A Dunking to Remember

2 Months In!

First of all, mom, I want to share a scripture with you. *Matthew 15:4. Tbh, don't remember exactly what it says, it's a note I wrote down at the beginning of the week to send to you on P-day. It's for you to use with Andy and Bubba though.... haha. 
* For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.

To answer your question, here are some things specific (maybe??) to our mission:

No coca-cola or any cola. 

No *chimarrão.

Always have a book of Mormon in hand when you leave for the day.

No soccer.

We have a mission song, specifically for Missão Porto Alegre Sul.

(*A traditional, South American, caffeine-rich infused drink)

So this week was kind of amazing. 

We had our Christmas thing on Thursday. Spent all day in Pelotas. What a dream. We heard a message from President Cruz and then they reviewed rules for the summer. I plan on buying sandals soon. We had a super bomb lunch and watched videos that some of the families of missionaries in the southern half of the zone sent. I was weeping the whole time. They were so sweet. We then performed skits as zones. I played *Mundo Feliz. It wasn't terrible.... Some of them were way hilarious. It was a really wonderful day. And we got to spend it indoors so we didn't die of heat. Haha. It was so great to hang out with the other missionaries, especially my fellow **verdinhos. Haha. We're pals. 

(* Brave New World- not exactly sure what it is! **Greenies. Apparently, it goes greenies, newbs, then regulars. :v)

After that was my first Divisao! (Split!) We literally had to take a boat to get to her area. It was so awesome. Our LTS are so great. She basically converted someone on the boat ride. It was awesome. There's a lot of sand in Sao Jose Norte. There was a family there, part member, that requested that I pray in english. Of course I tried.... and FAILED. I CAN'T PRAY IN ENGLISH. What the heck........ Also, please pray for this family. It's part member because the dad doesn't want it and also doesn't want to marry the mom, even though she wants to be baptized. It's really sad. Her name is Fabiani. I learned how to make *Brigadero. Unfortunately, it's super easy. Basically, this confirms that I will come home fat. 

(*from Wikipedia: (Portuguese for Brigadier); is a common Brazilian delicacy, created in 1940.The brigadeiro is made from condensed milk, cocoa powder, butter and chocolate sprinkles to cover the outside layer.)

We had a wedding and a baptism this week! The wedding was way cute. I think it's the first wedding I've ever seen. That was cool. The cake was good. I basically filmed the whole thing so.....

The Baptism. Wow. I will never forget it. It was supposed to be Saturday and literally everything went wrong. So we cancelled it and planned if for Sunday morning before church. We went to the church at 7 to make sure everything was ready. The water was GREEN. (again). It was horrible. I was afraid SdS was going to cry again. It was rather horrible. Also, we though the person who would baptize wasn't going to show up so we asked someone who we are preparing to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. He had never performed a baptism before. Everything happened right in time. Joice decided to be baptized in the green water anyway. The Bishop and members showed up late but they showed. So we started. It was pretty normal up until the ordinance. Man. He was SO nervous. (Name omitted for reasons that will be known shortly.) He didn't know how to hold his hands or her hands and it was all very awkward. He said the prayer, paused a microsecond, then THREW HER INTO THE WATER. The hand that is supposed to help her plug her nose MISSED. There was a collective gasp. She came up coughing. When we discovered she was fine, we were all relieved. Oh my gosh. It was SO FUNNY. It's horrible, and I shouldn't laugh, but Sister de Souza and I laughed TO TEARS, MULTIPLE TIMES that day. Oh man. Every time one of us laughs really hard, the other companion knows exactly why the other is laughing and we start crying/laughing. I will never ever forget it. Also, I will make sure the baptizer is more prepared next time. Wow.

Other news: I fooled two Brasilians this week. One thought I was from Santa Caterina (because I have weird intonation for Portuguese) and the other was surprised to hear I'm from the States. Other people guess that I've been in the field for a year and are shocked to hear that I've only been in the field for a little over a month. So that's cool. Gift of tongues is REAL.

