chuvaaaaaaaaa

This week was pretty fun! Sister Dodge had to go to the hospital last Monday night (on her birthday haha) because she partied a little too hard...Just kidding! She had a weird allergic reaction to something that she ate and she had had some weird rashes that started a couple of weeks ago. I think it kinda just got worse because of the heat and last Sunday during lunch she tried a really spicy pepper sauce for the first time and that was probably what caused the reaction to spread so quickly. So unfortunately, we lost a day of work on Tuesday because they gave her an injection to help with the allergic reaction and she could barely keep her eyes open to eat during lunch so Sister Young just told us to go home to let her rest. But she's all better now! She just had to keep taking a medicine that made her drowsy all week and I've had to help her apply a cream that's supposed to help with some of the more serious rashes. 

Gabriela was interviewed on Friday and she passed of course! We're just waiting for approval from her mom. We did fast yesterday with her and the bishop and his wife since Gabi wanted to try to fast after we taught her about tithing and fasting on Wednesday. And she thought it would help if we prayed for her mom to let her be baptized. So hopefully, with a lot of prayers and faith, she'll be baptized finally this week :)

We've been trying to find new people to teach but we haven't had much luck. Everyone keeps travelling and nobody has been coming to church - aside from our eternal investigators and Gabi. Oh but the other sisters here (Sister Barth and Sister Hernández) had a baptism on Saturday!

I'm super happy and I'm super grateful for the rain this week. It's actually cold enough that I'm wearing a cardigan haha

Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Sister Earls

 

 

Fé e Esperança

I'm running out of time but I still just wanted to send a quick email. This week was great and it's been super fun with Sister Dodge. We are working really hard and we have found some amazing people. We are trying to work a lot with some eternal investigators as well so if you can keep them in your prayers that would be great! Some names are: Roberto, Nayara, and Bruno :) Oh and Gabriela isn't an eternal investigator but her baptismal date fell through last week and she'll be interviewed on Wednesday and we will mark a new date with her so keep her in your prayers too :)

When I was doing my personal studies this morning, I read Elder Holland's talk from the most recent General Conference again because I love it. I especially love a part that he says at the end: "Be peaceful. Believe in God and yourself. You are doing better than you think you are." I know that every thing on my mission counts and that I can't waste the time and opportunities of service that I have. And even when I feel like I'm not doing enough, I really am doing better than I think I am. The Lord has trusted me to help Him do His work and I am so grateful to be a missionary :)

Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Sister Earls

Oh and today is Sister Dodge's birthday so we're gonna party because it's Pday! :D

Vocês São Americanas?

So this week was pretty awesome! Tive uma experiência bem legal com O Livro de Mórmon também durante a semana com Sister Dodge. Estávamos batendo muitas portas num bairro e achamos uma família muito grande. Não todos eles moram na mesma casa mas eles moram em várias casa na mesma rua então começamos a ensinar todo mundo. Algumas moças da família (Melca e Valesca) ficaram bem interessadas e ficaram fazendo muitas perguntas sobre muitas doutrinas da igreja. Começamos a explicar sobre O Livro de Mórmon e elas perguntaram onde elas poderiam comprar :) Então explicamos que os livros são de graça e dei uma cópia para elas. Voltamos o dia seguinte e entregamos mais um livro e elas estavam com um amigo (Gabriel). Ele é da igreja Maranata mas ele ficou bem interessado também. E ele fala inglês quase fluentemente então ele gostou muito da gente e começou a conversar mais comigo e com Sister Dodge. Melca e Valesca visitaram a igreja ontem mas só podiam ficar durante a reunião sacramental. Elas gostaram e falaram que vão ir o próximo domingo também e que Gabriel quer visitar a igreja com elas! Melca tem 14 anos e Valesca só tem 11 mas elas são bem inteligentes. Queremos batizar elas mas temos que ver se a mãe delas quer ser batizada também. Já tentamos ensinar ela mas ela não queria visitar a igreja e não ficou tão interessada como as filhas, mas vamos tentar levar ela para igreja no dominga também. Gabriel tem 16 anos então com certeza queremos ensinar ele mais e batizar ele. 

 

I had a very nice experience with The Book of Mormon this week with Sister Dodge. We were knocking doors in a neighborhood and found a very large family. Not all of them live in the same house, but they live in different house on the same street so we started to teach everyone. Some family girls (Milcah and Valesca) were very interested and were asking lots of questions about many doctrines of the church. We started to explain about the Book of Mormon and they asked where they could buy :) So we explained that the books are free and gave a copy to them. We returned the next day and delivered over a book and they were with a friend (Gabriel). He is a member of the Maranatha church but he was quite interested as well. And he speaks English almost fluently so he liked the people and started talking over me and Sister Dodge. Milcah and Valesca came to church yesterday but could only stay for sacrament meeting. They liked it and said they'll go next Sunday as well and that Gabriel wants to come to church with them! Milcah is 14 and Valesca is only 11 but they are very intelligent. We want to baptize them but we have to see if their mother wants to be baptized as well. We've tried to teach her but she did not want to come to church and was not as interested as the daughters, but we will try to take her to church on Sunday too. Gabriel is 16 years old so we definitely want to teach him more and baptize him.

