We Wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Disclaimer. So I hope that I looked awake on the Google+! I just wanted to tell you guys that if I seemed like a zombie, it was pretty much for the fact that it had been 2 weeks without a proper Pday.  But that is okay because we will finally have a good pday this thursday :) Let me tell you, it was a lot different this time google+ing you guys because hahah well, I know that I will be returning in 3 months! It was just a see ya later ;) 

But don´t you worry :) I´m still as focused as i´ll ever be :) That won´t ever change :) 

Miracles

This week was awesome! We had to go with faith a lot of the week, and we just saw wonderful miracles! This week we decided to drop everything for 2 days and knock on doors offering to show the video He is the Gift. So here we are knocking doors on day 24 when people are going to church or preparing dinner, and also day 25 when people are waking up to open presents and doing other things. We´re thinking alright in a normal situation, no one would do this. But we just decided to go for it, and it´s funny how many people the Lord put in our way during those hours. We found and talked and taught more people during those hours that we thought we would. We taught about 4 or  families. WHAT? It´s a Christmas Miracle! :) 

Even more miracles. This week we recieved a refernce and it just shows how awesome Heavenly Father is. Well the Sister's found a mother who went straight up to them and said. Hey, I need you to visit my daughter She doesn´t have a church and I want her to start going to church. She woke up this morning and said she had a desire to go to the mormon church. Uh. What. Okay. So we´re gonna visit her this week. 

Sentimental time

So, let me just say that it was absolutely wonderfl to see your faces this Christmas and I couldn´t have asked for a better Christmas present than this! You are all beautiful and wonderful and just spectacular! I love you guys sooo much and I hope that you had an amazing Christmas! :) Have a wonderful week! :)

Sister Parco 

Christmas Spirit

New stuff

So, we had our Christmas conference! It was wonderful. :) It kind of stunk because it was divided into two different groups. Interior and the city. That actually really stunk because There are some companions that I will never see again. :/ It was pretty hard thinking that I wouldn´t see them again. BUT. I saw Sister T! I didn´t realize how much I missed her and how much I wanted to see her face. It´s funny, with how much time you spend together, there is a big gap when they leave. So that was good. And we had to pretend that that moment probably wasn´t the last moment that we would see each other even though it probably is going to be the last moment.... That kind of stunk. I don´t like this about serving in Brazil. There are some companions and people that I probably wont be able to see again. Or at least it will be way harder. And that stinks. But hey. Guess i´ll have to save money to come back :) 

We went to see a waterfall today! That was pretty cool! I had a bunch of pictures but I´ll send them the next time :)

Companionship

Me and Sister de L.  are wonderful :) We are so stinking alike. It´s crazy. We´re both rough on the outside and gooey on the inside ;) We work well and hard together.

The branch

The branch is wonderful :) I love to walk into sacrament meeting and say hi to everyone I meet. Hahaha I feel like my piano skills are getting better on the mission because I´m playing for the branch here for sacramant meeting :) It´s been a while since I´ve played piano for a ward and it´s been a while since they´ve had someone that plays piano. It´s a perfect combination :) <3 The branch has about 50 people every week and it´s pretty good :) I love the youth here. There is a lot of youth here and theyre good kids. Yesterday was my first time doing the class for principals of the Gospel. That was fun! :) We planned a few ideas with president of the ramo to help grow and strengthen them. I´m excited!

Sister Parco

Commandments are Real

Announcements

How many of you guys visited youtube yesterday the 7th of December? Because there was a youtube takeover of a Christmas clip of 3 minutes that is called ´´He is the present´´ And I want to know if you guys saw it. If you haven´t seen it. Go on youtube now to watch He is the Present. And then share it on Facebook and Twitter. Because it is amazing and wonderful and brings the spirit of Christmas. Promise me? Okay great. You won´t regret it. It´s amazing. I love Christmas. I love it so much. Please do this. AND SHARE IT. EVERYONE NEEDS TO FEEL THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS :) <3

Differences between the city and the country

You ever heard that story of the city mouse and the country mouse? Well I feel like a city mouse that was thrown into the country. But I LOVE CHANGES. So this is wonderful. It´s so different here. A lot of the roads are gravel roads. And at the end of our area, we just see hills of trees and farms, and plants. And it´s beautiful. And there´s like 20 waterfalls here. The bugs are not so cool though. I woke up the next day with about 30 bites. But they´ll get tired of my blood fast ;) People are both really open and really closed here. Because it´s a small city. Everyone is from the same church and either slams the door in your face or invites you in. But I like challenges, so this is wonderful :) Our district and zone is different too!! We have to take a bus that is about an hour and a half to arrive to our district meeting, and our district is also our zone because there is literally no one else near. And then we have to wait about 10 hours in total for the next bus to come and pick us up. It´s crazy. But so cool. Also. the change from a ward to a branch is different too. A lot of the people here are all converts of less that 10 years and they are just starting :) But it´s got a homey feel :) But I love teaching here. There are some people where you have to teach the basics of the basics. And I love that. In just 6 sentences you can testify of the restoration. Just facts and testimony. I love that. And I didn´t get to teach like this in the city. It´s wonderful to just calm my head a bit and teach things that are facts :) We´ll see what happens :) I have a feeling that i´ll die here. We´ll see! 

Funny moments

So theres these beetle things that are brown and always are in our house and Sister Naranjo absolutely hates them. I think theyre cute. As long as those little wonderful things don´t bite I think that they are cute. But anyways, Sister Naranjo went to kick it outside. And with all her hate, she went to kick the beetle. But let me just explain the situation. In front of her, we have a door and a porch. And the door in this moment is wide open. When she went to kick the beetle. The shoe went with her kick. Right out the wide open door. :D Let me just explain our apartment. There´s our apartment, and a wall, and the backyard of a person that had a huge garden. Well her shoe flew out end fell into the other persons garden. And of course it´s 10 at night so we can´t knock on the neighbor´s door. But Sister Naranjo´s face was absolutely hilarious. I think we spent about 15 minutes rolling on the floor laughing.

Cool moments

You know me. I love to sleep. Well. At least now I do. But on that one hour bus ride is the perfect time to sleep. But you know what the thing that I learned about a mission is? Once you know what a commandment is, you have to/should do it. Like our life. When we hear something from the prophet we should always follow. We know it´s from our Heavenly Father. And we know that it´s going to bless us. And it´s something that the Lord expects of us. The fact that he permitted you to hear it shows that he knows that you´re capable to follow it. In Corinthians, it says that He will never give us something that we cannot handle. This means if we hear a commandment, He knows that although it will be hard, that we can and will be able to do what is asked. Because He is our loving Heavenly Father. And He knows every single one of us. Of course He is not asking that we be hard on ourselves. Of course He is not asking that we keep on digging ourselves down. It´s more of a trust. He is showing our trust for us. And this isn´t just following a rule, it never was, but showing our trust in Him. And I got really deep for something that was really simple. In training, one elder said that we should always be trying to be an example, and gave an example of sharing the cards of He is the Present on the Bus. Here I am on an hour and a half bus ride, trying to catch up on sleep, all the other sisters are asleep. And all the people on the bus are quiet. Of course it´s going to be awkard to stop them on the bus randomly and ask them to watch a video about Christ. And I sat there for about a good 5 mintues wondering if I should do it, making excuses to myself or promising that I would do it later. But in the end, I decided to get up and giving a card after winking at Sister R and explaining our purpose for all the people on the bus with Sister R.. It wasn´t anything big. But I felt good after. I thought that i´d feel awkward. But it was something that I knew that God asked me to do. And I felt good doing it. I know that commandments are real. When a parent tells you not to touch the stove, it´s the same thing that Heavenly Father does with the ´´rules´´ that we have here. I know that He expects a lot from everyone of us. Not the kind of ´´I can´t believe you failed´´ expectation, but the expectation of when a father is letting go of the bicycle seat for the first time expectation. I know taht our Heavenly Father loves us. More than we can imagine. He is our father. Why should we expect Him to be any different than the duty of a father here? I know that my Father lives. I know I am his daughter. And I just love him!

AND I love everyone of you guys! Be good during the Christmas season! :)

Love

Sister Parco

Farmington?

I thought I was in Farmtown today. I was transfered to Prudentopolis and it is way way out there in the country. And as we were in the onibus, I looked out the window, and what did I see? Popcorn popping on the apricot tree. ;) Nah, I saw CORN. It was exactly like a drive from Farmington to Mankato. It was crazy how similar it was. So there´s my update. I saw corn today.

