9/6

Hey everyone! Thanks for all the emails this week! So Im using my mission president´s computer right now in the mission home. Isnt that so cool? Haha, Sister Hart invited us to come learn to make cinnamon rolls, so we´ve spent the day here at the mission home. Its just the 4 sisters in our zone, and the assistents are here too doing transfers with the president. They all say hi! Haha! Well this week was a lot better. We met some really awesome people and actually have some investigators to teach this week. Of course, we´re always searching for new people, but it helps to have some to work with too. We met a family, his name is JOrge, and he named his 3 sons Jorge, and they all accepted a baptism date. So we had 6new investigators this week, 4 of them are named Jorge. Haha! And we also met another lady, she got married 3 months ago because her church wont let her get baptized until she is married, and she really wants to get baptized. What are the odds we ran into her at this time? Divine, thats for sure. While we were teaching her, her daughter called, and she wanted to meet us. So Sister Marciano talked to her on the phone, the daughter said,´I having such a hard time right now, and yesterday I prayed to God that I could talk to one of His representatives. Haha! Its amazing how missionary work works. So it was sweet. The down side is 2 days ago I got some bad food poisoning, and my stomach is still getting over it. It doesnt help that people have offered us a bunch of food this week. All I wanted was some sprite, and chicken noodle soup. Then we came to the mission home today, and sister Hart made us chicken noodle soup, and sprite! It was awesome.

8/30

Hey family! So this week was another regular week in Dias Davila cidade das aguas. Altough the good news is we have a ward and leaders now. Always a good thing as a missionary. We also have a ward mission leader, and he is so so amazing. We sat down in our first meeting with him, and we start talking about how things are going and how he is going to help us, I almost cried. Well, then he prayed to help the sisters in this difficult time, and I actually cried, tears of happiness, relief and a little stress because Sundays always do that to me. GOOD NEWS we have a family we´ve been working with forever, the husband and wife are trying to get married legally, and finally they have all the papers and a date! September 24th! I dont know if I´ll be here, but if Im close, Ill be here for the wedding. And then they can get baptized and it completes a family! Its super super exciting. SHe has been coming to church for 3 years, and finally gets to be baptized. We had our investigator all set up to get interiewed and baptized on saturday, but work called him in, and that complicated things. We are praying and fasting for everything to work out this week with him. I cant believe there are only 2 weeks left of this transfer, the weeks go by so fast. And next week I´ll be at 10 months, and that is just crazy to me. I still feel like a greenie. Well...I sort of am here in Brazil, but in any case its still crazy to me. Yesterday I translated the Joseph Smith restoration DVD in portuguese for my investigator who didnt have a remote for the DVD player. I walked out thinking about how far I´ve come from April 27th when I got here, to just 4 months later, speaking an entirely different language, and things actually making sense. Today sitting on the bus (we´re visiting other sisters in another city) driving through a jungle(basically) seeing the coconut trees, and banana trees, and listening to the Bahian´s conversations and actually understanding, it was the first time it felt normal. This time I was thinking ´whoa...Im in Brazil and it feels normal. Thats weird.´ So there ya go.

Thank you for all your letters and emails and support! Tomorrow we have a nother conference with our visiting general authority, so Ill get letters again! Yay! I love you all a lot! And have a wonderful week! Good luck with school starting and all the fall festivities. I miss you! Love you!
Sister Pratt

8/24

Hey family! So this week was a lot better than last week. My circumstances didnt change at all, but my attitude did. Makes things a lot easier, I think :) SO the other happy news is I got my package from home! All sorts of missionaries were wanting to see what sort of american cookies or chocolate I had, to their surprise it was mostly medicine, which made me more happy than chocolate. Especially since no wanted me to share my medicine :) I did share the swedish fish with my district leader. And Brazilians dont like tootsie rolls. Ha. This week, our investigator Ricardo asked us when the next baptismal session is because he wants to get baptized. We were like...uh....what day are you free? haha so hes getting interviewed on Friday, and baptism on Saturday. Woohoo! We also brought a way sweet family to church this past week. Unfortunately, a few things happened, members did and said a few inappropriate things, and Im not sure how our little investigating family handled that. But its okay, nothing the atonement doesnt cover. Someday I will tell you all the details. Today is not that day, haha! We also had a zone conference yesterday with Presdient. It was really cool. Sister Hart talking about the doctrine of Christ and the story of Lehi´s dream, and I really learned a lot. We got our new missionary leader, and he is really awesome, we are way excited about our new ward. Now we just need to get to know them. The Bishop is really good, he is very missionary work focused, and is helping us with whatever we need, and encouraging the members to help us. He really is the best Bishop Ive had on my mission so far. The area here is still a little difficult, but thats okay, we´re going to keep working. I cant believe its already halfway through this transfer. Im also at 4 months in Brazil. It feels A LOT longer. But thats okay.

I love you all and thank you all for the support! Sorry for the shorter email this week, but I dont have much more to account for. Being a missionary is sweet, its hard, but Im learning a ton, and so grateful for all these lessons. And the opportunity I have to be a servant of the Lord. I love you! Have a good week!!

