Merry Christmas Eve everybody!! Young mom recognized my face before she saw my name!

Hey Merry Christmas Eve everybody!!      Wow its hard to believe that Christmas is already here!  I am super excited to be able to talk to you all tomorrow!!!  Its going to be awesome!!  Its been a great week before Christmas here in Vera Cruz.  There's that great buzz around the city as everybody is getting more excited for Christmas and the buildings and houses are decked out with decorations and Christmas lights.  On Saturday our branch had a special Christmas activity.  It ended being a great turnout with a lot of members and family members and even some investigators that we invited.  The party started with musical performances by the primary and the young men, and then the branch president asked me and Elder Fernandes to do a number.  We sang the same song that our district had been practicing for the Christmas Conference, the one that the ZL wrote.  Haha I think that it was quite a bit better when the whole district sang it together with the accompaniment of the piano because we started on a note that made the song reeeeeeeeeeally high!   haha but the members liked it and it was fun  Then we got the special visit of Santa Claus!  or Papai Noel in Portuguese.  All of the kids were super excited to talk to him and he gave them all candy!  It was cool because I recognized Santa as the nephew of Jaci, one of our investigators that we have been visiting, so it was good for him to show up to a church activity.  After that we all enjoyed a huuuuuuuuge Churrasco!  Haha it was great and everyone was definitely satisfied.
     Its also the beginning of a new transfer here and while both me and Elder Fernandes stayed for another transfer, there have been a lot of changes in our district.  There is a new sister, ZL, and also now we have a new DL named Elder Da Costa.  He seems like a really funny and cool guy.  He was in the same district as Sister Gee back in the day and talks a lot about her, maybe you remember him Jamie.  Oh and also something that was cool happened while I was in Santa Cruz.  The DL wasn't available to do a baptismal interview for the ZL´s so the president allowed Elder Fernandes to go there to do it and while he did that I worked with the new ZL in Santa Cruz for an hour or so.  We knocked doors for most of the hour until we went to an appointment with one of their investigators.  She was a young mom named Tati and when she saw me she asked me if I had a relative that served a mission here because I looked just like the sister that began teaching her.  I asked her if it was Sister Gee that began teaching her, but she said she couldn't remember her name, but then I showed her a picture of Jamie and she got really excited and said that was the one!  She told me to send a hug to you Jamie.  The ZL´s said that she is starting to go to church every week now and that she is progressing really well.  Haha its really cool to see that your work here is still continuing and making a difference in people's lives.  Also that night we got to see a little bit of the Christmas activity there and yet again I met a handful of people that wanted to talk to me about Sister Gee.  Haha cool stuff!
     Wow its going to be sooooo cool to talk to you guys in just a little bit more than 24 hours!!!  I hope all you have an awesome Christmas together and can always remember the true meaning of Christmas.  But that's all for now  I love you all a ton and will talk to you very soon!!  Woohoo!!

      Love,  ELDER Gee

Staying in Vera Cruz for Christmas; Hard week; Barbara brought 4 friends to church!

Hellllo from Vera Cruz, still my home for the next 7 weeks!  Haha yep, transfers came and past and I successfully avoided them to stay here in Vera Cruz for a fourth transfer.  I'm really excited just because I really wanted to be able to pass Christmas with the members here that I already have a strong bond with.  Haha I was soooooooo anxious to hear the news these last couple of days and I had the feeling that I was gonna leave so It was such a relief when I heard the good news this morning.  I'm super happy and it should be an awesome upcoming transfer here in Vera Cruz. 
 
   This week I got to go to Porto Alegre for the Christmas Conference.  It was great and I learned a lot of good stuff.  The district talent show was really fun and the song that we practiced turned out really well!  I saw a ton of my roommates from the CTM and got to talk to them.  They all commented that my Portuguese had improved a lot which was nice to har, but also every single one commented that I was a little heavier than I was at the CTM which wasnt as nice haha :(  We went to an awesome buffet for lunch (there's the reason right there) and I got to meet a lot of new missionaries.  Yet again there were a ton who asked me about Jamie and how she was doing.  Good stuff.  Haha I thought the best part of the whole conference though was the end when all of the missionaries received mini preach my gospels from President and Sis Wright!  They are super cool and really convenient to carry around.  And then we picked up our boxes and everybody was asking me about mine.  Haha we didn't know what would be inside such a weird shaped box, but It was so cool when I opened it up and saw all of the decorations and presents that you guys gave me.  Elder Fernandes said he was jealous of me haha, but since I'm such a good guy I shared some of treats with him. 
   
   In other news, the end of this week was kind of hard for us.  We planned a lot of lessons for the weekend but the majority of them fell through and we didn't have anything to do on those days.  Also during the last couple of days I got the sure feeling that I was going to be transferred and I just kind of felt all around discouraged.  Also this week school ended for summer vacation and a lot of the members went on vacation so we had a low attendance at church,  but thankfully we had a great surprise.  Barbara, one of the young women in the branch brought 4 friends to church and introduced them to us.  We got to know them, and also got their addresses and marked a day to go and meet their families!!  Haha that really was encouraging and helped me get in a better mood.  We still haven't had the baptismal interview with Tati because she hasn't been able to completely give up smoking yet, but she is trying hard and making improvements.  That is one of the hard things about this region of Brazil, everyone here works in tobacco plantations or factories so everybody smokes, and it's always quite a battle to quit. 
   
  But anyways, I'm super happy today because of the news that I'm staying here for Christmas, and I'm even more happy that I'll get to talk with y'all in just 8 short days.  Thanks for all the love, prayers, emails and support!  Much love from Brazil!

Elder Gee

Christmas conference next week! Transfer right before Christmas?!?

   Hey hey hey!  Whats up everyone?? Hows everything going in Utah??  Its beginning to feel more like Christmas here.  There isn't any snow on the ground, but now there are a lot of Christmas lights and decorations around the city.  The branch has also been planning some Christmas season activities that have been really fun and helped me get in the Christmas mood.  And also this next week the mission is going to have a Christmas Conference in Porto Alegre!!  I'm suuuper excited about it.  Our district has been practicing a musical number that one of the zone leaders wrote and we will sing there for the program.  It should be great and I'm really excited to see some of the missionaries that I haven't seen since we were roommates back in the CTM. 

     Me and Elder Fernandes had another good week of work.  We taught a good number of lessons, but unfortunately we only had 1 investigator that attended church yesterday.  We will work hard and try visit a ton of people so we can get some more this next Sunday.  We had to push back the baptism for Tati another week because we weren't able to have division with the district leader to come down and do the interview, so we are really hoping that it can work out this week because it is already the last week of the transfer!  Planning the baptisms is always a little difficult and stressful because sometimes its hard have the interviews or to find a time that works for everybody to go to Santa Cruz and set up everything, but they always end up working out just fine and always are the greatest experiences.  Something that was kinda cool that happened this week was when we had Elder Rollins stay with us for a day.  The leaders had a conference in Porto Alegre so his companion went with ZL´s and he stayed with us.  Haha it seemed kind of weird working in a 3 some, but it was fun. 

     Wow so transfers are gonna happen this next week so by next Monday I will know whether I´m staying here in Vera Cruz for 7 more weeks or if I get transferred to a new area.  Under normal circumstances I would think that there is a really good chance that I will be transferred since I have already been here for 3 transfers, but I'm think that Pres. Wright might try to limit the amount of missionaries being transferred since it was a shorter transfer than usual and it is happening right before Christmas.  We will just have to wait and see.  Either way would be alright with me, but I think I would prefer to stay in Vera Cruz just for 1 more transfer so I can celebrate Christmas with the members that I already have a good friendship with. :)

     But anyways, I hope you guys have a great upcoming week!  I love you all and wish you the best!  Oh,and only 2 more weeks till I get to talk with you guys on Christmas!!  Cheeaaaaaaahoooo!!

