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