Sister Jazmyn Card: November 2013

Hey everyone!

Where did this week go? No, where did this month go? I cannot believe how quickly this time has gone. It blows my mind. This week was filled with so many things. It was a fast week, but SO many things happened, so be prepared for a super long email... Sorry (:

First things first... (Mom don't read this part...) Food poisioning... It happened. AH. Tuesday, I almost died. (Not really, don't panic!) I have no idea what I ate, but I felt so awful. Suuuper yucky. I was out for the day, but after a Priesthood blessing and a lot of prayer, I got back to work the next day. I was all sorts of worried, but the Elders made it seem like it was so not a big deal. It happens. Let's all just be grateful that it wasn't anything serious (:

This week it rained like crazy. And no, we never had our umbrellas. Thank you Heavenly Father for helping our future husbands be a lot more handsome and incredible. (Sister Missionary humor.) I was drenched 90% of the week this week, with rain or sweat. That was gross, sorry. But really! It is either pouring rain or a billion degrees. And a lot of people have tin roofs here, so the heat is amplified 50x. Gotta love it haha. Missionary life is so great.

The language is coming along so well. I was "senior companion" a few days this week and took control of our lessons. I actually cried in one of our lessons! Yay for understanding and speaking in Portuguese AND feeling the Spirit. Such a blessing (:

Our investigators... kind of blah right now. This area is pretty rough with baptizing. None of the missionaries have baptized this transfer yet. We are praying and working hard though. We have a lot of faith. These people are ready for the gospel, whether they know it or not! So there's not much to report there. We are meeting lots of new people and working with the members a lot. If we can get the members more involved, giving us referrals and people to teach, we know that things will move a lot faster here! We did have two investigators at church yesterday though (:

One thing I've got to say. I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR MY UGLY SHOES. If I didn't have comfy shoes, I would DIE here. We are walking aaaaaaall day long, and if I didn't have those shoes, I would be bawling all day. So, Alexander and Kennedy, even though you made fun of my ugly shoes so much, I am so grateful for them! So ha (;

I came across a quote this week that changed my perspective on why I am here from Neal A. Maxwell. So amazing:

"The same God that placed that star in a precise orbit milenia before it appeared over Bethlehem in celebration of the birth of the Babe has given at least equal attention to placement of each of us in precise human orbits so that we may, if we will, illuminate the landscape of our individual lives, so that our light may not only lead others but warm them as well."

The Lord knows exactly why each of us are here on this earth. He is such an incredible plan for each of us. We are all so interconnected for a reason. We can't let any opportunity pass us by. You never know who may need your smile, your "hello" or your kind word. I try to think of that every day while I am here. There are people who need ME and MY talents and abilities. I can't just be an observer. I have to share what I have - the gospel, my personality, my gifts. You never know who may need it.

I love you all. I love this work. I am so grateful to be serving a mission. I love it here. I am truly falling in love with everything that is happening here. I am becoming who I need to be and I am loving every minute of my mission. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. I am eternally grateful for all of you in my life. This week (even though we don't have Thanksgiving here...) I will be thinking of how grateful I am for all the people in my life. You are fabulous. Really. I love you all. Have a great week and a great Thanksgiving. Remember to be thankful for what is most important in your life (: I love you.

Sister Card

xoxo

Love her! (:

The pig that our investigators are planning on eating for Christmas. Lovely.

Hey everyone!

I honestly can't believe that I am writing another email home. This week flew by, of course. When I got here, I totally thought that time would be suuuuper slow because of how different things are here. However, it's just the opposite. Every day is like five seconds long. I have no idea how it goes by that quickly. But I am loving it. We had a great week! It seriously was perfect! Love it.

