Stellar Week

So you guys are at the beach...well SO AM I! Every day. So there.  Except we aren´t allowed to go near it so I guess it isn´t really the same, but oh well.  I´m so glad that you guys had fun at the 24th and believe me, I was thinking about it!  Every time I saw a horse...which is a lot, since they are as common as stray dogs around here, I thought of the rodeo and I missed it a lot!  And the fireworks and everything...aw man.  But I´m really glad that Coop had a good time at the dance and that you all had fun with the family and now you are at the beach and where the heck has the summer gone?!  It´s super weird not to be there, and to think that I am on the other side of the world!  But I know that you guys are going to have a blast and just enjoy the heck out of this week for me, ok??

Thank you so much for your prayers this week.  Our ward pulled through in an amazing way.  These people are so strong and they absolutely love each other...and miracles are happening too.  I have never seen youth so motivated to serve the Lord.  Seriously, Heavenly Father has saved these spirits!!  They come out and spend the whole day teaching with us and are always, always doing something with the church.  I guess that´s probably because the lines are clearly drawn here between the good and the bad.  But they are amazing.  

We had a stellar week.  Seriously.  Thirty lessons, and a baptism that we didn´t think would happen!  This is a cool story.  So Maisa is 11 and remember Isabella?  She was the one that we had to convince her mom to allow baptism?  Anyway, when my zone leaders were at her house, Elder King pointed out a little girl to me and said, "This girl has never heard of the gospel before.  You need to talk to her!"  So I did, and we began to teach her and she started to come to church.  She never progressed very quickly, because she is super shy and doesn´t like to talk much.  We taught her everything, and we planned to have the baptism this week, but when we went over the baptismal questions with her on Friday night, she didn´t know anything and it was like she had never heard of the gospel before.  We were disappointed when we left, but decided it wasn´t a big deal and that we would just do the baptism next week after we taught her everything again.  But when we returned on Saturday to tell her this, she was really sad.  She had studied all day and read every pamphlet that we gave her and knew all the lessons by heart!  And she said that she had a testimony and really wanted to be baptized, so we through a baptism together last night and she was!  Oh mom, it was perfect.  The Spirit was so strong, and all the youth in the ward were in charge and a ton of people came...it was the best feeling!

I have another story that is kind of hilarious from this week too.  So Sister Seidmann and I visit this guy that is super old, and his mom that is even older. He doesn´t pay attention to a word we say, but he likes to have someone to talk at, so we continue to go over there.  Well the "lesson" was super long and boring and Sister Seidmann was FINALLY saying the closing prayer, when he began to pray along with her.  This is not unusual.  So she was just continuing on and started praying for his mom and I just couldn´t resist.... I said "Amen Sister" right along with him and Sister Seidmann stopped dead and started busting up.  Then she handled it like a true champion and pretended that she was crying instead.  I´m talking head in her lap, shoulders shaking, loud, noisy tears.  José thought that she was crying because she missed her own mother, so he began to pray for us and our mothers!  Sister Seidmann continued on in this manner for about 2 solid minutes, and I was dying, and then she finally finished the prayer and we bailed hard.  José was thrilled.  He said that the Spirit was so strong and that he wanted us to come back soon...I guess the Lord works in mysterious ways!

Well, I love you all a ton.  Things are going really well here and I can´t believe that I´ve already been in Brazil for a full transfer!  I love it here.  It is super hard because Sister Olivera was transferred, and she lives with us and has been a great example.  Sister Alancar, her companion, will train, so we´re getting a baby in here and I won´t be the noob anymore!  I am seriously praying for one of my MTC friends. That would be amazing.  But Brazil is fabulous and the Lord will always, always strengthen us in our trials.  I pray for you guys every single day...so be happy!  Loveee youuuu!

Love,

Sister Dana

Sister Alancar, Sister Seidmann, Sister Olivera, e Sister Dana

A Difficult Week

Mom!  Happy happy happy happy birthday!!  I told all of my sisters that it was your birthday on Saturday and we celebrated together.  I hope that your package made it to Celia!  Also, please don´t buy Crocs.  I may be a missionary, but I still have principles.  If you could make the shoes black, I´d appreciate it:)  But the stuff that works best is just rubber things....oh I don´t know, I will be happy with anything.  Use the Spirit!  

