Brasil - Week 21

Tuesday- All of our appointments fell through BUT we found this guy, Jodelson, and we taught him about the Restoration. It went really well! But other than that this day was *thumbs down*.

Wednesday- So today we had a division with Sister Carvalho and Sister Braga because they are the Sister Training Leaders here. It was GREAT!! I was with Sister Braga (because Sister Carvalho speaks English...) and I learned so much from her!! It was really good and we found these 2 girls, Ana and Aline(a-lee-nee), and taught them the first lesson (restoration) and they accepted baptism!! They both are 12. And then at 6 we all met back up and the other Sisters left and Sister Kimball and I visited this referral from the Elders, Maria José. She was interesting. But I think that she will progress. :) AND THEN at the end of the day Sister Kimball and I added up all of our numbers and we had 19 contacts! And guess what else... LUCI-MAR ACCEPTED BAPTISM!! We are SOOO excited for her!! She is already so happy! :)

Thursday- So today we had a Zone Conference!! IT WAS AWESOME!! All of the trainings were really great and helped a lot!! Its just like an energy boost!! They really help!! And afterward we visited with Luci-mar and started talking with her helping her stay firm. It was a great day! :) 

Friday- WOO HOO!!! 6 MONTH MARK!!! Today we visited Luci-mar with Núbia and taught about the Plan of Salvation. It went very well and she understood really easily! Núbia helped out a lot!! After Luci-mar, we visited Jodelson and read in Enos with him and talked about the importance of prayer. It went well, and he said he will try and go to church Sunday!! I know that if he will go he will really feel the spirit there!!  After Jodelson, we went back home and had a great (but really long) weekly planning session!! :)

Saturday- We went and helped Luci-mar clean her house because her daughter is 5 months pregnant. It was fun and we also taught her about obedience and how it shows love. we then went to lunch that we REALLY far away (1 hour!!) but it was good and their daughter isn't a member but they marked a day for us to go back and teach her! Then all of our appointments fell through AGAIN. So we went with Luci-mar and her daughter (Jeane) to pass out baby shower invites so I and Sister Kimball can do contacts with them. We only got 2 out of it. :/ 

Sunday- So only Adrielli came today. It was good that she was there but, ugh. No one else. :/ Afterward we had a meeting with the "ward mission leader". It went well. We passed around ideas to help the ward get excited about helping!! Afterward we found one of our invest. that we only found one time, Iago (like the parrot in Aladdin), and marked a day to visit with him and his friend that we taught once, Carlos. We then stopped by Luci-mar's house but no one was there so we left a little note. :) 

Monday- So far we have studied, and I FINISHED THE BOOK OF MORMON!! It only took me 3 months and 12 days!! :D I read about 3 chapters everyday and BAM!! DONE! Next I will try and read the bible!! :D wish me luck with that one!! >.< We then grabbed some lunch and started writing y'all!! :) 

--

Sister Emma Marion

Together as companions again!

Month 6!!

 

Celebrating 6 months on a mission is more fun when you get to

share it with your MTC companion!

 

Brasil - Week 20: Varzea Grande

Tuesday- So today we had lunch with the Bishop’s mother-in-law and afterward she gave us a big bag of MANGOS!!! We are really livin’ the good life haha!! J BUT all o four appointments fell through... we actually had one that told us she doesn’t want our visits. So yeah...we went back home and started organizing what little Area Book we have. 

 

Wednesday- We had a really cool District meeting! We talked about “How is your relationship with your companion” and what Elder John (District Leader) did was he hid a cake in another room and had the Elders side by side one facing forward the other facing back and he taped the the legs that were touching together and blindfolded the one facing front and gave the other a mirror and told them to find the cake. So off they went! Haha! It was interesting. Only using a small hand mirror to lead two people but the did it! Then they blindfolded me and had sister Kimball stand in front of me and I had to put my hands in front of us and try and cut the cake into 6 pieces with her direction....only in Portuguese....it was a lot of “UH NÃO!” “UGH” But finally we got it. Then the other Elders in the same form of Sister Kimball and I had to try and remove a piece of cake. All in all it was really interesting. And I learned that Sister Kimball and I need to talk about the problems better and I need to stop trying to do everything alone and rely on her. It was a good learning experience. J We then returned home and finished our Area Book because all o four visits fell through....again. :/

 

