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

Pictures with Julieta Naves de Andrade - who was baptized by Shelby's dad while serving his mission in Brazil over 25 years ago

Hey Fam!!

Oh my heavens, I just got the letter from the beach today and it was the cutest thing EVER!!!!  Thank you thank you thank you for your letters!  Did I cry? Uhh....maybe.  But it was the best.  Don´t you worry, I am not getting trunky or anything!

 

I am so glad that Reggie is a missionary now!  Ah he will be the best and convert the world because that guy is SOLID.  I am so lucky to have a family strong in the gospel!  Also, before I forget...my companions are very single and like Americans.  I was told to ask if I have any cousins interested in writing a  Brazilian missionary.  Is Ray still available?  I told Sister Seidmann a little bit about him and she is pretty open to the opportunity, you know, if he wants!  I like her a lot:)  So....yeah, just throwing that out there.

Ummm ok so is Mima ok??  Sister Seidmann and I fasted for her a couple times this week and do you want to know something crazy?? On Tuesday we were walking down the streets and I just got the feeling that I needed to say a prayer for her!  So we stopped, and we prayed, and that was that!  I don´t know if the timing was right or anything, but she has def been in the thoughts of a few missionaries in Brazil!  And she will be still!

Aww, Dad will go to the Campout without me...que triste!  I hope that he can forgive me and find someone else to be his daughter for a little bit.  Maybe Tiago, since he´s using my phone number and everything.

This week was nuts!  We taught a ton and found a lot of new investigators.  Finally!  I am speaking more in the lessons now because Sister Seidmann is prepping me to train in a couple weeks....GAH yeah that is scary!  But we had a couple funny experiences.  We were teaching this girl, Gislaine, who is hardcore Baptist and knows absolutely nothing about her religion.  I think that she listens to us solely because I am American.  But you know, that is normal around her to be honest.  Anyway, we left her house a little frustrated because it wasn´t a very effective lesson, and then later that night we passed by the Baptist church and I saw her in there doing this interpretive dance..  Oh my lanta, I know that we aren´t supposed to stay outside of churches, but I did and watched her, and it was the BEST.  So funny!  I like the other religions here...they provide some prime entertainment!

We had 2 baptisms this week , but only one was ours.  Sidney and cute little Clarise!  They are 8 and 9 years old, so Sidney was the ward´s baptism.  Both of them have less active families, but we are activating them so that was really cool!  Que fofa...oh I love them!

Another thing that was AWESOME.  I got a call this week...from Julietta!  My daddy baptized her manyyyy years ago and now I am going to meet her when we go to the temple on Wednesday!  Oh I am wayy excited!  She said, "Sister Dana, your dad changed my life.  If he wasn´t there at the exact right time, I don´t know where I would be right now.  And when you got your call to Brazil, I was very, very emotional!  I have been waiting for a long time to give you a hug!"  Basically I started to cry right there in the padaria in front of everyone..  But I can´t wait until Wednesday!  I have quite a legacy to carry on here in Brazil. I hope that I can be a missionary like my dad was!...is...

I love you all to death!  Have a great week and what the heck...happy Five Months to me tomorrow!  I love Syster Clouse and her letters...just throwing that out there.  AND I taught Sister Seidmann how to pun in English.  She is getting really good at it and now we have a jolly old time in the streets every day!

Love love love,

Sister Dana

Relatorio Semanal

Querida Familia,

Eu AMO emails de vocês!!! Muitos muitos muitos!  E, bem-vindo Tiago!  Você vai amar minha família ;)  It sounds like things are so great back at home, and wicked crazy with football and a Brazilian hanging around!  Ah man, I can´t even imagine...that´s so weird that someone else is living there...hanging out with my brother...using my phone number....what the strange!  But I want to meet this guy!  Let´s go to Fortaleza after my mission, ok?  

 

Mom, I´ll send my memory card home this week.  This will be my first card because it got a virus and now I can´t open photos on the computer...that´s why I couldn´t send any pictures home.  But if you could clean it out...that would be great :)  It´ll also have descriptions, so don´t worry about that either!  And a bunch of pictures of our apartment too, so just have a little patience!

 

Ah man, I wish that I could say that this week was just as good as the last one, but it was definitely one of the hardest ones I have had.  You know how there is opposition in all things?  Def truth right there.  One of our investigators with a marriage date bailed on his fiance for his other wife in Sao Paulo, Then Manuel, one of our baptisms from last week, decided that he didn´t like the peace that he was feeling after the baptism.  He told us that he didn´t want to be confirmed a member of the church on Sunday and he was afraid to get the Holy Ghost.  So we tried to calm him down and everything, but he wanted to return to his old life and sealed the deal by breaking the Word of Wisdom in a major way on Saturday night.  So...that was really hard. 

