September almost over?!? Can't wait for General Conference; New investigator - Ronaldo

Dear Family,

Another week has flown by!!!  Can you believe that September is almost over???  I'm super excited because it's almost October and that meansss....GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!  Best week of the year, I LOVE it!  Sister Rojas and I have been counting down the weeks for a while now, and turning on MoTab whenever we feel like it's still too far away.  :)  

This was not planned, just coincidence that we all wore light blue

This week was good...we are still hunting down new investigators, and found a few great people this week!  

We met a young man while contacting referrals.  His name is Ronaldo, and he lives in the house in front of the one that we were looking for.  So really, we met him by accident, but I know that the Lord was guiding us!  He is...well, not your typical investigator.  He told us that his mom died a few years ago, and right now he's living completely alone in his house.  He doesn't have a job, isn't going to school, and just stays at home all day.  I just feel so sad to see how much he's struggling, and I pray that he will accept the gospel and be able to turn his life around.  He went to church with us on Sunday, and I think he enjoyed it....it's hard to know, because he isn't very talkative. :P Afterwards we visited him with a ward missionary couple, and taught him the Restoration.  When we invited him to pray about our message, he refused at first, saying that he never prays.  We testified of the power of prayer, how our Heavenly Father really loves us so much and wants us to talk with Him through prayer...I think it's still a little bit new for him, and he's slowly strengthening his faith, but at the end of the lesson he said the closing prayer (with a little help and encouragement)!  :)  Anyways, it's going to be interesting to see how he progresses.  I just hope he can feel how much God loves him, even through all the challenges he is facing in his life.  I hope we can help him to realize that!

But that was our week...not a lot of news.  Next week will be transfers.  :(  I don't know what's going to happen!  Aaaahhh!!!  Stay tuned.

Love you guys!  Have a greeeeeeeeaaattt week!

Love, 

Sister Gee

Spectacular Sunday - visit from Pres. Genaro and baptism of Julia! Contacting, contacting, contacting; Not trunky :-)

Hi everyone!

This Sunday we had a special visit in our ward - President Genaro and his family!  Our ward mission leader had invited them to come give talks in Sacrament Meeting, so they drove in from Londrina to visit.  It was great!  President Genaro interviewed a few people from our ward, gave an amazing talk along with Sister Genaro, and stayed to watch the BAPTISM afterwards!!!  It was awesome - Julia, one of the other sisters' investigators was baptized, and Monica as well!  I don't know if I ever talked about Monica in my emails.  She is a friend of our ward mission leader, and we taught her a few times.  Unfortunately she was living in a different ward, so she wasn't ever baptized... but apparently she moved this week to our ward mission leader's house, and she was able to be baptized on Sunday.  It was a beautiful day!  Afterwards we had a huuuuge delicious lunch at our ward mission leader's house, with the four sisters, President Genaro and his family, our ward mission leader's family, and a few other guests.  All in all, a spectacular Sunday.

The rest of the week was just contacting contacting contacting contacting.  We're kind of low on investigators right now, which is a bummer, but we're praying and searching and talking with EVERYONE we see, and trusting that the Lord will guide us to the people who are ready to hear about the gospel!  

I got to do a division with Sister Bullen this week - she is one of the Sister Training Leaders ( I always mess up the title of that calling, but it's something like that).  She is AMAZING!  For those who don't remember, she was my roommate in the CTM, and we lived together for one transfer in Ibiporã.  I love her - she has a radiant and bubbly personality, a strong testimony, and a desire to share the gospel with everyone!  I learned A LOT in the short space of time that I got to work with her.  It was fun.  :)

And that's my life.  It's going pretty good so far.

