"Dancing in the Rain"

OLA! Another great week...and once again almost zero time to write.....this is going to be super fast! The CTM is still going great. We are down to about 130 missionaries here which is sOOOO different from when I arrived (400 missionaries). THere are 168 missionaries stuck in the Provo MTC waiting to come to Brazil. There are MAJOR visa problems going on and the president~s wife said many of them will be reassigned to state side missions. SO SAD. Anyway I am very blessed because the VISA problems started happening about 1 1/2 weeks after I left the U.S.! They are only expecting to get 1 american missionary before the end of the year! Crazy!

So since I leave to Joao Pessoa in less than 2 weeks I would probably start sending mail to my Joao Pessoa address! I~ve gotten two letters this week from missionaries serving in Joao Pessoa and they told me a lot about what I am to expect....HOT WEATHER, LOTS OF BUGS, and VERY VERY POOR PEOPLE. THis is really going to be interesting, but I am so excited!!!!

Today we went to the temple again and it was wonderful! I forgot to tell you mom that the temple is surrounded by gardenias...the smell is possibly the best smell in the world...and everytime I walk by one I think of you!!!!

THis Friday we are going proselyting in Downtown Sao Paulo and I am so excited. It is going to be quite an experience so look for to my email next week for the details!

I have brazilian roommates and they are the best! We speak Portuguese with them everytime we are in the room and it is really helping our pronounciation.

I~ve officially become the pianist my branch....and I~ve been playing for musical numbers! All those years of piano lessons are finally paying off!!!

THe poverty in Brazil never ceases to amaze me. Today I saw houses that roaches shouldn~t even live in. And then when we were driving on the highway we passed a boy sleeping on a piece of cardboard in a trash heap. So sad. I~m sure I~ll see worse in Joao Pessoa because everyone tells me Sao Paulo is the richest city in Brazil.

This past week has been pretty much nothing but straight studying. I wake up an hour earlier everyday just so I can fit all my studying in for the day. The amount of information we have to know is overwhelming!!! I~m exhausted everyday, but in a wonderful way. I love being a missionary though....I~ve never been happier or closer to my Savior. When I~m not studying, I~m eating, sleeping, or playing volleyball! We have an hour for gym and I~ve been playing volleyball since I got here. I~m still not very good, but definitely improving. I play with my district and a group of brazilians. SO much fun. My district is honestly my family and I can~t wait to hang out with all of them when I get back! They bring me so much joy and I~m going to be sad when I say goodbye to them in a couple weeks!

Since I~ve been here I~ve made friends with all the branch presidents and CTM presidency. This last Sunday so many of them gave me such wonderful advice about the mission and I just have to say I love elderly missionary couples! They are the best. One branch president told me a quote I really liked and that I think fits me:

Life isn~t about waiting for the storms to pass, it is about learning to dance in the rain.

Time is up! Yikes! I love you all and miss you!!!

love,

sister wood