Pictures from the Brazil Mission Conference

Shelby helping Sister Freitas keep going!

I think I can I think I can I think I can......

                                                        We get by with a little help from our friends!

P Day in Brazil

Sister Marion, Sister Freitas and Sister Whipple

Checking out the waterfalls on P Day

Sister Whipple, Freitas, Marion and two other sister missionary's.

News from your favorite Sister Missionary Sister Whipple!

Hello Everyone :)

Wow this week went by super fast! I cant believe its Monday again! Sister Freitas, Sister Marion and I had a great week! Our investigator Ana came to church and really liked it so that was really neat. There are a lot of times when I miss whats going on because of the language barrier so when she walked in the church doors I was super excited and Sister Marion, and Sister Freitas apparently already knew she was coming...Haha :) Sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself when things like that happen. Also this week a sister missionary from here came home and we got to go to her homecoming reception. She served in England and when she speaks English she has a really cool accent, that sister Marion and I are super jealous of. She has already gone out on splits with us to teach people! Super cool :) Today we went to see the waterfalls here with President and Sister Reber and all the Sister Missionaries, it was so super cool! Sister Marion, Sister Freitas and I rode with Sister Reber and we had tons of fun :) The Waterfalls were amazing! and so Beautiful! you can see for miles! At one of the Waterfalls there is this yellow platform type thing that you can stand on and it goes out over the edge, its a little scary and theres a sign by it that says that it can only hold 12 people... a little sketchy.... but we went on it anyway and took pictures :) There was only 6 of us so we felt pretty safe. After we went and ate lunch at this little restaurant, and it was so good :) guess what we had! Beans and Rice!!!! I'm amazing actually that even though I eat it literally every day I never get tired of it and actually love it :) This week on Tuesday ( I think) it rained sooooooo hard! It was so cool and I had the time of my life but I need to get a better umbrella because mine is used to Utah rain:)

Also this week we taught our investigator Marcianie and she is super cool. I had a really cool experience with her. One night we went to go and teach her and we walked in and she had a really big cut on her chin with stitches in it and a huge huge bruise on her arm. Because of the language barrier I didn't understand totally what had happened untill later but I understood that her husband had attacked her. I prayed and prayed that I would know what to say to her to help her. First Sister Marion shared the perfect scripture about the atonement and bore testimony to her then Sister Freitas bore her testimony and when it was my turn I just opened my mouth and prayed that things would come out right and they did! I don't even remember fully what I said to her but Sister Freitas and Sister Marion later told me that what I had said was perfect and that my Portuguese had been perfect as well:) SO COOL!!  I wish my Portuguese could be perfect all the time :) Well those were the highlights of my week. :) I love you all thank you so much for your support and your love :)

love always Shelby

Pictures from the day Shelby arrived in Cuiaba!

Life in Tujical!

Hello everyone!

I have had a pretty good week :) Easter was super cool :) Here its called Pascoa so we walked around saying Bom Pascoa! To everyone :) also we made chocolate eggs and wrapped them in this foil paper stuff then we took them around to members that help us out alot and that feed us lunch and we sang hyms with them and shared our testimony Of christ and his atonement. We really enjoyed it and it helped me to remember what im doing out here. :) Also this week we did an exchange with the sister training leaders, sister Freitas and I went with Sister Kimball to her area for a day and Sister Silva went to our area with Sister Marion for a day and it was super fun :) Sister Kimball is awesome and she helped me and taught me alot.  Last week in church sister Marion and Sister Freitas had to talk in church but the bishop was super nice to me and said that I could have a break :) yay :) I love our ward, the people are so nice and loving even though I have a hard time expressing how im feeling or what I need or want to say. Also this week sister Marion and I had a cool experience when Sister Freitas was on splits with a member. Sister Marion and I were walking and knocking doors (or clapping outside of people gates :)) and I was struggling with what I needed to say to people, after one house that was particularly challenging I was getting really frusterated and the next house we clapped at I was so irritated that I didnt even think about it and just rattled off perfectly what I needed to say and they lady was like Come In! Come In! She was awesome, her name is Ana. We taught her the first lesson and she said that she wants to be baptised! How Cool! Im so greatful the lord gives us challenges so that we can learn and grow and become better :) 

Today every thing is closed because yesterday was pascoa and so were emailing from the bishops house and we dont get as much time as we ususally do so my email might be shorter than it usually is. Today sister Marion, Sister Frietas and I cleaned our house and I must say that Brazilians know how to clean a house! Since all the houses, including ours, is just concrete and tile, they basically just chuck water on everything, scrub it with a broom then push the water away with a special wiper broom type thing. then they wrap a towl around a broom and clean some more with that :) Its kind of interesting but effective, it only took us two hours to clean our two story house :) awesome :) If the houses in america were like this I would clean my house this way but the houses are different so all is well :) So the reason why sister Marion and I were emergency transfered to Tijucal was because that is where we were originally supposed to go but Sister Marion asked if we could stay in Cuiaba and president Reber said yes, then he prayed about it and got the feeling that we needed to be in Tijucal and Im so happy that he did :) I love Tijucal and its people. However my mailing address is still the same, its just the mission office because thats where all mail has to go, so I will only get mail when we have conferences but we have alot of those so no worries :) I love you all and thank you so much for the emails :) and prayers :)

Love shelby

P day in Brazil! Shelby with her companion Sister Marion, Sister Frietas, Sister Kimball.