Anyway, this week was super great and this next week is Christmas! Can't believe it's already here. It doesn't feel like Christmas because I'm lacking a few fundamental things: you and snow. BUT I get to share messages of Christ and spend Christmas with a lot of really wonderful people so it's not too bad. ;) 

Advice from a sister Missionary:
I Know that God lives, loves us, and knows each of us individually. Also, think about your potential. Think about what you're doing right now. There is a 99% chance that you can DOUBLE your performance. Sister De Souza and I had the really cool opportunity to more than double the number of people we talked to every day, simply by trying to push ourselves more. Be worthy to have the spirit. By living worthily to have the spirit, your lives will improve and after that, you will be blessed more because you have the spirit! Man, this gospel is so true. 

Miss you all so much!!! Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!

Boa Semana!

xoxo,

-Sister Hartman

Smiling in the rain

Ahhh, the food here!

Tears of Frustration and Leite Condensado

Yeah so.... Iasmin didn't show up for her Confirmation yesterday. It was kind of awkward and S. de Souza and I were really sad. We left after Relief Society to go find her but no one was at her house. We came back and told Bispo that she wouldn't be there for Sacrament. We found out later that her mom had gone to Centro and had dragged her with her so all is well! She's way pumped to receive the gift of the HG NEXT week. Also, we taught her brother. He was super receptive and so he's one of this week's novos!

I really really really like fried food. And I really really really like *leite condensado. My favorite meal is pancakes with leite condensado. Or bolinhos (fried dough) with leite condensado. Seriously, LC is the most underrated food in the whole world.

*sweetened condensed milk

Friday morning was really not good. I was frustrated with the language and we had district meeting. Our district leader is from Rio so he speaks in slang and has a weird accent. AKA I understood literally nothing. And he knows this. My comp tells him a lot that I don't understand anything he says to me. But he still talks at me. So I kind of had a bit of a break down after. (And seriously, do ALL WOMEN flock to the bathroom at the same time always? I think so because while we were in the bathroom, I had the pleasure of meeting every single sister in my zone. Awesome.) (But it actually wasn't too bad because Sister Lylie gave me some words of advice and comfort in English. That's nice.) (Also, it's the first time I´ve cried in Brasil! #milestone) Sunday was so bomb. Numbers wise, wasn't too awesome.

We attended church, and I understood way more this week! We have a lot of our less-actives show up, which was so so so awesome. We ate lunch and it was so good. Idk what they do to their rice here but it is so good. I ate so much. (Yeah, I'm coming home round.) We spent the whole day in Cassino because the bishop wanted us to visit lots of less actives there. Well the city is huge and we spent most of our time looking for this one house. When we finally gave up, we realized that we were on the complete opposite side of the city. Also, it was *30 degrees outside. Celcius. So we ended up walking 17 blocks to the nearest house. We ended up finding NO ONE that bispo wanted us to find but we DID get to see the beach of Cassino and spend time in Cassino so that's great. Then we taught a lot and met with some less-actives and we talked about family history and stuff like that. AND I UNDERSTOOD IT ALL!!! (After, the subject changed and I was back to understanding phrases or words and my mind wandered a little, but whatever) Man, it was the greatest feeling!!!!!
*86° Fahrenheit

We had a family home evening with Brenda, Vanessa, Carlos, and the family of Bia, the RS Prez who is awesome. It was so great! We had a bomb lesson, we played games, we made pastels and drank guaraná and it was the best Friday night ever. Pic included.

Tried some *churrasco this week.
*A Portuguese term referring to beef or grilled meat, a prominent feature in the cuisine of Uruguay, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Nicaragua, Peru and other Latin American countries.

Valentina.

We went to *Os Molhes da Barra today! It was pretty cool. :)

*

That's all I have time for this week. But FASTING works! Lots of miracles this week because of it. PRAYERS are answered! The SCRIPTURES are so so so awesome. CONFERENCE TALKS are amazing. Study hard and show God you mean it, and he'll help you out! I know that this is real! Man, missionary work is so rewarding and awesome. :)

Love you guys and miss you all so so so much. :)

-Sister Hartman

More pictures of our trip to the Jetty

Baptisms and Burnt Cake

First of all, the shift button on this keyboard is significantly worse than all of the other keys, and the rest of the keys stink, so bear with me.

