CARAMBA, família! Como vocês estão? Eu quero escrever em Português, porque é mais fácil as vezes, mas...quase ninguém iria entender....então, escrevo Inglês. Tenho que trocar minha mente agora....boa sorte para Natal quando vou falar para vocês....
Anyway, so here I am in your language now. I have learned that when you get a really good comp, who is your bff, life is so much better, and it's not hard to be with that person all the time. But when it's harder...it's really hard. Haha. But life is rockin' awesome right now!
SO here's where the email really starts now. Ummm....first, let me explain the subject line, cuz it's kind of a ridiculous story. So, when I got here two months ago, our toilet was broken. NO big deal....we talked with the bishop, with the secretaries, and figured out what we had to do....the only thing is, we never did it. And it has just gotten worse, and it leaks water everywhere all the time. There is no stopping it. So we talked with the secretaries again this week, and with bishop last night, and he's going to get us a new toilet and install it tonight. THANK GOODNESS, cuz our water bill was through the roof, and next month it will be even worse. Pretty much, Elder B. Almeida (the financial secretary) will destroy us. Boa sorte. But.....it should only improve after this week. I hope. We have gotten to the point (since bishop told us to last night) where we just turn off the water completely when we aren't using it. It is difficult...I need to work on building up my muscles again, cuz it takes all the energy I've got to turn that little lever thing. Too bad we didn't start doing that a month ago. When the water meter reads 786.39 m3....is that a lot? I think so....
In other news, we had divisions this week, with some young women (who are 21 and not really technically YW anymore) in our District Leader's ward. We taught a bunch of lessons, found a bunch of new people to teach, and they pretty much rock. We do divisions with them frequently. And that night, Thais (one of them) got her mission call...to Manaus! If it tells you anything about the ridiculously long waiting period to enter the CTM from the USA, she gets in there in a month. Nov 4. That's awesome. I'm so stoked for her! And Phil Larsen should be arriving here pretty soon, right? No one ever told me when he was getting here...haha. Which mission is he going to? I'll have to write to him!
This week, we got a bunch of references from members....about less actives, inactives, and nonmembers. So we have a bunch of people to visit, all over the map. Did I ever tell you that you can walk an hour in any direction from our house and not leave our area? It's pretty cool, except we lose a lot of time walking. But we sing while we walk. And we tell lots of stories. And we make plans for after the mish....I'll go to Vegas and visit Sister Gubler and her family. And we have plans to come back and visit in June 2012, when President Moreira will end the mission here. I'll just have to figure out the money part of that one when I get home...but it would be pretty cool. Haha. So yeah, we sing a lot while we walk. And we quote movies. Lately, we've been quoting my favorite...Cars. That is funny. Last night, I was pretty bummed about something, and all Sister Gubler had to do was say a line from Cars, and I busted up laughing. Hahahahahaha she knows more about my childhood mischief than anyone else on this continent.
Anyway, back to the mish. Real life. Since this is real life right now. Holy cow, I'm a missionary!!!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes I can't believe it. Anyway, this week was basically the best week I've had on the mission, though the burning from our leaders last night was the worst I've had. Ironic. Oh well. It was a really good week, and this week will be even better. We taught so much, worked so hard, that we are both completely exhausted. But it is so worth it. This is what I am here to do. And 18 months is really short....I need to take advantage of it, and do my best in the short time that I have. I have learned a ton of lessons this week...Every day when I have opened the scriptures to study in the morning, I have read verses exactly for me...It has been very interesting. There was one I read on Saturday, I think, that was like HELLO KAREN/SISTER OGDEN....and it was talking right to me. It is amazing how the Lord speaks to us and answers our prayers through the scriptures. Never forget to study daily....it is something so important, though may appear unimportant and difficult at times. But so important! It should be and is a priority!
Yesterday, after working hard all week and calling everyone both Saturday night and Sunday morning, we had some people in church. We went and picked up Gil, who is awesome. And then another lady, Marileine, just showed up out of nowhere. Blessings and miracles truly come when you do your part. In our prayers, we need to ask the Lord for what we need, but we also need to remember that we have to do all in our power to reach our goal and do our part. He can't do everything while we just sit back and relax. I have faith that I can walk, but unless I put one foot in front of the other, I won't walk. I need to exercise some amount of effort.
AND....that's about it. It was a good week, and this week will be even better. The members here are so awesome with references, and with teaching with us. Keep helping the missionaries wherever you are. Missionary work is not limited to the missionaries, and is most effective with the help of the members. We can't do it alone. The nametag is powerful, but not THAT powerful! Haha, so we need your help. Look for and pray about people you can introduce to the missionaries. Don't be afraid to share the gospel and invite people to church, to hear the missionaries, to read something....anything. We are ALL tools in the Master's Hands.
