A Short One

Hmm well I don’t have too much time this week- My companion Sister McAllister only has 2 more Pdays on her mission, and so we have to run and buy some things... since she has waited until the last few weeks to get things to take home. Ha-ha! I don’t mind though, a pday is a pday! It is just nice to let my mind relax. I truly feel this responsibility to talk to everyone all the other days, and I still feel that today, but I feel more relaxed! yay!Ok, so I think I will have to write a letter to mission ties and have my mom post it later this week, because I don’t want to attempt to sum up a week in one line... but I do want everyone to know that I am working hard, and loving it! We are working hard with several investigators... We are constantly teaching new people, and my Portuguese is improving, slowly- but it is improving!I do have an idea for next week however- I have had several questions about my mission, but I though we could make next week- Ask Sister Monroe questions week... so if anyone has questions about brazil, the food, my companion, Porto Ferreira, the Brazilians...you name it…do one of 2 things- make a comment on this blog or you can email my mom at bevmonroe@gmail.com, and she will email me them next week. I thought this would be a fun thing, and it would be fun to hear questions from everyone!Ok, well I am off... I hope that everyone is doing well, You are all in my prayers. Thank you for the example each of you have been in my life.. I love you all! Ok, can’t wait for the questions next week!LoveSister MonroePS....for those of you who know my brother, or even if you don’t, check out his blog. He wrote an amazing letter and pretty much- I hope that someday I can express my feelings like that! His last letter expresses a lot of what I feel, but have been unable to say!

Tudo Otimo!

Yay for another week here in Porto Ferreira! It has been an awesome past week, I think that I am just going to have to do some bullet points to talk about everything I want to- I have a lot of random thoughts, and I don’t want to have to connect them!

-The Portuguese is improving, thank you one and all for the prayers. I literally have no time to study, I know we are have time allotted in the morning, but it is not much, I write down some verbs I want to memorize, and some phrases, and that’s about it…I am always pulling them out throughout the day, and whenever I hear a recognizable word I try to write it down to learn it- I have tons of flashcards.... Yes friends, those of you who remember that I was once a flashcard queen, it has come to much use here! But it is coming, and I am beginning to understand more and more all the time! Yeah for the gift of tongues- it’s a slow gift but I know it is true!

-We helped clean out the church the other night…I was laughing and so hard and wishing that my Mother could of seen us cleaning. We literally pulled a hose into the chapel and began hosing down the floors! Ha-ha… and we had giant, giant squeegee thingies that we used to mop- It was quite unlike anything I have ever seen... but I was loving it. We had buckets and were splashing water everywhere- the Brazilian cleaning way is a tad different…and hilarious! Awesome!

-Last night we taught a lesson about the Armor of God... I drew a huge person, and we taped armor on top of him... I tried to draw a tough guy like you dad...but um... we can all remember my figure drawing class last semester and how my teacher just laughed at times at me drawing people. Ha! But the ward members loved it! One of the primary kids escaped with it somewhere... he can have it! Ha-ha… and the only paper they had for armor was purple, so it was purple armor. But the lesson went awesome, we were able to get a lot of participation, and everyone loved it. I am beginning to realize how many things we just have in the U.S. that we never even think twice about.

- I gave a talk in sacrament meeting about the Holy Ghost... I wasn’t nervous about it at all- really surprising- I had prepared it during the week, and when I got up to speak it went really well. Everyone said that they understood me- despite my horrid gringo accent :) ha-ha. I was just praying the whole time that the message of my talk- the spirit- would testify and touch the hearts of those there- and I don’t really remember anything I spoke about- but I do know that I felt the spirit- and I hope our investigators that were there, and the other ward members felt the spirit!

-Work here is a bit slow- the ward here is incredibly small, and I will say that the ward members don’t really have many leaders, and there are only a few- maybe 4 or so members that have been to the temple, and so we are working a lot with the members, to help strengthen them. Only through the help of the members are we able to do this work- we need them to be friends and examples to our investigators. And so we are focusing on ways to serve the members, and trying to get to know them better. All ready this effort has helped so much- yesterday at church we had some inactive families come who hadn’t been to church for quite awhile.. We were sooo excited to see them there!!

-Oh, I forgot to say more about this city! It is the capital of ceramics, for Brazil, or something like that. There are some cool ceramics here…well from what I see from the windows. That’s about all I know about that! But wow what it is really big here is milkshakes- every night I think every teenager is out buying milkshakes in the center of town. It is actually a bit of a sad scene... to see so many children of God so lost and confused about their life. There is a bar on almost every corner of town... its a little bit interesting at night when we walk home, but I never feel nervous because we have the Spirit of the Lord with us at our side. It is so sad to see what kind of effect this has on the town here- I am so grateful for the Word of Wisdom- this truly saves soo many families from ruin.

