Brasil: Week 41 - Be true to your dreams

We went to teach one of our investigators and her husband started talking about reasons not to get married (I think he was drunk...) Then he looked at me and was like "olha! Ela tem uma cara como, casar ou bicicleta?" (Look! She has a face like, marry or a bicycle?) Like, what kind of hard decision is that? Should I get married or buy a bike? We were laughing so hard! I couldnt stop!

So, we are basically like opening the area here, which means a lot of knocking on doors. We knocked on doors for about 3 hours everyday (In the rain of course!!! It aways has to be more dramatic!) and only one person would let us in. I totally felt like a European missionary! (Elder Bascom, is this how everyday is for you?) But, one thing I have learned and thought about this week is the quote that goes something like, "Be patient. The blessings of Eternal life will come. Everytime I have a hard day or week I know that I just need to be patient because the blessings will come. Yesterday, at the end of this hard week we found like young man that is extremely excited to be baptized. It was incredible. I know that God ALWAYS blesses us when we are obedient and He is always watching. Just be patient. 

This week I start going on splits with the other sisters and we have a leader conference tomorrow! ahhh!! Getting a little stressed! 

I love you all and hope you have a fantastical week!

"Seja fiel aos seus sonhos" --> "Be true to your dreams"

(My Zone Leader said this and I just loved it. Great advice!)

Sister Keeler

Brasil: Week 40 - I HAVE BEEN OUT A YEAR!! 6 MONTHS LEFT!

I CAN HEAR THE BELLSSSSSS!!!!! We had a wedding this week!! Our investigators, Cida and Valdir, got married and then baptized on Sunday! It was AMAZING! Now they are working on to go to the temple in one year to be sealed as a family for time and all eternity!!! I will send pictures next week probably. 

We got transfer calls yesterday and I am getting transfered. AGAIN! ha. I am staying here in Sao Carlos but going to another ward. But! I am now the Sister Training Leader, which is the equivilant of a Zone leader but for sisters. I will be in charge of 5 sister companionships. I am really nervous for the big responsibility but I am also excited for the new opportunity to serve. Oh, and my new companion is AMERICAN!!!! I have had 5 american companions so far and only 3 Brazilians! Sometimes I wonder if President forgot that I am american because this usually never happens.....

We live next door to a less active member, who is basically like our mother. I love her! Well, her doctor said that she needs to start exercising so we decided to go walking with her at 6:30 in the morning. Well, I took this opportunity and decided that I would run while my companion walks with her (Dont worry, we didnt seperate because I ran in circles around them. It was really funny) It was a great idea but after just two days we were so sore that it was hard to do proseltying!!! ha (because we walk about 5-10 miles a day) 

I hope that all of you have a wonderful week! Thank you for all the prayers! I can really feel them, even all the way here in Brasil. 

Sister Keeler

HIT MY YEAR MARK!! 

Brasil: Week 39 - God knows all

I am sorry this email is so short, but I dont feel good. my brain isnt working. Sorry. 

So, I am like a planning freak. I love planning. I like things going as planned. I like to be on time. Completely an American thing. Anyways, this week NOTHING WENT AS PLANNED. But, at the same time, everything happened at the right time. Funny how that happens sometimes. God definitely knows all things. 

Our Deaf investigator wasnt there for our apointment but we saw him later in the week and guess what! I WAS ABLE TO TALK TO HIM! (Thank you for all the prayers!) He was impressed that I learned so fast. My companion didn't know how to talk to him but she understood this time what he was saying so that was really cool. 

I am so glad to be a missionary. I am so glad to share my testimony everyday that I know this church is true. I know that we have a living prophet on the earth and I KNOW that God answers our prayers. 

I hope you all have a great week and dont get sick because its not fun to be sick!   

P.S. We are getting another set of sisters in this ward next week! Woohoo!

