I've been here a really long time

Well, my dear and wonderful family, this is it!! I can´t believe this is the last email I will ever write to you all as a full time missionary. My mind is blown. I had my final interview with President this morning and oh what a sweet experience that was. President Wright is a good man. I´m gonna miss them. He talked to me about so many things - so many goals and so many tips for the future. He gave me a blessing and then sent me on my way. It really became real in that moment. I think I might be believing it a little more now. And oh what a strange emotion this is. I have never been so incredibly happy - so incredibly excited and giddy with joy... and sad at the same time. haha

A few weeks ago, my sweet trainer, Sister Weyandt... er... now she´s Celeste... but anyway. She sent me a quote from someone who... I can´t remember his name or really what it said, but a few of the words have been playing thru my head all week as I´ve tried to work harder than ever before, tried to take advantage of it all. The quote said something along the lines of "You´ve gotta soak this all in. Don´t let anything pass you by. You may not realize it now but you´re gonna miss this. You´re really gonna miss this." ... I´m really gonna miss this.

This last week has been pretty tough. It´s been good just ... tough as always. haha I had so many "lasts" that I´m pretty excited to get to have some "firsts" again. Thursday was my very last ever district meeting. Now, I´m not gonna lie - district meeting hasn´t always been my favorite thing in the world because of the practices. So I was spending the morning all excited knowing I´d do my very last ever practices that day. Then I got there and did my practices and everything was about to end and the Elders got up for the special musical number. They introduced it by saying it was a "song of saying goodbye cuz it´s Sister King´s last meeting" and whooosh I burst into tears. haha I had to say the prayer and wouldn´t have even been able to make my English understandable with crying like that. haha I never thought I´d cry over that. I clapped my last doors and felt oh so sad. I did my last contacts and didn´t feel quite so sad. haha! But overall, it was a good week. Like I said, I´m pretty excited to have some firsts.

My companion is pretty sad cuz we just found out that we´ll close our area with me leaving. Ketlin and Tiago will be married and baptized next week so ... she´s a little devastated to be missing that. Sometimes mission life is hard-- HAH that´s a joke. It´s always hard. But anyway, we´re not really sure what to do. But everything always works out.

I don´t know what much else to say except for that I´m so so grateful to all of you for all your help and advice, emails, letters and packages over this past year and a half. I have been such a spoiled missionary. I´ve learned so much. My relationship with my Savior has grown more than I could have ever imagined. I´ve seen so many miracles, made so many friends, and I´m so grateful for all of it. Even the hard times. I can´t even express the gratitude I feel for this last year and a half of my life. This church is true. The Lord himself put it on the Earth. We are so blessed to be a part of it.

I don´t have much time, but I hope you all know I love you so much! I am so so excited to see and talk to you all day after tomorrow!!! :D I LOVE YOU!!

Love,

Sister King

PS.  These words have also been playing thru my head - I don´t know the song but I love the words. haha

I’m coming home
I’m coming home
Tell the World I’m coming home
Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday
I know my kingdom awaits and they’ve forgiven my mistakes
I’m coming home, I’m coming home
Tell the World that I’m coming

I´M COMING HOOOOOOOMEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last Full Week

Oi Minha Familia!!

This week has been good. It has been so insanely hot I can´t even believe it. haha No one is sleeping anymore - it´s not just me! It´s impossible to sleep when you can´t stop sweating. So that´s been fun. haha 

Our awesome view.
There´s a huge festival going on close to our house and they have fireworks. \
I was so proud of this pic.

This week we had our mission Christmas Conference! :) It was pretty fun and I didn´t have to do a practice so that was just the best christmas present ever. haha We had trainings by the Assistants and the secretaries, we heard from President and Sister Wright, then watched district presentations. My district lamed out and just sang a song but the other presentations were incredible!! I recorded a few for you guys to watch when... next week!!!! haha ai que trunqueza! Then, we watched a slide show from the year in pictures everyone sent in, and my umbrella picture in Passo Fundo was the very first picture of the whole slide show!! I felt pretty cool. haha in the background was the trunkiest music ever - Michael Buble - and I´m pretty sure I´m not the only one who wished the slide show was a little longer. haha!! It was fun to see everyone again but made me kind of trunky cuz no one just said hi. Everyone was like "Hey Sister King you´re going home!" haha it was kind of funny. Anyway...

