Letter #19 You Never Know How Far An Invite Can Go

Wow I cant believe I talked to you guys already a week ago! christmas has already come and gone.. sorry it was crazy i gave you the wrong time for you im 6 hours ahead instead of 5. and right before we called it was crazy trying to figure out how to call bc i left my planner at home with the number and sister dias didnt get to talk to her family they didnt answer so we were all stressed out ha but it was good. I will send you a list of things i need at the end of this email. I am so happy for you Windi!!!! congratulations! i wish i could be there to celebrate but you know i love you. Para bens Auslinn too!! tudo mundo there wont be any weddings for me to attend when i get home hah keep me updated. o good news my ipod didnt break i was a stress case for three days! all is well. i was so excited to talk to you guys i forgot to ask what you guys did for x mas after breakfast and stuff.. how long did amber and taylor stay? they dont celebrate x mas here the same way we do. its just another day, they just say feliz natal ha but it was great, ate at a members house and taught a lot of people.I got TRANSFERRED! Sister Dias is leaving today for home she was really nervous and sister Hunsaker is a senior and training a brasiliera.. as for me I am with sister Rueckert she is from west jordan utah, has 9 months in the mission and she just turned senior. we are in Pampulha about 20 min from venda nova. I am excited but also a little bit sad. of course as soon as sister d and h and i start working together, finding people and figuring things out.. its over. We have 5 baptisms! on sunday with people we have been teaching.. im super sad to leave them but i know the elders will take care of them. Cladeu and his three kids and artur who we found in the church by himself. his friend from the north east who is amember told him to visit the church and after we got his address taught him and he accepted. you never know how far an invite can go... well Pampulha is more rich then VN so its harder to find people(humble) to accept. So we got to get to work and find the elects. im excited for this transfer its a new area, new companion, new people. Wierd story this week was with a man named henrique. we found him after our district meeting looking around in the church. we got his address and began teaching him. He was great, had tons of questions and seemed like he knew alot about the church already. he accepted a date for batismo but on sunday someone recognized him and said he is already a member... after much confusion we called the escritorio and they said he was baptized 8 years ago. we confronted him and he said he was in an accident a while back and has problems with his memory. it was really wierd, not sure what his motives were but hey he is a member and i dont know if i believe the accident story but the sisters got transferred so the elders will take care of him.. we have many random stories like this all the time.well this week i studied matthew 26. i recommend reading it its about the savior and the atonement and peter and judas denying him...i felt the spirit so strong studying these last chapters of mathew... also matthew 25:34 is good too. I love you all! Happy new year! I cant believe its already going to be 2011 what.. fique firme
sister corbin

Aubree's Christmas Call 2010

Hi Everyone-

We have a family tradition on Christmas Eve and that is to have a family testimony meeting followed by hot chocolate. We had a special treat, Aubree sent her tesitmony via digital recorder for us to listen to during our meeting. It was great to hear her voice and of course, shed a tear or two.

On Christmas, we received a call from her at 10:10am from Brazil. Our time was limited to 40 minutes but we used every second of that! Other than on-going mosquito bites she's in pretty good spirits. It was a regular day for them, but not too many people to teach. All of us got to talk to her and to feel of her love. She loves Brazil, the people, her calling, and the gospel. Other than missing us during this time her thoughts are focused on serving the Lord.

She loves to learn about the scriptures and study them. It was great to talk to her. I know that the angels tend to her daily. After getting a few minutes each with her we said our good-byes until Mother's Day! WE are so proud of her and feel so blessed as a family for the example she sets for us.

The Savior is good to us and we have so many blessings to be grateful for. I love the spirit of Christmas and hope you can feel it through Aubree's letters. Thanks for all your love and support. She is so grateful for each of you. She wishes all of you a wonderful Christmas and great New Year!

Feliz Natal from Aubree!!!

Letter #18 Feliz Natal - Lizards a Leaping?

Merry Christmas!!! or Feliz Natal!

I cannot believe x mas is already here its crazy! o mom i got your two packages! OMG they were great! well I only opened one because I want to wait for xmas morning to open the other one but yessss oreos how did you know and ranch packet yesssss i will make it next transfer, the shirt was so cute! i needed earings and pens it was perfect thank you thank you! it said it was stamped on nov 9 so I should have gotten them during the christmas conference but they didnt bring them for me. I am so excited to talk to you guys! I only have 40 min not much time at all but i wrote another email explaining everything. o i got our christmas card too.
Well this week has been different.last friday we got a call from the president and he told us to come into the office. we were all so nervous because he didnt tell us why.. We got there and he just helped us out. we spent about 3 hours with him talking, learning figuring out ways to improve. I didnt think it would this hard in a trio. but i am grateful for this learning experience it has truly been a blessing for me. we talked alot about power and authority that we have... I forget this sometimes as a missionary we have authority to preach the gospel we have the power to teach through the spirit and only through the spirit will we find his elect.we can teach all day long but if someone doesnt open their heart it results to nothing. this meeting was something we all needed. i love our president, he is truly inspired and called of our heavenly father to do his work. i love my companions were teaching different and started to work together in different ways and we only have one more week together of course. im excited to find out about transfers but a little nervous too. were getting two new sisters one american one brasiliera.
o my birthday was great.. well it was just another day ha as a missionary but dont worry i bought some ice cream of course i found a kind that looks like and tastes like cookie dough so good! sister hunsaker made me a cake that we ate that night. i recorded it dont worry ha.
funny story for the week. i was saying my prayers about to go to bed i look up in my net and there is a LIZARD in my net looking directly down at me! when i get nervous or scared i talk in english i said o my gosh o my gosh sister dias didnt know what was going on. sister hunsaker came over laughing trying to help me get it out and then it jumped on her haha we all started screaming and running to catch it to throw it outside it was hilarious... how it got into my net idk but it was funny and sister dias thought it was just normal and she wanted to kill it ha. oh we got our shower fixed today i think. no more showers in the bucket yay!
the work is slow right now but were working hard and being obedient. im personally trying to do everything i can to become a better missionary everyday. im loving just observing everything. as a trio i get to have two companions to learn from. i love this scripture in 2 nefi 28:30... i will give unto the children of men line upon line precept upon precept for they shall learn wisdom and those that recieveth i shall give more. i love this promise if we do our part he will do his. and in 32 it says that his arm is stretched out all the day long just waiting for us.. waiting for us to accept so he can bless us. in this time of christmas i cant help but feel the saviors love everywhere i go especially being a missionary. i am his representative.. what a priviledge. i want everyone to know that i have a personal testimony that our savior lives he bled and died for us, for everyone, so that we can one day accept him take his arm and walk with him. i love our heavenly father who sent his beloved son. his plan for us is so simple i love in second nephi, nephi says i write in plainness because my soul delighteth in plainness. well the gospel is simple too in 2 nephi 31: 20-21 its written plain and clear just the way it should be.. press forward with steadfastness in christ having a perfect brightness of hope and a love of god and all men, press forward feasting upon the words of christ and endure to the end. for there is no other way to enter into the kingdom. thats what we all want. THE KINGDOM.. right dad? i love you all with all my heart. i love the work, i love our savior i love this time we have to celebrate his birth and what he has done for us.
keep strong and have a merry christmas for me!
sister aubree lyn corbin


ps i cant wait to talk to you all yay! 40 min is not long enough

(this picture is of an Elder from the Sao Paulo CTM, noticed the matching tie?)

Letter #17 All About Faith - HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUBREE GIRL!!!

THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!! For the Birthday wishes.... wierd that it is my birthday already! All your letters really mean so much to me. thank you.
Im not sure exactly why I never can see pics well sometimes i can. I think the computers here are old and they dont always function. i just barely had to switch computers cause one broke down while i was writing ha.
good news.... our shower broke and i have been showering with water i boil on the stove ha o and our little machine that swishes our clothes around broke too hha so now ill have to wash everything by hand.. yay. ha
Well im glad to hear everything is okay.. i was worried all week that something happened. i told my comps my mom has never missed a week ha. still i have only gotten one package with the watermelon sour patches and the belt one. my elders are going to the mission office this week so ill see if i got anything else. it just takes forever to get anything cause you have to wait for elders to go and get them for you.
Wow this week, well was really hard. a big trial of faith for me and my companions. being in a three sum is a blessing but also can be really hard to teach. so this week we taught a ton of lessons but werent finding anyone. a lot of ups and downs. remember maira the 15 year old jehovahs witness well she accepted on wed. she was so excited and said she never felt the spirit quite like this in her church and i want to have this feeling all the time. we marked a date with her and then went back the next and day and was a completly different person. she wouldnt talk to us and was really rude. she said i respect you guys but dont want to go to church on sunday and i dont want to be baptized. we were all crushed and so confused! someone must of talked to her bc she wasnt acting like herself and the saddest part of all is that she recognized the spirit she wanted to change and then bam satan entered her life. super frusturated this means that her little 8 year sister who wants to get baptized cant bc there is no one old enough to take her to church. the marriage rule here is super annoything everyone lives with each other not married bc you have to wait 3-4 months to get married here so when we teach someone who isnt married and they want to get baptized you have to wait that long to get it approved.
so we started off the week kind of on a low bc of maira but we still taught and tried everything we could. during our planning we worked on how we could be more obedient, what we said in our lessons..tudo. so we can change something. 2 nephi 25:29. we worked on sincere prayer. we werent able to get anyone to church on sunday everyone fell through. our trial of faith was starting to look endless.
then yesterday the lord led us to this street. we taught this women named jonni she said i have been thinking about this church, my friend is a member and i wanted to learn more. i am inbtwn churches right now and im super confused...golden! we taught her and she accepted! we taught a few more lessons on that street and of course it was around 630 and i was starving as usual and i said i need to eat something so we started to walk out of the street and i felt the spirit really strong not to leave and at that exact moment we heard a voice say oi are you missionaries? we said yes and this women told us to teach her.... uh what yes. we walked in and she said do you remember me and i said no i dont think so? she said i saw you on the bus a few weeks ago. i felt bad cause we ride the bus everyday i didnt remember her. she said i wanted to talk to you the spirit was touching my heart but i was embarrased bc of the people on the bus. and she said i saw you on the street right here and i had the same feeling so i yelled to you guys. we taught her the first lesson and i told her that the lord put us in your path two times he wants you to know the truth. she started tearing up and she said i dont have fear of anything i want to follow the lord if this really is his church. the lord really is preparing people to hear this message. as we left i felt humbled that heavenly father led us to this wonderful street and right before we turned the corner a man yelled to us.. are you the missionaries of the church of jesus christ? we said yes and he said i already met with the missionaries... we marked with him and were meeting with him tomorrow.
alma 32; 27 experiment upon my words and excersice a particle of faith, 2 nephi 27;23 i work not among the children of men save it be according to thier faith, 2 nephi 26:13this week for me was all about faith. the lord will put you through trials until you cant handle them anymore and right before your about to give up he blesses you. its the lord time not yours. his way is not always the easiest but its the best for us whethere we like it or not. we just have to trust and have true hope that he will do his part if we do our first. thats how it works thats how the gospel works.
im so grateful to be here. the church is true.
i love you all
sister corbin

Letter #16 The Greatest Work

Familia!
oi! This week was great!It's super hot here right now and rains whenever it wants to ha its wierd its even super hot in the rain. Brazil is great, the fruit here is ridiculously good! i love mangos! i never used to love mangos until now ha they are great and they eat them for dessert. It is wierd for them to eat fruit with your meal.
well this week was great. I want to talk a little bit about this family we are teaching right now. Elismar is the mother, she isnt married and has 6 kids, four live at home and one is in prison for drugs. Maira is her daughter,15 then charli,11, then moira 8, jovanna 4. We have been teaching them off and on for about two weeks because maira is a jehova witness and is really hard to teach sometimes. but she always has the best questions and we know she wants to know more. so last friday we went over there and she wanted to know what this life was about so read alma 34:32 with her. she ´speaks a little bit of english and she asked me to speak in english. when we ask her to go to church with us she always says no. so i said what do you not understand? this is life is not a life of procrastination, we need to prepare now, go to church now... something took over me i wanted to help her so bad but there is a point where you can only do so much until the person has to help themselves. after my companions were happy i was super strict with her because she needs to act or she wont get an answer.
this sunday they all came to church except maira. they all loved it. it was testimony meeting and carlos bore his testimony!!! I was so happy, he is completely changing his life. He still doesnt have a place to live so we cant go visit him but he is truly changing, he even stayed after church to get a bishops interview. after church we went to elismars house and moira(8 years old) wants to get baptized and bore her testimony to us about how much she liked church and about her readings in the book of mormon. i wanted to film it it was so cute.
funny story this week: after pday last week we were knocking doors and this cute grandma answered and he couldnt hear very well so we decided we would just sing her a song. but i didnt think it was a good idea bc she litterally couldnt hear. we basically had to scream the song and sister dias was the only one that could talk to her without laughing. for some reason i got the giggles and couldnt stop laughing. this poor cute little gma we wanted to sing to but she couldnt hear and we couldnt talk to her with out yelling in her ear. it was the first time i couldnt control my laughter in a lesson, we had to leave ha but we gave her a pamphelt and invite anyways.
yesterday we went over to visit maira and help her get answer to her question. she is really confused right now about what church to go to and what is right. she is just really stubborn. more then half way through the lesson i started to bear my testimony about answers to prayers she asked me to talk in english again and it was so much harder then i thought i couldnt speak english. i told her that heavenly father wouldnt answer her prayer unless she has an open heart, he loves you that much he wont tell you unless your willing to act and change your life. i started to tear up a little bit because the spirit was really strong. sister hunsaker helped me and said this is the spirit this is the answer you want. she never felt anything like it and was confused. I think i started to cry because when I speak in english its sincere im not looking for words or how to say something i am speaking from my heart.. i thought this crying thing would go away ha. but i guess thats how i feel the spirit. were still helping her and want her to just open her heart. The sad part is is that moira cant get baptized alone so either the Elismar the mom has to get married or maira has to get baptized with her. we dont want to tell moria it will break her heart but we have to tell her tonight.
scripture for the week last week i talked a little about children matthew 18:1-5. We have to become like little children in order to enter into the kingdom. i have been watching moira only 8 years old want to learn more about this gospel at such a young age. children are so innocent and pure, she actually teaches me more then we teach her when we go to her house. and i love this scrip in 2 nephi 16:8 isiah is talking with the lord and the lord says who shall i send and isiah says send me... i am ready and isiah says for how long shall i go and the lord says in 11 until the work is complete... this work is just beginning, there is so much to do. I am happy here in brazil doing my little part of the greatest work we can be a part of..
até proximo semana
love
Sister Corbin

(This picture is of Aubree's Branch President and downtown Sao Paulo)

Letter #15 She Found Me

Familia!

Oi! Can you believe it is already december!!??? my bday is in less then three weeks! yes mom I got some packages! yay. I got the one with the belts and the bigger package of course i didnt wait until my bday or christmas hah it was great thanks! i will write you another email with details.. Im happy you guys had a good thanksgiving I bought some ice cream for dia das gracas aka thanksgiving. thank you for the recipes too..
well i would like to share some facts about brazil in every email. todays fact is that brazilians no matter where they are or what they are doing love to sing! its hiliarious it doesnt matter if your bad or good they sing anyway . they are also really blunt so it doesnt matter if your fat your fat or if your a bad singer welp you cant sing aha. also i would like to personally thank the sound ordenances in america. our nieghbor had a party the other night until like 6 in the morning. i felt like i was in the room it was so loud. be grateful for this law ha.
So this week was great, lots of random stuff i want to share. soo i love the juice here until the other day when this family forced me to drink this sour punch that was really old it was the first time i wanted to really throw up so far.. o and a saying here that everyone says is gracas a deus= thank g**. and i thought it was like a normal saying because even members say it al the time and i said it one time and i guess its bad and my comps laughed forever so im learning everyday ha what to say and what not to say. later that day we taught this family. it started to get dark and they didnt have a light to see so we taugh tthe whole lesson in the dark. its humbling to see how people live here i just want to help people all the time. the next day i was giving the first vision and this lady said ^oh i know this scripture its in bah blah .. i was so caught of guard i had to start over ha it was funny casue she thought i was quoting this random scrip in the bible. good thing i have two comps to help when we get stuck in awkward situations because once i start laughing i cant stop. were still working with gustavo idk if you remember him he was the one that we randomly went to his house and he was prayig for someone to come help him with his friend, well he is already in the end of alma he is great.
This past sunday was a miracle. we had prob 20 people that said they were going to church so we had to do a division with a member. i went with sister dias and we sprinted all over to get everyone and not one new person came it was really frusturating and we felt a little down. and on top of that we talked to carlos mom this week and she told us he has moved and totally gone down hill and he doesnt have a cell phone for us to get a hold of him so we couldnt bring him to church to get confirmed but we did manage to get nelio to church(a guy we baptized a few weeks ago). so were siting in church and they told nelio to get up and get confirmed and all the sudden i look over carlos touches my shoulder and gives me a thumbs up and walks up to the front to be confirmed! i was sooo happy. he came to church by himself! i dont know what his problems are but he knows where he needs to be. then after sacrament a lady named lu was in church! sister clement and i taught her about two weeks ago. she has been inactive for a long time about a year or longer and she said she wouldnt go to church for another two years bc she doesnt like the bishop.. we tried to help her understand that church is for you not the other people that go. and she came! she found me and gave me the biggest hug ever and said you dont know how much you helped me.. i almost started crying on the spot. she is great!
then we had x mas conference! yay.. i was really nervous but it went great! the lord blessed me so much. i could understand almost everything that was going on. the practices were a little hard with three of us but we managed. sometimes i dont know my place in the trio bc i only have about a month out into the field and my experience is less then everyone elses so i usually bear my testimony in default. and the elder that we were with helped me and said it doesnt matter what you say its the spirit you brought and he said when i bore my testimony it made me want to act and thats your purpose as a missionary so i felt better.and after we all had to stand up and talk about our baptisms of the month of november i was so nervous sister dias said that i spoke perfect and that i didnt have an accent! im trying to work on the language as much as i can. ive realized that when your speaking a second language you basically have to learn humility ha big time... you have to become like a child 3 nephi 11 37-38. you have to have some faith. matthew 13, only the faith of a mustard seed. i litterally take it hour by hour. im finding joy in learning everday something knew i used to get frusturated that i didnt already know a word or didnt know a phrase but now i seek for stuff i dont know.. i have been reading in mathew and related this to the parables that jesus taught. he taught in parables because those that had ears to hear and eyes that are open would see the meaning behind the parables.. those that wanted to know those that humbled themselves like unto children were the true followers of christ. im trying to become like a child and humble myself and follow the perfect example of christ.
well i love you all! brazil is great. the church is true.

