December!

Dear Family,
Happy December! I was thinking about the cold weather and I realized that I don´t miss it! When we had zone conference and stayed in a hotel in Parnaiba, the shower had hot water. It was the first hot water shower I had taken in over a month and it was terrible! Anyways, I hope you are staying warm.

This last week was a slower week. We had transfers, which is odd because it was the second week of the transfer, but this mission operates on a Brazilian time schedule. Better late than never. Anyways, our district leader was transferred, and we miss him terribly. He would often call to check up on us, and he was a great support to my companion during her first transfer training. They would often talk on the phone for almost an hour.... maybe this transfter was a good thing.
Anyways, he is a great missionary and a true gentleman. Where ever he goes, he will be an asset to the area.
We have had more difficulties with Otavio, he had a relapse of addiction and so his baptismal date has been pushed back. It is easy to get discouraged with addictions, I could tell that he was really struggling with the fact that he had slipped up. I just wish we could all have this great eternal perspective, and see that while we do mess up, we can also fix it! But if we all had an eternal perspective like that, missionaries wouldn´t be so necessary.
Also this week, we were talking to a recent convert about patriarchal blessings. What a wonderful thing to help us realize our potential. I know that this too, is part of our eternal perspective. We are really capable of doing great things, great things that take more than a day to accomplish.

Last week in an email from Auntie Kristin, she asked me what similarites and diffrences Sister Borges and I have.
1) She is also a nurtruing soul. She has a mother´s personality and takes care of everybody. It is great!
2) all of her siblings are married
3) she went to college before her mission - studying biology.

Differences.
1) She is brazilian. She speaks portuguese, and is often more blunt that I am.
2) She doesn´t like chocolate.
3) Sister Borges writes in cursive, I don´t

we are getting along very well now, I am going to be sad to be transferred! Our time is up in January, as that will the be the end of the 3 month training period. We shall see what transpires then.

Awesome experience of the week:
Ana Carla. The other sisters met her at the grocery store and she lives in our area. After our first meeting with her, we asked her if there was anything she would like to pray for to say thank you for. She said - yes! this moment with you. This book of Mormon could change my life, so this moment could mean a lot for me.
Pretty neat. I am glad that we have awesome experiences too.

I love you all!
Happy December
Love,
Sister Smith