[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
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