week 3 . #minhavida // proselyting

[mom note: We got a great surprise this week when this picture showed up on Jeffrey R Holland's facebook page. You can read about her experience with him in her week 2 letter)

Links in red (click for more info)

Hey howdy hey!

So no apostles this week, but it was still a great week! Both of our "investigators" are getting baptized and we're real excited about that! Seriously it's been crazy to watch as we've improved on speaking the language and giving lessons. I still have a lot to learn and it's easy to get frustrated that I don't know how to teach something or how to say something in Portuguese, but in three weeks my entire district has come so far! It honestly is a miracle that we all know as much as we do!

So let's start with a little segment I like to call #minhavida (aka #mylife). Basically just me talking about how my life is not real because I'm so embarrassing.

(1) Well on Sundays they'll sometimes have little movie nights and this last Sunday was 17 Miracles. We walked in like two minutes after it had started which was awkward, and here sisters always sit in the front so we walked all the way up there past everyone. And then I sit down. About two seconds pass and I'm already crying. And then two more seconds pass and I'm out loud sobbing/hyperventilating. When the movie ended literally the entire row of people in front of me turned around to see either who was crying or why there was a dying manatee in the row behind them. Not sure which. Then we went to dinner right after and I was still emotional from the movie so I pick up this fork out of the basket and it was just the cutest darn thing I ever did see and that made me cry again. Which was not weird at all right? And then at Sunday night devotional I tripped walking to my seat but it was after a leadership meeting so pretty much everyone else was already sitting down and this Elder came up after and asked me if I tore my acl ha ha.

(2) Sister Johnson squirted a juice box all over herself. Which sounds like it would be embarrassing for her not for me, but... I laughed so hard at her that I peed my pants. Cool. [mom note: another sister in Megan's district wrote home about having the same problem as Megan. Apparently, their district is just so funny that no one has control over their bladder haha] 

(3) At dinner the other night I went and refilled my water cup and then when I was about to sit back in my chair I tripped and spilled water all over my poor sweet zone leader Elder Anderson, and of course he's like no worries, just glad it's water! you're totally fine sister! But I'm trying to help him and grab a napkin so I go to put my water down on the table and it tips over and literally floods Sister Johnson's entire tray with water.

(4) During a lesson with an investigator (who we had never taught before) I struggled big time standing up from the couch at the end of the lesson. Why? Don't know, standing should be pretty easy. But they videotaped that lesson (it's called TRC) and we have to watch it during additional study so my whole district was just crying laughing watching me grab onto the arm of the couch to push myself up (why) and then just straight up fall over and then hop around and then just try to play it off and go "Tudo bem tudo bem!" (all right all right) to the investigator who is also dying laughing. (why why)

Alright, you people get the idea. Heavenly Father must've figured that the missionaries here needed something to laugh at since we're all working so hard. So here I am. The true reason I'm serving a mission. hahaha.

We got to go proselyting this week!!!! Like in the real world. With real people. We had two Book of Mormons (Books of Mormon? no idea) per person. So Sister Clinger and I got 4 books and our district got on a bus with Irma Mendes and got to talk to people. We were sitting on the bus and I kept seeing this guy across the aisle looking at all of us all curious like and I figured, hey we're going to be talking to people eventually might as well start now. Even though I was so nervous I thought I might pee my pants (but I didn't do that. I only did that the one time). So I talked to him about his relationship with God and his religion and bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon and gave it to him! And it was perfect. I mean, hey I didn't understand a majority of the words he said. And he probably only took it because I sounded like a three year old and I almost fell out of my seat a couple times when I was talking to him, but the important thing is that he has a Book of Mormon. He has in his possession, the truest book in the entire world because I handed it to him. Coolest feeling. And then I realized he was sitting with a friend so I talked to his buddy a little bit too and I gave him my other Book of Mormon. So I gave both mine out on the bus!!! And then we still got to talk with people out on the street. A lot of people just avoided us, and some people were nice but just weren't interested. BUT there were a few who genuinely seemed interested in the message! And the other sisters in our district saw this girl Sis Clinger and I gave a Book of Mormon to reading it with her friend! Yes! And also some little old colombian man really wanted Sister Clinger's number haha. Oh yeah and we got really really yelled at by some drunk man and I have literally no clue what he was saying. I just kept bearing my testimony of the Book of Mormon because that's pretty much all I can say fluently in Portuguese hahaha. And eventually after lots of hand waving we got Irma Mendes' attention and she came and saved us. It was honestly such a great experience to go talk to real people about the gospel, about the Book of Mormon. I LOVE this gospel and I'm here to share it! So it was nice to have a chance to do that. But it also made me realize that I need to get cracking on learning Portuguese!