Sister Emma Pratt

8/16

SO every week my e-mails are positive and happy and we´re enduring here and being a missionary is the best thing ever. Well guess what??? this week was total crap. excuse my portuguese. Haha, but its all good because Im still laughing. how? who knows. Lets just start from the beginning, shall we? The usual hardships of being a missionary...knocking doors...no one accepting...I was feeling like I was back in the states. But it was like a bajillion degrees. and I dont have a car. One day, we were going to go on splits, but the one girl didnt show up. SO us and a member walked to the area farthest from our house, one hour away. And I may have forgotten sunblock on my legs. and i may have left my waterbottle in the house. and I just might have gotten heat exauhstion. Dont worry, Im okay. But i learned important lessons, the hard way. My legs were not burned, but a heat rash, my legs and feet. Oiy, and basically my whole body ached. We went to enter this one house, and all the sudden I see a very angry rautweiler and pitbull coming towards me. It was one of the scariest moments of my life, luckily my comp stopped me from running, and the owner caught them before they got me. She almost had a heart attack that her dogs almost murdered a sister missionary. It was really awesome. Then I had my first experience with a Bahian specialty here, where they put beans and EVERY SINGLE PART OF THE PIG in a pot. And then they eat it. All of it. I tried so hard to pretend to like it, but we all know Im terrible at hiding my emotions. THe Bishop said, `oh sister, I forgot americans dont like this, I´ll go buy you something else` haha, I told him not to, but still. My comp thought it was all hilarious. I wasnt a fan of the pig skin, ears, and other things I didnt understand the words in portuguese, but judging by where she was pointing on her body, it wasnt things I was familiar with. She said, oh sister at least you dont have a nose, or knee, or...other things. Just an ear and some skin! Haha...did I eat it? No. call me chicken, its all good. By the end of the week, I was not doing well. Our members werent helping us, we didnt have anyone to teach, our investigators dropped us, it was bad. Then on SAturday, we found out they are splitting the wards here. (Here Ill explain how it works, dad) SO there was dias davila 1 and 2. I was in 1. it has 100 people attending, and 2 has 30 with no Bishop. So they divided the area to even out the members, and called a Bishop. HOwever, now Im in the Elder´s area. So me and my comp are opening an area in the middle of a transfer, and area that hasnt had a baptism in 3 transfers. and we dont know any of the members. and all the members who fed us and helped us are in the other area. When we found this out, Sister Marciano looked at me and said, ´am I allowed to cry?`and I said `no, we have one rule. we cant cry in the street, we have to wait until we are home` Later that day, we ran out of people to teach, and we arent allowed to knock doors at night in this city. It started pouring and we didnt have an umbrella. My comp looked at me and said, `can I cry now??` Haha...oh man.

8/9

9 MONTHS! Acredita?? Can you believe it? I dont. Im into the second half...sometimes feels really fast...some moments forever away. But thats okay, 18 months is 18 months, and Im here to do my job. We have some good possibilities for baptism this week, and we need new people too. This city is a little difficult, but I know there are peole here prepared. I had 4 months in the states to experience rejection, it definitely prepared me for Dias Davila a cidade das lagrimas. Haha! My comp is way sweet, no like literally the sweetest person in the world. We were talking about how you always have a companionship where one is justice, the other mercy. We should all be concerned that Im justice in this companionship. Im gonna have to learn real fast. We are working hard, and try to keep laughing and singing even admist the furstrations, rejections, tiredness and silence. I have trust that as long as Im doing my best and the Lord knows it, we´ll see miracles. AND I will learn everything I need to learn to prepare myself for the next step. The Lord always teaches me what I need to learn for the next transfer. Its pretty awesome to see how the Lord literally prepares you and the people around you and the way in order to really do what He asks. Id just like to add how hard that was to say in English, I started writing in Portuguese like 5 times. Hey look at that, Im fluent in another language. I walk out of a lesson, thinking, dude...that lesson was in portuguese. and I understood what happened. Well...not all the time. I still dont understand EVERYTHING, but Im getting there. And I have a Bahian accent. My Paulistan comps try to change my accent, but I want to talk like the people here. :) Its like serving in Mississippi with a californian comp telling you not to have a southern accent. Haha! Its what I know, so its all good.

I love you all a ton! Keep up the good work! I miss you all a ton. But I love the work here. Thanks for being my amazing family! Remember all the blessings you truly have.
Love you!
Sister Pratt

(someone called me seesa pratchika this week. which means sister practical. ha!)

8/5

SO transfers. Are you just dying to know where I am and what Im doing right now because I know that you all are constantly thinking about me and wondering what Im doing, if at this very moment I am eating beans and rice with a parrot on my shoulder, or riding the bus with a monkey on my lap? (Like thats ever happened...oh wait...it has). So Im staying in Dias Davila, the city of water. Wow...that sounds a lot cooler in Portugues. Dias Davila cidade das aguas. AND Im with my new comp Sister Marciano. And Im her greenie breaker. And they took the other set of sisters out, which is kind of sad because I was really loving having so many awesome missionaries around. But thats okay. Im only freaking out a little bit because I now have this huge area, huge responsibility all to myself, (well, only when something bad happens. when something good happens, its the both of us) but I know everything will be okay. My comp is the sweetest person in the world and Im pretty excited to work with her. She is from Sao Paulo, and a pretty recent convert...thats pretty much all I know so far, because weve only been comps for about 2 hours.

