week 4 and 5!

Krakenator Update!!

Week 4

Well...... not much happened this week..... except DR. SISTER MEDICLE MARTICLE IS IN DA HOUSE!

Can I get an AYE AYE??

 

 

So Wednesday, I was counting down the hours till you guys came, 12:30 comes around finally and me and Sister Hancock go to do our personal study by the window, let's be honest i was studying the cars pulling in more than my scriptures.. but then Elder Zaccaria (our new district leader) came down and told me the story of the people of Jericho and how they were united in a cause and were able to walk around the city till the wall fell down and won the battle, but the next battle, one person had stolen something so the Lord didn't help them win......... Then he told me that the night before he was at a leader meeting with the branch presidency and the president said no one should meet up with their familes... He felt so bad, he was gonna go out and see his best friend who was coming in that day, but he told me he wouldn't go see them if I didn't see mine. I just started crying. I knew seeing you guys would not make me homesick, and if i didn't see you i would be SO mad that you were all that close. But I love Elder Zaccaria and I really didn't want to disappoint him, especially if he wasn't going to go see his friends family. then I looked back out the window, and I saw a suburban, i thought it was you guys and my suspicion was confirmed when i saw the billowing blonde locks of hair of Sav L hanging out the window searching for me. I WAS SO HAPPY! and then i thought about not being able to see you guys and i was so upset. So i chose a happy medium and ran out just in time to wave at you, but not go to the car. I was SO happy to see all your faces!! and I watched you guys all unpack Madi, you have no idea how close i was to just running over there. But I didn't want to disappoint Elder Zaccaria, (now, had it been my old district leader Elder Lee I would have just said screw that and ran to you SO fast)

 

 

The best thing ever was watching cute little Sister Dumas walking up the sidewalk with her cheetah suitcases. I ran over to her and hugged her I was so beyond happy to see her! I wish i could have talked to and hugged all of you. When we went back to class, Sister Hancock told Zaccaria he should be so proud of me because I didn't talk to you guys. He was so happy. Then we did another one on one teaching experience and I had to be taught by Zaccaria and after he gave me the sweetest little apology letter, it made me cry. He is such a little sweetie, so I'm happy I listened to him.

 

Well I'm sure you're all dying to know.... me and Martis have completely opposite schedules, but she lives right below me so i see her every night before bed :) just like old times. and I get ALL of her mail. my district hates it. Zaccarias favorite thing to say lately is "queres lutar?" which means wanna fight, so anytime i say yes to that or unplug his headphones during TALL or something he tells me that he's not giving me my mail until madi gets less mail than the rest of the district haha. Speaking of Zaccaria and mail, i fell asleep during personal study on Sunday and i woke up to paper crinkling for like 5 minutes.... he was trying to mail an oreo.... haha

 

Yesterday my teacher asked if we have any news, and no one was saying anything, so of course I proudly announced Kim Kardashian is having a baby girl! :).... no one cared. all my teacher said was Bom.. por.. Ela.. (good for her....)

 

You know when you peel an orange and theres that sick white skin on it still?? Well I was peeling it off and my comp began to tell me how thats what has all the nutrients for you... blah blah blah squawk squawk.. still not sure if i believe her, but me and Elder Bowden decided we better eat it if we want to receive all the nutrients of that orange. So we fear factored that batch and took the skin and wrapped it in a waffle fry and dipped it in Jake sauce. oh the entertainment you have to succumb to here in the MTC.

 

I can't believe I only have 2 weeks left in the MTC! i'm so excited to get to Portugal, but i am NOT ready to say tchao to my district! I love them all so much! but I am so happy we will all be serving in Portugal together, so we'll see each other around every so often. But everyday at least 2 people, if not more, say how hard it's gonna be to say goodbye, or that they're not ready to leave each other yet. I love every single person in my district (even the elder that I dog on all the time. haha)

 

I saw Elder Curtis Lloyd yesterday, he told me about Luke Van Skyhawks mission call to Arizona! Syd, tell him congrats for me! that is sooo cool, he will LOVE it! and now for the shout outs. S/O to Melissa Freaking Brown and Jess Reeder for all the celeb gossip updates. honestly they get me through the week and give me something to say when our teacher asks if anyone has any news. S/O to the bro Taylor for quoting sasquatch gang haha i was LOL'in 4 real, and S/O to Allie Shaw raking in 3 letters from her in one day! and S/O to Dennis for the Nutella and Portugal Flag!!!!! honestly my district couldn't have been happier, and no the thank you note they wrote you wasn't even my idea, although I did tell them to call you Dennis.