Well I love all of you guys! I hope everything back home is fab. I miss you guys and sometimes I really miss America (and England, what? it's true!), but BRAZIL. Wowee I'm in Brazil and it's beautiful and new and exciting and I love it. And when I don't love it, I've got prayer and the scriptures to turn to and then I love it again. Speaking of which, 2 NEPHI 4 everyone. 2 Nephi chapter 4. Go read it right now. It's been one of my favorite chapters since sunday school, but I don't think I realized how powerful it is. We don't have to ever feel frustrated or sad or alone because we have the Lord on our side! And He can do anything, as long as we have faith and trust in him! It's like in Elder Holland's talk last week he said that this isn't my mission, it's God's mission. This isn't about me at all! It's about helping people find the happiness that this gospel has given me and about serving my Father in Heaven. And even though I'm trying to selflessly serve, I'm still going to be SO blessed for this so it's basically a win win win win for everyone.

Thanks for being the best family / friends / support group in the world. Don't know what I'd do without you guys. (And don't know what you guys would do without my embarrassing stories, you'd definitely be less entertained. So you're welcome).

ALL MY LOVE

Sister Baker

handwritten

Links in red (click for more info)

(mom note: We are able to get handwritten letters from Megan in just a couple days via MissionTies. Megan can send or drop of her handwritten letters to MissionTies (located across the street from the Brazil CTM) where the letters are then scanned and emailed to us. These "handwritten" posts will consist of excerpts from those letters and will be in addition to her weekly email)

Oi Familia! 

I'm sorry that I haven't really been able to answer all your questions, especially you momma. Time is just crazy here, especially email time. 

PLEASE email pictures/mail pictures. I love them. I miss you guys and want pictures of your lives. NYC, fun stuff at home, everything.

Kay, I'll try to answer some of the questions you asked::

*Pday is on Fridays in the CTM. The time will depend on when we get back from the temple. I have 45 minutes online.

*Portuguese...sometimes I love it, sometimes I really don't. But I have learned a lot for how short of a time I've been here. I just get frustrated that I'm not able to say what I want to to investigators (mom note: people who aren't members of our church that are learning more about it through the missionaries) I love this gospel and I have so many thoughts and experiences and feelings that I want to share, but I have to resort to the vocabulary of a three year old.

*The CTM. I'm still homesick, and it's definitely hard here, but I'm also having a really great time. I literally am always laughing with my district. The schedule is busy, but I think that's good that I don't have too much down time to miss home. For gym time we either play basketball or volleyball. The sisters and I just shout "SPORTS!" and run around like idiots. It's honestly a riot. And of course everyone just laughs at my total...(mom note: the scan for this page got cut off so we can't see the rest of this sentence. I will assume that it said something along the lines of "my total inability to do anything athletic" Do we not all remember her pre mission mishap while trying to ride a bike. Photographic proof below haha)

(mom note: because of the bottom of the previous page being cut off we also cannot read the beginning of the next sentence. It obviously mentioned the food) here is usually good, I mean there's definitely weird days and we're not always sure what the meat is, but there is a really good dessert that is like creme brulee/flan-esque  that I love. So I'm being healthy ya know haha.

I'm trying to finish this letter on the bus back from the temple so I'm going to wrap it up. I miss you guys tons but I genuinely love it here. My district is amazing. I love my teachers. Portuguese is hard but really cool too, and Brazil is the bomb. I especially love Pday and walking around and exploring so that will be really nice when I'm out in the field in real Brazil.

I hope everything is good with you guys, you're my favorite people. xoxo

Ballin' in Brazil 

Sister Baker

PS. Mom please tell Grandma Wood hi and that I love her. I didn't have time on email to send her a letter.

