The "Oish" Oman

Ola Dinovo!!! (Hello again!)

I'm going to be totally honest, there isn't a lot to say about this past week... I've spent a little bit more time at the apartment than I would've liked. It seems my body is still trying to adjust to the food and climate here in Rio Doce. But all is well! I'm all better now, and we're back to working hard every day!

I do have some exciting news! We talked to the Bishop yesterday, and I'm going to be starting an English class! Wahoo! I'm kinda nervous though... Anyone have ideas for what to do for an English class? I'm a little lost, because I honestly don't even know what I'm supposed to do for this. Haha! But I'm excited none the less!

Oh! I do have one exciting story to tell! This is a story to describe what the people here in Rio Doce/Recife are like-

So, we had contacted this one lady clapping doors last week, and we taught her the first and second lesson. Then, this week, we went back to teach her again, and this man (not sure if he's her husband, brother, friend, etc.- but he lives at the same house) just started yelling at us. He kept saying "OISH! OISH!" over and over again, and yelling at us to leave. (oish is a word people in the north east use to express frustration, anger, ...actually, like all of the emotions really, but this man was using it angrily) And so, because Marie Jose wasn't there, we asked one of the other ladies if we could leave her a note. While we were writing the note, the "oish oman" (oish man) kept saying things like "this isn't a note, it's a book!' etc. I thought it was actually really funny- because I knew we weren't in any harm. He was just sitting over in the corner. But afterwards, my companion got so upset. She was physically shaking, and almost about to cry. She said that in her entire year she's been on her mission, she has never met a man as mean as him. So that's why this story describes these people here in Brazil. The people are just so nice!!! Everyone, even those that don't want our message are (usually) really polite about it. This one man made my companion upset for days, because she just wasn't used to rude people. 

Miracle of the week:

The miracle this week was during a lesson with our pesquisador (investigator) Elizabete. During the first lesson we invited her to baptism, and she didn't really give an answer. But we've continued to teach her, and during one of the lessons this week, we invited her to baptism again, and she strongly and confidently accepted. We're working with her, and planning for two weeks from now for her baptism. (keep her in your prayers!) It's just so incredible to see how the gospel can change lives. At first, she was very timid, and very quiet answering questions and talking to us. But now, she has a lot more confidence, and she seems to know who she is. This gospel is so cool!! :)

Well, I guess that's just about it. How are all of you?! I hope everyone is doing well, and remembers just how much your Savior loves you, because he does.

With lot's and lot's of love,

Sister Shelton

Scripture of the week:

Romans 8:18- "...the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." There's a reason for every hard thing we go through. Keep going. Never give up. The glory to come will be greater than anything we suffer through now. (also look at Romans 8:31- it's super powerful as well!)

Pictures-

219 is a picture from district meeting the other day... not sure why they had a mask, but we sure had fun with it!

221 and 222 are pictures of the road- yes, the road. Not the river. Although, I guess this week they've kind of been the same thing.

227- I finally tried Brasilian Acai!!! Oh my goodness, it is so good!!

“And the house on the sand washed away"

                                                                                                                                                     July 24, 2017

Ola!!!

So first things first, I need to explain my subject line from last week! I totally forgot to do that. Sorry! "Sister Sorriso vs sand, sutakis, sunburns, and scorpions" Sorriso means smile in Portuguese. It's one of my nicknames here, because I smile A LOT! I just love being a missionary! It's also because when I don't have any clue what's going on (frequently) I just smile and nod at people. Hahaha! And then sand because all the roads are sand. Sutaki means accent, and the Recife accent is really different, and it's been interesting to learn. Sunburn... because, well, you know me. Hahaha! And Scorpion, because scorpion is a word to describe people who try to hit on missionaries. (it's like snake) As with my experience last week. Also, because people wink and catcall me all the time. i'm slowly getting used to the staring in the street. (not just from scorpions, but from everyone!)

Okay, now for this week! Don't worry, no houses have washed away; but believe me when I say sand and water don't mix! It has rained SO MUCH this week! Nossa! And when all of the roads are dirt roads, it makes walking places interesting! The streets are literally rivers. You can't see any part of the road, and you just have to scoot along the edges. It's insane! But it's been so fun! Let's hope my cute little umbrella from Walmart holds up! So far so good!

