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
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