My mission to Brazil: November 26, 2018 out of all the fireflies we see, none of them are nice enough to take a break and let me catch them...

This week was a roller coaster again, so hold onto your seats, I'm gonna try and fit everything in that I can.

This week started off with a bang. We had ice cream for breakfast. We showed up at our zone meeting eating ice cream and it just got silent until one of the elders asked why we didn't invite them to eat ice cream with us. Made me laugh. This little random experience might not seem important, but it set the tone for our whole week. S Rodrigues and I spent the week working our tails off but having a lot of fun at the same time.

We went on two different splits this week. Luckily, they both came to our area, so it was good. My first splits was with a sister named S Ruiz. She is from Mexico. We went to talk to Alberi who was a little weirder than normal, crying and laughing and all that jazz when S Ruiz leaned over and said, I think hes drunk. Sure enough, I looked around the little place we were at and there was a beer can half full on the floor in the corner. Eita I was really upset. But at the same time, I was glad S Rodrigues wasn't there or she would have gone ballistic. We tried talking to him for a few more minutes, but that is when I learned that trying to teach the gospel to a drunk man is really hard, hahahah, but yeah. That was really the only interesting thing that happened on splits #1.

Splits #2 was with S Milhomen. She was my sister leader beforehand so it was really weird being the one in charge. Really, I'm 100% sure that she helped me a ton more than I helped her. We spent the day talking about how to show love for our companions and how to work effectively. And I listened to her talk about her comp who is the trouble sister of the mission. I think it helped both of us. But we were on splits during Thanksgiving (which doesn't exist here except for black Friday) and we bought all sorts of junk food to celebrate. It was nice of her to humor me and celebrate with me.

We also took the Venezuelan girl in our ward to help us with the Spanish speaking people we are teaching. I love going out with Camilla, she is such a sweetheart and she loves sharing the gospel. She will be the best missionary I know. I am so proud of all that she does. She told us that she doesn't feel like there is anybody proud of her because she doesn't know her mom and she is here with her aunt and uncle. She just started sobbing telling us that she wants to feel like somebody is proud of her. We just wrapped her up in a hug and spent a good chunk of time telling her that we are so proud of all that she is doing. Ah, she is so cute. I want to take her home with me. We also made her a cute little card because we´re sister missionaries and that is what we do, to tell her that we love her. And we asked her to help us at our baptism Sunday singing in Spanish.

On Friday, the elders came to our area to do baptismal interviews. Four baptismal interviews = four baptisms!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rafael got baptized on Saturday. I didn't think there was a better feeling than seeing your convert get the priesthood until I watched Amazonas baptize Rafael. I about cried. Amazonas is Rafa´s grandpa so it was only fitting that he should baptize him.

Then on Sunday, Osimar, Kathryn and Oriannys were baptized!! The man who works at the hotel that Kathryn and Oriannys live is a member so we asked him to come and baptize them and he did it in Spanish and it was seriously awesome. I was insanely happy and they couldn't stop smiling. Ai, I love my job, hahaha.

Also, Juliano and Amazonas passed the sacrament this week which is just another awesome part of being a missionary.

We were walking home the other day and it was really dark. The power went out so there weren't any lights on the road that we were walking. We were walking past a gas station and a man told us that the road we were walking was really dangerous without lights and we told him that we didn't have any other way to get home. He just kind of looked at us and then asked if he could give us a ride home. (sorry about this mom, it isn't a normal thing we do) but we said yes and he gave us a ride home. On the way, he told us that his name is Diego and that he has already met the missionaries and gone to church in a different part of town, which is why he felt like he could offer us a ride home. I think that is why we didn't feel worried about saying yes to his offer as well.

We also started teaching this man who just got out of prison. (sorry mom, today isn't a good day for you to be reading this, hahaha) I wont say why he was in prison, because it isn't important, but he told us that he has been looking in every place to feel like he has been forgiven and find peace and all the stuff that people want to feel after they have been in prison. So we asked him if he wanted a book that explained exactly what he needed to do. He said yes, and we explained the Book of Mormon to him. He got so happy and excited that he said he was going to go right home and start reading it. He didn't come to church though, not that I was too surprised. We´re gonna have to work with him a little bit to get him feeling comfortable enough to go to church.

Also, I have had the weirdest cravings for jello this week. I went and bought like 10 boxes and have been making it everyday. I think I'm going crazy, hahah.

Alright, I'm gonna try and send a bijillion pictures now. I love you guys like crazy and I miss you guys too. It was really weird not being there for Thanksgiving, but next year, I will be!

Have a good week!

Sister Heiner