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Brazil

Mini PME

4 October 2015

Three years ago I bought some mini Pregar Meu Evangelhos (preach my gospel in Portuguese) and today I finally gave one away! I had tried sending them in the mail a couple years ago, but the box ending up coming back to me six months later haha. So I’ve been holding on to them to bring to Brazil. At the time they didn’t sell the mini ones here or something. And on my mission I really wanted a mini one, so I figured others would want that too!

It was special to give Meddison one today. She’s a recent convert from when I first came here to Brazil. She and a couple of her siblings were baptized shortly before I arrived in the area. Her mom went to church all the time too, but couldn’t get baptized because she wasn’t married to her “husband” and thus not living the law of chastity. Chris and I stopped by their house and visited them before general conference today. It’s really incredible to be able to see everyone again. For the most part I’ve just felt joy, but sometimes I feel sadness when people are no longer following God’s path and plan of happiness. 

Meddison is pretty strong in the church though, and it makes me happy! She said her PMG book was really worn down and was grateful for a new little one. She’s 17 and is thinking about serving a mission, but she isn’t sure. She still has plenty of time to think about it if she feels that’s what she needs and wants to do. I know that a mission brings so so so much good though. That’s what missions do. They spread light all over the world and make the light brighter inside each missionay. I am so happy to be back in my mission areas right now. It brings me so much joy!  

Alaska, Brazil, Favorites

a última transferência

30 April 2012
It was sad taking my nametag off.
I’m home now. Adjusting to returned missionary life. Tis great with minha familia.
18 months in Brasil, and I come home to this beauty land.
I said goodbye to my dear Vitoria.
Said see you soon to dear elders.
Had a fun last day with my Brasilian family, as Sorvetes!
Lovely last dinner and festinha with the Araujos and a few elders at the mission home.
Enjoyed an afternoon with minhas Sisteres.
Tchau Quissama. Ate logo. Best farewell party ever.
Ezio and Jeane, two of my most favorite people in this world.
My last trip to Sitio Bom Fim, doing Nilton’s baptism interview, fetching starfruit, pomegranate, and oranges from the trees.
the last almoco, sunday lunch
Jaaaaymeee and trio de poder
We feed the spiritually hungry and the physically hungry.
The Easter Bunny came.
one of the best baptisms and confirmations everrrrr. eleitos!
We had one of Quissama’s best atividades!
fetching fruit from the trees with the elders
We love our dear elders.
uma palavra. SIRIGUELA. best fruit I have ever met.
getting our jamelao on our morning run
We had grrrrreat bicicleta fun!
played on the beach and communed with the sea
my beautiful companions made CHEESE with cow’s milk that Raimundo gave us
ate yummy vegetarian food with gooood people. we help them. they help us.
and another delicious lunch and beach party with our eleitos
I had a happy birthday. I’m 23. :)
Jorge who has 76 years. Jorge is 76 years old and is so lovely.
BICICLETAS! Changed our lives. Obrigada Senhor.
We may or may not have left mission boundaries. Oops. Hello Missao Rio de Janeiro!
And we started it all out moving houses. Twas lovely.
Me and the Cunhazinha took our 7 hour onibus trip to Vitoria, where I renewed my visa, and where we  picked up our dear Sista Nicascio! And then it all began…

My last transfer was sweeeeet and I love Quissama and I love Sister Cunha and Sister Nicascio and and I love the gospel and I love everything and everyone. St. Luke 1:37

Brazil

This is my last email as Sister Owens

17 April 2012

Olá meus queridos!
This is my last email as Sister Owens.
Weird. Not sure how I feel about this, but I’m going with the flow. :)
It will be so glorioso to see my beautiful family and Alaska and so many peeps I love, but my goodness it is not easy leaving behind so many other beautiful souls that I love so so much.
I have loved these last four months here in Quissamã. And Sister Nicascio and Sister Cunha are so wonderful and I hope and pray that they continue to be part of lots of miracles here in Quisamã.
I don’t really know what to write. I’m doing very well and I am happy. I feel goooood about my mission and gooooood about the future and know that many more wonderful blessings will soon come. I hope that I can continue to let the Lord guide my life for the benefit of his children here on earth.
How wonderful it has been and will continue to be to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord.
I have a few very tiring days ahead, full of lots of emotions. :) But with my 36 hours of traveling, I should be able to finish reading the standard works. :)
I love you all and thank you so much for so many prayers.
ATÉ LOGO. :D
Com amor, Sister Owens
Brazil

Hoppy Easter!!

