Two Blondes in Brazil!

I´m loving being here with Sister Barratt. We´re super similar in more ways than just our looks (even though I don´t think we look that similar... she´s gorgeous!), so it´s been fun. One example--she loves the movie Just Friends. Thank you very much. I can´t tell you how many times a day people ask us if we´re sisters or twins. It´s hilarious. So this week, I discovered my new favorite temple. And I´m going to be married there. Manti, Utah!! Why have I never seen this temple before? I can´t get over how gorgeous it is! Another random fact--yesterday, it rained like crazy and, surprise, surprise, I was actually a little chilly here in Aracajú. Craziness. So what did I do? I warmed up some milk and made hot coco! And on top of that, Sister Barratt has Josh Groban´s Christmas album on her iPod, so of course I had to listen to that. It was pure bliss. This week, I also had my first full dream in Português. Finally! And I had another dream in the same night that my mission had ended and I was coming home. I couldn´t help but notice how good I felt about the work I´d done in the mission. So that´s always good! And another dream I had the same night involved me being besties with Harry and Louis from One Direction. But I don´t think that´s very relevant :). This week, we´re starting to really see some of our new investigators progress. We met a young woman who is the Brazilian version of Emmy. And her little brother is the Brasilian version of Steven! She´s super neat and has a sincere desire to find Christ´s church. She doesn´t know it yet, but she´ll be baptized in a few weeks :). Another woman we met, Alia, was super cute. Sister Barratt and I were walking to an appointment we had in a neighborhood far away and an old lady stopped us. She took us into her house and the first thing she did was sit us down at her table and feed us a guava dessert she had made. The entire time, she kept saying how pretty we were and asking if we wanted to marry her son. We did manage to get a short little message in there, but I couldn´t help but laugh afterwards. It was too funny! And yesterday, we taught a family that an irmão in the ward introduced us to. I´m really beginning to realize just how important the members are in this work. I wish I had helped more before the mission because it´s so so important! Having a member know your investigators gives the investigators another reason to stay strong and keep coming to church. Of course they´re there to come to know Christ, but having a friend makes it so much easier. I know that this is the work of the Lord and that the gospel really is everything in our lives. Without the gospel and without Christ, we are nothing. But with them, we have the potential of our Heavenly Father. How neat is that! I love being a missionary! It´s probably the hardest thing I´ve ever done, but that also makes it the most rewarding thing I´ve done yet. I love you all and, as always, you´re in my prayers. Hurrah for Israel!

Com amor,

Sister Ball

P.S. Sorry Mom, I hardly took any pictures this week! This is us last P-Day at McDonald´s :)