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