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

Baptism of Carlos, Diogo and Eduardo; Special conference coming!

Olá querida família!!

How are you all doing? I can´t believe that another month is already ending…April is already almost here! April is a month that I love :) Spring and birthdays and Easter and General Conference!!! Everything that I love. And this month is going to be even more amazing this year because Sister Corrêa and I received amaaaazing news this last week…..on April 29^th we get to travel to Porto Alegre for a special conference with all the other missionaries of BOTH missions, Porto Alegre Norte and Porto Alegre Sul for a special visit from………………Elder D. Todd Cristofferson!!! :D :D I am very excited!!!

This week was wonderful! On Friday, President Pavan came to Santa Cruz and gave a great training about how we can help the members in our ward develop Mission Plans in their families to become more involved in the missionary work. It really is amazing the difference that it makes when the members become excited about sharing the gospel with friends and family.

The best part, of course, was being able to see Carlos be baptized! He is such a great person and example to me. Carlos has a lot of faith and desire to do what is right. He told us that he felt so happy and blessed to have found the truth and to start a new and clean life. :) On Saturday he and two of his sons, Diogo and Eduardo, were baptized and now the rest of his family are excited to follow his example! Kátia has completely stopped smoking and told us that she is ready to prepare to be baptized on April 9^th :) What an amazing and special family….

Today was a great P-day! Aline, a young woman in the ward who always is helping with the missionary work, took us to all the tourist attractions in Rio Pardo. I didn´t know that this town was so historic!! Apparently Rio Pardo is one of the oldest cities here in Rio Grande do Sul…we visted museums and forts and then finished eating ice cream in the park. It was very fun :) I love ALINE!!! :) It was great but also left us with little time to write letters and emails….sorry!!

I hope you all know how much I love you and am thinking about you every day! Thank you for your prayers and emails….I know that this gospel is true and that we are so blessed to know that Heavenly Father has a perfect plan and a perfect love for each one of us J

I love you!
Love, Sister Jamie Gee

Um Dia na Vida de um Missionário

Oí Família!!!!

Como estão vocês?? This week was wonderful!! Really a week of miracles. Sister Corrêa and I are seeing His hand in this work every single day!

On Saturday Sister Corrêa and I planned an activity with the youth in the branch. We called it "Um Dia na Vida de um Missionário" (A day in the life of a missionary) and handed out mission calls to all of the young men and young woman, inviting them to be missionaries for the day. We decorated the chapel like the MTC and assigned companions for each one of them when they arrived. We explained to them a normal day in the life of a missionary...our schedule and rules. Then we talked to them about how they can share the gospel and practiced 2 minute street contacts.....different things that they can use to talk to people about the gospel....and then we sent them out on the streets with their companion and a empty paper to write names and addresses of people that they were found that were interested in hearing more. haha...they walked out of the chapel a little hesitant and timid, but returned full of energy and smiles and stories of all the people that they had met and talked to about the church! Most of them have already asked to go with us to teach the people that they contacted on the street. It was super fun and so great to see them catching the fire and joy of missionary work! :)

This really is a wonderful wonderful area to be a missionary....and the biggest reason is because of the members. I am so amazed at how loving and giving the members are here....to us and also to each other! It feels like one big united family. There is not a single night during the week that a family in the ward plans a dinner or a family night and invites other families and friends and the missionaries to participate. It really makes a HUGE difference, both in the members and especially in the people who are starting to investigate the church. Sunday night was Cuca night with Jorge and Edimeia and on Friday night, Feijão and Daniel made fish stew.....it is amazing here! :)

Kátia and Carlos and family are still doing wonderfully! Praying and reading the Book of Mormon every night as a family...it´s amazing the difference it has made in their home and their family :) Carlos, Eduardo and Diogo are going to be baptized this Saturday and they are very excited!! At first we had hoped that the entire family would be able to be baptized together...but Kátia has been struggling a little bit giving up smoking this week and she told us that she would like more time to really feel prepared and ready to be baptized. I was sad at first when I heard, but after thinking about it I realized it would be a good thing. Kátia has made AMAZING progress...and in very little time! She told us that she has almost completely stopped smoking, and just relapsed a few times when she felt stressed or upset about something. She really is learning to trust in the Lord and has a strong testimony that He hears and answers prayers. But she wants to be sure that when she is baptized she is 100% ready to make promises to the Lord and start a new life. So this Saturday it will be and a few weeks later Kátia and her two other sons, Marion and Cássio, that also wanted to wait to be baptized with her. Maybe Carlos will be able to receive the priesthood before then and baptize them himself! :) I looooove this family!

