When Sister Wainwright first left the CTM, she never got the chance to send an email, so we had to wait an entire week before hearing from her! This is what we got after her first week in her new area!
"Teresina is absolutely phenomenal. It must be the poorest place in the world I think. These people have absolutely nothing and it just makes me well up inside with emotion to see how perfectly content and happy they are. They are humble, loving, beautiful, amazing people- always helping each other and the missionaries. We walk an average of 10-12 miles a day..... alot, but it isn't bad, honestly. All day long we walked and walked in 110 degree weather with no shade from the sun.
I sleep in a hammock. I shower outside. No hot water.....and it is literally the most amazing thing at the end of the day. Hopefully I don't become someones Bethsheba...............
I'm honestly not very interested in giving you all a travel log.... that isn't the reason I'm here. I'm here to be a representative of the Lord. This work is Marvelous. I was teaching an investigator about Atonement of Christ, and mom, I had the kind of experience you did. I was sitting on a dirt floor and was explaining it, the best Portuguese I could possibly muster, and it just hit me in the face how absolutely marvelous this all is. One eternal truth I learned in the CTM was this:
The wage for sin is death. Meaning, once we commit our first sin to our last, the payment that must be made for this is sin. It is the eternal law of Justice. So how are we redeemed from this inevitable flight toward death? By a PERFECT SACRIFICE. Because Christ lived a sinless Life, he had absolutely no need to die. In fact, he could and would not die....save he chose to lay down his life. His sacrifice satisfied the demands of the eternal law of justice. Through his atonement, he in essence bought our agency, and by so doing, we chose to come to this Earth and become his AGENTS. He must repay him for his sacrifice, to the best of our ability, by striving to follow his example and keep his commandments and live his Gospel. As his Agents, it is our responsibility to help others to come unto him as well. Not only as officially set apart missionaries, but as member missionaries as well.
I love you all. This church is true. And he lives.
My new address is
Brasil Teresina Mission
Sister Ali Ann Wainwright
Caixa Postal 2321 Teresina PI
CEP. 64001-973
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Here are some pictures Sister Wainwright sent before leaving the CTM:
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Sister Ali Wainwright has sent a LOT of pictures since she has gotten to Teresina! Check out those blisters! I'm sure she's loving it :)
And here's just a fun picture she took with her companion :D
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Now for her letter!
OCTOBER 28
Alrighty my lovely family and friends.
Progress updates first.
I committed two investigators to Baptism this week! Carrina and Dialauni. I am so so so so so excited for them. They are progressing in the gospel so quickly. Carrina is set for 2 weeks, and Dialauni for 3.
We are working with about 18 investigators and see an average of 5 a day.
Gilvan and Fransisca, Domingas, Domingos, Raimunda, another Raimunda, a third Raimunda, RaimundO, Soccoro, another Soccoro, Lisangela, Rafael, another Fransisca, Carro, Elivoni, Jiavo and Francicirene, Maria Jusse and Family, Maria Jose and Family, jaqoe, Carlos Henrique, Frankly and Paulo, Andria, Fatima, Marisongeia, and Bitchuely.
These poor people and their unfortunate names..... I simply cannot understand why everyone has the same names.
I cannot even express the love that I have for each and every one of my investigators. I'm called sister Wainy....wain...ritch, waeinhightch....oh heavens the names I get called. My companion can't say my name right either and then tries convincing others how to say my name and I'm just like no..... no... its Wainwright. I prefer people to just call me Wainy. It's easier for them. At first, I thought it was hilarious that no one could pronounce my name. But now, it's just very distracting. Every single time I meet someone for the first time, my name is the topic of conversation for at least 15 minutes and it gets very frustrating. My zone leader, Nakazoni, suggested we have my name changed during my mission to something easier to pronounce for the locals. I don't really like the idea of changing my name but we will speak with the mission president about it and see what he thinks. I just dislike how distracting it is for other people.
Let's see. Still absolutely loving Teresina. Still walking about 12 miles a day. Still 110 degrees outside. I have no idea what it is in Fahrenheit. It's been averaging 42 in Celsius.
