Another crazy transfer - splitting our area, two new sisters; Miracle of the week - surprise baptism of Gilberto

Hello family!

Good week...Big news!  Last Tuesday, as Sister Rojas and I were getting ready to start companionship study, our phone rang....

It was Sister De Moura, one of our Sister Lideres Trenadoras.  She asked me  "Sister Gee, did you know that another companionship of sisters will be working in your area??"  Me: "....what??"   Sister De Moura:  "...and that they're arriving in the bus station today?"  Me:  "WHAT????"  

Haha, so once again, this transfer was CRAZY.  And nobody knew what was going on.  As usual! And nobody had told me ANYTHING about dividing our area!

BUT thanks to Sister De Moura (she only found out because she was going to the bus station to pick up her new companion and saw that there were two other sisters on the list), we were able to get things ready for the two new sisters and pick them up from the bus station on time.  And we are SO EXCITED that there will be two companionships in our ward now!!!  It was a BIG area for just me and Sister Rojas.  We were having a hard time accompanying all of our investigators, and it is going to be such a relief to have the help of two more sisters.  

Our new companheiras de casa are named Sister Sedgwick and Sister Edwards!  Yep, two Americans.  It has been sooooooo looooong (almost a year, I think) since I lived in a house with Americans, and...it's pretty awesome.  It's nice to have people who understand my culture and everything, you know?  :)  Sister Edwards is BRAND NEW here in Brasil, Tuesday was her very first day!  She had been serving in Oklahoma while waiting for her visa to arrive, and finally got here this week.  now we are having fun teaching her Portuguese.  :)  It makes me think of a year or so ago when I was a brand new missionary, not understanding anything that people were saying to me, not being able to communicate very well... ahh, I just feel like I remember so well what she's feeling right now.  It makes me feel, firstly, VERY VERY grateful for how much I've learned and progressed and adapted to the mission in this time that I've been here, and secondly, love for her and a desire to help her learn!    She is so sweet, and her trainer, Sister Sedgwick is a lot of fun too.  It's going to be a lot more exciting in our house now.  :)

This week, we were able to get Dayane to a baptismal interview!  She still had a ton of doubts and questions, and I wasn't really feeling very sure that she was ready, but I was hoping that our district leader would be able to help her feel the Spirit and recognize the answer that she's been waiting for.  I was hoping for a miracle.  I think the interview did help respond to some of the bigger doubts she had, but she still doesn't feel like she's gotten an answer about baptism, and wants to keep waiting.  :(  But, we're going to keep visiting her and hope that with time she really comes to gain a testimony of the Restoration and the church and the gospel!

So Dayane wasn't our miracle this week.

But.

The Lord had another one planned for us.  :)

Gilberto is the boyfriend of one of the members of our ward.  He's been coming to church every week for the last...3 months or so.  Unfortunately he doesn't live in our area, and though we passed his address to the elders in his area, they hadn't visited him.  We finally taught him the Restoration and invited him to be baptized, but I think he got a little nervous and we weren't able to mark any other visits with him....

Finally this last week, Irmão Marcello (the stake mission leader) had the prompting to talk with him.  He interviewed him last Sunday, challenged him to pray about whether he should be baptized or not, and told him that he would be waiting the next Sunday with the baptismal font filled.  :P :)  I guess the bold, direct invitation was what he needed, and I guess he felt the Spirit pretty strongly...he went home, prayed during that week...and when he got to church yesterday, he had decided to be baptized.  It was SUPER out of the blue and unexpected, but we were able to get him an interview, and prepare everything for his baptism Sunday afternoon!  It was BEAUTIFUL.  Everyone very emotional and the Spirit was so strong.  :)  We sang a musical number (okay, I played the piano, but the other sisters sang) of The Lord Is My Shepherd, and everyone was in tears at the end.  It was an AMAZING experience.  :)  

Anyways, that was our week.

Good stuff.

We're doing good here.

We're EXCITED to be missionaries!  

I looooove what we do.

and I looooooooove YOU GUYS!! 

Have a great week!!!  

Love,

Sister Gee

Six more weeks in Cidade Nova; 16 investigators in church; Golden investigator Faniella

HELLO FAMILY!!!

One more week, one more transfer has passed.  wow.  

