Agua Phobic and Nefi appearing in dreams.

Yeah!! Feliz 28 de Maio!! Happy Birthday to my mother!! Thanks Mom for all that you do for me, you are fantastic, and I want the entire world to know... you have made such a difference in my life, in my testimony, in my attitude, in my talents, and in my capabilities... I am who I am because of you, and so I thank you!! Feliz Aniversario!! You are only 26 right? (You really could pass for my older, prettier Sister :) I love you!! Thanks for all that you do, you are 10!! (That is way a Brazilian phrase by the way) (And yes, this paragraph belongs in the blog, I want the whole world to know how incredible you are!)

Anyways, this past week flew by, it was absolutely fantastic! We had some pretty tough moments... one of them was being expulsed from a home by the son of a pesquisador... He was shaking from head to toe as he yelled at us for inviting his mother to be baptized and taking her to church... she is the 81 year old that came with us to church last week... He stood there, shaking, trying to make us leave his home, and he couldn’t even look at us in the eye because he knew he was wrong. I felt more sad for him then anything else, because he had noo idea what he was doing... He knew he was doing something wrong though, and as we left we looked at him in the eyes, and testified that the church was true, and that he was doing something wrong... and I began to cry... because it just hurt me to know he was rejecting something as incredible as this message. This isn’t the first or the last time this has happened, mas tudo bom, its just part of the mission.

In other really, really exciting news- we have been teaching Eva and her sons Filipe and Junior for a few weeks, and they are incredible!!! Eva is a... a droga I can’t remember this word in English... she makes clothes, and she sells them and she is incredible! I have never seen anyone with more talent to design clothes like her. She is amazing, and she has a love for the gospel. Her and her sons are truly elect, because they are searching and searching to know if the church is true, and her son Filipe had a dream, where a man appeared to him, telling him that Nefi was a prophet of God... When we talked to him the next day we asked him if he knew the Book of Mormon was true, and he said that he knew, with certeza, that it was true... we asked him who it was that was talking to him in his dream, and he said that it was Jesus Christ. Wow... after he told us that, I just felt overwhelmed at how the Lord really does answer the powerful promise in Moroni 10:3-5.. If we ask, he will tell us. It is different for everyone, but the Lord will respond.

We are doing great here- I am loving it here in Iraja, even if we did have to move again today. droga. We had to move back to our old house, it is sad, but at the same time so funny. I liked this other house so much... but the Imobeleiras are being stupid about it, something or other about us being Mormons, so we had to move.. back to the old house with worms... hahaha...we had it debugged, I really don’t know that word in English, I just learned it this past week as we called random people asking them questions about bugs...yeah its funny describing bugs in Portuguese and answering their questions on the phone... what size are they? Big. How big? I don’t know big... just come spray the house! Yes but what kind of bugs?... the kind that crawl around. Where are you from? Yes I know I have an accent... It was a detailed conversation for 10 minutes about bugs. misericordia.

In other news, I looove my new companion!! Sister Aline Menezes. She is 25, from Rio, and awesome. She is so little. She comes to my shoulder, barely. She is so fun though, and a hard worker and she teaches so well. And she is so easy going! This past week has been one of my favorites on the mission, we have soo much work to do, and have set some great goals- so vamos lá! My Portuguese is going to improve alot too! yay!

Anyways, I think that is about it... I have blabbed on enough, but I love being a missionary, every week that passes I just cant believe how fast it is going. I want to cry when I realize that it is going to be June this week. Rats. I have so much more work to do! So much more rice and beans to eat! So much more to walk! opa!

Com muito amor-
Sister Melanie Monroe

Mudanças

Querido Familia e Amigas

Wow, so transfers came... And I stayed, and Sister Labadie went. It was a difficult parting, Lia and Danielo drove us there this morning to the center, and it was really, really hard for them. We all promised até Março, when we will see them in the temple. It was very bittersweet, and it was way special. It was awesome; because yesterday Sister Labadie and I got to be there when Danielo was ordained to the Mechelsidec Priesthood- I have no idea how to spell that in English or Portuguese. But yeah, that was one of the most beautiful experiences in my life, to see how this querido family has progressed in the gospel, they also gave talks in sacrament meeting, which was just plain incredible.