17 April 2012

HOPPY EASTER!
I love Easter! I love all holidays. Woo hoo make everyday a holiday.
Sunday morning Sister Cunha and I woke up to a nice like Easter egg
hunt left by our Easter bunny Sister Nicascio. Yummo chocolates. :)

It’s my last week. Eeeeee I’m going a bit louco. :) Coo coo’s nest. I
have my sad desperate moments, when I realize I have no idea when I’ll
be able to see these beautiful souls again, and then I have my happy
alegria moments, when I realize that I’ll be in beautiful Alaska with
my beautiful family, moving on to my mission of life.

Tis a bittersweet time.

Life is wonderful as Sister Owens. And the end of my mission is so
glorious. I love it so much. We are having so many wonderful
adventures with our little bicicletas and helmets. And tis a good
thing we use helmets, because we may or may not have had some very
good falls. And everyone recognizes us crazy missionaries better too,
the 3 little fairies who use dresses and helmets and nametags.

I learn so much from the people here, everyone we teach. And Quissamã
is so beautiful. And I could talk forever about the fruit trees. But
it’s the people that I love the most. I just want to hug them all
forever and let them all know how much I love them and how they have
changed my life.

We may never know of the influences we have on people, but Quissamã,
Itaparica, Aracruz, Jardim da Penha, and Pennsylvania have a little
piece of my little heart forever. I haven’t started packing my bags
yet, and knowing me, I’ll probably stay up late finishing things on my
last night. :) This past year and a half I have changed a lot a lot,
but there’s some things of Chelsea that I just can’t take out yet. :)

I am so so grateful to have been a part of the miracles here in
Quissamã. Soon the chapel will be constructed and the church will grow
here. But it depends on each member and their spirituality and desire
to continue the work of the Lord.

This weekend we had another miracle and baptized and confirmed two of
the Lord’s most elect. Soon the rest of their children will become
members of the church of Jesus Christ too. So so many miracles that I
have seen here. So many changed hearts, so many improved lives. The
spirit works wonders and as we trust in the spirit, we will find
eternal happiness! Woo hoo! Felicidade sem fim pessoal, sem fim.

Love Sister Owens

Brazil

Happy Week!!

5 April 2012

I love General Conference. What a lovely weeking where the Spirit taught us so much and with such excellent music. Twas a nice time to ponder.
There was lots of focus on the family in the talks. Everything we do in the gospel and in the church is to strengthen families. Everything is about family. I love my family and parents and brothers and sisters and these wodnerful peeps so much, and am happy to be seeing them soon! :) A year and a half is a long time away from home. But it has been so very wonderufl and I will miss mission life so so much.
 
Life is excellent here in Quissamã as Sister Owens. My companions are lovely and we laugh a lot, especially when the little kids on the street start laughing at our helmets as we cruise by on our sweet bikes. The old people laugh at us too. Everyone laughs. What a blessing to bring smiles to people’s faces. :)
 
I loved Elder Nelson’s talk in Gen Conf and realized that I need to be more grateful because Heavenly Father blesses us with so many wonderful things and I love this planet and the gospel and the church and Quissamã and being a sista missionary! :D
 
Moses 1:39. HAppy week!
Brazil, Uncategorized

Three weeks left…

28 March 2012

Aloha! I just got back from a little buggy ride on the beach with our
elect investigator family! But we spent so much time playing that
we’ve got no time to write. :) And I’ve got about a bajillion lovely
fotos from these last three weeks but can’t send them yet. Oh well,
you’ll all be seeing them soon enough.

