Still No Signs of Jaguars...

Well....

It was an uneventful week. The best story of the week was finding our new investigator…V.

 We were walking down the street and we passed her sitting on the curb reading a huge book. We kept going a little bit and then I stopped and told Sister M we needed to go back and talk to her...I had a funny feeling she wasn’t just reading Twilight. Turns out I was right! It was the Bible! We sat beside her and started talking about religion and Christ. Everything she said sounded as if it came out of a Gospel Principles lesson handbook. Her ideas on the true gospel of Christ were equal to the message we felt inspired to share. She told us she had been praying for more wisdom and understanding about the scriptures and the will of the Lord in her life.....and as she finished her prayer she watched us walk past....and then double back to talk to her. She told us she knows we were put in her path for a reason. She is (Legally!!!) married and has a 14 year old daughter. Her and her family are all Catholic but she told us she doesn’t like to go there because it doesn’t feel right. She refused to marry in the church and her and her (italian) husband were married in the court house. She says she doesn’t know about church but she made a goal to read from the Bible every single day at least once a day. Her faith is truly impressive. Her testimony of the Savior is inspiring. I am so excited to visit her this week. She lives way up in the mountains but even if it takes us an hour to get there we will make time. :) 

We started an English class in the church every Saturday. The first lesson went well! It’ll be a great way to get to know and to help out the community. 

We helped out our ward friend T by doing her 10 year old daughter’s hair for her birthday party and then we went for a bit. It ended up being super productive because we had a chance to meet some inactive ward members and get some references of some neat families. And V was so happy with how her hair and makeup turned out! (And I also did B’s hair because I didn’t want her to feel left out. She was glowing. As the practically middle child always behind V and the little boys...my heart goes out for her. haha.)

Other than this nothing super big happened. Just contacts, walking, good food, new friends, and spiritual insight. :) All in a days work. 

Love you guys!

Sister Heyer

Hello from the land of the Jaguars!

Hello pessoal. :) 

This week was rather on the boring side. But let me see if I can at least remember 3 cool things. 

We had a mutual with the young women about loving yourself and dressing modestly and how to do your makeup like a Sister and it was a huge hit. A lot of the girls cried and confessed their insecurities and stuff. It was very sweet. Afterwards one of the Mia Maids (14 years old) wrote me a note thanking me for being her example and for being "so special". It made my whole week. She was so sweet. <3 

Two little girls in my ward (who are cousins) are the exact same age as Lilly and Dorey and they remind me SO much of them. We were talking with them and they secretly told me that all the sisters are cool but that they love me the most. I hate to use the word pride but I felt higher than a kite hearing that. I love those two so much cause it is just like talking and hanging out with my sisters (who I miss terribly) and it makes me so happy. They both want to go on missions. They are adorable. We will be going to one of the girl’s birthday party for a bit because she asked me to do her hair for her party because her mom won’t have time to do it or money to pay anyone. It will be fun and it will feel good to help out cause her mom helps us soooo much. The theme is little cute owls. Her invite she gave me is adorable. Goin' in the mission scrapbook.

Emily's "Hurry and take the picture...it's getting closer" smile.

We found a park that has PEACOCKS. Like....real live ones that walk around free and you can just reach out and touch it if you don’t mind him squawking and maybe pecking you. It was sooo neat. SIster M and I laughed our heads off trying to get close enough to get a picture without him chasing us down. It was an adventure. Just imagine if something had happened and what that report to President would have been like. hahaha. It was neat though and worth it. 

Had a family home evening with an inactive family in the home of an active member family. It was a blast. We played a game and laughed all the way up until our bedtime when they brought us home (yes we called president and told him we would be late). It was so nice to be able to feel part of a real family and actually have some good fun....still as missionaries but every little bit goes a long way. 

Train just outside Apartment window.

On Sunday we had 101 members attend...including the presence of 4 inactive families. It is the most members that have come in a longggg time and the bishop was so happy he cried. Oh and his son got his mission call to Uraguay and we all laughed at him because the day before he had been saying he hates spanish and hates the culture and doesn’t wanna go anywhere spanish. Karma. hahaha. He is excited though. 

Didn’t have much success in contacting investigators but I did save a kitten from drowning. Hopefully he wont be dumb enough to wander over the bridge by the river again. :p

For all those who are sick....hope you all feel better. I love you all and am grateful for your prayers. You are all always in mine. <3 Have a good week! 

Em

A Happy Hello from Jaguariuna!

