It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas :)

 

It is finally feeling just a little bit like Christmas here on the mission! It's so diferente here and definitely not the same but Sister Loisotto and I find little things each day to get us excited for Christmas.

 

Work wise it has been really slow because everyone is traveling, shopping, never home, having parties, etc. BUT we are still happy and working as much as we can.

 

I was blessed so generously with packages from the best mom eva'!! We had to go on a little adventure to São Paulo to get them but it was fun. Thanks Mom! Enjoy the pics...

On our long trek to pick up my packages...and the citiest part of São Paulo I've seen yet. Look at that view!!

This week was a week of pancakes. I don't know why each week seems to have a diferente theme for food but it was pancakes this week. We were working with a family that hadn't been coming to church and they invited us over to teach them how to make pancakes. So I mostly made them but taught as well and they just loved the eating part. It was a good time and we shared a message on how it doesn't matter how far off the path you go, you can always come back thanks to the grace of our Savior. They are such good people and we've grown to love them a lot.

We had a Sister Conference this week with all the sister missionaries in our mission and there are 47

of us! So cool because this time last year there were only maybe 10. God is hastening His work! It was a great day and a great conference. We learned things that we need to be doing better each day like being more exactly obedient and how to teach the commandments more clearly to those who aren't familiar with them yet. After conference we went to the Botanical Garden in São Paulo with President and Sister Tanner and it was so beautiful there! All good. Enfim...I'm so happy with this season and I hope we are all truly remembering the reason for this holiday.

 

As we keep our focus on on Savior Jesus Christ we will all be able to feel the true spirit of Christmas. No pday this week because of Christmas so Christmas will be pday...but I probably won't be able to email or make a blog that day. 2 days until I get to see some familiar faces!! So excited. Until the 25th!
Sister Cox   

Feelin' Brazilian

Oi gente! This week was a HOT one...and it's still spring. Sister Loisotto is dying in this heat because Buenos Aires is never this hot. But we're staying hydrated, etc. so no worries.

I was blessed with a nice big package from Dad this week full of American goodies and I couldn't be happier! I even shared some Reece's (who am I?) and the Brazilians loved it.

On a sadder note, an Elder in my zone got his foot run over by a bus this week. Not a joke. Needless to say he broke his foot and got sent home. Please pray for Elder Dew from Ohio that he will have a quick recovery and be able to return to the mission field, wherever that may be...soon. We're thinking he probably won't return to Brazil because of visa issues.

On a good note, I finally am feeling Brazilian! I've noticed how cultural things that were weird to me when I got here are just second nature now and I love it. Mostly in regard to food...obviously. Like mashed potatoes on hot dogs...always and I have to eat rice and beans every day. If not, it's a bad day. I'm loving this country minus the insanely strong sun right now. I'm getting so dark despite the fact that I'm using lots of sunblock! eh...normal for me. The one thing I have not become accustomed to is corn popsicles...eckk..so gross. Tried that and never again will I eat it.

As for last week, I didn't really celebrate Thanksgiving, but my companion made me tortas fritas which were great. It's basically fried dough with sugar and jam or you can eat it plain and they're a little salty. They were yummy. I didn't do anything big for the 1/2 birthday this year. Nothing tops last year with a homemade dinner from the besties.

We, as a zone, discovered that I have the most time here in Santo André than anyone else..it's like an accomplishment; out of 16 people I've been here the longest. I do love it here buuuttt...transfers are the 31st if you catch my drift. New year, new area I'm thinking. But I will definitely miss Utinga. Not a doubt in my mind.

This week I was working on recognizing answers to my prayers and something really cool happened. At first I literally couldn't remember the last time I felt that God had truly answered a prayer of mine but it wasn't because he wasn't trying, it was because I wasn't listening. So I prayed to be more aware of answers to my prayers and this is what happened...this requires a little bit of background. In the states when I was serving in Nauvoo I started having some weird health issues, things that had never happened to me before so I asked for a blessing from someone in the ward there. In this blessing he said that everything will be fine and that when I get to Brazil the people will love me like family. At the time it didn't mean much because I didn't know anyone in Brazil so it seemed like an empty promise. But this week we had lunch with Irmã Claudia...Fabio's wife and she was telling us how she thinks of us like her own daughters and that's why they do so much for us and are always asking us if we need something. This was when the light bulb went off. I have been here for 5 months and just realized that this was an answer to the blessing I got back in July. There are so many people here that help us every day and truly love us and that was an answer to my prayers. God is listening! Are we?

That's all for this week. Love you all and am counting down the days ‘til Christmas!!!

Sister Cox