Brazil Bound

Week 10 - Post Falls, Idaho

I GOT MY VISA!!!!! I'm flying to Brazil the day after General Conference!!! I am so excited but at the same time I am soooooo sad!!!! I love it here!!! And I was expecting to be here for a couple more transfers so it took me by surprise.  We were teaching Penny (my most favorite lady ever) and I saw that President Mullen was calling me and my heart sank.  I knew he was going to tell me I got my visa.  I couldn't focus the whole lesson because all I was thinking about is how I don't want to leave here! So afterwards we listened to the voicemail and me and Sister Jeffery both about cried! I love her and all the people we are teaching so much!! We figured we would be together again next transfer because we swept into the area.  So I'm just sad!!!! But at the same time I am really excited! The more I think about it the more excited I get. I can't believe it’s actually real now that I'm going to Brazil!!! I can't wait to get tan :) There are people in this mission that have been waiting for their visa for 7 months and some even longer. I can't believe how quickly I got mine!

The reason today is our p-day is because we went to the temple today.  The Spokane temple is tiny! I was kinda surprised because there are a lot of members around here.  It was beautiful though of course!  This Sunday we had 3 investigators at church! It was sorta nerve-wracking!! The whole time we had to make sure they felt welcome and that members were talking to them and praying that people would give good talks! But it went great. They all really liked it.  One of them has been quite a few times but the other two it was their first time.  They both made comments on why the bishop didn't get up and talk.  They really wanted to hear from him! They were like shouldn't the most learned man in the church be talking to us?! We explained how it works in our church and that the bishop isn't necessarily the most well educated but they still thought it was weird haha.  They said they'll come back next week though!

Penny is getting baptized! I love her!!!!!!!!! I think she is the reason why I am so sad to leave Post Falls! She is the best! She says that I'm mischievous which I don't know where she gets that from!! And every time we leave her house she yells “bye baby girls” in her southern accent; it is the cutest!  I just want you guys to come and see her house and the view she has on her back deck. It is beautiful!! I'm so sad I won't get to be here for her baptism. But she has been reading the Book of Mormon and she wants to come watch conference with us, and the women's broadcast on Saturday.  She already has such a strong testimony. I just love her! She's really good at playing the piano and after our last lesson she played some of her church songs and made us sing; it was a lot of fun! She wanted to keep going for forever.  I felt bad that we had to go but we always stay at her house way longer than we are supposed to.

Levi, the guy who was getting baptized on my birthday, moved his baptism back.  I don't really know the whole story.  He has a Godmother I think and she has cancer and is going to die and she doesn't want him to get baptized so he just wants to wait.  Which that is totally fine! We were thinking that he should wait anyways because it seems kinda like he's just doing it because his mom wants him to and not because he has gained his own testimony yet. He is a really nice kid.

Last Friday Elder Golden of the 70 came and talked to us! It was so good!! My favorite thing that he said....he was talking about how we need to teach simply.  He said don't assume people know anything. And then he went to the board and wrote when you assume you make an a** out of u and me. We were all like what the heck and couldn't believe he just said that to a bunch of missionaries. It was so funny! And then I also liked this. Someone asked him how they can have more faith.  And he wrote this equation, personal righteousness=faith.  And he said the more you work on your own personal righteousness the more faith you will have.  I haven't really thought about it like that but I like it!  He said a lot of other really good things too!

I got your box today!!!! I just want to open it right now but I'm going to try to be good and wait till my birthday.  Hopefully I can! Sister Jeffery is the best! She wrote this note and hid it under my pillow and it said happy birthday week with 20 things she loves about me. It made my day! She says that it’s pretty much our birthday week because that's how excited she gets for birthdays haha.

I still can't even believe I'm going to Brazil. I'm freaking out! I don't know Portuguese!!!!!! I don't know if I’ve already told you this but we have language study an hour a day, but I still don't know anything! Ahhhhh! I'm excited though! Anyways thanks for everything!!!! I will talk to you soon! Love and miss you!

Love,

Sister Bedke

Feeding elk.

The elk charged the fence.

Spokane, Washington Temple

Hello!!