Good stuff

Adriana e Sidney were baptized this weekend. It was the best thing to finish off my time there <3 It was seriously perfect. It was a good mixture of excitement, relief, love, joy, happiness, proudness. Just everything. It was wonderful. And they are such a special family. We sang Families can be together forever as the closing song. and as I was directing. I ALMOST started to tear up, because I looked at them, and I looked at their kids, and I just saw such a wonderful beautiful family. A family where the mom drank every weekend, the dad swore, the kids swore, and just kind of lived in that atmosphere. And the change was incredible. Absolutely incredible. And now they are here. With their eyes on the temple, and willing to change and feeling a difference in their life. Reading every day. Praying. A told me that if she doesn´t pray before she goes to bed, she wakes up in the middle of the night and has to pray or else she can´t sleep. ;) The house started out tense, but now is full of FHE and all the activities of the church. Gosh. I love the Gosple. It´s amazing.

Bad stuff

I threw a lot of my clothes out. THRIFT STORE TIME. Maybe this should go under good stuff.. ;) 

I´m not gonna lie. The goodbyes were SUPER tough. I think we marked a bit on the hearts of the irmas in the ward. They told us that we were the missionaries that more made the difference, and that we were a lot different than the other missionaries and had a special place in their heart. It melted my heart. I think my worst fear is that I´m not making a difference or not doing what the Lord wants me to do. But I sat down during sacrament meeting and was so grateful that I got to see the evolution of individuals, the evolution of families, and the evolution of the ward. I think if i returned to any ward, it would be this one. We did a lot together. And we accomplished a lot together.

I think the worst goodbye was saying goodbye to Ad. , S., L. , and A.. We gave them one last message. And I just poured out my heart in how much I want to see them in the temple, and how important it is to never give up and to always do the things necessary to have a strong family. It was SOOOO hard. we spent so much time together. And we were with them through everything. The stresses and the successes, the good and bad. And we went through the evolution with them. The whole time. And they are gonna be so strong. So ready and willing. So envolved. I don´t have any doubts that they´ll be strong and active in the church, but it still was pretty much a stab in the heart. Me and Ad. had one last hug in front of her house and that was the winner. That´s when the faucet leaks.. ;P

BUT. I´m excited to be here. I´m excited to work and find all the eleitos. I´m ready to knock every door until I am exhausted, and am so ready to do what I need to do here. WISH ME LUCK. ;) I´ll give you the details next week! :)

Love ya :)

Sister Parco :)

Relief and Happiness

Well, It happened. And it was absolutely wonderful. And I loved it. And it was magical. The wedding was great. It was gah. It was just so good :) And it´s over. Which is sad. But it´s also happy. And now we shall wait for next week :) I sent a bunch of photos and hope that you guys like them :) Ad. was so nervous. We helped her with the dress and getting ready with everything. She was so stressed. She reminds me a lot of me ;) But after everything, she loosened up and laughed :) I love seeing all the family happy and changed. It´s amazing the transformation that you see in people. The immediate change isn´t what is worth is but the gradual change that you see in each day, each week. People learning aobut the savior, recognizing him, learning what He did, and being able to use his sacrifice. That´s the change that I love. That point where they start feeling happy even though they dont have a specific reason to be happy. 

Primary program

 Every year I shed at least 3 tears. And I tried sooo hard this time to not cry. But I did. I sat there thinking how much that I´m going to miss this ward. Every single person here is so special to me. And just to clarify, that´s not why I cried ;) But I couldn´t help but think of it :P Of course I could stay for the next transfer. But after 5 months, it´s highly probable that I will leave. But it just made me sad to think of leaving this ward that has been practically my home. But anyways, the real reason that I cried. In the end of the program they had a boy that graduated from primary. He was inactive until 4 weeks ago. And he joined primary with enough time to practice for the program and then leave and pass the sacrament. It was a tear jearker. He comes from a rough family and he started his talk with his lip trembling. And testified how he knew that this church was true and that he knows that this was the right path and how church changed things in his house. Every single person in the congregation was crying. It hit everyone right to the heart. a 12 year old boy. Crying in front of the congregation, bearing his testimony. Gah. So close. I didn´t even think of crying until he gave his little talk. There´s always a good spirit with the primary program :)

Sooooo this week was such a blur, I hardly remember anything and forgot my planajamento. So you guys got what happened in the last 2 days.. hahaha ;)

Sorry that this is soooo short, but really without my planajamento, I am so lost and can´t remember much hahhahaha. Everything just flies by and I blink I don´t remember anything.  But this week ws good. That you can be sure of ;)

I love you all! Be safe! Be good! Make the right choices! Love the Lord.

Love,

Sister Parco

Proof vie Rock Paper Scissors

Funny moments

So I was talking to one of our neighbors and said ´´Esta bonita hoje!´´ Saying that the weather today was beautiful, but she misinterpreted it and said ´´obrigada´´ and said thank you. So here she was thinking I was talking about her when I was talking about the weather. So awkward... 

This isn´t actually that funny, but proof that God wants us to pray. There was a LA that didn´t want to pray but I told him that we should do rock paper scissors and if I won he should pray. Well there was divine help because I always lose rock paper scissors. I won and he prayed :) And it was awesome seeing him after. He´s been LA for 4 years and after the prayer, he told me that´s it´s been a while that he has prayed. And I said ´´feels good huh?´´ And he nodded. Such a special moment. So Heavenly Father doesn´t just help us when we´re tired, but in the little things too! Even rock paper scissors! :) 

Stuff

Everyone asked about the wedding. We´re good! :) I´m still stressed. But I´m always stressed... ;)  We tried on the dresses with her this week and this week they chose songs that they are going to use to walk. Hahaha Sidney said that it´d be awesome if they´d walk with ´´I am a child of God´´ CONVERSION :) But I think they decided on can you feel the love tonight :) We´re gonna go to a family home evening with them and a lot of the people from the ward tonight :)

A. and Ar.. They´re good. They´re just gonna take some time. It was awesome with Ar. because we´ve been stressing on reading the Book of Mormon every day, and we hadn´t seen much change in him. But last time with him, he looked at us and said... ´´why didn´t laman and lemuel not want the fruit?´´ WHAT Turns out he read until the vision and is still reading. He´s changed a lot. In the beginning it was like ´´yeah, sure, read the bible for us´´ Now he asks who is gonna pray, and what we´re gonna read today :) He´ll get there :) You guys can pray for him if you guys want! :)

We had a feira of Family History. It was pretty cool. Ahh! Fair. We had a family history fair. It was pretty cool. Everyone brought their stuff from their past. And the past of their grandparents and great grandparents.

Things that I´m excited for

PRIMARY PROGRAM IS NEXT WEEK. I always get teary eyed when I hear kids singing. I love watching them. I´m so prideful even though none of them are my kids. Is that weird? I can´t wait to see Am. sing :) Gah. I´m so excited. 

Hey, I love you guys so much and I LOVED reading every one of your letters and just enjoy them so much :) Did you know that I stinking love you guys? It´s true. I love hearing about your lives :) I hope you are all great! Make changes. Do the right things! Stay awesome! LOVE YOU!

Sister Parco 

Surprise

Hey peeps!

I forgot my camera cable. I´m very sad about that. But I´ll send my pictures next week! 

NEWS

So guess who had a surprise transfer? This girl! So, Sister T. left :/ And now I have a new companion Sister P.! She´s got a transfer and a half left. It was weird. Me and Sister T. spent so much time toghether that we were practically sisters. We learned a lot together :) Hahaha we were so dang comfortable with each other because we had been together so long ;) But change is always good :) I like change :) I´m still in Ala V, so that is wonderful :) I still got a wedding to plan. eeeesh... but things are going absolutely wonderful :) It´s been a long time here. Maybe i´ll stay here until Christmas ;) We´ll see :) I have a feeling that I´ll leave in 3 weeks. We´ll see :)

Peeps

Gosh I love our LMA. He´s the best LMA i´ll probably ever see. He always does things to help us and drops everything for missionary work. And he´s a teddy bear. He´s all big and rough on the outside, but he´s all gooey on the inside. We had our meeting with the ward (which we have every week and which hardly ever happens... ;P) And Sister T. told him that she was going to Matinhos, and he started to say something, but he started to cry so he quickly called one of the brothers to say the closing prayer. It makes me want to hug him. He´s got such a fatherly atmosphere. He´s just so amazing. He´s probably one of the people that i´ll miss the most :P

A. and S. are good :) They´re getting ready for the wedding and are getting ready for the baptism. We just have to wait :) But they are wonderful :) I love that family sooo much.