Week Two in Brazil!

Hello everyone :)

well week two is done! yay :) everyone keeps telling me that the first month is the hardest and I agree with them! Its been kind of a bumpy road so far but a fun one! this week started out with Sister Marion and I being emergency transferred to Tijucal and becoming a trio with sister Freitas, who is a native to Brazil. President Reber told us he had been praying about sister Marion and I staying in Cuiaba and he said he felt like we needed to be in Tijucal. I know he was inspired with that because I feel so much better in Tijucal and Sister Freitas is helping me so much with my Portuguese! We have so much fun together and all three of us have become fast friends :) We have been teaching a lot of people too :) I cant really contribute that much right now but I say what I can! and somehow I get my point across so all is well! plus everyone here says I'm very beautiful and very red. most of the time they either say I'm a drinker or that I need to wear more sunscreen! haha :)  The people here are so amazing and the members are wonderful! one day we were walking in the street and it had been raining a lot and we were walking across a muddy road and I stepped on a spot that looked pretty safe however, I sunk into a mud puddle up to my shins... and started bawling haha! :) my companions put their arms around me and walked me to a member's house to wash off my feet. When we got there, the member sat me down and told me to just relax and that she was going to wash my feet. Then I started crying because of how nice and sweet she was. then we sat and talked to her for awhile until we were all dry and we went back to work :) The food here is WONDERFUL and the people are great :) I wish that my ability to speak and understand the language would come a little faster but I must have Patience :) I love you all and I miss you all! Thank you for your prayers :)

Love Shelby

Pictures of Sister Whipple and her Companion Sister Marion in Cuiaba Brazil

Hello from Brazil!!

Hello everyone!

Here I am in Brazil where the people and the spiders live together in perfect harmony accept when you are trying to clean the bathroom and the biggest one jumps on your hand and you spaz out and have to end its life.... :) I have had such a crazy week! Ill start with the crazy stuff then move into the cool stuff :) Well this week as we were walking down the street there was a lady with zero clothes on running down the highway. Then Sister Marion and I were sitting at the bus stop and a lady came and stood by us. we asked her how she was (in Portuguese) and she just smiled at us and began to dance a little bit then in one swift movement she whipped off her pants and squatted in the grass and went to the bathroom... 0.o then she stood back up, pulled up her pants, smiled at us and got on the bus. we were a bit speechless... :) On Saturday we went to a members house to watch the first session of conference because they were feeding us lunch and the member was determined to get it for me in English because he wanted me to feel the spirit (So sweet!) and so he gave me his phone and headphones but he had just gone to Youtube and found a video of a familiar looking general authority and gave it to me. Alas it was a talk from about three years ago :) However I thought it was so sweet that he wanted me to watch it in English so I just kept watching random talks on his phone as they watched it in Portuguese :) It was pretty great and I actually got a lot out of it :) haha :) Then when we went to the stake center they had a small room set up for us to watch conference on a computer in English. it was so nice! and helped me a lot! my flight out here was so cool :) for the first flight to Atlanta I flew alone but then when I got on the flight to go to sao Paulo guess who I found?! SISTER DUNN (my companion from the MTC) and I got to fly with her and sit by her on my 10 hour flight:) THEN when we separated and she had to get on her flight to Teresina and I on my flight to Cuiaba I was sitting by my gate and guess who found me? SISTER KLEINHENZ ( a sister in my MTC district) and we got to fly to Cuiaba together and spend one night together before she got on her ten hour bus right to Camo Grande. Heavenly Father Loves me :) I can tell :) I'm doing as well as I can with the language but its still pretty hard. and Confusing. and Sometimes I dislike it greatly but I know that all I have to do is try my very hardest and the lord will make up the difference :) Sister Marion is awesome :) shes from Texas and speaks very well, shes been out for a year and is a great missionary :) We have become great friends :) We are opening this area in Cuiaba and don't even have an area book yet or anything helpful but we found three new investigators this week :) and will be teaching them :) super exciting :) The ward I'm serving in is so great and the people are so unified and sweet :) I love it here and am so excited to be serving in Brazil! :) Thank you all for your letters and emails :) I love you and miss you :) Love, Shelby 

Made it to Brazil!!

Hi guys :) im safley in Brazil. i have met my mission president and my companion. its so beautiful here and i love it so far :) the language is a little frusterating but all is well, its only the first day :) im so sorry i wasnt able to call anyone in the airport, but my layover was non existant and i got there just in time to board to sao paulo :) so my area is in cuiaba so i will be staying in the city for a while :) i love you all so much and i will talk to you next week :) 

love Shelby