My last few days with Sister Brinkmeier went okay and for a second there I was sad to leave her because we were okay again but after 24 hours of having a new companion, I never even wanted to look back. Things with her were so hard. But I'm grateful for the things I learned. She is lowkey ignoring me and has said all of two words to me since transfers but I kind of anticipated that. It makes me sad but I'll just try harder to talk with her even though we aren't together 24/7.
Anyway, my new companion is SISTER SAFUAN!!!!!!! She is the kindest soul I have ever met. Seriously. I feel like I have had a lot of super nice companions. Both my trainer and trainee were some of the sweetest people I have ever met and Sister Safuan is right up there with them. She is from Brazil, from Sao Paulo. She lives an hour away from the city in a coastal city called Santos. She showed me pictures and it is BEAUTIFUL. I am for sure going to visit her and she is going to teach me how to surf. So, she speaks Portuguese but also Spanish because her mom is from Paraguay so she has both flags. We teach a lot of people in those languages. I already understand a lot of Spanish because of Sister Costilla and Portuguese isn't too different but it is at the same time. She has already taught me some phrases so watch out world I am going to be fluent!!!
Sister Safuan likes to serve me. I have never had a companion that does that! Usually, I am the one making breakfast or dinner or making the bed or doing the dishes but now she is the one that is making me breakfast and offering to do my dishes and everything! I am kind of in shock! I serve her too, don't worry, but it was just weird to have that because I had never really had it before. Sister Safuan is also a super, super good missionary. I have learned so much from her in just a few short days. Mostly, I have learned how to use the areabook app better because she is really good at that. Even though the square has been dead and the queue (that'll all change tonight though) I feel so busy! We fill our day with really meaningful activities and because she speaks Spanish there are always Spanish people on the square so we are just running around and teaching everyone and talking with everyone. When we do comp study, we recite the first vision in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and German. What a good time. So basically, we are working a lot but still have a lot of fun.
Here are some highlights that we have had in the past week or so. Yesterday, we had AH (assembly hall) for thirty minutes before they shut the square down for Thanksgiving. We were in there and we thought that it would be pretty dead because it was a holiday. BOY were we wrong. We ended up teaching three lessons in there in just 30 minutes! I got to talk to these two Chinese people and they were so cute. They went to school in Cali but were traveling for the break and I started to explain the building to them. I knew that they probably didn't know too much about God and Christ because they were from China so I explained to them who they are and then asked them if they had heard of prayer. They hadn't. So, I got the Chinese restoration pamphlets and they taught them how to pray in English while they followed along in Chinese. They gave me their phone number and they said that they would pray that night and I told them that I would text them to see how it went. It was so special parents! We are seriously so blessed to know who God is and who Christ is. These people had no idea and there are countless others like them. They can't hear about it where they are from so I am grateful that they can come to a tourist attraction and learn who God is, how He loves them, and that they can speak to Him. Having a lot of sisters that I serve with that are from China, I knew that but I don't think it hit me until I had to teach people firsthand about it.
We had some good luck teaching online this week, even with the English people. We met this one guy named Ricky and he likes to say words such as groovy, amen, hallelujah, and he calls me Sister Christian. He requested a Bible and we talked about the Book of Mormon on our first phone call as well and he said he would get a copy of that too. I warned Sister Safuan when we were calling him for our return appt. that it would be crazy. It indeed was because he might be a little crazy but it is also really fun talking to him. We called his locals and they said that was normal for the area though so I guess we can't be too concerned. We got to read the Bible and the Book of Mormon with him when we called him back and he is looking rather promising! He said that he "would be happy to wait with us Mormon-folks for Jesus to come again. Amen". What a guy. Our favorite person ever Apollo is still going great! He is super sweet but he was a little sad this week because August (Sister Brinkmeier) had to go. But, he was really excited to meet Laura (Sister Safuan). We had a good lesson with him but he still hasn't gone to church. The sisters asked us to really stress that and see what was keeping him from going and he just doesn't think that he has time because he is in nursing school and he has a lot of work to do. That is hard because you don't want to seem like his life isn't important. But we got him to commit to going to the first hour of church at least and we promised him that the rest of his life would improve and he would understand what he was learning in school more and he would do better in his studies as he put God first and went to church. It honestly is about the same time commitment as calling with us and talking and texting throughout the week. We hope that he will take that invitation to heart and go to church so he can be baptized before the end of this transfer. We are also teaching this lady from Brazil, her name is Kathleen. She is about our age and she has a friend who is a member of the church. She loves everything about the Book of Mormon. We called her this week and read with her and the spirit was there when we were reading with her about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and when He came to the Americas. She liked how it was similar to the Bible and she likes how when she was humble and drew near to God, that she would be able to draw near to Him too. Sister Safuan was really good about translating for me so I could participate. I think that it is pretty cool that when you have a companion from a different country that speaks a different language, you can teach people from there too! Now I can say that I have been able to teach people from all over Central and South America about the gospel. Now that is pretty neat.
