First Week in the Field

Oi familia e amigos!!! Tudo bem!?

Well, the last few days in the CTM were amazing and I didn´t want to leave at all!! I was so sad when I did.

And ya, I cried a little. Saying goodbye to the Elders and Sisters Habel, Smith, and Oldroyd was hard because I feel like they have become family. And boy do I miss them! 

Our last day at the CTM kinda sucked. We had an all-day long in-field orientation which was completely in Portuguese. There were about 70 people in the room, 16 were American. We basically had no idea what was happening the whole time. It was more frustrating and made me more nervous to go to the field than anything. Not cool. And it was just a run-through of everything that we learned in our time at the MTC, but they were so so so focused on baptism. If I had a dollar for everytime that word was said, I´d be really rich. 

We got to Florianopolis and met with the Pres and had some orientation, at which point I got to email you. Florianopolis looks exactly like the pictures! It is beautiful! I love it! But I´m not in Florianopolis. We went to lunch at a place called Sal e Salsa. It was a buffet, and they had sushi. So I tried it and I swear I will never eat it again. I gagged hard core trying swallow it. It is so gross! I don´t know how people eat it!! EWW!

We came back and had orientation. They did a slideshow to give us our new companions, and I got mine first. Her name is Sister Rosa. She´s from Goias. She talks really fast, but she is extremely patient and loving. She´s awesome. She only has one transfer left. So I will have two trainers. 

 My area is Oficinas, in the Tubarão zone. It´s a little valley with lots of hills surrounding it. I think it´s pretty, but that´s just me. We got on a bus and drove for 2.5-3 hours to get to our apartment and then we hung out and I unpacked. It was 9 by the time we got to the apartment, so there wasn´t a whole lot we could do. 

I got major culture shock that night. There are 6 sisters living in our apartment. Sister Fávero is from Brazil, Sister Vera is from Columbia. The other two didn´t get there until the next night, but Sister Diniz is from São Paulo and Sister Crump is from UTAH!!!!! :) HUGE BLESSING RIGHT THERE!!! I HAVE SOMEONE I CAN SPEAK ENGLISH WITH!!!! 

There are tiny ants that crawl all over every surface. Our oven is tiny. The only hot water we have comes out of the shower, but that is a blessing. no cold showers :) There are bugs everywhere. Brazil is just a very different place. I cried myself to sleep that first night, because I had no idea what was going on or what people were saying to me. And things here are so different. Like almost 3rd world, but not quite that bad.

My first week as a missionary didn´t really let me feel like I am a  missionary. My first day we didn´t have study, we had to go to buy a bed and a closet for clothes. Then we were apartment hunting, and I´m not totally sure why. Still not sure why but I think we are moving apartments in 2 weeks, but I could be wrong. I don´t understand a whole lot. We apartment hunted several times and talked to real estate agencies several times. Didn´t think i´d be doing that as a missionary, so it´s weird. 

A lot of times this week, our appointments fell through and we walked around trying to find people to teach, without success. Missionary work is so hard!!! I didn´t think it would be as hard as it actually is. 

We have some really good investigators, though! 

Ana Carla. She was the first investigator lesson I had and she recieved a testimony! She had a dream that an apostle told her this is the true church! (At least I think that´s what happened). But she has a baptism date!!!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!! :) Sept. 12!

Her friend Luan came to that same lesson, and that was his first time being taught in a long time, but he received the missionaries once upon a time and he knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true! AND HE IS GETTING BAPTIZED THE SAME DAY!!!!!! :) 

Duda is 12 (I think). She is being a great example for her parents and her brother. She wants to be baptized so so badly and keeps asking us when she can!!!! We are going to try and set her baptism date for the 26 of Sept!!!!! 

SO....the work here in Oficinas is progressing!!!! They just added a second companionship of sisters to the area (Sister Crump and Diniz) and we are all in the same ward. IT IS AWESOME!!! 

Our ward is absolutely fabulous!!!! IT is such a blessing to me that I am in this ward!!! BECAUSE most of them speak some English or want to learn!! They are amazing!!! And there are like 50+ people in the ward. They´ve had 3 baptisms in the last transfer, and man work here is progressing!!! And our ward mission leader is amazing!!!