 

Happy Fathers Day on Sunday to THE best papa in da wholleeeeee worlddd!!! the present i was gonna get you is not in stock........ it may be here friday... but we'll see. just be glad i'm not like elder bowden and getting his dad an MTC waterbottle. hahaha

 

 

well I love you all! the church is true! miss all your faces, someone write me with the latest hollywood drama stat por favor.

xoxo,

sister dumas

 

 

Week 5!!

"On the 12th day till Portugal we got our flight plans, and NO one got reassignments!"

HOLLA! 7 days till I'm off to Portugal! Minha nossa! i'm stoked out of my mind right now! Me and sister H were walking back from lunch late and right when we walked in the door Zaccaria was at the top of the stairs yelling for us to hurry, we didn't know why so of course we just ignored him and continued to saunter up the stairs and he kept yelling so finally we hurried and got to the classroom and our flight plans were there!! but first our teacher made us sing and pray... we have all never sang "the spirit of God" so fast in our lives, and the prayer was like "Pai Celsetial, obrigada por nosso flight plans. amem." then we finally got to look! AH! We leave Tuesday morning from the MTC at like 11, and then I will call all y'all and you all better answer! (I've been stocking up on all my quarters so I can just be on the phone between erry flight.) then at 2:30 i fly to Fortworth, Texas (S/O to kaylee, i'll give Elder Bowthorpe a kiss for you when I see him) then we have a 3 hour lay over, so obvi, I'll call again, and then fly to London and have another 3 hour lay over (not sure about calling here...... will def try) and then i fly to Portugal and land at 6 at night. OH MY! i'm so excited to get there and to talk to all of you guys of course!

 

 

Other than flight plans, not too much else happened this week.... except it was our last temple walk, one of our progressing investigators, Arthur, was baptized, i got like 7 packages of food! seriously Dennis, i know you're bored, but we are over flowing on food over here and only a week left to eat it, then i'm giving it to the Italians, so start sending clothes or something i can take with me :) and then last wednesday we got to host and Guess who is the brand new Italians in the classroom next to me?? THE one and only, Snow Hall Bachelor!! HOLLA! Elder Kenney, breaking hearts left and right even in the MTC. So i get to talk to him everyday now, and Keeton Alder is on the floor below so he I see him a lot too. and Elder Lee finally isn't 18 anymore. Me and Sis Hancock went all out, (as all out as we could with our limited resources) we decorated his desk with hot pink zebra birthday decorations another sister gave us, got him a birthday card and had the whole district sign it, sang happy birthday in Portuguese multiple times throughout the day and then Elder Zaccaria had a bottle of sparkling cider his mom sent him as a "congrats you made it 4 weeks, didn't think you'd make it that far" package so we popped that open and all took shots. Para Bens!

 

We had a lesson with one of our progressing investigators this week, Jose about the Palavra de Sabedoria, (Word of Wisdom) Sister Hancock read him that scripture in D&C 89 that says "nao bebidas fortes" (no strong drinks) and proceeded to tell him that meant no coffee. I knew she was wrong, but i only had my Portuguese scriptures so as he was fighting her telling her that coffee wasn't a strong drink, i was rapidly searching for the right one. Finally, I found the verse that says "nao bebidas quent" (no hot drinks) and said so no coffee or tea, now do you understand? and Jose was like okay so no hot drinks. no coffee, no tea, no "chocolat quent"  and i was like no you can have hot chocolate and he just continued, "or no "lait quent"....... and sister hancock goes uhh who even drinks hot milk anyway? and then tried to explain that he could drink that. Then we proceeded the lesson into the Plan of Salvation and as we were teaching about Adam and Eve he asked us what the forbidden fruit was, mind you this was all in poorly conjugated Portuguese, and sis H. was like i don't know, but its not important, and he was like "ohh foi maca" (ohh it was an apple) and she was like no, i dont know what it was and he was like yeah I think it was apple, and she goes the type of fruit is not important and he just goes apple. okay. haha we were like okay whatever maybe it was an apple. haha our investigator is our teacher so he's always trying to give us a hard time so he can get the enjoyment of watching us frantically racking our brains for portuguese.