Está sendo muito legal com Sister Dodge. Ela já está falando português muito bem e estou tentando ajudar ela ensinar mais cada dia. Ela falou que está mais feliz aqui então fico muito feliz por isso. Quero muito ajudar ela :)

 

It's been very nice with Sister Dodge. She is already speaking Portuguese very well and I am trying to help her teach more every day. She said she's happier here so I'm very happy for that. I really want to help her :)

 

It's pretty funny because everyone always stops us on the street and asks us if we're Americans. I'm like yes, duh look at my companion (she is super white and has big blue eyes) but it's really funny and it makes it easier for us to do contacting and get addresses on the street. The people love us and our accents and our ability to speak English ;)

My birthday was awesome and the members were super happy that I stayed here in Estrelinha. I ate a ton of cake and the members who marked our lunch appointment made us a japanese food called Yakisoba. It was awesome. And I ate one of my favorite desserts here - pavê. And some members were going to buy us açaí at my favorite ice cream place but they ended up changing plans and bought a huge tub of super expensive ice cream and let us eat a ton and take the rest home haha So it was all good :)

And HAPPY NEW YEAR! This year was awesome. Haha we slept on the roof again and we watched some fireworks because there were a ton close to our house. It was awesome!

Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Sister Earls

Sorry I don't have any pics this week since my camera is broken and Sister Dodge's camera was broken. But she got a package this morning and it had a new camera in it so we'll be sure to take lots of pics!

Feliz Ano Novo!

So transfers are this week and there were some changes and we no longer have transfer meetings. So when our leaders call us, they tell us everything instead of just whether or not we will stay in our area. So Sister Sosa was transferred :( I'm really going to miss her craziness haha It's been a blast being her companion. She'll be serving in São Gabriel. I stayed here in Estrelinha and my new companion will arrive tomorrow. She is American which surprised me haha I don't think I'll train before my mission is over, but this will basically be like training a sister because she only has 3 months here and she's struggling a lot with the language. I already met her when I did a division with other sisters in Serra where she was serving before and during some zone meetings so it's cool because we're already friends and we're pretty similar so I think it's gonna be fun. Her name is Sister Dodge. We'll be living with 2 more sisters again too. Sister Barth who is brasileira and she'll be training another sister. SUPER FUN!

Guys I can't believe that the year is ending. My mission is passing by wayyyyy too quickly! Also, I don't want to turn 22 haha But anyways, I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas because I sure did!! I cried like a baby haha I held myself together during all of my other phone calls home, but this time was my last phone call on the mission and everyone was super trunky so i kinda freaked out ;)

Sorry I'm running out of time so I'll send the rest in Portugues (what I sent to presidente):

Bruno está muito animado para ser entrevistado na quarta e saber melhor sobre quando ele vai poder ser batizado. A situação dele realmente é complicada mas ele é muito bom e nesses meses que eu tenho conhecido ele, eu tenho visto uma mudança muito grande nele e ele realmente tem um desejo de ser batizado na igreja verdadeira. Acho que durante os 5 ou 6 meses que ele está frequentando a igreja, ele só faltou duas vezes. Ele realmente gosta das coisas da igreja e tem um testemunho.

Bruno is very excited to be interviewed on Wednesday and better understand when he will be able to be baptized. The situation it is really complicated but he has been very good and in the months that I have known him, I have seen a very big change in him and he really has a desire to be baptized into the true church. I think that during the five or six months he has attended church, he has only missed twice. He really likes the things of the church and has a testimony.

Também, estamos trabalhando muito com a sobrinha do bispo, Gabriela. Ela já foi para várias atividades da igreja mas só começou a frequentar nos últimos domingos passados. Nessas semanas, ela tem viajado muito por causa das férias então quando tentamos marcar uma data para um dia mais perto do natal, ela falou que só poderia depois do ano novo. Então, ela tem uma data marcada para o dia 10 de janeiro. A família dela está muito feliz e ela está orando muito sobre as lições e também, ela falou que teve um sonho sobre a igreja e que está recebendo muitas respostas!

Also, we are working hard with the bishop's neice, Gabriela. She has been to several church activities but only began attending these past few Sundays. She has traveled a lot over the past few weeks because of the holidays so when we try to set a date to meet with her at home, she said she could only after the New Year. So we scheduled a date for January 10. Her family is very happy and she's praying a lot about the lessons as well, she said she had a dream about the church and that she's getting many answers!

Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Sister Earls

we had a churrasco on Christmas Eve with Cléria and Junior (recent-converts) and Bruno (investigator) haha it was great

Christmas party with Luceni and Eni. They are eternal investigators but they love us! I actually got to know them in Colatina which is cool and when I arrived here in Estrelinha, I forgot that Luceni lives here but I found her at church :) And Eni is awesome too! She lives in São Mateus and I actually passed her address to the missionaries who were serving there 6 months ago and she has been frequenting the church ever since!  

