MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE everyone!!! Igor has decicded to be baptized!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE everyone!!!  I can't believe it's almost Christmas and that I get to call you all TOMORROW!!!  :D  I'm super excited...and I will confess, a little bit nervous.  haha.  I CAN'T SPEAK ENGLISH anymore, guys.  Seriously, it's going to be rough.  :P  :)  But STILL, I'm excited!  Just be prepared to help me transition back into English...and be patient.  haha :)

So.....wow, a lot has happened this week.  Transfers, first of all.  Right after I sent my email to you guys last week, we received a phone call from Sister Gomes and Sister Bullen... (they had gone to Londrina for the day so we weren't together like usual) ... and Sister Bullen had been transferred!  That was a HUGE surprise for everyone, because she only had ONE transfer here in Ibipora, and Sister Gomes had three.  Everybody thought that Sister Gomes would be the one transferred....but nope, President Tavares decided to mix things up and send Sister Bullen first.  She was transferred to Maringa, and Sister Ramirez arrived to take her place as Sister Gomes' new companion.  Remember Sister Ramirez?  We lived in the same apartment for my last transfer in Maringa, so I already know her pretty well.  It's been good to have her here with us.  :)

We also had an interesting change in our district.  Our district leaders worked in an area called Cornelio, but this transfer the area was closed and our district leader was transferred to a different district... so NOW, we get to go to Londrina every week for our district meeting with our NEW district leaders....the office elders!  Haha, it's different, and bem legal.  They are hilarious and a lot of fun, AND, bonus points, we get to pick up our letters there every week instead of having to wait for transfers.   SWEET!  :)  It's been pretty awesome so far... the escritório is basically the coolest place in the mission, but you can only go there with permission from the president....so having our meeting there is quite the privilege.  ;)  Hearing all the mission gossip, getting letters, Liahonas, packages, seeing all the other missionaries in Londrina....pretty legal. :)  

We also had the Branch Christmas Party last Friday, which turned out to be a pretty big deal.  CHURRASCO!  Okay, so I know that's not SO exciting for you Porto Alegre people, but it doesn't happen that often here in Parana, okay?  haha :)  But it was cool.  The chapel was ALL decorated for Christmas, FULL of people and FULL of FOOD.   Before the eating started, the Primary kids sang Away In A Manger (Jesus Num Presepio), and I played the piano.  Afterwards, the four of us sisters ended up eating behind the curtain on the pulpit, because all of the tables were full....it was actually really funny, kind of like a VIP area, or at least that's how I like to think of it.  ;)  Churrasco, rice and beans, salad (with TONS of tomatoes and onions chopped courtesy of yours truly), potato salad, and guarana.  mmmmm.... :)  and afterwards, ICE CREAM for dessert.  It was pretty great to have the whole branch gathered together to celebrate this wonderful holiday, in a wonderfully Brazilian way.  :)

As far as pesquisadores, I don't have TOO many updates - just one.  Igor told us yesterday that he's decided to be baptized!!!  That was SO exciting to hear.  We knew that he had a testimony and really had a strong desire to be baptized, but it looked like a lot of the problems he was facing were going to hold him back... but he said that he's decided for sure to make the changes in his life that he needs to be able to follow this path.  We set his baptism for two weeks from yesterday, and will be working with him to make it happen.  It isn't going to be easy, but keep him in your prayers and I know everything will work out!  :)

Well, family, I am SO excited to be able to talk to you tomorrow.  I am SO excited for Christmas, for this special day to remember our Savior and His birth.  I am so grateful for Him, for His life and His example.  I know that He lives and loves us, and I KNOW that this is His Church and His work.  I am so so grateful to be one of His representatives and for the opportunity to share this testimony with you as well as with the people here in Brazil.

Merry Christmas!!  I hope it's a wonderful day for all of you!  

Talk to you soon..

Love,

Sister Gee

Christmastime in Ibiporã; Two sister mssionaries, one small umbrella, BIG rain storm

Hello everybody!   Another week has passed and I'm still loving being here in Ibiporã!!  :)  Today is transfers, and as I haven't received any emails from the mission secretaries yet, I'm assuming that means I'll be staying here for another transfer.  woohoo!  :)  Sister Marques hasn't gotten anything yet either, so it looks like we'll be working together again!  I'm pretty excited about that.  :)  I was reeeeeeally hoping that we'd be able to stay here for another transfer.  We have a bunch of people that we're working with right now, and it will be so great to have some more time to keep teaching them and helping them progress.  That also means that we'll be here for Christmas, which I'm also SUPER excited about - we have some amazing members here that I'm sure will take verrryyy good care of us.  :)  Ibiporã is all decorated and beautiful for Christmas, and there has been A LOT going on in the city to celebrate.  The city center is FULL of giant Christmas sculptures made completely from plastic bottles - angels, candy canes, snowmen, and even a house for Santa Claus...it's really pretty incredible.  They have a stage set up for bands and dancers and other performances, a carousel and other rides for the kids, and a ton of little booths with different foods and treats.  It reminds me a lot of Summerfest, actually!  Churros, Krepes, Japanese food, cotton candy, candied apples... Sister Marques and I have definitely been enjoying this time of year.  :)  It's definitely different from Christmas in Utah, where everyone stays inside hiding from the snow! :)   Definitely different, and awesome.  :)

So, not a ton has happened this week...João's leg is still pretty bad and hasn't really shown any signs of improvement, and on top of that, he caught a cold this week, so yeah...he's not doing too well at the moment.  :/   We pass by every day to check on him, and to help in any way we can - which usually includes running to the store to buy groceries for him.  :)  He really is so sweet, and I'm praying that his leg will heal quickly.  It was sooo heartbreaking the other day - we stopped by to give a quick lesson, and afterwards, as we got up to leave, we shook his hand goodbye and he said "Tchau....and now I'm going to be alone."  haha!  It was so sad... :P :)

Oh, and another story - this week has been SUPER rainy, which is really a huge blessing.  We had been waiting for the rain for a loooong time, so when it finally arrived, it was a relief!  Friday we had scheduled a family night with some pesquisadores that live in Vila Esperança, the FARTHEST neighborhood from where we live.  That afternoon, we quickly made a cake to bring for a treat afterwards, pulled it out of the oven and ran out the door only to find the rain POURING down.  We only had one umbrella between the two of us - so try to imagine this - two sister missionaries huddled between one small umbrella, struggling in vain to protect a hot cake from getting soaked in the rain... yeah.   After a few minutes we realized that walking all the way to Vila Esperança wasn't going to happen, so we quickly changed course and caught a bus to take us there.  I couldn't help but laugh as we walked through the pouring rain with our umbrella and our cake.  And then we arrived at the house of the family and nobody was home.  ahh.  It would have been frustrating if it hadn't been so funny.  :)  But it still turned out to be a great evening.  We stopped by Rose's house and ate dinner with her and her family, with our cake as dessert!

Well, I can't wait to talk with you all for Christmas!  I think we'll be able to go to the house of a member here and use Skype...hopefully!  It would be so wonderful to be able to see you all.  :)  I guess I'll figure out all the details and let you know next week!

Love, 

Sister Gee

Christmas conference in Londrina; Christmas tree!; Investigators not progressing

Querida Família,

Oí once again from IBIPORÃ!  It's been another great week here.

The highlight of the week was CONFERENCIA DE NATAL in Londrina!  All of the missionaries in our zone met together to celebrate Christmas and learn together.  It was a WONDERFUL conference, and I loved being able to spend time with some of the other missionaries here.  President and Sister Tavares both spoke to us, as well as a member from Londrina.  The Spirit was AMAZINGly strong, and I learned so much that I'm going to be applying every day.  We practiced teaching a few lessons together, had some musical numbers, a delicious lunch, cake for all of the missionaries who celebrated birthdays from July to December, and of course Christmas presents!  The conference lasted the whole day, but it seriously passed so quickly.  I felt so grateful to be able to be there, receiving the spiritual reinforcements that I need to do this work every day!  Mission conferences are amaaazing.  :)

Oh, and I got your Christmas package!  It was sooo funny, everyone was surprised that I had actually received a Christmas tree in the mail, and that I was actually going to carry it all the way home on the bus.  I lugged it all the way from Londrina to Ibiporã, opened it up, and the sisters and I spent the evening decorating the house for Christmas.  It's BEAUTIFUL, thank you so much!  The other sisters are convinced that Mom and Sister Bullen's mom were planning everything together - Mom sent the Christmas tree, and Sister Bullen's mom sent presents for everyone to put underneath it!  :)  It's so exciting to be decorated for Christmas - I love this time of year!  

Unfortunately João wasn't able to be baptized this week... We went to his house on Thursday to set up the baptismal interview and everything, only to discover that he had two ulcers that had opened up on his leg... big, nasty, painful ulcers.  He said that they're causing a lot of pain, and he hasn't been able to walk too much because of them.  We had the elders come to give him a priesthood blessing, but it looks like he's going to have to wait for them to heal before he'll be able to be baptized.  

Our other investigators haven't been progressing too well so far either.  We haven't been able to get people to commit to come to church, and that's been causing a lot of problems. We haven't been able to teach Igor in a while either, and he didn't show up to church yesterday...I'm pretty worried about him, and REALLY frustrated that we can't get out to teach him more often.  I know that he needs our support and help to make some changes, but he's not getting that because we live SO far away and really can't afford to take the bus out there very often.  I don't know what to do, and am kind of feeling like it's out of my control at the moment.  I'm just praying that everything will turn out alright, and that we'll somehow be able to find a solution to the problems that are keeping us from being able to help him progress.

