Oi minha familia!!
I got a bit of a late start today! Last night we got to go watch the fireworks
and stay up past our bedtime!!!! HOW
EXCITING!!! hahahaha. It was awesome though!!! ahhh!
We got to go to a devotional, which was amazing as always, and then
watch “17 miracles!” The movie! It was SOOO GOOD. I never saw it before so yes, I was crying so
much haha. Luckily, the sisters in my
district also cry a lot so we just had a huge box of tissues and passed it
around. It was really funny. but yeah that movie is literally one of my top
movies...... I recommend it to everyone!!
But just keep in mind you will cry. ): or maybe it’s just cause I’m here
and emotional anyway haha.
We got to stay out til about 10:45pm!
wow! Hahaha.
So sad cause I was soooo tired and I was like, its almost 11! I need to sleep! I feel like an old lady :P But, yeah,
we slept at like 11:30-11:45 ish, so we had a harder time waking up this
morning. I realized just how lucky I am
to have such good will power when it comes to waking up early. This is why i was able to go to seminary all
the time. But, yeah, it’s a good thing, because some of the sisters
here have a realllllyyyy hard time with it.
I have a hard time as it is, but they really just can’t get up
sometimes. It’s hard especially when I'm supposed to wake up the same time as
my comp.
So I've gotten over the shock of
being here, took me long enough, and I've gained back all the weight I've lost
from the first week here--and more ): haha.
But it’s okay. I’m enjoying American
food while i can! Mmmmmm … fat and
processed sugar!!!
I'm soooooo ready to leave the MTC, sometimes!!
It is tough sitting in a class room all
day and just studying and planning all day.
I know it’s good for me, but I wanna go teach real people now!! ahhh!! But I know I’m still not ready -- Yet I feel
like I never will be ready so they might as well throw me straight in!! haha.
But I will definitely miss the AC.....
Every time we do a temple walk or something for gym outside, I’m
dyyyyying and I’m thinking, “NO! DONT
SEND MEOUT YET! I LOVE AC!!” I met
another teacher here who came back from Teresina!! He said basically the same things Sam Chiba
said...... you shower twice a day in cold water, but step out and are sweating
again. yayyy.... i hate sweat. ):
I’m really relying on your blessing
dad! I need to acclimate fast!!! haha.
But anyway, I’m sure it’ll be okay. The best thing about that story was that he
(the teacher who served in Teresina) was speaking only Portuguese while he told
us about Teresina! It was really cool
cause I understood like 95% of it!! He
was definitely not speaking as fast or as slurred as a real Brazilian but I was
so excited! I just really hope I can
learn more by the time I leave.
I got the bread from Donna Stamm! … and the letters! Soooo cool!
I was really excited! I got a picture with the portrait! I’m trying to figure out how to attach pics
here! It’s not working!! ): But I'll try again later today. I have a lotta pics of my district and my
comp. and the temple and the fireworks!! woooh!
I realized I probably don’t need to send those. You have fireworks, too! haha. And they probably looked better. THAT WAS LIKE THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY WEEK! Talk about excitement at the MTC! hahahaha. Yeah.... We definitely need some excitement
here, but it was super fun!
Please tell Donna Stamm thank you
soo soo soo soooooo much! That bread was
sooooo good and I really enjoy reading the journal entries! Or what I can understand of it. haha. Spanish is really close to Portuguese! fun! But yeah thank you so much! I will try to write a letter back today! Please thank Grama and Maryann and Michael
Barnes for their support!! Maryann's
cookies helped so much with the homesickness transition :)
I got a letter from the Bertagnolli’s
and from the Garrett’s! I really appreciated
the letters aloooot!!! I love hearing
from the ward and just what’s going on with life back home! Thank you all sooooo much!!
I sent a letter to Travis and Emily.
I hope they got them. I will email too hopefully. If I have time ahh! Who knew P-day would be so
stressful.!! haha. Anyway about the duffle bag. I’m not sure
what size 24 and 29 mean........ but I’m guessing if the 24 is big enough it
will be perfect. The one I have is good.
Wheels would be good. Whichever you think would work best.
Sorry! I don’t have a lotta info... I
can buy a phone card here for when I leave to be reassigned or whatever and I
will still have to find the atm. sorry. I will try it today and write a letter
home for this week. soooo check the mail!
Haha.
For music,,,,, Just the church
stuff. Sorry. No Weird Al, Emily! :)
There's a playlist from Travis on there. with Vocal Point on it.!! Please and thanks!
Okayyyyyyyy sooooooo I just wanted
to thank Mom for sharing that story of Joey from our ward. I can tell you how much that hit me this week.
I am soo amazingly proud of Joey and hope you can tell him for me. I can't believe how strong he is. I only got
to speak with him a couple of times at home, but he is so fun and happy and
such a good kid. I read your
letter, Mom and It was amazing. You know
that analogy of how testimony can be like a sunrise, gradual and then lit, (dad
you can expand on it haha thanks) or a light switch with a huge sudden
light"? Until now, I've only had
sunrises. which is fine, because eventually I realized I did have a testimony
of a lot of things I didn’t know about.
