The Gift of Tongues

Hello Everyone!!

Another week down in Brazil, and it was great! A couple weeks ago we had an emergency zone conference and they changed a lot of our mission goals, one of which was the number of contacts/people we talk with every single day. It went from 3-5 contacts a day to 20 but to attempt to get 20 contacts, if they say no it still counts we just have to talk to them. So this week we talked to everyone! We worked really hard this week and we taught a lot of really good lessons so hopefully we will have some strong investigators soon! We are still teaching Felipe and Penha but we still have a lot of work to do with them like getting them to stop drinking coffee and going to church every Sunday! This week a lot of people told me and my companion uplifting stories about missionaries getting mugged or kidnapped but I wasn't worried because my companion seems like she could protect us if matters became bad. So one morning when we were working out I asked if she wanted to arm wrestle! Long story short I won, but I have the arm strength of a small bird so now I'm not really sure what we are going to do if someone tries to kidnap us....We now do pushups every morning haha but God is protecting us so he can make up for our lack of arm strength! Another interesting thing that has happened is my hair decided to grow almost an inch now, but also a whole bunch of new hairs decided to grow and they're only 1 in long so occasionally I look a little bit like Albert Einstein but it just makes me extra unique so todo bem! We got 2 new investigators this week that came to church today, they are twins! Andre and Adriano, I don't think I will ever be able to tell which is which but they are cute 17 year olds and we have only taught them once but they are prime investigators so I hope we can help them gain testimonies and become strong members! Not a ton happened this week but we worked really hard so hopefully it will pay off this transfer! Today was my first transfer! Woot! We will be staying in Itaquaquecetuba but a lot of our district changed and our district leader got transferred (Elder Benini) I will send a picture with my district when we said goodbye to him! Well I think thats all that happened this week! It was a great week and the Portuguese is coming slowly but surely! I can usually understand almost everything but I still have a hard time speaking it, except when I bare my testimony or am teaching! Words just fly out of my mouth and a lot of the time it's words I didn't even know I knew. The gift of tongues is real! It's amazing what can happen when we want the same thing as Christ! Today I was studying the Liana November 2017, and I was reading a talk written by Bonnie L. Oscarson called, "The Needs Before Us." If you have time, read it! It is an amazing talk. She talked about how we don't need to change the world all at once but we can start by putting down our phones and serving those closest to us. She said, "Remember that some of the greatest needs may be those right in front of you, begin your service within your own families." She shared a quote by Spencer W. Kimball, "God does notice us, and he watches over us, but it is usually through another person that he meets our needs." I love this quote because I have seen him help me many times through other people so I hope you will all pray to find ways to be that person for someone else! I love our Savior and I love all of you and hope you have a great week!


Love, Sister Peine

Churros!