sister corbin

Letter #14 This Life Is All About Converting

Hello!!!!
familia and everyoneeee!
first off congrates tucker!!! england thats great your going to love it! Study your scripsture a ton right now before you leave thats one thing i wished I did more! I treasure study times in the morning there just isnt enough time to study everything you want to out here.
Im glad to hear everything is going well. Amber thanks for the letter.. im happy you are finished with your class you will have to show me all the cool stuff you learned when im home and no mother how could i forget the second best holiday with tons of food ha i wish they celebrated it here ha. Someone said they saw my package at the office so I will hopefully get in a week or so. I got your conference one you sent but nothing else so far. It takes forever to get anything cause everything is at the office so you have to wait until an elder can get it to you. So next week is zone conference so ill get it then its our christmas conference too. Im excited but kind of nervous at the same time. Conferences are lots of practices and I still struggle with the language at times but wow have i been blessed when it comes to the lord filling my mouth. sometimes I walk away from a lesson and turn to my comp and say what did i say and we both start laughing.
well this week has been great. its been different getting used to teaching with three but im starting to like it now. I love having a brazilian companion and an american its been helping so much! It forces me to speak portugues 24/7. My companions are great i want to take a moment and talk about sister dias. love her. she is a hilarious brazilian from salvador. Her favorite color is purple i started to notice it the third day her entire wardrobe is purple hah her bag is purple even her scripture covers are purple ha. She loves to file her nails she will whip out her nail filer in a middle of lesson sometimes hah, she is terrified of dogs and never gets hungry after lunch. When i tell her im hungry around 7 she thinks im lying ha and its a mental thing. so our shower broke this week and its been really rainy so the water is literally freezing! and she didnt really care to fix it cause well she is brazilian and she likes cold showers haha but we fixed yesterday i finally feel clean. and sister hunsaker well she is great. she is always there to comfort me when she can tell when im a frusturated with the language, she knows how to cook and is always way positive. I always say things like vamos seguir o espirito when were just standing there or waiting for something.. it means lets go and follow the spirit they always laugh at me but i hate wasting time i even like to knock two to three doors at a time and sister dias made me stop. I just want to be as productive as possible.
okay some stories... did i talk about richelle michelle and richellem ya confusing.. they live alone basically in a house near a creek with no father and a mother that works all day. they raise themselves and they are the ages between 8 and 13. they are so cute. two of them are baptized and i gave them a little message about nephi and his faith to obey the lord and i related to obeying your mother and helping out and going to church.. during my lesson richelle the girl grabbed my hand sanitizer and ate it! she said doce! which means sweet ahah i quickly grabbed it from her ha and said no this not food. she was confused and wanted more. i love the little kids here. as for carlos he is great! i told him he was going to teach us about the preisthood next time we met so we showed up and he wrote 5 full pages of notes he took. legitmate. i am so proud of him and he got a job! he is super excited for his new life and cant wait to get the power of the aaronic priesthood soon. we went to his house last night and he wasnt there so well catch up with him hopefully today but i love watching his life change in a matter of weeks all it is. is first desire and then faith that the lord will bless when you follow him and keep his commandments. and yesterday was the first time i gave the first vision. i have had it memorized for a while but was always really nervous to give. so the story is we were walking on the street and i saw an opening to go into a aptmt complex i ran in and someone shut the door behind us so we were stuck until we find someone to teach. rose was the only one in the entire complex that let us in. the spirit was super strong. the moment we started she bore her soul to us about all her problems in her life and how much she needs god in her life to help her. i didnt understand all of it but we were all trying to listen carefully to the spirit to tell us what to say. i felt the spirit the whole time during the lesson and it was my turn. i finally got the courage and uttered the words of our prophet joseph smith. i completly blanked my comps kept having to tell the the next word of the next sentence but i felt the spirit so strong she started to cry and of course i did too. i dont even remember what i said but it was definitly not me. when sister dias started talking about baptism i thought for sure she would accept... she said she would have to talk to her pastor... baffled i didnt know what to say. one word. agency. as missionaries our work is exhausting not because of the hills or the walking but because of our love for the people the wieght we feel for them and the love we want them to feel through the only true church on the face of the earth. we work hard to stay worthy, teach, feel the spirit, teach by the spirit and then put it in the lords hands and when your work doesnt show it puts you down. i just have to remember that even if they dont accept its the seed we plant in thier hearts. this life is all about our own conversion. in matthew 10:33-42 it talks a little bit about this. i was reading it this morning and our greatest love needs to be toward our heavenly father nothing or no one comes before him, he that taketh not his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.. he that findeth his life shall lose it and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. in part of what amber was saying to me in her letter its true as a misisionary you feel like you have to keep converting people.. this life is all about converting. we well all never be fully converted until our savior comes again. the lord gives us weaknesses not to bring us down but to recognize he can pull you up. i love this work. its hard, rewarding, exhausting, but its something i wake up every morning excited to do. we are all missionaries.. lets go to work..

i love you all
Sister Corbin

Letter #13 Perservere Until the End

oi!

Hello everyone!
Another week has gone by.. its so crazy, its going by really fast, the days are long but the weeks are fast its wierd ha. okay sooo it was transfers today! i am not with sister clement anymore, she is going home today. she asked for a second transfer but the president told her it was her time to go on monday so we were rushed to help her pack and get everything ready. I am going to miss her so much, she has been such a good example to me and well miss all our crazy times together. Okay i gave her a few things to take home. so lauren she is going to contact you in utah and give you stuff hah i told her to look you up on facebook. i gave her my x rays from the doctor so taylor can look at them. its inflammation which we basically already knew and they told me to take motrin everyday for two to three weeks ask taylor if he thinks this a good idea. i also gave her my watch and some jewlery, jeans and the recorder for christmas. you are on file c and lauren yours is on file d i hope this all makes sense but she will contact you guys this week probably. I am STAYING IN VENDA NOVA and i got two new companions! sister dias is brazilian and this is her last transfer and sister hunsaker she has been out for 6 months. its perfect because i will be forced to talk portuguese all the time and if i dont know what sister dias says i can turn to sister hunsaker. the lord is blessing me all the time. its perfect the way everything has worked out and i love venda nova the people here are so great. so i am excited ill let you know how teaching with three is that might be the hardest part. also i havent gotten any packages yet they might be at the office but i went last week and they werent there. thats okay im patiently waiting... before i forget. EMMy i got your invitation so cute!! congradulations i wish i was there for your day but you know i love you and do some of my dance moves for me ha.so this week alot has happened. remember nadia from last week well we still havent found her she disappeared off the face of the earth so we have given up on her... sometimes when a persons feels the spirit and then denys it there is nothing else you can do but pray for them. but carlos was baptized!!!! i love carlos he is so great!! on friday for his interview he didnt show up so we ran to his house and he was throwing up.. he fell and drank last night and was super sick that morning. he felt horrible and way embarrassed he went to the interview and said i cant live my life like this anymore i need to change i want to get baptized and then saturday (being an ex drug addict) this kid came to him and asked him to buy him drugs and he would pay him too and he said no i am getting baptized tomorrow in the church of jesus christ of later day saints and shut the door ahah he is so great. the baptism was great and his whole family is interested now they read the book of mormon together everyday. its such a priveledge to see peoples live change day by day striving to live the principles of the gospel. carlos is the perfect example of this. we also have an investigator right now named christiane she is already in 2nephi 28 crazy! she has had the bom for a week. her life is really hard she has two children with not job but wants to have a better life...but sometimes people can be funny too. nelio is a man we baptized my first week in the field and he has yet to be confirmed so everyday me and sister clement would go to his house and he wouldnt be there. so on monday we went and his window was open and he was sleeping so we yelled his name he kind of woke up and pretended to fall back asleep we stood there at the window 10 feet from him yelling at him to wake up haha. he was pretending to not hear us i grabbed a little rock and hit his leg and did all i could to get his attention bird noises included. after 20 min we left, sometimes people will do anything to run away from you ha
brazil is still amazing the work has just begun. i love you all, stay strong, the church is true, this life isnt always easy for if it was there would be no point, perservere until the end thats what we do

