Sister Emma Kener in Florianopolis, Brazil

hello gringos! i thought i would start by saying the fleas have gone, prayers were answered.  i didn't have any crazy spiritual experiences or baptisms this week, but i did see my first transgender prostitute when getting home a little too late one night.  i started freaking out at my comp and she laughed at me and said "what you don't see that every day in Utah?"  um, no not really!!!! funny experience with one of my investigators Rudimar while teaching him about the Plan of Salvation.  i was talking about the kingdoms of glory when he stopped me and said "so kinda like the United States then Canada, then Brazil, and then Cuba? in order from the celestial kingdom to hell?"  Haha, well that's one way to look at it I guess!  parabens Rudimar! another funny thing, for some reason sis aguiar has called me "baby alive", not really sure why.  but somehow the word spread to my bishopric and now they all call me sister baby kener!  i sure lucked...

oi oi gente! just a quick email today. this week was a good one! it started off with a lovely visit to the Catholic church with one of our investigators, Joelma.  it was one of the weirder moments in my life, but a good experience nonetheless.  in return, she said she would come to our church next week so cross your fingers she follows through! this week we had divisions with the sister training leaders which happened to be my first trainer, Sis Chagas. i was so happy to see her! tears were shed!  her comp is Sis Takahashi who is also my new BFF.  it was so fun to hang out with 6 sisters for the week.  they leave today and I'm pretty sad about it.  but we worked really hard and have 14 new investigators!  my Portuguese has for sure improved, i still have a lot to work on but I'm grateful I can finally have conversations with the members and my investigators.  thank you for all the prayers! they are working! one thing i have learned on my missi...

3 months gente!! my cute roomies sis aguiar and sis hermes decorated my wall and surprised me with Acai.  it's legit having a sort of birthday celebration every month, not going to lie!  this week rained every day so it was kind of a rough week for the work.  but my comp tells me that every day we work in the rain, our husbands get hotter...so we out here grindin "bater porta ate' o po'! ( mom note* ...I think that means the harder they work, the more blessings they get, so they are knocking on lots of doors! haha!)  one day in particular was really rough.  we had been rejected so many times but I had this feeling to go down this one street and so we did.  we knocked on this old mans door and he shut it in our faces...i was thinking to myself "dang girl your inspiration right now is on point!":(  but then a little girl came up to me and said my grandma will talk to you.  she took me by the hand and walked us to her grandmas house.  her grandm...

oi oi! sooo my new comp. she snores. like she's about to stop breathing i kid you not. i even use ear plugs people! i didnt sleep this whole week until  friday  when sis aguiar offered to sleep in my bed. so ive been switching beds with the other sisters every night since... so very blessed to have them really, fleas and all. the first day my comp got here she didnt know that i was still in training and she was my new trainer. shes also never trained anyone so its been quite the experience. i found out i lose a whole lotta hair when im stressed so one might say im balding right now (see photos below) thats how much i lose about every day. sis aguiar was nice enough to make me hair mask so praying that helps! but on the bright side of things it turns out i know the area pretty well and havent had any trouble yet so not too shabby for a missionary still in training. i was realllyyyyy sad to say goodbye to sister chagas and am still really sad. but i am so grateful i s...