General Conference; Júlio and Louriane

Olá querida família!!!

Wasn´t General Conference wonderful?? Definitely my favorite two weekends of the year....the spirit is so powerful and I always learn EXACTLY what I am needing to hear. :) I know that Heavenly Father talks to each one of His children individually through the inspiration and love of His apostles and prophets. We are so so blessed! Sister Corrêa and I got to watch all 4 sessions in the chapel here in Rio Pardo with the rest of the branch. It was great.... It was also great that many of our investigators were able to come and listen too! And yes!! I saw Maria in the last song!!! "More Holiness Give Me" ....it was beautiful and I felt so much peace. It is so beautiful to know that Heavenly Father loves and cares for us so much.

Sister Corrêa and I had another great week here in Rio Pardo. We are finding so many amazing people to teach and the references from the members keeping coming and coming!! What a wonderful place to be a missionary :) My favorite story of the week was a lesson that we had with a new family...Júlio and Louriane and their 23 year old daughter Jéssica. Louriane was baptized into the church with her parents when she was a young girl, but it had been many many years since she had gone to church. Fernanda (an amazing irmã here in Rio Pardo and "missionary mom"....she is always happy and loving and hugging and making food for us :D) told us that she has been friends with Louriane for years and had been thinking about inviting here to church for several months already, but had never found time. She gave us their address on Thursday night and told us that she would talk with Louriane the next morning to mark a visit on Friday night with her whole family.

What an amazing family!!! They were very happy and excited to meet us and really liked the lesson and asked a lot of questions. Júlio was especially interested in the lesson and told us he wanted to know more about the church. As we were leaving Louriane told us a special story... She said that for months and months she and her family had been feeling like something was lacking in their relationship with God and that the night before Júlio had been praying that they would be able to feel His spirit more in their home. The next morning, he told her that God had answered His prayer and that they needed to find out more about "her parents´church" He said that he had had a dream about the Mormon missionaries entering their home and teaching their family. Less than 2 minutes after telling Louriane about his dream there was a knock at the door with Fernanda inviting them to church and asking them if she could invite the missionaries over that night. !!!! Louriane told us that she knew that God had answered Júlio´s prayer and had sent us to help her family find His truth. :) Wow...there was such an amazing spirit in the room when she told us that story. I love being a missionary! I have no doubt that this work is inspired and guided by God!! Miracles happen when we have faith in Him!!!

Kátia and Carlos and family are doing wonderfully! Sister Corrêa and I are still visiting them almost every single night...it´s a wonderful and happy way to end each day with a quick visit with a family that I love! :) Kátia is excited and getting ready for her baptism this Saturday. I think that watching Carlos and 2 of her sons be baptized last week really gave her a strong desire to prepare for her own baptism and to make the same covenants with the Lord. She has already commented on the difference that she has felt in her home and in her husband and children. The whole family LOVED general conference (Diogo and Eduardo especially liked seeing the snow covered trees on Sunday...."That´s where you LIVE??" they asked me over and over :) haha..they think we´re pretty lucky to live in a place that has snow! So no complaining, Dad! ;)

The whole family is also on fire with the spirit of missionary work! Carlos and the boys are always telling us about friends and family and co-workers that they have invited to church or talked to about the gospel. This Saturday, after Kátia´s baptism, we´re going to have a Family Night at their home with another family that we have been teaching for a few weeks, but that still hasn´t come to church...Elizângela and Elisandro and their 4 children. Elisandro works with Carlos in the "frigurífico" and when Carlos found out that we have been teaching his family, he got super excited and started planning how the family could help invite Elisandro and his family come to church. :) It is going to help them so much! Wow, there is nothing like the fire and spirit and excitement of a new convert! It is a great example for me :)

Well, I´ve got to go again! Today is Fernanda´s birthday and Sister Corrêa and I are going to make donuts!! :D I love you all! I´m glad that you are all happy and doing well and that you all got to watch General Conference together...just one more before I am there watching with you!!! Thank you so much for your emails and prayers!

Love, Sister Jamie Gee