Dear friends,
Well, it's that time of week again! You get to choose whether to read my email or to save it and think to yourself that you'll read it later, haha, like THAT's going to happen...
But seriously, every person that I send this email to is a personal friend of mine, and I am so grateful for all the positive affects you have on my life.
So, bonne année! I hope 2014 has started off on a wonderful note for everyone! For us, on Monday, I was on exchange with Soeur Stapley, we went and visited Grace and Sandra, two recent converts from this past summer. They are so adorable. Soeur Stapley and I did some contacting the next day. Did I already mention that we live in mini Brazil/Portugal? Got to learn portuguese! We contacted a lady, and asked her about Christmas. She repeated the question to herself in her native language, and I distinctly heard the word 'natal', and I said to myself, "I know that word! I used it yesterday in my email to my family! That's portuguese for Christmas!" I guessed Portugal, turns out she was from Brazil. We also saw Thérèse and Catherine, two of our amies. I love them all so much, I just want to see them have their own testimony of these things! New Year's Eve a bunch of the missionaries went over to the Palomaki's, and then to Marie-Pierre's house. I LOVE THEM ALL SO MUCH! I can't send a picture this week, because my camera is dead, but I'll send one next week. The next day, we slept in. I'm not going to lie, Soeur Holmes has said I've been doing pretty well on not getting trunky, but having a little taste of sleeping in like that makes me EVER so excited to be able to sleep in again soon. But I know at the same time, I'll be so sad to leave this place. We went over to a member, Claude Bernard, the evening, and watched 'Ephraim's Rescue'. Good film! We had our very first District Meeting of the transfer this past week, which is crazy, because is was already week 4! We also went on exchanges with Valenciennes again. I got to be with Soeur Whisler again! She and I really get along, and we had some good moments during our exchange. Haha, she is in her third transfer, and already has dreams of being an Sister Training Leader in Paris. She asked me how I felt when I was called to be STL, and was a little shocked when I replied, "I was ticked. I didn't want to do it!" Haha, good times. I also told her it was because I didn't like doing exchanges, she replied "You don't like doing exchanges?" and I said, " I DIDN'T like doing them. I love them now." She and others have asked me recently, "So... What is it like to be dying?" For all the young missionaries, it's just so unfathomable to think about actually going home. I remember those days... Saturday we ate dinner at Maria and Filipe's with the family Queiroz. Haha, SO good. Portuguese food is delicious. I'm so jealous of President and Sister Fluckiger. I adore Queiroz, because during our lesson, he had enough courage to ask Filipe why he hadn't been baptized yet. I think that helped coming from Queiroz, and not from us. Yesterday, we had a surprise meal right after church with the family Nascimento, again, a family from Brazil. They are so cool. They invited over two friends, and then today, had another friend over, that we were able to pass by and meet. The Lord is with us, and we are so blessed. I am so tired all the time, but I love my life, although it's true, 10:29 pm may still be my favorite time of day. Today Soeur Holmes' wallet was stolen while we were shopping. But, after trying to cancel her cards (a lot harder process than you would have thought) and many silent prayers, we were finally able to cancel her card and look at her account- no money had been spent. Blessings! Well dear friends, share the gospel, and remember the wise words of Alma 5: 44-45 - Make sure you know these things for yourself!
Soeur Bracken
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