Hey Mom, Dad, Family, and Friends,
So
just so you know, I am still here in Prossind and everyone in our house
stayed the same. Sister Cameron, Sister De Paula, Sister Cavalcanti,
and me! :)
So this week was super great. We had two baptisms
on Sunday.
Wellington was baptized. He´s 22 years old and it was pretty hard for
him this past week to stop smoking and drinking coffee but he was able
to stop and he was baptized! It was interesting because he kept asking,
"Is it really true that all of my sins will be forgiven when I´m
baptized?" And the greatest part was able to say yes, you really will be
clean.
Our other baptism was Aparecida. And her story is a little bit
funnier. So we talked to her sister in the street who lives in another
neighborhood and her sister said, "Hey I think my sister, Aparecida, has
already gone to this church." So we wrote down her address and we went
to visit her, so ends up that Aparecida´s husband was baptized about 8
or 9 years ago but has since passed away. Aparecida said that she´d
already gone to church as well but wasn´t baptized (this was
Wednesday). So we invited her in the contact to be baptized
Sunday
and she said, ok, I will. So then we went to her house this next day,
taught the Restoration and asked her the baptismal questions and she was
completely ready. We started to fill out the baptismal form when she
said, "Wait, I think maybe I was baptized with my husband." We were
like, what? Are you sure? So we ended up calling the mission office and
they called Salt Lake but Salt Lake doesn´t have a record of her being
baptized so "Só batiza!" Just baptize!
So it´s
Sunday morning and Aparecida isn´t at home, she was at the hospital with her mom who´s sick. But we passed by
Sunday
afternoon and told her, "Hey, you still have your baptism today, are
you ready to go?!" haha, she took a shower really fast, I called our
Zone Leaders and they did the baptismal interview and she was baptized.
haha, it was super crazy but it was a great baptism!
So, why the subject line? Well, Carnaval, the crazy
party/holiday that they have here every year (especially big in Rio)
starts this weekend. And let´s just say it´s going to be a little crazy.
They already had a "pre-Carnaval party" and the streets were a little
crazy. But it´s all good because the crazy drunk parties are by the
beach and my area doesn´t even have a part of the beach. It´s
interesting Young Women and Young Men camp is always the same weekend as
Carnaval so that the youth have something good to do and because it´s a
holiday here.
But anywho...
Mom: I loved your facebook post that you emailed me. haha, I´m so thankful that you guys didn´t give upon your baby girl :)
So,
it´s Tori Thomas (my friend from BYU that lives in New Jersey) that is
in Ukraine right now. I hope that she´s ok. I´ll be sure to keep her in
my prayers.
That was so sweet to see the photo of Mrs. Russo and Em. Aah,
I´m so glad to hear they´re doing well and Chester too! Aah, that´s so
sweet that Mrs. Russo read my letters. I´ll have to write them a letter
soon. Im so glad to hear that Em is doing well too. I love that girl :)
Oh, and what?! They changed the name of the Exton Diner, haha,
and I totally remember Ron´s Schoolhouse Grille. Haha, oh the
memories...but I´m glad you were able to get some fabric shopping in
too!
That´s cool that it was Elder Nielson that you guys sat with. haha, oh
and the Greg stories too, haha, they always make my day! :)
So,
it has been super hot here but I don´t think it´s breaking records,
it´s just normal here, haha, I don´t even sleep with a sheet or
anything, I just sleep on top of my flat sheet with the fan on high!
Thanks so much for the packages, I´m sure I´ll get them soon!
Dad:
Wow,
that´s so cool to hear that Brother Brown is the new bishop. He´s going
to be great and Sister Brown is so incredible as well! Power couple!
I really liked what you wrote about having to remember the
spiritual moments that we´ve already had and that we really have to
search for the Spirit. I know that, like you wrote, there are definitely
times when I have to search for the Spirit and it´s something that we
have to keep on working for.
Lindsey: I hope Bryan and the girls are feeling better. I
absolutely loved the pics that you sent! Looks like it was a great
birthday! I can´t believe we have another 30 year old in our family!
haha, and the girls look so great!
Bryan: Love the Sonic story, haha, oh little kids, and I hope
your feeling better! You looked great in the pics from your birthday!
You go Bry Bry :)
So funny story from the week...
So Sister Cameron, André (a returned missionary from our ward) and I were going to visit Asicleia (this was
Monday
night) because she can be baptized this week (it´s just super hard to
find her at home) and as we were knocking on our door there were about 8
Jehovah Witnesses that showed up in the same street...doing the same
thing as us....well kind of...they were knocking doors and sharing
messages, haha it was so funny to see them doing exactly what we do, but
you know what I did, I just stayed in front of Asicleia´s house (even
though she wasn´t answering the door) because I didn´t want them talking
to our baptism! haha, it was so funny and just comical. I remembered
Kimball´s stories from his mission. Here they´re called the TJs because
in Portuguese it´s Testemunhos de Jeová.
Oh another funny story, this crazy drugged lady came up to us
asking for money but we told her sorry, and then she asked us what our
names were about 50 times, she kept saying "No, in Portuguese, what is
your name in Portuguese?!" And we kept telling her, "This IS my name in
Portuguese, haha it was soo funny...a little crazy...but super funny
Oh, I ate jaka for the first time this week. It´s actually
super good. I think Mom, you already asked me about it, but it´s a
crazy big fruit, bigger than the size of a football. Oh talking of
"futbol" people are already talking about the World Cup, it´s gonna be
CRAZY!
Oh other random story, yesterday we walking in the street and
there was a ledge and I wasn´t paying attention and I tripped, I didn´t
end up falling but I banged my big toe pretty bad, but I just kept on
going, then Romualdo (a member that we were with) told me that I should
check and see if it was bleeding, turns out that it was actually
bleeding and was cut up. We went to a member´s house that lives close by
and cleaned it up, wrapped a tissue around it with some masking tape
and kept on going, haha, but it´s totally fine, just a funny, clumsy
story of the week.
Oh, random question, How are grandma and grandpa, I haven´t
heard much from them lately. I hope they´re doing well. Send my love to
them. :)
Well, I´m doing well and I´m super happy here!
It´s amazing how fast the time flies. One of my zone leaders, Elder
Herrera, and an AP Elder James are leaving today. Elder Herrera was my
ZL in Queimadas for 2 transfers and here in Rangel for 1 transfer. So 3
out of my 5 transfers here, he´s been my ZL and Elder James has been an
AP for 3 transfers, it´s so crazy how fast the time flies and that so
many missionaries that I know are leaving soon! But I´m so grateful to
be here!
I love you all the MOSTIEST!
Love,
Sister Hicks
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