But this was a light switch moment, where really it just hit me how much
this gospel can mean to people who haven’t grown up with it. I knew this before but this just hit home
for some reason. I just felt sooo much
of God's love for Joey and his family and I wanted so badly to be home and just
be there to help them feel it and benefit from all the blessings of the
gospel! But then I realized, thats's not
my job. That’s the missionaries' job
back in California. My calling and responsibilty
was to those in Brazil and to where ever I’ll be reassignned. My job is
to do that same thing for the hundreds of others going through similar things
around the world! My thoughts instantly
went to the people suffering in Teresina and I was sooo overwhelmed by how
lucky I am to be the one who brings this message of joy and hope to those in
Brazsil. How blessed I am to be the one
who gets to help them come closer to Christ and to be able to witness the
miracals in their lives. I reread that
letter often this week. It really is a spiritual high here at the MTC, yet
its amazing how many times a week we still need to be reminded why we're here. This letter reminds me every time I read it
exactly why I’m putting myself through 16hrs a day of study and work, waking up
at 6 and trying to work with people so different than me. It’s insane,
yet so worth it. So thank Joey for
being such a good example to ME of how to really change and rely on the Lord in
all things. He is amazing and has
really helped my testimony of this work.
The other day, last thing -- we were
at the temple and I went with a question in my mind – “How can I make my companionship
work better -- We'd been having real challenges working together when teaching
one of our investigators. I prayed and prayed
yet nothing came. I never really was
good at receiving promptings and just couldn’t figure it out. By the end, I just kept hearing my own voice
in my head saying “Patience, love and kindness” over and over. I thought my brain was just trying to make
some answer up so I could go home but then I realized it literally came out of
nowhere. and it was just repeating in my head.
It helped a little bit that day and the next but soon it was forgotten. The next
week my comp. asked if there was anything she could do for me since I had said I
would pray for her language, I didn/t have anything in mind but then that story
popped in my head and I told it to her—the story about the "patience, love
and kindness" thought that kept repeating in my mind as I prayed. She said
"You know, there's actually a scripture I just read with those words in
that order. and it said that patience, love and kindness equals
charity". It was a weird eye opener for me. Dad had written about "charity" related to the "gifts of the spirit." That really was my answer from God that day
and I just didn’t realize it. The only
way I realized it was when I was prompted to tell my comp that story and she
knew exactly what it meant. It meant
nothing special to me until it was tied together by my companion. We
really were put into a companionship by inspiration. No matter how hard it is, this answered my
problem -- I have to have charity, AND I have to have my companion. hahaha. She was the only way any of it made
sense to me. It sounds really simple and
non-spectacular but it was enough to get me to stop being so selfish and
realize that I DO need her and the only way I can make this work is by seeing
her through God's eyes. I know how much
God loves me, yet i keep forgetting just how much he loves HER too. I need to remember that and treat her as
such, especially when it’s hard.
Well that was my big lessons this
week. haha. I hope all is really well at home!! I’m so happy to read the letters and articles
dad sends me and everyone else!! I love
it and it really keeps me going sometimes!
I hope I didnt forget anything!
I'll try to come back on later if I have extra comp time! LOVE YOU ALL!
Miss you tons and love love love
you!!!
eu amo portugues!!! :DD its coming slowly but i love it!
-Sister Lauren Yoshimoto
PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELISE!! AND WELCOME HOME! :)
p.s.
My feet don’t hurt … just a bit numb.
I will get them checked out soon!
Here are some pics!!! :D
This is my district at the temple!!
They’re all soo cool!!
p.s.
I wanted to add to the last email about how much I appreciate all the
support and love from family friends and everyone!! God blessed me so much with this family and with
friends that I have and the ward I am in because He knows how weak I would be
without you all and how much I need each of you all. Thank you so much for being there for me!!!
I pray for each of you individually
every night! … even Rusty!!! MISS YOU
GIVE HIM A BIG HUG FOR ME!!
LOVE YOU ALL!
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| Irma Yoshimoto in front of the Tree of Life Painting. The model for Lehi is Donna Stamm's father. Donna was Lauren's mother's missionary companion in the Spain Sevilla Mission many moons ago. Picture was on the cover of the August 2004 Ensign. |
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| Irma Lauren Yoshimoto and Hermana Camille Garrett |
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| Irma Nilsen and Irma Yoshimoto |
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| Irma Nilsen |
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| Sister Nilsen, Sister Yoshimoto, Sister Merrill, Sister Jorgensen, Sister Horrocks, and Sister Clark. Elder Engstrom, Elder De Jesus, Elder Tolman, Elder Wright, Elder Polson, and Elder Hogan. |
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