Hi family!
1. This week was SHORT! The mission is long long days, with short short
weeks. We worked really really hard this week, but we havent exactly
been seeing the fruits of our labors, so we're trying to find things to
change and do better.
2. I cut Sister Hill's hair this morning really SHORT. bahaha it looks
ridiculous. (oops - turns out you really do have to go to cosmotology
school to know what you're doing). Its like that time when Juliette cut
Chase Lonas' hair and was dancing around snipping here and there. Welp,
except in America there is a SuperCuts to fix it, and here the hair
cutters are not super great, so we're just leaving it. baha oh well.
3. Um, this email is really SHORT? Sorry, but there's just not lots to
say and not lots of time to say it. But the mission is good, and I'm SO
EXCITED for JAKE STREETER. I think he comes home this week? last week?
next week? dont know, but much love to the cousin who fought the good
fight and kept the faith and finished his course in Mexico. (Jake is our cousin, who is actually coming home from Honduras)
Love you!
Sister Wardle
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
You know that one Blue's Clue's song?
From an email dated October 13, 2009:
Here's the mail
It never fails
It makes me wanna wag my tail,
when it comes I wanna wail,
MAAAIIIILLLLL
Yahhh... about that... some day I'll grow up and find a better way to express myself than by reciting lyrics of a Nickelodean song. But until that point, I've found that this song is pretty good at explaining how I feel every 4-6 weeks at zone conferences. I received a bunch of letters and packages this week and it just makes me SO HAPPY. THANK YOU!!!
Family - love you
Mom - LOVE YOU thanks for the shirt and the pictures and the halloween decor
(and to chelsea monahan for the primary letters - omg so stinking adorable)
Grandma - love the updates on life and the fam and the cousins
Greg - inspirational? yes. love the letters and the pics. surf looks GOOD.
Sister Lasley - honestly where do you find the time on P-day to write letters?
Sister Auton - i love the news from the ward, makes me feel like I'm still a part of C-4!
Fred - i'm SO happy you loved france SO MUCH.
and MARTHA - Thanks a MIL for the sweet package. I'm glad you went to a good source (I'm assuming it was kelly). Really, so so nice of you.
the other missionaries kind of gawk when I receive a bunch of mail, and I am just so so grateful and blessed to have the support from friends and family at home, so Thanks a boatload!
In other news, this week went super fast. The days tend to drag sometimes, but then all the sudden its Sunday again. Crazy. And now I'm trying to rack my mind to think of the highlights worth telling you about. For starters, being companions with Sister Hill is just the greatest thing in the world. I absolutely love how we work together. its SO different from being companions in the CTM because now we're actually doing the real deal, and she is a huge strength to me. and we seriously just laugh all day long. this girl is a hoot. I cant wait for you all to meet her and love her.
(side note - mom or dad, can you forward this one to Donna Vidmar and also ask her to pass it along to Sister Woffinden from the CTM? She was one of our pals, and one day we were talking about how we wanted to be companions again in the field, and sister woffinden thought it probably wouldnt happen, but we were so stoked when we found out to be together again, so we want to just pass on the joyous news to pres and sister woffinden. cool, thanks!)
How to describe a day in the life with sister hill - yes, I'll use a Hercules quote: "we sing, we dance, we carry on, we go home happy." And yes, we teach the truths of the restored gospel. Could you have a better week? I submit that you could not. Just get excited for christmas 2010!
Other things about which to be excited - HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAAAAAD! yayyy a time to eat cake! we do that close to every day in brasil, but just especially for you today I'll go ahead and help myself to an extra slice in honor of you.
Parabéns para você, nesta data querido
Muitas felicidades, muitos anos da vida!
(sing it to the tune of happy bday)
(PAUL! - remember when you taught me this on corinne siaosi's first little day of birth? yeaaa boiiii)
Other quick news, before I gotta go. We are teaching this family, and their names are Henrique e Larissa. And Larissa reminds me SO MUCH of Lisa Khoury. Its so crazy. She is the sweeeeetest lady. And she's BEAUTIFUL. She has this elegance and cute little behaviors paired up, and this "jeito" and a few of the same mannerisms of Lisa. anyways, maybe some day they could be friends.
OH and I forgot to tell you this from the other week too... we had a really fun day last week where all the Sisters in the mission got to go to the ZOO. We had a mini sisters meeting at the mission home first, and then some new instructions and slightly amended rules for the sisters for our safety and health, and then we all got to go play for an hour at the zoo. So that was sweet, and we were literally RUNNING all over the place because we had 1 hour and the Zoo is HUGE. but we saw lots of animals and took lots of pictures, and someday when there's time I'll try and send some home. (Sorry I still dont know how to email pictures... ah, welp, what are ya gonna do.)
So this week we had a few exceptionally choice teaching experiences. We taught a man named Marcos who is super elect. and fluent in English! and there is this other family, and the mom, Iada, said that she had been praying all week for some one to come and help her out and find Christ again, and she said that we were angels sent to help her. And she said that she has fallen away from the church that she usually goes to, and that she was hoping that some one from her church might come and be-friend her again, but she believes that instead, God sent us to help her. We were pretty amped up after that one. So we taught her about how families can be together forever, and about how we receive these truths through the restored gospel, and about how a prophet directs the church - you know all the good stuff. she loved it. we loved it. there was love felt in the room. church is true.
And also this week was a holiday on Monday, so we participated in the Helping Hands project. Super fun. There were a bunch of stakes that combined to clean up a school. Big time clean up. We're talking re-doing the "grass" (aka piles of rocks and weeds with ants the size of my thumb), repainting the school walls, putting up new wall coverings, cleaning everything, and painting the playground equipment. bahaha then somebody from the newspaper came and interviewed me. and I was super embarrassed because I all of the sudden froze up and seemed to forget all my portuguese in 1 second, and so I really hope they dont use any of the quotes I said.
Anyways, gotta jet.
LOVE YOU SO MUCH,
Sister Wardle
Here's the mail
It never fails
It makes me wanna wag my tail,
when it comes I wanna wail,
MAAAIIIILLLLL
Yahhh... about that... some day I'll grow up and find a better way to express myself than by reciting lyrics of a Nickelodean song. But until that point, I've found that this song is pretty good at explaining how I feel every 4-6 weeks at zone conferences. I received a bunch of letters and packages this week and it just makes me SO HAPPY. THANK YOU!!!
Family - love you
Mom - LOVE YOU thanks for the shirt and the pictures and the halloween decor
(and to chelsea monahan for the primary letters - omg so stinking adorable)
Grandma - love the updates on life and the fam and the cousins
Greg - inspirational? yes. love the letters and the pics. surf looks GOOD.
Sister Lasley - honestly where do you find the time on P-day to write letters?
Sister Auton - i love the news from the ward, makes me feel like I'm still a part of C-4!
Fred - i'm SO happy you loved france SO MUCH.
and MARTHA - Thanks a MIL for the sweet package. I'm glad you went to a good source (I'm assuming it was kelly). Really, so so nice of you.
the other missionaries kind of gawk when I receive a bunch of mail, and I am just so so grateful and blessed to have the support from friends and family at home, so Thanks a boatload!
In other news, this week went super fast. The days tend to drag sometimes, but then all the sudden its Sunday again. Crazy. And now I'm trying to rack my mind to think of the highlights worth telling you about. For starters, being companions with Sister Hill is just the greatest thing in the world. I absolutely love how we work together. its SO different from being companions in the CTM because now we're actually doing the real deal, and she is a huge strength to me. and we seriously just laugh all day long. this girl is a hoot. I cant wait for you all to meet her and love her.
(side note - mom or dad, can you forward this one to Donna Vidmar and also ask her to pass it along to Sister Woffinden from the CTM? She was one of our pals, and one day we were talking about how we wanted to be companions again in the field, and sister woffinden thought it probably wouldnt happen, but we were so stoked when we found out to be together again, so we want to just pass on the joyous news to pres and sister woffinden. cool, thanks!)