My district is pretty great. It´s big. There are 14 of us. AND 5 of us are American! Sister Irizarry and Elder Naylor are from Utah and Elder Schuck (?) is from Tennessee! It´s great! I can speak English with people! BLESSINGS!

The language is hard here, but I understand a lot, so that is good. The food is different. And whoever said I´d have beans every meal lied :) I´ve had it twice. Members feed us lunch everyday. Sometimes we don´t eat dinner because we are in a rush, and that is really hard for me. We stop and buy stuff occasionally , so dinner is usually like crackers or peanuts or some little cracker jelly things. Lunch we have rice, some sort of pasta or lasagna, chicken, and another type of meat always. And usually some sort of "salad"-a few vegetables thrown together on a plate. And potato salad. That is always good. We´ve had ice cream and jello for dessert a few times each and those are good. They put sweetened condensed milk on everything here, but it tastes good! 

I am so grateful, mom, that you had me bring sheets. They didn´t have any for me and it´s nice to have a little something that feels home-y. And my straightener works! BLESSINGS! I just tried it yesterday, and it took a while to figure out how it works, but it works! 

We saw a lizard just chilling by some trees the other day. It looked like a baby alligator. It was two feet long at least! Maybe three! I wish I had taken a picture!! :o

Life is good here, but hard. I have 4 blisters, three on the bottom of my feet. I am constantly tired and hungry and I don´t know what is going on most of the time. AND it´s hot. AND IT´S WINTER! It´s like 80-90 degrees outside in the middle of the day. The only way you can tell it is winter is that it´s dark at like 6. Crazy stuff. 

Tonight I get to go talk to an English school about culture in Utah! Sister Crump too! I´m excited!!

I don´t know what more to say. I´m excited to be here, but not totally feeling like a missionary yet. We´ve only had one day where we´ve done all three hours of study. 

But being a missionary is the coolest! I get to go share the gospel with the world, with the help of my Father in Heaven because I can´t speak Portuguese and when I do people generally have no idea what I´m saying, but when I teach parts of lessons, it is a different story and I can speak a little bit. It´s really amazing and such a blessing

So grateful for this opportunity I have to share the gospel. I know it, i live it I love it!

Love you all!

Sister Wilkins

First District at the CTM-Sao Paulo Temple

Sister Child and I at the CTM

Our District and the Hales-we love them!  (Missionary couple at the CTM  She is the choir director.  They are from Idaho and are WONDERFUL.  Everyone feels like they are our grandparents)

My District at the Campinas Temple

Me and Sister Rosa this morning

I'm in FLORIPA!

HI!!!!! 

I got to Florianopolis about two hours ago. The flight landed half an hour early and it was only an hour long flight. 

But I am here. Things are going well. President and Sister are super nice. I LOVE IT! It is raining, so we can´t see a whole lot with all the clouds but what I can see is absolutely beautiful.

But I´m safe and sound. And a little tired. We had to leave at 5 this morning. But I am so beyond happy to be here. Portuguese isn´t too bad yet. Life is good!

Sorry I couldn´t call. We weren´t at the airport long. And the time we were there we were standing in line to check bags. Monday is P-day. I´ll be able to write you all then.

Know that I love you and am praying for you! This gospel is so true. I love it and am so glad to finally have the opportunity to share it with real people in my own, broken Portuguese words.

LOVE YOU ALL!!! :)

Sister Wilkins

The CTM is a Time Warp!

Oi familia e amigos!

This week was a pretty typical week at the CTM. As I tried to think of what I would share with you today, there really wasn´t a whole lot that I could say; only a few things stuck out as being really important that happened this week.

First of all, on Thursday, we were sitting in class and I asked someone what the date was and I realized I was a terrible daughter and forgot to wish my WONDERFUL PARENTS HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!! :) LOVE YOU GUYS!!!! THANKS FOR BEING MARRIED!!!!!! Did you guys do anything fun to celebrate?