Sister Keeler

Brasil: week 36 - The Holy Ghost testifies Truth

You are never going to guess who I met! Really, you are never going to guess... A Deaf person! We went to teach on of our investigators and her brother was there who is deaf and only speaks Libras (which is Brazilian sign language)! I dont know how but I understood what he was saying I just didnt know how to respond. (My companion was completely confused) He really wnated to hear our message but since we dont speak Libras he left. BUT! I promised him before he left that I would learn Libras and in one week be able to speak to him and teach him the gospel........Our lesson is tomorrow. I really hope I remember all of the signs becuase its COMPLETELY different from ASL. My brain goes crazy when I try to study because I translate the word into Portuguese and then English so every sign I do, I translate it 2 times in my head. Oh baby. Please pray for me! haha

Every Missionary needs a dog story. Well, mine isnt THAT cool but at least I finally have one! I was walking, obviously. and this dog that I thought was sleeping woke up and decided to attack me! (I dont think he likes Americans because he didnt even look at Sister Bastos) Good thing I carry the Word of God, The Book of Mormon, in my hands because it was really easy to just wack him. And he went back to sleep. The end. :) 

We met a lady at the Family History activity we had and she was really interested. Well, we went to her house on Friday and she is GOLDEN! We were having a FHE for all of our investigators that same night and she went! THEN she went to church all by herself! She absolutely loves the people in our ward and especially loves the gospel and the atmosphere. Also, at the FHE one of our investigators that I have been teaching English came and he said the coolest thing after our message. (We showed the "Graças a Ele" video) After the film he turned to me and was like, Sister Keeler, I feel like I am going to cry but not because I am sad but because of this feeling that I have in my chest. It feels like my heart is really big and warm and I dont know how to describe how I am feeling but it feels so good! Wow. I almost cried. I explained to him that it was the Holy Ghost that testifies of the truth. etc. He was like, I love this feeling! I looked at him and was like, I do too. Thats why I am so thankful that I have the privilege to have him as a constant companion. 

I am really so thankful for the gift of the Holy Ghost. I feel him every day and I think sometimes I take it for grantite that I have this wonderful gift. But, I love that as a missionary I can help people receive it too. Its the greatest feeling to help others and share with them the joy and blessings I receive from being a member of Christs church. 

I hope you have a great week! LOVE YOU!

P.S. If you want to send me anything for Christmas like a card, letter, chocolate, presents, more sunscreen etc. I would advise you to send it now to be able to get to me in time. Or else it will become a valentines gift :) haha
Sister Keeler

Brasil: Week 35 - Thy FAITH hath saved thee

Well, we had Halloween this week. And, if any of you know me, you know that Halloween is my favorite holiday of ALL TIME!!! Well, two things #1. Halloween does not exist here in Brasil #2. Sister Keeler completely forgot that it existed..... So, nothing special happened :/

We teach one of our investigators every morning. I teach him english and then we have a lesson. Well, on Saturday, he brought out cereal and milk for me to eat for breakfast because that is what we have in the U.S. Its was really nice. And I realized that its been a REALLY LONG TIME since I have had cereal! 

We had an activity Saturday about Family History. The church was open for everyone and there were a bunch of computers to research about your families and get help from the family history consultants. It was really cool! Sister Bastos and I were receptionist so we didnt get to do any Family History stuff. But I did learn a lot. I am excited to go home and continue the family search that my Dad and I started!

In Princípios do Evangelho we had a lesson about eternal marraige and the fiance of the couple that we are teaching talked about how he is so thankful for the gospel in his life and how it has truly blessed his family and has changed them and helped them become closer togehter and how he is so happy to become an eternal family. When he was talking about his family, man it made me SO happy that I couldn't stop smiling! 

I know that more things happened this week but honestly, the weeks are going by so fast that I cant even keep track! Like seriuosly! The days just mix together! Probably its because I always wear a skirt.......

I was reading about miracles this week in the New Testament and there was a really cool thing I noticed that was different in Portuguese from English. When Jesus says, thy faith has made thee whole. In Portuguese it says thy faith has saved thee. Pretty cool, huh? I have never thought of it like that! 