 

Right now we're all in a little stage that I like to call "language puberty" not only does our portuguese suck, but it's really taking a toll of my English, and we all speak "portuinglais", so a little bit of both. but it makes everything so much funnier. Like during TALL this week, i fell asleep, of course, but someone pressed play on the video and it woke me up so later i was asking who did it and Elder Bowden goes "foi espirito santo" (was the holy ghost) haha i don't know why that was even so funny, but you can literally say the dumbest things in Portuguese and the whole class will be rollllllling. Which is doing wonders on my ego ;) The problem is Elder Zaccaria just makes up his own portuguese and I know his words better than the actual thing. Like lately he told me Mariposa means butterfly, well i looked it up last night, after i have been calling people that all week, and the dictionary said butterfly was barboleta or something so i was like what the heck, then i looked up what mariposa means.... and it means moth. haha so stupid. i have been calling everyone little moths all week. Que vergonha!

 

Yesterday we had gym at freaking 7 a.m. so we played beach volleyball outside with our district, Elder Collier kept hitting the ball but it would never make it over the net and no one would like help it over. So he was finally like "okay sister Hancock, this ones coming to you.." right at that exact moment, elder Lee had told her to turn around and face him so she could watch the ball, BAM! the ball hit her right in the face!! HAHA it was literally so funny. i was on the ground, crying i was laughing so hard. and she was trying to defend herself "I'm only crying because it's funny!!" hahaha yeah right. and then later i missed the ball and she started laughing and making fun of me and i was like "shut up sister Hancock, you got hit in the face." oh mi goish, i think Bowden might have peed his pants, he thought that was the funniest thing he's ever heard and he literally brought it up probably 8 times throughout the day. Well at least he thinks I'm funny.

 

Oh where did shart get her new mission call to?? sheridan write me back and tell me about it!! Dad did you get our fajas day package?? HAPPY FATHERS DAY to you again!! :)

 

This week I have been missing Macklemore toooo much. Maybe cause his birthday is tomorrow!!!!! happy birthday to the filthiest man alive. Love him. You all better be enjoying all dem dirty rap songs for those of us who can't. (i'm awful.... yolo.)

Entao, I am so excited to be serving in Portugal in just one week, but I am really gonna miss the MTC. I know I'm a freak, but it is so fun and I am learning so much. I love my mission and I am so happy I am here. The church is true. Eu sou muito grato para a Igreja em minha vida e para minha dessicao a servir uma missao.

 

xoxo,

Sister kracklepuss Dumas

 

EVERYONE write me in Portugal now:

(unless you're putting a letter in the mail today, which i doubt you are)

 

Sister Kristen Dumas

C/O Stephen L. Fluckiger

Portugal Lisbon MIssion

Apartado 40054

1500 Lisbon

Portugal

 

LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL MUITO! TCHAO!

 

 

 

 

 

#KeepingupwiththeKRaKen

Letter Numero 3

Ola familia e amigos!

let's give a couple shout outs to begin.... S/O to Martison coming to the MTC tomorrow! AHH so excited, I will see you all at 1245 :) S/O to my girl Kim Kardashian for having a GIRL!! so happy for her :) S/O to Jess Reeder for keeping me updated on ALL celebrity gossip including amanda bynes and david beckham haha it was perfect. keep it comin' S/O to the family for the last package! my district obviously L O V E D it and we already ate all the candy.... and enough with the fruit snacks!  and S/O to Papa Dumas for his novels. literally I could publish all of your letters. they are amzing, Eu t'ama, Obrigada. and S/O to the handwritten and dear elders i got this week. Especially from Yum Yum. she is the best Asian there ever was. but seriously I LOVE MAIL so keep it comin erry one!

Also Dennis told me to make sure I'm using good language in my emails for the older people reading these...... sorry bout it, just tryna keep em hip and with the times #youllthankmelater

 

 thanks to dennis greg martis and tay way who write me off the hook. p.s. being a sister rocks, we get $8 every wednesday and the elders only get $6..... #manyarecalledbutfewaresisters

 

Dad you wrote me and asked if i was driving sis hancock crazy and that she probably never danced..... WRONG. A. she loves me and B. go to lds.org and check out the Laie Hawaii temple cultural celebration to see her debut.. with braces... HAHA don't worry she's the only white girl so she's easy to spot, she's in it twice. Elder Zaccaria always reinacts it and we always relate everything back to that. it's so dumb, but everything in the empty sea is funny to us. So she is often MTC famous anytime a district watches that everyone recognizes her and asks her about it, it's so funny.

