Love You All

it is so good to hear from you all. i actually prefer letters since it is easier to tell you everything in them. when we email we only get about 30 minutes to email everyone and that is not enough time to write you. but everything is good. the rules here are actually better than provo. last night was raining way to much and so the court for volleyball was soaked so we couldnt play at all. instead i decided to toughen up and go play basketball with the boys. here they dont care if you play contact with them or anything because they trust us to make the right choices. but i did really well. a lot of the boys were shocked at how well i played. i made the most points it was awesome. my quartet i sang in last week to everyone was awesome it went really well. i was so nervous and my leg shook but i did a good job. i am trying to remember everything that happened but it is all in a journal. i will keep writing you letter and now that i know how to send pictures i will being printing out pictures for you guys to have of me. i am not able to send you some through email because like i said everything on this computer is blocked so we cannot really do anything other than get onto email through lds.org. we dont have new roommates and a lot of girls are leaving which is very sad. every week groups come and go and it is very hard for me because i get so close to mostly Brazilians and they leave. so i have a lot of photos with them which is awesome. one elder gave me his tie. he was a good friend and his name was elder chavez which i thought was pretty cool. make sure you write coral for me and just tell her these things that i write in an email. tell everyone hi for me and that they all write my new address since i leave this ctm soon. and really dont want  letters going all over the place. also i am starting to get used to the days of non stop studying it is very frustrating to not know the language very well but i think i am doing a pretty good job of it. we had investigator training which i enjoy because we are filmed while teaching and get to go back and see how we do. i did really well with my companion. i feel kind of bad because i think either i am learning faster than her or i am just going by the spirit but either way i just talk non stop about the gospel and the lesson we are teaching. i will look at her to have her jump in but she has nothing to stay and gives me the i am scared look and so i continue talking. i am glad that i am not shy otherwise i would be struggling here. the weather has been cold the last few days but it feels nice and the rain is cold and feels good. the tress are blooming but sao paulo is such a trashy city that everything smells like sewage in some areas and on the way to the temple there are bums living in cardboard houses under the bridges. our president pointed to the river next to the road and we asked why it was so dirty. he told us its because its not just a river but all the sewage gets dumped into it. it was so gross to find that out. people park about an inch from each other and i ordered some really cool scripture covers for 60 reals which is about 40 dollars. they are custom made out of leather and i have the picture of christ holding the lost lamb carved into the front with sister tiana cesena across the bottom and on the back i have jose smith first vision. on the side it says brasil cuiaba mission which is awesome. also the candy here is delicious and the cocla cola is very sweet. i think i am losing weight. i am in a race with the class to see who drinks the most water and i drink 3 liters a DAY. i am so proud of myself. i cut back on food and just am careful. yesterday was only speak Portuguese day or what the missionaries call the English fast. we do not speak English at all which becomes difficult. i do a pretty good job i think and we make it a game. if you accidentally speak English you get a point and the one with the least points wins. elder merker and i had one point each for accidentally talking once. other than that i am doing great. really glad to be on my mission it still amazes me that i am here and that i am actually doing this but i know that i am here for a purpose. we sing the Brazilian national anthem all the time. you should look it up. it is amazing. i love it and get so excited when we sing it. i love you so much and happy to be here. cant wait to hear from you soon. love you all!!!

love, sister tiana cesena

Happy Mother's Day!

Mom, (Everyone)

 

oi!!! i am so happy it is P day again. i keep forgetting to carry around with me my cuiaba address. i will try to remember it for next week. my roommates left today on their missions so it is just sister adair and i. which is good and bad. there is no brazilian girls in our room any more and now it is just tough. today we went out and bought things found the grocery store so i could get shampoo and stuff like that which is good. while sister adair, elder stevenson and elder pittsenbarger and i were walking some gentlemen came up to us and starting speaking portugues. elder stevenson and i wanted to know what he said. so he and i jumped in and started talking to him. us being dumb missionaries were not carrying around a livro de mormon and told the man to tell us where he worked and we would go back to the ctm and get him one. it was so exciting to be able to give out my first book of mormon. on the way to where we were going to meet the guy, i was writing in the front cover my testimony in Portuguese which was kind of hard since i had no time to think or anything. it was amazing. my district is starting to get along and i am to the point where i am ready to go and start being a missionary. the weather here has been so nice, and the food after fast Sunday was amazing. the funny thing is we fast from lunch to lunch, because in Brazil, lunch is their main meal since they are up all night working. so we have big lunches and small dinners. i drink about 96 oz of water a day. i really want to lose weight so i am drinking more water and eating more fruit. this next letter i send you i will be sending a few pictures with it. finally getting up the courage to speak to people outside these walls is great and i found a place to print pictures for one real which technically is like 57 cents in the US. which is good. i got 41 pictures. oh i love it here. i love the Brazilians i love my mission. oh and i also bought myself some really nice scripture covers that are leather for my livro de mormon. a guy pretty much carves the pictures into the leather and they look amazing. i got Christ holding the lost lamb on the front, Joseph smith seeing god and Jesus Christ on the back and on the side it says Brazil cuiaba mission. and then sister tiana cesena with a til above the n. woohoo. class is getting to the point where i get so bored. one of our teachers is very awesome and we teach him as an investigator which is cool. we have invited him to church and this next week i am going to ask him if we would like to be baptised. its all pretend but good practice. i am starting to memorize scriptures and everything it is awesome. you can look this up. voce seguira, sendo batizado por alguem que possua a atoridade, do sacerdocio de deus. tenemos uma reunia batismal do dia (25, mayo) ok its the baptismal invite it will be hard to look up since i cant spell. also i tried finding you a card to send for mothers day but i cant find any so far. so i want to tell you how proud i am that you are my mother. thank you so much for raising me up to who i am today and for being that example to me. i love you so much and so proud to be called your daughter. you mean so much to me and have done so much for me and i thank you for that. also as a welcome home present a car would be perfect. lol to lighten the mood. but really mom i appreciate you and all that you do for me. i am grateful to be here on this mission and to be preaching the gospel. let dad know i love him and that i miss you all. please send coral a letter for me because i got hers in the mail last week but have no time or money to be writing everyone letters. just let her know things from this letter and that i love her. let everyone know i am doing good, grandma, aunt tt....everyone. I love you all so much. talk to you in a week. boa tarde

 

Sister tiana cesena