Trio again!

A Sister who had been waiting in the states to receive her visa finally arrived! Sister Lori Lund is now with us as a part of my second trio on my mission! Lots of fun. She is a sweet girl from Samamish, WA and is basically a replica of Sister Steinbielge. Not in appearance necessarily but in everything they do. It´s pretty funny. Sister Lund and I had actually met before the mission! We were EFY counselors the same week two summers ago and chatted once or twice. Anyway the world is so small! It´s very fun to meet people because when people ask where we are from we say "By coincedence we are ALL from Washington!" Pretty rare I´d say! Her Portuguese is getting better by the day and we are helping her adjust to the new culture since we´ve "been there, done that". Too much fun!

I don´t know if I ever mentioned Novena. She is a lady who Sister Steinbeigle and I met one day a long time ago while making copies. We overheard her and a friend speaking English so, DUH, we decided to meet them. Turns out Novena is from New Zealand and her friend, Laura, from Scottland and both had married Brasilians. They have the most GORGEOUS accents. It was so different making a contact in English! Novena lives in our area and gave us her information and told us we could stop by any time. We have tried numerous times to find her at home but either the door man at the apartment building doesn´t like us and always lies (I think thats the case) or we really just don´t have any luck! One time we even saw her on the street and she askd why we had never come by! Well we just received a new "rule" in the mission that we need to be out the house by 10:30. I don´t know why sometimes its difficult for me to gain a testimony about things until something actually happens but on Saturday we left at 10:30 and passed in front of Novenas apartment complex. Sister Steinbeigle said "Do you think Novena is home? We´ve never tried her in the morning." Turns out it was a DIFFERENT doorman AND she was home! She invited us in and her husband was home too! It was perfect. They are the nicest, most beautiful and down to earth couple I have ever met! They have a beautiful 2 year old son and I just love everything about them! It just couldn´t have gone better because her husband Mario, who also speaks English, was brought up Catholic, like most Brasilians, but neither practice any religion at all right now. They were so open minded and willing and ready to listen to what we had to say. So I taught my very first lesson in English since the MTC! How different! It was so great. Plus it was perfect for Sister Lund since she has been teaching only in English for the past two months. . If Mario didn´t understand something we would just translate it into Portuguese! It was INCREDIBLE! The spirit was very strong. We only had a Portuguese Book of Mormon on us but Mario promised to read it. We will bring Novena, who also is excited to read, an English copy this week! Mario said a beautiful closing prayer asking for help to know if this is the path he should follow and thanking God for sending us to him. WOW! I don´t know why I am so excited for this little family but I am! I just think its amazing how the Lord works. If there had been two Brasilian sisters serving in this area for example right now they probably would have never even found Novena and her family! The Lord truly inspires his servants. The prophet to call us here to Brasil, our Mission President to call us to an area and with a certain companion, and to inspire him with changes that will help our mission like leaving at 10:30. I never fail to be amazed at how the Lord truly has his hand in all things. If we listen to our leaders and the counsel they give, we will never be lead astray. I love serving here! Transfers are next week and we are very anxoius to see what is going to happen!!!! Will I stay one more? Leave? Who knows! All I know is I am happy and love being a missionary. Happy week to everyone!

Até mais gente!

-Sister Peck