Life as a trainer.........

 This short week has been a good one. Being a trainer is a lot different than what I thought it would be. I forgot how much I have learned here over time and am realizing that I have  a lot to teach. I am also learning patience :)

Being a trainer is... interesting. One thing that´s funny  is that my companion likes to repeat almost everything I say. Let me explain- the people here sometimes don't pay attention to what I say, or I speak a little mumbly and so I have to repeat myself. I guess my companion started to feel like she needed to be my `translater`. ugh. After about 1 day I was already tired of it! ha ha So i told her that I need to repeat and practice in order to speak better, and that she doesnt need to repeat what I say. But i seriously felt like a mihna bird was walking behind me all day. haha!
 My companion is Sister Alvarez. She is from São Paulo, and is 22 yrs old. I feel so sorry for her because she arrived here sick, and during the heat of summer! But we worked this week and she is doing alot better. 

 It was a short week and not too much happened. We have been focusing a lot on finding men and families to teach. My mission president said that if we let a man pass by on the street with his child and not talk to him, he will be upset with us, and Sister Hall will smack us! ha ha

This week I kept this in mind and tried my best to talk with everyone. We taught a family last night who seems perfect and very ready! They will go to church with us on Sunday and are excited to find a new church. It is so wonderful when you find people who are looking for exactly what the church has. I get so happy and say `Yes! We teach that! You will really love going to church on Sunday with us.` So we will teach them this week with another couple from the ward and hopefully everything will go well. Thier names are Christiani and Luciano. Pray for them.

 Other than that, I am busy with teaching everything about a mission. I am happy but nervous about being a good enough example. But I am relying on the Lord and trying my best!

  The end of next week will start Carnaval. I have NO idea what we will do, because it sounds like no one will be here, or their will just be parties and all the stuff that comes with it. Most of the members will go to camps for the week, so we dont even have them to visit!  The other night there was a little parade that passed right by our house. `Parade of the Virgins` or basically men dressed as women dancing crazily on the street, while cars with HUGE soundsystemrs drived by. They were partying until 3 in the morning... needless to say we didnt sleep too well :)

  But that´s about all I have to say! I miss you all! Write me!
  Have a wonderful week

Love, Sister Gordon (B. Hinckley- as everyone calls me. They always ask,´are you a relative of his?` hahah)

A New Companion

Hey everyone!

 So we had transfers this week. I received a call on Monday announcing that I would train a new Sister arriving on the mission. What an overwhelming feeling! Our mission president considers the responsibility of training the most important call on the mission. I am really excited to train and hope that I can teach my new companion well. It´s crazy to have someone watching your every move, and to know that almost everything you do will teach how a good missionary should be. We will be a little bit rushed too because this transfer is only 5 weeks long, and we have the huge Brazilian holiday `Carnival`, which will be incredibly difficult to work here. But it is a good moment for me to try harder, work more and learn. I will definitely need the Savior´s help with these next few weeks.

  We had a baptism this week of a 20 yr old boy named Junior. He had been hearing the lessons for a while, but didn’t want to rush into baptism. Finally, we told him to pray again with all his strength to know the truth about the Book of Mormon. He said that we didn’t need to ask him again about his answer, he would tell us. So, one night we arrived and he s aid that he had received an answer. In front of his family he told his mom that he had decided to be baptized. It was so nice to hear that he had really received an answer and to know that he was ready. His other brother Jamerson was recently baptized and strong in the church. Now we have their other brother Jadson who is going to church and preparing for baptism.

  I hope that we will have a lot of success here in the next few weeks. We have a family and another young man who are preparing to be baptized. Our mission is baptizing 25% men and increasing. This is a new improvement and we will continue to get better!

 I will write more next week because I don’t have much time and my companion is sick. I love you all and have a wonderful week! Keep me in your prayers!

Love, Sister Gordon

 My new companion.......

