Yay for sleep!

I really can´t believe that I am about to hit my half way mark. It is sooo crazy to think that I have been out for 9 months. Wow. I know it´s probably going a little slow for you guys (I don´t know maybe it´s going fast too), but dang, my time in the mission is just flying by for me. I can´t believe that May is almost over.CRAZY!!! 

I don´t know if I am happy that I am half way done or sad. I am happy because I am that much closer to seeing you all again, but I am sad because I feel like there is so much more I need to learn and there is not enough time. IT´s a weird feeling.

Anyways, this week we worked like crazy. Our beginner´s luck is still going strong because we have sooo much stuff to do here. My numbers have never been this great in the mission. Poços de Caldas really like Zion. I DO NOT want to leave here.  

My favorite experience this week happened Sunday. First off, I was in a great mood because we had 2 investigators come to church. The first was this boy named Gilherme we found knocking doors. He´s 14 and a really great kid. I asked him what his favorite music was and he said "Gospel". Yeah, I am pretty dang excited to teach him. The other was a kid named Gabriel. All the members of his family are members, but for some reason he didn´t want to get baptized. Now, he´s thinking about baptism and we are helping him with his doubts and stuff. Baptism is definitely in his future:)

Anyways, my experience. After church we had one of the young women call us up and asked to go out with us. I was all for it so we met up and got to work. Turns out that she had a referral for us and wanted to go visit her. IT was a great lesson!!! We taught the restauração and gave the lady, Selma, a book of Mormon. She said that she already knows that it´s true, but she´s going to pray just to make sure. I am excited to see where this goes. I loved teaching with Julia (the YW). She has such a strong testimony and a strong desire to share the gospel. I was just in awe of her. She´s only 16, but already she is an amazing missionary. Really, missionary work is for everyone:) It was so great!!!!

Well, I hope that everyone has a great week. We´re going straight home after emailing to sleep. After 9 months, I am used to being dead tired, but it´s always a huge blessing when we have time to take a nap. Yay for Sleep!!! 

Love you all!

Sister Whitney

 We hiked the Cristo last week. Yay for three times!! I should just move up there we hike it so much.

My favorite sister trainer leader. We had splits this week and it was so much fun to learn from her. (Sister López)

Never been happier in my life!

So, I have honestly never been happier in my life than I am right now. I love serving a mission!!! One of my favorite things to do is remember my past transfers and see how much I have changed. I feel pretty confident in my mission skills. Don´t get me wrong, I still have SO much to learn, but I am lightyears ahead of where I was in California. Teaching is sometimes a stuggle still, but I have learned trust in the Lord so much more. It´s one of the greatest feelings. Also, I love remembering all the hard stuff I´ve had to go through and all the new stuff I have learned because of the those trials. Seriously, the Lord makes weak things become strong and it´s really only through the trials that we have do we learn what we need to learn. And let me tell you, a mission is one great, huge, hard thing, but I wouldn´t trade even a minute of it for anything else. I am so happy to serve a mission!!!

Anyways, this week was amazing for the work. Poços de Caldas is exploding with work. I don´t know if it´s because I have a new companion and we have beginer´s luck, but it seems like we ALWAYS have something to do. This past week we taught like crazy. We tried to invite everyone to baptism, but it didn´t work out. The majority of our investigators just turned it down, but they are still open to learning more. So we are doing to teach like the dickens and help our investigators find the truth. I am not worried in the least because we are doing our part and I know the Lord will bless us for our efforts.

Also, this week was really great because President Canuto came and gave a special fireside thing for the wards of Poços de Caldas. It was all about how the members can get more involved in missionary work and it went really well. Now, our ward is all excited to jump into the work and help us. I can´t tell you how great this is because missionary work always goes better when there are members involved. Really it should be called the Lord´s work because missionaries and members should always be working together. I am so excited to see where it goes:)

I am having the time of my life serving with Sister Ferreira and living with Sister Sargent and Sister Menezes. Especially Sister Sargent. She is like my mission BFF. She is such a hard worker and I have so much respect for her. I can´t even think of a better example as a missionary. Also, she cut my hair yesterday and it looks amazing. It was only the ends, but still, I really appreciated the help. I had a stringy Reapunzel look going on and it was not attractive. No wonder we weren´t having baptisms. Haha, just kidding:)

Well, I love you all and I hope that your semana goes as good as mine:) Also, I hope you catch the missionary work bug and help out the missionaries in your area. That would be really great:)

Love, Sister Whitney

Batteries recharged!