A big kitty.
I love that kitty.
Im pretty sure they made Garfield after meeting this cat. 

Anyway, besides that it was a pretty normal week. We got to do divisions on Sunday and I went out with one of the YW in the ward. She´s super cool and we found some really cool families! :) It was pretty happy. Then, I got the craziest phone call ever. Which was from the office wanting to schedule my final interview with President. It will be next Monday morning before emails so... pray for me!

Yesterday was so hot. Everyday is so hot. Today isn´t quite as hot actually but it´s SUPER ... abafado... wet? Like it feels like I´m swimming in the air. haha but it´s nice to have a break from the sun. We´re going to the temple here in another hour or two so I´m so excited!! 

Christmas conference! Me with Sister Phillips who served in Sequim!!! 

I honestly can´t believe this is my very last full week of being a missionary. I´ve fought a nice long, hard battle and I´m just so exhausted. I´m so grateful for the time I´ve had to be here, for the people I´ve met and the experiences I´ve had. I´m so grateful for the chance I´ve had to serve the Lord. 

Thank you again for all your sweet emails and support! I just love you all so much!! Pray for me this week - I´m gonna need it! haha I LOVE YOU!!!

Drea

Learning to make salgados at Ketlin and Tiago´s house! so cool.

Oi Familia!

Hello my dear family!

This week was a good one. This week was a HOT ONE. Oh my goodness it´s so hot here in Novo Hamburgo. But we are one of the lucky ones and have a fan in our house, so ... at least there´s that. I´m back to the days of lathering in sun screen and bug spray 45 times a day and I still have a sweet tan and a million bug bites. haha BUT... I do what I can. 

Thanksgiving here was just completely normal. I actually forgot until the very end of the day when I realized with was Thursday and then I bought myself Ice cream. 

I also am one of the lucky ones and forgot to tell you last week that I have a bed!!! It´s a bunk bed. So that´s pretty chique. Even with a bed tho, it´s been hard to sleep. I was wide awake one night and decided to write in my journal a bit. My companion saw me awake and came and sat by me - totally drugged by sleepiness - and in her sleepy glory all she could think to do was sing to me. "Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty, Little ball of fur!! Happy Kitty, Sleepy Kitty, purr purr purr!!" hahahahahahah I almost died laughing and thought you guys would appreciate it. She´s pretty hillarious. Especially in English. Anyway - totally made my day... er... night.

We finally got some rain tho!! And man - the rain is sooooo much happier in the summer! haha We were walking home one night, it´s about an hour´s walk home, and JUST as we stepped outside the door of our last investigator for the night, it started POURING. And oh how it poured! Niether of us had umbrellas so we just let it rain. Within seconds I was drenched and literally felt like I was taking a shower in all my clothes. Actually, I think it was probably raining with more force than our shower head. haha Anyway... we were wet monsters but oh the rain felt so good after so much heat! We saw a car stalled at the stoplight and had a few minutes before 9, so we decided to help. So, in this pouring rain, we pushed a girls´ car all the way to the gas station, then booked it home in time for ... 9:00. haha it just felt like a cool scene from a movie. 

Have you guys seen the new video the church made? christmas.mormon.org It´s SO GOOD!!! We had an entire training talking about this video and we are now telling EVERYONE about it. It´s so cool! We have pass along cards with this site and are supposed to share it for every lunch message with members, then challenge the members to share it on facebook. So - this is me telling you to watch and share. :) I´ve seen it a million times, but it just gets better every time. I just think it´s so cool what the church is doing! 

Anyway, it´s´been a good week. We´ve found a lot of families and some really cool people that I´m excited to work with. We´re gettin this area up and runnin and ... it´s been cool. :) We met all of our goals for the month so today is Pdayzão for us!! That means we have Pday ALLL DAYYYYY!!!!! It's like the happiest thing ever. haha 

Next week I get to go to the temple so my Pday will be on Tuesday. So, you wont hear from me till then - just as a warning. :) It´s been almost 7 months without going to the temple, so I´m pretty stoked! 

I love you alllll!! Thank you for your wonderful emails! I miss you like crazy and can´t wait to see you sooooon!! :) I hope you all had wonderful thanksgivings! :D

Drea