Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween, dear family!!!!
This week was a good one...and a fast one....
On Friday we traveled back to Porto Alegre so that Sister Gibson could renew her visa before leaving the country next week. So soon!! :( I´m sad to think that things will be changing here in Timbaúva....I liked these last two weeks working in our trio. But I´m sure that whatever happens with the new change, it will be great. Two sisters are leaving and only one is arriving next transfer, which means that we´ll have an even number of sisters again...which means either Sister Cidre or I will be leaving Timbaúva (unless crazy Dad! That would be scary :) I really hope I stay! We are teaching a lot of great families right now that are really progressing! I´d really love to stay and continue teaching them :)

I can´t remember if I wrote before about Edemir and Eleane...but they are really progressing! They loved church on Sunday and are reading the Book of Mormon as a family every night. Their two sons...Fladimir (12) and Eduardo (8) already have many friends with the other boys in the ward. Haha...they came to our English class that we give every Friday night a little early, so they sat in on our lesson on baptism with Sílvio and watched as he "practiced" inside the font with Irmão Adão. Afterwards they were really curious and they asked us so many questions about baptism....and when we told them that anyone over the age of 8 could be baptized, Eduardo´s eyes got really big and he said "That means I can be baptized then!!" Haha... :) He is a Very smart boy for his age....and curious. He reminds a lot of you, Justin :)

Our Noite Familiar with Daniel and Leoni was soooo great. There was such a good feeling in that home....peace and full of love :) It´s amazing the difference that I can see between Daniel and Leoni....so different than the first time that we taught them! Two months ago, when we started teaching them, the argued and fought every time we visited them! They are a young couple that have been together for 3 years, not married, and with 2 little boys....Leonardo (3) and Guillerme (2)....and with the children crying, dogs barking, and the couple shouting at each other, I thought that our lessons were not making any difference. But it´s amazing the change in the home now! They have been reading the Book of Mormon and praying together at night... they speak to each other with love and kindness and gratitude....it´s amazing what a difference God´s love can make in our lives if we let it :)

And the best news of the week....Sílvio was baptized on Saturday morning!!! It was such a great baptism.....I could feel the Holy Ghost so strongly. I remember, Mom, you talking about the baptisms of the primary children that you got to attend and the special spirit that you always felt....and I really understand what you meant! Sílvio asked me to give the talk before he was baptized and while I was speaking I could see the happiness and excitement in his face! And that feeling stayed with me the whole day! Sister Gibson and Sister Cidre and I realized that we were feeling extra happy the rest of the day.... We decided that we wanted to make it a habit of starting our days with a baptism...every day :) haha...

Well it is time to leave again! P-day is ending and we´re starting our last week here in Timbaúva as a trio....Sister Gibson´s very last week of her mission!! Sigh...I never liked change. But I suppose it´s something I need to get used too :) And it is very true that so far in my life, changes just have meant that something even better is coming!!

I hope you are all well and happy at home! Tell me about Halloween!! Do you all have great costumes? A slice of bacon, Kyle!?!?!? haha....that is soooo awesome. I really really want to see pictures. I´m sure that Megan will come up with something crazy and creative again, like always. And I´m also almost certain that Justin is planning on being....a BYU Football player! haha.... You better dress up Jared! Just because you´re a senior in high school doesn´t mean you have an excuse :) Is there a Halloween dance at Timpview? I want to hear all about it.... :) Melissa!! Are you freezing in Rexburg yet? I hope that you bought a new coat....I think about you every time that I wear yours :D haha... I hope that Ryan and Celecta do something cute and couple-ly for their costumes :) Wow Mom and Dad, I think that both of you need a vacation! Even though you just got back from vacation this week :) You two are so incredible...I don´t know how you do it all. And do it all so well too!! Thank you for being the best parents ever for me and for our whole family....I love you all so much!

Love you!
Love, Sister Jamie Gee

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Senior companion (for a day)

Olá querida família!