We had a cake contest. One of our pesquisadores ended up winning, fairly. That was awesome. Brenda, the one that won, brought her neighbor, Simone, who has not been coming to church. This was her first time being in the church building!!!!! Gaaaaaahhhh, Brenda is so elect, it's crazy. When we heard that Simone was already at the church building with Brenda, we basically cried. It was awesome. And then, the next time we visited Brenda, her whole family decided to listen. WE FINALLY HAVE A FAMILY!!!! Man. Only 2.5 weeks in the field. I'm a little worried about maintaining enthusiasm. It seems like more and more people are uninterested as time goes on. That's pretty hard.

Part of my letter to President today (excuse my poor grammar- still learning!):

*"Esta semana, tivemos uns poucos dias difíceis e eu estava desejando a saber como missionários podem continuar nesta obra por um ano e meio ou dois anos. Eu recebi uma resposta. No Sábado, eu e Sister de Souza ouvimos que nossa pesquisadora Iasmin passou a sua entrevista batismal. Então, decidimos a visitar ela. Ela foi MUITO animada para ser batizada. Minha resposta é que posso continuar nesta obra por causa da necessidade ajudar estes pessoas tem o mesmo animo!!! Então estou muito animada para continuar trabalhar muito diligentemente. Estamos esperando um outro batismo esta semana. " 

*This week we had a few difficult days and I was wondering how missionaries can continue in this work for a year and a half or two years. I got an answer. On Saturday, Sister de Souza and I heard that our investigator, Iasmin, had her baptismal interview. We then decided to visit her. She was VERY excited to be baptized. My answer is that I can continue in this work because of the need to help these people have the same happiness!!! So I'm very excited to continue working very diligently. We are expecting another baptism this week.

Iasmin was baptized this week! Man. It was so great. The day before was her baptismal interview. We visited her house afterwards and she was sitting outside with her family. When she saw us, she jumped up and ran to us, yelling, "I passed!!!!!!!!" It was so great- she was so excited and the spirit so strong when she was baptized. And she is still super pumped to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost next Sunday. :) (Baptisms happen a little differently here). The members were so supportive and Sister de Souza made a (unfortunately ugly and slightly burnt) cake; it was just a great Sunday. :)

We had a lot of answers to prayer this week- we had a few difficulties. Apparently this is not normal because Sister de Souza was getting a little frustrated. We prayed and, it happened a lot this week, then we would find a new pesquisador right before having to stop looking for *novos. I think every time this happened, "Man. It's super great that the Lord is helping us!!!" (Although maybe this week we can find people a little faster?? Please??????) *New

We travelled to Pelotas this week for a training. It was super great to see the other missionaries in the south of my mission! And I got to see a lot of the other verdinhos, like Elder Chowen and Elder Mello! Yay! We also had my first district meeting. That was cool. Our numbers definitely need to improve. Looks like the other companionships are struggling rn too. We have a lot of work to do. I'm really excited for this next week. I love this work and I love being a missionary!!!!!

I don't think I am homesick, but I definitely miss you all very much. So many things remind me of each of you. An example about Grandma Dayley: every day we pass a house that sells Avon and so I always remember when Grandma and I sold Avon together. There are lots of other things but I don't have time to write them all. I love you all so much! I hope thanksgiving and Black Friday were awesome. (Here, Black Friday is the whole month. fun fact.)

Until next week! #SejaALuzDoMundo Woo! Christmas is on it's way!!

-Sister Hartman

Not gonna starve here. Members are GREAT!

Yup, MCD's is EVERYWHERE!

As are beautiful sunrises.

Christmas songs in the summer, mild house problems, and being spoiled

My neighborhood is Parque São Pedro- Rua L #384. It's different here from São Paulo because it has about 10000000 fewer people. There are more houses than apartment buildings here.

