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

English class, Knitting, and Sunburns

Not too much to report this week I think but maybe as I get talking I will remember more. Did I tell you that I am teaching English here?? I think I forgot. We got here a few Tuesdays ago and were told there was an activity at the church that night. So we went of course to meet the members. When we got there....turns out its not an activity at all. Its an English class. And the teacher is...surprise...ME!  It was so sudden and I of course had nothing planned so I did my best. It was really fun! But also really really hard to teach your own language. There are about 25 people in the class and not one is a member of the church. My comp gave me a book on how to learn English so I'm using that as a guide and doing the best I can. I think its going alright. I hope. Its just basics but I hope that I am explaining alright. Its really fun though. I really like teaching. (Maybe my future job?? Who knows?)

Also I learned how to knit. Two different points. One on top and one....inside out. I have no clue the names for these points in English (sorry) but I'm almost done making a scarf! Its really fun. But I think crocheting is easier. 

Castle of Castello (which means Castle of Castle)  :)

This week we had a really amazing lesson with T and her husband. We taught the first lesson and I had the opportunity to share the first vision and talk about Joseph. The spirit was so strong. It was really special. They loved it and the husband kept thanking us over and over. It was really neat. And for the first time I gave this part of the lesson and didn't even feel nervous. I usually get really anxious I'll mess up or I can't explain it well because...its just so important and so special! But this time I was totally calm. I can really feel myself getting better at teaching. Not just reciting what I know but actually saying how I FEEL. Which is really a blessing because President held a special interview with my comp telling her that he needs her to prepare me completely to train. 26 new missionaries are coming in and there will prob be about 7 or 8 sisters. And there were 6 that came last time and still have one more transfer of training so there is a major short hand of sisters. Ive already packed my suitcase pretty much.  But we will see. Anyways its really satisfying seeing that I am improving. Now I just need to improve on having more patience with myself. 

Barbeque!

This week we have a muiti-zone conference with Elder Snow of the 70. I'm pretty excited. Sister Perroti and President are pretty much freaking out though that some missionaries will be late or come....unorganized. They have sent out emails and announcements by the dozen. But like my comp said...its more for the Elders than the Sisters...(sorrryyy Elders). 

This week has been outrageously hot so naturally the result is...I am sunburned "de mais". So that makes wearing a shoulder bag fun. But the good news is I finally have the "missionary shirt"! I am practically the color of all the other Brazilians now...with pasty American shoulders. ;P  Also we set our clocks forward one hour for summer. Weirdest thing ever....I keep forgetting its October. Also the most exhausting and sad moment of my mission so far.

Anyways I'm sorry this weeks letter was so boring. Ill try to have a more exciting week this week. ;) Hope everyone is doing well, is happy, healthy, and strong, and has an awesome week this week! <3 I love you all very much! 

Sister Heyer

"Blessed is the man (or woman) that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him." -James 1:12

Oi from Chapadão!

Emily and her new companion

Well I have been transferred as you all know. My new area is called Chapadão which is a nickname for drunk people....so I'm not sure if I should be worried.  My companion is Sister B (she's from Brazil....she is not American although she looks like it). We live with two other Sisters again...Sister N who I lived with in Valinhos, and Sister H (from Arizona). Our area is in Campinas close to the mission office and Campinas Center. So we aren't too far from people. What's cool about this area is that we are 4 Sisters in one ward and that its been Elders here since the mission opened. But I guess President decided this ward was in need of a change and lots of help so he shut the area, bought a new house for 4 Sisters (us), and moved us in. Yesterday in church we were like celebrities. Everybody bore their testimonies about missionary work and how they are all going to help us and feed us. We already had two Irmás bring us chocolate and tell us that they will always bring us food and give us rides if we need it. Its a blessing because...we do need it! The church building is almost 2 hours walking from our house. Its a pain. And almost all the members live close to the church so everyday we walk to lunch (2 hours) and then after lunch the other sisters stay in their area and work and we return to our area (which is the neighborhood where we live). So just to eat lunch we walk 4 hours. Its tough. But there is no other way to do it. So this will be an exhausting 5 weeks....maybe more if I'm not transferred again. The compensation is that our ward is amazing and we haven't found one person that wont let us come visit them and talk with them or share an invitation to come to church. Everyone here is so humble and happy. Everyone that passes us in the street says hello and wants to talk with us. We have people stop US and ask US if we can visit them and pray with them. The people here are hungry for better lives and spiritual upliftment. Its amazing.