 Mission Office in Joao Pessoa

Junior's (blue and white shirt) Baptism

Joao Pessoa, Brazil

Coconut Trees

 A little crab

"Fishers of Men" biblical sense :-)

Beautiful Beach

A Pesky Pirate

A weird fruit....don't know what it's called

Flying Ants!

Oi everyone!

 Wow, 10 months on the mission. This week I have been thinking a lot about my mission. My goodness, how I have grown! I don´t even remember what I was like before the mission, along with other things like a how a comfy couch feels, a warm shower, good pizza, internet, stylish clothes… the list goes on. But now I only have 8 months left and so much to do. Before, everyone always said ´O, you are new on the mission… so much time left!` , but now I have a companion with less time here and now everyone says to me `Wow! You´re practically home!`. Ugh! It´s so weird! But I am enjoying my mission and realizing that it passes so fast and I still have so much to do!

  This week the sun practically killed me. (When doesn´t it?) I know I have been complaining my entire mission about the heat, and I´m sorry, but it´s SO HOT here!! How do people live in a place like this? Ha ha.  I just laugh everyday when they say `How do you guys stand walking in the sun all day? That must be difficult!`  It is!  This week the skin on my legs started peeling from the dryness and the strength of the sun. Even with sunscreen and lotion your body just can´t handle the strength of the sun. It´s horrible! I think I will come home like a shriveled raisin!

   The other day it started to rain a lot. We had been talking to our new neighbor about how it is so nice that bugs don’t enter into our new apartment like our old house. But we spoke too soon, because that night we had two huge cockroaches that entered into our room. We started screaming and our neighbor ran in to kill them for us. Ha ha! She said that she saw them walking by her window, so she shut her window. But when she heard us scream she knew exactly what had happened. Think about nasty bugs that never die! You can beat on them with a sandal for an hour and they are still moving and alive. It´s horrible. But o well! What can I do? 

  Yesterday when we woke up for church it was pouring cats and dogs. As we were walking to church the rain started to stop, but something (that I think is much worse) happens here. This is the WEIRDEST THING! There are always tons of ants here in this part of Brazil. When it rains, they magically grow wings and fly. It´s crazy! These ants grow little fragile wings and start flying to save themselves from the rain. When the rain stops, they lose their wings and become normal again. (Why can´t this happen with humans? That would be so cool!) But it is horrible when you are walking outside, because there are TONS of ants flying around, and crazily because they haven´t gotten used to flying. Ugh, I think it is gross, but really interesting.

  We have a new rule in our mission that we need to teach Men and families. This week (hopefully) we will baptize a young man and his brother. Pray that everything goes well!

     I love you all and have  a wonderful week! Write letters and keep me in your prayers. Love you!

Happy Valentine’s Day!         (I almost forgot!)

Love, Sister Gordon

Moved into our new apartment!

Hey everyone!

Oh how wonderful it is to move into a new apartment. This story is incredible. I learned the principle of faith and works this week. We planned on a certain day to move in, but everything was going wrong. I continued to tell my companion, “ No, we will move today. Just have faith!” That day everything worked out in the absolute last minute, and I saw miracles happen to help us move into that house. Ward members helped us haul our stuff up two flights of stairs at night and everything worked out wonderful! I was so grateful for their help, and especially for the Lord´s help. When we have faith and works, the Lord blesses us!!
This week was full of moving, cleaning and organizing. We had to clean everything from our old house because it was full of rat leftovers and who knows what. My companion went crazy with the bleach and I’m pretty sure we don’t have a germ left in our new house. It feels so good to live in a bugless, clean house. Now I can actually cook! I will make cookies for everyone this week.
I haven´t been feeling well these past few days. I think I am getting sick because of the heat. I have felt like I have a fever constantly with an aching body- aghh! It’s really frustrating, but today I am doing better. Who knows, I have never experienced heat like this before! My body doesn’t know what do to!
I love you all and have a good week. I’m sorry I didn’t write much, but I will think of some fun things to say for next week. Have a wonderful week!