As far as other highlights, earlier in the week we were teaching Donna Lurdes, who has 81 years, and she is awesome! But we read the scriptures in 2 nefi 2:25, about "Adam fell that man might be, and men are that they might have joy." After we read it with her, she looked at us and said to us in surprise- "Well I want to know where Adam fell? How?" We laughed and laughed, and tried to explain to her that it wasn’t a rock that he fell on... but that it was a figure of speech... I was dying with laughter afterwards. But the cool thing is that Donna Lurdes came to church with us on Sunday and LOVED it!!! She cried all throughout it, and said that she was really, really touched. The cool thing is that she is Marcia´s neighbor, (who baptized last week) and so Marcia is helping Lurdes a ton!! It is awesome!! I love how the gospel unifies people.

We are working with a lot of people who aren’t married, but living together... we have a lot of people to marry... but we are doing our best to help them progress. We have a couple who had been watching us sing on the onibus for 3 months, and they never said anything. Then out of the blue we saw them on the street, and we invited them to come to church... And they are coming to church, and liking it a lot. But it was such a lesson to me that at times we don’t see the fruit of our efforts for months! way cool though!!

Anyways, my new companheira... drumroll please.... Sister Menezes.. a brasileria from Rio!!! She is awesome, way pretty, short, and way sweet. I am stoked!!! She will be so much fun, and she has 9 months on the mission, so we will be great together.... Gente, I can’t believe how fast the time is flying.

Anyways, I don’t have too much time here, because we have 4 sisters here in this area today who we have to help, transfer days are stressful at times :) But all is well, and I am happy to be here more time. We have a lot to do this week, I just found out we have to move houses again. Blast. This is just getting ridiculous, but I know why we moved, we had to find Elaine, our neighbor who we are teaching and has already gone to church twice. She is great!!

Ok time is up, I Love you all... beijos!!!

Sister Melanie Monroe

A Firme Alicerce

Querido amigos and familia,

Wow, well last night was fantastic because I got to call home for mother’s day, and I got to talk to my brother a little bit as well, which was otimo!! Michael speaks perfect Portuguese just FYI, I am way jealous. He always was smarter than me, so I guess its no real surprise.

It was great to talk to them, it made me realize how much I have changed, and also how fast the time is flying by!! Oh loca!!! 11 months!! Insane!! As I ended I said... well, until... December... wierd.

Anyways, the last two weeks have been incredible- here are some of the high points-

-I had to climb under a billboard... It was that or 10 more minutes of walking, and we didn’t feel like wasting time. there was 1 foot of space underneath- we all know I am tall so that was a stretch trying to get under there and squeeze through. I made it half way and then Sister Labadie and I died hysterically laughing. The funniest part is that there were all of these cars passing on either side, and here are these two missionaries, squeezing through this billboard. haha... and to think that last conference Sister Condie played a 'manners for missionarios' video. Oh brother. I think that applied to areas not in brazil.... because it really just doesn’t work here. haha.

-Cural... this is this corn desert that I am determined to master. Its just corn, milk, and sugar- you would think that it would be easy to make, but I have made 6 times in the last months without success! We will try tonight maybe for this pday... maybe I will get it. I love this dessert, and its so stinkin hard to make! But corn things are great- they have corn ice cream here, corn cake, and this cural- AMAZING... we will see how today goes!

-Que firme alicerce- How firm A foundation- I love this hymn- but it is not ranked as one of the funniest moments in my life... I hope everyone else thinks this is funny though- we were singing for Marina and her family, she has a grandmother- avo- who is waay old, and very sick. She loves it when we sing to her- but its really the only thing she understands. But anyways, we were teaching her and Marina, and she kept passing gas while we were teaching, and we just kept on teaching like nothing was happening- no big deal right... but then at the end, we sing 'que firme alicerce' for her.,.. and we sing two lines... and she farted the biggest thing EVER.... bigger then I have ever heard in my entire life.... sister
Labadie and I tried to stay serious for a few lines... but we didn’t make it... and ended up laughing so hard. So hard. We tried singing another song after, and ended up laughing. it was just so stinking loud.... anyone would of died laughing, I am sure. But yep, there you go Charity for the funny story you wanted last night, I hope everyone else thinks its funny... welcome to brazil!! (Mike, this reminds me of your rest home stories)

-Now that we have moved and are in this great house, we just found out that this area will be expanding- we are getting two more sisters here for this ward in one week- so we have to start looking for another house. moving again. haha... ahh we died laughing, because now we will have two houses to close up... brother. But its way good news, because we have sooo much work to do here- so I am excited!