We gained/made/I dont know how to phrase it in english...um...found 15 new people to teach last week. So we have a large amount of work in front of us.On Sunday we had our fireside/musical thing. I dont know if I talked about that yet, we planned this musical devotional thing, and had `questions for the soul´and I played piano, and people sang, we had a slide show, a bunch of missionaries, investiagators and members were there, and our president. It was way sweet. Well, as you can see, my portuguese is definitely improving because my english is getting much worse. Its awesome to talk to other americans here in english, because we speak in englsih, but with portuguese phrases, and we understand eachother. Its like a secret language, I love it. Its about to improve a LOT more because now I really dont have anyone to speak english. Its back to brazilian again. But its all good.

As far as investigators go...its okay. We have 2 people who were baptized but not confirmed..yet...that will change this transfer. And we have some sweet families we found this past week. Now if they would just come to church...Id be feeling a lot better about them. But we work one day at a time, one problem at time.

I love you all! THank you for your prayers, and letters, even though I get letters like once every 3 months. But thank you! I really need your prayers this transfer, I want to BAPTIZE! :) Thank you for all you do! Stay strong, the church is true, and thats all that really matters.
Um abraço
Sister Pratt

7/26

Oiy familia and friends! This week had its challenges, thats for sure. But Im alive and in Brazil, which is all that really matters. We have another couple that is finishing up the paper work to get married and then get baptized! woohoo! my 2 favorite things, keeping commandemnts AND cake. so its all good. Its transfers next week, I hope to stay in dias davila, i feel i still have work to do here, and feel pretty strong about it. THe new president is really awesome, the sisters conference was sweet! We ate cinnamon rolls and chocolate chip cookies. You may be thinking my life revolves around food right now...and its pretty much true. but im in brazil, what can i say?

I dont have much to tell you from this week, but from the sounds of my families emails, things are a little rough right now...here and there. Isnt that comforting to know that even if you were in Brazil, your problems still wouldnt be resolved? Haha, that didnt come out the way i wanted it too. But thats okay. You get the point. You all know me well...Im a high stress person. well...i was. thats right, im not anymore. why? because if I continued to stress...id be home. theres no way i could survive this. and this is what I do to not stress: smile. pray. laugh. work. sing. pray more. read. pray. laugh. pray. WORK. PRAY.

You may be thinking...well easy for you to say, you´re a missionary. you dont have to worry aboutmoney, or food, or your family, and you have a planned schedule, everything is peaches and cream. Every day I experience more and more that makes me so incredicbly grateful for my family, my country, the gospel in my life, my family oh yea...and my family. and carpet flooring. but thats another story.

DUde, you´ve got the gospel. Do you know how amazing that is? Youve got a home. YOu know how to read. You have food on the table. you sleep in a bed. you drive a car. you eat oreos. you walk on carpet (i think im getting distracted again....) you have a dryer. you have 3 pairs of pants. more than 2 pairs of shoes. you have air conditioning, a heater, a couch, a door, a family, the gospel... Sure you dont have guarana or havianas, or acaruje (only bahia has that) but thats okay. You can lay down at night, knowing that everything will be okay because Jesus Christ lives, and Heavenly Father has a purpose for all of us. Thats worth a lot.

I love you all and hope you have a better week.
Smile! God loves you :) hahahaha...oh missionary humor...its ridiculous.
Sister Pratt

7/19

Óla famlília!! Im discovering I will never start my weekly e-mail off with ´This week was really easy and relaxing and never had difficult moment ever...´ Yes, it took me 8 months to figure that out. I said I was learning, I just didnt tell you how slow I am at it :) We worked really hard this week at finding new people to teach and are ready to be baptized, and gues what? It totally worked! My comp and I met a young man, 18 yearsold who walked up to us and said, ´Hey I´m thinking I need to repent for my sins and get baptized. Will you help me?´ (more or less, but the concept is the same). Our response: um...let me think...do we know how to do that? ANYWAYS, the second time we visited him, before we could even say a prayer, he had his bible in hand, book of mormon in the other, and said, well, I was reading in Alma 12...then I started praying...and I opened to Job in the Bible...blah, blah, this, that...And the conclusion I´ve come to is that Im not ready to be baptized yet because I need to repent. Now, if you can image, me and my awesome Brazilian comp, with our mouths open, almost speechless (but not for long) and this time the look of complete shock on my face was not because I wasnt understanding Portuguese, but because this time I actually was understanding, and could not believe it. THEN he even came to church. Now this is a huge deal, because we hear all week long, yes i´ll come to church, yes I´ll be there, then we have like 3 investigators come. But he actually came! And then we lost him in the crowd, because he knew a bunch of people there, so we didnt even have to lead him around or anything. It was seriously the best ever. It was awesome to see, especially since we had some major complications with our baptism from last week (which included him NOT getting confirmed this sunday, but thats okay, he will be confirmed next week) and I was pretty much ready to cry in the middle of relief soceity, BUT I didnt. Also we had another HUGE miracle this week. Theres a family here, all the kids have been members for about 3 years, and they are so completely amazing. The parents arent members because they arent married. The mom has been attending church the entire 3 years, just waiting for her ´husband´to decide they can get married. Well this week, she walked out, and said she wasnt coming back until they were married. She is getting baptized TOMORROW! and they are getting married the beginning of August. YAY!! We all cried when she told us, because we´ve been working with them a lot. So please pray all will go well tomorrow :)
We´re also pretty excited because we are having a sisters conference with the President in his home this Friday. Its gonna be sweet! Then we have interviews next week, my first official interview with my Official President :) (only took 8 months, but its all good). SO Im pretty excited about that. Im NOT excited for transfers because I could stay with these sisters for my entire mission. But it doesnt work that way.
Well I hope all is well there! THis week I get letters, so Im pretty excited about that. Hope ya´ll wrote me :) LOVE YOU!
Um Abraço
SIster Pratt