Thanksgiving was yesterday and that was good! We went with the Swasey's which was only a little bit scary. We were supposed to only have dinner with their family but we ended up going to Sister Swasey's parent's house and having dinner with like 50 people. Half of them were not members and some were slightly antagonistic toward the church but the good news was that everyone was very kind to us, even if they had left the church. This one lady got a little vocal about how the church would never admit it, but they only send the pretty ones to Temple Square and we were disagreeing and Sister Swasey said that you told her "There are plenty of ugly girls at Temple Square" or something along those lines and I was dead and so was Sister Safuan. Matthew Porrit was there too! It was weird because I didn't even recognize him at first he looked so different. He commented on how I grew out the pixie and was like "Wow, I can't believe people still remember that" and that was cool. It was a little weird to be there as a missionary because these were people that I knew but I wasn't in the same position that I knew them in. I don't know if that makes sense, but it was just a little strange because it felt weird to be there as a missionary. I don't know if that makes sense but there you go. We also got to see Maddy! She was at Carson's parent's house for dinner and the long weekend so we stopped by for five minutes and said hey and everything and mom, she is just so happy. I don't think that I have ever seen her this happy as she is with Carson. It is the cutest thing. She is going to Gram and Grandpa's the weekend for pie with him and they are like a legit couple. It's weird. Also, she said that she would have bridesmaids at her wedding, but she didn't know if she would have a maid of honor and I was like WHAT DO YOU MEAN I AM STANDING RIGHT HERE and she said well yeah, of course, you but you'll still be on a mission and the whole point of a maid of honor is to have her help you get ready and then help with the wedding and the reception and because I'm a missionary I couldn't do that. She then said that it is just better not to have one if I can't be it and just have bridesmaids. It is all clear now. But yeah, she said that she doesn't know when he will ask but I hope soon. They might come to see the lights before she flies home for Christmas so I hope that he will just do it there.
I am a District Leader with Sister Safuan this transfer and the district is super good! It is a little sad to say bye to my old district because we all got super close. Sister Do, my cute Korean friend who was in our district always gets so excited to see me now and gives me a hug. She even wrote me this cute sweet little note that talked about how she was grateful for me and a bunch of things that she liked about me. I loved it and I love her. Change is good though! Now, I can make close friendships with all of these new sisters and that will be great! We have another German sister in the district that I have been friends with and she is hilarious. We also have kind of a problem sister who is on her last chance before she gets sent home but she has a really strong companion that likes to work so we are hoping that they just work well and her comp helps her. We had District Council and it went well! This transfer, we are focusing on being virtuous women. We have five main focuses to help us become more virtuous:
1)studies
2)prayer and repentance
3)language
4)service
5)diligence
We are going to focus on one a week! We are going to send the district talks or scriptures to study all week in preparation for District Council because we are trying to make them a place for more inspiration and revelation to take place. If you have any suggestions on talks or scriptures, I would love to hear them!!!
I think that is all that I have for you. I am only slightly envious that you are in Ireland without me but don't worry, I will survive. Also, it snowed here in Salt Lake City and I have started to wear tights even though they are the bane of my existence. My legs will now be pasty and pale for the next six months. I love you!! And I miss you!!! Love you again!
Love
Em
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