Wow familia!

My life just got flipped all around. I am leaving Campos Eliseos! Em fim, after nearly 9 months, I am moving to another area. I spent half of my mission there. It was very difficult to say goodbye to all of those wonderful members and recent converts lá. I LOVE Campos Eliseos! It will always be my home na missão. I am being transfered to the center of Ribeirão Preto, in Ala Jardim Irajá. It really is downtown, big city with tons of skyscrapers and lots of busy streets. What a new adventure! And it turns out...Síster Hoggan was transfered here with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are whitewashing an area together. I was shocked when I heard the news. But super excited. The two sisteres who were serving here will take our spots in Campos Eliseos. I knew my time had come and that I would probably leave this transfer. But I never thought we would stay together! It turns out that our area here in Irajá actually borders the area of Campos Elíseos também, so I´m about as close as I can get (Debora (who is still our super active Young Women´s President and gaining a stronger testimony daily) said she is going to come and visit us twice a week. Silly Debora. I will miss her lots. Oh and she gave her first talk in Sacrament Meeting this week! It did my heart so good to see her grow so much in the gospel already and make many changes. Emily, her daughter who is 7 is also excited to get baptized next year. And after many weeks, her husband Marcos surprised her and all of us by coming to Church this week to here her speak. It was the best present for the my last day. Síster Hoggan and I also got to bear our testimonies in Sacrament Meeing to say our goodbyes. We then hugged all the irmãs lots and took LOTS of pictures. I love that place so much!) Síster Hoggan only has two more transfers left so I MIGHT stay with her until the end. I love her tons and am very grateful to continue to serve with her. Síster Hoggan is a missionary de poder and is not afraid of anything. She is a great example to me.

ANALIA WAS BAPTIZED!!! She entered a agua last night, in the last few hours of our transfer there. It was a challenge to get to this point and there were many moments I worried it would fall through, but she did super great and made it all the way. Anália has the very beginnings of Alztimers. She understands the important things but forgets things easily. But she has a heart of gold and truly wants to do anything possible to do what God wants for her. We went to get her Sunday morning and she forgot that she was going to get baptized that night. "What? Maybe someday but I´m not ready today." But she came to Church all three hours and met lots more people, and by the end she was ready to go. When we went to pick her up that night she was already ready and just leaving her gate. It was good we showed up when we did because she said she had forgotten how to arrive na capela although she´s been there at least 5 times and was about to ask her neighbors how to get there. Tadinha. Analia is wonderful and had a wonderful baptism. I played the Joseph Smith Medly piano solo that I have as my last hurrah de Campos Elíseos. (oh and yes, Grandma asked about music: I have still been playing piano in Sacrament Meeting and Relief Society and almost every other meeting that we have. I don´t know about here in our new area but I´m hoping the music will continue!) The Elders also baptized last night a dad and his son. It is wonderful to see my wonderful ward progressing so much and continuing to grow. With Bispo Fabio and Tiago at the head, they will continue to see lots of sucess. There is nothing stopping them.

Elder Kimball (our district leader) makes this wonderful lime mouse cake and promised us to make us one if we obtained 50 addresses through contacts this week. Yeah, conseguimos.

The World Cup continues to go on full force with Brazil playing today. I bought a Brazil shirt last week and have a full sized flag and am super cheering for Brazil. And the Estados Unidos seem to be doing good and will continue on as well. What madness this sport is.

