Another week in Brasil! It was a very good week for me...I really love being here and I love the people we are teaching! It´s such a nice, peaceful town and the families are so strong and loving...definitely a great place to be a missionary :)
Sister Gibson and I left on Wednesday and Thursday to go to Porto Alegre for some training. Well, She went for some training (for all district leaders, zone leaders, and trainers...at the President´s house) and I went to Bom Sucesso to work with 3 other sisters there for the 2 days. It was so great!! I really felt like I was the one that received the training! Sister Osborn and Sister Mota are the companionship that work there and I have never met missionaries that work and teach together with so much unity and love. And it was amazing to me how powerful their lessons were....the minute they started teaching, you could feel the Spirit flood into the room. It really inspired me to try to teach more with the Spirit...to always be filled with love and charity so that I can be worthy to have the Spirit. I hope someday I can be companions with one of them...probably not likely with Sister Osborn because she is leaving in December (and going to BYU-Idaho! Look for her Melissa) But Sister Mota has only been here 6 months!! But anyways it was a great "training" and I think Sister Gibson liked hers too. I was sad to leave after just 2 days....but also excited to get back to the people we are teaching here!
We have some great investigators right now....I am most excited for a young man, Alex, who is so humble and sweet and good and really seems to be sincerely searching for the truth. He is reading the Book of Mormon and always has great questions whenever we stop by. We´ve invited him to come to church for the last two weeks...but he seems very shy and nervous about coming, especially since he doesn´t have a white shirt and tie :) We´re going to try really hard to get him to come this Sunday!
Speaking of Sundays...I got to speak in sacrament meeting this last week! haha...the Bishop came up to me 10 minutes before and told me that the person assigned to give the talk was sick and they needed a replacement. I was so nervous! I spoke about missionary work and the members´ role in helping the missionaries find and teach and provide support for the investigators. I think it went well...and the members said that they could undertand the majority of what I said :) Haha...I thought I could speak Portuguese so well in the MTC! And then I come here and try to talk....and people just look at me blankly and then look over at Sister Gibson to interpret. :) I don´t understand! She repeats the Exact same words that I said...and people actually understand her! Oh well....I hope my accent gets better with time...right now everyone we meet says that I sound like a Venezuelan! I guess that would make sense...I probably am speaking Portuguese with a very heavy Spanish accent :)
Remember that I love you and that Heavenly Father loves you! Read the Book of Mormon...that book has so much power. I am gaining a very strong testimony of that on my mission. I know that it was written by prophets by the Spirit, and that Every time we read, it will bring the Spirit. When you want to talk to Heavenly Father, pray to Him....and when you want Him to answer your prayers, read the Book of Mormon :)
Have a good week!!
Love, Sister Jamie Gee
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Primeira Área - Montenegro!
Ola querida familia Gee!
Sorry for another long lapse between this email and the last one....I once again lost my P-day last week due to traaaaveling!
I left the São Paulo CTM on Tuesday morning at 5 am.....much too soon after just 1 short week in that wonderful place. I did get to go to the São Paulo Temple once...but we didn´t get a chance to go street contacting... I was very sad to be leaving all my friends so quickly...I guess that goodbyes are something I´ll be getting used to on my mission :) All the other new missionaries going to Pôrto Alegre arrived last week (August 9th) but I was a week behind them all because of the Provo MTC...so I was traveling alone. It was kind of nice actually, because once I got to the Porto Alegre airport I met President and Sister Pavan and realized that I would have them to myself for the entire day!
President and Sister Pavan are so great...they are from São Paulo and have been here for a year. Sister Pavan is so sweet and friendly and I can tell that President Pavan really cares about each one of the missionaries. I spent the day with them and one of the office missionaries: getting registered at the federal police, eating at another ammmmazing Brazilian buffet (the food here is so incredible!), getting interviewed and trained, and then driving out to Montenegro....a small town about an hour outside of Pôrto Alegre and my first area!!
