Sarah Cate: Austin Time

Dear Family and y'all,
This week was good. And its going by so fast. We got transfer calls last night...........I'M STAYING IN BARTON CREEK FOR AT LEAST ANOTHER 6 WEEKS. What a blessing. We have a baptism of Jewels Bland this weekend. She is so tender. She is so excited and her parents are bringing lots of people so that is really really cool. There is a lot of good work going on here. We were told that we were good missionaries by someone in the ward and that makes me happy because that means that we have the trust of the members of the Ward. We  are
having lots of fun too. Its a good balance. We (my comp. and I) are still trying to get used to each other but its coming. We are super excited because we are teaching a beautiful family. It's a mom (Pharol) and her two children Asa who is 11 and Chloe who is 13. They are so beautiful. Chloe doesn't think very highly of herself. Its really interesting how the Lord works. I thought I really could scoot by my mission without having to address this issue within myself. It's been
kind of ugly looking and facing this part of my life. It's not something you like to look at and expose about yourself but y'all already know. I now know too. Thanks to Chloe, I am truly becoming better at loving me. I have to thank my Comp. too. We are teaching each other a lot. It's really weird being on a mission this long because "real life" is not real. Utah doesn't exist. Pants are a thing of another life. I wish I knew how to better articulate this feeling. It's bizarre. But, this is the real life.
Its always nice to receive letters. I got a sAWEEEEEEEEET letter from Jimmy. It was awesome to hear from him and get an update on what is going on. I also heard from Wilson! Yeaaah random! I have no idea where that came from but it was awesome none the less. Both of those
guys have been up to crazy things in their lives. Is it bad that I want to work to travel? I don't know what brought up all these random thoughts but oh well. Now they are out there for everyone to
experience. The dynamic of the mission is going to change again this transfer. We have a lot of people that are beautiful going home. I am doing better with this change though. I am still quite terrible with change but I am getting better. I am trying.
Thanks y'all for keepin in touch. Thanks mommy for your e-mail. I'm sorry about y'all and the Kelly funeral. I truly am sorry. It sounds like a lot has changed since I left. booya. Yeah for more changes. Jane M. left for Korea again. Everyone here loves her! She is so beautiful. I was sad to say good bye but because it was like a bit of home. Have fun MEG IN DISNEYLAND! --and thank you so much for your letters in English AND Spanish! Your Spanish is almost better than
mine! keep up the good work so you can teach me how to speak it when I get back OK? I really love y'all so much. I really love y'all more than words.
Y'all are beautiful. life is good. Don't ever forget how much I love y'all.

Hna. Sorensen

Libbi: We push on...

So,
 This week was a week of highs and lows. I learn something new everyday. We are entering our final week of this transfer but I´m pretty confident that I will continue here in Industriario. I feel constantly humbled at the work the Lord has entrusted me to do. This work is wonderful and I´m so happy for the purpose and joy that I get out of it. My companion Sister Morais will probably be headed to the south of the mission and I can´t express how glad I am that we had this second transfer together. She has taught me so much and I have learned and grown a lot with her.
I learn this week that when you have fear of invited people to commit....they have fear to commit. I can´t let my lack of faith interfere with the salvation of other children of God. I´m so grateful for this opportunity to learn. I know the Lord is in this work...that he is blessing me every minute. He is so wonderful and his plan is so perfect!
Thanks to all who have written me. Thanks Susu and Gus for being the best pen pals ever! I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful and supportive family! You are all wonderful. Continue to do what is right!
This week....we were blessed with 5 investigators at church. Tania and her family FINALLY CAME!!! We also taught her the commandments this week and she just needs to be married and then I think she and her husband will be baptized. I´m really excited for their progress.  Carlene also came to church with her daughter. We will be teaching her later this week and hopefully marking a date for baptism with her. We visited a less active member yesterday night and my companion and I taught a powerful first vision to her husband who is not a member but has already gone to church with her a bunch of times and he accepted a date of baptism for THIS WEEK! WE ARE BLESSED! This transfer has been tough as far as people that really want to come unto Christ but the Lord never gives up on us and continues to have patience with our weaknesses.
I love this work. I am happy. I am learning to be humble and teachable.
I love you all! Have a wonderful first week of February!
com amor,
Sister Libbi Sorensen

Sarah Cate: Time goes by so fast and slow...