Well, I think that's it for the week.  Things are going really well here in Ibiporã!  I hope you're all happy and getting ready for Christmas - and THE HOBBIT, jealous!!!   Haha, but I love you all so much!  I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful, supportive family.  :)  You guys are amazing!

Love,

Sister Gee

Awesome birthday!; Sweet, little, old man João; Aparecida finally meets the missionaries

Hello everyone! 
So, I had a pretty awesome birthday.  Like I mentioned last week, we had a branch activity that day and spent a while that afternoon getting everything ready.  The activity went really well, we had quite a few pesquisadores, a TON of food, and even though the karaoke machine never showed up, we had a lot of fun listening to music and singing along in the microphone.  Sister Marques and I gave the spiritual thought, with a message about letting our light shine through sharing our testimonies with others.  And of course, everybody sang a nice loud rendition of Parabens Pra Você for me!  Afterwards, when Sister Marques and I arrived home, Sister Gomes and Sister Bullen brought out a tray with some of the leftover food from the activity (tuna sandwich-type things), with a few candles stuck in.  I was a little surprised, and thought it was a little strange...but remembered that it must have been a pretty busy day for them, smiled and thanked them, and blew out the candles.  They started to laugh and brought me into the other room where we found a FESTA that they had put together for me - cake, balloons, brigadeiros... it was AWESOME, and so funny.... :) Ahh, those sisters.  They´re crazy.  :)
Highlight of this week was our lesson with João.  I dont think Ive mentioned him yet... He is a sweet little old man who has been coming to church for the past couple weeks.  He lives all alone, so I think he really enjoys our visits, but he was feeling a little apprehensive about committing to baptism... We were really trying to avoid being pushy about it, but THIS week, he told us that he´s ready to be baptized and has already invited his kids to come to the baptism.  Sister Marques and I were so excited!  He is so sincere in his prayers and so accepting of what we teach.
We also spent one day this week working in a neighborhood reeeeeeeeeally far away from our house.  We found quite a few great people there, but my favorite lesson was with Aparecida.  The reference that we had was for her daughter, but when Aparecida answered the door, she told us that she had moved out more than a year ago.  But she invited us in, and we sat and visited with her for a while.  She started to tell us about her life, her family...and then told us about her daughter.  Apparently a few years ago she was going through some REALLY hard times, struggling with depression and some other challenges in her life.  One day when she was feeling particularly discouraged, she ran into two young men in white shirts and ties.... :)  She gave them her address and later that day told her mom, ´If two guys show up here, they´re from the church!´  The elders never showed up, and eventually she moved away... but this week Sister Marques and I found her mom and were able to share our message with her.  :)  Aparecida actually started to cry a little bit while telling us the story of how her daughter met the elders.  I just felt so excited to be able to be the one to find her and teach her what she and her daughter had been waiting for so long.  :)
Anyways, time´s up again!  I love you guys so much.  Thanks again for all the birthday wishes, for the presents, for the love and ALL that good stuff.  :)  Hope you are all getting ready for the Christmas season, and enjoying the cold for me!  I can´t wait to be able to talk to you all in a few weeks!  :)
Love always,
Sister Gee

Thanksgiving dinner-ish sort of meal; An answer to prayer for Rose; Igor taught *us* the lesson

Hello everyone!!  :)  First of all, THANK YOU to everyone for the birthday messages!!!  It was a pleasant surprise to log on to my email today and find it FULL of Happy Birthdays from all of you.  :)  It means a lot to know that there are people thinking about me and sending their support and love.  I'm super excited for my birthday - it definitely will be different than usual, but good.  We've actually been planning a branch activity for that day, so it will for sure be busy, getting everything organized and put together, and hopefully still squeezing in a little time for a piece of cake.  ;)  Our plan is to have a Karaoke Night, which should be LOTS of fun, especially since the other sisters have told me that the branch here is really enthusiastic about activities and always has a pretty good turnout.

It's been a gooood crazy busy awesome week.  Sister Bullen and I somehow managed to pull off an almost Thanksgiving dinner-ish sort of meal, with a real live apple pie with vanilla ice cream, mashed potatoes, and gravy.  :)  The most important parts, right?  But it ended up being a lot of fun, and we were both really excited to be able to at least SORT of celebrate Thanksgiving.  Our Brasilian companions weren't quite as enthusiastic as we were, but they humored us and went along with it... and of course we went around the table and each one of us said what we were grateful for.  It was fun to be able to bring a little bit of our American culture here to Brasil.  

The next day, Friday, was the 9 month mark of Sister Gomes, so we threw ANOTHER party to celebrate.  Cake, cachorro quente, balloons and the other crazy sister missionary traditions to celebrate the half-way point!   So yeah, it's been a week fuuuullll of things to celebrate.  :)  Don't worry though, we've been working hard too!  We've had some amazing lessons this week, taught some great people, and it's been awesome.  Remember last week I told you about Rose and her two daughters?  We've visited them a few more times this week (it's hard to go very often since it's sooo far away - bummer :P), and had an AMAZING lesson on Saturday.  We stopped by to see how things were going, if they'd prayed about our message, read the Book of Mormon, etc.  Eduarda had some more questions about how she would get an answer to her prayers, so we shared a message about the Holy Ghost - it's purpose, how it works, and how we can recognize it.  During the lesson, Rose shared a story with us that had happened earlier that week.  Her other daughter, Heloise, got reeeally sick all of a sudden and they took her to the hospital to do some tests and figure out what was happening.  Rose said that she was verrry very worried while waiting for the results to come back, when she suddenly remembered us and the things we'd taught her.  She said that she prayed there in the hospital, asking that if our message really was true, Heloise would be fine.  She told us that she immediately felt a calm assurance that everything was going to be fine, that there would be nothing wrong with her daughter and that she didn't need to worry.  Sure enough, the tests came back and everything was normal.  She told us that she knew this was an answer to her prayers, and that she knows that our message is true.  It was SO soo so amazing to hear her share that...the Spirit was definitely present, and Sister Marques and I were both filled with this amazing happiness and excitement for her - and gratitude for that answer to her prayers.  :)

We've also been teaching a young man named Igor.  He is 16 years old, and heard about the Church through his cousin, who is serving a mission now.  He has been coming to church for the past 3 weeks or so, and really enjoying it.  The problem is that he lives in a little city outside of Ibiporã, so it's REALLY hard to find time to teach him.  We FINALLY were able to take a bus out to where he lives on Sunday after church to visit him.  He is the MOST amazing investigator I've ever had.  I've never seen anything like it....We started to teach the Plan of Salvation, right?  Sister Marques - "So, Igor, where do you think we came from before this life?"  Igor - "Well, we were spirits, and we lived with God, and He created this plan for us .... " etc.  And he basically taught the lesson to US.  It was incredible...afterwards I asked him how he knew so much without ever having been taught by the missionaries, and he told us that he's been studying the scriptures on his own, and has almost finished reading the entire Book of Mormon.  His mother-in-law was there during the lesson, and when she asked a question about the Holy Ghost, how to receive an answer about the Church, HE opened up to Moroni 10, taught the scripture to her, and bore his testimony.  Seriously, blew my mind.  He is so prepared to receive the gospel, it's crazy.   The only thing that's keeping him from being baptized a few problems that he needs help to resolve...it's SUPER complicated, but I'm praying that Sister Marques and I will know what to do to be able to help him be baptized.  

Okay, super long email today.  :)  Probably should run and write President Tavares before my hour's up...  Hope you all are doing well!  CONGRATULATIONS to Kyle on the Eagle!  And to Megan for her fancy hoop skirt!  ;)  I love you all so much, and pray for you every day.  I'm sooo glad the house situation got resolved - an answer to prayers!

Well, thanks for everything again!  

Love, 

Sister Gee

New area, Ibiporã! Really great family - Rose and twin daughters;

Hello from my NEW AREA, Ibiporã!!!  :)  Like I mentioned last week, it's a little city about 20 minutes away from Londrina.  It's definitely different than Maringá, but this last week has been really good and I'm definitely enjoying being here.  Sacrament Meeting yesterday was the biggest difference - we have about 50 people who are active members here.  It was not exactly the kind of congregation that I'm used to, but the members here are very friendly and supportive of the missionary work, excited to help us however they can.  The branch president is AMAZING, and really such an inspiring person.  Last night we spent the evening with him and his family, and it was sooo cool to hear him talk about his experiences and testimony.  He was called as branch president after just ONE year as a member, and even though he felt completely overwhelmed and didn't know much about how to lead a branch, he trusted enough in the Lord to accept the calling.  He's seriously been an example of faith already, and I'm excited to be able to work with him this transfer.  Also, good news for me - they don't have a pianist in the branch, so I get the opportunity to play the piano in Sacrament Meeting now!!!  That was exciting.  :)  I wanted to play SO bad EVERY week in Maringá, but never had the chance...so yeah, I'm happy.  :)

My companion, Sister Marques, is GREAT!  She is from São Paulo, 26 years old, beautiful, loving, and, after 9:30 pm, CRAZY.  :)  She likes to laugh and joke and be goofy (once we finish daily planning, of course ;), and it has been so much fun this last week.  She also really wants to learn English, so we've been teaching each other - She teaches me something in Portuguese and I teach her in English.  :)  We also have another companionship of sisters here in Ibiporã - Sister Gomes (Brasileira) and Sister Bullen (Americana).  If that name sounds familiar, it's because Sister Bullen was my roommate in the CTM for 3 weeks!  I was SO excited when I found out that she was going to be in the same area as me.  It's always nice to have someone you already know close by.  :)  She already knows Sister Marques too, so everyone gets along really well, and we have a lot of fun. 

