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