-Oh- the best address to write me is the mission address...

Sister Melanie Monroe
Brazil Ribeirao Preto Mission
PO Box 30150
SLC, UT 84130-0150

USA

I don’t even know the address of my house now. Ha-ha... its somewhere in the middle of town... its blue in front with a blue gate and a brazil flag painted in front. Yes- welcome to Brazil! Ha-ha!

-We walk alot!! Had some blisters, but no worries, I haven’t let that slow me down. We walk to a lot of neighborhoods that are about 15 to 60 minutes away from our house regularly. I think I might just have some tan lines when I get home!

-My companion is awesome! She and I have a lot of fun together, we are an awesome team- she is helping me so much with the Portuguese, but at the same time letting me make many errors on my own so I can learn. We are working really hard, and it is so nice to have someone who knows so much about the work as your "mission mom!" Woohoo! She really is the best mission mom ever, She has taught me what to eat... we pretty much eat papaya for breakfast and dinner, and we laugh a lot together, cry alot together, teach a lot together- the works! How fun to have another eternal friend! Yay for companions!!

-Ok last thought- I was talking with one member yesterday who is the most stalwart, and incredible person. Her name is Conceçao… and she joined the church only 5 months ago, but she has the most powerful testimony. On Saturday she got to go to the temple for the first time and do baptisms, and as we talked about it yesterday, she brought tears to my eyes as she describe the beauty and her love for the temple. In all my life, I have never heard someone describe a temple that way. Her love for it was incredible.... I have been very touched this past week at how much we have.... there are some very poor areas here. We live in a middle class neighborhood- for Brazil... but wow. We have so many privileges, we have a temple so close, and we can go every week! It is such a sacrifice for so many here... and when these saints do go- they see couches- chandeliers- paintings- stained glass windows- things they have never seen in their life!! I feel so blessed, and so overwhelmed with all that I have. And even more blessed because I have the gospel. I have a direction in my life, I have power in my life from the priesthood, from the scriptures, and from the covenants that I have made, and from the knowledge that even though I don’t live perfectly- I can be made perfect in Christ.

I want you to know that I love you all! I know this is where I am suppose to be... and I couldn’t be happier here, even though I don’t speak Portuguese, and even though we are rejected alot- I am happy because I have a chance to testify every day about the basic truths that I know. What an awesome work!

Love,

Sister Melanie Monroe

Tchau CTM! Oi Porta Ferreria!!

August 14, 2006

Well it has been a long two weeks without a pday but here I am- absolutely loving life and the chance to really be a missionary! Wahoo! Ok I have soo much to say, because it has been 2 weeks of busy happenings…so I will just have to do a brief summary of events, and then in the next upcoming weeks I can be more detailed.

First off, my last week at the CTM was soo awesome! It was really hard to say goodbye to the other sisters- I have made some incredible friends at the CTM whom I will remember forever- and who I will get to play with after the mission- its a good thing because I seem to be getting a lot of wedding announcements from friends- haha- such is life when you are a Sister Missionary!

The hardest thing by far was saying goodbye to Michael- it will be a long 2 years not being able to see him- we had a very special weekend together- I wont really go into details because words cannot describe how special it is to be a missionary with your brother, and to be able to see him progress, and see yourself progress- and share this together. We were able to spend a lot of that last Sunday together, which was awesome.

It was exciting stepping out of the CTM, we flew to some city... I forget the name, and then took a bus through the country side to Ribeirao Preto…this was soo incredible! As we drove through the countryside I felt this incredible love for this area and for the people- I hadn’t even met anyone yet, but for the first time I felt that love for the people that other missionaries talk about.. it was amazing. I felt soo excited to go talk to people- and for the first time I felt the responsibility of what I have to do…how exciting! When we were leaving, the president of the CTM said- The hour of your mission has arrived! And it has!! ahh I really am a missionary!

Anyways, we were met at the city by President and Sister Condie- I could tell right away that I was going to love them- especially Sister Condie.. She is crazy!! I love it! She can laugh hysterically, and make you laugh hysterically, and two seconds later she is crying because of the spirit... it reminds me of someone else-- ha-ha... um me!!! I have cried so much this week- because I testify so often of the scriptures and Christ... and well all know what that does to me. Anyways, we will get to this later…

So we had interviews with President Condie, we had a huge meal- there were 22 of us missionaries coming in that day…11 Americans and 9 Brazilians... wait that adds to 20… um ok I don’t really remember how many new missionaries we had, but it was a lot. And then we had a transfer meeting- where everyone shouted D&C 4... I don’t think I have ever seen a scripture recited like that… but it was awesome! It made me so excited for this work! I won’t be shouting it quite like that… um... ever. But it was awesome. I loved seeing that President Condie, and all of the missionaries here are very serious in the work, but also have a sense of humor!

