April 18, 2011

A Festa Continua

Dear everyone,

I'm having a thoroughly enjoyable week. I lost one companion and gained another one. It was nuts. So, I took Sis. Bruno to the airport early Wednesday morning (we got there safely and awake) via the scenic route that the GPS gave me. It was great, complete with our favorite David Archuleta Christmas CD and everything. We said our goodbyes, and then I drove Sis. Holzapfel (the mission president's wife) back to the mission home. For some reason, I couldn't remember basic traffic laws like stopping at red lights, so that was awesome. She was just laughing and saying she understood that driving the mission president's wife around wasn't typical.

President asked me at the airport if I would sing at the transfer meeting (much to my surprise), and I agreed to. Of course, the transfer meeting consisted of nothing but elders and about 100 of them. I ended up just doing an impromptu version of "I Believe in Christ" that actually didn't end up sounding too shabby. I think it went well because I wasn't too stressed about it. That could be it.

At the transfer meeting, President announced to everyone that I was the only one who knew who my new companion was. I'd been hearing rumors, but I wanted to see if they were true. He announced that my companion was an one Sister Chaves...from Temple Square...from BRAZIL! People! She is from Joao Pessoa! That's a couple of missions away from mine, in the northeast! Therefore, my Portuguese is going to continue to get better, and I'm going to learn the accent! Whaaaat?! All of the visa waiters are totally jealous. I didn't get to meet her until a few hours later when her plane came in, but that was a fun two hours of waiting. The elders from my district couldn't believe it. They're like, "Not only ONE native Brazilian as a companion, but TWO?!" I know, people, I know. My personal opinion is that this means I'm going to be in Alabama forever before I get my visa or I really need to get my Brazilian language and culture RIGHT before I get there so I can get more done with the short time I'll be there. Nao estou com certeza sobre estas coisas mas, nao obstante, eu amo (I don't know for sure about these things, but, nevertheless, I love it)!

So, Sis. Chaves. She moved to the US from Brazil when she was 6 to Rhode Island. She went to school in Virginia Beach before she came on her mission. She loves hip hop and soul, yay! She reminds me a lot of LaShawn, actually. She's so excited to be here in the South. She actually taught a lady from Montgomery over the phone here while on Temple Square who got baptized on Saturday. We didn't think it was a coincidence that she came here three days before this lady was supposed to be baptized, so we asked President if we could go to the baptism. He obliged and even set up a ride for us with a senior couple a couple of wards away. So, we went to Montgomery -- a three and a half hour drive one way -- on Saturday and saw it happen! It was beautiful. Vanessa was so excited, and her husband was in full support. She's a black woman in her 30s, and there were some black women there to support and watch the baptism. A few of them shared their conversion stories with us, and they made me smile that goofy smile I always get. A lot of them reminded me of Mom, actually. They had a lot to say :) I'm happy Sis. Chaves got to see the fruits of her labor for the first and probably only time in her mission. It was worth it. President will probably put a picture on the blog soon, so look for that.

The next day, we started the tracting and appointments. It was kind of scary thinking that I had to kind of take the reins while she was just learning about the area, but it's going well. She's learning that Huntsville is full of legitimately crazy people and a handful of normal people. It's already pretty hilarious, some of our lessons. I even took her out on the bike to go all over creation the first day, and she's already better at the bike than I am? What is this?! She's a great teacher, and I think we'll work well together. Tracting is going well. It's actually somewhat addicting now, weird.

Mission life is good. The more I learn about the gospel and apply it to my own life, the better I can understand how to meet the needs of my investigators. Everyone moves at their own pace and needs to hear things their own different ways, sometimes many times, to accept the change that this gospel message will have in their lives. As a missionary, I am so down for the ride, and I won't let them go as long as the desire to progress is there.

Tell Dad to write me a letter.

Toodles!

Sister Jones