(mom note: I'm a fan of photos so I've searched the internet for some pics to include with this post since it's my understanding that the missionaries have no way to send pictures while in the CTM.)

The Brazil CTM where Megan is spending her first 6 weeks of training

Drink machines in the cafeteria feature Guarana, the national soft drink of Brazil, carbonated water

and fruit juices 

Outdoor track where missionaries can run/walk

the street in front of the Sao Paulo CTM

week 2 . Ain't nothin' but Elder "HOLLA"nd

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Hey hey everybody

This week was pretty chill, pretty normal until. . .ELDER HOLLAND SPOKE TO US YESTERDAY! 

That's right, an APOSTLE was here, speaking to our little 200 something people CTM and I was in the SECOND row and I got to shake his hand and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. No joke. His talk was honestly amazing and just what I needed to hear. It was wonderful to hear from an apostle of God that I am right where I need to be and how blessed I will be from serving this mission. I wish I had brought my notes so I could tell you all the things that he said, but you guys can definitely read them in a year and a half. Something that really stood out to me was when he talked about how by serving this mission I am trying to give my life over to the Lord for the next year and a half. I'm trying to make a sacrifice for Him, right? But that it doesn't really end up working out like that because I am going to get one hundredfold of what I gave to Him, back to me in blessings. This next 18 months is going to change the rest of my life for the better. I am so blessed and so lucky to be here in Brazil serving a mission. He was also talking about how this place, Brazil, will be the place of our "spiritual birth" that we will love it so much here. And he said that Elder Faust would be on a plane with his wife and he would be totally calm and collected and apostle-like the entire flight...until they crossed the Brazilian border (thousands of feet in the air). And then he would just stand up and start dancing and kiss the stewardess and ask for a guarana! Hahahaha and Elder Holland was acting out the dance moves from the pulpit and I about died. So funny. He was just the most amazing speaker, and it was wonderful to have it be so personal. He was talking to a couple hundred missionaries serving in Brazil right now. It was such a specific group that he was addressing and I was part of that! Ah I wish I could tell you guys everything that he said, but I don't have time or the ability to remember it all without my notes. Just know that it was such an amazing spiritual experience and I am overflowing with gratitude that I got to hear from him.  Irma Mendes said that she doesn't think that an apostle has spoken here in over 4 years! If I had come on my mission at any other time other than right now I wouldn't have been able to hear from Elder Holland. And hearing him talk, especially watching him talk about our Savior and missionary work was an experience that has changed my testimony. Changed my life. And Heavenly Father knows me so well and knows that I needed that. Heavenly Father is so aware of us it's crazy!

This week in the CTM has been so amazing. It's still hard, don't get me wrong, but it is so so wonderful too. I am so blessed in my district. (Mom, I love that you and Sister Hartvigsen's mom are texting. Sis. H and I love it. To Sister H's mom: you're daughter is THE BEST. I love her to pieces and I am so so so grateful she is in my district, she's helped me make it through some rough times and during the good times she's always there making me laugh) 

The Portuguese is... well it's coming along, but it's definitely frustrating. This week though, I realized that I can hold a conversation in a language that I did not know anything about just a few weeks ago. Like that's actually crazy. I need to be less hard on myself about the language I think. The main thing is that our district always gets caught up in speaking English together, and we really need to be speaking more Portuguese to learn this language. So we decided to do a "challenge" where we were trying to see who could go the longest without speaking English hahahaha. It was so funny. The poor Elders were miserable the whole time, and when we were all sitting at breakfast nobody said a single word. We just sat there eating our food in silence. And then I just could not stop giggling because it was the most awkward thing I've ever seen, and I'm pretty sure I slopped my breakfast soup all over myself from laughing. (sidenote: breakfast soup is something we get every morning for breakfast, and it's not actually called breakfast soup but we don't know what it is exactly. Sometimes it is kinda of like oatmeal with a lot of oatmeal juice? and other times it's more like someone made vanilla pudding mix but heated it up instead of putting it in the fridge. It's actually kind of grown on me, so Shannon we might be eating breakfast soup in our apt when we're back at school.)

Oh! At the temple today there was a man working there from America and he is Sister Herrington's dad!! Small world! And I've met a couple of Elders who know Hannah and Brooke from BYUH and Elder Fallon in my district had Cassidy as a teacher at Timp. Also the Hartvigsens know the Saylins! Seriously there are so many random connections here.

