2/3/14

Ahh I miss Ellie(Tess's niece who is 2 and a half.) Mike said she remembers me. That is so awesome, because I sure do remember her. I hope I will see her soon after I return, and hopefully she won't be scared of me. I've heard that happens sometimes. 

Wow so the whole snow fiasco is pretty crazy. I don't know if I would complain about a little cold coming my way. Hey, also, do you guys know anything about chronic headaches and pain from heat and sun? Don't get worried, but if something like that runs in the family....maybe you guys could give me a little advice. Dad, I remember the first week in the MTC when I found out that our comp had to wait for us outside of the bathroom, and I thought I would die without alone time. Literally I panicked a little bit, because I always have needed to get centered. But it's been such a tender mercy from God, and I haven't had a hard time at all. To be honest, I can hardly bear to be alone. Sure, everyone needs some time to themselves, but I get  that by really immersing myself into my scripture study in the morning. Sometimes I do just need a little bit of time to myself, but overall, I don't know how I will survive without a comp. I finally understand why RMs are so anxious to get married. Truly every joyful moment is better shared, in my opinion. We are meant to share our joy with others, so I don't want to spend too much time away from them. We eat a lot of meat here. TONS! Holy cow they are obsessed with it. They don't eat a single meal without meat and are always craving it. If you thought Americans loved meat, think again. I also think they might be allergic to the color green, because they aren't huge fans of veggies lol, but the food is good. Its just really hard to be healthy and feel well nourished haha. I realized that I wrote ya'll a letter forever ago about the food but never sent it.....woops....ill send it. Sorry! We aren't the first missionaries in the city, but the baptisms weren't booming here, so the stake president requested sisters....because apparently we ladies are pretty much the bomb. I guess Jabo needed a little feminine touch. Its been hard but we are having miracles every day, and starting to find really awesome investigators. 

However, I am always learning that our true purpose as missionaries is to do as Christ would. Sometimes that doesn't mean marking dates for baptism, but instead uplifting a person in the short moment you have with them. We encounter and help so many people that will not be baptized any time soon, but tudo bem, because I always walk away with a certainty that I left them better off than I found them. I know God is giving me the opportunity to be literally be an angel in the lives of others and this is a huge privilege. Sometimes it's really hard and painful, literally...but I know I will look back on the mission and have no regrets about serving. I will even cherish the hardest moments, because those are the times that brought me closest to my Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Yes, we have some bug spray that kills cockroaches, thank goodness. I can't help it, but I always scream when I kill those little tyrants. And my comp screams even louder lol. Our neighbors love it I'm sure lol. We have had way less though because our toilet is fixed, so now our bathroom doesn't smell like sewer and we don't have a bunch of roaches. Blessings!! now all we need is a stove, microwave, oven.....something to heat up food....someday it will come.

Yes, the songs in Portuguese are very beautiful. I love hearing hymns and listening to how they changed the words. Some songs I prefer in English. Some I prefer in Portuguese. I really love Secret Prayer in Portuguese. Its great.

Hey I've got to run, but we have a lot of awesome stuff happening. Hopefully some baptisms and a new church building! Right now church is in a house, so its very exciting. I'll tell ya'll more about all the awesome people next time.

Love you!!! Miss you soooo much. Wow I love you so much. Oh yeah, and I got the letter with the flash drive and card so I'll send a memory card home!! woo. It might take a while though.

Picture with jello-just like Utah!

1/27/14

No packages or letters for a LONG time. I don't know what the deal is. I think someone is holding them hostage. Oh my!! haha yeah I'm not sure what's up. The mail here is always totally unpredictable, but things should start coming, I hope. If not, I still know you love me. Haha, that would be funny if you guys really didn't send anything and you were just like, Oh that darn Brazil, sorry Tess! lol.....Don't worry I know you didn't do that.

Hey people! Hows it going up there in the North Pole? Still sweating down here, but Jaboticabal is waaaay better than Ribeirao. Oh man you guys, its so nice here. I love it. If it wasn't so hott, and they had American pizza....and they flushed their toilet paper, I would consider living in this place, haha.....okay probs not. I've realized I'm pretty American, and quite okay with it, but I do still love Brazil. My comp says every day that I'm really a Brazilian, so I must be doing something right lol.

Jabo is all hills, so there is lots more breeze, and our area is RICH. Wowza, the houses here are so nice....we just have to find a way to get into them lol. Our street contacts are going great. We even had a couple yesterday that just invited us to come to their house and eat cake and meet their kids. We taught them the whole Restauration and they want to have us for lunch on Sunday. Cool. Its amazing the miracles we encounter here. God is so involved in our every day lives. It's so amazing to see that when I follow the tiny promptings of the Spirit. We are opening an area right now, soooo basically just trying to talk to everyone, as we are starting from scratch, but luckily the people here are really friendly and open. God has so clearly been opening their hearts. I love explaining the gospel to people to the first time, because it just makes sense. If there really is one God, then shouldn't we all been unified together under Him? If Christ established a church with apostles and prophets and temples in the past, why wouldn't we have those same gifts now? If God is our loving Father, then why wouldn't He give us more scripture to guide all of our children. I believe in miracles. I believe in angels. I believe in a God that lives today. Actually, I know, and I want to share it with anyone who wants to know as well. We can be happier. We can know our purpose in life. We don't have to fear death or trials or pain. We have so many answers and all we have to do is seek and accept.

