Oi Gente!

Hey famdamily!  Good to hear that you all are doing fabulously!  I was super happy to hear that Mima is better, and I´ll be sending her a letter this week!  I can´t believe that you guys are already planning the trip to Brazil...but I guess that it is time because I only have a year left!  What the weird?!  Umm I want to go to Fortaleza and Dad´s mission and show you around here...and ya´ll can surprise me with the rest, ok??

Also all of my MTC district is here except Sister McCleve and Elder Ryan, so that is sad  But they should be coming soon I think!

This week was great!  We worked a ton....and we finally had a baptism!  It was Sister Patino´s first, and it was so dang adorable.  Thaina is 8 years old and her fam wanted us to baptize her, so we did and it was awesome!  Baptisms are not as stressful for me as they once were, which is def a good thing.  I think that Sis Patino has caught the baptism bug and is hungry for more...Hooray!

Baptism of Thaina

 We had a division on Thursday this week too, and that was super fun!  I was with Sister Menezes, a tiny little thing who is our Sister Training Leader, and she is so adorable.  She is a feisty one though, and I learned a ton! 

Sister Menezes and Sister Dana

Sister Patino is doing so well...I love her!  We love to laugh and mess around together during the day, and that makes it easier to walk around in the sun for hours and hours.  Seriously, it is so freaking hot here....but I am not complaining!  So there!

Our house is pretty silent these days.  Sometimes everyone gets super focused and serious...and to be honest, I don´t like that.  I mean, I know that we need to have our minds on the work, but I really like to mess around and laugh sometimes.  This is why I love when Leslie sends me letters, because I remember that I used to be funny!  Ha, jokes.  So this week Sister Gomes and I had a wrestling match in the living room.  And America dominated...God bless the USA.

Oh, we had another cool thing happen!  So we only had like, one investigator in church this week, which was super sad, and I was running through all the things I need to do to repent and merit people in the chapel, when this new fellow came and sat down right next to me!  I started to talk to him, and he said that he was sorry, he didn´t speak Portuguese very well, but he knows English and Spanish!  Well that is just fine in my book!  He is stoked for us to start teaching him and I am too!  I love in when Heavenly Father throws us a slow pitch sometimes...it is very nice:)

Aw family, I just love ya.  I miss ya too, but I will be home in less than a year!  What the weird.  Also, can you send me Celia´s address?  I need to mail presents home!  Ha, Merry Christmas...if it gets to ya!  I hope that you guys have a good week and that Coop and Tiago do well in football and that Dad is a good bishop and that mom enjoys all of my Pintrest.  I love youuuuu!

6 month Anniversary

This is Shelby's face when the e-mail is slow

 

Love,

Sister Dana

Heyyyy Fam!

Hey guys!  What is crackin up north?  It sounds like only football...so that´s cool.  And congrats to Ashley!  I am so very excited for her!  I sent her a letter about a month or so ago, and I hope that she got it!  I am glad that you got my letters too!  Aren´t they like Christmas??  I love letters!!!!  Also, mom, can you forward my letter to christopher.cluff@myldsmail.net too?  I always forget and the poor fellow is just dying because he misses me so much.  Jokes, but thanks!

This was my first full week of training and I am proud to say that it was absolutely crazy.  We have been trying really hard lately to get in contact with a lot of referrals that we´ve had for a while, and it is ROUGH STUFF.  Brazil does not give much importance to street names, you know.  Or at least not in this area.  So it is a finding adventure every day!  But Sister Patino is a champ!  She is so patient with me.  I love her!  

She was a little bit down this week, just because it is the second week, and that one always sucks.  So we had a really cool training about the Atonement and missionary work and watched that video again!  Ah...gets me every time.  Long story short, all of us were crying and just pumped as heck to get out there and save some souls after.  It was really cool!  

This week was our Mission Conference, and it was so good!  The Temple President and his wife came and talked to us, and they had a lot of ideas that I haven´t thought of.  Of course, by the end of the training I was feeling like a worthless piece of junk, but with a resolve to be a shining star!  Isn´t that cute?  Yeah, I think that is how leaders in Brazil roll down here...oh well, it is effective!  