Week 9 - Post Falls, Idaho

This has been such a great and busy week!! We have a few new investigators!! They are all so great, but one of them we especially love. She has the coolest story!  Her name is Penny, she's in her 60s, and she is from New Orleans.  She lives up in the mountain in the most beautiful house ever and the view is amazing!!! I love going to her house! And she always gives us snacks too! Her neighbors are members and they referred us to her.  So we go and knock on her door and she was telling us how embarrassed she was because she hadn't fixed her hair yet and she thought she looked bad but really she looked fine! Anyways she let us in and told us her whole life story. She told us about how one day she was praying in church and she really felt like God was telling her that she needed to move somewhere else and build a refuge. And she didn't listen for the longest time because she was scared but she said she had never felt a stronger feeling before! So she talked to her pastor about it and some of the members of her church and they all told her she was crazy because she is a widow and had a beautiful house there and God wouldn't tell her to do something like that.  And she was kinda offended that none of her friends would support her when she knew that it was what she was supposed to be doing.  So after a few years of searching and praying of where she needed to move she finally felt right about Post Falls. She bought a huge piece of land up in the mountains and built a huge home! And she said she prayed about how she was supposed to build it and did exactly what God wanted her to do.  So now her house has a whole bunch of bedrooms and food storage!!! And she told her neighbors and us that she would love to have the missionaries come live with her! And then when we were teaching her she told us that she feels like God has been preparing her for us to come knock on her door because first she moves out here and her neighbors are members and they have helped her out so much. And then her granddaughter started dating a boy who is on a mission now.  And then the missionaries before us knocked on her door and she said she wasn't prepared then but now she is and she wanted to meet with us.  So her and her granddaughter want to learn more about the church together!  And then another thing she said when we were teaching her about the Book of Mormon was that she always wondered why God would just keep his word in one little part of the world.  She was like if He loves all his children wouldn't he speak to them in all parts of the world? Everything she said lined up exactly with what we taught her. After we left her house we we were like what the heck!  She is so prepared to have the gospel! We are teaching her again on Wednesday and I am so sad because we are doing exchanges that day and I'm going to Coeur D'Alene :(:( We are so excited for her though! Oh and also another cool thing is that we were promised that if between us and the elders (we share a ward) we can teach 70 lessons a week then we will get another set of missionaries and they will cover the other side of the river. And then she could have missionaries with her.  I'm not sure how much the elders teach but me and Sister Jeffery taught 34 lessons last week so we could easily do that!

We went and saw Mickey a couple more times this week.  But last time we saw her she was going through her stuff and getting rid of things and she gave me the cutest purse ever!!!! I love it!! And it’s like a really nice brand! I can't remember what kind it is but she told me that if I held on to it it will be worth lots of money down the road. I don't think I will ever get rid of it though because it is so cute!!! I put all my stuff into it and was using it for a couple days but I'm paranoid that someone's dog is going to ruin it because they always are all over me! And I definitely don't want to take it to Brazil, so I'm gonna send it home when I get a chance.  She also gave us a whole bunch of turtle necks and we have no idea what to do with them (haha) and she gave me these sketcher shape ups and promised me that they would make my legs so good. I was like I can't wear these with my skirts but she made me take them anyways! So we have a whole bunch of her stuff in a huge pile in our car and we don't know what to do with it!

To answer some of your questions... we eat pretty well.  I've only ate at a members house twice so far, but they passed around a schedule to feed us in church yesterday and so now almost every night for the rest of the month we're going to be in someone's home! We’re excited because we feel like there are so many people in our ward that we don't know and then when we want someone to come teach with us or if we need a ride we never know who to ask! The members are all sooooo nice though! I love this ward and I don't ever want to get transferred until I go to Brazil.  I can't even believe how many awesome families one ward can have! Anyways when we do have to make our own food we actually make pretty good food most of the time.  I always eat oatmeal for breakfast. I don't know where it came from but I'm in love with oatmeal now! We exercise pretty much every morning for like 25 minutes.  We try to take it serious but we're always so tired! Most mornings we do good though.