Much love,

Elder Gee

Investigators progressing; Typical weekly routine; Branch organist

Hey there everybody! What have you all been up to lately?  Happy December!!  Thats pretty crazy that its already the month of Christmas, are you all excited??  It should be nice to have a good Christmas break from school and work in a couple of weeks.  Everything's great here, but wow!  This week went by sooo fast!  It feels like it was just a couple of days ago when I was writing you guys an email last Monday.  Haha is it just me or are you guys feeling that too?
    Well Elder Fernandes and I had another good week teaching.  This week we continued working with our investigators and quite a few are progressing, especially Tati.  She really wants to get baptized and we are hoping that she can get the interview and be baptized this week!  Also we started teaching a women named Jo and her 3 kids.  She has a 12 and a 10 year old boy and a 9 year old girl.  Their family seems really cool and are really nice.  We were super excited yesterday when they all came to church and we are looking forward to continue teaching and helping them out.
     Haha so like I said this week just blew by and it feels like there isn't much new news to share with you guys.  I guess I will just talk a little bit more about our weekly routine here in Vera Cruz because I don't think I've really talked about that in much detail.  On Tuesday morning is when we have our weekly planning session and talk about which investigators we should focus on, how we can help them out, and also are goals for lessons, investigators at church, new investigators etc.  Also we can decide what lessons we should teach and do practices to help us think of scriptures to use and questions to ask to make lesson more effective.  On Tuesday night we have a branch family night which is always really fun and helps our branch grow more united.  There is always a spiritual thought along with games and a toooon of food!  On Wednesday night at 8 o'clock we play soccer as a branch.  This is really fun and its really a great way to get investigators to get to know the some of the members of the church.    Haha I really enjoy it even though its clear that I don't have quite the soccer skills that the other Brazilian guys do :)  On Thursday morning we have district meeting in the chapel in Santa Cruz.  Those meetings are cool and the training can really help us out in the work.  Because our branch is brand new and small we have a member that lives in Santa Cruz that helps out our branch, and after district meeting we go eat lunch in his house.  He is a chef so that is always the besssst lunch haha!!  On Friday we eat with the missionary work leader, Irmão Pablo, and we have a brief meeting with him where we talk about our investigators and how they are progressing and how the branch can help out with the work.  Saturday is usually the most successful day for us because nobody is working so we try to visit as many people as we can to remind them and invite them to church the next day.  Then on Sunday church starts at 9 o'clock in the morning.  We usually go early and meet up with some members and then go pick up investigators if they need a ride.  I'm the organist for our branch even though I don't play very well, but I really like being able to help out with the music.  And then Monday, P-day!! Haha P-day is obviously my favorite day, because it's the day I can hear from all y'all!  But yeah that's a normal week in Vera Cruz.  Pretty cool huh??  It's really an awesome area and I'm hoping that I dont get transferred because it would be really cool to spend Christmas here.
     So I hope you all have a wonderful week!  Thanks for the emails and prayers!  You guys are all too cool!!  Have a great Christmas season!

Love your bro/son/relative/amigo

Elder Gee

Good week; Baptimal date for Tati!; Another talk in church, enduring to the end;

Hello everyone!!  It sounds like everyone had a good thanksgiving!!  And congrats Kyle on getting your Eagle, that's awesome to hear!!  This week has been a good one like it always is here in Vera Cruz.  Thankfully the weather has cooled down this week which is a lot nicer when you are walking throughout the city all day.
   
  Elder Fernandes and I were able to find quite a few new investigators this week.  A lot of them seemed really interested so we are really excited to continue visiting them and hopefully they continue to progress.  Something that was really cool was that we were able to mark a baptismal date with Tati!!  I think I mentioned her before, she is a neighbor and a really good friend of Marilene and is really interested in the church.  She came to church again yesterday and last night we went to her house for a short lesson and that is when she told us that she wanted to be baptized!  Haha I was really surprised, because we were planning on bringing up the topic of baptism and then invite her, but she brought it up before us!  Haha It was an awesome way to end the week and now we are both super pumped!  One thing that has kind of been lame though is that Leoni still hasn't been coming to church.  She is the mom of Douglas and the one that called to us while we were in the street and told us she wanted to start going to church again and be baptized.  We have been visiting her a ton since that day and she had been going to church for the first couple of weeks, but now she has been calling us every Sunday morning before church saying that they wont be able to make it.  It's kinda frustrating because she always is saying that for sure she will come the next week, but then she just keeps coming up with new excuses.  The one yesterday was that she was just too tired to go.  So we are really going to stress the importance of going to church with her this week and hopefully she will understand and take the effort to attend next Sunday with Douglas.
   
    Yesterday, I also gave another talk in church.  This time the branch president warned me a couple of days before so I got time to prepare better.  Haha it went a tooooon better than the one that I gave a few weeks ago!  Its amazing to see how much easier it was when I was able to prepare for the talk rather than trying to just get up there and talk without prior notice.  Also it was probably a little easier since my Portuguese is improving, but I am pretty sure that planning was the biggest difference.  The topic that Pres Henkes gave me was enduring to the end, which is a pretty cool topic because it applies to everybody in the world and its something that all of us still have to continue to do.  I just talked a little bit about how sometimes when people think of enduring to the end they think that that means we have to give up doing fun things in this life and if we can survive we can find happiness in the next life.  But in reality the people that keep the commandments have true happiness in this life and are blessed both spiritually and temporally.  I know that this is true and the reason I am here, to share this glad message with others so they can find this same joy that comes from living in harmony with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I hope all of you guys can remember this throughout your daily lives and can continue on the strait and narrow path that leads to eternal life :)

     But yet again thanks sooooooo much for all the emails you guys!  I love hearing from all of you and about whats going on in your lives.  I cant wait for Christmas when I can talk to you guys face to face!  Hopefully I will still be here in Vera Cruz cuz I'm really loving it and would like to stay here another transfer.  Haha and also Irmã Jo is really hoping Ill be here because we would call from here house and she wants to Sister Jamie Gee again :D  But anyways,  love y'all a bunch!! See ya later!!

Love
Elder Gee

Elder Fernendes, learning Portuguese quicker; Nrew investigator, Tatiani

Hey everybody! Whats going on?  Are you guys excited for thanksgiving??  Haha I'm not gonna mind missing Thanksgiving dinner as much as other people would, but I definitely am going to miss pumpkin pie.  Hows school/work going?  The first week of this is new transfer has been a pretty good one!  I got to meet my new companion on Wednesday, his name is Elder Fernandes and he is from the interior of Sao Paulo.  He´s a cool guy, and hes always super happy.  Haha he is always just making jokes, singing songs in English or just laughing about something as we are walking which is good because it helps us stay excited even when its been a long day. Its been good having a companion that doesn't speak English.  Its definitely a lot harder to express yourself well, but now I am realizing a ton of important words that I don't know and I have been jotting them down in my notebook and then I can look for the translation in my dictionary afterwards.  I'm sure that if I work hard, I'm going to improve more with the language this transfer than I did the first couple of transfers.  Also being with a companion that doesn't know the area is quite a bit different.  I wasn't used to deciding where we should go and leading the way before, but really its not that hard.  Vera Cruz is a pretty small city so I feel comfortable being able to get to all of our members and investigators' houses and that kind of stuff.  So it sounds like Melissa got transferred, wow that's pretty crazy.  Is she liking the new area?? 
   
 This last week we focused on visiting all of the investigators that we have already been visiting for a while to introduce them to Elder Fernandes, but we did end up meeting and teaching a new investigator that seems really cool.  Her name is Tatiani and she is the neighbor and really good friend of Marilene.  Marilene had been talking a lot about the church to Tati and she was really interested and asked for us to come by and visit her.  The visit was really good and she came to church the next day and really liked it!  She said that she wants to keep coming so we are really excited about her and hope that she keeps progressing.  But the work here is continuing going great here in Vera Cruz.  Like I said we still have a lot of investigators and we are trying really hard to keep our little branch growing. 
  