-Marina and Marcia- Marina baptized last week and was soo excited and beautiful.. She was soo prepared by the Lord (She was the one we met by our telephone) And she just glows with the spirit. She is incredible strong. Marcia was baptized on Saturday, and Marcia and Marine were both confirmed yesterday together. It is cool because we met the two of them the same night, and they were both so prepared. Marcia reminds me a lot of Julie Warcup- she is hysterical, loud, and just great. She is looving the church, she always wants to sit way up close. So these two women are fantastic- really prepared by the Lord, and I am just grateful that the Lord put them in our paths.

-We are continuing to work with lots of people- we are teaching a few families right now that are incredible- one couple that we met because of singing on the onibus- yeah!! They are great- and we are also teaching our neighbor right now, Eliane. I am pretty convinced we only moved so that we could meet her. She’s incredible.

Ok, well I am running out of time here, and I have to run to the bathroom tambem. I am soo grateful for the chance I have to be a missionary... I continue to be amazed at how much I have grown, and yet how much I still lack... this work is so demanding, and I feel so weak and inadequate most of the time- but I am so grateful that I am only a little instrument in the Lords hand- this is his work, and it is Him that directs us.

Ok well I love you all, thanks for the support!!!
Com Amor
Sister Melanie Felony Monroe

Por favor, eu não quero mais (Please, I want more cake)

Wow, another week has flown by and it was incredible. Here were some of the highlights-

-We had Zone Conference, and this time Sister Labadie had to give a talk. haha. She did awesome, and it was cool because we got special permission to bring Douglas with us. He was in heaven, because he will be serving a mission in 1 year.

-speaking of Douglas, I have never seen a person more passionate about the gospel then him. When anyone says the name "Joseph Smith" he just jumps with excitement... he said once, wow, the name Joseph Smith just has power!! He wants to go out on visits with us everyday... and then when he goes on visits, he gets so excited to bear his testimony- it is so simple, but so powerful. He has some incredible gifts of the spirit too, he can read people so well... he visited some pesquisadores with us and he knew exactly their problems and doubts, even though we had never told him. And he is so excited to serve a mission, he just gets crazy thinking about it. So he loved conference.

-Our new house is great. I feel clean for the first time in 3 months, its just way more exciting!

-our members here keep giving us chocolate cake. I don’t know why. I find it ironic that the dessert that everyone loves the most is chocolate cake, exactly the same! I know I shouldn’t complain, Michael is there in the north starving, meanwhile I am here with a ridiculous amount of bolo (or cake)..... pois é.

-We had all three of our baptisms fall through, but we are still pushing forward. We have some incredible people that are still progressing; it is all about using our time and doing our part. Friday during the day was a bit discouraging, because most of our efforts were falling through, but then in a matter of 2 hours, everything changed. We met first one amazing woman, Marcia, because we had to use the bathroom. She loved everything, read a lot of the Book of Mormon, and came to church! Then Friday night, as we were heading home, we made one last contact as we were waiting for the elders to call the payphone. She burst into tears, and so we sang a hymn for her, and asked her when we could come back to visit her. She was excited and accepted the visit.

She lives like on our corner- and we visited her the next day. Her mother Teresa, (Her name is Merina) and her grandmother loved it all. It was an incredible lesson... as we were bearing our testimony and talking about the first vision, Teresa asked us with tears in her eyes, how to pray. She said that no one had ever taught her, and so she had never taught her daughter. We told them we would all pray at the end of the lesson together. And then as we were winding up the lesson, she asked us if she could be baptized after she knew it was true.... she beat us to the baptismal question!! It was incredible... and then at the end, we all knelt in prayer and each of us took turns saying a simple, sincere prayer. Teresa and Merina were crying as they said the first prayers of their life. They went to church with us the next day, and Teresa just cried and cried through the first meeting. It was so powerful to me at how much I take for granted, the power of prayer! I great up knowing how to pray, and knowing the Pae Celestial was always there to listen to us... can you imagine learning to pray when you are 53?

Really, I am just so grateful for all the blessings that I have in my life. This week I reflected in a little about all that I have learned during my mission. My love has grown for every principle of the gospel. I have been so blessed to be raised by goodly parents, and I am even luckier to be living right now in Brasil, learning so much everyday. I am so grateful for the power of prayer, and for the power of the scriptures, and for the blessings the Lord gives us when we make the right choices- mainly our families!!

Here is a Brazilian quote that I heard this week that I liked-
"Quando tem pedras que caim em sua caminha, usam elas para fazer sua mansão." More or less it means that when you have rocks in your path; use them to build your mansion. It is so true, when we overcome our trials, even when we think we can’t give more; there is always a blessing and better way right around the corner!

Anyways, I love you all, happy May almost... Que loca rapaz!!!

Tchau, Sister Melanie Felony Monroe