Querida minha familia e minhas amigos!
Alright if you want to write me or send me a package then please send it to this address:
104 Spur Dr. Victoria, Texas 77904
This is the member's house that I live in, so it is easiest to just send things to this address! I will try my best to write letters this week at some point when I have more time! If I get my visa at some point in the next few months, I will send out a quick email saying stop sending stuff until you know my new address, but for now you can send letters and packages here :)
Como vai?! o Como estas?! I think I need to start writing in Spanish because everybody here speaks lots and lots of Spanish! I am in Victoria, Texas! It is this smaller, country town about an hour away from the Coast and it is SO PRETTY! It actually reminds me a lot of Fargo, North Dakota because it is so incredibly flat and green, but the similarities pretty much end there because it IS SO HOT! I am not quite dying every day, but the heat combined with the humidity is turning my hair into a greasy, fuzzy mess!
So, you are all probably dying to know about my last week and everything that has happened to me since I haven't had P-day for like a week and a half! My trainer/new companion is Sister Bianchini! She is a red head, pale with freckles, huge brown eyes, has been out for eight months, sings SUPER BEAUTIFULLY, and she is from California. She is also super sweet, down to earth, and loves the gospel so much. I keep making mistakes like not backing her out of the driveway and she just laughs at me. Everyone has told me that I am so lucky to be with her and that I could not have a better trainer which is so true, I feel so incredibly blessed to have her and the Lord is already working miracles in our lives!
We live with a single lady/member named Sister Hastings. Her husband passed away a few years ago and she loves having the Sister missionaries live with her. She is so super nice and sweet; I just love talking to her about everything because she knows all sorts of things about Texas and has been teaching me Texans really talk like "ya'll" and "all ya'll" and they say "golly" ALL THE TIME! She is super nice and sweet.
Well, I adore the Ward with my whole heart! They are so welcoming and kind! They feed us every night and everybody is absolutely fascinated when I say I am from North Dakota and when I introduce myself as Sister Brotherson. They all think I have the funniest name ever and that I am from pretty much a different country. I just laught about it and say, "Yes it is very cold in North Dakota and yes Texas is much hotter and why does my family live there well, I don't know that is a great question :)"
My mission president is Brian K. Ashton and his wife, Sister Anderson, were so welcoming to me last week when I got off the plane! We went to the mission office that day and there were about 15 elders and sisters that were brand new to the mission, so we unloaded all of our luggage, did interviews with the Mission President and his wife, ate dinner at the mission home with the AP's and senior missionaries, and then we had a testimony meeting. Unfortunately, I left the MTC at like 2:30 am, so we were all dead on our feet by the end of the day, but I tried really really hard to stay awake! I am truly so impressed by my Mission President and his wife. He and his family, they have seven children, they are so kind and so welcoming to us. He truly has great expectations and the two things he told me to do were to be exactly obedient and to work hard! I promised that I would do everything I could keep these two rules and then he promised me that everything would fall into place. Wednesday night LAST WEEK I stayed with some other sisters at a senior couple's home. On Wednesday, we had a ton of training classes that morning with the President, his wife, and the AP's, so I learned a lot about mission life and how to teach! They then shuffled us all into the chapel, the newbies sat on one side, while the trainers sat on the other and they just called our names out and that's when I met Sister Bianchini! It was then transfer day for the rest of the mission, so everybody else from the whole mission that was being transferred all had to come into Sugar Land that day! The chapel was packed because so many missionaries were getting transferred! They just put a huge slideshow up and put people's pictures together it was surprising that it was done so publicly for everyone to see!
Also! My birthday was fabulous! My companions TP's my room which was so kind of them and they made me a photo book of our district and zone with cute notes from everyone, it was super super sweet :) The elders in my district also decorated the whole classroom with balloons, paper towel streamers, and they drew all over the board! Every time I walked into the room they started to sing Happy Birthday in Portuguese, it was quite hilarious!
Anyways, you probably want to know how mission life is going! Sister Bianchini and one of her previous companions opened this area (called white washing) just about four months ago. This area hadn't had sister missionaries in YEARS! She has literally built the work up from the ground! It has a long way to go, but so many miracles are already taking place and there are so many people being prepared to hear our message! Well, we have taught a ton of less actives this last week who are trying to get their lives back in order to come back to church. I have never had to be so brave in my whole life because we just show up at less actives doors when we don't have appointments and just walk in their house! This mission works solely through member/investigator referrals and street contracting, so I have been talking to lots of random people I do not even know, but it is amazing to see the Lord's hand in missionary work. Every day we have been blessed with a lesson whether it be a less active or a random investigator when other appointments fell through.
We taught this sweet elderly couple last Thursday, my first day in the field, and they have not been active for many years, but we taught them about the Sacrament and how important it is to take the sacrament each week, I am not a big cryer, but I was sitting there bearing my testimony when tears just started to fall! We all felt the Spirit so strongly testifying of renewing our baptismal covenants through the sacrament. It is amazing to me that I can be taught so much through what I am trying to teach others! We also taught a less active lady named M who is pregnant and living with her boyfriend, he is interested in the discussions, but we haven't taught him just yet. She came to church on Sunday and she has not been at church in years!
Two of the less actives that we taught this last week were at church on Sunday along with one of our investigators and a recent convert! On Saturday, a little boy named Jonathon, age 14 was baptized and I was asked to speak at his baptism! I was so nervous, but I figured I might as well get my feet wet, it went well and I was grateful for the opportunity I had to share what I knew to be true with him and his family, and the other ward members. On Sunday, we had a ward musical fireside, set up by the elders and it was awesome! So many people performed and I guess it has been in the works for months! I sang a duet with my companion and we sang "Come Thou Fount" and it went pretty well! I'll be honest, some of my notes might have been off, but we were a capella and I have not sung in front of people for years, so it was just neat to share my testimony through song! I was also asked to share a scriptural message about five minutes before the program started, so that was again very exciting! A lot of investigators and non member families came to the musical fireside on Sunday night, so we have a lot of following up to do this week! I am so excited because we have so many lessons planned for this coming week! Oh, also we have two baptisms this Saturday after conference! I cannot take any credit for these because Sister Bianchini has been working with these two granddaughters of a member for months and they finally committed to baptism, but I do feel very special to be given this opportunity to see them enter the waters of baptism!
I am realizing more and more that missionary work depends on my desires and on my faith. I need to want to and desire it so badly! The Lord will then bless me when he sees that I am working as hard as I can to find people and teach the gospel to everyone. I am realizing just how inadequate I am and how much I have to learn as a missionary. I just want to study all the time, but I also want to be out finding and teaching all the time! It is a hard balance to find :) I know that through the Lord I can do anything and that he will bless me. Also, I need to be patient because the Lord's time is not my time and often what I want it selfish, whereas he knows that I need to learn patience and humility!
I love you all so much and thank you again for the birthday wishes and the good lucks that I have been getting from everyone :) It means the world to me and I am so grateful!
Love, Sister Brotherson
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