Sister Child and I had some really good lessons this week. We taught the Plan of Salvation to both of our investigators, Bruna and Vinicius. When we were in the first lesson teaching the Plan to Vinicius (we had to teach it in two parts for lack of time), I started talking about the Atonement and that lesson just became so real for me. He said that because his parents are separated he feels alone a lot, and I was almost in tears as I explained to him that Jesus died for him so that he never has to feel alone and that any time he does feel he is he can pray. I just wanted him to know that it was true and that Heavenly Father loved him and his Savior loved him. And I felt their love for him. It was such a good lesson! 

Sunday, I didn´t have to talk, but I had a super good talk prepared about the Atonement! Sister Habel and Elder Banz were the two from our district that talked and one other Elder and Sister also spoke. Which means there is like a 100% chance I´m speaking next week because our district is the only one leaving this week. I had to conduct the opening song during Sunday devotional and Sister Child played, so that was fun haha. And then we had a good devotional from President and Sister Swenson. They talked about using the tools we have and the 3 H´s of the gospel, which are Honor, Honesty, and Humility (I think). That was really cool. 

Last night was absolutely incredible, though. My favorite day at the MTC by far. We had devotional, where I was asked to pray....that was nerve-wracking. I had so much in my heart that I wanted to say, but I literally said a short 5 line prayer in Portuguese. I think that Heavenly Father was trying to give me a glimpse of what my mission is going to be like. I´ve decided, well I´ve known since I got to the MTC, that one of the reasons I was called to Brazil was to learn to be more humble, because the people here are super humble. It´s definitely going to be a good learning experience for me. 

The devotional was all about the Atonement and how we can better apply the Atonement in our lives. We were all just super amazed and happy. So we went back to our classroom and sat down in a little "family circle" and has district meeting. We started out just sharing our thoughts from the devotional, but it became a testimony meeting centered on the Atonement. I don´t think I can express in words how wonderful of a meeting it was. Several people were in tears. Others were very close. The Spirit was incredibly strong. I was so beyond happy and grateful for the Atonement. It was amazing to hear about the experiences that others in my district have had as well with the Atonement. The Atonement is so real. I hope you all know that. One of my favorite things the speaker in the devotional said was "The Atonement is to be enjoyed!" Guess what?! You don´t HAVE to repent. You GET to! The Atonement is so much more than that though. Because of the Atonement, we can be made stronger, better people. I am so grateful for that. It has helped me numerous times in my life. Enjoy the atonement! Christ willingly died for us so that our burdens could be removed! Take upon yourself His yoke, that your burden may be light. He will never deny you that. 

We went to the Campinas temple today. It will never cease to be beautiful! I love it! As we sat in the celestial room, it was very bittersweet for me. I don´t get to go to the temple again for the next 17 months of my life. Those of you who have a temple close by please take advantage of it. Go there often. It will bring you strength in ways you could not otherwise obtain. I love the temple so much!!!

As you can see, this week has been very centered on the Atonement for me. I LOVE THE ATONEMENT! I Love my Savior. He means the world and more to me. Without Him and His sacrifice, I am nothing and would not be here in Brazil today. I am so grateful that He was willing to sacrifice His life for me, so that I, though imperfect and full of guilt and sin, may be made clean and one day live with Him and my Father in Heaven again! 

I leave for Floripa on Tuesday, just a short five days and I will have been on my mission for six weeks. That´s a whole transfer! On Tuesday I will have been at the Brazil CTM for a month!!! THE CTM IS A TIME WARP!!!!! That´s what my district decided. We feel like we´ve been here for forever, but at the same time it doesn´t feel like it´s been three weeks! Crazy stuff! But it´s the Lord´s time, and that´s what makes being on a mission so amazing! So, you won´t be hearing from me for 10 days, but when you do, I´ll be in the Land of the Flowers!!!

I´m sad to be leaving my district. I love them so much. They´ve become like family to me and I´m going to really miss not being able to have story time in English. But I´m going where the Lord needs me and there is someone out there who needs me now. So I´m going, with a smile on my face and scriptures (and a dictionary) in hand, and I´ll learn what he needs me to know because I know that this is where the Lord wants me to be. 

