Feliz Dia de Ação de Graças! It has been a very inspirational week. Last P-day seems like a life time ago! First thing--Happy Thanksgiving! Our Thanksgiving was a somewhat uneventful day but we were very blessed with a lot of great lessons. It was fun to at least be with an American companion who could appreciate it with me. We walked around saying TONS of things we were grateful for all day in the streets of João Rossi, here´s a few: We are grateful for clean houses, the sun that gives life to the earth, the rain that gives frio to the earth, the moço in plaid who talked to us on the right side of the street, all the kind ladies who let us in to give us water (it is our favorite way to enter doors), Clarice´s Christmas tree, my American shoes, each other, our families, Josiana, the Restoration DVD, and grass, to name a few. At the end of the day we came home and made some classic Thanksgiving turkeys with the girls (see in the pics below). It was of course the first time that Síster Beserra and Síster Sena made these wonders and they of course loved them. Those are the things that I am truly thankful for. And they made us wear Santa hats on Thanksgiving Day which I was against but overruled. Brazilians mix everything together from rice and beans and mistura to holidays. It was a blast to share a little bit of our holiday happiness with them. Not quite the same as 6 differente pies and all the family together like you guys had, but in our own way it was a very special day. Now on to the Christmas holidays! On Saturday we had a zone activity where we sang Christmas carols in the park. It was super fun and mais low-key than last year (although they are probably going to have a bigger choral here in a few weeks in Centro when it is closer to Christmas). It seemed liked not a whole lot of people were passing by but we actually were able to get over 100 references in less than 2 hours and had lots of fun. I love singing, especially about Christ and especially about Christmas and Christ. We had a blast. Síster Sperry has a BEAUTIFUL voice and we were able to get some great harmony going on (actually every day for companionship study we have some great harmony as well), especially with giant speakers and mics. Yeah, it was the real deal. There are some great missionaries here and we always have lots of fun. We had an amazing lesson with Josiana e her son Eduardo this week. They are really starting to open up and tell us their needs. I love teaching with Síster Sperry because we are able to have the Spirit quickly and support each other well in the lessons. We watched the 20 minute Restoration this week with them and it was super spiritual and they had great questions. We talked LOTS about prayers and getting answers and then popped the question (baptismal invite). It was the longest moment of silence I have ever had in a lesson after the invite but in the end...they both said yes! I think they might take a while for them to accept everything because they work A TON and are never em casa but they are very interessed and have great potential. They even already invited us over for Christmas. I hope I stay here in this area to see them progress and feel the love they are already starting to gain for the gospel, but if not, I know they are being left in good hands with Síster Sperry. I´m loving the ward and loving the Primary. Everyone there is just so great. Clarice is always bringing her two grandkids to church every week now and they are loving it. She is a costureira, so she even made them both a dress shirt and got tiny ties so they fit in with everyone! It is the cutest thing. Yesterday was the annual Primary Program and they came proud and all dressed up, even though it was raining a monsoon outside. And...their parents came too! Clarice was SOOOOOO excited to have her daughter (Francine) there. It turned out really great and Francine wants to come back (but also works a ton so it may be hard to find her). Francine also has been talking about getting married for a while but didn´t like the Church she was going to, but is considering getting married in ours! It is just a thought but has always been my dream to host a wedding for an investigator. Who knows what the future holds? Let´s baptize the whole family. Oh and Clarice is also getting excited about family history work. We filled out at least half of her little FH booklet this week with her. She pulled out these sweet old documents of her mom and grandma, and it was awesome to search through them to find dates and locations. I am really coming to love family history work more and more. What a great gift we have in it! I love you all lots! Have a happy week! Síster Marchante       Olá Presidente! Esta semana foi cheia de muitas coisas boas. Primeiramente, muito obrigada pela entrevista segunda passada. Aprendi MUITAS coisas e tenho muitas maneiras quero mudar e me moldar antes do fim. A Síster Sperry e eu falamos