I got a couple letters from Mima and Jacque´s kids this week, and I spent the morning writing them letters back, so expect those soon!  I don´t know the address of our apartment...but I am in the Candelaria area, right next to the beach.  The area that we do the most work in is called Sovaco da Cobra.  Ask Sister DePaula what that means.  It´s the place that I sent pictures of.  I wish that you could see it.  In fact, I´m already planning all the places that I will take you when ya´ll come down here at the end of my mission because it´s unreal!  Also, I want to meet this Tiago kid!  We can stop by Fortaleza, right?  

 It sounds like Coop had a blast at football camp.  That´s a lie, football camp sounds horrible.  He´s just going to be all big and beastly when I get home, isn´t he?  Well crap.  Tell him that he´d better be the best of the best because that is basically what is expected in our family;)  Oh how humble I have become! bahahah.

 This week was really, really rough.  We barely taught at all...only 18 lessons the whole week.  But for good reason.  Sister Seidmann was sick on Tuesday and we had to stay in all day.  Then I got sick the rest of the week, but it was just a cold and wasn´t too bad so we went out and worked anyway.  But on Saturday....oh man.

 We called up Cinthia, a young woman in our ward to come team up with us that morning and she answered the phone just bawling.  She told us that her younger brother, Isaac, who is 15, was at an activity for the young men and there was an accident.  We headed over to her house and met them on the way over to another member´s house.  Cinthia and her two little sisters were crying and when we got to the house, the member came out and told Cinthia that Isaac had been under the water for 40 minutes and was gone.  She dropped to her knees and started screaming and crying and oh my goodness...I will never, ever forget that image.  

I guess here is what happened.  The young men were out on an island and Isaac went to go swimming and got caught in a whirlpool.  The bishop went in after him and got sucked in too, but was able to raise Isaac to the surface 3 times.  The last time he held Isaac up, the lifeguards grabbed the bishop and pulled him out and he lost his grip on Isaac.  The water was so dirty that they couldn´t find him...and it´s been three days.

 Church yesterday was really, really hard.  The look on the bishop´s face...it was like he had died inside.  He got up and asked forgiveness from the family and apologized that he wasn´t stronger.  My heart just broke...our youth are all super tight and they were devastated.  Sister Seidmann and I have spent the last few days visiting families in the ward and trying to comfort them. 

 I´ve been thinking a lot about you guys lately because of this, and especially about how Dad would feel if it was in our ward...oh geez.  And Isaac was about the same age as Cooper...I just want to give my family a hug so bad!  Please be careful and know that I love you SO MUCH.  Families are eternal...I know this for a fact. I pray for you guys every single night and I plead with Heavenly Father to keep you safe for me.  

 Sorry this letter is rough...it was a pretty difficult week. I love you all:)

Love,

Sister Dana

Hey Family!

Mom!  I got your package!! And your letters! Oh my gosh I loved them so very much!  Thank you!  And Swedish Fish...oh man, I almost cried with joy. Thank you thank you thank you!  And your letters were super sweet!  Those are the first ones I´ve gotten since I´ve been here and I forgot how great they were, so thank you!  I´m going to mail a package this week to Celia for your birthday..hopefully it can get to you soon!  I am so grateful for her!  Will you give her a giant hug or something for me when you see her next time?? And now that I have this blessed card reader, I will hopefully upload some pictures today! Hooray!

I'm such a dork (Shelby's words, not her Mom's)

I´m so glad that Cooper had so much fun at EFY!  I knew that he would, and I wish that I could talk to him about it!  Aw it breaks my heart that he is going to be so grown up by the time I get home! MAYBE by then I will be able to tell the difference between his voice and yours;) JOKES! I knew all the girls would love him. Dangit.  Tell him to always be a gentleman, please. And I can´t believe the summer is almost over there! Time is flying wayyyy fast...next week I will have been out for 4 months! What the heck!  Also, tell Hunter Musgrave I wish him the best of luck and I´m praying for him and that I´m super sorry I never wrote him back! But I just have total confidence that he will be amazing and change lives in the Philippines!  And good luck to Steven too! Aww remember when he was in carpool with us and Leslie and I wanted to hang him out the window sometimes? Good times!  But he will be great too and I am so proud of our ward!