The work here has been a little bit slow this week.  I think we've been facing the effects of some things that happened here in the past - we've met a lot of people who have heard rumors about the Church and don't want anything to do with us.  It's frustrating that so many people here have become so closed up to the gospel, but despite the opposition, we've found a few people who have invited us in and listened to our message.  We met one really great family that I'm excited about - the mom, Rose, and her two 11 year old daughters (twins!).  We taught them the Restauration last week, and it was a really great lesson, I think one of the most spiritual lessons that I've had so far.  It actually went over the 45 min. time limit that we have because they had so many questions about the Church!  Rose told us after the lesson that she already believed our message was true.  It was so exciting to see her accept so willingly.  I'm excited to go back to visit this week and teach them more about the gospel.  

Well, that's about it for the week.  It's been really good to be here so far.  I love you all and hope you have a great Thanksgiving this week!  Seriously, enjoy it for me ... I don't think anyone here has even HEARD of Thanksgiving, let alone pumpkin pie ... so it's up to me and Sister Bullen to plan some kind of little celebration ...  haha, wish us luck.  :)  Hope everything's going well back home, love and miss you all, and look forward to your letters... (*hint*hint*)  :)

Love,

Sister Gee

Relaxing P-Day in Maringá; Stomach flu; Comfortable speaking Portuguese

Hey everyone!  I'm writing a little bit later today because the four of us sisters spent the afternoon in the city - looking at shops, visiting the cathedral, taking pictures...awesome, and so good to finally have a semi-relaxing P-Day, especially since next week is transfers and I might not get another chance to enjoy Maringá!

So.  This week has been....interesting.... haha.  I don't know what happened exactly, but it seems like almost everything has been going wrong, and we've been struggling to work through it all.  Sister Lopez said that our numbers this week were the worst of her mission so far.  :P  I think we're both a little bit tired...ready for a change.  It's a good thing that transfers are coming up, I think we need it.  But we talked a lot about the difficulties we've been having, and made some decisions to help us do better.  

It all started at lunch last P-Day.  A lady in our ward had called to invite us to eat at her house - for some reason she had a ton of food and wanted to share it with us.  We were pretty excited - free food, right? - and agreed to go there for lunch.

Cut to later that day, appr. 12 am. .... four sister missionaries all racing for the bathroom.  Haha, yep, SOMEthing we ate did not react well with our stomachs, and every one of us was SICK as a dog the next day.  We missed District Meeting on Tuesday and spent most of the day at home, miserable.  Not fun.

The next day it RAINED like crazy.  Rained and rained and rained, and we arrived at our lunch appointment COMPLETELY soaked.  I didn't mind too much, because it had been SO hot that the cool rain was a blessing.  :)  

Sister Lopez and I tried our best to celebrate Halloween, but it didn't end up being too great... haha.  We had plans to have a real party - "costumes" (aka those mustaches you sent me), candy, apple cider....the whole shebang.  The day turned out to be super busy, running around trying to visit all of our investigators ... and we didn't get home until it was too late to do much.  We each bought a sucker to eat on our way home and tried to remember the little we knew of the Thriller dance, and THAT was pretty much the extent of the festivities.  :)  Sister Lopez is determined to do better for Thanksgiving, but we'll see what happens.... How was Halloween for you guys?  Got pictures?  

The good news is that I'm definitely getting used to speaking Portuguese - there were a few times this week where people asked me to speak for them in English, and it was HARD!  It felt really, really weird to be speaking in English again, and took me a few seconds to flip the English switch in my brain.  :)  That's a good sign, right?  I'm learning this language!!!  Woohoo!  :)

Well, that's about it for this week.  I hope everything's going well there.  I love you all sooooo much, and it's always so good to hear about what you all are up to.  :)  

Love,

Sister Melissa Gee

Cleide is an eleita; The gospel helps us grow and reach our full potential; It's HOT!!!

Olá família!  It's me again.  :)  P-Day once more, and there's only two weeks left until transfers come around again!!!  CRAZY how fast the time is flying.  It's almost November???  When did THAT happen?  haha :)  Is it feeling that way for you guys too, or is mission time just messing with my brain?

But things are going great here in Maringá.  Remember how I said we've been working really hard lately to find new people to teach?  Well, we were looking for a miracle this week ... really searching for someone who was prepared to be baptized on Sunday, and although it didn't come in the form of a baptism, we DID find an amazing family to teach.  We met Lorena, 15, while doing contacts in the street.  She was really interested in our message, and we set an appointment right then to teach her and her family.  So we've been teaching her and her mom, Cleide, and they are both REALLY open and receptive - eleitas. :)  

It's usually SO HARD to get investigators to come to church...we have to explain and explain and explain the importance of keeping the Sabbath Day holy, the sacrament, church meetings, etc.... We have to arrange to have someone come and pick them up in the morning, just so they won't have any excuse to not show up.  Seriously, sometimes it can be a lot of work to get an investigator to church on Sunday.  But Cleide is an eleita.  She got up in the morning, went out, and caught a bus to take her all the way to the chapel in downtown Maringá, carrying her two year old daughter the whole way.  :)  It's so awesome to see people with that kind of faith, that desire to do the right things just because they know it's right. 

What else happened this week....oh!  Daniel had to wait a week in between his baptism because of stake conference last week, but this Sunday he finally got to be confirmed.  It was awesome!  His testimony is more and more solid every week, and that is so cool to see.  The blessing that he received during the confirmation was powerful, and he was blessed to become a great leader in the church.  Amazing to see how the gospel helps us to grow and reach our full potential.  :)

We're still working with his son, Alexandre, but haven't made a ton of progress yet.  We still haven't been able to get him to come to church, but aren't really sure what's keeping him back... Okay, so I forgot to tell this story last week - when we brought Alexandre to the Book of Mormon play last week, we showed him around the chapel a little bit - the classrooms, the baptismal font, etc.  He seemed uncharacteristically quiet while we explained everything to him, and later he told us that a looong time ago he'd had a dream about the chapel - he's kind of hard to take seriously sometimes, so at first I wasn't sure if he was telling the truth, but he was definitely being sincere.  He also said that he dreamed about a man there in the chapel, one of the whitest people he'd EVER seen in his life, and that he recognized him that night at the activity - our district leader, Elder Griner!  Crazy, right?  We thought that maybe because of this dream, Elder Griner would be able to make the difference that we somehow weren't making, so he came to our area yesterday to talk with Alexandre.  Apparently it went well, and we're going to continue working with him this week.  :) 

In other news, it's hot.  haha :)  I'm apparently not adjusting to the heat or the humidity very well, because I end up completely drenched in sweat every day... the other sisters say that I'll get used to it, but I'm not so sure. :P  It's ridiculously embarrassing, but ah well.  Could be worse.  :)

I think that's all for now.  It's great to be here.  I'm happy.  :)  Keep writing me letters and such!  I love you all soooo much and pray for you ALL!!!  

Love, 

Sister Gee  

Courage in the work; Stake conference; Disappointments, but overall a good week

Sister Lopez and Sister Gee

Hello everyone!  Another exciting week here in Maringá - we have another new sister with us!  So turns out that Pres. Tavares WAS able to shift things around to get Sis. Ramirez a new companion, and now there are four of us again.  Sis. Ramos arrived on ... Wednesday, if I remember right.  :)  She is AWESOME, and its been so much fun to have her here.  She is from Recife, Brazil, and has a strong northern accent - did you have any companions from Recife, Jamie?  I dont know how to describe the accent, but if Jamie knows what Im talking about, she can imitate it for you.  ;)  Its pretty wild!   Sis. Ramos has 10 months in the mission, the same amount as Sis. Lopez.  They actually lived together before in a different area, so they're already good friends!  So Sis. Ramos and Sis. Ramirez have been working together in Parque dos Pioneiros A, and Sis. Lopez and I have been able to focus on P. dos P. B.  :)

Another exciting moment this week was interviews with President Tavares!  Interviews happen every 3 months or so, and this was my very first, besides the quick interview when I first arrived in the field.  I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it was a really great opportunity to sit and talk with him for a few minutes, about everything - my health, family, problems I've been experiencing, what I need to improve on, etc.  President Tavares is awesome.  Hes really energetic and super enthusiastic about EVERYTHING, which is great.  Before the interviews he gave a powerful message about what it takes to be missionaries of COURAGE, using Alma 17 as a guideline of things we need to be doing every day to be able to preach the gospel with power and courage.  It was awesome, and exactly what I needed. I'll definitely be working on applying those scriptures to my work here in Maringá.

