A Surprise Transfer!!

Ok, so transfers came, and I couldn’t believe it- I was transferred!!! Holy cow!! I only stayed in São Jose do Rio Preto for 6 weeks, one transfer, and it passed soo quickly. I thought for sure that my companion, Sister Santo, would be transferred, because she had been there for 7 months, but, the Lord knows all, and now I am going to São João do Boa Vista. I know the names are really close- it funny because these are the two farthest cities for sisters in the mission. it was four hours de onibus this morning here to rebeirao, and now this afternoon we will be making the 4 hour bus ride to São João. They say this city has lots of hills.

My new companion is Sister Cunha. She is funny, and likes to surf. That’s all I know about her... so yeah, should be great!! It’s a small little ramo where I am going. So I am excited.

This transfer caught me completely by surprise. We had 3 baptisms marked for the next month, so I am sad not to be there to see it, but at least I got to help in the work. There is one young athlete who will be baptized next Sunday, Duda, who will be running (we hope) in the Olympics in 2008, how cool!! He is awesome, so that was fun teaching him. We talked alooot about sports, and I think because of my sport background I was able to help him a little. And we also helped Juliana, an amazing, amazing woman who I just love- who was all set to be baptized yesterday, and her husband didn’t let her. Very, very sad. So I was sad not to be able to see her baptism, but at least I was able to help her get very close... I am sure that she will be baptized soon, and that the Lord will find a way to help her husband.

It was very hard leaving Cleide and Angelica and Rodrigo, the family that was baptized while I was there. They cried and cried, and didn’t want me to leave. I felt sad to leave, but there is the quite peace that the Lord gives, helping me know that it is the Lords will that I go to this new area.

Its an interesting transfer, I had a lot of shock in it all, because I thought I would be transferred to São João the past transfer, but instead I went to Rio Preto one transfer, and now I will go where I thought I would be going. Does that sentence even make sense? portugues seria mais facil explicar.

I prayed and prayed yesterday that I could know that I did everything I needed to do in Rio Preto, and as I said goodbye to everyone, especially Cleide, I felt that I had done it all. Cleide said some special things to me, how she had needed especially me- which made me feel better about it all.

Its interesting how timing works out, the Lords knows all. Sometimes our life isnt how we would choose it- my mission hasn’t been how I would of imagined or planned- but because its the Lords work- it has been much better. He is at the head of it all- and so aonde te mandou erei senhor (wherever he calls me Ill go? something like that) that hymns is great.

One part that I loved about transfers was seeing everyone- My old companions. Right now I am sitting next to Sister Menezes, which makes me so happy, She is giving me all the news on Irajá... the last family that baptized- Adriano and Marines are doing great- Adriano blessed the sacrament the past two weeks which makes me sooo happy- and everyone is staying firm... I cried and cried to hear this, it made me so happy. And best of all- Lia came to transfers, and I talked to Danilo on the phone!!!! I was sooo happy. I cried when I saw Lia, and she talked to me and it was amazing. It makes you love every minute of the mission, seeing people growing in the gospel.

So that’s about it, I have no time today. i have to go renew my vista while I am in Riberiao- it turns out I am officially illegal. My vista stopped like a few months ago, and they forgot to get it all worked out. But don’t worry, I will just have to go take another mug shot in the police station and that will be that.

Ok I love you all!!!
beijos,
Sister Monroe

The things I hear aaallll the time

Yes, I thought you would all enjoy this. This week will give you all a chance to hear what I hear all the time, at least once a week... and sometimes everyday. These are the phrases that I hear a lot-

First off, you have to imagine how the Brazilians say sister... it’s not like in English where the accent falls on the end or the r... no... It’s more like siiiister... or seester... sometimes people say "cicera...” ha-ha. It’s a nice try on their part.