a little love from brazil
sister corbin
ps i am still not used to the hills here they are crazy my chicken legs/calves want to explode after everyone ha
ps mom i am still getting bit but not as bad. i need off asap
pss people that want to send me packages i would love simple things haha like peanut butter, cliff bars, food is good aha bc here its expensive and the candy isnt the best. pens are great and sticky pads. whatever is great! i will think of more next week
mom- no there will be no skyping but i prob go to a members house or go to the church and use a members phone and we only can talk for about 45 min or so i think. i hope i am answering all your questions

thank you for all the emails even though i cant email back i like to get them!! mail is good too.:)

Letter #12 Full of Miracles

FAMILIA
tudo bem?

wow there is always so much to say... i wish my journal could be an email home to everyone because so much always happens that i dont get to write it all. It sounds like everyone is doing great! Mandyyyy killing it at manager!!! yay. Amber how is the make up classes? Brenan you getting A´s yet? dad im happy to hear about the device..december?

okay i want to share three stories with you all this week.
first one is about a random house we came to not in our area. So we got a random contact at a bus station, tried to find their address, they lied and so we got lost ha.. it happens. so we found ourselves not in our area and really confused. we thought we would just knock some doors anyway. we walked down a street and clapped at the second house. a boy 14 years old, gustavo and his dad were home and we taught them the first lesson. gustavo felt the spirit and wanted to be baptized but the dad was a little iffy about it. so we came back the next day and we taught them again with the mom. the lesson went well and gustavo said he went on the sight and started reading the bom but the parents werent interested. he speaks english and after the lesson he looked at me and said hey can i talk to you. i waslike whatttt okay yes of course i knew it was serious cause his parents dont speak english. we went outside and he said i have this friend that is getting into drugs and some bad stuff and i have been praying for about a week to find someone to help me with him.. can you help me? i said what! yes we can where does he live.. he lives outside our area so we gave him the elders phone number to call. then i realized okay wait what... we are an answer to your prayers. i took the opportunity to speak in english to let him know how much his heavenly father loves him to send him his answer. i said this is not our area we got lost and you were the first house we knocked on. he started to get tears in his eyes and i said i know you know the church is true. he was really humble and recognized the spirit. god puts us in the right place and most of the time we wont even know it.
okay this story is about carlos. we met him on the street and marked for a lesson. we taught him and his mom. carlos has alot of problems, he smokes, drinks, and is into major drugs. the first time we prayed together he held his right arm and started yelling. it was so wierd i didnt know what to do. i guess ever since he was little he has a problem with prayers he gets a shock in his arm. he is always really nervous and twitchy. we taught them the first lesson and both accpeted to be baptized. the next lesson there was no screaming and they both accepted to obey the word of wisdom. the mom loves us she always makes us eat. carlos came to church with us out of the 11 people that promised to come he was ready to go at 8 am. he is so solid now! i love watching his progression. he stopped using drungs hasnt drank since weve met with him and we committed him to stop smoking. to help him we had a fhe with the bishop. he loved it and was talking about how the atonement can help him with his prob with smoking and at the end he said i want to eat alot bc im going to fast to help me stop smoking cause i made a promise to god and these two sisters to stop. wow he is soo legit. i love finding those that are truly prepared to change. he has been a blessing and we cannot wait for his baptism on sunday. o and also my companion forgot to tell me that everyfast sunday the missionarys are supposed to bear their testimony..o great ha i went up there and said all i could and yes i shed a few tears ha and during one of our lessons he said sister corbin i appreciated your testimony yesterday i know that god will bless you i have faith he will bless you to speak portugues. he said i feel like you are so smart and have so much to stay and i know the lord will bless you so you can tell brazilians how you feel. did i mention that i love carlos... and a week ago he was a drug addict.
next story is nadia. nadia is a women that was taught about a month ago by the last sister missionaries. she accepted to be baptized but bailed and was super flakey with them afterwards. so they stopped trying well we ran into her again this week and she asked us to come back. she said you two are an answer to my prayers i told heavenly father if i saw them again or they came back to my house they were thy servants and of course we went and taught her on friday and she accepted again to be baptized. then on saturday we had strong feeling to ask her to be baptized on sunday. she had already gone to church a few times in the past and she could be baptized right away. we said a pray right before and felt the spirit again to ask her. we were both really nervous bc she only knows the first lesson basically. so we were talking around it a little and then bam sister clement with a stern voice said we dont normally do this but we want to invite you to be baptized tomorrow, for some reason the spirit is telling us to tell you. a small pause the room was filled with the spirit, tears filled in her eyes and she said yes.. yes. i felt the spirit so strong and so did sister clement there was no way anyone could deny it. we were all so happy and we started teaching her right away and then the elder called ten min later and we asked for a batismal interview and we said can you go to the church right now and she said i have to be back by 7 it was 545 we said no prob.. we had no idea if there was a way for her to get back by 7 but we had faith. the elders arrived right on time and there happened to be people at the church with a car that offered to take her. it worked out perfectly. we were so excited for her but as soon as you get a high you have to be prepared for a low. nadia didnt show up to church, her baptism nor was home when we called or went to her house. we were stunned. we finally got a hold of her monday and she had some doubts and was on some sights and she said she didnt want to be baptized anymore. and at that moment i dont know what i said but i started to speak. i said did you not feel the spirit on sat? this is what the lord wants for you.. of course satan wants to temp you bc he knows this the true church. i dont know if she understood all that i said but she accepted to keep studying with us and have her baptism this saturday.
this work is all about faith. we do all we can to teach people by the spirit help them feel the spirt and change their lives for the better. but sometimes i forget people have what we call AGENCY we can help people feel the spirit but they can chooose to ignore it. this week was full of miracles. i have felt the saviors love for this people more then i ever have before. everytime someone doesnt except i try to imagine how the savior felt when he was rejected when he was here. i only feel 1/10000 of the love he feels for these people. i just want them to know that they have the kingdom down thier street they can live with thier family forever and that god has a plan for you... its so SIMPLE AND PERFECT why doesnt every single person want this? i just have to put full faith in the lord and he will take care of me and everyone else according to his will and his plan. sometimes i wish i knew the plan ha
this scripture is great 1 nephi 21; 15-16 also in isiah. our heavenly father will and cannot ever forget you.

i love you all
ate semana proxima]
sister corbin
ps sorry for the randomness of this weeks email
pss lauren or abby or someone tell scott barth that i am with elder santiago he is sooo legit! he is the companion of our zone leader and see him like three times a week, he is doing great.
psss mom i might send home my recorder with sister clement bc its super expensive to ship home so ill keep you posted on that. ill keep lookking for your packages and to answer some questions yes i carry around snacks i have a somewhat washer no dryer there is a big market where i get food so everything is good for now i love you!

Letter #11 GET OUT OF THE WAY!