A. and A. are good too. They´ve been going to church every week and are really trying to change their lives. I think it´s gonna be real hard for Antonio. He reminds me a lot of L. Always going to church because He knows that it´s something good, but never wanting to quit drinking. It´s pretty sad to see how addicted some people are. He´s got the same situation as L.. He´s been drinking since he was a kid and hes got 50 years right now. It´s pretty rough with him. I feel more for A. His mom had a heart problem because she drank a lot, and she passed away. And he´s in the same exact path. But it´s rough because he´s got no support at home because his father drinks a lot. Haha a lot of our lessons, Antonio is drunk. but it´s hard to see A.  because he wants to change. He even wrote his goal in his Book Of Mormon. He´s got that desire, but it´s just rough for him. We are talking to them every single day, and we´re trying to help him stop. Me and sister T. always thought of the change we see in people. And we imagined A.with a family, with the priesthood and in a suit. My gosh. It´s so wonderful to picture people with their potential. They don´t realize how much potential they have. And the things that are impeding them. I think it´s sad how people throw that away for stuff that doesn´t even matter. Just something that gives them that buzz, just something that is cool, just something that they grow to need to have like cigarrettes. I think something I realized on a mission is how much horrible stuff there is in the world that doesn´t even matter. Not even a bit.

J. and An.. LA´s that are returning. It was so wonderful :) I love our members :) We invited them to a FHE, and our LMA looked at them and told them how much everyone is missing them. It was a touching moment for them :) We had dinner with them the other day and they are pretty firm :)

Another LA is returning. It´s been about 4 years. And they just started coming back. And they said it´s the best decison that they have made in their life :) <3 They have a kid that we are working with that isn´t baptized yet, but he is super interested and he´s already going to seminary and mutual and loving everything :)

Hey, so I don´t have a lot because I didn´t write a lot down... Oops ;)

But I love you all so much and you guys are wonderful! :)

Sister Parco 

Halloween or Day of the Dead

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 

Hope everyone had a great halloween and loved the candy! :) 

Let me just give a shout out to the Stalling´s family to say that Elder Stallings (I can´t say Conner, it´s just too weird..) is a great district leader and that it is amazing to serve with him!:) A little weird.. but great! :)

Funny moments

I went on splits with Sister E this week and boy was it hilarious. She´s the kind of really quiet humor. I love her soooo much. Anyways, my funny stories are about her. The first one was with a dog. Of course ;) So we´re going around clapping at the doors and these 2 weiner dogs charge after us and Sister E decided to tease them a bit and stick her foot near the gate. well, the dog had success and bit her shoe and started pulling her. So here we are, i´m laughing my head off and Sister E is standing there freaking out trying to pull away her foot from the dog´s mouth. SO FUNNY

Another funny moment with Sister E. Let me just clarify in the beginning. V is the name of a person and velha means old. So we were doing a contact and we met the lady named V who was an elderly lady. And Sister E didn´t hear her name correctly, and she shouted at her and said ´´You are Velha?´´ So basically she asked if she was old. SO FUNNY. Hahahahahahahahaha

I didn´t have a lot of luck with scorpians. Me and sister T had a rough week. One 15 year old wouldn´t stop winking at us during the lesson, a man from Haiti asked if we were married. And a 50 year old man professed his love for us. Why. Why do these things happen.

Cool moments

We got paintings that look professional for free from a man who paints! It reminded of me of Minnesota so I picked that certain painting :)

This is more cute than cool. Every one freaks out about baptisms, but I think it´s seeing the growth in the gospel that is more rewarding. This week was the week of testemonies. And L, not knowing of course how to sit still, asked if we wanted to go up and then decided if we weren´t going up that he wouldn´t, and then 3 minutes later decides to go up there and bear his testimony. He´s 12 and he´s got so much energy. But he started to bear his testimony. It was only about 2 sentences but it was wonderful. And he starts saying ´´ I love this church.´´ Then he says ´´I know that the church is tr--´´ And you know those moments where things start to click? LIke the moment when you think ´´wow, i really do know that this church is true..´´ Well, he had one of those moments and started to cry during his testimony. I think tears welled up in half of the congregations eye´s (including my own). But seeing that true conversion and that moment for him was absolutely amazing. I wouldn´t trade it for anything. He´s going to make an amazing missionary. He´s such a special kid. Gah. I love his family :) <3

We found $55 on the ground this week. Crazy huh? We had no idea what to do with it so we prayed. On the same day, one of our most flaky pesquisadors that we hadn´t visited for a long time came to our door that didn´t like us a lot came to our door wondering if the church had a program to educate her kids. We didn´t realize it at the time but after we realized that that must have been our answer. So we walked to her to deliver it to her. Turns out that she lost her job recently. I´m pretty sure that she´s not going to go to church or accept our visits, or any of that, but it was wonderful to see how God loves all of his children and is always ready to help them. Isn´t that great? He knows every one of our situations individually :)

We had a SUPER cool activity this sunday! :) It was the day of the dead and everyone was visiting the cemetary, and all of our zone was gathered to show people that there exists a life after this life. And to talk about Family history and how we can connect our family. And we delivered Ensigns to every living person there for free and then offered help for them to build their own family tree. It was wonderful. Do you realize how many people are curious about their ante passados? A lot! It was so cool to see how many people were interested. I´m excited to see the results and how many peple gave their addresses to know more. And do you know what was the coolest thing? All of the front of the cemetary was filled with ensigns -- WITH PEOPLE READING THE ENSIGNS. Can you just imagine?!?!?!?!?!? About half the people in front of the cemetary opening up the magazines and reading them. It was such an amazing sight that made me so flipping happy :) :) LIttle kids reading the part for kids. Adults reading the messages of the prophet. Wow. I loved it so much. SO MUCH.

People

A and S are good! Planning for a wedding is stressful.

A and A are doing great! They are smoking less and less everyday! We´re gonna have a Family Home evening with them! :)

I love being a missionary. It makes you realize how merciful our Heavenly Father is. And that all of his promises are real. And how we could do anything that we want, anything in the world. But when we do what the Lord wants and deserve the blessings according to the promise, we live better. It´s wonderful. I love my Savior, and I love you guys! I probably have the best family ever and don´t know how I was lucky enough to recieve a family like you guys :) <3 Love ya!

Sister Parco 

I Love Life

I love life. Did you know that? I love it so much. It´s probably the best thing ever. A challenge. Na adventrue. It´s completely and absolutely thrilling. Something diferente every day. Gah. Alirght. Enough deep thinking talk. Just know that I love life.

Funny things.

I love primary songs. They are so amazing. We gave all the primary cds for A. and the primary presidente gave her the songs to listen to before the primary program and she was listening to them the other day. But get this. She was listening to the songs in the car outside with the music blasted (probably because the whole Family is sick of them ;) ) But get this. So there was her outside of her house listening to a bunch of primary songs like I am a child of God and I´m trying to be like Jesus, and there was 4 men drinking  with a car playing music like rap and all that music that is crud and ugly. But everytime they tried to turn up their music, A. turned hers up higher. Bahahahaha and then after a while they didn´t have the courage to turn up their music and turned their music off and tried to drink to primary songs. which is impossible SO FUNNY :D :D Gosh I love amanda :)

So we were visiting a contact and we knocked the door and wited for a while, and all the sudden this man comes out of nowhere with a towel and a bunch of soap everywhere and said ´´I don´t think right now is a good time´´ pretty much left there laughing like crazy ;) SO FUNNY.

Things that I love

Our LMA is the coolest and most awesome leader I´ve ever seen. He wants us to meet with the Ward everyweek and he just lays everything down like a boss. And with our meetings with him he is so humble. When he was talking about missionary work, he started crying a bit. And he´s this huge guy. He is probably the most dedicated, humble, excited leader of the mission of the Ward that i´ve ever met. We heard about his story when he was converted and turns out he smoked and drinked and turned his life around. We had a lesson with him and our investigators that are addicted to alcohol and cigarros, and he invited them to baptism before we did. He´s powerful. And he does everything possible for all the pesquisadors. He payed for the wedding, and he told us he wanted to buy a Picture of Christ being baptized in a fancy gah ah! frame. He is amazing. And drops everything to help missionary work. I feel priveledged to work with him.

