Baptism of Carlos, Diogo and Eduardo; Special conference coming!

Olá querida família!!

How are you all doing? I can´t believe that another month is already ending…April is already almost here! April is a month that I love :) Spring and birthdays and Easter and General Conference!!! Everything that I love. And this month is going to be even more amazing this year because Sister Corrêa and I received amaaaazing news this last week…..on April 29^th we get to travel to Porto Alegre for a special conference with all the other missionaries of BOTH missions, Porto Alegre Norte and Porto Alegre Sul for a special visit from………………Elder D. Todd Cristofferson!!! :D :D I am very excited!!!

This week was wonderful! On Friday, President Pavan came to Santa Cruz and gave a great training about how we can help the members in our ward develop Mission Plans in their families to become more involved in the missionary work. It really is amazing the difference that it makes when the members become excited about sharing the gospel with friends and family.

The best part, of course, was being able to see Carlos be baptized! He is such a great person and example to me. Carlos has a lot of faith and desire to do what is right. He told us that he felt so happy and blessed to have found the truth and to start a new and clean life. :) On Saturday he and two of his sons, Diogo and Eduardo, were baptized and now the rest of his family are excited to follow his example! Kátia has completely stopped smoking and told us that she is ready to prepare to be baptized on April 9^th :) What an amazing and special family….

Today was a great P-day! Aline, a young woman in the ward who always is helping with the missionary work, took us to all the tourist attractions in Rio Pardo. I didn´t know that this town was so historic!! Apparently Rio Pardo is one of the oldest cities here in Rio Grande do Sul…we visted museums and forts and then finished eating ice cream in the park. It was very fun :) I love ALINE!!! :) It was great but also left us with little time to write letters and emails….sorry!!

I hope you all know how much I love you and am thinking about you every day! Thank you for your prayers and emails….I know that this gospel is true and that we are so blessed to know that Heavenly Father has a perfect plan and a perfect love for each one of us J

I love you!
Love, Sister Jamie Gee

Um Dia na Vida de um Missionário

Oí Família!!!!

Como estão vocês?? This week was wonderful!! Really a week of miracles. Sister Corrêa and I are seeing His hand in this work every single day!

On Saturday Sister Corrêa and I planned an activity with the youth in the branch. We called it "Um Dia na Vida de um Missionário" (A day in the life of a missionary) and handed out mission calls to all of the young men and young woman, inviting them to be missionaries for the day. We decorated the chapel like the MTC and assigned companions for each one of them when they arrived. We explained to them a normal day in the life of a missionary...our schedule and rules. Then we talked to them about how they can share the gospel and practiced 2 minute street contacts.....different things that they can use to talk to people about the gospel....and then we sent them out on the streets with their companion and a empty paper to write names and addresses of people that they were found that were interested in hearing more. haha...they walked out of the chapel a little hesitant and timid, but returned full of energy and smiles and stories of all the people that they had met and talked to about the church! Most of them have already asked to go with us to teach the people that they contacted on the street. It was super fun and so great to see them catching the fire and joy of missionary work! :)

This really is a wonderful wonderful area to be a missionary....and the biggest reason is because of the members. I am so amazed at how loving and giving the members are here....to us and also to each other! It feels like one big united family. There is not a single night during the week that a family in the ward plans a dinner or a family night and invites other families and friends and the missionaries to participate. It really makes a HUGE difference, both in the members and especially in the people who are starting to investigate the church. Sunday night was Cuca night with Jorge and Edimeia and on Friday night, Feijão and Daniel made fish stew.....it is amazing here! :)

Kátia and Carlos and family are still doing wonderfully! Praying and reading the Book of Mormon every night as a family...it´s amazing the difference it has made in their home and their family :) Carlos, Eduardo and Diogo are going to be baptized this Saturday and they are very excited!! At first we had hoped that the entire family would be able to be baptized together...but Kátia has been struggling a little bit giving up smoking this week and she told us that she would like more time to really feel prepared and ready to be baptized. I was sad at first when I heard, but after thinking about it I realized it would be a good thing. Kátia has made AMAZING progress...and in very little time! She told us that she has almost completely stopped smoking, and just relapsed a few times when she felt stressed or upset about something. She really is learning to trust in the Lord and has a strong testimony that He hears and answers prayers. But she wants to be sure that when she is baptized she is 100% ready to make promises to the Lord and start a new life. So this Saturday it will be and a few weeks later Kátia and her two other sons, Marion and Cássio, that also wanted to wait to be baptized with her. Maybe Carlos will be able to receive the priesthood before then and baptize them himself! :) I looooove this family!

