Hello people,
What a week. I was transfered to Lajeado. It´s pretty close to my first area on the mission, Santa Cruz. This area is HUGE! We cover 3 cities. I´m living in an apartment of 4 again. I think that it´s hilarious how I have a lot of patterns on the mission. I always trade comps after one transfer, I always live on and off in an apartment of 2 then 4 then 2 then 4, and I'm always the first American companion. Right now I´m serving with Sister Oliveira Souza. She´s 20 years old, and we arrived on the mission together.
It was a good yet stressful week. We tried to work our tails off, and we had a baptism scheduled for Sunday for a 14 year old girl named Erica. She´s amazingly sweet! Anyway, everything was planned out and perfect. The interview went well and she was at church on Sunday morning, rain and everything. Everything was going super well... Until she decided to land a bomb shell... During Sacrament she turned to Sister Oliveira Souza and said that she didn´t want to be baptized. WHAT?! NOOOOOOO! That´s about the worst thing that any investigator could say only hours before the baptism... We left sacrament meeting, and tried to talk to her in another room to figure out what was wrong, or what happened. She said a whole bunch of things, and all in all, she was scared. She ended up leaving Sacrament meeting early with her mom, and we couldn´t get ahold of her the whole day... It was really sad. She was so ready and excited the other day, and then on Sunday she let all of her fears take over.
So, this was how I ended my week here in Lajeado. It was a sad ending, but Sister Oliveira Souza and I have another week ahead of us. We´re trying our best. We want to help this area grow. We work in 3 different cities, so we´re thinking about moving our work to the next city. The people are more open and willing to hear our message. They´ve never heard of the church before! Missionaries have never passed through Arroio do Meio. We have a lot of work and lot of fasting to do, but our goal is to open a group there. A group is like a branch or a ward, but super, super small. I was to come back here after the mission and see a ward in Arroio do Meio!
I´m still loving the mission, even when things don´t work out perfectly. There are always so many things to learn. I have a lot of growing to do, and I know that a lot of that growing will happen this transfer.
I love you all and I´m so grateful for all of your thoughts and prayers. I got more letters in the mail this week from the ward members. I´m so grateful for you all!
Have a perfect week! I love you all!
Sister Emily Stevens
More churrasco!
Tchau tchau São Luiz
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