Everything Will Be Alright

Hello Family & Friends,

We’re here in Campo Maior – still completely lost, but at least it’s a little more interesting! There was a huge power outage in the whole northeast of Brazil that made it real fun to get home on Wednesday night, as the roads were completely dark (of course, all the other missionaries were warned except they forgot about us in Campo Maior, haha!). One day we were looking for the house of a member referral to visit, and instead of giving us an address, our directions were “ask the people around you where ‘baldy’ lives”. Haha, somehow we found the house. Only God knows how we were able to pull that off … seriously. I saw my first wild monkey! I screamed and Portuguese went out the window. I started screaming “monkey, monkey” and no one understood! Apparently, they always hang around the mango trees behind the church, and I was just so happy about that.

Miqueias was baptized on Saturday night! He was a referral from his cousin. When we started teaching him, and invited him to be baptized, he said, “I won’t be baptized if I have to give up coffee!” Haha, we talked with him and since that day he has not had any coffee and was baptized. He was a little timid and shy with us at the beginning, but once we got a handshake down, he has just become our best buddy. He even asked if one of us could baptize him, haha! But, as usual, the baptism “pool” that they have here didn’t fill up because the water wasn’t working, and so YET AGAIN my companion and I filled it up with gallon buckets. My companion (her first baptism) was a bit alarmed, but at this point in my mission, it has really become the norm. Anyway, his mom and family were there and it was very spiritual and special.

This past week we made visits with a young man that returned home from his mission a bit ago. He asked each of us how long we had been in the mission, and I asked him to guess. He said, “9 months”, and I said, “what, is my Portuguese really that bad?” Haha, he told me that it wasn’t about my Portuguese, but was shocked to learn that I am in my last few weeks, because of the energy and excitement that my companion and I have. I have learned a lot about how important it is to always be positive. Usually in some of our lessons it looks and sounds more like a “pep talk” to help so many people that are discouraged. Being happy and excited about life is so contagious, and I truly feel like I have every reason to be this way in life.

My companion says that the Portuguese words I use most often translate to “everything will be alright”. She now copies me and it is our exact response to everything, knowing that when we are doing what’s right and doing our part, everything will work out! I love missionary work!

Love you all!

Sister Vance

p.s. I am “raising” my “daughter the way I was raised by my trainer. Irmãs feet are hurting, so we offer foot messages after lunch! I love my trainer and will always remember what she taught me.