July 31, 2017
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
Week 19- I'm ALIVE!
July 24, 2017
Hey everyone sorry again for not emailing you... I just thought I would let you know that I am alive and doing well here in Ceilândia! I don't have much time but I hope you all have a good week! Be safe, and let me know if any of you need anything (I know I am in another country). I LOVE YOU ALL VERY MUCH!!!
Love, Sister Menlove
P.S. Alma 34:32 - Remember why we are all here and what we need to be focused on. Once again I love you!
Week 16- I AM BEING TRANSFERRED! / ALREADY TRANSFERRED!
July 3, 2017
Hello everyone! I am sorry that I have not sent an email to you all for the past three weeks, but I have been pretty busy (A.K.A. lazy). Also the subject line is probably a little confusing because I started this email last week and then all of the sudden my district leader came running in to where we email and telling me that my bus for transfers leaves at 4:30, guess what time is was people. 4:11!? Like what the heck!!!! So yeah I had to run to our house call a taxi and jump on the bus. In the process of this I was bawling because I didn't want to leave Cristalina... But before I left Elder Glies and Elder Assis (Elders that were in my district) ran and got me one last milk shake (': All in all, it was honestly one of the most stressful 19 minutes of my life.
The past few weeks have been quite crazy though. Soooo we had a mission wide conference in Brasília because our mission president is going home. We got a new President this last Friday, President Cooper! I also have this weird mark on my arm that looks like a strange bruise, but it isn't and I have had it for 5 ish weeks. So I had to go to the flippin' hospital to get it checked out...? The hospital was super awesome because they told me what I 'have' but I didn't understand a single thing they said to me, so I just asked them if it was cancer or if it would kill me and they said no. Sooooo I am good! And last but not least I was transferred. I am now in a city called Ceilandia (3) and it is way different than Cristalina. WAY DIFFERENT. This is an actually chapel and it is huge and this is like a city not just a small town. This area has been closed off to Sister missionaries for two years sooo my companion and I, know nothing about the area... (': We are literally just going crazy and talking to everyone. My companion is Sister Guzmán, she is from Peru and has 5 months on the mission. We are both just babies on the mission and both of us are not Brazilian sooo as you can all imagine we are both just going with the flow trying to learn Portuguese! hahahaha!
Anyways, I hope you all have a fantastic week and that you can understand this email! I love you all!!!
Love, Sister Menlove
Week 12- Hoje é o dia noventa!
June 5, 2017
This week was not super eventful so sorryyyy! We had a lot of meetings fall through and people just did not want to listen to us. Instead we just tried to talk with people in the ward and less active members which was good. Our Zone Leaders came to check up on our 12 week training and while they were here we bought stuff too make hamburgers and stuff. Guys it was like an American hamburger BUT better!!! How is that even possible. Normally hamburgers here are super thin and boring but I cannot even think of the words to explain how good it was! We also had Stake Conference yesterday and we all had to wake up super early to drive 2 1/2 hours to get there, on a bus with our ward, but guess what. Our new investigator that we have only taught once came to it! Afterwards she told us that she wants to get baptized!! She is seriously amazing and she wants me to teach her English and in trade she will help me with Português! (': Anyways, that was pretty much my week.
But now I want to share with you this really good part from a talk. This talk was given at the MTC by Elder Cook and it is called "Qualifications For The Work". While I was reading it this part really stood out to me,
"Now someone might say, 'Well, Elder Cook, I would really like to have more faith.' How many of you would like more faith? (All raised their hands.) But how many of you, when you prayed this morning, prayed for more faith? (About twenty percent raised their hands.) That is interesting, isn't it? What happened to the other eighty percent? I guess the Lord would say, 'Do you really want more faith, or do you just say you do?' That's an iteresting question, isn't it? Because if you really want it, you've got to persist. You have to pray that the Lord will increase it for you every moment."
Now, remember, we need the Lord in every aspect of our lives. He will always be there for us and He will always be there to help us in times of need. I hope you all have an amazing week! I love you all!
Love, Sister Menlove
P.S. I don't have any pictures to send this week. Sorryyyy!