This week was a good week! Definitely hard, but it's getting better! I'm starting to know the area and the ward better, which really helps! I also know our investigators a lot better, and it's been nice to be able to help them more! 

One fun thing really quick! We were eating lunch at a member's house, and she turned the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on, on YouTube. And at one point, I looked up, and there was my High School choir teacher, Mr. Durtschi, front and center on the screen! It was nice to see a little bit of home! Haha!

We had Zone Conference this week, and it was SO good!!! At it, Sister Houseman encouraged us all to include one miracle in our emails every week. So, as I thought about what I wanted to share today, I realized there were tons of miracles. But the one I want to share is about my ankle. Many of you know that I've had a lot of problems with my ankle the past few years- and was even in a boot a month before leaving for my mission. But since stepping foot in Brazil, I haven't had a single problem. It hasn't even ached. Which, considering the fact that we walk about 8 or 9 miles every single day, is an incredible miracle and blessing! I'm extremely grateful to Heavenly Father for this miracle!

I love you all, and I keep you in my prayers always!! Thanks for all the love and support!

Love, Sister Shelton

Scripture of the week: 1 Nephi 17:51 "And now if the Lord has such great power, and has wrought many mighty miracles among the children of men, how is it that he cannot instruct me, that I should build a ship?" THE SAME IS TRUE FOR US IN WHATEVER WE ARE GOING THROUGH!!! 

More Pictures...

Sister Sorriso vs. sand, sutakis, sunburns, and scorpions!!!

OLLLLLAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, it is so good to hear from everyone this week! I can honestly say this has been the longest, and the hardest week of my entire life. I can barely believe I was still at the CTM a week ago. I feel like I've been in the field forever!

Things here are really good though! Recife is absolutely GORGEOUS!!! I'm in a little city called Rio Doce. (sweet river) It's about 40 minutes from Recife, and it's right on the coast! (we have a really good view of the ocean from our window!) My companion is Sister J. Silva. She's from Sao Paulo, and doesn't speak a single word of English, so that's been interesting; but I love her so much!! We've had a lot of fun this week! We love to sing hymns as we walk, and we've laughed a ton! We live in a cute little apartment on the 8th floor of a building with 2 other... Americans! It's actually really crazy that we're 3 to 1 here! But it doesn't really matter, because we're not allowed to speak English. It's all Portuguese, all the time! Which is hard, but I know it'll help me a ton!

Rio Doce is everything I imagined Brazil would be like. It's a pretty poor part of Brazil, which means the people are extremely humble. We teach tons of lessons, and contact tons of people, because literally everyone will stop to listen to us, or let us into their house. Sounds great, right? Well, it's kind of annoying too. Of the number of contacts we make, maybe 1 or 2 are actually interested, and will let us come back. It's really hard to know who's real, and who isn't. But it's good! There's a lot of work here!

Rio Doce itself is a really beautiful place- poor, but beautiful! There's dirt roads, shacks for houses, the sidewalks are falling apart, dogs and horses (yes, horses!!) just wander the streets, it's always hot, always raining, there's palm trees of every size, and fruit trees with fruit I've never even heard of before. It's so great!!!!

Okay, now I'm gonna get real with ya'll. If anyone has ever said being a missionary was easy- they were lying. Wow this has been a hard week! I think the hardest thing about it is just the communication barrier. I want to talk to people, and I want to be part of conversations, but it's hard when people speak fast, and the sutaki (accent) here is super different. I have tons of questions for my trainer, but it's hard to ask them, and even when I do, it's hard to understand her response. It's really easy to get frustrated and discouraged. I'm just trying to remember that I've literally only been in the field for 1 week, and it will get better. I just need to be patient! (I was at least able to bear my testimony on the spot in Sacrament meeting in front of everyone on Sunday! It was terrifying, but I did it!)

Okay, really fast I have to tell you a funny story! (sorry this email is so long!!) We met this girl, Julia, and her mom the other day while contacting, and we taught a lesson on the spot to them. They invited us back, but when we went back, Julia wasn't there and the mom was about to leave. So, we decided just to write a quick note for Julia, then go. While we were writing the note though, the "dad" (not really sure who he is exactly...) ran in with cookies he had just ran and bought at the store for us, then he ran into the kitchen and brought out drinks for us. Then he ran back in and grabbed a chair (which he struggled to get through the door) and sat right in front of us. He kept asking us questions, but because the mom wasn't in the room at that exact moment, we couldn't really teach him. We were just trying to hurry and finish the letter. But while we were sitting there, he just stared at me. And everytime I looked at him, he would wink. It was extremely uncomfortable. But worst of all, when we left, I went to shake his hand, and he grabbed my hand and started rubbing it. ACK! You can bet I got out of that house fast. yeah... we probably won't be going back to that house ever again. Honestly though, it was sooo funny. We died of laughter afterwards. 