Ok, on to this week!  It was reallyyyyy great!  We had some major miracles happen. Remember Maria Eduarda and Valesca?  Well their mom has wanted to get baptized too!  She has such a testimony and is fully supportive of her daughters and lovesssss us, but her boyfriend was living with her and so she couldn´t get baptized.  The house belongs to him, so there wasn´t really a way that she could end things.  We prayed sooo much for her!  Then on Wednesday we felt like we should go over to her house at night and invite her to come talk to the Bispo about what she should do.  As soon as we walked in, she just ran up to us and goes "We need to talk!"  So we started to walk over to the church and she told us that the day before, her boyfriend just decided that he needed to leave.  I think that he realized that he was holding her back from baptism, so he just bailed!  She was so happy and we set a baptism date for Saturday!  

Sister Seidmann and Valesca

Saturday came, and it was CRAZY. Did you know that the devil hates baptisms?  He really does!  He was working so hard to make sure that everything that could go wrong did!  The font was clogged, people didn´t show, everything was a mess and I was so stressed!  But as soon as Fatima got into the water, everything was ok and I was so happy that I just started crying!  This family is so special to me and now they will be eternal! 

Fatima and family...All Baptized :)

Sister Dana, Fatima and Sister Seidmann

 

We had another baptism yesterday, for Gabriel!  He is 8 and is so cute.  His mom is going to be baptized next month after she gets married.  I get to help plan a wedding! Oh frick I was so excited when I figured that out.  But Gabriel was way adorable and I was blessed to have a lot of peace during his baptism too, even though it was stressful.

Gabriel and Irmao Francisco

 

We are teaching this girl, Julia, and she is amazing.  Her and her little primas (cousins) just adore Sister Seidmann and I and they write us letters and freak out every time we come over.  They are way smart too!  Like, after we taught the Plan of Salvation, they fully taught it back to us...and did a better job than I did.  I know that the kids here are super special.  We teach SO MANY teenage girls, and I love it because in the words of Sister Dalton, "When you save a girl, you save generations."  I hope that we can show these girls that they have an opportunity for a better life and they don´t have to follow the world down here!  They are really strong and I love them:)

Ahh a ton happened this week...mostly just rain and sloshing through water up to our knees.  Sister Seidmann makes sure to check me for leeches every time we go through it.  Isn´t that so cool?! I´m dead serious, every day is an adventure!  It´s great!  I fould some gel shoes here that I use because my poor little shoes just don´t have the willpower to survive this place, and we are going to go shopping today:) 

 

Our Area

Our Church

Mom, if you feel like sending a package again, can you please send peanutbutter, stevia, normal deoderant (they only have spray stuff here...) and maybe a little watch?  Mine is really big and flashy.  Anddd possibly some shoes that you think would be good in a swamp? Thanks:)

I love you so much and I pray for you guys every day! Mom! Be happy!  Just forget about me, ok?? I am in the Lord´s hands and all is well!  And happy birthday to Penny!  She`s a whole half dollar now!

Love,

Sister Dana

Oi Familia!

Hey!

So this week wasn´t super exciting....we just taught a lot and didn´t have any baptisms...so that was kind of a bummer :/ But we have 2 marked for next week, so hooray!  On Tuesday, President Lanius came to our district meeting because our zone had the most baptisms in the history of his presidency!  14!  And our mission had 216 last month, so we had a huge festa and it was so much fun!  I love my zone!  Brazilians know how to party.  It´s great!  Also, Coca-Cola is a thousand times better here than in the US, so we always have that because the American elders are obsessed with it.  That and Trelosos, these Oreo-things that everyone loves.  I can´t really see why, but whatever.

 Sister Seidmann and I worked so hard this week, but a lot of our plans seemed to fall through.  People weren´t home, or they weren´t interested anymore, stuff like that.  It would have been discouraging, but Sister Seidmann and I really started to click and enjoy each other, so it was fine!  She is so great...super patient with me and just obedient to a T.  

 Here´s a cool story.  So we were in the house of Cirlene, a woman that the missionaries have been teaching forever with few results.  Sister Seidmann started the lesson as usual, and I could tell that Cirlene wasn´t interested or anything.  I usually am so preoccupied with trying to figure out what people are saying that I don´t have time to listen to the Spirit, but this time I felt like I needed to stop trying and just...idk, exist.  So I tried to feel what the Spirit wanted to tell me and what was really on Cirlene´s mind, and I got the prompting to ask her about her family.  I did, and she said that everything was fine.  I knew she was lying, so I asked her again, and she started to cry and told us that her daughter´s husband was being unfaithful and she didn´t know what to do or how she could help.  All of a sudden I just knew what to say in Portuguese and I knew what scripture to give her in the Book of Mormon and after we marked it for her, she just held the book to her heart and thanked us so much.  I don´t know if anything will happen with her...she didn´t show for church yesterday...but I finally felt like a missionary again:) I love how the Spirit knows what to say when I do not!