  Well everything is well here!  Thanks for all the emails and support!!  I miss you all and am always praying for you guys!  Have an awesome thanksgiving and eat a lot!! Oh and elder Fernandes wanted me to tell you guys this joke...  What happens when you mix a cow and a smurf?  You get blue cheese!  Haha what a character.   But anyways see ya guys later!  Tchau thau

Elder Gee

100 degrees in November; Elder Stevens transferred; Helena baptized!

Hey there everybody!!  How you all doing up there?  How's the SNOW?  I've been feeling the exact opposite as the temperatures hit 100 a couple times this week. Wow, we are already coming to the close of another transfer.  This morning we heard the news that everybody expected, I´m staying here while Elder Stevens will be transferred.  I still don't know who is gonna be my new companion because the transfers are a day later than usual so I wont meet him until tomorrow.  But I'm just really glad and excited that I get the opportunity to stay here in Vera Cruz for some more time.  I already have grown to love the area, the members, and investigators that we are teaching.  This definitely should be an exciting transfer. 

     But in other news... on Saturday we had a baptism!!  Helena decided that she was ready to take the step and Elder Stevens got to baptize her on his last weekend here.  It was such a happy day for us and for her.  Haha I have probably already mentioned this but Helena is TERRIFIED of bodies water.  In some of the last visits before the baptism, we could tell that that for some reason she was a little hesitant to be baptized. She had been attending church frequently, living all of the commandments, and seemed to be really enjoying all of the activities and making friends with all of the members so we weren't really sure what the problem was.  After some long visits of just talking to here and trying to understand why she was preoccupied, she finally told us that she wasn't sure if she could handle being dunked into the completely into water. But she knew that she needed to be baptized and we helped her to be calm and assured her that all would be well.  On the day of the baptism, I could still tell that she was a little nervous, but she got into the font just fine and everything worked out fine.  Haha she gave the biggest sigh of relief when she came out of the water and then a couple minutes later she was back to being her normal super happy self.  It was such a great experience and one that I wont ever forget.  So we did have 2 baptisms set for this last Saturday, but it didn't end up working for Leoni.  She just felt that she needed a little more time going to church before she is prepared to be baptized.  We are definitely gonna keep helping her and hopefully we can get her feeling prepared soon.  Its easy to get frustrated when you feel like some is completely ready to be baptized and you really want it to happen before the end of a transfer, but I've already learned that its very important to be patient with investigators.  Our purpose is just to teach and help them understand the gospel of Christ and then invite them to receive and follow it. 

     Also this last week when our district leader came to do the baptismal interviews, I got to go to Rio Pardo again.  Haha its always awesome to go there because I feel super famous.  All the members that we talk to are super excited to meet the brother of Sister Gee.  So ya I got to meet some new people there and had a great time.  But ya that about sums up another awesome week here in Brazil.  I'm definitely learning a lot and having a good time.  Thank you all for the emails and all the support.  I love each of you and think about you often.  Have a great day/week and I cant wait to hear from you all next week!   Everyone that is reading this email is the bomb!!!!
From your pal,
Elder Gee

    

Day of the Dead; Helena and Leoni; Vera Cruz is truly an awesome area

Hey there guys, how is everybody doing?  Wow Kyle and Megan are both at Disneyland right now?  That sounds super fun right now!  How is Justin liking being an only child this week?  And how was Halloween for you guys? Haha I found out that Halloween here in Brazil isn't quite as big as it is back the US.  We saw a couple of kids dressed up as witches that night but that was it.  The real holiday happened a couple of days later when it was Day of the Dead.  Everybody got the day of and every single thing in the whole city was closed.  There was literally nobody in the streets that afternoon and it made it seem like the holiday was day of the dead city.  It seemed just to be like the Brazilian equivalent of Memorial day but It seemed like a bigger deal here.  We hardly saw anybody until we passed down the street of a cemetery where the whole street was lined with cars.  But it was really nice during the night because everybody was home and we were able to teach a lot of lessons :)
  
  It's been a pretty good week here since I've last emailed.  We have been working really hard with our investigators Helena and Leoni to prepare them to get baptized soon.  We have already taught them all of the lessons, they have been going and enjoying church, and they truly want to be baptized but they are both  just a little hesitant and want to keep on putting the date a little farther back.  We set a date with them for the 10th and I think it will work out and they will be baptized, but we just have to keep visiting them frequently, give them support, and keep on praying for them.  We really hope that it works out and that we can have a couple baptisms before the end of the transfer.  That would be nice.
   
 Speaking of the end of the transfer, its already the last week of the transfer now which means next time I write you guys I will know whether I'm staying here in Vera Cruz or if I'm gonna go to a different city.  Last transfer was pretty suspenseful while we were wondering which 2 missionaries would stay here, and which 2 would leave, but this time I'm almost 100% sure that I'll still be here because Elder Stevens will for sure get transferred.  He has already been here for 4 transfers which is almost 6 months!  Haha the mission president basically already told him he was leaving during his interview last week.  President Wright asked him how long he had been here in Vera Cruz and when Elder Stevens responded, he said something along the lines of well I can't tell you 100% that you're going to be transferred, but yeah you're gonna get transferred.  So now the real suspense is waiting to see who my new companion will be or maybe if we get 3 more missionaries and reopen Vera Cruz B.  I'm kinda hoping that I get a Brazilian companion that cant speak English very well because I spoke a ton of English with my first 2 companions and I think the language is coming slower to me because of this.  But we will have to see, I´m just excited that I can stay here in Vera Cruz because it truly is an awesome area.  We are still getting a lot of references from our recent converts and Its awesome to see and help our little branch here grow.  So ya that about sums are week up :)  But anyways, I truly am enjoying it here but I still miss and think of you guys a bunch.  Keep on writing me letters to let me know how the world over there is going.  I love you all and cant wait to see you in a bit!  Tchau tchau!

Love,
Elder Gee

Baptism that fell out of the sky; Tons of help from recent converts

 Whats up people?  How are all y'all??  How is school/work/everythingelse coming along??   Its pretty good down here in the south. Im really glad that its P-day today because I am super tired.  I don't know why, I haven't done anything exhausting recently, but I just feel dead.  It's already been 4 weeks into this transfer which is crazy surprising.  This transfer feels like it has gone a toooon faster than my first one, but then again I still have a couple of weeks left.  But I'm definitely enjoying it here.  Vera Cruz is just a really cool to serve.  The city is really peaceful and the members in our brand new branch always want to help out with the work and have it continue to grow.  Its also really nice because we legitimately have the best house in the mission that includes a sofa, big porch with washing machine and dryer for our clothes, nice kitchen, and a massive study room, not to mention the only house with a heater/air conditioner.  Haha I kinda wish that I didn't get this apartment first because I don't fully appreciate it yet and now I'm sure my next one will be a down grade :P.  

     But anyways, we had another good week of work.  The coolest thing was when we were walking down the street and then a lady started yelling to us from here house.  She was like `Hey are you the mormons?  yes? Come inside come inside!` It turns out that her 11 year old son named Douglas was baptized a couple of years ago.  They werent able to go to church very often while it was only in Santa Cruz but they heard that there was a branch here now and wanted to start going again.  The mom (named Luani or something spelled similar to that) wasn't baptized at the time as Douglas was because she was living with someone, but now they are separated and she told us that she wants to be baptized!  Haha it was soo cool!  If everything works out she will get baptized on the 10th along with Helena and hopefully Terezina.  Haha it seemed like a baptism that just fell out of the sky ;)  But we've been getting some new investigators with a ton of help from our recent converts.  Renan, a young man that was baptized last transfer, just called us up one day and said he wanted to go on visits with us to some of our investigators, and also he introduced us to some of his neighbors that he wants to teach.  Maicon, who is 17 and now preparing for his own mission has also been going with us to visit Terezina and is becoming friends with her and her daughter, and Jaci basically knows all of Vera Cruz and is giving us a lot of referrals.  There help is really helpful and encouraging and its making a big difference.