Alright family and friends,

Where to begin and go to....well .......we just had some more cool things happen. Nothing too crazy but I did walk into a room here in Texas and someone said "hey I know you." and I had never before seen her face. She said "yes! I know you. Are your parents Steve and Wendy?!!" and I went....."uuuhhhh wow. Yeah. How did you know that" and she said "because you look exactly like your dad! I recognized you from across the room."  Yeah...mom and dad are infamous. Ooohh and my grandparents because we got to talking and not only did she tell me that she went to high school with y'all but that she was baptized by Gus my own grandpa!!! Thank you Gussy for sharing some of your amazing birthday luck with me this past week! I hope you have a beautiful birthday by the way! I am just so impressed with how small the world is.
I had some amazing chocolate cake last night from the family that I told y'all about when I talked about President and Sister Sorensen on their mission. --yeah that family, the Beards. It's usually reserved for Fast Sundays only but they knew I was coming and they knew how much I L-O-V-E THIS CAKE and they made it for us!!!! Yahoooo thank you tender mercies. Many of my tender mercies this week came in the form of food. I wasn't expecting it to be that way but it just seemed like when I was feeling down or something went crazy, there was always some form of food that really just filled a void. hahaha Yes, it's true, this week, my eating habits were terrible but I will do the things I need to in order to be healthy. No worries.
We had a crazy experience with a member this last week. But its pretty negative and i don't want to re-live a lot of it. The majority of the members in this ward are so amazing. It was quite bizarre. I was not expecting it but I feel like I'm in my home ward. Not that there are people that remind me of home but everyone loves us so much and I feel so comfortable with everyone that I feel like I am home. I also am truly in love with the city of Austin.
Mom, your prayers and fasting have been answered. I SAW YI CHING THIS PAST WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YAAAAHHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  OH, WAS IT SO BIZARRE BUT SOOO
BEAUTIFUL. It was a great blessing. We ended up going over there on Saturday. it was really amazing how much Max has grown. He is HUGE! His legs are like grasshopper legs. He has hair! He has teeth!! It was just so crazy. Her baby was born back in November and his name is
Oliver. He goes by Oli for short. She still has her two white doggies: Archie and Lulu. Will was out of town touring in Arizona for the day. HE TEACHES AT UT (University of Texas)!!! I am totally coming down here to go to school. I love Austin so much and it was like icing on the cake when I found out he teaches here! They are moving next month out of my area. I am hoping that we get a chance to help them with their move. Then maybe they could make some friends with people in the ward. We'll see though. She explained what happened and why she left and why Will left Utah State. Wow, the University was so ugly towards them. I am really sad about that. I almost don't want to support them at all. It was sad and she gave me an update on everyone..or at least  the people that she knew of. Everyone is having a baby that went to school with me. Gross. Wow, life still goes on when your not on your mission?! haha I'm kidding.  That was a very self-centered thought. It was pretty crazy. I gave her a quick update on what I knew of the family. She told me that y'all every now and again pocket dial her. SAD!  Maybe y'all should call her for reals? She is so beautiful inside and out. I got a chance to thank her for my gift of the Violin and how she has helped me on my mission. It was really neat. I hope she recognized the
change. I am hoping that we'll see her sooner rather than later because I might get transferred at the beginning of Feb. I'll find out next week....baaaahhhhhh!
Time goes by so fast and slow. Its weird. My heart goes out to Car Car. I miss her. I know she is doing amazing work. Her heart is probably breaking with how fast time is going. OH yikes. I don't even want to think about it. It makes me want to cry. I'm sorry family I am just going to be weird when I get back. OH well. I've got LOTS of time. :)
Well, life is beautiful y'all. Don't forget that. I love y'all. Stay safe and keep up the amazing work. I love y'all so much.

Hna. Sorensen

Libbi: My Mommy loves me! She literally game me the shoes off her feet!

Hey family friends and fellow readers of internet blogs!
 