 So it´s been raining this week. No seriously, RAINING.  As in, we are soaked 78% of the time.  The streets flood and it is too dangerous to get to our appointments because of the alligators that come out. HOW COOL IS THAT?! Alligators and cobras come out in the streets when they are flooded!  We can see them from the bus when we ride out there....I feel so legit:)

It sounds like you guys had a blast at Glenn Beck!  Cool beans!  Tell Cooper that all his cheeseburgers are disgusting and not to eat himself sick and that I hope that his ankle gets better!  But he can totally use it to his advantage because the little girls at EFY will take pity on him and just adore the little gimp.  Tell them I will pray for baldness upon them all if they go near my brother...and the prayers of a missionary are very forceful!  I will try to send a present to ya soon for your birthday mom! It probably won´t get there in time...but I´ll do my best!  I love you so much and I think about you guys a lot lately.  Seeing these people...it makes me VERY aware just how blessed I am.  I thank my Heavenly Father every day for my blessings at home, and here as well!  How I got so incredibly lucky, I´ll never know.

 Have a good week and HELP OUT THE MISSIONARIES!!!!

Love,

Sister Dana

 

 

P.S.  I can´t send pictures here dadgumit!!! I am so bummed!

 

 

The First Full Week

Let me start off by apologizing to all of everyone that I haven´t replied to.  I can explain.  I have 1 hour a week to email...and 36 email in my inbox.  It just isn`t possible and I´m sorry!  Know that I love you still ok??  And I am so very grateful for the letters too!  

Congrats to Maddi!!! And Crystal and Haley and Hayden and everyone...holy cow!  Crystal, I have been thinking about you a lot lately and I hope you are so so excited!  I`ve been praying for you a ton too!

This week...ok.  So it was nuts.  I think I might have dropped ten pounds since I`ve been here because we fast all the time and walk everywhere.  But you know what?  It´s cool because we see so many results!  We had 3 more baptisms yesterday:)  Not two weeks in Brazil...and 4 baptisms:)  Oh I am so happy!!  There were definitely miracles involved in each.  Cirley is 17 and stopped us on the street on my 4th day here.  She asked if we were Mormons and wanted to take the lessons.  Uhhh...OK!  She went to church for the first time last week and told us after the baptism that she wanted to be baptized too.  She gave up coffee and all sorts of stuff and has such a strong desire to be good.  She jumped right into YW and she loves it and I love her!!  She´s really patient with my Portuguese too, which is nice because a lot of people aren`t...

Isabella was another miracle.  She is 12 and has been attending church for a long time, but her mom wouldn`t let her be baptized.  We told our Zone Leaders about this and they decided to come with us to the lesson.  Elder King explained to her mom about baptism and how it was so good and the Elder Dias gave Isabella an interview to prove to her mom that she was ready.  The Spirit was so strong!!! Her mom agreed and now we have appointments to teach her brothers and sisters as well :)

Marie Eduarda is adorable and 10.  She is the sister of Valesca, who was baptized last week and she was so excited!  She is just the cutest ever...oh my gosh.  Her mom LOVES us but can`t get married because the father of the family, Bill, is married to another woman....yikes.  It`s super messy.  Holy cow, NO ONE in  Brazil is married!  It´s kind of a problem!  But yeah, anyway, Fatima (the mom) has us over every night and cooks for us and no one cares that I don`t really say much, so I just sit back and watch everyone be loud and learn about the gospel while I eat my delicious Brazilian food and get eaten alive by mosquitos.  It`s a good life!

Sometimes I get frustrated with the language here, but I can`t believe how fast it is really coming.  I love learning and I teach a few lessons here and there with the help of Sister Seidmann.  She is literally sent straight from God.  I have never met ANYONE with more patience and reverence for this work.  She inspires me to do better every single day and I love her!  

I love the kids here in Brazil.  They think it´s such a neat trick when I speak English.  They want me to start teaching classes here, and I´m more than happy to!  That´s a great way to get more investigators!  Although we already have 37.  

I am very happy here.  It´s a life different from anything that I´ve ever known, but it is teaching me so much about humility and what is really the most important things. People care about each other and are willing to help each other and support each other with anything, and it´s cool to see how the gospel can change families.  We see miracles literally on a weekly basis...and our mission reached its goal of 200 baptisms this month:) Glory hallelujah to Brazil!!  

