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Ola tudo bem??‏

Things are going well here! I had my very first baptism last week! It was wonderful. Aline is super legal and Im very excited for her. Of course I dont feel like I did much in the way of her conversion as she was already contacted and taught before I showed up but it was still a blessing to be a part of it! We also have a baptism this week too. Camila. She is 9 and her family is less active. But since my comp and the sister before me visited them, the family has been coming back to church and are so excited for camila!! Its SO great! I love love love them!!! What a blessing it is to see how the gospel changes lives. It makes me want to work so hard every day to try and make at least a little difference in someones life! The temperature here is SO perfect! For them its winter, which is SO funny cuz it is absolutely beautiful. Its like 70 degrees and all the Brasilians are freezing!!! It makes me very worried for summer because I already get hot NOW! But I feel very blessed that I only have to endure one and I get two winters!! YAY!

By the way I have been teaching Sister Ribeiro how to make GUACAMOLE! The avacados here are as big as my face and SO good. But Brasilians eat theirs with sugar! bleh...so I taught her the true way and she loves it!! She is an excellent cook so hopefully I can learn a thing or two from her before I come home. Since I set the smoke alarm off dishing up ice cream normally (heh...heh) She wants to know how to make cookies tho! haha isnt that funny?? Mom do you think you could send me a basic recepie for chocolate chip cookies so I can pretend like I know how to make cookies? thanks!

So I had a humbling experience on Sunday. We invited tons of investigators to go to church with us all week long and I was a little worried cuz they all lived all over town! We told each of them wed stop by and "pick them up", without a car its a little difficult. Anyway we did the best we could and left extra early. Well long story short all of them fell through. Everyone was either sleeping or busy so that was discouraging. We had one person left, a little old man named Jose who lived all the way on the other end of town. We were already a half hour late for church and we only talked to him on the street for about 5 minutes the day before. The chances of him going to church seemed pretty slim. I suggested we just go to church and then go visit him after. But Sister R. said we could ask a member to take us. Well we found a member but he was a man, so we needed another girl. Okay we find a young woman and head off. Wed never even been to his house so we were driving around trying to find it. Could you tell I was discouraged and had ZERO faith? I felt lke we were wasting everyones time including the Lords but I humbled myself and listend to my senior companion. When we got on the right road, I knew his house immediately because there was Jose dressed in his Sunday best waiting for us!! Oh my gosh I was so happy but felt instant guilt as well. I had such little faith. But I appreciated the lesson I learned. What would have happened if we had listened to me and not gone to get him before church? We would have been missionaries who dont keep their commitments and dont receive blessings. I know the Lord rewards you for obedience cuz once we got to church a less active member we contacted the day before showed up to church without us even inviting him!!! Amazing. Jose stayed all three hours, loved it, and we are now teaching him and his son. Again Im so grateful for the lesson in patience that I learned. I am learning so much out here and trying my best to be a better person. I want to be the best servant of the Lord I can be so I can bring about the most good, but I know that will take a lot of effort on my part!! We should never lose faith!!! Even if the chances seem pretty slim! Anyway thats my little experience I wanted to share. I hope everyone is just peachy!!! I send my love and want to leave my testimony that I know this church is true!! I am honored to be a part of this work and wouldnt be here doign what Im doing if I didnt know it was true. This is a portion of my testimony I leave with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Ola! Estou no campo! May 12, 2010

I am so excited to be in the field now! I love my mission president and his wife, they're great. Yesterday we had lunch at their apartment which can hardly be considered an apartment. Its very chique :) Then we had instructions from our APs and then I found out I could only take ONE suitcase with me to the field!!! I dont know who forgot to give me that memo in the CTM, but whatev. So I repacked everything. Then I got to go out with the sisters in the area! We did some proseletismo and since it was one of the sisters last days, because of transfers, she said good bye to both memebrs and investigators. It was great! They included me a lot and had me bear my testimony in Portuguese at each place. I'm already in love with the people here. Um they feed you at every house. Oh my goodness. I think they think I'm lying when I say I'm full but truly I am!!!!! I am sure eventually I'll appreciate all the comida when I am a starving missionary but yesterday I was like more??? we JUST ate!! Anyway it was great thought. Already exhausting and I still havent even learned the meaning of hard work!! Today I met my Brasiliera trainer and shes great! We get along super well and I love her already! She loves to sing, cook, and speak english. haha. In fact all the people I've met want me to speak english to them! I dont know when I'll have the chance to learn portuguese! jk. I speak alot. In fact its really cool because a lot of people are surprised that I'm a new-be. I guess its the spanish influence. What a blessing!! Seriously. The language wont be my trial I dont think. I know there will be other things for sure but I'm grateful that the Lord will be there to help me. Anyway just wanted to give everyone an update that I'm doing fine and it still blows my mind to think that I'm actualy LIVING in south america!!! But I love it. I realize my time is precious here and I want to use every second of it for the good. I am so grateful to be here and recognize the Lords hand in everything that I do. Sempre please feel free to send me e-mails or letters! ;) Thanks for your love and support! Ate mais -Sister Peck