Familia!!!
wow so much to say like usual! Im excited to get your little packages mom. I sent you a letter in the mail with my camera chip it will prob take 15 days i hope it doesnt get lost or anything, my comp is making me nervous bc sometimes her mail doesnt get home, so let me know as soon as you get it. oh ya is there anyway you could send me a little english bofm like mini mini? also i would love to hear from the family.. aka amber?blake?amanda?bren? what is going on in thier lives....

I am getting eaten ALIVE, the bugs love me here!!! i spray off, have a fan, use a blanket and i finally broke out the net bc it was getting ridiculous ha but im proud to report two days with no bites well so far. but i love brasil, the culture again is amazing, there is always little kids on the street playing soccer and i always want to play with them ha everyone has a little baby... everyone. and they are all so cute! i hate the dont play with or hold babies rule just makes me think of little daners and zoe. o and i played the uke with this little boy walking home the other night, it was great! i miss my uke.
okay so i went to the hospital today and last friday.. dont freak out everything is fine, my shoulder has just been hurting from my backpáck so i got some tests done to see what they can do, i hopé it helps.

okay so this week has been full of ups and downs like crazy. ill start by explaining juliana. i dont remember if i told you about her much but she is great.. we have been teaching her for a while now and she was supposed to get baptised this last sunday. she is 22 and she is basically an orphane she has been passed around as a child to about 4 different foster familys. she stopped going to school so she could work for her family, so whenever we met with her we had to read the book of mormon wiht her so she could understand it. last friday her brother came in and we were teaching him the commandments and she was totally on our side telling him what to do and what not to do. he started feeling the spirit and i told him that we were representatives of jesus christ here to help you and sister clement decided we should all say a prayer to ask for the truth and then bam! door opened sprit gone= satan. one thing about brazil is that it is soooo loud and everyones home is just an open party. then on saturday was her interview she seemed different when she left the interview. our elder said that he still felt that she could be baptized. soo all day we were anxious to find out what happened to her as we were tracting we got shut down by everyone. person after person said no and by the time we got to julianas house she told us that she didnt want to be baptized anymore. my heart was broken. i have never wanted anything more for anyone else before. i was starting to love her, i saw her grow, i saw her change and in one day she said she didnt want it. as we left i tried to brush it off but it was my first time my first real progressing investigator denyed me and christ. my companion is great and said well we need to keep working and went to a door and then got turned down again. by now my spirit was really low. it was then time to go to camilas house, camila is 17 got baptized my first sunday and is soooo great! we were talking about what she read in the bom and she said i ran across the scrip that i wanted to share with you it was 3 nephi 28;34. it says the people that dont except the servants of the lord dont except christ and wont surely accept him at the last day. me and sister clement looked at each other and laughed bc camila was an answer to our prayers. this week i have been praying for dilligence and sometimes the lord wants to test our faith too to see how were doing with trusting him and his work. not shortly after camilas house we went to a house and marked 2 new baptismal dates. the lord tests us everyday, its simple we just need to have faith in him that he is leading us on the right path.

Elder Bednar was this friday and it was AMAZING! he is sooo great!. the first thing he said to us was this is not a meeting are you ready to work... i almost peed my pants i was thinking what is he going to make us do. he turned the meeting into an experience. i have never felt the spirit so strong. he knows how to be funny, normal and obedient without loosing the spirit. he talked mostly about faith and how we are agents and not objects. we are agents that need to act in faith and GET OUT OF THE WAY of the spirit. we are not the teachers at all, simply instruments in the lords hands. we have to go with confidence, and let the spirit guide you. he said dont worry about it, trust that he is leading you with out always telling you. just be good if your doing your best your steps will be guided and most of the time you wont even know it.
this happened to me yesterday actually i just had a feeling to go down a street and then i got the impression to knock or clap ha at this specific door. we taught a grandma and her neice they both accpeted to be baptized and were excited to keep teaching them. the spirit isnt loud or something noticable, you just have to follow the little things. most of the time investigators are wating for a big sign and i tell them it wont ever come. sometimes in our lives we expect that too. we just have to faith, everything comes down to this priniciple more and more that i think about it. its hard to be as positive as you dad! you have more faith then anyone i know, im trying to become like you and think of what you would say in situations... i miss you. i love you all, the language is yes still hard, but trusting the lord to fill my mouth is all i have right now. Have faith - elder bednar

love
sister corbin


ps mom i met sister ward for like 5 secs
pss lauren tell emmy to send me an invite to her wedding!
psss taylor pollei - what is the verdict on the leg situation me and my comp are dying to know!!!!

Letter #10 It's Worth Seeing the Change

Familia!!!

I have so much to say, I feel like weeks are years bc so much has happened! And I forgot to tell you the best news last week. Elder Bednar is coming to our mission!!!! yes Elder B is coming this friday! i am so excited!! an apostle has yet to come for about two years or so. I love how whenever im struggling or need something the lords sends me an apostle, last time it was elder holland and this time elder bednar... its going to be great!
Brazil is sooo great! im loving it... thats wierd mom that venda nova looked clean on google maps well i guess parts are clean but where i live is really poor. the culture here is really different but i love it. its always really loud that can be a good or bad thing sometimes, they are always playing american music too justin beber is always playing ha. Everyone thinks me and sister clement are twins bc we are blonde and blue eyed, no one can ever say my name its really hard here in minas bc they dont pronounce the r like they do in sao paulo. so my name is sister cooobeein or something like that i need to find out how to say my name ha. the women here are really open about there babies they let them breast feed up until they are three or four kind of awk.. o did i mention the food is amazing.. MOM they make the best empinada i would eat it everyday if i could soo good, they werent kidding about the bread and the cheese here its on every corner a little bread shop, dont get me wrong its way good but all i eat is bread ha and of course beans and rice and lottsss of meat!
so everyday we walk everywhere finding and teaching people. its amazing to me how many times we teach a lesson somehow if we try our best we will feel the spirit. the brazilians are so accepting here. even if they dont like you or dont want to hear your message they will invite you in give you water and juice and make you eat something ha. so on friday we were trying to catch the bus to get to an appointment and we saw it coming and we ran for 2 mins screaming and yelling to make it stop it was hillarious. but if we had missed it i wouldnt have doubted we were supposed to. i dont get mad when things dont go according to plan bc sometimes our plans arent what our heavenly fathers plans are for us. this work is hard, im tired every min of the day, hungry usually, and still struggling with the language but no one said it was easy running the lords errand i guess i realy know now. the people we meet are amazing. the baptisms we had were amazing! but this work has its ups and downs like always. we had 20 people tell us they were coming to church on sunday, they committed to come and two showed up. we got up early running around town to wake people up. the hardest thing to do is getting them church. at church i stood up awkwardly as they introduced me ha and helped our investigators. the baptisms were after church and they were all excited except for camila, she is 17 years old and is sooo amazing. she was super nervous, so we just had to talk to her and help her understand what she was doing was right. when she got in the font she freaked out when the pray was over and wasnt sure what to do, she flung here had back in anticipation and yelled descupe descupe which means sorry. she is sooo cute she wanted to be baptized already that she was anxious enough to leave the elders arms into the water ahahah me and sister clement loved it. after we went to a members house to eat. they had an amazing cassarole. so here you have to eat two plates regardless if you are hungry so i did. and the father of the house said you done? i wasnt sure what to say he asked how many plates i had and i said two and he said you need at least three or four, he told me i ate like a little bird haha i was soo fulll i tried with all my might to eat half a plate. my prob is that the juice here is amazing!!! i just have to slow done keep it to one glass of juice and make sure they see me eat ha im working up strategies. they dont really eat dinner so your lunch is your one meal of the day.
okay there are so many people we are teaching i dont ever know where to begin. Adilson is a married man waiting to be baptized. He killed someone ten years ago for his job as a security guard and is waiting to get approval of the 1st presidency. he has been wating for over a year and he is starting to loose faith we try to visit him twice a week to keep his hopes up. we also taught a woman named fabiani she has a 9 year old and 1 year old and she accepted to be baptized, that is not the hardest part here in brazil its getting past that and bringing them to church and keeping the commandments. and now i want to talk about juliana she is 22 and is so golden if she could only realize her potential. i have never wanted anything more then to speak this language. it is so hard when you have something you want to stay and dont have the words to say it. during a lesson i felt so strongly to bear my testimony of trials growing up in a high school with not many good influences around me and how sometimes it isnt easy to follow the lord but i told her it takes faith and after you trial of faith you will then only then receive blessings.. sometimes i cry during my testimonies bc all i want to do is share what is in my heart but i cant always find the words to say... i just collect myself and do the best i can putting all my faith in the spirit that they may feel the love that i feel for them. i pray every night for juliana to realize how much her heavenly father loves her. i didnt think i could feel so much love for someone i barely know. its just a slight glimpse of what our father in heaven feels for us. its amazing doin this work, its really hard, but its worth seeing the change in peoples hearts.
this friday with elder bednar we are talking about faith. in D&C 8:9-10 comes to mind... remember that without faith you can do nothing therefore ask in faith..that i will grant unto you and you shall have knowledge concerning it. i try to have faith that i can still teach these people everyday with the little portugues i know, i know the lord is blessing me, he always does... first takes faith then action then your agency to reep the blessings.

