June 2015: SAO BERNARDO - I love rice and beans!

18 June 2015 - Novo Missionaires

Dear Family of Sister Bennallack,

Sister Bennallack has arrived safely in the São Paulo South Mission from the MTC here in São Paulo. I have had the opportunity to visit with her in a personal interview, and I am inspired by her missionary efforts thus far and know that she will make a great contribution to the work of the Lord here. We are so pleased to have her here! Sister Broadbent and I love her already, and we appreciate her desire and preparation to serve the Lord. It will be a wonderful experience for us to work with her in this great missionary effort as the Lord hastens His work here in Brazil and throughout the world. We know that our Heavenly Father will bless her, as she is obedient and diligent.

Thank you for your willingness to share her with the people she is serving here in Brazil. May you feel peace and joy in her service.

I have attached two pictures: one of Sister Broadbent and me and one of Sister Costa from Minas Gervais, Brazil.

With our love,

President and Sister Broadbent

President & Sister Broadbent - Sao Paulo South Mission

Sister Costa from Minas Gervais, Brazil
& Sister Bennallack from Adelaide, South Australia

23 June2015

OLA !!!!

So much to write.  I have an area and a companion!

I'm in São Bernardo 5 area and my companion is a native SISTER COSTA from Brazilia!!

My companion - Sister Costa

I love how in my last email I was saying how São Paulo sul was rich as, like the Hollywood of Brazil? Yep, not my area at all! hahahhaha so golden. I'm the queen of 'favela's' and giant hills!!!! My area is mostly favelas, with some blocks of apartments, such an amazing view walking up and down the streets and allys of the favelas!

I know I've been in Brazil for a month now, but it didn't really feel like I was in BRAZIL untill this week. 

The first day in the field was so cool, so interesting meeting our investigators and seeing our area which is HUGE by the way, so much walking, but walking is for the best since we have massive lunch appointments EVERY DAY.  Such a blessing/ curse!  Brazilian culture is so much about food, even when we go to lunch in the poorest Favelas they have been cooking all morning and have a feast for us and want us to eat and eat. ohhhh man. But the food is amazing!!!! and I dont eat for the rest of the day hahaha 

I LOVE RICE AND BEANS

On the first night all our appointments fell through, but we were walking in the favelas and met this son and father who I think sister costa has met before (I never actually know 100% what's going on! haha) but we got talking and ended up teahcing them the Plan of Salvation.  We just sat down on the concrete outside their house and taught, it was so cool.  I'm in Brazil being a missionary and expressing my love for this gospel and for God and teaching how you can be with your family forever on the ground in the middle of a set a favelas in broken Portuguese. SO GREAT.

And then it rained for three days straight........

Okay. Honest times, I have cried every single day except the first day which was actually awesome.

It's soooo cold here and you feel it so much being out in it all day. We leave the flat and don't come back till 9:30pm, we don't stop for dinner as lunch is the big thing here. I knew what I was getting into but MATE it's a change from the warm MTC. 

But by day three, I was sooooo homesick, I'm in Sao Paulo the biggest city in South America and I have never felt to alone.  Sister Costa is great, but she doesn't speak English at all and my Portuguese isn't very good yet. I was getting ready on day three and I was so cold and homesick, then I remembered Mum packed me stockings. OH MY GOSH! stockings = Mum. I was so happy she knows best and packed them.  As I put them on, I just burst out in tears. Never have I been so homesick in my life!!! That whole morning during study I couldnt' stop crying, hahahha! SEZ, get it together!

Anyway, I have never prayed so hard in my life, then we were leaving the appartment for the day, who calls me? President Broadbent! To see how I'm going, I hadn't even said anything.. actually, I said I was doing good? He tells me that I'm not allowed get stressed or discouraged about the launguage and that it will come, and how excited he is that I'm his missionary and that he loves me and is here at anytime, even if i just want to speak English. HE'S SO NICE, but as soon as he said that, hahah, I'm crying. SO inspired. I needed to hear that, and just to listen to some that I can understand.

Sorry about being negavitive for a second, I know i'll adjust and love my life again.