I love the bishops wife :) And the gossip of the relief society. I don´t know how we´re going to leave this área. Because The bishops wife said that for some reason me and Sister T. are diferente and that the sisters of the relief society have a close bond with us. Gosh they just feel like Family. And we have grown to love them sooo much. Me and Sister T. said that we just have to leave togheter. All that we started and are going to finish here was our moment to gether. If I come back to Brazil. I am coming back here. <3 And the other áreas just cause my other áreas are 5 minutes from the other tehehe ;)

People

We´re teaching A. and A. . They are super humble and want to turn their life around. Both of them smoke and drink. It´s a father and a son. And the dad wants to turn his life around to show a good example for his son. They want this so bad and we´ve been helping them :) A.  was smoking 15 cigarros and guess how many he smoked on sunday? 3. THREE. Can you believe that?!?!?!?!?! We see miracles every single day here. And lives changing.

A. and S. . Everything is planned for their wedding! Me and Sister T. are going to sing! Do you know that song ´´What Heaven sees in you´´? About the diferente White dresses? Yup we want to sing that when she is entering :) <3 I might cry. But probably not. Do you wanna know something? I think I cry less since i´ve been on a mission. Weird huh? I´m gonna be a robot when I get back! :)

So. other people. Well they are great :) I´ll have to tell you about them when we visit them more :) But things are going great! :) These 4 here are doing great :)

I love life. I am grateful for this change to change myself. I am so very grateful for this opportunity. It´s not something that I´m doing to make up for a debt, but something that I believe was given to me to help me something that I want to be. I´m grateful for my Heavenly father. I´m grateful for difficulties. I´m grateful for diferences. I´m grateful for the Gospel. Life is Good. It´s marvalous with the Gosple. Things are fair. Things are wonderful. Life is meant to work hard. I love smiling. I love challenges. I love my Saviour. THis week because we were bringing some of our pesquisadors to sacrament, we arrived in the middle of sacrament and had to stand outside watching everyone else recieve the sacrament. Ít was probably the worst thing ever. I felt like that one parable with the bridesgroom. I never want to pass a week without remembering what my saviour did for me. I´m grateful for the sacrifice that He did. I know that only through Him we can return to our Heavenly Father. And for that I will be forever grateful.

Have a great week! Love you guys a lot :) <3

Sister Parco

Best of Both Worlds

Transfers! ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd

WHAT?!?!

Guess who is staying in Ala V for another transfer with Sister T? WHAT? Me. 3 transfers together in the same area :) Never happens. It was so cute when we told the members of the ward. The second counselor jumped up in the air and did a fist pump, and the member that lives aboves us wants to buy pizza to celebrate. I love the ward here. All of them are so excited to help with missionary work. It is AMAZING,

You won´t believe the next news. Guess who is going to be my next DL?!?!?!?!?!!?


ELDER S. I´m so stinking excited. It´s going to be soooooo weird. I´m gonna be reminded of home so much. WHAT. It´s like a completely different world entering into my missionary world. I still can´t get over it.  I´m SOOOOO EXCITED. It´s gonna be awesome. It´s gonna be great. We´ll take a picture! :)

Little moments

I love those little moments in the missionary life where small things make you laugh. We share a house with the sisters. And we sing as loud as we can when we start off with a hymn and we´d have a little competition. And you´d hear the sunbeam song, and then me and sister T. would hit them back with once there was a snowman. Sounds dumb. But in the moment, it´s fun. :) I love primary songs. And singing. Especially in the shower.

I think I have met more drunk people on a mission than I ever have in my life. I´ve grown accustumed and am actually starting to like them ;) One of our pesquisadors was drunk and we went to a supermearcado and found him there. He entered into the store and shouted ´´Minhas irmas!!! oi!´´ Or MY SISTERS! And started yelling and saying hi to us. So funny, and then we were about to buy the cookies because we were hungry but then he yelled at the people at the counter and us and said. ´´Let me pay!´´ So our drunk investigator payed for our snack. That was fun :)

Good news

A. and S. marked a date of wedding! It´s going to be the 22nd of November! I´m so excited. And nervous. We´ll see how it goes. Me and Sister T. and the ward are planning everything :) I´m so excited! :) It´s going to be wonderful :)

Things that I want to do when I get back

Do you realize how cool Family history is? I decided that I´m going to do family history when I get back. It just gets me excited. And bake cookies for the LA´s and offer our house for investigators for breakfast before church. But just a hint. Do it now! Start family history! Invite investigators to breakfast and dinner! Do Family Home Evening! It´s wonderful :) 

Deep thoughts

I was studying alot about charity and I read a quote that was wonderful :)

´´Focus on who you are and not you aren´t´´

I love that we´re children of God. I love that we don´t have to look in the mirror and just see faults. I love that we´re awesome and wonderful and can live our life wonderfully! :) 

i love you guys sooo much! Please stay awesome!

Sister Parco

The Best Weapon

So I don´t have a lot of time, but it´s perfect because this week was a bit slow :)

The bads of the week

So my companion was pretty sick this week. Yup infection in the intestine. We stayed inside for about 3 days. Poor thing. We tried to go out and work, but ended up returning, then she thought it was good, and we went back out, but then ended up returning again. But hey, thank goodness for drugs! ;) But we´re all good and spiffy now! :)

The Goods

There is a bunch of amazing people that i´d love to talk about but i am restricted with time, but all of it is because of one thing. The book of Mormon. Do you know how powerful that book is? The people could not have understood the whole message, but if they have any sort of inkling to read it and sincerely pray about it, everything just comes together. Because it´s not us saying it or just merely preaching to them, but them recieving their own answer from their own God. That´s the most wonderful thing. Because as God doesnt lie, it means He will respond. We had 10 people progressing this week and making changes in their life just because they decided to read the Book of Mormon. We show that it answers life´s problems. And they take a step of faith and read and pray. It´s wonderful. Pretty much every single person has read it and it´s crazy the changes that they make or stuff they learn, or the faith that they gain in God. I love the Book of Mormon. It literally is my weapon. It´s crazy armed.

A and S are marking a date for their wedding!! :) I love them. And I love A. Cutest thing ever. We gave her the primary cds and she doesn´t stop listening to them. I think her parents are annoyed with us, but hey, it´s for a good cause ;) Her mom says that she sings I am a child of God and I want to be like Jesus 10 times in a row ;) What a good problem huh? ;)

Deep thoughts with Sister Parco

Do you know what a year means? It means I know what´s right. I know what´s wrong. I know how to teach. I know how to work. I know what´s needed. I know what´s required. I know what my Heavenly Father expects of me. And I know what I need to do to fulfil those requirements. I know my weaknesses. I know what I need to improve. And I know that these last 6 months are the months when everything can combine together and I can do my absolute best with the stuff I´ve learned. A year means that it´s go time. It means that theres a 6 months of miracles waiting. Isn´t that wonderful? I know the basics, and now all i´ve got to do is keep on getting better everyday :) That´s so nice. Let´s do this.

Gotta go! I love you all! Be good!

Sister Parco

Trains

General Conference

WASN´T GENERAL CONFERENCE THE BOMB?!?!?! I loved it so much. ANd it went by so fast.. And i loved it so much. They were pretty direct this conference, huh? I loved that :) It was so stinking awesome. And perfect. I think I loved Gorge´s talk, Hollands talk, and Christofferson´s talk, and Bednar´s talk. Gah. I loved all of them. For those of you who missed a session, WATCH IT. Now. Hahaha I was so expecting The prophet to say something tense because there were 3 talks about prophets. Guess not huh? But still. Who is excited for october? I am! I learned so much :) Man I loved how they were so direct. It makes me want to get all my weapons out and read my scriptures pray, and HAVE FAMILY HOME EVENING :) <3 Gosh the world is getting crazy huh? And who loved the fact that some talks were in a diferente language?! It was awesome! Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese. (WHoop´Whoop!) Itr just made me realize how universal the Gospel is . I love it. It was funny because alll the americans were watching it in english together, and we all ran back to the chapel to watch him speak in his own language. AND I think I appeared ont he world report with Russel M. Nelson when he came here :) At least someone said that I did. But Cool huh?

