Transfer!!

Happy Belated birthday Yolanda!! 

Oooh kay! :D I really enjoyed this week. Guess what? :) I´ve been transferred :) guess where?? :) Ala Aldeota :) Our apartment is a block away from the beach, we can see it along most of the streets, except theres so many buildings we dont have a view of it from the porch. but we have a porch! :) Things Ive learned about the ward, it was the first ward here in Fortaleza, its the ward of the president and sister souza and theyre part of the lunch calendar, and we´re opening it to sisters :) Theres a huge change because its the ward where the secretaries of the mission work (all elders) and theyre continuing but theyve added 4 sisters so there´ll be 9 missionaries in the ward! incredible :) The work will be different because maraponga (my home ward ;) is a community with tons of houses, and aldeota is full of tourist shops and hotels and apartments that no one´s allowed to enter, so ill be learning a new style of missionary work :) I´m so excited. Remember Sister Pereira? I trained her in Jardim America, she´s here :) and Sister Henry from SLC who was in the district of Elder Chris Gorton in dc :) my new companion.... drum roll.... is Sister McQuivey! :) She´s fantastic, from utah and will complete 1 yr soon. We went on divisions last transfer and really liked working with her, we have a lot of goals for this area. Tonight we´ll meet with the secretaries to talk about the ward and the work here. 

Last night we had conselho da ala in the Maraponga ward. It was prolonged until 8pm when we´d receive the transfer call so that the bishop could be present... ha manipulative :p but he loves us and wanted to know if we´d stay or not. He was praying that all 4 stayed, he got 3/4 :) The ward leadership all crammed into the bishops office to here the results. Im glad that the rest stayed together, theyre really good sisters :) I learned a lot from Sister Allen and Sister Figueredo, we´ll be friends long after the mission. I cried when I heard I´d leave the area, and Irma Antonia (my mission mom practically, and the president of the relief society) cried and gave me a big hug. I´m still pondering why the Lord let me return to Maraponga for a 2nd transfer, but Bishop said that he thinks the Lord was gracious with me to let me do the work I didnt do the first time around, and now that I´ve done it I can continue. I´ve learned a lot. I learned the most about repentence I think. I have seen people change. Completely. There´s no residue left of the old them after they consciously decide to move forward. I love the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ for letting me experience repentence myself and see it in other people. 

I learned a lot from Sister Jones about how to be a good companion :) boy is my future husband lucky i went on a mission before getting married. I didn´t realize how much I had to learn about living with someone! Sister Jones and I had so many experiences that helped me grow. Wednesday, her and Sister Allen and Sister Figueredo and I got locked into the church building! After zone conference the elders thought the church was empty but we were in the bathroom and they locked the doors and left to catch the bus. We heard the alarm sound and were like.. :O I was like this cant be real... and imagined my day stuck in a hot church with no phone and no one would know we were lost... BUT we have a really great District leader, who when he didnt see us at the bus stop went looking for us and heard the alarm system of the church going off :) so we were saved. 

For Yolanda´s birthday, I made the chocolate cake she sent me in my birthday package :) Im gonna send her a pic of it. We called it `transfer cake`because of the transfer too. Im including pictures from Lucilene´s baptism last week. After the baptism we went to Tiago and Sylmara´s house and crammed into Bruno´s car :) haha. They were suprised that americans were so willing to ride in the trunk but its kinda normal for us :p mormon style i guess.

I was really excited about the transfer but I´m also really grateful because I know that I´m going to learn a lot. We arent allowed to go to the beach, or the road parallel to the beach, so that test of obedience alone is going to be a growth opportunity :) just kidding. But I think it´ll test my faith and diligence being in an area densely populated with people who don´t live here :p I think itll help me value the investigators that take time to grow closer to their Lord Jesus Christ, and I´ll grow closer to him because I´ll rely on him. I think if I don´t rely on him I won´t make it very far. I know what I´ve learned and experienced so far is because of his mercy to let me participate in his work. I´ll be studying the scriptures and using what I´ve learned about prayer to have strength. And using what I learned from sister jones about how to be a good companion to keep our social support in the house feeling good :) When the spirit in the house is good, the home becomes a haven at the end of the day. We can have our own spiritual zone to feel the support of our family (our companions) and think of the blessings of the day rather than how tired we are :p This week Sister Jones prayed for me during our companionship prayer, and I was having a hard time that day, and it made me appreciate her so much because I felt like I was being cared for, and it helped me trust her. I know that the same thing can work in marriage and family. I hope you pray for each other out loud. Sincerely, itll help the other person know you care for them. I love each of you :) Thank you for the support you give me. Im so grateful to be a missionary. 

Have a great week! 

Sister Miess