Ola minha famila e minha amigos!!
I'm HERE!!! On a mission. Like what!! FINALLY!!! I just finished my first week here at the MTC in Provo. This place is amazing oh my goodness. I loved reading all of your emails they help so much you guys are the best!! Being in a place with thousands of missionaries going around the world is so powerful. I know 3 people in my district from home what!!! It's the best. And two other people are going to Manaus!! It will honestly be so hard to leave them because we have become family! My companion is Sister Brown and she is going to Brazil Natal!! She is the sweetest. She is super smart and wants to study medicine at Harvard. I love her. She took Portuguese before she came and helps me so much. She is so patient and helps me memorize everything. She has her visa so we are going together!! Tender mercies I'm telling ya. Heavenly Father was definitely looking out for me letting me stick by her side the whole time!! VISA UPDATE: A travel department guy came marching into our class and said "Travel Itineraries!!" And I had no idea my visa had even arrived and I was the last one to be called and I'M LEAVING FOR BRAZIL ON TUESDAY THE 3RD!! Thats right in one week I will be on plane to Sao Paulo!! And I fly into NY first with some people from my district. This is going to be the best ever. Family: expect a phone call :) DOM DE LINGUAS (the gift of tongues) is so real!!! For those that don't know we believe that as a represpentive of Jesus Christ, when we are obedient and do our absolute best and work our hardest we will be blessed with this gift and be able to portray the message we have in the language we need to. So for me it's Portuguese!! I have already taught three lessons and can bear my testimony and pray in Portuguese!! And the last lesson we hardly used our notes at all. The spirit is still so strong even if we can only speak a little bit. My comp and I joined the choir and Robert Egget is the director!! Seriously it's amazing. Every Sunday we have to prepare a talk in Portuguese and they randomaly call on us to speak!! Ah scary! KIMI AND NAVY!!!!!!!!! Seriously I almost started crying with happiness when i got your package!! How did you guys know those are my most favorite treats?? The food is nasty so it seriously lifted my spirits so much. I cant even thank you enough! Please send me your addresses so I can write you letters :) I know this gospel is true with all my heart!! This place is absolutely amazing and so powerful. They really are preparing Heavenly Father's army here. I have already learned so much about my Savior and His mission that he has invited me walk alongside. Our Savior is our bestest friend in all eternity and we can honor Him by being faithful in all of our devoted service. My testimony of the enabling power of the Atonement has grown so much and I know I would never be able to do this without Him! Our Heavenly Father loves each of us now and He also knows who we can become. Even though being polished and sanded down can hurt sometimes He will help us reach our maximum potential. Thank you so much for all the emails and love!! Okay Dear Elder is the best and I love all the notes I get everyday!! So thank you so much :) I have almost zero time to email so I promise I read them all and LOVE them and you guys are the best and send me your addresses so I can write you letters :) Next email I will be in Sao Paulo!! Amo voces,Sister Arbuckle Ola min ha Familia!
So I just finished my first official day as a full time missionary! Crazy. I absolutely love it here. A part of me hopes I stay haha. My companion and I are literally soul sisters. She is a little older than me and is from Orem. She loves to run and so we go running together! She is going to Natal. I'm living with 6 other sisters and everyone is so nice but for real, I lucked out with my comp because she is just amazing. She actually took a semester of Portuguese so she's ahead of me but helps me so much! Tomorrow is our first time teaching a full lesson to an investigator in Portuguese and I'm super nervous! But, I can already pray and say a lot more in Portuguese than I thought. Oh my gosh, so the first time we had "People & Purpose" which is where 80+ missionaries speak/teach an investigator. A couple missionary literally taught false things and the lesson ended in yelling. Sister Brown and I were dying laughing! Everyone here is so nice! My sister training leaders are the best and have shown me so much. It's kind of weird because my comp and I got here the same day sooo... we still don't know where a lot is. But we will figure it out! So get this! Elder Markham and Elder Hammond are companions and in my district as well as Elder Waters! We all have so much fun together - I love it! Ok, so some rumors I should share: My carry on can't be more than 10lbs. Not for my flight to Brazil but from Brazil to Manaus. Oh, and 3 Elders are going to Manaus from my district. My P-day is Tuesday! I don't get very much time to email. So another thing: Sister Brown has her visa but there wasn't a companion for her in Brazil so they told her she needed to wait here until a sister gets her visa and can travel down with her!! She almost started crying when I told her I have 4 dots {on the consulate website each step the visa process goes through is marked with a "dot"}. She said it took 8 days after those dots before she got her visa in hand. So if all goes well we will be headed down together! What a blessing - hopefully we don't get split up. Could someone just check my dots again and email me before Tuesday? Oh, and another rumor is that even if you have the dots...they can go back to just processing :( - That would be so sad! Sister Brown got some nasty blisters on her feet the first day so I got to help her! We literally packed SO well. Except we forgot hangers hahaha. But, there is a store here where I can buy everything! I might be sending a little bit more home because of the pound limit. I loved all the sweet notes you guys made for me. I stuck them around our whole dorm and the girls love them too. We have zero free time here so this was all I could write in 15 minutes! I love you all so much - thank you for being the best family in the galaxy. Hopefully I will have more time to write once I'm in the field but for now it's cram time! :) This place is seriously so powerful and I have never felt closer to my Savior. I haven't cried since you dropped me off. I am well taken care of so don't worry for a minute. Love you all and I will email on Tuesday! Love, Sis. Arbuckle P.S. The food is gross so I'm starving all the time. |