Funny moments :)

So this week we had splits. Sister T and Sister de L and me and a lady from our Ward that has like 60 years, M. Anyways, me and M. were walking on the street and she´d see someone she knew, introduce me, and then mark another day when we could visit :) I LOVE HER. Anyways, we were doing a contact and after we left, I whispered to M. and asked if we wrote down her address. And turns out that we didn´t.And then, being the cutest lady ever, she freaked out and then get this. Just Picture. A 20 year old missionary and na older lady running after another older lady. It was just sooooo funny :)

Woooohooo!

We´re going to the cartório this week and we´re going with A. and S. to get baptized. They are so ready. We´re having a noite familiar with them tonight! Gah. It´s so wonderful. S. cried during the general conference, and said to us without even asking that he wanted to mark a date for batismo. WHAT. Never happens. Gosh. I love that Family. It´s gonna stink if I get transfered. But. Me and Sister T. have a plan to stay here 5 mese juntos. Let´s do this ;)

Other stuff.

 I´m sorry there isn´t a lot of other stuff. Hahah but this week was great. Oh! We had a estudo com companheiro really good today <3 I was stareting to notice that our testimonies were getting to be repetitive. And I didn´t like the fact that we were just reciting lines, so i decided that we should have a mini testimony meeting. Man was the spirit so Strong. The simplest phrases can have so much power. And it was so diferente using the same words. I think what hit me the most is the fact that Ihave gained a testimony. My fear was that it was just words repeated. But the inviction is real. And I realized something that maybe inside that I probably might have already knew. That I do believe these things. I Know that Joseph Smith saw Jesus Christ and Our Heavenly Father. I know that He has a plan. I know that the book of mórmon is true. I know that families can be together with the restored Gospel. I know that only through the Saviour Jesus Christ we can one day reuturn to our Heavenly Father.

Trains

You ever realized that sometimes we have a tendancy to carry or put on ourselves more than we can handle? It happens a lot. And then we get frustrated. And then we beat up ourselves for not being able to do everything. So then I thought about trains. Each one of us has a specific amount of fuel to get to our destination. No more or no less. And each of us has a certain number of carts to carry. When we put on more carts than the train is specifically designed to handle. One. We slow ourselves down. Two. Our fuel runs out before we reach the destination. That´s where dilligence comes in and understanding who you are comes in. When you know your weaknesses, your faults, your difficulties and what exactly lacks to be like our saviour was, then you can know your limitations. As you know your limitations, you can be sure to know exactly how much you can carry and make the necessary changes. Maybe you´ll but diferente coal so that you can carry more, maybe you´ll switch out the carts for lighter carts. The fact is that you have to be diligente, and Always looking for things to improve. I read a talk from Holland (BOSS) that said that often we talk about how much Faith we don´t have, as if we were showing our Faith by showing the lack of Faith that we have. But it´s not supposed to be like that. It´s realizing that our Faith is weak, but realizing that it´s only going to be a lot more stronger when we actually use our saviour. When we concentrate on our weaknesses WITH the fact that the saviour is there, we will be able to pass ANY dificuldade. Isn´t that wonderful? Isn´t that amazing how we are not capaz and that the fact is that we have to rely on our saviour? Isn´t that the best thing ever? Don´t you feel so stinking blessed to know that? :) I love the fact that we are made weak sometimes, because in those moments we can be humble. And then we realize that we NEED help. And that that help is Always going to be offerred to us. I love my saviour. I love my weaknesses. I love my strengths. I love the fact that the Gospel is na answer to it all. I know that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly father and jesus Christ. I know that we have a living prophet. I know that God is MY Heavenly Father. I know that families can be together forever and that the saviour will ALWAYS be there, whenever we need him.

I love you guys so much and think of you guys everyday :) Stay awesome and be CRAZY :) But not too crazy ;)

Sister Parco 

Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust

Things I learned

Do you know how wonderful it is to see things in the Lord´s eyes? It´s so amazing. Me and Sister T. were just stressed with some things and I think we were just way uptight and I knew that we wouldn´t be able to work like that. So today I told her that I wanted to sit still for 5 minutes in silence and then look at each other with the saviors eyes. It was amazing. You don´t know how much love I felt for her in that moment. It´s so amazing to think of what the savior thinks of the people that you are surrounded by.It´s wonderful :) Do you guys realize how much Heavenly Father loves all of us? It´s so amazing.

Do you know what is probably the most wonderful thing to learn on the  mission? Learning to have the trust of Heavenly Father. The miracles that happen the things that happen. All of them show that Heavenly Father has trust in you. I think it is the  thing that I want most on the mission. To show Him that I can have his trust. To show him that I will be obediente to desserve his trust. And when good things happen. It means that He trusts you. With bad things too. I think the thing I want most on the mission and for the rest of my life is to strive to have that trust of him. And Always be ready to do what He needs me to do. I love the mission. I am learning so much about myself and the things that are required of me :)

Stuff of the week

L. and A. were baptized<3 It was absolutely wonderful. It´s amazing that even a child can feel a difference. L. is 12 and A. is 8. When they came out, L.  said that he felt so clean. And A. spoke that she felt something so warm in her heart after. They are so amazing and wonderful. I havent really talked about this Family but they are absolutely amazing. L.  practically lives in the church. He sings in the choir. Goes to every single meeting, and sometimes he just stays in the church because he doesnt want to go home. A. is amazing and reads the Book of Mormon illustration book everyday and Always tells us what she read. I love them all so much. We pray for them every night. The parentes are getting ready to be baptized but need to get married first :) But A. is so ready. She asked us today if she could pay tithing before becoming a member. WHAT? And then she told us that  she wants to do a noite familiar in their house with us :) They are all amazing. I love them so much. <3 I just Picture them in front of the temple together :) With na eternal Family :)

J. is a child of a Family that we found. He´s 16 and he is the timidest kid i know. But I love it because yu know that he feels something. Every time that we go there he does that yawn thing, you know when you yawn to cover that you´re crying? He does that . He´s got a lot going on at home and called us out when we were on the street and said that He wanted us to come visit him. Everytime I Picture him and L, i see 2 missionaries. But It was amazing. J. read and prayed, and is so ready to make changes in his life. Me and sister T. walked out of that lesson with the thought of ´what just happened?´´ It was funny because when we were teaching the Family, he never entered the room, but after we left for a while, it was him that wanted to hear about everything. Man the Lord really has a time for everything.

I love a mission. This almost a year feels like I haven´t even passed a year. It feels like 3 months. And i´ve loved every single second. I´m grateful for the things i have learned, and the things that I have decided in this time now to do for the rest of my life. I´m grateful that I have this time to understand exactly is required of me. I know that my saviour lives. I know that we are imperfect. I know that through him we can be perfected in him. I know taht there is much required of us, but as we are children of God we are entitled to his help. I know that He loves us and that he has a perfect plan. I am grateful that we have a living prophet and that we ahve the opportunity to hear from him this weekend. Gah! What a priveledge! :) I love you guys so much  Please stay awesome like you guys are :)

Sister Parco

Faith

Whooohooo this weeks topic to study is hope. So I hope that this next will be filled with hope and wonderfulness!

This week we studied faith and man was our faith tested. We had about 2 days this week that were pretty rough. I think we talked to about 40 people in one day. And were completely denied. We spent about 6 hours walking. And I think we walked forever. But because we studied faith, I think we were much stronger to get through the week :) It´s funny how that works. Hahaha everyone says that you shouldn´t pray or study for faith because the Lord will give you something hard that will test your faith. But me and sister torres decided that it was quite the opposite. That the Lord knew that this would be a hard week, so He helped us to feel like we should study for faith and patience. Because these would be the weeks that we would need it. Cool huh?

But people are wonderful. All of our family went to church and loved it :) I love them all sooo much. We met with a LA who got baptized about 7 months ago. It´s so hard to see those that fall away so fast. But she doesn´t accept anyone to her house except the missionaries. She is passing trough a lot and we read D&C 121 with her and shejust sat there crying. It´s so amazing how the gosple can bring so much hope. We also visited a member. It´s funny how the Lord puts members in our paths. There is a lady in our ward who is passing through a lot of things and turns out that she was taking out the trash the same time that we passed. Cool huh? :)

Anyways, I´m feeling really lazy today and don´t have much time. But I love you guys and things are wonderful! Stay awesome! I love being a missionary! Love the Lord! Ate mais! :)

Sister Parco

Goals

Things I learned

Check to see if the gate is closed before knocking a door that has dogs. Almost died.

When you step on something, don´t take it off with your hand. Gross.

