July 30, 2012

Hello family!

Time just flies by sometimes. I feel like it was 2 days ago that I was writing another email.

I cant write all that happened. But Ill write a couple of experiences fast.

1) Im forgetting my life before the mission haha. I am actually forgetting how to talk in English. Every day we have language study where we help our brazilian sisters that are living in our house with english and they help with portuguese. But I am learning...as is everyone else that I am forgetting english and that I no longer am a good teacher for pronunciation, but they have to ask Sister Bullen haha. Its actually really funny. And everything here is normal for me now. People ask me what its like in USA, but I dont remember.

2) Sister Bullen is great! She is a great missionary already! (I dont know what they are doing in the CTM/MTC, but they are getting better as they come!)

3) We visited with an investigator this week. And we seriously broke some ice with her. She is really stubborn and its hard for us to explain the importance of baptism with authority, and the importance of going to church. We had a really good lesson with her talking about the importance of baptism and not drinking coffee more. And I think it finally clicked. For a least a little bit. And she said that she doesnt want to get baptised right now...but eventually. Thats a lot better than last time we talked to her! And she prayed at the end of the lesson and it was an AWESOME prayer! She asked for help and guidance and all that kind of stuff. I was super pumped after. The spirit was strong!

4) Also...another investigator....a type of eternal investigator. We had a lesson with her. And afterwards she said....wow, if you two keep talking...youll get me converted really fast! Heck yes!!!!!

5) "I ran into 2 posts this week...." [I have to add...as a Mom of Sister Empey...this is normal for her haha!!!  She is forever tripping or running into stuff...it's actually pretty hilarious...we as a family, just shake our heads :) ]

6) We had a lot of investigators in the church the week. And a lot of them were kids to watch a baptism of their friends. And we sat in the back. Seriously....I thought I would go hide in a corner because it was so crazy watching like 6 kids running in and out of the sacrament room. Ya....I thought you would all laugh at watching me. [ya...I can picture this too!]  "So glad Im not having any kids ANY time soon" [don't be fooled...she LOVES children!!!]

But anyways....so much for an hour huh?

Gotta go! Love you all! Have a fabulous week! And everybody... think of me walking in Brazil making everyones life better hahahahaha!!!!!!!

Love!
-Sister Empey

July 23, 2012

Hi family!

This hour always happens really fast and I wasnt really focused when I was reading and doing things. SO this letter will be really fast. Sorry!

But this week was a good week. It was really busy and we had TONS to do and that didnt get done. We found an investigator (in reality, the assistants found him) and he lives at the VERY edge of our area and down a hill. And so this weekend we walked up and down hills like all day. My body is really really really really really tired. I cant wait for this afternoon...to sleep! And I had a lot of stress this week. So you know how your body sometimes just gets run down and you crash? If it wasnt for Heavenly Father helping me, I would have already crashed haha.

But this tuesday was really cool. We had a training/conference with all the sisters in the mission. It was in Londrina. It was really cool being together with all of us. We learned a lot and want to start putting all the things into practice. I will admit it was really funny because there was like 20ish sisters and then 2 assistants (because they were giving training all day). Haha. Really funny because they felt a little out of place. But it was really cool.

Lets see....ya I ran out of things to talk about....but the work is going really well here in Londrina. And our mission is seeing A LOT of miracles happen.

The church is true....I love you all...and this week is going to be a week of miracles. For ALLLLLLLL of us!

Good luck with this week! Sorry this is so short! Next week Ill have a million of stories to tell! I promise Ill be focused next week!

-Sister Empey

My "Hump Day" party...I'm half way!!!

All the Sisters in our Mission at a Training Conference last week.  It was awesome!

Halfway mark this week! July16, 2012

Hello my loved ones!

How are you all doing?!?!?!?!?! Wow this week was crazy! Remember when those elders were working in our area. Welp...we were teaching a 10 yr old (his mom is a less active member) but the parents of this kid weren't allowing him to get baptized....because he was so young. But through some miracle, the elders being the crazy guys they are...they got permission for this kid to be baptized! And so we baptized and confirmed him this week!!!!!!! He has a lot of spirit and is a handful. But it was super cool to be able to see him baptised. And his parents went to the baptism tooo! The mom afterwards said that he will be the pride of their family and he will grow up to be an example for everyone else. How exciting! Anyways...hes really cool and he is liked a lot...obviously! Haha. Anyways..he is a "Present" for the ward from us :D

Anyways so Im training. In the picture Ill send is a picture of me and Sister Bullen and Sister Neves and the boy we baptized. Sister Bullen is from Alaska. And she has a really good spirit. She has a really strong will and desire to learn portuguese and to be a good missionary. I hope that she likes me and I can help her! She doesnt say it...but Im sure she is a little stressed out because of the language....ya, that was me just a few months ago! But she is really awesome and she is going to be a powerful missionary. The other night...she fell asleep with the lights on before she was praying....haha I forgot how tiring the field is at first. Now that Im an "old person" in the mission, I can say that I am experienced and know what it feels like....hahahahaha just kidding! Geez....sometimes we feel so inadequate and feel like, "what was I thinking?" or "what is Heavenly Father thinking?!". But I know that nothing in our life happens by circumstance and Heavenly Father really is shaping our lives and our spirits for His Kingdom.

Anyways....sorry it was so short...I feel like my time in the field...time in the day....is literally running by and I never have time to do all I want to do. Oh well...welcome to life!

