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

Freckles, Drugs and: *Parabéns, BUBBA!!!!! (Birthday Shoutout to Bubs:18 finally!)

First things first: 

Happy Birthday to Bubba this week! I'm so sorry I missed it. Just know that I was celebrating your birthday from Brasil and that I was aware all day. (*I hope Mom didn't forget to give you my gift.) Love you lots! (*Rest assured, I remembered.)

Man. This week. There's so much to say. It's been a super hard week. It's been such an amazing times. Best of times, worst of times, yeah. It's real.

I have a (not-so) secret admirer, Elder Moura, who told me, in a very elegant nonLove Letter, that he thinks I'm gonna kill it in Brasil because I don't have an American accent. Haha. 

Me and SB are so so so focused on the work, but don't worry, we're still having a ton of fun. Usually.

I get so many compliments on my sardas (freckles). They're not common in Brasil. Luckily, people think they're beautiful and don't think they look like a disease, like *Grandma Dayley did when she was young. :)  (*Grandma tells stories of not loving her freckles when she was a kid.)

Some of the troubles I have been having include things that I need to change and a lot of things that I'm learning about myself and companionships. Companionships aren't hard though. We are a BOMB companionship. Some days, she sings SO LOUD in the shower and everywhere. It's awesome. I love those days. SB is super awesome. One particular day this week, we were having a good day (I think it was yesterday? The days are long and hard to keep track of!) We gave this lesson about the Word of Wisdom and it was the LITERAL best lesson I think I ever have given. We didn't forget anything, there was a good amount of discussion between us and Nielly, we had perfect answers for all of her questions because the Spirit was so strong, and in the end she agreed to live the word of wisdom. Man. In the provo MTC, they told us that our companionship matters to lessons. I didn~t believe it much because we still gave decent lessons on days that we were ehh (*tbh, many days) but when I see how well we work together on really good days, it makes me way more motivated to be more understanding and make an even greater effort towards our companionship. I would really appreciate some prayers though because I still have 3 weeks left. :>)   (*TBH= to be honest)

Elder Ostler rapped the entire song, curses and slurs discluded, of *Rap God this week in class. Yep. 

(*FYI- it's a reallllly long rap song by Eminem, with not much of note to say. )

If you thought Utah weather was bipolar, come to São Paulo. It can literally rain 6 separate times in one day. Sometimes I don't super feel like running for the entire time of Actividade Física so I'll lay down on the bench and just watch the clouds. They ZIP by. I swear I can see 3 separate black clouds go by. Some days are really hot. Some days are really cold. I love it here!

The food here continues to be great. Dessert is always gelatinous. Usually it's good. There's a lot of meat, beans, and rice, and bread. They always put something in the water. Like fruit slices, or rosemary or something. *Idk why. I have been having some serious stomach issues and other discomforts this week. Luckily, the drugs here are awesome because the laws aren't as strict. I heard that the highest dosage of one pill that you can have of Tylenol in the states is 500 or something but here it's 700. Anyway, the meds here are super great. (*IDK= I don't know)

My zone is super awesome. Elders Chowen, Sackett, Ostler, Welling. Teachers are Irmão Peres and Irmã Andrade. We're going to get Açai with Irma Andrade at 3:30 (in 10 minutes). I'm so excited! Anyway, my 45 minutes are up so they're kicking me out. They have quite a system for emailing. 

This week I memorized Alma 32:21 and Mosiah 3:19 and John 3:16. Actually, just read all of Alma 32. And 2 Nephi 31. I have started reading the book of mormon in portuguese. I know about 90% of the words now. It's pretty awesome. Love you all so much! I'm feeling the prayers every day! I miss you all so much. :)

Andy, thanks for your letter! I was so happy to get it. I miss you so much too! I am definitely having a wonderful time at the MTC. I'm so excited for when you get to come here too! I LOVE YOU! It's so nice to hear that you learned that lesson at Sister Nielson's about how we can pray to God for help. That is sooooo true. There are so many blessing we can get when we are obedient. Don't forget to pray to Heavenly Father every day for help! I know He loves you, almost as much as me ;) (Just kidding, a lot more than me). Be good for Mom and Dad! Love you!

I love you all!! Don't forget to remember that God loves you and that the church is super true!!

*Bubba, be a good 18 year old. Love you!  (*Don't y'all love getting a special shout out from the sis?? Maybe it depends on the message, hehe. Of course she did get you a not-to-be-topped gift and told Andy God loved him more than her. And she's 2000 miles away. She can say what she wants.)

-Sister Hartman

Me in my new digs in Brasil. (Thanks, Santanas for my flag!!)

Outside the CTM: Sao Paulo, Brasil

Me with Pres. Paulo R. Grahl and Sister Zuleika M. Grahl

Sao Paulo at night- so beautiful

Elders just chillin.

Opened a gift sent in the suitcase!

I freakin' love brasil

I freakin' love brasil. 

The food is weird but good here. Rice and beans for every meal. But it~s way good. Pão de queijo* for breakfast. Guaraná every day. Desserts are always gelatinous in some way. *Translation: Cheese bread

Cockroaches everywhere. It rains a lot. SB and I have our own bathroom and we~re the only ones in our room rn*.  *Right now

*I asked her about the difference in the keyboard:

As you can see, the key that is normally an apostrophe is now the thing that makes letters nasalized. Like in the word amanhã. The shift key is smaller to fit all of these other keys. Mostly accents and the ç button and stuff. It~s annoying. Also, the language is português so this is saying that every word I type is wrong. Lol. 

