Dear Friends and Family

Hello to all my dear friends and family members! Thank you all so much for your support and friendship through this past month of much excitement in my life!! I feel so bad for not being able to keep everyone updated more often! Internet access is so hard to come by... seriously. It's a real pain because I have so much to share with everyone, and not enough time or access to allow me to share everything I want to.

The wedding was a dream... and the sealing in the temple a dream come true. I am so thankful to have the love of my life by my side, and even though it is through such different circumstances, I wouldn't have it any other way.

So, just a few quick facts about the past two weeks.

* Jorge and I found a decent house in the center of the city to rent for 300 reais a month. Good deal for a good house!!

* Holly and Kelsey came to Brazil to visit me and see/ participate in the wedding!! We all met up in Rio de Janeiro and spent a couple of wonderful days touring RIO and spending time on the sweet beaches there. woo-hoo!! Then they came to Salvador and stayed with me in my house. They are such troopers!! It must have been so hard to be in a strange place where they didn't know a single person, or a single word that came out of their mouth. Everyone here loved my sisters though. They are so adorable and loveable and were the perfect company for me the week before my wedding. They were also the perfect bridesmaids.

* I was married on friday November 28th! That was SUCH an awesome day. I spent four hours before the wedding in a wedding parlor getting my hair and makeup done. The wedding was suppose to start at 7:00 that night at the stake center. My neice and her husband were suppose to be walking down the aisle at 7:00 on the dot. Well, 6:45 came, 7:00, 7:30... I was still waiting in the bridal parlor, no one had come to pick me up! I was starting to get desperate. Finally Holly and Kelsey, all dressed up in their bridesmaids dresses and high heels, walked all the way back to the stake center to find out what was going on. How they remembered the way there in one week of being in brazil, is beyond me. But they are smarties and figured it out. Finally about 8:00 they came to get me! I was starting to think that something horrible had happened, that maybe Jorge had backed out... sei la! I was thinking everything... what happened was that Bruna, my neice, had been in a slight car accident and there were difficulties in getting her dress to her. She had it made in a different city and the car accident backed everything up by two hours. My sisters and I waited LOCKED inside the chapel, while the whole cultural hall PACKED with more people than we ever imagined waited even more paciently. The waiting around was really starting to get on my nerves... i was anxious, nervous... frustrated that it wasn't going as planned. I found slight relief in being able to see Jorge through the tiny opening in the divider between the chapel and the cultural hall. Looking at him made me peaceful and giddy. haha....I just wanted to get married already!!!! Finally about 8:45 Bruna arrived beautiful in her dress and the wedding was on!! Her ceremony was a quick 5 minutes, and then it was my turn. Jorge entered first with his sister, then the witnesses entered, then the flower girl and the ring bearer, then my sisters with their escorts then me.

I entered the room to the music of Josh Groban, with Rogerio (my brother-in-law) as my escort. I just remember being amazed at how crowded it was. Everyone was taking pictures, filming, using their cell phones take more pictures.. haha.. wow, it was kind of overwhelming. Rogerio had to stop me from walking too fast and kept telling me to slow down. hahaha... as soon as I saw Jorge it was instant calmness. I was so happy!! Our stake President performed the ceremony and even though he is a beloved man, it took FOREVER!! He gave it felt like a 30 minute talk! My feet were sore and I was bored and I hardly understood what he was saying anyways. I was paying attention to everything except him. hahaha.. ai ai ai... after the ceremony, we greeted everyone, took a billion pictures... then we went our seperate ways. haha... i went back home with holly and kelsey at about midnight, Jorge went earlier to his sisters house.

The next couple days it was so funny to think that we were married, but not living together. We were waiting for the opportunity to go to Recife to be sealed in the temple. We left early early monday morning and after 14 hours of being in a cramped car we finally got there... man was i cranky. haha.. we stayed in the temple housing in the common rooms. All women in one room, all men in another. But it was cozy, and reminded me of the MTC. The next day we all woke up early and had special meeting with the temple president. There were 11 couples getting sealed that day and so it was like a special thing for all of us. He is so sweet and so spiritual. I loved being in the temple with my love. I can't imagine a feeling closer to heaven then being in the temple with my eternal companion. It was divine.

Well that's about all I have time for right now. I'll write more later!! Love you all and thank you for your support. I MISS EVERYONE!! pictures to come sooon! I hope. haha