Greetings from Queimadas October 14, 2013

Hey Mom, Dad, Family, and Friends,

Thank you so much for your continual love and support, you guys are the best! I really do appreciate and look forward to reading your emails!

Dad: Wow, you´re still just as busy as always! Wow! Paris, ward conferences, NYC soon! That would be so cool Mom if you could spend a few days in the Big Apple too :)

I really loved Elder Holland´s talk too! It was so inspirational and moving. I thought he did such a great job with such a delicate subject. I really loved the talk he gave. It was so personal and inspiring.

That is sooo cool about the service mission video that the Church is making and how cool that they interviewed you! What?! haha, I don´t know if I´ll get a chance to see it but you´ll have to keep me updated!

That´s cool that BYU was winning haha, I hope they won in the end. :)

Mom:

That´s still so cool that you guys are such good friends with Elder Porter and his wife. I always tell people about Elder Carlson too and how his calling was to watch Greg so that you guys could enjoy church!

I´m glad that Sister Smith enjoyed the dress and that the activity went well. How cute of Mikelle to say that :)

Wow, that´s so funny, I didn´t even realize I wrote pesquisador (investigator). I really I´m thinking a lot in Portuguese so I guess that is a good sign and it´s getting a little bit harder to write in English, not hard, but I have to think a little more than usual.

Wow, Greg is so awesome, what a dude, haha. And that´s so funny about the flu shot too :)

I´m glad to hear Em´s doing well and that the water on the bathroom sink isn´t a problem anymore haha :)

You should really go to NYC, you deserve a break! :)

Oh and transfers are next week so I´ll write on Wednesday, just so you know :)

Lindsey: It´s spring now but it´s definitely getting hotter. It is weird to think that it´s October and it´s so hot but it will get even hotter (100s) in December and January.

Thanks for giving me so much praise for killing the roaches haha, yah you could say there are quite a few here ;)

So we still help a lot with the recent converts but the Branch missionaries and the members help a lot too which is great.

Bryan: I loved the blog post and it looked like you guys had a lot of fun at the State Fair. I hope things start to improve with Alice...haha :)

Kelsey:

I felt the same way about conference too. It really seemed to be focused on exactly what I needed to hear. haha, that´s so cute about your sunbeams, it really is true that we need to remember to love ALL of God´s creatures :)

We really don´t look like each other (Sister Stolk and I) I think it´s just that we´re white and have an American accent haha

I´m glad to hear that Kimball and Blackbear are doing well even though Kimball´s really busy.

I don´t have any ideas right now but I´ll start thinking haha :) I hope you keep staying healthy!

So this week was really great! To answer your questions Mom:
What is something interesting or unexpected about the culture there?  So, one thing that is interesting is that people always say "If God wants it," like when we invite them to go to church, a lot of people answer, "If God wants, I will." I always respond, "Of course He wants you too, it´s one of His commandments to go to church." haha

What new thing have you learned about yourself ?  I really have learned a lot about myself. I´ve learned that I need to have more patience and put my trust in Heavenly Father. I was worried on Saturday night that our investigators wouldn´t go to church for a lot of reasons, but Sister Fernandes and Sister Johnson reminded me that we did our part and He´ll do His part.
About the gospel? I´ve really learned the importance of baptism. I always knew that it´s important but it really is essential for salvation. I´m still learning more and more each day.
 What are the things that really connect with the people you teach? I think knowing that Heavenly Father really has a plan for each and every one of us and that we really have two purposes for living here on earth: To be happy and to prepare to return to live with Heavenly Father.

I love to hear about day to day things - doing laundry, shopping, cooking, things you guys joke about: Wow, we really joke around a lot. Sister Fernandes always jokes about the "pains" of living with 4 American sisters, haha, she´s hilarious. Umm, I really love how we have a little place to buy fresh bread every day, I love the bread here!

So, yesterday Camila was baptized. She is 18 years old and she´s been investigating the church for a while. We didn´t really teach her that much. She´s really good friends with the branch president´s wife and another young woman but she finally decided that she was ready. It was such a great baptism and her whole family came too. They´re not members so we´re going to start working with them too! It was so great to have so many visitors at the baptism!

Well, I promise to write more but I never seem to have enough time! Thank you for all your love and support! I love you the mostiest!

Love,
Sister Hicks