Some days I go a little crazy because I only have three weeks left. So
many different feelings that just don’t go together. Happy, sad,
anxious, excited, nervous, bdfjkahdasldk. Lots of things going on. But
it is all lovely and I remember Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. To everything
there is a season (turn turn turn)…

As I have said 500 times, I love Quissamã. The members help our little
trio de poder so much. They’re ready and willing to serve at every
moment. I love them muchly.
And they make excellentíssimo almoço too, aka lunch is delish. hehe

Quissamã is so beautiful and it is so fun with bikes! We go so many
more places and meet so many more peoples. Oh the places we go! The
natureza here is perfect, and how I will forever miss the divine fruit
trees.

And tis avocado season. One of our recent converts gave me a big giant
avocado and he gives us cows milk from the farm too. My lovely comps
made cheese with the cows milk and twas yum yum yummy.

I need to prepare to enter the cold because soon I will be back in the
snow land. But before that, I will be playing in Rio!! Woo hoo I am so
grateful for the many angels the Lord puts in my path. Life is good
and will get even better.

Sunday was grand. We had lots and lots of investigators at church. And
lots and lots of less actives too! The frequency was 100+!! We call
this… milagre. I believe in miracles. (and fairies, clap your
hands.)

Quissamã is in desperate need of a church building. And with these
members working so hard and with God sending so many angels here,
we’re hoping that they’ll announce chapel construction this year. I
hope Sister Cunha and Sister Nicascio stay here this next transfer to
continue this obra maravilhosa.

My sista sent me a lovely joke. A knee slapper.
Q. What did the buffalo say to his son when he left for college?
A. Bison.

I think I’ll end with that for today. Have a happy week and know that
we ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the
service of your God. (Mosiah 2:17). I love King Benjamin. Obrigada for
the letters and cards and birthday wishes and love and prayers! Tchau!

Com amor, Sister Owens

Brazil

Happiness

27 March 2012

Sorry I can’t send pictures again. :( My card reader broke and for today, no lovely fotos to send.
But just so you know, we had some grand adventures as always, and taught lovely souls.
–Riding a full full bus for a couple hours, standing up, holding onto a sister’s luggage, in the lovely sunshine and wilderness of Rio.
–waking up at 4:30 to go to our zone meeting two hours away, waiting and discovering that the bus was on strike, so we call our ward mission leader/hero at 6 am and he asks us if our house was on fire. :) But he took us to another bus stop 30 mins away, and we waited and waited and waited for a bus to pass. And then when one passed it only had two spaces. And seeing as we are in trio now, twas a no go. So our only option to get back to Quissamã… continue on to another city outside of our mission boundaries and into the boundaries of Mission Rio de Janeiro. :) So that’s what we did and it was lovely and I saw some beautiful ocean and beach.
–On my way to a siriguela tree (a most glorious little fruit of happiness), was almsot bit by a crazy dog, but he only got my skirt. I need new clothes. :)
–we moved house this week too and now we have a cute little hosue for me and Sister Cunha nd our new companion Sister Nicascio!
–the Araújos came and hooked us up with nifty bicicletas, much needed. Yay bikes! Which come with helmets of course….
–Had a fantastic stake fireside last night with a seventy, Elder Ribeiro, here. He told us that we are doing wonderful things in Quissamã.
 
I lvoe this blessed place and am happy here and Rio is wonderful!
We baptized a cute little old man with 76 years named Jorge!
 