Also I know I've only been here for a couple weeks, but it feels like I've known these people for ages. Like you know how everyone in our family and usually my friends make fun of me the most (out of love and also because my life is kind of like a ridiculous sitcom) well that's already who I am in the district. If someone spills something, or trips, or says something awkward. It's a "classic Sister Baker" move. I love it though because it feels like home haha. And I've pulled out the good ol' embarrassing story repertoire that I've built up over the years to entertain my district and other random missionaries that I meet. What can I say haha 

Pday last week was an actual dream. We got to go to the temple, email family, and then hit the town. We got Mr. Cheney's cookies and I GOT MY MILKSHAKE so pumped, and we got burgers and went to the supermercado and I'm so excited to get out there again! It's way fun being out in the city, it will be cool to be in Natal and not trapped in the same classroom for 16 hours. Haha but also it will be scary because I definitely won't have any idea what anyone is saying. #giftoftongues 

I've got a little card to send home but I didn't make it to the post office last week so I'll try to send it today, and I've got a longer letter for the fam to send through missionties. So you guys should get that soon. Thank you thank you fam & Shan for the missionties letters this week. You don't even know how amazing it is to open our little #18 box and see letters for me. It is a dream come true and I love you all for it!

I hope you guys have the best week ever! I miss you guys, but I wouldn't trade this for the world. I am so so blessed to be here in Brazil sharing this AMAZING gospel with people and helping them grow closer to their Heavenly Father who loves them so much!

Love

Sister Baker

PS everyone should go read "Our Heritage" right this second because it might be my favorite thing in the world right now

mission call [video]

The white envelope that started Megan on her journey to Brazil arrived in Provo on April 9th. Our family went up to be with her when she opened her mission call and her little sister, Emily captured it all on video. I love that Emily creates these short snippets of our family life. It is fun to look back on some of the things our family has experienced. 

I was thrilled to run across this video this week, I had forgotten Emily had done it. It was a sweet surprise to get to see Megan laughing and crying (two of her favorite things to do haha)...a tender mercy for a mom missing her missionary.

Music:: Go the Distance from Hercules

week 1 . #brazil #iloveit but i struggle as much here as i do in the USA with...ya know, life. ha.

links in red (click for more info)

Oi familia! (And everyone else!)

It's FINALLY Pday [mom note: preparation day or Pday for short. A day set aside once a week for missionaries to shop, do laundry, write home, play sports and take a break from regular proselytizing activities] This has been the longest wait of my life haha. And then I opened up my email to twenty eight emails. You guys are all rock stars. It made me feel so loved (and also slightly panicked because I don't have much time to email) Luckily some American sisters who have been here for awhile gave us a great tip about taking pictures of emails so we could read them later. So I have mostly just skimmed all the emails you lovely people sent me but I promise to read them very thoroughly when email time is over.

So wow...I'm in the CTM in Brazil. I've only been here for a week and a few days even though it feels like I've been here foreverrrr. Every day is so long and busy that by the time we eat lunch (almoco) it feels like it's time for dinner. We have tons of classes throughout the day so we can learn portuguese which is sometimes really fun and sometimes the most frustrating thing in the world. Lemme tell you though, I am so grateful for the four years of spanish that I have under my belt. They are making this so much easier to learn than it would be starting straight from english.

On our second day here we started teaching investigators (pesquisadors) in PORTUGUESE. Wait, what? Did she say in portuguese? Yep. Fresh from America and we're trying to teach a lesson in a new language. It was actually painful it was so bad. But the good thing is our lessons have only gotten better, because they really can't get any worse.

Well actually, we had a lesson with a new pesquisador yesterday named Selete. It was definitely one of my hardest days here. Lots and lots and lots of tears were shed for probably 3 hours straight and then some more later. Rough. But my district [mom note: group of missionaries] is honestly a dream and made it so much better. The elders gave each of the sisters in my district a blessing and that was such an amazing experience to see them use their priesthood to comfort us. I just love them and I love the priesthood and I love this gospel!

