April 14, 2009 On the countdown . . .

To my favorite peeps!
I only have 3 more weeks in the CTM. How is everyone?! How was Easter? I hope you all had a great week and a good holiday!! Easter here was good. It was fun because all of the branch President´s wives made all of us missionaries homemade cookies and they were dElIcIoUs! And one of the Elder´s in my district got a package from his mom so he shared the candy and we had a mini district Easter party! It was fun put a little variety into our very structured lives here. I live for anything that adds some variety here at the CTM and this week we went proselyting as well as celebrated Easter so it made for a very eventful week ;). Proselyting ROCKED!! We went to a park near a museum here in São Paulo and it was beautiful (both the park and the museum). Some of the Elder´s got kicked out of the park and were told they weren´t supposed to proselyte there (we found out later) but we walked past several um...park rangers if you will...and none of them said a thing. Sometimes it pays off to be a sister :). Proselyting has been the most exciting and invigorating part of my time here at the CTM for me there are so many lessons I have learned here and I know there is much purpose in the CTM but when we go proselyting it is more clear to me what my purpose is and I love my purpose! I am so excited about this work! People here in Brasil are ready and willing to at least listen and the spirit guided and directed my words and my ability to understand Portuguese so much! Both of my companions are a bit better at the language because of their Spanish but it has helped me a lot! But on the bus ride home my companion said "wow you understand everything" she thought because of my responses and granted I did understand a lot more then last time I really did´t understand everything and I probably missed a lot more than I realize but the spirit directed my words and I was able to answer their questions. We gave away 11 Books of Mormon...it was a lot of fun! I also was very excited because I felt that I was still able to be and express myself even with my limited Portuguese...it made me so happy!! I am very grateful that the people here are loving and warm...they were patient and willing to listen to us with our broken Portuguese and to this beautiful message. I felt the love that the Lord has for these people so strongly! It was great. We don´t go again for another week and a half but I can hardly wait.My companions and my district are so great! We have a lot of fun together and laugh a lot! I have learned so much from them! There are six of us so it is a small and tight district...consisting of the three of us sisters and three elders. Our branch presidents wife took a picture of us at the temple today so you should get that soon. They are such awesome and hilarious people! The other night my companion Sister McCandless was singing ´God Be With You´ in her sleep. It was the middle of the night and I remember trying to figure out what was going on and having the desire to tell her to stop singing but in the morning when I realized what had happened it was so funny to us. She was creeped out by it...but it was hilarious. Our teachers here at the CTM are so awesome as well! They are inspiring and so patient! They are both very humble and hardworking people and I have learned a lot about what I want to be like as a missionary through them! It is a great experience to be here! Sometimes I get so anxious to get outside that I am clawing the windows but I know this is part of the journey too so I am trying to take advantage of the time I have here while making through it by remembering that at some point I really am going to go out and teach the gospel. This time is much needed to learn, prepare, and fill my lamp for the months and experiences to come! Life is sweet! You are all awesome! Thank you for the letters and emails! It is so fun to hear from home and feel the love and support! Keep me posted! Tiffany thanks so much for posting all of my letters on the blog I have already heard from a couple people that have been able to read my emails on the blog...you rock!I love and miss and pray for you all!!
Have an awesome week!
Much love!
Sister Richins