It was an exciting weekend - we had stake conference on Sunday, and a lot of activities leading up to it.  Friday was a Book of Mormon Theater put on by all the youth in our stake.  We were only able to stay for the first few acts and weren't able to see our ward perform, but the wards we did see did a great job!  We also brought Alexandre (17), the son of Daniel, to watch the theater, and I think he really enjoyed being able to meet some other teens from the ward and make some friends.  We've been trying to get him to come to church for a month or so now, so this felt like a step in the right direction.  :)

Stake Conference was crazy - the chapel was completely PACKED full of people.  The disappointing part was that somehow all of our plans fell through and not one of our investigators had a ride to church.  Daniel was able to take a bus to get to church, but his son Alexandre didn't make it.  That was disappointing because we had set a baptismal date for him next Sunday, but because he didn't come to church this week, we will have to push it back another week...  

But overall its been a good week.  :)

Sounds like you guys are having plenty of your own adventures back home.  I talked to a woman in our ward on Friday who had visited Utah with her family for General Conference.  She talked about their visit to Provo, the temple, the mountains, the autumn leaves...ahhh.  I miss all that!  But I am happy to be here serving a mission in Brazil.

I love you all so much!  Take care, write me a letter when you have a minute!

Love, 

Sister Melissa Gee

Miracle baptism! Daniel

Hello once again from Maringá!  It's been another busy week, and a lot's happened since last I wrote.  Two new sisters arrived here last Tuesday!  ....and one new sister left again appr. two hours later.  haha.  :)  Sister Empey has some kind of problems with her back, so Pres. and Sis. Tavares decided that it probably wasn't a good idea for her to live here in Maringá, climbing up and down the many flights of stairs to our apartment every day.  So she went back to Londrina, and Sis. Lopez and I are working in a trio with the other new sister, Sis. Ramirez, for the time being.  We're supposedly going to have a new companion for her today or tomorrow, but again, nobody's heard any details about that yet, so we're not completely sure it's going to happen... we'll see.  :)  

Being in a trio is interesting... It's been kind of crazy, especially since we've had to work in BOTH of the areas here - the area of Sis. Ramirez as well as the area of Sister Lopez and I.  We've been going back and forth between the two, trying to take care of the investigators and recent converts in each area, but not really being able to give them the time they need.  We're really hoping that Sis. Ramirez WILL receive a companion soon so things can get back to normal here...   Sis. Ramirez is from Chile, and lots of fun.  She's hilarious and has a lot of crazy stories, so she's definitely kept us entertained this last week.  :)  It's really fun to be able to get to know some more of the sisters here in the Brazil Londrina Mission.

Yesterday we had another miracle baptism!  We started out this week not really sure what was going to happen - we didn't really have any investigators with a definite baptismal date, and weren't sure where we were going to find one.  But on Thursday we taught Daniel again (Silvia's dad), and he decided that he wanted to be baptized.  :)  He's a really great man - really humble and accepting of everything we teach.  He really has a sincere desire to do what's right, and it's been awesome to see him progress.  So even despite the disappointments with Silvia deciding to stop coming to church last week, we're still receiving blessings from the work we've been doing here.  And I'm sure that he will be a good example for the rest of his family, one that they'll hopefully decide to follow!  (Also, at our last zone meeting, they announced that the first companionship to baptize a man would get a pizza....so we're not complaining too much about that either.)  :)

 

Baptism of Daniel

 

Alright, well that's pretty much it for the week.  I love you guys!  I wish I could have been there for the family vacation this past week...sounds like it was an adventure.  :)  Good luck with school and band and Primary and work and EVERYTHING that's happening over there!  And write and tell me all about it!  :)

Love love love,

Sister Melissa Gee

Teaching Carol and Silvia; "Do I value the words of the prophet this much?"

Olá família!

Okay, so it's been another busy week, and a LOT has been happening.  Sis. Lopez and I are still working like crazy.  The two new sisters that will be taking over the other area here in Maringá still haven't arrived, due to health problems and other complicated situations.  They're supposed to be arriving today, but I don't think anybody really knows exactly what's going on with that... haha.  For the time being, it's just been Sister Lopez and I, which is fun.  :)  Raisa hasn't been able to work with us at all this transfer, so we've had to rely a lot on maps, buses, and our own two feet.  Hello, Missionary Work.  It's been an experience, frustrating, hectic, and exhausting at times...but I'm really grateful for Sis. Lopez and all the work she does to make sure we find our way to lunch appointments, lessons, and back home again at the end of the day... even if we occasionally get a little bit lost along the way.  :) We're slowly learning the area - the streets, the bus schedules, where all the members live, stuff like that - and also realizing what a blessing it was to have the help of Raisa last transfer... haha :)

We had quite a few people that we were teaching at the beginning of the transfer, and a few that I really thought were progressing amazingly well - Carol and Silvia.  Carol is 21, and a referral from a recent convert.  Silvia is 19, and we met her and her family while knocking on doors (aka clapping at gates).  :) I don't remember if I've mentioned them in a previous email or not, but they both were really interested in our message, really quick to learn and keep commitments, they were reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church...really, seemed like golden investigators.  The hardest part of this week was when each of them told us that they didn't have any interest in continuing with the lessons or coming to church.  Sister Lopez and I were both shocked, and a little bit discouraged... it was hard.  But Sister Lopez shared something that she's learned on the mission - moments of rejection are part of the mission.  We'll all face them ... but even during these moments, we will ALWAYS be able to feel the love of the Lord.  His mission wasn't easy - He too was rejected and suffered more than we can comprehend - so why would we expect ours to be?  And I know that He'll be with us, and that if we continue to do our best, the blessings will come.  :)

Conference was definitely a blessing after the discouragements of the week.  I felt the Spirit so powerfully, during each of the four sessions.   During the first few talks during the first session of Conference, they weren't able to get the transmission in English to work for the 7 or 8 us American missionaries, so we watched in the cool chapel with the rest of the stake, in Portuguese.  The translators speak really fast, and though I understood more or less what was happening, it wasn't easy.  I found myself hanging on to every word the prophet said, desperate to understand, not wanting to miss anything that was happening - and then the thought came into my mind, "Do I value the words of the prophet this much when they're in English, easy to understand?"  I think sometimes when things are easy for us, we start to take them for granted...but I realized just what a wonderful thing it is to hear a prophet of God speak to us.  

The rest of the conference was amazing as well, and I can't wait to be able to read all the talks again when the Liahona comes out.  So many talks on discipleship, missionary work, following Christ...definitely a theme of the conference.  It made me really appreciate the experience of a mission, the blessing of being a missionary.  I'm SO grateful to be here, so grateful to be able to serve!!!  I know it's going to change my life forever, and I'm so grateful for that, and for everything I'm learning here.  For the person I'm becoming here.  :)  And YES, everyone here is so excited about the changes for missionary age requirements!!!  SO many more young women will have the opportunity to serve now that they can leave at 19.  What a blessing. :)  The work is really going forward, and this change is only going to move it along faster and faster!  Can't wait to be able to train a 19 year old sister.  ;)

Well, that's all for this week.  I hope you all loved Conference, and enjoyed basking in the spiritual feast as much as I did.  :)  I love you all so much, and think about you often!  I'm so glad you guys are focusing on Mission Prep - it's really going to make such a big difference when your time comes to serve!  Let me know what things you're learning and practicing!  :)

Until next week,

Love,

Sister Melissa Gee

Time for a fresh start! Baptism of Henrique; "Would you really give all this up for..."

A new month, a new set of contact lenses, a new transfer.....ahh.  Yep, it's time for a fresh start.  :)  So, this transfer I'll be staying here in Maringá (woohooo!!), only in a different area and with a different companion!  Because of the problems with her foot, Sister Scapin left early this morning to head back home.  It was a really tough decision for her, but she and President Tavares both felt like it was the right thing to do at this point.  It's definitely going to be different without her... but I'm excited for this transfer to start, to be able to really get to work!  I've had a word or two with both of my feet, and I think they'll behave for a while...haha :)  Sister Lopez will be my new companion and will finish up my training.  I was hoping that I would be able to continue working with her, since we already know each other and have had a few weeks to get used to working together.  It's gonna be a good transfer.  :)  We still don't know which sisters will be arriving tomorrow to take the place of Sister Scapin and Sister de Jesus, so more excitement is in store....stay tuned.  :)

Let's see, que mais......this week was a little unusual, with Sister de Jesus and myself taking turns staying at home with Sister Scapin, and then with all the goodbyes and pictures and tears when Sister Scapin found out she was leaving...  But it was good, and despite the confusion we were able to work quite a bit.  We had a MIRACLE on Saturday...Henrique, an investigator that Sister Lopez, Sister de Jesus, and I have been working with for a while now, decided to be baptized!  It was really exciting for us, because for the longest time he'd been saying that he didn't really have the desire to be baptized, that all of the commandments and expectations were too much for him.  I still don't know exactly what changed, but I think it all started when we taught him the Plan of Salvation last week... After explaining everything that God has planned for him, Sister Lopez looked at him and said, "Would you really give all this up for a cup of coffee?  For a cigarette?  For one night breaking the Law of Chastity?"  And I guess that really made an impact, because Saturday night he decided he wanted to be baptized - the next day.  So we were in a rush all night, getting signatures and organizing everything, buying stuff to make a cake...and Sunday we had a baptism.  :)  It was especially special for Sister de Jesus, since she left this morning and would have missed the baptism if we'd waited for next week.