muito sobre humildade e confiança em nós mesmas. Acho que se eu conseguir ganhar auto-confiança em todos os momentos, vou ser a missionária que Deus quer que seja e será mais feliz. Estas coisas não são fáceis para mim mas sinto que já mudei um pouco e agora sei exatamente o que fazer até o fim. Muito obrigada por seu tempo extra e por sua confiança em a gente. Estou aprendendo as coisas mais importantes para mim e abrindo meu coração para novas ideias. Tenho muito esperança no futuro. Fizemos uma divisão no Bebedouro esta semana. Foi excelente. Saí com a Síster Sousa e buscamos novos. Ela já mudou tanto desde a primeira vez saí com ela alguns meses atrás. A Síster Auna está a ajudando bastante e dá amor sem fim. Acredito que uma das razões maiores que a Síster Auna veio ao Brasil neste momento foi para fortalecer e amar a Síster Sousa. As duas são fantásticas. Oramos e escolhemos uma rua para bater portas. Foi uma experiência muito legal para ver milagres e novas forças que a Síster Sousa tem agora. Ela tem muito mais coragem e energia e estava determinada trabalhar até a última porta. Encontramos algumas novas famílias que foram muito legais e nós duas estavam muito animadas no fim do dia. Andando para o rodoviária ela falou sem para por mais do que meia hora sobre a sua família (especialmente a sua tia) e conversão. Nunca vi ela abre tanto como aquele dia, e foi muito boa conhecê-la melhor. Parece que todas as coisas na vida dela estão melhorando pouco por pouco e que a vida dela está em ordem. Ela agradeceu muito pela ajuda do senhor e falou que ela tem muito mais paz e felicidade agora na missão. Foi um grande prazer sair com ela. Sou grata e fico com admiração com cada divisão. Nossas Sísteres são maravilhosas. O resto de nossa semana foi muito boa. Tivemos uma reunião familiar com nosso recém-converso que foi muito bom para ela ganhar novas amigas. Também tivemos uma lição de ouro com nossos pesquisadores Josiana e Eduardo onde marcamos duas datas de batismo. Eles são inteligentes e realmente querem saber a verdade por se mesmos. Acho que eles buscarão diligentemente. Amo ensinar pessoas como assim. O Programa da Primária este domingo trouxe muito gente e alguns visitantes. Foi lindo e tudo mundo gostou. Amo as pessoas aqui, e realmente me sinto o amor que elas têm pelos missionários e pela obra. Tenho as melhores áreas na missão! Obrigada, Síster Marchant     English Translation:   Hello President! This week was full of many good things. First, thank you for the second last interview. MANY things and have learned many ways I want to change and mold me before the end. The Sister Sperry and I talked a lot about humility and trust in ourselves. I think if I can gain self-confidence at all times, will be the mission that God wants it to be and will be happier. These things are not easy for me but I feel I've changed a bit and now I know exactly what to do until the end. Thank you for your extra time and your trust in us. I'm learning the most important things for me and opening my heart to new ideas. I have much hope for the future. We made a division in the Trough this week. It was excellent. I left with Sister Sousa and seek new. She has changed so much since the first time I went out with her a few months ago. The Sister Auna is helping a lot and gives endless love. I think one of the biggest reasons that Sister Auna came to Brazil at this time was to strengthen and love Sister Sousa. Both are fantastic. We pray and we chose a street to slam doors. It was a very cool experience to see miracles and new forces that Sister Sousa has now. She has more courage and energy and was determined to work to the last door. We found some new families that were really nice and we both were very excited at the end of the day. Walking to the bus she said no to for more than half an hour about his family (especially his aunt) and conversion. I've never seen it opens as much as that day, and it was very good to know her better. It seems that all things in her life are improving little by little and that her life is in order. She thanked a lot for the help of the Lord and said she has a lot more peace and happiness now in the mission. It was a great pleasure to hang out with her. I am grateful and I'm in awe with each division. Our Sisters are wonderful. The rest of our week was very good. We had a family reunion with our new convert who was very good for her to win new friends. We also had a golden lesson with our Josiana and Eduardo researchers where we scored two baptism dates. They are smart and really want to know the truth to them. I think they will seek diligently. Love teaching people as well. The Primary Program this Sunday brought a lot of people and some visitors. It was beautiful and all the world like it. I love the people here, and really feel the love they have for missionaries and for work. I have the best areas in the mission! Thank you, Sister Marchant