Have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!
Sister Keeler

Brasil: Week 34 - Because of Him

We had Multizona this week. Wow. It was really good. The spirit was really strong during the whole meeting! Our Assistants talked about recognizing the Spirit in our lives. (Becuase if we cant recognize how the spirit talks to us, how are we going to help others?) And, they showed this new (okay.... maybe its not new but its new to me!) video called "Becuase of Him" It is a really powerful video. I HIGHLY recommend you watch it. Right now :) 

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng

President Canuto talked about a lot of things but I especially liked when he talked about the difference between dreams and desires. Everyone can dream, you can be a couch potato and have dreams to one day rule the world but what is harder is to have the desire. Becuase, with desire, you need to ACT! He talked about our desires as missionaries and how we are going to achieve those desires. One of my desires is to be the Sister Keeler that God wants and knows I can become. What are your desires?

I am going to be a witness for a wedding!! Wooho!!! How cool is THAT? Our investigators are getting married and they asked us to be the witnesses. I know nothing about getting married but I was SO in! We went to some government building to declare that they are getting married and set a wedding date so we had to sign a bunch of papers. I felt really special. The lady was like, wow. I have never had a wedding where one of the witnesses is an American! Yes, wedding of the year!

We had a miracle happen on Saturday. We had stake conference that we had to attend, so we didnt have a full day to work. The rule in our mission is that we need to have at least 5 lessons per day and 100 contacts per week. Well, it was about 15 minutes until we had to catch our ride and it was raining and NO ONE was answering the door..... We started walking to the house of the irmã that would take us to Stake Confrence, only needing one more lesson and one more contact. I looked at this house on our left and I was like, Sister, THIS IS THE HOUSE. Well, I knocked twice....no one answered....I started walking away when this old lady yelled out the window to us! I started talking to her and she let us in to have a quick lesson with her! And she told us to come back next week! Miracles do happen people! Even if they are as small as that little old lady we taught:) 

I hope you have a wonderful week!

P.S. One of our investigators that has been taught by Elders and Sisters told us that he definitely likes Sisters better. SCORE!!! 


Sister Keeler

Brasil: Week 33 - Quero Beijos!! jaja

Well, I had my first Beijo on the mission! That is a big landmark event for me! Hahaha Dont worry people. I am not talking about beijos as kisses but as the icecream. Sao Carlos has a famous icecream factory called Beijos. And, the icecream is DELICIOUS!!!! And REALLY CHEAP! So, its perfect for missionaries! 

Sao Carlos is really flat. I am actually a little sad that it doesnt have huge hills and mountains. I miss hiking everyday. But, my body is definitly happy that this area is flat. The members here are used to having Elders in the ward so they give us SOOOO much food! My first lunch here the member saw that we ate everything on our plate then put MORE!!!! I felt so sick... but I did eat it all!! (they get really offended if you dont eat everything...) The funniest thing of it all was the face of my companion. Priceless. I wish I had my camera!

Talking about my companion. She looks like Dora. Seriously. I need to take a picture and send it because its unreal!! :) haha She is from the Amazon :)

I gave my first talk in Portuguese on Sunday! It actually went really well! It was a nice "hi I am the new sister in your ward". Everyone afterwards told me that they were surprised that I was an American because I dont have an accent!!! SCORE!!! I think I pick up the accent of my companions and now that I actually have a Brazilian companion I have a Brazilian accent! But, my brazilian accent doesnt help when I still look really american..... We went to contact this reference we got and this old lady answered the door and looked at me and said, Where are you from? I responded the united states. Well, I dont think she like that answer because she slammed the door..... Next time I will say I am from Argentina. Ha

I have been thinking a lot about my purpose as a missionary and the more that I study it, I come to realize that basically its our purpose as members! To invite others to come unto Christ. I would like to ask you, when was the last time you invited someone to come unto Christ? Maybe by your example, words that you said, Invited them to church. Maybe we can try a little harder to be a little better :)

Have a wonderful Week!

Sister Keeler

My sister is so BEAUTIFUL!!!:D 11 months today folks, only 7 more to go! Time flies!

Brasil: Week 32 - GENERAL CONFERENCE!!