 

Oh boy. Volleyball. I just need to tell you, the caliber of people we play volleyball with has really gone down since Elder Bowden hurt his ankle and Harp and Manley's district is now in the mission field. I'm about the best one on the court now.... and thats not saying much. it is so fun though. The best part is this typical red head glasses nerdy elder who no matter what, EVERY single time he hits the ball... double fist punch. every. single. time. the ball goes flying all different directions. rarely ever makes it in the bounds. it's such a joke, but it's so funny. even when he serves, throws it up, ultimate punches it across the court. we've all had little talks with him, but he continues to double fist punch the crap out of the poor ball. and i continue to laugh because it's still funny

 

This week our sister training leaders got reassigned cause they haven't gotten their visas to brazil. You think you're done saying bye to everyone when you get dropped off at the curb.. nope. Bye, bye , bye by N*Sync is my new theme song. but as we're talking about visas... This week me and sister Hancock got to take a field trip alllll the way toooo........ Taylorsville. it was the BEST! we had to go there and get my fingerprints re-taken... again... but it was perfect. I was SO sick of studying and getting so distracted, but then we got to leave for a couple hours and do that, #tendermercies and when we got back i receieved my package and i was SO happy!

 

 

Our district has been going a little stir crazy lately so we have had to devise a few ways to keep us entertained, while the sisters were diligently studying this week, me and a couple elders set up 2 chairs that have like padding on the seats and would bounce an almond joy off of them and every time we threw it we had to say a word in Portugues. Haha Oh the language is coming along..... this week Elder Bowden prayed to please become "mulher" at something..... well he was trying to say please help us become better at something.... and Melhor = better but mulher = women so he prayed that we would all become women. hahahaha so funny.

 

 

S/O to Elder Zaccaria for teaching us about "regacoes" a.k.a Laps on the rolling chairs/desks around the hallways when we get tired. I have taken plenty of regacoes this week. me and sister Hancock even did our companionship inventory over a few regacoes.. i feel like I am literally living the plot to "the Best 2 Years" movie, because during companionship inventory she asked me to stop saying "frick"........ aye yi yi. it's been a struggle.

 

My favorite part about the MTC (besides getting mail and the hottie teachers) is when we practice teaching... but not at the TRC or with our progressing investigators, cause those are planned out and hard, but in class we watch these things from New York Times called "One in a Million" *everyonecheckthemout if i were home i could sit there and watch them all day. it's just a million like 2 minute videos about one person and their life. So we watch one of those and then teach each other one on one as if they are that person and really focus on teaching to our investigators needs and because it's one on one i don't have Sister Hancocks fluent Portuguese to bail me out. i have to really rely on the spirit. it's so cool and gets me SO excited to actually be doing this in Portugal.

 

This Sunday for fast Sunday... yes you guessed it, no blueberry muffins :( but also it was so cool to be in fast and testimony meeting and hear everyone bear their testimonies in Portuguese. I also set a goal to finish the Book of Mormon by the time I leave the MTC.. 3 weeks, that's like 23 pages a day, and even with all the study time i get, it's still tough. but I am already half way through 2 Nephi and it's only my 3rd day! It is so cool how Nephi could testify of Christopher Columbus, The Revolutionary War, Joseph Smith, and the Restoraion, 600 years before Christ was even born and all in the first 50 pages! You read that and then tell me Joseph Smith wasn't a true prophet. Picture Boston or Jaxon who are around the age that Joseph Smith was when he restored the gospel, (14) but picture one of them, having almost no education and then "making up" the Book of Mormon plus a whole religion around it that is still standing and still growing 200 years later.. the church is TRUE. Eu SEI que O Livro de Mormon e verdadeira e Joseph Smith foi um profeta chamado por Deus a restaurado Ele evangelho a terra.

 

I love you all, and can't wait to see the fam tomorrow. the church is true. I am SO happy. I love my mission. until next week..

XOXO

Sister Dumas 

 

Week 2 in da MTC!!

well lets start this off right........

i love the MTC and everything.... but...... i have literally NO one to talk celeb gossip with. The only worldly thing i have is talking Eazy E to elder zaccaria... i dont even care about eazy e that much but its the best thing i got. I NEED some kardashian updates!!!! Kaylee/ Syd? allie? jess? somebody hoook me up!!!Well today is my 2nd P-day here in the MTC and I just got my GTL on for the day.. gym, temple, laundry. (yeah.. I could def use a jersey shore update too.. Allie. you're in charge of that.)