Henrique and Sister Lopez

Oh, and also, yesterday was the Primary Program in our ward!  That reminded me of Mom and home and all the stress she's probably going through getting everything figured out...haha :)  But really, I loved it.  I love seeing the sweet little kids and the pure faith that they have.  The Spirit is always so strong when they share their simple testimonies of the gospel.  The Primary president asked us to join the kids on the stand for a musical number - Called to Serve and I Hope They Call Me On A Mission - which was really special.  It made me think of my time in Primary, when I sang that same song....and now here I am 15+ years later, serving a mission!  Sigh....time flies.  :)

Anyways, I've gotta write my president now.  I'm so so grateful to be a missionary, to have this opportunity to learn and grow and serve and teach...I'm amazed by how much I've learned already, and I know it will only continue!  I love you all so much, and hope you are all happy and healthy and loving life.  I think about and pray for you aaallll the time!  Thanks for all the love and support I continually feel from you guys.  It means a lot.  :)

Love,

Sister Gee

Mission conference in Londrina; Sister Scapin still stuck in the apartment

Hard to believe that I'm almost finished with the first transfer of my mission...only one week left!  And who knows where I´ll be next week... At the beginning of the transfer, Sister Scapin was pretty confident that we would both stay in Maringá for both transfers of my training, but with all of the craziness that we've gone through the last few weeks, I really don't know what's going to happen!  I could be here with Sis. Scapin, with a different trainer, or in a new area altogether...It´ll be exciting to find out.  :)

Well, the big event of the week was MISSION TOUR!  A mission conference in Londrina, with all of the Brasil Londrina missionaries in the Paraná areas.  I attached the picture that they took with everyone there...I'm on the veeeery far end on the left, almost falling off of my chair...  Taking that picture was not a comfortable experience.  :P  :)  

 

Mission Conference in Londrina  - September 2012

 

Also, as a part of the conference, all of the new missionaries got to bear their testimonies for everyone!  Fortunately I've had a lot of practice bearing my testimony in Portuguese the last few weeks, so it wasn't too bad.  :)  

We were blessed to be able to hear from Elder Carlos Godoy, from the First Quorum of the Seventy.  It was an amazing experience.  We´d been preparing for it as a mission for two weeks leading up to the conference, and as a part of that preparation they asked each of us to come with specific questions in mind.  I had two or three questions that I´d thought about and written down, and EACH question was answered very directly throughout the conference.  It was a pretty powerful testimony to me that the Lord really is aware of us, and that He really does speak to us through His apostles.  :)  And now we all get to do the same thing for General Conference in a few weeks!  Woohoo!  :) 

Oh, and I got the package you sent!  Thank you sooo much...it was wonderful to open it and see the pictures and treats and fun things you sent.  I felt loved.  :)  And would you believe it if I told you that we already finished off all of the candy...?  (haha, my companions helped a lot.)  :P :)   

I've continued to work with Sis. Lopez this week, as Sis. Scapin still has a lot of pain in her foot.  It´s been great.  We've had exciting moments when our investigators progress, and disappointing moments when they choose not to...but through it all I've really felt grateful to be a missionary.  It´s such a privilege to be able to share the truths that I know with people who don´t have the blessings of the gospel in their lives.  It's a blessing, and something that I know will pass by much too quickly...so I'm trying my best to take advantage of every opportunity I get.  :)  I just wish that I'd taken more of the opportunities to prepare for my mission, so Kyle and Justin and everyone reading this who might be thinking about serving a mission, there´s no way to prepare too much!  Start now, and be as ready as you possibly can to reach your potential as a missionary.  :)

Well family, I love you so much!  I'm so grateful for you all.  I realize more and more all the time what a blessing it is to have every member of my family a member of the Church, and what a blessing all your support and love is.  I remember you in my prayers every day!  I hope that everything is going well, that everyone is happy and healthy and having a great time with school and friends and everything.  Can't wait to hear from you guys!  

Love,

Sister Gee

Still stuck in the apartment; Mariana was baptized!

Weeeell, once again I don't have a lot to report.  I'm still stuck in the apartment most of the time, studying and waiting for my leg to heal, so not much has been happening here in Maringá.  I have a physical therapy appointment today, and I'm hoping that they'll give me the OK to take this boot off and get back to work!  It really feels completely fine, so I'm guessing that will be the case.  It's been an interesting experience to have so soon after arriving in the field, but I really have appreciated the opportunity to study more and develop more confidence when I speak and teach.  Having a Brazilian companion has helped a LOT with the language, I think.  I find myself thinking in Portuguese at times, and I've started to say my personal prayers in Portuguese too...it's been helping a lot.  I still have a reeeeally hard time understanding people, especially people who talk fast or have heavy accents, which is basically everybody.  haha :)  But I can understand Sister Scapin more or less all the time, and I'm sure I'll continue to improve as time goes by.

Even though we haven't been able to go out and teach much this week, we were still able to see the blessings of missionary work yesterday.  Mariana, one of our investigators, was baptized!  She is 16 years old, and her mom and little brother were baptized a few months ago.  She wasn't sure about baptism at first, but last week in church she told us that she had finally made the decision to be baptized.  It was so wonderful to see this beautiful family and the blessings that the gospel has brought to them! 

The elders in our district have been awesome and really helpful to us for the last few weeks while we haven't been able to do much.  They've been taking care of our area, visiting our investigators, teaching lessons, and finding new people to teach, so hopefully there will be a lot to do once we get back!

Yup, that's pretty much it for the week.  Hopefully I'll have a lot more stories to tell next time!!  :)

Sister Gee

Ouch! Injury to my foot!; Stuck in the apartment; Language is coming along well;

Hello, família!!!  :)  So first off, CONGRATULATIONS to Ryan and Celecta!!!!  It's a GIRL...ahhh, I've been dying to hear the news, and I'm SO so excited for you guys.  Nothing against little boys, but I will admit that I was secretly hoping for an adorable niece.  ;)  Give Baby Celecta a hug for me, kay?

It sounds like the rest of you are having a fun Labor Day weekend!  I think I'd actually forgotten that Labor Day even existed ... haha, I opened your email and thought "Labor Day...?  Oh yeah... that happens, doesn't it?" :)  Have an awesome time, take pictures, and tell me all about it next week!

Okay, so its been an interesting week here .... :)  Here's the story.  Last week, after we had finished all of our P-day activities, we were heading out to get back to work once again.  We were on our way to a Family Night with some recent converts, and I think we were running a little bit late, because we were in a hurry.  Walking quickly along in the dark, I failed to notice a small dip in the sidewalk, tripped, and fell.  I didn't think it was going to be a big deal or anything, just a twisted ankle, right?  But Sister Scapin was worried, so the next day we went to the hospital to get it checked out, and lo and behold, I....I don't even know, from the pieces of Portuguese that I understood, I did SOMEthing to my ligament, and I have to be pretty careful with it for the next two weeks.  wooohooooo....  That means I get to wear one of those big awful boots everywhere, go to physical therapy, and basically just NOT walk...  so yeah, ever since that happened, life has been kind of dull.  We cant go out and work because of my foot, so every day after lunch, Sister Scapin and I go back to the apartment and study for the rest of the day.  It's kind of frustrating, especially since I cant physically FEEL that somethings wrong.  I don't have any pain at all, I'm just trusting that the doctor knows what hes talking about.  :P  I'm sure it will be good for me to have extra time to study and really become more confident with all of the lessons, the language, etc. ...  Just kind of frustrating to have to stay at home when I feel like I should be out working!

Other than the whole foot fiasco, everything's great here in Maringá!  I'm getting to know the members better, and I really can tell a difference in my ability to speak and understand the Portuguese, especially when I think about my first day here.  Haha, I was soooo lost...and now I can at least follow the conversation, even if I cant contribute much.  Everyone here is wonderful and welcoming and so much fun.  We had an awesome ward activity this week, with a spiritual message, games and food.  It was so great to see so many members of our ward interacting and laughing, having a blast together!  

Anyways, life is good.  I love you all, and pray for you every day!  Thanks for everything you do for me.  :)

Till next week!

Sister Melissa Gee

Quote of the Week:  Pouca coisa é necessaria para transformar inteiramente uma vida: amor no coração e sorriso nos labios.  - Martin Luther King  :)

First area... Maringá; Sister Scapin; So many hugs and kisses; Food is amazing;

FAMÍLIA!!!  I'm alive and well and (aaah, I can't believe it) in my FIRST area, Maringá!  It's a beautiful city, much smaller and cleaner and quieter than São Paulo. :) I am really enjoying being here, meeting so many of the wonderful people here and having the opportunity to really teach!  My new trainer's name is Sister Scapin, and she is wonderful - I'm really so lucky to have such a warm, loving companion to help me adjust to everything out in the field.  She is from the south of Brazil, a little city called Nova Palma that I think is in Rio Grande do Sul, I don't remember for sure.  But she's definitely a gaúcha, which is fun!  I think of Jamie every time she pulls out the chimarrão.  :)  She's an amazing missionary, and I know I'm going to learn so much from her example during the next few months.  It's a little bit difficult at times since she doesn't speak much English and I don't speak much Portuguese....but it's been fun, and I'm sure it's going to help me learn the language so much!  We're living in a little apartment with one other companionship of sisters, Sister De Jesus and Sister Lopez.  Sister Lopez is from Cedar Hills, and she knows Mary Bonham, a friend of Mike and Candy!  Small world, right?  :)  They are both awesome, hilarious sisters.   The ward that we work in is called Parque dos Pioneiros.  It's fairly big, though really the only thing I have to compare it with is our home ward in Provo.  :)  But the people there are very welcoming and warm, and I've gotten SO many hugs and kisses on the cheek over the last 5 days.  So many.  haha :)  It's probably something that I'll get used to here in Brazil!  We have lunch in the home of a member every day, and OH my.  The food is amaaazing.  Every day, someone's prepared a feast for us.

