An AMAZING week!

Good Morning!

Emily's new Companion...and a fusca...

This week was AMAZING! Tuesday feels like forever ago! My new comp is Sister M. She started her mission 5 weeks ago so I am finishing the last 7 weeks of her training. She is wonderful. She is amazing. I love her. We get along perfectly and we work SO HARD. It's funny because I am finishing her training technically but I feel like she is also finishing mine. It's amazing. We are studying the scriptures together and Preach my Gospel and every day I feel like we both understand more and more about our purpose here as Missionaries and more about the gospel. The blessings of knowledge really do come when you have effective and focused study. We are also finding that our day is filled with so much more inspiration! Thoughts just pop into our heads as to what to say and what to do to help our investigators and the ward that seem to come from no where! But we know that it is from our Heavenly Father. I love her. Oh....she is from Rodonia. (North of Brazil). She is 23 and hilarious and hard working and never ever complains and loving and....yeah okay I'll stop. But she is marvelous. We live with Sister W and Sister F. Its really neat because Sister W and I got here at the same time....and we are both finishing training of two other Sisters who arrived at the same time as well (5 weeks ago). So we are all really equal and new and are all helping each other out. It's nice having Sister W as well because we really value each others opinions and we both have the same worries that we have no idea what we are doing. ;) haha. So she's a good friend to talk to and get advice as well. 

This week we worked....I think harder than I have worked since I got here with Sister B. We have been teaching so many lessons and finding so many people. Miracles are starting to happen. We are teaching an old lady who is so adorable. And she agreed to be baptized in 3 weeks!!! So she has a date and we are working with her to help her go to church and feel more prepared. She is so sweet. 

The Poster

Our ward is starting to help us out more and more. It is slow going but we are really...honestly we are just being really stubborn and prob a little annoying...but it's working. We are also starting to really push them to come with us to lessons. Sister M and I had a moment of inspiration this week to help our ward. We made a poster that says "How can I help with missionary work?" and under it has three sign up sheets....rides for investigators....who can do divisions....and who is willing to hold family night in their house. We made it super big and cute. It was fun. I hope that it works. We also put together prayer envelopes....which was an idea that I pulled out of no where....aka The Lord. We write the names of all of our investigators...the other sisters do too. (Just their first names) on little pieces of paper. And every Sunday the relief society sisters who want to participate will draw a name privately and they are responsible for praying for this person all week. They can do it how they want. But for sure its personal and private. This way the members will see that we have PEOPLE that we are teaching and they have names and they have needs. It was our way of helping the members learn the names of people who may come to church one day, have a responsibility that will also help their testimonies grow, and they will feel more involved in our work here in their ward. I am really really excited. 

Em's new roommates and companion

Elder M is here and I saw him yesterday! It was so cool! It's awesome having someone else here that started out with me since the beginning. I can't wait for more people from my district to get here!! 

It is amazing to me how just a few changes have made this "dead area" seem brand new. I now never ever want to leave Chapadao. There is just too much work to be done to be transferred. ;) 

I hope everyone is doing well! I love you all! <3 Missing you all bunches but I am happy safe and working hard! Have a good week! 

Sister Heyer

Ps- Did I tell you the President's wife Sister Perroti asked me to sing at the missionary Christmas devotional....which will have ALLLLL of the missionaries and mission presidency and their families? Ohhhhhhhhh man. Any suggestions of a good Christmas song to sing....hymn or similar. I am thinking What Child Is This but in Portuguese.....but I don't know.

THAT email

Hello family and friends!

Well this is THAT email. The one that says... I am staying. And all of my other comps are being transferred. I have to admit I am really bummed. This next transfer will be 7 weeks and includes Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New years. I wanted to stay in this ward for all of it but I was really hoping Sister N or Sister H would stay here too so we could pass through these holidays together. I love them. But that won't happen. We will have to see who I put with. I know that I wont be training. But I don't know if I will finish the training of someone else or if I will be with a senior comp or something. No clue. The only thing I know now is I need to decide if I will switch rooms and desks or switch areas or anything. I don't think I will. It's kinda a mess here right now but I am ready to stick it out. New things aren't easy but its part of the mission.

This week we had another multi-zone meeting that was really cool. The President showed us a video based on the talk by Jefferey R. Holland "Missionary Work and the Atonement" which I LOVE. I think that this talk is not just about Missionary work. It's about our lives. My favorite part of this talk is something I think that really applies to everyone. He says:

"Anyone who does any kind of missionary work [or who lives] will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid?... We believe in angels. We trust in miracles....

You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that [life] is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that [people] have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. [people] have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary.

If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,” 16 then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way.

The Atonement will carry [everyone]. When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

I love this talk. I think that it has really opened my eyes to how I should continue in my life....not just on my mission.

I also watched a video that is really beautiful that explains the perspective of Heavenly Father sending Jesus Christ to die for us. The words are in Portuguese so don't worry so much about that. Just remember when you are watching it that it is from the perspective of our Heavenly Father and how he must have felt. But....just as a warning. You will prob cry. Look up "A Ponte" on youtube or google. I dont know if it exists in English. But its still beautiful in Portuguese. But in English it would be "the bridge".