I met Sisters França and Oliveira (another duple living in my apartment) and my trainer Sister Gibson...and could immediately tell that I was going to be very happy here! Sister Gibson is from Roseville California and is so sweet and outgoing and friendly. It makes it very very easy to become quick friends with all of the people we are teaching...they immediately love her!! It´s a great example to me that we don´t have to know someone super well to be able to genuinely and sincerely love them. We just need to open our hearts and our mouths and be a friend! :)
Montenegro is great! It´s sooo beautiful here....haha, Sister Gibson laughs at me because I keep commenting to her about how amazingly beautiful...but I can´t help it! It´s a small peaceful little town with lots of trees and plants and fields with cows are horses. There are Beautiful dark mountains covered with black trees (hence the name Montenegro). The houses are small, but nice and everyone owns chickens and dogs. Everyone is very friendly and loving and open to hear our messages....but it seems like they´re pretty slow to keep commitments... They love talking about God and about Jesus Christ, but when we talk about them coming to church on Sunday they have no interest at all! I must admit I was a little frustrated at first...this is much different than the picture I had in my mind when I was in the MTC about what missionary work would be like.. I really really love it though.
I love how the people here have so much love and goodness in them. Every one we met wants us to sit down with there family, drink chimarrão and mate, and talk about God. Oh, I must explain chimarrão!! It is sooooo great. I had already heard about mate from my friends who served their missions in Uruguay and Argentina...and chimarrão is basically the same thing, just without sugar. A whole group of family and friends sits in a circle and passes around a cuia (a hard cup made from some plant) with a metal "bomba" (straw) and filled to the top with chimarrão (a green herb that looks a lot like hay) and hot water. Haha, it´s so great...though I admit my first taste was kind of a shock...it´s very bitter! There is also a lot of Uruguayan gaucho (cowboy) influence here....we see them riding their horses down the streets every day. :)
The ward here is very small...but the members have strong testimonies and they love the missionaries. It´s been really fun to get to know them all.
Right now we have two investigators that are very close to baptism...but they both need to get married before that can happen. Valdemar and Iracema are an older couple that have been coming to church for 2 months now! But Valdemar needs to get divorced from his ex-wife before he can marry Iracema...and that hasn´t been happening very quickly. Our other investigator with a baptismal date, Rose, is so sweet. I already love her :) She really wants to get baptized with her 9 year old daughter, but her "husband", Marzo, really doesn´t like the church or the missionaries. He lets her go to church with the children, but always leaves whenever we come to visit....and he does not want to get married. I´m not sure what we can do to help, but it´s nice to be able to visit her and give her our support and love. And I know that Heavenly Father loves each one of His children and that He is leading us along....we just sometimes need to have patience and faith that He is in control.
I guess that´s what I have learned most this week....patience and trust in the Lord. My first few days in the mission field were very very hard.... I can´t understand what anyone is saying here (the country accent is MUCH faster and slurred and impossible to understand than anything I heard in the MTC :) and I was surprised at how different the work we are doing here is than what I had imagined in the CTM.... I wanted to be out finding and teaching and speaking and converting and baptizing.....but things seem to move sooo slowly here. But sometimes it is good to be discouraged I am realizing, because it helps us turn even more to God and to pray even harder. :) I know that He is with us during every moment of our life....He has a plan for us, and that plan includes leading us to perfection...but it will be in His own time and His own way. If we spend our life worrying about where we want to be and the things we want to be doing and accomplishing....we will miss the lessons that God is preparing for us to learn right now. We must have patience and trust that God is teaching us, step by step, the things we need to learn right now. :)
Well, I love you sooooo much! More than you know. Each one of you is always always in my thoughts and in my prayers!!
Sorry for another long lapse between this email and the last one....I once again lost my P-day last week due to traaaaveling!
I left the São Paulo CTM on Tuesday morning at 5 am.....much too soon after just 1 short week in that wonderful place. I did get to go to the São Paulo Temple once...but we didn´t get a chance to go street contacting... I was very sad to be leaving all my friends so quickly...I guess that goodbyes are something I´ll be getting used to on my mission :) All the other new missionaries going to Pôrto Alegre arrived last week (August 9th) but I was a week behind them all because of the Provo MTC...so I was traveling alone. It was kind of nice actually, because once I got to the Porto Alegre airport I met President and Sister Pavan and realized that I would have them to myself for the entire day!
President and Sister Pavan are so great...they are from São Paulo and have been here for a year. Sister Pavan is so sweet and friendly and I can tell that President Pavan really cares about each one of the missionaries. I spent the day with them and one of the office missionaries: getting registered at the federal police, eating at another ammmmazing Brazilian buffet (the food here is so incredible!), getting interviewed and trained, and then driving out to Montenegro....a small town about an hour outside of Pôrto Alegre and my first area!!