Gigs' first apartment in Brazil. Verdict: not so bad

We got to our area on Wed night so we started proslyzing (what is this word in english? I don't even remember) on Thursday. We had 12 lessons planned and ended up teaching 8. We also found 3 new *pesquisadores, talked to 29 people on the streets and invited them to church. The next day, we didn't do as well. We still struggled with finding members to teach with us. We keep having to report zero lessons taught with members and that's way bad. We need to teach more lessons with members but it's really hard. EVERYONE GO HELP A MISSIONARY TEACH A LESSON RIGHT NOW!!! Actually, it probably isn't terribly difficult for Utah missionaries because there are so many members. I think there are around 40-50 people in our ward here. Anyway, we had a lot of success and a lot of not-success. Iasmin's baptism has been postponed until this Thursday, when we also have planned a Concurso de Bolos. Hopefully people show up for it. Hehe

 *Investigators

My area is fairly large. It consists of many neighborhoods, primarily Parque São Pedro, where we live, Parque São Marina or something like that, and Cassino. I freaking love Cassino but it's really far from our house so we have to take a bus to get there. It's surrounded by beach, because we're at the tip of Rio Grande, at the very bottom of Brasil, so there's lots of tourists and there will be more when it's actually summer. We don't go there very often because there's no meeting house there so it's really hard to get investigators. It's hard because if we want a branch there, we have to knock doors there but it's expensive to take the bus every day. We eat lunch with members there a lot- we are way blessed. The only members that live in Cassino, that are active, have vehicles of some kind. 

I really need to send home a lot of stuff. Turns out pants aren't allowed. There's a lot of clothes I want to send home. I want to send home the scrapbook stuff too. And Christmas stuff. Some of the beads I brought with me look like batuque stuff. (Witchcraft religion. It's super common here. That's the religion that kills chickens in the streets and beats on drums and stuff about spirits and stuff. It's crazy. Hahahaha) Let me know how you feel about all this. It would probably be kind of expensive. I am just so embarrassed by how much crap I have. I have so. much. stuff. Sometimes, S. de Souza comes in while I'm trying to find something and says "ai, sister....." because I probably look like a spoiled-rotten North American. (And I am, but I don't want to LOOK like it......) Anyway. If I can't send it home, I will probably just leave it behind or something. Idk. 

We are having sink problems and ant problems. The other day, I talked to another American missionary who has been here for a year now, and we have very mild house problems. She's had to deal with dozens of rats at once and had to sleep in a soggy bed for a week because the roof leaked, etc.

This email sounds like I hate my mission but I super love it. I love our companion, Valentina, a dog. I love singing Christmas songs with my companion. I love talking to the people. Makes me feel cool when I have a full conversation with people in portuguese, which is happening more and more. When I am confident, I pretty much can understand and say everything. I just need to not be afraid and I can do this. My problem right now is fear. But I will get over it with time. :) Brasil is so great. I'm coming home brazilian.

I'll probably be fluent by the time I write again next week. *NBD. 😜 *No big deal. 

I'm really sad I am **missing the snow.  **It's currently summer: 80° with 80% humidity. NBD.

Miss y'all. Love y'all muito!!

xoxoxoxoxox

-Sister Hartman

A CTM giveaway. Lucky recipients: all the missionaries going into the field!

Q & A

Leroy Hartman: Knock any doors? Anyone interested?

Morgan Kelly Hartman: Yeppppp. lots. We found 11 new investigators this week; we taught about 17 lessons.

Baptism was postponed until this Thursday. yeah! So many people are willing to hear our message that it's crazy. I think only a few people tell us they're not interested- I only remember one person who cut us off and told us he wasn't interested. Yesterday was actually really bad productivity-wise. The members really like to talk, in particular the member that fed us lunch yesterday. lol. We were over there for THREE hours.

Leroy Hartman How is your Portuguese?

Morgan Kelly Hartman Meu português está indo. Acho. (My portuguese is going. I think.) I wasn't invisible in a lunch appointment. They wanted to learn a lot about english so that was nice.

Leroy Hartman Is English your in?

Morgan Kelly Hartman I've never used english as an "in".... people we meet on the street don't seem to care about learning it from me very much- people are really confused about my nationality here. My accent is american but i don't look american. I also don't look brasilian.

