Monday, January 26, 2015

Laughter and Tears!


Before I forget, Happy Sweet Sixteen, Kayla Fagan!!!! I seriously cannot believe you´re already that old. Wow. Can someone please tell me where the time went? And another before-I-forget, thank you, thank you, thank you to all the people who sent Christmas cards and letters and packages! Sister Geddes, the Kelly family, my dear fam bam, the Karrens (for the card and package! Ah, I was so happy to see a package from you guys! Love you!), the Fagans and the Priebes. You guys all rock. Noelle, I´m so excited for you and your new calling! You´re going to do great! It´s way better than ward greeter haha :). Glad Grand Dad had a good birthday too and that Steven enjoyed his campout. I´ll be wanting to do lots of those when I get back!
So this week was tough. It was full of laughs and tears and goodbyes. On Monday, we had family home evening with the Lima family which was incredible. Irmão Antônio Carlos amazes me with his Agent 007 skills and Irmã Marinalva with her magic touch in the kitchen. Irmão shared the message which included messages videos from our friends from the mission who already returned home (thank you Sister Silva, Sister Smith, Sister Sierras, Sister Chilson, Sister Nunes and Sister Vieira!!) and Presidente and Sister Gonzaga. We all cried seeing everyone´s faces again and reading messages they wrote. And it was followed by a delicious feast made by Marinalva. And Bruna was there to help us remanesce on all the good times we had while in Gragerú together. It was a great night! On Thursday, Irmã Nilda threw a surprise going away party for Sister Sleeman and Sister Custódio. Foi top!!! And Friday, we had to say our goodbyes. Goodness, sometimes I really dislike the fact that I´m a cry baby. We not only had to say goodbye to Sister Custódio and Sister Sleeman, but Sister Castro and Sister Ferreira too. It was pretty tough, but I know that we´ll keep in touch and continue our friendships. The following days, Sister Caetano and I paired up and worked in our areas the best we could between the two. I think my favorite part of the week was yesterday when we were at the church. We were heading to the chapel for sacrament meeting when I ran into Vanessa, a woman that I used to teach here (a few weeks ago, I mentioned how I discovered that all this time I spent away from her, she was reading the Book of Mormon) when I served in Socorro the first time. After arriving in the area again, Sister Caetano and Sister Sleeman started to teach her again, but she moved into the area of Socorro 3 soon after. And running into her yesterday, I found out that the sisters from Socorro 3 continued to teach her and she was baptized on Saturday!!!! My happiness was so great when she told me, "Sister Ball, me batizei!!!" Ahhh, I couldn´t believe it. That made up for all the sadness I was feeling after having to say goodbye to so many people this week haha. Vanessa is another proof for me that the seeds that we plant really can sprout and grow and produce fruits.
So that was my week. Now, I´m anxiously waiting to find out who will be my new companion and am happy that I´ll be 'dying' here in Socorro 1. It´s a great area with great members. I´m excited to spend my last transfer working hard and giving all I´ve got. I love you guys and hope you have a wonderful week!

Com amor,
Sister Ball

 With a family from Gragerú who always had FHE with us every week
 Imitating a photo that Sister Custódio´s dad took with his companion on the mish

Sister Sleeman's and Sister Custodio's farewell

FHE with the Lima's

Sister Barker and the Lima's!

Tchau tchau, Sister Custodio... gonna miss this sister!

Lunch with Irmã Telma... she was my investigator the first time I was in this area and now she´s a member, making lunch for the missionaries! 
Mission Christmas Conference.  That's a lot of missionaries!

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