Surprise!

Hey Y'all!

So probably most of you are aware that I am no longer in Brasil. Turns out that walking missions don't have much use for missionaries that can't walk. So they sent me home. I got the results of the MRI on Friday, my mission president showed them to the mission doctor on Saturday (who said, "Absolutely  not, get her out of here or she will break her foot in half"), and I flew out Sunday night. It all happened rather quickly. On the plus side, if you ride through the airport with a boot and a wheelchair, you get to cut all the lines. Fun fact.

So here I am! I guess this is the end of the blog, because nobody wants to read about how I sat on the couch all this week, watching movies and knitting a blanket. Doesn't have quite the same appeal.

I just want to say thought that I am really grateful for the opportunity to have served as a missionary. I learned a lot; none of the things I thought I would learn, but it was all a good lesson. I also want to say thanks to everybody who read. Knowing that I could turn around and write my experiences on the blog helped me get through some rather unpleasant situations. Like projectile vomiting in the street. I was able to turn to my companion and say: "Well at least this will make a good story." And while I'm pretty sure she questioned my sanity at those moments, it still helped. :)

Hopefully at some point I achieved my goal, which was to give the view of missionary life outside all the spiritual moments. Because everybody has been on the mass email list of missionaries. I have, and I will totally own up to what happens. They all write the exact same thing; spiritual moments, awesome lessons, awesome investigators, awesome meetings, etc, and after about 7 weeks I stop reading them. They never write about what life is like outside of missionary work. So I decided I would. I hoped that if I did that, people wouldn't put my emails in their spam mail. :)

So thanks everyone! Keep remembering all those missionaries who are having these same experiences, but they're just too classy to tell you about them. :) Send them some love, say your prayers, go to church, etc.

Love,
Sister Peart

Wooooo!

Hey Yáll!

So, news on the foot. That stupid doctor put another cast on my foot last week, right? At about 12:30pm. It was very annoying and constructed in a way that I could not move my pinkie toe. I took it off at 9:00pm Tuesday. But it´s ok, I took pictures. :)

So we gave up with the stupid doctor in the stupid hospital and decided we would go to a better hospital. One that´s farther away, but I had already been there, so I knew it was good. A member was going to drive us early this morning, but then she decided it would be a shame to waste our p-day (too true), so she offered to take us Sunday night to a foot hospital instead. After Conference we started off. When we were just about to get there, the car broke down in the middle of the road and after an hour it was clear that it was not going anywhere by itself. So we ended up riding back home in a taxi. No hospital.

But the secretaries made us promise to go to the hospital on Monday. So off Sister Alldredge and I went to the farther away hospital. On p-day. Again. We weren´t sure how to get there, so we asked for directions. When we got there, it looked more like a prison. I didn´t remember that detail. Then we found out that someone had led us to the government hospital. Not what we wanted. So we walked the mile to the other hospital. It was super nice, and super quick. Perfect.

This doctor was approximately five thousand times better than the other one. He looked at my foot, had me do some exercises to see which ones hurt and asked about any other tests I had done. He said he was pretty sure that he figured out what it is, so now we just have to go back tomorrow to do an MRI and make sure. And he didn´t put a cast on. They did give me a shot in my butt, which was a little bit traumatizing. Especially because it wasn´t even in the hospital. We had to walk all over the place to find a random drug store that was willing to carry out this rather specific prescription. And because when I sat down, I gave the lady my arm, and she looked at me like I was an idiot, while informing me the needle was not going into my arm. But what do you do?

Anywho. That´s about all that happened this week. I got to go to all four sessions of Conference, being a cripple and all, so that was pretty sweet. All the members of our ward judged me hard core for taking off my own cast. I was chastised. A lot. But oh well. :)

Also! I got a bunch of cards from the Young Women in the ward! Super awesome! I got to read them all in the break between Conference sessions. The other three Sisters thought they were pretty sweet. So thanks guys!

Have a great week!

Sister Peart

 

Wheeeeeeee!

Piggybacks don´t work on the way to church because you have to wear a skirt. Yay for girls camp and learning the two-man carry!

To church!

Wheelchair at church.

Giraffe, work in progress.

Giraffe, finished product.

At the hospital with cast #2.

Hey yáll!

