Brazil: Week 12 - The good, the bad, the ugly

Good times: I got to skype my family yesterday and see their beautiful faces!! Ben has grown up so much, its ridiculous!

Bad times: I only got 40 minutes to skype :/

Good times: One of our investigators that hasnt been progressing at all was telling us about how she watched the restoration movie online and was like, you know what, Its all true. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and Joseph Smith was a prophet! AND ACCEPTED TO BE BAPTIZED!

Bad times: Our really cool investigator R. that I talked about last week doesnt want to meet with us anymore and I dont know what happened :/

Good times: We found 2 families this week ready for the gospel! Teaching Families are powerful! 

Good times: WINTER IS COMING!!!!! WOOHOOO!!!! I wore a jacket for the first time this week!

Good times: We had conferencia de Distrito and our mission president spoke about how our first priority is to fortify our families. Children are the future and we need to teach them correct principles at HOME. They need to learn IN THE HOME. was really powerful. 

good times: We have a new rule that all missionaries need to leave the house at 10 am then finish our studies after lunch. Its been working out really well.

good times: I am a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am a representative of Jesus Christ sharing the message of the restored gospel with the WORLD!! (okay, maybe just Brazil right now :)

Have  a most amazing week! 

Sister Keeler

Brazil: Week 11 - See others how Heavenly Father does

So, this week I met Donald Duck, Pele, Elvis Presley, and Scooby-Doo while contacting. Yup, be jealous! Há. Since being with my new companion Sister Forsyth (She is from St. George and super awesome!) we have had some funny experiences, like people wanting to do impressions for us while we are trying to invite them to come unto Christ... I am starting to think that I have a sign on my that says "I like impressions"

Even though its been a hard week (especially after being stuck in our apartment for 2 weeks with a sick companion) we saw a lot of miracles. On Wednesday, I had the impression to go visit R., the old lady that randomly came to the chapel with her grandson, I., who is really intrested in Geneology. We have tried several times to contact her but she is never home. Well, we tried again and she was home and we had a great lesson with her son and her grandson! They are an amazing Family and have definitely been prepared to hear this gospel. (Fun fact: R. is an amazing artist! She paints and her paintings are gorgeous!!!!!)

Also in the past, we have been trying to find M. who the sisters before me taught a couple times but had a hard time getting a hold of him. Well, we just happened to walk down this one street and I was like "Hey! I think M. lives on this street!" So, I went up to the nearest person and was like "Excuse me, but do you happen to know someone named M.?" And, to my surprise he said "Im M." WAHHHH!!!!! Coolest thing ever! He was leaving to go somewhere but he told us to come back!

We also tried to find A. that was on our list of references but we couldnt find the address. So, I went and asked the nearest person (I love how God puts the perfect people in your path. The key is you have to go talk to them) and asked if she knew where this address was and she said that I was Reading the handwriting wrong and it was a completely diferente address than I thought! So, she helped us find that person and we are going to go back to her and teach her! MIRACLES!!!!!!

On a sad note, our 2 investigators with baptismal dates are kind of avoiding us right now. We havent been able to meet with them for a while and they both didnt come to church. :/ They have very Strong testimonies but they arent sure if they want to change their life right now.

This week I read a quote by President Uchtdorf in a devotional by my BYU Statistics professor, "Learn to see yourself as Heavenly Father sees you- as His precious daughter or son with divine potencial" It is importante that we see others as our Father in Heaven sees them and it is equally as importante to see ourselves as He sees us. And, I dont know about you, but that is the hardest part for me. So, I made a goal to see myself and treat myself as Heavenly Father sees me. I know He loves me and He has so much in store for me. And, He does for you too. I hope you love yourself like Heavenly Father loves you and I hope you have a beautiful week!  

Sister Keeler

Brazil: week 10- I've been out for 6... MONTHS!?!

Yeah, apparently I have 6 months on the mission....WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN??? Weird! You know what else is weird? It is almost my birthday and I am turning 20!!!!! Like, I wont be a kid anymore! What? 

Anyways, Transfers are this week and I am staying in Jau!!!!!!! WOOOHOOO!!!! I am litterally EXTREMELY excited to stay! I love it here! I dont know who my new companion is right now so we will find out!

So, we didnt really go out much this week because my companion was still sick with dengue. But, our wonderful President sent the Sister Training Leaders to help us for two days this week and that was awesome! What a blessing to have them! One sister stayed with my companion as I went out and worked with the other. We were able to visit a lot of people and also set a baptism date with J.! We also met this lady that was like " Hey, Ive seen a movie about missionaries! Its called "The Otherside of Heaven." WHAT!? So cool! I have no idea how she saw that movie because its not that popular, especially here. 