I love you! Until next week, meus queridos!
Love,
Karen
Anyway, so here I am in your language now. I have learned that when you get a really good comp, who is your bff, life is so much better, and it's not hard to be with that person all the time. But when it's harder...it's really hard. Haha. But life is rockin' awesome right now!
SO here's where the email really starts now. Ummm....first, let me explain the subject line, cuz it's kind of a ridiculous story. So, when I got here two months ago, our toilet was broken. NO big deal....we talked with the bishop, with the secretaries, and figured out what we had to do....the only thing is, we never did it. And it has just gotten worse, and it leaks water everywhere all the time. There is no stopping it. So we talked with the secretaries again this week, and with bishop last night, and he's going to get us a new toilet and install it tonight. THANK GOODNESS, cuz our water bill was through the roof, and next month it will be even worse. Pretty much, Elder B. Almeida (the financial secretary) will destroy us. Boa sorte. But.....it should only improve after this week. I hope. We have gotten to the point (since bishop told us to last night) where we just turn off the water completely when we aren't using it. It is difficult...I need to work on building up my muscles again, cuz it takes all the energy I've got to turn that little lever thing. Too bad we didn't start doing that a month ago. When the water meter reads 786.39 m3....is that a lot? I think so....
In other news, we had divisions this week, with some young women (who are 21 and not really technically YW anymore) in our District Leader's ward. We taught a bunch of lessons, found a bunch of new people to teach, and they pretty much rock. We do divisions with them frequently. And that night, Thais (one of them) got her mission call...to Manaus! If it tells you anything about the ridiculously long waiting period to enter the CTM from the USA, she gets in there in a month. Nov 4. That's awesome. I'm so stoked for her! And Phil Larsen should be arriving here pretty soon, right? No one ever told me when he was getting here...haha. Which mission is he going to? I'll have to write to him!
This week, we got a bunch of references from members....about less actives, inactives, and nonmembers. So we have a bunch of people to visit, all over the map. Did I ever tell you that you can walk an hour in any direction from our house and not leave our area? It's pretty cool, except we lose a lot of time walking. But we sing while we walk. And we tell lots of stories. And we make plans for after the mish....I'll go to Vegas and visit Sister Gubler and her family. And we have plans to come back and visit in June 2012, when President Moreira will end the mission here. I'll just have to figure out the money part of that one when I get home...but it would be pretty cool. Haha. So yeah, we sing a lot while we walk. And we quote movies. Lately, we've been quoting my favorite...Cars. That is funny. Last night, I was pretty bummed about something, and all Sister Gubler had to do was say a line from Cars, and I busted up laughing. Hahahahahaha she knows more about my childhood mischief than anyone else on this continent.
Anyway, back to the mish. Real life. Since this is real life right now. Holy cow, I'm a missionary!!!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes I can't believe it. Anyway, this week was basically the best week I've had on the mission, though the burning from our leaders last night was the worst I've had. Ironic. Oh well. It was a really good week, and this week will be even better. We taught so much, worked so hard, that we are both completely exhausted. But it is so worth it. This is what I am here to do. And 18 months is really short....I need to take advantage of it, and do my best in the short time that I have. I have learned a ton of lessons this week...Every day when I have opened the scriptures to study in the morning, I have read verses exactly for me...It has been very interesting. There was one I read on Saturday, I think, that was like HELLO KAREN/SISTER OGDEN....and it was talking right to me. It is amazing how the Lord speaks to us and answers our prayers through the scriptures. Never forget to study daily....it is something so important, though may appear unimportant and difficult at times. But so important! It should be and is a priority!
Yesterday, after working hard all week and calling everyone both Saturday night and Sunday morning, we had some people in church. We went and picked up Gil, who is awesome. And then another lady, Marileine, just showed up out of nowhere. Blessings and miracles truly come when you do your part. In our prayers, we need to ask the Lord for what we need, but we also need to remember that we have to do all in our power to reach our goal and do our part. He can't do everything while we just sit back and relax. I have faith that I can walk, but unless I put one foot in front of the other, I won't walk. I need to exercise some amount of effort.
AND....that's about it. It was a good week, and this week will be even better. The members here are so awesome with references, and with teaching with us. Keep helping the missionaries wherever you are. Missionary work is not limited to the missionaries, and is most effective with the help of the members. We can't do it alone. The nametag is powerful, but not THAT powerful! Haha, so we need your help. Look for and pray about people you can introduce to the missionaries. Don't be afraid to share the gospel and invite people to church, to hear the missionaries, to read something....anything. We are ALL tools in the Master's Hands.
I love you! Until next week, meus queridos!
Love,
Karen
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