Eu sei que esta igreja é veredeira. O Livro de Mormón é veredeiro. A Expiação de Jesus Cristo é real é infinitivo. Jesus Cristo morreu por nos e nossos pecados. Ele nos ama muito. Pai Celestial nos ama muito também. Eu amo vocês muito. Sou muito grato por o exemplos de vocês. Eu sei que meu Salvador e Redentor vive. Em nome de Jesus Cristo, Amem.

Love, Sister Wilkins

Have a wonderful week! I love you all! And hopefully next time you hear from me, I´ll be able to show you how beautiful this place is with some pictures!

(Sidenote from Mom:  I just put the last paragraph into google translate.  It's a beautiful testimony!)

I broke the CTM toilet! And we went PROSELYTING!

Hello again family and friends!

Once again I need to apologize. Time to email here is super short and I get more emails than I ever expected to and don´t have time to reply to many. I LOVE YOU ALL THOUGH!!! :) Don´t forget that!  And Please don't stop!

This week was super crazy!

First best thing that happened: we went Proselyting. Sister Child and I gave out 7 Books of Mormon in 25 minutes. As a district we gave out 24 in 25 minutes. Miracles happen guys. 

We didn´t really know how to start at first, so we just kind of sat there for a second and there was a Bolivia festival going on next to us, and this guy came up to us and said "Is that a Book of Mormon? Can I have one?" And we were both like YES!!!!!!! :) So we chatted with him for a bit and gave him a Book of Mormon and showed him the phone number he could call and I bore my testimony to him about it. 

The next lady we talked to, like a minute later asked if she could have one too and then just kept walking!!! And then I decided we needed to talk to these guys, just kind of standing off to the side, so we went over there and I started talking to him and he points me to the guy next to him and he was a member! AND THEY SPOKE ENGLISH!!! He let me talk to him in English!!! And I got him to take a Book of Mormon!!! It was awesome!!! 

It was such an amazing experience. I don´t think I have ever been so happy in my life. And it was amazing to see how many people on this small block we couldn´t leave were thumbing through the Book of Mormon or carrying it with them!!! I love this!!!!!!! There´s nowhere else I´d rather be right now. 

Our teacher, one of them, is kind of crazy. She is a no-nonsense kind of gal and has a strange sense of humor, but I´ve been told that´s what Brazil is like. I like her well enough, I just don´t totally agree with some of the things she does. For example, in class one day she asked us all to tell her how much of what she said we understood, on average. It was rough.

Our other teacher just hurt some ligaments in his leg and we don´t know what happened (this was two days ago) but he won´t be teaching us any more, which is sad because we all really liked him. He was an awesome teacher.

Now we have a new teacher, who is also pretty good, but we´ve only had two classes with him so far and one of them he was acting as a sub, so I´m not totally sure what he´s like yet.

So I realized that I have had 7 investigators and I´ve been on my mission FOR A MONTH!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!?! I sure can´t!!! It seems so much longer and so much shorter all at the same time.

One of our investigator´s names is Bruna. We got her to commit to baptism in the second or third lesson. She´s a good investigator. I also recited the First Vision to her in Portuguese the last lesson!!!! LOOKING HER IN THE EYE!!! I was so so so excited!!! It was awesome! And she came back to class and told me that I had recited it with power and heart and I didn´t miss a word. It was super awesome! 

Our old investigator was José. We didn´t get very far with him (Because of the ligament thing). But he was interested and learning a lot. 

We have another new investigator, Vinicius. He´s awesome. We only had one lesson with him. ?We asked him to follow the example of the Savior and get baptized and he said he didn´t want to say yes, but as he continued to learn he would think about it.

Monday night when we were having class, I was having a rough day and Irmã nearly had me in tears. We were learning por and para (By, through, in way of, etc....) and I had no idea what was going on and I couldn´t get anything right and my eyes were filling with tears. The Elders kept trying to encourage me and help me, because they could tell I was about to cry, and although it didn´t help a whole lot, I appreciated the effort. Then we had a lady come in and tell us that we were doing companionship study wrong, so I was still about to cry. It was a rough night. But it´s ok. With the Savior, all is possible.

Today we got to go to the Campinas temple and it was absolutely gorgeous!!!! I LOVE IT!!! 

The session was in English again. Blessings!