The lanhouse is closing so I have to run.....

I love you all!!! Love, Sister Jamie Gee

On the verge of a miracle

Oí Familia Gee!

Como estão todos vocês? Eu estou xíque demais!!!! Which means, I am doing GREAT!!! :)

This was a wonderful week in Rio Pardo for Sister Corrêa and me! Let me tell you why....

Last Thursday after emailing, Sister Corrêa and I went to teach Kátia and Carlos the Word of Wisdom. Kátia smokes a pack of cigarettes a day and has told us that she has already tried several times to stop, but never has been able to. So that day when we went to teach the whole family about the Word of Wisdom. And wow...I´ve never had a lesson so dificult to teach! The phone kept ringing, neighbors kept entering and leaving, the children were playing and interrupting.... and it felt like NO ONE was understanding or even listening to what we were trying to teach! When we asked them, at the end of the lesson, if they were willing to live the Word of Wisdom...Kátia just started laughing and told us that she had no desire to stop drinking coffee and that she already knew that it was impossible for her to stop smoking. :( Sister Corrêa and I left their home that day feeling very discouraged.... and I was already thinking that their baptism was not going to happen as quickly as we had thought...

But then Sister Corrêa reminded me of something ...(and this is one of the many reasons why I love her so much :D) She said, very confidently and optimistically...."You always know when you are on the verge of a miracle, because you start to feel Satan work harder than ever to make you discouraged!" :D

And it is true! If we weren´t scaring him so badly, he probably wouldn´t even be trying to work against us :D haha....well, if anything, her comment made me laugh and feel much happier!

So we decided that we weren´t going to be discouraged so easily and decided to try again the next night.... and this time to be sure to prepare ourselves very well before trying to teach again. Sister Corrêa and I spent the whole hour of companionship study finding scriptures and quotes from prophets and studying the Word of Wisdom and decided to pray and fast for extra help.

And the difference was amazing! Friday night the whole family was there for the entire lesson...listening and participating and asking questions. Carlos and the children were even giving ideas for things that they could do to help Kátia stop smoking.... When we invited Kátia again to live the Word of Wisdom and stop smoking and drinking coffee, her response was a much more humble "Yes, I will try."

Sister Corrêa and I were VERY anxious to go back the next day and see how she was doing with the goal....We made a poster with a quote from Emma Smith "Strength is not something you have, it is something that God helps you find!" with the picture of Jesus Christ helping a little boy cross a river. .... When Kátia opened the door, she greeted us with a smile and a light in her eyes that I have Never seen in her before!! She told us that she hadn´t smoked a single cigarette all day long and that she was feeling so happy and light inside! I asked her how she was doing it and she said "This morning, I woke up, read a few verses from the Book of Mormon, and prayed for God to help give me strength...and He is helping me!" :) What a beautiful testimony...it is wonderful to see her faith growing! I think I have never felt happier!

:D :D :D I am so happy...I really love that family! Last night we read with them all from the Book of Mormon, each one taking turns reading a verse, and I felt like I was home again with you all! It is amazing the feeling of love and peace and happiness in their home now...in just the few weeks that I have known them, I can really feel the change that the gospel of Jesus Christ is making in their lives! And this is the joy of being a missionary :)

Another quick story about another wonderful person that I love here. Vanessa is a young mother that I met on the bus going to Santa Cruz for a district meeting. She lives an hour away from Rio Pardo in an even smaller town called Pântano Grande...and I´m pretty sure that people there haven´t even heard about the church yet. But she was really interested in the church...especially in the Book of Mormon and was very excited to read it. She gave me the address of her friend in Rio Pardo, Ana, who she stays with when she studies in Santa Cruz.