How to describe a day in the life with sister hill - yes, I'll use a Hercules quote: "we sing, we dance, we carry on, we go home happy." And yes, we teach the truths of the restored gospel. Could you have a better week? I submit that you could not. Just get excited for christmas 2010!
Other things about which to be excited - HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAAAAAD! yayyy a time to eat cake! we do that close to every day in brasil, but just especially for you today I'll go ahead and help myself to an extra slice in honor of you.
Parabéns para você, nesta data querido
Muitas felicidades, muitos anos da vida!
(sing it to the tune of happy bday)
(PAUL! - remember when you taught me this on corinne siaosi's first little day of birth? yeaaa boiiii)
Other quick news, before I gotta go. We are teaching this family, and their names are Henrique e Larissa. And Larissa reminds me SO MUCH of Lisa Khoury. Its so crazy. She is the sweeeeetest lady. And she's BEAUTIFUL. She has this elegance and cute little behaviors paired up, and this "jeito" and a few of the same mannerisms of Lisa. anyways, maybe some day they could be friends.
OH and I forgot to tell you this from the other week too... we had a really fun day last week where all the Sisters in the mission got to go to the ZOO. We had a mini sisters meeting at the mission home first, and then some new instructions and slightly amended rules for the sisters for our safety and health, and then we all got to go play for an hour at the zoo. So that was sweet, and we were literally RUNNING all over the place because we had 1 hour and the Zoo is HUGE. but we saw lots of animals and took lots of pictures, and someday when there's time I'll try and send some home. (Sorry I still dont know how to email pictures... ah, welp, what are ya gonna do.)
So this week we had a few exceptionally choice teaching experiences. We taught a man named Marcos who is super elect. and fluent in English! and there is this other family, and the mom, Iada, said that she had been praying all week for some one to come and help her out and find Christ again, and she said that we were angels sent to help her. And she said that she has fallen away from the church that she usually goes to, and that she was hoping that some one from her church might come and be-friend her again, but she believes that instead, God sent us to help her. We were pretty amped up after that one. So we taught her about how families can be together forever, and about how we receive these truths through the restored gospel, and about how a prophet directs the church - you know all the good stuff. she loved it. we loved it. there was love felt in the room. church is true.
And also this week was a holiday on Monday, so we participated in the Helping Hands project. Super fun. There were a bunch of stakes that combined to clean up a school. Big time clean up. We're talking re-doing the "grass" (aka piles of rocks and weeds with ants the size of my thumb), repainting the school walls, putting up new wall coverings, cleaning everything, and painting the playground equipment. bahaha then somebody from the newspaper came and interviewed me. and I was super embarrassed because I all of the sudden froze up and seemed to forget all my portuguese in 1 second, and so I really hope they dont use any of the quotes I said.
Anyways, gotta jet.
LOVE YOU SO MUCH,
Sister Wardle
MLIA - My Life Is Awesome!
From an email dated September 22, 2009 (this one is a little out of order):
Hello to the GREATEST family in the WORLD!
THANK YOU SO MUCH for the package and letters! You (family and friends very much included) are the greatest family in the world.
So, we get our mail every 3-6 weeks / most random intervals / who knows when. We had an awesome zone conference and training last Tuesday, where I received the packages and TONS of letters. Yayyy you guys didn’t forget about me! But one of the mission rules is that I could only open packages and read the letters on PDay, so I have been waiting for s.e.v.e.n. long days to open all that stuff. Hah so I woke up literally at 4:30 this morning to open and read and write back. It was like CHRISTMAS.
Dad, I got the package with the bag, and love it! And all the Brazilians love it too. They all think its sweet, and they love that I’m reppin the colors of the brazilian flag. And Mom thanks for filling it with school supplies and the cheezits! Don’t worry about E.L.Fudgekins, they have a close impersonation here called passo tempos which are really good.Lasley – Eu freakin amo voce. Suas cartas foram ótimo, e eu não sei como você tive tempo para escrever tantas cartas. O BRE gada. M.A.S. Eu estava chorando e rindo o tempo inteiro.Annie – you cute little housewife, I’m glad to hear that things are good at home, and just so you know, things are super great here tôo.
Jette – MLIA thank you thank you, I was cracking up with those gems.
Punk sucka – I got nothing but love. Nothing but love.
Also, a huge thanks to the Siaosi’s, Maja, and Sister Auton. Your letters are so awesome!
In other news, Dish-Dish, where’s your baby? I know your due in October, and I’m so excited for a little baby lagendijk! What a little blessing. tell me about life and whats happening! I really want your address too ps, because that’d be neat and then I could write you. Thanks.
And Mom, I love you! I'm so excited for you to help out with this missionary business! the work is SO true and its SO great to get the members involved, especially the youth. Just tell them to be FEARLESS and not to worry about how it might be awkward or uncool to share the church with their friends, and that the GOSPEL is the most special thing that they can possible share with their friends, and that their friends need what they have. Everyone needs the gospel. Everyone needs the joy and blessings that it brings and WE have the special privilege of being the ones to share it. I LOVE Preach My Gospel. It is an incredible resource and so so so inspired. You can read and study and ponder about each principle 50 times and learn and re-learn truths that you grew up with in new ways. And the Youth and members of the wards are SO awesome to help in missionary work. Our ward here is incredible. The youth are so stoked on missionary work, that they go out after school and make street contacts, and then they’ll give us a list of referrals and contacts for us. Or they’ll get dressed in skirts/dresses, or shirt and tie to come out and teach lessons with us.
I was excited to hear about that sacrament meeting the youth did a few weeks ago in the Carlsbad ward. That’s so cool! And Jake Siaosi, I think you spoke in church a few weeks ago too… keep up the good work! Because I know that this is the Lord’s work, and I love being a part of it. One of the greatest things I’ve learned, is not to miss an opportunity to testify. For example not just talking “about” the church, and the church as an organization. But really talking about the gospel, and what it means to me. How the gospel has blessed my life, my family, etc. This is where I feel the spirit, and in turn hopefully help others feel the spirit.
Anyways, I love it. It is truth. There is no other truth but gospel truths. Also, this week was great, but now I don’t have time to tell you. Nothing super exciting happened. I probably gained weight, I dunno, what else is new. But TODAY after this we’re going to this open market place thingy in another city, and we’re going to meet up with SISTER HILL. I’m STOKED.
Sister Las, if only you could be with us. Don’t worry youre always with us in heart and alma.
Miss you,
Love you,
Sister Waddley
Hello to the GREATEST family in the WORLD!
THANK YOU SO MUCH for the package and letters! You (family and friends very much included) are the greatest family in the world.
So, we get our mail every 3-6 weeks / most random intervals / who knows when. We had an awesome zone conference and training last Tuesday, where I received the packages and TONS of letters. Yayyy you guys didn’t forget about me! But one of the mission rules is that I could only open packages and read the letters on PDay, so I have been waiting for s.e.v.e.n. long days to open all that stuff. Hah so I woke up literally at 4:30 this morning to open and read and write back. It was like CHRISTMAS.
Dad, I got the package with the bag, and love it! And all the Brazilians love it too. They all think its sweet, and they love that I’m reppin the colors of the brazilian flag. And Mom thanks for filling it with school supplies and the cheezits! Don’t worry about E.L.Fudgekins, they have a close impersonation here called passo tempos which are really good.Lasley – Eu freakin amo voce. Suas cartas foram ótimo, e eu não sei como você tive tempo para escrever tantas cartas. O BRE gada. M.A.S. Eu estava chorando e rindo o tempo inteiro.Annie – you cute little housewife, I’m glad to hear that things are good at home, and just so you know, things are super great here tôo.
Jette – MLIA thank you thank you, I was cracking up with those gems.
Punk sucka – I got nothing but love. Nothing but love.
Also, a huge thanks to the Siaosi’s, Maja, and Sister Auton. Your letters are so awesome!
In other news, Dish-Dish, where’s your baby? I know your due in October, and I’m so excited for a little baby lagendijk! What a little blessing. tell me about life and whats happening! I really want your address too ps, because that’d be neat and then I could write you. Thanks.