P.S. I received a pillowcase, with notes written on it, for Christmas from the ward- this week I will remember to take a photo and send it to you. I will write a letter for everyone to read, thanking people. It is really nice to know that people remember and care about us. I feel so loved!
It was so wonderful to receive my Christmas package- I got a lot of stuff this week! Thanks for everything you sent to me. I ate alfredo this week and was so happy. I have been sharing my sweets with people and I enjoy seeing their faces as they try food from America. It’s great! Thank you soo much!!!

Love, Sister Gordon

MY LITTLE FRIENDS....

A little fruit that looks like a pumpkin

Cleaning our apartment........

My Brazilian Companion

This is how I keep cool back at the apartment

Sunset from my apartment

Mangabeira..new apartment!

I am really excited because this week we will be moving into a new house. (Actually, an apartment) But this old house was horrrrrrible. We had so many problems with bugs, rats, you name it. But now, we will live in a nicer apartment, second floor with tile everywhere and no bugs. It also has a beautiful view. Above the apartment you can walk on the terrace and see the whole city! I sent a picture. I am just really excited to leave this old nasty molding house.
This week was normal. It’s really hot here, but a different type of heat. My other area was hot, but we were constantly sweating. Here, it feels like the sun is just frying your skin. I think it’s more of a dry heat. Who knows? But at least it will probably only cool down starting the next month or so.
My cultural moment for this week: (you guys will laugh) Here in Brazil Carnival is a HUUUGE holiday. Bigger than Christmas! They shut everything down and go to the beach, where they party, drink, dance and everything else. In preparation for Carnival, they have commercials and programs on the TV that to me, a little American missionary, were shocking! We were in an investigators house, and a program was playing on the TV. They were having a competition between carnival dancers. Just picture the show girls in Las Vegas with the feathers and bikini clothing. So these girls were dancing and I became completely shocked when I realized that their naked bums were totally showing. (Maybe I’m just innocent? but I’m pretty sure that doesn’t show on the TV in the US) They were all laughing at my facial expression when I realized what was happening. I was freaking out saying `seriously? They can show this on TV at this hour?` They all laughed and said `Ya! It’s so normal here!` There were commercials passing with a painted naked woman dancing- my goodness. Here, it´s normal! Ha ha ha! Maybe that will give you an idea of what carnival is all about. But it was pretty funny.
I don’t know what else is new this week. We are trying to find people to teach, but people aren’t as open and accepting here in this area. They don’t even open the door for us at times. O well! But we will have success- I have faith. The only reason we found this apartment was because we prayed endlessly to move and we worked to find a place. It was really difficult to find something here, but we did! Only because the Lord helped us.
I have also become addicted to açai here. It is a fruit from the amazons, and you eat the frozen pulp with things like nuts, granola, honey… YUM. They also make a really good smoothie with it too. I LOVE açai! This week I drank a huge jar of this smoothie and my companion was astonished that I finished it. Next time I´ll have to take a picture. Mmmm... you should all try this açai. It’s amazing!
Thank you for your prayers and support. I love you all and have a good week! Keep writing because I like to know how you are doing.
Love,
Sister Gordon

Bugs, Bugs, More Bugs.......