Oh, and I got the "trunky phone call" this week!!!!!!!!!!  AHHHH.  :P  You know, that phone call where they ask you which airport you want to fly to?  But I remained surprisingly calm, and I promise, I'm not trunky.  I'm not.  I'm not.  :)  SERIOUSLY!  I'm going to keep working my hardest until the very last minute here.  As Sister Bullen said to me this week "I want to arrive in the airport with absolutely nothing more to give to the Lord!"  I thought about that a lot afterwards, and I want that too.  :)

But that's it from me!  Love you guys!!!  Have an amazing week.  I will for sure be keeping Uncle Blaine in my prayers, and I know that the Lord will be close to our family during these weeks.   

Keep the emails coming!  :)

Love, 

Sister Gee

Good week, but not much to tell; Studying the New Testament, it is so wonderful

Querida Familia!!!

It was a goooooood week!  There isn't much to tell today, so I'm afraid this will be a short email.  We've just been contacting references like crazy, trying to find new investigators....it's been kinda rough, but these last few days were a lot better, and we found a few really cool people!  One day knocking on doors, we came to one house, knocked at the gate, and were surprised when the man came running out smiling and holding a Book of Mormon in his hands!  He was really excited to meet us, and told us that he had a few really good friends who are members of the church, who had given him a copy.  Unfortunately we haven't been able to teach him yet, but I'm excited to be able to visit more with him and help him to learn more about the gospel.  :)  

This Sunday, Presidente Genaro will be coming to our ward to give a talk!  Everyone is super excited, especially our ward mission leader.  He wants to have a LOT of baptisms when the president comes, so we're going to be working like crazy this week with all the investigators who have been coming regularly to church but haven't ever committed to baptism.  We're going to see miracles this week, I know it!  

I started studying the New Testament a few weeks ago, and it is soooo wonderful - I love reading the words and teachings and miracles of the Savior.  I can really feel the Spirit testify as I read these chapters, just like Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God!"   I know He lives, and He loves us!  I know that the most important thing we can do is follow His example, every day!  

Anyways, I'm out of time, and out of news too, so that's it for this week.  :)  Hope you guys are all doing great!  I love you so much!  

Another crazy transfer - splitting our area, two new sisters; Miracle of the week - surprise baptism of Gilberto

Hello family!

Good week...Big news!  Last Tuesday, as Sister Rojas and I were getting ready to start companionship study, our phone rang....

It was Sister De Moura, one of our Sister Lideres Trenadoras.  She asked me  "Sister Gee, did you know that another companionship of sisters will be working in your area??"  Me: "....what??"   Sister De Moura:  "...and that they're arriving in the bus station today?"  Me:  "WHAT????"  

Haha, so once again, this transfer was CRAZY.  And nobody knew what was going on.  As usual! And nobody had told me ANYTHING about dividing our area!

BUT thanks to Sister De Moura (she only found out because she was going to the bus station to pick up her new companion and saw that there were two other sisters on the list), we were able to get things ready for the two new sisters and pick them up from the bus station on time.  And we are SO EXCITED that there will be two companionships in our ward now!!!  It was a BIG area for just me and Sister Rojas.  We were having a hard time accompanying all of our investigators, and it is going to be such a relief to have the help of two more sisters.  

Our new companheiras de casa are named Sister Sedgwick and Sister Edwards!  Yep, two Americans.  It has been sooooooo looooong (almost a year, I think) since I lived in a house with Americans, and...it's pretty awesome.  It's nice to have people who understand my culture and everything, you know?  :)  Sister Edwards is BRAND NEW here in Brasil, Tuesday was her very first day!  She had been serving in Oklahoma while waiting for her visa to arrive, and finally got here this week.  now we are having fun teaching her Portuguese.  :)  It makes me think of a year or so ago when I was a brand new missionary, not understanding anything that people were saying to me, not being able to communicate very well... ahh, I just feel like I remember so well what she's feeling right now.  It makes me feel, firstly, VERY VERY grateful for how much I've learned and progressed and adapted to the mission in this time that I've been here, and secondly, love for her and a desire to help her learn!    She is so sweet, and her trainer, Sister Sedgwick is a lot of fun too.  It's going to be a lot more exciting in our house now.  :)

This week, we were able to get Dayane to a baptismal interview!  She still had a ton of doubts and questions, and I wasn't really feeling very sure that she was ready, but I was hoping that our district leader would be able to help her feel the Spirit and recognize the answer that she's been waiting for.  I was hoping for a miracle.  I think the interview did help respond to some of the bigger doubts she had, but she still doesn't feel like she's gotten an answer about baptism, and wants to keep waiting.  :(  But, we're going to keep visiting her and hope that with time she really comes to gain a testimony of the Restoration and the church and the gospel!

