yes! Brazil! It's true

first of all... you should know that the keyboards are different and somethings are... just really different. so you'll really have to excuse the grammar and punctuation stuff.

All's well here!! Of course... I don't know what anyone is saying. But I'm understanding more and more every day. The biggest desire of my heart right now is just... just know doctrine! Know more and more doctrine and then be able to explain all of it in simple terms. It will happen.

The people are SO NICE! We greet everyone with a hug and a kiss and I just love it. Everyone feeds us. oh my goodness I will never go hungry simply because I get fed something whenever we go to a person's house. And it's especially humbling and precious when you go to someone's home where clearly they don't have a lot of food to begin with...and they offer you food anyway. 

I had my first BBQ here. OH. So awesome. The meat was perfectly salted and the vegetables here are so sweet. I actually eat carrots and enjoy them. true story. 

the language is kicking my trash. but every day I'm learning a tiny bit more and more. I love it

 My companion is sister Ramos. I love her. she is 25 years old and she is from Columbia. no, she does not speak English. It makes it easier to learn Portuguese because the only link of communication we have between us is our mission language. Shes been out on the mission for 11 months. And I'm telling you, this girl has got it in the bag. She knows the drill. And she loves the people. I am striving so hard to be a better missionary. at first i was so scared because i am not awesome like her... just talk to everyone, love all the people,and she has her scriptures all marked up and has a reference for everything. at first i was ashamed because i thought maybe i wasted my mtc time. but now i realize that she got that way one day at a time for the past 11 months. And this is what the "training" period is of the mission.

no regrets! And I love you all TONS. keep sending me stuff and telling me about your lives. i love you tons.

In Brazil they call us 'Sister' and 'Elder'. Although sister in Portuguese is "Irmã" if we call ourselves irmãs... theyll think were nuns because of all the catholics here. and there you go. it's sister.

Love you all! Have such a great week! Hopefully next Monday I'll have more time to write and send pictures because I wont have two week's worth of stuff to read and write. love you all!

Sister Hennefer

Alma 34:41 God loves us! and Jesus already went through it for us... and goes through it with us as it happens--let us rely on our faith that things will work out! :)

Final P-Day!

Alright! So I got to have a surprise P-Day! We leave on Monday so... they're giving us a P-Day today to quickly do laundry and pack.

ugh.... so much to pack. we have a long night ahead of us.

 Alright: so a brief overview of this week! Tuesday: oooh... yeah I know that was anti-clamatic. We all thought it was gonna be broadcasted!! In fact, it was going to be because one of the brethren were scheduled to come and speak to us!! But he ended up doing something else and one of the 70 came to speak. Which, by the way, was so awesome. It's kind of sad that it was gonna be our last Tuesday night devotional.... but tudo bem because we are so PUMPED FOR THE FIELD!

 Thursday: Everyone needs to get Preach My Gospel! It's so amazing. How much more incredible understanding of this work would spread , if all members could partake of this goodness!!

In field orientation was on Thursday. it was awesome. And i am so grateful that I've had 6 weeks here to be learning doctrine! Not just language. And I truly feel prepared! So happy!

Saturday 11/8...today: OH! We said goodbye to our teachers today... such a strong spirit in that room!! And so many tears were shed! Everything I know about how to be a missionary and about Portuguese is from these two amazing men! I love them. And I miss them terribly already. If I could shove Irmao Read's fantastic knowledge of the scriptures in my brain, and then take Irmao Belchior's pumped-up spirit with me--I think I could make it through my mission! But alas... I'll take their beautiful testimonies and encouraging words with me!

love you all! have great weeks! I'm not sure if you'll all be hearing from me next week... or possibly the week after that... depending on how P-Days are working and how my flight plans and all that line up.... it's gonna be a long and kind of really weird week

VISA status: READY FOR PICKUP

YES! Brazil has completely finished processing and approving my Visa! We're told that as soon as they send it to the church: I'll be receiving my flight plans Friday! We're told we're most likely not to leave until our original departure date, which is November 10th. Especially with Sao Paulo experiencing a drought right now. BUT! The truth still remains: I'm going to Brazil! God truly is a God of miracles! 

But I'll talk about that amazing story in just a moment! It starts with The Tuesday night devotional. Elder Godoy (who spoke Portuguese at Conference!) came and gave a fantastic talk on faith and miracles!! And that night, Me and a few others in the district (especially Sister Cordner) had the strong feeling that we all needed to fast as a district for our visas. As... all of us are waiting for them. So we all set a date. Thursday. Thursday was the day. 

Thursday 10/23 ~This was such an interesting day!! All throughout personal and companionship studies we all kept running into scriptures about fasting and miracles. Unexpectedly.