And Mom, I love you! I'm so excited for you to help out with this missionary business! the work is SO true and its SO great to get the members involved, especially the youth. Just tell them to be FEARLESS and not to worry about how it might be awkward or uncool to share the church with their friends, and that the GOSPEL is the most special thing that they can possible share with their friends, and that their friends need what they have. Everyone needs the gospel. Everyone needs the joy and blessings that it brings and WE have the special privilege of being the ones to share it. I LOVE Preach My Gospel. It is an incredible resource and so so so inspired. You can read and study and ponder about each principle 50 times and learn and re-learn truths that you grew up with in new ways. And the Youth and members of the wards are SO awesome to help in missionary work. Our ward here is incredible. The youth are so stoked on missionary work, that they go out after school and make street contacts, and then they’ll give us a list of referrals and contacts for us. Or they’ll get dressed in skirts/dresses, or shirt and tie to come out and teach lessons with us.
I was excited to hear about that sacrament meeting the youth did a few weeks ago in the Carlsbad ward. That’s so cool! And Jake Siaosi, I think you spoke in church a few weeks ago too… keep up the good work! Because I know that this is the Lord’s work, and I love being a part of it. One of the greatest things I’ve learned, is not to miss an opportunity to testify. For example not just talking “about” the church, and the church as an organization. But really talking about the gospel, and what it means to me. How the gospel has blessed my life, my family, etc. This is where I feel the spirit, and in turn hopefully help others feel the spirit.
Anyways, I love it. It is truth. There is no other truth but gospel truths. Also, this week was great, but now I don’t have time to tell you. Nothing super exciting happened. I probably gained weight, I dunno, what else is new. But TODAY after this we’re going to this open market place thingy in another city, and we’re going to meet up with SISTER HILL. I’m STOKED.
Sister Las, if only you could be with us. Don’t worry youre always with us in heart and alma.
Miss you,
Love you,
Sister Waddley
People weren't kidding when they said, "Your Mission is a Rollercoaster"
From an email dated October 6, 2009:
hi Family!!
ups, downs, all arounds, loops, drops, and whirly-doos.That pretty much explains the last two weeks.
The reason I didnt write an email home last week is because I was transferred out of my last area, and P-day was only about 3 hours long that day, and I ended up using all of that time to clean, pack, and prepare for a big change.
So here are just a few of the ups and downs of the last week in Ceilândia (my last area):
we were working to re-activate this family, and had 3 baptisms lined up and everything fell through, so that was a deeeefinate low.Then on the flip side, there was a miracle change of heart for this mother to give permission for her daughter to be baptized. This girl Janaina has a super strong testimony, but shes under 18 so couldnt be baptized without parental consent, so it was a huge miracle that the mom allowed it, and we worked so hard for it, and it was so sweet seeing how the mom changed over the course of a week as we testified like no other, and she even gave the closing prayer at her daughters baptism. it was sweet.Then back on the down side, we found out some real bad news that isnt even worth bringing up, but it was like my heart dropped out of my body.Then later like the same day we had really really really good cake, because the members knew i might get transfered, so they made my favorite cakes for me. not that i need any more cake, but i seriously love how they make cake here so much. ohhhh yum.
So then Monday morning we get the HIGHLY anticipated transfer phone call, and found out that Sister Canfield (my trainer and psuedo-mom on the mission) would be staying in ceilandia, and that I was getting transfered to an area called Guará 1. and that I would be companions with non other than the illustrious Sister Karlee Hill. Does that name ring a bell? IT SHOULD. we were companions in the CTM. aka we were meant to be together? yes. So finding that out brought me through a whole range of emotions. I absolutely love love love Sister Hill, and being companions with her in the CTM was the greatest thing in the world, so being comps again in the field should be great too, right? Right. The only thing is the enormous change of going from 1 transfer as a super newbie fresh in the field, to being a senior companion. Whaaaat? So anyways, its very interesting how God works, and I realize so much how He has everything perfectly perfectly planned. I see know that this is the reason I've been extremely blessed with learning this language, so that I can be companions with sister hill again and be able to speak and understand. And I can literally feel and see this mantel of how much the spirit blesses me to understand what these people are saying and then knowing what to say and teach. I could NOT do this without the divine help I'm receiving.
So then there are the ups and downs of this week in Guará...another baptism that fell the day before, after this elect girl had been prepared and interviewed and all set to go, but it didnt happen.the HUGE stress/blessings of being in this companionship again.the new blisters everywhere on my feetthe people too drugged up on illegal meds to listen/understand our messagethe disgusting feijoadas we ate at lunch 2 days in a rowthe people denying baptism even though they KNOW its right.
but the good sides -i love sis hilli love and miss being with sis canfieldwe live in an apartment with 4 sisters with sister Christiansen and Sister MJ from the CTM too.we had a day to go to the Zoo last week and play for an hourgift of tonguesgift of interpretation of tonguesdelicous pao de quijo.this adorable 80 yr old man who likes to speak english with uswe found an ELECT man yesterday and he is also fluent in englishthe scriptures are REALLLY REALLY goodSister MJ is hilarous when she speaks englishand yesterday i saw a grown man on a bus wearing a shakira shirt.i was pleased.
Also, a huge huge blessing this week was general conference. And yes, mom, i was blown away with elder hollands talk. We got to watch it in english with the other american missionaries, and it was incredibly powerful. all of our jaws were just dropped like the whole time.i also really loved elder bednars talk so so much, and I just want to tell my family at home how much i love love love you. I cant do a lot from here for you except pray a bunch and write a little email once a week, but you guys are so much to me, and thank you so much for your support. And I always testify to the people here in brazil about how i love the gospel and the message of joy about our Christ and how families can be together forever, but I havent shared that enough with you at home. I love the Savior and I know that He is the way. and I love His gospel and its perfection in all aspects. I am so grateful for His grace and mercy and love and spirit that he is pours out on us every day. The message of the restoration is true. and the message of the plan of salvation is a plan of love from a loving Heavenly Father. President Uchtdorfs talk was so powerful about the nature of God. And I loved the themes of conference about love. and how we need to be identified as a people of love. i LOVE the gospel, and i LOVE you all.
sister wardle
(oh and the people here can say my name, so i'm back to introducing myself as sister wardle. Sister Waddley stayed in the last area.)
hi Family!!
ups, downs, all arounds, loops, drops, and whirly-doos.That pretty much explains the last two weeks.
The reason I didnt write an email home last week is because I was transferred out of my last area, and P-day was only about 3 hours long that day, and I ended up using all of that time to clean, pack, and prepare for a big change.
So here are just a few of the ups and downs of the last week in Ceilândia (my last area):
we were working to re-activate this family, and had 3 baptisms lined up and everything fell through, so that was a deeeefinate low.Then on the flip side, there was a miracle change of heart for this mother to give permission for her daughter to be baptized. This girl Janaina has a super strong testimony, but shes under 18 so couldnt be baptized without parental consent, so it was a huge miracle that the mom allowed it, and we worked so hard for it, and it was so sweet seeing how the mom changed over the course of a week as we testified like no other, and she even gave the closing prayer at her daughters baptism. it was sweet.Then back on the down side, we found out some real bad news that isnt even worth bringing up, but it was like my heart dropped out of my body.Then later like the same day we had really really really good cake, because the members knew i might get transfered, so they made my favorite cakes for me. not that i need any more cake, but i seriously love how they make cake here so much. ohhhh yum.
So then Monday morning we get the HIGHLY anticipated transfer phone call, and found out that Sister Canfield (my trainer and psuedo-mom on the mission) would be staying in ceilandia, and that I was getting transfered to an area called Guará 1. and that I would be companions with non other than the illustrious Sister Karlee Hill. Does that name ring a bell? IT SHOULD. we were companions in the CTM. aka we were meant to be together? yes. So finding that out brought me through a whole range of emotions. I absolutely love love love Sister Hill, and being companions with her in the CTM was the greatest thing in the world, so being comps again in the field should be great too, right? Right. The only thing is the enormous change of going from 1 transfer as a super newbie fresh in the field, to being a senior companion. Whaaaat? So anyways, its very interesting how God works, and I realize so much how He has everything perfectly perfectly planned. I see know that this is the reason I've been extremely blessed with learning this language, so that I can be companions with sister hill again and be able to speak and understand. And I can literally feel and see this mantel of how much the spirit blesses me to understand what these people are saying and then knowing what to say and teach. I could NOT do this without the divine help I'm receiving.
