Made it to SALVADOR and is off to a Good Start

im here im here im here!!! and its better than anything i had imagined! we left at 4:30 this morning and the flight was problem free. the elders and sisters i traveled with are seriously the best ever. im at presidents house now listening them play the piano and sing its so wonderful. the president met us the airport with his sweet wife. they are so so so great! i love them so much already. oh my goodness salvador is beautifulllllllllllllll. words cannot describe it. its like hawaii. its so green and sunny! just how we like it! i really had no idea it was going to be this beautiful. i cant wait to send you pictures! its honestly one of the prettiest places ive ever seen. and i have a brazilian trainer!!! i dont know who yet but i looked at the board and it only has blank spaces next to brazilians! and a sister emailed me and said my trainer is wonderful!!!!!!!! im so excited! today we are resting here,  we can take a nap or read before lunch. then we have some training, meet our companion and head out! its so peaceful and wonderful here, i can think of no better way to start this journey! today has been perfect! the lord has been with me every step of the way and i couldnt be more joyous. what an amazing blessing it is to be here. i feel like im in a dream! ok i should go now! the monkeys say hi too! (theyre everywhereeee) love you all so much!

xoox

sister mckenzie

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

Hitting the Streets of Sao Paulo

ola!!!! what an AMAZING week! every week just gets better and better. ive definitely gotten adjusted to the schedule and im loving it here. and now i have to leave so soon!  last sunday a big group of our favorite brazilians left, signing god be with you till we meet again in portuguese will forever get me now. oh and we have new brazilian roommates, they are so sweet! and they help so much with the language too. but highlight of this week was definitely proselyting. SUCH a wonderful experience! we saw so many miracles and wow...heavenly father really does help so much with the language! i talked with 5 ladies and shared my testimony and they promised to read! it made me so excited for the field! i cannot get over how fast time has gone here. it really feels like i just arrived and in a few days ill be heading out! i really am going to miss the ctm so much. the people are wonderful, my district is the best and my teachers are so helpful. i really am so grateful for the opportunity i have to be here. ive learned so much portuguese and feel like i can really talk. its definitely not grammatically correct but i can communicate! ive learned to use a lot of hand motions, its like playing charades everyday haha but with the funnest, sweetest people you will ever meet. the brazilians really do make it so easy to learn. im not worried if i mess up in front of them because they just smile and correct me and teach me. and the hispanics are so great too because they’re learning but they know a lot already especially about the grammar. ive been reading a scripture to a brazilian at every meal to help with pronunciation and i think ive improved a little! its just nice because you really are always speaking portuguese so you learn the essentials pretty fast. like hot water. oh gosh i never told you that story. so first week we get here i needed something soothing for my stomach because i felt sick. we (me and my companion, neverrrrrrr ever leave your companion!) went to go look for someone to help us. we saw one of our teachers in the hall so we tried asking him in portuguese if we could drink the water from the sink. problem. guess who doesnt know how to say sink? yup. and he really does not speak english which we thought was just an act for class but no he actually really doesnt. so for the next five minutes we were trying to explain that, no we didnt drink the toilet water hahah. thats apparently what it sounded like. ahhh hes great...well ive learned a lot since then! oh and i never want to sing in english again. i always loved hyms but in portuguese its just so beautiful! at devotional we all sing and then we have musical numbers and it is so powerful. i love it. there is such a strong spirit here. im so happy and loving it more and more each day. im learning so much about the love of the father. teaching is so much better now I have grown to love the people we teach. our taped discussions are so much less painful to watch now its wonderful! ok im running out of time! i love you all so much! keep me updated with everything!

xoxo,

sister mckenzie

ps family photo album=best idea ever, thank you for whoever suggested that! so helpful in getting to know the other sisters when there’s a language barrier

Getting Use to the CTM

so this week was really good! mostly the same as last week. the temple was so beautiful today i loved it. and i got to see gary! that was exciting! he gave me some really good advice for the language. he definitely has an accent now haha. oh today we are changing rooms and getting brazilian roomates!! im so excited for that! but im sad to leave my sisters too. i think it will help with the language if we have sisters from brazil. oh this friday we go out proselyting on friday! can you believe that?? im nervous but excited too. ive heard the people are awesome. conference was amazing and just what i needed. it was so strange to think that that is the last time ill see it in english for a year and a half! hopefully by next conference ill be able to understand the tanslation! hmm no more major news now. i love it here and im learning so much! my district is so awesome and the people are veryyy friendly. love you all so much! continue to trust in the lord, he will help you so much. and read your scriptures! miss you!

 

-Sister McKenzie

The District at the Temple

Loving the Brazilian CTM !!!!!!

Oi familia! Como via?? oh its been such an awesome week i seriously love it here. i dont have too much time today so i will try to get everything in and answer your questions! well first off im feeling awesome this  week! our lessons with our investigators have gone so well and theres been such a strong spirit when weve taught this last week. sunday was really hard because a big group of our brazilians friends left and we just love them so much. they are really the nicest people. singing god be with you till we meet again in portuguese gets me every time. oh the singing here is so beautiful. i absolutely love the hyms in portuguese and i love just love portuguese! i cant wait till i can speak it! everyone says the accent in the north is a lot different than here so i will have a learning curve in the field. right now im focusing on vocab that will help me talk about you guys and how to give my testimony. we got a new elder last wednesday and then another one is coming today from provo. they all say they learn a lot more here as far as language which is good. you definitely learn how to study here. i thought i kind of knew, but no i have a lot to learn! language learning is just totally different. the best is to just talk to the brazilians. we eat almost every meal with them and they teach us so much! most of them speak a little english and they want to learn so we teach each other its wonderful! oh and everyone can pronounce our name because theres a mckenzie university in sao paulo. its just so fun to get to know the people here. theres a lot of missionaries from other south american countries especially columbia and peru. they love practicing their portuguese with us. today, on the way home from the temple my friend from peru helped me learn the first vision! it was so wonderful! ive learned that its reallly all about attitude here. if youre happy, you learn. the spirit is so much more easily felt when your heart is open and you have  a good attitude. im so glad i dont feel sick, it really helps to feel healthy here since our days are so busy! i cant believe ive been here two weeks already, the time is flying! i really do love it here. it was an adjustment at first but now it feels like home, its going to be so hard to say goodbye. i love my district and all my south american friends. theres just such a good spirit here i love it. i know it really is just the beginning but i feel like time is going quick! i will be back with a million amazing stories in just a few months! this work is so wonderful. so many sacrifice so much to be here and i have come to know of the truthfulness of our message so strongly these past few weeks. i know that god lives and he loves us so much. he wants the best for each of his children and he is there at every moment to help you. i love you all so much! your pictures are seen all around the ctm! haha, they really love them. they think mom is brazilian haha. sometimes they think i am until i start talking. love you so much! ate logo!

-Sister McKenzie