I Caught the.... "CTM Blues!"

Boa tarde!
I caught the CTM Blues this week... otherwise known as a virus that´s been going around here! But, I got my meds and it´s all good.  I´m getting better each day! 

First and foremost, FELIZ O DIA DE AÇÃO DE GRACAS!!! (HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!) I hope you all had the best meal and had so much to be grateful for this year! Here, in Brazil Thanksgiving isn´t a thing, but the workers here at the CTM STILL put on a wonderful Thanksgiving day feast with turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, rolls, and pumpkin pie and ice cream! They even decorated... it was insane! I was so happy! :)  They have Black Friday here too, but it´s not real because 2 months before Black Friday they jack all the prices up and then on Black Friday they go back down to their normal prices... estranho.

Later that night, we were able to watch a special Provo MTC devotional that was broadcast to all the MTCs around  the world! I was so sad I didn't get to see Linda :( BUT, I did see my cousin Taylor Woolwine singing in the audience, so that was way cool! Dallin H. Oaks and his wife spoke and his children and grandchildren played music during it.  It was so awesome! They also showed a Mormon message called, "In The Spirit of Thanksgiving." You should all go watch it- it´s legit.

click here for the video

On Wednesday we went proselyting!! We took a city bus to the front of a university and a train station.  Yes, we faced a lot of rejection and it was hard not to be shy, but my companions and I handed out 9 Books of Mormon in Portuguese, speaking to people in some sort of Portuguese, in less than an hour and a half! It felt good to talk to those people that truly were interested in what we had to say and what this true book had to say.  

Our "investigator" Ana Beatriz just committed to baptism! The Spirit was so strong during that lesson! Anybody could´ve felt that.  God was helping us so much and you could tell how much He loved Ana.  We are so happy she recognized what she was feeling! Our lessons are getting easier because we don´t have to think about how to conjugate every verb and how to phrase every sentence when we speak.  I´m nowhere near close to fluent or probably even sufficient haha, but I can testify that the Gift of Tongues is real and a Spiritual Gift from God.

My companions and I were asked to sing a song at Devotional soon! We are singing an arrangement I made up of Silent Night in Portuguese! We are so excited... as long as I get my voice back haha... story of my life.  Anyways, I miss all of you, thank your for your prayers, emails, letters, love, and support.  Eu amo vocês! 

Paz e benções,

Sister Jillie Garrick :)

In the world, but not of it.

Oí amigos e família!
How´s everyone been??  I´m in my third week here at the CTM and it´s crazy to think we are just about halfway done here!! Next week, we go proselyting in São Paulo.  We do so much each day here that the days seem long, but the weeks go by so fast! 

This week we´ve taught a lot of lessons! We have two investigators, Ana and Izildinha, and we also do TRC where we teach a member.  For some reason, it´s a lot harder for me to teach the members because they never have any questions!! Oh well.  

At devotional this past Sunday, we got to sing the Brasil National Anthem.  It´s soooo fun to sing! I mean don´t get me wrong- I love the American National Anthem, but the Brasil one is so upbeat and fast and I love it! 

This morning we got to go to a different temple- the São Paulo temple! It´s seriously so gorgeous and less than 30 mins away from the CTM! I´m so glad we get to go to two temples while we are here and then I´ll get to go to the one in Recife during my mission as well! :) 

My district had a testimony meeting as part of our district meeting this week and it was so amazing to hear everyone get up and share with us what they KNOW to be true.  It helped me realize that I needed to remember that everyone has different reasons why they chose to go on the mission and everyone has their own trials.  I love each day that I get to know my district better.

Well, that´s it for now... but if anyone can tell me what´s been going on in Paris I´d appreciate it. We heard a little bit from new Americans that just got here but we are very sheltered here at the CTM, :) I also just want to bear my testimony that this gospel is true.  God put us on the earth with the genes to be successful.  He does not give us any trials that we cannot overcome.  Em e nome de Jesus Cristo, amém.

Paz e Benções,

        Sister Garrick

Also, why is military time a thing?  I literally never know what time it is here.  okay tchau. - Sister G.

Sister DiSpirito, Sister Dunn, Sister Garrick

TUDO BEM!!!!!

OLA!!!!!!!


First and foremost- emailing is quite possibly the most stressful thing I´ve
done in my entire life and to be honest I don´t even know if this is
going to send to you cause this computer is messed up and the keyboard
is as well so this whole e-mail might not even make sense.