Week 11- New Companion!
May 29, 2017
This week was lit people. First of all I got my new companion, her name is Sister Reghin, she is Brazilian, 20 years old, has only been on the mission for five months, and she doesn't know English.... To say the least she learned A LOT of English this week and I learned A LOT of Português (': Anyways, she is seriously such a sweet Sister and she makes my bed for me sometimes when I am running late and she cleaned our bathroom really good today so I think I we will be getting along! HAHAHA!
So here is your funny story of the week about yours truly.. Everyday we have lunch at a members house so we were at this guys house eating. After we got done eating they wanted to see my pictures on my camera so I went to go and get it. Well in his house he has this like little step up from one room to another and I appearently forgot it because I tripped and fell straight onto my face. Afterwards I just laid there because I was just too embarrassed to get up. It was basically the worst. That day we also got very very very lost. Actually we got lost a lot this week... Sooo we didn't do a lot of teaching.
Yesterday I had to talk in church. And guess what? I took up a soild 13 minutes. Now guess how long it took for me to write it. A solid week. I had to write it first in English then after translate it. It was CRAZY. After church though we went to lunch at a members house and it was soooo good! Then we went out and did some proselyting for a couple of hours. Then afterwards came back to the members house and we ended up doing karaoke (I don't know how to spell it.) Anyways that was pretty much my week! I hope you all had a good week and that you will have an even better one this week. I love you all!!!
Love, Sister Menlove
P.S. Here are some photos! One of Sister Reghin and then the others are just places that are pretty and I like a lot.
Week 10-Welton!
May 22, 2017
Helllllooooo everyone! This week was really fun and crazy and weird all at the same time! First of all, my other investigator got baptized yesterday!!! His name is Welton, he is 17, and he is seriously so awesome! After he got baptized he bore his testimony and wow the spirit was just so strong there. Plus he is already talking about going on a mission!!! He is sooo cool! Also this week it rained/was super cold, I had to wear two jackets. It was raining so hard one day that we couldn't leave the house! On Thursday, my companions and I had a party with pizza and smores and oh my goodness it was AMAZING. My brazilian comp had never had smores before so she was loving it even more! Afterwards she wanted me and Sister Hillin (my american comp) to sing 'Be Still My Soul' for her in English while she recored it. Soooo we did, but it actually just ended up being us laughing for 10 mintues and somewhat singing. We were laughing at literally nothing too! Then the next day we made American cookies for our Enlgish class and since it was raining only two people showed up. -_- We ended up eating a lot of cookies that day... ANYWAYS, my mind is going blank and I feel like this is making no sense sooo I am going to end it now. I hope you all have a good week and that you are all being safe. I love you all!!!!Week 9- PRIMEIRO BATISMO!!!
May 15, 2017
OLÁ!! I hope everyone had an amazing week and an awesome Mother's Day. This week was my companions last week here in Cristalina, she actually left me last night for Brasília. This week I will be in a trio with the other sisters in the house until next week when I get my new companion. On the mission when you go home you "die" so this whole week she kinda took it a little to heart because we spent a lot of time running errands for her.... One day we literally just walked around town aimlessly and ended up in this one part of town with the Elders watching the sunset. What is that all about?! The sunset was pretty though hahaha!! (Oh also I bought these awesome pineapple flip flops and I LOVE THEM.) Later that night we had a funeral for Sister Alves, we had a bunch of scriptures around the house that talked about death and then we sang a song and were all dressed in black and she was bawling by the end! |
Oh and guess what everyone! Our investigator, Marina (she is 13 and we have been teaching her for the past three weeks) got baptized yesterday after church!!! She was super nervous though and since I don't know Português very well I couldn't really say anything to comfort her. It was super cool to be apart of that moment of her life though. AHHH it was just soooo awesome!! After she got batized our district got fed lunch and it was a BBQ (it was like I was at Tucanos)!!! After that we all got to Skype our families and that was also really good and super weird to see everyone!
