I'm a Stepmom!

3/25/14

So, I only have about 30 minutes to write. I´m going to the temple today with my new companion.

A lot has happened since last week. First we had transfers. Right now, I´m serving in area São Luiz with Sister M. Silva. She´s super cute and she´s from São Paulo. She has 2 months on the mission, and right now I´m finishing the last 6 weeks of training with her. Or actually, 5 weeks, because this transfers a little shorter than normal.

I like my new area, a lot! I've already gotten to know a lot of the members, and they´re really great.

Sister M. Silva and I have a baptism this Saturday. Her name is Sara and she´s incredible! She´s 15 years old, and she learned about the church through a friend. We taught her for the first time last week. She already had a Book of Mormon, and had been going to church for a while. So, when we asked her if she had received an answer that the church was true, her eyes filled with tears, and she quietly said yes. It was the most amazing experience! She´s the sweetest and she wants more than anything to be baptized.

This area has a lot of amazing people. I feel like this is where I´m supposed to be. Which makes me a bit nervous! Haha, because it´s always when I feel comfortable that I get transferred!

I started an English class on Saturday, and the people here are really excited. I´m really trying my hardest to be a good missionary, a good example for my companion, and also bless and strengthen this ward.

I´m running out of time, but I love you all and miss you! I´m working hard, and I´m really happy here in my new area!

Tchau, 

Sister Stevens


ps - I got my first cuia! The cup that you use for chimarrão!

It's That Time Again

3/17/14

Guess what?! It´s time once again for transfers. WHAT?! I can´t even believe that this transfer is already over. And guess what? I´m gonna be transfered. AGAIN! Tchau Tchau Cachoierinha, e heeellllloooo to a new area.

It´s a little bit bitter sweet to be leaving Cachoierinha right now. It´s a great area and I had so much fun living with the other 3 sisters. But I had a feeling that this could happen. It´s also really sad, because Sister Mariz is being transferred too. So, we´re closing our area, and putting it into the hands of two new people. This makes me so sad!!! Why? Because Sister Mariz and I have come across 3 amazing families within the past week! I just don´t want them to be forgotten about... We also have the world´s most amazing less active members that we've been bringing back to church. Shaela and João... I´m gonna miss them like crazy! But I know that this is in the Lord´s hands. He´s going to bring in 2 missionaries that will help this area to grow. We had a lot of difficulties finding members to help us, and we also had a lot of difficulties actually finding people to teach.

But like I said, this was a great week. We didn´t teach a lot of people, but the lessons that we did have were golden! One of the families said that they´ve been praying for a month that they could find out the will of Godfor their family, because they´re sick of all the deception of the other churchs they´ve been going to.

We had the most hilarious and amazing investigator in church yesterday too. He´s planning to be baptized this Sunday. His name is Everton, and he has a nephew named Elder... There are tons of stories that could be told, but like always so little time to tell them.

So, here I am knowing that I have to leave, but half of me doesn't want to.

Eh, I guess I´ve gotta suck it up! I need to learn something new in another area... Maybe they´ll send me to the beach!

Anyway, I love you all. I miss you, but I´m happy and well. I´m trying my best, which is all the Lord asks for. I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ exists and that our Heavenly Father has one perfect plan for everyone in the world.

Have a perfect week!

Love, 

Sister Stevens

Last p-day Sister Stratton and I experimented with oreos and cake batter... We made the greasiest fried oreos on the face of the planet... Yuuuuummmmmm

Tchau tchau Cachoeirinho... I´ll miss all of your wonders:  The corner of luck (esquina da sorte),

Tapuru (maggot) the dog,

and the painting of a chicken eating chicken.  

Shenanigans.  And a pic with Silvio, the eternal investigator.  He's been helping missionaries since 1994.  He's amazing, and he gave us parting gifts!  I got a Gremio soccer jersey.  Woot woot.  And an MP3 player.  Random, yes.  But awesome!  

Gimme pizzzzaaaaa.  P I Z Z A

Last monday night we made pizza with the Souza family!  It was a blast!  

