Dear loved ones,
WADDUP! I don~t really know if I have too much to write today, but I~ll write about things that I remember.
First things first. Happy Carnaval. We spent FOREVER trying to find a place to use a computer because every place is closed. Carnaval is this huge fiesta that is like a huge south american thing where people go ballistic in the street. Kind of like Mardi Gras... except in Goiania, everyone just leaves and goes to another place to celebrate Carnaval. So don~t worry, I~ll be working on Carnaval while all of the other missionaries in Brazil stay in doors. I don~t think anyone does anything here. But its cool, I like working. Its just a bummber because no one is here.
2nd of all, I had a monumental moment in my mission this past week. About a week and a half ago, our shower broke while sister melo was taking a shower, and now all we have are cold showers. Its miserable. I think that at least if I get transferred, I~ll get to have a hot shower. We find out this week. BUT!! MONUMENTAL MOMENT. So every person who~s ever served in Brazil is like.... You havent served in brazil if you haven~t gotten electricuted in the shower. I was like.. wow. that sounds horrible. But i never had that problem, and so I thought, maybe the showers are different here in Goiania. But then I was talking to my District Leader, and he was like... Have you gotten shocked in the shower yet? And I was like.. wait... thats real? He just laughed, and was like...just wait....
So then, one day, I wake up, I~m taking a shower in the cold miserable cold, and I grab the handle of the shower to turn it off, when all of a sudden, my whole body went numb, and I didn~t understand what was happening, and my hand just HURT SO BAD. But I didn~t know what was happening, so I held on to the handle for like... 10 seconds, and all of a sudden, I see my hair raising, and realized that my hand was grabbing something metal, and my whole body was wet, and that i was getting electricuted. i let go, and i just stood there for a minute recoverring. i grabbed my towel to turn off the shower. It was awful. My district leader laughed really hard when I told him.
So we have this lady, super elect. She was the lady that I told you we had a gift of tongues moment with. Her name is Vilma. Her son or grandson joined the church so we went to see him, found out that he didn~t live there anymore and taught her. She told us about her son and how he recently passed away, so we taught the plan of salvation to her and the spirit was so strong. We invited her to baptism, she accepted, and then we went on our own merry way. ANyways, about a week later, we went to visit her again, and she was like.. I~m leaving, but I have to talk to you guys, so I~ll be waiting here for you tomorrow at 8 o clock. So we~re like... sweet. We go and see her the next day at 8, and she was like.. sisters, after you left, I prayed, and that night, I had a dream that I was holding my son as a baby again in my arms, and when I woke up, I couldn~t stop thinking about what you two had said. I know that its true. We taught her another lesson, got her on date for baptism, and she came to another activity. she~ll be getting baptized sometime this march.
Anyways, I don~t really know what else to talk about. This week has been pretty casual, except since its carnaval, everyone who is here is drunk. we were knocking doors yesterday and this guy, was like, we~re in the middle of a party... so we just say, ok, well we have church every sunday at 9... be there. but then the guy looked at me, and was like.. ``e ai gata. voce quer participar na festa?´´ ...which translates to... and you sexy lady... you want to join the party?... i was like... nah, i~m good. and then he was like.... well, do you want beer? and i was like...nah.. i~m good again. Everyone is incredibly drunk here right now.
I~m so glad that I was raised in a family that has good standards. I think Ive mentioned a family to you before but i don~t remember. We have a family in our ward... well, half a family in our ward. the 3 daughters who are 8 and 9 joined the church. The mom and dad aren~t members because the dad drinks a lot and the mom smokes a lot. They drop off the daughters at church every week, and just leave. During sacrament meeting, 2 of the 3 daughters got up to bear their testimonies, and in both of their testimonies, they were like... I want my dad to quit drinking. The dad is pretty cool guy when he~s sober, but when he~s drunk... and thats most of the times I~ve seen him, he~s not my favorite human being in the world. But thank you, mom and dad, for teaching me good standards, because I~ve met so many people.... here and detroit, where that was something that was lacking inthe home, and thats what leads to a lot of problems down the road.
Anyways, other than that, the foods great. Its been raining a lot, but I~m taking it all in right now, because soon we~re about to hit dry season, and so its going to be like california desert status soon. The ward is cool. Family, remember the importance of member missionary work. There is nothing worse than when you tell your investigators about how great church is and then you bring investigators to ward activities, and everyone ignores them... infelizmente, this happens a lot... don~t be that person. the ward is needed a lot more than the missionaries are.
Love you guys a lot.
Be good, Stay safe!
Love Sister Marshall