I got your box!!!! Oh my gosh, thank you thank you thank you thank you!!! That was the best day ever!!! I got your box and also I got a birthday letter from grandma and grandpa!!!! I LOVE MAIL!!! :) And we all love the ipod! Everyone was so excited to have good music playing in the mornings! I'm wearing the green necklace today.  And I'm so excited to have more stamps too!!! Thank you!  You are the best!!!!

I'm glad to hear Livee is doing good! Rae keep running her and make her skinny by the time I get home! I miss her!! She is so cute!!

Ok but I think that is about it for this week! I might write a letter if I think of more that I forgot. Thank you so much for everything! Love and miss you all!

Love,

Sister Bedke

Hello!

Week 8 - Post Falls, Idaho

This week has been great! I feel like I'm adjusting a lot better and getting used to the schedule.  I have had so much fun with my companion and the two other missionaries we live with. 

The most exciting thing that happened this week is...one of our investigators is getting baptized!!! And it’s on March 29!!! First baptism on my birthday, I'm so excited!! His name is Levi and he's 14 years old.  He is the nicest boy ever!  He just moved here to live with his mom who is a member of the church and so he wanted to start meeting with the missionaries.  He has two older brothers who were baptized last year I think.  He said he wants his oldest brother to baptize him, so that will be really special for their family.  Their mom was so excited she started to cry. They are all awesome!

We went to this cute little old ladies apartment to meet her the other day, and on the way out we stopped and talked to another lady who was sitting on her porch alone.  When we told her we were missionaries, at first she acted like she didn't want to talk to us but we just kept talking to her. And then she talked our ears off!! We stood there for over an hour and she told us EVERYTHING about her and I don't think we got more than 20 words in in that whole hour and 1/2. But then at the end she told us that she was so impressed with us and our listening skills and that she wanted us to come back and learn more about our church.  And she said she wanted tell our bishop how impressed she was with his missionaries so that turned out really good.  We’re going back to meet with her on Wednesday. And she's a dog trainer!!!

Speaking of dogs, my love for dogs is slowly diminishing.  I'm not even kidding! Everyone has like 4 dogs here and I've hardly seen any cute ones! One family has a black lab puppy that I am in love with! He’s not as cute as Livee though. But there is one lady who has the most annoying dog I have ever met in my life.  Before I go in her house me and Sister Jeffery will literally pray that we can have patience with that dog.  It’s a tiny little thing and it is so needy! If we don't pet it 24/7 it will bark, growl, lick and scratch at us until we pet it! And then it makes it hard to concentrate on the lady we're supposed to be teaching because I just want to punch that dog! But she really loves him so much and she told us what a great friend he is to her, so then I feel bad for not liking it. I feel bad for this lady though.  Her name is Lilian and she has some health problems.  She is trying to stop smoking, which has been hard for her.  We visit her a lot and read scriptures with her that hopefully encourage her.

That’s all that really happened that's exciting this week! Sorry! I always feel bad when my letters are horrible, but I never have enough time to write everyone back.  I LOVE getting letters :)  I love and miss you guys! 

Love,

Sister Bedke

First Real Week!

Week 7 - Post Falls, Idaho

First of all, I am in Post Falls, Idaho!!! It’s like 30 minutes outside of Spokane.  IT IS FREEZING!!!!  Actually today isn't so bad compared to the last two days, but holy crap it was miserable! I've never seen snow fall so fast, and I've never felt wind so cold!  We have a car though thank goodness! There are three sets of missionaries in our area and me and my companion are the only ones with the car...we are so lucky! But we live not in our area, so it is necessary!  We have the nicest ward ever.  They all keep offering to get me warmer clothes since they know that I'm a visa waiter and not prepared for the cold.  I got boots and a hat.  I think my coat is good enough, and I don't have to have to worry about finding someone to take it when I do make it to Brazil.  But anyways this is such a great ward!! Everyone is very missionary minded, and our ward mission leader is awesome.  He has the coolest house ever too with an amazing view of the mountain.  He lives like in a mountain with a whole bunch of tall ever green trees all over.  At church yesterday, everyone was so excited to meet the new missionaries.  They kept coming up to us and introducing themselves and offering to come out with us if we ever needed someone.  They have a really good missionary program!  They have 18 ward missionaries and some of them are the 12-18 year olds too.  Every Tuesday night the missionaries go out with the auxiliary leaders, and then every Thursday night we go out with the ward missionaries to less active and members as well.  And then the families in the ward are supposed to be having the missionaries over once a week and we go through all the lessons with them.  They keep our schedules full! And the point of all this is for us to get referrals.