FAMILY <3 Best phone call home ever :)

quero natal!

Guys, it's almost Christmas!

So this week was kind of a fail. After the last few crazy weeks, everything has kinda slowed down. The work is always harder after we have baptisms because we spend all our time focusing on the people who are preparing to be baptized and we hardly have time to find new people to teach. So this past week was a little bit lame, but we have three more people with potential to be baptized!

Kaeyanne is 11 years old and her grandmother is an inactive member. She always attended church when she was younger but she had never come to church during our time here in Estrelinha. Some members told us about her family so we decided to visit her the other day and they are an awesome family. Andréia (her grandmother) told us that she had been thinking about Kaeyanne´s baptism for a while but she had never gotten motivated enough to bring Kaeyanne to church and hardly anyone had been visiting them. So we brought Kaeyanne to church yesterday and she loved it and she already knows a lot of the youth and after church, we talked to her about baptism and she accepted to be baptizedthis Saturday. Hopefully, everything will work out. We've already taught her about the Book of Mormon and she's already following all of the commandments :)

João Vitor and Mário were references from some recent-converts. We had actually already visited their parents before, but we had never met the kids. Unfortunately, the parents aren't legally married and don't have any plans to get married anytime soon, but their kids are old enough to be baptized on their own with their parents' approval, so when we met them at a church activity, we immediately started to teach them. During the week, they had accepted to be baptized this Sunday, but they didn't come to church yesterday because they left to visit their aunt for the weekend so they have to wait until next Sunday. But they're super great and they are super excited to learn more about the gospel!

Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Sister Earls

 

It's almost Christmas!!! FELIZ NATAL!!! Even the post office is celebrating already haha

 

Miracles Happen Once in a While

This week was wonderful and was full of miracles! Raphael and Lazarus were baptized on Saturday morning! We were anxious because we left the house early on Saturday morning to check Lazarus but when we arrived at his house (he lives far from our house and the chapel), he was not there. And he was not answering his phone (he later explained that he had lost on the beach). But when we arrived at the chapel with Rafael, Lazarus appeared! Unfortunately, only Rafael was confirmed yesterday because Lazarus came late during sacrament meeting so it was not confirmed. Also, he said he has to travel on Sunday, but he spoke will make an effort to stay to be confirmed because he really wants to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit as soon as possible and he said it with certainty, it will arrive in certain time the next Sunday to be confirmed.

Sorry I'm running out of time but I am super happy and I am super grateful for the miracles que Have Been happening here in Estrelinha. We Have Been working very diligently and I know the Lord que Has Been blessing us :)

I love you!

With love,

Sister Earls

3 Nephi 12:16

 

reunião de zona! 

 Rafael foi batizado!!!

 Lázaro foi batizado também!! He wanted to be "as pure as possible" so he decided to shave his head and his eyebrows the day before his baptism. Everyone was a little shocked but he was super happy about it então só vai haha

 Sister Tavares and I need to be companions :)

 

i'm grateful for...

I am super duper happy and I am super grateful for this past week! Layza's baptism finally happened on Saturday and even though it was pouring rain, there were a lot of members who came and she was super happy. She was confirmed on Sunday and she loves the young women and the ward already got her started on personal progress :)

We have two firm baptismal dates for this Saturday. They are super elect and they kind of just appeared out of nowhere. Rafael was a reference from the ward. He is 9 years old and he is the son of a less-active (Cida). We had never met them since they hadn't been attending church and they live in a part of our area that's super far from the chapel so we hadn't been working there much, but Cida recently spoke with the bishop and mentioned that her son had turned 9 and that he had never been baptized. She really wanted him to be baptized as soon as possible so we immediately started teaching him and he is super ready and he will be interviewed on Wednesday. Lázaro was a reference from the assistants. He lives in our area but the Elders found him in Vitória a couple of weeks ago and he had a Book of Mormon (a member from our ward had given it to him) and he said that he had already visited the church in São Paulo. We were able to visit and teach him the other day and he immediately accepted a baptismal date for this Saturday and he said he would come to church. We were super worried and discouraged because we tried calling him a bunch of times Sunday morning before church but he didn't answer and he didn't show up for sacrament meeting so we thought his baptismal date had fallen through. But Elder McKay (our district leader) called us during lunch to let us know that Lázaro had called the assistants to let them know that he had visited Vila Velha and attended church at a ward there! He will be interviewed on Wednesday as well and he has already become friends with a family of members that live close to him (we've been teaching him at their house) and he is super excited to be baptized on Saturday!

I am super grateful for the blessings that I have received during my mission and for all of the things that I have learned. I am grateful for all of the love and support that I receive from all of you :) I love you all and I hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving!!!

Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Sister Earls

 

 Love these people <3

 Hahaha Sister Tavares sleeping on the ônibus. Poor thing. It's hard to stay awake during the first few weeks. She's a super hard worker :)

 LAYZA foi BATIZADA!!!!!

 BATISMO!!!! :D