Life´s great here in Santa Cruz do Sul!

Alô Gee Family!!
How are you all doing? Life´s great here in Santa Cruz do Sul!
So I´m really starting to feel at home in this beautiful city. This week was super fun and full of miracles.
Remember Cristiane? This week we finally find Guilherme (her boyfriend) at home too and were able to teach them both together. Cristiane said that he never seemed interested in participating in the lessons before and always stayed up in his bedrooms when the sisters would come over. Sister Dangerfield and I were praying that we could start teaching Guilherme too, because, really, it is a lot easier for a couple to progress when they are progressing together. And our prayer was answered! Guilherme still kind of seem reluctant at first, but he came down and listened and participated in the lesson, and by the end he seemed a lot more receptive. They said they´re going to start reading the Book of Mormon together every night...I´m excited! I know it´s going to help Cristiane a lot!

Oh and I haven´t told you about Tatiane yet! I think that she was the first person that I met in Santa Cruz do Sul. The sisters had met her on the bus a few weeks ago and gotten her address, but had never been able to find her at home after that. So we went by and found her at home with her 3 little girls...Andressa, Nadiesca and Michelle. We talked for a while and I told her that I had served in Rio Pardo for six months and she said "Oh! My good friend moved to Rio Pardo from Vera Cruz 6 months ago!" Yup...her "good friend" is Elizângela! Crazy, huh? Rio Pardo is small...but not That small!! It is so amazing how Heavenly Father works! Tatiane said that she remembers when Elizângela was baptized in Vera Cruz 2 years ago and the huge difference that she had seen the church make in her life. Tatiane said that she really needs that peace and light in her life right now....she seems very sad and depressed and told us that she is going through a very difficult situation with her husband right now. I´m excited that she already has seen the how the gospel has changed Elizângela. She seems like she has a sincere desire to feel the same peace in her own life...Heavenly Father really does literally lead us to those whose hearts are prepared to receive us! We called the sisters in Rio Pardo (Sister Grant and....Sister Oliveira!!! :D) to see if they can ask Elizângela to write her testimony in a Book of Mormon for us to give Tatiane next week.

And the best part of the week!! We found an ammmmmazing new family to teach! Really...they are Golden! So Wednesday was a crazy day...our lunch appointment canceled, so we ate at home and left our apartment early and excited with a full day of lessons scheduled...and one by one every single appointment that we had planned fell through! I felt the discouragement start to creep into my heart as we looked at our list of investigators and realized that, by 3pm, we had absolutely no one left....but then I remembered the story about Samuel the Lamanite that I had read during study time earlier that morning. When they don´t let you in by the gate, climb onto the wall! :) This is the Lord´s work that we are doing and His work will always go forward. So we got to work! Talking to everyone on the streets and knocking doors and trying to find new people that we could teach. It had been a long while since I´ve had to do that because in Rio Pardo we were always trying to keep up with our huge list of references (a missionary´s paradise!).....so it was super fun! :) But wow...this city is soooo different than Rio Pardo! Everyone here seems to always be in a hurry and a lot less excited to stop and talk to us about the gospel...haha, most just looked confused and surprised whén we´d stop to talk to them. The few people that seemed interested lived in other cities, and we got a lot of "Não"s...but it was still a good and fun day....it just fills your heart with joy to be a missionary and spreading the good news to the world! And then...on the last door we knocked for the day, we met Jane and her two teenage sons, Marco Antônio and João Pedro. What an amazing amazing family! Jane seemed really excited to meet us and told us that her sister was baptized in Canoas 15 years ago, when she was a young girl, and that she can still remember the elders coming to visit her family and the good feeling that they always brought into her home. Her husband, Pedro, wasn´t home...but she really liked the lesson and told us she wanted us to come back when the whole family was at home. Oh and want to know the best part?? They are a super gaúchan family...they even have cowhide rugs on their floor and the boys were wearing bombachos and boots...and they own a gaúchan store! Rancho do Gaúcho. Awesome... And guess what...as we were leaving, she asked us if we would visit the homes of some of her friends that lived closeby...and gave us 3 names and addresses to contact. Miracles do happen!! :)

Well I love you so much, family! Have a great first week back in school :D Remember that I love you!!
And Happy Birthday, Celecta!!
Love,
Sister Jamie Gee