November 18

This past week was good for the most part. We~ve progressed a lot in the language and I feel confident about leaving the CTM next Tuesday. Proselyting in Sao Paulo was an adventure. They dropped us off next to a Catholic Cathedral in the downtown area. Since it is next to a church you would think the area would be great for proselyting....not hardly. The street and plaza were full of illegal venders. Everytime a policeman drove through, everyone packed up their things and hid/ran. It was the most amazing thing to see about 50 illegal venders all of a sudden pack up in 5 seconds and then as soon as the police left the set up shop again. Compared to our proseltying in Casa Verde, Sao Paulo was SOOOOOO HARD. Wow...I~m crying just thinking about it right now. Hardly anyone would listen to our message and those that did only talked to us because we were blonde americans. I think I got more cat calls and vile looks than I~ve ever gotten in my life. I felt more like a piece of meat than a missionary. After 2 hours of getting cat-called, Sister Gricius and I just had a good cry once we returned to the CTM. It is so frustrating when you have a message that you know with all your heart is true and you know it will change a person~s life for the better, yet no one will give you the time of day. The mission will be full of days like that though. I will have my highest highs and lowest lows while on the mission....and I~m looking forward to them both. I~ve grown so much in these past 2 months and I know the next 16 are going to be just as influencial! I love the mission. I can~t believe there was a time in my life that I thought about NOT going on a mission. What a mistake that would have been. Well. My next email will be from Joao Pessoa...and I think my pday will be on Monday once I get there.

Well I~m out of time. Thanks for all the cards in emails. I live for them.
Got to go. Love you all!!!

love,

sister wood

p.s. we did have a blackout here in sao paulo, but the CTM has a generator so we didn~t have light for about 3 seconds...the rest of sao paulo though was completely dark that night!