Last Letter Before Coming Home

Well everyone, the time has come. 

 I can´t believe I am writing my last mission email. Its all gone by so fast! So much to share and tell, but this moment leaves me with a lack of words. 

The one thing I can express is that I have felt so many times this past few weeks, a deep gratitude for my mission. As many know I didn't want to serve a mission, or never even dreamed of being a... yuck.. Sister Missionary. Those clothes! That nasty hair! Not being able to listen to music?? 

 But, the Lord called me and I answered. I used all the faith I had to get me here and do this work. I even found that there was faith left over for me to share with others. I have walked. (more than you could imagine!) I have taught. I have bore my testimony so many times that not even I could count. I have confronted the scorching sun at noon day and even ate worms for lunch. (You saw my soup worms in past posts)  I have pleaded for strength, for someone to listen, for more faith and more understanding. I have loved companions, had tough times with companions, also unforgettable moments and have made eternal friendships. I have met wonderful people and some not so wonderful people. I have seen people laugh, smile, cry and bear testimony of the happiness the gospel brings. 

I cannot share in one email the amount of success my mission has been, nor can I myself see the amount of change it has made in my life and in me. But what I do know is that my mission was the best thing I´ve done (the most difficult too!) and has completely changed my life.

My testimony is ever stronger, and I wish to share it with you. 

I know this gospel is true and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that we have true priesthood power that seals families for eternity and allows us to return to our Heavenly Father. I know that the plan of salvation is true and is the reason behind all that I do in my life. I know that we have a modern day prophet and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  I love this gospel more than I can express, and even words don't have the power to show the immense happiness the gospel can bring in your life. If you have doubts about these things, my advice is: Ask the Lord in prayer. He´ll answer.

I love you all and cant wait to see you all soon. Thanks again for your love and support, it meant the world to me!

Love, 

Sister Gordon

Hello Everyone!

  

 So I need to start out by saying I’m sorry. I´m sorry for not writing faithfully every  week- to be honest, I’m just getting lazy! My life here seems so normal and I don’t know what else to say.  Let me think about what happened this week.

We had a baptism this week! It was really nice to help someone feel the happiness of helping someone feel clean again and become a member of the church. It was pretty funny because I made the program for the baptism all cute and girly, and when the Branch President was giving his message he said `I know for sure that what happened today was recorded in heaven. That this program is also recorded in heaven, well, maybe not in this ugly handwriting, but they wrote the general idea!` Ha ha, he is pretty funny. I´ve got some pretty funny stories to share when I get home! 

 We are working with the youth here to get a lot of referrals. This week we had a fun activity with them and played games and ate cake. They invited friends and we had some good success. But I have to admit that the best part was the clean-up, after all of them had left, because it was quiet! They are some noisy teenagers, that´s for sure! I guess I’m getting older!

 This week is the celebration of Saint Mary. They have a huge mass in the town center every night, then afterwards everyone sits around drinking or listening to music. They also have a fair going on too, with all of those creakily rides that look so fun!

The other night we set up a table with church stuff and sat with the elders making contacts. We didn’t have much success actually because I think everyone was embarrassed to talk to us as the catholic mass was going on.  O well- we talk of Christ and so do they! That´s what matters. 

 Well have a wonderful week everyone!

 Love, 

Sister Gordon

Wow, it’s coming to an end and I don’t believe it!

 I wasn’t transferred and I’m soo happy! My companion wanted to stay an extra transfer with me (because she is wonderful!) and we screamed when we found out we would be together. Seriously, I cant be happier!

 This past week was really fun. September 7th was Brazil´s Independence Day and they were having a ´big parade´ in the city center. We, being brilliant, grabbed a table and a ton of church materials and talked to everyone we could about the church. We handed out pass along cards, got addresses, taught lessons, invited people to church and saw a lot of friends. It was really great! Who knows, maybe people will get to know the church a little better here in Pombal because its so new. We had a lot of fun.

Believe it or not but its been getting hotter. But I´m doing well and getting tanner every day. We´ve been having a lot of success here lately and fortunately we had 7 investigators in church on Sunday!! I was really happy and hope to have some baptisms soon. I really am loving Pombal and they love us too. Last night we arrived at the church and faked everyone out saying that we both would be transferred. They were pretty sad and wanted to kneel down and pray that we could stay,  poor things! We told them we were joking and of course they became happy when we found out we really would stay. What more could I ask for??

I do need to share something that I´ve been learning. I won’t lie, a few weeks ago I was having some difficulties with the work and the heat. Nothing seemed to be progressing and I didn’t have the health nor the energy to do more. I finally began to pray for some help, or in other words `Help me thou my unbelief`. I didn’t believe it was possible to get people to church, and to really help the work here, but with this humility I went forward. I have to say that the Lord really blesses those who want to do what´s right. His blessings come back 100 fold, until you feel like you don’t deserve all the good that He gives you. He tests you until you´re beat, then helps out with the rest. I can truly testify of the Savior´s love for all of us.

