7.9.19: MID-CTM CRISIS + American Girl Box

Hello Again All~

One small translation help that has nothing to do with Portuguese--for those of us who are too old/out of the loop to be well versed in texting style language.  rn=right now.  Liza uses it often.  If you didn't know, now you know. ;) (Also remember that bc=because.) Cheers. Onto the main event:

________________

i am officially halfway done with my time at the CTM. so i have been here for 3 weeks and i have 3 more. Some of my friends left this morning and i realized that one day i am actually going to make it out of this place because i actually feel like i was born here and i WILL DIE HERE. it feels like forever but also like last time i emailed was yesterday. but i still don´t feel like i am ever going to leave. so that's my crisis i guess. haha

last week we went to a different temple in campinas which is like an hour and a half away and it was so nice because we didn't have to do anything on the bus and we could fall asleep which basically a real gift from god. 

so the american girl box has nothing to do with dolls (sorry mia) but last night some girls who my roommates and i thought didn't even like us very much gave us this box with all of this random stuff in it and they told us that some american missionaries started it over a year ago and they pass it on strictly to americans but don't worry we are not racist they said, and basically you can add to the box and there's a book of mormon in there that a ton of them have written their names and missions and favorite scriptures in and then on the outside of the box you write your names and missions and the dates you were the owners of the box for. it is super random but kind of funny and i guess everything feels wayyyyyy more exciting when you live in the same 6 story building for 6 weeks so that's pretty much a highlight you might say. 

on 4th of july it was raining super hard here so we had atividades fisica inside and some girl i knew from BYU told everyone that i would love to lead them in yoga and so basically picture some random missionaries in a classroom in brazil pretending that they want to do yoga and me telling them what to do. it basically ended in me making them do an ab workout and the next day they all came up to me and told me they were sore from our yoga which is kind of triste but im glad i could give them a run for their money, especially the boys who can whip out pullups. 

for lunch they decorated the cafeteria thing with all of this american stuff and they had burgers and fries and hotdogs and ice cream and brownies and people were going INSANE FOR IT. i personally do not enjoy that food at alllllll, but it was really cute that they tried so hard to make it american for us. 

shoutout to my mom for having a BIRTHDAY! i bought peanut m&m's from the vending machine and ate them in your honor and if you know me you know that that was not normal and that is just how desperate i am for some chocolate. (also don't worry it was def not my own money, we have credit for the vending machines, i definitely am wayyyyyyyyyyyyy to cheap to ever buy something from a vending machine)

another funny thing that happened this week was when my district was waiting to do a service project and nobody was coming to tell us what to do and we had just finished exercise time so i made my district do 3, 1 minute planks and they all actually did it and i was so surprised. 

one of my teachers is actually insane and he is learning his 3rd language rn (spanish) bc he already speaks portuguese and english, he wants to know 5 languages in his life and pretty much he is going to become an apostle. every single class he says things that are so profound and i feel like i should write down every thing that he says. this week he said "it is okay to be imperfect, but it NOT OK to stop trying". basically, when he speaks in general conference in 40 years you will all be hearing from me again

it is really fun to see people here that i knew from school bc it makes it seem less crazy that i am in brazil. also a ton of people that i didn't know lived in the same dorms as me but i am just meeting them for the first time here which is so crazy!!

spiritual thought this week:

2 nephi 7:7 "For the Lord God will help me..." 

2 Nephi 7:9 "For the Lord God will help me..." 

2 Nephi 13:13 "The lord standeth up to plead thy cause.." 

2 Nephi 15:25 "...His hand is stretched out still." 

pretty much i am trying to say that God WIILL HELP YOU WITH ANYTHING. He suffered for you and he knows exactly what you need and when you need it. He will plead your cause and He wants you to return to live with Him. His hand is stretched out still. 

love you all muito, 

sister barton