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a fabulous week! This week I decided that everything is going to be okay and that I actually can survive here because I found a CHURRO SHOP! I really didn't think it was possible, but Costco has some serious competition! They put this stuff called done de leite inside the churros here and oh my, I think I'm going to write a letter to Costco right now and inform them what they are missing out on! The people in the churro shop know me by name now and they love to practice their English by saying, "Hello my friend" and "goodbye my friend" every time I walk by hahaha! So this week I've had a head cold all week and lost my voice and wow I think Brazilian sicknesses are worse but no worries I feel much better today! When I was sick my companion made us do a juice detox which consisted of carrots, lettuce, ginger, apples and many other interesting fruits and vegetables that should never be mixed together but I survived it so now I think I can do anything.....except Portuguese! I still don't know if I can do that but I think I'm getting better slowly but surely! I found a golden retriever and I cried because I was so happy and my companion was laughing at me and took these pictures . Me and my companion did face masks and we stretch every night because she can't touch her toes and she has a goal to touch her toes but with a trainer like me she will be there in no time! This is my gross foot, we walk a lot but my ankle is all the way better so no complaints! This week we had entrevistas (interviews) with our mission president! We got to see other missionaries and there were 3 American Elders and President and Sister Silcox so I got to speak English! IT FELT SO GOOD! I'm a little late to the party but I finally got to watch all of conference when I was sick and WOW it was so good! Missionary work is so important and the Atonement is amazing! This week we also had divisions with our STL's and I got to be with an Americana! Sister Hurttle, there are not a lot of white people here, well there are actually one in my area so I stand out pretty bad but me and Sister Hurttle together, haha we got a lot of funny looks! It was a lot of fun to teach with her and hear about her first weeks and months in the field! We went to her area for the split and it was in the mountains! Oh it was sooo beautiful! It was a lot more 3rd world like dirt roads and people lived in tiny houses but wow it was beautiful!! I forgot my camera but maybe someday I'll go to an area like that! I have eaten a lot of very strange things but I've learned it tastes better if I just don't ask, haha I've only eaten a couple of questionable meats, the rest is soooo good! Brazilians really know what they're doing when it comes to cooking. I love rice and beans now which is good because we eat it every single day without fail! This week we went to a birthday party for a member in the ward and they had BBQ! Oh my, it was soooo good and they played a lot of English music, they were very impressed that I could rap the whole G-Easy song, "me, myself and I" word for word. (Knew it would come in handy one day) We also taught Pena and her family again and she came to church AGAIN! We just need to get the rest of her family to come with her. We have a new investigator named Taissa that came to church too! We have a lot of really good investigators but we are taking it slow with them because we want them to have strong testimonies and become strong members because a big problem here in Brazil is inactive members. In our ward we have about twice as many inactive members as we do members so we are really focussing on making strong disciples of Christ not just baptizing them as fast as we can! They are all prime investigators though, we still have a lot of work to do with them but they all have a ton of potential! At our apartment we don't have a dryer, we hang all of our clothes to dry so we have to put a bunch of fabric softener in when we wash them so they don't dry stiff! This week I was trying to do some laundry and our little washing station is right next to our stove....so I set the giant bottle of fabric softener on the stove along with a washcloth and when I went to grab the wash cloth it hooked the iron part of the stove and knocked the giant tub of fabric softener on the floor and it exploded, like it actually exploded! It was all over our kitchen, wash room, fridge and me! Our apartment still smells like lavender and we our fresh out of fabric softener but I now have the softest feet in the world so it's not all that bad! We didn't get to do a ton of work this week because we were gone for over half of it on splits and having interviews but it was still a great week and we have a lot of work to do this week. When I listened to general conference I really loved President Nelson's talk when he said, "The construction of these temples may not change your life, but the time in the temple surely will," and then he challenged us to identify things we can set aside so we can spend more time in the temple because missionary work is happening on both sides of the veil and you can further the work not only here but on the other side of the veil which is amazing! Temples are amazing and like President Nelson said, the time you spend in them can change your life so I challenge you all to make sure you can make time to regularly go to the temple! It will change not only your life but many of the lives of people who are waiting for you! I hope you all have a great week and find some time to go to the temple! Te amp todos voces e ate a proxima Semana. xoxoxo
Love, Sister Peine

Another week down in the field! I almost have 3 weeks in the field! This week I hit 2 months in the mission on the 13th! So this week started with a lot of walking. We walked pretty much all day stopping at investigators and contacts houses along the way and NO ONE was home. We also have lunch with someone in our ward everyday and the members house who we were walking to forgot about us haha so that's always a bummer. We started walking back and on the way we found someone with a broken down car so me and my companion pushed him and his car to a little shop a couple miles away ha ha it was a great workout and we got his contact info so we could teach him later. When we went to teach him his whole family was sitting there waiting for us! We taught them a really good lesson. I am starting to be able to talk a lot more in the lessons. I will always ask them questions when we are first getting to know them and they get all excited and say a bunch of things REALLY fast in response that I usually don't understand so I've gotten really good at smiling and saying, "legal" (cool) lol. But they really liked the fact that I was American so we are best friends now, lol. We invited them to church and they all said how it was so early and they would try but they weren't making any promises so I hit em with, "If I can learn Portuguese you can to to church at 9 a.m." They all laughed but it actually worked. Felipe didn't come to church but his mom, sister, and his sister's daughter all were at church yesterday. Tonight we are having family night with them so hopefully that goes good! We also met a new investigator this week who came to church too! His name is Renan. We taught him and his family on Saturday and they were all super excited to practice their English with me, it was so cute! They are all amazing so I hope we can keep teaching them! Another cool thing that happened this week was a lady in our ward gave us bags of church clothes that didn't fit her kids anymore that we were able to give to some of our investigators and recent converts who don't have enough money to buy them. It was really such a tender mercy, I've never seen someone so happy to receive clothes in my life! Also this week my companion was talking on the phone with some other Brazilian sisters in our district about how she doesn't like Americans (She thinks I don't understand a lot of what she says, but I do LOL) She doesn't like Americans just because of the fact that they're American so that's a bummer because I happen to be American haha but it's okay, I'm going to convince her Americans are great! We are still great friends and if I'm ever feeling a little down I just ask if she wants to learn English or read the Book of Mormon in English because her accent is so cute hahaha it always cheers me up! I love when Brazilians try to speak English with me, they are the cutest people! There is this lady in my ward who is a real live Angel. Last night I was a little hungry so I walked into our kitchen to grab some food and there was NO food at all. Because today is P-day when we buy food so we were fresh out and just as I was about to force myself to eat these gross onion chips we had our phone ring and it was Gilmara and her husband telling us to come down to our gate because they had dinner for us. They brought us a bunch of Brazilian food and some groceries. Oh my the food here is soooooo good! It is amazing overtime we need something it always comes to us right when we need it, so don't worry mom, I'm eating good! I think people's favorite phrase her is "Comer mais" eat more haha. The members here in Itaquaquecetuba (the city I'm in) take good care of us. Well this week was a tough but good one! I challenge you all to pray for opportunities to be a missionary and help bring his lost sheep home. If you ask he will help you. Only 2 people need to want something to happen in order for it to happen, you and God! So pray and then act even if its just giving referrals to the missionaries or giving away a Book of Mormon with your testimony in it. Missionary work is so important and there are people waiting for you to invite them to church or a young women's activity or ward activity so pray to find them and I know God will lead you to them! I hope you all have a great week and I'll see you all in 15.8 months, woot!
Te Amo todos voces,
Love, Sister Peine