We are getting another new Elder from Provo in our district today. 36 Americans arrived here today! The Lord´s work is progressing in Brasil! I know it is!

WE GOT TO WATCH ELDER NELSON FOR DEVOTIONAL LAST NIGHT!!!! He spoke in Provo on Aug. 4. We missed him by 6 days!!! AGGHHHHH!!! :´( But it´s fine. It was really cool. He spoke about the Lord´s goals and he talked about how we are like the Stripling warriors, and at one point every single one of them was wounded. We are all too, in some way. We all have faults and challenges and none of us is perfect, but it´s ok. We are trying our best. 

I broke the toilet in our room. Haha. Figured that would be a fun story for you. Monday night, it´s like 11, we are supposed to be in bed at 10:30. It´s our last night with our roommates. I´m washing my hands and the toilet flooded over. Super fun adventure. We just kept laughing about how I broke the toilet. It was entertaining and no idea how it happened, but it´s cool haha. Now I can tell everyone I broke an CTM toilet. 

Elder Banz and Elder King are our zone leaders. Sister Child and Elder King gave talks on Sunday (we are the oldest district) and they did SO GOOD!!! I´m pretty sure Elder Banz and I are going to be giving talks this week. HAHA 

The food here is awesome! We´ve had pancakes and doritos this week. So that´s cool! We also had hot dogs. But hot dogs here are different. They put mashed potatoes and little shoe-string potatoes on them. It´s weird. I put the shoe-strings on mine and it was surprisingly really good, but I´m not adventurous enough to do the mashed potatoes haha. I´m still trying lots of new food. I feel like I´ve become a new person in that way. Most of the time I just don´t even think about it and just do it, and most the time it´s good. But occasionally dessert tastes like Grape Nyquil and we all laugh at the faces everyone else is making while they try it.

I had a Brazilian guy tell me my eyes look like the sea the other day at lunch. I swear I turned bright red. He thought it was so cool though.

The language is going so well. Alma 29 we read as a class yesterday (in Portuguese of course) and I realized that, verse 15, nothing I learn in this language is my own success. It is all God´s. This is all his work. And because of Him and His help I can learn this language.

I finished reading the BOM on Thursday. It is so true. I love it. I love telling people about it. It is the most correct book on the earth. It was translated by Joseph Smith and IT IS TRUE! :)

I love you all.

Good luck with school starting!

Also happy Father´s day to all you dads! Especially mine!!! LOVE YOU DADEO!! (Sunday was Father´s day here in Brasil). 

Praying for you always.

All my love,

Sister Wilkins

Across the street from the CTM is Mr. Cheney's Cookies, the only place in Brazil that makes American style cookies.  It is a popular place for the missionaries to visit on P-Day.  They take pictures of the new missionaries and post them on facebook, which allows us a picture of our missionary while they are in the CTM since they can't send any.  This was from today.  

1 Week in Brazil and Holy Cow!

I've included some bits from Mady's email to me today, and then attached her entire email she sent for the blog.  With her limited computer time she asked that I do that.  She's not allowed to send pictures while in the CTM, and only allowed to take them on P Days, so there won't be any new pictures for a few weeks.

Language is going good, but it´s hard. Tell you more about it in a bit. We are going to give out Book of Mormons Friday. 3 per person, 6 for our companionship. Pray for me. I´m seriously going to need it :)

We go to the temple every P-day, which is Wednesdays. But that might change, again I´ll tell you about it in a bit. Only 45 mins to email here, so things are a bit hectic and I opened my email and there were 30 unread emails. HOLY CRAP I FEEL LOVED :) 

On the bright side, I´m one of the tallest sisters here. HAHA :) I couldn´t stop laughing when I realized that last night. 

Trying to include tender mercies, but Provo was like a piece of cake compared to this place, so there wasn´t a whole lot. First tender mercy here: I can eat the food. Second: my straightener works and I don´t need to use a voltage converter or plug converter. 

Oi familia e amigos!!! 

Tudo bem!?

First off, I want to say I´m very sorry if you don´t get a response from me for the next for weeks. Time is more limited in the CTM and I got an overwhelming amount of emails this week. But thank you all for thinking of me and writing me! You guys are amazing and I love you all and I miss you all the time!!!