 I have to tell you about my first day! Mom, I think the email you got with pictures was from a member that I stayed with...if it’s the one with the green smoothies and green muffins.  They were so good! But anyways our mission president and his wife picked us up at the airport.  They are so nice! Sister Mullin is the cutest lady ever! She looks like she is 30 and has the best clothes! But they took us back to the stake center and we had to do this thing called fear-busting where we went out and knocked on people doors to talk about the gospel.  I was terrified!!!!!! I was with two other girls and they have already been here for like 7 months so they knew what they were doing.  They were so nice! But we knocked on this one guy’s door and he was so mad.  He was saying how all religion is man-made and there's no such thing as God. They like knew everything what to say and I was just sitting there frozen with fear. After he closes the door I just start crying!!! Hahaha  It’s so funny now looking back at it!  And even after only a week I feel like if that same thing happened to me again I wouldn't even care I would just move on! That just wasn't what I was expecting I guess!  There was another time when I had no idea what to say too! So we went to this younger couple's house and the husband all he wants to do is convert us and prove the Book of Mormon wrong.  I don't even know why we were there, or why the heck we are going back tomorrow!! He told us that over the next few months he is going to take us on a journey and help us find the truth.  I'm just sitting there like what the heck! My companion has the strongest testimony ever and she always knows exactly what to say so she handled everything really well.  I hate how scared I get! I have gotten sooooo much better from just a week, but still it annoys me when I get scared, but it still happens! I read this verse in the Bible I don't remember where but it’s really good! And I don't really remember what it says but it talks about don't fear man, fear God. Something like that I can’t remember! And then my companion told me this that her old bishop used to always say, "Faith is not fearful.  If you are having fear, you aren't exercising your faith efficiently." I love that!! I try to remember that every time I get scared.

 My companions name is Sister Jeffery.  She is awesome!!! She has been out for 8 months. She is new to the area too, so the first few days we were like ummm who do we need to talk to?! Because we knew no one!  She is a great missionary though.  She talks to everyone and invites everyone to learn more about our church.  She is a great example.  And she has really good advice for me when I get scared.  Sometimes she makes me do things that I don't want to do like invite a random person to church.  I'm like I can’t!! And she makes me and then I'm actually really glad that she did because I realize it’s not even bad! She always reminds me that there is nothing that anyone can prove wrong, so there is nothing to be scared about.  She keeps things fun too! We’ve become good friends!  She goes through a pack of gum in half an hour, that's not even an exaggeration! She has a real addiction to gum and mints!

 We are teaching some awesome people.  We have a lot of less active people that we visit too.  They love the missionaries so much! The older ones say that we are like their daughters.  And they open up so much and tell us their life stories! Some of them have had really hard lives, it’s sad. We are teaching this part-member family whose dad served a mission here in Spokane! He doesn’t' come to church anymore, but the whole time we were there he told us all about his mission and how he learned more in those two years then the rest of his life combined! But he told us that there is a reason he doesn't go to church anymore.  He didn't tell us why though.  We were kinda confused. The wife is wonderful! She told us that we better come back and that if we ever need dinner to stop at their house. I wish I could tell you about everyone but I don't have enough time!

 I love and miss you guys!!

 Love,

Sister Bedke

[ Since Malyssa has been reassigned to the Spokane, Washington mission for the time being, her mailing address has changed. Check out the "Contact" tab for the updated information. Thanks for all of the continued love and support! ]

Malyssa with her mission president and his wife and other missionaries that arrived in Spokane the same day, at the Spokane, Washington Temple.

With the mission president and his wife.