Tchau!
Brazil

Quissama :)

8 March 2012

Tis the last week of my second to last transfer. Eek the Cat! :)
Sister Cunha and I heard from a little bird that we’ll be staying here in this lovely Quissamã land! But not 100% sure. And we might get another sister here too, which woud be excellent and is much needed. And… Presidente will be hooking us up with lovely new bikes! Hallelujah! We need another sister and we need bikes and the world (especially Quissamã) would be a much better place with all of this.
The branch is growing and lots of souls are being baptized and confirmed and more to come! The Lord is blessing us so so much. So much. We are finding excellent people, who change my life everyday! The mission is so good. Is is so good to help people and to forget about your own problems and just focus on the work.
Things are going really well and my time is running out and I don’t believe it. This week was so fun and happy. We went to Vitória! And had a festa/conference with the sisters and with Presidente and Sister Araujo. Was so edifying and fun fun fun! Twas nice watching a cartoon or two with them all too! Movie afternoon complete with popcorn! :) Oh the little things in life bring such joy.
And got some lovely lovely mail from Homer seminary class (from Christmas :)) and McKenzie and Joyce and Adriessa (with lots of goodies) and Cottams and Stacy girl and I love mail. Nothing like getting a hand written letter from the peeps you love. Obrigada!
Twas so fun being at the chique mission home with the beautiful beach and was so good having a sleepover with the sisters in Jardim da Penha. So many good thingswhen you’re a missionary. :) And then we came back here to Quissamã and had a talent show and it was fun fun fun.
Love you all and don’t forget to say your prayers. :)
Obrigadaaaa!
Brazil

Happy CARNAVAL!!

7 March 2012



Happy CARNAVAL! Brasil sure loves a festa! It was/is carnaval weekend
and in Quissama, we live on the main street and all of the floats and
parties and music and everything was right in front of our house. So
it didn`t go to well sleeping last night. :)
And we had to get up nice and early today because woo hoo, festa in
VITORIA with the Sisters! A nice little 7 hour onibus trip does good
for anyone! And we`ll stay here in Vitoria tonight and tuesday night
and back to RIO on wednesday. It is so good being here and is so
beautiful and I love these sisters! Life is goooood as a little
missionary.

This week, was delightful. oh my goodness, the lunches this week were
soooo good. Lots of yummy fish and salads and fruits and of course…
rice and beans! I love Quissama!
Beth got baptised too! Yay! It si so wonderful to be able to help
people and to see people making the right choices! Because everyone
has agency to be able to choose between the good and the bad. (2 Nephi
2:27) And when we choice the good side, woo hoo blessings! When we
follow the Spirit, we are happy! yay!

As you see from the pictures, life is full of adventures and funny
things and wonderful people. We find just what we look for.

A funny for the week: Luis asked me, “Are you from Siberia?”
And good news, I bought some lovely grapes. 2 boxes for 4 reais! Oh alegria!

Have a happy healthy week! Only 2 more weeks to this transfer and then
only one more trasnfer of 6 weeks. Weird. I love this lovely life as
Sister Owens.

And… to everything there is a season. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Brazil

Happy Valentines Day (a little late)

5 March 2012



Happy Valentine’s Day! I don’t even know what to start writing because I just read emails from my lovely family and looked at beautiful fotos they sent me of Stacy and Scott’s wedding! Woo hoo! So I’m just focused on that right now and don’t know what to say. But my sista is beautiful and I’m so happy to have a new brother in law. Heavenly Father is blessing us all a lot a lot! 

As always, I still love being here in Quissamã with Sister Cunha and we’re happy for P-day today to be able to rest our little minds and legs and make cookies! We’re doing lots of Family Home Evenings (que alegria!) and will be presenting the wonder and awe of cookies this week. 

This city is wonderful and we had some lovely adventures this week, riding the free bus to the boonies, teaching one of the Lord’s elect as she made tapioca/bijú, watching some meninos make a dog sled (see foto), picking lots of divine fruits, visiting Raimundo and Berenice (eleitos) at their little house in the wilderness and eating pão de queijo (breaded cheese basically) with guava sweet paste doce thing, and more adventures too!
I love Quissamã and the filhos de Deus here.