Thursday- SO have I got a story about today!!!! ENTÃO We were going to do a contact day and just find new people to teach when we found the road we have been looking for for a week because we have a referral here! So we found the house and the lady said “oh he is my nephew but he doesn’t live here no. But you can try that house down there and they can help you better.” So we went to this house and this man answered and when we asked bout this kid he said “oh maybe. I don’t know all of my wife’s family. But come on in and you can ask her!” So in we went! Thinking “ah how great we can teach this family!!” right? So we walk in and the lady, Maria Lina, says “Oh no I don’t know him no. But come in! Come in! You are doing such a beautiful work, serving the Lord! Are you hungry?? Come in sit down!! Eat this couscous!! Do you want anything else? Anything to drink?” Stuff like that and we are all like “Wow! She is so sweet! Lets share a message with her!” So we walk in and there is this guy (he was like 20ish) siting at the table and we introduce ourselves and then he says “Oh yeah come in eat! And then we will pray for you!” Now when I heard this I started thinking “Oh no. What church do they go to?!” Because here we have some strange ones. Ones that in their prayers everyone talks and really loudly and give the Holy Ghost in strange ways and receive the Holy Ghost strangely, really just big shows of “Faith” so the world knows whats going on but not with the Spirit. But in we went and we ate and while we were eating in walks 2 other men and a woman, so we are thinking “Oh yeah we can teach everyone! No problem!” Then we finished and sang “How Great Thou Art” and shared a scripture and then Maria Lina thanks us and says “Now I want to share a hymn from our church, *&%$&*(I won’t give the name for respectful purposes, but its one of the ones that is really bad about the prayers and HG)” So when she said that I started thinking “Oh snap!! What now!!” But she started singing really loud about Jesus and as she was singing the 22yr old stands up and grabs the table and closes his eyes and starts saying stuff like “praise Jesus!” “Glory to God” “Amen!!” ya know and then Maria Lina grabs Sister Kimball!! Like one hand on her chest and the other on her back!! And starts shaking S. Kimball and stomping her feet!!!! And during this Sister Kimball and I are so shocked and stunned and trying not to laugh!! And the 22yr old keeps on with the praises and then she stops. And yeah. It was crazy. So Sister Kimball and I just don’t know what to say but know that we need to say something so we just started saying thank you. And then before we can do anything else the 22yr old says “and now we will pray” and everyone stands up and so we do too and he tells me “Grab the hand of your sister!” So I did and then he starts praying and then everyone else starts praying and I and Sister Kimball just awkwardly stood there slightly scared that someone else would try to give us the Holy Ghost! And in the prayer the 22yr old starts saying stuff about Americans blah blah blah. Then after we just kind of thank them again and then he starts preaching to us about how we need to pray lest Satan gets his hands on us. So we say “ah sim amen!” and thank him again and then start leaving. We were SO scared!! We left with like beating hearts and fear! Luckily a member lives close by so we went to her house to clam down! We now avoid that house!!!

 

 

Friday- We met 3 people really awesome!! 1st  Heloiza. She is a single mother of a 2yr old boy. We taught her the first lesson and she really liked it. We really think she will progress!! :D 2nd Luci-ma. She has already been introduced to the Elders and actually she asked a member to send us to her house with literature of the church. So we went with Book of Mormons in hand! We started talking to her and she really just wants Pearls of Great Price  because she has already read the Book of Mormon, Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, and the Gospel Principals book!! So we talked to her about baptism and going to Stake Conference with us this week. She told us that she doesn't think she can because she needs to stay home because she never really has lunch with her husband and this is the only time she has and because the stake center is kind of long and because she has to use the bus she wouldn’t have time to come back and fix lunch for everyone. So we just told her to pray about it and Heavenly Father will help her find a way to do all she needs to Sunday. She promised to.

 

 

Saturday- We met with just about all o four people today!! We met with Adrielli who is close to baptism but isn’t 100% sure yet. But she promised to pray about it. We met with a member referral named Kelvin but he wants more time to think if he wants lessons or not...(he is only 14)...and then with this guy Paulo and his wife. Turns out he has 21 that he uses to study to learn better what the passage says. Problem is that he really just wants to study the Book of Mormon and doesn’t want us to explain, we tried but every time we said anything about the Bible he started telling us Bible history. We were in his house with them for like 2 hours!! And most of that time was listening to him!! But we finally got to talk about Joseph Smith and how he was called to be a Prophet and his wife starts telling us that we can’t have prophets today because at the end of Revelations it says so. And that John was the final prophet. So needless to say nothing really got through but we left them with the Book of Mormon (actually we met Paulo a few days before and he asked for a copy and I said that we would mark some scriptures for him too) and in the Book I wrote out our testimonies about the Book of Mormon and marked for him to read the testimonies of the 3, 8, and Joseph Smith. So I think it will help him.