 

 Then Glau, our precious Glau...she had her interview for baptism on Saturday afternoon and when we got there with the Elders, she said that she didn´t want to be baptized because she wasn´t ready.  She is...she knows everything and wants to keep the commandments and has a testimony like I have never seen before.  She had an hour and a half long interview, then Elder Rodrigues came out of it saying that the enemy is working on her like crazy because she has so much potential.  We tried to do all that we could...Sister Seidmann has some serious guts too.  She actually left Glau´s house, grabbed Glau´s dad out of the bar and said, "Excuse me, I need to talk to you about the salvation of your daughter."  I was basically just following her with my mouth hanging open.  So we went back to Glau´s house with them and then her dad and step mom started yelling at each other and Glau was super scared and the Spirit bailed real quickly.  It was horrible.  Needless to say, Glau´s baptism fell through.  Talk about a heartbreak.

 

Sister Seidmann was really sick this week too.  I felt horrible because neither of us had a desire to work and that has never happened before!  But I know that the Lord was preparing me for this week because I found a ton of answers to my prayers in the scriptures and found peace even when it was awful.  I think a lot of that video that we watched a few nights before I left, remember?  Like, why should I think that this work will be easy for me, when it was never, never easy for my Savior?  Salvation is not a cheap experience.  

 

You´d better believe that we´ll be working our Brazilian bootys off this week to atone for all the garbage that happened last week!  Thank heavens for repentance:)  I love you all and I will definitely keep Mima in my prayers!  Like she isn´t already!  Congrats to Reggie...I need to email that boy!  Have fun with Tiago and good luck keeping the boys fed!  I wish so bad that I could be there for the football games and everything with you all!  I love you, have a great week!

Shelby and Sister Seidmann

Prettiest Missionaries in the Field!

Love,

Sister Dana

Letter Time!

MOM.  This WEEK!!! I have to tell you about all of the miracles that went down!  And I can´t even wait, I am so excited!  First off, have I mentioned that I love being a missionary?  Like...I think I don´t want to get married.  I just want to stay in Brazil and baptize for my whole life because it is the most amazingly fun thing ever. Ok so here is why this week was so great.

We worked HARD.  We were praying and praying and fasting for our baptisms this week and were at their houses every single day! So I will explain a little bit about each one of them.

Vanessa...my precious Vanessa.  She is friends with Fatima´s family and started coming to church with them and listening to our lessons and she just felt the Spirit super strong!  She is only 13 and is super shy, so she´s always afraid to talk. Once during a lesson, I asked her if she got a confirmation that the gospel was true, etc., and she was too embarrassed to reply. So we changed the subject and then a few minutes later when everyone was busy talking, I sat with her and she described her experience with the Livro de Mormon and the Spirit and I seriously almost started crying.  Then we sat together and I explained all of the pictures in the front of the Livro and it was so precious!!  Her baptism was beautiful <3

My precious José, Manuel, and Vanessa! Profile pic please Mom?

Glau.  Ok this girl is fantastic.  She wants to be a missionary in Paris, you know?  So we had a lesson with her this week like, 2 days before her baptism was scheduled, and she was sooooo excited, because she had to work really hard to convince her parents to let her be baptized.  But anyways, we asked her all of the interview questions and she basically had verbal diarrhea about every single aspect of the gospel we had ever mentioned.  I think she was def prepared!  After the lesson, she took my tag and pinned it to her rather scandalous dress and started dancing around the room yelling "Sister Glau, I´m Sister Glau, here to baptize the world!  When it is hot, and when it is cold, I will always be like this <huge cheesy grin with her tag held up to her face> and all the world will know Sister Glau!"  And then all of her 37 brothers and sisters (not really) started running after her yelling "Praise Jesus!  Gloria, Gloria!"  Oh my gosh...I love her so much!!!  But alas...we went to fetch her for church on Sunday morning, and she was sick as death.  So she shall be baptized next Sunday :)

José.  He is seriously...perfect.  He knows everything and, bless his heart, he can´t wait to serve his mission!  He was baptized by Filipe, one of the rapazes in our ward.  Filipe is amazing too.  He´s only 16, and he comes to all of our lessons with us to help us teach.  He is a huge example for me, especially because he doesn´t have a very supportive home...like, at all...But he´s awesome.  Anyway, he baptized José and it was so precious that I almost started crying!  Gah, I love my job!

Filipe baptized José!

Manuel was a MIRACLE.  He had some serious problems with the Word of Wisdom, but he stopped EVERYTHING in one week and was baptized yesterday.  We worked so hard with him!  We were at his house every day with his member friend, Daniel, and we def made sure that he didn´t even have the opportunity to slip up!  Which he didn´t :)  But when I saw him in white, all baptized...there is no feeling in the world to describe it.

Our members are amazing.  Almost the whole ward shows up for our baptisms.  The make cakes, help set up chairs, sing...basically do everything.  It wasn´t always like this.  We were talking to one of them last night, and he said that things really changed with Sister Seidmann, and then a lot when I came too.  So that was cool!  Sister Seidmann is an amazing example to me.  She works so hard and she is always thinking about how we can improve and help more people.  I love her to pieces!

People at our baptism :)

Anyways, hooray for Tiago! Tell him that I say Bem-vindo! Espero que ele vai amar minha familia...eles são otimo, e ele tem muito sorte ;)  Also, you know who I haven´t heard from in like a million years?  Cooper.  You know who should tell him to write me a letter?  Everyone.  I want to know about his life dadgumit!  I don´t know if I have any good stories this week...mostly we just goof off all the time in our house and I scare my poor Brazilians to death and they are terrified that all Americans are like me.  But guess what!  I got a ton of letters today!  From Page Nelson, Jake Flake, Mima, my pal Patty, and LESLIE!! And I will def write them back...thank you!