So then there are the ups and downs of this week in Guará...another baptism that fell the day before, after this elect girl had been prepared and interviewed and all set to go, but it didnt happen.the HUGE stress/blessings of being in this companionship again.the new blisters everywhere on my feetthe people too drugged up on illegal meds to listen/understand our messagethe disgusting feijoadas we ate at lunch 2 days in a rowthe people denying baptism even though they KNOW its right.
but the good sides -i love sis hilli love and miss being with sis canfieldwe live in an apartment with 4 sisters with sister Christiansen and Sister MJ from the CTM too.we had a day to go to the Zoo last week and play for an hourgift of tonguesgift of interpretation of tonguesdelicous pao de quijo.this adorable 80 yr old man who likes to speak english with uswe found an ELECT man yesterday and he is also fluent in englishthe scriptures are REALLLY REALLY goodSister MJ is hilarous when she speaks englishand yesterday i saw a grown man on a bus wearing a shakira shirt.i was pleased.
Also, a huge huge blessing this week was general conference. And yes, mom, i was blown away with elder hollands talk. We got to watch it in english with the other american missionaries, and it was incredibly powerful. all of our jaws were just dropped like the whole time.i also really loved elder bednars talk so so much, and I just want to tell my family at home how much i love love love you. I cant do a lot from here for you except pray a bunch and write a little email once a week, but you guys are so much to me, and thank you so much for your support. And I always testify to the people here in brazil about how i love the gospel and the message of joy about our Christ and how families can be together forever, but I havent shared that enough with you at home. I love the Savior and I know that He is the way. and I love His gospel and its perfection in all aspects. I am so grateful for His grace and mercy and love and spirit that he is pours out on us every day. The message of the restoration is true. and the message of the plan of salvation is a plan of love from a loving Heavenly Father. President Uchtdorfs talk was so powerful about the nature of God. And I loved the themes of conference about love. and how we need to be identified as a people of love. i LOVE the gospel, and i LOVE you all.
sister wardle
(oh and the people here can say my name, so i'm back to introducing myself as sister wardle. Sister Waddley stayed in the last area.)
Mail on a Monday!
From an email dated September 14, 2009:
Olá Família!!
Surprise Monday Email! Usually our prep-day to write emails and stuff is Tuesday, but tomorrow we have a conference with our zone here in ceilândia, so our P-Day is today. Yay.
It's been another excellent week in Brazil! Last Monday this family in the ward baptized their son Lucas, and it was a great baptism with a really strong spirit there. We knew there would be non-members there, and the family asked sister canfield and I to do a special musical number and play the piano and stuff. Lucas' uncle Joel was there, but he's not a member, even though he's been to church a bunch of times, and he knows a lot. But the Spirit was awesome and the talks were great, and so after the baptism we talked to Joel. We just went over the baptism and explained some things, and then we just asked him if he would like to be baptized. He said YES, and then we were stoked. We spent every day this week working with him and teaching him all the lessons. He was interviewed on Friday, and then Sunday afternoon he was baptized! Yeep yeeeeep!!! So that was cool.
Its SO awesome how you feel the spirit at these baptisms. Then since Joel was being baptized on Sunday, we invited another couple named João (John) and Edined to come and see how a baptismal service goes. We have been teaching them for a few weeks but its hard to get them to keep their commitments. So João saw how cool the baptism was, and then afterwards we just did the same thing, talked to him some more, and invited him to be baptized. He accepted and we set a date for this Sunday! We just have to get him to stop smoking... Every time we visit them, if we catch him smoking, we take his pack and tell him to stop buying more. We now have quite the little collection of illegal cigarettes in our apartment.
Hah and the first time we were teaching him about the word of wisdom, we taught the whole thing, and then went item by item to ask him if he used any of those things.
Do you drink coffee? Yes.
Do you drink black tea? No.
Do you use drugs? No.
Do you smoke cigarettes? And then he like shouted, "Rapaz, Eu FUMO!" and it doesn't really translate as funny, but its just funny because you have to see this man. He has really dark skin, with black hair that's graying/white in some areas, and he has 2-3 teeth missing from smoking so much his whole life. And when he answered he just threw his head back and rolled his eyes and was like, "oh man, yes! I smoke!" so we were all laughing and his wife and kids were cracking up, and so we made goals with him to stop smoking and stuff.
Then we asked if he drank alcoholic beverages and he said no. But 4 feet away from us, there were all these bottles of hard liquor that were on display. So we asked him about the bottles, and then every one started laughing again, and he was like, "no! no! that's just water!" So he opened the bottles and made us smell the liquid to prove that it was just water. He's a good person, he just has his antics.
In other news, the rain storms are still coming every few days or so. Except remember last time how I said that we've been lucky and we haven't gotten caught outside in the rain yet? I jinxed it. We were inside teaching a lesson when the downpour began, but then we had to leave for an appointment. And the dad of the family was like, "are you crazy? You don't have umbrellas and your gonna get soaked, you can just stay here until it stops." But we had to meet with Joel, so we told him we would just go for it. He left for 2 minutes and came back with these cardboard boxes for us. Haha so there's my companion and I (I was wearing fun Friday clothes I think with a little white peasant blouse and a bright yellow skirt and my moon shoes/sandals), and we just head out in the pouring rain at dusk and it was super dark and we're just skipping along in the streets/rivers with cardboard boxes over our heads. Love it. Love it. Love it. Who needs an umbrella?
OH And DAD, the other day we were picking up some members to go out and teach with us, and the dad asked us to translate some music for him. He had a few songs from Earth Wind and Fire and he wanted to know what the words meant. So we listened and translated for him. But then he was playing all this other music that made me think of you and miss you SO BAD. The mini-dad-play-list included, (but is not limited to) James Brown: make it funky, lock stock and two smoking barrels, this is a man's world, I'm a soul man, and then Tom Brown's Jamaica Funk. It made me totally miss Saturday mornings listening to dad music with waffles and strawberries from the field, or a Saturday afternoon with you tinkering on the Harley or making us wash a car. GOOD TIMES.
Anyways, love you guys! The church is super true and I hope you all have a fabo week!
Sister Waddle
Olá Família!!
Surprise Monday Email! Usually our prep-day to write emails and stuff is Tuesday, but tomorrow we have a conference with our zone here in ceilândia, so our P-Day is today. Yay.
It's been another excellent week in Brazil! Last Monday this family in the ward baptized their son Lucas, and it was a great baptism with a really strong spirit there. We knew there would be non-members there, and the family asked sister canfield and I to do a special musical number and play the piano and stuff. Lucas' uncle Joel was there, but he's not a member, even though he's been to church a bunch of times, and he knows a lot. But the Spirit was awesome and the talks were great, and so after the baptism we talked to Joel. We just went over the baptism and explained some things, and then we just asked him if he would like to be baptized. He said YES, and then we were stoked. We spent every day this week working with him and teaching him all the lessons. He was interviewed on Friday, and then Sunday afternoon he was baptized! Yeep yeeeeep!!! So that was cool.
Its SO awesome how you feel the spirit at these baptisms. Then since Joel was being baptized on Sunday, we invited another couple named João (John) and Edined to come and see how a baptismal service goes. We have been teaching them for a few weeks but its hard to get them to keep their commitments. So João saw how cool the baptism was, and then afterwards we just did the same thing, talked to him some more, and invited him to be baptized. He accepted and we set a date for this Sunday! We just have to get him to stop smoking... Every time we visit them, if we catch him smoking, we take his pack and tell him to stop buying more. We now have quite the little collection of illegal cigarettes in our apartment.
