I'm in repair! I'm not together but I'm getting there!

It rained!  A baptism and dreaming in Portuguese!  Not to mention a Jocelyn we've never seen before!  There is a woman from Brazil who wants to move to Provo and open a salon here and so she wanted to try putting on makeup on a blue-eyed girl.  Definately a different look for Joci!  Also we got a letter on Saturday.  It spoke of her love for the Elders and Sisters in her district at the MTC.  She also spoke of the work, stress and fun but especially about the spiritual growth that came from choosing to work hard.  She learned that you had to be intrinsically motivated because the only person she was accountable to was herself and the Lord.  There were no papers to turn in, no tests to prepare for, she just had to try her best every day and apply what you learn in real life that day.  She tells how the MTC president sensed there was something special about their district and there was.  They helped each other through  trials of faith, death of loved ones, sickness, discouragement, homesickness and stress.  They laughed, cried, sang, learned Portuguese, brokedown, prayed and learned about life together.  She spoke about her hopes for each of them and her desire to see them again and then once again her love for each of them.  What an awesome experience she is having.  The ups and downs and everything in between.  How grateful we are for all of it!  ~Momma Baker

Well, this week was better. I just decided to have a good attitude and pray a lot and look for the positive and it worked. Well, it was quite the week. First things first i had a dream in Portuguese. They say that as soon as you dream in portuguese you are fluent, but i don't think thats true because the only thing that was said in my dream was "isso garota" which means " yeah girl". Long story short I’m not fluent but I’m getting there. I will be fluent someday. ha ha. 

  This week i met a guy who fell head over heals in love with me. I think he just loved americans to be honest but he loooooved me. He asked me to come to his house and take a nap (not with him) and he would make me lunch. i said no sorry I'm a missionary. He was obsessed. He would ask me to say things in english and in portuguese and stuff it was so funny. He like got me a chair and made me sit down and he sat at my feet and told me to talk to him. And then my companions wanted me to sing. So i sang and he cried! Literally tears, several tears comed out of his eyes!! Ha ha i laughed so hard. I thought it was the funniest thing. He then went and bought me candy. oh my gosh. So funny.

  It rained!! So hard. I have pictures of us playing in the rain. We were at an appointment of a new investigator named Sebastião and it started to rain. We had to get to our next appointment so we left and it started to pour. I had an umbrella but it wasn’t doing anything so i gave up and just walked in the rain. It felt so good. It was like warm. By the time we got to the end of the street we were soaking wet so we canceled our appointments and went to the house of a member and took a shower in the rain. Ha ha it was awesome. 

   The one hard thing about having a mission in Brazil is that everyone is catholic. Literally EVERYONE! These are the things I hear the most while we proselyte:

1. Sister I need to go to the bathroom.

2. I was born catholic, I'll die catholic

3. Sister I'm hungry!

4. I'm very pleased with being catholic, but thanks for the invitation.

5. Americana?

6. I already have a religion, I'm catholic

7. I want a milkshake!

8. My whole family is catholic, we believe only in the bible.

This is my life. erry day. 

We did have one investigator who was the easiest investigator I have ever heard of. She is adorable and I love her and it really strengthened my testimony that God is preparing people for us to teach and there are people out there who want to hear our message and who will open their hearts to our gospel. Her name is Beatriz. She is 11 years old! Same age as Kaiti. Shes my little sister over here. She actually reminds me a lot of Kaiti. She is really mature and very smart. One day she just decided that she wanted to go to church so she went all by her self. She went 2 times and then decided that she wanted to be baptized. So she downloaded the Book of Mormon on her phone and the hymns and started reading. She knew it was true so she got in contact with a member of the church some friend of her mom. and then got in contact with the missionaries. We went to her house on Saturday and taught the 3rd lesson (gospel of Jesus Christ) and asked her if she wanted to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized, of course she said yes. And so we asked her why it was important to her to be baptized. She said that its because she wanted to start a new life and she new that after baptism that you become a new person and you leave behind you your past sins and obey the laws of the church and become a better person each day. and we were like yes exactly. So then we asked if she would like to be baptized the next day. She got excited and said yes! So yesterday we had a baptism. It was awesome! I am super excited about it. What a miracle! We have a pretty amazing Heavenly Father.

   I am also using my music a lot. We will start a guitar class and i will teach a bunch of people how to play guitar and then share our message and then baptize everyone! ha ha. I am also playing at 2 weddings. I am excited about that. I love using my music to help people. 

   Well thats all i have. oh i have a challenge. In portuguese they don’t have a word for the Sabbath Day. They called it Dia do Senhor which means day of the Lord. That kind of changed the meaning a little bit for me. Its the Lords day. I have to work hard on Sundays, but its all work for the Lord and i try to think of Him as much as i can and worship him on this day. What can you all do to worship our Lord on his day?

Well i love you all! Have a wonderful week! Be good!! Pray Hard! 

love, Sister Baker

I got her letter at 6:55 this morning so I quickly wrote her back.

MOM:

Hello my Joci girl!  I woke up early this morning so excited that it's Monday and now first thing I get a letter!  I love you so much sweetie!

I'm so glad it rained!
How wonderful about the 11 year old girl.  Amazing!  People are amazing!  I knew that you would figure  things out make things better cause that's just you!  Any chance you'll be able to buy a guitar?

JOCI:

I love you mom! i just read your email. and i am trying all the things that you suggested this week. Things are getting better I’m just trying to love her the best i can. Ha ha. I am going to ask the pres. because i think it would be benificial to have one. Some other elders have a guitar. idk. I will let you know. Thanks so much for your packages. I will let you know when i get them. I love love love love you 

i love hearing about your life and the kids and everything. I just love it. 

I am doing well. You have to have the downs to have the ups. I am so happy everything is going well with the class and with the bridal shower and stuff. I love hearing about this. Oh and in drop box theres some pictures of me with make up all over my face. There's this lady here who wants to move to Provo and open a salon and so she wanted to put make up on someone with blue eyes. I looked like a wicked witch. ha ha whatever. so funny. 

Can i do anything for you? 

I love love love you!

love, Sister Baker