Rain!!!!

Hello everyone!
Another week down in Brazil! This week started out a little rough with a LOT of rain! Tuesday we woke up and did the regular routine and got all ready to go. We didn't bring any jackets because there were no clouds in the sky and it was HOT! About halfway through our day it started POURING! Luckily we both had umbrellas so we kept walking so we could make our appointments but NONE of them were home or maybe they just couldn't hear us through the rain because rain with tin roofs definitely isn't the quietest thing ever and here we don't knock on the door, we clap from behind a gate that everyone has. It got to the point where the water was half way to our knees and all the streets had turned into mini rivers so our umbrellas weren't really doing too much! Since all of our appointments fell through we decided to make our way back to the church for shelter and as we were walking this little boy came running our of nowhere crying! We ran to share our umbrellas with him until his mom came! He was freezing because sometimes the rain here is cold (it's super weird.) When his mom got there my companion being the good human that she is gave her umbrella to the mom and got her address so we could pick it up another day. Then it was just me, my companion and my very small umbrella! We still had a good couple of miles until we got to the church and it was starting to rain even harder!! We were running along and I stopped to fix the tape on my blisters. Just as I bent down a giant truck drove by through a nice big mud puddle I was standing by and soaked me! As I stood up and looked at my companion holding the umbrella the umbrella BROKE and we looked at each other and just started laughing! We then decided to run to a members house that lived close by. She came to the door and started panicking saying we were going to get sick and brought us in and made us shower and then brought us some of her pajamas to wear. She made us some dinner while we played with her kids. Their family is The Best! I will send pictures of my companion and I in her pajamas, ha ha we looked GREAT! We stayed there until it stopped raining. She let me watch some general conference on her computer in ENGLISH! It was soooo good! She is a real live angel! The next day we went to go pick up the umbrella from the lady we gave it to and oh my, she is amazing! She has the cutest little family and a VERY cute dog! She really likes to cook. She invited us in and immediately started having us eat different cakes and pies that she said she had been experimenting with. They were so good! We taught her a lesson (by we I mean my companion, ha ha I mostly did a lot of smiling and petting her dog) but I always try to give input and I always share my testimony at the end. She said she would read the Book of Mormon and that we could return this week so I hope she really does because she is awesome! We also had zone conference this same day which was a lot of fun to see other missionaries because most of the time its just me and my companion! The rest of the week was mostly just a ton of walking and a lot of lessons that fell through so hopefully this week we can find some solid investigators! Oh yeah, I bore my testimony in church yesterday and I tried to say, "If you talk to me and I just smile and don't respond very much it's not because I don't like you, it's because I probably didn't understand you! I'm still learning Portuguese and I promise I love you all" Instead I said, "If you talk to me and I just smile and don't respond it's because I probably don't like understanding you and because I'm learning your language." I knew all the words I needed and how to say the phrase correctly but I was a little bit nervous so I skipped some of the most important words. Haha my companion cleared it up for me though, thank heavens! Talk about a good first impression haha! Well thats about it for my week. I can understand a lot of Portuguese but speaking it is a struggle. Learning a different language is not as fun as it sounds!! To end I want to share something I liked about conference. I'm pretty sure it was in Uctdorf's talk. He shared the scripture Alma 37:6-7. He was talking about the importance of small things. I really liked this because it is very applicable to everyone! The small things make all the difference depending on our perspective! If we focus on all the small things that are bad and that bug us it will pull us down and over time make a large negative impact! But if we choose to ignore the small bad things and focus on the small good things we can make a very large positive impact on our own lives! I've noticed this a lot as a missionary with relationships especially! Notice the little things, Do the little things and don't let the little negative things become big! There is so much bad in the world so it makes it that much more important to focus on the small things no matter how small! So smile at people even if you don't know them, read your scriptures, tell your family members you love them, pray, focus on the little things and be happy because we are here to become like Christ and Christ would look at the glass half full always! I love you all so much! This Friday is my 2 month mark so I'll see you in 16 months. Haha, have a great week! Eu Amo todos voces!!