I was feeling like we would both be staying here in Maringá this next transfer, and looks like I was right... not one email from the secretaries.  *whew*.  That means 6 more weeks to work with all of our amazing investigators here in Cidade Nova!!  6 more weeks and LOTS OF BAPTISMS!!  :D

This week was SUPER.  Yesterday was ward conference, and we had been asking all of the members here to invite their friends.  Thanks to everyone who did that, we had 16 INVESTIGATORS in church on Sunday!!!!  I had to count over and over and over again, because I just couldn't believe it.  The Gospel Principles class was so full, we had to switch to a bigger classroom.  :D  :P  

On Sunday we had another baptism that wasn't really ours at all!  The elders wanted to use our font again, so we got to stick around to watch the baptismal service.  I was starting to feel sort of popular with everyone wanting to have their baptisms in our chapel, but I know they're really only interested in our hot water.  ;)  :P  But it was the sweetest baptism ever - a 75-year old man who has lung cancer... his daughter and granddaughter were baptized two months ago, and he took a while, but finally made it into the baptismal font too!  

This week Sister Rojas and I are super excited becaauuuuse...Dayane is getting back from her trip today!!  We'll be going to visit her later tonight.  :)  We are SO happy because we found out that she had found a ward in São Paulo where she was visiting, and she attended the church meetings there on Sunday!  That means that (1) she is AMAZING! (2) her faith and testimony are really growing, and (3) she could be baptized this Saturday, and confirmed on Sunday.  That would be the most amazing thing EVER!  Now we just have to get her feeling good and confident and ready to take that step... wooohoo!

We have another super golden investigator that we've been working with this last week - Daniella and her 10 year old daughter, Bruna.  They have been coming to church every week for the last 3 weeks now, and it looks like they are really loving it.  We have been visiting them and teaching them and invited them to be baptized, but Daniella feels like she needs to wait a little bit longer... She said she's waiting for the Lord to send her a dream or some kind of sign that it's really what she should do.  We tried to explain that the Spirit doesn't always work that way, that usually the answers to our prayers come through feelings of peace and happiness...but it hasn't sunken in yet.  She's always talking about that dream she wants.  :)  But she is super strong and Bruna is already memorizing the Articles of Faith... They're going to be baptized any day now, I know it!

Anyways, that's it for now!  I am excited for this week and all the amazing things that we have to do - we are busy and happy and working hard, and the Lord is blessing us!  It's going to be a GOOD WEEK!  SEMANA CELESTIAL!!!  :D

I hope you are all doing well, enjoying the last little bit of summer vacation!  :)  Next year I'll be there at Bear Lake with y'all!  Woohoo!  I love you all so much, thank you for your prayers and support and love.  I have the best family in the whole wide world.  :)  

Love always!

Sister Gee

FINALLY MOVING!! YESSS!

Hello!!  This week Sister Rojas and I are super excited becaaaaaauuuuseee....we're FINALLY MOVING!!  YESSS.  After almost...3 months of stressfulness, our new apartment is FINALLY ready for us to move in.  This week we called to turn on the electricity, yesterday we had a member of our ward help us bring all our mattresses there, today we spend the morning cleaning and sweeping and mopping...and now our apartment is clean and beautiful and fully furnished - completely ready for two sister missionaries to move in.  That's us.   It will make such a huge difference for us, we have been losing so much time travelling to and from our area, valuable time that we could be using to visit our investigators and find new people to teach.  So yes, it's a big relief to know that the wait is almost over.  And as we've been living in an apartment with 5 other sisters (yes, that makes a total of 7) with just ONE bathroom (yes, that means 7 sisters sharing ONE bathroom) .... it's going to be nice to have an apartment all to ourselves.  :)  We're planning on making a cake to celebrate the day we move in.  It's going to be fun.  :)

This week...wow, every time I sit down to write an email to you guys I realize HOW MUCH has happened since I last wrote, and it's so crazy to me that it all happened in just one week....

