week 7 . no catchy title

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Another week in Brazil! It is crazy how fast this last week flew by! The days feel long sometimes when it’s around 2 and we're traipsing around in the bajillion degree heat, but I'm almost always surprised by how quickly the hours and days pass. I've got to take advantage of every moment!

So much more happens during the week now that I'm out in the field so I tried to make a list of things I wanted to write you guys about, I know I forgot some things, but I'll do my best to touch on everything.

animals :: I’ve already had a few "I’m not in Kansas (the US) anymore" moments here in Brazil. One of those being seeing just the most random animals wandering through the roads. The other day I saw like 7 cats, 2 dogs, a goat, and a horse just chilling. And I saw 3 donkeys wandering around too! Sister Garcia says it's normal! But I do love that literally the entire area is just covered in cats. It's aMEOWzing!

marquinos :: So you know Albert from 17 miracles? (aka superb!) Well we have an investigator who is like him, He's this little guy and he has the same high little voice as Albert. But he speaks Portuguese so I can never understand him. The first time we taught him the spirit was SO powerful. He just really needs to understand that he is a son of God! He has a lot of confidence issues, and I think he feels pretty unloved since his mom passed away. And he almost got baptized but the last time we went over there he just told us that he doesn't want to go to church, he doesn't want to be baptized. . . heartbreaking. Because he KNOWS it's true. He definitely knows. But he's too afraid to follow through and that just killed me. That moment was harder than not understanding the language, than walking all day in the heat, than everything. To watch someone who knows this is true reject it. . . I hated that. But we're hoping that with some time (and hopefully prayer) he will realize what he needs to do and we can keep teaching him. 

americana:: People, I'm like a superstar here! I've been asked to speak English a billion times, and people call me a Barbie every other day haha. A member even thinks that I'm blonde. What? haha. And there was this 12 year old boy, Thiago, who just loved me. Like wanted to hug me, and kept calling me "querida" (dear) and touching my arm and asking me how many states are in the US? Have I ever met an actor? Am I a model or an actress? Have I ever been to Hollywood? etc. hahahha 

food :: Mostly pretty good! Lot's of rice and beans though! Good thing I like that though. Oh but at one lunch there was a dead fly mixed into my food. I casually picked it out with my fork, moved it to the side of the plate, and kept eating. Brazil! And I LOVE THE AÇAI HERE. Love love love it. I ate literally a half liter of it the other day. Love. [mom note: I'm sure this is a relief to her since she loves a good Bowl of Heaven Seasisder.] Also we're being fed sooo much. We have a "painha" (like a dad) and an "avo" (grandma) who feed us all the time. And painha reminds me of Uncle Jeff haha. Also there is a boy in our ward who literally looks like a Brazillian version of Luke. Glasses and all. I cry every time I see him haha. 

transportation :: There are basically no rules when it comes to driving here, or if there are nobody obeys them. So cars and motos are all over the place. And the other day when we were going to centro (like downtown) for a zone meeting instead of taking a bus there's people who just pick people up for 2 reais [mom note: 84 cents] And I'm fairly certain they're not taxis haha. Just random people. But we have to make sure there are other women in the car before we get in, and it's normal here, so don't worry mom we're being safe! 

feet :: My feet have never been so swollen, dirty, tired, and blistered in my life. I also have about 100 bug bites, I'm a mess. So washing my feet in the cold shower at the end of the day is the best feeling in the world. As I was washing them the other day, I couldn't help but think of when the Savior washed the feet of the apostles.[mom note: John 13] These were men who walked all day in sandals through the dirt and dust. Men who were doing essentially what I am doing every day, only they had been doing that for a lot longer than the few days I have spent here. I cannot imagine what it must've been like for them to have Jesus Christ, the creator of the world, the Savior, the Son of God, wash their weary feet. What a pure act of love and service. I feel like here in the mission field, I am developing so much more love for my Savior than I thought I ever could. He truly is the perfect example for us. In Jesus the Christ it talks about how Christ didn't know that he was the Messiah from the moment he was born, he learned and grew like any other child. He just had more capacity, and more of the spirit. He wasn't perfect because he couldn't be tempted, he was perfect because he was tempted and chose the right. When Christ tells us to be "even as [he] is" it is something that is attainable (with the help of God) because we can follow his example of service and work and worship to develop Christlike attributes in the same exact way He developed them.

scriptures :: Mosiah 2-5. . .KING BENJAMIN'S ADDRESS. It's basically one of Holland or Uchtdorf's General Conference talks, aka the best. King B ("im the King B come get it, no trippin, I got everything you need") [mom note: reference to a song from a commercial]  is an amazing man. he is so hard working and loving and service oriented and I'm just obsessed with these chapters right now. Also speaking of Holland talks: his talk, "I Believe" is very very very very good.

I have to go right now, the place is closing, but I LOVE YOU GUYS AND I LOVE MY MISSION. Truly I love it here.

Sister Baker

No pictures from Megan this week but we did see this one on Facebook. Thank you to the sweet church member that posted this picture of Megan's very first day in her area.

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