So I did nothing this week. And by nothing I mean that up until Sunday I only left my bed to use the bathroom. Sunday we found a wheelchair in the chapel and I went to church. Then I decided to go to lunch. Bad choice. I ended up hopping so much that not only was my left foot in a cast, but my right knee hurt so bad that I couldn´t stand on it. I was reduced to trying to decided which was more dignified; letting Sister Nestor carry me to the bathroom, or crawling.

In better news, we went to the doctor again today. They took an ultrasound of my foot, which came back normal. So now we have no idea what it is, it´s not better, and this doctor guy wants us to go to a different hospital this week, take an MRI, and come back next Monday. My faith in the Brazillian medical system is waning. We´re still waiting on Sister Ferrin to see if we´re going to do that or not. BUT, they had to take the cast off to do the ultrasound! Yay! The nurse really liked the giraffe that Sister Alldredge drew on it. Afterwards the doctor had them put another cast back on. Booo! He said it was to keep me from walking on it. I think it´s supposed to keep me from moving my foot a lot, but don´t worry. I wiggled my foot so much last week that by the time we got to the doctor today, the cast was nice and loose. :) That´s probably why they wrapped this one significantly tighter.

So yeah. Other than that, there´s not a whole lot to report. I´ve given up trying to retain any sort of dignity while receiving piggyback rides everywhere, so I just embrace it. Wave, say hi to people, etc. On the way back from the LAN house last week we straight up hitch-hiked half of the way home. Because we live towards the top of a hill/mountain. I figured our lives were safer in the hands of an obviously religious couple than trying to piggyback up said hill/mountain. Good times.

I also almost finished Sister Day´s entire book of crossword puzzles. Success. Read a lot of scriptures. Painted my nails. Good times. Sorry there´s not very much to say.

Hope yáll have a great week!

Sister Peart

The Foot!

Hey Yáll,

So this week has been...interesting. We didn´t do a whole lot. We did go to the hospital twice, but other than that we stayed home...

Sister Ferrin was afraid that I had gotten a stress fracture in my foot. After hospital trip #2 (which took 5 hours of our p-day today) it was diagnosed as tendonitis. They gave me a cast up to my knee. I think that was a little over-dramatic, but they were very insistant that I not move my foot or walk at all for an entire week. So yeah. As soon as we finish emailing, we´re going to go home and stay in bed for another week. Awesome.

BUT! Cristina got baptized this weekend! She got baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday, which isn´t the norm around here. She just really wanted to get confirmed as soon as possible. It was great. She´s amazing. Very very smart. I ´m not sure if I already explained about her, but we´ve been working with her for a while. She lived in the US for 20 years or something, so she knows English really well. She´s very very smart. 

Well. Sorry this is like the lamest email ever. Concentrating is hard. I sent lots of pictures instead.

Have a good week! Take pity on me and write me letters! I´ll probably write some this week too since I won´t be doing much else.... :)

Sister Peart

Me and Sister Alldredge with my undiagnosed foot issues and after she blew out her knee and collapsed in the middle of the street. Good times.

Cristina's baptism

Me and Sister Day

Me and Sister Alldredge

Sister Alldredge wrapping the foot in plastic. Just in case it started raining during my piggy-back to the Lan house (where I can email).

 

Popular!

Hey yáll!

I got so many emails today! I feel so popular, thanks!

I made a list this week of all the things to write, so it should be easier. :)

The first few experiences were some lovely instances of culture shock for my new companion. Poor thing. I´ve decided that training is actually pretty great, because there is never a dull moment.

First things first. We saw a girl who got hit by a car. We didn´t see her actually get hit, but we got there right afterwards. She was yelling a lot about a broken foot. But considering how far she flew, she probably broke some other things as well. We didn´t know what to do, but we decided that it would be rather insensitive to do contacts with the crowd that had gathered. As we left, she started yelling about how she had just gotten robbed on Saturday. It was only Tuesday. Poor lady.

That same day we went and visited a couple who were interested in learning English. We told them that we couldn´t just teach them English, we had to teach them the gospel too. They agreed, but they are already very active in a different church. I forgot to warn my companion that a lot of other churchs here pray differently than we do. I think she was a little disconcerted at first, but she took it pretty well. They just use veils when they pray and anyone can say anything during the prayer if they ´feel the spirit´.

There was a giant spider crawling on my arm during a lesson this week. Gross.

