It's all about the pictures!!

Ya March 17th was my 4 month mark on the mission, so we celebrated with Acai berry so so so so good and super cheap here.

We had a craving for pancakes so we made banana, chocolate, and plain so good with homemade maple syrup and of course peanut butter

Adrianna's twins Henry and Stephany turned 3 on the 19th so we made them goodie bags and birthday crowns they love us it was way fun they are so cute. I love them

The brownies we made for Elder Bird for his birthday he was pretty happy about life. Once again the sisters are pretty much amazing

For F.H.E. we made guacamole for the family of Flavia. Here in Brasil they only eat sweet avacado so they were scared but now they love it. This family is awesome

A picture is worth a thousand words... anyone drooling yet? That would be Acai with fresh shaved chocalte so so good

So milk here is interesting. It goes bad in like two days so yep that would be powder milk that we have. I was scared at first but Sis. K. was like it`s the only way and now I like it

So that would be the mushrooms growing out of the floor in our bathroom... We haven`t decided if we want to smoke them yet or not hahhaahah....

The Week Flew By!

So this week has been quite interesting and fast to say the least. We had two lunch dates fall throw two days in a row. So that was hard not to get all mad and upset about. But luckily Sandra who I love with all my heart hooked it up for one of the meals. She is a chef so it`s always good at her house and she said whenever we don`t have food we can come on over so we did. It was great. The next day the Irma forgot so we had to wait for an hour for her to bring us money. I was so hungry i wanted to kick someone but then it was all good. We went to our staple restaurant Tempero Manero which is like a Fresh Choice so it all worked out. 

And then Tuesday when we took the brownies to Elder Bird he was so excited they turned out really good we worked dang hard on those brownies and we sang to him. The happy birthday song here is super rad i still need to learn it but i love it.

So Sis. K. has her IPOD and she had awesome church music and other classical music and church talks on it. So get this she loves Celtic Women. So we dance in our house every morning while we brush our teeth to The Butterfly by Madreid so awesome I love it. We got home one night and i was like hey let`s make pancakes and she was like ok I will make the syrup that is what i love about her she is up for anything we burnt the heck out of the pan but it was worth that yummy pancakes so so good. Here they only have salty pancakes so that was a nice change.

Vanessa who is a new member is pregnant and had a baby shower at the church we got to go to that. The baby shower was lame i was like ok next time i`m planning the baby shower hahaha but it was good becasue she has very little money and got a lot of the big items diapers and all that jazz. Little Joao Victor will be here any day now. It is so sad that we can`t hold him when he comes but it`s all good.

So people love us and always want us to come over for FHE which i am totally down for. We have awesome families in the ward. So we made tacos and guacamole with Flavia family. They were like umm what but super excited. It was so funny to watch them try it and then they were like NOSSA this is so good. Umm ya it is. They don`t have Mexican food here so they where eating it up.

A few days later we had lunch with Flavia and she told us earlier we were going to have lasagna and i was pumped i love the lasagna here because they don`t use ricotta cheese. So we get there and it was a BBQ i was like oh ok sweet. Here mom was there from Rio and Barrak Obama was on the TV they were like do you know him, umm no hahahah. Then Daniel her husband brought in some meat from the grill. It was a bunch of different meats. They were like hey go ahead and eat. So i just grabbed some meat and it tasted weird but i was like hmm whatever. So Flavia is like hey did you like the  fígado? I was like that what? Then she liked walked away. And Sis. K. was like ohh that`s what that was. I WAS STARTING TO PANIC. I was like what what is it. She was like i will tell you later i was like tell me know. She was like you just ate liver. Did she just say LIVER!!! OH MY LAND. Well luckily my gag relfex is gone these days and i just said ohhh and tried not to cry ahahahha. It was crazy. At least it was BBQ instead of like liver and onion style. But at BBQ here liver is very popular but now i know...

