Tuesday, March 3, 2015

not quite yet || ainda nao

just to track my journey 100% with the blog, (and to be able to prepare a little more emotionally for that last post....) i'd like to first just talk about my last week in sao borja and on the mission.. then we will wrap it all up. i can't remember it super well but there are definitely some parts that stick out. i don't think i have enough to do a normal post.. but ill just give it a twist.
some things that happened..

one last district pday.. it was so much fun to play volleyball (and so so hot)
four poor sisters. 
good- it was kinda a surprise but last minute on my last p day in sao borja a member picked us all up and took us to the border of brazil and argentina! it was so cool.. ok well not really but i probably will never go to argentina but now at least I've seen it! and we got to take some fun pics :) haha.
ice cream (practically) in argentina
the wind wasn't working with me.. but with the argentine and brazilian flags!
awkward- i punk'd you all again! well mostly just my mom (again).. i left some key info out to make it sad like everything fell through and i wouldn't have a baptism. but actually it was one of the coolest miracle moments in my mission.

bad- until the last day I AM A HORRIBLE PACKER. and hoarder. but i was a little better, ok i think a lot better, and my companion probably thanks me for it. (she's going to need an extra suitcase..)

bad- we got the transfer calls.... weird things happened but we knew it had to happen. because of the lack of new sisters coming, our area was shut down for sisters, and will just have one pair of elders now. the members were so sad, us too. my companion, sister alvarado stayed in the city just went to the other branch in the center of the city, actually located on the side of where we live! haha. and one of the elders from our branch, got called to be an assistant! woooohooo. kinda cool. and so fun to make fun of him.

cheers waiting for our last bus together.
awesome- so my big trick from last week was that our homegirl who was supposed to be baptized totally let us down (well and the lord more importantly) and basically straight up ignored us sunday morning.. which was true. but actually the coolest thing happened. manoel, another great investigator who had previous came to church, was late, felt embarrassed, didn't know what to do, so went home, come to church for his first time. we were so happy. but it gets better. in class, he was asked to say the prayer, and in his prayer he said (out loud, in front of everyone, so crystal clear!!!) that he believed the church was true and wanted to one day.. no he had decided he would be baptized in this church. I LOVE MY LIFE! and fasting. it was totally a miracle from our fast. then, luckily it was in front of all of our leaders basically ha and they all ok'd his baptism, after church, my last sunday. actually his prayer was so powerful it was their idea. they wanted this.


ok moving onto a big story about robin (mom) and grandma julie.
sooooo... I'm going to try and make this story as short as possible..
its a mix of GOOD BAD AWKWARD AWESOME AMAZING HORRIBLE anything you can imagine
mom and grandmas plane left late from brasilia, got into porto alegre late, and then they missed the flight (and only one that day) to santa maria, which made them also miss their ride to sao borja, where i was.
because of rules / phones / being abroad, etc communication was very limited. i went into panic mode.
i had a baptism that i desperately wanted my mom and grandma to be at.. and i knew they would want to be there too. i just got a text saying they were taking a bus to santa maria and they would have to stay there for the night.. but imagine my mom and grandma in southern brazil with their english and ... yeah. so i was so worried. i didn't know what to do. i didn't know if i was overreacting. and i really didn't have many options. so i went to the extreme and called my troops to action. I HAVE THE BEST RIO GRANDE DO SUL FAMILY. they are amazing and i would do anything for them. my people picked my mom and grandma up at the bus station (actually got her off the bus), took care of them until their ride go there (in the middle of the night), and then they got a ride to sao borja hours and hours away, and literally got there one hour before 9:00 am church. the poor things half slept through the thing but they made it through until sweet manoel was baptized. then.. shortly after.. i hopped on a bus, they went back with their ride.. and that ended things. yeah. like my mission was officially ending.
my sao borja young women and leaders
all the missionaries that served in the same chapel
my last baptism... manoel, and my main ladies!
the rest is much less anticlimactic.
got to santa maria.. went and visited my people in camobi (LOVE), got to the hotel. got to see everyone who went home with me.. so much fun! and then slept in a single bed with my homegirl sister shumway.. because thats true friendship.
monday was filled with trainings and what not, that included us calling each other by our first names. we acted so immature about it.. you would call someone by their first name and everyone would giggle like a child. but it was weird!! haha. also included interviews with president.

AWESOME-- there is no better feeling then hearing your mission president, a representative of God, tell you that your mission has been accepted by the Lord, that you were an excellent missionary, and He is happy with you. i had a hard time with this. i have a hard time not being perfect or knowing that it wasn't perfect. but i honestly gave it all i had. it was so hard. but i did it. i finished. and i know i made a difference how i could, and how i wanted. we seriously have to be so careful with comparisons. we are all here for different reasons, and will have different experiences.. and the mission is no different. I'm grateful for MY mission, MY challenges, and MY growth. MY mission was perfect for ME because it was what i needed...

at night we went to president's house.. got some more advice, had one last testimony meeting, and of course sung our mission song or hymn.. one last time.
then dinner at the fancy churrascaria (brazilian barbecue house). mom and grandma met up with us. honestly it was just FUN because everyone i think had the same feeling of relief and happiness and just knowing you had finished a hard thing and were so close to returning home and seeing your family.
after we all got together and just chilled. like normal people. so weird. but also fun. we talked about normal things and the future and asked and gave advice. it was a special night.
the saddest thing was at 3am tuesday.. we all had split up, gathered our things.. and they all got together in their vans to the airport and i took a taxi to go to my mom and grandma's hotel.

a great cambia family and FOUR of us who went home together that served in camobi.
shumway and i hugging our favorite elder. (elder knowles from our mtc group)
the america girls on presidents roof top.
and then.. it was over. weird right? like my everything for a year and a half. done. finished. good.. but what? wait. now what?
grupo de saida PODEROSO
and there it was. and thats the end of my mission. bye.

no jk. i wouldn't end like that. but that ends my official mission posts.. but ill give a little info this week about, as my mom says, the "rio grande do sul tour" and the final thoughts.

its been fun guys.
thanks for all your support.

xoxo the ex sister faldmo but actually still sister faldmo