May 21, 2008

HI mom,

I sent you an email last week and I don’t know if you got it. It might have been deleted.

So, my new companion is great. Her name is Sister Bezerra and she is new to the mission. She is from São Paulo and lives close to the São Paulo temple. She studied business at her college and wants to open an lds store here in Brazil because there are not a whole lot of church materials here. We get along great and I am feeling really lucky to have a companion who I really like.

This past week, the ward took a travel bus to Curitiba because the temple there was finished and this month there is an open house. We had a lot of investigators go and everyone loved it. They said that it was like Heaven on earth. I miss the temple so much but it was fun to talk to them and hear about the experience. Two investigators-girls my age, went and talked a lot about the brides room and the celestial room. They talked about how they want to married in the temple. They are planning on being baptized on May 31st. Also, Neusa and her family went. We want to baptize the whole family but the parents are waiting on the casament issue. One of the daughters will be baptized on May 31st also.

Last week, Sister Ferreira (my old comp) and I went to Jataizinho, a small town next to our city. I was worried that it was a waist of time but we had a family from there at church last Sunday. Some members went there and picked up the family. A young married couple in the family went to the Temple and loved it. They talked about how Jataizinho needs a branch there, and we are working with our Branch President to get something going. We will be going there a lot more often these next couple of weeks.

This week was a great week and I am really excited for this transfer.

You said you will start growing pumpkins. I got some good Brazilian recipes for pumpkins. They make sweets with pumpkins and also other ways.

Tell Matt congrats on the wedding and all the cousins who are getting married. Have you met any of their spouses? Oh. . . and Kayla Rawle is darling and I laughed when you told me what she said.

Good luck on the house flipping. It sounds like you are keeping busy. Thanks for the picture--I didn’t even recognize Sadie. She is so big and has long hair. They both will be so big when I come home. Send more pics of the family.

I love you so much, and thanks for the letters and the support. Hope you have a great week!

Love Barbie