7/12

Hello Family and Friends! Hey this week was really hard, but really good because I learned a lot! We had a baptism on Sunday, which was good, there are a few issues going on with it, but nothing the Lord/Atonement of Jesus Christ cant fix. Also, I remember in the MTC, and elder asked me to describe my perfect companion, and now I can do it perfectly: Sister Santos. She truly is amazing. Im learning so much that I need to learn, portuguese, being a better teacher, and having fun when its time to have fun, being serious when you need to be serious. She is really amazing. Im praying and praying to stay with her just one more transfer. Also I met our new President this week! He is really awesome. They are from Utah, he is a dentist, and she is a painter! Her favorite is watercolor, she is the national watercolor society, only 2 people from Utah are in it, and she is one of them. And we´re going to have a sisters conference with her next week in the mission home, we´re super excited about it! They are really awesome and Im happy to finally have a mission president :) Although President Pfile will always be mine, now I have mission president in my own mission, so ya know.
Portuguese is coming along, Im worlds better now than I was last transfer. I feel so proud of myself when a person asks me if I speak portuguese, and can actually respond to all their questions with out making them repeat slower. Its the little things in life that keep us going :)

So We´ve had a few mix ups with the stamps/mailing situations here. I dont know how to explain, BUT if you have written me, and you havent gotten a letter yet, I promise I wrote you, but the letter is probably lost, or never going to get there, or you´ve gotten it just fine, and I dont need to worry.
Well Im running out of time, story of my life. I cant believe Im already at 8 months in my mission. I remember where I was just one year ago, and it feels like 1 month ago, I was at home and preparing to leave. This transfer especially is just flying by, and P-days REALLY fly by. I love you all a ton!! Thank you for all your support! And letters! I get a huge stack every mission meeting, and people are jealous of it, haha! Thank you! Love you tons!
Um Abraço,
Sister ´boneca´Pratt

7/5

Since I missed out last week, Ill do this first, make sure I get an email out for everyone. So I finally rememberd to bring my CD with my photos, but of course we go to the only internet house that doesnt let you use CDs. Sorry! One of these, we´ll get the photos going. So these past few weeks have been really good. So good, that they are flying by way to fast. I cant believe its already week 3 in this transfer. Last transfer seemed to last a lifetime, this one is going too fast. I love love love the sisters that Im working with. Im laughing again, I really learning the language, and how things work, and feeling more confident. Its really good. We are struggling a little on the investigator front, but thats okay. We have a few really awesome people. We have Rodrigo, who is 17 years old. He is accepting everything, and just solid. We taught him a little about being a missionary, because he met the elders and everything, and then in his prayer, he asked if Heavenly Father would help him become a missionary. It was ridiculously exciting. He was supposed to get baptized on Sunday, but we had some complications with his signature. His parents live in Salvador, and so its a little tricky. But we´ll work it out, and he will be baptized and confirmed this sunday. YAY! We are also teaching this way awesome couple that needs to get married, but at least they have a desire and a date! So they are worlds ahead of basically everyone else here. He is less-active, but wants to come back, and he bore his testimony, and she is reading the Book of MOrmon, and they are just the most amazing people ever. Ju and Igor, they are awesome. My portuguese is really improving, especially since my companion always makes sure to explain things and makes sure I understand, she is extremely patient with me, its aswesome. And she is teaching me how to cook, so its all good. I´ve felt my teaching skills are really weak, and its one of the things Im trying to really improve here, and its hard, but Im confident Ill pull out of this transfer being a much better teacher. Tomorrow we get to meet our new Mission President, which is really exciting. I finally have a solid mission president, that isnt going to leave me! Haha! I was thinking about my mission so far (I´ll be at 8 months this sunday) I think the Lord wants me to love change, which I´ve always hated. in 8 months Ive had 9 companions, 3 mission Presidents, 2 missions, and 4 areas. Thats insane. But awesome.