So i started bringing my family photo album with me in my boca because people get mad when they can`t see pictures of my family and the overall statement is "oh your mom is black huh?" haahhah it`s the same here as in the states and i say no and they are like how she has a black nose and lips so funny.

I`m not sure if i said this or not but here you don`t knock door you either call the persons name or clap. That took a while to get use to but now i am super Brazilian at it hahah i even get complements ahahhaahah.

Well Noemi is progressing really well. We taught her the WOW and she has no and i mean NO problems with it. Then we were so happy we threw down the law of Chasity no problems either so is amazing i love love love her and cannot wait for her baptism. Maria and Manuel are doing great. Maria has been putting up a fight since day one but we went and picked them up for church yesterday and they took us in the car and they loved it. I knew that once she came to church it would change her. And it did oh man it was awesome.

On Saturday night Sandra had a birthday party for her son Juan who turned 9 and invited us to come. We went for like half an hour thinking there would be people to talk to. But it was just a bunch of crazy kids. And they were listening to music and it was in English it was some rap song. And the chours was like "I`m in Miami B..." and i was like hmm so i told Sis. K because she just didn`t hear it and she was like oh dear. Sandra saw our faces and was like what what happen and we told her and she was like oh and went in the living room and was like the sisters said this song has a bad word and turned it off and Juan was mad. We were like dang. It is so funny because we were just talking about how we don`t want to be those types of parents that are like total party poppers for there kids and then boom and she said our names and everyone was mad. But then i saved the day and said do you have any Justin Bibier and he was so happy. Thank goodness then we were cool again.

The weather has been amazing i love it i can walk for miles when it`s like this. Oh and next Saturday we are starting English classes so will be fun hahahah. I`ll let you know how that goes. We have 2 baptism dates set for the first weekend of April pray that they follow through for us.

Feels like yesterday...

First day in the field

Dear Parents,

We are happy to send the good news that your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil MTC.  What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary as they come through the front door of the MTC for the first time. We promise to    take good care of your missionary.
They now have companions and are settled into their rooms.  They are assigned to a district with capable and caring instructors for language and lesson study.  The branch presidents and their wives, will soon give them a second greeting.  These couples are rewarded in their callings through the love they always develop as they embrace and watch over the missionaries.
The MTC has a full time live-in physician to care for their health needs.  He is assisted by his able wife. We are also happy to report that the Cafeteria food is abundant and very good.
Your missionary will be able to e-mail home on Preparation Day after a morning at the Temple.  This will be either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on individual assignments.
Your very important young person is about to make an eternal difference in the lives of others.  We hope you will be encouraged and comforted by this quote by President Lorenzo Snow: “There is no mortal man that is so much interested in the success of an elder [sister] when he is preaching the gospel as the Lord that sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord’s children.”

Please accept our love,

President Donald L Clark and Sister Zaza Clark
 

 I found this dress in the take away box and Sis. K had purple on do so we made our Elders take a picture, so cute i love that girl

the awesome sunset. I decided that Votorantim is like a mini San Fransico

Ya so that is our dresser and the termintes so bad here oh my land, but the next day Elder Dawson brought us new dressers

The view from our new place not to bad huh, where that pink wall is there is a little door, well that is where we use to live, crazy huh?

Yes thank goodness her mom sent her a fat thing of peanut butter so good, we made peanut butter cookies for the Elders and they loved it.

That would be the view at the top of a hill that we climbed to go teach, our area is full of these types of hills.

That would be our baby Barcelona the ready mix that we thought would be light and it wasn`t. 45 Pounds. And we had to carry him that was the longest quarter of a mile.

Moving on Up to the East Side to a Dexluxe Apartment in the Sky...