     We also had the awesome privilege of having Presidente Wright (Mission pres) joining for our district meeting.  It was really cool to see him and Sister Wright and talk a little bit.  He interviewed us all and gave little bits of advice to help us.  They are both really cool leaders and are really good at supporting and helping each and every missionary.  Well I think that about sums everything up.  Im doing fine and it sounds like you all are too.  Thanks for everything!!]

From the goodest guy

Elder Gee

Great week in Vera Cruz; Spoke in church! Terzina moved... right next to a new member family

Hello there,  How is everybody?  Its been a pretty good week here in Vera Cruz. Its already become really hot down here and now I´ll spend an extra hour in the sun each day because of daylight savings. Its been hot enough for me to be actually enjoying the rain today :).  Hows the weather in Utah?  Oh I just heard that there is already snow,  crazy!!  Maybe I wont mind this heat as much after all ;)  How is everything else in Utah? Is there anything super exciting going on that I should hear about?   

     We have a couple of investigators that are really progressing quickly and they should get baptized soon.  One of them is a woman named Helena.  She is really sweet and always happy.  She has been going to church consistently for the last month or so and she is going to all the activities as well. She really wants to get baptized, but just wants to take it slowly and not be rushed. One of the problems is that she is terrified of water :(  But she really has a testimony knows she wants to follow this path, so we have a baptismal date set with her in 2 weeks.  At the beginning of the week we went to visit another one of our really good investigators, Terezina and her daughter who both want to get baptized as well.  When we knocked at there house a different person answered and told us that they had moved away!  We were super surprised and didn't have her number to contact her.  We were both really scared that we had lost her and wouldn't be able to teach them anymore.  Luckily for us, they happened to move right next to a recent convert and saw us as we went to visit them.  The move actually turned out to be a great thing because they have already became friends these members, and also they live closer to the church. Terezina is still doing great and is progressing. Her testimony is continually growing and she has already read over half of the Book of Mormon, but she seems to want to take her time before getting baptized  too. They have had a hard time coming to church because her daughter Diana is really pregnant and the baby could come at any moment.  They think that it will be a lot easier after the birth and it will also be easier because they live closer to the church now.

    

  Yesterday was a good day at church and we had a lot of people show up  including an investigator named Rodrigo which was a complete surprise.  We had been teaching him for a couple of weeks but he didn't seem to interested and never ended up keeping the commitments that we gave him.  We decided that we probably wouldn't visit him any more with his lack of progress but he surprised us by being there and told us that he really wants to keep teaching him and that he would come back next week!  Haha the sacrament meeting was interesting because I ended up having to give a talk.  The branch president asked me to give it right before the meeting started which kinda surprised me.  I've never been that great of a public speaker in English let alone in a different language so I was kinda worried about how it would turn out. Luckily for me it was just a 5 min talk so it wasn't too bad and I just talked a little bit about the principles of the gospel.  It still was kinda rough, filled with awkward silences as I tried to think of what to say and how to say it but it was a good learning experience.  I'm just glad that our branch is super cool and loving  so I wasn't embarrassed while I was giving the talk.

     So anyways, life is good! Thanks for the emails you guys always send. They are always awesome to read!  I love you all and am always praying for you... so do the same for me!  I cant wait to hear from you next week!  

Love

Elder Gee

American companion, Elder Stevens;

Oí família! Whats up? How is autumn back in the states?  I'm doing well as usual and had a pretty fun week!  I'm already accustomed to working with Elder Stevens now and its been good to be able meet more investigators and recent converts better with the 2 areas combining.  Its been fun to have an American companion because its a lot easier to joke around and stuff, but I'm probably not learning Portuguese as fast now :P. 
   
  So the coolest thing was that I went on divisions with Elder Day again, but this time I got to go to Rio Pardo.  I was really excited because I remember Jamie talking a lot about it and how much she liked it.  I imagined that the city itself would be really similar to Vera Cruz because they are both little cities right next Santa Cruz, but when I arrived I was surprised to see how different it was.  Rio Pardo seemed a lot older than Vera Cruz, all the streets had buildings were more old fashioned.  The church there is still growing well there and we got to teach a lot of cool investigators that they have.  I only got to meet 1 family of members but they were really cool!  I met your mae Jamie, Fernanda and her family!!  Haha when I introduced myself to her she got soooo excited because she absolutely loved Sister Gee.  We sat in her house and we talked for a long time and she shared a ton of cool experiences that she had with Sister Gee.  She also showed us some pictures and letters that you sent that the greatly treasured.  Haha and do you remember Arthur Jamie?   I'm sure you do, he was one of the coolest kids ever and me and Elder Day joked around with him for a long time.  I'm still really bad at remembering Brazilian names, but I think that it was Rubia and also the dad  were there to  Wow it was such a cool experience to meet the whole family and have such and have such a strong connection to them.  But they are all doing great and really miss you.  They told me to make sure that you come visit them again someday :)  We stayed there for more than an hour just having a great time, and Fernanda didn't want "the brother of Sister Gee" to leave was trying to get us to stay for even longer when we had to run to our next appointment.  It was also kinda cool to be able to stay at the same apartment that you stayed at on the other side of the world.  It was pretty nice, and a lot better than the one in Santa Cruz that I visited. 
   
  But its been nice here in Vera Cruz as well.  The weather has been really nice without the rain and it hasn't been to hot. We didn't have to many people at church this last week and only had 1 investigator which was kind of disappointing.  It seemed like everyone was visiting family during the holiday "kids day" which is a really big deal here. Haha I felt ripped of since there isn't wasn't of these days in the United States, but then I remembered how dad used to always say that there is 1 Father´s day, one Mother´s Day, an then 363 kids' days :)  Oh and one day when we went to visit one of our good investigators that seems to be progressing a lot, we learned that she had moved!  Luckily she is still here in Vera Cruz and we know what street she lives on, but we don't know her address so we hope that we kind find her in the next couple of days. 

So like you said dad, it would probably be better to have the emails sent on Sunday from now on if that's possible because the hour difference will change and also we have been trying to come earlier than before.  But anyways I'm loving my mission, learning a lot, serving a lot, walking a lot, and also being blessed a lot.  This really is a great work and I'm glad that I have this opportunity to devote some time to serving the lord.  Thanks for all of the letters, emails, prayers and support.  I love all of you and wish the best for you!!

General Conference; Mission age announcement!?! New comanion Elder Stevens

Whats up everyone!!  How is it going?  Its been a great week here with my new companion Elder Stevens.  I already know him well because he was in the other companionship that worked here in Vera Cruz.  Its been really good working together so far.  I thought that it would be so much worse and a lot more lonely living here just us two, but really its been kinda nice.  Its more peaceful now, being a lot easier to clean clothes now and we have more time to shower and get ready.  Because we combined 2 areas into 1 we have a ton of investigators now.  Its been kind of crazy but having the problem of too many investigators is one of the better problems to have :)  But we are hoping that we can keep up the same pace with just us two as it was when it was us 4 so we are gonna have to be working hard.  Haha its also been nice with all of our recent converts that we are teaching because they usually have friends or family over so we are teaching a lot more "lessons with member present" which is always a good thing.  The highlight of the week of course was watching general conference.  It was a lot more difficult to understand in Portuguese  but it still was a great and spiritual enriching experience.  And how about the big announcement!?!?  I was sooo surprised by it and I imagine that its making quite a stir there in Utah county. I can think of so many different people that I know that could turn there papers in today if they wanted to.  Haha and I also thought to myself right when it was announced that Kyle could be on a mission before I get back.  Wow that's such a crazy thought, I'm crossing my fingers that he isn't able to leave too quickly ;)  Sorry for writing a short email, I just don't have too much news today.  Did you guys get the letter from mission ties yet?  That one was a little more detailed.  But do you guys have any questions for me?  Thanks for all the emails and keep on sending them :D  I love you all.