 

Okay OMBRIGADA para um package. it couldn't have come at a more perfect time! that morning i was just barely experiencing my first symptoms of homesickness and then after lunch... i got a package slip! I WAS SO MUITO ANIMADO!!!!! and my district was just as happy about all the candy... we already ate it all... sooooo..... send lots of candy! we got the shaft in the meal plans... breakfast is at 630 and dinner is at affing 4!!! so we're always muito starving. Martis if you could..... bring like 2 giant bags of candy for my district when you come to the MTC next week...... i and my whole district will love you forever! or for the next week... as long as the candy lasts haha

 

 

 

The other day we were doing our hour of service and i was finished mopping the floors and they told me to go see if my companion was finished in the basement so i go down this creepy dark stair way..all i could hear was an industrial vaccuum.. turn the corner and at the bottom of this dimly lit creepy narrow staircase was my companion sitting on a little chair all by herself vaccuuming buckets of chalkboard erasers! hahaha okay I don't know if it's as funny as i think it was... but i was dying! muito funny!

 

For all of you future missionarios out there, especially Martis.. I highly suggest memorizing the First Vision and The Missionary Purpose in ENGLISH before you get in here! (oh and the baptismal challenge if you can) especially if you are learning a language! cause now i'm tryna memorize it in portuguese and i dont even know what im saying and its muito hard! i have to memorize it in both languages and yeah just do it before you get in here. also study the crap out of 2 Nephi 31. cause that is all we focus on and talk about for 15 hours a day.

 

This week we had to seperate from our companions and teach a 10 minute lesson.. in portuguese.. by ourselves.. 10 minutes is a LONG freaking time! so I had to teach Elder Bowden, he went first and I could feel the spirit and understand all his portuguese. Then I went and I was so nervous. I didn't have my companion there to bail me out or help me know what i'm trying to say, but i just taught the most chopped up version of the first vision half in portuguese/ half in english.. I felt the spirit so strongly. and Elder Bowden told me he could feel it really strongly too and he thinks I know a lot more Portuguese than I think I know cause he could understand everything i was trying to say. I was so happy to hear that, but it was so hard to teach and super humbling. i have A LOT of work to do on the language. but it's coming..

 

Tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. my favorite Elders (Harp and Manley) are headed off to Canada and I am sooo sad! They're like our only friends outside of the district and I am gonna miss them muito! Our elders in our district hate them haha they always get mad at us for "33-ing" (33 is the page in the white handbook that says no flirting haha) the other day we were sitting by Harp and Manley at dinner and I looked up to see Elder Zaccaria shaking his head disapprovingly and flashing a 33 at us. haha it was exactly like 2 dollars.... on Better Off Dead for whoever's seen that. haha i was dying. but really i'm gonna miss those guys! Who the heck am i going to bond with about rap music i actually care about? who the heck am i going to vent to when elder lee, my pipsqueak little 18 year old justin beiber twin district leader holds my mail hostage until 930... (i know i know we're not supposed to read our mail till bed time, butttt whatever happened to YOLO?? and Free agency??) just gimme my letters yo! it's so obnoxious, so now everything else he does is that much more obnoxious.. oh goish. BUT he has a sweet spirit and he really is a good district leader.

 

 

Okay i can handle a lot of things in the shower... the humming.. the pitch perfect riff-offs... the single jet spray of water..... but i can NOT handle the opera singer who showers every night from 9:30-10 and just freaking belts the hymns.. like honestly just shut up. She starts singing before she even turns the water on.. I'm over here tryna rap under my breath so i dont get chastised by all the "holier than thou" sisters and i got freaking opera over here making it so i can't even hear myself think... just shut up. also the wall of hair in the shower was okay when I lived with Smorg or Martison.. ya know, it was hard to deal with, but i got over it...but the MTC shower wall of hair has got to go. I gag. literally gag, everytime i shower. it's awful.