Hah and the first time we were teaching him about the word of wisdom, we taught the whole thing, and then went item by item to ask him if he used any of those things.
Do you drink coffee? Yes.
Do you drink black tea? No.
Do you use drugs? No.
Do you smoke cigarettes? And then he like shouted, "Rapaz, Eu FUMO!" and it doesn't really translate as funny, but its just funny because you have to see this man. He has really dark skin, with black hair that's graying/white in some areas, and he has 2-3 teeth missing from smoking so much his whole life. And when he answered he just threw his head back and rolled his eyes and was like, "oh man, yes! I smoke!" so we were all laughing and his wife and kids were cracking up, and so we made goals with him to stop smoking and stuff.
Then we asked if he drank alcoholic beverages and he said no. But 4 feet away from us, there were all these bottles of hard liquor that were on display. So we asked him about the bottles, and then every one started laughing again, and he was like, "no! no! that's just water!" So he opened the bottles and made us smell the liquid to prove that it was just water. He's a good person, he just has his antics.
In other news, the rain storms are still coming every few days or so. Except remember last time how I said that we've been lucky and we haven't gotten caught outside in the rain yet? I jinxed it. We were inside teaching a lesson when the downpour began, but then we had to leave for an appointment. And the dad of the family was like, "are you crazy? You don't have umbrellas and your gonna get soaked, you can just stay here until it stops." But we had to meet with Joel, so we told him we would just go for it. He left for 2 minutes and came back with these cardboard boxes for us. Haha so there's my companion and I (I was wearing fun Friday clothes I think with a little white peasant blouse and a bright yellow skirt and my moon shoes/sandals), and we just head out in the pouring rain at dusk and it was super dark and we're just skipping along in the streets/rivers with cardboard boxes over our heads. Love it. Love it. Love it. Who needs an umbrella?
OH And DAD, the other day we were picking up some members to go out and teach with us, and the dad asked us to translate some music for him. He had a few songs from Earth Wind and Fire and he wanted to know what the words meant. So we listened and translated for him. But then he was playing all this other music that made me think of you and miss you SO BAD. The mini-dad-play-list included, (but is not limited to) James Brown: make it funky, lock stock and two smoking barrels, this is a man's world, I'm a soul man, and then Tom Brown's Jamaica Funk. It made me totally miss Saturday mornings listening to dad music with waffles and strawberries from the field, or a Saturday afternoon with you tinkering on the Harley or making us wash a car. GOOD TIMES.
Anyways, love you guys! The church is super true and I hope you all have a fabo week!
Sister Waddle
primero baptismo
From an email dated September 08, 2009
HI FAMILY
so, good news, the church is true, and miracles happen. There is this
girl that a bunch of missionaries in this area have been working with,
and she loves the church, has a testimony, goes to seminary every night,
but the only problem is that her parents wouldnt let her get baptized.
oh... sike... miracle: she got baptized this sunday. can i get a woot
holler? it was awesome! And its the coolest thing, because all the youth
in the ward are super tight, and they gave the talks, and everyone was
there to support her, and she is all set.
k, a couple of quick things:
every time we eat lunch with the families in a ward, we share a little
spiritual message. i got nervous with the portuguese, and i didnt want
to give it one day, so we did the cop-out and sang a hymn. it was
t.e.r.r.i.b.l.e. bahahah it made me think of the "if you could hie to
kolob" elders that one time. so we left laughing and vowed never again
to do the duet thing.
last sunday i set a world record on consumption of rice in one sitting.
parabens para mim. my 2 favorite sentences in portuguese are:
1. "Eu quero me batizar" = I want to be baptized.
2. "Come mais, sister!" = "Eat more, fatty!"
and i do :) the members LOVE when you eat a lot, and they go all out
and expect you to be ravished with hunger, and they want you to just eat
and eat. i swear its like the easiest way to make friends ever! Love
it... especially when its hard to hold conversation at lunch. i can talk
about the gospel ok, but other conversation is a little harder. so when
i cant think of stuff to say, i just eat. welp good thing my skirts have
elastic waistbands.
OH YA, and its been raining like NO OTHER. just about every day or every
other day, there will be a huge downpour of rain. the other day, the
streets were literally flooding and it was like rivers instead of
streets. And it was so cool because our area is one big hill, so the
water was flowing down from the upper area, and it was coming back up
and out of the drains because they were so full, so there were these
huge gushing fountains with the water coming up like 2 feet. i gots some
good pictures. Lucky for us, it always seems to come when we're inside a
house or inside the church, and we havent gotten caught in the rain yet,
but its only a matter of time.
another thing - today was my first time on a true brasilian bus. the
experience was akin to that of the Knight Bus, only without stan
shunpike. We were zigging and zagging, and stopping and starting so
fast. and the buses seem to have this game where they like to cut off
the cars. its like a roller coaster ride for $1 everytime. yeep yeep!
oh and i bought these sandals here that are like moon shoes. baha
they're so ugly, but pretty comfy and good for walking. but seriously
they are hideous. and does anyone remember those moon bouncy shoes from
childhood? They're great. so now whenever i wear them my nickname is
sister lua.
And thats really crazy about the shark attack in Carlsbad!! Crazyness.
how funny that the lifeguards swam out afterwards and "went looking for
the shark." What were they going to do if they found it? Smile, wave at
it, turn around swim back and say, "yep its a shark alright." dont you
just love the state guards.
anyways, i hope all is well at home. How was labor day? I sent home some
pictures from the CTM. Sorry its like 6 weeks late, but i never figured
out how to attach them to the computer and just email them. hope you
enjoy.
sidenote - I wrote a fatty long email last week and then when i tried to
send it, the email logged out and it got deleted. sorry bout that.
LOVE YOU
LOVE YOU
LOVE YOU!
sister kat wardle
HI FAMILY
so, good news, the church is true, and miracles happen. There is this
girl that a bunch of missionaries in this area have been working with,
and she loves the church, has a testimony, goes to seminary every night,
but the only problem is that her parents wouldnt let her get baptized.
oh... sike... miracle: she got baptized this sunday. can i get a woot
holler? it was awesome! And its the coolest thing, because all the youth
in the ward are super tight, and they gave the talks, and everyone was
there to support her, and she is all set.
k, a couple of quick things:
every time we eat lunch with the families in a ward, we share a little
spiritual message. i got nervous with the portuguese, and i didnt want
to give it one day, so we did the cop-out and sang a hymn. it was
t.e.r.r.i.b.l.e. bahahah it made me think of the "if you could hie to
kolob" elders that one time. so we left laughing and vowed never again
to do the duet thing.
last sunday i set a world record on consumption of rice in one sitting.
parabens para mim. my 2 favorite sentences in portuguese are:
1. "Eu quero me batizar" = I want to be baptized.
2. "Come mais, sister!" = "Eat more, fatty!"
and i do :) the members LOVE when you eat a lot, and they go all out
and expect you to be ravished with hunger, and they want you to just eat
and eat. i swear its like the easiest way to make friends ever! Love
it... especially when its hard to hold conversation at lunch. i can talk
about the gospel ok, but other conversation is a little harder. so when
i cant think of stuff to say, i just eat. welp good thing my skirts have
elastic waistbands.
OH YA, and its been raining like NO OTHER. just about every day or every
other day, there will be a huge downpour of rain. the other day, the
streets were literally flooding and it was like rivers instead of
streets. And it was so cool because our area is one big hill, so the
water was flowing down from the upper area, and it was coming back up
and out of the drains because they were so full, so there were these
huge gushing fountains with the water coming up like 2 feet. i gots some
good pictures. Lucky for us, it always seems to come when we're inside a
house or inside the church, and we havent gotten caught in the rain yet,
but its only a matter of time.
another thing - today was my first time on a true brasilian bus. the
experience was akin to that of the Knight Bus, only without stan
shunpike. We were zigging and zagging, and stopping and starting so
fast. and the buses seem to have this game where they like to cut off
the cars. its like a roller coaster ride for $1 everytime. yeep yeep!
oh and i bought these sandals here that are like moon shoes. baha
they're so ugly, but pretty comfy and good for walking. but seriously
they are hideous. and does anyone remember those moon bouncy shoes from
childhood? They're great. so now whenever i wear them my nickname is
sister lua.
