HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD AND KIMBALL June 30,2014

Dear Mom, Dad, Family, and Friends,

Well, to start off, Dad, I wanted to wish you a very happy birthday today! And Happy Birthday Kimball! (on Wensday) :) I hope you two have a great birthday! 

Taylor: Yah, the World Cup is really affecting missionary work the world over. My friend who´s serving in Russia said that everyone is staying up late to watch the game and so waking up around 4 in the afternoon, haha!

Wow, I hope everything goes well with the move in to the  new place! You´ll have to send me some pictures once you get all moved in! 

Enjoy your last fews days in Spain!

Dad: HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! 

 Glad to hear that Stake Conference is well. That´s a bummer that the router burned out and that you didn´t have much time but I´m sure you did a wonderful job! 

Wow, I can´t believe June has already ended as well. It flew by really fast! 

Give Grandma and Grandpa a huge hug when you see them from me. Tell them how much I love and miss them. 

haha, yah, it was definitely a blessing that Brasil won. Pretty crazy game but ended great. Funniest part about the game: So we watched the game at a member´s home with their whole family and the neighbor´s tv is about 2 seconds ahead, so during the penalty kicks we knew if the player had made a goal before we even saw it on the tv because the neighbors either yelled or kept quiet. haha, it was pretty funny :) And let´s just say Brazilians know how to yell during soccer :)

Mom: Wow, that´s interesting that Emily can´t leave home during the game. It´s probably because her mission is close to São Paulo and there are games being played there. But here in João Pessoa, there aren´t any World Cup games. But we won´t be allowed to watch the finals game on Sunday (if Brasil makes it to the finals) because well, it´s Sunday

I got the pink sweater in a different box than the shoes. I still haven´t gotten the talk but we have Zone Conference on Wednesday so I should get it then. I´m sure I`ll get the package with the Old Navy shirts soon. Heather Kern emailed me and said that she had sent a package in February and I still haven´t gotten it. I´m sure I`ll get it soon. :) Thanks again for sending the package!

Aah, I´m glad stake conference went well. haha, I can picture you crying during the chorus. (I didn´t even know that that hymn was so new, well not that new...) :)

haha, that´s so funny that you wrote about the electric fence collar during FHE because I was talking about that just yesterday with Sister Maciel. So, we have this electric racket looking thing to cool the mosquitos in our house and it obviously shocks you. haha, Sister Maciel was joking around yesterday and pretending to almost shock me. And that´s when I told her the story, haha, she laughed when I told her :)

You should definitely go downtown to see the fireworks. 4th of July here is the Brasil soccer game. I´m going to make brownies to bring to the member´s home and somehow I´m going to decorate the brownies with an American flag, I´m still planning it out but it should be good :)

Bryan: Congrats on the new bedroom! Looks great and I loved the pictures! 

haha, oh the Steve Jobs quote...

Well, this week went pretty well. Cida didn´t stop smoking but at least she went to Church again this week. Please pray that she´ll be able to stop smoking and drinking coffee this week :) And also that we´ll be able to find new investigators this week. Our goal for this month is 4-2-1 (4 baptisms, 2 of them being men, and 1 family) If you could pray that we would be able to reach our goal that would be great. 

So funny story of the week, last night as we were tracting one of our old investigators, Glaudênia saw us and came up to talk to us. Let´s just say that she was a little drunk...and she told us "Come to my house and pray for me, please!" haha, we went to her house and said that it had to be quick but that we would pray for her. Well, she asked for the two of us to pray at the same time and I told her it had to be just one. Well, I ended up praying and during the middle of the prayer she just starts talking and she´s like "Oh wow, you´re so sweaty!" Then she began to wipe the sweat off my face with hands (remember I was praying during all this) haha, it was so gross and I was like, "What? You can´t just rub off the sweat from other people´s faces!" haha, I didn´t really say that to her but let´s just say it was a pretty funny experience in the end. Oh, what people do when they´re drunk. 

Another cool story from the week: So Saturday night, Wellen, one of the sisters from the ward went out to teach with us. As we were walking her home she stopped at the bakery to buy bread and I was talking to her about how much I love the bread here in Brasil. Well, I guess I talked about the bread so much that when we got to her house her husband (who´s a bread deliverer) gave me two packages of bread! I was so excited! Then, we went to visit a  less active sister, Rosa, (she is soooo great and has such a strong spirit). As we walked in, I felt a prompting that I should give the bread to her. I knew that she didn´t have very much to eat and that she was barely making ends meet. So, I gave her the bread that I had and she was sooo happy and so grateful. I was reminded of that hymn, "Because I Have Been  Given Much." It was such a strong spiritual experience and reminded me of how much we truly are blessed.

Well, I love you all so much and hope that you all have a great week! 

I love you the MOSTIEST!

Love,

Sister Hicks