 Another week has passed here in the eternal sun of Cuiabá....I think I have forgotten the feeling of being cold..oh wait just when I enter in air conditioned buildings....the sun continues to shine here in Cuiabá and my poor very white skin continues to darken....Thanks to the AWESOME!!! package that I received from by beloved mother I now have CHACOS that work and don´t allow water to enter the sole. I also tried a variety of new styles of clothing particularly blouses and thanks to the hot sun and my naturally transparent skin...I got a bit sun burned on the front and back of my neck...good stuff...thanks Cuiabá :) But, yeah, this week was another wonderful week of work and seed planting. The other Sisters in this area baptized a man named Nelson this week and thanks to the splits we did last week I had a chance to teach him. I´m really happy and excited for their success. We continue to push on and teach and invite...unfortunately all we can do is invite people and the rest is up to them!
This week we taught, we laughed, we marveled at the things that only happen here on the mission and then laughed some more. Norma continues to progress but still has not made plans to get married. She comes to church and they are praying as a family but the talk about marriage and baptism is getting cold. I love that family and it is amazing to see the transformation that occurs with the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives. It is amazing that all we do is teach what to do and the spirit and person do the rest to make changes and come unto Christ.
I love Brazil. I love stretching and learning everyday. I love this language and culture. I love the purpose I have in my life and the plan that God created for all of his children! He LOVES US! EVERYONE! He sent his first born son to die for us because He really loved us that much! He want us to return.  He longs for us to speak with him and He provides every way to get back to Him! I love this Gospel it's perfectly wonderful. Never forget your roots, your priorities and what is right! Happy Birthday Grandpa GUS! I hope it is wonderful! Have a week of happiness and righteousness!

com amor,
Sister Sorensen

Sarah Cate: Things Old and New...Yeehaw!!!

Well here we are again,

 what to say......what to say......man, I love my life. Really that's about it. This week was....ohh here we go....I remember what I can say about this week. So, as y'all know, many of the missionaries here in the mission (the older generation) loved the training that Sister Deleon and I gave waaaay back in the day right? So, lots of people would comment on my "bautismo jacks"...I'll explain when I get back.  It's too complicated in a letter or email.....but now, the next generation will remember me for something faaaaar greater...........First of all, I want to thank my dear sweet President Jones. This past week, all of the Zone leaders and District Leaders and trainers got to go to a "training meeting" in San Antonio. It was pretty much reviewing the same things that we go over all the time. Well nothing short of a miracle happened. ........I GOT TO SLEEP OVER IN ENCINO PARK AGAIN AT MAMMA BILLIE'S HOUSE!!!!! (my old area and old home) Yes, and guess what, it just happened to be her birthday!!!!!! OH, God is soooo good to me. We surprised her. She was so happy to see me that she said "oh my goodness I have to go change my clothes!" hahahaha????? Oh man, she asked about my family and I told her that y'all were doing well. Y'all should contact her sometime.  She is so beautiful I love her so much. We went out to Texas Road House for her birthday dinner that night. It was so beautiful to be back in my old area for a few hours. There were so many people I wanted to see and talk to but I had about no time to do it. As my stay went into the night, my heart broke quite a bit. A lot of the people that I loved and had been working with have fallen off of the band wagon. I am so heartbroken. My dear sweet Stacey, who was supposed to be baptized right after I left Encino Park, well she is...well, she has moved in the opposite direction. The sisters down in Encino Park have had quite a rough go. IT makes me sad. I am truly heart broken about it. It just kills me because I want to be down there helping.  I want to help all those people....I just know that God knows what he is doing and I am just going to keep working. I love this area and guess what...more exciting news......YI CHING AND WILL LIVE IN MY AREA!!!!!!!!!! YEAHHHHHH I JUST BARELY FOUND THIS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Ok I'm sorry I got waaaay sidetracked but during the training that President was giving, he asked for someone who "likes food" and I said, yeah i like food. I eat all the time. I'm a good eater. I think its even a possible talent....so I raised my hand..........oh joy. I got picked to eat a box of donuts. Yeah sounds good right? Well there was no time limit but i had to eat them in front of everyone and then I was pinned up against an Elder. Rude!! Well the Elder ended up eating about 4 of the cake donuts and bowed out.......I kept going and I finished up with 5 and 1/2 donuts under my belt. Mind you, this was AFTER lunch and I had plenty to eat. Yeah I felt gross and very self conscious after that. President was quite impressed though. He said "I don't think I've ever eaten 5 and 1/2 donuts before in my life"  Geee thanks Pres. I was told later by some of my Elder Friends that many of them felt like the movie Matilda when that kid had to eat all that chocolate cake in front of the whole school. He said he wanted to stand up and yell "you can do it Bruce!"  hahaha it was really funny. I did it and now everyone thinks I'm even more crazy. I love the reputations in the mission.  