 MOM! I was thinking about your feelings concerning fasting. Read D&C 59: 13-14. Especially 14. Fasting can be re-translated to "rejoicing"! What is the original intent for tasting? and why on Earth would that ever bring anyone to a state of rejoicing? Why would Jesus fast for 40 days? Hmmm... food for thought. Please send me your thoughts and experiences concerning this thing. 

It was such a fantastically spiritually uplifting day. We were exhausted but our lessons went well and every time I prayed that day... I would just get this amazing tingly feeling in my chest. I knew that something special was beginning. And I knew that what we desired was exactly in God's plan for us. He had to give us the opportunity to exercise faith. 

Friday 10/24 UGH! Being on a mission is the best gift ever. Thank you to all who helped me get here. Whether financially or spiritually speaking. This is the most precious experience I'm having. And It would have been impossible for me to do it on my own. Thank you for this gift! The spirit that is felt here is amazing. And I love that I am privileged and even supported to be here.

Alright.. back to visa story. Friday night comes... we had just taught our TRC's and we all gathered back into the classroom so that we could have our closing prayer of the day. When Elder Sukhee decided it was time to check on the visa statuses!! We decided to check on Sister Cordner's first: Oh man. That was intense!! The explosion that occurred in our tiny little classroom shook the walls! Not only had her Visa status been moved forward: but ALL FOUR of the steps had been lit up!!! The entire process was the skimmed right over! Jumped right into "ready for pickup" status!!!! Which means it's on its way to the Provo MTC any day now! We were all dying! That was incredible!! and then one by one we checked every one's. My hands were shaking while I typed in my birthday in the (now very familiar) little box and: BOOM all four of mine were lit up! My visa has been processed! it was so thrilling!!! It ended up being 6 people out of the 11 in our district had "received" their visas! Four red lights that are so simple yet shout so much. I think about D&C 59:13-14 and I know... there definitely was much rejoicing that night. 

We have around 60 people in our zone and more than half of them are still waiting for visas. I testify that no matter what happens in our lives or in our missions: We're going where God needs us to go. He knows what's going on and I know who's in charge. And sometimes... even if we have faith: you still need to pray and ask for it. And miracles happen. It was amazing!! how freaking AWESOME WAS THIS DAY! Half of us received our visas within 12 hours of our district fast. it was super great. 

Saturday 10/25~ On Saturday Sister Bundy and I had such an amazing lesson! Everything just... fell into place. And Kelly was excited and understood everything. We were lead to the most perfect scriptures at the most perfect time. Sister Bundy asked the most golden question and Kelly just sat back, thought... and then told us he needed to be baptized!! So we promptly invited him to be baptized on November 10th and he said yes! The spirit was incredible. And Sister Bundy and I talked equal amounts of time (which is really hard for me because I desperately want to just talk and talk) It was golden! Immediately after our lesson, Our teacher (who was acting as the investigator) did something he's never done before. He told us to sit back down, and then asked us--in English, now, no longer acting-- to evaluate our lesson in front of him! It was amazing. he said he was so impressed and could feel the spirit. He told us that if we could have that kind of lesson in the field --then the investigator would be inclined to say yes, too. He got a bit emotional and was so excited for us. Especially Sister Bundy! We didn't use any notes! Only our Portuguese scriptures and a dictionary. it was incredible!

SUNDAY 10/26~ I've been called as the District Sister Training leader!! That was super cool. Because our zone is so big... callings and releasing are done like they did in the good 'ole days! Over the pulpit in the middle of sacrament meeting! haha awesome. It was super neat. 

Same with who gets called to speak on Sundays! Everyone writes a talk and then the President chooses two people while he's conducting. And starting this week we all had to write our talks in Portuguese!! And sister Bundy got called speak!! Haha we all immediately grabbed her hand. Because we know she has so much fear of speaking in public--let alone in Portuguese And she did an amazing job!! Of course it wasn't flawless Portuguese--but she invited the spirit. And she testified of truths. And that was enough. (haha, and it terrified the new Elders that just came in last week. They don't understand any of it anyway. It was great haha) Sister Bundy also was asked to say the closing prayer! God's got his eye on her. And what a glorious thing it is that even in seemingly meaningless situations-- God responds and cares about all of our discomforts. 

Sometimes in order to know if we are truly being prompted by the Spirit, we much act on it. You will know the prompting by its fruit. And the Holy Ghost will not steer a car that is being driven by someone who is not focused on the road. 

God blesses us more than what we expect!!

Oh... during down-time on Sunday (which is something I'm super grateful for and I'll miss when I'm out in the field) we watched some Mormon Messages. Love it!