When you pray for something with good intentions, you´ll get it :) It was hilarious. One morning we prayed for contacts where we could be direct and testify. And we got exactly that. Probably the worst day for contacts . Lot´s of people, well not the nicest people i´m gonna say ;) But we were direct and testified like no other. And we learned and that is what´s importante ;)

Goals are wonderful. How are you supposed to measure your progress without goals? Impossible. I love goals. And I love being na organization freak. I love a mission. It´s incredible how much you change. This week I made a list of everything that i´ve learned from all my experiences here. And it´s amazing the things that you had a sense of before the mission turn into truths for you. You Always have a sense that everything is going to be for your well being. But you don´t know. But every single miniscule thing is exactly for your well being. Everything is to help make you a better person. You know that God loves you but you don´t realize how much of a truth that is. You know what Christ did for you but don´t realize exactly what that meant. You understand that Christ wanted us to serve others, but you didn´t know exactly what that mean for you. I love a mission. We had our stake conference this week and it was a tear jerker, let me tell you. Almost cried. Guess how they started out the conference? Yup. With a sister that returned 2 weeks ago. All I thought of was myself standing up there. Never gonna sit in the same capella, never going to have the priveledge of wearing the name of christ over my heart. It was rough. How many times in your life do you get the chance to testify of Christ everyday? Like, never. Probably have learned more in these 11 months than the past 20 years. I know that we´re supposed to be helping others to come unto Christ, but something really hit me when we had interviews. That the biggest convert is yourself. I´m grateful for this time to become more like Jesus Christ. Í´m grateful that He trusts me enough to do this work that is so wonderful and importante.

People

A. S. L, & A are wonderful! Gosh I love little L. He is crazy excited. A man from our Ward gave him a suit and he´s being freaking out about going to church. He wants to go every night. He´s 12 and he Always asks when we´re going to come again. He was so excited that his mom even bought church shoes for him. The Family minus the dad went to church this sunday and they loved it :) Hahaha it was hilarious. L. ran up to us after the meeting and said he wanted to show his mom the baptismal font. He is one excited kid :) I love them so much. It´s so wonderful to see diferences in their lives. Every time we go there. A. (mom) Says she feels so much Peace and things have been way diferente in her house. Her kids used to swear like crazy and it was a house of yelling and that she was just feeling stressed. But I looked at them at church this sunday and it was wonderful seeing A. there hugging both of her children and listening and gah. the difference is so huge. I love families :)

Gah. the Bird is biting my shoe.

Anyways. I love you all SO MUCH. I hope you guys are wonderful and loving every single minute of your lives! Be amazing never change and love who you are! :) <3

Love ya guys,

Sister Parco

The Lord is Merciful

The Lord is so merciful. Did you guys know that? I love my Heavenly Father. He really knows what´s best. We had a rough week last week and it was a little hard to get excited again, but the Lord really is merciful and gives us miracles to help us to be excited again. He really knows the best timing and will do things according to what is best for us and is of the will of him. For this, I think that i´ll start with allthe miracles that happened this week <3

Miracles

We met a Family this week that was a reference that is absolutely golden <3 A, S, L and A. We met with them about 1 month ago and A didn´t react that well when we asked if we could share a message, so we didn´t return there, but decided this week to try again. Well. Turns out that her aunt died 2 days earlier and was really down, and decided to let us in. Then, she felt the spirit so strong during the lesson and they are progressing sooo well! And the husband that slammed the door in the face of other missionaries accepted us and was actually the first one to kneel and ask about the truthfulness of our message. Story short. The mom (she has 2 kids) wanted us to sew her dress to make it appropriate for church. The mom wants to stop drinking (we haven´t even taught WOW yet... :o). And L has already been to church and absolutely loved it and is participating in the choir this week for stake conference and invited all of his friends <3 :)

We met aman named J this week when we were doing contacts. Turns out he´s been going to church for 6 months in São Paulo and had to move right before his baptism in são paulo and wants to go to church again and be baptized. WHAT. This never happens.

N went to church and has gone 3 times already and wants to buy new skirts that are longer and is already loving all the members in church:) I love her:) She's wonderful :)

Other experiences

We met a lady who has a schizophrenic daughter and we prayed with her at her gate because her story is crazy. It was a really wonderful experience:)

We met A who has a kid who was involved in drugs but got beat up and now has a mental problem.We thought he didn´t understand anything. But her son started crying after we recited the first vision. Wow. It was crazy.

We met another lady when we were knocking on a door and when she came to the gate, we could tell that she had some mental problems, but she invited us in and i didn´tknow how to say no haha so we entered and the experience was maravilhoso. I think half of the time I looked straight into her eyes just wondering what she was feeling and feeling SO MUCH love for her.I just sat there bearing my testimony and feeling so much of God´s love for her that I started crying as I testified of God's love for her. It was amazing. It´s so incredible how much love our Heavenly Father has for us.

The members here love us. The washing of the dishes and the post it notes we left in their bathroom work wonders. Everytime we arrive at church, the irmãs run over to us just to give us a hug. And they'd do anything to help us. I think that's the best thing. Having the trust of the members. I always thought that missionary work was just loving your pesquisadors, but it´s edifying EVERYONE. Members included. I love that.<3 

Things I learned

Don't pray for patience, because your patience will be tested.. ;)We decided to pick a christ like attribute for every week and make goals during the week to try and be better with that characteristic. This week is patience! Wish me luck!:)

I love being tested here. I love seeing myself change. I love my savior. I love the fact that I have this time to become more like him. I love you all and you all mean so much tome <3 Take care!:)

Sister Parco

Inverted Jackets

This week

This week was great! We met a lot of people, talked to a lot of people and just had a great time! We also went to the temple which was wonderful <3 And people are awesome! Not anything big happened this week, except for the fact that my companion speaks sign language a little! :) Cool huh? This week we met a man the was deaf and dumb. And man I was so proud of my companion when she was talking to him :) <3 It was sooo cool :)

People

N.  is awesome! She went to church the second time and loved it. She told us that she wants to buy a skirt that is long enough to go to church with a modest skirt. She is already changing and it is amazing! :) I love seeing people change and be happy.

R. is a pesquisador that we have that knows the bible inside and out. WHICH I LOVE. Becuase if you know that the bible is true, you have to know that the plan of salvation is true and that the restoration is true. I love that. <3 But she is great and says she feels something different when we go there :)

Inverted jackets

Ya guys remember those jackets that have a fluffy side of the coat and the other side that is like a wind breaker? Well, I think this week I discovered the fluffy side of the coat.  We went to the temple this week and it was the absolutely awesomest wonderfulest thing ever. It´s so crazy how much peace you feel. But after the temple, all of the missionaries were scattered around in the room, each one of us reading scriptures or sitting and thinking silently. And it was so interesting because we went with the missionaries that are going home, and as I looked at every single one of them, I realized that they were all asking the same thing. ´´ Is my mission accepted of thee? Did I do enough?´´ And it´s so interesting. I think heading on a mission, I had a more egoistic perspective. It wasn´t about am I doing enough, but look at what i´m doing. I´m not saying that i´m here to be a rule breaker, but the fact that, this mission, is the least I owe to Him. It´s the least I could do to pay back all that he has done for me. So yeah, this time is my time, but at the same time it isn´t. But it´s wonderful! I love having this time here :) <3 Its so wonderful being so focused on trying to do what He asks. Because that is when we find the true happiness. I love flipping to the fluffy side of the coat and  seeing the mission from an entirely new perspective and feeling the wonderfulness that comes with it :) I love you guys so much and apologize for the bad comparason. Point is I´m glad i have the opportunity to repay my Heavenly Father. Keep being awesome and love your life! :) 

Love

Sister Parco

Choice

People

Remember V, the one who read the book of mórmon in the library? Well, her mom stopped us from visiting her. It makes me so dang sad. She was seriously perfect and loved everything we taught. We´d go over there and she´d have the book of mórmon waiting for us open waiting to tell us what she read. And she told us that going to church was a little bit of what she thought heaven would be like. She said she felt so good there and Always stayed all 3 hours and sometimes 4 if there was a baptism. It makes me so sad and frustrated that the mom can´t see how this is changing her. But, I know one day in the future, she´ll be able to have a second chance. The time just isn´t now :/

Remember A? hahah so the last lesson was a little strange that was about a week and a half ago, and we were thinking about it and we came to the conclusion that he was actually a pastor of a church. So we went there again this week. And I think he totally knew that we knew. Turns out that he wanted to hear our lessons to teach to his congregation. But the last lesson was awesome. We testified to him like a boss, told him what choice he was making, and left it there with an invite in the end. And he felt and understood everything. It was sad to see that knowing that it was true he still would continue, but we plan to go over there to see how he is. 