i love you all
sister aubre corbin

Letter #9 I No Longer Doubt

Family!!!
Wow I have so much to say! Im here in brazil with my new comp and she is great! But first ill start with my last week. And I dont have the blinking 30 min countdown so that is nice... also amber i have to buy the recording of zoe so i dont know when ill be able to listen to it but ill try next week.
OK last week was amazing. I tried to take in everything i could before i left. On wed we learned a brasilian marshal arts it was so great i was sore for a week from doing high kicks ha ha. on thursday i had a really hard time with this brazilian that wasnt very nice and it was the first time that has happened so i prayed for patience and everything was okay and then i played basquete= basketball for the last time with all the elders and i got third place im going to miss playing. on saturday was our last offiicial class with our teachers and our last TRC which is when you go and teach in a situation and then you get evaluated. my comps and i did great. I felt really good about it. the other comps in my district were frusturated but my comps and i had been praying to do well and we did! then our morning teacher didnt show up and i was super bummed bc it was our last class. so this sister came in to replace him and i was kind of complaining cause she wanted us to practice more right after the trc. but there was a definite reason why our first teacher missed the bus. she bore her testimony and her story about the gift of tongues she had to learn two languages in her mission and it gave us alot of comfort. i no longer doubt why things change or dont always go as planned bc sometimes god needs you to hear something that you didnt know you needed.. Then on sunday it was the girls last meeting. this is where the new girls say where they are from and the old sisters like me bear their testimony. i was really nervous bc there were only brazilians and two americans. so they left me for last of course and i started really calm and collected and then it hit me.. im leaving. i looked at my good friend sister dunford and she was crying. she has meant alot to me this past three weeks and im going to miss her. i started to express how much i loved the ctm and i know that god will be there for me when i leave. by the end everyone was crying. it was super spiritual. afterwards my roommates and i prayed for comfort before bed and it was the most sincere pray i have ever felt. i felt like the spirit was telling me everything was going to be okay. on monday we took a ton of pics and said our last minute goodbyes. it was really bittersweet. mom- i will send the disc home asap. have you seen the videos we took or anything? my instructor will email you. o and i also met the woofindens they are so nice!
so tuesday i left alone again. no one was flying with me so i was super nervous to get lost in the airport or something cause that would happen to me. but everything was fine i found and made it on the flight. i wasnt sure who to look for to pick me up. am sure i was wide and confused bc i walked right past my mission pres and his wife ha. before i knew it arms were around me saying bem vindo. ha it was the cute wife of the president. mom you would love her!!! i love her! she is so cute and little and stylish ha. they took me into the car and yes they speak a little english so it was nice. they took me to lunch bc i was the only one that got ´picked up. the place was so good, so much meat-dad you would love it. i got to know them and thier family and they told me all about belo. then he took me to the office had an interview and i met my companion!! she is AMERICAN yay her name is sister clement from logan utah. she is soooo great! this is her last transfer so i only have 4 more weeks with her. she loves to surf and has my same major ummm what ya so legit!!! she is so on top of it too she isnt slacking at all and i want to be just like her at the end. its a blessiing to have her. these past two weeks she has been with a member companion waiting for me. so i started asking how the area is going and she said well we have 3 baptisms on sunday....um what ya 3 BAPTISMS. my first one i get to have three!! im so excited! she is really hard working and as soon as we left we had 6 appointments.
so my first appointment was with camila and roberto they are getting baptised on sunday and we had to teach them the plan of salvation. so i didnt know what to expect super nervous. o also my area is called venda nova its about an hour oustide of downtown belo. its super poor. and they were not kidding about the hills here so i broke out the chacos ah. anyway we get there and she said were here and i turned and this wooden door barely attatched, a man welcomed us in with open arms. there house is two rooms with dirt floor. i was so humbled because they were so happy. i felt the spirit so strong in our lesson even though i didnt say much other then my testimony. she said that she wanted them to feel the spirit really strong one more time before thier baptism and when she asked me to bear my testimony she said thats when they felt it the strongest. it was great my first real appointment in the mission field i loved it! some of the next appointments fell through but we found some more people. its the rainy season right now and you never know when it will down pour. all the sudden we were walking home and we heard this boom sound and she said its goingto rain and i was like what bam i was socked ha it was kind of funny cause that doesnt happen at home.
okay i dont have much time left but i want to tell you about last night. well yes mom our pday is on wed but i didnt have enough time to email bc my comp had to go to the police office to renew her visa. we take the bus everywhere and my first experience on the bus was hilarious its like a ride you litterally fly when your in the back and pedestrians do not have the right away here ha i want everyone to experience the busses here i find excuses to take the bus ha. lauren- times the the u of u bus by ten. okay also the food here is so good i had an empinada yesterday and wanted to die it was so goood!!! okay so after pday is over at 6 we went tracting and had some appointments. my comp is so intune with the spirit she just goes places and i dont question it. okay the last door last night she goes okay well do this one and we can go eat it was 815 and we hadnt eaten all day, so instead of complaning i went with it. by the way the brazilians here are so nice they always give you water and let you in to give you food even if they dont want to here what you have to stay its actually kind of funny. so we clapped at this one door and a man said we could come in. it was a married evangelical couple. i loved them right away idk why i just did they were so nice and kind. i started the lesson well tried and said if you open your hearts you will feel the spirit. so then sister clement started teaching they had really good questions and were into it. she started talking about joseph smith and they were alittle confused but then she bore testimony and the room was silent the women looked at me and said she could feel it and showed me her arm with goosebumps. i was so happy. then she slowly preceded to ask if they would get baptized the 31 of oct and the husband after about 15 secs said yes and the wife also said yes! yayyyy i wanted to jump or do something. but the spirit was so strong i couldnt move. we made a second apptment and told them how happy i was for them. they were just ready to hear the gospel that was my first time to the holy ghost baring witness that they needed to take this step towards our heavenly father. after we said goodbye i did a little baptism dance my comp thought that was wierd but sometimes i think it is necessary. she is sooo great and i want to do my best to help her and learn from her before she leaves. im so blessed to be here i love it. its hard sometimes becuase your going none stop but i have already seen the blessings that come from obedience to this work. i have to go but i love you all and know that i have a testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel everyone wants this everyone needs this in their lives we just have to show them how it can be done..

i love you all!love sister Corbin

Tuesday Departure from Sao Paulo MTC

Hi Everyone- Aubree will be leaving the Sao Paulo MTC this Tuesday, Oct. 19th. It is a 1 hour flight to Belo Horizonte. She will be flying solo to arrive at her mission destination. If you want to write her you can address all of her letters now to the Mission Home in Belo. She will not be able to check her emails until next week.

Aubree is so excited to begin her adventure as a full fledged Sister missionary- ready or not. She loves to have hand written letters, and reads them over and over many times. As her Mom, I just want to thank all of you for your love and support. Aubree notices and appreciates your consideration on her behalf. She loves the Lord and loves the opportunity she has to serve in the vineyard. Thank you for all your prayers on her behalf. Hoorah for Israel...she's on her way!

Letter #8 Will they read it?