To my dearest Young Women leaders. You do so much. And you express so much love. And I am eternally grateful for your love. Your service. The late nights spent worrying and praying for the girls--is still positively affecting me. And I want you all to know that I am still influenced by the power, testimonies, and trials of my Young Women leaders. I love you. Keep working hard. The power of the sacred calling of Young Women/Young Men/Primary Teachers is very real. you are so so special. 

I love the 15 minutes just before a Devotional. We all, 2,000 missionaries, together sing 3 prelude hymns. We just sing and sing and then we open the meeting and sing again and say a prayer! It's the most phenomenal feeling. "The spirit like a fire is burning" is definitely not and exaggerated term.

Our district (and some in our zone) calls us Sisters Bundefer!! hahahahahaha especially when we play volleyball together. "Bundefer's on the court!" is something we love to hear! Basically we rock. (not really, Sister Bundy has been playing for 6 years) Love it. I'll kind of miss that. Even in class... sometime they call us that. We both adore it. And respond to it, it's true. 

Our devotional speaker for Sunday night was Stephen B. Allen. The managing director, missionary department. ...It was pretty cool.

I had an incredible remembrance! Time for another miracle story! ...kind of. You're all familiar with Deja-vu? WELL. Those of you in my immediate family: you know that mine, when they happen, they're kind of really significant. And I think this one was the most intense one I've experienced. 

When I was in 7th or 8th grade (when I was taking Spanish with Becca Proper and super into it) I had a dream. In this dream there was a short and significant scene/sequence that happened: I was sitting in a classroom with about 10 other people around me. We were all looking up at a big screen with conjugating verbs on it. I remember looking around this room and seeing a whiteboard with Goals written on, and as I scanned the room, I saw a big green flag with a yellow and blue circle in the middle (which I now recognize as the Brazilian flag) And in the dream, as my 7th grade self, I remember panicking because I realized that I had wasted time learning Spanish. Because I was learning the wrong language! That was very clear to me and I still remember that... I was learning the wrong language. 

Of course, I woke up, almost 7 years ago, and shrugged off the weird dream and went on sincerely enjoying learning Spanish.

Alright. Fast forward to now, in the MTC. I was sitting in class the other day--my dream from 7 years ago very far from my brain and completely unremembered-- I clicked into a deja-vu moment!! And the exact sequence fell into place! And I saw my teacher, up there, talking about Portuguese, and I began to recognize everything that was about to happen. I started to pan the room--I saw the whiteboard, and the flag! I had seen this all in a dream 7 years ago. But I didn't panic like I had in the dream. It dawned on me, why my conscience would strain to let me know that Portuguese is what I'm destined to learn. And I laughed! Because I knew that I truly am in God's hands. And I am where I'm meant to be. I'm fulfilling essential and pre-destined contracts by being here. it was so crazy awesome!

MONDAY NIGHT 10/27 ~ OH! I just wish I could write all of you and respond to all of you always! 

BUT! I am studying and learning about my investigators and my lessons--I hope you'll find these weekly novels sufficient enough.

Now, to all of you SLACKERS!! haha No, no just kidding. :) It warms my heart that all of you even take the time to read my long emails. And even reply to them! I truly cherish it! P-Days are the best because I see my loved one's names in my inbox. And there are dozens of missionaries just typing, typing, typing furiously fast and most of everyone is just beaming at their screens. It's a great day to be writing to you all <3

Portuguese is a beautiful language. And yes, I am biased. But frankly--it's true. I'm honored that God trusts me enough to learn it.. .and teach his precious children about His gospel. 

Well folks that it for this week! So stoked to get more information on my visa status. We'll see how long it takes to get here. But I hear rumors that we'll receive flight plans most likely by Friday. :) 

Love you all! Have great weeks!!

love,

Sister Hennefer

3 weeks down already! We're on the downhill of the journey that is the MTC

Sorry everyone for the late update, maybe I should get some family members to help me keep this updated in a timely fashion!

TUESDAY: Choir is so awesome! I seriously have not felt so pumped in my life! And choir is a fantastic time to just-- feel better! LOVE IT!

WEDNESDAY (15th)- Guess who came and sat by us at lunch! LISA HANSEN! What! I was so happy to see her! I couldn't believe my eyes! She and her husband are going to be "stay at home" full-time missionaries in Logan, Utah! So happy for them!

Sister Hansen says she misses and love you all. And she is thrilled to be serving the Lord. Love her! So happy to see a familiar face. Almost as if there really is an outside world! haha

To meus amigos who are planning on serving missions: GO TO MISSION PREP. GO. And if role-playing makes you uncomfortable-- get over it. It is such a potentially incredible experience. Please go. Please participate. It will help you TONS.

THURSDAY (16th): All the coisas that are happening!! aaah! My goodness! god is so good to his missionaries. We run into so many actual investigators!! It's so incredible. The mantel is upon us and the Lord wasstes no time getting people taught.

incredible. so incredible. 

