May 30, 2011

WOW! What a week!

It went really good this week, lots of work, but I enjoyed it. I went out a couple days with a member. Her name is Lais and she´s 19 years old. She wants to serve a mission really bad, so she´s been helping me. So what usually happens is this, I stay with S. Gonzaga and S. Black until after lunch, then at about 1:30-2:00 I meet up with Lais and I go to work with her until about 6:00pm. Then I meet up with Gonzaga and Black again and we work the rest of the night. It´s really good so far and Im enjoying it. I really miss Sister Bowden, but we´re having zone conference this week, so I´ll be seeing her then :)

So we´re working with so many good people right now. THere´s this family that we´re working with that are great! The wife smokes and drinks coffee, but she´s stopping and yesterday we went over there to make Cevada(barley) with her. It´s a substitute for coffee, it´s really good! And she loved it. She said she´s done with coffee and the cevada doesn´t give her the desire to smoke. She said when she drinks coffee, it´s makes her want to smoke. We were all so happy. We were actually working with another family this past week, but we had to cut them. We had gone into fortaleza to get them married, we were planning their baptism for this past saturday, but we went there on friday and the wife had smoked again and the husband had drank. We were so distraught!!! But we´re working with lots of other good people. There´s this man, Bernardo, he´s going to be baptized in june. We just have to get him and his wife married first, we´re doing that this week. We´ll start the process and in a few weeks they´ll be married and he´ll be baptized! Im really liking the area so far and the sisters that im working with. Hopefully we have another good week.

Alright and now for the crazy experience we had this week. Friday morning, I woke up put my clothes in the washer and started a load. Then me and S. Black started working out (me and S. Bowden started working out in aracati and now s black is doing it with me). One of the sisters went to take a shower and about 1 minute later she comes out and says we have NO WATER. I go to the washer and it had stopped filling up. SO picture this, all my whites in the washer, me and s black sweating like you wouldn´t believe and 3 other sisters that are needing to shower....and we have NO WATER. Our neighbors didn´t even have water, we couldn´t even use the bathroom and 2 sisters were sick, with the flu. Perfect scene, huh? And we were without water for 2 STRAIGHT DAYS! We have a grocery store right down the road and we were having to use the bathroom there. And the deal about showers.....well, we had mineral drinking water. Each of us filled up a 1 1/2 liter waterbottle and used that to take a shower. But that´s all we had so we had to use it wisely. We used it to wash our dishes, drinking....and my clothes sat in the washer for 2 days. Luckily they didn´t have a bad smell by the time the water came back, but oh my heavens, it was a crazy 2 days. Haha we just laugh about it now. :)

Oh! Other crazy thing......guess who was in Sister Black´s room at the MTC, in Provo????? SISTER KATHERINE TAYLOR. Small world huh?! S Black said she absolutely loved her, they became really good friends.

Well, I have to say sorry mom, because I didn´t even wish you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY last week......HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) we were crossing the road last week and it hit me that i hadn´t said anything in my email last monday. Sorry :( But hope you had a good day! And Happy Birthday to Marissa and Whitney too!!!!

Hope you all have a good week and good luck joey at the talent show! Love you guys!!!

Love, Sister Ariana Salisbury

May 23, 2011

WOW WHAT A WEEK!!!!!!!!!

This week was probably one of the best and saddest weeks of the mission. I´m not sure if you all can understand the love these people have for us. So, like you know, we teach piano and english twice a week. Well, they knew transfers were coming up and they didn´t want me or Sister Bowden to leave. So we´re at the church saturday night at class teaching. One of the girls, Silvinha, who is the most amazing person ever, wasn´t there, which was really strange. Anyways, we´re getting things packed up and ready to leave and she shows up, but we were all leaving. We come out of the room and they tell us to come into another room. We walk in and we see a tv hooked up with a table of food and dessert. We couldn´t believe it. They did this all for us and this isn´t even the best part. They made a DVD of all the pictures of us at class and what not and Silvinha had recorded everyone saying something about us. It was the most amazing thing that anyone has ever done. These people in Aracati are so incredible and have so much love for us. Everyone was bawling....and I have to tell you, these aren´t like married adults or anything, these are kids from ages 6-19...well and silvinha is 27, but still. They did all of this for us!!!!! Then me and Sister Bowden got up after the slide show was over and said a little something. It was a really neat farewell party. Although, as of that moment, we still didn´t know who was getting transferred. But after the phone call from the elders later that night, I wouldn´t have asked for anything better than to end my time in Aracati with that farewell party.

