I Thought Things Like this Only Happened in Fake Missionary Stories

 Briana's most recent zone conference. See her in the orange skirt on the front row, far right.

Wow, a lot of craziness this week.  I decided to divide this letter up into highlights to make it easier to write-

Coolest thing:  We had Zone Conference this week, which meant that everyone from the mission except the missionaries out in the boonies of Macapa and Santarem got together to here awesome messages.  We had a 70 there, dont remember his name, but he talked about a lot of good stuff.  My favorite line was, ´´ the most important commandment to keep is the one you´re having the most trouble keeping now.´´  Burn.  Also, I got to meet Sister Grimnes in the flesh.  I read pretty much her whole blog before my mission, so when she came up to introduce herself to me, I felt like I was meeting a celebrity.  So awe-struck.  She even said I speak really good Portuguese.   Yeah, I told her how I followed her blog and pretty much knew everything about the past year of her life.  It was a pretty awkward, and she probably thinks I´m one of ´´those´´ people now, but I at least thought it was a little funny.

Scariest thing:  This lady came up to us on the bus to Zone conference and said, ´´watch yourselves as you get off the bus.  Those two people up there want to assault you.´´  WHAT?!  They disembarked with us, and we booked it to the chapel.  One of the sketchiest experiences of my life, but we´re alive!  Blessings of being a missionary.

Most painful:  I got bitten a dog this week.  Correction: dogs.  Thrice!  They didn´t draw blood, but I was in shock for a while after.  ´´This doesn´t happen in the normal world.´´  I thought things like this only happened in fake missionary stories.. nope.

Most humbling:  There´s this kid that looks like Harry Potter we always see riding around our neighborhood selling almonds.  We taught him the first lesson once, but never saw him again.  Finally, yesterday, we were able to sit down and talk with him.  He goes to school in the morning and sells toasted almonds that his grandma made from 3 pm until 1 am.  He doesn´t know what happened to his mom and dad, and his glasses broke last week.  He literally can´t see anything, but can´t afford to buy new ones.  This 15 year old boy is so humble and sweet; I was just amazed by his life story.  I´m so grateful I have the opportunity to share the gospel with him and hopefully get the church to help him too.

Thanks for all the prayers and love this week.

Sister Barkdull