Here is a quick quote that I want to share with you all, "Do you want to be happy? Forget yourself and get lost in this great cause. Lend your efforts to helping people.... Stand higher, lift those with feeble knees, hold up the arms of those that hang down. Live the gospel of Jesus Christ." If there is one thing that I have learned here, it is that we need to help others. When we help others they will have joy, their family will have joy, and you will have joy. Try to help people in every way, big or small. I hope had a good week last week and has an even better this week. I love you all!!!
Love, Sister MenloveHere is a quick quote that I want to share with you all, "Do you want to be happy? Forget yourself and get lost in this great cause. Lend your efforts to helping people.... Stand higher, lift those with feeble knees, hold up the arms of those that hang down. Live the gospel of Jesus Christ." If there is one thing that I have learned here, it is that we need to help others. When we help others they will have joy, their family will have joy, and you will have joy. Try to help people in every way, big or small. I hope had a good week last week and has an even better this week. I love you all!!!
Week 8- FELIZ 2 MESES PARA MIM!!
May 8, 2017
I have been on the mish for two months now, what is this!? This week has been another not so eventful week because me and my companion have been really sick and have stayed home in bed for the past four days. Just dying. Sooo that has been SUPER awesome! (': Oh the only other cool thing that happend this week is that we got to go to Brasília for a zone conference and while we were there we went to the mall, it was like I was in America. Oh my goodness, it was beautiful. I even got to eat McDonalds!!! BTW McDonalds here is wayyyyy more exspensive here... But hey it was American sooo yeah I had to do it! Anyways I hope you all have an amazing week. I love you all! Tchau! Tchau!Week 7- I have no idea what week it is...
May 1, 2017
OI!! This week was pretty lame so I am sorry in advance. I am going to start out by saying that I literally get sunburt every single day and I have a pretty narly tan line on my foot already (maybe I am just dirty though..)! This week we did not do so good with like actually going and teaching our investigators, either no one was home or we just didn't do it...? Super strange. On Wednesday we actually had a plan, but it rained.. A LOT. We got soaked and one of the members let us use her clothes and shoes to wear!! (': We looked ridiculous but people were whistling at us and trying to talk to us a lot more!? Friday was probably one of the most eventful days this week, we got to do some service for a member in the ward. My district literally just carried dirt in buckets from one place to another and now I feel like I am dying but it's okay becuase it was service, right? Also crazy thing that happend, I ate fish people (I HATE FISH.). And guess what?! I actually liked it!!! But we carried dirt literally all day. Fast forward to Sunday (because Saturday was not that eventful) we went to church and during the last meeting all the young women wanted to sit by me because they wanted to play with my hair so that was probably my favorite thing that happend this week! SOOOO yeah that was my week and I will be sending some pictures also!! I love you all and hope you have a great week.
P.S. Actually I will send pictures to my family right now and then hopefully they will just put them on my blog or something. I don't know!!
Week 6- First week in the field!
April 24, 2017
Oi!!!! Well I am proud to say that I made it through the first week in the field and it was not easy but I have learned sooooo much. I am in a city called Crystalline and it is such a cute little town. My companions name is Sister Alves and we have six people in our district, three Americans and three Brazilians. I don't really know how many investigators we have because I don't really know what is going on but I am pretty positive we have around eight? Our biggest concern right now is to help the members strengthen their testimonies, which I really like doing so we visit a lot of the members. Our ward can sometimes get up to 100 people so way different from back home. The first day was rough because I didn't understand anyone and when we got to our appartment it was a total wreck from the last Elders that lived there. We were up cleaning until 1 AM. -_- The next day I did a lot of sleeping and just kind of putting stuff away and blah blah blah. Oh so my companion and another sister here have been here for a while so they know the place and have investigators and all that. The first day we went and taught four people and when I say we I really mean Sister Alves! Everyone is super nice to me and try to teach me Português and oh my goodness, I LOVE THE MEMBERS. We have lunch with members everyday and they feed us so good and gee golly they are the best. There is a boy here named Alexandre and he is 17 years old who comes with us to help teach and he knows English really well so he is one of my favorite members. Anyways, we went to a less active members house and she gave me this tea stuff that was super good and now I drink it a lot. Then later that night we went to dinner with some members and ate a ton of