Oh get this. Someone tried to kiss me three days ago. It was a horrific experience. We stopped in a Loja just to get snack. I grabbed an orange and went to pay my 56 centavos, and all of a sudden this man runs across the store yelling, "No no no I will pay for the lady." He then pays, and begins gushing about how beautiful I am, and how he's never seen someone with such pretty skin. He grabs my arm and starts stroking it, holds my hand against his chest and then proceeds to place one hand on the back of my head, as he tried to kiss me I slapped him in instinct, turned on a dime, yelled "Sister Pereira, vamos!" and high tailed it out of there. That experience, among others, makes me remember to constantly be vigilant. It's very dangerous here. We have been followed before. Every night we must take a different route home. Nothing for you guys to be overly concerned over...its just the way it is here. (Oh yeah, Ali! Nothing to worry about! haha)
Dialaunis mae, Domingas, was shot this past week. She was in critical condition for awhile. Very scary. But shes okay now. It's pretty scary how often murders take place. Late at night you can here gun fire some nights. There are some areas we are absolutely not allowed to enter because it's so dangerous. This kind of stuff just reminds me of the stories of the Nephites and Lamanites....and how blood thirsty they were......
On to better topics.
It is my personal goal as a missionary to help our area increase the number of baptisms. I was reviewing through our records over the last few years during planajemento mensal last night......so few baptisms. So so so few baptisms. People here just don't want to commit. For example, Carrina had been taught by previous missionaries for 3 months before I arrived. we had two lessons with her before I committed her. I don't understand why we have so many investigators yet no one is being baptized. So we are going to work on that.
A few cool experiences...
With absolutely zero notice yesterday, I was asked to speak in sacrament about missionary work and member missionary work. I had no time at all to prepare. I simply said a prayer to the Father to assist me in remembering all that I knew in Portuguese, and if I could not, than still allow the congregation to feel of the Spirit and understand the message. I cannot even express to you how amazing our God is, to answer my prayer. I spoke for 15 minutes in Portuguese. Fluently. There was not a single word I did not remember, or a single thing I could not say that I wanted to. And the miracle, that made me well up inside for love of the Father, was that on three separate occasions during that talk, three different things I was trying to say...... I had words that I have never seen....read...heard...learned before, come to my mind.... I knew as I thought of the words what they meant, and was able to speak them during my talk. I testify to all of you..........always carry the Spirit. There is absolutely no way that something like this can occur without the assistance of the Father, and oh how blessed I feel to have been able to experience that.
Okay more information.
As far as the language goes, I could not be more blessed. I have learned so quickly, and am at a point that things just make sense. There are moments that I don't understand things, but only when I just have not yet learned the vocabulary. I'm doing great on verbs and grammar. I just really need to expand my vocab now. Hahaa...... We went to lunch a few days ago with a family of the ward. At the end, they surprised me by asking me to pray in English...... At first I was relieved....but the funniest thing happened. I haven't prayed in English in about 2 months now. It was SO HARD to think of what to say and I kept wanting to say things in Portuguese! GAH!
I'm finally getting to the point that I can hear Portuguese and process it in my head IN Portuguese, rather than hear it, think of it in English, think of my response in port, and then say it. It's such a relief for the words to just make sense now.
I have the weirdest looking tan in the world. I'm becoming Brazilian. My arms are black, my neck is black, my face is black. And then my feet are zebra. For now, I have borrowed another sister's shoes because not a single one of mine are up to par. I've had a hard time with boils and blisters. They are terrible. And since I arrived my legs and ankles and feet are swollen and no matter what I do it won't go away. My companion said to expect that for about 3 months. Yay.
As far as the city and sites go, I'm about to send pictures. (I posted them above!) I absolutely love it here. But....its nothing like anything I've ever experienced before.
Sorry if I'm not giving you all the great details you are wanting to hear. I write things in my journal but then i just completely forget any random information I might want to tell you so you may just have to read through my journals when I return home.
If you have any specific questions, you need to ask them!
oh.....and I would really like to get some letters......haven't received any letters since about a month ago........
-Sister Wainwright
On a side note, Sister Wainwright says, "Oh! haha I woke up to red bumps all over my body. I forgot to put bugspray on after showering. Man will they get ya. I don't have a picture though. I look like a freckled kid. They're everywhere!"
