Beautiful Passo Fundo

Hello Family!!

What another crazy week it has been. It has been an adventure for sure. Passo Fundo is GORGEOUS. Seriously, I feel like I´m in paradise. Also, it is a lot colder here than in Porto Alegre. I´m not sure if I just hit a lucky week or what, but seriously most days were around 20 degrees (C of course) hitting a high of just 30! Bah. It´s been so great. Also, on saturday it rained and lighteninged ALL DAY and I was actually freezing cold. What a weird sensation the cold is! haha It´s hotter today but... man. How weird it was to be cold again! There are palm trees lining the roads and ... bah it´s gorgeous. I´m in the heart of the city again tho! I wonder if I´ll ever serve outside the city! haha 

View from our room

Things have been good. I´ve been trying reeeeally hard to learn the area because next week is transfers. Sister Pasini has already been here 3 transfers so we´re pretty sure she´ll be leaving and I´ll get a new companion. Which is a little terrifying because I will have only had 2 weeks here! Hopefully this week I´ll be blessed (for the first time in my life) with good directional skills and actually know where I am. haha I usually take a whole transfer to become familiar with an area. Anyway... It´ll be yet another adventure. haha 

Agua de coco with Sister Pasini!! SO GOOD! 

It´s been great living with only Brazillians! They are fun and I can already feel myself speaking better Portuguese. At the beginning of last week, Sister Pasini and I didn´t ever really talk except when we had to because... well... I don´t really speak Portuguese. Last night we were chatting and she said (in Portuguese) "You know what Sister King, we wouldn´t have been able to have this conversation a week ago." and it made me so happy! We can - with the help of my awesome cherrades skills - hold actual conversations! haha we read the book of mormon together every day, 2 chapters in Portuguese and a chapter in English. It´s a blast. :) Also, she´s very serious about giving me my language study time, which I am very grateful for.

How many sisters does it take to get my boot off?

I don´t have a ton to report with the people here. In general though - people here are a lot more receptive (can you believe that is possible?) and apparently it´s the "heaven of the mission" where everyone wants to go. :) So I´m happy. The people we´re teaching are wonderful. I can´t call anyone by name yet because ... we´ve only been to their houses like once and when you meet SO many people every day, it´s hard. But I´ll get there. And it´s fun to be able to meet people here and at least kind of talk to them rather than "Oi, tudo bem?" and then thinking: "please don´t ask me anything. Please don´t ask me anything" after shaking their hands. haha awwhhh it´s been fun.

It´s really been weird, I´m not gonna lie. My first in-Brazil transfer feels a lot like my New York to Brazil transfer. All new people, all new place. I guess I didn´t expect it to feel so new, but it´s good. Even the accent here is different! I´m gonna have such a confused accent by the end of this! haha We learned in the MTC the exact accent Porto Alegre had. Here they pronouce milk (leite) "lay-tay" instead of "laytch"... it´s really very strange. haha anyway. It´s good tho. I´m thouroughly enjoying Passo Fundo and I´m gonna love my last week with Sister Pasini (and hope that by some miracle she isn´t transfered!) haha 

I love you all! I hope you are all doing weelllll!! It´s so good to hear from you! Thank you for all the emails and prayers and happiness. :) 

I love you!

Drea