We had an Elder that was here for only 2 weeks and decided to leave. It was super sad. He told us he just didn't have the desire, and he thought he was a bad Elder. I tried to explain to him how it's hard at the beginning, but its so Worth it. I tried to explain that we are all inadequate, but it is God that qualifies us, and then we learn from it. I tried to explain that this is the hardest, yet most rewarding thing he could do in his life. Even though it didn't work for him, it did really help me. Telling him all those things helped me realize the truth of what I was saying. Sometimes it's really hard to be away from home and all the comfort of loved ones, but when I thought about it, I couldn't even imagine going home before my time was up. It truly is a gift and a privilege to serve a mission. The benefits out way the costs, even if some of the benefits require a lot of time and patience. I know that a lot of them wont appear until after I return home, but I trust that I will gain so much (already have gained so much) from this time I dedicated to serving my Heavenly Father and His children.

I love you guys. Beijo!!! ask me questions if you want. I dunno what you guys want to know. There is sooo much to say and so little time.

1/20/14

Hey the address is just the office so it will never change. Send away :)Sister Tess Huntington, R. Sao Sebastiao #1003-centro, Ribeirao Preto-SP, 14015-040, BRAZIL

Hey so wow, this week has been rather strange. We are opening an area in the incredible city of Joboticabal. It is so pretty and way cooler, and has hills and we have a new house, and I can see the stars at night, and my comp is incredible and yeah......life is good. 

So, our house actually isn't really ready, but we were just so excited to get here and get to work, so we are kinda camping out. We borrowed two mattresses from our neighbor and are sleeping on the ground. There is no stove or fridge or actually anything. It’s just four totally empty rooms, but it's great! Our area is on fire and our mission leader is incredible. He is a lawyer and is so together. I never even knew that leaders like this existed. He actually wants to help us! What? He actually used to be a Jehovah's Witness and then left because of a few things that didn't jive with him, but when he discovered the church, a lot of blank spaces were filled in and he joined the church. He is familiar with missionary work because of his background in JW, so he is so organized. It's awesome.

Wow, okay so funny story, it really is like we are camping because guess what we had in our house? BARATAS!!! Translation: cockroaches. 

AHHHH UGHHHH NOOOOO WHYYYY? I don't know why those guys freak me out so much. I can fight big men in jiu jitsu and it doesn't scare me, but show me cockroach and my body goes limp. Problem, my comp is deathly afraid too, and we had the biggest cockroach I have ever seen in my life!!! He was like a dog, I swear...and he wanted to kill us. I could see it in his eyes. Oh my goodness, it was terrible. We had just killed a little one and were overwhelmed with the whole fiasco. Then Sis F started screaming and pointing right above my head, and I looked at the wall and the monster was right behind me. F hid in the bathroom and I ran away screaming and we were frozen haha. I kid you not, we had to go get our neighbor to kill it, and neither of us slept that night. Our neighbor's wife said that when she heard us screaming, she said, "I bet they are battling a cockroach right now." ahahhaha. So there you go. I'm not as tough as I like to think.

We don't have any investigators right now, because we are brand new and don't even have a map, but the work is gonna start rolling. I can just feel it. My comp is just an angel. I mean really, she is celestial. She is so loving and selfless, and cries all the time just telling me how happy she is to be my comp. Her other comps were really hard and she is just starving for love. Sometimes I feel like a mom that just needs to nurture, but at the same time, she is constantly trying to do things for me and care for me. She cuts up mangoes for me ,even when she doesn't want to eat any because she knows I have an allergy to the peel. It's a good relationship :)

Okay well I love you guys so much. God is so involved in our lives, it’s crazy. I have been saying tiny prayers throughout the day, and guess what! He answers them. I think most of our sadness and frustration in this life comes because we don't ask for help. Ask and you will receive. God wants to help. He is our dad after all.

LOVE you all

sis hunny

Oooookay, wow so I'm way low on time. SORRY!! But things are going well now. I'm almost all the way healthy again. I might have lied when I said we were better. We weren't. We have been in the house a lot this week because our Pres said we couldn't work until we were 100 percent.....which I'm not sure he realizes never occurs in the body of a missionary haha. But the worms have officially left, I think, so I'm ready to be a normal person and have energy again and eat food, wahhoooo. 