We've been teaching a few different families, and it's been so wonderful to see how we're helping people progress and come closer to the Savior.  We're teaching one family, Luciene and Reginaldo, and their two sons Rodolfo (17) and Gabriel (12).  Rodolfo was actually baptized last Sunday and confirmed yesterday, and yesterday Gabriel was baptized as well!  It was so exciting, and wonderful to see.  I think it's been a while since I last attended a baptism, so it was really cool to be able to be there, especially since it was for someone that I'd helped to teach a little bit.  I didn't understand the conversation perfectly, but from the pieces that I did pick up, Luciene is deciding to be baptized as well - so exciting!!!  We still need to help her and Reginaldo get married, but as soon as that happens she'll be ready.  :)

Me, Sister Scapin, Rodolfo, Gabriel, Luciene, and Reginaldo at Gabriel's baptism

 

Okay, well I'm out of time.  I love you all and hope everything is wonderful back at home!!!  Enjoy the autumn weather for me...it's getting HOT here.  :P

Love you and pray for you always!

Love, 

Sister Gee

Last P-day; Campinas Temple; God answers prayers - Adrian

Today is my LAST P-Day here at the CTM!!!  It's kind of sad because we have NO time to do aaaanything today...I'll probably finish emailing here and then my P-Day will be over.  We got back really late from the temple today because the São Paulo temple is closed for cleaning this week, so we went all the way to the Campinas temple instead (which was fine with me - the Campinas temple is GORGEOUS, and it was so refreshing to get away from the smoggy city for a while), and then the devotional today was moved to 4:00 since the speaker can't come later...so we have to be done with all of our P-Day activities in about a half hour.  :P  Lame, and sad, but I think it'll be okay.  I'll have more time for P-Day stuff in the field, right?  :)

 I can't believe how quickly those 9 weeks flew by...and looking back on everything I've learned and experienced, and all the people I've gotten to know and work with here, I'm amazed by how perfectly everything has ended up.  It's been such a good experience, every part of it.  It's amazing how the Lord guides you through experiences and even if you can't see how things are going to work out at the time, they always do somehow.  :)

On Sunday I was back in Branch 7 with my original district, and since I had been gone for so long...yep, I got to speak in sacrament meeting again.  :)  I was kind of anticipating that, so I prepared really thoroughly, and I feel really good about the talk I gave.  THIS time was a little different than the last time I spoke because last Sunday the CTM put a new rule in place regarding sacrament meeting talks: every district past Week 5 has to speak in Portuguese!  I actually think I liked speaking in Portuguese better than in English, because I really couldn't analyze and stress about how to word things perfectly - I just said what I could in the simple language that I know, and let it be.  I spoke on faith, and how we can increase our own faith as well as the faith of our investigators. 

So yesterday I got to go proselyting again, only this time with a different district and a different companion!  I didn't think I would be as nervous as the first time since I'd already been through the experience and sort of knew what I was doing, but I got out on the streets and was surprised by how hard it still is!  We finally got over the nervousness and started talking to people, and it turned out to be an AWESOME experience.  I definitely feel a lot better about it than last week, and I had SO much fun.  Sister Young and I gave out 5 Book of Mormons, and met some really amazing people.  Again, everyone was REALLY friendly and REALLY nice to us - even the people that weren't interested in what we had to say.  It was soooo good...we came back to the CTM and I couldn't stop smiling for the next couple hours.  :)We started out kind of rough, like I said, and after a while I decided that I needed to stop and say a quick prayer for help and for the Spirit to guide us as we spoke to people.  Sister Young agreed and so we sat down on a bench and prayed together.  Immediately after we stood up again, a man came over to us, calling for our attention.  I was really excited and hoped that this was a man that needed to hear our message....but pretty soon we could tell that he wasn't interested at all.  He was talking about the most bizarre things...quizzing us on random Bible stories and talking about demons or something?  I didn't understand a lot of what he said, but it was weird.  We were stuck there for what felt like a looong time, listening to this random man ... I was kind of discouraged, wondering how this is what came from our prayer, but after a while, another man came past in a wheelchair, stopped and interrupted our bizarre converstion for a moment to tell us what a wonderful work we were doing, and then continued through the park.  After we finished talking to the other man, we found him in the park.  He told us his name was Adrian, and we talked to him about the Church and the Book of Mormon - apparently he had already met some missionaries and had a copy of the Book of Mormon, but he was interested in learning more.  We gave him the telephone number of the missionaries here in São Paulo and he seemed really excited about meeting with them.  I was thinking about it later, and I realized that if we hadn't been stuck there talking to the first guy, we might never have met Adrian.  It was a testimony to me that God answers prayers, even if those answers aren't immediately apparent to you.  :)

Anyways, I'm out of time again.  Thanks for all the love and the emails and the letters....they're amazing.  :)  Next week, I'll be writing to you frooommmm LONDRINA!!!!!  :D

 

Love love love,

 

Sister Melissa Gee

My companion is here!; I'm here because it's TRUE

MY COMPANION IS HERE!!!  She finally got her visa, and she's finally HERE!  I honestly didn't think it was ever going to happen, so I was kind of shocked when my old district came and found me to tell me the news.  I got to meet her today at lunch and talk to her for a few minutes, and she seems awesome.  Here's what I know so far:  Her name is Sister Young, she's from Oregon, went to BYU-Idaho, has an amazing singing voice, and will be serving her mission in Porto Alegre Norte.  I'm so excited to get to know her better.  It's going to be weird since we'll only have a few weeks to really get to know each other and get used to teaching together, and then we'll be leaving the CTM!  I'll have the rest of my P-Day today and then as soon as she's finished with all of her orientations and stuff, I'll be headed back to my original district.  Crazy!  I'm also moving rooms again, so I have to re-pack all of my stuff and carry it down the hall...for the 2nd time here at the CTM.  haha, and then only 2 more weeks till I get to pack it all up AGAIN and leave for Londrina!  I just can't seem to find a place to settle.  :P  :)  But I'm excited!  And kind of sad to be leaving Sis. Brundage and Butterfield and the rest of my district here.  It's been awesome, and it really was JUST what I needed.  But they'll be leaving here for the field on TUESDAY, so I guess I wouldn't have that much time left with them anyways...  (Guess what they would have done for that last week if my companion hadn't come? ....they were going to put me with a BRAZILIAN district!!  Cool, right?)

 

Oh, and guessssss what else happened this week?  Since I've been with the older district, I got to go PROSELYTING with them for the first time on Monday!  It was CRAZY and awesome and hard, but I loved it!  It made all of this seem so much more real, like we've actually been studying and working and learning for a REASON.  It was exhilarating to talk to people about the gospel and even better when they actually listened!  :)  Everyone we talked to was sooo nice, even if they weren't particularly interested in what we had to say.  They were all very polite and friendly, and talked verrrryyyyy slow so we could understand them.  :)  We were able to give away 4 Book of Mormons, and I think each one went to someone who'll read it and appreciate it and hopefully it will help them find the Church!  One sweeeeet old lady named Lucia (we invited her to church and she said "I'll be there!  I'll look for you there!" :)  it was so sad to have to tell her that we wouldn't be there...), a lady who teaches history at a public school, who asked for a second copy for her sister....oh, and we found this cute little park and met a mom and her little daughter on the playground.  One of the other companionships in our district had already talked to her and given her a Book of Mormon, but we talked with her for a little bit anyways.  She seemed really awesome and her daughter was ADORABLE, 3 years old. :)  We testified of the message the other missionaries had shared with her and told her we knew it was true, and she said, "I know, it must be!  You wouldn't all be here sharing it with people if it wasn't!"  Only in Portuguese.  :) It was so cool.  It really made me realize how right she was...I'm here because it's TRUE, and because I know it's true, and I want other people to be able to know that, too! 

 

Okay, well I'd better get off pretty quick here.  I hope you're all doing great!  I love you all so much.  I love showing off pictures and telling stories and talking about how awesome my family is.  :D  Thanks so much for your love and support, I don't know what I'd do without you guys!!

 

Alright, até mais!

 

Love,

 

Sister Gee

Sharing my testimony through music; Spoke in sacrament meeting; 3 weeks left!

Hi everyone!  Another week has gone by at the CTM, and I'm down to 3 left!  It's been a pretty awesome week and I've had some good experiences with my companions and district.  I love being a missionary!  Even though I'm not able to go out and preach the gospel for real yet, I can still feel the blessings and the joy that come from serving the Lord.  It's amazing.  :)

Sooo, Sister Brundage and I were able to perform our musical number as prelude for devotional last night!!  I think I mentioned it in a previous email, right?  I played the piano for Sister Brundage and she sang Savior Redeemer of My Soul.  I LOVE that song...it's so beautiful and expresses so much of how I feel about the Savior so well.  We were so excited when we got the sheet music for it because it's really meaningful to both of us, and it was so amazing to be able to finally perform it.  It was a really challenging accompaniment for me, so I've spent a lot of time over the last few weeks practicing and practicing and trying to get it down.  But it went really well last night, and I'm so glad we had the opportunity to share it with the rest of the CTM.  Sister Brundage was AMAZING, and so many people have been coming up to us with compliments. :)  Oh, and guess what?  We're performing again on Sunday!  Haha, it's a good thing people love to hear Sister Brundage sing so much, or they might get sick of us.  :)  This time Sis. Brundage is singing a duet for the song His Hands with an elder in our district, Elder Stott, and I'll of course be at the piano.  It's so much fun to be involved with the music here...I'm glad I have so many great opportunities to play and share my testimony through music! 