I am now in José Walter with......4 COMPANIONS!!!! I will be working with two companionships. Sister Gonzaga(3rd time with her) and Sister Black (related to the blacks in Pasco) and Sister Corrêa (2nd time with her) and Sister Souza. I had interviews with President Batt today and he said the reason he´s doing it this way is because we can have divisions and he wants the newer sisters to get to know the area. So I´m not with just one companionship, we´ll be mixing it up a lot I think. It was cool though, in the interview President Batt told me something that made me feel good. He said that Sister Gonzaga, Me, and Sister Corrêa are three of the best sisters he´s ever had here on the mission. So that was neat. It was really, really, really, REALLY hard to say goodbye to Sister Bowden and to Aracati. I had to give a talk yesterday in church, it went well i think, but it was really hard to focus and to not think about having to say goodbye to all these people. Daniel, a really good member friend that comes to our classes, called me up during the break of the two wards that meet at the church building (his ward meets at a school a ways a away) and said that he already misses me and that he´s learned a lot from me and Sister Bowden. He was crying, I was crying.....everyone was crying!!!! But you know, change is always good. We don´t always know why things have to change, but I guess it will be good. And I´m excited to work with these sisters now :)

Oh and this past week we went to a museum in Aracati. Aracati is a really old city and it has a lot of historical stuff (you would like it dad) :) I got some great pictures, I can´t wait to show them all to you!!!

Yesterday we also had a couple of baptisms. João Vitor and Carlos. It was so neat and they were both so HAPPY!!!! Carlos had started coming to our classes awhile back and we had come to find out that he had been baptized, but never confirmed! We talked to hime and he had become inactive so we taught him and prepared him for baptism and this sunday he´ll finally be confrmed o membro da igreja. João Vitor too, was so happy to finally be baptized! He´s been going to seminary every night and he´s actually the one who had gotten up in sacrament meeting last fast and testimony meeting and bore his testimony. So cool!!!

Well, I hope everything is going good and you all have a good week. Oh and this transfer is actually going to be 7 weeks and my last one will be 5 weeks!!!! Crazy huh?! It´s coming up FAST!!!!! Have a good day and I love you all!!!!

Love, Sister Salisbury

P.S. I just fell asleep at the computer haha. I am exhausted!!! I didn´t sleep at all last night :( and now im going to take a little nap!!!

April 18, 2011

Hey Family how´s it going?!

Well, everything is going good here in Aracati still. I feel like i´ve been here forever, but I really do love it! Oh! ok so I think i told you about the girl we baptized, Sandrinha. Well, she has a friend that she introduced us to and we´ve started teaching her. We gave her the BOok of Mormon to read and she LOVES it!!!! She loves it so much she started sharing it with another friend. She said when she reads it, she feels light, like a weight had been lifted from her (not sure if that really makes sense in english, it does in portuguese) she just felt really good though and can´t stop reading it! We were so excited to hear that!

I´m not sure about mother´s day yet. We have to find two cell phones that we can use and then I´ll let you know the times I´ll be calling. It will be in the afternoon for sure though. DON´T forget to put minutes on the calling card if there isn´t any left!!!! And no I haven´t got the easter package yet, if you sent it the 4th, it will probably be here in a couple weeks. GOod to hear the wedding went well! I got their announcement! I don´t even think I knew he was dating anyone, but that´s awesome!!!!!

Oh and Im not sure that I told you, but remember the branch president from Baturité?? Pres. França?? Well, I guess he got a job in São Paulo and is living there now with his family. So it will be sad, I won´t be able to see him when we visit baturité.