pizza! On Friday we were supposed to meet with like five people but that didn't happen (I don't know why.... I am really confused here.) but instead of meeting with a bunch of people we kinda just walked around and invited people to church and talked with all the kids. The kids do not understand why I have no idea what they are saying so that is super funny but they love me anyways! LOL. There is one little girl here who is super crazy but when we were talking to her she just kept saying "Ela é muito legal!! Ela é muito legal!!" over and over again! Then she would would hug me and kiss my checks! (': So I taught her how to say some words in English like 'dog' and 'cat' and she just ran around saying that too. When we were getting ready to leave she brought out her Book of Mormon and had me write her a note in English! She was so cute! At the end of the day we went to a members house and had some dinner (top roman) and listened to music and talked so that was a pretty chill day. On Saturdays, we teach English to whoever wants to learn it and so we went to the chapel and waited for people to show up but no one ever did... Instead we just played the piano for two hours. Taught a few people invited some people to church. Then that night we went somewhere super far away and it was dark and raining too. To say the least I thought I was going to die. When we got to the investigators house though we were all wet and freezing and oh man it was rough. Sunday was my favorite though because we went and picked up some investigators to come to church (there was probably about 40 people at church) and then after church we went and had lunch and watched the Cokeville Miracle movie (in Português) and I bawled! Then at like 5 we went out and invited more people to come to church. After that we went back to the members house again and listened to music and played with their puppy. (We spend a lot of time at this members house FYI) So this email was all over the place and I apologize for that but my mind is going like 500 mph. All in all, this week was pretty good but I have learned a ton and had a lot of fun too! I hope all of you guys are doing good. Have a good week, I love you all!!! (:Week 5-Last week in the CTM!
April 12, 2017
Oi!! Família/Amigos today is my last P-day in the CTM!!! WAHOOO! And I am going out of this place with a bang, I have to speak in sacrament and teach RS... I think they are really out to get me here. Well actually Bishop just loves me a ton, because I am from Payson. Everytime we are talking and someone comes up to us he says, "Hey guess what? She is from Payson, Utah! How cool is that!?" It is so funny! Sunday should be fun though, also Sunday is Easter so even better!!
Last week after emailing you all our district went with our instructor Irmã Sierra to go and get Açaí. That stuff is soooo amazing, it is like an ice cream type thing and you can mix things in it. Wow, it is good. On Saturday, we got to go Proselyting again and this time was much better than the last time we got to go. This time I could have conversations with people and actually understand them and answer questions they had. One of the ladies we talked to took a selfie with us, she was just the sweetest! We also handed out eight out of the nine books we had, got rejected a couple times, got rained on, and we got yelled at but since I didn't understand those words (because I only know gospel words..) I just smiled and said, "Bom Dia! Eu sei que Deus ama você!!" then walked away! (: On Sunday, we had a devotional and Elder Grahl of the 2nd quorum of the seventy talked to us and he talked about the importance of sharing your testimony. In 3 Nephi 7:16-17 it talks about how (we) need to preach bodly and without fear to the people and the Lord will help us. Share your testimony!!! Whenever possible because you never know how much it can affect someone. Also on Tuesday, we had another devotional and we just watched a broadcast from May 6, 2014 from Elder Holland at the Provo MTC, and IT WAS SUPER GOOD. If you can go and watch it some time, I strongly advise it. It really makes you think about everything in life and how you can be better. Today was probably the craziest though. So we get into the bus to go to the temple and it starts pouring, no big deal though because we are in a bus, right? Wrong! The bus started leaking everywhere!!! By the time we were to the temple we were wet and tierd.. Then at the temple we found out that since there were more English speakers in the session than Portuguese they had to make all the Portuguese speakers wear the headphones instead of all of us English speakers!!! That was very nice for us! Sorry if that made no sense but I am just typing as fast as I can. When we were driving back to the CTM me and Elder White (Elder in my district) were people watching and at one point he says, "Sister Menlove look, it's your future husband!!" so I look and we started joking about this random 40 year old guy in a bus next to us and then guess what he did. He stuck his finger up his nose, then pulled it out, looked at it, and then he ATE HIS BOOGER!!!! We almost died of laughter. Anyways that was my week! You all will not be hearing from me until the 24th because that is when my next P-day is. I hope you all have a good week! I LOVE YOU!
