"LOOK! I have garments too!"

this week has been crazy! i have an awesome funny story and a spiritual story....

funny story...
yesterday we visited an inactive family. there is an old grandma and her son who is like 50 and has mental problems. we were just there to read a scripture and invite them to church... so we did that and we were getting ready to close the visit with a song and prayer... so as i was pulling out my hymn book the man, carlos, comes and sits by me and says, in english (he likes to speak english... it never makes sense though haha) anyways, he says, "look, I have garments!" i couldnt understand what he said so i turned to him and asked "o que?" as i turned he pulls down his pants to show me!!! oh man... i turned to irma west on the other side of me and gave her a oh man help me look! so she chooses a hymn and we start to sing... well... start to try and sing! every time we would open our mouths we couldnt sing we could only laugh!! i started crying cause we were laughing so hard haha. it was horrible. we decided after trying to sing 5 times that it wasnt gonna happen and so we carlos volunteered to offer the closing prayer. oh man.... the prayer was a story in and of itself... but it was an interesting experience haha...

spiritual story...
remember the family that i talked about last week? with the kid carlos in a wheel chair? well, he is amazing! we marked him for baptism for this mothers day!!! (happy mothers day mom) but i dont even know what to say... i have seen him change over night! its awesome! he is eating the scriptures up and always has tons of questions! the other people in the family are the same so we are going to try and mark them this week. it is so awesome! i dont even know how to explain how i feel!! this work is AMAZING!! and a few scriptures come to mind when i think about how they are being converted not because of anything that we are doing but because of the spirit... look these up... they are awesome! 1 cor. 1:27, Jacob 4:6-7, Alma 26:12.

well, i love you all! thanks for everything! and talk to you next sunday!! have a great week!

com amor
irmã graf

YAYYY PICTURES!

Oi Familia!

so... not a long one this week.... sorry. love you.

my first transfer is OVER ALREADY!!! and i am staying with irma west here in miratejo for another transfer! woo hoo!!! we are so excited because we opened this area and the pace is starting to pick up and we have a few people that we are close to baptizing so we are super excited to be able to see that!! woo hoo!

this week has been super hard, but we have just kept going and we have seen the Lord blessing us for our dilligence. It is so crazy how much more aware of the Lord you become on a mission! This week we taught the second lesson, about the plan of salvation and it just hit me for some odd reason how special that plan really is!

also, there is this lady, ana, a reference from a member and we taught her once at the beginning of the transfer and then she dropped off the face of the earth but this past week she called us and said that she needs God in her life and she needs help so we went to her house and it was CRAZY how prepared she was by the Lord!!! we taught her basically the first lesson about the restoration and then also the second lesson about the plan of salvation. she was EATING IT UP no joke! she kept asking questions and how she could know and how she could learn more... it was crazy! then we taught her about prayer and invited her to pray and ask. the next morning she called and said she recieved an answer. CRAZY!! we had another lesson with her and invited her to baptism this past sunday... she said she needed some time to think and pray some more... we pushed a little but then decided against it. but we are going to teach her this week. shes awesome!

well, anyways, i love you all and thanks so much for your support and prayers... btw... instead of praying for me could you pray for my investigators? not by name or anything... just that they will have comfort and the strength to continue to pray and read and aprender sobre este evangelho? thanks.

com amor

irma graf


ps- the pics... i cant remember what i sent last week... easter package, thanks so much! the one of us at the kitchen table- after conference sunday night we didnt get home until almost 12 because the last session was live and didnt start until like 9pm... and then we were wide awake and hungry so we made pancakes!!! haha. the one with the 2 black girls... i love these two!!! they are two yw in our ward and they are so awesome!!! the one next to me is pretty much my bff in the ward! haha. shes awesome!

