Fé, Esperança, e Caridade: An Emergency Transfer and The Joy of Working Hard! (Lots of pictures!!)

My comp. Our first day coming home on the bus after a good, long, hard, REAL day of work!

SO, as you might notice, I´m writing today...which means I´m not at the temple....and why is that...?

I WAS EMERGENCY TRANSFERRED AND I'M THE HAPPIEST WORKING MISSIONARY ALIVE! So, there is another missionary that has been sick (she´s actually from my same group, she just went to the Provo MTC, so I didn´t know her super well before), and she´s been getting worse and worse. This week, they came for an appointment, and she had an interview with President. They live a good 2 hour bus ride from the center, so she and her comp stayed in our apartment for all of this because they had early morning tests and all.

After her interview, President called me and Sister Ribas in and asked me how many more appointments I needed (only one more blood draw and a rheumatologist). He looked at me and told me that I would be transferred. I said tá bom, when do you need me to be ready...he said to go home and pack my bags...now. So I did. My new area is SOOOOOOOOOO gorgeous, beautiful, green, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY quieter and just so beautiful! AND it was Sister Bastos´first area. Super cool to see the marks she left!) And who´s my comp....? SISTER MCPHERSON!!!!! The American that saved me in Paulinia my first transfer when I was super stressing! Yup! We already know and like each other, and we both have been ready to work normally, and YES!!!! I´m super happy!

Scorpion repellent [Scorpion is the word the missionaries use for guys that are interested in them. Ashley has had quite a bit of trouble with this, being approached by men on buses, and when she's out in public. At first she tried explaining that she was a missionary, and not allowed to date while she is serving, but has found that the only thing that has worked is wearing a ring and telling them that she has a boyfriend. She was uncomfortable stretching the truth in this regard at first, but it has kept her safe and cut short a lot of awkward situations.] ....yup bought myself a ring for R$3 today (apparently my other one you sent is too fancy, and it doesn´t look like a ring of namorado) Yup. The scorpions only get worse and more often. Ugh. I´m starting to not even feel guilty saying that I have a boyfriend...men of the world are disgusting, and I become more grateful everyday for the men in my life that have a heart and show respect for themselves and for women. THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU OUT THERE!!!!!!!!!!! You have NO IDEA how much I appreciate it!

CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!! After reading the Christmas story and waiting until 7 o'clock (because Dad always made us wait until 7 so he could sleep, shower, and shave ;D)

Getting packed up to leave!

In the hospital when everything changed.

We packed ALL of the other sister´s stuff and got it sent off in 31 minutes!!! SUPER impressive!!! (Come to find out after, we forgot her bag of dirty clothes....we´ll be taking that to her this week...hehe....)

Cracker sandwich dinner on the floor becaaaaauuuuse.....emergency transfers...yeah.... X]

No bake cookies on our first day because she had a spoonful of AMERICAN PEANUT BUTTER!!!!! (may I just say...count your blessings...peanut butter is one of them.... XD)

I FOUND MY NAME ON THE SIDEWALK OF OUR STREET!! This isn´t even a name that ANYONE has here!

AND THEY PUT TWO AMERICANS TOGETHER SO WHAT´S THE NEXT LOGICAL THING THAT WILL HAPPEN ON THEIR FIRST P-DAY.....?

MEXICAN FOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If a mission doesn´t get you ready to take care of a family, I DON`T KNOW WHAT WILL!! Today we: cleaned the whole house (like MAD WOMEN...including cleaning the mold off our leaking shower with a toothbrush...), went to the pharmacy, ran errands, bought groceries, cooked our food for the week, did all of our studies, planned emotional therapy and relaxation techniques for the week, and relaxed for about 20 minutes....yup....am I forgetting anything...probably...because I didn´t write it down! XD

My fan just DIED! So I followed my dad´s example to take it all apart to find out why...unfortunately...it just died....kasplat.. (but I did successfully clean it and put it all nicely back together...)