Dear Family and Friends

Week 5 - Provo MTC

This has probably been the most exciting week yet! First of all, I got my reassignment to Spokane Washington!!! I am so excited!  There are four of us Brazil visa waiters going there.  And one of them is from my district! We are teaching companions right now so we're already good friends! I was excited to know some people headed there with me!  So from my district this was our reassignments: me and Elder Kaiser are going to Spokane, one is going to Portland, Oregon (I’m kinda jealous of him), one is going to Rochester, New York, and one got his visa and is headed to Recife on Monday!!! I don’t know what day I’m leaving yet but it will most likely be early Monday or early Tuesday.  So I have like a week left here!! It’s crazy and scary but I’m excited!! I met a guy here that is from the Spokane area and he was talking about how awesome it is and how pretty it is there.  And he said there are a lot of members there.  Which scares me because I’m probably gonna get fed all the time and gain so much weight!! Oh well though, I’m so ready for real food! The food here at the MTC is getting a little old!  I love the breakfasts, but everything else I'm sick of having.  But considering how many people they have to feed they do a good job with the food for the most part. Oh also I met a guy from Recife here!!! He is the most friendly guy ever!!! He was so excited to have met someone going there. hahah  He was so funny.  He told me all about the area and told me about his favorite soccer team there and made me promise him I would cheer for them.  I hope everyone there is as nice as he is!

Another awesome thing that happened this week, Elder Holland was at our devotional on Sunday!!!!! It was so cool!!! His son, who is the president of UVU, was the speaker.  So he came with his family and sat up on the stand! He talked to us for like 5 minutes and introduced his son.  I thought it was cool how he kinda took all the attention off of himself and put it all on his son and how he is so proud of him and the rest of his family.  It was kinda sad that we didn’t get to hear much from him, but his son gave such a good talk! It was definitely the best one so far!! He talked about the life of Joseph Smith.  I learned a lot of cool things about him that I never knew before.  And then it was also cool because the choir at the end sang the prettiest version of Praise to the Man.  I lost my voice though!!!!!! I was so sad that I couldn’t hardly sing!!!! I literally couldn’t sing above a G. I just pretended like I was singing the whole time.  It was such a great night though! And it was perfect timing for me because I’m about to be done with the Book of Mormon from cover to cover.  It was a great testimony builder.  And then at the end when they were leaving Elder Holland blew us a kiss and it was the cutest thing ever it about made me cry!

The other good thing about this week was me and Elder Kaiser and Stutz had our best lesson ever yesterday! We taught about the restoration of the gospel.  My favorite part was when we told him the first vision (which I don’t have memorized in English, only Portuguese so I need to do that for WA).  There was the best feeling in the room! And we all worked together so well.  Like we would build off of what the other person was saying and it flowed really well! And then at the end of our lesson we usually just ask if we can come back tomorrow and say bye but this time he told us to stay in the room because he wanted to talk to us.  He told us that that was the best lesson he has been taught yet since he's been working here! And he said that it was also the most unified lesson he's been taught! We were soooo excited!!! I like when he told us that our Portuguese wasn't perfect, but the spirit that he felt there was perfect. It was the best feeling ever! We were so proud of ourselves because we have been working hard this past week and trying to stay focused and on task during our study times.  It’s the best feeling to see that hard work pay off!

I can't believe that I only have less than a week here and then I'll be out in the real world! I feel like I just got here! But I’m so excited to move on and start teaching real people.  I don’t really feel ready but idk if I ever would even if I stayed here another month. 

I got the valentines package.  Thank you soo much!! I love all the pictures too.  I showed everyone in my zone how cute Rae and Carter are :) I’m so excited someone is interested in my car!!

This sunday in church me and the other girls in my zone are singing A Child’s Prayer in Portuguese!! It sounds so cute in Portuguese! We’re going to record ourselves practicing and I’ll send it to you if I can figure that out.  The words are kinda a lot different in Portuguese if you translate it exactly but it’s still really cute!

I think that is about it for this week! DONT FORGET THAT I CAN CALL YOU AND DONT FORGET TO ANSWER YOUR PHONE!!! Idk when the next time I can write another long email will be because I most likely won’t be here next Tuesday. But i get to check my email pretty much this weekend so email me back!!! Thank you for everything! Love and miss you all!