And thats really crazy about the shark attack in Carlsbad!! Crazyness.
how funny that the lifeguards swam out afterwards and "went looking for
the shark." What were they going to do if they found it? Smile, wave at
it, turn around swim back and say, "yep its a shark alright." dont you
just love the state guards.
anyways, i hope all is well at home. How was labor day? I sent home some
pictures from the CTM. Sorry its like 6 weeks late, but i never figured
out how to attach them to the computer and just email them. hope you
enjoy.
sidenote - I wrote a fatty long email last week and then when i tried to
send it, the email logged out and it got deleted. sorry bout that.
LOVE YOU
LOVE YOU
LOVE YOU!
sister kat wardle
First week and loving it!
From an email dated August 25, 2009:
hi fam,
howey chow, this week was interesting. Especially because I haven't been able to write you for two weeks, there's a boatload to say, and practically no time to say it in. I'll sum up my last week in the CTM as great. I learned a bunch, had a great time, and the chorale experience was awesome. Then last tuesday we flew to Brasilia, and since then things have been really good too.
The first day we were picked up by the mission president, we had lunch and orientation at his house, then we got our trainers... that night we had 8 sisters having a sleep over in one apartment, and then next morning 4 of us left for our areas. Saying goodbye to sister hill was sad, but we just played it off like it was nbd and that we would see each other in 6 more weeks, so it was ok.
Then we came to our area and since then its just been full on real deal missionary work, and I'm loving it. Sister Canfield is really good at Portuguese and she has helped me a lot already. She is a good trainer and a good teacher. The only things thats frustrating is how long it takes to get to places. We walk e v e r y w h e r e. And there's only so many hours in a day, and there are more teaching opportunities than time, so I always want to run places. Our area is one huge gentle sloping hill. So I was thinking how we could get places so much faster if we had skateboards and we could just roll down the hill. yaaa picture us longboarding with helmets and knee/elbow pads and a skirt and vans and books of mormons in our hands. Anyways, that idea didnt really pan out.
Um so ya, the field is great, i just want to do stuff faster. But its good, and the first few days I couldnt really do much I would just bear my testimony and say the prayers or recite the first vision, but now my companion is gaining a little more confidence in me and she lets me teach some too which is good. but its a little intimidating because i can teach a principle, but its hard when the people respond because somepeople have accents that are really difficult to understand. so i try hard to listen and learn.
The people here are AWESOME. they are friendly and open and receptive and love to talk to you. Especially the members. they love having sister missionaries in their homes, and they feed us a little too well every day.
mom, you asked about how i'm liking being in a suburb of the city, and i'm SO happy. i dont know what i was thinking before the mission when i was saying i wanted to be in the jungle. who was I kidding? its the freakin amazon out there?! when i hear about sisters who go to manaus, i just cringe and am grateful to be in brasilia where we have a legit apartment with a refridgerator and a blendor and a stove and a washing machine and a microwave, and a toilet that flushes. so I really like ceilândia and I dont want to go to the jungle. besides theres bugs and wildlife out there. I havent seen any big bugs or anything here. The most exciting thing was a tiny gecko on someones house and I caught it and gave it to their kids. but ya, the weather and the climate is great here. except for one evening/night when it rained REALLY hard and the power in the city went out for like 4 hours. So the entire city was dark except for the stars and we couldnt teach so that was frustrating and a waste of 4 hours.
And I loved going to church here. the ward is reallly nice and they are happy to have 2 american sisters. i played the piano in sacrament and it was the funniest thing. i was cracking up because basically all of brasil is tone deaf, and most people dont know a lot about music. so the chorister, the congregation, and the pianist (me) were all doing really different stuff. i was trying to follow the chorister but it was weirdddd and hard, but funny.
then at church we were talking to this guy, and we didnt know who he was, so we were getting to know him. and after some conversation he said how he wanted to be baptized we were were STOKED and so we invited him to be baptized and he said he would like to. and so sis canfield (my comp) was like, "great, who do you want to baptize you?" and he said, (pointing to me,) "How about the new sister, she hasnt been here very long." so he was a little confused and so we explained it needed to be a man with the proper priesthood authority, etc... but it was funny. then the weird let-down was that it turns out he's already a member. he was baptized over a year ago, but he didnt stay active in the church so he thought he needed to be baptized again to come back. anyways, we get to teach him again now... so whatevs.
Its so so great being here though. Our mission leadership is incredible. I love President Pizzirani and his cute little wife. They're tiny, like 5'2" and 5'0". And the Elders who have given us some training are awesome. We focus mostly on finding, teaching, and baptizing married men so that we can bring families into the gospel and build up the priesthood authority in brazil. Our goal is for each companionship to baptize once a week. We have a great investigator who has come to church several times and received the lessons, and hopefully he'll be baptized this Sunday. woot hollerrr.
Anyways, i gotsta go. I love you a bunch!
Sister Wahddleeey
PS por favor write me letters? cool thanks.and I had to delete my facebook, so maybe my sisters could put my mission home address accessible on their page so i can get letters from friends? thats probably wishful thinking but oh well. oh, but side note about f.book, if you guys get friend requests from brasilians, accept them, because they are friends of mine. there's an awesome member of our ward named priscila and we were talking about lady gaga the other day and then it made me think of my sisters blah blah blah and basically she said she would find you guys on facebook. so say hi to her for me. k tchau for reals.
hi fam,
howey chow, this week was interesting. Especially because I haven't been able to write you for two weeks, there's a boatload to say, and practically no time to say it in. I'll sum up my last week in the CTM as great. I learned a bunch, had a great time, and the chorale experience was awesome. Then last tuesday we flew to Brasilia, and since then things have been really good too.
The first day we were picked up by the mission president, we had lunch and orientation at his house, then we got our trainers... that night we had 8 sisters having a sleep over in one apartment, and then next morning 4 of us left for our areas. Saying goodbye to sister hill was sad, but we just played it off like it was nbd and that we would see each other in 6 more weeks, so it was ok.
Then we came to our area and since then its just been full on real deal missionary work, and I'm loving it. Sister Canfield is really good at Portuguese and she has helped me a lot already. She is a good trainer and a good teacher. The only things thats frustrating is how long it takes to get to places. We walk e v e r y w h e r e. And there's only so many hours in a day, and there are more teaching opportunities than time, so I always want to run places. Our area is one huge gentle sloping hill. So I was thinking how we could get places so much faster if we had skateboards and we could just roll down the hill. yaaa picture us longboarding with helmets and knee/elbow pads and a skirt and vans and books of mormons in our hands. Anyways, that idea didnt really pan out.
Um so ya, the field is great, i just want to do stuff faster. But its good, and the first few days I couldnt really do much I would just bear my testimony and say the prayers or recite the first vision, but now my companion is gaining a little more confidence in me and she lets me teach some too which is good. but its a little intimidating because i can teach a principle, but its hard when the people respond because somepeople have accents that are really difficult to understand. so i try hard to listen and learn.
The people here are AWESOME. they are friendly and open and receptive and love to talk to you. Especially the members. they love having sister missionaries in their homes, and they feed us a little too well every day.
mom, you asked about how i'm liking being in a suburb of the city, and i'm SO happy. i dont know what i was thinking before the mission when i was saying i wanted to be in the jungle. who was I kidding? its the freakin amazon out there?! when i hear about sisters who go to manaus, i just cringe and am grateful to be in brasilia where we have a legit apartment with a refridgerator and a blendor and a stove and a washing machine and a microwave, and a toilet that flushes. so I really like ceilândia and I dont want to go to the jungle. besides theres bugs and wildlife out there. I havent seen any big bugs or anything here. The most exciting thing was a tiny gecko on someones house and I caught it and gave it to their kids. but ya, the weather and the climate is great here. except for one evening/night when it rained REALLY hard and the power in the city went out for like 4 hours. So the entire city was dark except for the stars and we couldnt teach so that was frustrating and a waste of 4 hours.