What a great week! The biggest news of the week is that the amazing double (Sister Gibson and me) is now an amazing triple!! Yup, last Wednesday in the middle of companionship study we received a call from President Pavan. He told us that an american sister who had been serving in Chicago had received her visa and would be arriving later that day. Sister Rebecca Cidre from Las Vegas!!! I knew her in the Provo MTC for 5 days before I left for São Paulo...and now we would be companions in Brazil! How exciting and happy....:) It´s been really different working in a trio, but I really like it. Sister Cidre speaks Portuguese soooo well....I remember having a LOT more difficulty when I arrived :) It´s really great to have someone to do language study with and to practice new vocabulary....

Since Sister Gibson is training again, we knew that she would be going to Porto Alegre on Monday for the meeting they have every transfer for leaders and trainers....and I was very excited to spend the day again with the sisters in Bom Sucesso... But on Sunday when the zone leaders called they told us that Sister Cidre and I would stay and work in our area. Alone!! For an entire day!! And Sister Cidre not knowing the area at all....!!!! haha, I was scared! Yes, I´ve been here a long time now, but I´ve always had Sister Gibson to rely on and I was nervous that I wouldn´t be able to find my way around the area or understand Portuguese enough to be able to teach.....

But what a great day it was!! I´m pretty sure it was my favorite day on my mission so far...so so so great! Sister Cidre is so great and fun and loving and kind....haha, and very patient when I took her down a wrong road and we had to backtrack a few times :) It was such a great day.. The lessons that we taught seemed more powerful and personal than normal....full of the Spirit!! Almost as if Heavenly Father knew that we needed some extra help and was filling in our stammered Portuguese with a huge abundance of the Holy Ghost :) The best lesson was with Ana Carla and her husband Andre. We were teaching about the Holy Ghost and how we can recognize promptings...Ana Carla shared an experience that she had the night before when her daughther, Nicole was sick with a high fever. She prayed and felt a powerful feeling of comfort and assurance that she didn´t need to worry. As Sister Cidre and I testified that this was the Holy Ghost the feeling of peace and love in the room was soooo strong.....so we decided to invite them to be baptized, and they both accepted!! :D Haha, after the lesson Ana Carla asked us what our church believes about the lingua de anjos (gift of tongues) and I laughed as I told her that it was what she had just witnessed! It´s the promise that we all have from our Heavenly Father that when we put our trust in Him and open our mouths to share the gospel, He will give us the words that we should say and He will give our words the power to touch hearts. :) What a great day...I have a strong testimony of that now...

Silvio is still doing great and is super excited about his baptism this Saturday! He still calls us daily to let us know that he is reading the Book of Mormon....haha. I´ve never met anyone so anxious to do good and to follow Jesus Christ. You can really tell how grateful he is to have the gospel in his life and how much happier it has made him. He carries his Bible and Book of Mormon with him wherever he goes and is always always always telling everyone he meets about the gospel. :) A good example for us all...

Oh! And along with Sister Cidre arrived the two packages that you sent....Thank you sooo much!!!! I was so so happy to open them. :) The candy bar letter was so cute! Thank you so much...mmm, and it was so great to eat american candy! The letters made me so happy...I was smiling for hours and hours after reading them! You are all so great and I´m glad that you´re all loving school and staying so busy and happy! The sweater came in perfect timing too because Thursday was a coooold day to travel to Novo Hamburgo. Thank you so much family!!! I love you!


Well, we have to run because we have a appointment marked with Simone and Adelar and family.....Irmão Adão (the mission leader) is coming with us! I´m so excited. We also have a churrasco planned tonight with another investigator....Sister Cidre´s first! Haha...it seems that I am writing about churrasco in every email these days!! Lucky lucky me :)

I love you all so much! Thank you again for the letters...and for all your love and prayers. Remember to always be grateful and happy....we are so so blessed :)
Have a wonderful week!
Love, Sister Jamie Gee

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Dog bite! (with a smile)

Olá querida família!