  Oh right, the circus has been in town, actually 2 circuses have been in town and we are dying to go (but of course we didn't, against mission rules.) One is really close to our house and every night we hear everyone screaming and clapping. It’s pretty funny.

 Well, have a wonderful week! I love you all and am anxious to see you again.

 Love, Steph

The Circus Bus

Brazilian Policia

Independence Day

Conference in Joao Pessoa, Brasil

Mission President and his wife, Gordon Hall from Phoenix, AZ



I guess he's grown a foot or two...........



Boom It Hit Me!

Helllloo!

   What a week! It all started out great- we were working well and trudging along. Then BOOM- it hit me. What hit me I still don’t know until now, but I started to get really sick. Tuesday afternoon I started to feel really hot with a fever (which is horrible while walking around in 90+ degree weather). So we bought ice cream and ate it in the bank, or in other words, the only place with air conditioning. By that night i was feeling aches and pains all over. The next day I woke up feeling beaten up and laid in bed all day. How fun it is being sick as a missionary. You can watch all the movies you want, listen to cool music, and eat whatever- YA RIGHT! Ha ha. It’s horrible! You stay at home all day with nothing much to do, listening to the tabernacle choir and reading whatever just to distract you from the pain. And the whole time you´re thinking about all the people you need to visit, and those you´ll let down. It’s not that great. But, everything has a purpose. So I stayed in our oven of a house for 2 days lying down while my companion took great care of me. We had to fight a few times as she forced me to take medicine, (ha ha those who know me understand). But i really love my companion, she is absolutely wonderful!

  So until now that’s the scoop. I’m about 80% better, and trying to figure out what I had. Some sort of virus or mellow dengue fever. Who knows?  But we witnessed a little miracle this weekend. We had written little encouraging notes to the less active sisters in the branch, and gave them to be delivered. At the activity Saturday night, many of them came and felt really loved. They also came Sunday! We were so happy to see that maybe we made a small difference. 

 That’s about it for this week! Late tonight we travel to João Pessoa (8 hours) for our conference tomorrow. 

I love you all and have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Gordon

 Members where she is serving

 Frogs in the streets

  Relief Society Activity

It's Getting Hot In Pombal

Well this was a short week. It’s been getting hotter and HOTTER here in Pombal. And they say that it’s just starting up! It’s pretty funny, because during the day its so hot that when night comes we feel really cold. I really would like to know what the actual night temperature is here because I’m sure it’s not actually `cold`. I wonder what I´ll do when I get home!

  My new companion is really cool. She is from Natal, and lives in João Pessoa. She wants to serve a mission and is working on her papers right now. We get along really well! She cooks well, which makes me happy, and we have a lot of fun laughing and working together. I hope that by the end of these 6 weeks she will still want to serve a mission! (If we don’t die from the heat here ha-ha)

  We have just been helping people a lot this week. It’s been interesting how the Lord guides us to people who always need help in that moment. Even if we didn’t plan on visiting someone, the Lord helps lead me to them. This week we had a chance to help people with little things, like listening, or helping them when stressed, or even sweeping. I came on a mission to love people, and I love that I am here to do just that. Sometimes we need to slow down and really pay attention to people and what they may need. Most of the time people won’t say that they are in dire need of help or need to vent to someone. We need to know them, show love, give our time and then opportunities to serve will come. I challenge all of you to pay more attention this week. Think a little less about yourself, open your eyes and find at least one way to serve someone. You will feel such happiness that you´ll have a desire to serve more and more! Isn’t that wonderful? 

 I love you all!

-Sister Gordon

Cockroaches, Armadillos, Oh My!

 Never have to make our beds!

The City of  Pombal

No  more walking, we have a car....funny thing, we just go in circles, uhmmmm

Well transfers happened again! I am staying her in Pombal with a `Curto Praza` or I´ve heard that Americans call them `Mini Missionaries`. This type of missionary is like a stand in for 6 weeks when we are lacking another sister missionary. So they don’t have a nametag, they don’t know anything and just follow you around for 6 weeks! Ha ha!  It will be pretty interesting! I am excited for this experience.

This past week we had a few funny moments.  We visited a less active family who has a pretty funny pet. I picked it up and took a picture! But the first time I saw this animal it was dark, and they weren’t explaining very clearly what it was. So when they brought it out, I thought it was stuffed. But then it started moving and scared me! I realized that it was an armadillo- pretty cool!

Last night I had another funny experience. I was talking with people in their house and I suddenly felt something on my leg. I looked down to find a huge cockroach there and i kicked it off. My heart took a little while to calm down after that. Ugh, gross!