Anyways, this week was a roller coaster of emotions.  I think I talked a little bit about one of our investigators a few weeks ago, a girl named Barbara.  This week we visited her and asked her how she was feeling about all she had been learning in our lessons and in the church.  She said she has already seen how her life is changing for the better, ever since she started going to church.  We invited her to be baptized and she said that she really wanted to, that she felt it would be a way for her to be closer with God.  We taught her the commandments, and she is already living all of them - in fact, she said she had always felt that these things were important and had been looking for a church that taught the same things.  It was an AMAZING lesson, and Sister Rojas and I were so excited - we marked her baptism for this Sunday... and then, on Wednesday we got a text ... telling us that her parents wouldn't let her be baptized.  We passed by to talk with them and sure enough, they weren't very happy that she wanted to be baptized and decided that she needed to keep going to their church for now - until she was mature enough to make the decision.  We were devastated, and I'm pretty sure that Barbara was too.  :(  It was so sad...she is SO ready to receive the gospel and is so accepting of everything we taught.  But I'm confident that some day she'll find her way back...I'm praying that she'll never forget the things she felt in our visits, and that some day she'll be able to find the missionaries again and be baptized!!!

Good part of the week - Junior and Kawana came to church yesterday!  Their friends that had passed the referral to the missionaries live in another ward, but they visited our ward to be able to accompany Junior and Kawana for their first time going to church.  And they discovered that another good friend of theirs is a member of our ward!  It was testimony meeting, so both of Junior's friends went up to the front to bear their testimonies... I didn't see it (I was sitting in front of him), but somebody told me afterwards that Junior even cried a little.  :)  We were so excited that they were able to come, and that they had a good experience  - they are an amazing family, amazing people, and it is so good to see the happiness and joy that everyone is feeling, both Junior and Kawana as they learn of this wonderful gospel, and their friends who are reaching out to share it with them!

Anyways, that's what's happening here.  It's a good life, a good mission!  I'm so happy to be here.  We're seeing miracles and Heavenly Father is blessing us so much.  I hope you are all having a wonderful week, and a wonderful summer!  

I love you!

Sister Gee

"cara de pau" - be bold; Dayane is reading the Book of Mormon and praying

Olá família!  This week was....good.  wow, it passed really fast.  It seems like just two or three days ago that I was sitting at this exact spot in the LAN house trying to think of what to write to you guys....and here I am once again.  haha :)  The weeks are passing so fast!  Do I say that every week?  I think so.  

But anyways, this week was exciting because we had interviews on Wednesday with President Genaro!  My first interview with the new pres!  It was REALLY good, short and to the point, but good.  I found out that he lived for a few months in Stadium Terrace, and did an English course at Provo High!!!  Crazy, right?  It was really good to talk with him a little bit about the mission, about our area and the difficulties we're having here.  One of the things he told me really impacted me... he talked about how sometimes missionaries need to be "cara de pau", which, being translated, means that you're not afraid or embarrassed to say ANYTHING - you can look an investigator in the eye and testify and invite them to be baptized and they will feel the Spirit confirm what you say.  Basically, being direct, bold, and having the courage to say it like it is.  :)  It's something that is NOT easy for me, but I know that it's something I need to learn!  

Later that day, we were prompted to visit one of our newer investigators that had gone to church the past Sunday.  Her name is Dayane.  The first time we visited her she basically shot a lot of crazy questions at us and wanted to debate about doctrine...she had told us that if she went to visit our church and nobody kneeled to pray, she wouldn't ever go back, haha.  I remember leaving her house after that first visit and just feeling kind of shocked, you know?  But after the interview with Pres. Genaro, I was really wanting to be bolder and more direct, and with Dayane I had the perfect opportunity to start.  We taught her the Restoration, and once again she had a ton of questions.  At the end, I invited her to be baptized...that same Sunday.  She was really surprised, but she accepted!  It felt so good...to be bold and trust in the Spirit and see how it really works!  Unfortunately some situations came up and she ended up having to travel to São Paulo this weekend...but she is a lot more open and it has been amazing to see how much she has changed since that first visit.  She is visibly happier and she is reading the Book of Mormon every day...she is praying and searching for an answer to know if everything we've taught is true.  I am so grateful to have met her and to have been able to teach her this last week.  :)  Now we just have to wait for her to get back from her trip to mark a new baptismal date... woohoo!  Pray for her this week, that everything goes okay and that she can receive that answer she's looking for!

In other news, our new apartment is amazing!  It's sooooo nice to have the mess of just TWO sisters, and not seven.  It adds up fast.  :P  :)   And I'm sleeping on a bed for the first time in 3 months, which is also amazing.    I put up my "happy wall" today, so it's feeling more and more like home all the time.  :)  I think I'm gonna like it here.