So Dayane wasn't our miracle this week.

But.

The Lord had another one planned for us.  :)

Gilberto is the boyfriend of one of the members of our ward.  He's been coming to church every week for the last...3 months or so.  Unfortunately he doesn't live in our area, and though we passed his address to the elders in his area, they hadn't visited him.  We finally taught him the Restoration and invited him to be baptized, but I think he got a little nervous and we weren't able to mark any other visits with him....

Finally this last week, Irmão Marcello (the stake mission leader) had the prompting to talk with him.  He interviewed him last Sunday, challenged him to pray about whether he should be baptized or not, and told him that he would be waiting the next Sunday with the baptismal font filled.  :P :)  I guess the bold, direct invitation was what he needed, and I guess he felt the Spirit pretty strongly...he went home, prayed during that week...and when he got to church yesterday, he had decided to be baptized.  It was SUPER out of the blue and unexpected, but we were able to get him an interview, and prepare everything for his baptism Sunday afternoon!  It was BEAUTIFUL.  Everyone very emotional and the Spirit was so strong.  :)  We sang a musical number (okay, I played the piano, but the other sisters sang) of The Lord Is My Shepherd, and everyone was in tears at the end.  It was an AMAZING experience.  :)  

Anyways, that was our week.

Good stuff.

We're doing good here.

We're EXCITED to be missionaries!  

I looooove what we do.

and I looooooooove YOU GUYS!! 

Have a great week!!!  

Love,

Sister Gee

Six more weeks in Cidade Nova; 16 investigators in church; Golden investigator Faniella

HELLO FAMILY!!!

One more week, one more transfer has passed.  wow.  

I was feeling like we would both be staying here in Maringá this next transfer, and looks like I was right... not one email from the secretaries.  *whew*.  That means 6 more weeks to work with all of our amazing investigators here in Cidade Nova!!  6 more weeks and LOTS OF BAPTISMS!!  :D

This week was SUPER.  Yesterday was ward conference, and we had been asking all of the members here to invite their friends.  Thanks to everyone who did that, we had 16 INVESTIGATORS in church on Sunday!!!!  I had to count over and over and over again, because I just couldn't believe it.  The Gospel Principles class was so full, we had to switch to a bigger classroom.  :D  :P  

On Sunday we had another baptism that wasn't really ours at all!  The elders wanted to use our font again, so we got to stick around to watch the baptismal service.  I was starting to feel sort of popular with everyone wanting to have their baptisms in our chapel, but I know they're really only interested in our hot water.  ;)  :P  But it was the sweetest baptism ever - a 75-year old man who has lung cancer... his daughter and granddaughter were baptized two months ago, and he took a while, but finally made it into the baptismal font too!  

This week Sister Rojas and I are super excited becaauuuuse...Dayane is getting back from her trip today!!  We'll be going to visit her later tonight.  :)  We are SO happy because we found out that she had found a ward in São Paulo where she was visiting, and she attended the church meetings there on Sunday!  That means that (1) she is AMAZING! (2) her faith and testimony are really growing, and (3) she could be baptized this Saturday, and confirmed on Sunday.  That would be the most amazing thing EVER!  Now we just have to get her feeling good and confident and ready to take that step... wooohoo!