Elder

Happy October; One area in Vera Cruz is closing; Six baptisms!!

Hey there, Happy October.  So we were really anxious to see the transfer news so we came here earlier than usual.  One of the areas here is closing :( but it looks like Im gonna stay here with Elder Stevens while Elder Escobar and Nagliati are transferred.  Im kinda bummed because we were hoping that both areas would stay opened and I wanted to have one more transfer with my dad, but Im really glad that I am staying here in Vera Cruz.  Elder Stevens is a cool guy so it should be a good transfer :)  On saturday we had the 6 baptisms!  It was a great day and one of the most amazing thing that Ive ever experienced.  There is a lot to write about so Im gonna send a mission ties letter about the rest and just send some pictures right now.  We will probably come back and quickly read e-mails later today.  Bye bye!

New investigators; Jacir accepted challenge; 6 baptisms coming up in Vera Cruz!

What's up everyone? Hows life?  Everything has been good here :)  This week Elder Nagliati and I focused on finding new investigators and also with the investigators that were really progressing.  It was good because we found a lot of interested people, and when we had quite a few of them come to the church this Sunday!  There was even this one man named Feliepe that we met at a market on Saturday night who came up to us, asked us what church we represented, where the church was located, what time it started, and then if he would be welcome to make a visit!  Haha it was awesome!  He ended up being the first person at the chapel yesterday morning, so we are really excited about him and want to continue teaching him.
  
 On the 20th everyone here was celebrating on of the biggest holidays here in Rio Grande do Sul.  The reason for the celebration is because about 100 years ago Rio Grande tried to declare Independence from Brasil but the lost the war on September 20.  Haha, I don't really understand why they celebrate losing a war, but its a day filled with celebration and state pride.  But anyways on this day we went on divisions and Elder Nagliati went to Rio Pardo while I stayed here with Elder Day.  He is a cool and guy and is really funny.  I was honestly kind of nervous because prior to this I usually followed Elder Nagliati to all of the places, but on that day I had to be the leader and make all the decisions.  It was also kind of hard because he didn't know our investigators so I had to make most of the conversation.  But it ended up being a great day and was a good learning experience.

  Another great thing was Jacir is progressing a ton!  We went to his house on Friday to help him repair a wall in one of the rooms, and after we had finished we started talking about how his quest to stop smoking was coming along.  He told us that he hadn't smoked for over 24 hours!  We were so happy for him.  Then Elder Nagliati asked him if on Sunday he could smoke his last cigarette to prepare for his baptism this coming Saturday.  He quickly said no which dampened our enthusiasm for a little bit, but then he continued to say that he didn't need to wait until then and he proudly said that the cigarette that he smoked was his last one ever!  I cant even describe how happy all of us were.  So it looks like he, Silvia, and Eloisy will all be baptized this Saturday.  The other companionship here is also planning on having 3 more, so Saturday will be a historic day for Ramo Vera Cruz! These 6 baptisms will more than double the number of baptisms since it opened a couple of transfers ago.  Its great to see to see the growth and everyone is getting excited and really trying to help in the effort!
   
 Anywho, take care everybody!  Oh ya, I got the package from the family this week too.  Thank you so much and also thanks for all of your support and for everything else!  you guys are awesome!  See ya later!!

Elder Gee

Knocking a lot of doors, getting in 50% of the time; Gradual improvement in the language

Hey everyone! 
It's been a pretty good week here in Vera Cruz.  This week we focused on finding new investigators, so me and Elder Naglitati have been knocking a lot of doors.  It's been good and I'm surprised at how many times we get let in and are able to teach a lesson.  I would guess that 50% of the time we are able to enter so we are teaching a lot and meeting a lot of new people.  Its still hard to understand people, but its cool to see the gradual improvement that I'm making. 
One of the things that I thought was cool was when I made my first invitation for baptism to a woman named Terezina.  Haha I was kinda nervous and didn't want to say anything that didn't make sense, but I explained to her the importance of baptism and gave her the invitation.  Haha apparently she understood because accepted and seemed really excited for the opportunity. Woohoo!
   On Friday was the Independence Day for Brasil.  It was really fun and I got to have churrasco for the first time in Rio Grande do Sul.  We made it with our neighbors, Joceani and also a recent convert named Sergio.  The food was great and it was really fun to spend a part of the holiday with them.  We also bought a ton of food so we got to reheat the extras in the oven and have them for dinner too!  Coisa boa :)
   Oh and I saw the great news from Celecta and Ryan, a girl!!  Congratulations!!  I'm so excited for you!  I'm always praying for you two and also the rest of you guys as well.  I love you y'all!  Have an awesome week!!

Love Elder Gee

Lots of investigators; Teaching is scary;

Hey there family!!  How is everybody doing??  I've been out in the field for 2 weeks now.  It's definately quite a different expereince than the CTM, but I'm pretty sure I like it better :)  

Elder Nagliati and I are teaching a lot of investigators but there is one family in particular that we are really excited about.  The parents are named Jacir and Silvia and they have a 19 year old son, Luis Feliepe and a 14 year old daughter Eloisy.  Elder Nagliati has been teaching them since before I arrived and they are starting to gain really strong testimonies in the gospel.  Jacir smoked a ton before but he made a commitment to stop and hasn't had a problem since!  The family has also attended church every week for the last month or so and are really enjoying it!  They all have such a strong desire to follow Gods commandments and be the best they can be.  We think that Jacir, Silvia, and Eloisy will be baptized this month!  Its a little more complicated with Luis Feleipe because he has a pregnant girlfriend, but he has that same desire to do what is right and hes planning on getting married as soon as possible!  We are also teaching a lot of new investigators and hope that we can get them on track for baptism as well.  

 

Teaching is always a little scary, but its nice because Elder Nagliati helps me with anything that I'm having trouble explaining.  It is still soooo hard to understand people :(  I can understand Elder Nagliati really well and I'm wondering if that is just because I'm constantly hearing him or if its because he is from Sao Paulo where i was trained for 9 weeks by Paulista instructors.  But yeah when trying to understand others I have to pay 100% attention and try to catch all the words.  It's tough, but I know that I try my hardest and all I can the Lord will help me turn my weaknesses into strengths. :)  

 

Well I'm still meeting new people that know Jamie :)  On Sunday there was a family that visited from Rio Pardo that knew Jamie really well.  I think the mans named was George and he said that it was at his house where you skyped us on Christmas.  Haha they were all really fond of you and told me about how you could play the guitar really well and sing gaucho songs. Its awesome to see you many people know you and to see first hand all the lives you have blessed, and it makes me even more excited to be able to serve others too.  Anyways I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!  Until next time,

 

Elder Gee

Hello from Vera Cruz; The famous Sister Gee;

