Sister Melodie Wride in João Pessoa, Brazil: Week 10 - I don't know what to call this email..

Olá! I hope all of you are doing well :) (if not shoot me an email and I'll try to help!) Anyways here's a summary:

1. Sister Junot'a birthday and we have too much food

2. We had a Mission tour and met Ricky!

3. My family is in Hawaii

4. Frog animation

1. Wednesday was Sister Junot's birthday! We treated ourselves to chipotle (because they don't have costa vida/cafe rio here which is very sad) and got some mini bundt cakes and it was a good time.

And apparently Sis. Junots cousin who lives in the ward arranged something, because later that day like 5 Brazilian families showed up to our door to sing happy birthday. They also dropped off some Brazilian stroganoff, rice and beans, fanta, brigadeiros (a brazilian dessert), party decorations, balloons, chocolate, christmas mugs, and a giant brazilian chocolate cake! They are all so sweet I love our ward. We got even more food this week too: Sister Stumpff in the ward gave us some cheesecake, the Lindemans gave us some cupcakes (as well as a very sweet note), and the Son family dropped off a bunch of frozen food and a giant pizza that we could barely fit in our freezer. And now I am seriously concerned for my health. I'm low-key worried that I'm gonna go down the same route as my brother Ethan, who has put on quite a bit of weight since being on the mission. Ethan has always been skinny no matter what he eats, but now he's at an average weight, so now I'm concerned about what could happen to me So yeah pray for me and my health, and lmk if anyone wants me to mail them some cake because I feel bad throwing it all out

2. This week Elder Bennett of the Seventy hosted a "mission tour"! He is so sweet and loving, and he had lots of great things to teach us. He said a ton of great things, but mostly talked about how we need to show perfect Christ-like love to everyone, how missionary work should be member-centered and missionary-supported. It was so good! Each day several companionships followed up on how they applied what they learned, and there were so many miracles and so many more people to teach! It definitely changed the mission for the better. (If any of you missinoaries want a copy of my notes lmk :)) So Sister Junot, Sister Steele and I did a lot more contacting this week with members, and with people who were previously interested but had lost contact with the missionaries. Our areabook was empty until this week (since we're opening a new are). We went down our list and started calling people, a lot of whom let out a big sigh when we introduced ourselves as missinoaries. We got a few who agreed to do a call later which was good, (one of which then blocked us. Maybe I'll use my old SIM card and we'll call her again haha).

Then we called this guy named Ricky, who was actually super happy to hear from us! About a month ago he requested to talk with the missionaries, but they weren't able to reach him before. But today we happened to call at the perfect time as he was walking to work. He is so awesome. We talked for like 30 mins, and I'll spare you the details, but he's had a pretty rough life and been struggling a lot with so many things, and has felt there's something missing in his life. But through it all, he's still had faith in God, and wants to come closer to Him! Several times he said things like "Thank you so much for calling, you don't know how much it means to me", "You called at the perfect time, I really needed some hope right now" and "It's so nice to have people who care for people like me". He was so genuine and sweet! It melted my heart. We talked about how God loves him, and we mentioned the Book of Mormon and the restoration, and he said he was really interested! Ricky said he would love to have a lesson and learn more, and he even referred us to his daughter who needed some help. He is golden!! Once we hung up we all jumped around like little kids because we were so pumped!! I'm so excited.

We had some other good lessons this week with Kishitij (our friend from India), and Michel, one of our Nigerian friends who seems really interested to talk to us. He texts us about every day. But when we try to call, we can't get through because the connection is bad, and then he calls us back in the middle of the night. Apparently there's an area in our mission that has a bunch of people from Nigeria, and they're all super ready and eager to hear the gospel. They say those missionaries have like 10 people on date for baptism, and they're super busy teaching lessons all day! Those people are elect.

3. In other news, all my family is in Hawaii right now... Without me.. Somehow my Dad was able to get an 11-day trip for 12 people?? He had some miles, and I guess the more days you add the cheaper it is per person. So they've rented out a 14-person van and right now they're cruising down to the pearl harbor and are too busy having fun to call me. But I'm ok because Missionary work is better! Maybe not as warm, but it's more rewarding!

4. Lastly, please enjoy the exclusive premiere of my stop-motion video. I've never put so much effort into 30 seconds. (Also go watch this and other cool videos on our Facebook page called "Followers of Jesus Christ in Lafayette")