"Sister... come mais." (Sister, eat more!) Yes, about 6 months ago there were 4 sisters here, and the irmas here still think they are cooking for 4 sisters. They cook a lot- good food, but they also think that we have to eat alll of it. It’s enough to make you sick. It doesn’t matter how much I eat, they always want you to eat more. But at lest I have gotten accustomed to it- I have a strategy... I don’t eat that much the first round, and then pretend I am done. And then when they insist, or at times just give me more food, pronto... it’s not that bad of a problem. Last week it didn’t quite work, a lady dished me up half a plate of rice.... alooot of rice. vichi... But luckily we walk a lot, and as they tell us- (voces não podem engordar- voces andam demais) You guys wont get fat, you walk all day. Ha-ha.

"Sister, você está vermelho." (You are red.) Yes, it has gotten really, really hot here in Rio Preto. They say that here is one of the hottest cities in the state of São Paulo- I would have to agree... I always have sunscreen with me everyday, and I am always passing it- opa- putting it on (that sentence is way brasilian) but it doesn’t matter, I always burn.

"Sister, você é grande!!" (Sister, you are tall!) I am really, really tall for Brazil. But luckily this ward has about 10 people taller than me! Wahoo! And there is an American who is married to a Brazilian that lives here, and they are both taller than me! It’s nice.

"Sister, você é italiana, ou alimana?" (Are you Italian or German?) These would be the two nationalities that everyone things that I am. And then when they find out that I am American they talk to me in English. (Things like hi, what is your name?) I usually have no idea what they are saying. Although two weeks ago, a well respected woman, about 70 years old told me in English- "let’s go but girl!" I tried not to laugh, and then she asked me what it meant... I explained that it didn’t really mean anything together.... but explained what each word meant. We all laughed really hard afterwards. A lot of Brazilians say things in English that are hilarious, that mean nothing...

"Sister, você não passou in casa essa semana!" (Sister, you didn’t pass by in casa this week) Yes, this is one of the hard parts of being a missionary- there just isn’t enough time. And the loving members want us to pass by and visit them- which we just can’t do. Michael will understand this... so every Sunday we hear a load of people complaining that we didn’t visit them. To which we apologize and say that we love them and just didn’t have time... and then we wait to hear the same thing next week, because we wont be visiting them this week as well...

So there are some of the things that I hear on a regular basis, just to give you an idea of what our missionary life is like, the other side of it.
Another week I will have to do a list of the excuses we get because people cant come to church or hear our message, Sister Santo and I made a list because it really is just ridiculous what some people say. And we get a kick out of it.

Sister Santo and I had a crazy past week- it was definitely an adventure, but way good. Cleide and her two children were confirmed yesterday, which was great to see, they are progressing nicely, and the two children even sat nicely half way through sacrament...which was fabulous.

One adventure we had this past week was that Luiza, (remember the lady that has panic syndrome?) passed out while we were with her. She is a recent convert of Sister Santo, and anyways that was interesting. She’s a very large woman, and there was us, trying to help her wake up, holding her up, and walking with her to help her lay on her bed... it was rather interesting, and sad because she has aloooot of health problems. She’s a skitsophraniac... ok I have no idea how to spell that... but I was glad that we were there to help her. They are a great family that are always helping us, so it was good to do something to help them, even if it was scary and crazy.

We are teaching some amazing families, which are progressing nicely. We will see how it goes this week- these two families have accepted baptism, it’s just a matter of pushing and helping them to progress now... one of the fathers smokes... and the other family is really, really hard to find in casa.

We were super happy because a menos ativo family that we have been working with this transfer is coming back to church!! They went on visits with us this past week, which was amaazing! And the father came to church yesterday, which was the first time in 6 years. So great.

On Thursday it was interesting because we visited a family that has aloooot of money. They live in a skyscraper, in the center of town, and have a style of living that is quite different from what I have seen in a loot of time... it was weird. But it was also way evident to me that they were not happy. I thought of how many people we teach are so poor, but soo happy. Money doesn’t mean anything, this family cried and cried as we taught them the first lesson- they wanted to go to church, but have family problems... so sad to see people who want the blessings of the gospel, need the blessings of the gospel- and ainda assim, they don’t act. Oh well, at least a seed is planted!!

So that’s a little bit of what my life has been like this past week. I am way happy; the time is flying by... ahh! We have transfers in a week, so we will see what happens this last week. crazy. Sister Santo has been here 7 months, but she only has one transfer left... so we will see what happens. I am hoping that I will stay, we have soo much work left to do here.

