Abacaxi!

Oi!! Como vai!

I'm glad everthing is going so well!! I love hearing about what the other kiddos are doing- sounds eventful! (Get it- eventful? Track? Events? HA I'm so funny....) and Happy Birthday to Parker!!! I loose track of days, but I'm pretty sure that's coming up in the next week, so Happy Birthday! :)

Life at the MTC is still pretty great- the days meld together because they are virtually always the same, but it's been a good week :) Sister Roos was called as the Sister Training Leader today- she works with 3 Districts of sisters, just checking up on them and making sure their all doing good! She works with Sister Bergloff. I'm so happy for her, she will do SUCH a good job :) But it's kind of weird- when she goes to meetings with Sister Bergloff, I'll be in a temporary threesome companionship with Sister Herrick and Sister Johnson. I love them to death, but that was the first time in what, 4 weeks? That I haven't had Sister Roos with me. It was a sketchy feeling. But then she came back and I was happy again :) Hahaha

Shout out to all my college friends at BYU!! I've been thinking of them all with finals week this week, and hope they are all still alive :) I don't know if she reads this, but I saw one of my good girlfriends Lauren Scott from freshman year at TRC the other night- I guess she was volunteering for Spanish. She was standing outside the door of my lesson, and I saw her out of the corner of my eye- I didn't turn to say hi because I knew I would get distracted in our lesson :P But Hi, Lauren!!! :) I'll keep an eye out for her this Friday, if she is still around

Last Tuesday for Devotional, Richard G Scott came. It was so awesome!!! Sister Johnson called it. She noticed security guards everywhere on campus all day and said she thought someone big was coming- she was right :) It was a wonderful talk and such a neat experience. I loved it. It's always cool to listen to an Apostle :)

The language is coming great! I'm not a pro, but I'm still plugging away and working on it :) I've started reading the Livro de Mormon em Portugues, from the very very beginning- the testimonies of the witnesses, introduction, and everything. I'm at 1 Ne 3 right now. It's great :) It's not very far, but it's slow going- I'm reading it outloud and I look up a few words I don't recognize. I understand more than I think I will! Today, Sister Johnson, Herrick, Roos and I are doing our own personal Ensligh fast. The only exceptions for speaking english is during meal time, and the Devotional review tonight (and obviously emailing now)... It's rough- the blind leading the blind- but we are working on it and we love it :)

Yesterday was the best day ever. The fields opened!!! Wohoo!!! Instead of working out in one of the gyms, the field across the street was open! We went and played soccer with some of the other sisters. It was awesome. I LOVED being outside, it was such a beautiful day, and there's nothing like going crazy in a big green field. Plus we got to pet a dog. That was awesome. It's kind of a bummer though- last semester in school, I had a group of spanish/portuguese speaking guys I became friends with and they invited me to play soccer with a big group of them, and I got the hang of it pretty quick! I was excited when I got my call to Brazil because I would get to play with a bunch of Brazilians and get super good in the next 18 months. But PSYCH! We're not allowed to play soccer in Brazil. ever. We can kick the ball around, but people get too competetive and they don't want anything bad to happen.... so SAD!!! So that's why I'm gonna play soccer here :) ....seriously.... best day ever.  

The Book of Mormon is awesome. I love it. And it's fun to be reading at about the same place as everyone else in the District, because we all get into these little chats and discussions about what we read. It's great because we add like real-life commentary to it. I love it :) It's so applicable to everything in our lives. Sister Roos and I will be finishing up Helaman today :) We read the war chapters this week. Those are awesome. What powerful men of God- seriously. Moroni, Lehi, Teancum? They dominated. And they had unyielding faith in their God, and their cause. It's really inspiring to read. I love it :) I strive to have that kind of faith and devotion in my own life. We have countless examples of men who could literally move mountains and it was all because of their faith in Christ. In my personal reading of the New Testament, I haven't gotten very far in, but I've noticed one thing- preceding all miracles of healing that I've noticed so far is faith. The Lord asks if the person has faith that he can accomplish what he asks the Lord to accomplish. When they have the faith, the miracles come. Just another testament that faith precedes the miracles. God and Jesus Christ. They can do anything. They are all-powerful and omnipotent. If I needed to know Portugues right now, I would know it. If the Lord needed me to be in Brazil this moment, there is not a government on the face of this world that could stop it. But the second part to this is what (I think) David A Bednar said once....  "Do we have the faith not to be healed?"... Do we trust the Lord enough to say thy will be done? Do we have enough faith in them to know that our trials and sorrows are for our benefit? It is important to recognize that God is aware of the details of our lives. The details. He gets it. We just need to develop a faith and trust in him, and we can accomplish wonderful things. I wish I could remember more specifically, but there is that story of the little bush that wants to grow up big and tall. And then the gardner comes and cuts him down. Frustrated, the bush tries with all it's might to grow more, and the gardner cuts him down again. The bush became very frustrated with the gardener and said "why are you cutting me down??" (because bushes can totally talk... but its a figurative story :)) and the garnder looked at the bush and said "Because I know what you can become". A while later, this bush was even bigger and more beautiful than he ever could have imagined. He said to the gardner "Thank you for loving me enough to cut me down".  Faith is a simple, yet powerful thing. Developing a love for and trust in God will dramatically change your life. If there's anything I've learned in the past year of my life, it's that we can trust the Lord. He gets it. He has a plan for us. Just trust in him, and stop worrying and stressing so much about everything- it will all work out! I have a huge testimony of that.

Sorry for the little tangent, but that's what's up! :) I have thought about each of my friends, family, leaders, teachers, cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles individually this week. I won't list them because there are alot and I am out of time, but  I hope you are all doing well- you are each in my thoughts and prayers :)  

I love my Savior

Abacaxi!

Love always,

Sister Hayley Walton