Monday, August 27, 2012

Hello family!

This week was a crazy one. I think I could just talk and talk about this week:) Lets see what I can get in in a short amount of time.

So I got transfered. I have a new companion, Sister Huniao. She is from Chile. And she has 4 months in the mission. She just finished being trained. Its been a learning experience for us so far, but its been good. Its actually really funny because I think of her as a Brazilian. Because in my mind, if shes not American, shes Brazilian! But I also forget that she has trouble with Portuguese still. Haha its actually really funny because she tries to say something and then she starts talking in spanish. And her Portuguese is REALLLY fast because she talks fast in Spanish. Haha its just really funny. Her accent is really fast. I forget that Spanish is hard too, to get translated to Portuguese. But shes still probably at where I was at when I had like 8 months in the mission. Oh...that was like 2 months  back....haha

So we opened a new area. And we moved into the house that was habited by elders.......enough said.....WOW...the house was SUPEEEERRR dirty. They left SO much stuff. They left so much stuff there that I called Sister Tavares to ask where we should put their clothes they left and stuff, and she got really mad. And sent the zone leaders to our house to take all the trash, clothes, and all other things and throw it away. And thats not all! Haha after that, she was mad enough that she took money out of the account of those elders that lived there before us and had someone come clean the house before we could live there. Haha it was really funny. But the house it great now! It will be a work in progress with the cleaning, and repairs that we will need to do. Ill give it until the end of the transfer. The end of the transfer...it will be great. Ill send you all a picture of our view from our doorway next week. I havent taken the picture yet. :)

So we met some members this week. We live on the same street and actually really close to a member familly. And they have an ice cream shop. Free ice cream whenever we want. So much for losing weight.......And we also met another family that I just love. They live on the very edge of our ward. And they have a bit of rough land :) So it reminds me of home a little bit. The air is a little thinner...dirt exists :) Anyways its pretty cool. And the mom is always cooking something delicious. She loves us already! I can see why...those elders....haha jk. Anyways, she is my new mom in the mission. I love her. And she and her husband love talking to people about the gospel. She is the BEST member missionary. Shes already helped us with a family and will continue to do so. Shes given us a lot of references and already went to visit investigators with us. Ya...she pretty much rocks in the mission world :) Anyways.....ya...

We had lunch (you know like lunch that missionaries have with all the members...like every day) with President and Sister Tavares. A little strange...but the food was SUPPPPPPEERRR good. It was great. It was cool just to sit in their house and just talk like they're normal members. Na....theyll never be just members to us haha. They're awesome.

Also, we had Stake Conference yesterday. Whoop whoop! I saw a lot of members from the first area where I served (same stake). It was awesome to talk to them and understand everything they said. Ya...time passes by really fast. I cant believe it was 6 months ago that I left that area. CARAZZZZY!

 

[Yea!!! When she was there last, she was fresh out in the mission field and couldn't understand anything! It is an incredible blessing how these missionaries pick up languages so very fast!]

Anyways....the 1hr is up.

Love you allll! Until next weeek. Hope this week will be a good week for all of you!!!

Love,

Sister Empey

A package from Sister Empey!

Last Monday we received a most wonderful package from Sister Empey!  When we first saw it, we were shocked that all the contents were there, because it was ripped and gaping open.  We knew from her letter inside that most, if not all of it, had made it's long journey clear from Brazil!  She had selected sandals for her sisters and me, and flip-flops for her Dad :)  She also included TONS of Brazilian candy that were some of her favorites, quite of few packages of Brazilian "koolaid", and a precious cd of pictures clear back from the beginning of her mission!!!  Here are just a few selected by me.  I hope you enjoy!

Sister Empey and friends.  I love this picture of her!  She's doing what she does best...loving people :)

Packages and letters from home!!!

Delicioso!

 Sister Empey is always mentioning how she loves to cook and learn Brazilian dishes from the members!

All the homes have gated entrys.  When you want to enter, you clap your hands (instead of knocking on at the door)

For Sister Empey's birthday, we "inked" the little hands of two of her little nieces, and measured ribbon the length of their armspan...with a note saying they were sending a BIG HUG for her birthday!  She LOVED it!!!

Your guess is as good as mine...any ideas???

Sister Alisha Checketts and Sister Empey on a very rainy day :)

Ummm, not sure what this is...Maybe Sister Checketts knows?!  Maybe it's related to the picture of Sister Empey's leg below!

This picture disturbes me...both legs were the same!  Mosquitoes?



