Day 1

Hi family!! 

I made it here safe! everything went smoothly except the phones in atlanta didnt work! sorry that i couldnt reach you guys. I love it here!!! I am SO happy to be here! I can already feel myself growing closer to my savior and learning what is REALLY important. I love you guys!! hope you are all doing well :) 

My pday will be wednesday so i will get to email you guys again a week from today. My companion is named sister madarani and she is so cool!! she has lived all over the world and cracks me up. I can tell we are going to have a lot of fun together! She is serving in salvador too! she has friends who have served in this mission and said that we will be showering out of buckets sometimes. That made me feel a lot better about the condition of the showers here hahah. 

The flights were pretty long but im so happy to finally be here! in atlanta I walked towards my gate and I saw a group of people dressed up and I went up to them and was like "are you guys missionaries?" and theyre like yeah! whats your name!! it was so weird hahah. there were missionaries all over the airport. 

Today we havent really done much except travel and unpack and eat. We have classes later today, and I just found out that we will be teaching a lesson in portuguese TOMORROW.. wow thats intimidating. 

It is so different than I expected here but I really love it!! It still hasnt really "hit" me that im here but i dont know that/when it will. I have just felt so calm about everything its weird because im never calm! what justin said about the walls around houses with sharp stuff at the top was totally true even teh mtc has it! 

When I open the window in my room we have a full on view of the skyline of the city and its so beautiful. but its for sure not a rich city, its really colorful though! just like the pictures! 

I love being around all of these new elders and sisters and feeding off of their spirits. I have so much to learn from all of them! its kinda weird because everyone seriously only speaks portuguese! im starting to get used to it though and kind of pick up on it a little bit. 

I sat next to this lady on the plane who lives in america now but she is from brazil and i LOVED her!!! she was so sweet and it just made me so excited to get here and meet all of the people. What everyone has been saying about brazilians is totally true!! they are so open and friendly. There were several brazilians on the flight with us that just took us in kind of. They kept giving me advice and trying to be my mom hahaha. They were so worried about us staying safe in this country. I love love love these people already! I am SO blessed to have been called to this mission. I can already tell that it is the best thing I have ever done. 

I love you guys!!!

-Sister Jones