Love, Sister Menlove
Week 4 - Tagalog or Portuguese?
April 5, 2017
Buhay pa ba kayo? Humihinga pa ba kayo? Assim espero!!!
This week I spent most of my time studying, reading, writing, and working hard on my TAGALOG....? Yeah, I am pretty sure I learned more Tagalog than Portuguese this week which will be super helpful in the field! (': My Portuguese is kind of at a stand still right now so hopefully I can push through that soon and start learning and REMEMBERING more. I mean don't get me wrong I am still learning but just muito muito muito slowly!
Anyways, Conference was SO SO SO good! I seriously just loved every single second of it. AND BRASÍLIA, BRASIL IS GETTING A TEMPLE!!!!! When President Monson announcced that I started screaming and jumping up and down and of course bawling! I know I won't be here when it is finished or anything but this is really just super awesome! I guess it also means that I will have to come right back after I get home to see it!! (; Seriously though Conference was amazing and I wish that I could watch it over and over and over again.
Ummmm so this week was pretty much the same other than Conference and learning Tagalog, sorry for it being so boring... Oh and I only have one more P-day here at the CTM!? Time is flying!! I hope you all have an awesome week and that you are all very safe! I love you all!!!
Love, Sister Menlove
P.S. Remember when the cafeteria people would not let me bring my cereal into the cafeteria? Well I out smarted the system. I poured some cereal in a cup and hid it in my skirt pocket and then brought it to a table far away from all of them. And guess what? It was the best breakfast I have had so far! (':
Week 3 - "OOOOOOO IM HALF WAY THERE!! OOOOOO LIVIN ON A PRAYER!!"
March 29, 2017
Ola família e amigos! Eu ama vocês! This weeks email is going to be super short and kinda boring.... sorry! so the food is starting to get really old because it's the same things over and over again. I sleep really well here... Well I used to but now we have some new roommates who are Brazilians so they do not speak any English and when they speak it is after 10:30 PM!? and they talk reallly loud!! they are super nice though and they hlep us with our Portugese when we help them with their English...
Anyways, last P-Day I got to go eat Ice cream and it was soooooo super good and I just want to eat it over and over again. Hopefully today I can go and eat it! Today we got to go to the São Paulo temple and I just wish that I could have taken you all there with me. Goodness it is pretty! There were a ton of people though so it took a really long time to do everything. I also got to do parent to child sealings, that was a really cool experience. It was also all in Portuguese. On Saturday, I got to go proselyting and each person got three Book of Mormons to give out to people so in my companionship we had nine total and guess what?! We gave all of them out to people! We also got five refferals. Everyone spoke soooo fast so it was really hard but really fun just being out there "talking" to people. The way I would get people to listen to me is basically just go up to the people with dogs and ask to pet them and what their dogs names and then I would be like "Hey I got this book for you. Read it. Give me your information." it happend just like that too. (;
HEY! HEY! HEY! One of my favorite weekends is coming up... GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!! YAY! I cannot wait to hear all the amazing messages from the Apostles! Go and watch it please and enjoy every minute of it!
I love you guys and miss you all so very much! Be safe. Tenha um bom dia!!!
Love, Sister Menlove
P.S. Here is a few words of inspiration from President Eyring: "Plead with the Lord to show you what to do and then DO IT." Tchau! Tchau! Much love from Brazil! (:
Week 2-500 flights of stairs!