pss- mom, with the baptism stuff... i couldnt open it so i just translated the one you copied and pasted... here it is... and w it i was thinking maybe make a bookmark out of it? cute border with colored ribbon at the top and laminated? and a boy version and a girl version... 15 of each? sorry for all this work... they just dont really do anything special for when they get baptized and i thought this would be cool... also, if you have another cute poem that you like just have dad translate it (brazilian is fine... half the people i teach are brazilian or cape verdian or angolian anyways)

"Frumpy" missionary.... at 3 months! ha ha

also, random tidbit for you all... I have now begun to only wear eyeliner on the bottom and mascara... the end. thats it. gary and bradys dream come true. and for jessika, ashley gibson and sis, i know. ive totally conformed to the frumpy sis mish... i no longer blowdry, straighten or do my hair, i wear plig. skirts, i wear freaking stalkings nylons and tights, and now i dont wear bronzer. you dont have to worry, i know im a gorgeous sister missionary... and its only been 3 months. i cant even imagine what i will be like by the time i come home. gross. you all will have to save me. well, not gibson cause she will be a gross frumpy sis mish too then haha. but the upside to all of this... i will come back with healthy skin and hair!

love you

irmã graf

AMAZING chocolate!

so... Ive decided that I am going to just live here forever! jk. I dont think I could live here they dont have dryers, their washing machines are super small, their dishwashers suck and most people dont have them... they wash dishes by hand! gross! who does that!! (other than the graffs, and I trust their washing job... but here, uh no I dont trust their washing jobs.), they dont have garbage disposals in their sinks... its rough. haha jk. but, their AMAZING chocolate, bread and pastries almost make up for their lack of other stuff. I do love it here though! The ward is AMAZING even though they do have their own problems and things they need to work on... the people are awesome and really nice... haha until the gospel is brought up. but, when we do find someone thats prepared to hear its awesome! also, this week we had a really bad day... like way bad... all of our apps caved, we lost 3 investigators and noone wanted to help us teach (members) and then noone was being receptive and interested. we were getting pretty discouraged because it had been like that for 2 days. we prayed and asked for help and then went to work. we knocked this whole apartment building and it was crazy how much the Lord blessed us! we knocked for less than 1 and a half hours and got 6 new investigators!!! thats amazing for our area! and then just yesterday we knocked for about an hour and found 5 more! they all are awesome too! we are so excited! im starting to see what devon has been telling me lately... that if you have faith and do all you can, and then just rely on the Lord, He will come through. We had a goal of 12 new investigators this week, and guess what, we got 13!!! I know that it has nothing to do with what we are doing, but it has to do with the Lord. I have been writting down how I see Gods hand in my life everyday and it is amazing to see just how much He helps us daily. (yeah, its a total cheesy missionary thing but whatever. I like it haha.)

well, I love you all! have a great week!

Irmã Graf


also, mom in your last email you asked what you could send in the easter package... I dont need these things right now... but whenever ANYONE wants to send a package but doesnt know what to send... here are some ideas

-dove original deodorant (they have weird (as in liquid that doesnt EVER dry... deodorant here)
-zit cream (haha. yeah I know weird request... but, they dont really have it...)
-syrup. they dont have syrup and the little kids hear LOVE it!
-any american candy or stickers they kids love that stuff here!
-those cheap green ctr rings for kids! they dont have them here
-cheese its (white cheddar or the jack)
-SMILES!!! walmart brand gummies!!! AMAZING
-granola bars! (they dont sell them here)
-toothpaste. supposedly here its not as strong... hence their jacked up teeth. gross.
-stuff to keep the kids entertained in sacrament meeting. you think our ward is irreverent? uh, I wish you could see this ward. oh man.
-seasoning packets... ex: hidden valley ranch packets, tacobell taco seasoning, and other sauce packets you can think of to make easy quick healthy meals.
-clean and clear oil blot sheets
-in the winter, thick tights

**this is not a request list. its just if you want to send something and dont know what to send, these would be very helpful... not all at once or whatever, just whenever your little heart desires

***also mom, can you send me some recipes that are quick, healthy and cheap. but not email, like in the mail... and recipes to make brownies from scratch. obrigada. i love you! tchau!