Ok I love you all so much! Have a great time with a Brazilian!  They are lots of fun! 

Love,
Sister Dana 

Our Conference from this week!  Look! It´s Sister Orr!!!!

Me and the Sisters :)

Us with Elder Millward and Elder Rodrigues

Elder Bassaco, Elder Millward, and Elder Rodrigues

Me and Sister Gomes!

Happy Birthday Sister Clarke!

Our Area

Our Area 

Brazilbrazilbrazilbrazil

So I have been here another week!  Hooray!  I can´t believe that you guys are done with the beach...ahhh I was thinking about it all week!  I missed the ocean and the cheesy Belmont rides and waking up all sunburned...well, kind of.  Because I have the ocean here, and we swim to lessons every day, so that´s pretty close, and the buses are definitely similar to rollercoasters and about seven times as scary!  And I do wake up sunburned everyday actually....so I guess it is basically the same, right??  

Ahhh I´m so glad that you had such a good time!  And ohmygosh Cooper will start HIGHSCHOOL next week and I will be replaced by some Brazilian rapaz...oh man.  Well, Parabéns!  Ok Mom, here are some answers to your questions.  We go to a little shop place to email every week and we have to pay for it, but it´s pretty cheap so that´s no big deal.  Plus they sell these chocolate things here too that Sister Seidmann loves and she is eating one right now next to me.  The food here...we eat a lot of rice and beans.  A LOT.  And a ton of pasta.  The members feed us every week for lunch, and for some reason all of the irmas decided that the American needed to try "paqueca" ...which are crepes.  But I pretend that it´s the first time every time, so they still get all excited.  I really like basically everything that Irma Fatima cooks.  That´s my favorite food.  She uses a lot of butter and I´m not sure what I´m eating most of the time. But it tastes amazing, so I really don´t ask!  

We speak about half and half English and Portuguese here now because I´m pretty comfortable with the language.  Sister Seidmann thinks that I´ll certainly train next transfer, so I think that´s a good sign that I´m improving!  She really wants to improve her English, so we speak more English in the house now.  Holyyyy goodness I have to tell you a funny story.  So we were doing a comp inventory after weekly planning and Sister Seidmann was trying to do it in English.  She is SO CUTE when she tries!  Anyway, I told her that she can´t be so snarky with the investigators or something like that and she goes (her exact words)... "I don´t...I don´t mean to...It is just...sometimes I say something bad...and then after I think...that was not good....damn it!"  Mom, you can edit out this story if you want, but I just have to tell you because I about pee my pants every time I think of it.  You can tell when Brazilians learn their English from the movies!

I have met with President Lanius likeee three times so far here, but we never go to the mission home because NO missionaries here drive.  It´s way too dangerous. I love all the missionaries in my district and zone, but to be honest, the elders need to work harder.  For the most part, they are good, but sometimes I think that they are wasting the Lord´s time!  We have an awesome zone though, and our leaders push us to baptize like crazy...so we do!

Ok here is this week!  We had so many miracles!  Remember Valesca?  

Well, we went to her house for dinner on Tuesday, and she had this guy over named José to work on a project.  Welp, Sister Seidmann and I don´t waste any time, so we taught it up right then and there and his little Baptist heart was softened!  He is freaking perfect...except for the fact that he tried to plant one on Valesca after he walked her and Sister Seidmann and I to the bus for a meeting!  Oh you should have seen her face...she is so innocent and cute!  She goes "Beijo Sister! BEIJO!!!" But now they are dating, so I guess it wasn´t that surprising.  Anyway, we taught him all the lessons this week and he will be baptized this week!  Hooray!

Glau...oh my precious Glau.  She is 13 and has such a testimony!  She wants to be a missionary when she grows up and serve in Paris.  I thought to myself...hey...I know peeps in Paris!  So I emailed one of my USU pals and he is sending a letter to her!  How cute is that!  But we are fairly certain that she will be baptized this week as well!  Cool, right?

We have like, 3 other people that we are hoping will be baptized this week, but I don´t have enough time to write about all of them. I will later.  The Lord is blessing us like CRAZY!!! We had an amazing sacrament meeting yesterday...NINE of our investigators showed up at church, which is basically unheard of.  We also had this guy, Fernando, show up too. Sister Seidmann introduced herself to him after the meetings, then we showed him the baptismal font and explained baptism to him, and then he started to cry and said that he needed to be baptized.  So we shall baptize him next week! That was crazy awesome, but honestly...not SUPER surprising.  I live in the land of miracles!

Ahh things are so good here!  I have the best tanline EVER and apparently it will only get worse, because "winter" is over now!  But I am so happy and so blessed!  I am praying for ya´ll out there...and what the heck, Tanner has a girlfriend??? Crap. If he gets married, I owe him El Charro.  Anyways, I love love love you!!  Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Dana