esta semana foi uma bosta

Sorry I'm running out of time so I'm just gonna copy and paste what I wrote to our mission president this week. Sorry it's in my horrible portuguese but you can put it into google translator. We don't have too many things going on here right now...It was kind of a frustrating week.

Então não tivemos muita coisa esta semana. Só tivemos duas pessoas na igreja. É um pouco triste porque estamos ensinando e trabalhando muito mas as pessoas que parecem eleitas não estão indo na igreja e as pessoas que estão indo na igreja não estão progredindo. Por exemplo, temos uma pesquisadora (Dulcineia) que está indo na igreja faz quase dois meses mas ela não quer ser batizada. O namorado dela é membro e estamos ensinando desde quando ela visitou a igreja pela primeira vez e ela falou com os elderes ontem, mas nada está dando certo. Ela não quer parar de beber café e ela gosta muito da igreja batista que fica no mesmo prédio onde ela mora. Ela fala que ela acredita em Joseph Smith e gosta muito de ir na igreja então não sabemos muito bem o que devemos fazer. Também, tivemos Gabriella e Gabriel que já foram na igreja várias vezes. Os dois tiveram entrevistas batismais, mas não estão progredindo mais. Estamos ficando um pouco desanimadas, mas esperamos que esta semana possa ser melhor.

Estamos fazendo um jejum para ter mais sucesso com nossos pesquisadores e para que eles realmente possam progredir e ser batizados. Estamos marcando datas mas ninguém está cumprindo compromissos então estamos orando também para que as pessoas possam entender a importância de tudo que ensinamos.

Estou orando muito durante esta transferência. Acho que estou orando mais do que já tenho orado durante minha missão. Eu quero ser a melhor missionária que eu posso ser e estou procurando alcançar meu potencial completo.

Eu amo vocês!!!

Com amor,

<3 Sister Earls

We love açaí! I've grudgingly accepted that açaí in Colatina is expensive and that we will only treat ourselves once a week because we're poor missionaries haha

President and Sister Young are super awkward but I love them haha We had interviews this week and it was wonderful :)

I saw monkeys the other day!!! I freaked out haha

This is Gabriel. He's the cutest. He made me play with action figures with him during our entire lunch appointment after church yesterday. It was great haha. Gabriel and I are best friends now :)

6 Meses no Brasil!!

Can y'all believe that I have survived 6 months here? I can't haha It's going by sooo quickly!

This week passed super quickly. We went to Serra Monday and Tuesday to do divisions with Sister Cabrera (from Uruguay) and Sister Carvalho (from Portugal) which was exciting. They recently opened the area so we got lost arriving there and we ended up having to catch 4 different buses and it was kinda scary since it's kind of a dangerous area and it was almost midnight but it all worked out. I got to work with Sister Cabrera again! I love her so much and she is such a wonderful missionary! I always learn so much with her :)

We had a zone meeting with the missionaries from Aracruz so I got to see Sister Richards which was awesome! I miss our time together in the MTC :(( So much has changed since then...

So we have a ton of investigators and we've marked a bunch of baptismal dates and we had 4 people at church yesterday and everything is crazy and hard to keep up with. But one specific person is Marlene. She lives like right in front of the church and she almost cut us this week but we saved the lesson and she loves us a lot and she would have gone to church again this week but she ended up going to Vitória for a wedding. But her birthday is today and she invited us to have lunch with her so we're hoping that everything still goes well with her and that she'll be able to be baptized this week. It's super cool because she doesn't drink and she doesn't drink coffee either and I think I mentioned that two weeks before she met us, she had decided to quit smoking! She is so ready!

Sorry this email is pretty lame but I hope everyone is doing well! I can't believe it's already June again. This year is flying by...

Eu amo vocês!!!

Com amor,

<3 Sister Earls

 

 We went to Serra (basically in Vitória) to do divisions with the sister training leaders! We had lunch with two other sisters too who work in an area nearby. Killin it on the ônibus :)

 

PUCCA!

We were teaching a lesson at an investigator's house and the woman's son has a pet bird so of course we took pics. The pic of Sister Alós was taken right after the bird tried to bite her nose hahaha

We had a fireside last night and we did a puzzle thing as an activity haha not gonna lie, it was pretty lame but we had ice cream after so it's all good ;) 

 

Conferência do Distrito!

