Monday, January 24, 2011

Right place at the right time? Or part of the plan....

What a good week we had! First of all we were to find out that neither I nor Sister Steinbeigle was transferred. We both stayed here! It´s pretty rare to have two Americans together at all, let alone for this amount of time! At this rate, I´ll never speak perfect Portuguese! haha, just kidding but it looks like she might end up "dying" here, or in other words this may be her last area since she only has one transfer left after this! That will mean she will have had only TWO areas on her mission!!! (I guess three if you count Tennessee when she was waiting for her visa lol) But we are both content. We get along super well and love this place and the people so much that it´s not like we can complain!

One of the blessings about serving in this area is getting to host the new sisters for their first night in the mission field! I LOVE IT!!!! Last week our mission got one American and one Brasilian. It was pretty fun going in and out of Portuguese and English since we had to translate EVERYTHING for one or the other. We brought both of them to meet Paulinho and had them each teach a short principle. Then we did divisions and I went with Sister White. She is from California and is SO cool! We went and taught Clair and had a great lesson. Sister White really couldn´t understand anything that was going on so at the endIt I asked if she would like to bear her testimony. In her broken Portuguese she repeated "FÉ! TEM QUE TER FÉ!" Clair was like "I get it! i have to have faith!!" hahaha it was so cute! I was simply beaming with pride and excitement for Sister White. I think she must have gotten sick of me saying how excited I was for her to be begining her mission, how I remember my first day, blah blah blah. it was such a neat experience, for me anyway! I remember being in those shoes. not really being able to say much but still wanting to get my point across and she is right! We do need "FÉ!" :) It made me REALLY want to train someday badly!!!! I sure hope I get the opportunity to do so!

The next day, Wednesday, was transfers and we took the new girls to meet their trainers at the mission office. Sister White is being trained by Sister Santos!!!! HOW FUN IS THAT?! I am so excited for both of them!!! Should be a great experience. The best part came when Sister Steinbeigle and I were walking back home. We passed in front of the temple and who did we see walking around on the temple grounds but CLAIR and a member from our ward! He was giving her a tour! Of course we took advantage and went and spoke with her.She thought Eduardo, the member, had set it up but we told her it really just "right place at the right time." SHE corrected US and told us that it had to be part of the Lord´s plan. We told her that is exactly what it was and good for her for recognizing it. We went inside the waiting room and had an increddibly spiritual lesson with her. She even cried and bore a powerful testimony. I don´t even know how to describe how amazing it was. Definitely a highlight on my mission so far. We felt inspiried to move her baptismal date up to this Saturday! She accepted and will be baptized this coming Saturday!! I can´t wait!!!! She is one of my all time favorite people! She is going to invite her whole family too. Her faith amazes me. I love her!

In the middle of the lesson an Elder walked into the waiting room by accident and quietly excused himself when he realized we were teaching. It happened to be an Elder from my district from the CTM who is serving in another misison!!! After the lesson I went out and ran into the three of them who are serving in the other Sao Paulo mission!!! WHAT A BLESSING!!!! Again "right place at the right time"? Who knows? ;)

I gave a talk on Sunday in church too. My first REAL talk in Portuguese! I think it went alright. I felt pretty good about it. I talked about sacrifice and how it is required of all of us in different ways.

Other than that things are great as always here! Don´t get me wrong, we do have up days and we do have down days. I just don´t like to think about the downs (the blazing heat for example), only the things that make me happy! My progressing investigators, wonderful companion, two increddible and supportive wards, and basically just being in Brasil! Today, P-day, we explored one of the chiquest areas in all of Brasil, its called Morumbi. It´s in our zone and it was way fun! We went to boutques, a professional cake shop, scrapbooking stores, Starbucks and Subway! hahaha it was a blast! I LOVE IT HERE!!!! I hope everyone has a super week! Keep up the good missionary work! Beijos e abraços!

-Sister Peck

P.S. Check out the cool thunderstorm pictures!!!!

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