Que Manha Marvilhosa

3/10/14

What a week full of adventures... Let me start off by telling you about our biggest adventure of the week. It happened on Friday morning... I woke up to a comotion going on in the front room. It was around 6:30 and I was a little confused about what was happening. I asked my companion what was going on and all she said was "temos tapuru na sala..." "We have tapuru in the room" O Que??? I was super confused. One, because it was 6:30 in the morning and two

because I thought she was talking about a dog that lives down the street that they call tapuru...

So here I was confusedly thinking that a dog named tapuru was in the main room of our apartment... How the heck could he have gotten in there?

But then when I finally got out to the main room I was able to see what they were talking about(oh, and I finally realized what the word tapuru means...) There were hundreds, and when I say hundreds I mean hundreds, of maggots crawling their way across the floor of our apartment! It was horrifying! It was disgusting! One of the Sisters had left some raw chicken skin in the garbage for a couple of days, and before we knew it hundreds of maggots were crawling their way across our floor! I can´t believe I didn't take a picture...

It took us 4 hours to rid the apartment of tapuru. We had to rearrange furniture, sweep and mop over and over again, and run down to the dumpster a million times because the tapuru kept escaping from the bags of trash! But overall, it was an experience of a lifetime. And one of those things that only happens on a mission!

Since I don´t have much time left, this´ll have to do for my experience of the week. But just so you know, I did have a lot of great spiritual experiences too!

I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. I´m so grateful for my chance to share it with the world!

Love you all,

Sister Emily Stevens

Random:

I got a gift this week from a member of the ward. She made me a doll! It's supposed to be me! Oh, and by the way, everyone in the world here in Brazil thinks that I'm a blonde...

    

I found a friend on the street. Her name is Vaca (cow). I've run into her a few times on the street and she always runs up to meet me. What can I say, animals and babies LOVE me!

I got a package full of letters from the young women at church! It was awesome!

We had Conferencia de Zonas. A bunch of zones got together and had a conference. I ran into another sister that I met before the mission through facebook.

At lunch yesterday

Nothing Much Exciting Going on Here

3/03/14

Hello, family! How are you guys doing? I don´t have very much to write this week, and I don´t really feel like writing much. I´m tired, whatchya gonna do?! 

So, I´m just going to send more pics from the temple and stuff. 

Elders....always joking around...

 


Things are going well. I love my companion, and we laugh a lot! This transfer is coming to a close already, so I don´t know if I´ll be staying here or moving on. But with my companion record so far on the mission, I have no doubt that I´ll be getting a new one. I´ve had a new campanion every transfer so far(not to mention the 5 that I had at the CTM).


Here are some pics from one night this week. We were waiting up at the church to have a lesson with an investigator, and we were dying of hunger! So, we had what we called the 18th miracle(there´s a movie called 17 miracles about pioneers)... We found bread! But it wasn´t just crappy cheap white bread, it was yummy fluffy bakery rolls. MIRACLE! So, we ate it...All of it...  :) 

 I haven´t heard any complaints about stolen bread yet... but I´m pretty sure whoever left the bread at the church will receive some blessings for feeding the missionaries.


Sorry for the really lame email!


Have an awesome week! Have fun at Disney, and I´ll talk to you later!


Tchau!


Sister Stevens

I love to see the temple!

2/24/14

This was the most fun I have ever had at the temple in my life. Pics with my companion, and with part of my zone. They´re hilarious! One of the pics that I have is of me and Elder Quiroga (Argentina) He´s my twin on the mission. We were `born` on the same day in the same area, Santa Cruz do Sul.

Oh, and we ate at the mall (shopping) before we went to the temple.  I was in trunky heaven!  Everything was like at home.  Except the fact that people were speaking Portuguese...  Clothes, shoes, air conditioning!  Oh, and McDonald's and Burger King.  

6 meses...ja?!

2/24/14

6 months...already?!

I can´t even begin to wrap my head around the fact that I've already finished 6 months of the mission. Where has the time gone? Only yesterday I left the CTM! The mission is like the twilight zone, seriously. One minute you´re on the mission, the next your back at home living a normal life. It´s so weird. The next thing I know I'll be living it up at Disney with my best friend Mickey (everyone here thinks that I live at Disney).

This week was a good one. The temperature is back up. It´s not quite as hot as it was, but it´s pretty dang hot just the same. I got to go to the temple with Sister Mariz, I got to celebrate my 6 month mark, and I had my first experience walking in a hale storm. What an adventure!