Ana is such an amazing person!! I could tell from the minute that I walked into her house that she is a very loving person and very loved by everyone who knows her. She has 7 kids...all grown-up and married, and a bunch of grandchildren. Her house is always full of family and friend and neighbors...all day long! We taught her about the restoration and pulled out the Book of Mormon to show her...and to our surprise she said "Oh! I have one of those!" She told that her husband had been given the book from a friend when he was sick in the hospital a year ago. For the 4 months that he stayed in the hospital before passing away, he had been reading and studying the Book of Mormon. Ana said that she had already read parts herself and really found comfort in some of the words that she had found in the Book of Mormon, especially in the hard and lonely moments after her husband had died. Wow...it is amazing how the Lord is always there for us, for each one of us, in the moments that we are seeking for his help! He is our very loving Father and He is so good to us!

I am so happy to be a missionary! I love the people that I am meeting each day! The gospel of Jesus Christ blesses and changes lives! We are so blessed :)

I love you family!!! Have a wonderful week!! Love, Sister Jamie Gee

New Area! Rio Pardo like paradise; Senior companion

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

Transfer tomorrow to???; The Lord is guiding each one of us

Oiiiiii Family!

Today is transfers and....... I´m being transferred!!! Crazy...both Sister Oliveira and I had hopes that we would stay together for one more transfer....and we thought that, if anyone would be transferred, it would be her...because she has been here 4 months already. Haha, it took me so much by surprise that I haven´t even said goodbye to anyone!! It´s going to be a very busy afternoon :)

This week was a great one....even more special now, knowing that it was my last one here in Novo Hamburgo with Sister Oliveira!!! I am going to miss her... But luckily we filled our last week together with many many memories and wonderful experiences. We taught Letícia and her brother-in-law and then helped them for a while mixing cement and laying bricks for her new house! It was super fun :) Just a little difficult in a skirt. Saturday night we spent with Alice, Claírton, Alana, Robson, Deise and Maiara, watched Emma Smith and ate popcorn and aipim cake.....so yummy! That really is an inspiring movie...the early members of the church had so much faith and trust in the Lord! We also met an amazing family this week...Cristina and her daughters Elizete and Ariane. Sister Oliveira and I met them sitting by the side of the road and stopped to talk to them about the Book of Mormon. Cristina was very interested and super happy to hear our message and told us that she wanted to hear more. But the coolest part of the story is that as we were talking to her about the Book of Mormon, suddenly an image came to my mind of her, years in the future as a member of the church, sharing the story of the first day that she met the missionaries. And as we left her and were walking to our next appointment, Sister Oliveira told me that she had had the exact same thought during the lesson! :) I know it´s something small and simple, but I know it was from the Lord. It makes me happy to know that He is always working side by side with us!

Well this will be my last email from Novo Hamburgo. What a wonderful wonderful city...the members, the investigators, the memories with Sister Oliveira...I loved being here the last 2 1/2 months! I learned a lot and laughed and smiled even more :) I´m sad to be leaving so quickly, but at the same time I´m sure that my next area will be just as wonderful too! It always seems to be that way on the mission... I really like what President Pavan wrote in his email to the missionaries this week, so I´m going to copy it here....

Amanhã, dia 01 de Março, iniciaremos mais um período de transferência. Posso afirmar a todos que o Senhor está colocando seus missionários onde Ele quer. As experiências dessa transferência, são uma forte evidência de que o Senhor dirige sua Igreja de maneira a revelar Sua vontade de forma clara, específica e forte.
Tenha certeza que, onde quer que você vá trabalhar, é a vontade e o desejo do Senhor.

Tomorrow, March 1st, we will begin another transfer. I can affirm to you all that the Lord is placing His missioniaries where He wants them to be. The experiences of this transfer are a strong evidence that the Lord directs His Church by revealing his will in a clear, specific and strong way.
I am certain that, wherever you are going to work, it is the will and desire of the Lord.