This week we had two people start crying in the street after we invited them to church. They want our help so much. We were passing a house and there was a woman sweeping her front porch. She looked to be about 35 or so and we decided to stop and simply invite her to church...our normal spiel about where the church is and when our meetings are. When we finished she didn't say anything for a minute...then she asked if we wanted to come in. We of course said yes and the minute we sat down she started to talk about her family and how her and her husband are having problems and she is lonely and sad. Then she started crying. She said she had been praying all day for God to send her help and to send her some idea of how she can change her life so that she is happy. She said she was praying and praying and then she looked up and saw us walking down the street toward her. She said from the minute she saw us she knew there was something different about us and that we were sent to her from God. She watched us coming toward her house praying we would stop or she would have the courage to stop us. And then we stopped. And then we were sitting there with her and she knows that we have the answer to what she needs. We started to cry with her. She was in so much pain and we could see how much she needed the hope of the gospel. We talked with her for almost an hour about her family, about how God loves her and a little about His plan for her. She said that she wants us to come back and teach their whole family together because she wants her husband to be a part of this. We will go back and visit her again this week of course with her whole family. She is a special person. Pray for her.

Helping Hands project at a retirement home with their ward.

Also this week we had a woman stop us and ask us if we could come in her home and say a prayer for her sick granddaughter. It was a tender experience. She had tears in her eyes. She asked us if we would come back. We of course said yes and as we were leaving she grabbed our hands and said: "please don't forget me....don't forget about me." I almost started crying in this moment. The pleading in her voice....the desperate need for love and comfort. I could imagine that this is a little taste of what it was like for the Savior. I began to think a lot about how we are representatives of Him not just in name but in spirit. People who are ready to hear the message look to us as the light they need. They ask for healing. They ask for help and comfort. They ask for strength. I feel a little bit like a super hero sometimes but its so much more than that. Its indescribable. I am just like them...a normal 20 year old girl. I have nothing more than they do and I am nothing special. The only difference is I have the gospel. And that makes ALL the difference. I am so grateful for the opportunity to lift the heads that hang down and hold the hands that are reaching out for something...anything...they will bring them closer to the light of Christ. 

As a closing I'd love to share a scripture that I found this week in study that I absolutely love. Its in John chapter 15 verses 12-20 and 26-27. 

12. This is my commandment, That ye love one another as I have loved you. 

13. Greater love hath no man that this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

14. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. 

15. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 

16. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. 

17. These things I command you, that ye love one another. 

18. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

19. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

20. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater that his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. 

21. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. 

26. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. 

27. And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. 

I love these verses. For me it helps me know that hard times will come. Sometimes the world will hate the things we believe or do. But it doesn't matter. Because our goal is not to be of the world. We will not be with the world forever. But with our Heavenly Father....he is with us Always. Including after this frail life of imperfections, tragedies, challenges, and difficulties. If they rejected the Savior, the Son of God, they will reject us also. But it is for those that do not reject the message of God that we work, for them that we trek around day and night to invite them unto Christ. 

I love you all so much and I am increasingly more grateful for your love and support everyday. Have an amazing week!

Sister Heyer

Tchau Valinhos!

[Emily refers to General Conference a lot in this letter.  Every 6 months our church holds a conference shown throughout the world translated into 92 languages.  All of the talks given uplift and instruct.  If you are interested in hearing or reading the talks Emily refers to, click on the speaker's name below.  If you would like to see all of the talks they can be found here.]

Well...you guessed it. I'VE BEEN TRANSFERRED. Its incredibly sad and also a little exciting but mostly I'm just anxious to know where I am going. I wont know til tomorrow morning like everybody else this time. All I know is I am not training yet. Which is such a relief because I don't want to yet. haha. But I don't know anything else sooo that should be interesting. Packing my two suitcases was such a pain. I hate packing. I don't know what I was thinking when I sent in my papers to be a missionary if I hate packing because I will be doing a lot of packing for the next year and 2 months. ;) Yep that's right...year and two months....I passed 4 MONTHS this week. Time is flying. Anyways I am very sad to leave all the people here. I love the people here. But I am excited for a new chapter and a new companion. :)