Leroy Hartman If you don't look American, what do they guess?
Morgan Kelly Hartman They don't. They just stare, and then members tell me that I look different. haha
or they tell my companion, in portuguese, that I have an american accent. Little do they know this phrase is one I understand. lol

Leroy Hartman When you are out knocking, it is all walking correct? How far is the furthest you walk from your place?
Morgan Kelly Hartman Not very far, maybe a mile

Leroy Hartman Where are you to be online? At a members house, or perhaps a cafe? Do you have to pay, and if so, how much?
Morgan Kelly Hartman We are at a LAN house- it's a place that is literally just a bunch of computers, like 8. It's about 3 reais- maybe a $.

Leroy Hartman Did you celebrate Thanksgiving? Any ex-pats down there that are members that celebrated?

Morgan Kelly Hartman No, thanksgiving isn't a holiday here. But I opened the card you guys sent and it worked out that we had a cake contest that day so I gorged on cake.  It worked out perfectly.

Our home away from Home.

Our bedroom- who's top bunk you wonder? Just guess.

Kitchen- we welcome any and all food to our fridge. Our door is always open. : )

Dining room- apparently things won't stay closed in this room.

About My 2 New Companions: Sister de Souza and Valentina the Dog

HAPPY THANKSGIVING THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. Muito obrigada por tudo. Amo vocês!!!!

I am now serving in Rio Grande, in the area Jardim do Sol with Sister Stephany de Souza. We met all the trainers at once. (He interviews all of the verdinhos before placing them a trainer.) Apparently he planned on putting me with S. de Souza beforehand though because she says she received an email before she came to PA to pick me up that was addressed to both of us. She's from São Paulo, the fábrica of Brasil. She's been on her mission for 7 or 8 months now. Love her!💗 When Prez Cruz announced that she would be my companion, I was super happy because I liked her the most of the three Sister Trainers. She likes my genre of music, almost, doesn't like mousse de maracuja (but that's ok because I do and I eat it for her) and actually she just got an email that her dog died back home. That's not awesome. :( I have a lot of pictures of her to send when I can find my adapter. Hahahaha

My mission prez stresses obedience every time he speaks. Must be important to him.😉 It is such a blessing to be here. I love Rio Grande already!!!! Apparently, our area is the "celestial" area of the mission. I hope I do well here. We have a baptism planned for this weekend and hopefully two more next week! 

My favorite time of day is when we study. So much good stuff in there. I wish I could study more but we have so many investigators and less actives and recent converts that we have to visit. Today, we have 12 planned lessons and several back ups. We are BUSY. It has been raining for most of today. I haven't gotten pictures of our house yet- sorry. It's very South America. Better than I expected though!

God loves his children. (see D&C 122:7-9). I'm seeing very clearly 👀, because hindsight is 20/20, that the Lord has guided my life so much and this is why I haven't struggled very much. I'm 100% where I need to be right now. Anyway, I used past subjunctive correctly and I literally cried. 

There are a TON of dogs here. Apparently the dog-to-human ratio is 10 to 1. Hehehe. There are a lot of horses here too. Like, they chill in the streets with the dogs. It's kinda awesome. I have a third companion. It's a dog named Valentina.👅 She has literally followed us everywhere and waited outside houses that we entered. Haha I love it. 

I love you guys! I miss y'all like crazy but not too crazy because I won't be leaving here anytime soon of my own choice. In Portuguese, " I miss you" is "en sinto falta de voce" which literally translates to " I feel the loss of you". I like it. It's more meaningful to me. 

Miss you muito: En sinto falta de voce! Send me pictures when it snows. Ate mas!

Your wanna-be Brasileira,
Sister Hartman

PS- We go to a LAN house to email. I think I lost my SD card converter. This means that I can't send pictures *today. And possibly ever. Lol (*These are pictures she sent before.)

Official souvenirs anyone?

Selfies at the CTM

Last day with the District

 One last shot as we prepare to fly to our mission.

Leaving. On a jet plane. (Or a small commuter.)

Arriving to a welcome committee.

My New Companion- Sister de Sousa- waiting in the LAN house.