Our ward put up General Conference in ENGLISH!!!! YEA!!!!!!! They had a TV in a separate room with Conference in English and there were actually about 5 other members in there with us 4 American sisters because they speak English! Well, Not that I would have loved to watch it in Portuguese, but I got A LOT more out of it watching in my native tongue. I did though, watch Elder Godoys talk in Portuguese! That was powerful! (Did anyone notice that he said he is from Americana? That was my first area here in Brazil!!! He wasnt in my ward though....) But, it was really cool to have some of the Seventy speak in their native tongue. I really wanted President Uchtdorf to speak in German! How cool would that be!!! But, I LOVED general Conference! It answered ALL of my questions and things that I was worried about and now "I am ready to go!" I absolutely LOVED Elder Bednars talk and Elder Jorg Klebingat!

I would love to hear about your thoughts on General Conference!!! And, if you havent watched all of the sessions, GO WATCH!!!

We had a really great lesson with H. this week. Wow. She went to General Conference and LOVED IT! And, she was talking about how her friends have noticed that she has changed over the past couple of weeks. We talked about the word of Wisdom and she said that she used to have a  problem with drinking but after we started visiting her she doesnt even have the desire to drink. That was like the best moment of my life! That my friends, is true conversion. It is the bestest thing in the world to see people change their lives and come unto Christ! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!

We had another really cool moment. I had the thoughts to go visit this one investigator (usually we visit the whole family) but it was only her in casa. I asked her why she has gone to church for so long and has never been baptized and what is holding her back. She was like, actually I want to get baptized soon, I have prayed and I know that this church is true. Its all true. And, I know it. At that moment I think I heard angels singing! Actually..... maybe it was me singing. hahaha

I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Sister Keeler

* E-mail me your thoughts on Conference! I would love to hear them! 

         aubrey.keeler@myldsmail.net

Brasil: Week 31 - A woman's touch

The quote of the week was Sister Davis who looked at me after we prayed one morning and was like.....Sister Keeler, my hair was NOT in a braid when I went to bed last night..... HAHHAHAHAHH I HAVE NEVER LAUGHED SO HARD AT 6. 30 AM. That my friends, is pure talent!

Well, I will start with the good news. WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!!! AHHHH!!! WHOOOOHSDOFISADOFIASDFOIU!!!!! I AM SOOOOO EXCITED!!! It was a crazy experience but really good. Saturday night we went to the Talent show a bit early to fill up the font but guess what? There was ABSOLUTELY NO water in the church building!!! I started to freak out a bit.... We told the bishop and the secretary and they were like, Sister, calm down. We will fix this. We are going to have a baptism tomorrow no matter what. Well, Sunday morning we arrived in church and I am STILL freaking out (inside of course) we step into the church and we see like a BILLION hoses! Our ward secretary went to church early with a ton of hoses and used water from a apartment building next door to fill up the font!!!!! Yep, he deserves the Member of the Year award!!! When Bispo announced that Gabriel was getting baptized (remember, it was a surprise) his parents like FLIPPED OUT! They looked over at him and he just shrugged. It was PERFECT! After Gabriel got baptized we asked him to bare his testimony and he talked about how he had been taught by many different (and REALLY GOOD) Elders for over a YEAR! He said that they never convinced him......(I cant believe he said this next part....) He said I guess the only thing I needed was a womans touch! hahahahah I am so happy that he was baptized and now the whole family can get sealed in the temple. It is seriously the most bestest feeling ever!!!

We have two other investigators, H. and E. that are just amazing! They have been coming to church regularly and our lessons with them just blow my mind! This week we talked about the Holy Ghost and we asked them when they feel closest to God. There was a pause in the room. Then E. said, you know, I feel closest to God when I am here in lessons with you guys. Wow. Then H. said about the same thing, that ever since we started visiting her every week that everything has been going really well. She said after months she finally found a job, a really good one, and all of her prayers and questions have been answered. Wow. Talk about major blessings when you do what is right!!!!

This past Sunday was Ward Conference and the Bishop made a goal for everyone to bring one friend to church. (Best idea EVER!) We had 20 more people there on Sunday then we usually do. it was a great sight to see. This Ward is incredible! 

I hope you all have a most wonderful week ever!! WATCH GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!

P.S someone called me and my companion Satanists.....that has never happened to me before.... it was really weird. Like, do you realize that our church is called the Church of JESUS CHRIST???

P.S. We also talked to someone that is convinced that Jesus is an Alien..... well, then.

Sister Keeler

YAYAYAYA!!! :D

We are missionaries of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.