So first things first, guess what I did this week? I sang for the missionaries in my district! AH. I am pretty proud of myself, because I never ever sing for real in front of people, but I did it this week. Yay (: All of you should be proud that I am getting over my fears! I am learning SO many new things as a missionary, things that I never thought I would do on a mission. But I am proud of myself, so I had to share that (:

Things are going so well here. My Portuguese is getting so much better. The people that we are talking to are stunned that I have only been here two full weeks. I know that is entirely due to the help of the Lord because I haven't been studying Portuguese for like six months! It is amazing that He is helping me out so much. I am so grateful for all that help I receive every single day. I am teaching a lot in our lessons now, and I am so grateful for that. Everything is going so well (:

This week was great. We had a few activities that were INCREDIBLE for mission work. We had this big couples dinner where everyone dressed up and invited non-members. It was entirely centered on mission work and there were SO many people there. We got a ton of references and we are SO excited to get working with them. It was seriously like a great big party. Yeah, I went to a party as a missionary. We were allowed to be out until midnight. How weird is that? But it was so fun. We had super yummy food and dancing afterwards. There were a few young men that wanted to dance... HAHA SO AWKWARD. "No. I can't dance with you! I AM A MISSIONARY." I am going to be the most awkward person in the world when I get home. Lovely.

Speaking of... The Elders here have this genius idea of "flirt to convert" or something. Not kidding. For some reason, they keep giving us names of young men to teach. They are all like 15 or 16 and they are NOT interested in the gospel. They are interested, however, in Sister Missionaries... IT IS THE WORST. We do have a few of them who are progressing though, so we will keep praying hahaha.

We also had a baby shower for a less active named Francielle in the ward here. She is so dang cute. There were a ton of non-members there as well, so we got even more names to teach. The baby shower was almost exactly the same as ones in the US. Who knew? I loved it though. So much fun.

I love the people here. Every time I say that I am from the US, they think it is the greatest thing in the world. I have to tell them all about it. How cute are they? They all tell me that one day they are going to go there too. Love it. These people are so friendly here. With everything. I love them all so much. SO much. I can't express how much love I have for these people. The culture is already becoming a huge part of me. I know that this is exactly where I need to be. So perfect.

Everything is going so well. SO well. We have been working with Mauricio and Mara, a couple who is FABULOUS. They need to get married before they get baptized, but they are doing GREAT. I love them so much. They have a 12 year old daughter, Mayra, and a 5 year old son, Alvaro. They came to church yesterday and it was perfect. Everything was exactly what they needed to hear. So hopefully we will be having a wedding and baptisms soon! They are so great (:

I am super excited for another great week here. Everything is lovely. I love being here, far too much. I keep praying for you all and I hope that you have a great week. I have no idea if my letters are getting to the US, but I sent a bunch out... We will see haha. The mail system is sketchhhhh. Pray (: I love you all. I love my mission. I know this church is true. Without a doubt. I am so grateful to be here, serving my Heavenly Father. It is the greatest blessing in the world.

Have a beautiful week.

Sister Card

xoxo

1. What is your apartment like? Two story house with white tile EVERYWHERE. Very blehhhhh. But we deal with it and try to make it as cutesie as we can. No air conditioning at all. We have hot water though, so that's great (: I will send pictures!

2. What is Sao Gabriel like? São Gabriel isn't too big. Everyone knows everyone, which makes it great for teaching, since everyone knows members. There is a Centro with a lot of stores - farmacias and clothing stores and mercados.

3. Who are the other missionaries in your district? Elder Shepherd from Utah (Viewmont High School). Elder Dias from Brazil. Elder Christensen from Provo, Utah (Mountainview High School). Elder Bravo from Chile. Sister King from Washington. Sister Robinson from Utah (Riverton High School). We have a great district! I love them all a lot!

4. How big is your ward? We aren't in a ward. We have a branch with about 70 members... We are trying to reactivate a ton of less-actives, since we have a TON and should have a ward... We will have a ward soon (:

5. How many missionaries are assigned to the ward? The other Sisters are in our branch and the four Elders are in the other branch, so four missionaries in each branch!