Okay, so I finally get to bed on time to make sure I have plenty of time to write everything. But now it's the 6 of us in our room laughing and talking. Love these girls. I also really love the last 15 minutes before light's out. We all have a long and quiet personal devotional. It's a great  thing. And I recommend anyone to take 15 minutes at the end of your day to return and report to your Heavenly Father by reading scriptures, and pondering about your day. Awesome things happen. 

I Ran into Lisa Hansen again. We have the same meal times (but not for long cuz she's leaves on Saturday. And I'll still be here!) She asked about Grandma and Aunt JoDeene. She was stoked to hear that Grandma has plenty of health! And she genuinely was happy to hear about us all. What an awesome woman she is! 

FRIDAY (17th):I received so many wonderful things today! UGH! and I'm always late at sending my replies back. Thank you thank you! I'm very excited to open my packages and everything tomorrow! UGH! so happy that you have sent me stuff. It's the most magical feeling ever! Tomorrow is gonna be so awesome!

Today (sorry... still on the 17th right now... these are turning more into journal entries... whatever) we taught our first TRC's. It was incredible. Amazing. Now, TRC's are different. They're like real investigator because they are real people. Volunteers from BYU or who live in the area. they come to be taught by missionaries-in-training. some of these people are not members. Actually, we meet a lot of people who aren't members who volunteer to come be taught. Usually this is ONLY done with English-speaking missionaries. but not always. Fortunately both our TRC's were members tonight. Just wanting to come and bask in the spirit that comes from the young men and women who wear the mantel of our savior. 

And also...we're super hilarious. So they love it. 

Folks, I know it's true. What we're all teaching and learning. As soon as we knelt down and prayed Matthew 18:20 popped into my brain.

(this is where you look it up)

And Family, know that is exactly what happened tonight at TRC's. It was incredibly. And my Portuguese is broken, but I testify that if we prepare--God will make up for our lack. Every time.

WHOO! I feel like I've conquered another step into spiritual maturity! Happy birthday to me! <3 hehe

These emails are beginning to be like brief journal entries (I feel like I've already said this before....?) Because I write them the day of so that I never forget! Ya'll don't even know how many more wonderful things I'd love to share with you!

SATURDAY: Feliz anneversario to me! Probably the most unique birthday dinner in all of history! Our District accomplished the TOWER CHALLENGE! It was awesome! With all 12 of us together we ate an entire tower of cereal in the cafeteria. As a district we chose to eat LIFE. I've decided that I'm never eating LIFE again. it was fun, though. Sister Bundy and I am late though, BUT it turned out to be an encouraging back up! Although I only ate 2 bowls-- Sister Bundy and I really took one for the team because basically it was all sugar and crumbs.

uuughhh so gross. Most people ate about 5-7 bowls of cereal. but the record was set in our district at a whopping 9 bowls of cereal! Sister Bundy and I ate the last bites for the team together. There are pictures. There was cheering, and there was lots of fun. Worth it... the cereals burps and gurgle stomach... worth it. 

BUT NEVER AGAIN.

I love my B-day package! I've been wearing my birthday crown almost all day!! Great life. Thank you thank you thank you all!! 

I loved the pictures that my sisters gave me!! All of you created something artsy for me!

Best part of my Birthday. You ready for this? My district did the sweetest thing for me!! It was seriously... so awesome. Today was a very busy day. We taught a lesson in the morning, had a class in the afternoon, and then had the evening to get our "homework" done, write our talks for Sunday, and we still need to plan a couple lessons for Monday!

WORTH IT.

Anyway.. here comes the sweet part of my birthday. It seriously was the best. At 9:00pm Sister Bundy told me that we had to get back to the classroom for a brief District meeting. When I got to the room, I opened the door and the lights were off! When I took another step in-- my whole district was hunched around the room and when they flipped on the lights, someone poured a bag of package peanuts (from a package to someone else hahaha we are all about recycling!) all over me and sang happy birthday! In the middle of the room was a chair with a box that said, "Happy Birthday! We love you! <3 your district!" They decorated the board and someone drew balloons all over. It was great. Super sweet. AND in the box-- they got me a present!! A super sweet picture book for investigators to look at and understand stories from the BofM!! I vaguely mentioned that once that I wanted one of those from the bookstore... and then they all pitched in and got me one! :'D It was so great. There were also some nice scripture crayons and tons of popcorn and candy. We all sang, laughed, and vacuumed together and then we were sent to bed.

it's true. I love my District. And not because they threw a cute party -- but because we all work together and are mindful of each other.

And now, with my stomach full of creal and my family's wonderful gifts and words around me--good night!!