6/22

Its transfer time!! And you better believe it, my second transfer in Brazil, and Im senior. What? I dont even know what Im doing. I had to go to the trainers meeting, because you are now being trained for 2 transfers, and so she didnt finish with her trainer yet. This was weird to me, because I havent finished being trained by my trainer yet either...and President was talking to us as if we were all training. But Im not...I dont....um....okay? But its all good, my new comp is amazing! She has been here for 1 transfer, but she is awesome. Sister Dos Santos. We are living with 2 other sisters, one is American, bran new from the States (she was reassigned for 2 months in North Carolina, Charlotte not Raleigh, sorry Cailey) and the other is leaving in August, and she is Brazilian but speaks English. We share a ward together, my area is called Dias Dávila, its amazing. You can drink the tap water here, its clean, and pretty fancy. And completely flat. All of these things are exactly what I didnt have in Simoes Filho. I was really sad to leave, I made some really amazing friends there, but Im excited to be in a new city, with new people to get to know. Ive only been here for...less than a day so far, and its P-day, so all I know is that there are new adventures arouns the corner. Other exciting news, Anne Petty is here! My college roommate, she got here yesterday. I was so excited to see her and we had a huge mission conference because President Toledo is leaving this week. We are getting our new Mission President on June 28th. President and Sister Hart. He speaks little Portuguese, and she doesnt speak any. I love President Toledo, he was exactly what I needed when I arrived here, but Im really excited for the new President, because he is finally mine. I havent felt like Ive had a very permanant President yet, now he is finally arriving, and He is staying here, and I am staying here. It only took half my mission to reach that point :) (sorry, i was gonna get pictures sent today, but I forgot my CD. Next week, I promise, Ive had a ridiculous amount of things on my mind these past few days). Sorry this is gonna be a shorter one, Its a crazy week. I hope all is well in the States, or wherever you are reading this! I love you all so much! OH, PS, I got a HUGE stack of letters at the conference, and the amazingly long letter from all my family. It was sweet. You all made me laugh really hard, especially Aaron, Ha! Thank you so much! Love you! Um abraço
Sister Pratt

Updated address

Apparently, we didn't have the correct address for Emma.

Here is the correct one:
Sister Emma Pratt
Av: Antonio C. Mogalhoes
N 3247 Sala 402
Ed- Delta
Cidade - Pituba - Salvador - BA
Cep: 40275-000
Brazil

6/14

Oiy Familia! So I tried to get pictures e-mailed today and it really did not work. Sorry! Ill figure it out sometime. And we´re having serious troubles with the internet here today. But that’s okay that’s what you get when you go to a cheap internet house. So this week was awesome, we had another baptism. And I really wish I get you pictures of all these people! But that’s okay. His name is Jefferson, he is 12 years old. You’ve probably noticed we have had a lot of young men getting baptized. That’s because weve got this awesome little group of missionaries here, these young men who bring all their friends to seminary and church and other activities. Jefferson is one of these. He is little and the cutest kid in the world! One day, we were at an activity, and we were standing around talking to people, and the young men were all goofing around (half of them people We´ve baptized these past few weeks) When Jefferson ran up, faster than I knew what was happening, put his arms around me and kissed me on the cheek. Everyone started laughing and freaking out, `You can´t do that! Shes a missionary!´ Haha! It was hilarious! But the best part was when I was on splits with a member, we went to pick him up and bring him to the church, when we were walking, the member asked him what one thing the sisters taught him that he didn’t know before, he responded ´That I can´t kiss Sister Pratt.´Haha! Then I had to explain what happened in my broken Portuguese. Oh man…Just to clarify, everyone here greets you with a hug and kiss. He just didn’t realize we weren’t allowed to with him. But we all got a good laugh out of it anyways. In other news, this week actually isn’t transfers, its next week, there was a bit of a mix-up. Im not sure what will happen, but I know I wont be staying in a trio. (Thank goodness, I LOVE my companions, but a trio is really hard, regardless of the people in it). My Portuguese is coming along, really it isn’t the speaking that is difficult, it’s the understanding. I still don’t really understand what it going on, but Im told it gets better, so we just keep going. Good news is next week, with transfers, hopefully I´ll receive some of those letters that have been sent. To those of you who have sent, thank you so much! Sorry I haven’t gotten them yet. Other good news! This area, Simoes Filho is growing! We have 2 wards here, and our area is really huge. But they are starting a study group in one area. It only took me 2 weeks to understand what this meant, a study group is the beginning of a new branch. Once the study group gets one sealed family and 9 priesthood holders, it’s a branch! Then it´ll grow into a ward, and the ultimate goal is to have an entire stake here in Simoes Filho. 7 more stakes in Bahia, and we get a Temple! And when that day comes, I will cry with joy and hopefully be able to come back for the open house or dedication. Some days it feels like our tiny daily efforts are doing nothing, but then we look at the big picture, and see how all the little pieces fit together to create a big miracle.
I´m sorry this is really short, but with all the computer troubles today, I don’t have much time. Plus nothing really crazy eventful happened, except our awesome baptism which included chocolate cake. Other than that, Im just in a foreign country, learning another language teaching people about Jesus. Ya know…everyday stuff J I love you all a lot! And thank you for everything! Have an amazing week!
Sister Pratt

