13 Feb 2012

Hello all!

Before I forget...Carnival is next week. I think Sunday through Wednesday? So this is how it works. Im pretty sure EVERYTHING is closed Monday through Wednesday. So MAYBE Ill be emailing next week, maybe not. So if you dont get an email from me, dont worry. Im alive...just enjoying P-Day in my house :) Also, dont worry....Londrina is not crazy with Carnaval. When people want to party, they actually go to Central Londrina. There are actual streets that are blocked off for parties. But again, in our area its pretty quite. Im thinking a few fireworks and such...but thats about it :)

So this week was kind of crazy. We havent been having a whole lot of success in our area right now. And we had a Strong Area (where we spent most of our days) teaching and finding people. We spent 8 weeks mais ou menos there. And Friday, me and Sister Checketts decided we needed to move our Strong Area closer to the church. So we are going to go there. We dont have a lot of contacts there but we feel good about it. We have faith that if thats not where we are supposed to focus our time, God will change it for us haha.

We have been asking advice from a lot of people in the area. President Tavares, Stake President, Bishop. We ask them how we can do better. How we can change and make a difference in this area. And they all say that we are doing good and that we just need to keep on going and to continue what we are doing. Thank goodness this is Heavenly Fathers work. Because above all, he is in charge.

I think me and Sister Checketts are REALLY growing right now. We have learned a lot. Because Im still in training (the first 3 months are my "training months") we study for an extra hour a day. Some days all I want to do is be outside and be talking to people in my crazy Portuguese accent. But some days we have REALLY enjoyed studying and learning about how we can better our teaching. Its actually been really great and I secretly hope I can be a trainer for other sister missionaries so that I can learn again and try to apply the teachings again and hopefully I can be an even better missionary.

Probably the highlight of all highlights this week was one of our investigators came to church! (Shoot where did that hour go?!). It was awesome. I think she had an AWESOME experience and she is really excited to learn more. We thought that she wouldnt come and we even stopped by her house before church (I think we MIGHT have woke her up) but she came! Drove herself to church. It was awesome. Im excited for her and her family to get to know other members and things like that. We have a lesson with her tomorrow. Oh she is great! I sat by her and explained how the hymns work. Like how you read the hymns. Ya, I felt pretty special. Oh and she cried during a talk! I think it was a pretty good talk, I didnt understand a lot but ya it was good!...haha.

I think thats about it and my time is up for the hour! Next week Ill send a couple pictures!

Love you all! Keep up the good work with your lives! Dont miss me too much :P

-Sister Empey