I felt very happy when I read this email this morning and a strong feeling of peace. I know it is true! The Lord is guiding each one of us. His hand is in every moment and every experience of our lives. I know that He has a perfect plan..... This week during personal study I was reading about the story of Esther. I really like what her uncle Mordecai asks her "And who knows whether you have not come to this kingdom for a time such as this?" Heavenly Father placed her there in that time and place so that she could do His work. I know that we each have the exact circumstances in our lives that the Lord wants us to have... that the Lord needs us to have in order to do the work that He has prepared us to do. We just need to be ready and willing to listen and then act with faith...nothing doubting!

I am so happy to be a missionary and to be meeting and teaching wonderful people every day! There is no happier feeling than sharing your testimony and feeling the Holy Spirit testify that what you are saying is true...and knowing that others are feeling it too :)

Thank you for being a wonderful family!!! I love you all so much!!!

Love,

Sister Jamie Gee

Wonderful wet week in Novo Hamburgo

Hi dear family!

This was a wonderful and wet week for Sister Oliveira and me here in Novo Hamburgo. And I mean WET!!! It was rainy all week long and ended with huge wind and rain storms on Saturday and Sunday. It was super nice to have a break from the heat and the sun and Sister Oliveira and I had fun in the heavy and windy Brazilian rainstorms, but it kind of made the missionary work difficult. :) You should have seen the streets!! They turned into rivers!!

Sunday was a wonderful day....Maiara was confirmed! And she was glowing and smiling and very happy :) I love that girl so much!! Now that the school year has started again here, Maiara moved back to live with her grandma in Estáncia Velha, a city about 15 from Novo Hamburgo, so we don´t get to see her very often anymore. Just on Sundays when she comes to church with Deise´s family.... Sister Oliveira and I were used to visiting her almost every day when she was preparing to be baptized, so we´re missing her a lot!!

On a sad note, the baptisms of Sônia and her daughters Débora and Denúbia probably will have to be postponed until the next transfer, because once again the rain kept them from coming to church on Sunday :( It was kind of frustrating...as a district we had decided to focus extra hard this week on bringing investigators with us to church, and Sister Oliveira and I had a huge list of families that were planning on coming... and then late Saturday afternoon the rain starting pouring and the streets started filling with water and almost all of the people we had invited called to tell us they wouldn´t be able to make it.... But! We had a wonderful lesson with them the next day and talked about Heavenly Father and His love for us and how we can show or love for Him by putting Him first in our lives....and they promised that nothing in the world will keep them from coming to church next Sunday :)

Story Time! So this Friday, Sister Oliveira and I were walking to an appointment and we decided to cut through the plaza in the center of Novo Hamburgo. On the weekends the plaza turns into a kind of mini fair...with crowds of people and a bunch of stands selling different things....fruits and breads, souvenirs, and crafts...it´s super fun! Sister Oliveira and I passed by one table filled with books and stopped to look for a while. Suddenly, Sister Oliveira started laughing and pulled me over to one side of the table to point out a book that she had found....a brand new copy of O Livro de Mórmon for 10 reais! :) The owner of the stand, "Sé dos Livros" is his name, looked over at us to see why we were laughing and Sister Oliveira introduced herself and asked him what he knew about the book. And his answer "Nothing...tell me about it." Perfect :) So we talked to him about Jesus Christ´s visit to the Americas and told him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon...and he said he would start that very night! :) He was such a nice guy! Very smart and intelligent...I think he reads 100 books a week...and at the same time very humble and willing to listen to our message. It is very interesting how the Lord leads us, without us even knowing that we are being lead sometimes, to the people that He has prepared to receive our message. Oh, and the best part of the story....do you know what his full name is?? Joseph Smith!! haha....well, really it is José Schmitt...but they pronounce them both the same way here in Brazil. Sister Oliveira and I couldn´t believe it when he told us :)

Well!! I love you all!!! Thanks for being the best family in the world! :)

Love, Sister Jamie Gee