Fun Fact #1: I enter the field in 1 week...

Fun Fact #2:  Also my week is now the "oldest" in the MTC. Woo!!

I already talked to Bubs (I thought about him all day on his birthday.) and I'm cracking up because he mentioned that you think he's losing weight. HAHAHA!!! Y'all should come to brazil. Meat, rice, and beans, and a gelatinous thing for dessert every day. I'm surprised that I am still the exact same weight. Still feeling a little sick, but  in waves. Usually it's my fault. Like today I had 2 Mr. Cheney's cookies and a tartuguita (turtle chocolate candy thingy) and a brazilian version or chicken cordon bleu and a beef roast thing all in one meal (lunch). Still loving the rice. The beans I'm over cuz they're causing a few gastrointestinal issues, if you know what I mean. 😜

😒I wish I could be there to play soccer- it's banned for all missionaries in every Brasilian mission. The brazilians love soccer too much, dang it! Also, they're REALLY competitive. We're not even allowed to JUMP in basketball and volleyball here because Things have happened. We're not allowed to leave the CTM for atividade fisica. When we do leave the CTM, we have so many rules. For exercise, we are all required to run 5 laps on the (TINY) track and then I usually do sit ups and a minute long plank or 5 minutes of inferno (I'm getting stronger! I can do half a pull up now, so there.) 💪

I'm learning SO much. We have classes about how to teach and how to speak the language. I really love my teachers. Irmã Andrade is stellar. I feel bad for her because some are disrespectful and no. one. does the stuff we're supposed to do before her classes. We spend her class doing the stuff we were supposed to do. I have seen many blessings in my life BECAUSE I have been obedient. (Ok, ok, ok, I have had a *FEW slip ups, but I have since repented and am on the straight and very very narrow again). (*Yesterday, I got in trouble because I didn't super feel like running around the TINY courtyard in the rain with SB so I sat under an umbrella'd table with some brazilians and we were just chatting about life in portuguese, which was fantastic practice which I need, and I got in trouble for being "alone" with elders, even though I was still in sight and hearing of my companion at all times and we were literally surrounded by other missionaries.) Sometimes, it's really hard to be obedient.

Roommates: Sister Louisy Couto, serving in Sao Paulo Norte; her bf is serving in my mission (Porto Alegre Sul). Sister Vitoria Silva, serving in Goiania. They're really nice. I don't understand a word the say tho so I can't tell you much about them! 

One of my favorite sights is Sao Paulo from afar in the morning. There's so much beauty in an early morning skyline. I love Sao Paulo. Something cool about the temple is we do the sessions in Portuguese! (If you're wondering why I understand Portuguese better in some places than others, I couldn't tell you. I've been asking myself the same things and at times it's very frustrating!

There isn't enough study time in the day- I need and want more. It's hard because I have things I want to accomplish personally, but my study time is used studying for my investigators. This is the way it should be, but dang it. We learn so much about how to love here- the gist of it is that God loves his children SO MUCH and he needs us to do our part to bring all unto Christ, not just missionaries. Mosiah 18:8-10 talks about what we need to do as the Lord's people. I really like 1 Cor 15, I use it a lot in lessons. I use John 3:5,16 so often I have them memorized. When we teach, when we're doing what we're supposed to, we have the Spirit. It's amazing.  I love the Spirit here. It's exactly what I need and I LOVE IT. I LOVE PORTUGUESE. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY.

Miss you guys a lot. Tell Andy good job and keep up the good work for me! Tell Bub to tell me all about his dates. Tell Dad to send me pics of the chicken coop when it's done. Sometimes, things happen and I'm just like "dang, I wanna tell mom" but then I forget because enough happens in one day here that happened in one week back home. I have already finished off a journal that I brought here. I hope I brought enough journals! (I have 1.5 more). That's all I got time for. They're kicking me off. Love you muito! Until next week!

xoxoxoxo

SIlliness

Us and some of the Brazilian Elders

CTM

Some Brazilian snacks

Sao Paulo

More snacks (Mom wants pictures of food!)

Me n Sister Couto

Me n Sister Andrade