Sad to hear that the surgery isn´t the greatest in the mouth, Im probably gooing to have to get that done sometime in my lifetime as well. The dentist said mine are receeding a little as well. Guess its another genetic thing that i was gratefully blessed with haha :) just kidding.....

alright, well not much else to say, we did have quite an interesting talk with the relief society presidency yesterday at lunch. Not the most appropriate thing for ALL ears, but me and sister bowden were trying so hard not to crack up. THey reminded me though of the "cackling sisters" ;) I´ll have to tell you about it later :)

Ok, well I hope you all have a great week and that everybody is doing good! I love you all so much and are always in my prayers! I Love you guys!!

Love, Sister Salisbury

May 16, 2011

Hey how is everyone?!?!

Well this week was great! I forgot to tell you about an activity we did at the church 2 saturdays ago. It was so much fun! Me and Sister Bowden filled up 150 water balloons and made snickerdoodles and played water games at the church. I also gave a short message at the beginning on mothers, since it was mothers day the next day. It was mostly youth that came, but we all had a blast!!! We also had a baptism yesterday. We´ve been teaching this family, but only one of the kids was ready to be baptized. He´s 10 years old and his name is Marcelo. He is so cute! He calls us "Tia" which means aunt, but many kids use it as a sign of respect here. It´s better than being called "Senhora" which means ma'am, ms, etc....but he is so cute! And when he came up out of the water he had the BIGGEST smile on his face. He was so happy! I wish i had a picture of it, but i will always remember that look he had when he came up out of the water. So neat!!!

This is our last week of this transfer can you believe it?!?!? Me and B have been together for 3 transfers already! It goes by so fast. We would like one more together, but I called President Batt to talk to him and he said that we´re starting to get more sisters and he may have to split us up. I have a feeling that I may be leaving and B will stay here and become a senior. I´m not sure where i would be going, but we´re losing 2 sisters and they´re both in Baturité. I think President might send me back out there, but Im not completely sure, its just what im kind of feeling. And then yesterday after the baptism, the branch president came up and asked if i would give a talk this next sunday. And as soon as he said that i felt that im going to be leaving and this will kind of be my farewell talk from this area :( if i do leave im going to be really sad. I have made so many good friends here, the people are so loving and caring and do so much for us! I will truly miss them!

That´s too bad about baseball. Hopefully everything goes good for them next year with the coaches and all. Good luck today Joey in your game!!!! Hope you win and eat some sunflower seeds for me!! :) And that´s awesome about TD, everyone is getting called to Brazil! Crazy! As far as the release date, I talked to president and he said i would be able to go home the week of august 17th. There is a transfer august 15th or 16th so i think i would be going home then. We´re going to talk more in interviews which will be in a couple weeks and he said that i will need to talk with the new president too, but he said it will be fine. They will work everything out. If for any reason i need to be home a little sooner they can work it out.

I got the easter package and the pictures and whatnot!!!! I absolutely loved it!!!! Thank you so much!!!!!!!!! I was a little sad about the cadbury egg, it got destroyed, but everything else was great!!!!!

Well i hope you guys have a good week!!!! Love you!

Love, Sister salisbury

ps. can you send me shirt sizes of everyone??? I need to start buying stuff and we found a really COOL store!!!!

April 25, 2011

Boa tarde todo mundo!

