This week I have one main highlight I want to talk about. WORKING WITH MEMBERS BRINGS MIRACLES. So the last girl I mentioned last week, we've been teaching her for 3 weeks now. She had to run away from home and her old church excommunicated her for kissing a boy outside of her church-and when you're excommunicated no one can talk to you for 6 months. Which means that while all the horrible stuff was happening at home, none of her friends listened. They pretended she wasn't even there.

Sister Mazetto and I were pretty desperate to get her to come to young womens and meet the girls and help her feel like God loves her, but with just us calling her there she didnt want to. So we enlisted the help of the members and got her to come to an fhe with a ton of the youth. the next day she came to Nycole's baptism and the day after that she showed up to church!!  She literaly already seems so much happier I can't believe its the same person! We weren't even thinking of inviting her to be baptised because all we want right now is to make her happier but she's talking about being baptised!! 

I'm like so out of time so next week is going to be like last week was because that was so much easier but here's Nycole's baptism!!  

So this week had one more highlight that I didn't write in the letter. WE GOT A BAPTISM. Vinícius. He's 14 and has been visiting the church for a while, so on monday Sister Mazetto and I were like "hey, want to be baptized?" and he got suppppper excited and said yes. So we taught him all the lessons this week and here we are! He's adorable. On Sunday after his confirmation he couldn't stop smiling. When I said "hey you're a real mormon now!" his smile just got bigger. AND NOW we're going to baptize all his friends (Ingrid and Nayara).

sorry i had computer problems today and ran out of time?? I'll talk more about that last one next week

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The week God dropped people from heaven to meet us.

SO. This week me and Sister Mazetto managed to land 4 people with a baptismal date. Ingrid was the first one, and teaching her was soooo cool because she started to say "oh I already was baptized" but then we asked her to say the closing prayer and we all knelt down and she started crying and we were like "what's wrong?" and she says "no I'm not sad, I feel good, but I don't know what this is I've never felt this before. I'll be baptized." and we're like "well daaaaaang, you got your answer without even praying??? That happens?".

The second was Nayara, who was super cute and said "if I heard there was a prophet today I'd come running!" and of course we're like "well then have we got the message for you!"

The 3rd was a re-marked date of an investigator Sister Mazetto taught already. We asked her whats stopping her-she already knows what she should do-and she says "you're right, I do know" and accepted.

The 4th was also a re-marked date and similarly accepted.

But the best thing was Saturday. Sister Mazetto and I were a little lost, trying to find the house of a less active member and we went a weird way and nothing was making sense, when someone started shouting at us like "heeeyyy hey you guys" and we got a little afraid

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#knighthood and lady gagas everywhere

I GOT TRANSFERED. 

So all last week I was wondering what kind of jedi I was going to be like-If I'd be like Obi-Wan and immediately get a padawan after ceasing myself to be a padawan, or like Anakin and stay with my master forever and ever after being knighted or what, but instead of either of those things, I got transfered waaaay to the other side of the mission-other state-and my new companion is someone who arrived with me, so we're both super freshly knighted and now we get to work/learn together :) I'm using star wars lingo but no, we don't actually call it that here lol. In mission lingo, I'm "leaving my mom" and the area I "was born in". But I like star wars more.

Its the start of carnaval which is certainly interesting. The past few days it was SUPER HARD to work because, as usual when a holiday comes, no one was sober. Also everyone was in drag? I don't really understand why. Everyone kind of looked like Lady Gaga this week. And when everyone looks ridiculous and you look normal, you start to be the weird one! Like being from the districts and visiting the Capitol in Hunger Games.

And as seems to be the theme of 2016 this year, again I don't have much to say about the work. Nothing happened really. So lets talk a little about Brazil!

We always eat lunch in the houses of members, and without fail every single day it's: pinto beans, white rice, spaghetti-all eaten together for some reason. Why spaghetti AND rice? No idea. But its good. Everyone always makes super fresh juice of fruits I still don't know the names of, and I'll definitely miss that when I go home.

Also everyone here is obsessed with mayo. I already told my family this, but literally I've seen people eat it by the spoonful. Or eat rice with nothing but mayo for flavor. And on pizza. Though the time I saw someone eating Saltine crackers with ketchup was almost weirder.

All the houses here have an outer gate with security spikes on the top, or broken glass or barbed wire, or in our case an electric fence. Seriously, when the Zombie Apocolypse happens we all need to come here.

I'm leaving tomorrow and have to kiss the beach goodbye (not that I can go into the beach or go swimming or anything but its gorgeous to look at) and I'm a little scared for the lack of wind I'm headed for!!

Anyway yeah, so I'm already almost out of time because aparently the time limit changed from 1.5 hours to 1 hour??? I didn't see this anywhere but that's what my comp says so?? Tchau?

Next week I'll be emailing from a new area (I can't even remember where I'm going...its a good thing other people are in charge of my travel plans)

Tchau tchau!

sister steele

PESQUISADOR NO SACRAMENTAL!!!!!!!!!