G is a menos ativo, she´s great! We had a noite familiar com ela!

Man, I want to tell you about everything, but unfortunately I only have 5 minutes. SO. Just want to tell you guys that I love you alls oooooo much! And I´m so glad that I have this wonderful opportunity to be here sharing this gosple that is sooo perfect <3 I love my savior and am completely amazed for the love he has for me. It´s real. And it´s wonderful. Love you all! Love your life!

Sister Parco

Sisters of Power

The week

This week was full of awesomeness and love and hapiness and everything. We had a great week with the members and they are starting to trust us. One member brought us to 7 of her friends. And get this. She made a cake for almost every single one of them. When she brought us to her friends, she giggled and said that when they see that she brought a cake, they have to let us in and that we should just go right at it and teach about the restoration with everyone of her friends. She is so amazing. I love her so much. This week she left with us about 3 times to help devliver the cakes. And she called us ´´Sisters of Power´´ I´m just so glad that she trusts us enough with her friends <3 And we shall go on loveing all the members here! Also, we had our ward conference, and guess what? 3 members brought their friends to church! Without any warning, promise or anything! Did I tell you that I love this ward? I do.

The members

The members here love us so much. And we love them. It´s such a perfect love. The irmas of the ward have come up to us saying that they weren´t on the list for lunches this month and that they were super bummed. And another said that she just had to pass by where we were at the end of church just because she wanted to hug us. Another offered a noite familiar. Another wanted us to move our house to the same apartment as her. And another brought us to 5 references this week! I just love this ward so much! It´s just a big love fest on sunday and the irmas adore us. I love working with members. We go there and offer service and try to help them in any way possible and then we pray with them kneeling. I love it. Hehe me and Sister T have a goal of knowing exactly where every single dish goes in the houses of the irmas because we made a goal to wash the dishes in every house ;) And today we´re making personalized post it´s ´´from the sisters´´ so that we can put it in their bathroom to thank them for all the help. They are getting so comfortable with us, and they are so willing to help us with people, or friends, or introducing the gosple! The members here are absolutely wonderful! :) <3 Ala 5 is where it´s at. <3

Me and Sister T

I love working with sister T. Everytime during companionship study we just go at it. We say ´´alright, we have this problem this problem, and that problem, so how are we going to fix it?´´ I think i have grown and learned so much more in this transfer than any other transfer. We´re really getting down to the nit and gritty to be better and better every single day. And I just love it.

The people

A is good. We´ve taught everything and she´s feeling great. She´s reading the scriptures and praying. Still undecisive because she wants to experience other churches, but she is an amazing young woman. I feel so priveledged to teach her the Gosple :)

We met R, E, and their grandma this week! they are our neighbors and they were a reference from that irma. They are so cool. E is trying out for the handicapp olympics! He´s already recieved 3 medals and is hoping to get into the olympics! He´s so cool! And R and her Grandma are super interested! They have so many questions and doubts, and we explained the book of mormon to them and all of them said they would read it without a doubt! :)

We met N and her family this week! I know I already said this, but I love teaching families :) I love teaching the restoration to kids because when you break it down into smaller simpler words, you realize that the restoration is pretty simple and that even children can understand it :) 

We met J, E, and D this week! J is the sister that has a daughter and E and D have a daughter too. They are perfect. THey first time we taught D this week, we taught the restoration like we usually do, but this time, i decided to wait for a long time after we recited the first vision. We sat there for about 20 seconds. And we waited. And then we waited and asked how she felt, D started saying that she felt that something hit her heart a bit and then started crying, and then her husband when we taught them the second time, put his head down and started crying to. The spirit was soooo strong. It was amazing. I think the most rewarding part was when we asked erisma, the husband to say the closing prayer. There is just something about a family kneeling together to  say a prayer and the father saying the prayer. Because you don´t see that often. It makes me so grateful that I had a father who showed me to kneel down and talk to his Heavenly Father. It really is wonderful <3 (yeah, that´s you pops! ;) )

Anyways, that is pretty much the news. I hope that you guys had a wonderful week and that you are reading your scriptures! I love you guys all so much and every day I think about how I have a wonderful amazing family :) <3 I pray for you guys every day and I am glad to have grown up in a family centered in the Gosple of Jesus Christ <3 Be good. Stay Awesome :)

Love

Sister Parco

Walk

This week was pretty good! Definitely a week to learn, walk, grow, walk, smile, walk, laugh, walk ;) ,  and talk to people! I definitely learned lots this week! Sorry if it´s short this week, but our time got moved back to na hour, so i´ll just put in the more awesome stuff :)

My companion

We are seriously so perfect when we teach together. We switch off like no other, we talk like no other, and we are really trying to get down to the nitty and gritty with everything. When we study together, I just love it, because we think of exactly what people need to hear. The necassary parts. And then we just kill it and follow the spirit like no other. It´s wonderful. I´m so excited every week to work with her :) <3

Things I love

I love families. We found A and A this week and they have 4 kids. All under the age of 10. It was so crazy. I think you have to have a lot of courage to have 4 BOYS under the age of 10 ;) We started out teaching the restoration, but it was so crazy that we decided to switch it to Family prayer. So we taught them about Heavenly Father and how he is Always there to listen, and asked them what they thought about their father. It was wonderful because all the yelling and jumping on each other stopped when we were teaching about prayer <3 And then we bore our testimonies about Heavenly Father and we all knelt down as a Family together to say a prayer. It was so wonderful.

I want kids. But that will just have to wait ;) I seriously think that I said this at least 5 times a week, if not daily.

People

A! This week we went to her house to make chocolate chip cookies! It was wonderful. I ate more than I should. BUT I love A. She has so many questions. She´s Reading the Book of Mormon everyday, and she is trying to stop drinking coffee. All this at 15. She is so wonderful and so very special to us. She really has that desire and I just love seeing her change every time I see her :)

V is awesome! She went to primary again this week and they gave her a Faith in God that she´s going to start this week! She has so many deep questions for na almost 12 year old, and she is Always so willing to learn more! Gosh. I love her too. And it´s so wonderful to see all the primary kids welcome her :) I was so proud of her :) This week she recited the article of Faith for everyone :) She´s just amazing :)

I´m gonna stop here because my time is pretty low.

But I love you guys sooooo much and am so grateful that I have a wonderful Family like you guys :) I love families. AND GUESS WHAT. I decided that we are doing Family home evening every single week when we get home. BE PREPARED. And theyre gonna be the best days ever. I love my purpose here. I love the Lord. I love working. I love learning. I love growing. I know I´m here on the Lord´s errand and don´t want to waste a minute. I love every single one of you guys and I beam knowing that I can be with you guys forever :) Keep being amazing and HELP THE MISSIONARIES! ;) Love you :)

Sister Parco

College

So I kind of forgot to tell you guys that we had transfers. SURPRISE! But they were awesome :) My new companion is SIster T! I LOVE HER. Me and her just click. We teach wonderfully together, we work hard together, we laugh together, it´s just wonderful. We try so hard to go to bed early sometimes because we´ve worked so hard during the day, and we are in our beds by at least 10. But then we sit there and giggle the whole time until it´s 10:30, so it doesn´t even make a difference. ;) But we are crazy pumped to work together and we have so much we want to do together here :)

Deep thoughts

So we were talking with a pesquisador about how we only stay here for a year and a half, and we wre talking and saying the usual stuff, oh yeah, don´t worry, we wear pants, and that we´re gonna marry and that we´ll study and have a Family, but sister Torres said something that really actually stung a little bit. She was talking and she said, ´´so, after this year and a half we can´t  be missionaries.´´ Of course it was casual, but it really made me think.  I never really thought about it that way. The fact that I can´t wear a badge with the name of Jesus Christ. The fact that I can be a literal representative of him. The fact that what i´m doing here probably won´t be repeated. The fact that I won´t spend every day testifying of Him and putting myself completely out of the Picture and seriving others. It´s not possible at home. But it really stunk when I thought of that. I love being on a mission. And I cherish this time here SO much. I am grateful for this opportunity to be a missionary and I hope that I can make the best of this short year and a half.

