Monday, February 23, 2015

Carnaval, A Wedding, And Snails That Lead the Way!

Glad you liked the video, Mom, but I have no idea what accent you´re talking about... the only accent I have here is American haha. Tell Steven GOOD JOB with his basketball game. That´s awesome that they won! And David sounds as sweet and cute as ever. Glad you had a good birthday week too. Sounds like you were spoiled :). So Colton had to stay locked in their house for five days? Wow, I think Carnaval is worse there than here! We had to stay in too, but not for so long, and only when it was looking bad. So yeah, we didn´t get to work much. Our area had a nice little Carnaval party that didn´t let us get much done. And yes! Our leaders gave us permission to go to the Bishop´s son´s wedding! It was so fun seeing Juninho and Priscila get married, especially since the last time I was in this area, they were just starting to date. It was a beautiful wedding and I can tell that they´re going to be a fantastic couple. They already are :).
Besides this week being a huge party for all those Carnaval-lovers, we still managed to get some work done and see a few miracles. This week, we met A, a woman of faith! Friday night, we were searching for some referrals from an activity that the ward did to find new people to teach, but all the people we were trying to contact weren´t home. So, we decided to group together a bunch of snails on the side of the road, take a picture, and keep looking. And we found A! She was super happy to receive us and as we conversed with her, we discovered that her family has been through some difficulties and lost some loved ones. So it was the perfect opportunity to share the Plan of Salvation with her and the Spirit testified of what we shared. We returned there on Sunday and she had prayed about our message, saying that she felt so much peace and comfort when she prayed. We shared with her the Restoration and she gladly accepted to pray again.  She, along with her cute daughter, are excited to follow the Savior´s example. It´s been great getting to know this woman and see the incredible faith that she has. She´s truly a wonderful person!
This week, there was also an incredible rain/thunder/lightning storm that spooked everyone out a bit and destroyed some parts of the city. The lightning got close! It´s been so long since I last saw a good lightning storm, so for me, it was fun :). And that´s about all I have for this week... I love you guys lots and love this gospel immensely! I hope you can all have a wonderful week!

Com amor,
Sister Ball

P-Day lunch with Sister Gama, included a delicious banana and shrimp white sauce!

With Sister Gama at the wedding

With the newlyweds!

With Natalia, Amanda, e Leticia, love these girls! 
Okay, so I didn't catch the bouquet, but I still had to take a picture :)

Friday, February 20, 2015

Short and Sweet!

Well, this e-mail is going to be short but sweet, sorry. Tomorrow is Carnaval and everything is closed, so Presidente Gomes let us use a member´s computer super quickly.  About rooming with Kayla and Hannah before I forget, I´d love to stay in the Colony!  Just let me know what Kayla tells you and I´ll do what I can to help haha. And I can´t believe that Carson is going to Australia... speaking Spanish! Two things I love :). That was so sweet of David too, to give so many people cute valentines. Sounds like he´s being a great example of Christlike love :). Aaaaaand thank you, Nana, for the letter! You know exactly how I´m feeling during these last few weeks of my mission.
So like I said, tomorrow is Carnaval. And all of Brasil is super excited about that a.k.a. it´s incredibly difficult to work. This last week, the drinking and loud music already started. I don´t even want to know what tomorrow will be like. But besides being super hard to work, we still had some good moments. We´re trying to help a recent-convert´s husband feel ready to accept the gospel and it´s going super well. Their whole family already treats us like their daughters, so that helps. He loves to hear us and is super smart. He already knows what he needs to do and now, we just need to help him find the strength to live what he already knows to be true. We´re also working hard to continue finding the Lord´s prepared children. This week, it seemed as if almost everyone wanted to stop receiving our visits, but I know that our faith is just being tested and that many miracles are waiting for us. I´m so grateful that I´m still here, helping in this wonderful work. I hope you can all have a great week and know that I love you guys! And Mom, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! Know that the entire country of Brasil will be celebrating tomorrow haha. Love you!

Com amor,
Sister Ball

We killed and cooked crab!

We killed and cooked crab!

Duck!

Fun in the backyard!

Fun in the backyard!

The Catholic cathedral downtown

Last Zone meeting :(


Monday, February 9, 2015

Life is Good!

