Missionary surge hitting Brazil!; Baptism of Jean; Flooded the church :-(

Oi Família!!!  Tudo bem?? :D

Got lots to report this week, so get ready for another super long email... :)  This week the mission had a telefone conference with President Tavares.  Unfortunately we missed the conference since our phone doesnt get service in our house (:P), but our zone leaders called us the next day to fill us in on what had happened.  There were a LOT of exciting announcements - SEVEN new missions will be opening here in Brazil, which will tweak the mission boundaries a bit but wont really affect the Londrina mission too much.  We also found out the name of our new mission president - Presidente Carlos Alberto de Genaro.  He is from São Paulo and is a stake president right now...He will be arriving here to take the place of Presidente Tavares in July.   I'm sending the photo that we received today.  I cant believe that President Tavares will be leaving...its going to be so strange to have to adjust to a new president and everything, but I'm excited to meet him and learn from his experience.  I'm sure it will be different, but I'm excited for the opportunity to learn from a new perspective - Im sure I'll learn just as much from him as I have from President Tavares.  :)

We celebrated Justin's birthday on Saturday with a BAPTISM (woohooo)!!  Jean was actually an ex-investigator for a long time.  He had started coming to church with a friend of his who is a member, and the sisters taught him for a while, but stopped visiting because he hadn't progressed much.  But he kept coming to church every week with his friend, even going to all of the activities and youth camp.  Last week, when the zone leaders were at the chapel here in Ibiporã to interview Igor for his baptism, they asked Sister Marques if there were any other investigators who they could talk to and give a little push towards baptism...and she pointed them straight to Jean.  :)  Luckily he was already there at the church, playing soccer with the other young men, so they interviewed him right away and he agreed to be baptized the following week! 
Sister Passos and I got to finish teaching him all the lessons and get everything ready for the baptism Saturday.

We seem to have a talent for getting in to crazy situations, too - Saturday morning we stopped by the chapel to fill the font, and decided to leave the water running while we went to our lunch appointment since it would take a few hours to fill it completely.  Of course that was a horrible idea, and by the time we got back to turn off the water the chapel was FULL OF WATER.  The Primary room, the kitchen, the classrooms...completely soaked with about an inch of water.  :P  Fortunately for us, carpet is practically nonexistent here in Brasil, so there wasn't very much damage done - just a few books in the library that got a bit wet.  We spent the rest of the day squeegeeing and mopping and drying the church.  sigh*.  It was quite an adventure....and today my arms are definitely feeling it.  Needless to say, we are NOT going to make the same mistake again.  :)  But all of the stress and craziness were worth it - the baptism was great.  There weren't  TON of members who showed up - but just enough to fill up the room and finish off the cake. :)  And it was awesome to see Jean finally get baptized.  He is an awesome young man and he is definitely going to be a great example for his family and friends.  Its so amazing to see how much the youth of the church are moving the work forward here in Ibiporã, and it is a blessing to be able to work with them.  :)
Sister Passos and I are still doing great together - our personalities are very similar and we have a lot in common.  :)  I'm loving being her companion, and we are both so excited to be able to work here in Ibiporã!!  We´re working and teaching and singing and laughing and having fun and meeting awesome people every day!  Oh the mission is great, gente.  :D
Well, that´s it for the week.  Love you all bunches and bucketfuls and I miss you all so much - but the time is FLYING by here, and I´ll be coming home before you know it.  ;)  Keep working and smiling every day

Love,

Sister Gee


Citação da Semana!!!:

"As pessoas de nobre caráter não apenas suportam as provações - elas o utilizam."  - Elder H.B. Brown