Monday, August 26, 2013

5 Months in Brasil!!

Olá família!

Today I have 5 months here in Brasil. We have transfers next week and I am really hoping to stay in Guará I! What a change, right? Normally I love moving around, but I am happy here and the work definitely isn´t done. We have 4 baptismal dates marked for this next transfer so I am hoping I stay and that they actually happen! Everybody think happy thoughts about me staying here one more transfer :) 

Last Monday Sister Gonçalves and I went sight-seeing with Julieta and Delmar. They took us to Parque da Cidade, Ponte JK, Ermida Dom Bosco, and Pontão. It was a lot of fun; they are awesome. 
This morning we had a sisters training so we spent the first half of p-day in Asa Norte. Sister Tsukuda goes home this Friday!! I am super sad I won´t see her anymore :( It´s crazy to think that one day the end of the mission will arrive. It seems so far away but I know it will sneak up on me and catch me by surprise. 

The sisters showed us a video this morning that I really liked. Everybody needs to Google "Montanhas a Escalar" and watch the clip not the actual talk that Elder Henry B Eyring gave. It´s like 5 minutes or so. Don´t worry, the actual audio is in English, but it has Portuguese subtitles if you are interested in seeing the language I am learning :) haha

Hopefully next week I write an email saying I stayed in Guará I!!

Love you all,
Sister Kerr

Monday, August 19, 2013

8 Months!!

Bom dia!

Can you believe I have 8 months in the mission today? Let me break it down even more: one month from now I will be halfway done with the mission. Halfway!! Crazy! I remember when I started the mission I looked at the people with 8, 9, 10 months and thought, "Wow, they know everything. They have been in the mission for almost a year." I can definitely say that having so much time in the mission still doesn´t mean you know everything haha. I seriously can´t believe I am almost at the 9 month mark. 

Last week was pretty great. We had the zone conference in the mission home on Thursday and I am happy to announce my name was not chosen to present the training I had prepared. My companion was chosen haha. I did have the great task of playing the piano for the opening and closing hymns. I told the chorister, "You can lead the music however you want because I don´t play well enough to actually follow you" haha. Glad to say it wasn´t a complete disaster but I think I played a little fast. I played "How Great Thou Art" and "Come Follow Me." I begged Elder Rosendo to not let me play but there was literally nobody else who was willing. 

The zone conference was cool because President Gaertner spent the first hour just letting us ask questions to clear up doctrine, rules in the mission...whatever we wanted to ask. After that Sister Gonçalves gave the lesson she prepared and then we had hot dogs for lunch. After lunch President Gaertner showed up some pictures of his actual house in Curitiba. There are seriously no words to describe how nice their house is. It looks like it came straight out of a housing magazine! 

The rest of the week went well. We have been exhausted lately. One night I was even asleep before 10pm. I have been waking up at 5:40am everyday to get in some extra time working out because I feel super lazy and out of shape. I miss a lot of things from home, one of them being easy access to a gym! 

Next Monday we will have training for the sisters so my email will probably come a little late. Two more weeks are left in this transfer. This transfer is really flying by! 

Hope everybody is enjoying summer!! It´s almost over! Love you all very much.

Sister Kerr
Here´s a picture of the zone in front of the mission home after the training.





Delmar (recent convert) and Juliet (his wife).
Sightseeing.


Monday, August 12, 2013

Sooo tired but happy :)

Last week I was dying because last Monday we spent the entire p-day walking around Plano Piloto and doing all the touristy stuff. It was a lot of fun with our district and the sisters from Guará II ended up being there, too! We ran into them in the library. I am happy because I finally got to visit Os Candangos (picture below) which was something I didn´t visit when I visited Plano before.
This week will be very tiring as well because I spent practically all day playing soccer. Woo hoo! :) We had a zone activity this morning and it was a ton of fun!! By far it was the best activity we have had. We had churrasco, soda, and cake and played soccer for like 3 hours straight. I am happy :)

Our zone today :)
I had an exchange with Sister Tsukuda last week but instead of going to Lago Norte we stayed in Guará I. It was good; I always like going on exchanges with her. Last Tuesday, Sister Gonçalves and I had a super unique experience. I woke up thinking about Naide, the bishop´s wife, and felt like we needed to visit her. I worked out, got ready for the day, and did personal study but I couldn´t stop thinking about her. When companionship study started I said to Sister Gonçalves, "I think we need to visit Naide this morning before we go to lunch." She responded, "I woke up thinking about her, too!" We baked some cookies super quickly as an excuse to stop by and then headed there after language study.

When Naide answered the door she seemed really surprised and relieved to see us. We told her we baked some cookies and then asked if  she needed help with anything. We offered to wash the dishes, sweep, mop, and help straighten up the house. Normally people don´t accept our help but she let us help her. While we were cleaning the kitchen she said she woke up this morning with a lot of pain in her back because she has an illness that affects her nerves. She said she laid in bed and said, "Heavenly Father, I don´t know how I am going to manage to do everything today. I need help." A few hours later we showed up :) She was very grateful for our help. I love moments like that in the mission. Sister Gonçalves and I have days where we walk home at night and just keep saying, "This is the mission. This is what it´s all about." Tuesday was definitely one of those days :) 

Oh yeah, Saturday night the ward had a karaoke activity. I heard some Justin Beiber, The Beatles, and a few other American songs. It was a nice taste of home. Yesterday morning I was watching the movie 17 Miracles while getting ready for church. The movie was in English with Portuguese subtitles. I wanted to ask Sister Gonçalves a question so I went to her and said, "Do you think this dress is short?" She looked at me super puzzled and I thought to myself, "Why isn´t she responding?" Then I realized I had asked her in English haha. It was weird because I had been thinking in Portuguese, but because of the movie it came out in English.

Life is good. We have zone conference this Thursday in the mission home. Each of us has to prepare a 30 minute lesson and one of our names will be chosen to actually teach. I normally have bad luck so I have a feeling it will be me haha. Next Monday I will have 8 months in the mission!!

Love you all very much!!

Sister Kerr
Our district - Me, Sister Gonçalves, Sister Carlomagno, Sister Damaceno, Elder Fonseca, Elder Sowards

My mission - Brasília Guará!

Os Candangos



Monday, August 5, 2013

Guará I :)

Boa tarde!

So I am currently writing this email from the Brasilía National Library :) We came here to visit Plano Piloto as a district and decided to stop in quickly and send emails from here.
I love Guará I!! I loved Guará II, but honestly it took me a little while to figure out why I was there. Guará I is the complete opposite. I am so happy and I know why I am here. Sister Gonçalves and I have already seen so many miracles. I think Guará I needed to be opened to sisters again :)
Elder Sowards is a super fun district leader. He has little challenges and games that he has us play throughout the week to keep things interesting. I am really grateful for him. Next week we will have a zone activity so my email will probably come later in the day.
Life is great! I wanted to send some pictures this week but the library doesn´t have USB ports so I will have to wait until next week.
Hope everybody is doing well!! Miss you, love you!

Sister Kerr
PS This week I watched the movie 17 Miracles again. If you haven´t seen it, watch it! I love that movie.