But back to Selete. So our whole district (all the sisters actually) had this crying breakdown in the middle of class so Irma (Sister) Mendes (our teacher, she's a riot...we love her) decided to change class around and talk to each of us individually about why we are here and we read scriptures. I was feeling better until I realized that Sister Clinger and I had to teach a lesson in like 10 minutes to our brand new pesquisador and we had nothing prepared because of the cry time. Sweet sweet Sister Clinger basically took the whole lesson on by herself and all I had to do was bear my testimony (we've done that before but usually I am the person who talks to the pedquisador about if they have questions or whatever because I usually sort of understand what they're saying, but this time I was just down for the count because I could. not. stop. crying.)

We walk downstairs to the little room, me sobbing the whole way and we knock on the little door. And Irma Mendes was inside! She was role playing Selete! Thank goodness because anyone else would've thought I was straight crazy. So Sister Clinger starts teaching the lesson, she knocks it out of the park. Then it's time for my testimony. I go to wipe my nose since it's all nasty from crying and when I pull the tissue away there's blood all over (like my fourth nosebleed this week, whats wrong with me?) hahaha So my nose just starts leaking blood like crazy. I've got tears streaming down my face, makeup everywhere, my eyes are swollen to the size of Texas, and I've got a bloody tissue stuffed up my nose while I try to bear my testimony in broken cavewoman style portuguese. Oh AND there's a video camera in there so I guarantee the people watching it just really had their day made.

Okay so I'm going to try and give you as many details as I can about life in the CTM and this last week, but times getting shorter (ahhhhh email is stressful haha. I'll send home some letters with Mr. Cheney's/MissionTies next week. [mom note: a quicker easier way to send letters. See more info after her letter] Best idea ever to do that mom)

THE CTM

The CTM is really nice. It had started to feel slightly like a prison after this last Wednesday, but getting out and going to the temple in Campinas this morning was an absolute dream. All the people here are so so nice, even if I can only understand a few words of what most people are saying.

MY DISTRICT

Okay my district is the literal best. All the sisters are already like best friends. Sister Clinger is an amazing companion (as you can tell from my previous story) and she shares her cookie butter with me so I love her. Sister Hatton is so sweet. She's quieter but sometimes she'll just say something seriously hilarious. Sister Johnson and Sister Hartvigsen feel like people I've know for years. We all get along so well and we entertain ourselves just telling stories or quoting dumb videos or just cracking jokes (they like puns...score!) all day long.

The Elders are the sweetest and think I'm funny haha. It's weird because my whole district thinks I'm this super outgoing personality and that I have like zero percent shyness at all. HA. Its just because being with people for like 16 hours a day really breaks down any barriers.

Some of the elders without any sisters in their family are kind of freaked out by the fact that the sisters will just burst into tears randomly. Their reactions are priceless. That's the thing about the CTM in general...this has been one of the hardest weeks of my life. There have been times when I've been really sad but I have also had SO much fun. And I have felt the spirit so powerfully it is amazing. I wish I had more time to focus on the scriptures and the gospel though. It sounds weird but we're spending so much time on portuguese I feel like I never have time to really get into my scriptures, and all I want to do is just curl up in my bed and read them. I think everything here is just a matter of giving myself time to adjust and trusting in the Lord.

MAIL

Thank you sooooooo much for the letters through MissionTies. Mom you might get emails from some of the other missionary's moms about mission ties because my whole district wants their moms to sign up for it haha. You have no idea how much I needed those. Send a trillion more, I love mail!

BRAZIL

Still can't believe I'm in Brazil, Partially because we've only been outside of the CTM to go to the temple, but we're hitting the streets of Sao Paulo after email so that will be exciting.

Kay, I know there's a million more things you guys want to know about but I'm running out of time. I love love love you all so much and miss you every second.

Mom and Pie [mom note: our family nickname for Emily] how's NEW YORK? You crazy kids running around the city...I love it.