Sorry so short…keeping busy!

Love you all!

Sister Gordon

What a Week...Party in Pombal

 Luanna's baptism

 Nasty Eyed Kittens

Happy Toast!

This week was the birthday of this little town, and that combined with Brazil´s love to party made this little town a huge festival. Everynight for three nights, there was a band that played on top of a HUGE car of speakers, and they only start to play at about midnight. So this basically means that we dont sleep very well! One night I woke up with bad dreams of being rejected by people as we taught, mosquitos, and LOUD music blasting on the street outside. About one minute later my companion woke up too and we just started laughing. OO what a world this is!

This week we visited a lot of members who are not active in the church and invited them to our activity. We prepared everything and had a fun time! Unfortunately, not many people showed up, BUT the few that did made me happy! Some is better than none!

 We are working hard and loving Pombal. Next week is our transfers, and we´ll see what will happen. Ive heard some rumors about some changes, so we´ll see!
 Well thats about it folks. What a boring life- sorry! Love you all!

love,
Sister Gordon



Howdy!

Howdy ya´ll!

 This weekend there was a rodeo here in my little town. The town was full of horses and people! We could hear it all from our house because we live close. It was pretty fun to pass by there!

 I am teaching a piano/music basics class in the church. Last week there were a good number of people there! It was fun to teach people about music and how they can apply the things they learn. They were happy when they understood new things and had fun as we played games with music. I hope that it will continue doing well. I would like to leave with a few people capable of playing a basic hymn to help in the church. 

Festa Juninho

Hey everyone!

  

 This week was pretty cool! We were able to celebrate another traditional holiday here, Festa Juninho  (the Brazilians think of any excuse to have a holiday- even they admit it!) We were arriving home one night to find a huge square dance party on our street. They have traditional clothes and do some pretty sweet dances. The dj knew us and invited us to stand in front of everyone! He talked about the church and we just sat there waving like small town celebrities! It was pretty cool. Then they danced and we took some cool pictures and videos. I really enjoyed it!

Then at the church they had a party to celebrate too! We dressed up, and arrived to find that no one else did! But that´s okay! We had some fun helping with the food and enjoying watching everyone dance. Oh how I wanted to dance right along with them!

Other than that we are working hard. We are teaching a family and they just need to get married. The father is really active, but the mother has never gone to church. We are praying hard that we can help them! We are teaching some great people here, and are always looking for more. I really love this area!

I am so grateful for the gospel in my life. I realize what comfort it brings to me every day. I LOVE studying the scriptures. I have been reading the Old Testament and really enjoying the stories and lessons we learn from these ancient scriptures. It brings comfort to me to know that we have a prophet to guide us today as well, just like the olden times! If you don’t know the Prophet Thomas S. Monson, go and read some recent stuff. It’s wonderful!

 I love you all and have a HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Love, 

 Sister Gordon

Home Means Nevada............

Hello Everyone!

 So many things to say this week! I am LOVING my new area Pombal (po (as in pony) -m-bow (as in take a bow!) Pombow! It’s about 7 hours from João Pessoa and one of the farthest away areas in the mission. It’s really hot because it’s the desert! The landscape reminds me of Nevada- Which is weird to feel a little at home but in another country! The town is clean, has a cute little center with parks and trees, and two Old Catholic churches which are just very neat! The people are loving and a lot more open here. I can walk around with my camera because it isn’t dangerous here. Funny fact- The people here don’t have much to do (they don’t have a mall, or movie theater- nothing!) so they dress up at night just to walk around the city square. It reminds me of the olden times a little bit! But with modern clothes of course...

  The church here is fairly new- it’s only been here one year. Mostly all of the members are new and learning how the church works. The people are loving, and I am really excited to work here. They are really needing a lot of help, and I know that the Lord sent me here to do just that!

   My companion is Sister Arruda. She is from Mato Grosso, and used to live with Indians there for a while! She´s teaching me some of the xavante, or the Indian language.  It’s pretty sweet! I’m happy to serve with her! It was her birthday last Friday, so we ate açai and sang to her. I didn’t have much to do because I’m new here, but I think she enjoyed her day!

   I am being eaten alive by mosquitos these past few months. I think they follow me and stay in my suitcase! Ugh… just pray that they go away!

 Well I am happy and ready to get to work. I love you all! Pray that I won’t die in this heat here!

 Love, Sis. Gordon

 Eating Acai for companion's birthday...new companion on right, former companion on the left back

 Transfers..........all packed ready to go!

 Acai, a yummy treat!

 New Companion

 Countryside in Pombal

 Our new roommate in Pombal...Sister Toad.

 Mode of vehicular transprotacion...

 On the radio...........

 Animals on the tracks at night

 Stop, Look and Listen about the Book of Mormon

 Sunset over Pombal..........