Cate Mission Weekly Letters

OI! Well this week was awesome! Friday our mission had the unique experience of having a devotional with Elder David A. Bednar and his wife. Due to COVID restrictions they could not come in person, so it was all through Zoom. But, they showed us a picture of the room they were in for the devotional and it is way cool! I attached a picture, I am so thankful for technology that allows us to do things like this! They are seriously amazing, I learned so much! At the very beginning of the devotional Elder Bednar told each of us to not take notes on what was said during the devotional, but rather to listen for things that are not being said. He told us during General Conference he looks out at all the people in the Conference Center and watches people taking notes at top speed. He told us it is much more important to learn by the Spirit and write down impressions than it is to write down exact quotes of everything. Every missionary in the mission was then terrified to write anything down. Bu...

Bom dia!!! Another week flew by here in Campinas! Between managing all six of the mission's facebook pages and teaching lessons, there's never a dull moment here. Since I've been here, Sister Queiroz and I have sent roughly 80 referrals from people commenting and liking things on our Facebook page, it's crazy! And we are still sooo far behind on everything. The Lord is definitely hastening His work! We got to go to church in person yesterday which was amazing! I was asked to play the piano, so all those 5:30 am piano lessons really did pay off:) And last night we had a video call lesson with this cute older lady from our congregation. She asked me if I knew an Elder Johnson who served here in Campinas 59 years ago. I had to tell her sadly I did not. She then proceeded to ask me if I had a boyfriend and if I would be interested in dating one of her grandsons. I love Brazil. Just some other highlights/realizations from the week: -introducing peanut butter to the Brazilian...

Oiii, tudo bem?? This week was a great first full week here in Brasil! I'm learning a lot, that is for sure. Whenever we walk somewhere, my comp Sister Queiroz (truly an angel) asks me "how do you say ..." it has been super helpful, I've learned a lot of new words. To explain the title of the email, I have been trying to learn the word for fire extinguisher, but it is not going well. For the longest time I kept saying "extintor de inferno" which would be hell extinguisher. Soooo not quite the same thing but I'll get there some day! In other news, I didn't move! Wahoo! So I get to serve here in the Campinas 3 ward. Sister Mesquita left which was really sad, but we still get to talk with her all the time because she is our new STL!  And I actually get to serve as a Social Media Specialist here in the mission! So kinda wild because Sister Queiroz and I are responsible for managing all six of the facebook pages here in the mission! Kind of wild because I...

Oiiii!! Well it's official, I made it to Campinas! After waking up at 3:30 in the morning (big shout out to Sisters Reese, Staheli, and Lundquist) I flew from Eugene to Salt Lake, then to Atlanta, then on to São Paulo. I was hoping to get to see/travel with other missionaries, but sadly I had to make the trip on my own-it was soooo strange not having a companion! But! All is well! I got picked up at the airport and went to the mission home where I got to meet President and Sister Saucedo, my Mission President and his wife! They were so kind and let me take a nap at their house before the first session of the conference started. They also took me to see the Campinas Temple which is absolutely beautiful. I hope things will be normal enough sometime in the next eight months so I can actually go inside!  I'm currently living in the city of Campinas with Sisters Mesquita and Queiroz. And I am CONVINCED these two are the most kind and patient souls on the planet. I am experiencing wh...

Olá! So you know how I said last week I was moving to Eugene? So that didn't happen and I got to stay the last week in Corvallis! I moved into a different apartment with two other Sisters until I move to Brazil. But because of some other things I still am working with Sister Bennett and her new companion who live in my old apartment. So now, I am floating back and forth between two apartments and two companionships. It's a little crazy but such is life!  This week I also got to stay the night in Eugene while a Sister was waiting to pick up her trainee! So I got to try the legendary Vodoo donuts and have an overnight exchange in the Santa Clara 3rd ward! So this week I've had a total of six different comps so far. It's been wild! But life is good in Avery Park! We found someone new to teach and also have another potential so that's pretty awesome!  I'm so excited for Brazil/Easter/General Conference this weekend! It's going to be a wild time! Love you all, ne...

Hello everyone! Well this past week was the first week in 12 that I haven't had to spend in the car on a road trip! So that was pretty awesome. But with this coming week being my last full week in the US, I had to say goodbye to my friends in the YSA ward. Saying bye to Zoe was the hardest thing ever! So I'm looking forward to coming back to Oregon to visit everyone!  We held our classic YSA volleyball night and we had enough people to make three teams which was amazing! It was finals week at OSU and we still had that many people come. I'm pretty confident that I have gotten progressively worse over the weeks we've played volleyball but oh well!  We got transfer calls last night and I'm moving to Eugene for the next week or so until I leave! So yay for another tripan. This will be my fourth Zone in the OEM so it should be fun! Corvallis has been the best and I'm so sad to leave, especially as OSU is killing it in march madness right now! Thanks for all the love ...

  Olá!  Just got off the phone with my Mission President and he told me I'm headed to my original assignment in Brazil on April 2!!! I'm going to miss Oregon a ton, but I'm BEYOND excited to get to go! Send tips of how to learn Portuguese please! This week was pretty crazy! We did two rounds of exchanges and had a mission conference in Eugene, so Sister Bennett and I listened to a lot of BYU devotionals this week to say the least  I don't really have a whole lot of related things to tell you all about, so here's a list of some things that happened! -got stuck on the side of a mountain and had this nice guy come help us push our car -made pão de queijo with Jake and his wife and now they're interested in doing family history! -went to Eugene for a meeting and stopped by the mission office where I got to see my passport for the first time in a year -went on exchanges with two different Sisters! One here in Corvallis and one on the coast. While on the coast we had ...