The lanhouse is closing so I have to run.....

I love you all!!! Love, Sister Jamie Gee

On the verge of a miracle

Oí Familia Gee!

Como estão todos vocês? Eu estou xíque demais!!!! Which means, I am doing GREAT!!! :)

This was a wonderful week in Rio Pardo for Sister Corrêa and me! Let me tell you why....

Last Thursday after emailing, Sister Corrêa and I went to teach Kátia and Carlos the Word of Wisdom. Kátia smokes a pack of cigarettes a day and has told us that she has already tried several times to stop, but never has been able to. So that day when we went to teach the whole family about the Word of Wisdom. And wow...I´ve never had a lesson so dificult to teach! The phone kept ringing, neighbors kept entering and leaving, the children were playing and interrupting.... and it felt like NO ONE was understanding or even listening to what we were trying to teach! When we asked them, at the end of the lesson, if they were willing to live the Word of Wisdom...Kátia just started laughing and told us that she had no desire to stop drinking coffee and that she already knew that it was impossible for her to stop smoking. :( Sister Corrêa and I left their home that day feeling very discouraged.... and I was already thinking that their baptism was not going to happen as quickly as we had thought...

But then Sister Corrêa reminded me of something ...(and this is one of the many reasons why I love her so much :D) She said, very confidently and optimistically...."You always know when you are on the verge of a miracle, because you start to feel Satan work harder than ever to make you discouraged!" :D

And it is true! If we weren´t scaring him so badly, he probably wouldn´t even be trying to work against us :D haha....well, if anything, her comment made me laugh and feel much happier!

So we decided that we weren´t going to be discouraged so easily and decided to try again the next night.... and this time to be sure to prepare ourselves very well before trying to teach again. Sister Corrêa and I spent the whole hour of companionship study finding scriptures and quotes from prophets and studying the Word of Wisdom and decided to pray and fast for extra help.

And the difference was amazing! Friday night the whole family was there for the entire lesson...listening and participating and asking questions. Carlos and the children were even giving ideas for things that they could do to help Kátia stop smoking.... When we invited Kátia again to live the Word of Wisdom and stop smoking and drinking coffee, her response was a much more humble "Yes, I will try."

Sister Corrêa and I were VERY anxious to go back the next day and see how she was doing with the goal....We made a poster with a quote from Emma Smith "Strength is not something you have, it is something that God helps you find!" with the picture of Jesus Christ helping a little boy cross a river. .... When Kátia opened the door, she greeted us with a smile and a light in her eyes that I have Never seen in her before!! She told us that she hadn´t smoked a single cigarette all day long and that she was feeling so happy and light inside! I asked her how she was doing it and she said "This morning, I woke up, read a few verses from the Book of Mormon, and prayed for God to help give me strength...and He is helping me!" :) What a beautiful testimony...it is wonderful to see her faith growing! I think I have never felt happier!

:D :D :D I am so happy...I really love that family! Last night we read with them all from the Book of Mormon, each one taking turns reading a verse, and I felt like I was home again with you all! It is amazing the feeling of love and peace and happiness in their home now...in just the few weeks that I have known them, I can really feel the change that the gospel of Jesus Christ is making in their lives! And this is the joy of being a missionary :)

Another quick story about another wonderful person that I love here. Vanessa is a young mother that I met on the bus going to Santa Cruz for a district meeting. She lives an hour away from Rio Pardo in an even smaller town called Pântano Grande...and I´m pretty sure that people there haven´t even heard about the church yet. But she was really interested in the church...especially in the Book of Mormon and was very excited to read it. She gave me the address of her friend in Rio Pardo, Ana, who she stays with when she studies in Santa Cruz.

Ana is such an amazing person!! I could tell from the minute that I walked into her house that she is a very loving person and very loved by everyone who knows her. She has 7 kids...all grown-up and married, and a bunch of grandchildren. Her house is always full of family and friend and neighbors...all day long! We taught her about the restoration and pulled out the Book of Mormon to show her...and to our surprise she said "Oh! I have one of those!" She told that her husband had been given the book from a friend when he was sick in the hospital a year ago. For the 4 months that he stayed in the hospital before passing away, he had been reading and studying the Book of Mormon. Ana said that she had already read parts herself and really found comfort in some of the words that she had found in the Book of Mormon, especially in the hard and lonely moments after her husband had died. Wow...it is amazing how the Lord is always there for us, for each one of us, in the moments that we are seeking for his help! He is our very loving Father and He is so good to us!