Do you know what is something interesting? When you stop thinking about yourself and you think about what the Lord wants. You stop thinking of what you look like to everyone else and you just put everything down and think. Alright Heavenly Father, what next. You dropall of your personal selfish feelings and just go at it. That´s what makes this mission totally Worth it. Absolutely positively Worth it. I love being here.

i´m holding a Bird right now. and  petting it. And it´s biting me

I love banana bread. I´ve made a goal to make it for every companion. They love it. It´s famous. Thanks mom! <3

Miracles

Wow. So many things happened this week. There was definitely a miracle everyday. One thing that me and Sister T do is ask ourselves, okay, what was our miracles today? And we Always have one :) <3 But i´ll tell you 3 miracles that were my favorite.

So we were teaching M one day and we were going to presente the book of mórmon. But when we sat down, we noticed that her daughter who usually doesn´t listen to our messages followed us and had a book in her hand. We noticed that it was the book of mórmon so we started out asking her about it. Well, turns out that she found it in the library, and was having a really bad day at school. So, she decided to read it, and she said that she felt na overwhelming feeling of Peace. And when she saw that we had it in our hands, she followed us to learn more. THen, wanting to know more about her story, i asked her her favoirite scripture,and she opened right up to mosias 4 that talks about Christ and when he suffered. WHAT. I almost didn´t know what to teach because I was so surprised at the miracle! She went to church yesterday and stayed for the 3 hourse and the baptism after. Oh yeah, and she´s 12 and she understands everything. MIracle mesmo

Another was when we were looking for na espesquisador. We found the house, but it was a condominium. And we tried hitting the number and nothing happened. But all the sudden 2 people walk by with another person and say- ´´hi sisters!´´ And we´re like, what? And we introduced ourselves and told them that we were missionaries from the área and they asked´´who are you looking for?´´ and we said oh E´´ And the third guy goes, ´´hey, that´s me!´´. Those 2 members were there with E. and he invited us to see his new born baby that only had 5 days. WHAT. So we follow the two members and E to his apartment to see his baby where he invited us to come back wednesday at 7. MIRACLES!

The other happened 50 minutes ago. A lady came up to us in the lan house here and said that she wanted visits from us and that she wanted to go to church and already had visits from the other missionaries. She gave us her address and number and we´re returning there another day! HOW CRAZY IS THAT?!?!

I´m so glad the Lord trusts us with these miracles. I just hope we can keep his trust and act in the way that He wants us to act :) Me and sister Tare really trying to act with the spirit so that we can say what He needs us to say. And it is absolutely amazing during lessons. We´ve been trying to switch off every question so that 1 we ask questions and 2 that we switch off more to say what needs tobe said. Man we´re just gonna be perfect together!

College

For some reason,college was on my mind a lot this week and the whole leaving your Family part. And I was Reading a scripture and I wanted you guys to imagine right along with me about how cool this is. ALright. So, read isaiah 53:10. If you notice. Heavenly Father sent His only begotten son so that he could see  us again. When you think that we´re going to heaven, I only think that, man, it´s gonna be cool to be in his presence, but he is more concerned about seeing his kid again. Just like Chirstmas bread when you see your kid again :) I thought that was so cool :) <3 I love the scriptures :)

Love you all!

Sister Parco

Whitening Toothpaste

Awesome moments

I saw S! I left Derosso and didn´t even get to say bye to her :( BUT. She is in the stake and I got to see her! She gave her first talk in front of everyone at sacrament meeting andwas so nervous.. we helped her prepare for it, but she did it, and i didn´t get to see her, but I was so proud of her! :)

Remember A?!? So she Always went on splits with us and she just got the perfect atitude to be a missionary :) But she was against it while I was serving there and we talkedabout it, but I just recieved News that she´s going on a mission! She´ll make a great missionary! :)

C. Remember her too? Well I left early knowing she was going to get baptized, and yup, you guessed it- she´s going tobe baptized. I don´t know the details yet, but I heard that she´s gonna be baptized! :) Isn´t that awesome?!

People

So our LMA has 2 children that arent members and we had a noite familiar with them and my gosh the spirit was so Strong there. We talked about the plan of salvation and how everything Works together so that we need the gospel:)t was soo spiritual. You could feel the spirit like crazy :)

A is good. We´re meeting with her tomorrow. She has been Reading and praying and has already felt Peace when she prayed about the Book of Mormon :) She´s aweomse!

We met M this week and he is one of the pesquisadors that went to the party! He´s awesome! The first lesson, he said he was looking for that strength from Heavenly father and the connection with him, and man was that perfect. because the gospel is just awesome! :)

We met a Part member Family this week that also went to the party! It´s a Family of 5 kids and a mom and dad! 3 of the kids are baptized but the mom and dad and one of the filhos isn´t. They are so wonderful! We taughth them about the restoration and they liked it! :) Their Family is amazing! And they are so open! The spirit was so strong in the first lesson!

We met E. too that lives alone. The first things she said was that she knows she needs to be baptized and that she wants to get baptized but she says she has so many regrets from the past that she doesn't think she can forget. So wesat thereand talked with her and we´re going back this week! Sorry theseare really short.. I only have 2 minutes hahaha

A. is the same situation. He said he´s been looking for Peace because he was going through some rough times and told us at the end thatwe broughta Peace that was diferente and the Peace that he wanted :)

Some firsts

So this is the first time I´ve ever heard Sisters giving training here in Brazil but it happened! Me and Sister Hermes gave a training together about how to work with members this week! And it went awesome! We gave a training and after we brain stormed about things that hinder the members. I was abit nervous because it usually doesnt happen here, but the zone leader came up to us afterwards and said that our training was awesome and that he absolutely loved it! :)

So we had a pioneer party as a stake this week! It was absoultey awesome! We made a missionary table for the membros that brought their friends, and it was the best thing! We set out everything andhad 17 miracles playing in the backround! AND it was great. But I felt like a mom. Because the 3 families that we invited that went didn´t have any friends so we´d frantically introduce all of them to the membros and it was crazy. I´m gonna be a mess when I have kids ;) But the party was awesome, the food was awesome and the members are awesome! AndI gotto see some people from Derosso! :)

Funny moments

So this may be funny to me, I guess it is more ironic, but I was looking at our map of Ala 5 and I took a double take and realized, yup. I can see all 3 áreas that ive passed through on the same map. Ironic but yet funny :) almost a year in áreas that are 5 minutes or so from each other. So hilarious ;)

I love dogs. we found a dog that started following us so I named it Frederico. It was funny until this like gang, and I say gang because they were like a people gang, hanging out together and attacking all the other dogs that came near them together. Well. Frederico was one of those other dogs. So those 3 dogs came charging at us attacking the other dog. Bahahahaha and of course the first reaction of me and sister Hermes. We just look at eachother and started hugging. Hahahahaha. First reaction. So after the dogs stopped we paused for a while and realized that we were hugging eachother so dang tight. It was just one of those moments where it was funny.. after...;) Bahahaha it was just afunny sight ;)

Things that I love

You know what I love. Relief Society. When I was 18 I never liked it that much because it was moms and no one my age. BUT. It´s the awesomest thing ever. You can justvsay one question in the room, and the whole room explodes with comments, and I love hearing the diferente opinions of the diferente moms of different ages :) And hearing the sass in some of the comments, experiences with others, and  the testemunhos in others and gah. It´s just so awesome. I can´t wait for relief society at home :)

Whitening toothpaste

I decided to go against what I´ve Always done in the past and go out on a limb this week and buy whitening toothpaste. I´ve told that it´s a waste, but hey, why not huh?:) But I was thinking a lot. About toothpaste. And scriptures. How are you supposed to know that whitening toothpaste Works if you don´t use it every day? How are you supposed to know that claims of whiter teeth and a brilliant smile in just 15 days are real if ya don´t brush every single day and night? How are we supposed to know that Reading scriptures really does bring Peace or happiness? How are we supposed to even know if all those promises are real that the prophets and the scriptures itself say. The answer? We gotta brush our teeth! And everyday. Becase that is the only way that we will see the results. SO read your scriptures everyday because they are awesome! :)

And about the toothpaste, I really am actually trying to see if they are whiter in 15 days. Just cause I can. I´ll tell you how it goes ;)

I love you guys so much! Never forget how amazing the gospel is. Don´t forget who you are and how wonderful life is! Be awesome! :) Love you guys!

Sister Parco