Brazil June Festival and Teaching Investigators.

Ola Tudo Bem! - Hello, how are you!
I hope it was a fantastic week for all of you! This week was honestly super, super exhausting and difficult but rewarding at the same time. This week we did two divisions (temporary companion splits) with different sister missionaries and I stayed in my area both times. It's kind of tough because we have a lot of daily goals that are important to meet in order to have success  and I feel it is very important to meet the goals. I am the one that stays in the area during the week with other new sisters. But I have honestly learned to love getting to know new Sisters and I am learning so much, so fast like - how to teach, joke and get to know the investigators and problem solve. Sister Lara is still the Sister Training Leader over six other sisters. Everyone says that it seems like I have way more time on the mission than I have. Sister Lara also says that every Sister that is trained by a Sister Training Leader becomes one on the mission so that could happen in the future for me.  President Acosta loves Sister Lara and the work she does and the way she teaches. He told her and I that he wants me to be even better than her as a missionary. He wants me to be strong, brave, and good so that's a little bit of pressure. 😊

I love my district! They literally save my life almost every day, especially my District Leader Elder Gomzalvez. The week before I only did twenty-four contacts or people to hopefully investigate and teach. This amount is not good at all and so I made a new goal with my District Leader to do fifty contacts  this coming week. He calls me everyday to talk with me about how the day went and my goals and to help keep me going.

This week our baptism fell through with an older man about sixty-five years of age, named Dorival. He has an amazing knowledge of the Bible and knows without a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true. He reads the Book of Mormon every day. He talks a lot and has lots of questions. But through this experience, I have learned the power of listening and to pray for the Spirit when teaching him and the Spirit will help him know the truth. The Spirit is one that teaches, comforts and inspires. We have helped him prepare for baptism but one day we went to visit and he told us he was going to stop going to church with us and that he was going to stop praying because God was tired of listening to him. He didn't think that God listened to his prayers because of some personal problems he has that have been going on for many years without a solution. He kept resisting baptism and we didn't know why. He had his baptismal interview with Elder Gomzalvez, our District Leader, this past week. It lasted for almost two hours. Elder Gomzalvez walks out from the interview with the scriptures in his hands and told us he couldn't be baptized. Dorival has some problems with addiction and some really terrible difficulties and bad choices in the past he needs to correct first. Once he told Elder Gomzalvez, Dorival seems to be a lot happier and has agreed to prepare for baptism the thirtieth of this month! He always tells us that he misses Sister Lara, Sister Affonso and I when we would visit and teach him and that he likes talking with us. He lives alone which is really sad. Dorival calls me "Americana." He often says, "Where's Americana?" "How are you Americana?´"  Oh, how I love nicknames! It's pretty funny because he always says "Americana" with an American accent or what he thinks is an American accent. 😊

This past week we had Festa Junina (translated as 'June Party' or 'June Festival') which is a holiday they have here in Brazil. We had a ward celebration at the church house and it was a blast! We ate hot dogs and Paçoquinha or Paçoca which is a ground peanut sugar and salt candy. There is a young woman in our ward about fifteen that "I love to death." Her name is Isabel. She was "dragging" me around everywhere at the party saying, "Sister Smart you have to try this, you have to do this Sister!´" She always writes me notes and we joke a ton about everything! We played the game "musical chairs" and just chatted with some of our recent converts and members.  It was a blast! Tons of flags and colors everywhere and all the girls wore floral dresses. It was super cool to see something authentic!

Children's authentic dress for Festa Junina.

Brazilian colorful decorations during Festa Junina, "June Festival/Party."

This week during one of the divisions (temporary companion splits) we were knocking on doors to try and find new people to teach. This lady named Elena opened the door and was a little annoyed at first but I felt I needed to share a message with her. I started sharing about the importance of baptism and the Holy Ghost and all of a sudden she starts crying. I ask her why she is crying and she said she felt something in her heart and I told her that that was God telling her he loves her and that what we are saying is true. I felt so happy that I was worthy to bear the Spirit and that she could recognize God's hand in her life!

We also had a family night with some less active members Davidson and his wife Juliana, Eliane and a new investigator, Natalia. We played the card game UNO®. I have never met people that can play UNO® so fast and so well. I need to practice up. Eliane's daughter said, "Do you see Jesus up there?" and I said,  "No, do you?" and she said, "Yeah, he has white hair and brown eyes, he is up there!" She is about six years old and has the cutest blond, curly hair. I had prayed five minutes earlier that the Savior could walk beside me. I know that He will walk with us when we ask Him too. I know that He is with me every step of the way.

I hope that you are all doing well and that life is full of joy! Have an amazing week!