Irmã Brooks.: Yes, English? No, English? NO ONE HERE KNOWS ANY ENGLISH.

HI HI HI HI HI HI HI!!!

So, ya wanna know what I learned this week? I handle rejection WAY better than I thought. lolololol. The Portuguese LOVE to set up appointments with you and tell you they´re be somewhere at a certain time and then they just never show up, or they give you their number and never ever answer or they say they´ll come to church and they don´t. So...... that´s fun. Hahah no literally, what is this life?

Also, I´m ready to be fluent like...whenever. We have this one recent convert who is 17. His name is Cesar and he´s the funniest, but he LOVES to correct me and my Portuguese. And half the time I can´t even tell the difference between what he is saying and what I´m saying, so...that´s a good time. Listen. It´s not my fault the the c makes an s sound and the x make a sh sound or a j sound or an x sound and you leave the e sound off sometimes but not others and the m at the end of a sentence makes a ng sound-like WHATEVER OKAY? Ugh. Yeah. So...that´s how Portuguese is coming. Actually, I already feel like I understand a LOT more than I did last week, but still. like maybe 3 percent of the convo.

For instance, this week, Sister Barlow was on the phone with our Zone Leaders and we were stopped on the side of the road, and I was holding our pass along cards/invites to church, and this man slows down and looks at me and then at my hands and I go, "Quer?" and he responds "Sim," so I gave in a convite (invite) and then he walked away. So...here´s to hoping he shows up at church on Sunday. Hahahhah. My companion watched the whole thing go down and then we both just started laughing our heads off. #stupidamerican

I had my first encounter with creepy guys harrassing us this week, so that was funny. But don´t worry mom and dad, they weren´t in our area. So all is well.

Also, you wanna know how missionaries make jokes? At night, we have to call the Elders and give them our numbers, and every once in a while they have scriptures for us to read during personal study. Well, they also like to find the most RANDOM scriptures in the world and send us on scripture chases and just laugh at us through the phone as we read them. So...missionary jokes. HAHAHAHAHAHAH WHAT?

The sun FINALLY decided to make an appearance this week. Man, that rain overcast stuff was tough. But despite all the rejection, as long as the sun is shining and we have DC in the fridge, my life is so beyond good. And I am SO glad my companion supports my habit. Actually, we´re probably bad influences on each other, but whatever. I´m not mad. We may or may not have walked 30 minutes in the sun yesterday carrying 8 liters of DC. Why? We don´t know. There´s a store 30 seconds away, but it seemed like a really good idea to buy it when we were 30 minutes away. Hahahah, whatever, we have diet coke.

Also, the vegetarian thing spread like wildfire in the ward. So that´s funny. I walk in and all these people come up to me and go, "what´s you´re name?" Move hair off name tag and point. "Sister Brooks" "Oh.....you´re the one that doesn´t eat meat." Judgy face. hahahaha so that´s a good time. But on the upside. Everyone knows. So I don´t have to worry about it anymore....in this area at least.

My companion is an angel and she puts up with me and all of my weird ways. She lets me bake at night time, and she even laughs at my jokes (and we all know how important that is). She´s an awesome example to me and we have lots of fun together, so I feel so very blessed.

Hm....my life. Okay, this is kinda how it goes. Wake up at 7 (Portugal bby). Pretend to exercise. Shower. Personal Study. Companionship Study. Training. Go out the door around 11:30. Go to where we said we´d meet someone to teach. They don´t show up. Try to talk to whoever we see on the street. They ignore us. Go in for lunch around 1. Language study for an hour after lunch. Go to this little abandoned mall thing to meet with our only reliable (so needy it´s insane) friend, Cesar, and have a little lesson. Then we try and find some more people and we keep trying to find some more people and we keep trying and trying and trying. They say the field is white, but I´m starting to think we´re like looking for needles in the haystack here. Whatever, all is well, because God is good and he loves us and we see miracles everyday. Sometimes I feel like this must be what it´s like to be a mom. You spend all day running errands and trying to help people and just talking to everyone you know in the grocery line and petting everyone´s dogs and waving to their children and trying to make sure everyone feels loved and making lunch hahahahahah. Yeah. Exactly like motherhood.

Anywho, we´re going to the mall today, so....yay!!! Here´s to hoping the McDonalds has fountain DC. Also, goal for the week: find peanut butter and chocolate chips. How have I been surviving, you ask? I know, I know. It´s a miracle. I am happy! Life is good! We´ve got the Lord on our side, so all things are possible! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!! YOU´RE THE GREATEST IN ALL OF THE LANDS!!! Seriously, SO glad I have you. I miss you everyday, but you´ve got me for eternity suckaaas. :) LOVE YOU!!

xoxo,

Sister Brooks