So, this week...

Yeah, I had a fantastic week!!! Sister Ferreira and I have been working so dang hard and I love it. There is nothing more rewarding that coming home completely drained and ready for bed. I feel like an awesome missionary when that happens. 

Not much is really new for us though. We´re building up our teaching pool so we made a ton of street contacts this week. I actually really like to go contacting. It´s the only time in my life when it´s been completely acceptable to talk to strangers. I love it!! Also, I usually have to talk first because Sister Ferreira is new and still a little shy around strangers. Training her has helped me get rid of that last little bit of fear of talking to people. Now, I talk with everyone all the time. I´m sure it´s a little annoying, but It´s something I´m really proud of:)

I seriously am having the best time of my mission right now. Every day we work hard and do all we can in the work and then at night I get to come home and talk with Sister Sargent. She is seriously the coolest, nicest, funniest person I know. I am so grateful that she is here working in Poços with me.  She is like the definition of a good missionary. I have learned so much from her. Plus also, she´s funny. :) It´s the best.

On Friday we went to São João to have our interviews with President. We have them like every three months. This one was so much better than my previous 2 because I actually understood him and I could reply intelligently. So great. Also he gave me some advice that I really liked. He said that when we work with joy and happiness, the numbers come. So I have been focusing on that this past week. It´s actually really help too. Sister Sargent and I found out on Sunday that our numbers are the best in the zones. Woot!! Girl power!!

The other big thing this week was talking to my family on mothers day. Oh my gosh was it the best!!! My batteries are recharged for the next 8 months:)  I love you guys so much and I can´t tell you how happy it make me when I know that you guys are happy too:) #eternalfamilies 

Sorry for the shortness. Next week should be longer:)

LOve, Sister Whitney

Just a quick fuzzy shot from the computer talking to Sister Whitney yesterday.

Me and sister Ferreira. She does this weird neck turny thing in pictures. I think it´s hilarious:)

These are some investigators.  (I wonder what they would think if they knew their faces were being shared between Americans 6000 miles away!)

Girls Camp

This has been a crazy week! Holy Cow!!! So, last p-day we left to spend the night in another city so we could arrive in Piracicaba earlier. We almost missed our bus, but luckily we made it in the nick of time. Unfortunately the Elders did miss the bus and had to pay a member to take them to São João. I didn´t feel sorry for them because they are late to everything. I think it was a good life lesson. Anyways, we spent the night at the São João sister’s house. It was pretty dang fun, like a sleep over, or girls camp. I slept on the ground on an old mattress. It was the best!!! But seriously, I really do love roughing it in Brasil. I feel like a real missionary or a pioneer. Priceless memories.

The next day we got up super early to catch two omibus to Piracicaba. It took forever, but I mostly slept the whole way.

When we finally got to Piracicaba I was so so so happy! I got to see all my peeps from the MTC and the majority of my brasilian friends. Also, Eliana (My brasilian mom) showed up at transfers!!! It was so good to see her again and huge the tar out of her. She also gave me a sweet brasil tee shirt. Yep, I love her.

At 2:30 we went to pick up our Filhas (Me and all the other trainers). Training actually doesn´t make me super nervous. I get to stay in my same area with the same people that I love. So, I feel like I can take on the world. Anyways, as trainers, we had a little bit of training before and got to meet our new companions. I love my new Comp!!! Her name is Sister Gomez and she´s from João Pessoa (a state in the north). She is hilarious and a little bit dingy, but I love her. So far training her has been pretty easy. I feel like it´s going to be an awesome transfer.

Also, Sister Sargent and the missionary she is training, Sister Menezes, are living with us and working in our same area. I am completely happy with this. Sister Sargent is the absolute best and I love her so much. It has been so much fun working and living together.

Returning to Poços de Caldas took forever and 4 busses, but we made it safely home on Wednesday (we spent the night in another sister´s house on Tuesday). Now, we are working hard and having a great time doing it! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope that you all have a fantastic week and your hopes and dreams come true!

Sister Whitney

This is at a really cheap place to eat. It´s like 2.50 a meal in dollars. I love it. We go there every pday.

My last day with sister Oliveira:( I was really sad to say goodbye to her :(  But I love my new comp too!