The World Cup or apostasy?

How do I even begin to describe the world cup? I cant remember if it was Ays or Sag that asked me when i come back if i will be obsessed with soccer. well ill be honest, my feelings about soccer still havent changed much... what sport ends in a tie?! 

I am however getting more of some brasil pride. you all would not believe how psyco people are here about the world cup. EVERYTHING is green, yellow and blue. during the first brasil game there was NO ONE in the streets and everything is closed. its just one big party.

we had a noite familiar with an interesting family. with that being said it was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. this guy, Andre invited everyone he knew to hear about the gospel. he is handicapped and im not sure exactly what problems he has but it was made very clear to all us missionaries that he is one of gods powerful leaders. he has a body that doesnt function but yet he is doing more to build up the kingdom than like anyone else. it was incredible to see and be a part of. 

food: ive been really into making fry bread lately, ya know gotta keep my native heritage alive. i have attempted making red mac but they dont have tomato juice, just tomato sauce, i have tried everything to make it like normal but it just doesnt taste the same... also just so you all know i have eaten literally every part of a cow. they make this stew that normally is just the cow foot (how you can eat a foot i still dont know) but when we got there we could tell there was definitely some other crap in that stew. but we were smart and waited until after to ask. yeah found out we ate the stomach and all the intestines too... lovely. 

the first day of the world cup was fun because we got all dressed up in the colors of brasil but we werent able to teach anyone that day, we just had a noite familiar after that was sweet... all about the world cup we turned it into a giant soccer game, i dont know how to explain it but it was a hit. 

our activity that we had in the chuch this week (we do one each week) was a treasure hunt with scriptures, it was so funny. the end was the scripture knock and it shall be opened ask and ye shall recieve. so everyone is running around checking all the doors for the treasure and about ten minutes later bianca (my first baptism here) was thinking really hard and just asked us for the treasure..... ding ding ding. winner winner chicken dinner. 

my comp and i are still good. most likely i will be transfered in two weeks though, so thats really really sad for me to think about. i will miss this area and my companion. have i told you all that my comp is shelby to a T? she even sold marykay before the mish and is always hookin me up. she literally is bertus. i remember when she first came here she was super serious but now thats over. yes, everyone just imagine being companions with shelby... its like the most exhausting thing with all of her energy but its great, and everything has to be pink and she always has a story to tell me about her life, and she never shuts up hahaha, i told ya she was shelby. 

mom i got your package today, im slamming the rolos right now like mad. my comp is obsessed too because they dont have them here.  also right now in the place that we email they have aerosmith blasting in my ears... life is good haha. 

i got grams C letter... thank you!

also i got the package from shelby.... thank you! seriously i have been wanting CTR rings to give to people soooo bad, this was perfect! 

An elder here gave me maple extract so i can make syrup now!

mom could you send me a recipe for bbq sauce and peanut butter please?

everyone wish me luck during this time of the world cup its super hard to teach people every house people are just glued to the tv... the world cup is a religion. if brasil had a game during church i would honestly be surprised if anyone came to church.

Lily still knows everything but still doesnt feel prepared to be baptized... what is this? nah its all good, God has his own timing. 

Well thats about it folks.

I didnt even know it was fathers day because its not celebrated here... but happy fathers dad! sorry i forgot!

Shums

Shpill

I just found out Kelli is having a girl hahahahha yes i died of laughter...
Logan is doomed to a life of girls. After a rough week in Brasil this just
put a big ole smile on my face.

Seriously Kellis email made me laugh. it was good to hear that logan and
nate are going on fishing dates... ha

so my life this week... okay well you know how tired you are when you dont
even want to email on pday, you just want to go home and sleep.

Okay but seirously this week was great we had three baptisms! What what!
remember the story i read in my farewell talk about having friends from the
pre-existence that you need to find and bring the gospel to. well this week
the three baptisms were 100% some of those friends. so prepared and so
awesome.

we have been having lots of noite familiars so thats been sweet, working
with the members a ton. seriously the members here are great and just love
the missionaries.

someone go ask randy rarrick what helped him decide to be baptized because
there is a couple here that i think of the rarricks everytime. Nara is like
my mom here and shes so much like lisa and i just want her husband to get
baptized so bad!

remember lily? yeah she still feels like shes not prepared to be
baptized... what the heck she seriously knows everything!

last week we had a conference with a seventy that was awesome but my
favorite was his wife... she was great but she challenged us this week in
our emails to write to our family and share why we are on a mission so here
goes....

straight up, i didnt want to come on a mission haha i have so many things i
want to do and i thought a mission would just get in the way of things. but
i know now that this is how God is going to teach me how to let Christ mold
me into the person that God wants me to be, not who i want to be.

I am here to give a small, humble sacrifice or tithing of my life to Christ
for his atonement. We are commanded to become like Christ but how can we
become like him if we dont know him? We come to know him by picking up our
cross and following him. but Christs cross wasnt just HIS weight, because
he was perfect, he didnt have weight. His cross was the weight of all other
people. Therefore if we want to truly pick up our cross we have to actually
help pick up the crosses of other people. We have to bear their burdens in
order to know and understand Christ. If we just focus on bearing our own
burdens we will not become like Christ. I am on a mission to help others
pick up their crosses. to feel their burdens and put some of their weight
on my shoulders so i can understand a fraction of Christs atonement.

I remember in may when i was subbing in the 3rd grade in monticello. it was
a long hard day and i was exhausted. as i was walking out of the school to
go home, i remember thinking, a mission is going to be way harder than
this. the days are going to be harder and longer. if you cant hack this
then you cant hack a mission. i remember feeling super stressed and as i
was walking to my car outside of monticello elementary school the Angel
Moroni on top of the temple came into view. i started crying as i realize
any sacrifice is worth it for temple covenants.

however something ive learned is that we dont have to rely on our own
strength, we have the grace of Christ... USE IT! its not just a comforting
thought its an actual power that we can access. like wind or solar power,
the power of the atonement is a physical, tangible power that will help us
if we align our will with Gods will.

there is my shpill for the week (how do you spell shpill?)

the weeks are passing super super fast. i cant even believe it.

conference was great to see some of my mtc friends

i dont really have much to report this week because we had a conference and
then a lot of the time was spent preparing and teaching for the baptism. so
yeah sorry.

this week is going to be interesting... its the start of the world cup so
yeah basically we arent going to be able to teach anyone for a month...
walking around in the roads all day is going to be a blast! (sarcasm)

i cant believe how big brew is now... hes so dang cute. it will be fun
coming home to 2 nieces and 2 nephews.

soak up the sun for me... im just in brasil freezing... who knew?!

imari... what the heck it still doesnt feel real to me shes getting
married. but i want pictures! i dont think i will believe it until i see it
hahaha.

well i think thats about it for this week. sorry its short!

beijo
Sister Shums