Week 3: 7/26/2024

Oi família e amigos! I've officially been here at the CTM for over a week which is kind of crazy! It kind of feels like I've been gone forever though but I'm loving it here! The food is pretty good and I'm used to rice and beans for every meal already except for one night when we had pizza... definitely not the barbeque pizza I though I was getting but está bem! 

I think I said this last week, but Sister Christensen and I are the only sisters in our district which means all our classes are just us and the elders which is usually a good time of us laughing at them. In our usual schedule we have a 3 hour portuguese class and 3 hour doctrine class every day, but this week we only had portuguese two times I think which to be honest has been kind of rough and it doesn't really feel like we learned anything this week. But talking to the other sisters who have been here longer gives us hope! 

For pday today we got to go out in the city today and we got massive burgers that were delicious and also lots of other Brazilian snacks for those late nights in class.

We also got to go to the temple twice this week, once in Sao Paulo and once in Campinas, both are so beautiful! That was really a huge blessing because even though we had to wake up extra early, it was so cool to hear everything inside the temple done in Portuguese and still feel the power behind it.

Also, when we're in class something I really love that we do is role play where we pretty much just practice teaching. When we do it, we always get to share a lesson and our testimony, which has just been super helpful for me because it is a reminder of why I am here doing what I am doing. I want to share the hopeful message of the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone because I know of the power Jesus Christ has to change lives! I was reading in Mosiah 27:29 where Alma says "My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of inqueity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God." I can't wait to bring this hope and light to the people of Fortaleza! Love and miss you all!

Tchau tchau,

Sister Howard