Okay, first things first. Last week was the longest week of my entire life, and the reason wasn't stress or anything out of the ordinary-it was that we weren't really working. Not that we weren't working or that we stayed in bed all week, of course not! But we weren't trying our hardest and as a result nothing was happening. This week we got back to work as usual and the week flew by.

This is my last week of training, which is weird. The padawan is about to become a Jedi Knight. 

So the important thing: we had an investigator come to church!!! This is always the thing we have the most trouble with, and as a result hadn't had someone with us in 2 months O.o but yesterday Irani came to church!!! I'm convinced she'll be baptized because everything has just went too perfectly not to. Well, not perfectly, actually the opposite-she's super hard to teach because she works so much she's never home. But when we talked to her the first time, we lost her address so we couldnt find her house and thought all was lost, but then we randomly ran into her in a place we normally never go! And then again after a long time of not being able to talk to her, we ran into her on her way to work and that's when she said she'd go to church. Fate wants us to teach her clearly.

The other highlight of this week I'm sure a lot of missionaries will write home about, was the conference/transmission with the 12 apostles. Our zone met up to watch it, and it was really good. Elder Bednar spoke a lot about teaching techniques and how a lot of the time we as missionaries talk too much and need to ask questions instead, and let the people we're teaching answer for themselves if they're feeling the spirit or if they got an answer to a prayer, because if they can realize it for themselves it will be so much more powerful for them. Talk with them not at them. There were lots of other things, but this was what I walked away with the most. 

Now the funny: this week we taught this woman and after the whole thing she tried to put her hands on our heads to give us a blessing that God would help us find the truth and escape the mormon church, so that was interesting! We politely said no thank you to the "blessing" so she said a prayer with her hands hovering over our heads and then said "God will reveal to you the truth". Thanks lady, but he already did ;) I wouldn't be here if he hadn't!

loooove you all. miss you all. <3<3 hugs from Brazil,

sister steele

Re: the week there was nothing funny to put in the title

So one sent. and it was that of all pictures. My parents think they're funny and sent me that for christmas ;)

On Mon, Jan 18, 2016 at 11:30 AM, Taylor Lynne Steele <taylor.steele@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Lets see if pictures send!!!! Literally from the CTM until now I havent been able to!

On Mon, Jan 18, 2016 at 11:14 AM, Taylor Lynne Steele <taylor.steele@myldsmail.net> wrote:

I met our investigators!!!!! Well, at least 2 of them. One turned out to not want anything at all so I never met her. But the other two-a mom and daughter, Luciana and Rafaely (or something like that, who knows, I can't spell in english what makes you think I can spell in portuguese?). They're awesome. Rafaely is 13, and every time we come she's read the panflets we left and is excited to hear more and just generally excited and adorable. Her mom has been keeping commitments, is always willing to hear us, and ever so slowly is believing what we're teaching. We're trying to involve the help of members so they feel comfortable coming to church and start off right away with friends to help them out and everything. Time to work SUPER hard so that these ones stick! They've had a lot of really stressful things in their life right now, and its just the two of them and their dog so they've really been feeling the pressure and Luciana has been feeling a little bit alone. Thankfully we've got a message that can help with all of that!

The only other thing worth noting this week was the surprise 2nd Zone Meeting (normally we only have one per transfer) and the 2nd surprise-that President Gomes showed up! Yikes. Nothing like having the mission president watch your teaching practice O.o But it went well! He told me and my companion that we balance out nicely because I'm aparently a giant softie and she, as the people of the south always are, is so direct she's almost scary-but in a good way. And then we walked home-which took 2 hours!!!?! About half an hour of that was because we stopped to eat but oh my goodness??? We left before 4 and got home just past 6. I can only imagine how we must have looked to everyone around us though-our entire district, 10-12 people (I think 10 but also might be forgetting one group of elders) marching along all with corndogs and coke in hand, all in dress shirts and ties (well not me obviously). Quite the site I'm sure. When giant groups of missionaries get together, that's when we look like a cult. Or at the very least crazy. But its funny, dress shirts and ties aren't even formal anymore, that's daily dress! That's normal! What are jeans?

OH AND WE GOT WATER. President Gomes came by to deliver a bebedor (what is the name of those things in english?) so FINALLY we got to buy one of those 20L jugs of water and literally I almost cried I was so happy. WATER. WE HAVE WATER. I nearly hugged the water guy-which would have been quite awkward and also breaking a rule

I tried coconut water this week! You can buy whole coconuts for 2 reais on every street corner almost. 25 cents per coconut! I thought of my dear brother and laughed while I drank.

So super short this week because, well, nothing else happened. But all of you should respond anyway so that I have something to do during our 1.5 hours of internet time. It's only been 3 months, you're not supposed to forget about me until roughly 9!!

Love you all!