Surprise zone conference in Londrina;

Dear Family,

This week was CRAZY.

It all started in district meeting on Tuesday.  We arrived in the chapel, and everything was normal.  We sang a hymn, said a prayer, recited "Our purpose as missionaries", and everything was normal.  
And then our district leader casually mentioned "Oh yeah, and tomorrow are interviews with President Tavares."
WHAT???
"Oh yeah, and the next day is zone conference ..."
HUH????
"...in Londrina."
WAAAHH?!  

We were all SUPER surprised and SUPER excited...it was all so last second, and nobody saw it coming.

But it was a week FULL of goodness!

It was exciting, not only because interviews and zone conferences are ALWAYS exciting, but because it's the last we'll have with President Tavares....so we knew it was going to be special.  And it was AMAZING!  We woke up at 3:30 am on Thursday, got all ready, and left the house at 4:30 to catch our bus that left Maringá at 5:00.  We arrived in Londrina about 7-ish...half-asleep, but excitedly greeting all of the other sisters and elders there. They grouped FIVE zones together for this conference, so we got to see a lot of people.  Unfortunately the conference was only 1/2 day instead of a whole day as usual, as President Tavares is super busy trying to interview everyone before his mission ends... but they were somehow able to cram a whole day's worth of spiritual goodness into the few hours we had.  There was such an incredible spirit the whole conference...amazing talks and music and training...my favorite was an amazing talk Pres. Tavares gave about the Atonement.  He talked about how Christ was COMPLETELY obedient to our Heavenly Father...He put God's will above His own, and that's what we have to do as well.  We can be just a LITTLE bit better, do just a LITTLE bit more every day, even if we don't feel like it or think we can.  If we remember the sacrifice that Christ made for us, it's easier to have that desire to be better.  ...and everybody was in tears when President and Sister Tavares bore their testimonies at the end.  The mission is going to be so different without them, and we will all miss them so much.  I keep thinking about what an impact they have had on my mission and my life, and I'm so grateful for the time that I got to serve with them.  :) 

Let's see, what else.... we're still trying to figure out the whole house thing.  I think it'll still be another few weeks before we get to move in, but it's getting closer!

The whole mission is on fire right now, and everyone is super pumped up for the rest of this month. President Tavares has been fighting to achieve a monthly goal of 200 baptisms for a loooooong time, so we're giving it everything we can, this is the last month of his mission and we want to send him off well.  :)  Sister Saldanha and I are hunting down people to teach, and though we haven't had too much success this week, we've found a few people that we'll be working with.  Milagres são reais!!!  :)

Well, that's it for now.  I love you guys!  Sounds like you sure are keeping busy.  Hope everything goes well with everything you guys are doing.   You are amazing!!!

Love,

Sister Gee