So I am on to a new stage in my mission. I had the whole map and every name of every street memorized in Campos Elíseos. I knew where every member lived and where every pesquisador and ex-pesquisador lived and now I don´t even know where I live, let alone where the chapel is! We just dropped our bags in our apartment and ran here to write emails before everything closes early for the cup. (Yes, everything closes down and you can´t really do anything when Brazil is playing). Our new apartment seems similar to our old one with two bedrooms and a small sala and a tiny kitchen. It is an apartment still and not a house which I am very happy about because it is way safer and I don´t think we will have any problems. We will be living with Síster Kunkell who was already serving here in Irajá (she´s American and just got here 3 months ago after waiting a long time for her visa nos Estados Unidos--sorry don´t know much else about her yet). She will be training a novinha! I can´t get away from Brazilians. In Campos Eliseos now Elder Kimball and Elder Johnson will ficar, as well as Sister Rodriguez and Sister Casperson, but they will receive two new Brazilian sisteres and one new brazilian elder to serve with Elder Tolentino. There are still 8 missionaries in Campos Eliseos. The mission is also splitting our zone in two which is exciting. The mission is growing lots! When I arrived there were about 140 missionaries I think. By the end of the year there will be 250! Way to go all you young moços answering the call and serving a mission, especially in Ribeirão Preto, the best place in the world. I love my mission and am ready for this new adventure to come! 

Thanks for all the support!

Síster Marchant

P.S. I am having a hard time writing in Inglês today. I don´t know what it is but in my head I keep thinking in Portuguese. Missionary problems...

P.P.S. I am SSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad and grateful my package came through this week Mom!! What an answer to many prayers. It was actually super sweet because I really wanted it to come last week but got the impression that it wouldn´t, and then I feel like I received many confimations this week in my prayers that my pictures would arrive and they did this week! It is just a little tender mercy of the Lord but it makes me very happy :)

Olá Presidente!

Que uma aventura! Esta semana passou muito rápida. Nós acabamos de chegar aqui em Irajá e estamos começando em nossa nova área. Estamos começando de quase nada mas estamos animadas por este novo desafio do Senhor e vamos confiar muito Nele para abrir esta área desconhecida a nós duas.

Esta semana tivemos um batismo! Nossa boa amiga Anália Maria foi batizada ontem. Ela é muito velha e estava tendo problemas lembrar das doutrinas das lições, mas tentamos ensinar bem simples e repetimos muitas coisas. Nós oramos muito e jejuamos para que ela pudesse passar sua entrevista batismal, e ela passou muito bem! Nós conseguimos vê-la ser batizada em nossa último dia da transferência. Toda a família dela de outras alas que nós não conhecemos apareceu lá também! Foi a melhor bênção possível para nós. Amamos ela e estamos tristes para ir embora, mas sabemos que ela está em boas mãos e que a ala vai cuidar com ela.

Deixamos nossa área muito bem com o Livro de Área atualizada e pronta. Posso deixar meu lar de Campos Elíseos em paz. Foi uma época maravilhosa lá, mas eu sei que é a vontade do Senhor que eu trabalha aqui em Irajá agora. Estou animada conhecer novos membros e pessoas e enfrontar novos desafios a crescer. Com Deus e Síster Hoggan, tudo é possível. Tenho muita fé que vamos ver sucesso aqui!

Obrigada por tudo,

Síster Marchant

 

 

Translation Into English:

Hello President!
What an adventure! This week went by very fast. We just got here and we're starting Irajá in our new area. We are starting from almost nothing but we are animated by this new challenge from the Lord and we trust Him to open this very unknown to us both area.
This week we had a baptism! Our good friend Maria Analia was baptized yesterday. She is very old and was having trouble remembering the doctrines of lessons, but we try to teach simple and repeat many things. We prayed and fasted much so that she could spend her baptismal interview, and it went very well! We could see her being baptized in our last day of the transfer. Her whole family of other wings which we did not know showed up too! It was the best blessing for us. We love her and we are sad to leave, but we know she is in good hands and that will take care ward with her.
We left our area very well with the book area updated and ready. Can I leave my home to Elysian Fields in peace. It was a wonderful time there, but I know it's the Lord's will that I work here Irajá now. I'm excited to meet new people and enfrontar members and new challenges to grow. With God and Sister Hoggan, anything is possible. I have faith that we will see success here!
Thanks for everything,
Sister Marchant