So this week was amazing because of the District Conference that we had! I got to see the members and missionaries from São Mateus and everyone says that they miss me and that São Mateus isn't the same without me haha I still can't believe how long I stayed in that area and I didn't realize how much I'd miss all of the people when I left. Oh and the Aracruz branch was there too so I got to Sister Richards! I love the mission soooo much and all of the friends I've made.

Oh another reason that this week was amazing is because we got to watch Meet the Mormons! My companion had asked President Young a while ago to borrow the copy that the mission has so she could show it to the branch for an activity and he finally said yes! It was a really big deal that he gave it to us because it's the only copy that the entire mission can use and it can't be copied and we have to be really careful with it. But I loved the movie!

Oh and we have a wonderful pesquisadora that we met this week. And she lives right in front of the church building. One of the Elders stopped to talk to her last week and she had never visited our church and she seemed really open to hearing about the gospel so he passed her address to us and we taught her the restoration this week and she understood the lesson really well and she is elect com força! And during the lesson, she even mentioned that the previous week she had decided to stop smoking! She could only stay for one hour of the meeting on Sunday but she liked it a lot and wants to come to church again this week and we're hoping to see more progress :)

Colatina is killing me with all of these hills but I love it haha I love the challenges of the mission because they're making me stronger :) Super cheesy but true ;)

Eu amo vocês!!!

Com amor,

<3 Sister Earls

Colatina is pretty but the hills and the heat just make me get really sweaty haha

ww I love this photo because it was the first time that João Pedro used a white shirt and tie for church. He's a recent convert of Sister Alós :)

All of my companions who are still in the mission! :D

Amintas came with the other members and he already started using a white shirt and tie!! Love him!! He was a miracle in São Mateus :)

Loved the district conference and getting to see all my friends!

COLATINA!!! Morros, Morros, Morros

So I'm loving my new area!!! I'm here in Colatina with Sister Alós! Everything is good! It's been a little crazy getting settled and adjusting to the new area and my new companion. But I'm loving this area so much already and I actually passed through here for a day for a zone conference so at least I recognized some things. It's amazing to actually have a real chapel. I forgot what it feels like to be in a real church building. And this one is new and huge and prettier than the ones we have in the US. And it has air conditioning!!! Super blessed haha I'll have to take a picture and send it next week. I'm still a little lost in the area and it's a lot bigger than São Mateus and Colatina is known for it's hills and staircases...I've been walking and climbing a lot. Haha but I'm loving it and I love walking and it's pretty everywhere here so I'm enjoying it and my legs are getting super strong haha

I'm really missing Sister Rodriguez...My new companion is from Argentina too but she's a lot different from Sister Rodriguez and I've had to adjust to how she works and also she still has a superrrrr strong accent. So yeah I'm kinda struggling to understand her and we've had a few confusions but other than that, I'm loving the area and the branch and my new district!

Aww I called Sister Richards this week because she's been sick a lot :( Really worried about her :((( Keep her in your prayers :) She can't go home without me!

I'm seriously loving the people here in Colatina. I sent photos of Gabriella and Gabriel and mentioned that they've already been to church two times. Gabriel is kind of a tough case but Gabriella is super open and she had a baptism date marked for yesterday but she drank coffee while we were at transfers so we've been working a lot with her. But she stopped drinking coffee and she's following all of the other commandments and she did a fast with the youth and she likes church a lot and she really wants to be baptized. We're just waiting for her mom to approve since she keeps saying that it's too soon. But I know that everything will work out! FAITH is the key!

The branch is great and the branch president is awesome and the members and the lunches are amazing and our ward mission leader is super helpful! I am so grateful to be here and I feel blessed!!!

Eu amo vocês!!!

Com amor,

<3 Sister Earls

 

OLATINA!!

 

Casually teaching every living thing on earth :)

COLATINA é linda demais!

My companion has great picture ideas :)

The youth had an activity and learned about fasting. The leaders prepared a huge dinner for them and they all started the fast together and they had a big dinner after church the next day in the evening. So awesome!

The view from a member's house. Colatina is sooooo beautiful!!

Crossing the bridge! We have to cross the bridge every Pday to get to the Lan House that we use to email :)

 

TRANSFERIDA!!!!!!

Guess who has finally been transferred?!?!?! ME!!!!!

So y'all know that I totally love São Mateus but the time has finally arrived for me to leave haha So I've packed my bags and we'll be catching an ônibus early tomorrow to Vitória where I will find out where I'll be serving next. I'm so exciteddddd!!!! But I'm super sad to be leaving Sister Rodriguez here in São Mateus. I've loveeeddddd being her companion and I've learned so much from her these past two transfers. She inspires me to do better and to work harder every day and she talks super fast and she always makes me laugh and I just love her and I'm gonna miss her sooooo much. But still excited for new adventures!

