Brazil: Week 7 - Be a representative of Christ all week long, not just on Sundays

Well, lets just say, having two Americans is EXTREMELY hilarious! With Brazilians being American is sometimes really good and sometimes its really bad.... I will just leave it at that. 

Anyways, I absolutely LOVE my companion! Sister Kimbrell is from North Carolina and has a southern accent when she speaks english! SO COOL! She arrived in Brasil in November (I found out there are only about 10 American sisters here!) We speak in Portuguese all day, every day, and after 9:30 pm we speak in English. Surprisingly we are really good at never speaking english! Sometimes we forget how to speak English when 9:30 rolls around so we end up still speaking Portuguese!

 Our area is enormous! It covers the east part of Jaú and 3 other cities.(we hardly ever go to those other cities because it takes about 30-40 minutes by bus and we also dont have money to go there) The thing thats been really hard for me so far is that Jaú is really different from Americana, people use different words, different phrases, people are rich so they arent always the nicest.......(this area has only had missionaries for 20 years) , its a BRANCH, and most days there is literally NO ONE in the streets to do contacts. (One day, I will take a video of how quiet the streets are). But, I love it here! Especially since Jaú is the capital for womens shoes :) 

There are definitely people here ready to hear the gospel and they have real intent to learn and they just feast upon the words of Christ. It is really fantastic to see. We had three new investigators (S1., J. and S2. this week and two of them were a reference from a convert that got baptized in January (He has been reading the Book of Mormon everyday and is already in Ether! He is amazing!) They have amazing questions and J. has already read all of 1st Nephi in one week and he was asking us questions about it! AWESOME! 

Our mission president, President Canuto, spoke yesterday at our Branch Conference and he talked about our baptismal covenant. When we get baptized we covenant that we will take upon the name of Jesus Christ, always remember Him, and keep His commandments. He focused on taking upon the name of Jesus Christ and being true representatives of Jesus Christ. Its not just a Sunday thing! We need to be representatives all week long, which includes VT and Home teaching, GOING OUT WITH THE MISSIONARIES, going to the temple etc. I know that sometimes life gets busy but we need to remember where our priorities are, I think I read about this in a conference talk by Henry B. Eyring this week... anyways, I know that when you put God first it definitely wont be easy but it will be worth it. The blessings will be immense! 

love you! Have an amazing week serving the Lord!

Sister Keeler

BRAZIL: Week 6 - DUH DUN DAAAAA! Transfers....

First of all, before I forget. IM BEING TRANSFERED! to Lago Silverio! (in the city of Jau) My new companion is American and her name is Sister Kimbrell (I THINK thats what my zone leader said.......) Keeler and Kimbrell...... An American in Americana...... Very funny President. :) 

Sister Moraes and I had a great, little hectic, last week together. First off, we found some of our 'missing" investigators. Heavenly Father knows all, and he knows how to put us in a place

                                                               Baptism of E!

Spot the three americans! haha(:
p.s. elders are awful at taking pictures

LOVE THE LAKE!!! SO BEAUTIFUL!

my companion and I

at exactly the right moment. We went to teach D. in the plaza and low and behold there was N. and R.!!!! They dont know their new address but they gave us the best directions they could and said they would be in the plaza couple times a week. Our lessons with D. are always so fun! We speak in Portuguese, a member in the ward from Haiti speaks Criole, and we read scriptures in French! He had some really great questions and committed to baptism! I am sad that I wont be here when he does get baptized. 

We went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders which was so fun! I absolutely love exhanges! Sadly, while I was having a great time learning, talking, and giving this really funny Brasilian an american quarter (which she thought was the coolest thing in the world) Sister Moraes was having a panic attack. The baptism of E. was supposed to be on Friday but they called Thursday afternoon and said that they needed to do it that night because they are going on vacation. BUT! Everything worked out and we had the baptism! And, her father was able to baptize her! 

We also had a missionary fireside this weekend. Everyone wore their name plaques (We invited the whole stake) and we had testimonies by young men waiting for their call and a couple RMs then there were a couple special hymns sung by all of the missionaries in our stake (accompanied by yours truly) and then President Canuto gave a talk. It was really cool and it really changed the perspective of missionary work in our stake. EVERY MEMBER a missionary!

I hope you have a "muito legal" week!

  

Sister Keeler

Brazil: Week 5 - PICTURES!!