Another little story… there’s a man here named Abel, who goes all around Quissamã putting salt everywhere, on the streets on the sidewalks, we find traces of him everywhere. :) This week we saw him and we always talk to him and invite him to church and baptism, but he asked if he could consecrate our feet with consecrated vinegar he had. This is an offer that you can’t refuse, so he got out his bottle of vinegar and poured a few drops of vinegar between out toes. :) Now my feet are consecrated and the work shall continue to go forth. :D 
The field is white already to harvest.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you all! :)
Love Sister Owens

Brazil

Oi Família! Amo vocês muitoooo. E é isso.

25 February 2012

Oi Família! Amo vocês muitoooo. E é isso.
Sister Cunha and I are working so much here. Every night we get home like dead girls and then have to do our planning and I always end up falling asleep writing in my journal, or falling asleep praying on my knees (do that a lot), and I need to be better at going to bed at 1030 like a good sister missionary.
Tis grrrreat being a sister missionary and the peeps love us here so much. I love this area and it’s so good with my dear companion and would be great to stay here for my last transfer. We have transfers March 6th, who knows what will happen. But whatever happens I know I’ll be where the Lord wants me so things will work out.
I’m learning so many wonderful things. I’ve been gone long time and lots has changed. Soon I will no longer have a single sister and I think at least half of all my friends are married people know and lots have kids too. Interessante né.
I hope and PRAY (lots) that you all are well and happy and healthy and prosperous and that you all are praying lots and studying the good word (aka scriptures :)). Heavenly Father loves us lots and wants us to be happy!
Blog(and put these fotos. thanks stacy girl. you’re a champ of all champs.)

Woo hoo! We had a sweeeeet baptism this week in a river! Raimundo is so excellent and he is someone who was truly searching for the truth. And woo hoo he found it and it is so wonderful to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. I am so so grateful. And soon his dear wife will be a member of the chuch of Jesus Christ too! Yahoo wamu!

I love adventures and this week was full of them! Raimundo wanted to be baptized in a river, so we had to find a river and good baptismal site. Thank goodness we finally have a ward mission leader because he and his wife took care of this all and I am so grateful for the members of the church here. I love Quissamã!

And it is so beautiful here. There are so many fruit trees and we just pick fruit during the day as we’re speed walking around. :) I ate a cactus fruit this week, a yummy little red frutinha. Good thing I had my cute little pocket knife with me to be able to cut the spines and pricklies off the fruit. And I saw a cute little owl too! This world is so good.

I’m learning lots and have lots more to learn the next couple months ! I love these people and know that Heavenly Father loves us so much and put angels in our lives to help us, because we all need lots of help! Thank you for your love and prayers and wish Stacy and Scott and happy wedded life!

Brazil

Happy quase February!

22 February 2012

“God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through
another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we
serve each other.”
 -President Spencer W. Kimball

Happy quase February!
I love Quissamã and am a happy girl because we have a ward mission
leader now, to help us in this grande obra! Woo hoo, my goodness we
were needing a bit of help. The members here help us a lot and lot and
we are teaching lots of lovely souls.
But it is still sooooo difficult to get them to church.

But woo hoo Raimundo was at church for the second time this week and
he’s getting baptized on saturday. He is soooo goood. He has an
appliance repair shop on the street of the church and one day we just
started talking with him and then another day we went back and taught
him and he is excellentíssimo! And he has been searching for the truth
and investigating lots of churches and beliefs. And through reading
the Book of Mormon, he has a nice good solid testimony and said that
this is the last door he’ll be knocking, searching for the truth.
Verdade!

What else… we had a zone meeting and thank you Cottams and grandma
and Hayley and Lilly for my letters. I love mail. Have I mentioned
that?

We’re working with some wonderful less active members here, who have
such strong testimonies. One of these members has a chubby little old
dog named Suzie. And he made us a super fantastic lunch the other day,
vegetarian friendly too! Hallelujah!

And another woo hoo, we’re making cookies today! And we’re going to
have an activity with the young women and make cookies too. Yay
cookies.

Lots to do here in Quissamã and it is so goooooooood. It’s been like
100+ degrees but for some good reason, I’m still alive. Tis good to be
alive.

