think the same thing of us.  My apartment is pretty basic.  There is not much to talk about except there are ants EVERYWHERE!!!!!!  I hate it but oh well! My ala (ward) is small...I think it´s a branch, but I’ve only been one Sunday because of conference. We only have sister missionaries in our ward, Sister Coelho and I, my two roomies, Sister Morais and Sister Alarcon.  We have lunch every day at someone’s house or a family gives us money for lunch.  Our areas are so big we seriously have to walk FOR AGES to get to our lunch! For example, this week we walked about 1 hour and a half to get to lunch 2 days in a row...and let me just tell you that this is at 11-12 in the afternoon, the hottest part of the day, the sun rises around 4:30-5 and sets around 5:00 and IT IS HOT (I’m not complaining, I’m just painting the picture for everyone lol) and when we get there we´re sweating BULLETTs and we´re like Oi tudo bem...podemos ter agua..POR FAVOR!!!! (Translation: Everything is fine, can we have some water, please!) Haha.  It´s funny to look back on that, but sometimes I’m like, well. .this is it...here we go off to Never land for lunch haha!! The food is so good and I’m so hungry that I don´t even care!!  We only ride the bus if we have meetings in another area so we walk EVERYWHERE!! We cook ourselves and do our own laundry! We don´t have a dryer so we just hang up our clothes to dry. We are close to the beach, but I can´t see it... we´re not allowed to go onto the beach, but the sand dunes are so cool!!  Next week we´re taking a trail as a ward and we´re going to climb up to the dunes...I’m really excited for that haha!! Nothing too weird that I have to eat...it´s always variations of chicken, rice and beans...oh they have Açai here, with condensed milk!! SO GOOD!! It seems no one drinks water here. I mean they do, but mostly juice!! THE JUICE AND THE FRUIT HERE ARE SO GOOD!! A fruit that I have never even heard of before, that is so good, Caju, The mango here...oh my... yeah it´s great to be in Brazil!! Oh I had McDonalds this week and it was bittersweet because I was remembering good times at BYU with all my friends.  It´s way more expensive here! And they don´t even have a dollar menu! What a crime haha!!

okay so onto other stuff that happened this week...I´ve been really trying to focus on the spirit and that´s what I LOVED about the conference talks yesterday.  There were so many talks about Faith and the Spirit! I didn´t understand all of it because I listened to all the sessions in Portuguese, but I felt the spirit and I understood what I needed to hear!! Oh mom, you will be so proud, but I have been really into singing now! When I´m down I try to sing hymns that I know will lift my spirits up!!  This week we marked 4 baptism (ayyyeee). Rafael is a primo (cousin) of a recent convert Adreano and we have to try really hard to talk and share messages with him! We set a meta para ter seu batizmo (set a goal for his baptism) on the 17...I´m praying so hard for him!! Another is Eduarda, she is 11 and she is so sweet and her mom too, but she is a little more hesitant because her husband isn’t’ into listening to us! But yesterday we asked her to come to conference (she didn´t ;( ) but we invited her and her family to Family night tonight with a member and her husband Jose was all for it! I was like oh ayyee. let’s go. Answer to my prayers! Little steps in the right direction! The other baptism mark was with Joâo! Alright so he is I think 76 years old and he doesn’t have teeth and I can BARELY understand a word he says in our lessons, but we met his bisneto and her name is Monique!! She is so ready for the gospel in her life! So I have to go but just know to keep praying and have trust in the lord! Keep looking for the positive in things and KEEP SMILING!! LOVE YOU ALL.

Sister Talentino

It's  not a Cantaloupe - It's an avocado!

President Monson's Quote