And I loved going to church here. the ward is reallly nice and they are happy to have 2 american sisters. i played the piano in sacrament and it was the funniest thing. i was cracking up because basically all of brasil is tone deaf, and most people dont know a lot about music. so the chorister, the congregation, and the pianist (me) were all doing really different stuff. i was trying to follow the chorister but it was weirdddd and hard, but funny.
then at church we were talking to this guy, and we didnt know who he was, so we were getting to know him. and after some conversation he said how he wanted to be baptized we were were STOKED and so we invited him to be baptized and he said he would like to. and so sis canfield (my comp) was like, "great, who do you want to baptize you?" and he said, (pointing to me,) "How about the new sister, she hasnt been here very long." so he was a little confused and so we explained it needed to be a man with the proper priesthood authority, etc... but it was funny. then the weird let-down was that it turns out he's already a member. he was baptized over a year ago, but he didnt stay active in the church so he thought he needed to be baptized again to come back. anyways, we get to teach him again now... so whatevs.
Its so so great being here though. Our mission leadership is incredible. I love President Pizzirani and his cute little wife. They're tiny, like 5'2" and 5'0". And the Elders who have given us some training are awesome. We focus mostly on finding, teaching, and baptizing married men so that we can bring families into the gospel and build up the priesthood authority in brazil. Our goal is for each companionship to baptize once a week. We have a great investigator who has come to church several times and received the lessons, and hopefully he'll be baptized this Sunday. woot hollerrr.
Anyways, i gotsta go. I love you a bunch!
Sister Wahddleeey
PS por favor write me letters? cool thanks.and I had to delete my facebook, so maybe my sisters could put my mission home address accessible on their page so i can get letters from friends? thats probably wishful thinking but oh well. oh, but side note about f.book, if you guys get friend requests from brasilians, accept them, because they are friends of mine. there's an awesome member of our ward named priscila and we were talking about lady gaga the other day and then it made me think of my sisters blah blah blah and basically she said she would find you guys on facebook. so say hi to her for me. k tchau for reals.
I made it!
From an email dated August 22, 2009:
HI FAM,
I made it to Brasilia safe and sound :)
Sorry I didn't write on Tuesday - that was the day we left the CTM and flew out to Brasilia. Then instead of having P-day, we met our Mission President, had a little training/orientation to the mission, and got our new trainers. I'm being trained by Sister Canfield. She's American, she's from Logan, UT, and she's great.
Sorry I can't really write right now, because this is just an update to let you know I'm here and send you these pictures that were taken on Tuesday when we arrived. And to let you know I love you! The field is great, and I'm excited to work. Our area is called Ceilândia... googlemap it if you want.
Also - One of the mission rules is that I am not allowed to receive or send emails from/to anyone except immediate family members. So can you forward this and let people know that I'm not ignoring them, and that I cant read it, so written letters would be great.
My mission address is:
Sister Kat Wardle
SHIN CA 05
Lote B1 Sala 304/307
Brasilia DF
71503-505
BRASIL
write me uppppp!
LOVE YOU, love you, love you!
--Sister Wahdleeeey
(this is how the peeps here pronounce my name.)
Bringing back Rainbow Bright
From an email dated August 11, 2009
olá people,
You know you've been in the CTM for too long when you start to get reaaaaally creative with stuff to do. We have been here 8 weeks, and this is our last week, and then we leave for the field next Tuesday! CRAZY. We will find out our flight information next monday, and then next time you hear from me, I'll be in Brasilia, most likely with a Brazilian companion who dont speak no english.
But until that time, we're living it up in the CTM. Sister Hill and I were craving camping for some reason this week, so we decided to have a camp-out in our room. Employing a few creative methods of acquisition, we got a campfire, a tree, and then used my gnarlsbad teddy bear to represent the wildlife. Then we put our mattresses on the floor, and we've been having sleep-overs every night on the floor all week.
Our other made up games to stay entertained include finding random staircases in the CTM. there are fire escapes that we never knew about until like 3 days ago, right next to the main stairs, so now we just exclusively use those stairs. WILD ISN'T IT? jk, we're not that bored, its just there's only so much you can do in the same buiding for 8 weeks... oh ya, so we started taking the disposable plastic cups from the cafeteria and we're hoarding them in our room, and we're going to have a bowling night soon. the room keys are huge and we're going to use them as bowling balls and the cups are the pins you have to knock down. woot holler, good thing i'm such a good bowler/baller.
Our dress up day for the week was Rainbow Bright day (aka reign beau bright - corinne and jette i hope you remember that). i WISH i could get these pictures to work, because it turned out way cute. Sis Hill, Sis Christiansen, Sis Forste and I all wore bright solid colors. So our skirts and shirts and accessories were all just one solid color. and they were BRIGHT. It turns out you can have a lot of fun just being monochomatic. i was all yellow, hill was all red, christiansen was all green, and forste was all blue. Then as we walked around the CTM everyone would react with a different interpretation of the colors. we got everything from foods (i loved being called mustard and ketchup), to skittles, powder puff girls, YW virtues, stoplight, earth/wind/fire/water, and a bunch of other stuff. basically we looked like a box of crayons walking around.
The other day one of our teachers thought it would be a good idea for us to commit more to Portuguese, so he had us get together allllll of our materials in English. Then we had to take everything in English and go put it in our suitcases, and not take it out again. no scriptures, preach my gospel, ensigns, pamphlets.... nada. just Portuguese and a dictionary. yikes, and its just intimidating to think that next week we wont hear or read english for a long long time. so we're basically just copying Lasley's district and writing Dear John letters to English.
In ther news, we went proselyting again this week. It was cool because we know how to say and understand a lot more just compared to the last time we went 2 weeks ago. We didnt have any outstanding experiences like when we went in and taught a full lesson in someone's home, but there were a lot of cool people we talked to on the street, and its great getting to testify and talk to people who dont have what we have, and then sharing it with them for the first time. Sis Hill and I are a great match together. She's really good at picking the people to talk to, and I just rely on her a bunch. love her...
and this hasnt happened yet, but on sunday i'm leading the mtc choir. so the lady in charge asked me what song i wanted to do, and we're going to do a special little version of "put your Shoulder to the Wheel." I got the idea from our teacher, and then with some input from others, we're going to change the lyrics around to jazz it up a bit. In portuguese, the song doesnt have the pioneer connotation like in english. instead the verses are all about this great fight and how we have to work and work and stuff. but i wrote different lyrics for one verse in english, and then the choruses are all going to be different. so the first verse goes,
the Lord has need of missionaries
to serve here in brasil
prepare here in the ctm
put your shoulder to the wheel
then the 1st chorus in portuguese is about studying and preparying (Nossa lei é estudar, estudar, Estudar com alegria, preparar) Then the next time we sing the chorus it will be about working and singing, then the last 2 verses are about baptizing and confirming. (That was the part where all the inspiration came from when one of our teachers told us that was how they used to sing it. "Batisar con água fria, confirmar.") so hopefully that should go well.
umm and we're getting 104 new missionaries this week! this place is going to be packed. i'm excited to leave, and hit the field! we leave the ctm on August 18, and i'm SUPER glad sister hill and i are going to the same mission together. my address in the field is:
Sister Kat Wardle
Brazil Brasilia Mission
SHIN CA 05 Salas 304/307
LOTE B1 Brasilia DF
71503-305
BRASIL
write me in the field! woooot thats when i'll really start to need it.
klove you bye!
sis waaaaddle
olá people,
You know you've been in the CTM for too long when you start to get reaaaaally creative with stuff to do. We have been here 8 weeks, and this is our last week, and then we leave for the field next Tuesday! CRAZY. We will find out our flight information next monday, and then next time you hear from me, I'll be in Brasilia, most likely with a Brazilian companion who dont speak no english.