I met Sisters França and Oliveira (another duple living in my apartment) and my trainer Sister Gibson...and could immediately tell that I was going to be very happy here! Sister Gibson is from Roseville California and is so sweet and outgoing and friendly. It makes it very very easy to become quick friends with all of the people we are teaching...they immediately love her!! It´s a great example to me that we don´t have to know someone super well to be able to genuinely and sincerely love them. We just need to open our hearts and our mouths and be a friend! :)
Montenegro is great! It´s sooo beautiful here....haha, Sister Gibson laughs at me because I keep commenting to her about how amazingly beautiful...but I can´t help it! It´s a small peaceful little town with lots of trees and plants and fields with cows are horses. There are Beautiful dark mountains covered with black trees (hence the name Montenegro). The houses are small, but nice and everyone owns chickens and dogs. Everyone is very friendly and loving and open to hear our messages....but it seems like they´re pretty slow to keep commitments... They love talking about God and about Jesus Christ, but when we talk about them coming to church on Sunday they have no interest at all! I must admit I was a little frustrated at first...this is much different than the picture I had in my mind when I was in the MTC about what missionary work would be like.. I really really love it though.
I love how the people here have so much love and goodness in them. Every one we met wants us to sit down with there family, drink chimarrão and mate, and talk about God. Oh, I must explain chimarrão!! It is sooooo great. I had already heard about mate from my friends who served their missions in Uruguay and Argentina...and chimarrão is basically the same thing, just without sugar. A whole group of family and friends sits in a circle and passes around a cuia (a hard cup made from some plant) with a metal "bomba" (straw) and filled to the top with chimarrão (a green herb that looks a lot like hay) and hot water. Haha, it´s so great...though I admit my first taste was kind of a shock...it´s very bitter! There is also a lot of Uruguayan gaucho (cowboy) influence here....we see them riding their horses down the streets every day. :)
The ward here is very small...but the members have strong testimonies and they love the missionaries. It´s been really fun to get to know them all.
Right now we have two investigators that are very close to baptism...but they both need to get married before that can happen. Valdemar and Iracema are an older couple that have been coming to church for 2 months now! But Valdemar needs to get divorced from his ex-wife before he can marry Iracema...and that hasn´t been happening very quickly. Our other investigator with a baptismal date, Rose, is so sweet. I already love her :) She really wants to get baptized with her 9 year old daughter, but her "husband", Marzo, really doesn´t like the church or the missionaries. He lets her go to church with the children, but always leaves whenever we come to visit....and he does not want to get married. I´m not sure what we can do to help, but it´s nice to be able to visit her and give her our support and love. And I know that Heavenly Father loves each one of His children and that He is leading us along....we just sometimes need to have patience and faith that He is in control.
I guess that´s what I have learned most this week....patience and trust in the Lord. My first few days in the mission field were very very hard.... I can´t understand what anyone is saying here (the country accent is MUCH faster and slurred and impossible to understand than anything I heard in the MTC :) and I was surprised at how different the work we are doing here is than what I had imagined in the CTM.... I wanted to be out finding and teaching and speaking and converting and baptizing.....but things seem to move sooo slowly here. But sometimes it is good to be discouraged I am realizing, because it helps us turn even more to God and to pray even harder. :) I know that He is with us during every moment of our life....He has a plan for us, and that plan includes leading us to perfection...but it will be in His own time and His own way. If we spend our life worrying about where we want to be and the things we want to be doing and accomplishing....we will miss the lessons that God is preparing for us to learn right now. We must have patience and trust that God is teaching us, step by step, the things we need to learn right now. :)
Well, I love you sooooo much! More than you know. Each one of you is always always in my thoughts and in my prayers!!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Bye Bye MTC. Hello to the real thing!!
Jamie has arrived in Porto Alegre and is now working in her first area -- Portão which is a city of only 23,000 just north of Porto Alegre.
Here is a note from the APs in Porto Alegre...
Good afternoon Gee family!
We’re happy to inform you all that your daughter has arrived safely in the mission and in her brand new area.
She arrived Tuesday morning here in Porto Alegre, and that night she was already in her new area. She is currently in the Portão area, which is a great/beautiful area.
We have attached a photo of Sister Gee with President and Sister Pavan. If you guys have any questions, we’re always ready to help!
Élder Forsgren e Élder Marchetti
Assistentes do Presidente Pavan
Missão Brasil Porto Alegre Norte
Here is a note from the APs in Porto Alegre...
Good afternoon Gee family!
We’re happy to inform you all that your daughter has arrived safely in the mission and in her brand new area.