By the way, Jayme, another ol’ fellow we were teaching, started
singing “500 Miles” by Peter, Paul, and Mary. PPM, so classic. Oh I
love these peeps here. Time is passing rapido!

Love you all. I’ll try and send some Rio sunshine, and por favor send
some cool weather here down under. TTFN! :D

Brazil

mais uma transferencia em Quissamã!

28 January 2012

Just finished a splendid transfer full of faith and miracles and lots of work here in Quissamã with Sister Cunha! And gooooood news (….geico….)! We’re staying here together again! So much to do here and I hope I’ll get to stay my last two transfers here with Sister Cunhazinha. It is going so well and we are helping lots of blessed souls.
But whatever happens, the Lord knows best and knows very well what he is doing.
Heavenly Father made miracls happn here this transfer! So good. From an area without leadership, with the frequency going down everyweek, with only two baptizing weeks in two years, and now to an area with frequency going up evry week and weekly baptisms! Woo hoo! Lots of lovely peeps waiting for the gospel. The field is white!
 
This week drove back from the bach with 7 peeps in a little green vw bug, and did ti dy with the yw and had lots of lovely fun. I love Quissamã! Yay for missions! And good souls!

Brazil

I love Quissamã!

25 January 2012

I love Quissamã! It’s the last week of the transfer and I hope that Sister Cunhazinha and I will stay together here another transfer or two. We’re seeing so many miracles and milagres and so many good things! The frequency was up to 56 on sunday! We brought lots of new peeps to church and lots of less actives are coming back. Yay! And baptisms every week! Including a miracle baptism this saturday that came out of no where. Woo hoo!
But when you have faith and do what the Lord asks you and work a lot a lot a lot, you see miracles! Yay! There’s lots of little (and big) angels working around here helping us share the gospel and bring happiness to people’s lives. Make the world a better place than when you found it.
Muito obrigada for all the letters and little packages and love that you all send me. Makes me a happy little Sister Owens.
Sister Cunha and I get home every night so tired and sweaty because it is soooo hot here. I put my hands in the freezer today and pretended it was snow. Thank goodness there’s a lovely little wind here. But it is all worth it and I hope I stay here in Quissamã and that Sister Cunha stays here too!
I’m learning lots of lovely things and we’re teaching wonderful people and I love them all so much. We’re teaching a guy who wants to get baptized and receive the gift of the holy ghost so badly, but he is not understanding that he has to keep all of the commandments in order to do this and to have the spirit. We had his baptism planned for this week (in a lake!) but we’ll work with him a bit more, do some sweet fasting, and next week it should be all good. :)
And I found out that someone we were teaching in Itaparica is now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ! Woo hoo! No effort is wasted. Every leaf counts!
Been watching the Preach My Gospel dvds too and they are fantastico! Life is so funny and weird on the mission. It’s like the world outside of my little area doesn’t exist. You forget about music and movies and things of normal life. You gain such an eternal perspective and just want to help others do this too.
Because basically the Second Coming is coming and now is the time to prepare (Alma 34:32), a hora é agora! :) Good thing God loves us so much to send Jesus Chirst to be our Savior and that He always forgives us of the errors and sins we commit time and time again. But Heavenly Father’s plan is perfect, and He will do everything He can to help us, but the choice is ours.
Thank you all for being so lovely and have a happy day and week and life! :D

Brazil

Quissamã

25 January 2012

Wooo hoo we had another baptism here in Quissamã of a delightful
family who is coming back to church! Enter the fold. :) And we’ve got
another baptism this week too. Quissamã is so wonderful and it is
fulllll of good souls who want to live the gospel. There are of
course, plenty who don’t want to hear too much, but you get what you
look for, né?

There were some lovely sunsets this week and nature is so wonderful. I
love it here in Quissamã because it’s like a little town in the
inteRIOr and there are good people and it is so nice having so much
green around, and seeing cows and horses in the middle of the street.