This week was interesting. A little slow and a little crazy but I made it through. So yesterday and today were interesting because we didn't have water in our apartment AGAIN :(((( I think this is the third or fourth time that I've had to survive without water. But we complained enough this time and they got everything fixed (after some complications) this afternoon :) I was lucky because I was pretty sure I'd be transferred so I started doing my laundry and packing my bags earlier in the week which meant I didn't have to deal with the washing machine and dirty clothes without water :)

So Amintas is doing great and he is super strong in the church! He's gonna help out the branch a lot! He went to institute for the first time and he came to noite familiar and he loves everything! It makes me soooo happy! He was sooo sad though when we called him last night when I found out I got transferred, but at least he still has Sister Rodriguez :)

We've been meeting with Aldo still but he's been working a lot and coming home later in the evening so we missed a couple of days and he ended up drinking coffee at work so his baptismal date fell through. But he has a lot of potential and we had a super spiritual lesson with him on Saturday and we read parts of Alma 32 & 34 and talked a lot about faith and he committed to keep trying and continue to work towards baptism :)

We also met with an investigator named Marilza. She is super awesome and open to the gospel. We've only met with her three times because she works a lot and is usually only available during our study time in the morning. We met her while clapping at doors and we actually contacted her sister first and marked an appointment with her, but when we came back, only Marilza was there. She let us in and we taught the first lesson and she loved it and prayed about it and she believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet and she's been reading the Book of Mormon and believes it is a true book, but she is super Catholic and she feels obligated to stay in her church and feels that she can't leave her commitments there. But Sister Rodriguez has big plans for her haha So we'll see :)

I love being a missionary!!

Eu amo vocês!!!

Com amor,

<3 Sister Earls

Oh and sorry I'm emailing late today. We came to the lan house on time but there was a problem with the church email system and a lot of missionaries weren't able to access their emails so we had to wait and come back now. But it's all good!

 

Photo shoot at the igreja velha

 

  

 

ww one of the last times I had noite familiar with Alessandra, Manuel, e Antonio. Love these crazy kids :)

 

<3 Love my district. Gonna miss them :(

Sister Rodriguez made my dye her hair...Haha it was weird and I was terrified but I didn't ruin her hair!

 

BATISMO!!!!

Oi família!!!

Esta semana foi uma maravilha!!! We had a miraculous baptism! Seriously, it was a miracle. God just placed Amintas into our path and he was super prepared to take the steps leading to baptism. It was kind of funny though because his original date to be baptized was dia 21 which was Thursday, but we had a zone conference in Linhares and we missed our ônibus so we didn't arrive home until like 11pm so we had to move the baptism to the next day. Amintas was a little disappointed when we called him and he had already gotten ready and was preparing to leave to arrive early at the church building, but he took the news well haha I love him so much. He's such a happy person and he has a lot of faith and he was such an amazing investigator. It was just an amazing experience to see how he progressed. And also, we involved the members a lot more with him and he already has a bunch of friends and everything was just such a great success!

Also, we have a baptism date marked for this Sunday for Aldo! I mentioned him in my last email and he is doing great! He's even already committed to stop drinking coffee!! He came to Amintas' baptism too and he liked it! And he came to sacrament meeting yesterday. We are just seeing soooo many blessings!!

So I've set a goal to read all of the New Testament again and I've almost finished Matthew. This morning in my personal study, I read Matthew 25 and I lovedddd it. It talks about the parables of the ten virgins and the talents and the sheep and the goats. I love when the Lord is talking to the first two servants and since they did the right things he says to them, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." And later on in the next parable, he says, "...Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." So far on my mission I have learned so much. One of the things I have learned is that when we are prepared and faithful and willing to serve and care for others and when we strive to do good works and share all that we have and know with others, we receive blessings beyond belief. I truly believe in the second verse that I shared and I am truly humbled to be a missionary and to have this opportunity to serve and to learn and to grow. 

Eu amo vocês!!

Com amor,

Sister Earls

Matthew 25:21, 40

 

BATISMO!!!! Amintas was baptized by Orismar (a member who recently moved into the ward). It was amazing!!! He was so happy haha

 

 

We got soaked in the rain after a baptismal interview with Amintas (which he passed!!!)

 

Our district is super cool. We arrived super early to our zone conference so we had to wait outside the building until someone came with the keys. Photo shoot was the obvious solution haha

Cleaning the pia batismal!!