Last Sunday I was called up to speak in Sacrament Meeting in our branch...I wasn't as prepared as I would have liked to be, but I got up and I spoke and I shared my testimony, and I think it went pretty well.  I used Elder Ballard's Our Search For Happiness quite a bit, and I think that helped to fill up the time...haha :)  I am so amazed by how much the Lord has helped me to grow from my mission already.  I was thinking about my farewell talks, and how I spent daaays and days trying to prepare to speak, and then I looked at how I was able to prepare this talk in a half hour or so.  I think that's amazing!  I'm so grateful for all that I've learned and been able to do with the Lord's help.  :)

Everything else has been business as usual this week.  Classes and teaching and meals and gym and study.....same old, same old.  :)  My companions and I have started really trying to master the conjugations and different tenses of verbs this week.  It's SO HARD.  I'm grateful for the time that I have to learn and study here in the CTM, but even with these 9 weeks, I don't think I'll ever get it!  Imperfect and Preterit and Future Subjunctive....sheesh.  It's crazy stuff.  :P  But I'm definitely going to keep working at it and hopefully it will come after a while!  Any of you who have advice on how to study a new language, send it my way...

It sounds like things are going well at home!  Dad and Justin are off at Scout Camp for the rest of the week?  Make sure they tell me all about it next week!  That makes me miss Maple Dell and going to Family Camp every summer.  :)  I loooooved all the pictures you sent, thank you!!!  Megan sure makes a creepy Maleficent....haha :)  I hope you have a recording of the play so I can watch it in a year and a half!  Congratulations to Jamie on the new job!  I knew something amazing would come up for you sooner or later.  :)  You're going to be amazing working at an assisted living center, I can totally picture it!  It reminds me of all the times back in high school when you would go singing at Great-Grandma's rest home, just because you wanted to.  Do you remember the lady who lost her cat...?  Or the Stardust lady?  Yep, this definitely sounds like a job you'll be good at.  You have such a big heart, and are so good at working with people and bringing a smile to their faces.  You have to let me know how you like it! 

Well, I'm out of time once again.  Thanks so much for everything.  I love you all and am so grateful to have such an amazing family and so much support from home.  I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to serve the Lord here in Brazil! 

Love you all, and can't wait to hear from you!  Keep the letters and the prayers coming!!

 

Sister Melissa Gee

Half way?!?!; Pioneer Day in Brazil :-)

Hello again from the CTM!

 

It's been another great week, and time is seriously flying.  Someone pointed out yesterday that in TWO weeks we'll be going out proselyting in São Paulo for our first time, and then the NEXT Tuesday we'll be on our way to the field!  Isn't that crazy?  It feels like yesterday that I was saying goodbye to all of you at the Salt Lake Airport... :) 

Besides all the normal classes and studying and teaching, we've had some pretty cool experiences this week.  On Friday we had TRC again, only this time was a little bit different....we got to be investigators!  They usually only have the oldest districts do that, so we were kind of surprised when they told us it was our turn.  I loved being an investigator.  It's definitely a lot less stressful than trying to have to teach a lesson and find out what the investigator needs you to help them understand...  An elder in my district was the main investigator, and I was there as his "sister".  The missionaries teaching us were there for their very first time at TRC, and they did such a good job!  It reminded me of the first time I had TRC, struggling to express the principles of the gospel in the little Portuguese I knew...not that I don't do that anymore, just....not quite as much.   :)  It made me laugh because the lesson actually started out the exact same way as my first TRC:  (Awkward silence.....)  "Trabalho?"  hahaha...good times. 

On Sunday we had our half-way interviews with our branch presidency!  HALF. WAY.  Sheesh. So weird.  :)  It was super awesome, especially because I got a new branch when I switched districts so I hadn't been interviewed by this president yet.  It was fun to get to meet him and talk with him a little bit about my experience at the CTM so far.  Before we started the interview he had me pray in Portuguese, so I did, and afterwards he looked up and said, "Where did you learn Portuguese??"  I wasn't sure if that was a trick question or not, so I hesitated for a second and then answered "Uhm.....here?"  :)  He looked surprised and told me how good my Portuguese was, especially for being a week behind my district.  It was SO good to hear that.  Definitely a confidence boost.  :) 

Yesterday was PIONEER DAY!!  We had a special fireside in the evening with a lot of pioneer stories and songs.  It was really great, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have realized that it was Pioneer Day otherwise.  :)  But it was a really fun night, and a great celebration of the holiday.  It was so cool to hear so many stories of sacrifice and complete commitment to the gospel...I'm so grateful for the examples of the pioneers!  There are so many that literally gave their lives for this gospel, so really, it's the least I can do to give 18 months.  :)  It sounds like you guys had a lot of fun celebrating back in Utah too!  I miss that!  When I realized what day it was I immediately thought of Mom in her pioneer outfit, leading a parade of Primary children around the block... :) 

Thanks so much for sending all those pictures, I LOVED it!!!  It looks like you had so much fun at the reunion, I wish I could have been there!  Jamie and Megan both have SUPER cute outfits.... ;)  And Megan as Maleficent!!!  Aaaahh.  So awesome.  The costume is perfect, if only I could hear the cackle that goes with it!  ;)

Well, I'm out of time once again.  I love you all so much!  I sent a postcard today, so keep an eye out for it! 

 

Love,

 

Sister Melissa Gee

First "baptism"; Churrasco!; Singing lessons for District 24-B

Helloooo everyone!!!  It's been another amazing week, and I have so much I want to tell you all about!  I swear, this 30 minutes of email time is the most stressful part of my week.  It goes SO fast, and I feel like I never have enough time to reply to all of your emails.  :P  I'm sorry, but know that I really appreciate all of them and wish I could respond! 

This past week I was SICK...gross congestion and a nasty cough and no happiness involved at all.  It made it pretty hard to study and teach, but I suffered through it and I think I'm almost completely through it now.  Thank goodness.  :)  There's so much coming up this next week, so I'm definitely grateful to be healthy again. 

Our first "investigator" is getting baptized today, which we've been REALLY excited about.  It's amazing how much happiness we feel for an investigator that isn't even real... hard to imagine how much HAPPIER we'll be when it's a real person accepting the gospel and changing their lives to come unto Christ!!  I'm guessing we'll be getting a new investigator to teach tomorrow, and the second one is supposed to be a lot more challenging....but it will be fun, and I'm looking forward to it.

Today we were able to go to the temple again, and then one of our teachers, Irmão Mauricio, took us to a churrasco place, a lot like Tucanos.  It was DELICIOUS, and so much fun to get out of the CTM and try some authentic Brazilian food.  Ahh, the food here is so good.  Oh, and Jamie, I've definitely tried the guarana and grape juice thing.  AMAZING.  Squeeze a lime in and it's absolutely perfection.  :)

 I've definitely been loving my time with the new district.  This last week we played basketball together during gym, and I had a ton of fun even though I'm definitely not very good.  The elders are really nice and patient with the sisters, so we all have fun playing together.  Oh, and one night all the sisters in our district had a yoga night...so much fun, and I'm pretty sure that never would have happened in my last district with all the elders.  Sister Keller and Sister Ellis are the other companionship of sisters in our district, and I LOVE them so much!!!  They're the funnest, sweetest girls, and we have so much fun together!  :)  We also decided to start having "singing lessons" during our study time in the evening, which is verrry much needed....singing is not the biggest strength of district 24-B.  :)  I sat at the piano and played while Sister Brundage tried to slooowly walk everyone through a scale.  It was so much fun to sit with everyone around the piano, singing and laughing and just having fun together.  :)

Sister Brundage and I are working on a musical number we want to perform in a devotional in a few weeks.  You know that beeeeautiful arrangement of "Savior, Redeemer of My Soul" from 17 Miracles?  I love it SO much, and it's so much fun to play, especially with Sister Brundage's amazing voice singing! 

Well everyone, thanks so much for your love and support.  It means so much to me.  :)  I'll write again next week, and try to answer your questions more. 

I love you ALL so much!!!