She arrived Tuesday morning here in Porto Alegre, and that night she was already in her new area. She is currently in the Portão area, which is a great/beautiful area.
We have attached a photo of Sister Gee with President and Sister Pavan. If you guys have any questions, we’re always ready to help!
Élder Forsgren e Élder Marchetti
Assistentes do Presidente Pavan
Missão Brasil Porto Alegre Norte
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Ola From Brasil!!; São Paulo CTM; Missionary Choir
Ola minha familia!!!! How are you all doing?? Today is my first and only P-day in the São Paulo CTM........and it´s been wonderful! It is sooo different than the Provo MTC.
First of all, I am the only sister in my district which means I am a solo sister for this week and have no companion. Weird! In Provo, this meant that you were assigned to 2 elders who escorted you around everywhere....but here it just basically means that I can wander alone wherever I want. Haha...it felt sooo strange at first...you really get used to having someone with you 100% of the time! My elders in my district are wonderful though, and we have a lot of fun. I do miss Sister Robson....a lot! I hope she gets her visa soon!!
The first day we were here, the MTC president gave us the whole afternoon as free time to unpack, take naps, and just relax after the 24 hour trip. (Crazy! Nap time?? This place is soooo different than Provo :) I was soooo exhausted that I just collapsed into the bed without even opening a suitcase or taking off my dress. But about a half hour later I woke up in a panic...trying to remember where Sister Robson was and why she wasn´t in the room. Haha...it really took me at least 30 seconds to remember that I was no longer in Provo :)
So.....this place is soooo great!! My absolute favorite thing about the São Paulo CTM is all the Portuguese practice that we get with the Brazilians! The missionaries from Brazil are so nice and they love talking to all of the Americans and helping us with our Portuguese! I really have loved meeting all of them....especially the Brazilian sisters!! They are soooo sweet :) Sister Rodrigues, Sister Brito, and Sister Travassos are a triple that have become my really good friends. I always eat with them at meal time and play volleyball with them at gym. I teach them English and they teach me new words in Portuguese...it´s very fun!
I also love the food here! It´s incredible...rice and beans and 2 different kinds of meat every day, and an amazing buffet of all different kinds of salads and fruits and vegetables. The fruit is so yummy...bananas, and goiaba, and manga, and mamão, and melancia, and caju! I love it :) And there are no lines!!! haha.... The biggest difference between the CTM and the Provo MTC is the size.....it´s so small here!! The CTM has room for 600...but right now there are only 150 here because of the visa issues. The halls are sooo empty! It´s definitely strange after being in the Provo MTC with 2500 missionaries... Today we got to go to the São Paulo Temple and then we had lunch at a rodizio...with churrasco!! It was exactly like Tucanos and sooooo yummy. I ate chicken hearts! Not my favorite...but interesting.
Yesterday the Area President, Elder Ulisses Soares came to speak for the devotional. It was so great...he spoke about how our mission calls really are from God and how we´ve been called to Brasil because there are people that specifically need to hear the gospel from us. It was really inspiring..... The rest of this week should be really fun. They are dedicating a new chapel that is very close by the CTM, so the choir is going to be performing Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday night on the street outside the chapel. We´re singing 5 different songs...a mixture of Portuguese and English. I´m so excited!! I really feel the Spirit so strongly when we sing...especially when we sing my favorite of the 5..."Praise The Man"....I love being a missionary and having the calling of sharing the message of the Prophet Joseph Smith. It´s so wonderful to be able to tell people that the gospel of Jesus Chirst has been restored and that God has called a prophet again. I am getting very very excited to be going to Porto Alegre so soon and to start doing missionary work. :) I can´t wait!
Well, I´m doing wonderfully here and still loving being a missionary. I really am so happy that I got to experience the CTM here....even though it´s just for one week. I know that it was a miracle that my visa came....Heavenly Father is watching over each one of us. He is so good and kind and He´s leading us along every day, even when we don´t realize it. I´ll write you all soon hopefully!! I love you a lot!! Thank you for being the best family in the world! :) Eu amo vocês muuuuito!!! Love, Sister Jamie Gee
First of all, I am the only sister in my district which means I am a solo sister for this week and have no companion. Weird! In Provo, this meant that you were assigned to 2 elders who escorted you around everywhere....but here it just basically means that I can wander alone wherever I want. Haha...it felt sooo strange at first...you really get used to having someone with you 100% of the time! My elders in my district are wonderful though, and we have a lot of fun. I do miss Sister Robson....a lot! I hope she gets her visa soon!!