Speaking of nasty bugs, we were going to lunch one day when we got attacked by this gross bug. We all walked out of the apartment complex and this bug landed on Sister Alldredge. I, being the super helpful person that I am, screamed, "Ohmygosh there is weird Brazillian bug on your arm!!" She started flailing around, trying to see it/ get it off when it flew off and landed on the side of my companion´s head! She didn´t see it, so Sister Alldredge, also a very helpful person, screamed, "Ohmygosh it´s on your face!" Obviously perturbed, Sister Day called for assistence, and as we were trying to help, the bug flew again at Sister Alldredge. It then proceded to chase her as she ran, screaming, down the hill. Then it flew away. Brazillian bugs are brats.

Best of all, we got to teach an English class this week! For one person. Because he was the only one that showed up. But it was still great. We were trying to teach about the past tense, and we unfortunately picked the verb ´to sleep´. Sister Day wrote it on the board and pronounced it. "Sleeped. Sleeeeeeped." We all stared at it for a second. Sister Alldredge finally said, "I´m pretty sure it´s actually sleeped. Like Sleh-pehd." More staring. Sister Nestor finally resonded, "Actually guys, I´m pretty sure it´s slept." Obviously, being American does not qualify one to be an English teacher.

Anyway, time has been cut short by my popularity today.

Have a good week!

Sister Peart

My companion, Sister Day

Sister Day took a secret picture. I would have tried to walk more attractively had I known...I was on the phone, that´s why I didn't notice.

My new area

 

Transfers!

Hey yáll!

Sister Peart, Bruna, Sister Andrus

Sister Andrus, Cristina, Sister Peart

 

So, transfers happened and now I´m training a new American, Sister Day. She was the only American Sister that got there that day, and she´s mine! Muahahahaha. :) By some miracle she got her visa before her report date, so she spent all 6 weeks in the Brasil MTC. She´s pretty cool, she´s from Kentucky, she´s 19. She thinks I´m funny, so we get along great. :)

I didn´t keep track of all the funny things that happened this week. Sorry. :/ New planner and everything. Next week I´ll do better. 

So Sister Day came to Brasil in January. Therefore she is super white and we draw a lot of attention. It´s also been raining every day, so she hasn´t had an opportunity to tan. On Saturday night we were finishing up the day and I was figuring out which route to take home. I explained to her my thought process; "Well, right now we are looking super American. And the people seem especially drunk this evening, so I´m making an executive decision. We are not taking the quick way home, as it involves cutting across several unlit, rather sketchy, drug filled back allyways. Which means we´ll have to walk in a big cirlce, alright?" I thought she might be sad about that, since we had walked a lot that day. Her response: "That´s alright, I need to walk off that chocolate bar we ate today so we can eat those cupcakes when we get home." That´s my filha. I am teaching her well.

She clearly has a very positive outlook on life. She showed that on her first full day in the field. Right when we went out to work, it started raining. A lot. A lot a lot. As we were heading to our area, we came to the first river. Usually it´s just a road, but that day the situation was a little wetter than normal. There was no way around it, so we just had to wade through it. This happened three times, just to get to our area. Obviously, no one wanted to talk to us, or let us in, so we walked around in the pouring rain for about 4 hours. After the first couple hours, she turns to me and is exclaims, "This is so awesome!!" With a carefully blank face I asked her to please explain, while searching for signs of sarcasm. She said, "Now I can say that I´ve been stuck in a tropical storm in Brasill!" That´s very true. She definitely earned the right to make that claim. Awesome indeed. :)

I also realized that my self-confidence is going to take a nose dive when I get back. Sister Day was like "Sister Peart, I saw three different guys check you out today." My first thought was, "Only three"? Then I saw the problem. Here I walk around in whatever clothes happen to be cleanest, whether or not they match. I don´t do my hair, my makeup ran out a long time ago, and my face appears to be allergic to São Paulo. And people still tell me I´m pretty. I´m going to return to the United States one day, start wearing matching clothes, start wearing makeup, start trying to control my skin condition, and yet I´m still going to be a "sweet spirit". If I´m lucky. Otherwise I´ll go back to being a "rather-sassy-and-way-too-sarcastic spirit". Oh well. What can you do?