I love you all- Happy September, enjoy the fall leaves and the cool breeze, because I am turning into a lobster here! Ha-ha!

Beijos e um grande, grande, abraço!!Sister Melanie Felony Monroe

Sómente na Missao …only on the mission.

Yes, there are weeks here on the mission that are crazy. This last week, was a crazy week, for several reasons.

We did a full day service project- with the whole stake here- it was 7 hours of painting. Very, very disorganized, I think at the beginning of my mission I would of gone crazy. But I rather expected it, enjoyed it, and just laughed. 7 hours of painting was really hard though, i think it was hardest knowing that afterwards we had to go out and work even more... I was so tired that night after painting and then doing missionary work, I don’t even remember finishing my prayer that night. Ha-ha, but it was good to help out. And the school even turned out almost good. (Dad- I don’t think you would have approved of the painting job- the whole time I was thinking of these volunteers painting Qualcom- and how bad it was looking... I laughed a lot. Someone asked me, wow, you know how to paint, and I just laughed. There were about 100 people with brushed painting here and there, some people sanding, and other people with rollers painting here and there.... just imagine how much paint there was on the ground....hahahaha) yes very funny.

-We found an incredible family- Moises and Eunice! We are super excited about them, we will just have to get them married, they have been together for 29 years... so we will have to get the paperwork done now. They were super excited to come to church, but then the father in law got sick and sent to the hospital Saturday night (once again, I will never understand how the inimigo gets everyone sick Saturday night) and anyhow they couldn’t come to church, but we are excited to work with them, and they already invited all of the neighbors to come to church with us too- and one even went yesterday and brought her kids- yay!!

- We have been working with a family these past 4 weeks... and Cleide with her 2 children were baptized yesterday- Angelica and Rodrigo. It was the craziest baptism I have ever seen in my life. Let me explain. No, there is too much, let me sum up. Angelica was super excited to be baptized, the past 2 weeks it was allll she talked about. (She’s 11) Rodrigo and Cleide wanted to baptized, but weren’t as excited as angelica.

Well anyways, about 5 minutes before the baptism Angelica began to cry, she was scared of the water. (Something absurd because she looves water, loves to swim...) Cleide was soo mad at her. Cleide was super excited to be baptized on Sunday- she really made a great change in her life for all this... and she was super firme. Well she baptized first, and then Rodrigo, and then Anglica entered the water crying. It ended up that she was there for an hour.... crying... crying, neither entering the water to baptized, or wanting to leave because she wanted to be baptized. the elders tried several times but her feet left the water. I even ended up entering the water twice to help calm her and be with her..... it was a big mess. But after an hour, she was baptized, and left SUPER, SUPER happy with her mom, who was even happier. It was soo exhausting. I didn’t even feel happy afterwards because I was so tired. Generally you like to think of baptism as a spiritual, special experience... but anyone who has served a mission (especially in south America...) I think will understand that sometimes it is a fight with the inimigo... I was so tired spiritually after it all... and I am very glad that today is p-day.

-So that was my crazy, crazy week. Somewhere in this week we also drove with a recent convert, Luiza, who has panic syndrome. I never knew that this existed, but it was crazy... this woman is the biggest help here- she is best friends with Cleide and so we love working with her, she’s the biggest missionary, and has the biggest heart. But she is also a terrible driver, and I held my breath several times as we went flying through the city with this panicked lady... it was quite funny...and I am quite sure that the Lord protected us. Ha-ha.

I love Brazil. I love the mission, the experiences are crazy, but the growth is also crazy. I have learned so much of the value of the gospel. As I have seen so many problems here with drugs, alcohol, family abuse, poverty... I really have begun to see even more how the only thing that will save the human race in the end is the gospel. Its incredible. Our leaders are so inspired!

So yep- have a great day everyone! Smile! Laugh! Life is crazy, and I love it...every day is a marvelous gift, I love it!

Beijos-
Sister Melanie Monroe

Nois é Chiki Nu

Happy first week of school for everyone! Que locura. I enjoyed hearing how school is going for everyone. Here in Brasil, school has been going for quite awhile, the seasons are opposite, and so the school season is opposite as well. Just FYI....