Well....a happy hello from Jaguariuna! A city about 1 hour outside of Campinas! Yep...I was transfered. So now that I left I can tell you a little about what was happening there and you wont die of worry because I am far from there now. ;P

In my last area Sister M and I were walking in the street and we were followed by a group of drunk men who were cat calling and shouting at us to stop. One of them yelled "stop or we will rob you!" or something like that. But we just walked faster and eventually they left us alone. It happened pretty fast but we were pretty shaken up. We went home and said a prayer together but we were both feeling really sick to our stomachs still. We decided to just go work in a different area and then go to the ward baptism that night to at least be around the members and be in the church. We had a few other little encounters when we left again of just....dumb men. haha. But nobody did anything. When I told Sister Ware at the church that night what had happened she and I both agreed to call President and tell him what happened so that someone would be aware of the situation if something happened. He apologized and told us that he will pray and let us know later what he will do. We slept with knives by our beds and put our tables and chairs in front of the doors every night...it was kind of funny looking back and then he called and asked if we felt okay staying for one more week. We said we were and then the next week....transfers...all 4 of us were transferred and they moved in 4 really big brazilian elders. Its prob for the best but it was heartbreaking for our ward. They love sisters and they really wanted us to stay. The relief society president who I love with my whole heart even cried when we told her. Almost the whole ward one by one thanked us for the spirit we brought to their ward and for helping them feel more excited about doing missionary work. It was touching to see that even though we didnt baptize that we made some sort of difference in peoples lives there. I will really miss Chapadão. And I will miss Sister M even more. She was transferred to Junjiai which is a good 2 hours from where I am. I wont be seeing her for a while. But at least we have email!

Sister W and I were transferred to the same place! Sister W is training a sister from Peru. I am with Sister M from Santa Catarina.  She is a good Sister. But sometimes I forget that she is still really new here and needs to learn a lot still. Its good for me though because I am helping her and she is helping me to work harder.  I am trying to get everything a little more organized so we can work and so that she can take charge....I hope. :P haha. I LOVE this area and I am so happy Sister W is here with me. We keep each other sane. I think our comps think we are nuts but....what can ya do?

Jaguariuna is an area that didnt have any missionaries for 10 years....and they have never had sisters. They opened the area for elders 2 transfers ago and the ward loveddddd the elders. Then they found out that they would get 4 sisters and they all had heartattacks. They dont like sister missionaries here. Which is funny because....they have never had them. So I dont know how they couldnt like us. lol. But ANYWAYS the good news is that the leaders in the ward are 100% supportive...especially the bishop and the ward mission leader and their wives. When we brought 2 new families to church with us our very first Sunday, bore super powerful testimonies at church that basically buldozed the idea that we arent spiritual enough to be missionaries, and already planned 3 new activities that the ward is excited about....they are already hating that they love us. ;) hahaha. The bishop has already cried about us in 4 meetings testifying that the Lord knows what the ward needs and they we were sent by inspiration and people are flocking to us asking to do divisions. The best part is we went to mutual to meet the young women and there are 15... FIFTEEN active young women in the ward....and there are 4 active young men and all of them have just left or are about to leave for their missions. The bishop said that it couldnt be a better time to help the women and young women in the ward then now. He wants all of them to serve missions. He is so excited. The young women...almost all of them WANT to serve missions (in a ward where the women put down sisters) and they are SO excited. One mom on Sunday bore her testimony crying saying that just by our presence at mutual her daughter came to her and said that we are all so beautiful and amazing and she wants to serve a mission and on Sunday she watched her daughter make special effort to pick a longer and more modest skirt to wear to church. 3 Young women actually got up and bore their testimonies even though they were shaking out of fear. But they just looked at us the whole time and each bore testimony about wanting to serve and be better and that they are so excited to go on divisions with us. It was.....amazing. And what makes it even more amazing is we didnt even do anything but do what we are supposed to do....wear modest clothes, love others, and share the gospel. Its not like we showed up with brownies and a song and a dance. We are just doing our job. One of the little primary girls that we ate lunch with our first day wore a long skirt and pretty shirt and told her mom that every sunday she wants to dress like a sister so she can practice. Its adorable. She is 9 and reminds me of Lilly. I am so excited. This area is glowing with potential and I KNOW we are going to make a huge difference in the ward. To top all of this off this town is a tourist town....it is GORGEOUS. It is full of parks and lakes and forest and its super safe and clean....and it has a functioning train that takes you over the whole city. Its beautiful. And we live in a brand new apartment that is spacious breezy and super super safe. :) Oh....and we have FOUR fans. Not two. So its basically zion. haha. :)

To finish up this week.....apart from transfers I cleaned out the freezer in Chapadao and made snow balls out of all the shaved ice and surprised my companions with a not so fair snow ball fight. A first for Sister M and Sister F. They were so excited but when one hit Sister F in the face I think she officially decided she will never move to the US. hahaha. Poor girl. I also hid a fake rat in the food (that I bought 3 transfers ago and that we had been hiding all over the house to scare each other all transfer) as a friendly surprise for the Elders. >:) hehehe. They might hate me but it will always be worth it. Besides...we left a huge carton of ice cream in the freezer for them so if they hate us they are ungrateful. haha. Also on New Years some dumb little boys threw a lit firework onto our roof and blew a hole in the roof. Thankfully we were in the other room playing Monopoly so no one was hurt... :P haha. It was actually pretty funny seeing the stars through the roof....until it POURED the next day and we spent our last day in Chapadão switching buckets and moping. -_-

I think that is about it from me. Sorry it is a novel. I love you all and I wish you all a Happy New Years! <3

Sister Heyer