P.S. I have officially gotten to the point that I am litterally forgetting english and Portuguese sounds like english to me.....  so, I apologize for any random Portuguese words or my english makes no sense.... Just a warning for the next year.... :)

Sister Keeler

Brazil: Week 9 - Happy Easter and Dengue day...

Well, sadly, my companion has dengue. Dont as me what it is because all I know is that everyone and their dog has it here in Jau. She is super sick and has to stay in bed all day. Tadinha. (Dont worry, we are benig well taken care of). All ive got to say, is I have way too much time on my has because we have had to stay inside since last Wednesday.... So far I have read all of True to the Faith and I am almost finished with the all of the Doctrine and Covenants and the Book of Mormon. I have also watched all of the "District" and "Finding Faith in Christ" in English, French, Portuguese,  and some weird language that I thought was funny to listen too. 

Well, before all of this happened, we went to Barra Bonita with a recent convert last P-day and on Tuesday we had Multizona (CIVILIZATION!!!!!!!) Multizona is a huge conference in Piracicaba with 2 or more zones. And since Jau is soooooooooooooooooooo far away from EVERYTHING, it was so good to remember that there are actually other missionaries :) ha Our president talked a lot about how we can make our mission better by being better missionaires and representatives of Jesus Christ. Afterwards everyone was pumped to work even harder to bring this gospel to everyone!

Ive had some time to ponder these last couple days on my purpose as a missionary. Which is, to INVITE OTHER TO COME UNTO CHRIST BY HELPING THEM  RECEIVE THE RESTORED GOSPEL through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. When Christ was on the earth, He established His church, with 12 apostles, priesthood (the authority and power of God), ordinances like baptism by immersion, sacrament etc. When Jesus Christ and his apostles were killed the priesthood was no longer on the earth and teh doctrines and ordinances were corrupted. But, through Joseph Smith the fulness of the gospel has been restored! We have the same church that Christ established on the earth today! I know this is true. I know that this is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know it with all my heart. this is why I paid to leave my family, friends, school adn other opportunities to come to Brazil, not knowing anyone or the language to share the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone. This is why over 83,000 youth of this church have done the same thing. To invited EVERYONE to come unto Christ. 

I love my Savior, Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for all he has done for me and all of you. 18 months is just a small portion of my time that I can give back to Him. 

Have a wonderful week adn I hope you had a wonderful Easter :)

Sister Keeler

Brazil: Week 8 - BUT WAIT! There's more!

 I had the opportunity to watch General Conference this weekend....but in Portuguese. After the first session my head just hurt from trying to understand even a tenth of what they were saying. Então, I would ABSOLUTELY LOVE hearing your thoughts about General Conference! (aka. fill me in on what happened ;) 

 Also, this week, something has come to my attention. I SERIOUSLY do not know how people meet their significant other on the mission! Either missionaries are blind or just truly see with Christ´s eyes, because I try SO hard to look decent, I really do, but it lasts about an hour.... After extreme heat, then attacked by wind, then drenched in a flash of rain, then baked in heat again, I just look like a complete mess. I think the only reason people acualy talk to me is because they feel bad for the poor american! ha. After my mission I will definitely photoshop some pictures.....

Sister Kimbrell loves to work, which is fantastic becuase so do I! And, she is really good at grammar and always corrects me. We have been working so hard, especially this last week to serve and find new investigators. Last week we had to drop a couple, which is always sad. BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! Miraculously there were more people in the streets this week and we talked with the whole world. seriously.We had exchanges this week and during exchanges, I was on exchanges this week, we found this family (from a really old teaching record!) that just barely overcome a lot of problems with drugs and stuff. We asked the father what made him stop everything and he said because of his new baby and the importance of family. We had a really good lesson and I am excited to teach them. Also, on Saturday morning as Sister Kimbrell and I rolled into the church (not literally, its just a 30 minute walk....up hill.) for the General Womens conference, we had a miracle happen! A member was showing this guy and his grandma around the church and we started talking with him and found out that he is really interested in Geneology and found the familysearch website and wanted to come see our church. So, he took his grandma and just came! SOZINHO! How cool!? Amazingly enough, they came when the church was open and they stayed for the General Womens conference! 

I have been studying the atonement recently, and I just want to let you know that I know that Jesus Christ atoned for our sins. He truly knows everything you go through. I know that through the atonement we can be forgiven and also become better. Through Christ all things are possible. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. And, He shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind... He will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death." (John 3:16, Alma 7:11-12) As we are preparing for the Easter season, I challenge you to truly study the atonement and to gain a personal testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I know that my Redeemer lives. I hope that you have a blessed week.   

Sister Keeler