 

i LIVE for the 50 minutes of volleyball everyday. but the Elders are a little too good. like it's scary how hard they haul that ball at you! when there's only like me and one other sister on the court... they have no mercy and then laugh their aces off when I duck instead of attempting to break every single finger trying to set it back to them after they just spiked it in my face. So yesterday, the guy was like okay gym times over and elder harp was like k just keep going till the ball hits the ground! so we're playing.. everyones hitting it everyones doing good, it hits the wall.... but we saved it and kept playing.. like this is going on for a while, finally Harp bumped it over to me and I am feeling so confident, i got my arms set in the right position, the ball is aiming perfectly for me to hit it and everything.... uh guess not.. it freaking drilled me straight in the face. I have never seen someone laugh so hard. the elders were dying. it was funny... but so stupid, i was so confident and then BAM good night. right in my face. hahahaha so dumb.

 

Yesterday Sister Hancock had to go to the bathroom, so we go to the door and theres a sign that says "please knock" so she starts knocking and like puts her ear next to the door trying to hear something cause it was so loud in the hallway and i am like all about it, i was like oh yeah maybe the lock is just broken, thats kinda weird.. then i look over and the door next to us all huge says WOMEN she was just knocking on some ones office door hahaha i was laughing so hard i almost peed, good thing we figured out where the bathroom was now hahaha. I wonder if that lady gets her door knocked on all the time for the bathroom or if we're just stupid...

 

 

I made a new goal for myself last night. Be my companions favorite companion. I know it shouldnt be too hard for me, but for real imma try to do it for all my comps.

 

I made it as the second quote ever on the quote board!!! (if you know me at all... you know how much i value getting my credit when it's due so this was muito exciting for me) so the day was dragging on...... studying for days.. literally.. and i found it it was only 630 and we STILL had another 3 hour class with Brother Taylor..... oh my i wanted to just die and I was being so dramatic, but serious and i said "I feel like I've been living this day for a year..." oh my district thought that was just about the funniest thing they've ever heard, they threw it up on the quote board next to elder zaccarias quote, now he is funny so that is quite the compliment.

 

Well my companheira is rushing me, so i gotta go, but i LOVE YOU ALL! keep the letters coming! tchao, ate logo!

Love, Sister Dumas

ps. Boa Sorte to Ash hole and Joysticle on friday!! wish i could be there :( so sad.... but as the honorary bridesmaid i expect a letter and pics with ALL the deets.

 

 

 

 

 

Translation:

Martis = Madi (Kristen's Sister)

Ash hole = Ashley, Kristens friend who is getting married

Joysticle = Jace, Kristens other friend who is marrying Ashley ^^

YOLO = you only live once

 

First P Day.......

OH MY GOSH I LOVE THE MTC!!!

honestly i am having the best time here. Minha companheira is Sister Hancock. She is a doll. She's from Oahu and she is just super simple and super cute. She went to byu in provo oh and she knows Elder Graham by the way.. but she is super knowledgable about the gospel and she took Portuguese before coming here so she is a HUGE help to me. Love her. except the first day i met her she asked me where utah state even was..... go aggies. I get so excited everytime  i see someone in here in their Utah state gear! seriously that's like more exciting than getting letters haha  

The first day I got here, i was checking in a the lady helping me was Allie Howe's mom.. so S/O to her! haha then every where i went after that it was SO HOT. i wanted to die. I didn't want to be that sick girl that takes her shoes off in class, but i was dying... don't tell Martis, she'll be pissed. but i couldn't help it i was roasting in those things! Then that night we had our little introduction devotional and sang "We'll Bring The World His Truth" and on the line that says "and we will be the Lord's missionaries.." we sang "and we are now the Lord's missionaries.." wow. I am on a freaking mission. I could feel the spirit so strongly that this is where I am supposed to be. i love it here.

 

My district is amazing. It's weird cause you only have a teacher in the class for like 3 hours everyday.. you would think have 6 elders and 4 sisters squashed in a tiny room for 8+ hours a day things would get a little cray cray, but no. Everyone is so dedicated and so faithful that we all continue studying like we are supposed to. I mean yeah sometimes we go a little crazy and get off topic, but really not that much. and if we do lose focus, we pray. We are constantly on our knees as a district. If we're tired, we pray. if we get off topic, we pray. before we leave the classroom, we pray. it's so amazing. The other day our teacher didn't show up for class and Elder Zaccaria suggested we take turns each reading a verse in the B.O.M in English and then in Portuguese. so we went around doing that, seriously my district is the best! i know everyone says that about their district, but NO. mine is the best. Except yesterday i told them we need to do our emails in the laundry room cause the computers aren't timed and they all looked at me like i just told them i hate portugal or something..... chill out irmaos......