In other news, the time has come to start getting rid of the foot tan line. I want to be able to wear normal shoes when I get home, so I figure it doesn´t hurt to start now. Even though it´s still another 8 months. Summer is on the downhill now, so I have to take advantage of what´s left. Today I will purchase some sandals. This is a momental occasion on so many levels. Because I never wear sandals, even at home. So yáll can be proud of me. And feel free to send me a letter expressing just how proud you are of me. :)

Have a good week!

Sister Peart

Oosh!

Oi gente!

This was a long, funny week. I already told yáll about the conference we had on Monday. It was good. We have another one this Thursday. We are popular with the General Authorities. :)

First of all, big thanks to the cub scouts in my home ward! I got a Christmas package at the conference, and I was super confused as to who it was from. I pulled out a bunch of homemade Christmas cards from various children I didn´t know. Then I pulled out the card explaining that the cubscouts sent me cards! Cute! I liked them a lot. :)

Most of the hilarious stories this week have to do with the Portuguese/English language barrier. (Is that how you spell barrier? Sister Andrus and I put our heads together for a few minutes and we still can´t tell.)

First incident: The other night I was walking along with a severe case of the hiccups. This guy walked by, staring, and after we passed him he yelled back down the hill at us; "Saúde! Bebe água!" Which technically means "Health! Drink water!" I yelled a thank you back at him and we kept walking. After a few minutes Sister Andrus remarked, "That´s strange. I´ve never heard anyone say 'I like your hiccups.'" He didn´t say that. It was a lot funnier at the time...

Second incident: We were on the way back from a meeting Tuesday morning and the Ónibus was pretty full. A seat opened up, and the new Sister tried to offer it to the woman standing next to her. She meant to say "Se você quiser, pode sentar." Which is "If you would like, you can sit." But what came out was "Se você quer, você pode.......sentir." Which means, "If you want, you can......feel." The woman gave her a wonderfully confused look and declined the invitation. Hilarious.

Third incident. This is by far the best one. We were lost one night, trying to find a street. We asked a lady who was sitting on the side of the road, and she told us where it was. Only she lied. When we came back she said, "Oh sorry, it´s actually this street!" After talking to her for a whlie we realized that her aunt is a member of our Church and lives in our ward. She said she went to church once and liked it, but she has her own church. She said she can´t go to ours because it´s so early, and she works at night. We asked her what she did. She said she did floor treatments. Not sure what that is. I asked her if she liked it and she said she´s been doing it for three years now so she´s used to it. Sister Andrus got all excited and exclaimed "Wow! We´ve always wanted to learn how to do that!" The woman and I looked at her with surprise. The lady was like "....really." And Sister Andrus replied, "Yeah, we think it´s super cool!" Then the lady said she had to go. As we were walking away I was asked, "We´ve always wanted to learn how to do floor treatments, huh?" And Sister Andrus was like, "I thought she said that three years ago she did sewing. Oops. She probably thinks we are the biggest suckups ever." Yep.

We also had a miracle this week. Sister Alldredge left her wallet on an Ónibus heading off into the middle of nowhere. Her wallet that had her mission debit card, her personal debit card, her preaching license, her federal papers, and pretty much everything. She was a little stressed. BUT, two days later Sister Andrus and I walked into our apartment complex and the doorman handed us Sister Alldredge´s wallet. Apparently an unidentified person found it and magically figured out that he should put it in the mailbox of our chapel. We can´t figure out how it happened. Miracle.

I´ve decided that my mission should be a TV show. They have the two seasons of The District that they use to help teach missionaries how to be missionaries. The show where they follow around one district for one transfer. Its main function is to give new missionaries entirely unrealistic expectations of what the mission will be like. I think they should do a season of The District: São Paulo. I decided that if it wasn´t 100% certain that I would be robbed, I would film what it´s like to walk through the streets of our area. The best part was this weekend...the start of Carnival. We were walking down a street that had a house blasting funk. For those of you who don´t know what funk is, it´s like this: imagine the most profane music they have in the United States, bring it down through a couple more levels of the inferno and then translate it into Portuguese. This is funk. So there was a house blasting funk. Then the church across the street started blasting intense gospel music, And they began this music war. 15 minutes later we walked by again and a couple more funk-blasting cars had joined the fight, and the church was losing miserably. That is what it´s like in our area. :)

Anywho. My computer has decided that it hates me and wants to keep randomly turning off. So I´m just going to send this while I have the chance.

Love yáll!

Sister Peart