 I have no idea when I would or could see those people again but whenever it is, I hope with all my heart that it is soon. I love them so much. We worked really hard this week and absolutely every appointment we scheduled, fell through! Its all good though because it wasn't a bad week. We just keep working. Keep believing and hoping. God works miracles. He loves all of his children. Thank you for y'alls prayers and blessings. Don't ever forget how much i love y'all. 

 We taught Jewels yesterday. She agreed to be baptized on the 28th of January. Bangarang. Her mother, Angela....not so much.  

 I love y'all. I love God. I am blessed. Thanks y'all.

 Hna. Sorensen 

Libbi: And so it goes...and so it goes...

Hey fam and friend,

 So, this week had its highs and lows...We found some new people to teach but all the people ready and willing need to be legally married first. The process is expensive and lots of paper work here in Cuiabá and so it is a bit of a set back when our goal is to baptize weekly. But we push on. The other sister in our area had another baptism this week and so the work is a success here and we keep pushing to find more people to teach. We discovered that our recent-convert Mariele moved but I think she still lives in our area so we are trying to locate her but she is distancing herself from us...it is a bit sad. We push on. We are teaching this family of Carliene and there is an amazing spirit with them. I´m super excited. Better yet, I think their shops that they own will be closed this Sunday so they can come to church!

  This week we had a few crazies....a woman that contacted us in a bar and said that an evil spirit is making her sleep with many men...she said she needed lots of prayers. We planned to pass by her house but only found strange people waiting out front...then the other sisters contacted her also and she said that she is schizophrenic but to pass by and share a message about Jesus with her. OH my goodness...good stuff. Also discovered a man that was filming me as I walk by...a little scared but what can you do? I continue to work on my Portuguese as I supply all the humor in our house with my attempts.

 We had 2 days of splits and I was companion with Sister De Oliveira who has been on the mission for 5 months. She is super funny and we have already lived together for almost 3 months now so it wasn´t crazy different to teach and work together. I learned a lot this week about how we constantly need to be bettering ourselves and always accept suggestions about how we can change and be better. Always be teachable and believe that others are trying to help you to be better also. My personality fights this way of thinking a lot but I know that as I practice I will learn humility. We also had a training with the President Oliveira this week and made 7 goals for our zone as we discussed the bathing 7 washings of Naamã in the Jordan river (don´t remember his name in English..Naman?) but the story is in 2nd kings chapter 5. I really love this story of faith and how appropriate with this new year and time of goal setting. I challenge everyone to read this story and decide 7 goals for this year...7 ways you can cleanse yourself of sin and change for the better!

  I now have 8 months on the mission and I can´t even believe it...it passes so fast. I can´t believe how much I have learned in this time here in Brasil. Don´t waste one day of the life you're given and more important...share the joy of the restored Gospel with all! Everyone´s a missionary! Share what you know to be true and what makes you happy! Have a wonderful week! I love love love you and thrive in your success and prayers! Thanks you!

com amor,

Sister Sorensen (Libbi)

Sarah Cate: I love my "sisters" more than they will ever know!

