I've Arrived!

Olá!!

I have arrived!!

I left the CTM last week and arrived in Fortaleza (finally)!

I´m currently serving in Paracurú, which is a cute little beach town right on the coast! seriously, the beach is like a mile down the road. I can see the ocean from our apartment window. It´s pretty awesome. Also it´s super windy! Which is super nice when it´s so hot.

I´d like to take this opportunity to thank Sunsplash for preparing me to cope with being sweaty, sticky, and covered in sunscreen all day. It basically feels normal now and it doesn't even freak me out that much.

My training companion is Sister Rivero! She´s so great! She´s from Argentina but she lived in the US for several years so she speaks really good English (which i didn't know until this morning... she´s been holding out on me and letting me suffer... not bitter). But she´s the best. She´s super happy and likes to work and teach. We keep busy together.

My first time at the market I almost had a breakdown. Haha. I haven´t had to buy food for myself for more than 3 days so i basically had no idea what i was doing also i´m in brazil and the grocery stores are different so I had no idea what I was doing. It was hilarious. learning from mistakes Right? (PS Mingau is not as good when you have to make it yourself... it´s literally baby food...)

(Also... I learned that you can live off crackers for 4 days... :) go me)

Paracuru is great because there are fruit trees every 2 feet. seriously. coconuts and mangos as far as the eye can see. it´s so cool! also everyhouse has a beautiful iron gate in front of it and i love it so much. Also every house is painted with bright colors and it makes me so happy. Hammocks are the norm and every house has like 10 industrial strength hooks cemented into the walls to hang hammocks from. I´m totally on board.

My first baptism is planned for this week! Rafaela has been taking the lessons for a little while now and decided to get baptized last week! So that´s pretty cool! I´m really excited for her! Plus she´s getting baptized in the ocean... So I'm pumped for that too :)

Missions are pretty hard... this week was hard... i got called a liar for the first time this week... I cried. It was great. But there are so many tender mercies that I see everyday that make it okay. Spontaneous snacks from members (hallelujah), pretty tropical flowers every step, butterflies everywhere, and seeing people progress in the gospel! So it´s not so bad. I´m grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who´s looking out for me.

Some funny things that happened this week:

I heard who let the dogs out BLASTING from one house as we were walking. except it was in Portuguese. it was hilarious.

Nobody can pronounce my name, so two of the young women in our branch started calling me Sister Timberlake. 

I love Paracurú and I love Brasil!

Portuguese is coming along

Christ lives, people! and thank goodness!

I love you guys!

Love from Brazil,

Sister Chamberlain