Ok so here comes the big news... my first area- Porto Ferreira! Ok that last word is pronounced like "sahara" but with a F in front… so like "fahara" if that helps any. And the best news of all is my companion- ahh I loove her!! Her name is Sister McAllister... and here comes the crazy, crazy news... I had met her before…well kind of. It’s hard to explain- (ok and someone needs to tell the Warcups that they have to read this!!) Ok so Ali and Sister Warcup will understand this.... I know Ali's aunt really well- I jokingly called her Aunt Heidi... She is awesome! I use to hang out with her all the time with Ali... ok well her son is Colby Parks... and Ali and I went to Colby’s Farwell like 2 years ago, and we saw his girlfriend who is now my companion. I hope that makes sense. So yep, its just crazy, we talk about aunt Heidi all the time, and Colby and Crayton…crazy!!! That Warcup family just follows me everywhere! Ha-ha… so we have a blast together. I couldn’t ask for a better companion and trainer. She knows how to work hard, she has an awesome testimony- She is so great with the members- and above all, she speaks português... lets face it, I really don’t know any português.

She is so awesome- It is so nice to have someone who knows all the ropes, what to eat, where to go, how to talk to people, how to explain in português about the Book of Mormon. And above all she is soo kind and patient. She prays for me every prayer, which has been so touching to me. The whole ward here loves her, and I feel so blessed to have her for a whole 6 weeks! This is her very last transfer- sad for me.

But anyways, this city is awesome- it is soo huge! We walk at least 10 miles a day… probably more- because we have to walk to several separate small cities which are in are area.... I don’t know the name of this in English, that’s embarrassing. I don’t speak portugues, I don’t know English. Wow! Ha-ha. Um, but yeah- there is a great mix of people here- there are some certainly poor areas- its very sad to see-I don’t think I will ever get use to seeing the squalor that people live in. Our house is just fine-we live behind a member named Vania, she is awesome!

This past week we worked really hard- it was so much fun! We walked a ton- I am going to have legs of steel when I return! Yes! And we talked to a ton of people-we talk to everyone, which is really fun- it is interesting how you just open your mouth and you know what different things to say to different people. I never thought I would be this bold, that is for sure. And we bater a lot of houses, and we have taught a lot of first lessons. Its fun- I am learning a lot, because I say a lot of things wrong and have to be corrected. My very first day here we taught about baptism to this awesome, awesome lady named Maria Luisa, her son is a member and she is this stalwart old lady who looves plants! Ha-ha. Anyways, she is progressing, and we have many other people we are teaching, we had this man named Celso come to church on Sunday- he is soo humble and really felt the spirit…he doesn't read so we will have to work with him slowly, but I am excited.

The branch here is awesome- they are small but crazy! we try to have a lot of activities with the branch to help them, which has been awesome. I spend a lot of time with the kids- because they don’t care that I don’t speak português... They laugh at me a lot! All of the members are soo sweet though- It has been a week of a lot of firsts- first time eating lots and lots of different food, I will write about that next week- first area, first companion in the field- first time really, really speaking in português…etc.

Oh and a funny moment of the week- last night we had an activity at a members house with lots of the members. And I was sitting on this chair, trying to talk in portugùês, when suddenly the chair broke! And of course I just sat there laughing, I couldn’t move. I was stuck in my chair, and one of the Irmas in the ward had to come help me. Ha-ha. I love it. All of the Irmas call me Sister Grande! (Which means tall) And the rest of the ward calls me sister Monhoee... Monroe is really hard to say. Church was a lot of fun yesterday, mostly because I could understand what people were saying- because it was only church topics- that’s all I know in português!!

Wow so sorry this is so long, I have so much to say this week- it’s been quite crazy! More then anything, I am learning that this is the Lords work and I am only an instrument in his hands... I am learning how important it is to let the spirit work in the lives of those you are teaching- It is the spirit that helps me speak and teach- It has been awesome this past week seeing the spirit work with me to help those whom the Lord has prepared... When the spirit is there- I am able to testify- when it isn’t- I can’t speak português at all. I kind of mumble... and struggle to know what to say. When the spirit is there, I can vaguely understand the concerns or questions of those who teach, if it isn’t there- I turn to Sister McAllister and pray for her…because I have no idea what is going on!

Well, I better go- I am looving life right now- this work is soo much fun and I love it here. I feel so blessed by the Lord- I have soo much in my life- I am constantly amazed that the Lord allows me to help in this life- because he certainly doesn’t need me- and he certainly doesn’t need my português-ha! But he allows me this privilege to learn and grow, and for my testimony and love of the Savior to grow! How great is this calling!!

Thank you for all of your prayers, letters, etc. I cannot tell you how exciting it was to arrive her and have a stack of letters!! Heaven!! And thank you for your prayers that I can learn português.. I know it is helping! I love you all!

