Transfers!

A better week, dishes piled high, serving until she is exhausted but it makes her so happy, singing at a wedding (their are lots of weddings as they teach the principles of the gospel.)  These are some of the good things she had to say this week.  It was great to hear from our girl, who sounded more like herself this week. ~Momma Baker

This is another instagram post by Barbara.
Joci is speaking Portuguese and laughing.
So fun to see!

Well sorry I didn’t email you on Monday. Every transfer we will have pday on wednesday. ta bom? Beleza. Well that was actually not english was it. That was pork and cheese. There are phrases that just don’t work in my head in english any more. Its weird man. I tried really hard to think there. What is the english translation for ta bom? Ta certo? Nope thats portuguese tambem. Darn. 

Well I had to say good bye to my favorite comp so far. Sister Moraes. She was an angel sent from heaven. I love love love love her. She was my mom for the mission. I will always love her. She got me through some rough times man. Really rough times. Mostly because of my other companion Sister Do vale whom i love because she is a daughter of God but who i don’t have to be best friends with. I love her though. I love her. 

Well this week was one of my better ones. We didn’t teach as many lessons as i would have liked. Manly because of the transferencias, but we did some good work anyway. We did do a lot of serving. There are places here that we eat sometimes. They are called Marmitarias. They are kind of like a take out place but its different. There is one lady, sometimes two, who make tonz and tonz of food then put it in cafe rio packages and their husbands bring it to people on a motorcycle or you go pick it up. Its at their house. Its pretty neat and its really good food. Usually brown beans and either green or orange rice (rice with brocolli or carrots) and noodles and meat and farofa (looks like cracker crumbles its my favorite with beans and rice) good stuff. There person who makes the food there is a less active member and so we always get our food for free. Well we went to go pick up our food there one day and like we usually do we ask if there is anything we can do to help and usually people say no but today she was like yeah sure! Im not feeling very well i have a headache so could you guys please do the dishes? We were like yeah sure! Well remember that this is a marmitaria. They make TONZ of food. Now i’m not exaggerating when i say this. There were dirty Pots and Pans piled on every table on the stove on the counter higher than my head. I have pictures. i will show you next week. It took 3 sisters 3 hours to wash every pot and pan in that place. Im not exaggerating. Holy Cow. HA ha. If any one wants to race washing dishes i will probably win. I have washed more dishes here already then i have my entire life. They don’t have dish washers here so you hand wash everything. And its not like the meals we make at home its like washing the dishes of thanksgiving 2 or 3 times a day by hand. They make so many varieties of food. It’s crazy. We also did another service project at the house of a Pesquisador. When we went to visit her she was sitting outside of her house with a broom. We stopped and asked her if there was anything we could do to help she said no, but that she was cleaning her house and her stomach hurt so she just stopped for a second to rest but that she was good. Well when someone says that they don’t want help cleaning their house and they are sick you don’t just walk away you help them clean their house. Well i’m gunna be completely honest with you, when i walked into her house i got an upset stomach too. It was repulsive. We spent a couple hours there cleaning and cleaning. IT was apparent that she doesn’t clean her house often. There was a thick layer of nasty on her kitchen floor. Sister Do Vale and i cleaned the bathroom and if i didn’t catch a disease from that... I almost vomited. IT was so gross. But the craziest thing of all is that i was so so happy when i was working. Like weirdly happy. After i was happy too. I didn’t stop being happy. I love serving so much. I want everyone to find an opportunity to serve. Go out of your way. Spend a couple hours doing something that you didn’t plan on doing. It makes you feel good. And when you are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God. 

  We also did some really fun stuff. One day we found a trampoline place. Every night they set up these trampolines and bounce houses. We decided that it was a good idea so we went. Oh man i haven’t laughed so hard in a long time. It was so fun. It was one of those times where it was a stressful day and so when you do something really dumb it is funner than it should be. Ha ha. It was so fun (on pday dont worry) We also made cookies! That was so fun! And i made french toast for a member family. With Buttermilk Syrup!! Of course!! I thought about sending some to Marte, but i don’t think that it would be good by the time it got there. 

I played the guitar at the wedding. It was beautiful. I will play at another on friday. 

The Christmas tree that you all sent me is hanging up in my house. It brightens the place up a bit. And i have the christmas chain up too counting down the days until i can talk to you!!!

I got a new name tag. My name is Sister J. Baker because there are 3 sister bakers in NAtal mission. I also did my comps hair in cornrows. 

My new companion is a Brazilian. She seems really great. I hear she likes to work really hard so that a plus! Ha ha. I want to work really hard too! tell dad i love him and thanks for talking to me for a bit. And i love you mom.

I’m fantastic! I cant buy a guitar, but i bought a hammock instead. Its sweet!! and probably a photo album with the money from grandma. I wont use very much money. I dont need much and i feel guilty buying stuff when other people have so little. I will save it for college. I love you!

About Christmas... We can skype or call. Which ever works. I prefer skype. You will need a skype account i think that it will be easiest if you send me the info for your skype account and i will skype you. Ta bom? 

My portuguese is getting better. Not perfect, but getting there.

I love you mom! I am so glad that you are having a good time at home and are doing things that are fun. I can hardly wait until our whole family can go to the temple together that will be amazing. I am so glad that you all got that opportunity. 

Things are great. I am having fun and working hard. 

There is one more thing. I was having a hard time one time and i went into another room and started to cry and that stupid song "let us gather in a circle" came to mind. Now maybe i’m wrong but i personally believe that we truly can be united by prayer. I have heard that song in my head and instantly knew that you all were having family Prayer. Its a tender mercy from the Lord. 

I love you!! Tonz and Tonz!!

(this from a part of Jake's letter)
We almost got robbed which was a new experience. There were these boys who started yelling at us "Hey give me your phone! Give me your phone!"  NOT!! And they started running at us but they were a far ways away and so we just started running to a place with more people. It was fine. I didn't feel in danger or anything. Things are pretty good! Im happy i have a new comp. She's great.

Thats all i got this week. Im sending all of my love!!! 

I love you guys sooo much!!! Im praying for each one of you. 

Love, Sister Baker