The first day we were here, the MTC president gave us the whole afternoon as free time to unpack, take naps, and just relax after the 24 hour trip. (Crazy! Nap time?? This place is soooo different than Provo :) I was soooo exhausted that I just collapsed into the bed without even opening a suitcase or taking off my dress. But about a half hour later I woke up in a panic...trying to remember where Sister Robson was and why she wasn´t in the room. Haha...it really took me at least 30 seconds to remember that I was no longer in Provo :)
So.....this place is soooo great!! My absolute favorite thing about the São Paulo CTM is all the Portuguese practice that we get with the Brazilians! The missionaries from Brazil are so nice and they love talking to all of the Americans and helping us with our Portuguese! I really have loved meeting all of them....especially the Brazilian sisters!! They are soooo sweet :) Sister Rodrigues, Sister Brito, and Sister Travassos are a triple that have become my really good friends. I always eat with them at meal time and play volleyball with them at gym. I teach them English and they teach me new words in Portuguese...it´s very fun!
I also love the food here! It´s incredible...rice and beans and 2 different kinds of meat every day, and an amazing buffet of all different kinds of salads and fruits and vegetables. The fruit is so yummy...bananas, and goiaba, and manga, and mamão, and melancia, and caju! I love it :) And there are no lines!!! haha.... The biggest difference between the CTM and the Provo MTC is the size.....it´s so small here!! The CTM has room for 600...but right now there are only 150 here because of the visa issues. The halls are sooo empty! It´s definitely strange after being in the Provo MTC with 2500 missionaries... Today we got to go to the São Paulo Temple and then we had lunch at a rodizio...with churrasco!! It was exactly like Tucanos and sooooo yummy. I ate chicken hearts! Not my favorite...but interesting.
Yesterday the Area President, Elder Ulisses Soares came to speak for the devotional. It was so great...he spoke about how our mission calls really are from God and how we´ve been called to Brasil because there are people that specifically need to hear the gospel from us. It was really inspiring..... The rest of this week should be really fun. They are dedicating a new chapel that is very close by the CTM, so the choir is going to be performing Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday night on the street outside the chapel. We´re singing 5 different songs...a mixture of Portuguese and English. I´m so excited!! I really feel the Spirit so strongly when we sing...especially when we sing my favorite of the 5..."Praise The Man"....I love being a missionary and having the calling of sharing the message of the Prophet Joseph Smith. It´s so wonderful to be able to tell people that the gospel of Jesus Chirst has been restored and that God has called a prophet again. I am getting very very excited to be going to Porto Alegre so soon and to start doing missionary work. :) I can´t wait!
Well, I´m doing wonderfully here and still loving being a missionary. I really am so happy that I got to experience the CTM here....even though it´s just for one week. I know that it was a miracle that my visa came....Heavenly Father is watching over each one of us. He is so good and kind and He´s leading us along every day, even when we don´t realize it. I´ll write you all soon hopefully!! I love you a lot!! Thank you for being the best family in the world! :) Eu amo vocês muuuuito!!! Love, Sister Jamie Gee
Friday, August 6, 2010
Jamie is in Brazil!!!
She arrived at the MTC in Sao Paulo this morning after a flight from Salt Lake to Dallas followed by an overnight flight to Sao Paulo.
On Wednesday, she and four elders left the Provo MTC and she called from the Salt Lake airport, but just as she was getting off the phone to board her flight they discovered the flight had been delayed two hours and they turned around and went back to the Provo MTC for one more day as they would have missed the connection in Dallas.
On Thursday/Friday everything went better and she made the connection and arrived in Sao Paulo.
Here is a photo of her with the MTC president and his wife in Sao Paulo Brazil!!
She will only be staying at the Sao Paulo MTC for 11 days. She is set to fly to her mission, Porto Alegre North, on August 17th.
On Wednesday, she and four elders left the Provo MTC and she called from the Salt Lake airport, but just as she was getting off the phone to board her flight they discovered the flight had been delayed two hours and they turned around and went back to the Provo MTC for one more day as they would have missed the connection in Dallas.
On Thursday/Friday everything went better and she made the connection and arrived in Sao Paulo.
Here is a photo of her with the MTC president and his wife in Sao Paulo Brazil!!
She will only be staying at the Sao Paulo MTC for 11 days. She is set to fly to her mission, Porto Alegre North, on August 17th.
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