Hello family and friends- first off i would like to apologize for the craziness of my letters the keyboards here dont always work and the enter button doesnt work at all so all my thoughts are altogether. ill try harder to make it understandable. entao... i have some much i want to share with everyone but mom im writing you another letter through missionties. okays so last week wed we got to go to the police department to figure out our visa stuff and we ran into elders that have been there for 1 and 6 months they struggled speaking english to us it was hillarious this one elder was going home in two weeks and he couldnt put sentences together it gave us all hope that we will be able to speak one day.o and mom rememeber when you said you wont ever have to wash your skirts unless you spill on them ahah false i happen to manage to spill on my skirt once a day idk why it just happens so ihave been washing my skirts like crazy before i leave.on thursday amber my watch broke!! i was soo sad i put it on and bam on the marbles and everything on the floor i am currently watchless and miss my beautiful gift from you ha i cant put it bakc together im not that talented.. but i will try. okay so friday was our last to proselyte. it was so great. we all prayed that we would have good weather this time. it wasnt looking so good but right when we got into the bus.. sunny so beautiful. so we got dropped off at the exact location of last time and we were all excited and my elders of course were like you go first.. okay so we went up to this man already was a member uhh what thats wonderful we moved on then i said hey lets go sit with this man. we walked over and stared talking to him, he had lost of questions and we understood alot more of what they were saying this time he pulled out this little card and was trying to show us this scrip but the convo was going now where so we decided we would move on we said thank you but then all the sudden the wind picked up so bad my skirt was flying everywhere so i had to sit right back down just on the other side of him it was kind of awkward but i didn tknow what to do i remembered that i brought my rain coat so the elders gave it to me in hopes it would keep my skirt down. in this process the man scooted closer to me and said explain more.. i gave hime the book that he refused to take 30 secs ago and said i promise that if you read this book god will answer you prayers an let you know it is true. it took it from me and said i will! wellp looks like the lord wasnt done with him yet and he needed me to ask him one more time to take the book. i felt the spirit so strong when i walked away i wonder what will happen to those people that we give the book of mormons too. will they read it? will they call the number? i guess will never know until later. then one more story towards the end it was my turn and again and i went up to this man and started talking about the church he said he heard about it but was evangelical i kept talking to him anyway.. my comps said nothing i did it all by myself it was the first time i didnt need any back up. he took the book and was seemingly happy and so was i. we walked away and the elders said muito bom meaning very goood i feel like the language is coming..slowly very slow but coming. then our teacher took us around down town sao paulo and saw some historical sites.. have you gotten any pics yet? he said he would send them. then on saturday 26 elders got there visas and were coming from provo i was so excited we all ran downstairs to check luggages and i saw two of my other districts names we ran to lunch and they werent there so we waited and they all burst through the door and all of us that went to provo jumped up and met t hem at the door i was sooo happy my smile hurt. i gave not only two of them but 4 of them the biggest handshake of their life. one of the elders said this is what its going to feel like in the celestial kingdom haha.. reunion i talked to them the whole time and they filled me in on what i missed back in provo they said they kept doing my dance moves and never forgot about me i guess do wierd dance moves not on purpose but just when im excited or really happy.. sunday i finally gave a talk considering there is only 12 people in our branch me being the only sister ha. o and i finished the doctrine and convenants!! yay on monday me and elder turner taught a lesson together with no notes and just the bible it was great! okay this is going to be my last email for two weeks because im leaving next tues ahhhh yes my mtc life is coming to an end am i ready idk but i know i wont be alone when i leave but mom yes i am taking a flight its about an hour and yes i am going to be alone again bc no one is going to belo kind of sad but thats okay ill just have the best brazilians comps ever. anyway so today was my last time going to the temple for a very long time and i prayed for something i dont know exactly what but something special. we got there and this day just keeps getting better. i had this one name that a sister gave to me then about five min later another sister came up to me and said your last name is corbin right and i said yes and she goes well ihave a sisters name with the last name corbin.... what? yes all the way in brazil i did a corbin name int he sao paulo temple mom- her name is emaline corbin married to adam cooper dile in dec of 1842 in millcreek pa. it was so great! i felt the spirit so strong more then i ever have before and it was emotional having to say goodbye to the best place on earth for 16 months but i know the lord is sending me to do his work so people can have that same feeling i had today.. and it gets better we leave and me and sister dunford go sit on the bus early and the sister couple cant speak portugues really well and she asked if i would tell the bus driver about the temple and explain the book of mormon bc he had qeustions about his pass along card. so i bore testimony of the temple and how great it is to have in our lives. i love you all so much! i miss you all everyday but these scrips i read in the d and c just barely are great so read them when you get a change136 31-33 the lord is preparing us to meet him in his kingdom and the last one is 138 55-56 we are the chosen people...the lord expects us to fly so lets do it! love sister corbin

Letter #7 Help Other Travelers

hellllo familia!!! what you went to az for conf sooo fun!!! i miss zoe and daners of course tay and ambs too! i didnt get to talk to gma? can she call me? and yes i have zero time always so i cant ever read emails please sign up for the missionties k i love you. ko so ill start from last week. um wed is pizza night there pizza is way different my fav is choc and banana pizza ask me how many slices i had um three nbd i got sooo sick that night i felt delirious our TE teacher was making fun of me cause my head hurt and i was speaking all kinds of wrong portugues ha o and i met this new sister! she is from pennsylvania and she knows jenna mettra she came up to me at dinner and just gave me a hug and i was like this is wierd and then she told me that was from jenna boo and it all made sense her name is sister dunford she is way cool she was born in rio and has dual citizenship so she knows alot of portugues already um on thursday i decided that i didnt knwo who to say this one word in portugues its super hard to pronounce its barulho and al the brazilians were helping me say it so now everywhere i go they just look at me and say that word aha its funny on friday o dont worry taught a whole lesson in portugues to brasilians without notes sooo hard! but it some how happened it was great pracitice. all the brazilians think im funny slash crazy bc i just shout random portugues words all the time. okay saturday! we had trc with brazilians with no notes no nothing. so i woke up getting ready for the lesson and yes my legs started itching for those of you that know me this is a bad sign when they itch they dont stop i went down stairs to class and it got worse i ran up stairs and wrapped my legs in blanket praying my heart out that it would stop so i could teach in 5 min! i got up and slowly walked downstairs and bam healed! umm what. thank you heavenly father. i love him. he is always answering my prayers here no matter how stubborn i am sometimes. so we taught our lesson it was recorded and also super intimidating. the first session of 15 min ididnt say much bc the brazilians were doing all the talking but the next 15 min part i wanted to talk and i felt the spirit guide what i wanted to say. i love being able to trust the spirit as a missionary. it just takes faith. at the end we watched ourselves and yes i sound horrible but when we left the room we listened to what they said and they said we did really good i dont if they were just being nice or what but im glad they understood some of the stuff we said. ok then it was conference sooooooooooo gooooood!!!! so good um okay so idk if you know this yet but we need missionaries especially in brazil we need 1000 missionaires here by dec or they are shutting down 6 missions which is nao bom soo i was like pres monson is going to talk about this and sure enough the second thing he said was go on missions!!! i love being in brazil its such a beautiful country and the people are great i cant wait to actually serve but also terrified that im leavin gin 2 weeks! so i want to take this opportunity and thank you mom and dad for all that you do this conference made me realize that i dont say it enough.. ILOVEYOU and THANKYOU for everything. you are why i am here today i am so blessed to have the best parents in the world alot brazilians here dont have the support at home like i do alot of thier families are not even members and it makes me sad cause they dont have the loving caring family in the gospel like i do. i just want to say thank you for bein who you are and the rest of the fam of course. i loved uctdorfs talk too... slow down.. take it easy or how dad would say thats it haha i love it. im trying to do that here slow down and focus on what really matters. you experience lots of ups and downs here bc its a different country different people and i feel alone sometimes bc i dont have a comp dont worry mom ill have one int he field but right now there are only three american sisters in the whole place. the advisary will drag you down at your weakest moment when i start thinking about how i cant speak portugues he tears me down but i have to stay positive and trust in the lord.. faith over fear right? then the next day conference soo good as well. on our break i was in my room writing and talking to sister dunford and noticed the other sister was crying i remembered what uctdorf said help other travelers in this journey i ran over to her and let her cry in my arms for like 5 min she was really home sick i cheered up and told her she was amazing then i went downstairs to get advice about my leg itchyness and found the couples wives croshaing(okay seriously cant spell in either lang) i walked in and we got to talking about sewing and how my mom is the best sewer in the world. you never know when or how you will meet someone but i want to meet everyone. all of gods children are unique and i can meet and remember the ones that come into my life the better i will become. conference was amazing i know you all loved it. then on saturday it was a big laugh fest everything is funny when your a missionary i dont know what we were laughing about but alli know is that we were laugh crying for 5 mins i felt like there was laughing gas in the room. then today my portugues roommates left for the field i wil miss them. my turn is around the corner! i miss and love you all! stay strong in this journey it will be well worth it in the end.

love sister corbin

ps im super sad about gma ihope she is doing alright i love you dad im glad we went and saw her befor i left. she is in my prays

pss i hope these letters make sense i cant speak any language at the moment and mom pday = tues please missiontie meeeeeeeee

Sao Paulo Temple

Dear Family,

My husband is a counselor in the branch presidency at the Missionary Training Center here in São Paulo and I took the opportunity to take a picture of this district at the temple yesterday to send to you. They are not allowed to take their cameras to the temple.
We thank you so much for all that you have done to prepare your missionary to serve in this sacred calling. Each one of them is so very special and we feel so blessed to be a small part of their missionary experience.

