“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”
Olá everybody!!
I have officially survived my first week of OCTM! (Online Center for Training Missionaries). I love being a missionary! It is SO fun, I really love my district, even though I think I talk too much haha. Anyways, how are you guys doing?? I am so happy it was snowing all day yesterday, and raining the day before, so there has been a lot of water! I guess I will just get right into a little rundown of this week.
Sunday: Christmas!
For those of you who don’t know, I got set apart Christmas morning! It was so amazing! I definitely was having some doubts about myself beforehand, but as soon as President Maia, my grandpa and my dad started setting me apart, I felt so so so peaceful and calm, and I know that everything will work out!
Monday: First day!!
We (my district) were all so quiet and awkward haha, especially during our workshop because we listen to it through a translator because none of us understand a lot of português. (Except maybe Elder Gomez, he speaks Spanish at home, so he gets a lot more than most of us). Irmã Jesus teased Elder Wall about his name, so we changed it to Elder Parade (which means wall haha).
Tuesday: Less awkward than Monday!
We had a couple lessons today by companionships, and it was fun! Since there are only three sisters in my district, we are a trio! Sister Womack and Sister Borrowman! Sis W is also from Utah! Actually, a lot of people are from Utah! Sis B is from Virginia, and she is super sweet! For one of the lessons, Elder Warren e Elder Garlick helped us with our português and we did mini word Olympics. It was so fun! Everybody had their mics on, so we were laughing and it was great!
Wednesday: Different from Mon & Tues
So this morning workshop was probably my favorite one. Guess why. We talked about Nutella! I guess you didn’t see that one coming haha. But seriously, all 60+ missionaries of us that are in those workshops, got told that we are Generation Nutella(português), Generation Crystal(Spanish), and Generation Z(inglês). It was so cool! What was said was something along the lines of, “You are gen Nutella because you bring flavor to the world. You are gen crystal because you are clear and transparent” I just think that that is so cool! Later that day, we had our first district meeting. It was amazing, we started out talking about a Christmas Devotional we watched with Elder Stevenson, and then we started talking about how excited we were to go to Brazil, and what our flights will be. (I think Elder Warren looked up where certain airlines fly to on the way to Brazil to see if there was a chance we all would fly together)
Anyways, there is no doubt that we are all super excited to serve the Lord!
Thursday & Friday kind of blended into one for me, so I don’t really know where to begin haha. I do know that Sis B and I taught an “investigator” yesterday in Portuguese, and considering how little Portuguese we know, it went really well I think!
Anyways, I hope that wasn’t too long of a read for you all, but I know that once this gets normal, I’ll send emails that make a little more sense haha.
I’ll end with a short testimony, and it will be in Portuguese, hopefully it makes sense
Eu sei que Jesus Cristo é o Filho de Deus, e Deus é nosso Pai Celestial. Nós somos Seus filhos. Em nome de Jesus Cristo, amém.
Love you all! Please email me/message me (facebook)!
Until next week,
Sister Shelley