March 22, 2017
Ola!!! This week was crazy fast and was a lot of work. I have been sick with a cold for 10/15 days that I have been here so that has made learning the language very hard. Also singing and walking up and down 500 flights of stairs is super difficult when you are sick. Just so you know. The language has been pretty hard, I can understand people a lot more than I can speak it so teaching lessons is really hard... The investigators say something and I just smile and so muito bommmmm!! (:
My frist P-day last week was super good because of the beautiful Campinas temple. We went there again this week and gee golly I just cannot get enough. When we got back from emailing we got to go on the streets and just explore and I tried to say Ola to everyone I saw and it was great. I went to the store and got some pringles and wheaties to eat for breakfast and the cafeteria people got mad at me and told me I couldn't bring them in there.... I cried. I am super emotional here. Like way more than at home. My district is great! I love them sooo much and I dont know what I would do without them. We all get along really well and it's like we are a family. Sundays are my favorite though because I dont have to think about portuguese or lessons and I can just take naps and go to church (': On Monday my district had an English fast. Yeah. It was super hard, BUT I am still alive and I did it!!!
In the devotional Sunday I liked this quote, "We were all born to help each other... Life ismuch happier when people are happy because of you." We all need to go out and help each other! Hlep each other love, help each other laugh, help each other find joy. Serve others. Love others. I love you all very much and hpe that you can all find the time to help one another and love one another. I hope you all have a great week. I love you guys!!!
Love, Sister Menlove
P.S. If you email me and I do not respond, I am not ignoring you I just do not have very much time! Also I am typing as fast as I can and not looking at the screen so if there is bad grammar or anything I am sorry!!!
Week 1-I made it through!
March 15, 2017
First off let me just tell you have BEAUTIFUL it is here. It's beautiful, too bad we are stuck in the CTM though. On my first day I didn't have any companions so I was completely lost, mentally and physically. This place isn't even that big sooo I don't know how that happend.... My companions (I am in a trio) Sister Francia and Sister Olayes, finally made it to the CTM at like 9:30 PM and I love them so much. They are from the Philippines and they were super excited to have an American companion! LOL! We get along really well and we all push each other to do better, I am super blessed. The Portuguese is umm tough... But I have learned a ton in such a little amount of time! I have taught four lessons in Portuguese which is crazy to me. Speaking Portuguese is a lot harded than understanding it for sure. Guys the gift of tongues is real, and I am so thankful for it. FOOD. I eat way to much of it. I literally have bread every single meal - for breakfast I have a sandwich and then I have rolls for both Lunch and dinner. No worries though I go up and down three flights of stairs 500 times a day. No joke because we forget our meal cards or a book or something that makes us have to go back up the stairs and get it. It sucks. I do not like stairs. Our time to go outside and do Physical Actives is probably one of my favorite things but on the first day I got in trouble for playing basketball with the Elders!? So me being me I tried to be positive and shake it off and do something else (really though I was just super upset so I sat there). After that time I started playing volleyball and guys I am pro and if you don't believe me just ask the Brazilians here. For some reason all the Brazilians that I play with think that I am super good at it! Also all my district played lightning and I beat them (7 Elders and 3 Sisters) soooo I am a baller too. Anyways I am running out of time and I didn't bring my journal so I can't remember much... I just want you all to know that I love you and I hope everything is well back at home.
Love, Sister Menlove
P.S. No pictures are allowed to be sent here in the CTM so you all have to wait six weeks for those. OH, and all the Brazilians LOVE LOVE LOVE that my name is Sister Menlove. I think it's hilarious. I love it here though and I probably won't be coming home for a while...
I made it to Brazil!
March 7, 2017
I am finally here, safe and sound! I have not brushed my teeth since yesterday. Oh, I am not a big fan of flying. I flew from SLC to Atlanta all by myself and then in Atlanta I found some missionaries!! WAHOO. You guys it is SOOOO pretty here and I don´t think I will ever come home... I am in a trio with Sister Francia and Sister Olayes, the only problem is they are not here... Oh well! Also it´s super humid so that´s weird and the CTM is like hidden... It was pretty sketchy. Also everyone here is super kind and they just want to help you with everything in the whole wide world. Well I don´t have much time but I want you to all know that I love you all so very much! You guys won´t be hearing from me until next Wednesday the 15th (Wednesday´s are my P-Days).
Love, Sister Menlove
P.S. I cannot wait to sleep in an actually bed, eat actually food, and brush my teeth!! (´:I love you all very much!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)