Sister Smith: Week 35!

18 Weeks in Caldas Novas!

Week 35—March 21, 2016

I am staying here in Caldas Novas for the 3rd transfer!!! Woot woot! With Sister Kendell...she´s American people, so we can hang out after our mission (: For all of you that don’t know, we only speak Portuguese to each other! We have to practice Portuguese so we don’t speak any English. The only time we speak English to each other is if we don’t know a word in Portuguese. Elder Contreras (from Chile) and Elder Yanqui (from Peru) have never heard of a district staying together for 3 transfers and not having just one person leave. Heavenly Father has great confidence in us to keep us here for this long. This doesn’t happen very often! In our mission there are only 6 American sisters and the rest are Brazilians or Hispanics. I think there are about 35 sisters and about 150 Elders. I feel honored to be serving here in Goiania. I love Sister Kendell, she is so awesome and super smart! We have so many things planned for after the mission. We have a bucket list together.(: We have decided we will only talk in Portuguese when we are together after our missions. The elders are great, they like to learn English and they like to tease….especially Sister Smith! They think I’m super funny and a dumb blonde...idk why? Elder Contrerars and I are either laughing and joking or arguing. haha Oh, the love between us and the Elders. They are like brothers to me. It’s kind of weird having brothers your same age who speaking a different language.(; No, I love the Elders and they will be awesome future leaders of the church!

This week was extremely slow and a little hard for me. I have really been leaning on the atonement and how I can become a better missionary and instrument in the Lord’s hands. I have been thinking so much about our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ, (I talked about this a couple weeks ago) how they are not just Gods, but they are individuals with personalities. They like to laugh, they are funny, loving, and they are so good. They are everything good in this world and more. I am so grateful for a God who has so much love for his children that he wants us to become just like him and make worlds and have success. I am so grateful for a Savior that is so real. I have seen his hand teaching, and guiding me everyday on my mission. I know he puts me in situations to help me grow. He lets things happen to us for us to become better people. He won’t give us anything that we can’t handle. I have been put in awkward situations, situations where I can choose to get discouraged and sad, or be happy and look for the good in everything. When I am walking down the street and see for the 3rd time that week a dead rat in the road, I can choose to not freak out and overcome my fear (I’m still working on this one). When I smell really gross things, I can choose not to say anything. When my Portuguese isn’t as good as I would like it to be and someone gives me a correction, I can choose to take it and say thank you or get frustrated and discouraged and be sad. (I’m grateful for Elder Yanqui and his help...these Elders are so nice and always help me with my Portuguese.) I’m not perfect, I’m still learning to become better everyday, but these situations are always there...things like this will always happen, but we choose how we react to them. We can choose to learn from these experiences or we can be bitter and hold on to bad habits. Remember, God won’t give us any challenge that we can’t handle.

I love my mission. I love everyday. It’s not always easy, but it’s the best thing in the world. I feel honored to have the opportunity to serve Gods children, to walk with his angels, and to prepare the world for the second coming of our Savior.

I LOVE BRASIL!!!

-Sister Smith

Rodrigus (that we taught and he was baptized) gave us money because he knows we are poor missionaries and we decided to buy this to always remember him here in Caldas Novas!

Awe Isn't this so adorable?