Sunday (19) Sundays are seriously the best! A day to evaluate, do a personal return and report with God and as we become clean through renewal of our covenants, we go out and tackle the world again! (though.. I'm not really out in the world yet. But I'm getting there! The only bits of the world I see is the street on which we cross to walk to the temple. sometimes even hear... what's that word again? Oh... music! hahaha)

Knowing shorthand right now would rock my socks off. That there is some advice for my mission-prep friends.

Learn shorthand. 

Chad Lewis spoke at tonight's devotional. He's from the NFL. Super amazing talk on letting your light shine. 

I'm in the MTC choir and The director is hinting at something really huge happening soon. I think of of the Brethren of the 12 are coming soon for a devotional. And our song is gonna be INTENSE! If it is one of the Brethren that means it'll be filmed! Which means you all should keep your eyes on the BYU channel and see if you can see me perfomr in the choir! :D Sister Bundy and I love choir! It is amazing. The best part of my week (besides P-day) ... (and TRC's) is when we have choir. 

MONDAY (20th): WHAT! I might possibly perform a musical number with some people in my zone for the big devotional that no one knows anything about! that would be super neat!

Today we said goodbye to Elder Burt! this elder in my District got his Visa! Today they called him to the travel office and told him that he has about half a day to get packed up and get his hair trimmed-- He's hopping on a plane to Brazil the next morning at 6:00! We've all been waiting for our visas, praying, sometimes fasting, and finally flight plans came in for our elder Burt! so happy for him! 

Also, 3 of our "oldest" elders in our Zone have used up their 6-week training here and still have not received their visas. They've been reassigned to State-side missions until further notice. They also leave tomorrow morning. At 3:00! Yeah.  They're going to Indiana! When they packed for a Brazilian summer! ugh. Good luck to them. 

TODAY TUESDAY THE 21ST: Basically happy birthday to everyone who was ever born in October! What an awesome time to be born and what a great dispensation to be alive in! Love you all! Love the loves! and the prayers are greatly appreciated! 

I know I ask for a lot and I don't give much back to you all except for a weekly email with extremely crappy spelling and grammar. But I love you all so much I want to be able to tell you all the coisas that are on my mind! 

The church is still true! Remember my invitation to take 15 minutes before bed every night to have a personal devotional and a return and report session with your father in heaven. Love ya!

Love,

Sister hennefer

Two weeks already! ...didn't I just leave yesterday?

Okay. This week's email should be a little more organized because I've been writing things down throughout the week! Hopefully it all makes sense and I hope you'll all get past the grammar and spelling errors. Because it actually saves time to not hit the backspace button. In fact, I would even avoid using the space bar if I could but I decided it would be too difficult to decipher. I do it out of love. (You should all know, I, the editor, fixed all of her spelling errors at Sister Hennefer's request!)

 

TUESDAY: I'm sorry if my spiritual--jammed letters are not as humorous as you may desire. but you'll just have to get over it! Because I'm having the spiritual time of my LIFE! 

QUARTA FERRA (wednesday)-- The atonement...is so... overwhelmingly sufficient for us.

For my dear friends, who are planning to serve a mission. This is by far the hardest thing I've ever done. There's a reason why they call it SERVICE and WORK. because it truly is those things. And you all better believe that you are expected to know principles and lessons. The MTC is for taking the things you know and being taught how to teach them. And you learn and learn and keep on learning no matter what! It's just incredible. 

Thank you for writing! I thirst to hear from you all!! <3

We talked to a bone-fied investigator!! Her name was Kitty and her bagel got stuck in the vending machine! We offered to pay for the second one so that the first one could fall down. She was the sweetest girl from China. She was 19. She was SO touched that we would willingly donated our $1.25 so she could get her bagel. when Sister Bundy and I went to sit down she came over and thanked us and that's when we learned that she was a nonmember taking actual lesson from Sister Missionaries who are learning English! Yes, even with foreign language, we end up teaching REAL investigations towards the end. 

She was so sweet. And she talked with us about how she is a victim of the 1-child policy in china. And her biggest dream is to have a family of their own and have as many kids as she wants.!! She asked such fabulous questions and I realized that Sister Bundy and I were planting a very special seed in her heart. I had an opportunity to share my brief testimony that god loves all of his children and I hope she knew that God loves her. I saw this statement take her back. See assured her that the sisters who are currently teaching her care about her  dearly and want to be able to answer any questions they can in their broken English.

The Spirit bore witness to me that investigators are very precious to God. and someone's conversion is a very delicate thing. She hugged us goodbye and Sistger Bundy and I just reeled! So THRILLING! It was such... a special moment for me. And for us. As companions I know that we are capable of teaching with unity in the Spirit. And that I need to just relax and share that spirit in my broken but capable Portuguese. 