Hello from Vera Cruz!!  Ha ha I see that you guys already heard that I'm here, I expected the same because I've already met soo many members that knew Jamie and were super excited!!  Crazy huh?  What are the chances of out of all the areas in all of the missions in the world my first area would be a the same place my sister served?  Probably the same as being in the same district in the MTC as your sister :P  Ha ha but its amazing here!  My companion actually is Brazilian mom :)  His name is Elder Nagilati and he is soooo cool!  He has been out for about a year and is so good at meeting new people and teaching so we are already teaching tons of lessons.  He also can speak English very well so he helps me out a ton.  Its been quite a shock for me, because it feels like everybody is speaking their own language, not Portuguese.  Ha ha I had a lot more confidence in my Portuguese while I was in the CTM, probably because everybody was learning so the conversations would be reeeeeeal slow and we would only use our limited vocabulary, but I can already tell that I'm getting better at understanding and I'm not always COMPLETELY lost.  Just mostly ha ha.  One thing that I've noticed is that I have to really try and pay attention to what the people are saying or my mind just kinda turns off.  Its surprisingly difficult and I usually feel exhausted after each day so I'm just looking forward to when Im able to understand the people without having to think so hard.
    So Vera Cruz is a brand new area, but its already starting to grow quickly.  There are 2 companionships in this city which is rare for these parts.  The other companionship lives in the same apartment as us and they are Elder Stevens who has been out for about a year, and Elder Escobar who is on a short time 6-week mission.  Are apartment is really nice and new, but its mostly empty because we are one of the first ones here. Its actually next door to Jo´s house Jamie maybe you know what it looks like.  When we visited their house Kaiuane showed me a card that you made for her :) 
    Ha ha, so when I arrived here it was sooo hot!  The people around here have been saying it has been one of the warmest winters ever here.  But on Sunday I got to feel the coooold of Rio Grande do Sul that everyone told me about.  Proselyting that day in the pouring rain and the harsh winds was a lot different that anything I experienced in the CTM, but I might as well get used to the cold now because next year Ill be here during the worst part of the winter. Ha ha and like Elder Naligati said, we received a lot of `wife points`  Not surprisingly I am really enjoying the food here.  Every time we have lunch its with members, and they sure now how to cook.  I've yet to have real churrasco but I think we might have some tonight!
     The branch here is really cool with so many nice people.  Like I said a ton of the members were friends with Jamie so sometimes I feel like a celebrity with everyone coming up and talking to me about her.  I wish that I would be able to understand better because I think some of the people are like telling me stories about a experience or something but I usually can just pick up  "blah, blah, blah, blah, blah... Sister Gee  ..., blah, blah, blah, blah, blah"  ha ha.  The other people that aren't members are super nice too, and most of the time when we knock on a door they let us come in and have a lesson.  I imagine that this is quite different than other places in the world so I'm grateful for this opportunity.
   

But I spent a lot of my time trying to get my camera to work so Im all out of time. Thanks for all of the e-mails I love you all!!

Last P-Day in São Paulo; Teaching in the city

Hey there, family!  How is everybody doing?

It's been another awesome week here in São Paulo.  The most exciting news for me was last week when I heard that Sister Young had received her visa so Sister Gee was coming back to our district!  I was super excited and wanted to write to all of you about my excitement, but she made me wait so she could break the news.  :-)  But ya, it has been awesome to have her back after quite a few weeks, and to be able to learn with her.  All of our district got to see firsthand on Sunday how much her Portuguese had improved during the time she had been in the other district as she gave a talk in Portuguese in Sacrament meeting.  She did an amazing job!  In fact, everyone in our branch couldn't stop talking about how good her talk was.  Don't worry about Melissa, she'll probably be fluent by the time she is in Londrina.  :-)

This morning we got to go to the Campinas temple!  It was really cool!  The temple was really pretty and looked huge compared to the temple in São Paulo.  I'm so glad that I got the opportunity to go there on my last P-Day here.  The only downside is that we are still driving back right now.  (That's why my handwriting is so bad :-)  We probably won't arrive at the CTM until about 1:30, which is 45 minutes later than usual. I wouldn't mind that, but we are also ending P-Day an hour and a half early today because of an early devotional that we need to be there by 3:45.  We are just going to have to go as fast as we can to accomplish all of the stuff that we need to do for our last P-Day.  I hear that the speaker is awesome, so it will all be good

Yesterday we got to go proselyting in the city!   It was so great.  When we first started I was soooo nervous.  My companion is not learning the language quite as fast as some of the other missionaries in our district. It almost felt as if I was the senior companion, except I don't speak very well either.  For the first 45 minutes or so, we were having a lot of trouble communicating.  I was so scared so I would jumble all of my words and I could tell that people were having a hard time understanding me.  They would quickly dismiss us saying that they didn't have time.  It wasn't until we met a nice man named Gustavo and had a good conversation with him, after that my confidence skyrocketed.  In the next 2 hours we handed out all of our Book of Mormons, gave a brief description about it, bore our testimonies about it.  We only had 4 Book of Mormons in the first place, but I felt like everyone that we gave a book to was interested in our message.  The last book we handed out we literally taked to theis lady for 20 minutes about everything from the Book of Mormon, to our missions, family, Porto Alegre and learning Portuguese.  I was amazed at how much better I was doing conversing at the end of the day compared to the beginning of the day.  It was an awesome experience and I am so excited for next week when we get to do it again.  It should be better than this time, because the majority of the people here in Casa Verde have already talked to the missionaries since it is so close to the CTM. 

Thanks for all the emails this week.  It is great to be able to hear from all of you.  Next time you hear from me I'll be somewhere in Rio Grande do Sul!  Wahoo!  Wish me luck.  :-)  I love you all and hope you have a blast.  Ate mais!

Love,
Elder Gee

New roommates; Brazilian accents; Two weeks to go!

Hey Mom and Dad! 
This week has been a pretty good one.  I got some new roommates, Brazilian again.  :-)  Their names are Elder Menegaillo and Elder Santos.  They are both really cool and talk to us a ton.  They don't speak much English so it's been a good experience trying to communicate with them in Portuguese.  It is so crazy how my roommates have turned out.  The first group had two very good English speakers.  The next group didn't speak English as well, and then these guys speak English the least.  I've been forced to use Portuguese more and more as time has gone by.  I am able to say that I have progressively learned.

Something cool that I heard today is that the São Paulo Temple is going to be closed next week.  Instead of São Paulo we will be driving to the Campinas Temple next week!  I'm really excited to be able to have a new experience on my last P-Day.  I just hope that it's true and not just a "CTM rumor."  :-)



I feel like my Portuguese is starting to pick up, so that's pretty exciting.  I can usually understand most everything if it is written.  The hardest thing is trying to understand the Brazilians from the 'Norteste.'  These missionaries have very strong accents and I sometimes even have trouble understaning their basic sentences.  Haha, it's a good thing that I am going to Rio Grande do Sul.  They seem to have an easier accent to understand.

I only have two more weeks and I am so excited! I think that once I am immersed in Portuguese I will learn even faster.  I'm working my harders to learn all I can to teach effectively and with the Spirit.  It's pretty hard, but I've learned that if you try your best not to stress out and keep a good attitude it is easier to learn.  I know God will help me.  I'm thankful for your prayers in my behalf.  I love you guys so much!  Take care!

Love,
Elder Gee

P.S. Here is a picture of our district on P-Day...

 

I got to be an investigator; Good friends leaving the MTC

Hey everybody!  Hows life in the states?  The reunion sounded like it was soooo fun!  I'm sad I missed it but glad you guys had a great time.  Luckily I'll probably be back for the next one!  Are you guys liking the Olympics?  I remember watching last Summer Olympics 4 years ago when Ryan was on his mission.  Wow the time sure flies by.  Just think about that.  For the next Olympics Kyle will be serving, crazy! 

     Its been a good week as usual.  One of my favorite highlights was when I was able to be a investigator during TRC.  There was a lot less pressure than when you are teaching, and it was fun to be able make up problems or questions I had and to see how the missionaries responded.  The missionaries that taught me were first week missionaries, so it was kinda funny to watch them and remember what I was going through a couple of weeks ago.  But they did really well and got me to commit to coming to church and to keep the sabbath day holy.

      Two of my roommates left for their missions this morning.  I can't believe how fast these 3 weeks went, it seems like they just got here.  The crazier thing is just one more 3 week period and then I'm leaving too.  The CTM is kind of a weird experience because every time you make good friends, they leave right just a little while later, and you know you probably won't ever see them again.  I guess I should get used to that, because that's how its going to be throughout my mission.  My other roommate and good friend Elder R. Santos still hasn't left, but he leaves later today.  Since he is going to Portugal, he ended up staying today and got to go to the temple with all of the rest of the North Americans.  It was really fun and was a great way to spend the last day together.  He is a great guy, and I'm gonna miss him a ton.  He told me that I should stay in Brazil after my mission, and he can hook me up with a job in his father's business :) 

     Anyways, thanks for all of the e-mails that you guys always send.  I'm excited to be able to write some personal letters with MissionTies.  Make sure to send a lot of letters too ;)  Have an awesome summer!!!  Até mais.