Hello everyone!
I don’t have much to say, but I can write a whole lot just about all the creatures we found in our house this week! Don’t get worried with these stories, because I know that the Lord is protecting me! But they are pretty interesting.
The first one was a cockroach that was calmly walking across the floor the other day. When I just look over and see them, I don’t scream or anything. So i just pointed casually and asked my companion to kill it! This week it has been raining here a lot, which is a wonderful thing because it means less sun! But something weird happens here when it rains. The already huge ants magically grow and grow, and then grow wings! They are sooo disgusting! I have no idea how it happens, but they are so creepy. Imagine, huge ants with wings. I think they are almost an inch long... ugh. These bugs creep me out.
Then... the best creature of the week. (Drumroll please!) One night I entered into my room, and a Scorpion on the wall next to our beds. It was really little, which scared me even more, because the smaller they are, the more dangerous! I didn’t freak out, just left the room and got my companion. She said after `I didn’t even believe that you were telling the truth because you were so calm!` But I took a picture, and then we killed it and burned it. I was pretty much freaked out a little, but the Savior promises that he will protect his missionaries from scorpions and snakes. So I slept calmly.
The next day I was in the bathroom trying to shut the door, but it wouldn’t shut! So finally I pushed hard, and whoa a huge cockroach fell from the ceiling! I screamed as he was running around me on the floor, and grabbed my companion to kill it. What a scare! I hate surprise bugs! These are just a few little stories, but my goodness.. it’s been an interesting week. Needless to say, we are looking for a new house :)
This area is great and I am excited to work here. My companion is really funny. She totally has the attitude of an African American. I tell her all the time that she is African American, but just one that speaks Portuguese. She said `I think I was in the line in heaven to go to the United States, but I just slipped and landed in brazil!` She is really funny and crazy. I am learning a lot from her.
But the work keeps going. I have been getting to know my Savior more this week and studying a lot about the Atonement. I am truly grateful for my Savior. Being here on a mission makes you realize how hard it really is to love people that don’t love you, even when you are trying to bring happiness and peace to their life. But I understand my Savior more and more every day.
I am grateful to serve a mission! You learn more than you could ever know. A mission is difficult, but worth it.
I love you all and have a good week!
Sister Gordon
(she didn't download the photos of the creatures...maybe next week)

Serving in Mangabeira.........

Hello everyone!
I am in a new area, Mangabeira. (maanga bear a), and really excited to get to work. It’s always nice to start over. I have a new companion, her name is Sister Mares, and she is from Minas Gerais. She doesn’t speak a word of English, likes to dance and do crazy things, has a wonderful testimony and will be a great companion. We are working a lot here which is really tiring in this ridiculous sun! Just walking in the sun leaves that fried, dry skin feeling, but you are sweating at the same time. Ha ha! Even the people who live here think we are crazy to work in the sun. O well!
I am excited for this transfer. There are some wonderful families here that will be baptized this transfer. My house here is huge and kind of scary. I don’t really like it, but I am getting used to it. Last transfer, Sister Pozete and Sis. Mares found a scorpion, spiders, huge cockroaches, rats, and a snake in this house! So we´ll see what happens. We are looking for a new one.
My Portuguese is improving a lot because that’s all I can speak! I think in Portuguese, and starting to dream in Portuguese and English is getting harder to speak. That’s a good thing.
Well I don’t have too much to say, I hope I will in the future. I downloaded a ton of photos- O! When someone has 9 months on the mission they take a picture with their belly. The rest are saying goodbye pictures and stuff. Love you all and pray for you!
Write letters!
Love sister Gordon
Note: I (Jenn)had to add some personal notes she wrote to her parents, I thought there were worth sharing.
It’s funny, but we always laugh about how worn out we look as missionaries. The sun just destroys your skin and hair. Our feet our horrible and sad looking. And I pretty much am always tired. But, it’s part of the mission. I was thinking the other day- Wow. Half of my mission is gone. I don’t want to go home with any feelings of regret. So when I arrived in this new area, I had a new energy to work and do everything perfect. I think I scared my companion a little, ha ha! But I am trying really hard to give it my all, sacrifice everything and be 100% obedient. It’s really tiring! So much to do and think about. Ugh. Plus I am senior companion now, so if things don’t go right, it’s my fault. But I’m not worried; we will have lots of success.
I am only speaking in Portuguese now, and it’s great! The other day I was talking with my mission president´s wife in English, and it was so hard! I had to think a lot. I was pretty happy about that.

Brazillian Taco

Some weird huge fruit

Bishop Ferreira and family

My Nine Month Mission Belly

Good byes

Açai (aw-sigh-ee)and friends- yum.

Letters...I love letters! Hint, hint!

My mission President, Gordon Hall from AZ, and his wife

Coconut Juice and Ibuprofen....remedy when sick

Cleaning our new house....we just pour water on the floor and mop.