So we´re getting a foreign exchange student?!  What the heck!?  Well cool!  Parabens familia!  Tell him I say "Bom dia e espero que voce gosta minha familia!  Eles sao MUITO especial! "  With more little accent things over the letters, but I have no clue how to do those on here.  Have fun with him!  And have a good time at EFY Cooper!  Get lots of numbers and be sure to text your cow because that`s always super fun to do.  Ok I love you all so much and I pray for you always!  This church is true and MIRACLES HAPPEN and please help out the missionaries!

Love, 

Sister Dana

I Survived!

Mai!  Eu sou em Brasil!  Ok There has been so much happening this week, I don`t even know where to begin!  The flight over was super long and it kind of sucked but you know what?  I didn`t even care because I was so excited to get to Brazil!  Sister Remy and Elder Hendrickson and I made it over here and the airport in Sao Paulo was awful to figure out, but we made it through with the help of a Brazilian guy from the church and the Lord!  

When we arrived on Tuesday, President Lanius picked us up with the APs and then we had dinner at the mission house.  It is just a small apartment, because that`s what everything is here.  But it was really nice and President and Sister Lanius made us feel super welcome!  There are 6 of us new missionaries from America this week.

After dinner, we got some of our stuff and stayed the night with some other sisters. It was raining super hard and was possibly the most confusing thing I have ever done...but oh well!  We made it again!  The next day, we got our companions.  I am with Sister Seidmann and I LOVE HER.  She speaks a little English, but she is adorable and so nice to me!  She`s Brazilian and from Campinas.  She has only been on her mission for 3 months, but the people love her and trust her very much.  I trust her too.  Not that I have much of a choice ;)

We live with 2 other sisters, Sister Olivera and Sister Alancar.  They are great and NEVER boring and although I don`t understand a lot of what they are saying, they are so kind and patient with me!  Our apartment is pretty small and different than anything I`ve ever experienced.  I think we need to get some American bathrooms up in here pronto.  But our place is so much better than any of the other houses I`ve been in so far.

On to the important part!   The work.  Wow.  You know the pictures of 3rd world countries you see on National Geographic and the History Channel?  That`s Recife.  I have never seen so much poverty in my life.  The ]people don`t have much of anything, but they are so happy and they are incredibly receptive.  We teach probably ten lessons a day.  Well, sister Seidmann teaches and I just sit there and look American.  Which is a very good thing, btw.  People here go nuts over white skin and blue eyes apparently!  Also the fact that I have a big butt, which has always been an hinderance, is pretty well accepted here too!  hahaha mayyyybe I should just live in Brazil forever...ok that was a big tangent.  Sorry!

We have a teaching pool of 32.  THIRTY TWO PEOPLE!  I love it!  We work all day long and it is hot and it is hard and probably not hygenic in the least.  But it is so cool.  People here love the gospel and are incredibly receptive.  Best part...I had my first baptism this week!  Her name is Valesca Maria Silva and she is 16 years old.  She is so sweet!!! It was crazy to prepare for everything because we don`t exactly have a ward mission leader, but oh man, it was such a great feeling.  I will send pictures!  We have two more baptisms scheduled for next week, Cirley and Maria Eduarda.  Please pray that they will go through!  This is so different than Pittsburgh!  It is easier to get people to teach, but very difficu lt to get them to keep commitments.  

This has definitely been the hardest week of my life.  I don`t really know what people are saying, although I`m miles ahead of where I thought I would be as far as language goes.  I wish that I could help teach more, but I can`t really understand when people tell me there problems yet!  I know that I just need to have more patience though.  It is very frustrating to live in a place where everything you want to say takes a great deal of thought, but I know that the Lord is helping me. 

God is SO aware of his missionaries.  Every time we need food, someone offers us lunch.  We ran out of water today and everything is closed because of Sao Joao, (a holiday that I really hate because Brazilians like to celebrate it by sitting around and drinking and blowing things up), and I prayed that we would find a way to get water and the mercado right next to our house happened to be the only place open in the whole area.  That was definitely a miracle.

Some random things to finish up with...I had to give a talk yesterday.  Yeah that sucked.  But after, a ton of people came up to me and told me that I had been blessed with the gift of tongues!  Way cool!  We go running on the beach in the morning for exercise.  I currently have about 40 mosquito bites on my legs because I forgot my repellent the first day.  Brazilians reallyyyy like pop and carbs, so i feel slightly disgusting because that`s all they eat!  Haha this is a country of diabetics, but they probably don`t know about it.  