What a crazy busy exciting and wonderful week! I am loving being here in Montenegro and can´t believe how quickly the time is flying by... Today is Dia das Crianças here in Brazil....which means no one had school/work all weekend long! Everyone is enjoying the last day of vacation today.....you can smell churrasco in every back yard :) I love Brazil. It´s been a very relaxing P-day...churrasco with the Primary this morning and we spent the afternoon with Rita and Alex.....which is good, because we needed a calm day after this week!!

Quinta-feira (Thursday) both Sister Gibson and I woke up feeling veeeery queasy. We think it was some left-over "bolinhas de chuva" that Leoni had given us the day before (they´re like scones....but with sugar :D) It wasn´t too terrible...but we also had an hour bus ride to Novo Hamburgo for district meeting that was not very enjoyable with a queasy stomach. We made it to the chapel, greeted all the other missionaries, and had just started the meeting when Sister Gibson grabbed my arm and ran with me to the bathroom....She definitely had food poisioning and threw up over and over. We spent the rest of the district meeting there in the bathroom :) Poor Sister Gibson...

The next day Sister Gibson was feeling much better and we were excited and ready for a very busy day with a lot of work....and then 15 minutes after leaving our apartment I got bit by a dog! The first appointment we had was a reference from the sisters in the center, in a poorer neighborhood with loooots of dogs....everywhere! Sister Gibson knocked at the first house (here in Brazil you stand in the street in front of the house and clap your hands...very fun :) and I think the noise frightened the dogs and they all went crazy! One ran up to me and clamped down on my ankle... It didn´t hurt very bad and there wasn´t very much blood....but because it was a street dog Sister Pavan wanted me to get the rabies vacine. We had to leave our area to go to the health center and then spent All day waiting to get the vacine....and I have to go back 4 more times! haha...funny and frustrating. :)

So after 2 days of not getting very much accomplished, we were Very anxious and excited to get to back to work on Saturday. We had a goal to get our investigators to church this Sunday, something that has been difficult in the past, so we made that our focus all Saturday....but because it was a holiday weekend, we didn´t have much success. Everyone was going out of town, or expecting company.....it didn´t seem like we would have a single investigator in church this Sunday. But Sunday came and we were surprised and super happy to have 2 new investigators that we´ve never even taught before show up to church! One already asking to be baptized! Haha...it´s great how when you try so hard and work and work and see very little results, the Lord steps in and blesses you so much :)

Sílvio is 38 years old and showed up in the chapel wanting to know when he could be baptized. :) He was taught by the sisters before, but wasn´t ready to accept the gospel then. But I think some things happened in his life that humbled him and made him turn more to Jesus Christ. Sílvio has so much faith...we gave him another copy of the Book of Mormon and he has already read all of 1st and 2nd Nephi! He seemed nervous to stay for all 3 meetings at first, I think he felt a little out of place with all of the other members in suits and dresses.....but the members were so great and loving and made him feel very comfortable. I´m very excited for him!

Andrews was the other investigator that showed up on Sunday. He is so awesome! :) Andrews is 15 years old and we contacted him on the street a few weeks ago...but he didn´t seem very interested so we just gave him the address of the church....and didn´t see him again until yesterday :) Andrews knew a lot of the young men and young women in the ward, and I think he really liked the meetings. He didn´t want us to visit him at home because he said there was a lot of contention there with his parents...so we taught him the 1st lesson with Sílvio....haha, and then the rest of the day he went with me and Sister Gibson on all of our visits! He told us that he liked being with us more than he liked being at home... I think he´s going to be baptized and serve a mission someday...he´s already practicing being a missionary! :)

This Sunday was also testimony meeting! Sister Gibson´s last testimony meeting here in Brazil.....the members here love her a lot and everyone was crying when she bore her testimony for the last time here in Timbaúva. I´m going to miss her a lot...she is a great companion and friend. :)

We found many great investigators this week....I am most excited about Ana Carla! She is amazing. Right now she and her husband are building a new home, so we´re hoping to get the elder´s quorum to come and help them some day this week. Ana Carla has so much faith and confidence in Jesus Christ... She is reading and praying about the Book of Mormon and I know that she has a sincere desire to know if it is true. She told us that she still hasn´t received an answer, but that she knows that she will if she continues to read and to ask. Wow...a very faithful and humble answer...I know that Heavenly Father will answer her prayer!

