QUASE 1 ANO!

We've been working really hard these week and we've improved our numbers significantly. We've been trying hard to get people to come to church the entire transfer, but only Jacó has come...I have been praying for all of our investigators, but it's been difficult for them to progress.

We met Penha this week during our divisions and she started to progress really quickly, but she didn't come to church even though we planned everything out and a member even drove us to her house to give her a ride. She ended up going to a family member's house the night before. She understands everything we've been teaching her and she has a strong desire to stop smoking and to obey the commandments and she understands the lesson of the Restoration so we're hoping that she'll come to church this week and progress more. 

We marked a baptismal date for Tayná to be baptized on Sunday between conference sessions, but she keeps changing her mind every time we visit her and her parents have been confusing her a lot. We're praying that she'll be able to come to church and that her family will support her.

We met an awesome family yesterday and taught them about the Restoration and they understood everything and Valdir says he'll come to watch General Conference and he and his daughter want to come to an activity this week also! Valdir's wife was a little hesitant but she said she would pray to know if the message we shared is true.

Eu amo vocês!!!

Com amor,

<3 Sister Earls

Also, I'll hit my year mark this week which is insane!!!

 

 

As Famílias Poderão Ser Eternas

HEY HEY! I'm super pumped right now because we had an awesome morning. I finally did something fun for Pday! We hiked the morro do moreno and it was super intense. I'll try to send some photos, but they're on the other sisters' cameras so I'm not sure if I'll be able to this week.

We had another frustrating week, but we are excited because the sister training leaders will be coming this week to help us out. We've just been trying to get more excited about our area and we've been trying to find more elect people to teach. We love the members in the ward and they are all really helpful, but the people that we've been teaching haven't been progressing. 

Jacó came to church for the third time, but he has no desire to get married so he won't be able to be baptized until he is ready to make that step. We've been testifying like crazy about eternal families and the blessings of baptism and the temple, but he doesn't really understand much of what we teach so it's frustrating. Tayná still hasn't come to church but we are trying to motivate her family still. The Elders are helping us out with her since we're pretty sure that their family like the Elders more...And we've been working with a woman named Marilza who became really interested after we taught the plan of salvation, but she still hasn't come to church. So yeah...

I love working with Sister A. Melo and she motivates me a lot. She is such a hard worker and an amazing example to me. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be her companion and to learn so much from her. Also, she has helped me a lot with my Portuguese and I've been able to help her with English :)

I'm super happy her in Glória! Even though our area is far and we spend at least 2 hours every day just to arrive in and return from our area haha The members really are awesome and they give us awesome lunches and there's always dessert haha Maybe I'll start to gain back all the weight that I've lost here in Brasil ;) 

Anyways, I love you all and I know that families really can be together forever. We've been teaching the plan of salvation a lot recently and every time I teach, I learn something new and gain new insights and it strengthens my testimony of the temple, families, and the blessings that God has in store for us (if we are faithful until the end).

Eu amo vocês!!!

Com amor,

<3 Sister Earls

 

 

 a pretty part of our area ;)

 

haha assembleia de deus

 

HELP

 

This week was pretty difficult. But we had a fun day on Friday because an area authority came to give a training! Elder Geraldo Lima! I enjoyed the training from Elder Lima a lot and we are definitely trying to apply what we learned.

We've been struggling a bit with our area. We've been working a lot with Jacó, but he has no desire to get married. He has been coming to church, but he doesn't want to change. Eliane understands that she needs to change and live according to the commandments but she isn't willing to stand up for herself. Every time that we bring up marriage they end up fighting so we've been trying to back off a little. During church, there was a class about the law of chastity and Eliane started crying, but Jacó didn't seem to care...

We've been working with a part-member family. Roberta (recent-convert) is married to a less-active. They have three daughters and one of them was living in Switzerland with her father until recently so we started teaching her. She is 12 years old and she's already been to church and she was interviewed to be baptized on Saturday and she had been saying all week that she wanted to be baptized on Sunday, but her step father told her that she's not ready and no one from the family came to church on Sunday so the baptism fell through. We're planning on working a lot with them this week.

Sorry I'm running out of time...

I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!

Eu amo vocês!!!

Com amor,

<3 Sister Earls

 

 

 

Sister A. Melo made me pão de queijo when I hit my 11 month mark :)

 

Sister A Melo's shoe broke haha and she decided to buy super glue in a bar to try to fix them. They lasted for the rest of the day but I ended up giving her a pair of my shoes :)

Love these girls :) Recent converts of Sister A. Melo and Sister Richards :)))

Reunião em Cariacica com Elder Lima!

 

7 de Setembro!!

Sorry I'm running out of time so I'm just gonna send what I sent to President again:

A semana foi boa. A gente gostou muito do desfile! Foi muito divertido. 

Victória (que tem 8 anos e é a filha de uma menos ativa) foi batizada quarta feira. Foi muito legal e a mãe dela (Eliane) trouxe o namorado dela (Jacó) para o batismo. Ele não é um membro então começamos a ensinar ele. Ele foi na igreja e ele está gostando de tudo. O problema é que ele está morando com Eliane mesmo que eles não são casados legalmente. Então ensinamos a lei da castidade e eles têm problemas com café então estamos ajudando eles com esse problema também.