We had 3 baptisms fall through this week...so that was hard.  That was really rough for Sister Patino, the poor thing!  I am kind of used to it by now, because we will just baptize them later, you know?  But it was really hard for her, so we prayed and fasted a lot about that one.  

 

I love Sister Gomes and Sister Rocha, who live with us!  They are the best and so very funny!  Sister Gomes...I call her Sister Gosma sometimes.  That means snot.  She loves to sing and learn English, so we have a lovely time singing English hymns together! It is strange to live in a house where we ONLY speak Portuguese, but my language has been improving wayyyy faster now!  Hmmm....maybe I should have tried this long ago...

 

Other than that, not much else has happened this week!  Sister Rocha and I have a resolve to be the fittest sisters in the mish, and so we will def be working on that this week!  But everything is really good, and I am so happy:) I love to hear about all of Leslie´s adventures in Sweden!  They are freakin Swede!  Ok, I had to say that one because NO ONE understands my puns here and they need to be said!  

 

I love you all so very much!  Have a lovely week and I am excited for the letters :)  Tell Cooper to get motivated...bahaha no, don´t do that.  But mom, please don´t be one of the moms that yells at the coaches.  Coop will be rejected for all of his highschool career.  Jokes, I love you!

 

Loveeee,

Sister Dana

First Week Training

Aw Mom!  That was like, the sweetest email of my life!  Thank you so much!  I love love love you too!!! Pretty much I have the BEST family in the world.  Don´t worry, everyone here fully knows how great you guys are too, because I keep pictures in my scriptures to show off.  Thanks to Aunt Amy, we all look freakin gorgeous too.  So that´s a plus.  But everyone says that I have Barbie parents. And they are right.

Well, this week!  On Monday, I got to hang out with Sister Orr and be her companion in Boa Vista!  It was so cool!  I was really happy to be with her again and we both freaked out about being trainers together and it was just as sweet as can be.  And on Tuesday, we were comps too until about 4´pm when I picked up my little baby!!  I am now the proud trainer of Sister Patino, from Columbia!  She is 22 and almost finished up with her degree in civil engineering, so I was a little bit intimidated at first!  But she really is legit and I can tell that we are going to have some lovely times together!  Also, she is from Columbia...like Shakira.  So I introduced her to all the members as Sister Shakira.  Also, in Portuguese, "patinho" means "little duck".  So I am Mama Duck and she is Little Duck and it´s fun stuff.  She is so cute--fresh out of the MTC and ready to baptize everyone!  Also, she speaks Spanish.  So we are English and Spanish speakers trying to teach each other Portuguese.  Yeah.

Mama Duck and Little Duck

But some really cool stuff has happened this week!  Ok, to be honest, our numbers sucked because the Lord saw fit to try my abilities as a trainer the first day out.  We had to go to Recife for a meeting with all of the missionaries anddddd....we got lost.  On the bus system.  Yeah we ended up wayyy far away from where we were supposed to be.  But by the guidance of the Holy Ghost, (no, really, it was all him, because I am totally lost with this thing) we got to the meeting, only an hour late!  Yeah, that was a fabulous first impression.  Ah well.  

The rest of the week was rough too, because all of our appointments fell through!  So Sister Patino got to experience the joys of knocking doors for 7 hours in the heat.  Poor thing, I´m gonna kill her before she´s out for two weeks at this rate.  BUT  the coolest thing has happened!  The gift of tongues has pretty much slapped me in the face!  Now teaching is wayyy easier than I thought it would be.  I think when the Lord needs you to say something, you just will find them hidden in your brain somewhere!  So that´s been a beautiful miracle.  

Ummm other than that....not much else has happened!  Our baptism this week fell through, but we will just baptize her this week.  And we have had some really promising people show up too, so hooray!  