Portuguese Food!

uh... i donno which it is... i think its the chauntelle one. lets go with that one... and dang ash!!! she said she would be better cause you werent fwding them haha... oh gotta love my fam haha. jk, i totally do sooooooooooooo much!!!

and ps im super excited for the easter package!!! its crazy that its almost easter!!! (look into the boxes the post office has... the flat rate or something? maybe those are better priced? i donno.)

so, hears the scoop for this letter...
yo fam! alright, so i donno how much time i have but ill keep it shorter than last weeks...

so.... either opening an area is super hard, missions in general are super hard, or this mission is just plain hard. people here are super nice up until the trying to actually teach them anything! its annoying. especially because you begin to love them!! its not like a oh, i love them a little its like i really really love them...and then they take your heart and stomp on it! we are still teaching renato... hes from capo verde... hes awesome! super nice and accepting... but he just doesnt have a big enough desire to actually PRAY about the stuff we have been teaching him... he reads and he prays, but not about the book of mormon... it is so hard for me to watch him soooo close, but yet so far away. then we have the guy that i said reminded me of brad elmer... he came to church with us this sunday and went to a baptism with us... but i think that he just likes to talk to girls... (us) and likes our company more than the message... but we will see... we have an app. w him tomorrow... hopefully... we have a lady that we got as a new inves. yesterday through an awesome family that we have in our ward. i love her already! shes having a really hard time with life right now and looking for something in her life (oooo i know, i know... THE GOSPEL!) and my fav thing about her is that she speaks english!!!! woo hoo! we already made a connection on that which is so good cause if i cant say something in portuguese i can say it in english and she can understand haha.
so, one thing that i really like about my comp is that we open every lesson with a song and of course a prayer... in the mtc when they taught us about using hymns in lessons i thought they were crazy but wow. it is amazing how fast the spirit is brought and how strong it is felt when a hymn is sung! i love it!!! (and yes, it is just me and my comp singing while the inves. tries to sing along haha)
also, mom, this is for you... yesterday... I ATE TOMATOES!!! we had lunch at a members house and we had tomatoes and instead of having to explain that i dont like them in portuguese and then have to respond to their comments in portuguese, i just sucked it up and ate the nasty things. i about barfed. no joke. also, mom we have to cook our own food (duh) so... guess what i did... i cooked chicken. I TOUCHED IT RAW WITHOUT GLOVES!!!! it was so gross... but since then i have done it twice... and dont worry i have a picture of it for you.
so... um... super funny story for you all... Luiz, our lovely brazilian inves. that reminds me of brad... he doesnt live in a house. he lives in the back of a run down house ( i have a pic of that too...) in this shed room thing... anyways... we went to pick him up for church and we walked around the side of the house and there he was w his door open facing us... WITH HIS PANTS HALF DOWN AND NO BOXERS ON!!! luckily for me my comp went around the corner first so i didnt see anything... but, omg she about died!!! shes super proper... shes from england... anyways... it was HILARIOUS! she freaked out!
um... the think that i learned this week... be the best member missionary possible! full time missionaries need the help of the ward sooooo much! give them your references!!!! go to app.s with them... be so supportive of them! our ward here is awesome and they are such good examples to me of how i need to be after the mish! so fam and friends, give the missionaries references and go out with them on splits all the time! (especially you gibson!!!)

well fam, thats all i have time for... sorry i write so dang much!

oh, next week i will get a pic of my bff here! his name is pedro and he is AMAZING!!! he loves learning english from nickelodeon (sp?) and he helps me all the time to communicate with people at church and stuff... he has the best personality ever!!! love him haha.

also mom... in your package can you please send mascara... make up here is SOOOOOOOOO expensive!!!! like 18 euros for mascara... which is like 25 bucks!!! ew. and please, no water proof.

love you all! thanks for your support!!! i still need your prayers :)

com amor

irma graf

PICTURES!!!!