Oí Gee família!
How are you all doing?
Life is great here in Rio Pardo....but the weather is getting cooooolder every day. Sister Grant and I are really learning the techniques of layering when it comes to the winter clothes....and yes, even she is starting to admit that chimarrão is a good thing early in the icy mornings :) Don´t worry though! The members are keeping us healthy....haha, yesterday we went with Elizângela to buy medicine in the hospital pharmacy and Eliza, a member who is a nurse there and is ALWAYS taking care of us, saw us in the hallway and before we could say a word she grabbed our arms and rushed us into a room to make sure we had our flu shots for the year. :) She is so nice and motherly and amazing..... And I don´t think that there has been a single day this week now that it is getting cold that a member hasn´t invited us over to quickly fill us up with herbal tea or with hot soup before entering back into the chilly night. It´s great!
Saturday was Elizângela and Róges´ wedding! The wedding was held on the same day as the ward´s Festa Junina party so there were sooo many people and so much food. Festa Junina is a Brazilian holiday in the end of June that is probably quickly becoming one of my favorite of all holidays. Everyone dresses up "caipira" (redneck) and drinks quentão, a hot spicy drink made from grape juice and cinnamon and cloves, and eats popcorn, corn bread, peanut brittle and other amazing winter foods. Oh, and the best part...there is always a HUGE bonfire that is built to burn through the entire night. It´s wonderful and a perfect holiday for the cold weather :) I think that this holiday originated from the Catholic church as a day to honor São João (João Batista)...Erialdo told me that Mary´s cousin Elisabeth lit a bonfire to announce to her whole family the birth of her son, John. All I know is that I liked it a lot and it made the wedding party super fun :)
Elizângela looked amazingly pretty and very happy...I played the piano again for the bride´s entrance so I let Jhuly, her 11 year old daughter and one of my best amiguinhas here use my camera to be the wedding photographer. They aren´t the most professional pictures, but Jhuly was very very happy :) Elizângela and Róges are going to be baptized on July 9th. They are a very special family and I am very excited for them and for the changes that I´ve seen in there home these last few months since they have accepted the gospel. I would really love to see their baptism...but transfers are on July 5th, just a few days before, and I have no idea what to expect this time...so we´ll just have to wait and see!
Transfers already...can you believe that it has already been that long???! It really seems like yesterday that Sister Grant arrived here in Rio Pardo. I swear that each transfer gets shorter and shorter!! I would love to say in Rio Pardo again...I think it´s probable because it´s nice to be at least 2 transfers with your trainer, but at the same time it would be the most time that I have ever stayed in one city without being transfered out. Not that I would complain! This is a good place to be a missionary :)
Not that I´m saying life is always perfect... There are definitely some hard days and sometimes people that say or do things that really hurt or make me feel discouraged. But the joy that I feel on the nights where we come back to our apartments knowing that the Holy Ghost touched someone through something we said or taught makes all of the hard times worth it! It´s so wonderful to feel Heavenly Father´s love and feel His powers and realize that He is working miracles here daily! And it´s the amazing friends that I´ve met here and the incredible lessons that I learn from their faith and their selfless love that I will always remember. I love love love being a missionary!!
Oh...and my favorite story of the week. You remember Erialdo and Sílvia, right? The ones that Sister Grant and I found last week that were super excited about the Book of Mormon? Well, they´ve been pretty hard to teach this week because they are both very busy with work and have had family visiting this week for the holidays. But we´ve been trying to stop by regularly to talk to them and to see if they´ve had questions about what they´ve been reading. Well, last night we stopped by on our way home just to quickly say hi and ask how they were doing. Sílvia was waiting for us and ushered us inside her warm house were she had hot chicken soup already waiting on the table (Did I tell you that these people are amazing??) While we were eating I told her how grateful we were for all the kind things they always do for us and for always treating us like we were family. Sílvia just smiled and starting telling us about a song that she had heard as a child and has always loved- a song about God putting angels in people´s path to guide them and to be His messengers. She told us that recently she had been praying that God would help her focus her life more around Him and feel His influence and guidance more strongly in her life. Sílvia told us that it makes her happy to help us because she believes that we are the answers to that prayer. She said that the moments that we have helped them sit down together and pray as a family and talk about God have brought a spirit of peace into her home and she thanked us for helping them feel His presence more strongly in her home. What an amazing and loving person!!! I know that Heavenly Father brought us to her home so she will find the joy and the love that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings! He is anxious to give this gift to every one of His children that will receive it...and he is always leading us to them :)
Well family, I love you all! Thank you for being the best family ever!!
Love, Sister Jamie Gee
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