Mom, I´ve noticed that that little paragraph pops up on almost all of my e-mails that I get from other people. I don´t really know what it´s for but I don´t think you need to worry too much. Keep on keeping on with math! You´re doing great so far! It sounds like Junior´s (Fred Sharp´s) birthday was awesome. What a surprise! I have no idea what Big Hero 6 is, but glad you liked it haha. Sounds like Primary is as great as ever. I love those kids. I love 'Aunt' Jennifer too. Tell her 'hi' for me! Oh and before I forget, I don´t know if I ever thanked Abbey Simon for the letter she sent me... I got it a couple weeks ago and was so happy to hear from her! Tell her thanks for me too. So J is doing great. She was baptized this last Saturday! It took a lot of energy and effort, but it happened and everyone is happy for her. I don´t even know where to start with this week. So many great things are happening in our area and we´re seeing a ton of success in our work with our investigators. Our ward wants to split by the end of this year. Yesterday, the entire ward (and us too) did a fast to help the missionary work and we´re already seeing results. This last week, a bunch of members introduced us to their friends whom we´re now teaching and helping. One of these members met a man limping after a motorcycle accident and made friends with him after joking a bit and conversing with him. The man who suffered from the accident went to stake conference last week with his wife and we began teaching them with the irmão who introduced us to them. This couple is incredible! They are truly interested and want so badly to believe in what we have to share. They´re praying sincerely to receive an answer from God. I´m excited to see what will happen with them. Yesterday, we also went out to make a visit with an irmã. The person we were going to visit wasn´t home, but in the short 20 minutes that we were with her, she introduced us to three people with families that accepted a visit from us for later this week. And on top of all this, there is so much more happening that´s getting me super excited for the next few weeks. I´m just extremely happy with the people we´re meeting and experiences we´re having. I´m so grateful that the Lord is helping us find His children that are prepared to receive the gospel in their lives. Life is good. Love you guys and hope you all have a wonderful week! Boa semana!

Com amor,
Sister Ball

Exchanges with Sister Luis

Exchanges with Sister Luis

J's Baptismo!

Monday, February 2, 2015

Super Bowl? It's Not the Turkey Bowl???

Mom, Happy 5 years cancer-free!!! Goodness, that makes me so happy to know that you´re as happy and healthy as ever! And good job on the 100% on your math test! You´re a genius! :) So to be honest, I was completely shocked when I opened Cam´s e-mail talking about the Super Bowl... did it really happen this last week? I had nooooooo idea... I actually thought that it happens during Thanksgiving, but that´s the Turkey Bowl or something like that, right? Either way, it´s obvious that here, no one talks about american football and I´m okay with that haha. Taylor gets home this week! And Callie goes to Chile soon! And Katie Wiser got home last week! Time is flying by so darn quickly! Before I know it, I´ll be there to watch Steven being a stud on the basketball court. Okay, to answer questions, Sister Caetano still lives with me here. She´s training a new sister, Sister Conde from Fortaleza. She´s so sweet and there´s a girl in the Socorro 3 ward that looks just like her so everyone already loves her! :) I´m still a sister leader trainer and my new comp is... Sister Gama!!! I went on exchanges with her once and loved it, and now I get to be her companion for 6 weeks. If the next 5 weeks are anything like this last one, I´m super excited. This last week, we worked hard and had some great results. Sister Gama is a wonderful missionary who´s super dedicated and loves this work. That´s exactly what I need to maintain my focus and continue strong until the end. Lots of little miracles happened during these past few days, but one of my favorites happened yesterday. During the week, we visited one of our investigators who´s pregnant and really nascious (I don´t remember how to spell that word). For a couple weeks, she wanted to take a step back and not think about baptism or have to 'cumprir compromissos' (you´ll have to use Google translator for that one... I´m forgetting how to say these phrases in english!), so we let her. And when we returned to visit and teach her, despite not feeling well, she was extremely happy to see us and even happier to accept baptism and everything necessary to live the gospel. So we also invited her to come to church, or stake conference, on Sunday and she accepted, if she would be feeling well so early in the morning. Yesterday morning, we ran over there to go to church with her. We got there only to find her alone with three little children (one is her´s and the other two are her sisters´) and lying on the couch, feeling horrible. We conversed with her a bit to see what she was up to and, as much as she wanted to go, she didn´t feel too well and was stuck at home with three kids to take care of. But after some convincing, along with the time passing, she began to feel better and got up to take a shower and get ready. We were going to arrive there by bus with her, but because she wasn´t well, we decided that by car would be better. While she got ready, we ran to our ward mission leader´s house and asked if he could drive her. Of course, he said 'yes', we returned to her house 15 minutes later, and her and all the kids were ready for church! Wow, it was such a miracle!, especially after all that this young woman has been through. I haven´t really had the opportunity to tell her whole story, but maybe one day when I´m home I will. It´s incredible. Anyways, she loved conference and the kids were good. Other than that, we´re just trying to really get the members involved and find men and families to baptize and help so that our ward can split by the end of the year. There´s lots of work to do and I´m so happy that I can be a part of it! I hope all is well back home and love each one of you! Thank you so much Tiff and Tina for the packages/cards! Love you guys!  Have a fabulous week and splendid day!

Com amor,
Sister Ball

Saying goodbye to Laleska who will be serving in Manaus next week!  Ahhh I'll miss that girl! 
A delicious banana candy from Curitiba that Sister Gama keeps feeding me, trying to fatten me up :)

With a group of youth from another church who were doing a presentation in the Catholic church square in our area.  They invited us and we invited them!

With Sister Gama, my new and wonderful companion, Sister Caetano, and Sister Conde, our cute greenie :)