OH!  I got a package from Kayla this week!  I think she sent some cookies...they must have been delicious, because the mailman ate every one of them!  So about the package, yeah, it will be much better if you send stuff with Sis Tanner or someone...please...I will send your Christmas and birthday presents to Celia´s house and maybe you can get them before next year!  Maybe!  

Ok I love love love you!  Pray for miracles, ok?  Also I love Cooper.  I hope that he does well in football this week!  And Tiago também!  And tell Dad to keep bishoping like a boss. 

Have a lovely week!

Loveee,

Sister Dana

Beautiful Beach

Too bad you can't swim there

Relatório do Progresso!

So!!!!  This week was completely unbelievable!!  Why?  ummm because Sister Dana is, as of today, officially a trainer.  I can´t even believe it, because I only have 2 transfers in Brazil, but I will pick up my bebezinha on Wednesday!!  Oh my gosh I am excited and scared out of my mind...this is a lot of responsibility, but I guess we all need times to prove our faith, right?

Another cool thing-- Sister Seidmann was called to be the new Sister Training Leader!!  She is really nervous too, but I know that she will be amazing because I have never met anyone so dedicated to the work and with such a desire to share the gospel.  She will create miracles out here.  It was so hard for us to say goodbye last night.  While we were cleaning up the house and helping her pack and everything, all the awesome times were just running through my head and I can´t believe that I will have another companion! But I love her so much, and we will leave the mission at the same time, so that´s a tender mercy.  It was pretty rough to watch her say goodbye to Irma Fatima and all of her family and all of the people that she loves so much here.  I hate to say that I cried more than she did, but I definitely did.  It´s genetic though, so I blame Dad.  

Rough Morning - saying goodbye to Sister Seidmann

My sister is leaving

Saying Goodbye to Sister Seidmann with our baptisms

Right now, I am sitting here with Sister Orr! She will be training too, which is crazy because she only has one transfer in Brazil, so we are companions for the next few days until the new missionaries come in this week.  But it is nuts, because a ton of my MTC district pals are training the same time as me.  I have always felt super close to them, so that was really good.  We´re gonna have this experience together!

The District Reunited (from the MTC)

 Hmm. Miracles of this week....idk, the Lord has really blessed us.  A few weeks ago, I got the feeling that I needed to prepare to train, so I made a list of all the things I still didn´t know about the area.  This week, somehow we did all of them.  I wasn´t very familiar with the names of all the streets, and this week we have gotten tons of referrals and it has been my job to find them, so now I´m fairly comfortable with the area and I know what to do.  Heavenly Father has definitely been preparing our area for this!  But yeah, basically we just walked a ton.  I almost look Brazilian now because of my tan, but not quite enough to stop people from calling me "the other white missionary". Whatevs.

I think I´m gonna need some serious prayer time with the language.  We were knocking doors with Lucas, one of the members this week, and this crazy lady answered the door.  I was feeling bad because we hadn´t had much luck that day and I wanted him to help out with a lesson, so I asked if we could share a message with her.  She said yes, and then let us into a tiny little room with no windows.  Lucas sat near the door because he was ready to bolt.  Even more so when she started talking about all the murders that her sons had committed and a bunch of other stuff that no one will explain to me.  She talked really quietly and all creepy like and I apparently didn´t pick up on the fact that we were in some trouble, so I just kept smiling and nodding like I usually do when I don´t understand.  That is not a very good fallback in every situation.  Sister Seidmann realized what was going on and busted up laughing, then ended the lesson VERY quickly and we bailed out of there.  Lucas was scared out of his mind I think, but it´s like...the Lord is protecting us...stop worrying.  But I really hope that the gift of tongues will smack me in the face or something this week so that my little Sister doesn´t cry herself to sleep.

But anyway, I love you family!  I am so glad that Cooper is doing well with football...what a stud.  He gets it from me.  It would be better if he was playing for Mountain View, but ah well;)  

So mom.  i have a shopping list...you don´t have to include this when you send the letter out, but I would LOVE if you could send more Hair, Skin and Nails pills, Argan oil, American deoderant...like, the regular stuff...HAIRSPRAY, skittles for my zone leader, and footie socks for flats for Sister Seidmann.  If you could, that would be amazing.