Yesterday we had a baptism in our chapel!  The elders from a neighboring city wanted to use our font because it's the only one in the area that heats up the water, and their investigator has a problem with her leg and wouldn't be able to be baptized in the cold water there.  So we got to help them out, and it was amazing!  A beautiful baptismal service, it had been a while since I watched one, and I was starting to miss it!  The lady that was baptized is SO brave, she had been in a motorcycle accident and had a ton of metal on and in and around her leg to help the bone go back in place.  It looked so painful, and she needed a lot of help to get in and out of the font, but it was so touching to see her faith and determination to be baptized.  :)

Oh, and Happy Father's Day to the best Dad ever!!!!!  I love you so much!!  I was listening to the Father's Day talks in sacrament meeting and I thought about last year...Father's Day (in Brasil) was my last Sunday in the CTM!  Crazy how fast that year has flown.

Well, my time is up here, so I'd better run.  Love you guys!  Have a GREAT WEEK!  :D

Love,

Sister Gee

Getting dropped; New referrals from members; Michelle and Jonas

Querida Família, 

Tudo bem??  Como vai?

Another good week here...the days are flying by!

Lots of ups and downs this week.... getting dropped by some of our best investigators.... and then turning the corner and finding AMAZING new ones.  I find that's how it is in the mission... you for sure have the rough days, but you just keep on working and soon enough you're back on top again.  :)  The Lord has blessed us SO MUCH this week, and it's been incredible to see how the Spirit has been guiding us, in a VERY real way.  It's very humbling, and I just hope that I can always listen and obey the promptings He sends me.  

The BEST part this week... :  We've been receiving quite a few referrals from members, and because they're usually in the neighborhoods that are SUPER far away and hard to get to, we took a while to get around to contacting them...which was a mistake.  I've learned this week that there is NOTHING better in the world than a referral from members!  It's so good to teach people who are prepared and interested and ready to receive our visit.  So different than the people we generally meet knocking doors.  :P  We contacted two amazing families this week, and they are both really sincerely searching to know the truth.  It's so good.  We taught the Restoration for Junior and Kawana (they are a young couple with a 1 year old daughter), and they accepted all of our invitations - to read the Book of Mormon, to pray, to go to church, and to be baptized!  They asked questions about how to pray, how to feel the Holy Ghost, how they could receive an answer that our message is true... after the lesson both Sister Rojas and I left their house just beaming. :)   

The other family we contacted was just as wonderful - Michelle and Jonas, and their two kids, a 6 year old daughter and a 2 year old son.  We introduced the Book of Mormon and invited them to read, and Jonas told us that he had always wondered why Christ wouldn't have visited other parts of the world -  he was so excited to read about Christ's visit to the Americas in the Book of Mormon!  They both told us that we couldn't have arrived at a better moment to visit them and share our message.  The Spirit was strong and once again, we both just felt so happy and excited to have found such a wonderful family to teach.

So the moral of the story is, missionary work is SO much more effective, SO much easier, when the members get involved!  When we live the gospel, serve our neighbors and friends, LOVE others, opportunities to share the gospel will open up all around us.  I know that's true!  I'm so grateful for the members who have sought to be that example and have trusted us enough to invite us to teach their friends.  It's made such a big difference in our work here.

Anyways, that's about it from me.  Hope you are all doing well!    I love you guys so much!!!!  Have an amazing week!  