We have another super golden investigator that we've been working with this last week - Daniella and her 10 year old daughter, Bruna.  They have been coming to church every week for the last 3 weeks now, and it looks like they are really loving it.  We have been visiting them and teaching them and invited them to be baptized, but Daniella feels like she needs to wait a little bit longer... She said she's waiting for the Lord to send her a dream or some kind of sign that it's really what she should do.  We tried to explain that the Spirit doesn't always work that way, that usually the answers to our prayers come through feelings of peace and happiness...but it hasn't sunken in yet.  She's always talking about that dream she wants.  :)  But she is super strong and Bruna is already memorizing the Articles of Faith... They're going to be baptized any day now, I know it!

Anyways, that's it for now!  I am excited for this week and all the amazing things that we have to do - we are busy and happy and working hard, and the Lord is blessing us!  It's going to be a GOOD WEEK!  SEMANA CELESTIAL!!!  :D

I hope you are all doing well, enjoying the last little bit of summer vacation!  :)  Next year I'll be there at Bear Lake with y'all!  Woohoo!  I love you all so much, thank you for your prayers and support and love.  I have the best family in the whole wide world.  :)  

Love always!

Sister Gee

FINALLY MOVING!! YESSS!

Hello!!  This week Sister Rojas and I are super excited becaaaaaauuuuseee....we're FINALLY MOVING!!  YESSS.  After almost...3 months of stressfulness, our new apartment is FINALLY ready for us to move in.  This week we called to turn on the electricity, yesterday we had a member of our ward help us bring all our mattresses there, today we spend the morning cleaning and sweeping and mopping...and now our apartment is clean and beautiful and fully furnished - completely ready for two sister missionaries to move in.  That's us.   It will make such a huge difference for us, we have been losing so much time travelling to and from our area, valuable time that we could be using to visit our investigators and find new people to teach.  So yes, it's a big relief to know that the wait is almost over.  And as we've been living in an apartment with 5 other sisters (yes, that makes a total of 7) with just ONE bathroom (yes, that means 7 sisters sharing ONE bathroom) .... it's going to be nice to have an apartment all to ourselves.  :)  We're planning on making a cake to celebrate the day we move in.  It's going to be fun.  :)

This week...wow, every time I sit down to write an email to you guys I realize HOW MUCH has happened since I last wrote, and it's so crazy to me that it all happened in just one week....

Anyways, this week was a roller coaster of emotions.  I think I talked a little bit about one of our investigators a few weeks ago, a girl named Barbara.  This week we visited her and asked her how she was feeling about all she had been learning in our lessons and in the church.  She said she has already seen how her life is changing for the better, ever since she started going to church.  We invited her to be baptized and she said that she really wanted to, that she felt it would be a way for her to be closer with God.  We taught her the commandments, and she is already living all of them - in fact, she said she had always felt that these things were important and had been looking for a church that taught the same things.  It was an AMAZING lesson, and Sister Rojas and I were so excited - we marked her baptism for this Sunday... and then, on Wednesday we got a text ... telling us that her parents wouldn't let her be baptized.  We passed by to talk with them and sure enough, they weren't very happy that she wanted to be baptized and decided that she needed to keep going to their church for now - until she was mature enough to make the decision.  We were devastated, and I'm pretty sure that Barbara was too.  :(  It was so sad...she is SO ready to receive the gospel and is so accepting of everything we taught.  But I'm confident that some day she'll find her way back...I'm praying that she'll never forget the things she felt in our visits, and that some day she'll be able to find the missionaries again and be baptized!!!

Good part of the week - Junior and Kawana came to church yesterday!  Their friends that had passed the referral to the missionaries live in another ward, but they visited our ward to be able to accompany Junior and Kawana for their first time going to church.  And they discovered that another good friend of theirs is a member of our ward!  It was testimony meeting, so both of Junior's friends went up to the front to bear their testimonies... I didn't see it (I was sitting in front of him), but somebody told me afterwards that Junior even cried a little.  :)  We were so excited that they were able to come, and that they had a good experience  - they are an amazing family, amazing people, and it is so good to see the happiness and joy that everyone is feeling, both Junior and Kawana as they learn of this wonderful gospel, and their friends who are reaching out to share it with them!