 

VAMOS BATIZAR

Woohoo this week officially marked 5 months here in São Mateus! 

This week was pretty fun. It's starting to actually get cold! And it's been raining a lot. 

So great news is that we're gonna have a baptism this week! I wrote a little bit about Amintas last week and he progressed super quickly! We've already taught him all of the lessons except the plan of salvation which we're gonna teach him tonight. He loves the Book of Mormon and he's been reading it every day. And he came to church again and he lovesssss it and he's made friends and he's super excited for his baptism this Thursday!!! And we are too!! We taught him all of the commandments and he agreed to follow all of them, including the word of wisdom and he stopped drinking coffee right away. Sister Rodriguez and I leave every visit with him in shock because he is just super elect and he is a miracle! He called us a few days ago super early in the morning just to tell us that he was listening to a church radio station the night before and that a pastor was speaking, but he got frustrated because he knew that what the pastor was saying wasn't true so he turned off the radio and started to read the Book of Mormon and he told us exactly which pages he read and he said that he truly believes that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it is a good book. Aahhh I'm so happy haha

Oh another cool thing that happened this week is that we met with an investigator of some of the sisters who served here a while ago. His name is Aldo (not really sure on the spelling) and he went to church one time to watch General Conference but the internet wasn't working well that day and he didn't enjoy it at all so he stopped progressing. But I went on divisions with Sister Patrício a few weeks ago and we saw him on the street and Sister Patrício recognized him so we started talking to him about the Restoration since she'd already taught him a lot of the lessons before. He's kinda 'scorpion" (which means that he only accepts our lessons because he likes us, not the messages...there are "snakes" who hit on the Elders too haha) but he has a lot of potential. I had forgotten about him after that day, but I was looking at the addresses in my planner the other day and I remembered that I had his phone number and that I'd promised Sister Patrício that we'd try to meet with him so we decided to call him to set an appointment. We found him and at first, it didn't seem like he wanted to talk to us and he was kinda drunk but Sister Rodriguez was awesome and started asking a bunch of questions and he started to open up and we learned a lot about him and the struggles of his life and he was a lot nicer to us at the end. He committed to come church yesterday but he didn't show up because it was pouring rain...But we called him after church and he said he'd go next week and we're gonna try to meet with him more.

Whelp I think that's it for this week. 

Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Sister Earls

 

Ana Rosa came to the relief society activity last week :)

 

I am a giant compared to my companion haha Love my little macaca

I reallyyyyy don't like urubu (vultures). They're everywhere here and they're huge and super creepy and we found one dead in the street and decided to take photos since Sister Rodriguez is almost dying and getting super trunky haha

We love the ônibus!

 

FELIZ DIA DAS MÃES!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

It was so wonderful to talk to family yesterday!! Definitely cried and laughed a lot and I loveddddd talking in English haha

This week was a little crazy and a little slow because I got sick again and had to go to the hospital. But it's all good now! I'm used to dying occasionally here in São Mateus ;)

We had a new investigator at church this week!!! His name is Amitas and he is progressing quickly and he's really open to learning about the church. He says he'd like to be baptized but we haven't officially marked a date yet so we're going to be working a lot with him this week. He's already made friends in the branch so that's good :)

Oh and Ana Rosa came to an activity that the Relief Society put together for Mother's Day. She lovedddd the activity and she brought two of her kids and they were playing with the other kids and it was great. The only problem is that she still doesn't really like the church and Joseph Smith...

Oh and on Wednesday, Júlio César had another baptismal interview and he's totally prepared and he understands and believes in everything but he really just doesn't want to be baptized. It's so frustrating!! Sorry, I'm calm. But we love him to death and we're still gonna work super hard to keep helping him. Oh and he started drinking coffee again after not drinking it for the entire week! :( So that was frustrating too...Praying a lot for him because he is a great kid and I really want to help him make the right choices :)

Whelp I think that's about it for this week.

Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Sister Earls

Alma 26:27

Alma 29:9

 

Happy Mother's Day!!! (a little late)

 

I had a bad morning the other day and Sister Rodriguez thought it'd be funny to take pics haha

I loved talking to y'all yesterday!!! I miss everyone sooooo much!!! Sorry the internet wasn't super great...

I got sick again and had to go to the hopsital...The hospitals are veryyyyyy different here in Brasil haha

ecovery included eating only bananas and crackers and drinking tonnnssss of water haha Eu sou uma macaca