Twas fantastic in Campos this week for conferência de zona!
Conferences and transfers and soooo good. I love missionary festas! :)
Learned lots of wonderful things and was reminded about D&C 18:10 “the
worth of souls is great in the sight of God.”
And also about when Christ asked Peter is he loved him and Peter said
of course, and then Christ just said “Feed my Sheep”.

So I’m just here in Rio, feeding sheep and it is excellllllent.
Our João (was a pastor), blessed the sacrament this week in white
shirt and tie. Woo hoo. Job well done.
And good news, I’m not sick any more. It was funny at zone conference
because there are four of us sisters here in Rio, one has a cast on
her leg, one went to the hospital before our conference started, one
more with a fever, and I was getting over a month long cough. Don’t
know what was happening with us, but all is well now. :)

Sister Cunha also informed me that I was teaching lessons in my sleep
this week, talking all about the spirit and how we have to pray and
ask Heavenly Father for answers, and how because He loves us and is
our father, He sends the Spirit to teach and testify to us. There’s so
much to do during the day, that I guess I’m starting to practice
teaching at night too. And last night I dreamed there were a bunch of
cockroaches on me and it was not too lovely, but hallelujah we don’t
have cockroaches in our house.

Hope you all are swell and thank you for the love and prayers and
mail! :) Got wonderful letters this week from all my grandparents and
some lovely sísteres and some grand ol´ buddies and a little package
from my mtc comp and mail from fam and lots from dear Cottam fam and
mail and letters brings pure joy to my little soul. Obrigada! Boa
semana para vocês! :D



Brazil

Rio De Janeiro!!!

23 January 2012

Hoppy New Year!
New Years wasn’t too eventful here in Quissamã, but twas lovely.
Sunday morning we met with the leaders of the branch to (buscar?)
fetch a bunch of lovely souls that promised to go to church. It was
raining and peeps don’t really like going to church in the rain.
But… there were a few faithful that came with us! Woo hoo! And the
frequency was up to 35 this week. Hallelujah. It needs to just keep
going up so that the church building can be built here. The meetings
are held in a rented house and it is not too nifty, fazer o quê né? I
loooove Quissamã and this transfer is gooooooooood good good.
First of all, let’s talk about saturday, new year’s eve… João got
baptized! Woo hoo! He was a tender mercy from the Lord and he is super
fantastico! He’s got a looot of biblical knowledge and faith and is
sooo good. And recent discovery.. he’s a pastor. :) He didn’t ever say
anything to us but you can tell he’s done a lot of churching in his
time. :) But we asked him and sure enough, pastor João, new and
faithflu member of the Church of Jesus Christ. And sunday afternoon he
was already doing visits with us. Yay! I looove finding the elect.

We’re teaching lots of peeps here in this wonderful place, so many to
teach. And it is so wonderful when you find those elect, who are
waiting for the restored gospel. We had some baptisms marked for this
week too, but we all have agency and make our own choices and
unfortately, some people choose not to live or accept the gospel. But
agency is wonderful and so central to Heavenly Father´s perfect plan.

What else… we have zone conference this week! Woo hoo! Here in
Campos. So yay I’ll get letters again and we’ll get another nice box
of Book of Mormons to give to all of Quissamã. I love this place. And
the members are really wonderful, the few that go to church at least.
:) There’s a lot of less actives here too, who are also wonderful, but
need lots of help in coming back to church. It’s not too easy, but it
is always worth it to the what God wants.

PS Good news… I just saved a bundle on car insurance by switching to
geico. Okay, not really, but actual good news… I found some celery!
I looove celery (especially with delightful peanut butter) and I
haven’t had any in over a year. I’ve never seen it here, but
hallelujah I found some this week.

There is so much to do here in Quissamã. Sister Cunha and I are
working a lot a lot and doing everything we can think of to strengthen
these souls here. There’s just not enough time! Adn the transfer is
already half over. But we’ve got a bunch more baptisms that will have
to happen in these next three weeks. We’re looking for the elect,
they’re out there. There’s good things and people everywhere!