Wow!!!! What a week! Me and Sister Bowden had an amazing week! It was a real testimony building week. So over the past several months President Batt has been stressing over working more with the members and getting references. And this week was incredible! So there´s this deacon in the Aracati Branch that had told us he had some references for us, but everytime we went to his house he was never home. Well, last week my district all fasted that we´d have good success for this transfer and I prayed that we would be able to receive more references from the members because they had been struggling to give us any. Well, on friday one of our appointments fell through so i mentioned that we should probably go and see if Cacio was at home(the deacon). So we head over and he´s home and he has family visiting (non members :) so we got their address so we could send the missionaries to their house in another area (that was 2 different families) :) so then Cacio takes us to his friends house that he had been telling us about and we get there and there´s 3 ladies and Cacio´s friend sitting out on the porch just visiting. We ask if we could talk with them a bit about the church and share a message. It was great! We were sitting there just visiting for a little bit, getting to know each other and some of cacio´s family came to join us...2 more people. So then we start the lesson. We were teaching the first lesson, The Restoration. And just as we were getting started their neighbors come up and start listening....3 more people. And just a few minutes after that, one of the ladies sons comes home with a friend. CRAZY!!!! THat was the coolest thing that´s ever happened! IT was like we were teaching a class. It was cool cuz here´s these two white girls in the middle of all these Brazilians teaching a lesson...so cool. ANd after the lesson we were just visiting a bit and one of the ladies said, "if only someone had a camera right now.." and lucky enough me and sister bowden both had ours. So we took a picture with the whole group. A couple people had already left to go home but i was glad to have a picture of everyone! But because of one boy, one reference, and within one hour we had 11 new investigators who are great! And then yesterday we went to talk to cacio and he had brought another friend to church, and we went to teach him and his family yesterday afternoon. What a missionary!!!!!! And he´s only 12!!!!!

Well, that was our highlight of the week.... :) looking forward to another great one!!!!

I´m so excited for all the boys getting their mission calls!!! ANd that´s crazy that we got another one coming to Fortaleza from the ward!!!! SO cool!!! Well, sounds like you guys are staying really busy on the farm! Too bad I´m not there to help! I think not being home to work on the farm is haunting me, because I keep seeing tac weeds all over the place. I´m going to take a picture of me pulling one, one of these days. Sister Bowden thinks Im crazy, but i told her she doesn´t understand, because i spend a lot of the summer pulling those dang weeds!!! haha

Well, hope you all have a good week and good luck with work, baseball, and school everybody! Hope you all had a Happy Easter!!!

Love you all!

Love, Sister Salisbury

April 11, 2011

Hey everybody!

Well, me and Sister Bowden got transferred.........PSYCH!!!!! We´re together again! Can you believe it?! We were so excited, we had the phone on speaker phone when the elder was talking to us and when he said we were staying together we freaked out!!! It was probably a little over the top, but we were super excited! So yesterday on the way to church we met up with our recent convert, Sandrinha and our friend Silvinha. We played it up a bit and told them that we were both leaving. It looked like they were going to cry so when we got to the church we told them we were just kidding. Sandrinha was so cute, she said she was about to cry and was thinking that she didn´t pray enough last night and that she needed to have more faith! It blew me awaay. We talked to a lot of the kids at church and I guess there were a lot of prayers said saturday night in our behalf. The members here really love us. And me and Sis. Bowden were talking when we got home sunday night that if it wasn´t for any other reason that we stayed, it was because of the prayers and faith of the kids that prayed for us. I felt really loved after yesterday. It was an amazing day at church too! It was fast and testimony meeting and Sandrinha and our other convert Davi were sitting with us and we were trying to get them to go bare their testimonies. So we decided all of us would go up at once......what a blessing to see the fruits of our labors! It was so neat to hear their testimonies, both of them were just wonderful!!!!!! I can´t even describe the feeling that i had. It was amazing!

Oh so I´ve been meaning to tell you guys for awhile now, but I always forget....me and sis. Bowden argue quite often. We´re getting better though, we´re goign on 3 transfers together now and we´re just barely starting to figure things out. We fight over doing the dishes!!! Haha She always thinks I do them more than she does, but we´ve decided to make a dishes chart to keep track of who´s turn it is. It´s a little out of control, and that´s usually not what comps fight over, but in our case....it´s quite a BIG deal.