But until that time, we're living it up in the CTM. Sister Hill and I were craving camping for some reason this week, so we decided to have a camp-out in our room. Employing a few creative methods of acquisition, we got a campfire, a tree, and then used my gnarlsbad teddy bear to represent the wildlife. Then we put our mattresses on the floor, and we've been having sleep-overs every night on the floor all week.
Our other made up games to stay entertained include finding random staircases in the CTM. there are fire escapes that we never knew about until like 3 days ago, right next to the main stairs, so now we just exclusively use those stairs. WILD ISN'T IT? jk, we're not that bored, its just there's only so much you can do in the same buiding for 8 weeks... oh ya, so we started taking the disposable plastic cups from the cafeteria and we're hoarding them in our room, and we're going to have a bowling night soon. the room keys are huge and we're going to use them as bowling balls and the cups are the pins you have to knock down. woot holler, good thing i'm such a good bowler/baller.
Our dress up day for the week was Rainbow Bright day (aka reign beau bright - corinne and jette i hope you remember that). i WISH i could get these pictures to work, because it turned out way cute. Sis Hill, Sis Christiansen, Sis Forste and I all wore bright solid colors. So our skirts and shirts and accessories were all just one solid color. and they were BRIGHT. It turns out you can have a lot of fun just being monochomatic. i was all yellow, hill was all red, christiansen was all green, and forste was all blue. Then as we walked around the CTM everyone would react with a different interpretation of the colors. we got everything from foods (i loved being called mustard and ketchup), to skittles, powder puff girls, YW virtues, stoplight, earth/wind/fire/water, and a bunch of other stuff. basically we looked like a box of crayons walking around.
The other day one of our teachers thought it would be a good idea for us to commit more to Portuguese, so he had us get together allllll of our materials in English. Then we had to take everything in English and go put it in our suitcases, and not take it out again. no scriptures, preach my gospel, ensigns, pamphlets.... nada. just Portuguese and a dictionary. yikes, and its just intimidating to think that next week we wont hear or read english for a long long time. so we're basically just copying Lasley's district and writing Dear John letters to English.
In ther news, we went proselyting again this week. It was cool because we know how to say and understand a lot more just compared to the last time we went 2 weeks ago. We didnt have any outstanding experiences like when we went in and taught a full lesson in someone's home, but there were a lot of cool people we talked to on the street, and its great getting to testify and talk to people who dont have what we have, and then sharing it with them for the first time. Sis Hill and I are a great match together. She's really good at picking the people to talk to, and I just rely on her a bunch. love her...
and this hasnt happened yet, but on sunday i'm leading the mtc choir. so the lady in charge asked me what song i wanted to do, and we're going to do a special little version of "put your Shoulder to the Wheel." I got the idea from our teacher, and then with some input from others, we're going to change the lyrics around to jazz it up a bit. In portuguese, the song doesnt have the pioneer connotation like in english. instead the verses are all about this great fight and how we have to work and work and stuff. but i wrote different lyrics for one verse in english, and then the choruses are all going to be different. so the first verse goes,
the Lord has need of missionaries
to serve here in brasil
prepare here in the ctm
put your shoulder to the wheel
then the 1st chorus in portuguese is about studying and preparying (Nossa lei é estudar, estudar, Estudar com alegria, preparar) Then the next time we sing the chorus it will be about working and singing, then the last 2 verses are about baptizing and confirming. (That was the part where all the inspiration came from when one of our teachers told us that was how they used to sing it. "Batisar con água fria, confirmar.") so hopefully that should go well.
umm and we're getting 104 new missionaries this week! this place is going to be packed. i'm excited to leave, and hit the field! we leave the ctm on August 18, and i'm SUPER glad sister hill and i are going to the same mission together. my address in the field is:
Sister Kat Wardle
Brazil Brasilia Mission
SHIN CA 05 Salas 304/307
LOTE B1 Brasilia DF
71503-305
BRASIL
write me in the field! woooot thats when i'll really start to need it.
klove you bye!
sis waaaaddle
Her first Churrascaria
And here is an email from one of Kat's MTC (CTM) instructors dated August 6, 2009:
Dear Parents, your kids are asking me to send this pictures to you, so here are some pictures, at the temple and in the barbecue restaurant.
They are really excited with this experience here at the MTC, and they are doing really good with the languange and the gospel.
Thank you for preparing your them.
Brother Perrupato (MTC Instructor)
Life without Lasley
Here is her email dated August 4, 2009:
HI HI HI
Sorry i really cant even write much. i just killed a good 8 minutes of precious time trying to figure out how to attach a few pictures, but everytime i thought i got it to attach the email would delete. anyways, i'll try and print them of and mail some home, then maybe you can scan and attach them to another email? whatevs.
Anyways, this week has been pathetic. (Things are going well, i love the church, i love my companion, i love everything about the CTM.) EXCEPT that sister lasley left, and now sister hill and i just walk around missing her = we're pathetic. so, life without sister lasley is definitely different around here.
But, tudo bem, all is well. we were made up our own new games. We played watermelon wars at dinner the other night. sister hill and i would take a HUGE bite, then get all the seeds as ammo and spit them across the table. (nostalgic for sister lasley who first introduced us to shooting the seeds.) then this morning we took our extra mattresses out and had a good time with running jumping/flying/falling with style on the mattresses. (these would be the alleged photos i was trying to send.)
In other news, the church is superrr true. we taught the plan of salvation in TRC this week. it was a hard lesson because there is SO much to teach, and it had a lot of vocab, but it went ok. yesterday we finished our 3rd lesson in portuguese, and that one is a lot easier because its the doctrine of christ and stuff.
Our district goes proseletyzing again this week on Friday! last time we went just around the neighborhood of the CTM, but this time we get in buses and we go down to the center of the city. They will drop us off in downtown sao paulo (5th largest city in the world) and say, "ok be back in 3 hours." wish us luck! :)
ummm, i have no time left. sorry for the lamo letter. I LOVE YOU!!!
Sister Wardle
PS. Sister Lasley nos amamos vocês tanto tanto tanto. and i LOVED your forwarded email. good luck with basquetch, and we'll be joining you no campo in a few semanas!
HI HI HI
Sorry i really cant even write much. i just killed a good 8 minutes of precious time trying to figure out how to attach a few pictures, but everytime i thought i got it to attach the email would delete. anyways, i'll try and print them of and mail some home, then maybe you can scan and attach them to another email? whatevs.
Anyways, this week has been pathetic. (Things are going well, i love the church, i love my companion, i love everything about the CTM.) EXCEPT that sister lasley left, and now sister hill and i just walk around missing her = we're pathetic. so, life without sister lasley is definitely different around here.
But, tudo bem, all is well. we were made up our own new games. We played watermelon wars at dinner the other night. sister hill and i would take a HUGE bite, then get all the seeds as ammo and spit them across the table. (nostalgic for sister lasley who first introduced us to shooting the seeds.) then this morning we took our extra mattresses out and had a good time with running jumping/flying/falling with style on the mattresses. (these would be the alleged photos i was trying to send.)
In other news, the church is superrr true. we taught the plan of salvation in TRC this week. it was a hard lesson because there is SO much to teach, and it had a lot of vocab, but it went ok. yesterday we finished our 3rd lesson in portuguese, and that one is a lot easier because its the doctrine of christ and stuff.
Our district goes proseletyzing again this week on Friday! last time we went just around the neighborhood of the CTM, but this time we get in buses and we go down to the center of the city. They will drop us off in downtown sao paulo (5th largest city in the world) and say, "ok be back in 3 hours." wish us luck! :)
ummm, i have no time left. sorry for the lamo letter. I LOVE YOU!!!
Sister Wardle
PS. Sister Lasley nos amamos vocês tanto tanto tanto. and i LOVED your forwarded email. good luck with basquetch, and we'll be joining you no campo in a few semanas!
Isn't she cute?
Here are some pictures that Kat's mission president emailed us. They were taken on one of their trips to the Sao Paulo temple. The other missionaries are people in her district and the sister missionaries are her companions.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