 

Sister Gee

New district, new companions; TIRO - TIme is Running Out

Querida Familia,

I'm guessing that Jared probably told you why I didn't email yesterday....I've been moved to a new district, and I have TWO new companheiras!!!!!  I'm SO excited about it, even though it's kind of sad to not be with Jared all the time.  We're even on different meal schedules now, so I usually only see him at devotionals or at lanche, the snack we have right before bed.  But it is sooo good to be with sisters, and I'm already beginning to feel like part of the group.  There are eight people in this district, four elders and four sisters, so now that I'm here we've got them outnumbered!  ;)  My companions are Sister Brundage and Sister Butterfield.  They are both so incredibly sweet and I feel like we have a lot in common.  We've had some very enthusiastic conversations about musicals, Jane Austen novels, opera .... yep, I think we're going to get along.  :) 

We've taught three lessons as a companionship already, and I've only been with them since Saturday.  Crazy!  They are both awesome teachers, and I feel like I'm learning so much.  It's VERY different from teaching with elders...haha :)  I'm really loving it so far.  They have been here one week longer that me, so I'm a little bit behind in the language, but I think I'll be able to keep up.  I'm not sure how long I'm going to be with them, since I'll probably go back to my original district once my companion in Provo gets her visa.  (Her name is Sister Young, by the way.  I don't think I mentioned that before.)  :)

I also have new teachers now, Irmão Mauricio and Irmã Pozete.  They are both REALLY great, and they speak Portuguese pretty much the entire class...which is hard, since my previous teachers mostly spoke English, but I know it's going to be so good for me.  I think understanding other people is the HARDEST part about the language so far.  I can read it, and I can speak it pretty well, but the understanding is not coming as easily.  They talk so fast!  :P  But I can tell that it's getting easier.  I'm trying to take more opportunities to talk to Brazilians here, which is really fun.  Even though I always have to ask them to repeat themselves two or three times before I understand, they're really patient and helpful and friendly.  :) 

The district motto is "TIRO", or Time Is Running Out ... a really good reminder that we only have so much time here at the CTM to prepare to be the kind of missionary the Lord needs us to be.  It's funny how it feels like we're going to be here FOREVER...but then I remember that there IS life after the CTM, and we need to be ready for it!  I'm so excited.  One of my original roommates left the CTM for Londrina on Tuesday, and she's going to write and tell me all about it, which will be so awesome. 

I love you guys so much, and pray for you every day!  It sounds like things are going really well back home.  Tell Kyle to write and tell me all about EFY!!  I LOVED EFY...we listen to a lot of the EFY music here at the CTM and it makes me remember how awesome it was.  :)  And I'm super jealous of your awesome vacation, Mom and Dad!  It sounds like you're having a blast.  :) 

Well, keep writing!  I love hearing about what's going on in your lives!  I'm so grateful for all the love and support I feel every time I read your emails.  Thanks for everything. 

Until next week :)

Sister Gee

Companion still lost in Provo; Teaching a real investigator... in PORTUGUESE!!??!

Dear Family,

Hello again from your favorite sister missionary at the CTM!!  :)  It's been another busy week... a lot of awesome things have happened and we've been learning like crazy.  We added a new elder to our district this week!  He was at the Provo MTC for the first week waiting for his visa, but it came and now he's here with us!  His name is Elder Andreas-Miller and most of our elders call him "Elder Hyphen" for short.  :)  He told us that there is one more missionary in Provo who's still waiting on a visa....yep, a sister and my long-lost companheira!  So yes, she does exist!  :)  Now we just have to hope that her visa comes before too long.  In the meantime I'll be here doing the solo-sister thing...it's hard sometimes, but it's okay.  God knows me and He knows why I'm here, and I'm sure He knows why I get to be a solo sister too.  Now I just have to figure it out! :)

Well, everything is going well here.  I'm seriously loving being in Brazil.  The food is sooo good and the weather is perfect.  I've had a couple more opportunities to play piano and sing with different choirs, which has been amazing.  We have THE best teachers and even though the classes are long, we have a ton of fun.  :)  This last Saturday our district had our very first TRC... Everyone in the older districts has been telling us how awful they are ever since we got here, so we definitely weren't super excited for it.  :P  Giving an entirely Portuguese lesson WHILE being filmed and observed by anyone in the MTC who feels like watching...pretty intimidating.  But we had a lesson planned and were feeling pretty confident about it - until we showed up and they told us to forget everything we had planned because we were going to be teaching a REAL investigator, not just another missionary or a member acting as an investigator.  That had us totally panicking.  I don't SPEAK Portuguese, I don't UNDERSTAND Portuguese, and this guy was possibly going to be basing his opinion of the Church off of what we taught in that 20 minutes.  We went in there and did our best to give a good, spiritual lesson.  It went well, even though I don't think I understood a word the investigator said to us, and we survived it.  The three of us in our companionship each had the opportunity to bear our testimonies to him, and even though we spoke very slowly and used very, very basic phrases and vocabulary, I hope that he felt the Spirit.  It was definitely a cool experience, and made me even more excited to learn this language and how to teach people about the gospel.  One of our teachers watched the recording with us later that day and translated so we could actually understand what he had been saying to us during the lesson.  It was so cool to hear him talk about God and life and his family and the gospel...he seemed like an amazing man, so ready to receive the gospel.  I can't wait until I can find people like him in Londrina, when I've learned Portuguese and can actually help to teach them!  :)

Thanks so much for all your emails, love and support.  It means so much to me!  It sounds like things are going great for everyone back at home.  I hope you're all enjoying your summer vacation for me.  :D  Please please write letters!  I would love to hear more from y'all.  I love you so much and am always praying for you.  :)

Love,

Sister Gee

First São Paulo temple visit

We are pleased to be able to send you a picture of your missionary´s recent visit to the temple.  The morning they enter as a group is a very sacred experience for them, and it is an experience that is always anticipated with much excitement. We know they will treasure this remembrance. 

It is a great honor to serve with each of these fine young people and to watch their growth as they learn more about their sacred calling of a missionary.  We have a great love and respect for each one of them.

Thank you for your support for them.  They love to receive emails and letters from you, and feel of your love.  We know that your family will feel the blessings of their service.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Degn

First P-Day; Brazil MTC; The "Gees"

Hello everyone!!!  

Today is my very first P-Day here in Brazil, and I'm sooooo excited to be sending my first email home!!!  Thank you so much for all your sweet emails.  It really made my day to hear from you and I appreciate all the love and support I get from you guys.  It definitely helps a lot.  :)  It is SO crazy to think that it's been ONE week since I left home...It honestly feels more like it's been a month or so, though I'm sure the time has flown for you guys.  :) We've been SO so busy, and even though it was sort of overwhelming the first few days, I think I'm getting used to the schedule and MTC life in general.  Well, I sent a letter the day after we arrived here, but I have no idea if you guys have gotten that or not...I think I'll just start from the beginning, so sorry if I'm repeating myself here!  :)

So.  First of all, São Paulo is HUGE!  Apparently it's in the top 3 biggest cities in the world, which I had no idea before I got here.  About 20 million people, I think, and the skyscrapers go on as far as you can see.  It seriously blows my mind... We drove to the temple at 6:30 this morning, about an hour away from the CTM, so we got to see a little bit of the city on our way.  That was nice, especially after being in a classroom all week long.  :)  Oh, and it's not nearly as cold as I was expecting it to be!  It can be kind of chilly and overcast, but today it's BEAUTIFUL and sunshine-y.  I can't wait to go out and spend some free time exploring the city. 

First P-Day:  My District

There are 6 missionaries in our district here, 5 elders and myself...yep, I'm a solo sister.  That's kinda weird and hard sometimes, but the elders are pretty good about looking out for me.  :)  Did you get the picture of us arriving at the MTC?  Don't we look awesome after a long night of sleeping on an airplane?  :)  I think we have a pretty good district, and we all get along really well.  Since I'm the only sister, they have me teach lessons with a companionship of elders....and guess what!  I get to teach with Jared and his companion.  Isn't that awesome?  How many people can say that they're (sort of) companions with their brother?  I'm pretty lucky. :)

Jared and I are feeling pretty famous around here because of that...people refer to us as "the Gees", and we always get people doing double-takes when they see our name tags... "Irmãos???"  haha :)  Yes, we're related.  Yep, he's my brother.  Yep, we love being here together.  :)  Sometimes people have us give each other hugs, just because we can.  :)  Two of my teachers knew Jamie from Porto Alegre, Sister Menezes and Sister Santo de Silva?  I think those were their names.  They both said that Jamie was a wonderful, sweet, loving missionary.  :)  Oh, and on Sunday I met Sister Yamaguchi!!  I'm guessing she probably already told Uncle Zeke, but if she didn't you should let him know!  She was so nice.  I was surprised to run into her so soon after arriving here!   

I have a trio of sisters that I room with, and they are ALL so nice and loving and sweet.  It's their 7th week here, I think, so they'll be leaving pretty soon.  Do you remember me saying that a girl from my trip to Europe was serving a mission in Brazil around the same time as me?  I wasn't sure if I would see her while I was here at the CTM, but I walked into my room that first day, and THERE she was!!  We're roommates!  Her name is Sister Bradley and we were so excited to see each other....it was a happy moment.  haha :) 

I'm finding a lot of opportunities to participate in the music here, too!  We have devotionals on Sundays and Tuesdays, and at the devotional tonight, I'm singing in the special choir for prelude, playing the piano for the general choir during the devotional, and then singing postlude with my three roommates.  Every single musical number.  haha, crazy right?  I'm so excited though!  It's so much fun, and I feel the Spirit so strongly when I'm singing or playing the music...I love it.  :)

Well, I'm running out of time...and I think I've shared most of the exciting news for the moment, so I should probably get this sent.  I've seriously loved being here as a missionary.  It's definitely a special opportunity, and I'm doing my best to appreciate every moment.  The Portuguese is coming slowly but surely, and I can already tell that the Lord is blessing me.  I'm so grateful for that!  It is so wonderful to know that He's watching over Jared and I as we're here learning and studying and growing in the CTM.  I love you all so much!!  Thanks for everything you do...I'm so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends.  I look forward to your emails and letters!!! 
Till next week,
Sister Melissa Gee