Have a great week!  Do well in school, say your prayers, help the missionaries, and write letters....there is nothing more you need to do I think.  Love youuuuu!

Love,

Sister Dana

(Traina Dana! hahahahaha)

The Week Was Amazing!

Hey Family!!  I hope that you are all doing very well!  Sounds like it. My prayers are going out to Jayze and Sarah this week. I am so so sorry...that´s really hard.  But did you know that Alma means "soul" in Portuguese?  So when I read that name, I thought that it was pretty beautiful.

The fact that you are feeding Coop and Tiago arroz e fejao is hilariously ironic because this week I was talking to Sister Seidmann about the stuff that we eat at my house and how it´s usually salad and meat and not this rice and beans stuff.  And now...Brazil is invading my home in all aspects, apparently.

I´m so glad that Mima is doing better!  Give her a huge hug for me, ok??

So this week...was incredible.  It started out pretty rough, because our teaching pool has gone from 30 to 8.  People here just do not want to commit to baptism and marriage!  Also, we had to stay out of Sovaco da Cobra more because it´s been getting a little risky, and now we just have apartments to tract around.  Which sucks.  I am so worried that I won´t have anyone to teach when my little new missionary arrives!   (BTW, we don´t know for sure that I will train.  But it is likely.)  But you know what?  Heavenly Father answers prayers!  I have a new testimony about prayer and fasting!  Holy smokes, they are basically the answer to everything.

First off, we baptized Cicero last night, and that was a miracle and a half.  This kid...he is INCREDIBLE.  He is 18 and works and has school and basically never sleeps because he is busy supporting his family.  He went to church last week, but missed it yesterday because he had work.  Thus...no baptism.  Or so we thought.  Our Zone Leaders are baptism hungry, so they called up President Lanius and explained the situation with Cicero and got permission to baptize him anyway.  So we did!  Elder Rodrigues, my District Leader, said that it was the most spiritual interview he has ever had on his mission.  Both of them were crying at the end.  He said that Cicero has a testimony like he has never seen, and that he will quit his job because he doesn´t want anything to stand in the way of going to church.  He also is dying to serve a mission too!  I really can´t explain how much I love him.  He is one of the purest spirits I have ever met, and it was literally a gift from God that we got to be the missionaries to teach him these things.  

Before his baptism, we found a new investigator too, who just showed up at the church that day.  His name is Poppy and he is 14.  Actually his name is some Russian thing that I have no idea how to spell.  But we call him Poppy.  We taught him a little bit about the Restoration and a lot about baptism, and now he is scheduled to be baptized next Sunday.  I can´t believe that the Lord is just sending people into our laps like this.  They are prepared and love the gospel...it´s amazing.

Now for the other incredible thing that happened this week...Julieta! Dad.  You have one heck of a fan down here in Brazil.  It was the coolest thing!  My sisters and I were all taking pictures at the temple, and then I saw her walking up to us and I knew that it was her and we both just started crying and hugging each other.  She kept saying "Oh I don´t believe, this...thank you, thank you!!"  It was so great to get to know her, Dad!!  She is still so strong in the church and she told us all about you when you were her missionary.  I also talked to Lucia on the phone too, and she was really excited as well!  Julieta and I had a beautiful day at the temple.  It really was a gift.  As I sat in there with her,  I just could not believe all the peace that I felt and the miracle that it was to see how the gospel can effect people for their entire lives.  Dad, she is the cutest thing ever!  She held my hand the whole day and when we had to leave, we were both crying.  It was like I had another little mom here that was sending me off again!  But I am DEF going with you guys to visit her after this mission!

Well, this week was incredible.  Have I mentioned that I love being a missionary?  So many things have happened...I can´t even remember them all!  But I am so blessed!  I love you guys a ton and hope that you are healthy and safe and happy!  I´m sending out some letters today, so watch for them!  Oh, also, Mom, you should accept all the friend requests I have on Facebook! Please!   Love love love youuuuu!

Sister Dana