Anyways, that's what's happening here.  It's a good life, a good mission!  I'm so happy to be here.  We're seeing miracles and Heavenly Father is blessing us so much.  I hope you are all having a wonderful week, and a wonderful summer!  

I love you!

Sister Gee

"cara de pau" - be bold; Dayane is reading the Book of Mormon and praying

Olá família!  This week was....good.  wow, it passed really fast.  It seems like just two or three days ago that I was sitting at this exact spot in the LAN house trying to think of what to write to you guys....and here I am once again.  haha :)  The weeks are passing so fast!  Do I say that every week?  I think so.  

But anyways, this week was exciting because we had interviews on Wednesday with President Genaro!  My first interview with the new pres!  It was REALLY good, short and to the point, but good.  I found out that he lived for a few months in Stadium Terrace, and did an English course at Provo High!!!  Crazy, right?  It was really good to talk with him a little bit about the mission, about our area and the difficulties we're having here.  One of the things he told me really impacted me... he talked about how sometimes missionaries need to be "cara de pau", which, being translated, means that you're not afraid or embarrassed to say ANYTHING - you can look an investigator in the eye and testify and invite them to be baptized and they will feel the Spirit confirm what you say.  Basically, being direct, bold, and having the courage to say it like it is.  :)  It's something that is NOT easy for me, but I know that it's something I need to learn!  

Later that day, we were prompted to visit one of our newer investigators that had gone to church the past Sunday.  Her name is Dayane.  The first time we visited her she basically shot a lot of crazy questions at us and wanted to debate about doctrine...she had told us that if she went to visit our church and nobody kneeled to pray, she wouldn't ever go back, haha.  I remember leaving her house after that first visit and just feeling kind of shocked, you know?  But after the interview with Pres. Genaro, I was really wanting to be bolder and more direct, and with Dayane I had the perfect opportunity to start.  We taught her the Restoration, and once again she had a ton of questions.  At the end, I invited her to be baptized...that same Sunday.  She was really surprised, but she accepted!  It felt so good...to be bold and trust in the Spirit and see how it really works!  Unfortunately some situations came up and she ended up having to travel to São Paulo this weekend...but she is a lot more open and it has been amazing to see how much she has changed since that first visit.  She is visibly happier and she is reading the Book of Mormon every day...she is praying and searching for an answer to know if everything we've taught is true.  I am so grateful to have met her and to have been able to teach her this last week.  :)  Now we just have to wait for her to get back from her trip to mark a new baptismal date... woohoo!  Pray for her this week, that everything goes okay and that she can receive that answer she's looking for!

In other news, our new apartment is amazing!  It's sooooo nice to have the mess of just TWO sisters, and not seven.  It adds up fast.  :P  :)   And I'm sleeping on a bed for the first time in 3 months, which is also amazing.    I put up my "happy wall" today, so it's feeling more and more like home all the time.  :)  I think I'm gonna like it here.

Yesterday we had a baptism in our chapel!  The elders from a neighboring city wanted to use our font because it's the only one in the area that heats up the water, and their investigator has a problem with her leg and wouldn't be able to be baptized in the cold water there.  So we got to help them out, and it was amazing!  A beautiful baptismal service, it had been a while since I watched one, and I was starting to miss it!  The lady that was baptized is SO brave, she had been in a motorcycle accident and had a ton of metal on and in and around her leg to help the bone go back in place.  It looked so painful, and she needed a lot of help to get in and out of the font, but it was so touching to see her faith and determination to be baptized.  :)

Oh, and Happy Father's Day to the best Dad ever!!!!!  I love you so much!!  I was listening to the Father's Day talks in sacrament meeting and I thought about last year...Father's Day (in Brasil) was my last Sunday in the CTM!  Crazy how fast that year has flown.

Well, my time is up here, so I'd better run.  Love you guys!  Have a GREAT WEEK!  :D

Love,

Sister Gee