We do splits here. AKA, we trade our companion for a brasileira and then everyone teaches each other. My splits companion is from Rio Grande do Sul, the state in which I will be serving! É muito legal*. She is very excited for me. Don't remember her name, sorry. Amanhã**. (*Translation: She's very Cool.) (**Translation: Tomorrow.)

Sao Paulo Lds Temple

We went to the São Paulo temple today. Out of all the temples I~ve been to, it~s definitely one of my favorites. SO beautiful. We boarded vans as districts and drove the hour to the temple. I got to sit in front and chat with the drivers. It~s very fun. They're very considerate of my poor understanding. It~ll get better soon, I hope.

I really enjoy the brasileiros. Some of my favorites are Elders Zuza and Araujo. EA is super nice and has decent english so he can tell me how to say a lot of stuff. EZ and I joke around a lot. Brasileiros really like their jokes and their fun. I love it. I think I am a brasileira at heart. The first time I joked around, I got them so good because they didn~t expect me to joke with them because the only white people they~ve met didn~t take things the right way. Anyway, it was awesome. 

Soccer has been banned for all missionaries of brazilian missions. NO ONE can play it. I~~m pretty darn jealous of those other south american missions. Ugh. Guess I'm not coming home pro at futebol as planned. 

VOLLEYBALL IT IS.

I'm not sure what the address is here. No one ever gets mail here (so sad!). I'll try and look later when I have time.

I got the pictures you sent! I love them!! Andy is such a goof. :}   Thanks for sending them! 

Our CTM prez is awesome. He~s the one that put in all the footnotes for the portuguese bible and finished it this year. my district was the first one to get the new bibles. We~re super special. ;) Also, he~s the recorded voice of HF in the temple. 

Some miracles this week: 

So, we teach "investigators" (our teachers) and their job is to make things pretty difficult but to also ask questions that are like investigators they taught on their missions. Well this week, we committed both to baptism. With my Provo teachers*, we never got there. It's one of the best feelings ever to have someone to commit to come closer to Christ. I can't even imagine what it's like to do it for real. I'm so excited for that day. Anyway, the miracle is that we are FINALLY teaching great lessons again. In provo, I was feeling like our lessons were getting worse and worse. When we got here, SB and I have been working so well with each other. I'm so glad she's my companion. Teaching is SO FUN. I love when our investigators ask questions because it shows that they're truly listening and wanting to change. Also, I'm still really impatient when it comes to my portuguese. I just want to be fluent now. Well we had a fantastic class about the gift of tongues this week and following the Spirit and it was exactly what I needed and had been praying for. I'm so glad that we have a loving Heavenly Father that gives us the answers if we ask for them. Whenever we teach, we always have to ask the investigator to pray to know for themselves because that's the only way we can be converted. I know the Lord hears and answers our prayers if we pray with sincere hearts and real intencão. (Moroni 10:4-5). *They were only there a week and a half though.

Other stuff happened this week but a) I can't remember and b) they're basically shoving us out of the computer lab.

Scriptures are awesome. Prayer is awesome. O dom de línguas* is real. This gospel is awesome. Tchau! (*Translation: The gift of tongues)

Miss you all so much!!!! Muitos beijos*! xoxoxoxxox (*Translation: Many kisses)

Até*! (*Translation: Later)

-Sister Hartman

Remembering fall at the Provo MTC

The picture I sent her of Andy, the insta-pirate

A letter from the CTM President

Dear Parents,

Sister Grahl and I are very happy to let you know that your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil Missionary Training Center. What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary as they begin their missionary experiences with us! We will surely take good care of your missionary.                                                                                                     

The missionaries now have companions and are settled into their rooms.  They are assigned to a district with capable and caring instructors for language and lesson study.  Their branch presidents and wives will meet them this Sunday.  These wonderful couples are richly blessed as they work with, motivate, and interview the missionaries assigned to their branch.

The MTC has a full-time live-in physician to care for their health needs.  He is assisted by his able wife who is a nurse. We are also happy to report that the MTC food is plentiful, healthy and very good.

Your missionary will be able to e-mail home on Preparation Day after a morning at the Temple.  This will be either Wednesday or Friday, depending on individual assignments.

Your missionary is about to make an eternal difference in the lives of many others. President Lorenzo Snow said: “There is no mortal man that is as interested in the success of an elder when he is preaching the Gospel as is the Lord who sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord's children".  We love these missionaries as if they were our own.  We will watch over them carefully to ensure they are ready for a wonderful missionary experience after the rewarding time they will have in the MTC.

We thank you for preparing such a wonderful representative of the Lord.

Pres. Paulo R. Grahl and Sister Zuleika M. Grahl

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:  

PLEASE DO NOT SEND PACKAGES to the Brazil Missionary Training Center. All packages must be sent directly to the mission where your missionary will be serving, not the MTC. If you have already mailed a package to the Brazil MTC, please understand that the package cannot be forwarded to his or her mission and will be returned to you.

WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE SENDING HAND WRITTEN LETTERS. Please write your missionary´s first and last name. Your missionary will provide you with his district and box number. Also, pleaseDO NOT SEND ANYTHING BY FEDEX, DHL, UPS, or other private carriers.  The cost to process this type of correspondence is exorbitant.