Brasil: Week 30 - just call me Sister Keeler Plumber extrodinaire :)

So, this week I have been battling a cold. (Its probably from walking in the rain so much) Well, as we were walking I REALLY needed to blow my nose and I did not have any tissues (Actually, I have yet to see a real tissue here in brazil.....) So, I thought I was all smart using my resources but using this leaf of a tree.... Well, all I have to say is, choose your nose blowing leaves carefully because it totally burned my nose and gave me a rash :) hahahah  I couldnt stop laughing (and crying a bit because it burned SO bad) because things like this would only happen to me!

As I mentioned earlier, it rained a lot this week! And, yes, we continue to work through the rain. Crazy, I know! NO ONE was in the streets! Not even the Saturday JW! As we were walking through the waterpark of Poços de Caldas I looked over at my companion Sister Davis and was like, we are crazy! It is pouring cats and dogs and we are walking in it to go to our appointment. If this isnt a testimony that I know without a shadow of a doubt that this church is true, I dont know what is. I will do ANYTHING to reach those people that dont have the gospel because I know that this church is true. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth again and that is why I am here in Brasil. To preach about the truths that I hold dear to every living creature :) 

We had a lesson with one of our investigators about the love God has for us and during the lesson this idea came to my mind to put your name in the scripture John 3:16-17

"For God so loved (insert your name here), that He gave His only Begotten son, that if (she/he) believeht in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn (insert your name here); but that (insert name) through Him might be saved."

It was really amazing. As she was reading and put her name in the scripture I could really feel the great and eternal love of God. It really makes the atonement feel more real and personal. TRY IT!:)

P.S. We have the coolest investigators: A concert Organist (that LOVES motab), A sister of a famous painter that has an piece of artword in the LOUVRE!, and a famous basketball player (okay, he is actually a member... hahah) 

P.P.S.S. our sink was clogged and I unclogged it with a broom! dont ask questions just call me Sister Keeler Plumber extrodinaire :)

P.S.S our ward here does the coolest thing! Every 3 months they have a potluck after church and everyone eats lunch together in the church then they pick a partner and go visit the people that havent been coming to church! It is like the most genius idea!! 

Sister Keeler

Brasil: Week 29 - Would you like toppings on your pizza?

Well, I might not be a good English teacher but i am a pretty good English Translator! This past week I met this older couple from Lehi, Utah that is teaching english here in Poços De Caldas. They are seriously the first Americans that I have seen in 7 months. That was really weird...... Anyways, they went to Stake Conference with us and since they know absolutely no Portuguese I offered to translate for them. (Thank goodness I have had experience with translating in sign language!!) Translating is definitely is a lot easier in Sign language because you can actually keep listening as you "talk" But, I think it went really well! I did the whole 2 hours of Stake Conference (I had a headache afterwards :) and they said that I did really well translating for the first time! Woohoo!

We also had our mission tour this week and Elder Antunes came and spoke to us. He spoke about things that I needed to hear. Cool how that happens, right? Side note: I was asked to be the chorister and everyone commented on how well (I honestly think there is no such thing as a bad chorister....) and powerful my conducting was. hahahah All I was thinking was, thanks to being a Drum Major!

During Stake Conference and the mission tour, I have been thinking and learning a lot about prayer. Isnt it amazing that we have an opportunity to talk to our Father in Heaven anytime that we want? I think sometimes we take it for granite and our prayers become robotish and short "orders". In Preach My Gospel it talks about how sometimes our prayers are like ordering a pizza. You "call" and "order" and wait for the pizza to arrive. Elder Lima talked about praying for things and people specifically. When we pray specifically, we will get specific answers. Then, after we pray we need to go and do! He also talked about asking the missionaries who you can pray for and how to help (because lets be honest, sometimes members dont know ANYTHING about the missionary work in their ward and missionaries are afraid to ask for help). I love praying and I love getting to know my Father in Heaven better through prayer and knowing what He wants and needs me to do and become. I encourage you all to pray more fervently and more specifically. I know that it will bless your life more than you can imagine. You will feel the love God has for you, His child, more than ever before. 

I hope that all of you have a wonderful week doing the work of the Lord. 

