The Sao Paulo Temple

Last Week at the CTM

hellooooo family!!! last week at the ctm! then its off to salvador! ah im excited! we got the brazilians going to our mission, well actually 2 are from africa and 2 are from brazil. they are all so nice. i know all the missionaries that are going to my same mission, and they are all so wonderful! and im feeling pretty good about portuguese too, well reading at least. and talking about the gospel. we had our last trc (where they film you teaching) and it was so powerful. my companion and i have grown so much together, it will be hard to leave my sweet sister sowers! weve had the best time here and made some amazing friends. its really so wonderful how close you get with everyone here. i guess because youre all kind of in the same boat, you just become a little family. the last day is going to be so hard but it will be happy too, we are all going to do the best thing we could be doing!

this week was really fun at the ctm. sunday is always so good, and this sunday was especially great. we had the president of the sao paulo west (i think) mission come talk, he shared some amazing stories and i learned so much. oh and i gave a talk! it was about the atonement which was wonderful practice. i was worried i would forget how to pronounce certain words, but its amazing when you just let the spirit guide how much easier it is to speak. its still not easy at all, but it is definitely easier. our district has a goal this week of 11 talks in 11 days (weve  done 5 so far) just about different gospel topics  for the field. i think its helped a lot and weve all realized how much weve learned here. i know when i get to the field it will be hard because the spoken language is so different but at least i can read my scriptures! the first time i read a chapter without having to look up any words was a happy day indeed! scriptures are so beautiful in portuguese, and ive come to love reading them whenever i have free time.

 i really cannot believe 6 weeks has already gone by, honestly the fastest 6 weeks of my life. ive made such good friends here, some that are coming with me to salvador, some that i will see at byu. its hardest to say goodbye to my brazilian and hispanic friends because i may not see them again. theres two hispanic districts i will especially miss. they are so much fun. when we went to the police station on friday (for our passport thing) they were singing american music the whole way and we were teaching them pronunciation (warm will forever sound like worm). they are just so happy and its quite impossible to be sad around them. ive heard the people in bahia are the same, just so open and loving. i meet them in a week!!!! ah! i feel so blessed to be serving them. i love them so much already. continue to pray and read your scriptures everyday. the very power of god is in them. i love you all! i miss you (but not in a sad way, promise) you are the best family anyone could ask for. youre sempre in my prayers. love you!

-sister mckenzie