6/7

Hey everyone! Well the good news is, we had another baptism. She is an elderly lady, who is sick and cant walk. It was interesting getting her there, and it took 2 people to baptize her. The spirit was really strong there, and we had a ton of member support, it was really awesome! We are teaching a 12 year-old boy right now, he has been coming to church, and going to all the activities. He really wants to get baptize but he needs support from his family. His parents are married, which is a miracle in itself, so we are really praying hard to be able to teach and baptize the entire family. They have taken the lessons once before, and been to church once, maybe they are prepared this time around, but were really excited about them. We also need to find new investigators this week. Lucky for me, the members are absolutely amazing here, and we recieve a million refference/ everyone brings their friends to church. Although it is a lot of work sorting out which people are interested and ready for the gospel, which people just want to hear about Jesus, and which people just think its cool to have an American in their house and they can learn random english words like ^trash' and 'lollipop'.
A new goal of mine is to learn to cook just about everything here. Today Im learning how to make Brazilian brownies, (they juast call them brownies, but they are not american brownies.) And I was supposed to learn how to make cus cus, but itdidnt work out. Its hard because my comp does know how/hates cooking, so I keep asking the members to help me, and we have a serious communication barrier. So they cant give me a recipe or explain, they have to show me. Well...Ill get it down eventually. In other news we have hot water. Did I tell you that already? Sorry, its just really exciting. Next week is transfers, and I dont even want to think about whats going to happen. Im afraid im going senior, but I pray everyday that I dont. Not yet at elast, maybe next transfer. Ideally, Ill just stay junioe my whole mission :) Haha, no, its all good, the Lord knows what He is doing.
I love Brazil, the people are amazing, the food is delicious, and Im halfway to being fluent in a foreign language, which is totally blogin my mind. Im sorry to anyone who has written, and not recieved a return letter, I havent recieved any mail in a long time, and we all need to be very patient with the mail system here. But Thank you for all your support! Keep writing, I love to hear from everyone! I love you tons and tons and miss you more!
Um abraço
Sister Pratt

5/31

Hello! This week was pretty awesome, we had another baptism. Thats right, weve had a baptism every weekend since I got here. Even though its Brazil, thats still not normal, its been a miracle. The Lord has blessed us with great success! Sister Tiburcio was telling me and my other american comp that we have great power, and strong testimonies. We dont believe her, because we are both frustrated with the langauge. When we did stats, and saw weve had 4 baptisms this month, Sister Tiburcio yelled, if you dont believe me, at least believe in the numbers! I didnt completely understand what she was talking about, we have a lot of those communication barriers, and I yelled back at her, I believe in Jesus Christ and nothing else!! Haha, we laughed. Oh man, its been really awesome though. However, I was sick this week. Just a cold, but still no fun. It was really bad on Sunday, and we had incestigators to find and bring to church. We wlked up and down some ridiculously steep hills, like...ridiculous. I thought I was going to die. And it turns out non of the investigators were there/ wanted to come. It was a little devastating, and we showed up to church empty handed. Here is where the miracle comes in: we had 8 investigators at church. EIGHT! OITO! Why? because our members are amazing and bring their friends/family. Its crazy how the Lord works sometimes, we climbed mountains thinking we had no success that day, but we were blessed! (Holy cow...I sound like a missionary. Thats...really weird.)
In other great news, we got our shower fixed and have hot water. Well...we had hot water. Because a week later it broke. and then the shower knob broke, when the shower was on. So everytime we want any water, we have to turn on this big knob, and the shower runs, and then we tuen all the water off. its kind of annoying, but hopefully well find someone to fix it this week. And then well try to get the hot water back again.
Its been really sunny this week, and hot, but I havent burned yet. Its back to rain today, which I love, but the people here complain its too cold. Its like 85 and breezy, I love it. But when the sun comes out...not so much. And its only winter! I dont even want to know what it will be like in November here. But thats okay, thats not for a while. Im at 7 months on my mission! Isnt that crazy? Its crazy to me.
Everything is going great here. I love you all a lot! Thank you for all you do!
Love
Sister Pratt

BOM dia!