This was a good week on the mission. I learned a lot of new ways that I need to improve in my life to have peace, joy and purpose. Today I was reading an article in the Ensign with my companion about this very thing. It´s such a great article, I hope that you all will read it!

There are 10 things that we need to do if we want to succeed in life:

Establish principles to guide your life.
Don´t make exceptions to your standards.
Be loyal.
Live so that the Lord can guide you.
Serve others.
Smile.
Don´t complain.
Always have a church assignment.
Worship in the temple.
Follow the Savior´s example.


This article was perfect. If we want to feel like we´re accomplishing something in this life, If we want to realize our purpose here, we need to live a life with purpose. We need to do things that enrich and uplift. That´s something that I´m learning more and more on the mission. These are the things that really matter. The things that have eternal consequences in our lives. We need to think more about the eternal perspective and less on the things in the here and now.

Here´s the link for the article. It´s so good. You should definitely read it!

http://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/02/living-a-life-of-peace-joy-and-purpose?lang=eng

Other than that, I´m doing well. The work of the Lord is moving forward on the Earth. People are choosing the follow the Savior or not, to live a life of purpose and satisfaction, or not. And I´m here to teach them how to do that. I know that the Lord loves each one of his children. He loves each one of you, and he has a purpose and a plan. Follow it, and you´ll never regret it. I know the gospel is true.


Love, Sister Stevens

Super Stevens

2/18/14

Heeeeellllooo people,

Today I have less time to write because I´ll be heading to the temple and we have to catch the bus when it passes, but I´ll try to think of something exciting to write about...

Hmmmm... I don´t have much of anything...

Tchau,

Sister Emily Stevens

haha just kidding, just kidding.

So this week was an interesting one. First of all, I discovered that I have a super power. When I chant something at least 4 times while pumping my fists in the air, I can make things happen... Yes that sounds weird. BUT IT`S TRUE! I made it rain here for 3 days in a row. And not just rain, I mean pour. It was the most fantastic 3 days of my life. There´s nothing better than tomando um banho na chuva! It was so great. But not only the fact that it was raining made it great, it was the fact that it dropped the temperature substantially! I mean by 20 graus... That´s a lot. We went from dying on the streets to wearing sweaters. The temperature is starting to rise again, but it´s nothing like it was before. I´m in heaven!


Other than the rain, the week was normal. It had it´s ups and downs, it´s dias de Adão, and it´s miracles too. On Friday I recieved my valentine´s package and all of my valentine´s cards! It was fantastic! Thank you everyone for all of the love! 

 

And on Sunday, Sister Mariz and I found someone awesome! His name is Charles and he´s 24. After all of our plans fell through on Sunday, and we still had 3 hours left to the day, I started knocking on doors. And knocking on doors. And knocking on doors. It was horrible, but hilarious. I rang the doorbells on all the chique houses, and I clapped my hands at all the normal houses, but no one let us in. We clapped and clapped and had no success. Until Charles. I made the contact and he opened the gate and let us in. He didn't act exasperated, but he just acted a little bit curious. The lesson was good. It was really interesting because he knew almost nothing about Christ (that´s unusual here because pretty much everyone is catholic or evangelical), so we had to go into a lot more detail. It was really cool to teach someone without a background knowledge. Someone that had an open mind and wasn´t trying to argue with you about trite details like why we don´t observe the Sabbath on Saturday... He was fantastic, and when we made the baptismal invite he said, porque não or why not... He said that if he recieved an answer from the Lord, why wouldn´t he follow it and be baptized. ELEITO, ELEITO, ELEITO! He´s fantastic and I´m so excited to go back to his house this week!

Anyway people, my time is about up and I´ll be headed to the temple, but I just want to let you all know that when things are getting hard, as long as you keep being dilligent, you´ll eventually find gold. You´ll be blessed for your dilligence and obedience. So, just keep knocking on those doors until you find your Charles! haha

I love you all! Don´t forget to help the missionaries, or let them in your house to teach your family or friends, or just give them a glass of water! They need your help. And a perk... The Lord blesses those that help His servants...

Have a perfect week!


Tchau,


Sister Stevens