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