Remember that when God sends you "back" somewhere it does not mean you're wasting time. God could have easily told them to grab the plates on their way out of Jerusalem. but no. It was expedient that they had to go "back." 

And not only were they required to go back, but God let them try multiple things before they finally got it right!!! EVERY BODY'S WHERE THEY'RE SUPPOSE TO BE! :D

THURSDAY: "Why trouble ye her?" When Mary anointed the feet of Jesus, Judas criticized and accused. She shouldn't have done that because she is inadequate! She lacks education, money, and stature. How could she be allowed to fathom Christ's greatness? And Jesus said, "Why trouble ye her?" 

Why trouble ye her? We need to stop and say this to ourselves. Shy are you troubling yourself? you are a hard working and confidant person! all of you! I know you. Stop giving yourself such a hard time. Because, like Mary, your faith is sufficient enough.

FRIDAY: Everything here is done through revelation. For one example, in sacrament meetings, EVERYONE writes a talk on a pre-designated topic. And then two speakers are chosen at the meeting. You don't know if you're gonna speak until you get to the meeting! The first two talks are in English. But when we reach our 3rd week and on, awe are all expected to give our talks in Portuguese.

"Great guy; move on!" hahaha.... yeah but seriously. 

Sister Cordner, a sister in my district, watches and loves MIRANDA SINGS! She does the most perfect impersonation! Sister Cordner cracks me up so much!! I almost got in trouble gain! Fortunately I got kicked out of class enough times in High school for laughing too hard; I controlled myself. oh.... oh she is so funny. I love my district to pieces. 

SATURDAY: Our fist investigator, Joao, you remember?? WELL!!! He turned out to be our second teacher. aaaaghhhhhh... kind of embarrassing. But also kind of amazing. Our teachers know how to truly teach us. What an incredible experience it is to watch our teachers take on a person that they know/knew before and we get to teach them! (and, of course, the beautiful symbolism of our investigators is really the one who teaches us.)

Being humble is NEVER equivalent to bringing yourself down. Self deprecation helps no one!! Especially does not invite the spirit. folks, please do not get humility and self deprecation mixed up. Satan loves to confuse us.

Priesthood blessings are LEGITIMATE! God blesses us more than we can imagine when we just ask for his help. Sometimes we need an extra pump of help. More than our won prayers and fasting can do. Take advantage of the priesthood.

SUNDAY: so many people going to Helsinki Finland Missino! Love you, Dad. Think about you often. 

My companion and I joined choir this day!!! UGH!!!! What a FANTASTIC way to invite the spirit! I love music. Our district sang, in Portuguese, I am a child of god. With me on the descant and everyone splitting into parts--so....so wonderful. Our teacher bore a solemn testimony about music and I am grateful that I was raised in a musical home. :) <3

I saw SADIE CARLILE! Whaaaaat. Yeah. memories of 110 in the Shade started flooding back. It was the craziest insanest thing to see someone who went to Rockwell! there's an elder in my district from Eagle Mtn and he went to Westlake. No one has ever heard of rockwell. To see someone, although someone ii didn't know well, who WENT to rockwell was like a dream!

WOW. How do we ever get anything done with all this laughter? The sisters and I have such a blast. My "roommates" CRACK ME UP! Whew! All the laughter. Can't even handle the joy that we all feel. And we all just laugh to our hearts content. God has a sense of humor. :)

TUESDAY: Basically I'll never be the same. I'm never coming home. Love where I am. And I'm meant to be where I am. 

having the mantel of Christ on my shoulders is truly making a difference. It's not that I don't enjoy music or movies... it just isn't the same feeling anymore to talk about stuff like that when you're on god's time. It's very interesting. I love it. 

No longer teaching Joao!! He is now our teacher and we have 2 investigators. Each of them are our two teachers. And we'll be teaching these 2 investigators for the next 4 weeks. It's incredible. And I testify that this is how the Lord has proclaimed that we teach the missionaries. Eu sou uma missionaria da Igreja dos Santos dos Ultimos Dias!!! And I'm proud of it!!! 

Love you all! Have such great weeks!

Love,

Sister Hennefer

Week One Down!!

Wow... I can't believe it's only been one week. What an incredible time it is to be here! We seriously do not have oodles and oodles of time so if this message it grammatically incorrect, or seemingly scrambled: my apologies.

The first thing I've noticed since being here is the Spirit (from here on known as O Espirito Santo) is so strong. The MTC is a sacred and dedicated place that is filled with almost 2,000 young men and women with the mantel of Jesus Christ upon their spiritual shoulders and His name branded in shiny tags above their hearts. His name is sacred. And to have this many people here learning of Him... it's incredible. 

