Week 5

this week has been so fun!!! in one week i will be in salvador teaching people! it is so crazy how fast my time at the CTM has already gone by!! i am SO excited to finally get to salvador!! i have been praying for these people for months and months and i already love them so much and i just cant wait to meet them and serve them and teach them about the gospel that can change their life! it has been really fun because a bunch of brazilians got here a week ago who are going to salvador aswell and we all sit together at lunch and all of the brazilians chant "SALVADOR SALVADOR" and fist pump its pretty funny! i love it because we are already a big family and i cant wait to serve with them out in the mission field!! 

 i keep switching back and forth between being nervous and not, but i know that God will help me through every step of the way! as long as i am obedient to God´s commandments, and the promptings of the Holy Ghost, i can be a successful missionary. and the people of salvador, ive heard, are AMAZING. people say that the further northeast you get, the more kind and humble and loving the people get. and i already LOVE the people in são paulo!! 

whenever i tell brazilians that i am going to salvador, they seriously just crack up at me because im so white! well all of the elders and irmãos do, but when i tell a sister or irmã, they get really concerned look on their face and say "sister, você PRECISA protecão do sol!!!" its pretty funny. i just say 'i know i know, eu tenho!"

i love my brazilian roommates right now!! they are so loving! and we told them one time that we were a little nervous about going to the mission field and speaking portuguese and now every time they talk to us they tell us that our portuguese is really good and hug us a lot and look us in the eyes and say "como você está?" because now they think that were about to burst into tears any minute or something hahah. it is so sweet how they want to help us feel comfortable in their country?

sister madarani and i are a power companionship!!! i am going to miss her a lot. our lessons have been going really well!! we are a very good team! she helps me out a lot. i am going to miss her a lot next week, but i will get to see her a couple times throughout the mission becase were both going to salvador! this week we are doing a 7 day english fast together. probably one of the most difficult goals i have set. but we have been very successful so far!! i am starting to think in portuguese, and now i always pray in portuguese even my personal prayers! i can feel God´s help with this language SO much!!! i am so thankful! 

this week i have been learning a lot about obedience. every day at the ctm they tell us that we need to be exactly obedient!! i didnt really understand why until recently. when we are exactly obedient, God trusts us and gives us promptings through the Holy Ghost. when we obey these, we receive more! i have had wonderful experiences with this this week. 

the biggest challenge right now with obedience is helping other sisters be obedient! haha since i am a sister training leader, i am responsible for making sure the sisters go to bed on time, and are in their rooms on time, etc. my first couple weeks of  reminding the sisters in the bathroom "cinco minutos sisters!" everone ignored me but now they listen and they are in their rooms on time! the other day one of the brazilian sisters saluted me hahahha. and now whenever i see sisters around, they say to me "cinco minutos sisters!" and wink at me hahah. brazilians are so funny i love them all! 

até a mais!

com amor,

sister Jones