Estamos tendo dificuldades porque nossa área fica muito longe da capela (quase uma hora andando) então tem muitas que não querem ir pra igreja por causa disso.

Translation: 

This week was good. We really liked the show! It was very funny. 

Victoria (who is 8 years old and is the daughter of a less active ) was baptized on Wednesday . It was awesome and her mother (Eliane) brought her boyfriend (Jacob) for the baptism. He is not a member so we started teaching him . He came to and enjoyed it. The problem is that he is living with Eliane even though they are not legally married . We taught them the law of chastity and they have problems with coffee so we're helping them with that problem too . We are having trouble because our area is far from the chapel (almost an hour's walk) so there are many who do not want to go to church for that reason.

I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!

Eu amo vocês!!!

Com amor,

<3 Sister Earls

Oh and I hit my 11 month mark which is crazy!

Today is Sister Richards birthday and I got to see her yesterday because it was 7 de setembro which is Independence Day in Brasil and there was a parade and our stake participated! It was awesome!

Victória foi batizada!

It was Sister Sosa's birthday quinta feira so I made a super awesome brownie cake and we celebrated after our district meeting :) It's super weird to have a small district now...

OH GLÓRIA!

Hey everyone! 

So my new area is Glória!! Sister Richards was trained here by Sister A.Melo who is my new companion! Woohoo uma companheira brasileira!!! Sister A. Melo is from Campinas and she's awesome! She's already helped me sooooo much this week. She's helping me with português and with the area. It's awesome because even though we're opening the area, she already served here so we haven't gotten too lost yet. The only thing is that our area is super far away from the church building and it's kinda dangerous at night and we have to walk a lot! But I love the ward and the members help a ton and they give us rides all the time and we receive sooooo much food haha Maybe I'll gain back all the weight I've lost...

I miss Colatina and Sister Hibauza a lot but I know that I'm supposed to be here. Oh and Sister Hibauza is training! Awww I miss her and all of the people in Colatina so much. I'm hoping that maybe I'll be able to serve there again before the end of my mission. I think I'm the only missionary that wants to return there because nobody likes the hills haha

We'll be having a baptism on Wednesday, but it won't count for the mission since her mom is a member (less-active who is coming back to church) and she won't be 9 until November. But Victória is awesome and I'm super happy for her and we've been teaching her almost every day and she has so many questions and she understands everything super well :)

I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!

Eu amo vocês!!!

Com amor,

<3 Sister Earls

Transfers...

So I got transferred...So many mixed feelings. I feel like I was able to accomplish what I needed to here in Colatina, but I am super sad to be leaving. I'll miss my companion so much and I'll miss all of the members and my recent converts and all of my investigators :(

This week was super fun! And we were finally able to baptize Gilmar!!! He was so happy! Sister Hibauza completed one year in the mission so we threw her a little party and it was also an Elder's birthday so Thursday was super fun and we ate a ton of cake haha

Sorry I don't have much time and I want to send more photos but I'll have more updates next week on my new area and my new companion!

I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!

Eu amo vocês!!!

Com amor,

<3 Sister Earls

 

Last Pday, we went a little crazy at the supermercado haha

 

Our last district meeting! Gonna miss these missionaries :(

Elder Giancoli helped us with baptismal interviews on Thursday and it was Elder Garcia's birthday so they bought us açaí!

GILMAR FOI BATIZADO! As famílias poderão ser eternas!!! <3

We found a giant watermelon in the church kitchen. It cost $R30...We had to take pictures haha

 

Hospitals Love Me...

So I got really sick again this week and they admitted me to the hospital this time...But I'm better now! They told me I was supposed to stay longer but we decided to leave because we had a zone conference and I started feeling better the next day (after receiving a bunch of meds and soro) :) Haha I had to argue with four different doctors and sign a form saying that it wouldn't be the hospital's fault if I left and something happened...But it's all good. I only have a little bit of pain in my stomach after eating and I've been really careful about what I've been eating and I'm drinking a lot of fluids so I should be good. I was kinda weak during the week and I lost 2 kilos but I'm good!

Aside from getting sick, the week was good! We had a zone conference which was awesome and I got to see Sister Richards :) And Josimara was confirmed yesterday! We weren't able to baptize Gilmar yesterday because he drank coffee last Monday or Tuesday I think. But he's gonna be baptized this Saturday or Sunday depending on his work schedule :) Ester ended up going to a family member's house on Friday and stayed until yesterday so she didn't come to church with Josimara, but we're hoping that she'll be able to be bpatized this Sunday too!

Everything is going super well here in Colatina and I'm super happy to be here! I'm scared for transfers coming up because I don't want to leave! Praying to stay here with Sister Hibauza :)

SO HAPPY!!!

Eu amo vocês!!!

Com amor,

<3 Sister Earls

 

More from Mãos que Ajudam!

 

We had a picnic in the park last P day and ate Subway!

We went to Maria das Graças to try to find a reference but we got super lost and found a bridge and had a photo shoot :)

We made pancakes with Silvana! She's the best :)

So I got really sick again and they admitted me to the hospital this time...But I'm better now! A member brought food for Sister Hibauza and she kept teasing me and eating in front of me haha