Sister Hannah Parks Mission Blog: Messejana, Brazil

Well this week has been suuuuuper!! I talked about Wellington, right? Well, yesterday, he was baptized!!!!!!!!!! It was truly incredible; he´s such an awesome guy!!! I also found out that he loves Moulin Rouge too soooooooooo he´s now my best friend! One day when we stopped by, we invited him to church that Sunday and he was like mmmm okay… and Sister R. Santos asked if he was saying yes because we were asking or because he wanted to go and he responded, because we were asking. But later when we were walking to another lesson, we passed by his street and he was on the road and called us over. He asked if he could still go to church that Sunday. We responded with, "uhh of course you can!" Then we asked him again about his motive which he then responded, "Because I want to!" So we were super happy and continued to stop by his house that week to help prepare him for baptism! His brother is also one of my new besties because….he loves Eminem!!! He has a poster and everything which I OBVIOUSLY had to take a picture with!! Haha but his brother also went to church with us yesterday (his shirt was the most hilarious part lolol) and stayed to watch his brother be baptized :) It was so great, and we invited him to be baptized this coming Sunday too which he accepted!! We also helped paint his house this week! Just the outside and the entryway but it was super fun! Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures haha but they still have the inside to do so hopefully they´ll invite us back ;) The picture of Zac Efron on our fridge we found at their place while laying down newspapers to paint and Sister R. Santos is one of his biggest fans haha so we took it home hahaha

Two weeks ago we had a new family “move” into our ward (they had been going to the wrong ward for quite some time haha!) and the first Sunday they were there the husband, Savio, came up to us and asked how the work was and everything and we were like "it´s all right, we could use a ward missionary leader though" (It´s been around 4 months since we've been without one) and he was like, "that´s my favorite calling in the church!" So after that we ran to our bishop and told him he needs to call him to be our leader and within the week Savio called us and when we picked up he said, "When do we start working??" Hahaha so this week we had a meeting with him, talked about our investigators, and then he went out with us to do visits until like 7:30!! It was so awesome! He was teaching, inviting, explaining our purpose, basically doing everything for us hahaha it was so funny! One time he stopped while we were walking to our next person on the agenda and he´s stopped and started making a contact! Haha we were basically running after him! Afterwards he apologized and said that even though he left the mission, the mission never left him. It was so cool to see his passion for missionary work and his mission J Also his daughter dances and she loves Maddie Ziegler!!! So she´s also my new best friend!

This week our good friend Andre (who you all know because of the photos he always takes and posts) went to the center of Fortaleza which has all things touristy! So we asked him if he could buy some things for us because we´re not allowed to go because it´s in the other mission so he went and bought us a shirt that says "Fortaleza" and they´re bright colors and inside the letters it has pictures like surfers and turtles and it´s sooo cool!!! The letters on the shirt are like this,

FOR

TAL

EZA

Haha he also bought a pair of sandals that are unique to Fortaleza!! And he bought a bunch of little Fortaleza key chains things!

But yeah, this week has been good. I feel so at home here and I´ve grown so close to everyone here, I can´t imagine leaving them! I made Oreo pie this week and brownies! I took the brownies for a little birthday party for one of the members (Allison) who is awesome!

The picture of the guy with the long dreads is the dad of a recent convert. We had stopped by to see if his son was there which he wasn´t and we had told him earlier that we wanted pictures with his hair hahaha so I was like, "hey I brought my camera today, can we take pictures??" So we let it down and well…just look for yourselves!! Hahaha his religion (not sure which) doesn´t allow them to cut their hair. He´s also a big fan of Bob Marley in case it's not obvious. He owns a motorcycle shop called Bob´s Motos. Also the pack of cigarettes we picked up in a less active´s house haha it was strange carrying around a pack of cigarettes in my back haha so ironic. I had to take a picture before I threw them away!

We also made cake for Wellington´s baptism! For him and for the members who stayed because…. Fast Sunday. Haha in Relief Society when Audilene (one of my moms here/Relief Society president) announced the baptism I raised my hand and said, "I know you all are hungry, but we made cake so if you can, please stay for the baptism!!" Haha! Because lunch is the big meal of the day here so after church everyone basically runs home to eat/make lunch haha!

Well I love you all a lot! I´m super happy but I´m nervous to think about the coming week because I know I´ll be getting a new companion! Sister R. Santos is really sad and doesn´t want to go home :) She´s one of the best missionaries I know! She´s such a hard worker and she loves being a missionary. If she could, she´d stay on the mission forever haha! But yeah, I´m a little nervous because everyone says I´m going to train which I really don´t want!! I still don´t feel ready! But whom He calls, He qualifies, right? We'll see what happens!

This week I´ve been filling out my Minha Familia (My Family) booklet and I´m just so grateful for my family! I have the family tree of Mom and Dad that Hilary printed for me and it´s been so neat to see the names of my great great great grandparents! Especially my extended family as well. Thank you for reading my emails, y'all have no idea how much it means to me. The hardest times for me are when I know yáll are all together like this past Christmas and all the flings in the summer, but I know there will be more to come in the future, and I won´t miss them! Love you all :) Thank you for your love!

Eu amo vocês :)

- Sister Parks