This week was the bom.com cuz guess what??
1. My trainer left one of our lessons and told me "I feel like an American who can't speak Portuguese."
Lemme tell you how it went down. So the missionaries here have this saying "que chic" and like everyone says it. Honestly I don't know how to translate it but it's sorta like saying "how cool" and we were in a lesson with some of our investigators- a grandpa, dad and son. The dad hasn't had a job, but just recently he found one so my comp said "que chic, you're working now" and ALL THREE OF THEM LOST IT LAUGHING and I was just thinking well maybe he didn't actually get a job? and I looked to my comp to see if she understood why todo mundo was laughing and she looked more lost than I felt. ANYWAY turns out that saying "que chic" isn't cool here and they all thought it was hilarious that she said it. And for the rest of the lesson every time we asked a question they answered with "que chic" OH MAN IT WAS BEYOND HILARIOUS. And then when we left my comp said "why didn't you defend me?" HAHAHA NO WAY JOSE YOU'VE LAUGHED TOO MANY TIMES AT MY LANGUAGE MISTAKES and I legit died when she told me she "felt like an American who can't speak Portuguese" haha well she laughs way less at my Portuguese and it's probably cuz of this but I like to think it's cuz I'm getting better.
Fun fact-- so this one day we were teaching a lesson and the lady said "wow 3 months later and you're already fluent" and at the next lesson the guy we were teaching said, to my companion mind you, "she knows almost nothing" OKAY 100-0 REAL QUICK-- So there's your update on my language progress lolz
2. WE HAD A BAPTISM SO YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3. OKAY Y'ALL THIS WEEK I HIT A MILESTONE-- 3 months in the mission y'all!!! The time has legit flown by cuz I honestly still can't believe I've graduated from high school and now I live in BRASIL? I still wake up (at 6:30 mind you) and sometimes think- WOWE I LIVE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD AND SPEAK A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE.
4. Made pancakes for Sister Portilho and Sister F. Oliveira and THEY LOVED THEM MORE THAN I THOUGHT WOULD BE POSSIBLE- shame syrup doesn't exist here. Lowkey a trial- no syrup or peanut butter kills me. BEANS AND RICE FOR DAYS--BLESS UP FAM
But on the reals y'all this week was actually lowkey rough and we discontinued all of our investigators except Camila and her family (who live on the other side of the world, legit walk an hour to get to her house BUT IT'S WORTH IT CUZ I LOVE THEM) Anyway just wanna let y'all know that if the path was always filled with honeysuckle and roses
1. You'd have way less adventures and life is all about adventures, right?
2. You would not have nearly as much of an opportunity for growth. We grow through our trials and when we exercise our faith in Christ we will receive help and comfort.
"All of us, in a moment of weakness will exclaim "No one understands. No one knows." Maybe no human knows but the Son of God knows and understands perfectly...He can extend a hand, touch, succor- literally run to us- and strengthen us" -Elder Bednar (also translated this from Portuguese in my head so if you want the real deal google the quote)
I testify that this is true- Jesus Christ knows us perfectly and knows us by name. He knows best how to help us and if we turn to him and ask we will receive.
Oh ...... and for the subject of this email- so in our last Zone Conference we had training on how to correctly go on splits and the evaluation thing at the end. The ZL, out of the blue mind you, asked me to act the part of a sister and my companion to act the part of the Sister Training Leader and I ended up evaluating myself out loud in front of the whole zone. Honestly it tanked from the start cuz the first question was about the cleanliness of the house and I ended up having to tell everyone I haven't made my bed in 3 months. YUP. HAHAHAHAHAHA OH MAN Y'ALL HOW EMBARRASSING- SORRY MOM LOLZ. Anyways, I've gotten better at making my bed to say the least.
LOVE YOU GUYS,
SISTER JOLLEY
Pictured above: Annelise's fave top bunk