Sister Keeler

I may need some duct tape... haha(:

Brasil: Week 28 - I FORGOT HOW TO ENGLISH

I learned a new english word this week because of my American companion that actually remembers English. Sibling is when it is your brother or Sister but nibling is when its your nephew or neice! Weird, huh? hahah

Anyways, speaking about english. We had our english class this week and I learned two things

1. I was NOT born to be a teacher

2. When I say I dont remember english, I am NOT kiddding. It was an hour of "lets laugh at sister Keeler because she forgot her native language" hahaha

There were not a lot of people there for the class but two of our investigators came so that was pretty sweet!!! I hope more people come with time. It was really fun and the people that did come said they learned a lot. (The non member guy that actually requested for our english class wasnt even there! but he came to church on sunday and said he would remember to come this week)

Well, this week I got sick with some kind of virus and had to go to the doctor. First time in my whole mission! People have always said that I am stubborn..... well, yesterday I finally realized that these peopel are right. I didnt feel very well after lunch but since I had to stay home one day already because I was sick I insisted in leaving to go visit people. Well, lets just say my body wasnt too happy with my stubbornism. We would go to a house, and before we knocked I would throw up... what a great present, neh? hahah I was throwing up all afternoon in the road but I DID NOT want to go home. In fim, we taught a bunch of lessons and it was a good day :) hahah and dont worry, I did not throw up in anyones house!!! ha

I heard a new church this week "bola de neve" aka ball of snow. I have yet to find out what they believe but when I do, I will tell you about it!

Well, I have decided to use my last couple minutes to send pictures. So next week I will send a longer email!

I hope you have the most blessed week ever!!

P.S. as of this week, all of my "moms" of the mission are home. Weird! 

Sister Keeler

Brasil: Week 27 - Comic relief from the coolest mission in el mundo

Well, transfers are this week and I am finally staying in the SAME area with the SAME companion! WOOHOOO!! (I am going to knock on some wood right now...... :) Last time this happened, I had an emergency transfer. ha! I am super excited for this transfer especially because I am going to live with just americans!!! hahah So, of course with 4 Americans we HAVE to have an english class. Ha. But, really. We are starting an english class. I am SO excited!!! I hope it goes welll...... I dont remember english at all.

This week definitely was a trunky week! Sister Bispo (who was one of the 4 sisters in our house) went home this week and an Elder from our ward here came home from his mission in Fortaleza Brasil. It was such a weird week because I was thinking so much of how it would be to "go home". And, I have decided that the best thing to do is to never go home :) I will be a missionary forever! Ha. But seriously. I never want to leave Brasil or the mission. Sorry mom!

Because you all need comic relief I will tell you a story of the coolest district in the world, Poços de Caldas. One of the Sisters in our district heard it was the birthday of our wonderful District leader. So, because we are a district of only sisters and we are the best ever, we decided to SECRETLY bring a cake and hot chocolate (its winter here) and a birthday card to district meeting this past week. After district meeting we brought out the cake singing happy birthday (in Portuguese of course) as LOUD as we could! Our distrtict leader was seriously SO surprised! It was great! But, then, when we finished singing he just looked at us and was like " thanks you guys... but my birthday is after Christmas..." oh my goodness! we all lost it! We couldnt believe it! We were laughing so hard! haha Aparently he had his MISSION 1 year anniversary this week..... not a birthday. But, we all had a really good laugh and ate wonderful  cake. hahah

We taught this really old lady this week and she was the cutest thing ever! When we said that we were going to say a prayer she was like, I dont know how! Do we need to stand? Do we need to go to the other room? She was so nervous. So, I explained how to pray then I told her to fold her arms and close her eyes. Well, she proceeded to TRY to fold her arms but she couldnt do it! hahah she was so confused how to fold her arms. Man. It was the cutest and humbling experience ever. Dont worry, I helped her to fold her arms :)

We had a pass-a-long card activity this week with our ward. And it was really cool! All the members that came got into groups of 2 or 3 and we taught them how to give someone a pass-a-long card then sent them out close to the church to make contacts for an hour. Everyone LOVED it! It was a really simple activity but it made me think of how easy member missionary work is! Just simply giving someone a pass-a-long card can change someones life more than you think!