Dad the scripture that you shared with me and the quote in the letter you sent was PERFECT. I read it to my whole district because it was exactly what we all needed. I'm so proud to be following in the footsteps of you and mom and serving a mission, and I know that you understand how hard this is, but you also have come out the other side of it, so I know that you understand how many great things will come from this too. [mom note: here's what Derek shared..."One of my favorite scriptures is found in Psalms 30:5 and it tells us that "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning". I love that concept. To take it a step further, it is good that challenges and struggles wont last forever, but even better to understand that they come with a purpose...they help us become who we are supposed to be. Neal A. Maxwell gave a General Conference talk during my mission that has one of my favorite quotes of all time. He said that, "we find that sorrow can enlarge the mind and heart to give place, expanded space for later joy." What an amazingly true concept...that as we become more and learn from our challenges, we are better equipped to comprehend the joy that comes our way. I love it!"]


Pie, Luke, Nate. I LOVED your emails and letters. Keep them coming. You are my favorite people and I'm sorry I can't write more to each of you, but I'll send some letters, promise.

Kay time for me to peace out and go get A MILKSHAKE in the city, you don't understand how excited I am for that. The food is pretty good here but there's definitely some stuff I'm mission (uh I mean missing haha) from America.

I love you guys so much and MISS YOU like crazy. Thank you for being the best in the world. Stay cool.

Lots and lots of love from Brazil.

Sister Baker

[mom note: MissionTies is a website that allows us to email the company with letters or pictures for Megan. They print the email and/or pictures and mail it to the CTM. MissionTies is associated with Mr Cheney's Cookies which is an American bakery right across the street from the CTM. Because of their close proximity to the CTM an email we send on a Monday is likely to show up in Megan's mailbox Tuesday. The advantage of this is Megan can receive and read letters any day during the week and not have to wait until Pday. It is a paid service but we can add sub users to our account with no cost to you so if you'd like to be added to the account so that you can send snail mail letters to Megan as opposed to or in addition to emailing her email me at dbakerfam[at]cox[dot]net. I know she enjoys getting emails but she really loves seeing letters in her mail box during the week.]

from the CTM Mission President

Dear Parents,

Sister Swensen and I are very happy to let you know that your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil Missionary Training Center.  What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary as they begin their missionary experiences with us. We will surely take good care of your missionary.

    

The missionaries now have companions and are settled into their rooms.  They are assigned to a district with capable and caring instructors for language and lesson study.  Their branch presidents and wives, will meet them this Sunday.  These wonderful couples are richly blessed as they work with, motivate, and interview the missionaries assigned to their branch.

The MTC has a full-time live-in physician to care for their health needs.  He is assisted by his able wife who is a nurse. We are also happy to report that the cafeteria food is plentiful, healthy and very good.

Your missionary will be able to e-mail home on Preparation Day after a morning at the Temple.  This will be either Wednesday or Friday, depending on individual assignments.

Your missionary is about to make an eternal difference in the lives of many others. President Lorenzo Snow said: “There is no mortal man that is as interested in the success of an elder when he is preaching the Gospel as is the Lord who sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord's children".  We love these missionaries as if they were our own.  We will watch over them carefully to ensure they are ready for a wonderful missionary experience after the rewarding time they will have in the MTC.

We thank you for preparing such a wonderful representative of the Lord.

President Robert Swensen and Sister Julie Swensen

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION . . .  

PLEASE DO not send packages to the Brazil Missionary Training Center. All packages must be sent directly to the mission where your missionary will be serving not the MTC. If you have already mailed a package to the Brazil MTC, please understand that the package cannot be forwarded to his or her mission and will be returned to you.

WE Strongly ENCOURAGE SENDING HAND WRITTEN LETTERS. Please write your missionary´s first and last name. Your missionary will provide you with his district and box number. Also, please DO NOT SEND ANYTHING BY FEDEX, DHL, UPS, or other private carriers.  The cost to process this type of correspondence is exorbitant.

oh hey just casually emailing from BRAZIL

Bom dia!

Hey family!

I've made it safe and sound to the CTM in Brazil! When we were landing in Sao Paulo I looked out the window and saw all these little colorful houses basically stacked on top of each other and it was a very "Im not in Kansas anymore" moment haha. And then driving to the CTM was just insane. Like I was looking out the window and it just hit me that EVERYTHING is in Portuguese. Everything. I mean I know I knew people spoke Portuguese here, but it's different actually being here and having everyone around me speaking a language that I DO NOT UNDERSTAND ONE WORD OF. All the new missionaries and I have been like deers in headlights all day. At the airport, in the car, arriving at the CTM, just the whole day has been new and different and exciting and scary.