Love Sister Monroe

Off to Riberio Preto

 

Ugly Sister Missionary Day!

 

Ultima Semana ao CTM!

Tudo ótimo aqui! Wow I am so excited to think that this is my LAST time that I will be sitting at this Internet cafe! This is my last week at the CTM and I am ready!! well... ready to leave that is. My Portuguese is still lacking, and I could still know the gospel better, and I still could work harder... but I am ready to leave regardless! I feel like the 2 months have gone quickly here, and yet at the same time, I feel like I have lived here for quite a while.

This past week has been quite exciting, (ok at least in the CTM sense of exciting) It was a busy one.. We went proselytizing for the last time on Friday, somewhere in Sao Paulo. I have no idea where. Oh by the way, Michael I think mentioned a little about how unusual this city is- and I would have to second that. In the United States, and generally other big cities I have seen around the world, have a big center of skyscrapers. Here in Sao Paulo, there are lots and lots and LOTS of skyscrapers, but they are randomly everywhere. I cant really tell where the center of Sao Paulo is... there is just a lot of CITY everywhere, and even tough we go out as least once a week into the city, I have never really gotten my bearings. It’s a wild place.

Anyway, we went somewhere in Sao Paulo, and went proselytizing for the morning... it was so much fun!! And so much more productive then the other times! I understood what people were saying! And I had much longer conversations with people, which was awesome! I talked to one man for a good ten minutes, and gave him a quick first lesson- a little bit about the restoration, but mostly about Christ. He said he believed in God, but not in Christ... and so I shared with him my belief in Jesus Christ, and the importance of Jesus Christ in our day to day life- that is the way that I find strength and meaning to my life. The spirit was there, and I just that it touched him and motivated him to call. Brazilians are soo sweet! I continue to be amazed at how open, affectionate, and loving perfect strangers are. I had a cute couple offer to buy Sister Donaldson ice cream and me after we finished testifying to them. They were genuinely disappointed when I didn’t accept! Haha they are great!

Things continue to be a little crazy at the CTM. We had another game night last Friday night- great fun! We were able to round up pretty much all of the Brazilian sisters this time, and we played a game called Honka (snort) which is a really really fun game. A way different variation on the Snort game which my family plays. A lot of fun! And the Brazilians loved it! I have had Brazilians coming up to me since then asking everyday when we are playing next! Haha. It’s great!

I hope that someday I can learn to show as much love as these Brazilian sisters do... and in a way that is genuine and sincere like them. They are just such incredible sisters- and they have sacrificed soo much to be here on a mission, and their families too... wow. I am constantly humbled when I think of the circumstances that many of them have come from.

Oh and being the oldest Sister Missionaries here at the CTM definitely has its perks- on Monday, Sister Cardon took Sister Donaldson and I, and two other awesome sisters out of the CTM on a special trip! We went to a supermarket, and she taught us some basic survival shopping skills (i.e. which chocolate is best) and then later that afternoon we went to her apartment and made chocolate cake. That night we shared it with all of the sisters and had a huge party- it was an American gift to all of the Brazilians, if you will. It was so much fun, and it was just another fun thing to help the Sisters bond! Sister Cardon is an incredible lady, President Cardon and her have adopted 4 Brazilians- and so we talked a lot about orphanages.... She is awesome and has done so much in her life. The thing I love the most about her is that she is crazy! She has such a great personality, and I had such a fun day being with her.

Well, time is winding up, and I need to go. Sister Donaldson and I have to go run a bunch of last minute errands for our last week here... I am looking forward to this week- I am quite sad to leave many of the sisters here- I absolutely love many of the American Sisters, but at least I will get to see them after the mission... It is harder to say goodbye to many of the Brazilian sisters, whom I will have no idea when I will see again. But, as one of the Brazilian sisters told me this week- we will have a huge CTM barbecue reunion in heaven! Count me in! I will design the fliers or something...

Anyway- I dot know when my Pday will be next week, so I have no idea when I will email next- but I am excited... I just want to quickly testify how incredible this work is, and how richly blessed we are with the gospel. This last week my district had a testimony meeting in complete Portuguese, and as I sat there listening to all of us bear witness in a complete different tongue- I felt overwhelmed with the spirit. The power in that room was so incredible- all 10 of us have been richly blessed by the spirit in our ability to learn and speak this language, and in the growth of our testimonies as well.

I know, and I testify that this gospel is true. I am overwhelmed by the feelings I have for this gospel, and the love that I feel for my Savior. Each day as I testify of Him, my conviction and awe of Him grows- I kneel more fervently before Him, in humility of that which He has done for me... I know, that as we kneel before Him, He does not leave us kneeling there- no. He pulls us up to Him. He walks besides us, and even carries us, as we need it. I testify that He lives!

God bless each of you, eu amo vocês!
Love
Sister Melanie Monroe