This last week was fantastic as I am getting back into the groove of being a missionary- hooray! I am back to my old self, Sister Santo and I are trabalhando até o Pó... which in English means we are working a lot. And after the tribulations, come the blessings. That would definitely be the theme of our week. During the day we were really, really rejected. I love rejection! Because you know that something good is coming your way... and it is so true. Because when all, and I mean all, of our plans, and pesquisadors fell through, the Lord was there to guide us to new people who will accept the gospel.

So this week was about finding lots of new people, we are teaching some great families, and I am excited to see how they progress. It was amazing to see how the Lord really uses the simple things to help us. Here are some of the small and simple things that happened this week-

-We missed the onibus by one minute, but then grabbed a random different onibus 10 minutes later. As we sang to the people, there was one man in back who had a smile... I talked to him afterwards, and we ended up teaching him all of this week. Graciano. As we taught him the first lesson, and told him that we have a living prophet, he broke out with a huge smile- and said- "Serious? We have a prophet!! Wow!" I have never seen someone so excited to know about prophets. He is really awesome, cried the first time he read the Book of Mormon, and knows it is true, we will see how this week goes because His mom doesn’t seem to be liking us. She is espirita, and lights and prays to a candle, and calls the spirits around... ai ai ai,so we have a battle coming up... we will see how it goes. But it is always exciting just to see how the Lord puts people in our path.

-We are teaching a young girl, Angelica, who is amazing. Yesterday was the fourth time she has come to church, but this time her Mom and her brother came too- yeah! So we will see how this week goes for them. We have to help her mom stop smoking. Vamos lá!

-Sister Santo ate McDonalds for the first time. I went to a pizza rodizia for the first time. (a pizza buffet) This was all in the same day- it was zone conference, and there are like no sisters here in this part of the mission, just 4 of us, it’s kind of weird. But the Pizza was awesome- they have dessert pizza here in brazil, which was my first time eating it- they have chocolate pizza, white chocolate pizza, bananas and cinnamon pizza, um... And Brigadeiro pizza, which is like a really, really chocolate pizza.... It was way good. Pizza here is way different as well, they put corn and palm of hearts and sometimes stroganoff on top of pizza, its just really different, but way good. Yum.

-Yesterday was quite an interesting day, our church is at 4 here because they are doing stuff to the chapel, its a big mess. But in the afternoon as we were walking to help people come to church, and noooo one was home or sleeping and not wanting to go to church, I felt discouraged, but as is my habit these days, I pulled out the hymnal (is that the name in English? I think its right) and started singing hymns to just keep on walking and keep excited. After an hour of walking no one wanted to come with us... we almost missed the bus to go to the other neighborhood and to church, but grabbed it the last second. phew. But even with all the rejection, I didn’t feel too discouraged.
After church, we only had a little bit of time, and once again, all of our plans fell through. But we started knocking doors... and on the very last door we decided to knock, the man said first thing- "yay! Come in come in!" We walked in, completely surprised, and he said to me- "I heard you singing today when you were walking, and it made me so happy. I felt the spirit, even now I feel the spirit, I am so glad you are here." I felt so happy that I hadn’t gotten discouraged, and that even when we could of stopped working and walked home that night, we tried one more door... It turns out He is a member of the church that hasn’t been to church for about 20 years or so... and his girlfriend isn’t a member... so now we will be teaching them. Pretty cool how the Lord works.

Once again I am beginning to ramble; I guess I better get going. These are just some of the things that happened this week. I loove the mission- I love being rejected, because I feel like I can understand a little more about what Christ suffered to help us. Elder Holland was once asked why missionary work is so hard- and He said (This is not exact ok.. I am saying this more or less from memory, so no one please quote me) Of course it will be hard! Salvation wasn’t a easy price for Christ to pay, and so it wont be an easy price for us to pay.

It’s a war down here in Brasil, but its the best war worth fighting- and I am loving it! I love you all, thanks for all of your prayers. Give out a pass a long card today- its way easy- and when was the last time you gave one away?

Beijos-
Sister Melanie Monroe