Campinas

Oh my district leader from the MTC Elder M is coming! I am so excited! He will be the first to come besides me from our District. I prob wont see him though for a long while but...its still awesome! I was so surprised to see his picture in our weekly newsletter.

I am excited to start fresh in this area. I have a lot of ideas. Don't know if any of them will work but I at least want to try. I guess it doesn't hurt to do new things. I am really determined to work so much harder this next transfer. That will help so I don't get too homesick too. haha.

My talk went well yesterday. I think. I hope. I felt like it went okay. I went over the "who, what when where why how and reason" of missionary work. I was hoping that it would help the members feel like they had a little more direction in how to go about doing missionary work. It had a good response. It's really nerve racking giving talks though. 10 minutes of straight Portuguese!

Anyways that'

s about it for me. I hope everyone is doing well. I love you all! Have an amazing week. Remember to always pray for a missionary experience!

Sister Heyer

Better late than never...

[I apologize.  It has been a few weeks since I have posted Emily's weekly letter, so I am a few behind.  I thought about just skipping to the last letter, but Emily shared so much in the preceding weeks and the letters give a clear picture of the ups and downs of being a missionary.  So, here is her letter from November 4.]

Bom Dia familia e amigos. <3

Well....this week was another blur but I will do my best to give a little more detail. Unfortunately not toooo many cool stories. Prob more sad stories than cool stories but I guess that just part of this journey.

Emily and another "fusca"

Good old Chapadão has become terrible "mole" which means...lazy, dead, uninterested, unreceptive.....the works. Our long list of people needing help and wanting to hear our message diminished to one person. We don't know exactly what happened. We would share a message and they would love it and practically beg us to come back....and then we would and they wouldn't be home. Or actually to be honest they were home...and didn't open the door. Remember T? Yeah we went to her house at least 5 different times and she never answered. This last time when we went we called her name....waiting a bit....started writing her a note to leave on the gate....and then her front door which was open....slowly started to shut. Either this area has ghosts or people don't want to talk to us anymore. :P Its been kinda rough and we have been trying not to get too discouraged but it's now the last week of the transfer and we are starting over. We only have one person we are teaching who is firm. I guess I shouldn't complain though. F isn't just a person. She is amazing and I should be grateful. So I'll stop complaining and talk about F now. :)

F is about.....28 or so. She has read the Book of Mormon all the way through....twice. In a month. Yeah. She's amazing. Now she is reading it again with the Bible. She loves it. She will go to the temple with us this week and we will invite her to be baptized. She is a little shy and a little hesitant so we shall see. But she has a really strong testimony and she is so happy with all the things we share with her so I cant help but get my hopes up even just a little. 

a baby pineapple

Yesterday we had our first Ward Family Night. We are trying to help the members by creating a weekly activity they can invite friends to. We have learned that it is almost impossible to find people without references from members. So we are doing our best to get them more excited. It's slow going but the activity yesterday went really well and everyone had a great time. We even had two inactive members come and they loved it. There weren't a TON of people there but it was our first one so we just have to stay firm and patient even if people complain or try to tell us how everything we are doing wrong. ;P 

I have been asked to give a talk next Sunday. It will be my first one. I am excited but nervous. The good news is I found an amazing talk by Jeffrey R. Holland that talks about the Atonement and Missionary Work. I've decided to use the atonement as my focus and use some of his points. We shall see. 

Other than that there really isn't much to report. Lots of working, lots of sun, lots of rejection, lots of blessings, lots of learning......oh and I officially have the worlds best watch tan line. :) 

Hope all is well with everyone! Next week will be the infamous "I've been transferred" or "I will stay" email! :) Love you all!

Sharing a computer = short letter

Ta I don't have a ton of time because I am using the computer in the house of a member which means there is a long line of people wanting to write. :P So I will write fast.  

This week.....the biggest events were the multizone conference and that I sang at a wedding of the other elders investigators.

The multizone was amazing. Elder Snow spoke in English and he had a translator. It was awesome. He said a lot of really neat things but I forgot my journal so I will have to write next week the highlights. Sorry guys. 

Zone Conference with Elder and Sister Snow

I sang at the wedding. Someone Like You by Adele. It was really neat! I practiced almost all day and then got super super nervous and it wasn't the best. But it wasn't horrible. And also I think I am a horrible critic. I know I am. But its good. The bride loved it and everyone told me I did amazing so hopefully they weren't lying. It was a good experience to sing again. My zone leaders asked me to sing again tomorrow in the district meeting. Ugh. :P  

Only two more weeks of the transfer. It was a fast one. Getting really nervous for transfers.

Our investigator F read the Book of Mormon two times. All of it. Yeah, I think she will be baptized. She is amazing. She is the sweetest person ever. <3 We will go to the temple with her on Friday to invite her to baptism really special and hopefully Monday I will be sending pics of baptism. <3 

Sorry this is so short and lacking in a spiritual message but if I don't leave now this Elder might eat me. So I better go. I love you all and more to come next week. <3 Thank you for all your support. I miss you soooo much.

Sister Heyer

ps- 8 sisters are coming next transfer. Thats a lottttt. haha. Its pretty cool. 

Pss- I love where I live and who I live with. We 4 stay up giggling and joking almost every night. Its awesome. We have made quite the friendship....anddddd of course we will prob all be transferred. Great right? :P