Love, Sister Peine xoxo

First Week in the Field

Hello everyone!!! I'm in the field now! Its great being in the field but I definitely miss the CTM and my friends that spoke English haha. I miss my district a lot but I'm excited to hear about all the great things they are going to do! My new companions name is sister Enout and she is 27 years old but she is awesome, she is a very hard worker and she is very patient with me because she doesn't speak any English AT ALL! This week has been rough and we have used my dictionary A LOT. It is just me and her and we live in a nice little apartment so it kinda gets lonely when the only person I have to talk to doesn't know English but I do my best and it is helping me learn a lot of Portuguese. If you could all keep the plumbing system here in your prayers that would be great because yesterday my companion told me for the first time to make sure that I never flush any toilet paper or tissues down the toilet. Since that was the first time I ever heard that I have been flushing all sorts of paper down there all week. Apparently you can't do that here only in the CTM so hopefully all is well the next couple days hahah. My area is called Vila Virginia, it is the poorest area in my mission so there is a lot of poverty! There are a lot of hills so we get a good workout because wow do we walk a lot! I've got some nice blisters but I'm getting used to wrapping my feet in tape, haha no pain no gain, so its good! My ankle sometimes gets puffy but nothing like when it was at the CTM and it doesn't hurt at all so I think it will eventually go away! My area is great! It's a little sketchy and there are a lot of places we can't go at night and some places not even in the day, there are also a lot of scary things here but we avoid them and focus on our investigators! One of our investigators names is Felipe and he is amazing! Missionaries have taught him in the past and he would never commit to baptism but the first time I taught him I bore my testimony that the reason I left my family and came across the world was to tell him that he can be with his family forever and that God loves him, it was very simple because at the moment I have the vocabulary of a small child but he said YES to being baptized and I was so pumped. Since then he has been studying the Book of Mormon and I just really hope it all works out because he is amazing. He is pretty much raising his 2 younger brothers alone because his parents aren’t involved much but he has so much potential and I’m so excited for him! It was a really cool experience! I always have no problem bearing my testimony in lessons the words just fly out of my mouth, the gift of tounges is amazing!!! I didn’t get to watch general conference in English and the translators spoke soooooo fast so I had a good time staring at them making up my own words.....I’m not to good at reading lips hahah hopefully later I can somehow get them in English!! The members here are great, they always give us lunch and have the biggest hearts in the world! I’m still getting used to the whole kissing on the cheek thing but its growing on me hahah very interesting for sure......my district is amazing, they are the best. Only one speaks a little English but they are very nice and Christ like, I love them so much! I love everyone here so much! I am also teaching a bunch of our investigators and little kids English, it’s so fun!!!! They are very good students and study a lot. My companion wants me to teach English class to people in the ward after seminary on Tuesdays, I don’t know if I can but I’m going to do my best! We will see how that goes! There are a lot of scary things here and the mission is very hard but I have also learned so much. You just have to focus on the good and the people because they are so amazing!! Today I got to see sister Torres, she is a Brazilian that I was roommates with in the CTM and it was soooooo good. I’m convinced we were best friends in the premortal life! We have been best friends since the first day we met, she is HILARIOUS! I only got to see her because her companion had to go to the dentist and they had to travel through our area, so I won’t see her for a while but I was a little in the dumps yesterday because learning a launguage is not easy so this was a tender mercy from God, I know it, she cheered me up a lot!!! She speaks English pretty good. I will send pictures of her! I love you all and I hope your week was great!!

Love, sister Peine