Wow so you guys would not believe this!!! We were at the church saturday night to teach piano and english and a lady was throwing a birthday party for her one year old......it was off the top!!!! This is a party I´d never seen before for a 1 yr old. It was "The Little Mermaid" theme because the baby´s name is Arielly and holy cow!!!! I can´t even explain to you what it looked like the entire place was covered with decorations, had a cotton candy machine, food, cake, pop, candy, the works. And Arielly was dressed up as the little mermaid. She was really cute, but wow!!!! I´ll send pics :)

How was Alaska?! I bet it was super fun! But yeah, I think Brett is doing good, I guess he´s really busy working right now, he´s done with school for now and he´ll be going to Utah. I was hoping to be able to talk to him on mother´s day, but it sounds like he´ll be in utah. Maybe he´ll come home that weekend though, not sure, i´ll have to ask him. Is mother´s day may 8th?? And you guys should probably put more minutes on that card that I have. I don´t know how many its got left. Have you guys heard anything else on coming down here, plans, flight tickets, visas and what not??? And does my pres need to talk to the church or somehting about me coming home iin august or have you guys called the church or anything. Maybe you already did, im not sure. And mom can you find out when i need to have papers in to cbc for fall 2011??? I need to make sure i can get signed in for fall.

Well, i gotta go but i hope all goes well this week for everyone!!!!! I love you all and i miss you tons!!!!

Love, Sister Salisbury

April 4, 2011

Hey Everyone!!!

Did you guys LOVE conference?!?!? Well for those who "paid attention" haha i love the pics that chandler took! I absolutely loved conference and I got to watch it in english which was way nice! Last time I had to watch it in portuguese and I feel like you lose some of the stuff and the voices are different....but it was so good. We got to watch all 4 sessions! I don´t know which was my favorite, I liked so many of them. One of them that I really enjoyed was Elder Richard G. Scott, it was so neat!!! Loved it! And mom, those donuts looked so delicious! Sunday we had a baptism in between the sessions, it was so neat! It was a little stressful trying to get everything to go right and what not, but it all worked out good. The girl that was baptized is Alexsandra (Sandrinha), she´s 17 yrs old and she is the sweetest thing! She´s actually thinking about moving to the US with a friend. Oh something else, there´s a member here who is marrying an american in the spokane, wa temple in june i believe. I think the guy is from Coeur d´Alene, Idaho. Crazy huh?!

That´s awesome Kyal is going on a mission! And be sure to tell me when jacob and bryson get their calls!!! And brandon is already coming home?!??! HOly cow! I bet his family is REALLY excited!

THe language is great! And yeah I can pretty much say anything i want. Granted there are those times when I´ll get stuck on word, but for the most part it´s all good :) What a MIRACLE!!!!!! About a year ago I was praying that I would be able to speak the language. It´s amazing to be a part of this work and see so many blessings come from it! I love the church!!!! I was thinking during conference how anyone could just look at this church and not believe it´s the church of Christ. Just the organization of it alone is just INCREDIBLE!!!! All the general authorities, the choir, the members, the Spirit.....EVERYTHING!!!!! What a blessing it is to live in the world at such a time as this. It´s so amazing!

So really quick! I had a crazy dream last night that I want to tell you...

I was at the CTM with my current companion, Sister Bowden. The CTM was the connell high school. We were outside talking and I look out by the road and there was a line of telephone booths. I had just missed mothers day and i hadn´t been able to call home, but i see mom, dad, chandler, garrett and joseph each at a phone. You guys start to leave and i wanted to talk to you so bad but everyone was telling me i couldn´t. I was freaking out and i yell, "JOEY!!!!!!!!!!!" You guys don´t hear me so i yell again and joey turns around and tells that it´s me. He starts runnign at me but then dad grabs him and tells him he can´t see me. Then mom trys to come over to me with blaire wells but mom doesn´t talk to me, she leaves and blaire asks me if i want to get a ride home with her i tell her YES! and then i woke up...

it was really strange, and it just made me want to see you guys that much more, but it´s ok. I just want you all to know how much i love and appreciate every one of you! I have the BEST FAMILY anyone could ever ask for!!! I hope you all have an amazing week!!!! I love you!!!

Love, Sister Salisbury

Ps i wore my white summer dress yesterday to the baptism and it was super cute...i´ll send pics next week!!! :)

oh and transfers are this next week too...not sure what will happen....