Sister Bennallack in Sao Bernardo, Sao Paulo

COOL/ random THINGS from this week:

-Brazilians here, love kites! It's so cool how much they are into them.  All day when we walk up and down the favelas we see not just kids but everyone flying their kite! IT'S THE BEST 

-The ward had an activity on Saturday night which was so fun and CRAZY.   They had a FEISTA, with so much food and dancing and wooowzaa. We also had heaps of investigators come! 

-HAHA! I have another 'lol' story with Portuguese. I got the words 'whispher' and 'dog' mixed up. I told Sister Costa that we can know if our message is true by the 'dog' of the Holy Ghost, hahahhahah! So funny but lucky is was just to Sister Costa.

-RATS. I see rats everywhere,  but I don't care, asl ong as they aren' in our house (oh yeah, I live in a house by the way, but like a house in a house? it's hard to explain but it's cool, and we do have a microwave mumma, hehe!)

But back on the rat story, Sister Costa and I saw the BIGGEST rat in history, and I'm not being dramatic about this!! it was the size of a cat, oh my goodness, so freaky!!!

EU AMO VOCÊ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sister Bennallack

30 June 2015 - OLA!
This week has been filled with many ups and downs....HILLS ;) Get it? I'm funny!

But over all, I'm settling into mission life much better this week. Lots of prayers and lots of tears, but the hardest things I can't control like how freezing cold it is here!! (not sure if I'm in Canada or Brazil) and of course the language, but each day I learn something new.  I can't wait to be able to speak less like a robot in a few months, and for the weather to get warmer ;) hehe but I'm feeling alot more confident in speaking TO EVERYONE in my basic Portugues! Ahhhh, I have learn't alot of patience as I want to say so much, our message is so important, but I go to speak, and I can't say things, Sister Costa help 'por favor!'

We don't really have any real soild investigators, we have appointments but eveyone is so 'flakey'.... so sad, BUT we're hopfully having a baptism this week!! woooohoooo, Germano, not that I can take any credit in this one, but it's so cool to see what can become of hard work. Germano has been investigating for 3 months, knows it's true but has been having a hard time with giving up the wild lifeeeee. So hopefully he doesn't relapes this week :)

Since we don't have many soilds, we do lots and lots of finding, which is also good for my Portuguese, people here are very nice but very busy!!! Brazilians know how to work!!! Most people work Monday-Saturday. Busy beavers, but they give you their address pretty easily.  I'm yet to really teach a proper lesson that was planned. BUT THIS WEEK!! (hopefully)

Story time:

-DOGS, dogs and dogs everywhere, so many strays here… I thought i liked dogs, (RIP Max, love you) but now I'm kinda scared of them! haha

Last night I literally saw a dog get hit by a car, THEN it crosses the road and starts chasing Sister Costa and I. Ahhh! hahah! at the time it was so scary I was pushing Sister Costa closer to the dog,  both of us squirling like girls, lolololol!

-Also fun fact about dogs, everyone in Brazil has one, or two or a million, but all the dogs are so pimped out with bows and sparkles - so funky.

-Someone important/ famous died here this week, very sad, everyone was talking about it, but I couldn't really understand who he was.

Oranges: Green on the outside!

-Music is always blasting everywhere, espically in the favelas and members don't turn it off when you come as well,  and because I'm not Brazilian they put American music on...but this one member was so excited to find out that I was Australian and ran and got the BeeGee's CD for me. (Hahhaha  thought of you Dad!)

-The food is amazing here, and people are SO PROUD of their cooking, and if you don't eat more or all of it they think you don't like it! And then they always give you left overs to take home, I honestly don't even need to buy food here. So yep, getting fat probs, but at least it's delish food and not Taro and KFC. I LOVE RICE AND BEANS. Beans, they just do it differently here in Brazil, so good.

But so freezing here, our house is all tiled and a basement house, so extra chilly, but the good news about cold, windy weather is lots and lots of KITES were out this week. Brazilians and thier kites, SO COOL!! Everywhere, love how people find happiness in so many differnt ways. I'm buying a kite when I get home. lols.

I love this gospel of Jesus Christ so much and I love sharing it with the WOLRD (Brazil).

Sister Bennallack