Love,

Sister Gee  

Festa Julina! Importance of faith, and TRUST in God's promises

Hello
This week was fun...
Our ward had a party on Friday, Festa Julina!  Apparently you guys have already seen photos.  It was super fun, exciting to participate in a completely Brazilian tradition.  There was a LOT OF FOOD, traditional clothing, dancing, and I even got my hair and makeup done.  :)  It was great - and the BEST part is how many people brought friends!  I think there were almost more investigators there than members... We didn't even have enough time to talk to all of the visitors!  But it was a really good opportunity to help people visit the chapel, get to know the members, and prepare them to come visit on a Sunday some day! 
Sister Rojas and I are doing great!  During the 12 weeks of training, we get to study one extra hour every day.  It's surprising how fast the day flies by when you study the whole morning...8 am - 12 pm, 4 hours of study!  but we've been working a lot, trying to find new investigators!   We had 7 investigators in church on Sunday.  That's more than I'm used to.  :)  Thanks to all the members who have been bringing their friends!
We have been teaching a young woman named Monica, who is a good friend of a lady in our ward.  She has been coming to church for a few weeks now, and has been asking to receive the missionary lessons.  Unfortunately she doesn't live in our area, but we got to go to the member's house to teach her the Restoration yesterday, and it was an AMAZING lesson!  She is so prepared to receive the gospel...the Spirit was strong as we shared the message, and she got a little teary-eyed...she knows that what we're teaching is true, but told us she isn't ready to make a change, mostly because of pressure from her family, all of which are Catholic.  But she is an amazing lady, so humble and accepting of everything we taught. I just felt so grateful to be able to share the wonderful message of the Restoration with her and bear my testimony of its truthfulness.  It's the best part of being a missionary - when they really open their hearts and believe! 
As Jared mentioned in his email this week....it's getting COLD!  I heard that the cold is coming up to us from Rio Grande do Sul, where it's supposedly going to be -10 Celsius!  Good luck with that, Elder Gee! :)  Someone also mentioned that it could possibly snow here, but I don't think I believe it.  It's not THAT cold yet. :)
Today in my personal study I read Hebrews 11 - an AMAZING chapter about the importance of faith, and TRUST in God's promises.  It's powerful!  I know I'd read the chapter before, but today I think I understood a little bit better... all the wonderful examples we have of faithful men and women in the scriptures made me want to strengthen (and put into practice) my OWN faith.   Anyways, read it and tell me what you guys think!  
But that's about it from me.  Hope you are all doing well.  I love hearing from you guys!  Keep sending emails!  I know I haven't been very good at responding...but I'll do better.  :)  
Happy Pioneer Day on Wednesday!  :D 
Love you!
Sister Gee

New companion is Sister Rojas from CHILE! Training is hard

HIIIII!  
Another CRAZY week!
I got to travel to Londrina on Monday, like I told you guys last week.  I actually stayed the night in Ibiporã, and it was super weird but cool to go back there and relive some memories from the time I served there.  There were three trainers staying there, me, Sister Butler, and Sister Bispo.  Two Americans and a Brazilian.  So since we had managed to find out that the three new sisters would be one American, one Chilean, and one Brazilian, we had no idea who was going to get which one...but we all passed that night trying to guess.  :) 
The next day we got all dressed and chique to go to the mission house...the first time since I arrived in the field for me!  Crazy.  All three of us had butterflies.  And when we arrived there, they didn't even relieve the tension and tell us who our companion was...we had to wait until the very end, after the lunch and training and everything to find out.  BUT.  It was definitely a surprise, becauuuussse.....
....
My new companion is Sister Rojas!  She is from CHILE and is awesome and beautiful.  :)  She speaks Portuguese VERY well for the little time that she's been here (Spanish-speakers stay just 6 weeks in the CTM), and with a beautiful Spanish accent.  It's super cool.  She has been teaching me a few words here and there in Spanish.  (Like yesterday, when she told me that I am cabeça de pollo. ...which means that I forget things a lot. :P)
Training is hard.  I knew it would be, and it is.  It's stressful.  And the language barrier doesn't help, haha.  Like I said, she speaks Portugese super well, but there are still those moments when she asks me "How do you say ...?"  and I have to respond "....I don't know either!"  haha :)  It's been interesting.  but so good!  I know I'm going to learn SO MUCH this transfer.  :)
We had a zone conference this week too, the day after we arrived from Londrina.  Our first conference with Presidente Genaro!  He is AWESOME, and the conference was amazing.  Sister Genaro is bubbly and sweet, and Presidente Genaro is dedicated and spiritual.  (I was going to send photos, but...I forgot my camera.  ah, cabeça de pollo.)  They have two kids, one son who is 16 (preparing to go on a mission soon!) and a daughter who is 12.  They are a beautiful family!  Our mission has been blessed to receive such a great president.  :)  I felt bad for Sister Rojas, the first week of the mission is always hectic, and with all the excitement and craziness of a zone conference to top it all off...!  But I think she handled it all okay.  :)
But I don't have much more time to write, so I'll end here.  :)  But I'm doing well, loving being a missionary and bringing the blessings of the gospel to God's children in Brasil!  It's such a wonderful experience, and I'm so grateful for all I've learned, and all I'm still learning.  :)  
I love you all!  Keep writing!  Hope all is well at home, sounds like you guys are as busy as ever!  Always doing fun stuff, right?  I looooveee yooooou!
Love,
Sister Gee