Heavenly Father is so good and kind. I know that He is constantly blessing and guiding us. Thank you for your love and your emails and your prayers family....I miss each one of you!

I love you all!
Love,
Sister Jamie Gee

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

October already! General Conference was wonderful

Olá família!

October already!!! Time is flying here in Brazil.....I am loving and learning every single day! We have been finding many many new investigators this week....it´s keeping us very busy....and very happy. :)

General Conference was wonderful!!!....as always. It was different...and a little sad...to be away from home during General Conference. I thought about you all at home, watching together, and it brought back so many great memories :) I miss you all a lot! It was so great though...the internet wasn´t working in the chapel, so we had both our ward (Timbaúva) and the Montenegro ward gather together in an empty warehouse to watch. We only got to go to the Sunday sessions....and really, I only got to see the Sunday afternoon session because they were having a lot of problems with the volume for the morning session. It was veeeeery quiet...Sister Gibson said she only understood about half...and I understood almost nothing :) haha...But luckily they fixed the problem in time for the afternoon session. It was great! It is amazing how inspired the talks are...I had some specific questions that had been on my mind, and every one was specifically adressed and answered. And I only saw 1 out of 4 sessions :) I know that Heavenly Father knows and loves us....He answers every prayer. I´m so grateful that we have living prophets that are called by Him to lead us and guide us. I especially loved Elder Bednar´s talk about the gift of the Holy Ghost....what a powerful talk! We really can have the companionship of the Holy Ghost with us every second of every day, if we continually desire and do the things that will invite him into our lives. I´ve really learned the importance of having the Holy Ghost with us when we teach...it makes all the difference. You really can feel his presence in the room and you know when the investigators are feeling that what you are saying is true. There is no better feeling....there´s no place in the world I´d rather be when we have lessons like that! I love being a missionary :)

Alex came with us to both sessions....it was a little difficult to convince him to come because he was feeling tired (he works night shifts) and a little down. But he came after much prodding....and Loved it! The talks about the Holy Ghost and the priesthood were perfect for him because he was confirmed last Sunday and will be ordained next week. He told us that it answered all of his questions and made him very excited to receive the priesthood. It was amazing to see the difference in him....he went from being a little depressed and sad to being super upbeat and smiling from ear to ear. The gospel really does bring so much happiness into our lives...we are so blessed! :)

It´s been really difficult to teach Anderson this week...he works until 11pm at night and seems to sleep all morning long :) And when we mark an appointment with him, he never is at home! We´re not sure if he´s hiding from us or if he really is just forgetting... haha, kind of frustrating. But he´s going to play in a band in a Talent Show that we´re having this Friday in the chapel....we have a ton of investigators that play musical instruments or in bands, so we thought a talent show would be a good way to get them to meet people in the ward :) It should be fun! Hopefully we can figure out what he is thinking then....

We are teaching a wonderful family right now....Daniel and Leoni are soo sweet and fun. They´ve been taught by the missionaries before and Daniel has a testimony of the Book of Mormon. The only problem was Leoni...she is much more hesitant about the church and never wanted anything to do with the missionaries before. But I think that right now she is feeling that something is missing in her life and her family and she told us that she wants to learn more about God and the church :) I´m excited for them... They didn´t watch General Conference because it would have been loooong for their two young boys...ages 2 and 3...but they said they´ll come this Sunday!

Well, I am very happy and well here in Montenegro. Thank you soooo much for your emails!!! They made me soooo happy... You are all so wonderful and great and I love you and miss you. Keep being good and remember to be grateful for everything we have. We are so so blessed :)

Have a wonderful week!!!
Love,
Sister Jamie Gee