 

 

Sunday- We had conference. It was really good, President and Sister Reber spoke. We rode with Adrielli so she was there only problem was we got there kind of late and we had to sit in the back.....lots crying children. :/ But after we visited with Luci-ma and she said that she went!! She said that she prayed for help to go and then she rode the bus there and during she said that she didn’t regret it! She felt awesome, especially during Pres. Reber’s talk! And then after a member offered to drive her home!!!! So she made it back in time!! And she also said that the rest of her day was super great!! She also thanked Sister Kimball and I a lot. She said that it was because of us that she went. She then said that she thinks she wants to continue in the church!!!!! She is now praying about a baptism date!! :D This just goes to show that the Lord ALWAYS provides a way, you just have to be willing to take the first step! 1 Nephi 3:7 J

--

Sister Emma Marion

 

 

 

Our District! Várzea Grande!

Elder John(DL), Elder Santana, Elder Silva, Elder Correa, & Sister Kimball and I

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August 2013 - Month 5

 

 

Brasil - Week 19 - New Area: Vareza Grande

Tuesday- We arrived in Cuiabá at like 9ish in the morning. We then went to drop people off at their houses in a big Taxi van, so when Sister Puckett left I was a solo sister. It was odd....I had to stay with the Elders all day. And then we went to this new missionary training where we meet our new companions. BUT Sister Kimball's flight got moved back a day so I was still a solo sister. (This is where that foto of me teaching comes in...) so in this training we role played to see where the new missionaries are and to help get them started. It was good. It always helps to have a older missionary give advice. (The elder in the picture is Elder Marque he is the new assistant to President Reber) And during this Elder Bonaro and Elder Watchman arrived!!! They were in my group in the MTC too!! I was so excited to see them and they were really impressed with my language.....which made me feel good. :) What happened was Elder Marque asked everyone to look up this scripture and he then asked me to read it. So I did and then he asked me to explain it. So I did and that is when Elder Bonaro and Watchman were like woah! I then went to Sister Puckett's house and spent the night there.

Wednesday- So a taxi picked me up and brought me to the church in Cuiabá and there I waited and President and Sister Reber picked Sister Kimball up from the airport. When she walked in we were so excited! It was great to see her!!! Then after she got here the same taxi driver (who is actually a member...) picked us up and took us to our new house!! So this house was an Elder house....and it is next door to a tire repair shop and above a shop....But it is nice. Only problem is that the kitchen sink doesn't have a pipe and drains out into a bucket,there is 2 showers but one only lets out a little bit of water and the other doesn't have a shower head so it is just like a water fall....and our laundry room sink doesn't have a pipe too but it has a drain on the floor BUT the drain is like clogged or something and so water doesn't drain out so actually our washing machine is in the shower.....

Thursday- We had to go back to the mission office after lunch today because Sister Kimball needs training and also because she needed to get registered with Brasil. And with all of that we ended up getting back to our area at like 8. And we went straight to this members house. These members are the BEST!!! The wife, Núbia, has helped us like everyday! She is AWESOME!! She told us she feels like our older sister! :) And her husband, Marcelo, he speaks English fluently and also other languages so he really helps a lot with our language!! BUT yeah so we went to their house to help Marcelo teach English!! And he said that when we help teach he tries to mark a day with the people when we can teach about the gospel. So we went and it was really cool BUT SO HARD!!!! I kept wanting to speak Portuguese!!! Nossa!! Haha!!

Friday- We had a zone meeting and then 2 of the other sisters went with us to lunch (because they live really far away....like 4 hours on a bus away!) and then Sister Kimball and I went back home to study the language and then we got to work!! We did contacts and it was really good!! We met this couple that said they can't go to church this week because they are leaving town that day but they will go next week! They were so great! I really think they will go! We also met this old lady that I really like she is so sweet and we taught her the 1st lesson and turns out that her daughter is a member!! But she is also going out of town this Sunday but if we can get someone to give her a ride she will most likely come next week!! And when we were leaving we met her son and he has already had the lessons and I talked to him and invited him to read the pamphlet we left his mom on the 1st lesson, we'll see if he really did.....

Saturday- So today was different too...President gave us permission to clean our house today because it was really dirty because plumbers came in and put pipes in under the sinks and so Núbia helped us clean up and then after she asked us where lunch was and we told her that it fell through and they gave us money and she told us "oh well keep the money for later and come with me to my house and I will make you lunch!" So after helping us clean the house she made us lunch!!! She really is super!! After lunch we met an investigator of the elders named Adrielli and talked to her about baptism....but she is kind of wishy washy....but the spirit can change all things!!! 