This is a beautiful view overlooking the city of Londrina

August 20, 2012

Hello family and friends!

Welp....Im getting transferred AGAIN! So me and Sister Bullen won´t be together for another transfer. Im getting transferred to another area in Londrina. Haha I think Im going to stay in Londrina for all of my mission. Or close anyway. So I moved back to an area in the Londrina Stake. And me and my companion (I dont know who it will be yet, but not Sister Bullen) will open an area! Ahhh! It was open but for Elders. So we have a new ward and all that kind of stuff. So the area is called Centro Civico, in the central part of Londrina. And guess who is in our ward?!?!?!!? President and Sister Tavares! And now I dont have a choice! I HAVE to work hard and I have to have investigators at church and we have to be on our best behavior. How nerve WRACKING! And you know how there is a member in the ward that always cooks for us every week. Welp....we had lunch with Sister and President Tavares this week in their house. Haha I never thought that would happen. Anyways....things are always moving and changing huh? Im going to miss our ward. Its a great ward and they always cook really well. Oh Im a little bit nervous to open an area for sisters. I hope they like us!!!!!

Also, this week was a little different. There was a lot of things going on. Friday, we went to Londrina for the WHOLE day. We went to a couple of doctors appointments for my back. And I did my first session of Acupucture. CARAZZY! And we had lunch with the President and Sister Tavares because we were going to these appointments with Sister Tavares. And I received a priesthood blessing from President Tavares and the Assistants. I won´t lie, I felt the power of the Priesthood. It was an experience really special. Also, I felt the humility of the President and the power that he has. That all men (+12 years) have. He talked a little bit about Jesus Christ and how he accomplished a lot of miracles during his ministry. And how he gave that power to the apostles to do the same miracles. And how we have that power today. That men have the power of the Priesthood to have miracles happen in our lives. It was really cool to think about. The only difference between us and Jesus Christ is our faith and our dignity. I know the Priesthood is real and that miracles are possible in our lives.

So it was a special and different kinda day and I told Sister Bullen that she shouldnt expect a day like this again in the mission haha.

Also, there was 2 families that are inactive that were at church Sunday! It was super cool! I was super happy to see them! It was really exciting for me to see them. Also, all of the returned missionaries in the ward (and us) sang in a choir yesterday for a special musical number. Oh it was SOOOOO cool and everyone cried haha. It was really really awesome. They all brought their name tags and wore their name tags. And the thing that was funny was that they were so proud of their name tags and that they were missionaries, a lot of them kept them on until the end of sacrament meeting. It helped the young men to get excited for missions too. Anyways, it was cool.

Another hour gone. I love you all and I hope that this week is awesome for you all!!!!

Good luck!

-Sister Empey

August 13, 2012

Howdy all my family and friends.

How are you all this week?!!! Im doing just great in Brazil!

Im trying to be really creative with my email this week....but nothings comin... haha. This week was a good week. But we used up $26 R (thats money here) on traveling the city bus. We went to Londrina 5 out of 7 days this week! It was just a LITTLE bit annoying. But ya....poor Sister Bullen, the week was anything but normal for our normal schedule. She always asks what we are doing for the day because its always something different. Anyways we got a new district leader this week. And he shouts a lot on the phone. Our cell phone broke and its probably because its tired of him shouting. Its never bad...its just him being his excited self. Hes always asking if we are excited. Its kind of funny. ANYWAYS hes great and hes really excited to work! Word to the wise: as a mission leader (zone leader, assistant, district leader) its always better to be excited. Ya because we rode the bus sooo much, the bus driver knows us...ya how sad haha.

This week went by really fast. I feel like nothing happened of REAL importance. But I guess I can tell you all a sad story. One day this week, we got a phone call from the other sister missionaries. They needed help with a FHE because nobody was there and the family needed more people. And she said that there would be a bbq too so we should come and stuff. We were really far away...but for a BBQ of course we would go!!!! So we went....and we got there so late, we could only share a message and then leave to get home on time....so we DIDNT get a BBQ. HOW SAD! I was super hungry too....for some good meat you know? Bah....maybe this week we will get something done :D

Also...we made a cake for our ward mission leader for Father´s Day because he was complaining saying that he has a son out on a mission and they should get a chance to call the dads on fathers day haha. [yesterday was the Brazilian holiday for Father's Day] Anyways....we made a cake for him and told him he was our dad here. Haha it was fun and he was really surprised.

Good times good times. You all have a fabulous week ok??!?!?!

Love you alllllll!