The first day here was crazy. We got here super exhausted, and that happened. And I´m in Brazil and it´s winter and it´s like 60- 70 degrees every day and I love it so much!!!! Wonderful weather! And it´s gorgeous. We started eating food here after email last Wednesday, and it was good. But I kind of wanted to cry cuz some of it looked nasty and some of it was just gross. Then we met with the President and another missionary couple and they all speak English and it´s wonderful! I love it! Tender mercy there, for real. Then we found out that it was our district´s P-day and on P-day here they have boundaries you can walk and we went and walked around the city a little for like an hour and saw some different shops and houses and stuff and things are so different here. The sidewalks are uneven and cracking like crazy. Everything is just so different and weird and I´m not allowed to take pictures of it and I have no idea how to explain any of it. Haha sorry!!! Look up some pictures on Google or something. We came back and had dinner, which was better. The meat here is absolutely amazing! I love it!!!!! Then we took a nap and I was so culture shock and missed Provo and home and just everything I was familiar with, so I cried for like an hour. Woke up, cried some more. Same thing happened going to bed. But after the second day, no tears I´m fine. Don´t worry. Culture shock comes and goes, but for the most part it´s gone. I´m sure it will come again when I get to Floripa, but I am so excited to get there! 

So our district here actually consisted of 12 people this past week, the 6 I told you about and then 6 who started here and one of the Elders, Elder Hull is going to Floripa and he´s awesome. He´s from Cali and loves all things Disney, so we get along really well. But we got three people from our districts back in Provo who got their visas and arrived today, Sister Wright is one of them, so now our district is those three new ones, me, Sister Child, Elder King, and Elder Banz, and I am so grateful those three are still in my district because I might go crazy if they weren´t. But it´ll all be good. 

This week has been hard. Some of the people in my district are a bit hard to get along with and can be inappropriate at times, but I try to keep my chin up. And I feel like I´ve been doing a pretty good job at it. 

Oh, you´ll appreciate this one mom and dad-THEY HAVE MARACUJA IN THE SODA FOUNTAIN!!!!! I LITERALLY HAVE HAD IT EVERY MEAL SINCE I DISCOVERED IT!!!! IT IS MY LIFE!!! Haha, just kidding. But really it is so stinking good!!!

Language is difficult. Yesterday we had a "English Fast" where we weren´t allowed to speak English. I kinda failed but I tried really hard and it really opened up my mind as to how hard learning a new language is, but it also really helped me realize how much I have learned! 

I try to speak to Brazilians and we are required to sit with them at at least one meal a day and most the time I have to say What??? like four times and it´s hard cuz they speak so fast, but they are incredibly patient and all want to help us learn. 

BREAKFAST HERE IS THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD!!! It´s like oatmeal mixed with cream of wheat mixed with sweetened condensed milk. EU AMO ESTE!!!! :) It makes getting up in the morning a lot easier. I love that stuff!!!! FOOD HERE IS WONDERFUL!!! DESSERT IS SO Good!!! Except when it´s really weird, but we always try it (and sometimes leave it half uneaten on our plates haha). 

The people here are wonderful. They are so kind and patient with us and learning the languages. Except at night. Instructors come in our class and many times have yelled at us for speaking English and one of them nearly brought me to tears. I understand why they are upset, but I really really get frustrated when they do it. 

I don´t know what else to say. The Elders and Sisters keep me laughing all the time and it´s good cuz I need it.

OH! WE WENT TO THE SAO PAULO TEMPLE TODAY!!! IT IS GORGEOUS AND THE SESSION WAS IN ENGLISH!!! TENDER MERCY OF THE WEEK!!!!! I LOVE THAT TEMPLE!!! It´s really small and appears out of nowhere but it´s gorgeous. 

Running out of time...what else. Challenge: Read Chapter 4 of PMG! AND APPLY IT!

We´re required to be in the choir here. Brazilians can´t carry a tune, bless their hearts. But they love to sing. What else. I don´t know. We get translations for devotionals-tender mercy again! Don´t know what I´d do if we didn´t. 

I miss you all. I love you all. 