Alright family are you ready for this?
Remember the miracles of this last week?......SATAN TOTALLY KNEW IT TOO!! yeah that big bully came and really attacked us this week. Remember how i have never had a problem with allergies before in my life? Yeah well the pollen here, just like everything in Texas, is bigger and better and fights like a crazy dog! Both my companion and I had itchy noses, eyes, and throats and sneezed about- 40-50 times a day. It was crazy but we have suuuuuuper sweet people here in Texas that took care of us and gave us some allergy medicine. Since the winter and summer was so dry this year I guess the pollen is really bad.
IT seemed as though as soon as I announced to y'all of the amazing miracles that had happened, truly EVERYTHING fell through and it was very sad. My comp and I resolved to work that much harder and so we went out but with the allergies, it was like getting punched in the face every time we tried to find people. Heavenly Father is so kind and patient with us and was truly aware of us this past week because we continue to see miracles amongst the opposition.
We taught Lorriane and her boyfriend about two weeks ago and this last week Lorraine tried to cancel her appointment but we wouldn't let her. We then met with her and she LOVES  this gospel. She is  bringing her boyfriend to church with her next week. We are meeting with both of
them this week. His name is Pete. Please keep Pete and Lorraine in y'alls prayers. We are also teaching Jewels and her mother, Angela. (Jewels is the girl who wants to be baptized). They got a hold of some anti material this past week and really kind of disappeared for a while. We finally got a call from Jewels on Sunday and she was crying and said that she wants to be a member of our church so bad and she wants to be baptized!! We talked to her mom, Angela and she too started crying and let us know of some of the truly horrific things that have happened to Angela and Jewels in their life. I cannot believe it. Please keep them in y'alls prayers as well. I don't think I've ever heard of so many sad things happening to people than I have in this past week of my mission. I know God loves us so much its just so sad and hard for me to believe that we can be so ugly to one another. Please try this week to love each other a little more every day. I've often tried to explain it to my companions about how I feel and the closest I can get to is the Character in "The Secret Life of Bees"---what is the daughters name that is kind of crazy and has the wall that she puts papers in it?---mom you know this. Its like Meg or Lil or something like that. That is useless information but there you go. Well President and Sister Sorensen (Gus and Susu) I have a story for you!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited because last night I was over at one of our member's houses and we were talking about funny family experiences and she shared this one with us. When sister Beard was pregnant with her third child, they lived in Houston and guess who got called to go to the Houston mission? Well her little brother of course and guess who was the mission president? Well, NONE OTHER THAN MY GRANDPARENTS OF COURSE. Well, they said that for a long time they asked the mission president if they could have their brother there for the baby blessing because all the family would be there and the President for about 4 months told the missionary, Elder Matthew Scott Lenard (went by M. Scott Lenard), that he needed to wait and "I'll get back to you." Finally when it was about a week before the sacrament meeting, President Sorensen called this Elder and told him that he could go and not only that, but that he was being transferred to their area where in Brother Beard (the man in my ward now) was the Ward Mission Leader!! Sister Beard went on and on in the story and would periodically stop and say "oh I just love your Grandparents so much!!"  It was such a beautiful story and I was sooooo excited to let y'all know that you never know how far reaching y'alls influence will be felt. They said y'all would remember Elder Lenard because he had a brain condition and they were soooo grateful that President Sorensen had expertise in that field. He was there in June of 2000 in the Wide Oak ward.
I just knew y'all would enjoy that story. Thanks for being amazing examples to me on my mission. I love y'all so much. Thanks y'all for all y'alls example. God loves each of us as individuals. He is aware of us. Don't ever forget that. I love y'all so much.
Thanks y'all for your love and support. I am blessed. I have the best family and the best life in the world. Love y'all. Don't ever forget that!!

Hna. Sarah Cate Sorensen

Libbi: Calor de Cuiabá

Hey all,

 I hope you are all loving getting back into the routine after the holidays and everything. First and foremost THHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKKKKKK YYYYYYYYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!! Thanks to all who sent me something for Christmas. Susu and Gus I got your package and LOVE IT ALL!!! I shared your pecan logs with my comp and the other sisters! Thanks thanks thanks! I LOVED the Christensen Christmas tree!!! I love your wonderful Christmas card Uncle Scott and Aunt Marge! I loved your wonderful pictures Tate and Jase and thanks Jess for the note! I want to thank Aunt Phyllis and Uncle Toby for the Christmas present! I want to thank Kathie Horman for the generous gift to help with my mission! I love love love you all and thanks you sincerely for all you do to help and support me! I can´t thank you enough!

 This week we worked! We had great success teaching but the baptism we were hoping for didn´t come! Norma came to church on her own! but still needs to get married and Wagner is working with us to quit smoking and came to church! I am really excited about this family we contacted this week. They are married and really open and receptive! Her name is Carlene please pray that all will go well with them. We will teach them tonight!  We continue to work with others and stopped teaching a few that aren´t progressing and wanting to change.

I continue to learn and grow...oh Portuguese. I think it is a cycle...the second you feel more confident you are humbled again. It is good. I will continue to get better with this language and think very very little English!

 I love you...never forget it!

 com amor,

Sister Sorensen

Sarah Cate: Mucho Mas Bueno...