Oi from the CTM

Boa tarde!!! What an incredible week it has been!! We went proselyting for the second time on Friday and it was a little bit scary. They just took us to straight up down town Sao Paulo, gave us some Livros de Mormon, opened the door, and said we'll see you in a few hours! It's still interesting to me that they trust all these greenies who don't speak the language yet to go out and contact people! But its so good for us! Sister Przybyla and I did really well. It was pretty overwhelming at first being surrounded by so so so so SOOOO many people! (Imagine New York and then some!!) but we said a prayer and just opened our mouths! We found some people who really were genuinely interested in the gospel and were able, in our broken Portuguese, get information from some to send the missionaries to their houses as referrals!! Maybe I will get to teach them since this is my mission!! (Sao Paulo North) Its just awesome. We came back feeling so empowered and pumped to preach the message of the restored gospel to those individuals whom the Lord is preparing. Sometimes we wonder if people just want to listen to us because 1)we're OBVIOUSLY American and 2)we're girls. They are so patient with us and encouraging while we're struggling over our words. Some of the Elders came back a little more discouraged, so for whatever the reason I'm grateful that we were able to have such an amazing experience! As I said before, its a good thing we enjoyed it because thats what we'll be doing all day every day for the next 16 months!!! We were totally exhausted after only 4 hours! lol. Three of our district members suddenly got called to the field a week early. They were very excited but we were a little sad to see them go. Our district all got very close over the past weeks and everyone wants to make a special effort to stay in contact both during and after the mission. I hope it happens!!! I feel like its rare to hear people talk about the people they met in the MTC but we really all connected both spiritually and emotionally! I love each and everyone of them!!

Sis Prz and I were talking about how fortunate we have been both in our companionship and with our district and getting to experience both MTCs. As Mom always says "Seriously, when do the blessings stop????" Surely I will have trials in my mission so now I kind of wait in fear, because my hardships must be right around the corner!! I had the wonderful opportunity last night to sing the musical number for the fireside here at the CTM. I was asked to do it just a few hours before and thanks to the miraculous tender mercies from the Lord, it all came together. I was able to find an accompanist and perform the best I could. The main thing I concentrated on was bearing my testimony as I sang. It was the song "His Hands" by the way. I really felt the spirit as I sang and was felt very confident that I had bore my testimony of the Savior to the best of my ability. When people complimented me after it meant so much that their comments werent focused on me but rather the feelings they felt and how the words had impacted them. It really was a moving experience for me and I'm so grateful that I am able to be an instrument in the Lords hands. Granted I know I need to humble myself on more than one occasion when it comes to music but last night coudln~t have been better. In addition to that I have been teaching my district how to conduct the hymns!! I volunteered Sis Prz to conduct last nights fireside and she was SO nervous as she had never done anything like that in her life! She did a FLAWLESS job!!! I felt like a proud mother as I sat beaming and watched her stay on beat and I counted silently "one..two..three..four..." hahaha!!! She received so many compliements after which I know helped her so much!! She's increddible and I love her. I could talk about her for hours, if I had time I would. Well I think I'l end this here. I hope everyone is doing well!! I cant thank my Father in Heaven enough for the blessings which He pours upon me daily. I have been blessed with a wonderful family and friends who love and support me. Thank you so much! Pray for all the missionaries in the world!! We're on the Lords errand and we can feel your strength and love. Thanks again! The next email you receive from me I'll be a LEGIT missionary in the FIELD!!!! Be excited!!!!!!! Brazil better watch out cuz here I come!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh I cant wait!! Love you all!! Ate mais -- Sempre, Sister Peck