Love,
Sister Claudia A. Andrew
Assistente do Secretário Executivo
Presidência da Área Brasil

Letter #6 The Lord Fills My Mouth

Familia!!!! o my gosh!!! i am in brasilllllll i have so much to tell you and everyone and i dont have enough time so much has happened... mom fill in everyone about what happened in dallas crazyyyy ill begin with provo really quick so after i wrote the email last friday i got called to the travel office and my visa cameeeee sooo excited nervous every emotin possible umm saturday was an english fast soo hard but way goood sunday i didnt speak again in church ha um took pics at the temple for the last time monday i said goodbye to everyone so sad i love my district i have district withdrawals sometimes they sang till we meet again in portugues for me on tuesday morning my comps took me to my last american breakfast which included a breakfast burrito a donut and a bagel of course they dropped me off at the bus and i gave them the biggest hug of thier lives im realizing more now that the mission is all about hellos and goodbyes you meet someone learn to love them and leave them its sad but exciting at the same time i just have to get used the goodbyes. the airport got to talk a little but as soon as i got to dallas they called me on the monitor and told me i was on the 600 flight umm what so mom when i got on the flight i was freaking out running down the terminal the whole plane was waiting for me the pilot and the flight attendants said finally... and your mormon? i apologized and everyone was sitting and staring at this little sister missionary that held up the plane as soon as i sat down we took off. didnt get too much sleep wondering why i was on this plane.. later i found out that the elders flight was delayed 4 hours and the lord was just helping me out. so when i got there i didn tknow that and so i was so confused in a country i never been dont know how to speak and im supposed to call someone that only knows how to speak portugues when i land.. okay so i found a phone and mustered all the portugues i knew to tell someone i was at the airport about an hour and a half later a tap on my shoulder was this little asian ahah iwas like what ha it was funny she only spoke portugues she took me to the airport andi got to settle in take a shower and nap al ittle before the elders came in 5 hours after me. we met the pres and his wife soo cute! so the ctm is great wayyyy way diff i love it though cause everyone here speaks portugues but that can also make things frusturating at times. we met our teachers they are great one of them loves starcraft ahah and the other one is from belo so its great he said that belo is like the chicago of brazil a big city but not the biggest its in a valley and the best part is is that they are building a new stadium there for the world cup.. um legit. okay so get this were in class little newbies and our teacher says to us okay so your really lucky you get to go proselyting on friday out here in the casa verde city which is the city the ctm is. ummm what we all started freaking out!!! we were all excited so thats all we practiced for two days thennnnnnnnnnn friday morning he comes in o by the way you only get to do this twice while you are here once as a fifth weeker and once as a 7th weeker. ok so then our teacher comes in he goes um change of plans instead of just going outside were goign to take you down town!! aka sao paulo down town! i dont know if i spoke for about a min. ya we got on the bus and took our little district to downtown sao paulo witht the 7 weekers im reminding you that i dont speak portuguessssssss ahhh so i might have peed my pants walking up to our first guy. we got out of the van and it started to rain a little so we went under a bridge and we saw this boy about 20 we said he looks good. walked up to him and in our broken portugues said do you believe in jesus christ and he said yes and we taught him about the bom and he was intereseted bc he actually talked back i bore my testimony and told him to call this number as we walked away he put it in his bag i felt the spirit so strong! i loved every min of it then we gave another and another it was great it built our convidence then it was my turn i got turned down twice and was bummed so i was like lets go up to these girls that are taking pics basically long story short i asked if htye wanted me to take a pic for them but instead of saying the word tirar i said tomar which means to take like to steal so when i went up to them i asked if i could steal their camera from them ahahahha they got so mad and iwas wondering what i said and the elders so confused later i found out that i was aksing them to steal their camera instead of take thier pic it was funny so anyway no one will let me live that down here. so im starting to get down on myslef its still my turn and no one has taken it. so were walking around its pouring at this point i look like i just stepped out of the shower my bom im holding is wrinkled and my shoes are cutting my feet. i wanted to give up.. but then i told myself i wouldnt and that was somene i was supposed to find.. im walking on the street and this old lady is tring to sell us honey. i got an impression to talk to her. she kept trying to sell us honey but i said we didnt want it but that i had something for her. finally i asked do you believe in jesus christ and she said o why yes i do and i held up the book of mormon and told her that it was another tesitment of christ and that she should read it. she became silent and i handed her the book and she siad for me? and i said yes de graca meaning for free and she took the book out of her hands and held it over her heart and hugged and said thank you thank you thank you. i told her to call the number and she looked at it as we walked away. that was the best moment of my mission thus far i was so happy to give her the bom. i almost gave up too isnt that funny how that works the trial of our faith. later we gave some more to some soccer players and some nice people that day we gave out 10 bom and 6 pamphlets in an hour and a half. the lord fills my mouth when i dont know what to say bc when i walk away i never remember what i said to the people....im so excited to be here its super hard to get this language down but i made friends witht the brazilian sisters love them1!! i can actually talk to them with hand jesters and such but were communicating they love you blake ahhaha when i show them my family. umm what else i have like 2 min left we get to go out on p days which is now um went to the temple this morning beautiful i get to play basketball everyday lovin it my roommates are great o im a solo sister if i didnt already tell you. i live with three americans and one brazilian. the brazilian sister is so cute and always says things like i like you ahah this place is hard and it def isnt easy but it is more relaxed then provo i just turn to one of my fav scrips in jacob 4; 7 god gives me power to do these things and also the one in d and c many are called but few are chosen... i chose to do this and i cant wait for the experiences to come love you all!!! love sister corbin ps mom did you get my letter?

Aubree's Last Call

Aubree called me from the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport last night around 5:30pm. We were having a great conversation about her passport being stamped July 30th with her Visa. Yes, she was waiting to just get her passport back with the stamp. We are not sure why they sat on someone's desk for 5 weeks. When I say "they" the other eight Elders with Aubree had their's stamped July 30th as well. So they got deverted to Provo until the Consulate could figure it out. I look at it this way, Aubree got to experience the best of both MTC's and see her friends in the process.

As we were talking, all of the sudden we both hear "Aubree Lyn Corbin, please report to the gate for immediate departure!" Evidently, she was not on the same flight as the other 8 Elders. She had the earlier flight leaving at 6pm, they were leaving on the 7:30pm flight. She told me to call her back on the payphone in 10 minutes. Well, I called her back and an Elder picked up and said she was on the plane. They were as stunned as she was but she will beat them to Brazil by 1 1/2 hours. Crazy! Hopefully she got to get some sleep...The email below came this afternoon annoncing her arrival.

Our Missionary has arrived! Brazil MTC

Dear Parents,

We are happy to send the good news that your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil MTC. What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary as they come through the front door of the MTC for the first time. We promise to take good care of your missionary.
They now have companions and are settled into their rooms. They are assigned to a district with capable and caring instructors for language and lesson study. The branch presidents and their wives, will soon give them a second greeting. These couples are rewarded in their callings through the love they always develop as they embrace and watch over the missionaries.
The MTC has a full time live-in physician to care for their health needs. He is assisted by his able wife. We are also happy to report that the Cafeteria food is abundant and very good.
Your missionary will be able to e-mail home on Preparation Day after a morning at the Temple. This will be either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on individual assignments.
Your very important young person is about to make an eternal difference in the lives of others. We hope you will be encouraged and comforted by this quote by President Lorenzo Snow: “There is no mortal man that is so much interested in the success of an elder [sister] when he is preaching the gospel as the Lord that sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord’s children.”

Please accept our love,
President Donald L Clark and Sister Zaza Clark

ADDITIONAL information . . .
DO not send packages to the Brazil Missionary Training Center. All packages must be sent directly to the mission where your missionary will be serving not the MTC. If you have already mailed a package to the Brazil MTC and it arrives after your missionary has left for the field, please understand that the package can not be forwarded to his or her mission and will be returned to you. The only other option is for us to open the package and forward the letters and photographs, giving the rest of the content of the package to the missionaries that are here.

WE Strongly eNCOURAGE sENDING HAND WRITTEN LETTERS. Please write your missionary´s first and last name. Your missionary will provide you with his district and box number. Also, please DO NOT SEND ANYTHING BY FEDEX, DHL, UPS, or other private carriers. The cost to get this type of correspondence is exorbitant.