My mission to Brazil: December 3, 2018 A little bit of Audrey

So this week was actually pretty frustrating but good at the same time. I think that is a feeling that has become normal here, hahah.

We went to Porto Alegre this week for two reasons. The first being that I needed to renew my visa. I went with S Wiese and an elder that came here with us. When we got there, we found out that some of our documents have expired. So we are illegally in Brazil. The look on the elders face was priceless. The lady was super nice though and didn't send us to prison. The mission office is in a scramble trying to figure all that out and I will have to go back in a few weeks probably.

We also had a leadership meeting which is always exciting. I really like it just because we get to see a ton of other missionaries. E Magno from Gramado was there. So was S Marino!!!!! She is sick and had to do a bunch of tests so she was staying in Porto Alegre for a few days before heading back to Taquara. I hope they figure everything out because I really didn't understand what it was that was the problem, I just understood that she hasn't been able to work a ton this transfer. E Southwick was there and he had a ton of questions about the zone like usual, but this time I could actually answer them because we have been keeping pretty close tabs on what has been going on. President Jones called on a bunch of people to do practices in front of everybody. I have not prayed so hard in a very long time, hahaha. I thankfully wasn't picked on because I think my heart would have stopped. Imagine doing role plays in front of the best missionaries in the mission., Uh yeah. No thanks.

We got the chance to teach Mayerson a few more times this week which was really fun. He really is a sweet kid for just getting out of prison. He told us that he has six more months on his jury sentence so that is six more months that he can't get baptized. Which is frustrating because he is changing a ton and really working hard. We gave him a book of mormon last week and when we walked past his house, he was in the front and he ran to us asking us to explain something that he had read that he didn't understand completely. He explained the 8 witnesses to us perfectly and asked where he could find the rest of Joseph Smith's testimony. He was ready and waiting when we walked past his house before church as well.

We taught a woman who had evil spirits in her house this week. It was awful. She started talking about witches that were haunting her and then she got dead serious, looked at S Rodrigues and asked, Do you hear her talking? And we were like, Uh no. Tchau. And booked it out of there. My head was pounding and S Rodrigues was ready to throw up. Usually I laugh at the thought of having evil spirits close to us but this time I could literally feel them and it is a feeling I never want to have again.

Irma Nara gave us a Christmas present of super expensive perfume to say thank you for baptizing her husband and her grandson. Sweetheart.

Also there was a day that it was dumping rain all morning so when we left, we put on rain boots and it stopped raining and was super hot the rest of the day and then the next day it was super sunny all morning so we left wearing flats and it started dumping rain and didn't stop for 3 hours. I think somebody was trying to mess with us, haha.

We went to Matias Velho for the night Saturday and helped with a Christmas ballet show that one of their members was putting on. She asked us to sing Silent Night in front of everybody and then just help around. It was really fun even though it probably wasn't very productive. The kids dancing was really cute. There were a ton of like 3 and 4 year olds and during one of the songs, there was a little girl totally dancing to her own groove just going off and it was the cutest thing I have seen in a long time.

Yesterday, we didn't have lunch, so we went back to our house after church and made lunch in less than 10 minutes and ate super quick so we could take a Sunday nap. And I had a dream that Luke walked into our room and asked if he could lay in my bed, so he came and laid with me and when I woke up, there were a ton of kids playing right outside our window. It throw me off for a little bit.

So at about 7:30 last night, I got super frustrated because this week just was not going as I wanted it to, and I looked up at the ceiling and said, Why am I even here? Why am I in Brazil? Why am I speaking Portuguese when I could be speaking English? It would be so much easier! And then Heavenly Father answered so fast I almost lost my balance. 1: I had a quick little flash of what my life would have been like if I had decided to stay home and not come on a mission. All the things that would have been different, how I would have been different. Then we went to teach Rafael and we spent the whole time laughing and you could see that he was making connections in his head. There was another kid with us that is a member and you could see that he was learning things as well. At the end, I just heard somebody saying, This is why you are in Sao Luis right now. Then we were walking to another appointment doing contacts and we stopped a man from Africa who didn't know how to speak Portuguese, but he speaks fluent English. That is when I learned that speaking English really isn't any easier than Portuguese at this point. In fact, it is easier to speak Portuguese right now. Heavenly Father was not having any of my frustration, haha. I am so grateful that He is listening to my prayers.

Anywhos, that's my story for this week. I love you all a ton and hope you are all happy!!!

Sister Heiner