Oí querida família!
Happy Thanksgiving this Thursday!! Sister Hughes already promised to make us apple pie (mmmm!) on Thursday, so we´ll be celebrating Thanksgiving here in Santa Cruz do Sul too :)
This week was Wonderful and super busy! We stayed all day and evening at the chapel from Wednesday through Saturday helping with cultural night, family history seminars and the chapel open house!
My favorite night was the Noite dos Autoridades...I was surprised by how many people came that night...city government officials and other very important people, most of which had never heard of the church before. The members that were there to help guide the tours and explain the church programs all dressed up in semi-formals and it was really xique! The night started out with a brief guided tour of the new chapel. We waited with the elders in the baptismal room to show the font (filled with water) and explain about missionary work and our purpose to help people learn more about the gospel and prepare for baptism. After the tour, everyone was guided into the chapel and Presidente Walter gave a fireside about the basic beliefs of the church and some of the programs. It was perfect...I really thought that the way the members explained the our beliefs in a clear and simple and loving way was so perfect! The choir sang a few hymns (I played the piano) and then everyone gathered to socialize and eat cuca. A perfect perfect night!
The rest of the week was great too. The sisters from Rio Pardo came to help wait for the anticipated crowd for the general open house Thursday and Friday....but in the end a lot less people came than we had hoped for. Almost all of the people that came to tour the chapel were friends of family of members and only a few that came because of the invitation in the mailbox. That was a little disappointing after 3 days of delivering invitations with all the youth in the ward to every house in the city! But it´s alright, it´s better to teach friends and family of members because they already have a strong support in the church. And this week we are already seeing that the effort was still very worthwhile...every single person that we talk to or meet on the street stop us and tell us "I saw your church on the television!" or on the newspaper or on the radio. It´s great! In just one week the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints went from being and unknown church to a religion that every single person has heard of! That, in itself, is a huge step!
Oh, and I have a great story about one of those few that came to the open house just because he had found the invitation in his mailbox. His name is José and he came to the open house super excited to meet us and to let us know that he had been baptized years ago when he was 17 in Cachoeira (a close-by city). He told us that he wanted to start attending church again and that he was super happy to . So, I wrote his name and address down and promised that we would visit. Yesterday, during weekly planning, we were deciding who we could visit and I thought in him, José, and kep thinking also about a 13 year old girl, Letícia that we had contacted and seemed interested in learning more about the gospel. As I scanned through my planner to find where I had written down their names, I suddenly realized that they had both given me the same address! I´ve seent he Lord´s hand in my mission enough to know that there are no such thing as coincidences! Heavenly Father literally guides this work...I know that! So quickly, we replanned our day to be sure to visit that family as soon as possible! What a loving and wonderful and receptive family...as soon as we knocked on their door, they received us like we were royal guests that they had been waiting for a long time to receive! José told us that he and Letícia and his youngest daughter, Victória are going to be sure to be there this Sunday. His wife, Inés, works 3 Sundays a month, but was super loving and excited to hear about the church too. She told us that every Sunday that she has off she´ll be there with her family. What an amazing family!! I loved them!
Saturday and Sunday were also amazing days for me. The whole district was invited to participate in the chapel dedication and in the district conference....yup, that means the branch from Rio Pardo too! It was so great to see everyone again...I couldn´t stop jumping up and down and hugging them over and over again. It was like being at home again! The members in Rio Pardo really feel like family to me :) Elisa and Elaine and Fernanda and I could go on and on and on. I´m lucky to have stayed so close that I got to see them all again...not many missionaries get that chance! I was sad that Carlos and Kátia didn´t come...I really really want to see them again before I go home in December!
Oh, and I got to lead the men´s choir on Sunday....it turned out really nicely! Irmão Gastão sent me a video of one of the rehearsals :) Enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHrrleZYYc8
I love you all so much!!! Have a wonderful week and a happy thanksgiving!!
Love,
Sister Jamie Gee
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