Ola familia! So this week was pretty awesome, we had 2 baptisms! Yay! One was a wife of a inactive member, Celiana. He decided to come back to church, and we baptized his wife. They are a way awesome family. The second I met him, i just felt his strong spirit, and power. Ive been able to picture them in the temple being sealed together forever, and then she was baptized and it was the best day ever! It was a little crazy though, because they live really far away, you have to take a bus to get there, and its pretty expensive for us. Then on Thrusday we had all this stuff happen with having to pick up our new american companion. We couldnt get a hold of celiana for a few days! We FINALLY got a hold of her to have her come to the church for her interview. She asked when her baptism was, we said later that evening, and she was like, can we do it after lunch instead? Okay! So we ran to our lunch, and then we ran back, and gathered as many people as we could. Luckily we had enough priesthood holders there. And it was awesome,. Her husand, Antonio, cried, I almost cried, it was way sweet. We also baptized a man, Marcos. His mom is a member, he was supposed to get baptized a while ago, but he smoked 3 days before his batism. So he tried again, and he hasnt been smoking or anything! It was a miracle! And he was baptized! Yay!
So we have a new comp, Sister Taylor. She is from Utah. She is also African American, so she fits right in here and doesnt stick out like a sore thumb like some people...namely...me. However its this totally fascinating concept to Brazilians that not ALL Americans are 6 feet tall and white with light hair. If I had 1 real (the money here) for everytime someone made a comment about my American-ness, namely, I~m white, tall, eyes, hair, ask if I know obama or Justin Beiber...I would be able to buy Brazil by the end of my mission. No joke. Haha, but its all good. Some people wont talk to me because of it, but others will, either way the church is still true :) One thing that made me so ridiculously happy was seeing Guto, the boy we batized last week, come to church in a white shirt and tie and pass the sacrament. And his less active parents have come 3 weeks in a row now! Its the best thing ever! This ward is cool, we have 2 amazing RMs, power houses, that help us with everything. Patricia she is awesome. We went on splits on Sunday, I went with her, it was terryfying. I had no idea what was going on at all, but I learned a lot. I sort of felt like a little bird being pushed out of a tree before its wings were fully developed, and I smacked the ground a few times. But by the end, I was roughly flying a little better. Also we have Rene, he is our ward mission leader. But he wants to be more like our Zone Leader. We call him Elder Rene, he always asks how our numbers are, and helps us with EVERYTHING. Its pretty awesome. The both of them also teach seminary, and they work with the Youth a lot. They are the blood line, the core life of this ward. Its awesome to have such power helping us out.
My language is coming along a lot better. Everyday is a little better. Ive discovered i do well with everything, except when people tell a story, like from the past or something, or about other people. I think this is probably because i dont know verb tenses yet. Something i definitely will work on this week. Well, Im running out of time, but I love you all lots and lots! Thanks for all your support! Brazil is awesome! Its got its ups and downs, but overall, its pretty sweet to be preaching the gospel, because I know this church is true and Im so grateful for that knowlege in my life. Do me a huge favor, and go invite a friend to church!]Love you all!!!!
Sister Pratt

Oiy!

oiy familia! I just got to talk to some of youon sunday, but ill send an update for everyone else. Well, im still in brazil. Haha! No, I really love it here. All the hard things I didnt want to face arent as bad doing them as they are thinking about doing them. for example, i think ive finally learned how to breathe in the cold shower. also, ive got a system down of putting on sun screen, then bugspray, then baby powder, and we are ready to leave the apartment. I dont have elephant legs anymore, but i think blisters may be starting to form. thats okay though, we take problems one step at a time :) my stomach adjusts a little better everday to the food, although its still a little queasy from time to time, ive figured out how to manage. and the language, which is the hardest part, is coming along. i understand what is going on most of the time, its really hard when people look and me to talk, because i cant speak back very well yet, but im getting there. the hardest part for me is i want to be able to teach and talk and get to know people, but the language barrier is a huge proeblem. especially since Bahians LOVE to talk. and talk. and talk. Maybe its a brazilian thing, im not sure, but in any case they talk a lot. Also, I wrote a bunch of letters last week, but i didnt get to send them out, but they are on their way. Heres a little shout out to Cailey Loren Marcom Morgan who I havent heard from in a while. Please, just like a quick email telling me everything is going good. E-mail really is the best way, because i don~t know when i recieve letters, so email me, and ill try to write you back, via snail mail.
sorry this is really short, but this computer is slow, and i~m running out time. I love you all lots! Brazil is really sweet! We~ve got some amazing familias we are teaching and we have a baptism this saturday, which will be super awesome. Love you lots!
Sister Pratt

First letter from Brazil!

Hello from Brasil! I´m doing great as soon as I figure out how to type on this keyboard...sorry if there are mistakes. Its different. Just like everything else in this place, different, but its good! I got here and was super overwhelmed, but mostly because I was ridiculously tired. Luckily my companheira is amazing and she let me got to bed at like 8 o´clock and I slept a lot better than I thought I would. Things are really good actually! I think as soon as I am able to understand people, I~ll never want to leave this place! Brasil is SWEET! My companion is awesome, she is from Sao Paulo. President told me all the sisters love her, and I´ll love her too. My district leader and zone leader are \american, so they talk to me in English to help me out. They both said my trainor is the best sister in the entire mission. She really is amazing. And she is! She is funny and kind and loves everyone, and is very patient with me. I~m able to understand her pretty well, I have my dictionary, we call, meu amigo, and its all good. However when the people start talking to me, especially Bahians, I~m pretty sure its not Portuguese. Salvador is comparable to Los Angeles, I guess, and Bahia is very different from the rest of Brazil. Although we still eat beans and rice every day. People here are so surprised to hear that we don~t eat it everyday in the states. they just put everything on beans and rice. Most of the time I don~t know what Im eating, but its REALLY good, so I eat it anyways. People ask what my favorite food is, but I dont know...People also ask where I live in the US. These moments I wish I was from cailfornia or new york because no one recognizes anywhere else. i also wish i~ve met obama, justin beiber or seen the white house because the fact that i havent makes me a pretty un-interesting america. i do however have a picture of a snow man, which is pretty good. and the mambers are very impressed with the fact that im related to parley p pratt. Oh, and they can~t pronounce pratt, so my name is now sister Pratch. My feet are ridiculously swollen. I can never remember the word for swollen in portuguese, so i call them meu pes elefante. my elephant feet. haha, and my legs are covered in mosquito bits. But none of that really seems to matter because Brazilian people are SO amazing. They are kind and loving, and patient with me as i learn and they hug us and let us into their homes and feed us and its pretty awesome. We have a few people that we are baptizing this Sunday. Its pretty different from Colorado, how things work here, but Its good.