Well, life in Rio Doce is good! I hope you're all doing well, and know how much I love you!! Have a great week!!!

Love, Sister Shelton

Scripture of the week: Acts 17:27 "That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us."

 


 
 
 

Paradise!

   

                                                                                                                             July 11, 2017

Paradise!

Ola!!!

I only have a couple minutes to write, but I made it!!! I'm currently sitting in the mission house typing on President Houseman's iPad. 

Recife is beautiful!!!!! I can barely believe it. The mission home is right off the beach, and there are palm trees everywhere. I'm so excited to get to my area, and get to work! 

I love you all! I'm happy, healthy, and safe!! Have a great week!

Love, Sister Shelton

Jehovah’s Witnesses, bible bashing, and crazed ladies…and I haven’t even left the CTM!!

Ola!!!

This has been such a good week!!! I honestly love the CTM more than I ever thought possible. I'm so excited to get to the field, but I sure am going to miss it here!

Speaking of the field, I leave this Tuesday!!! WAHOO! But because of it, I don't know when the next time you'll hear from me is. So, don't worry if you don't hear from me next week. :) 

Okay, so first things first. HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!! I've never been as patriotic as I was yesterday for the 4th of July. Something about not being in your Country, sure makes you love your country! All of the Americans dressed up in red, white, and blue. And the cafeteria was all decorated, and they served chicken nuggets and french fries for lunch!!! Then, at dinner, all of the Americans stood up at the exact same time, and started singing the National Anthem. It was so awesome!!! Overall, one of the best 4th of July ever!!

I'm sure you're all wondering what my subject line is about... We went Proselyting again this week!! it was way different than our first time. The first time we were in a really poor area, and had a bunch of Books of Mormon to give away. But this time we were in the middle of the city, with lots of busy people rushing around, and we didn't have any books of Mormon to give away. We just had to talk to people and get references. It was still SO good though! We talked to one really humble guy (he's from the North- Really close to Recife. The people are a lot more humble there apparently), and he was really interested in our message. We got his contact information, and will send it to Salt Lake. But after him, we didn't see much more success. Three funny things from it:

1st- Sister nolan and I accidently started talking to the Jehovah’s witnesses. The conversation just went really south, and they kept telling us their church was better. We weren't sure how to get away, and our instructor had to come up and wave us over. HAHA!

2nd- There was this man we were talking to, and the conversation started out really great. He was super nice, and we were just chatting. But when we started talking about the Book of mormon and church stuff, and he totally changed. One thing he said, after we told him we had a living prophet was, "Nao! Somente Jesus Cristo e Deus vive hoge!! Voces fala com pessoas mortas!!" (No! Only Jesus Christ and God live today!! You speak with dead people!) hahahaha, it was really interesting! We had a good laugh afterwards.

3rd- There was this one lady, who when we tried to talk to her, said, "Eu tenho uma caminha, e nao e jesus!" (I have a way, and it's not Jesus!) We were just kinda like, Oh. Okay. Good luck. hahahahaha

It was definitely an interesting experience Proselyting! It was so good though.

Another fun thing about this week, was for our Sunday night devotional, we got to watch the Provo broadcast of Elder Bednar. It was SO good!! And, we actually got to hear it in English!! The funnest part of it, was I saw a ton of people I know in the choir!! Including Brother Eggett the choir director! (I did a couple of choirs with him) Oh, and Brother Doman, (my home stake mission prep teacher) was sitting right behind Brother Eggett, so I saw him a bunch! It was so exciting!

Our other devotional from this week was by a member of the seventy here in Brazil. It was really really good as well. (I can't remember his name right now... sorry) It was cool though, because I got to lead the music for the devotional, so I was sitting up on the stand, and got to talk to him for a while! 

Well, it's been an exciting week here, and I can't wait to see what this next week brings! I love you all!! Have a great Week!!! 

Tchau!

Love Sister Shelton