My first impression here was how shocked I was to see so many relatively young people. Many of the girls here are 19 with a fall birthday (meaning that they just graduated high school this year) And, of course, many many young men are 18. I don't know why this characteristic surprised me. But it did. But as my "newbie" eyes adjusted I see women of all kinds of ages being trained to go out into the fields and also the Elders here range from several years of age. And what a difference having a year and half on my own has made!! I'm grateful for it. The mentality it's given me.

My companion is Sister Bundy. She just turned 19 last month and graduated from Dixie High School in St. George, Utah. She was Senior Class President and she plays volleyball like a rock star! She is probably one of the sweetest people I've ever met. She is so susceptible to the spirit in ways that I usually never cared for. The language is beginning to show itself to her as a giant rearing snake. She was incredibly discouraged and disappointed. We've prayed together, sung together, and finally fasted together. And I've never seen anyone work so hard in their lives. And I'll tell you, later in this email I will share how the Lord has blessed her for it!

General Conference, right?? So let me tell you what Conference was like in the MTC. It was like spiritual Christmas! All 2,000 missionaries gathered together in the devotional hall and on huge screens we watched our modern day prophets, seers, and revelators bear their testimonies and invite us all to be a little better today then we were yesterday. Amazing. When the missionaries all stand up and sing together--the spirit bears witness of a sacred and truly significant work!!! First of all: HOW AWESOME WAS IT WHEN PEOPLE GOT TO SPEAK IN THEIR NATIVE TONGUE! I am so proud to say that, as a world-wide church, we listen to people from around the world. LANGUAGE IS NO BARRIER TO CHRIST'S ATONEMENT AFFECTING THEM. We know this especially in missionary work. And it is a beautiful element to add to General conference! :D

While all the Elders went to Priesthood meeting the Sisters went to a hall to re watch the General Women's meeting. Amazing. I'm glad that they did this because last week I was spending time with my family and getting ready to leave!! And what an incredibly edifying experience that meeting was!  Please, women, go and watch that meeting. It was awesome. 

While all the Sisters came back feeling pumped and full of O Espirito Santo, the Elders came back from Priesthood meeting looking like a little bit of the world was on their shoulders... I guess Thomas S. Monson didn't crack any jokes and it was unsettling. But one thing was for sure: Our prophet means business.

I got some meaningful insights from this week that I got to jot down, so I will share them with you before I share the rest of my email. God works through people as angel of comfort. An Elder in our Zone came to my companion (unbeknownst to him, she was really having a rough time of it) and gave her a note with a $1 coin with a beautiful picture of Sacajawea on it. The note said that on the day he left, his Mom handed the coin to him and said,

"Here. This is for a strong girl." He said that he was a little weirded out but, in respect for his mother he kept the coin close to him with a prayer in his heart. In the note he said that as soon as he saw Sister Bundy, he was prompted to give the coin to her. He testified that he cannot ever ignore a prompting like that. He told her that Sister Bundy is "a strong girl" and that no matter what she can get through anything. It was a beautiful moment. Sister Bundy deeply loves and misses her family. And that was exactly what she needed at that time. A simple story when told..... but it seriously was a beautiful thing to witness. Thank you, Elder Purrirri. You are an intuitive man. 

In a place like this I can fully understand and respect the phrase: With an eye single to the glory of God. D&C chapter 4 is one of the shortest chapters in the D&C. Worth a read. I can testify that God has His eye out for all His children. And missionary work belongs to Him. I am merely a conduit. And with a big calling such as this I am determined to keep strict heed to anything asked of me in order to keep the spirit as a companion. 

Everyone in my district is waiting for a visa. And many many foreign language speaking  missionaries. One thing is for sure: it's in the Lord's Hands! What better way to insure that I am where I need to be by God sending to so many places where people have to consistently pray to Him about where to properly put me. And I received a sweet confirmation the other night, O Espirito Santo bore witness to me that I am called to be in Brazil. And I will be going to Brazil. No worries. 

(but some extra prayers for all our visas to come through won't hurt a bit ;D)

We were expected to teach our first lesson to an investigator IN PORTUGUESE on our 3rd day. you know... Friday afternoon. Yeah.... we tanked. His name is Joao. He's from Brazil and he was super nice...but....yeah BUT!!! We left that meeting with a refreshed determination to learn our language and teach with O Espirito Santo!! 

Yesterday, Monday, we taught our second lesson with Joao. It was.... phenomenal. So spiritual!! Joao said he could feel the spirit and we got him to say the prayer!! Our lessons are in very broken Portuguese and half of it is a big game of Charades. But I know one thing for sure!!! We have the mantel of Jesus Christ upon us. And language is no barrier to getting his love to His children. The ONLY thing we need in our lessons/lives is O Espirito Santo!! 