Love,

Sister Bedke

   

Dear Family

Week 4 - Provo MTC

Jessica-- you met Zac Efron?!!!!!! What the heck?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! I AM SO JEALOUS!!!!!!  You can’t write me that and then not give me the details!!! I literally teared up when I read your letter that’s how jealous i am! I read it at dinner and I started screaming! Everyone thought like someone died in my family haha! Did you get a picture?! Please tell me you did!! And send it to me if you did!!!!! I’m tearing up again right now. Email me or write a letter asap telling me everything!!

I met Coach Hunsaker’s son this week at gym.  He was playing bball and I was over playing volleyball and I was talking to his companion and he was saying how he was a legit basketball player at UVU and that his dad was the coach there!  And I was like wait are you a Hunsaker?  And I think he thought I was like a creeper at first but I explained how my dad knows his dad and that I’m from North Manchester!  He thought it was the craziest thing ever!  Small world!  I’m pretty sure he is going to Mozambique and learning Portuguese too!

 I’m going to miss Sister MacArthur and I’m sad she’s leaving.  We were getting good at planning/teaching together.  So now I will be a “solo” sister and I’ll get a cool sticker on my nametag – that way I won’t get in trouble walking around with just guys.  It has been kinda weird teaching with elders. I thought I wouldn’t like it, but I actually don’t mind it!  They let me choose who I wanted to teach with between the two other companionships in my district.  I didn’t know who to choose because I really like all of them and we are all good friends, but two of them seem to have a little tension between them and I felt like that could be awkward, so I went with the other two.  I think it was the right choice. They are both really great missionaries and I’ve already learned a lot from them! It’s nice to teach with other people sometimes, it has shown me a lot of things that I should be doing that I never thought of before!  I was nervous they weren't going to want another person teaching with them but they have been really nice and welcoming!  When we say a prayer before our lessons, they always say they are glad that Sister Bedke is with them. That makes me feel good!

Now I teach their investigators and not mine anymore.  It was weird on the first lessons with them because even though it’s just our teacher acting like someone, I still felt like I didn’t know him because it was my first time teaching the person he was acting as! And they had taught him like 6 lessons already and knew him really well so they were asking him about all these things and I didn’t know what to say! But it has gotten better now.  It was easier to say what I wanted to say when I was with Sister MacArthur, but this will be good for me.

So this week has been interesting.  After my companion left, the other girl in my room left for New Mexico a few days later.  So I had to move all of my stuff out of the room because we aren’t allowed to have a room to our self.  It took way longer than you would think! And I’m just gonna have to pack it all back up in two weeks to leave again.  I’m now rooming with three girls that are in my zone and got here a couple weeks after me.  They are all really nice, but I kinda feel like an outsider because they are all companions and have class together all day and are really close, and I don’t really know them that well.  Hopefully that will change though.

I could get my reassignment as soon as this Friday!!!! I can’t believe it!! I’ll email you if I get it this weekend, but most likely I won’t get it till next Tuesday or around that time!! Also, the MTC gives you some warm clothes for free! And I heard they are actually really nice and cute! So that’s good. But hopefully I’ll go somewhere warm and won’t have to worry about that.  A guy in my zone who is two weeks behind me got his visa yesterday and already left this morning.  I was jealous.  But at the same time I am really excited to see where I get assigned! There is a website where you can check the status of your visa and mine is still on the first part- as in they have received it but haven’t done anything with it.  Two of the guys in the district are on the last step! They’re lucky!

 I’m trying to focus better this week in personal study time.  Usually it turns into our district talking time.  But I kinda feel like I’m not progressing as much with my Portuguese!! I’ve set goals for myself and that really has helped so far with me staying on task. I’m trying to memorize scriptures in Portuguese and learn 10 new vocab words a day. My life would be so much easier if I was just fluent.  I can’t wait for that day to come!

 I’ve seen Isaac a few times here. He said he is doing great so far!  It’s fun every time I get to see him.  I can’t believe he is leaving the MTC before I am! If i was English speaking, I would’ve already been out of the MTC for 2 weeks!!!

 I keep forgetting to mention this but I wanted to let you know that I keep my part of the room so clean!! I have never been so organized in my life! You would be so proud. And I also make my bed pretty much every morning!