Well we finally moved that was so great. The Elders that are close to us helped us move. Elder Smalley who is a beast moved the stove, fridge and washing machine by himself. That was crazyness. It only took two hours to move. It was great. I was so happy that we moved. It`s nice and safe and a nice breeze comes through the apartment quite well. We do have a crazy neighbor though. She is like the helper of the land lord and she is always ringing our bell and telling us what we need to be doing. She is very good at our job. Oh and she sings at top of her lungs every morning so that always leaves for some good times hahahaha. We made peanut butter cookies for the Elders last Pday and this Pday we are whipping up some brownies. Pretty excited about that. Our Elders love us. So last Pday we had FHE with Patricia and Richardo, and she is awesome cook. She made homemade pastels. To die for. 

We had a fast last sunday to help us find people to teach but i was feeling discouraged becasue no fish were bitting. Well we went to visit Vaness a new member and she was like did you guys ever go and teach my friend Noemia. We were like who? I guess when Sis. S and i had spilts Vanessa told them about her. So we went to her house and she was amazing. She read and prayed about the BOM and is amazing. She has a husband and two little girls. I just want to jump and hug her she is so awesome. I really have to calm myself. She is my first investiagtor that is like amazing and reading and knows that the church is true. She couldn`t come to church becasue she was worried about her girls but she said next week she will come. I was so sad but i am counting on next week. We need her to come twice so she can get baptized. The Lord is ready for her. The Lord is amazing. He wants to see us struggle and show that we want it and then he blessess us in ways that are truely amazing. My the Lord is good.

So we our room is on the street in the center of town and it`s really noisy at night we almost moves our mattress to the living room but we can tolerate it now. And the ceiling in the bathroom is cracked. So a new member in the ward Alisonn was like i can fix it for you guys he is awesome. New members are amazing. Anyway he said to go buy the ready mix and bring it home. We went to buy it and the guys where like umm you sure you can handle this. We were like ya. Ok so it was 45 pounds and we had to walk home about a quarter of a mile. We named the mix Barcelona and switched off carrying our baby every ten steps. Sis. K was dying of laugher the whole time it was crazyness. People where staring. We were like Alisonn we re going to kill you. Other problems with the house. The kitchen sink isn`t draining to well hahaha. And sometimes the lights turn on and sometimes they don`t. Ugh ahahahah.

So Elder Dawson got us new dressers becasue the termintes are really bad here. So he paid two men to bring them up the stairs for us. As they did this they talked to me and Sis. K. and they said something about Americans and i was like ya and then they laughed. Later Sis. K. told me that they asked me if i was American as well and i said yes and then they said why is it that Americans are always prettier than Brazilians and i was like yes hhahahahahaha. Wow super embarrsing. Sometimes i understand and sometimes hahahah i don`t.

I can`t believe about the Tsuami in Japan that is so sad. We have been praying a lot for these people. And thinking a lot about the missionaries that are serving there and there families that is so scary for them. 

We got to go to the R.S. birthday party celebration, that was way fun. There are five wards in our stake and each ward danced to music from a different country. Our ward was Cuba hahaha they wanted me to sing Mamba #5 and i was like ummm nope can`t do that hahahh. Well it`s been another amazing week in Votorantim with Sis. K. who i love love love love. Until next week.

Having fun with a little help of my friends

Zoo!  

Look how lush everything is!!  

My long lost friend from the MTC, Sister Lund

My new American Companion, Sister Knudsen

Elder Rolfe was my favorite elder in my zone!!

First Transfer down!!