So as far as investigators goes, the work has been a little dead, since we were  stuck inside a lot, but C is still incredible. We made a little headway with her in that she promised us she would definitely get baptized and she knows 100 % that the church is true. She has a stronger testimony than most of the members! But she said she wants to feel totally ready and she doesn't want to enter the water dirty. UGHH, if only she could understand that baptism is to wash AWAY sins, not to recognize our perfection. We don't have to be perfect to be baptized or even plan on being perfect after. Baptism is just the first step in TRYING to be more like Jesus. It is an open action and expression of our desire to follow our Savior and be like Him. We are literally born again. Baptism is incredible. Its such a fast moment. Its over before you realize it was happening, but everyone always leaves the water looking cleaner, lighter, more at peace than ever before. Its a simple action, but there is so much power in simplicity. I know C will be baptized. I just wish she would go ahead and stop denying herself the blessings that come from fully committing to follow Christ. If you know something is true, you cant just hide from it. BUT I know everyone needs different amounts of time, so we will be patient. I will not give up on her for sure. 

Sadly, I wont be able to do much more in teaching her because I was transferred to Jaboticabol. Its another city about an hour from Ribeirao. I will be comps with Sis F, who is just soooo great. I already love her because we sang together in the xmas conference. She has the exact same time in the mish as me and is a sweet, happy go lucky Brazilian, but I know she wants to work. Oh man, I am just so excited to work. I'm sick of resting!! I know we have to take care of ourselves, but I'm ready to collapse in my bed because I walked all day and taught all day, not because little bugs are eating all my food, haha. 

This gospel is so true. It changes lives, and the Spirit is incredibly intimate in guiding us if we will only listen. I'm super pumped for my new area, but sad to leave some people. One of them is an Irma in our ward, M R. She is incredible and  I have gotten super close with her. She has had so many trials and is really suffering. Sadly, I can see that her testimony is weakening. You know, there are just some people that you meet and you know you were meant to be here for that person. She is one of those. The Spirit has always told me the exact perfect thing to say to her, even when I barely understood what she was saying. She was super sad to know I was leaving, and she said to me: you cant go because you perceive things about me that nobody else does. You always know how I'm really feeling.  

I know its really just the Spirit, but I am so glad to be able to speak for the Spirit when prompted. I'm so glad to be a part of God's efforts to love and comfort His children. I hate that I have to abandon M, but I trust that God will send more guardian angels her way. Pray for her please, and C. 

L is still out of town, ughh, so I wont get to see his baptism, but I just hope it really happens. He is so innocent and pure. He had a stroke and can barely walk, but he is at church every Sunday all alone. He is only 13. He said he wants to be baptized because he feels love and peace and charity. Its so simple, but so pure and perfect. We don't have to know everything to love God and follow Him. That's the whole point. HE will teach us.

Okay love you all. I'm starting to get mail again. Yay! the holidays just slowed everything down. Hoping to get your package soon :)

1-6-14

Alrighty, well this week was interesting. The worms are gone, I think haha. We hope, at least. Just be glad we don't have them in the states. That's all I'm saying about that. So, New Year's was pretty cool. We had to stay inside our apartment, but we had a little party with the roomies and watched the hundreds of fireworks blast throughout the city. It was incredible. There were more fireworks than a Disney show. We made some resolutions and ate some dark chocolate M&Ms. So speaking of resolutions, what are those anyway? Shouldn't we always be making goals? Still, I can never resist making a resolution. Oddly enough, after thinking of all the things I need to improve on, I realized there is just one that is worth writing down: Be Happy. 

I don't know that there is anything more important than this one thing. If we aren't happy, then what is the point of any other achievement anyway? God said that "Men are that they might have joy" so that really is the big goal. I think sometimes we focus on all the things we need to Do and Be and we get overwhelmed and before we know it, we are miserable because we only see what we haven't done. But here is the thing. 

I know a lot of missionaries come to the field to learn how to work, but I really think I'm here right now to learn how to rest. That might sound odd, but I have always pushed myself to the limit, and then still I'm only thinking about the next thing to do. But what if I had enjoyed every day, stopped for more people on the way, smiled and laughed at the crazy things that happen instead of getting frustrated? Wouldn't this be more meaningful in the end? I know that hard work is super important. I love feeling the sense of accomplishment after giving it all I got, but after experiencing some suffering (that's all I'll say about it), Sis S and I have really been learning the lesson that we simply CAN'T control our circumstances. We can only control how we react. So, my goal this year is to be happy with any circumstance. I know I can't be happy every single second of every day, but I want to end every day with a laugh and a smile. My resolution for this year is to make every day better than the last. Just imagine how great my last day of the year will be! I hope that by the time I come home, I will be a more optimistic, happy person, so I will be worthy to spend Christmas with all you incredible people. 

BE HAPPY! its really so simple. Smile even when things are hard and the scenery will suddenly change.

Christmas Pictures