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