Oh we´re halfway there!

This week we had the Farewell of President and Sister Gonzaga, lots of soccer games, lots of rain, and Festa Junina! It made it a little hard to work, but the time went fast. I also celebrated 9 months on the mission! I can´t believe I´m halfway done. I feel like I just got here!

Festa Junina is like a Western Hoe-down. Everyone dresses in plaid, boots, and braids/pigtails. There´s music, dancing, and lots of food with corn. It was held in the church and tons of people came! We had a great time.

In other news, the transfer ended. Sister Alencar was transferred to Maceió and she is super excited. I don´t know who my new companion will be, but I´ll find out tomorrow. This next transfer will be 7 weeks so I hope I´ll like her! haha

This week I learned a valuable lesson about judging others. The Branch President´s wife gets sick a lot and doesn´t participate much in the branch. I thought she just needed to toughen up a bit. But yesterday we ate lunch at her house. I asked how she and President Nailson met. I couldn´t believe the story she told. She said that she had been married to another man for 23 years who was abusive. She stuck it out for so many years because they had children and she thought it would be better for them to have mother and father. After they seperated, she met and married President and ended up joining the church. This woman had stayed with a man who was physically abusive (and at one point tried to kill her) so for her children. I definitely don´t think of her as weak anymore. Just goes to show that most of the time, we have no idea what other people have been through. We are all brothers and sisters here on the Earth trying to live the best we know how. We need to love and serve, and I need to learn not to judge so quickly. I hope this week we can all take a second look at the people around us and remember that sometimes we don´t know the whole story. Have a great week and go USA!!!

Love,

Sister Lopez