Time for me to go home and write letters and finish preparing for a
wonderful week. Thank you for your prayers and everything and eu amo
vocês! Feliz 2012!



Brazil

Hoppy New Year!!!

23 January 2012

Happy day after Christmas! 
Yesterday I opened a lovely Christmas english cracker and would like to share a nice little joke… hehe
Q: What do you call a fish with no eyes?
A: A fsh.
heheehee kkk cracks me up every time! 
I love Christmas and giving (and of course it’s nice to receive) presents. It is so lovely to give. 
At midnight on Christmas eve, dear Sister Cunha and I read some St. Luke chapter 2 about the birth of Jesus and then we opened some chocolicious presentes and then Christmas morning finished opening our lovely little Christmas presents under our nice paper tree. :) Christmas as a missionary is a bit different (especially when you’re in Quissamã, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, and it is wicked hot), but Christmas is so very splendid!
The best part was the skype festa with my beautiful family yesterday! Woo hoo! 
We also had a grand Christmas turkey lunch with a member’s family in the roça. Roça is like farm, bush, boondocks, don’t know the translation. But we were in a lovely little house surrounded by lovely green fields with scrumdiddlyumptious fruit trees too.
Other news from the week, João is getting baptized and confirmed! He is so good and just gets better every day and every visit. He has the desire to go to church and to get baptized and things are going nice and smooth with teaching him. Oh how I love the elect! Que bênção. It is pretty much not the easiest thing in the world to get people to go to church, but when they want to go, they go. When we teach people and the want to keep the committments, they keep them, if they don’t want to, they don’t. So basically, if we really want to do something, we’ll do it. Where there’s a will there’s a way. 
And Sister Cunha and I are loving this transfer and there’s so much to do and so many people to visit and pretty much all of our lessons are with members. We bring the members with us pretty much all day long. This transfer is and will be full of miracles! Woo hoo! 
Well tis time to go, I’ve got some water and bananas to buy. :) But I’ll end with my other english cracker joke:
Q: What did the alien say to the garden?
A: Take me to your weeder.
Claaassic. :) You’re killing me smalls.
Muito obrigada for the letters and prayers and all of the good and lovely things you are all doing for others. Service is at the heart of the gospel. We’ve just got to love everyone. Woo hoo! Amo vocês! 
And of course…
HOPPY New Year! 

Brazil

Feliz Natal!!

20 January 2012

FELIZ NATAL! Woo hoo! I love Quissamã! This area is excelente! And it is so good working with Sister Cunha. She is excellent and this will be a transfer full of miracles (and work work work)! And miracles need to happen here… :) On sunday there were only 29 peeps and the past year there has only been one week that they’ve had a baptism. But now… enter a gente… and many good things ahead! After all, everyone needs the gospel and the promised blessings of the Lord, so we are here to work along with the wonderful members to baptize, reactive, and complete families! 

We have members with us almost all day every day and they showing us lots of peeps we need to teach. I’m so happy to be here. And Quissamã is such a cute quaint little town. And woo hoo, I’m still in Rio!
Well, considering Christmas is coming, it is time to bust out the Christmas Santa Clause troll earrings… okay, I’ll just stick to the parrots. :D
We found a girl that really needs the gospel and to be baptized and receive the gift of the holy ghost. We taught her and asked her if she had a cell phone. She said that she traded her cell phone for crack. Hugs are better than drugs. But I am realizing more and more that everyone has freedom of choice to choose good things or bad things. Everytime we keep the commandments, we are blessed. Lots of blessings ! 
Unfortunately, I was dead sick girl for a couple days. Sister Cunha worked with members and I stayed at a member’s house sleeping, sleeping, sleeping, with a bad bad cold and a high fever. But with a nice blessing and lots of prayers, I’m much better now, and excited for a week full force. :) And excited for a feliz natal and mele kalikimaka! 
I’m enjoying verrry much presentinhos of 12 days of christmas too! Muito! 
Merrrrrrry Christmas to you all! Don’t forget to give Christ a birthday present for Christmas. :)