This week....nothing really happened. hahaha. A lot of knocking on doors and teaching lessons and making contacts but no huge developments or major miracles. Just the little miracles like....everyone in my house got the flu (the cold kind) and I started to feel a little sick so I drank vitamin C and prayer super hard and the next day I was fine. Then of course two days later I ate something (still not sure what did it) and was up all night emptying my stomach. That was miserable. Still tired. But I didn't die and it passed so I think I'm okay. ;) 

Conference was beautiful. I loved it. I was able to use the bishops laptop and some head phones so I could understand everything. Maybe it's not the best way to embrace the culture but I was really looking for some inspiration so I was really grateful he offered.  I did however listen to various parts in Portuguese and I learned something really sad....they only say the talks....there were many people that started with jokes or cute stories...and they didn't say any of it. But it was interesting because I was able to tell when the apostles were speaking "live revelation" and not just reading what they had already prepared. It was pretty neat. 

I loved everything about conference. I took soooo many notes. It will be hard to share some favorites. I noticed that almost every speaker talked about preparing for more difficulties and persecution and preparing to return to Heavenly Father. I got the impression that things are about to get a lot worse and that the second coming is really soon...but also that we need not be scared if we are keeping the commandments, sharing the gospel, and doing what is right. I liked what Elder Hales said about how the greatest blessings of conference come after its over and that the messages are a protection. I loved what Elder Dube said about not looking back and thinking that you have done enough and that the past is to be learned from but not lived in (look ahead). I thought his accent was really cool too. ;) I loved Elder Uchtdorfs talk about how there is always a place in the church for you even if you have drifted and that if you are really looking for something...HERE you will find it. I liked what Elder Nielson said about praying by name for the missionaries in your ward and their investigators because if you dont know a name or a face God wont help you know their heart. I also really loved What Elder Dyches said about how when God gives us a commandment He also gives of the love and ability to keep it. Elder Hollands talk as usual was my favorite and very inspired. The day before conference we had been talking about how there are tons of people that we are teaching and in our ward that have depression. The next day he gave a very specific talk on depression. It was beautiful. I loved that he said "if the bitter cup does not pass...drink it and stay strong". And "if we don't take time to be well we will talk time to be ill". I loved this because it gave me an excuse to go home after conference and take a nap. (JUST KIDDING) I loved it because there are lots of people that don't take time to take care of themselves and then they aren't happy. Its important we take care of ourselves too. Its like the scripture that talks about how our bodies are a temple. Would we leave the temple dirty and always running wasting energy and sad looking and wasting away....no. So its important we don't do that with our bodies and our spirit too. (Sorry I'm going to keep going) I loved what Elder Eyring said for parents with difficult children "I gave him to you to love and care for him no matter what because I knew you would". I also loved what Elder Maynes said, "you must become the rock that the river cannot wash away". I loved what Elder Andersen said about how "the lens of mortality doesn't always give us all the answers". And that its our "destiny to prepare the world for the coming of the Savior". I thought the talk by Elder McConkie was especially pertinent to missionaries about studying the lessons and being good teachers. I liked that he said we cant fail because he will speak to us. That was encouraging. :) I loved that he said that "you know you are speaking from the Holy Ghost when you learn something from what you have said". I loved the talk by Elder Ochoa talking about looking up. And that there is safety in a strong testimony. And that if you meet something that causes you to question your testimony look up and ask the one source that has all the answers. And Elder Nelsons point " Sin even if legalized by man is still sin in the eyes of God". And his powerful statement that " the doctrine of God is not ours to change it is ours to learn and teach". Last but certainly not least I loved President Monsons talk when he said "shall I falter or shall I finish?" And also "the stronger the wind the stronger the trees" and "we are lifted up in our tears....He will not fail us".

With that I will say one more thing about conference that I think is interesting....I heard lots of things about staying strong and sharing the gospel....my companion and Sister A who are preparing to leave for home in the next two months heard a lot about eternal marriage, raising kids, and the temple. Coincidence??? I think not! ;) I think it is funny how we hear what we need for us in the right moments of our lives. 

Well that is all from me. Photos to come. And a big email talking about my new area will come too next week. :) Pray that my new area is awesome and safe and I wont get lost. ;) <3 I love you all so much and miss you all tons and tons! <3 

Sister Heyer