Love you all and have a fabulous week!

-Sister Empey

My new companion, Sister Bullen is by my side, and Sister Neves with our baptism this last weekend!

A bunch of Sister Missionaries getting together!

July 9, 2012

Hi family and friends!

Guess what??!?!?!?! Im going to be a trainer for 12 weeks! Ya....talk about responsibility! This person is BRAND new in the mission. And Ill have to train her the ropes on the mission and stuff. WOW...these 12 weeks will be interesting! Im a little scared....haha

And look...I told you I would have a good week!

So what happened....welp...Ill tell you!

This week was super good. The Zone leaders and Assistants were thinking about helping out our zone. And they decided on helping out our area for a few days. So Thursday-Sunday, we had 2 elders helping us out. So they ate lunch with us with the members and then they just worked. Contacting people, talking to our investigators, and helping find people to be baptized this weekend. It was super fun and I think they liked it too. The first day was with an assistant and our zone leader. The next day was an assistant and other zone leader, and the next 2 were the 2 assistants. It was really fun and it helped us too. It helped us because we got excited during the day and we really were excited to work and talk to people. So it was really fun and really good too. It was also good because our area has only had sister missionaries for like 4 years. So they could do some work and talk to people and teach people that we cant do. So they had a lot of success.

Anyways. Remember me talking about that family that was inactive but the mom is a really good cook? :) Well they are coming to church every Sunday now!!! AND her son got ordained and he passed the sacrament yesterday. It was super cool and I was really really happy to see that! Success!

Also...we were going after a reference given to us by a zone leader in Londrina. So we found the house and the lady that answered is actually a member....but really inactive. So we talked to her for quite a while. She is super awesome. She is one of like 11 kids in the family. And the only member. Talk about hard. And she gave us food :D And the whole family live close together. Its really cool. They are a huge family and it is really cool to be able to see that. So I hope we can help her and her family. But its gotta be hard to be the only member in a family so big! Also...we taught part of the family 2 days ago. It was SO cool! Her son was there and listening A LOT! He was a rebel when he was younger...but we talked to him and invited him to church. He accepted and he showed up...by himself! And then during church he said he was praying to receive an answer...and he said yesterday that he received an answer and he wants to change and be better and change his life. WOW! SOOOO FREAKING AWESOME! So we were really pumped and excited! Go him!

Anyways....I forgot to mention...but I started to dream in Portuguese! Go me! Haha

Anyways...Ill get going but I hope you all have a fabulous week! Love you alllllll!

-Sister Empey

Yup...that's all!  (my favorite candy...how sad...it's all gone, and Mom just sent this to me!)

So this was us together with the 2 elders that helped us out. These are our 2 assistants. But Elder Angerbauer (the blond) is leaving this week for his house! Anyways....ya....good times

July 2, 2012

How are all of you doing this week?!

This week was good for us! And holy cow it was hot again! I was sweating this whole week! Its always like this! The Saturday and Sunday of fasting just happens to be the hottest day of the week and month haha. But anyways. It was super good.

But anyways...happy 4th of july! Dont worry, probably here Ill get fireworks too. They go off like every night. Especially on the weekend. Its because of soccer games that are going on. Haha. When the team that the people are rooting for score, they light off fireworks. Its kind of crazy...but welcome to Brazil. EVERYONE loves soccer. EVERYONE. And you know what team a person is with what they show in their house, what they wear, what they have in their car. Hahahahaa its really funny. But anyways...Happy 4th. Maybe Ill wear red or blue or white on 4th of July just to commemorate :D

Anyways this week we started visiting and teaching a girl and her mom. They are awesome. I love them. You can always tell if an investagator likes you if they cook for you. Did I mention that already? I think I mentioned that before like 10 times. But anyways, these investigators cooked dinner for us. It was super simple but it was perfect :D And this week the daughter ( 14yrs old) said that she and her mom likes it when we come to visit them :D The mom. Wow the mom is soooo busy all the time. And one night she was having some serious problems with her family when we came to visit and she was SUPER stressed out. BUT we talked to her, we read the BOM with her and when we left she said she felt sooo much better and was super happy we came by. But her problem is she is so busy she doesnt want to go to church!!! Haha she said she has too much to do and doesnt want to go. BUT we will keep working with her so that we talk her into going. Once she goes, she´ll never look back :D And she has a son that is like....HUGE!!!!! Like 7 feet tall I swear. And their family eats A TON! Like when we filled our plates (when we ate dinner with them)...they were all flabbergasted because we had so little on our plate. But really...we had a normal amount. But ya...really funny.

We have a recent convert here. She is 12 yrs old. And she is reallly awesome. But she was a little weak this past couple of weeks. And we found out why! She wasnt reading the BOM! But we made a plan with her to read every day. Anyways, it was reallly good. This last sunday we didnt have to wake her up for church. She was waiting outside of her gate for us to pick her up. And she is really excited because she wants to work with us this week. Like walk and teach with us. So we are really excited. Because she lights up when she can show others that she has a testimony. Anyways...our focus this week...lessons with members!

Ill send you guys a picture of our zone conference now!

Anyways, you all have a fabulous week! I know I wiiiiiiillllllllllllllllll!

Love,

Sister Empey

Our Zone - check out the really tall American Elder in the middle - he's our District leader -he's hilarious! :D