I am so happy to be a missionary! I love the people that I am meeting each day! The gospel of Jesus Christ blesses and changes lives! We are so blessed :)

I love you family!!! Have a wonderful week!! Love, Sister Jamie Gee

New Area! Rio Pardo like paradise; Senior companion

Olá querida família!!!!
Hello! Sorry for keeping you all waiting for this email...this weekend was Carnaval in Brazil!! And what a holiday! :) The partying and music and parades and dancing started Friday night and continued until Wednesday morning....the people here in Brazil really know how to celebrate! It was fun to see, but kind of made missionary work a little difficult because we had to be inside our apartments before dark every night....and it Really made it hard to sleep :) Our apartment is right in the center of town...and the music was blasting until 4 am every night!! :D

Well family, I must tell you that I am sooooo happy! I love my new area and my new companion! First of all...let me tell you about my new area. Rio Pardo!!!! It´s funny...when I opened the envelope in Porto Alegre last Tuesday and saw that I would be going to Rio Pardo, I was suddenly surrounded by elders and sisters that have served there before, all shouting and cheering and telling me that I was the luckiest missionary in the mission. And as soon as I arrived in the bus station in Rio Pardo, late Tuesday night, it was easy to see why.... It is beautiful here!! It feels like I have stepped out of the world and into paradise :) Gorgeous green pastures and meadows and beautiful valleys with flowers and blue ponds....it´s impossible not to feel incredibly happy walking down the quiet, dirt roads here. And the branch here is amazing the members here LOVE the missionaries and treat us like queens :) And I´ve never seen members that help so much with the missionary work! Almost every single family that we are teaching is a reference from a member...and by the way that they are progressing, it is easy to see why this is the ideal way to do missionary work! The people here are so kind too...always friendly and smiling willing to stop and talk on the streets. I miss Novo Hamburgo...I loved it there and would have liked to stay longer, but I can tell that Rio Pardo is going to be a wonderful wonderful place to be a missionary :)

Sister Irléia Corrêa, my new companion, is from a small town in the Amazon and this is her 2nd transfer on the mission! It´s great because she is still on fire from the MTC and full of ideas and enthusiasm :) She is very very quiet and very sweet and helpful. The thing that I like best about her is that she never criticizes and always finds the best in every situation. I love her a lot already!!
So this week has been incredible! Really amazing. It has has probably been one of the very best weeks of my mission. I think it is because I arrived here a little nervous about a new area and being senior companion for the first time, so I have been praying like I have never prayed before. And I have never felt the help and presence from the Lord so much in my entire mission. I can feel the Spirit more powerfully when we are teaching lessons and so many elect and prepared people are literally being led directly to us, every day! It is a wonderful testimony to me that, when we have the sincere desire for the Lord´s help, and are humble enough to ask....the help always always comes. I have only been here a week and Sister Corrêa and I are already seeing miracles happen!! This is going to be a wonderful transfer.
There are some amazing families here that Sister Corrêa and Sister Baird have been teaching. Carlos and Kátia have been going to church every week for almost 2 months and are very excited to be baptized! We are going to teach them the Word of Wisdom today because Kátia needs to stop smoking, and then they will be ready to set a baptism date! And the best part...they have a huge wonderful family. 5 boys and 1 more on the way! That´s 6 future priesthood holders! :D Haha...no wonder Sister Baird was excited when she told me about them at the bus station in Porto Alegre!
Sister Baird finished her mission here in Rio Pardo training Sister Corrêa...and now she is on her way home to Murray, Utah! But first her parents came to visit Brazil and all of the people that Sister Baird met on her mission. On Friday night, the ward had a churrasco for them. Food and music and gaúcho dancing! It was super fun to help translate for them and reminded me a lot of our trip to Mexico with Ryan :) Seeing her with her parents also really made me miss you a lot Mom and Dad!!! I love you!!! Haha, the best part was when they got to try chimarrão for the first time....you should have seen their faces :P hahah....
Well, today is not P-day, so Sister Corrêa and I have to run! But know that I am happy and loving Rio Pardo and that I´m thinking about you always! It is wonderful to be a missionary and I am learning to trust completely in Heavenly Father and let Him guide me. It is so much easier when we do things the Lord´s way. And He always will help us. Always!
I love you all sooo much!!
Love, Sister Jamie Gee
Kyle!!! That´s so awesome that you made Pudim for the family to try!! Hahahah....Dad said that you guys thought it tasted like cold scrambled eggs with syrup on top :D hahaha! I´m pretty sure that is the exact same thought that I had the first time that I tried it. But I must have been in Brazil for too long because now I loooooove it! mmmmmm... :) You´ll have to make it for me when I get home, okay? :D