Hello, world! This is Sister Petty, reporting from Sao Paulo, seven weeks into the MTC with only two more to go. OPA! (don't know what this directly translates to, but it's an excellent Portuguese expression).
Things are hectic and wonderful and spiritual and busy. In two days, my district is going to be dropped on our heads in the heart of downtown Sao Paulo...it's kind of like Times Square of NYC, except 3x as big!! Our goal: talk to people about the church and give out copies of the Book of Mormon. And not die or be robbed. Wish us luck!
Okay, quick list of this week's funnies: ~all Brazilians have a hard time with my name, usually saying "Petchy" or "Petch." The other day, though, an elder said, "Seester...Peach?" and it was so funny and so adorable. He didn't know why it was funny, and I told him to please keep calling me that because it made me smile.
~ an elder in my district a couple days ago let on to how little he knew about sister missionaries. He asked, "Wait...sisters go out and proselyte and stuff?" I almost fell over laughing. Better to laugh than hit him, I suppose.
Okay I just realized I don~t have time for more funnies. Sorry. :-)
Opa, this week I saw a real live Brazilian doing Capoeira, an African fighting/dancing cool thing, and I learned some, sort of! It was so cool!
Now on a more serious note, I wanted to share some thoughts I've been having this week. This Sunday was a great day for me. Very spiritual, very focused. As I sat in a Mission Conference, I pondered on my life and how happy I was in it. I also started thinking about the Atonement--Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection for the world. I realized that as a church and as a world, we seem to focus a lot on how through Christ we can return to live with God after this life. This is so true and so wonderful! But do we also realize that it is only because of the Atonement that we can be living life in the first place? Because Christ was willing to come to earth and atone for the sins of the world, I am able to experience the deep, powerful joys of living that I could not experience any other way. I am able to have a physical body. I am able to learn and grow and progress. These are things I'm beginning to appreciate more and more as I spend more of time and energy in the service of others. I'm so excited to go out into the mission field in just TWO WEEKS and really throw myself into serving God's children. I want to share with individuals what I know about Christ--that He suffered and died so that they could live.
I know this Gospel is true, and that God loves all His children beyond what any of us can understand!
Thank you all for your support and love. I would appreciate and love any letters you feel like writing, big or small. DearElder is still a possibility, it just costs the price of a stamp. It only takes about 4 days for letters to get here. MY MISSION ADDRESS (this will work for probably my whole mission, unless I tell you otherwise. Commas = line breaks): Sister Anne Joy Petty, Brazil Salvador Mission, Caixa Postal 6946, Pituba, 41811-970 Salvador - BA, Brazil.
I love you all so much! Keep being the wonderful people you are, I appreciate it more than you know.
Much love, Sister Petty
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