Elder

Gee

Jamie is famous!; English "fast"; Shooting in Colorado; Message of happiness

Howdy everybody.  Wow I can't believe how fast this week went by.  It seems like just a couple of days ago when I was writing you last week.  I guess time flies when your having fun, right? :)  I'm not sure if I've already talked about how one of my teachers has been really sick for a while now.  She missed about a week's worth of classes and so we keep getting different subs.  It turns out she is pregnant with twins!  She is really excited but she isn't going to be teaching us for a while, so now we got a new teacher, Irma Pozette.  She is awesome and I already like her a ton.  She used to be Sister Gee's teacher and she says that she is one of the best!  I'm super excited to learn more from her for the next couple of weeks.

     So Jamie, I met another person that knows you.  Her name is Hermana Daudt  Ha ha sorry, you might not even know who I'm talking about because I don't know her first name, and I'm not even sure that that is her last name.  She is from Rio Pardo and I forgot which country she is going to serve in, but I remember it was Spanish speaking.  Wow ha ha, I'm not very good at giving helpful information about this person.  But anyways, when she saw my name tag she came up to me and excitingly talked to me about you.  She said you guys were friends and that you are muita legal!  You must have made quite the impression while you were in Brasil because this is like the 3rd person that has talked to me about you, and I'm still in São Paulo, like what 12 hours from Porto Alegre?  I'm guessing I'm gonna meet a few more in the next two years :)

     So for the last couple of days, our district has been doing a English fast.  It was really hard!  I was surprised by how much I used English during the week, because it felt soooo different.  It was a good experience though, and must be affecting me, because I've accidentally typed some words in Portuguese and then had to change them back to English :P  The best part was when we broke the fast this afternoon by going to a rodizio in the city!  I'm not sure if I've just been in the CTM too long but it tasted soooooo amazing!  I tasted just as good if not better than Tucanos.

    It was really sad to hear about the shooting in Colorado.  Whenever I hear about things like this it just makes me think of how confused people can be and how they can take life for granted.  I think that teaching that life has a purpose is one of the most important things in missionary work, and I'm excited to share this message with others and see the happiness that it brings.  Anyways, I just barely realized it was pioneer day when I was reading your emails.  Its kinda weird to not realize that its a holiday.  But anyways I love you all and hope that your pioneer day is spectacular!! Thanks again for all of the emails!  You're the best!

Portuguese is improving; Talk in church; Brownies!!

   Hey there everybody! How goes it?  I'm really enjoying my time here at the CTM, and I feel like my Portuguese is getting better every week.  Here at the CTM there is actually quite a lot of English being spoken.  My teacher speaks English very well so a lot of the times especially in the first couple of weeks he taught in English.  At meals and activities most of the North Americans are speaking English as well.  Our branch president told us that it is a lot different then when he went to the MTC years ago.  He said that from the day he arrived they were only allowed to speak Portuguese.  We are taught a lot of Portuguese in class, but a lot of the learning comes from the time in which we have personal study.  I have been trying to talk to as many Brazilians as possible, because making conversations with them seems like one of best ways to learn for me. 

    

 I have some new roommates and all 3 of them are Brazilian.  Elder R. Santos is going to Portugal, and Elder Ararujo and Elder Silva are going to Manaus.  They are all extremely nice and like to talk to us even though none of them know a lot of English.  Elder Santos even comes up to me every time he sees me and asks me a question to see if i know how to respond.  They are really awesome and study a lot in our room to be the best missionaries they can.

    

 All of the lessons we teach are in Portuguese.  I am improving, but its still very hard to express myself the way I want to.  I often think of great things to say, but when I try to say it in Portuguese, I have to substitute it into the limited words that I know and then it doesn't as good.  I also find it challenging to "teach people, not lessons" because I don't know enough to venture too far away from a generic lesson.  Its all good though, I'm just trying to make all the mistakes here so I hopefully don't make them again in Porto Alegre.

   

  On P-days I love going out into São Paulo.  We have a boundary to stay in, but its pretty big and has a lot of different kinds of stores and places in it.  Last week I received those brownie you sent, and they were amazing!  They had nuts in them and were served with ice cream and chocolate syrup on them.  After eating them all of the elders in my district kept telling how awesome my family was.  I definitely agreed with them ;) Haha thanks a ton!

    

 A ton of districts left our branch last week so we are already the oldest district now with a ton of blue dots (first week).  Our district had a ton of responsibilities for the Sunday meetings.  I ended up giving a talk in sacrament, playing piano in sacrament and priesthood, teaching part of the lesson in priesthood, saying the prayer for priesthood, and finally giving a part of the lesson in district meeting.  It was kinda stressful but it was a good experience for me, because I will probably be doing this frequently when in small branches out in the field.  Every week each district is assigned a topic and all of the missionaries prepare a 5 minute talk and then are called up randomly to give the talk during the meeting.  I jinxed myself when I told my companion that I didn't want to give the talk this week because I didn't have as many good ideas as the other weeks, but I ended up doing fine and now I just hope that after doing so much I can just have a week off for the next. :P

    

 

   Anyways, I'm doing great and I'm really grateful for the opportunity to be trained here in the CTM, and I'm sooo excited to go into the field and be able to teach people the restored gospel of Christ.  I love you all and wish you the best.  Have an awesome week!

         

  Love,

  Elder Gee 

 

4th of July was awesome; Sad to lose my compainon, Sis. Gee :-(

Oi familia!! Wassapening?? Sounds like you all are enjoying summer vacation!  Here in São Paulo it feels just like summer even though were in the dead of winter right now, so I'm happy :)  Its been a festive week here at the CTM!  The 4th of July was awesome! The cafeteria was decked out in red white and blue and for lunch we had burgers and fries!!  I really like the Brazilian food but I was so excited to have a good ol' fashioned American meal.  The best part was the all you can eat ice cream bar with various flavors and toppings.  It was just as good as it sounds :)  Throughout the day we showed our American pride by belting out patriotic songs and after all of our classes were over, me and a group of elders went down to the track outside because we saw a giant projection of the big soccer game on the side of a skyscraper.  It was awesome and made me feel like I was watching an event at Times Square or something.  We were able to watch the scoreless first half before we had to go to our rooms for the night.  When we were in our room Corinthians finally scored some goals and ended up winning their first copa libatores in their 100+ year history.  I was so happy that they won, because then I got to see my 4th of July firework show, and it was a loooong one.  After a while of trying to fall asleep I was kinda wishing Corinthians had lost :P

     Yesterday was the Independence day for Argentina also.  It was pretty fun and made me realize how many of the missionaries here are Argentine.  Their tradition is to sing their national anthem right at midnight and noon on their Independence day, but the leaders made sure that they all knew that they weren't singing at midnight this year.  They all ended up singing at 10:30 which was almost as cool.

     So the one of the saddest things for me this week was that Sister Gee left our district :(  I could tell she really wanted a sister companion as the days went by, and she told me that she felt like my companion didn't like working with her.  I talked to my companion about it and he said that he thought she was awesome and had no hard feelings towards her, but he said sometimes it was frustrating because he felt that he was the odd man out.  I always tried to make ita good trio, but i can see how I could've focused more with Melissa just because she is my sister and we have such a strong bond.  Anyways, a leader saw that the visa for the sister missionary in Provo wasn't coming through still, so he asked sister gee is she would rather stay in our district or move up a week and get new companions.  She said it was a hard decision but just really wanted to associate with some sisters.  She will come back to our district if the Provo missionary gets her visa or for our last week when her new district leaves.  I've talked to her and she is really happy.  Her companions are very nice too, so it's probably for the best, but I still miss her :) 

     This morning I woke up early around 4:30 to send off my Brazilian buddies who are probably in Porto Alegre now.  It was kinda sad to say bye to them, but I'm just glad that I'll probably see them all sometime in my mission.  I want to work harder now so I can speak Portuguese very well when I meet again!  Anyways I have to go now but I just want to let you all know that I love you!!!  You guys are just too cool :)  Have an amazing week!!