Well this week has been quite a ride. Tuesday night we were having family night with a family in the ward. Crab yummy. I`m just saying it`s all good here. Anyway we got a call on the cell phone. It was about transfers. Can you believe it`s already been 6 weeks. Well anyways Sister Santos was leaving my side and going to open a new area in the capital with Sister Reike who i roomed with in the Brasil CTM, and i got Sister Knudsen. AN AMERICAN PEOPLE. It is crazy. She is awesome. I just love her to death. She is leaving in May and is super amazing. She is a work horse through and through. I am dead when we come home every night so that is crazy. But it`s a good crazy. She follows the rules to a T and i love it. She served with Sister Santos so Sister Santos said she is really cool. So that meant that i got to go to the captial. So Wed morning all the missionaries that were being transfered with there companions got on huge bus and headed to the mission office. It was cool. When we got there i saw Sister Lund. Who was in the Provo MTC 6 weeks ahead of me. And two weeks before Sister Santos was like hey a Sister London has entered the field do you know her? And i was like a Sister London no. What how do you not know her she was in the MTC the same time as you. Ok turns out it was Sister Lund. Super funny. So we hugged for hours and had a great time. And i saw some other friends. It`s fun to go know because i know people. And on Pday we went to the Zoo. The Zoo here is so amazing. It is like this jungle in the middle of the city awesome. We get to move on Wednesday. We were suppose to move Monday but the apartment needed to be painted and we need two new doors. Termintes are really bad here and eat through the door quite quickly. Well it`s Fall here and i am so happy. No sun and a nice breeze during the day i am so happy. Sister K is funny she is cold she is from Arizona so she can`t handle the cold. I love it. So like the second day with Sis. K she needed some new flip flops we went to the store next to our house. And i turned around and knocked a mannquin over and her head and arms fell off and all these flip flops went flying it was so funny and super embarssing. Whatever at least i didn`t pee on the floor like last time. 

We had spilts again with Carla and Andrea and they got there calls one to Porte Alegere and the other to Peru and when i was with Andrea i got my first yell at. But hey it`s all good i had no idea what he said. So i don`t really care. Maybe i planted a seed who knows. Oh and another first. I taught my first drunk. It was crazyness. He was crying all over the place i was trying not to laugh, Sis. K. wrapped up the lesson and burned him. She was like the next time we come you better not be drunk hahahah. So funny. Sister K loves to cook and be heathly so that is awesome and fun. Until she leaves in May we are going to make a treat to take to the elders for every Tuesday we have district meeting. Her mom sent her a Costco size tub of peanut butter i am in heaven we love it. It is so hard not to talk in English all the time with her. So we have a rule only talk English in the house. Too bad that rule only works for a little bit hahaha but we are trying. And we switch off making breakfast for eachohther ever other. She makes scrambled eggs with zuchhinni soooo sooo good. Yummy. Well CARNAVAL is starting soon. And the closest we will get to it is a BBQ so hey i am down with that. I had beef stroganoff but it is way different and you have it with potato chips. They were like this is the same like in the states i was like umm no. And it`s yellow instead of a creamy white but hey what are you going to do. So ya i made it through my first transfer. My Portuguese is way better as is the weather. They say after 3 transfers your understanding is way better so i am so happy for that moment to come. Jair well be baptized April 2, he is stuggling with smoking. But there is this really cool method Sis. K. taught him you have Vitamin C pills and orange juice three times a day for a week and it washes the nicotine out of your system. So he is going to try it and see if it works. And we taught a new family that is real promising that i think in April will be baptized we shall see. Just have to have a little bit of that faith and then anything is possible. Well enjoy the pictures. Until next week. 

Brazil, Here I Am!

                       city by heavans villa amorim, 
                    that view is only half of my area... 

                            Sister Santos-my trunky companion

                                    The Bishop Family

                        RaChelle, Jake, Tyler, Alison, and Kyle 
                                    who I translate for.

Well, I wish I can say it has been blissful, but I am a missionary and I do not lie.  It is against my religion.  It started off rough.  My companion/trainer is native Brazilian which is hard to communicate at times.  It is getting easier everyday, but I know that has been a tool on learning the language.  The people here are warm and nice which is awesome and the members are AWESOME!  They feed us TONS. That has been very discouraging for me because the weight that I worked so hard to get off is slowly creeping in again.  Rice, beans and bread are good, but not on the scale.  I am trying, but is really hard when I can't focus on it as I did at home.  We have two baptisms at the end of the month.  One I invited all by myself in Portuguese!  The language is getting better everyday. It helps when you sleep, eat and breathe it.   

The letters take a long time to get to my fellow friends, so I apologize for the snail paced system.