 I can’t believe all the snow you guys are getting! I bet it is so pretty there. Rae said she already has to go to school on 2 Saturdays? That’s crazy!  I like hearing about how all the basketball teams are doing! Keep keeping me updated! I’m glad Rae is shooting more, she takes after me ;)

 Ok well I think that’s about all for this week. I’ll probably think of a whole bunch of stuff I forgot to say and send you a letter later this week.  I’ll send pictures in a sec! Love and miss you all!

 Love,

Sister Bedke

Oi! Como Vai?

Week 3 - Provo MTC

I can’t believe that I am half way done with the MTC!! These past three weeks have flown! If the rest of my mission goes by this fast I'll be home before I know it! 

So the devotional speaker on Sunday told us the score at halftime :( I was so sad! And then i couldn’t focus the rest of his talk because I was just ticked!! What the heck happened? What did Peyton say in his interviews?  I wish I could've watched! I bet it wasn’t too fun to watch though.

Thank you for the updates about Rae and Carter’s sports!  I love hearing how they are doing and wish I could be there to watch.

I sent a letter to Rae and Cart a while ago. Hopefully they get there soon! And i just got a letter in the mail today to Emma, Ainsley, and Hadley! I loved their letters and pictures! :)

This week me and my companion got asked to be the sister training leaders of our zone! We got a binder and everything.  So basically we just have to make sure all the girls in our zone are adjusting well and answer any questions they may have! Oh and btw there is another girl from Indiana in my zone now!! She just got here last week! I was so excited! She just graduated from Purdue and is from Lafayette as well.  I think she is like 22. She is really nice!  Also, I forgot to tell you that I'm the pianist for my ward :/ I get so nervous because I never have any time to practice so the prelude is pretty much my practice time! But so far I’ve only noticeably messed up one time. It was really bad though haha.

The district ahead of me is getting their reassignment this week!  One of them is going to Indianapolis, Indiana!!!! I told him to look for grandma and grandpa and told him their names.  He actually was kinda bummed and then I told him I’m from Indiana so then he was like oh I mean I’m really excited haha.  I told him about all the snow you guys have been talking about and that made him even less excited! He’ll love it though! Two of the other guys are going to Arkansas and then 3 of them still haven’t heard anything.  So if my visa doesn’t come, I'll get an email in about two weeks telling me where I'm heading! My wish list is either California, Texas, Florida, Alabama, or Georgia with Amber!! Anywhere warm really!

I feel like nothing too exciting has happened this week!  Mom you asked about our schedule on Sundays...they are my favorite days!  We have leadership training meetings in the morning, we go to music and the spoken word broadcast, relief society with everyone, temple walk, sacrament meeting-- which on Saturday we have to write a talk in Portuguese and then our bishop will randomly call on two people to speak.  I’ve made it half way without talking yay!!-- and then we go and walk around the temple and take lots of pictures, choir practice, devotional, and then they have a whole bunch of different church movies playing in different rooms that we get to choose to watch and then that’s it!  I love Sundays here but it really doesn't feel like a Sunday just because at home that was always my day to just relax and take a long nap but we're always on the go here. 

I think the most important thing I learned this week is that this mission is not about me! It is about serving God and bringing people closer to Him. One of our teachers talked about that in class this week.  I have really tried to remember that.  I listened to a recorded talk by Elder Bednar called "Characters of Christ."  It was so good! I wish you guys could all go watch it online but it is only available here at the MTC :(  He talked about instances how when the natural man would turn inward and think about themselves, Christ always turns out.  He gave specific examples of it found in the bible.  He put it into really great perspective!  He talked about their being a difference between having a testimony and being truly converted to God.  He said just having a testimony will never be enough for us or our investigators.  I also like this that he said, "Testimony is knowing what is true by the Spirit--conversion is consistently being true to what you know." and I liked this that he said too..."when you lose yourself in the service of others, ultimately you will find yourself."  But I tried doing that this week.  When I felt bad for myself because I would have no idea what to say to our investigators and felt bad that I can’t understand Portuguese I remembered that this is not about me and it always helped my mood.

Ok well I think that is about it for the week! I’m gonna start writing something exciting down every night that happened that day because I never remember when it’s time to write our emails! Thank you everyone for the emails and dear elders... I get so excited when I get them!! I wish I had more time to write everyone back! I miss and love you all!

Love,

Sister Bedke