Today as I was sitting in the temple I said one of the most heartfelt prayers of my life. I have such a strong testimony that Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. He knows each one of us perfectly. He knows our struggles and the desires of our hearts. I love Him and I love my Savior. 

Out of time.

Love you all!

Love, 

Sister Wilkins

I'm in Brasil!

OI FAMILIA!!!!

I MADE IT!!!! I´M Here at the CTM and the weather is absolutely beautiful and the city is beautiful and the CTM is georgeous!

It is so nice here and I love it and I just can´t believe I´m in BRASIL!!!!! AHHHHH :)

Portuguese keyboards are really hard to get used to by the way so I might not be able to type a whole lot. I got both your emails and thank you!

The flight went well. We were stuck in the air for almost an hour longer than we were supposed to be. Didn´t sleep much either, but that´s ok.

MY COMPANION IS SISTER CHILD AND THE ELDERS ARE IN OUR DISTRICT!!!!!!! Heavenly Father seriously hears and answers prayers. And the other two sisters that were in the other zone that came with us are also in our district. There were 15 missionaries total that came with us. Two sisters are only here for two weeks since they were already in the field and then the rest are all newbies!!!

PRESIDENCY HERE SPEAKS ENGLISH!!!!! Happy day! All is well!

There are palm trees in our courtyard. We have a mini track. There are seven floors in the building. It´s a gorgeous building! I love it!!! We are all so excited to be here and be in the same district! The Elders are super excited too!

I went and found Elder Searle (?) after I talked to dad and he was doing just fine and I got him to come sit by us. 

The guy who I was telling you would help us at the Sao Paulo airport did. He was super nice and waited for us and Elder Searle to get off the flight and helped us get through to the travel people who were waiting for us, and it went super fast, a lot faster than we were expecting and no hassles and no bag checks or anything! SO BLESSED. We got to the travel people, where the Elders were waiting for us too! Man we all missed each other so much, and we hadn´t even been apart for 24 hours. Crazy stuff.

What else? BRAZIL IS GORGEOUS!!!! I CAN´T WAIT TO SEE MORE!!! :)

We are only allowed to take pictures on P-day which seems kind of strange to me, but it´s cool.

Sister Child and I have our own room right now, but we think there will be more people later today. We also have our OWN BATHROOM!!!! :) I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!!

I haven´t heard much Portuguese yet, another blessing! I CAN UNDERSTAND PEOPLE! :)

I am super duper tired now that I´m sitting down, but we´ve got a lot of meetings and welcoming and lunch is after this and there´s just so much to do! I´m so excited!

I feel so blessed to be here safe and all my luggage is safe and every other missionary who traveled here with us is safe and just BLESSINGS!!!

Yesterday there were so many blessings while we traveled. We didn´t have to take the Front Runner, which would have been crazy and trying to transfer would have been even harder, because it was broken down and they weren´t sure why. We had so many people talking to us asking about where we were going and saying look there´s the missionaries! And then we met a guy from Switzerland while we were eating breakfast who served his mission in England and was on his way to SanFran and he played his 1920s banjo for us and sang us some really old songs about don´t let your daughters date Mormon boys because all they´ll have is cake, something, and babies and it was hilarious. We also got fed by Sue and Gordon Smith at PF Changs during our layover and they let us use their phones. And just BLESSINGS!!!! :)

Don´t have much more time left for email. But they let us shower when we got here. MORE BLESSINGS. And that guy who served in Vitoria (?) who was coming to Sao Paulo was like the biggest lifesaver there ever was. And now we´re here and the sun is shining and I´m in a district with three of my favorite people and I couldn´t be happier! Things are going so well. SO MANY BLESSINGS!!! I seriously love Heavenly Father. He´s amazing!

No pics while we are here for the next fourish weeks, but it´ll all be good and there´ll be plenty to try to describe and explain to you since you can´t see it yet. The men here are like wonderful gentlemen. It´s great.

I love it! I love you! Hope all is well!

Sister Wilkins

You can tell she is tired but excited by her email.  And we received one from the CTM president.  He said please send letters, but no packages.  Packages can't be accepted by any MTC other than Provo.  And he sent us this picture of the missionaries who arrived today.