-Sister Empey

[I thought I'd pass on some fun info from Katelyn's companion Sister Bullen.  She seems to include "more" info than Katelyn does...so it's nice to get a different take on Katelyn's happenings in Brazil - so these are Sister Bullen's words]

"Sister Empey and I along with Sister Gomez and Sister Passos were supposed to get back a little early to put up some decorations and get food together. But we had a really good lesson with a family that went longer that we had hoped. We have been trying to teach a daughter to a couple in our ward. The couple is married, and waiting to get sealed in the temple. But one of her daughters she has hope that she will be baptized, so she can be there too. So we´ve been trying to teach her, but can never catch her, or other things. But the Grandma who has previously not been interested or would leave the room when we were there, etc has started to really like us. So its been really neat to see how sometimes when one door isn´t open we have other opportunities. But anyways, we came by the house, and the only person at home was Grandma, but she not only invited us in, but we talked for a while. It was really good and she enjoyed talking to us. We even talked about how she loves fish and I talked about halibut and tried to explain the fish, but told her how big they can get, [Sister Bullen lives in Alaska] etc and it was fun. But while we were talking a couple of other family members came by and we had an opportunity to teach them too, so it was really good. When we left we walked into one of our investigators, [R]. It was the first time I had met him, because he has been really hard to get a hold of, and I think he just recently moved. But we met him along the high way walking home. And it was literally perfect timing, because of the directions that we were both going. But he is really cool and he knows this gospel is true and he and his wife want to get baptized but they have some things to work out first, so it was really neat to talk with him. So we ended up arriving at the house a little later than usual and rushing to get things ready, because the others were late too. So Sister Marques waited with Sister Moura at the gate and then downstairs while we finished getting things ready. But it was such a neat experience, because there were several moments that night where we had perfect timing, And it was so cool to see that no matter what you plan for, the Lord has a different plan in store. And even though we were late for Sister Moura, it was a good thing, because we were doing what we are supposed to be doing and talking to people that normally we don´t get to."

August 6, 2012

Hello my loved ones!

And so...I would like to start off this week talking about the weather. Everyone was worried about me because they thought that it would be really cold during the winter....but really....Im dying right now of heat. It hasnt rained in almost a month here so its even hotter! Probably after it rains it will cool off for about 2 weeks. But seriously....it wasnt all of what I expected. But Im greatful for it. Because its hard to walk in the cold. But then again, its hard to stay excited in the hot. So I decided Im never really happy haha.

But this week was a good week. We had a lot of fun. Guess what? I have a little bit of humor once and a while :D Crazy I know. But this week during lunch I said a couple of things and then one of the sisters that lives with us she laughed so hard she couldnt stop. Ya....Im even funny in portuguese....haha... SOMETIMES!

But lets see. We had a couple of really spiritual lessons with investigators this week. It was really good. Last night we had a FHE with a family that has dad thats not a member (yet) and a mom thats a returned missionary, and a daughter thats engaged to a nonmember. Wow...talk about stress in the family (especially for the mom). Anyways the lesson was super good and pretty much the whole family was crying by the end. Ya....we're good. :D

The more Im on a mission, the more I see the importance of our decisions. Seriously, how we need to be careful with the serious decisions in our life. And if we DONT use the Spirit and Heavenly Father in these decisions, its like, we are forgetting the most essential part and we most likely will be blinded with our own ideas of what WE think is right, and not what is actually the right decision for us.

Also. this sunday at church was a little crazy. We got a ton of references from members during church. And we also missed Relief Society because we were going after less actives for church, investigators, and all of it. Phew...and in the end...the investigators that went to church, were investigators that other people brought haha. Funny how that happens. But we really did all we could.

This week is going to be a REALLLY good week. I love mondays. Besides the obvious...that its P-Day...its a great day to sit back and think about how this next week will be. And make new goals and be ready for the upcoming week. But seriously. I know that if we try all we can, God will help us and we will see miracles in our lives.

This work is tough, I wont lie. And there are constant ups and downs (physically, emotionally, and mentally). But I know that its the work of the Lord and nothing can stand in its way. So we keep going and keep doing what we think we need to do...and what happens....happens because God needs it to happen.

Hope you all liked my letter today. Its a little bit longer today:D My next letter will be a little bit shorter because Ill be doing some other stuff for a baptism we are going to have (I dont know who it will be that we will help be baptized) but there is someone waiting!!!!!!!!!! And miracles happen every day!!!! Haha oh no! I think Ive turned into a geeky missionary! :)

Love you all! Have a fabulous weeeeeeek!

-Sister Empey