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.