Amo Voces!! Um abraço!
Sister Pratt


This is the adress you should use to write me:

Av: Antonio C. Mogalhoes
Sala 402
Ed- Delta
Cidade - Pituba - Salvador - BA
Cep: 40275-000
Brazil

4/25/11

Hey family! Thanks to Sister Bowman, you all heard the news, I GOT MY VISA!!! I'm excited/nervous/scared/excited/every single emotion in the book. I feel ready...I think. I know that its the right time, for sure. I've known the whole week that it was my last week in Colorado. Then the President called on Saturday morning, and I'm leaving on Wednesday! My flight leaves at 10 and I think I'm going to Dallas first, then somewhere, they didn't tell me what was going on. All I know is that I report to the mission office on Wed morning. Sister Bowman sat by me in Relief Society and just cried the whole time. She gets really atttatched to the missionaries. I managed to make it through all of church without tears. But we visited my Recent Convert, Frank, who is doing so incredibly great! He is getting his priesthood on Sunday and he is going to the temple for baptisms next month! And I told him I was leaving, and he got all teary. He said a prayer with us before we left, and cried. Oh man, it was hard. Then he gave me a hug before I left...I just couldn't resist, hes the cutest little mexican man and I'm so sad to leave him. My one baptism :) I'm also sad to leave Phenia, TWO DAYS before she gets baptized! Ugh! She was sad when I told her too, she was like, First Sister HIlbert, now you? I know right! I miss Sister HIlbert too :) Its been a crazy week and I have so much to do before I leave. I love Pueblo Colorado, its like home! Okay Miracle Story:
Another miracle was when we visited a referral from the Pueblo Elders. They ran into a woman who had visited with missionaries before, and wanted them to come over for dinner. She ended up cancelling, but we decided to stop by and she let us in. Turned out she was ready for her baptism, but was living with her boyfriend and was on probation and there were just a lot of road blocks that stopped it from happening. And she lost contact with the missionaries. She recently broke up with that boyfriend, and is off probation and has been wanting to get back in contact with the missionaries, but didn't know how. She wants to be baptized! There are a few complications because she has a high-risk pregnancy and is on bed-rest. But we are super excited to work with her, she has a testimony of the gospel.
Well, I LOVE YOU ALL! SO MUCH! I've got lots to do today in preparation, and I'm pretty excited. Nervous, but excited. I Miss you lots and lots! Keep the letters coming, especially now that I'm in a foreign country. LOVE YOU! TE AMO
Sister Pratt

4/18/11

Hey everybody! I think that Brazil maybe forgot about me, but I'm totally okay with that because I love Pueblo! I could just serve here for the next year, and it'd be fine with me! Although, thats probably not the case, its okay. I'm enjoying the time I have here. SO at the beginning of this transfer, the Zone Leaders said that Pueblo Zone was going to baptized 45 people this month. And our district would have 16 of those. Thats a pretty big goal, considering last month our zone had 13 total. I hadn't quite found the faith in this number, and I really needed to. We had an amazing district meeting on Friday, and I finally "caught the vision" as my zone leader would say. So friday night we felt good about going to visit this former investigator. Then in the morning we felt really strongly about going to her house. None of us had met her, but just saw she was a former who had been to church a few times. We visited her and she told us how weird it was that we showed up because she was just thinking about us and how she wanted to go to church this Sunday and how she really wants to dedicate her life to God. She came to church yesterday! She is totally prepared and ready to commit and we are really excited for her Baptism on April 29th! So there you go, the miracle ALWAYS comes after the trial of faith. And that faith doesn't come until you are obedient. I'm a little frustrated with myself for not truly figuring all of this out until my 3rd transfer, but better late than never!

Another miracle was we felt really good about going to see this Recent Convert. So we called him up and went over there, turns out his daughter was there who is taking the lessons in Missouri. She told us how the Elders that she loved just got washed out, and now they're putting sisters in and is really upset about it. But after we talked to her and taught her a little, she said she'd call the sisters as soon as she got home for them to keep teaching her. It was amazing! She realized that she needed to be converted to the church, not to the missionaries, and understood the reason for everything and we were able to help her be more comfortable with sister missionaries.

The other miracle was teaching David, who wants to get baptized, but is on parole until next February. He wants to learn morea bout Joseph Smith, so we watched the Restoration DVD with him. It was so amazing, and afterwards he bore his testimony on the Prophet, and how he knew it was true. He is so amazing and his baptism is going to mean so much, since he is changing his life so much! I can't believe how my testimony grows even more deeper every time I share, or watch, or read the account of Joseph Smith. Its ridiculous.

So things are pretty much going great! Not easy, but really great. Hard work always pays off. I love you all! Hope your week has been going great! Remember to keep the faith, and miracles will happen! :)
Love always,
Sister Pratt