Mom:  I can`t even begin to tell you how many times I gasped during the email you sentt me!  Engagements and weddings and what the heck!  Oh, and you can go ahead and accept those friend requests!  I love you so much and it was so good to hear you in the airport!  I want to take pictures of my area and show you what it`s like, but Sister Seidmann says it is too dangerous for me to have my camera out in public.  Sorry! I hope you are doing ok and I love you!

Coop and Dad:  I`ll respond to your emails seperately!

I love the work and I love that it is hard.  Brazil will either kill me or make me into a freaking strong woman!  Have a great week and I love you so much!

Tchao!
Sister Dana

Tuesday, June 18th shortly after arriving in Recife.  With 6 missionaries from America and the mission APs and President Lanius

A Few of Mom's Feelings

This is not a letter from Shelby, but since I'm running this blog, I figure that I can take a little space to say how grateful I am for all of the people who have loved and taken care of my daughter.  I got to talk to her yesterday when she was in the airport in Detroit - waiting for her flight to Sao Paulo.  She had 24 hours of travel time beginning yesterday and I just heard about the 1st leg of the journey.  Shelby's last letter about saying Goodbye to Pittsburgh brought tears to my eyes.  When I read about the people in a single's ward who took care of my daughter and loved my daughter I was beyond grateful!!  Then when I see the love she feels from and for those she has been teaching, my heart swells.  

I was worried about her trip yesterday.  I still haven't heard that she made it, but I haven't heard that she didn't, so I'm taking a page from the book of Mary Louise (my mom) and just thinking that no news is good news.  I was at work - waiting for a call from Pittsburgh - before her first flight, and she didn't call and she didn't call, then my son was sick and I needed to take him to the doctor and I just wanted to cry all the way from Scottsdale.  As I walked in the door and got a phone call from an unfamiliar area code I was completely relieved (the fact that Coop was walking around and seeming fine helped too).  Then when Shelby told me that she had tried to call from Pittsburgh, but couldn't get her calling card to work in the pay phone, so the nice man she sat by on the plane let her use his cell phone to call me, I just wanted to cry (in fact...I did).  My little girl - flying from one big city to another - all by herself and getting ready to go to a country 5000 miles away from home where she barely speaks the language had found someone who would help her out.  A friendly person - who I'm sure didn't understand why a 19 year old girl would not be able to speak to her family for 6 months, offered what he could to make this journey a little less difficult.  When I texted this stranger to tell him thank you, his response was that she seems like a really good girl who has a lot of passion for what she is doing.  

I loved my conversation with Shelby, but I think my favorite part was when she told me how she feels the Lord's protection over her.  She said there were several times when she was walking with her companions in Pittsburgh and they would look at each other and realize that they should not go in that direction, so they would promptly turn around and go another route.  That's when it really hit me that I can let her go into Hands of a loving Father who loves her and wants more for her than even I can imagine.  He wants her to be safe and to feel loved and as I've been kind of forced to let her go, she has turned to Him and she feels His protection. 

So as I was imagining what her day today must be like, she got to Sao Paulo this morning after an 11 hour flight, and had to go through customs in a strange country.  Was she frustrated that she couldn't understand much of what was said to her?  Did she feel lost? She then flew to Recife to finish of her 24 hours of travel.  She must have been so tired.  I'm sure her mission president and his wife kindly welcomed her and the other 3 missionaries from her district who got their visas and were able to start their Brazil serving time, but I don't even know if he speaks English (Jeff has since assured me that he most likely does).  My worries about how frustrated she could become in this situation where there may not be people who she will be able to communicate with for a few months while she tries to get a better grasp on Portuguese, but then I remembered what I had felt yesterday.  Since she can't turn to me or her friends, she can turn to the Lord.  He always speaks her language and she has spent the past 12 weeks making Him her confidant and Friend.  

I'm so glad to have that comfort.  My heart still feels like it's  being squeezed at the thought of her being so far away from me, but I'm so blessed to know that she is learning to turn to the One who wants the very best for her.  Help and comfort could come through members in the ward she will be serving, or from a man sitting on the plane (or bus) next to her - just as she saw happen for the past 6 weeks in Pittsburgh, but there will be people put in her path for the next 15 months who will be instruments in Heavenly Father's hands to help her, just as she is being an instrument in His hands to bring the gospel of Love and Service to the people in the Brazil, Recife mission.