 

Plus my district is so funny. Elder Zaccaria.. oh he's a hoot. he just says things in English and adds a Portuguese accent and acts like it's portuguese haha it is so dumb, but so funny. and last night at dinner, we were showing off our bodily talents, and Elder Bowden grabbed my chicken strips and started juggling them.. haha i wasn't planning on eating them anyway.........  

I don't know why everyone dogs on the food here in the empty sea... it's freaking bomb. it's the water that's gross!! seriously it tastes like an old rusty drinking fountain in an orthodonists office. ew.

And I know why everyone says make it to Sunday.... The blueberry muffins on sunday mornings are divine. literally. I was dying. I made my whole district go get one, even if they hate/ are allergic to blueberries.. I still made them try it. Yes, they were that good. Then the rest of the day is pretty laid back, just a lot of personal study and devotionals and temple walk which is like the best thing ever! better than recess in elementary school! and sacrament is pretty much all in portuguese and they call 2 people at the beginning of the meeting who will be speaking so you have to prepare a talk erry week... holla! not.

 

My 3rd day in the MTC we had to teach a full 30 minute lesson ALL in Portuguese. ahhh. good thing minha companheira is so good at Portuguese. Last night I lost my B.O.M. or should i say L.D.M. (o livre de mormon)... but it's okay cause i lost it to Vander our investigator who we committed to reading the book of mormon!!!! I was so excited! I can't even imagine how great it is gonna be when it happens for real in Portugal!.

 

There is a tree here that smells like cream soda. i'm not even joking. I can not wait for 2 more weeks Martis gets here!!! It is so exciting to see people you know here! I have seen....... Amy Crofts, Brent Syphus, Chincy, Jake Hutchins, Emily Sheffield, Kelsey Christopolus, Melodee Young, Hayden Stofferan, Gage Marberger, Brenna (sabricks cuz) and every single day i see BUH!! (Elder Neiderhauser) his classroom is right by mine so i see him erryday. but for real, it is like Christmas in the MTC when you see someone you know, but what is better than that.. It's like being front row and getting a shout out from Macklemore when you get letters!!! so write, email, dear elder.. whateva it takes, and i promise i'll write ya back ;) Shout out to all my homies who have written me! love you all.

 

well I'm running out of time, and i wanna send pictures, write and send pics plz!!!

 

I am SO happy. I love the MTC, I love my district, i love my companion, I love Portuguese, I love my mission, I love the gospel.

Eu sei que a igreja es verdadeira e o livre de mormon e palavra de deus. THE CHURCH IS TRUE and i love you all

until next week,

xoxo, Sister Dumas

 

Minha companheira sister Hancock

Brenna!

Meu Districto!

Elder Gage Marberger

my two favorite elders in the MTC who leave to vancouver canada next week :( Elder Harp and Elder Manley

S/O to sbluis!
happy birthday!

 how i read during personal study so i don't fall asleep....... so uncomfortably comfortable, it just works

rollin' with the punches

Sometimes life just happens and we just gotta r o l l with the punches. 
For better or worse.
**As I was writing this blog post, the only song I could think of to fit the present situation, was an explicit Eminem song, (not exactly the right choice for a mission blog) and then my favorite Beatles song came to mind and fits even more perfect.... 

Ob la di, ob la da life goes oooonnnn brah,

 la la la la life goes on 

Last week I said my bittersweet adios to my best friend Elder Landon Bickley and he is now in the MTC preparing to serve in the Mexico City East mission. 

I can't even begin to say how grateful I am for this boy in my life. I am so proud of him and will definitely miss all the laughs. 

From the "Hot Tamale" leather onesie at DSN to his Lil' Jon impersonations, 

from his obsession with soft shoeing to his Canadian and Korean accents...

There was never a dull moment with Landolf801 and I cannot wait for #storyswap2015

Then Sunday after church I was drivin through St George with Martis and Paul and it hit me, 

I'm leaving in 3 WEEKS!! 

Uhhh.. I'm not ready at all, how did this come so fast?? 

The next day I was in California, our last family trip before me and Madison peace out, and we were getting ready to leave for Disneyland,

the h a p p i e s t place on e a r t h

...Right? 
Well as we were about to leave the hotel room, I got a phone call from my stake prez....
telling me I had some visa complications dealing with my FBI clearance and that dumb trespassing ticket I got in high school 
(remember when we all tried to go to that "haunted house" but never made it past the driveway, thought my $$$ money and community service hours were enough to cover it, I was wrong.) 
well since I was cited for it, although never convicted for anything, Portugal won't grant me a Visa.  
They aren't accepting any new hooligans... 
"H stands for hooligan"
and my stake prez told me at this point my options are
A. Wait 6 months (or longer) for an expungement, 
OR
B. leave on time, but get my mission reassigned 
He told me I need to make my decision by tomorrow and hung up.