But, it´s been two weeks already... LOCO!!!! I can´t even imagine being able to describe 
everything that´s happened so far in the short time we have to write emails! We went to
the Campinas Temple today which was about 1.5 hours from Sao Paulo and
I had to speak in Portuguese during the session.... I was literally
like.... nao fluente... this is not the language we have been learning
in the CTM let me tell ya! But it was beautiful! The CTM computers
won´t let us send pictures so I´m super sad about that but 4.5 more
weeks and I´ll show you! Since it´s our first P day we finally get to
take off our blue dots... so people won´t think we´re new anymore!!
Time to study this language super hard. It´s so hard to have time to
write or read anyone´s emails so I´m so sorry... please keep sending
them though and I´ll do my best!! In the field, it will be easier I
hope.  But if you send me letters through missionties.com that is
muito bom! (very good)

I am in a trio! I have two companions named Sister Dunn and Sister
DiSpirito. They are from Virgina and Colorado.  They are super cool
and we are all going to Recife together! Two other elders in our
district, Elder Talentino and Elder Davis are also going to Recife!
They are muito legal (very cool).  We have 4 other guys in our
District, Elders Scroggins, Shull, Honstein, and Distric Leader
Worsham.  They´re all going to the Salvador misison.  They are super
cool and eay to get along with and wayyyyy funny.  I seriously laugh
so hard with them. Our instructora is Irma Bakr and she is super
amazing.  Since (apparently) I´ve picked up Portuguese kind of well
she won´t even let me speak English in class! Like it´s ONLY ME! She
almost put me in the corner for speaking English like multiple times
hahaha.  I love her.  She just got married a few months ago and she´s
trying to have a baby so if you could pray for her I would be so
thankful!! She is seriously the best.  We had an "investigator" named
Luana and we converted her so like that´s pretty rad.  Now we have two
new investigators we just began teaching named Ana and Izildinha.  You
know they´re teachers here, but at the same time you love them so
differently when they´re acting as your investigators.  It´s so
helpful to have this experience before we head out into the field.

We´ve had a few mix ups in our lessons to Luana though.  One elder in our district 
said he wanted to give her a massage instead of a message, one elder taught about fish
instead of sins and one sister said the word poop instead of to
teach.... but it´s a learning process right?? Haha!

Sundays are the best because despite the fact that they pick 4 random people to speak
 in Portuguese in Sacrament Meeting the day of the church, it´s a relaxing day.  We go
to church, have district meetings, go to Gospel Doctrine, Relief
Society, take a nap, sing in choir, have a devotional, and watch a
movie.  We watched the Work and the Glory (my favorite) and even
though it was completely in Portuguese and we didn´t understand every
word, my was the spirit strong.  I just want to testify to all of you
that this gospel is true.  God lives and loves each of you so much.
Every part of me believes and KNOWS that.  He wants you to have joy in
this life.  He wants you to repent, be baptized, and go ot the temple.
Simply put, He wants you to come unto Him.  I know this is true.  He
loves you more than you can imagine.  Christ died for you.  He loves
you so much.  If you ever feel guilt for anything, if you ever feel
sad or lonely, or angry- pray.  Your pains will be taken away because
Christ takes the burdens off your shoulders and places them on His
own.  He already did that for us.  He prayed and bled from every pore,
and was crucified so that we might have joy and return to Him again.
I testify that this is true.  God loves you and He is so mindful of
you.  You are never alone.  I say that in the name of our Savior,
Jesus Christ, Amen.

I really miss you all so much and love hearing from you!! Seriously so
much.  Until next week! :)

Paz e bençoes,

Sister Garrick

November 4, 2015

Ola de BRASIL!!!!

Oi!!!!!

I am only allowed to write to my family and now that I have figured out how to log on I have 10 minutes left!  Basically in Atlanta my flight landed late i think becuase when I got off, the brazil flight had already started boarding! But i met up with the group of missionaries and checked in just before it was boarding group 2s turn.  THis is spelled wirred because the keybpard is so strange but i dont have time to fix it.  \sao paulo is ghetto.  \but the CTM is so nice and the spirit is so strong.  That gave me comfort.  Recife is going to be a different story... may be killed.  Hope not.  I have  tag. \i have 2 companions. Sat next to a cool missionary on the plane who looked like elder beta and there were like at least 20 of us.  The plane was huge.  Passed out on the altlanta flight but barely slept on the ay to Brazil.  I had a headcahe forgot to pack ibupforen in my carryon.  Okay gotta go love and miss you and thanks for your letters.Don´t have time to send pictures. Tchau!