BAM!! Take that! PROOF that I CAN TAN!
Look at that watch line. It has only been 5 weeks!
Rachel, you owe me 5 bucks!(;
 

The lake in our area is so beautiful! but I would never want to swim in it...

I LOVE BRASIL!!!:D

At the end of a hard week we receive a double rainbow! God is good!

All of the sudden it started POURING rain, but it was still sunny! So weird!

 And we had a double rainbow so of course I had to take a picture! :) hahah 

BRAZIL: Week 5 - Dog Whisperer

I don't usually get bit my mosquitos, but when I do, it's ALWAYS at the most inconvenient times! Like, while working out, while praying, during a meeting...... dang mosquitos.

Anyways, I have found out that dogs here speak English tambem. And, they have recognized that I am the alfa dog. aha! This whole transfer we haven't had any problems with dogs, whatsoever! Which is great because my companion is EXTREMELY afraid of dogs! she is even afraid of those little puffballs! 

This week has been a tough week. In a couple of different ways. I will touch on one. 4 of our investigators have fallen off the face of the earth. We can not find them or get a hold of them...... the 3 Haitians apparently moved and no one knows where..... and then J., who called us about getting baptized, is never home and wont answer the phone. ( We finally got a hold of him Saturday and he is having a lot of doubts and wants to stop taking the lesson right now.... :/ ) 

On the plus side! A clown that was selling lollipops came up to us and asked how he could join our church! And he gave us a free lollipop! Legit! We contacted a media refferal who was this really old couple. They loved the video about Christ and thought we were the coolest thing on the planet, so they took like a billion photos of us! ha (They are not really interested in the church however...) E., is getting baptized this Friday! And she is super excited! SO ARE WE!!!! WOOOHOOOO!!!!!!

I had a humbling experience this week. I was talking to the member that gave our zone leaders a ride for the baptismal interview and he was like, 

"how long have you been in Brasil?" 

"5 weeks..."

Then he was like, "ONLY 5 weeks?! Are you serious? You're Portuguese is really good. How did you learn so fast? Could you help me learn English fast?" 

My response was, "Its all because of the Holy Ghost" 

I thought of that verse in the Book of Mormon where it says, 'I can only boast in my God because through Him, I can do all things.' Which I have seen so much on my mission already. People are impressed with my language skills for the amount of time I've been here and it is definitely not me. The Lord needed me in Brasil and to speak Portuguese. He knew that languages are not my forte, but He works with imperfect people to strengthen their weakness. If I do my part, God will help me do things that seem impossible. I am so greatful to be on a mission. I am so greatful to be able to serve the people in Brasil and speak their language. And, most of all, I am so thankful for the Holy Ghost in my life. 

I hope you have a most wonderful week!

Sister Keeler

P.S FYI: We receive letters once a month and this week was THE week! woohooo! I received 5 letters, two from Dad, (a february one and a march one), Jenny, Monica, and Elder Bascom. 

Brazil: Week 4 - ACT, bot be acted upon!

This week was Carnival which means a ton of drunk people, almost every store was closed, and most people are on vacation. So, we weren´t able to teach as much this week. 

But, we did have some miracles happen this week! One of our investigators, J., called us on Tuesday and asked us what he needs to do to get baptized. AHHHH!!! Then, as we were riding the bus home one night, the guy that takes your money looked at me and said, "Youre an American." ".....yes...." "I met an American once, he was a Mormon Missionary." "Hey! Im a Mormon missionary!" We started talking to him and he said that he met this missionary a year ago on the bus and he gave this man a Book of Mormon and he has been reading it and wants missionaries to come teach him! Sadly we cant teach him because he doesnt live in our area but what a cool experience! There is this amazing family who just barely started coming back to church after a long time. We went over to go teach them and found out that their 11 year old daughter isn´t baptized. And they asked if she could get baptized this Saturday! OF COURSE!

I have been reading the Book of Mormon again and I really liked 2 Nephi 2:13-14. There is a God and He did create all things. He created us in His image. How amazingly cool! This made me think of something that my MTC said, (also Elder Bednar) we need to act, not be acted upon. We make decisions every day and it's up to us whether they are good or bad. Life happens, we have challenges and trials that we can't control but we have a choice, to act in the way of Christ or let the challenges act on us.

I love you all! I pray for you, and sometimes its in Portuguese! ;) Have a splendid week!

Sister Keeler

beautiful church 

A RAINBOW!!:D

Hey look! It's the angel Moroni! haha

Train station