The initial shock was devastating.
 -I had my heart set on Portugal for the last 5 months.
 -I did NOT want to wait any longer.
 -I already suffered for that ticket (multiple times)
 -Anddddd to top it off we never even made it inside the "haunted house" so it for sure wasn't even worth it. 

But after i mulled it over for a little, I really felt okay, I knew that everything happens for a reason and it would allll work out. 
All i wanted to do was go to the temple to figure out what I'm supposed to do, but unfortunately it was a monday and it was closed...

After talking to the FBI, MTC and everyone else, we figured out I could have my expungement done in 8 weeks.
Not ideal, but that's a lot shorter than the 6 months I was first told
Soooo my MTC date has now been changed to May 15th.
My countdown went from 3 weeks back up to 9. 
It's a bummer, but I know that it's all on the Lord's time table and everything will work out like its supposed to. 

Soooo yeah it's been a rough week.
On a brighter note:
1. I'm in Disneyland
2. I'm still going to Portugal
3. I went to the Macklemore and Ryan Lewis concert for my 3rd time last week
4. He gave us another shout out.
5. Anddd We recently discovered midnight sushi with $6 Vegas rolls
So life is still gooooood.

            x o x o,
              not as soon to be, Irma Dumas 

Life is goooood.

WOW
I am SO overwhelmed with how great life is.
In the infamous words of Nacho Libre:  

My life is goood. Reallllyyyy goood. 

No but really, there were some exciting occurrences this past week. 
Last Thursday, I had the wonderful opportunity to go through the Logan temple for my first time. 

It was amazing.

C r a z y, but amazing. I am so grateful for all my friends and family that came through with me! and for those who couldn't come in, but still did baptisms, I love you guys and am so happy you still came. 
Soo YES, I am now officially G'd up from the feet up. Emphasis on the G. Literally. 

 

 my support team  

(we all know they just came for the free Chili's after soo whateeerrr)

 

 Some of the greatest boys and examples I've been blessed to meet these past couple months.

Brodis, Jakey and Jass-hole, I love you guys.

 Another great example I've recently come across, my girl Sher bear.

Still waiting for her mission call...

(still crossing my fingers for Portugal)

 ^^My best friends. I LOVE THEM.^^

Then, on Sunday, we drove down to Centerville for the hotter Blotter's farewell.... 
One is headed to Argentina and the other to Colombia. 
(y e s, I still have trouble telling them apart... I had to pay real close attention to the tie color when they were speaking so i could compliment the right one afterwards.)  

Purple tie = Justin                   Blue tie = Austin

Austin had me LOL'n the whole time! Especially when he was literally YELLING his testimony over the microphone trying to say it in Spanish.
And Justin just had me in tears. He spoke on the importance of an eternal perspective. He said something that really just hit home: 

"A mission might not sound like the most attractive idea in the sense of now, but it is what is right in the eternal perspective."

Those are some w i s e words Elder Blotter. 

Good luck to both of these hipsterz, they are gonna kill it out there <3

And last but not least...... My best friend and little sister opened her mission call last night!!!

Dear Sister Madison (dr. medical marticle) Dumas, 
         (cue the overwhelming tears)

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the........

  PHILIPPINES TACLOBAN MISSION

Reporting to the Provo MTC on June 5, 2013 and preaching the gospel in the Cebuano language.

(i don't even know how to say that.... soo good luck with that language Martison) 

AHH! My baby sissy is going to the flippin' Philippines, yeah, but not this Philippines, (if anyone knows what movie that's from, then i love you. for those who don't.. it's Cat in the Hat, go watch it. now.)  

but really, martis in the Philippines, I'm going to Portugal, how is Dennis gonna survive with both of us gone? oh mi goish.

 

 This week I realized how b e y o n d grateful I am for ALL of my family and friends. 

 I LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM.  

I am gonna miss those crazy mofo's when I leave, but in the wize wordz of Justin: 

"a mission is what is right in the eternal perspective"

            x o x o

             - soon to be Irma Dumas

 46 more dayzzz. Portugal here I come.