 

Elder Gee

Teaching a real investigator; Fireworks for the 4th!; Spiritual experience with the Brazilian elders

Bom dia!  Happy 3rd of July!  Thanks for all the emails everybody!  I love reading each one, so keep on sending them.  So last week I learned how fast the 30 min can go so today I'm just gonna type really fast so I apologize for all the errors before hand :P
It's been a pretty good week here at the CTM and we've been really busy  with all of our studying.  I don't know if I told you about our fake investigator, Lidia who our teach pretends to be, but sadly a couple of days ago my companion and I received a letter that told us that her parent wouldn't let us talk to her anymore :(  One of the other companionships got a similar letter, but the other one got her to commit to baptism.  We're not exactly sure what we should do now, but hopefully we can do something to get back on track.

     We had some more missionaries coming from the Provo MTC this week.  One of the leaders told us that we would get 2 new sisters in our district, but they ended up being in a different one.  I think Sister Gee was kinda bummed about that, but at least she's still companions with her bro!  One new missionary did join our district named Elder Andres-Miller, but we all just call him Elder Hyphen.  He is a good guy.  He's got a big heart and is really easy to get along with.

     One of the most... um let's say interesting thing this week was when we did our first TRC.  We had to teach a whole lesson completely in Portuguese.  We got a paper that told us some things about a man named Edison and we had to decide based off of his description what we should teach him.  We spent a very long time planning our lesson and then basically translated it in Portuguese.  I nervously waited for the teachers to tell us to go to the door and begin, but a leader came up and talked specifically to our companionship.  He informed us that we would be teaching a real investigator and so we should forget our entire lesson that was directed to Edison.  We were all stunned speechless and couldn't believe what was happening.  We started by asking the investigator some simple questions in broken Portuguese, and then he would go off and respond with a long very fast answer that lasted a couple minutes each time.  The only problem was we didn't know what he was saying! ...so we just kept on asking him other questions.  There were quite a few awkward silent pauses, so finally we decided we should just share the message we had planned for Edison, because that would be better than nothing.  I don't know if the man learned anything, but it was a good humbling and learning experience for us :)

     Last Wednesday night, I woke up to loud explosions and yelling coming from outside.  I looked out the window and could see little fireworks going off all throughout São Paulo.  Apparently all of the commotion was from a soccer game, the first leg of the South American championship between Boca Jrs. from Argentina and Corinthians one of Sao Paulos 4 teams.  When Corinthians scored at around 11:15 the city went crazy.  I heard the next day that it was a 1-1 draw so that means that a game tomorrow will be winner takes all.  It should be super crazy because this game will be at Corinthians stadium which is about 15 min form the CTM.  It looks like I won't miss out on fireworks this 4th of July ;)

     One of the coolest experiences I had this week was on Thursday night.  Our Brazilian roommates had gone to the temple earlier that morning so they and their whole district came into our room and shared their experiences.  It was awesome to see the joy the shared, especially from Elder Paula who received his own endowment that day. I couldn't really understand the words they said as they bore their testimonies in Portuguese, but I definitely could feel the spirit!  It was just another reminder that even though here in Brasil the culture is different, the food is different, and the language is different, the gospel and the joy it brings is the same. 

     Anyways, have an awesome 4th of July!  Way to be Justin on winning the championship!  Good luck to Megan and Kyle on your parade stuff. I love you all!!

            Love, Elder Gee 

First São Paulo temple visit

Dear Family,

We are pleased to be able to send you a picture of your missionary´s recent visit to the temple.  The morning they enter as a group is a very sacred experience for them, and it is an experience that is always anticipated with much excitement. We know they will treasure this remembrance. 

It is a great honor to serve with each of these fine young people and to watch their growth as they learn more about their sacred calling of a missionary.  We have a great love and respect for each one of them.

Thank you for your support for them.  They love to receive emails and letters from you, and feel of your love.  We know that your family will feel the blessings of their service.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Degn

First P-Day; Learning Portuguese; Companion is Elder Boehme from Pleasant View (and Sister Gee from Provo) ;-)

 Oi familia!  How is everybody!?!?!  

Today is my first P-day so I'm really excited to be able to write you all!!  Thanks for all of the e-mails, even after only a week its just sooo great to hear back from home!  So as you can imagine, flying from SLC to São Paulo wasnt the most enjoyable thing i have ever experienced, but it kinda exciting.  

I got to see Mr. Elison who was flying to Brasil to see his son.  I saw Al Jefferson :), and when we arrived in Georgia I met a guy named Jesse who is an LDS guy that helped me and Sister Gee out.  I was so tired when we arrived at the CTM, but I kinda have been ever since.  The days are a pretty long, and its a lot more sitting down and studying then I'm used too, but its good because I can tell that I'm getting better at Portuguese.  

My companion is named Elder Boehme.   He´s a cowboy from Pleasent View that competed in team roping and worked on a farm at his house.  He´s really chill and friendly and we get along very well.  There are 5 elders in our district, and also Sister Gee!!  It's really cool because she is a solo companion, but whenever we do companion study she works with me and Elder Boehme, so basically we're companions! haha  It's an awesome experience but sometimes it doesnt feel like I'm on a mission but instead I'm just in ward mission prep. Whenever I'm with her, everyone at the CTM notices our last name and stops and talks with us.  I feel like we are 2 of the most famous missionaries here. 

     

I'm rooming with 4 other brazillian missionaries.  They are cool, too and help me with Portuguese all the time! In fact I think I learn more from them than in my lessons! ;)  A couple of them speak English very well, so they can translate everything I try to say to the other elders.  And, they are all going to Porto Alegre North mission!! I'm so excited to be able to talk to them about Porto Alegre and be able to have a real conversation.  Today we went to the São Paulo temple!  It was such an awesome experience!  The temple there is so beautiful and I could definately feel peace there.

 

Wow we only have 30 min for email and it went so fast!  I wish I could write more, because I have so much more to say!  I love you all and can't wait to hear from you soon! 

 

Love, Elder Gee

 

P.S We can't receive any packages to the CTM but a lot of the elders have talked about "mission ties" and say it is really nice, so maybe you should see what that's like and send us a treat. :)

Arriving in Brazil

Here is a picture of Melissa and me arriving in Brazil.  We don't look too bad considering we have been on a plane or in an airport for the past 24 hours.  :-)


Dear Parents,

We are happy to send the good news that your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil MTC.  What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary as they come through the front door of the MTC for the first time. We promise to take good care of your missionary.

They now have companions and are settled into their rooms.  They are assigned to a district with capable and caring instructors for language and lesson study.  The branch presidents and their wives, will soon give them a second greeting.  These couples are rewarded in their callings through the love they always develop as they embrace and watch over the missionaries.
The MTC has a full time live-in physician to care for their health needs.  He is assisted by his able wife. We are also happy to report that the Cafeteria food is abundant and very good.
Your missionary will be able to e-mail home on Preparation Day after a morning at the Temple.  This will be either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on individual assignments.
Your very important young person is about to make an eternal difference in the lives of others.  We hope you will be encouraged and comforted by this quote by President Lorenzo Snow: “ There is no mortal man that is as interested in the success of an elder when he is preaching the Gospel as is the Lord who sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord's children".
Please accept our love,
President Ralph Degn and Sister Mary Ann Degn