FELIZ ANO NOVO!

Happy New Year- 2016!!  

I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve!! I went to sleep at 10:30. :( But it was a great night! We taught a lesson to a less active member of the church named Helamã.  The spirit was so strong and it was very awesome! His grandma made us AMERICAN pancakes with syrup and we had some straight Italian cheese and it was life.  Seriously amazing.  We had to be back in our apartment at 6:00 so us sisters sang hymns together and "Glorious," by David Archuleta! It was so so so fun.

This week we worked a lot! We have a baptism for Julio César this Sunday! He is so interested in the gospel and the Book of Mormon and even wants to be a missionary! He is going to introduce us to some of his friends and go contacting with us on Wednesday probably.  He is way cool and way ready to become a member of the church! 

This past Sunday was one of the hottest days I have ever witnessed in my entire life.  As we were walking home from lunch, the sun was beating down on me so hard.  I forgot  my umbrella (which we normally use to shade us from the sun more than rain) so there was no point of wiping my face of sweat because it just was not stopping.  We got to our apartment and I was trying to cool down but it wasn´t working.  My companion had to lay down as well because her foot was hurting really badly and couldn´t walk.  We called Sister Bigelow (Mission President´s wife) and she told us to stay in for the day because her foot was injured and I had heat stroke.  BAD heat stroke.  After a few hours, my face became very itchy and red, and we think it´s a heat rash! So I´m not looking the best these days, but I feel fine! Haha. 

Another interesting thing that happened as we were knocking on doors this week was this: I started to talking to a man and his daughter about the gospel and asked if we could come back another day to teach a full lesson.  They said yes and then the dad asked me,"You´re not from here, right?" "No, I´m from the United States" "Oh, wow, your Portuguese is very very good, how many years have you been living in Brasil?" "HA! 3 weeks!" Needless to say he was surprised.  The Lord blesses His missionaries! But, then I get the contrasting, "I don´t understand what you said, I´m going to talk to your companion." Haha... but the work moves forward. 

OH! On New Years Eve, we passed by an old man on a hammock and he FREAKED OUT that I was American and kissed my hand :/ and showed me these pictures he photo shopped of him and Obama hahahahahaha! The days are hard, hot, and long, but funny here too. 

But I know that this gospel is true! I know it, I live it, and I love it.  Thank you for all your prayers and love! I miss and love you all every day! 

Rock e Roll,

Sister Garrick

P.S. Today marks 2 months in Brasil! 

Photo 1: My companion wants to be a photographer (during bater portas)

Photo 2: There is a huge Catholic chapel on every corner