Wednesday (sorry going back and forth) my first day was a crazy long day. we were all shuffled around and as soon as we had 2 seconds to get ourselves settle we were sent off to our first day of class! Irmao Read is our teacher. He truly is called of God to teach our class. He is incredibly in tune with the spirit. He teaches our class with divine inspiration. Many many things from Spanish are coming back to me. the blessing President Burton sealed on me stand SO true for me. "Blessed with the gift of tongues. And the ability to retain, learn, and speak the language" YES. My companion and I finally got to bear our testimonies in Portuguese in that special second lesson. Sister Bundy's face filled with tears while the beautiful (and broken) language poured out and O Espirito Santo bore witness of her words. Words that I knew she had a hard time with. It was incredible. 

Thursday: Missionary work is NOT a statistical competition. It is not a game of persuasion or an attempt to prove that anyone is wrong. Missionary work is to "invite people to come unto Christ through His restored Gospel" I know it is true!! I'm understanding what that means more and more!

Friday: Our first lesson in Portuguese... yes. Joao is an actor. BUT!! this is how the Lord has proclaimed that we teach his missionaries. So we are to treat his as a real investigator. And... like I said, our first lesson Tanked. Joao was very nice, but a huge fear of the lack of language prevented O Espirito Santo from being there. Sistger Bundy and I were.... triste. :( but that night we bonded as a companionship. We talked about our testimonies-- and we opened up about our insecurities concerning missionary work. And it was incredible. It was a tender way for the Lord to let us become good friends. 

SATURDAY WAS CONFERENCE WOOT 

SUNDAY WAS CONFERENCE 2.0

Monday. Yesterday. you all thought it was P-Day! but, nope! But! I'll only get the computers for a few hours in the morning. So PLEASE email me on Mondays and Tuesday mornings so that I can get a n accurate time-frame. (I promise that my next email will be better organized and hopefully I'll have more time) Remember that! Tuesdays. If every single 2,000 missionaries here at the MTC had the same P-Day there would be mass chaos.

okay...my  notes are leading me back to our dear Joao. 

When Sister Bundy and I taught Joao again... it truly was incredible. I KNOW that even thought the man playing Joao is fake-- Joao... our pesquisador, is real!! Many of the actors use their own conversion story to play out or a loved on while they portrayed an investigator. But you should all know that bearing my testimony in Portuguese is one of the most precious things EVER!!

FINALLY: TUESDAY: Almost made it to a whole week!

I love my companion. The second I met her I knew we were meant to be companions. She is such a sweet person with a spirit that is so susceptible to the Holy Ghost, I love to hear her simple and firm testimony. She loves Disney and Disney land. And whether missionaries have the gift of tongues or simply the entitlement to God's inspiration due to bearing our Savior's name on our hearts: GOD HELPS HIS MISSIONARIES EITHER WAY. 

Sister bundy runs into many many people per day that she knows. this is a blessing because of how much she misses her family. For myself...I've only seen 2 people that I know. Ethan Vehar who said a brief hello our first day. And (drum roll please) BRIAN CLYDE (Clyde??? I think that's his last name.) For all my Rockwell friends receiving this email. BUT Brian was wearing a WHITE tag signifying him as a volunteer and not an Elder ...yet. really interesting!

My cold! Yes, I'm much better. :) Thank you for your inquiry. I am pleased to say that I'm on the healing end of it! And I'm glad that i got it at home rather than here... because it's running rampant here at the MTC.

My watch broke my first night here D8 I loved that watch. Tell Aunt JoDeene that I love her and I threw it away with a fond memory of the night she gave it to me. :) Miss her. Hope she's okay. 

now I have a new watch that I bought at the MTC. It's nice... doesn't have an Aunt JoDeene bling to it that I'm used to but I like it. :) 

SO many notes!! I'm going through notebooks so much! SO!! if any one you want to know what to send me (because I CAN receive packages at the Provo MTC) you can never go wrong with Headbands, scarves, notebooks, and moleskin. ;)

Love my District. We laugh together, we bear our testimonies together and we all speak in broken Portuguese together. My favorite thing by far that I've witnessed here is looking into a private study room and seeing two 18-year-old boys with furrowed brows and their faces in the BofM. We all have the same investigator, Joao, but all our personal experiences with Joao are different according to the needs of the Lord.

WHAT AN AMAZING WORK I'M A PART OF! I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!! PLEASE EMAIL ME!!! 

We missionaries all thirst for words from home almost as much as we thirst for righteousness. If you have a minute... take the time. 

LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!! GOD BLESS!!! AND REMEMBER THAT DEUS VOCE AMA! <3

love,

Sister Hennefer