Area Number 5

5/05/14

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

  

More Pictures!

4/28/14

I made it 8 months! WHAT?? I can't believe how fast time flies! My daughter Sister M. Silva made 3 months. Look how big she´s gotten!

   

When Elders infiltrate your area to "go to the dentist"

We had lunch with two awesome Elders at the house of a member on Tuesday. It was a lot of fun, because a lot of the Elders here on the mission are awful! They don´t talk with the sisters because they´re afraid of flirting.... Ridiculous! But these elders are show de bola (really cool)!

Members and churrasco!

Giant pizza and my district
 

Brownies and ice-cream to celebrate our mission anniversaries

Easter gifts!

Lunch with members

Easter Miracles

4/21/14

Hello family and friends! I hope that you all had an amazing week and an amazing Easter.

I know that I did! I loved this Easter. It was a fantastic day! Sister M. Silva and I experienced more milagres here in São Luiz. Yesterday depois Sacrament meeting, we had a special Easter baptism! The mother of Sarah (our first baptism here in São Luiz) called us on Wednesday morning just to tell us that she wanted to be baptized. What?! This was an amazing event, because she had just decided the night before that she wanted more time. She knew that this was the true church, but she didn´t feel ready for baptism. When she called, she told us that she hadn't slept the whole night... She said that she had been thinking and praying about all the things that we said to her the night before, and she said that she was ready and she wanted to be baptized. What a miracle! I´ve never had one of those experiences on the mission where someone calls you because they felt that they needed to be baptized. I love the mission! I love this area! 

 

 

It´s so fantastic to witness these families coming together and receiving the blessings of baptism.

I hope that you all have a fantastic week. Remember the importance of baptism. It really is a covenant that we make with the Lord to keep his commandments and help one another. When we make this promise with the Lord, we can receive all the glories that he has, and we can be blessed to live with our families for ever. Remember the covenants you made at baptism, and continue diligently to do your best.

I love you all!


Sister Emily Stevens

  

Oh How Lovely Was the Morning...

4/14/14

What a wonderful week! I can´t believe how fast the time is passing by, and that it´s p-day, AGAIN!

I´m still loving my area, and i´m loving the new change of weather. It´s cooling down just in time for Pascoa (Easter). All of the stores have these huge chocolate eggs hanging from the ceiling. And hopefully i´ll avoid eating fish this week... There are a lot of Catholic traditions here, so I know for sure that I won´t be eating much meat.

Sister M. Silva and I had the most amazing miracle this week! We had 4 baptisms on Saturday morning.

The day was perfect. It was rainy, but by the time everyone had to go to church for the baptism, it cleared up. We had 8 people dressed in white, it was amazing. I felt so happy, I couldn't stop smiling! 

   

Here´s a scripture that describes perfectly what I´m feeling:

15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

I´m so happy here! The Lord is placing people in our path every day. Just today the boy at the McDonald´s counter (yes, we ate McDonald´s), asked us if we were from the church, and he said that he would love to receive a visit. So many times the Lord´s elects look for us, we don´t even have to search for them.

I want you all to know that I love you and miss you. But mostly I want to encourage you to seek for missionary opportunities. Pray for someone to visit. Invite a friend to church. Be a good example in all times. Just open your mouth! The Lord is preparing people to except the gospel.

Feliz Pascoa! Happy Easter! Don´t forget the importance of this wonderful holiday!


Love, Sister Emily Stevens

  

:)

4/07/14

General Conference was AWESOME, wasn't it?! What a great week, and weekend. Sister M. Silva and I have been trying our best and working our tails off here in São Luiz. We´re seeing success, and we have various baptism marked for this Saturday.

We've been trying various things to help strengthen our ward here. We've been having weekly ward activities, and English class, and working a lot with the young women and ward members. It´s been great to work along side the members and actually feel like they´re willing and ready to help.

I love this area, and I love the people! And finally, i´m starting to feel like a real missionary. I can speak and explain and teach without many problems. It´s amazing to see how much has changed in just 7 months on the mission. You know what? It´s actually hard for me to speak in English... I´m teaching an English class every week, but you should hear how slow I speak! Not because I´m trying, but because it´s actually hard to formulate sentences! Even now when I´m writing to you, I´m thinking in Portuguese.

I loved Conference! There were so many great talks, and it´s amazing to hear the words of the prophets. I had the chance to watch conference in English with several of the other English speaking missionaries, so I loved it even more!

I hope that all is well with everyone back home! I love you all and miss you!

Don´t forget that we are part of the true church of Jesus Christ. We have the power to change the world, but only through Christ like love. Love your neighbor, love your friends, love your family members and love God. If we have this love in our hearts we will truly have the ability to change the world.

Have a perfect week!


Sister Stevens

Here are some pics from this last week. President and Sister Wright, my zone with our title of liberty, conference, cake and reunions with old companions.

 

Oh and I cut my hair...or rather my companion cut my hair

Another Day, Another 100 People to Talk to

3/31/14

Hellllllloooo People!

What a week! It was awesome, it was hard, it was full of miracles!

First I had a beautiful day at the temple with my new companion. It was fantastic!

 We had lunch at Outback with the Elders from our District. It was crazy expensive, just so you all know. Definitely not the kind of place for missionaries! Especially when the waiter thinks that it´s appropriate to call you "baby..." Oh my... The adventures that we live on the mission.

The week was hot again, but we tried our best to teach. Sister M. Silva was starting to get sick, so I felt bad for her. But she´s an amazingly hard worker. She´s awesome!

We had a baptism planned for Saturday for a 15 year old girl named Sarah Diogo! She´s so amazing!

We met her the week before, and she had already been going to church, she was reading The Book of Mormon, and she had already received an answer and decided that she wanted to be baptized before we ever met her. Talk about golden! I love Sarah, So this Saturday we had a fantastic baptism for her. With a special musical presentation, brownies and all! And according to all the Brazilians that ate my brownies, I have been told that "I can marry!" Woohoo! It´s just a saying here. If you can cook something good, they say, "Pode casar," You can marry.


 

By the time Sunday came around, Sister M. Silva and I were trying to reach the goals that we had made for the week. We were behind by a landslide... Everything was against us. None of our investigators were at church, it was starting to rain (I didn't have my umbrella), and we had almost a hundred contacts to make, and a bunch of lessons with members that we needed to teach. AND we only had 3 hours to do it. Why 3 hours? Because we were stuck at lunch for hours(please remember missionaries only have an hour for lunch/dinner), and we had to go to the stake center for the women´s conference that night. We were swamped, and only a miracle would help us. Let me just tell you, about 5000000000 miracles happened. It was amazing! First of all, the last hour of church (when we have sacrament meeting) 7 investigators showed up (2 of which said they wanted to be baptized), the rain stopped, we had two sisters that wanted to go on splits with us, and we found a park with an incredible amount of people. That´s only a part of everything. But it was miraculous! I love how much the Lord helps us. I had already given up on our goals, when the Lord said, "NOPE! Here´s 7 people at church, oh, and I made the rain stop so you can make your contacts, oh, and I touched the hearts of two of the sisters at church, and they really want to help you reach your goals this afternoon..." It was amazing! I love life on the mission.

Anyway, things are great! I love this area! I feel like the Lord is literally throwing people in our path. It´s amazing! I know that the gospel is true! And I love all of you! Don´t forget to help the missionaries! They love all the help they can get! Be concious of their schedule. They have a lot of plans, and a lot of the Lord´s children to help. Oh, and don´t be afraid to help them teach. All they need is support and your testimony!


Have a perfect week!


Love, Sister Stevens

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!