From what I've seen the CTM is really beautiful and nice, but I'm not going to lie it's not home and that is hard right now. But I'll acclimate soon I'm sure. The three girls that I was with on the plane are my next door neighbors and they're all so nice. And my companion for the CTM is Sister Clinger from Boise Idaho and she is super sweet and we'll get along great for sure! It's nice that everyone is in the same boat as me and not like fluent in Portuguese or whatever. The only problem is none of us really have any idea what's going on, but hey we've only been here a couple hours so I'm sure we'll figure it out. 

Mom I found your sweet note in my carry on and bawled my eyes out reading it. It made me miss you and everyone else so much, but it was also just what I needed. Some words of comfort and advice from my momma. It also made me so proud to be following in yours and dad's footsteps and serving a mission. You guys are the best parents in the world. No doubt about it. Seriously I am so lucky that I was born into such a wonderful and loving family where I learned so much about the gospel and missionary work. Being away from you guys just makes me even more grateful for what I have at home.

Oh random question: did we end up packing hangers for me? I know they were on the list but I don't remember packing any. There's no hangers in the CTM so I'm making do with hanging stuff over the hanger bar and folding stuff up. It works, but if there are hangers hiding somewhere in my suitcase that would definitely be easier. Haha when I saw that there weren't any hangers I almost just didn't unpack my suitcases but then I could just hear mom's voice: you can't live out of a suitcase for six weeks megan! haha So don't worry mom I unpacked. Mostly.

Also the keyboard is definitely weird here so just ignore it if I miss words or mispell something or whatever. But to be honest I think the hardest thing about the keyboard is that the buttons are super chunky because it's not a mac. #firstworldproblems. But actually, it's making me type slower and my fingers are sore because I have to lift them up so high to hit the keys hahaha.

It's funny because it's still sort of surreal being here. I thought once I was here it would be like BAM! You're a missionary. But I still feel like Megan, just Megan with a supa cool nametag. Like I still keep thinking I should check my phone or stuff like that. I think that I'll get over that kind of stuff in a few days here. It's been good though because when I have some free minutes, instead of checking instagram I write in my journal or read my scriptures and things like that. I am realizing how much time I just wasted on my phone at home. Like I don't think it's bad to check instagram or facebook or whatever, but I realize now I was just doing it to kill time or when I was bored.

I finished the Book of Mormon on the plane to Atlanta! Like could I have been more last minute? But it was kind of cool to finish it as I was flying here. It felt really I dunno symbolic or something haha. But I LOVE the very end of the Book of Mormon. I realized that I haven't read that last chapter very much because let's be honest, I usually get stuck in Jacob or Alma, but it's just SO good. I was feeling the spirit so strongly as I read on the plane (sitting next to a man who had about 6 alcoholic drinks during the flight. Isn't 12 in the afternoon a bit early for that buddy?" But honestly, I just was overcome with how amazing the Book of Mormon is. It is true. It just is. You can feel that when you read it. I am so excited to get to know the scriptures better for myself while I'm here, because as much as I love them I'm realizing how many things I don't know about them. So excited to learn more! And to share these words of God with other people here in Brazil!

Alright, email time is almost up so I'm going to finish this up. I LOVE YOU GUYS! More than I can write with words. You all have no idea how grateful I am for you, and for my life back home. But I realized that I am so blessed to have you guys for eternity. A year and a half is nothing compared to that. And since I'm here I can help other people have eternal families!

I love you! I miss you!

Peace out girl scouts

SISTER BAKER (what?! so weird writing that I can't believe I'm a missionary I love it)

flying

First leg of the trip...OC to Atlanta. We were so glad we sent her with a wifi camera that allowed her to email us this picture from Atlanta where she met up with other missionaries heading to the Brazil CTM. 

We (mom) has spent the rest of the day/night watching Megan's flight on some flight app, eating ice cream and generally being pouty and grumpy all from the comfort of bed. Tomorrow we (mom) will quit sulking and begin to tout the benefits of missionary service and share her testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel.

goodbye

Today was the day. John Wayne Airport / Orange County California / Delta / 12:30pm. We said goodbye to Megan. Its no secret we will miss her.  A lot.