Sunday- We had our first church here!! Woo hoo!! But in this ward we actually have a sister dupla (English translation: duo) and ALSO an elder dupla...so things are kinda complicated....mostly lunch. Why you ask...its because sisters and elders can't have lunch together so they have to divide the calender into the elders area and the sisters! So our lunch fell through again and Núbia found out and so we had lunch with them again! They also gave us a refferal!!! We then went back home to study and then did contacts!!! In doing contacts we met this old lady who started talking to us about her daughter and how she is worried about her. So we offered to visit with her daughter. Turns out her daughter has already heard a bit about the church but she wasn't allowed to go to church because it was with the Elders and her mom was worried. And I agree. Its 2 young men that they don't really know inviting a young girl to church....BUT now its sisters!! So we will go tuesday night to talk with the daughter!!!

As for my "new" companion....She is really doing great already! She really tried to talk to people and she is picking the language up really well! A lot really hasn't changed since the MTC except the amount of spirituality but we are going to try really hard to make sure we are having personal study everyday. Its really going to be great!! :)

--

Sister Emma Marion

 

Emma has given me a new address for letters.  Instead of sending things to the mission home, it now needs to go to the mission office.

 

Av. Hist. Rubens de Mendonça 1731 Sala 10

Bairro: Consil

Cuiabá- MT Brasil

78050-000

 

 

Tracking the streets of Vareza Grande, Brazil

A street in Vareza Grande, Brazil

7:33 at night and it ONLY 93 degrees!! Welcome to summer in Brazil!

 

 

Brazil - Week 18 TRANSFERS!

Tuesday & Wednesday- We stayed home because S. Freitas was sick. :( 

Thursday- We did a division with a member of another ward and Ana from our ward. It was really great! I was with Ana and we visited a lot of people!! My numbers + S. Freitas numbers really made up for the last 2 days!! And Ana took me to 2 houses of her friends we already taught one and the other we will teach next Tuesday! It was really cool. She also gave the address of another that we will visit some time next week with Ana.

Friday- We tried to visit some of the contacts we got but all of them fell through. It was really disappointing. But we found Cintia in her house and started talking to her, turns out that she thought that the church abandoned her because she is pregnant. We also think that she is embarrassed and because of this she stopped coming. But we taught her about the Plan of Salvation and talked to her about how the gospel can really help her and her baby.

Saturday- We visited more people we contacted but they also fell through. It was a rather disappointing day. And everyone we invited to church said that they can't this week. One lady even told me that she doesn't want to come to church because she doesn't want to leave her friends in her other church. But she believes in the restoration.....We also visited a friend of Luana, who is a member with her two brothers out serving missions, with her and taught her about Joseph Smith, but this girl said that she has church in the morning & there is no way her mom will let her miss. Also disappointing. :(  

The highlight of this day was when we were returning home discouraged and tired from walking all day we heard noise in Cintia's house and so we started talking to whoever it was over the wall and turns out it was her mom who we haven't talked to since we found out that Cintia is pregnant. So her mom called us over and we talked with her a lot and I think it really helped her to have someone to talk to about this (because her boyfriend that lives with her is a truck driver and has been gone over a month). She also thought that  Cintia can't come to church anymore because we believe in the law of chastity. But we explained to her that she can keep coming no problem. Hopefully the whole family will come next week. 

Sunday- Elisangela, counselor in the Relief Society, went to visit people with us and we taught this lady with 3 kids about the restoration it was really good. Especially since Elisangela wasn't born into the church and was baptized when she was in her late teens/early 20's so she has the experience of a life outside of the church and has a testimony of how the church can help you and your family. We then went to Cintia's house and visited with her mom again (because cintia gets sick a lot so she stays in bed a lot) and I made cookies for her to try and we just talked and then we shared a message from Moroni 8:2 and applied this scripture to her life and talked about how she has a sacred calling of mom and how her sacred work is to help cintia and how she has a great opportunity right now to get closer to her daughter and help her through this pregnancy. It was really good. 

We then found out about transfers.....SO Sister Freitas is staying here withhhhh.....Sister Marinho! Annndddd I will open a new area called Várzea Grande innnnn Cuiabá!! And you ready for this......my companion isssss SISTER KIMBALL!!!!!! I will train her. :D

Te amo!!!

--

Sister Emma Marion

 

 

A road in Pioneiros that Emma walks every day!

 

Sister Freitas and Sister Marion

 

Emma's favorite fruit, Mango!

This is how missionaries feel about packages from home!