We got to talk to her on the phone yesterday while she was at the airport.  It was so good to hear her.  She was so positive, upbeat, and happy.  We are so grateful for this amazing young woman who is such an example to us.  We are so blessed to be her family!

week 2 and Brazil tomorrow. "Leaving on a jet plane. Don't know when I'll be back again" (Jk...18 months!)‏

The district with Sister Hirschi, our awesome teacher!

Sister Wright, Sister Child, Me:  Brazil bound!

Oi familia e friends!

How are you all doing!?

Things have been kinda crazy here lately after the four of us got our visas. Sister Wright was having a really hard time with all of us leaving her at first but we've talked with her and she knows this is where God wants her to be. 

This week we gave our last two lessons to Morgan. The fourth lesson was ok. We taught him the law of justice and mercy and he seemed to understand. And we talked about faith in Christ and baptism and asked him to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized. He said he didn't have a problem with it, but he didn't say yes. Our last lesson was super awesome. We weren't even sure what to talk about so we had kinda prepared two lessons but we weren't as prepared and we just wanted to go by the Spirit. We ended up talking to him more about things we had discussed previously and just answered his questions. HE PRAYED AT THE END WITH US. OUT LOUD. AND he said he would get baptized!!!!! :) IT was awesome!!! 

Then, the next day Morgan walked into our classroom study in the morning and it turns out he's our second teacher! His name is Irmao Workman. His lessons are amazing and so powerful. I've been so blessed to have the teachers I've had and I'm going to miss them so much!! We told Sister Hirschi she should stow away in our luggage and come with us. She just laughed.

I got really sick this week and my district was kind of worried about me. It was just a regular cold and I felt bad that I was sick and making it so that my companions were being held back. I just felt awful and wanted to make sure that we could all study. There is no time to rest as a missionary, especially when you are learning a language, so that was hard. But I just didn't want to miss class or devotionals or anything, so I stuck through it. And I got two blessings from the Elders which helped me deal with it and were seriously some of the coolest blessings I've had (especially since they were coming from 19 year old guys). But everything is doing a lot better.

We got our visas. Elder Banz came and pounded on the door of our room Wednesday morning, saying come read this letter! So we ran over and all four of our names were on the computer screen and we went to the travel office and got our visas and it was awesome!!! We are all so excited and some of us are slightly nervous, but we'll be ok :) 

We've definitely grown really close as a district this week, which makes it hard to leave. But we're excited to be able to go where we've been called. We laugh together, we sing together, we pray together, we've done everything together and the thought of being in a different district with different companions is so weird to me. At least we'll be able to see each other in the CTM. 

Yesterday was amazing! We had such a good Sunday. The Spirit was seriously so strong. We talked about enduring to the end during relief society and it was awesome! I love this quote Sister Moss shared with us (not sure who said it): "This is enduring to the end: seeing things through to completion." I just thought that was super cool. We got to hear from Elder Stephen B. Allen, who is in charge of the missionary department of the church. IT WAS AWESOME!!! HE IS AWESOME!!! We also got to watch conference talks as a district for a while and then we watched Legacy last night. So funny with the romance in it when we're all a bunch of missionaries who can't even flirt haha. 

My lesson yesterday wasn't awful but it wasn't the best. I talked about the qualifications of baptism and why it's important for us to understand and how we can help our investigators understand too. We got to go to a departure devotional yesterday too which was just super weird because they kept talking about being in the field and we were just like ya, that doesn't apply to us. 

Today has been a rough day for our zone. We walked in to class and Brother Nilsson told us that an elder's father passed away last night, so it was pretty somber this morning in our building. We fasted for him today as a zone and he decided that he's not going to the funeral. He's staying here and doing the Lord's work. I was so touched by his example. If you could keep him and his family in your prayers it would be much appreciated. 

Thank you for all your letters and packages! It's been much appreciated! And it will be so nice to have food for the four of us to have to snack on at the airport!!! 

So excited to get to Brazil but kind of nervous!! It'll be so good to serve the people once I can learn the language. 

I love you all and pray for you all!

Hope everything is going well for you!!! 

Love, 

Sister Wilkins