The Hottest December of my Life

Not even joking, that is what it is.  We are sweaty and nasty women preaching the word up in here...it is great.  Good to know that you guys are doing well though!   Haha I do miss the Christmas decorations a lot....it was always like, the best thing ever to put all of them up!  Here, it´s cute.  They try, but the people down here really just don´t do Christmas like we do in the States.  Some people have a few strands of lights and almost everyone has a little bitty tree, but it is so weird to see a Christmas tree while I am roasting in the house!  Ah well, it is all good.  I hope that Cooper´s basketball games are going well and that he is playing like a champ!  I know he is...because he is awesome.  Also, I miss the dunes.  Bet you never thought you would hear me say that, eh?  But really, it is true.  So have fun down there!  I am so happy that the ward Christmas party was a success!  Probably all thanks to my toca picture.  But whatevs, I´m over being embarrassed.  Gotta just embrace the culture, right?

Welp, this week was awesome.  We went to the temple on Wednesday, yay!!  Ohmygoodness, it was perfect and exactly what I needed.  It was so cool to just sit in the Celestial Room and know that everything would be ok and I didn´t need to stress anymore and my Heavenly Father was happy with my work...yeah that was definitely great.  The temple here in Recife is incredible.  It is sooooo pretty!  We only get to go every three months, so it really is a treat to head into the city.  I know that a lot of missionaries never get to go to the temple during their missions, so we are extra blessed too!

The Nativity in  front of the Recife Temple

Good news...the Lord answers prayers!  Would you believe that Alexandra stopped smoking, and the day she quit, she found a new job that pays really well!?  So well, in fact, that she might be able to move out and get baptized sooner?!  AND Messias found another job that pays like, double the pay he was getting at the other one where he had to work on Sundays.  He is SO COOL.  We had a lesson with him this week where he basically gave an Institute-worthy lesson on the end of 2 Nephi.  I love love love it when our investigators progress enough that they just teach us and we all learn together...super fun!  Oh, AND Georges is having business out the wazoo now too.  All sorts of people are buying from his shop and he is so happy!  I love that the blessings of obedience are real!  Holy smokes, this is way cool.

Sooo now our mission (well, the Church in general) is doing a program called "Resgate"  or, "Rescue".  This is when the members and missionaries start working with less-actives.  This is soooo important, becauswe we have seriously a million members in our ward, but only about a hundred that come to church every week.   So Sister Patino and I have been praying to find more less-actives, and they have just started introducing themselves on the street and telling us that they want help coming to church again!  Ok!  We can definitely do that:)  It is really cool, and ever since Pittsburgh, I have learned to LOVE rescue work.  It is so good to help these people remember what they once knew and come back to the church.

Oh, also we are teaching Messias´s little daughters and they are ADORABLE!  Sara, Yasmin, and Hilary are 12, 8, and 6.  We had the cutest lesson with them  yesterday!  Hilary is a crack up.  I was teaching about how God loves his children, and she was staring at me all weird.  So I was like, "Hilary...are you ok?"  And she goes, "Wait...you´re speaking Portuguese!  Whoa!"  She was super surprised that I wasn´t speaking English with her, it was so funny!  And then we were teaching them how to pray, and Yasmin goes, "Why do you fold your arms like this?"  And Hilary says, "Yasmin.  It´s because they are holding baby Jesus by their hearts!"  Yes, yes it is, you precious little thing!  I can´t wait til Messias can baptize them!

I will find out about Skyping you guys this week and let you know what time to be ready...ah, can´t wait!  Also, my address is ... (I'll add that back in when she gets home).  Hope that helps you googlemap it!

Have a great week, love you all to bits, and I´ll send a letter soon!

Love,

Sister Dana

Me and Ducky (Sister Patino) in front of the temple

Our Zone in front of the temple

Sister Dana and Elder Hanna! MTC, bonded for life :)

Sister Marques, Sister Patino, Sister Dana and Sister White

We went to Burger King!  And it really wasn´t that good.  Guess some things are the same in all parts of the world.
Me and Sister Patino

Sister Dana, Sister Martins, Sister Marques, Sister Gomes, Sister Patino and Sister White

Sister Gomes tried to rescue a baby bird.  It was gross, but touching at the same time...