Dearest family and friends,
Wow. What a drama-fest. Why oh why must my emotions always become so developed on my mission? No se people no se! Entoneses, well training for my second but actually first week of working was.....interesting. I have been doing  all that I know how to do but my trainee is just  a
little fireball and was like? is this it? I was like uhhhhh oh OK........what do I do.....i felt very stupid and inadequate (surprise surprise) as her trainer. New years was kind of a harder day but we
had two amazing first lessons! One with Larry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yaaaahooooooooo!!! Larry is the snake charmer that i hope i told y'all about. It is just beautiful. Its Larry and his daughter Mandy. His wife is a Recent Convert of about 9 years. She never went back after she was baptized so we are trying to teach the whole family again!! Slowly but surely they will come. Keep praying for the Lawrence family! I love them sooooooooooo much.
We also had a miracle happen yesterday. During church yesterday my companion was pulled out of the room and i was talking to a Less Active member ( who came to church for his second week in a row!!!!!) and all of a sudden she was gone and then i didn't know what to do. She all of a sudden appeared and told me she needed to talk to me in a very urgent tone. I walked out in the hall and she told me that she just talked to a little girl who said to her that she wants to be
baptized. I said well where is she? Who is she. I guess she is a friend of someone in the church and we talked to her after church a bit about her background. She is 11 years old and she likes this church and said "I need to do the member thing" and so we explained that we need to talk to her parents and she said OK. I can talk to them too. Well, I guess she did because we got a call from her friend's parents that told us that she told her mom she wanted to be baptized and he mom's response was "I thought that you would want to do that sometime soon. So what time is y'all's church? I want to come this Sunday!" aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! We
are going over to a member's house tonight to eat dinner with this girl's whole family and talk to them about the gospel and baptism and about being together as a family and we are having FHE there too!!!  hhhhhhooooooowwwww coool is that?! God is great people. He loves us.
He is aware of us, even a little 11 year old girl that loves Jesus Christ so much that she knows and leads the way for her parents to come unto Christ. Wow i am soooo blessed.
My comp and I are bangarang. She is my clone....but cooler. She can cook and draw like nobody's business. She is amazing. Her name is Alex Probert. She has two older siblings : an older brother who has cerebral palsy  (wow sound that out I don't know how to spell) and
an older sister. She and I are so similar that its been an adjustment working and we've had an interesting time working it all out but we work well together and I know we are going to do amazing things in this area. I am blessed. God is amazing.
I love y'all so very much. I miss y'all too! Keep flossing and choosing
the right.

Hna. Sc Sorensen

Libbi: HAPPY 2012!!!!

Wow...alright....another week has passed and here we go into another year. Whoa 2011 passed by fast and it is even more strange that the majority of this year I spent on the mission...time flies when your having fun. I´m glad to hear that everyone had a great new year and that Ben and Rae are still alive because I feel like it has been decades since I have heard anything about them or from them...haha just joking I hope all is well with you guys and loved to hear that Pete had a chance to pay you a visit there in the north.

DAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDYYYYYYYYY!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! My companion had to restrain me as we passed the orelhão because now I know how easy it is to call! hahaha but really I thought of you on your birthday and I´m sorry that I wasn´t there to give you a big hug but it is included in this e-mail...this I do know how to send (unlike photos...I don´t know what the deal is but i think the computers are too slow...) But I love you and I wish you happiness in this year to come...that goes for everyone!

We keep working here in Industriario...Sister Morais and I and Sister Nascimento and Sister de Oliveira started out the transfer right with a baptism. We helped them with the logistics and we keep searching and praying for more people to teach. It was a bit of a heart break when Sidney, Cleonise, and Janina said they would come to church and never showed up...but I have faith that we will continue to have success here and find the people here already prepared to hear this message.

I have been saying the word moça wrong my whole mission...I thought it was Almoça but when I said it..it sounds like almoço which is lunch....I´m calling every young woman (moça) in Brasil lunch! But now I can also share the wonderful process of my companion learning English...we learned the word "people" should not be confused with "poo poo." I laughed pretty hard. There is always more to be learned and I´m loving the stretching process here in industriario. I love you all and wish you a happy new year and pray always for your success. I´m so grateful for your examples and prayers. I feel them and I admire each and everyone of you! Don´t forget it!

com amor,

Sister Sorensen