Hello dear family!!
How are you all doing? Thank you so much Mom and Dad for your beautiful Easter emails...it sounds like it was a wonderful and spiritual day for the whole family to be together :) That makes me so happy to think about you all together, remembering our Savior and the love that He has for us. Easter was a wonderful day for Sister Corrêa and me too, here in Rio Pardo! Church was beautiful and inspiring and afterwards Presidente Rogério invited us to his home for a special Easter dinner with his family....and, of course, a special dinner here in Rio Grande do Sul always always means churrasco!!! ;) Afterwards we went with Ângela to meet her niece, Juliana, who is 8 months pregnant and just found out that her baby is going to be born with disabilities. She was very sad when we arrived, but I felt the home fill with the Spirit and a strong feeling of love as we read together from the Book of Mormon about Jesus Christ and His sacrifce and the love that He has for us. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is perfect and able to heal every pain and every sorrow and to fill us with peace and with light....it was an Easter that I will always always remember.
Saturday night we celebrated Easter Eve with Beranice and her family....painting easter eggs!! haha... They were very skeptical at first...especially the children. Easter here in Brazil is just chocolate and candy and they thought that painting and then eating boiled eggs was a very strange idea. haha... But it was super fun! We decorated with crayons and blue and green food coloring and in the end everyone agreed that it was a very very fun tradition and were already talking about how they would decorate next years´ eggs! :D
Today was an amazing P-day!! We cleaned the house quickly this morning before running out the door...and haven´t gone back to the apartment yet! haha...I think that Rio Pardo is the only area where I end up more tired at the end of the P-day than I am any other day of the week! But that is just because the members here are so fun and wonderful and amazing...I love being here!!! :D This morning, Sister Corrêa and I went with Nara and Antônia to go wedding dress shopping!! It was sooo much fun! The missionaries have been visiting Antônia and her family for 6 months already Antônia was very quick to accept the gospel and has wanted to be baptized for months. She goes to church every week with her 16 year old daughter, Tatiane, who was baptized in October, and reads every night from the Book of Mormon. Antônia told us that she had never stopped praying that one day God would soften her husband´s heart so that he would also accept the gospel and that they could be baptized together. And it was only a few weeks after I arrived here in Rio Pardo that Heavenly Father answered her prayer. Elias asked Antônia to invite us over one night and told us that he had seen the difference in the lives of his wife and daughter and wanted the same light in his own life. He started going to church with his family and making many changes in his life. And now Antônia and Elias are going to be married on May 14 and baptized together on the same day :) It is going to be a beautiful beautiful day! What a beautiful story.... Heavenly Father is a God of miracles!! If we have faith and confidence in Him he will grant the righteous desires of our hearts. I know that this is true :) The dress that we found for Antônia is Beautiful! It is a cream color with golden pearls and she is going to use gold jewelry and a golden crown instead of a veil (to not hide her beautiful long black hair) It was a very fun morning...
The rest of the day was wonderful too! Irmão Ernesto had invited us over for lunch...and from the minute we turned the corner onto the street where he lives, Sister Corrêa and I knew that it was not going to be a normal lunch :) All of the windows open and gaúcho music blasting from the kitchen and the smoke raising from the churrascaria in back of his home....not to mention the ammmmmazing smell. CHURRASCO again!!! :) Hahahaha....he greeted us at the door COMPLETELY dressed for the ocassion, with boots and lenço and a cuia of chimarrão in his hand. Hahahaha!! Afterwards we listened to Teixerinha, the most famous of gaúchan singers, and he and Irmã Marta danced a dança gaúcha for us. It was a very very fun afternoon!
And THEN...no, the day was not done yet...while Sister Corrêa and I were running back to the center of town to do the long list of P-day errands, we found Irmã Suzette on the street. She was looking for someone to do her visiting teaching visits with and couldn´t find anyone at home :) haha...Sister Corrêa and I just looked at each other and smiled...It was going to be another one of "those" P-days! 2 hours and 5 visits later we finally headed for the lanhouse to use the internet....but what a wonderful wonderful feeling filled my heart as Sister Corrêa and I walked back to the center. There is no greater joy in the world than feeling the love that the Lord has for each one of His children. It is amazing to be able to help Him lift and love His children here in Rio Pardo...and in the end I am the one that is lifted and filled with joy! I love being a missionary....
I hope that you all know how much I love each one of you! I know that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us very much and has a perfect plan for us. He wants us to be happy and to have joy every moment! I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and best friend. He chose to come to earth and . He knows exactly how we feel and He knows exactly how to heal us and fill us with love and light. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and for the restored gospel that allows us to enjoy all of it´s incredible blessings!! We are so blessed!!
Well, I have to run again! I love you all! Thank you for being amazing family and friends for me :)
Oh and guess where I will be on Friday??? IN PORTO ALEGRE WITH 400 OTHER MISSIONARIES AND ELDER D. TODD CRISTOFFERSON!!!! :D :D I am just a little bit excited ;)
I LOVE YOU! Love, Sister Jamie Gee
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