I am so thankful to be a missionary. Especially here in the beautiful and blessed land of Brasil. I hope you have a wonderful week!!!! 

Sister Keeler

Brasil: Week 26 - BAPTISM! YAY!

Sister Davis and I decided that if we lived in Brasil we would have a bakery se chama Ja Pao. Okay.... we thought it was funny. Hahah

Anyways, besides being the most hectic moment of my life, WE HAD A BAPTISM!! His name is Jonathan and he started going to church because of his best friend.... who is a member. He has the sweetest testimony in the world! 

We had some REALLY cool lessons this week! Yesterday we had our first lesson with the girl we met in the art gallery and she is amazing! She read the whole pamphlet of the restauration and also answered the questions in the back before we visited her! Wow. That honestly has never happened to me. ha. She had some really great questions and she believes in everything. She is just awesome. The other day we had a lesson with a step daughter of a member, who is also an amazing investigator. Towards the end of the lesson she asked us how we received our answer that this church is true. That was really cool to share my experience and my testimony. Also, this week we taught G., who is an 18 year old of a family that is all baptised.... but not him. We set a baptismal date with him for the 7th of Setembro and told him to pray about it. We had a lesson after church yesterday and oh my goodness. It was a POWERFUL lesson. I even cried during the lesson! That never happens! I asked him if he prayed and he said yes. Then I asked what his answer was, and he looked at me about to tear up and was like, com certeza esta igreja is true. Wow. The spirit was so strong when he said that. Oh my goodness. It made everything in my mission worth it. 

We had a lesson with this reference of a member and she said something really interesting. We asked her How God shows his love for her. She said that God show her love by giving her trials in her life. God loves her enough to help her grow through trials. How profound. Wow. It made me think a lot. The mission is not easy. Not at all. If someone says its easy then they didnt do anything. There are a lot of trials but I know that God loves me and I am so greatful that he loves me enough to put trials in my life to help me grow and become the person that he knows I can be. 

I hope you all have the best week ever!!! LOVE YOU!!!!

Sister Keeler

The church is true. I know it, I live it, I love it!

Brasil: Week 25 - Monkey's gone wild

MONKEYS

So, the coolest thing happened today as we were walking to the Lanhouse. Well, we wanted to go to an art gallery today because Sister Davis studied art in college and I love art.  Well, we saw this small art gallery and decided to go there. We were talking to the lady that works there and after we talked about art she asked us what we do and we explained that we are missionaries yada yada yada. And she got so excited! She was like you NEED to come visit me! (ofcourse!) Then she was like, “you will not believe this,. This morning I asked my mom to pray for angels to visit me today. And you two are the first people that came into the art gallery and I know that you are the angels that God sent me.” Wow. God really does answers prayers! 
Yesterday, we had a big surprise! One of the less active members that we started teaching 2 weeks ago came to church! She hasnt been to church in about 8years! Oh my goodness! I was so háppy! We left her a note last night in her mail box and she said that she found it this morning and loved it and decided to come to church! HALLELUIA!
I know that some of you a while back asked if I had seen monkeys yet. Well, today is the day! Because last week we went and saw monkeys (There is this place that is really foresty where they live) and it was the coolest thing ever! There were BILLIONS of monkeys! Good thing we brought billions of bananas! It was really cool! We had fun playing with monkeys and taking a lot of pictures and videos. Talking about videos, I was taking of video of Sister Davis and this other monkey attacked me!!!!! (I had the camera and a banana in my hands) well, this monkey saw the banana and jumped at me! It scared me so bad to have this monkey jump practically at my face!  Good thing we have is all on tape! Hahaha 
We had interviews with our president this week. And, one of the things he said was really cool. He opened John 15:14 and explained that when we do the will of God and keep his commandments we are his friends. Then we read Mosiah 3:19 which talks about the natural man is an enemy to God. When we dont keep the commandments and go against God we are literally an enemy to God. Think about that. 
P.S. We had a goal this week to contact someone on a bike. After the third time this guy actually stopped and talked to us! It was really funny! I felt really successful 

P.S. We have a baptism this week! I will tell you about it next  Monday!

Sister Keeler