Crazy Week

Olá!

So for anybody who has been watching the news, I imagine they have been showing the protests that are going on in Brasil. All I will say is Guará II is super calm and nothing is happening here. We live about 30 minutes from Brasília where everything is going on. President Gaertner is taking good care of all the missionaries and we are taking all the precautions necessary to stay safe :) 

This past week was busy, busy, busy. Brasil had two soccer games because of the Confederations Cup which made it really difficult to find anybody home. Seriously, the whole city shuts down during the game. The grocery store closes for like 4 hours because of the game; almost everything closes and then re-opens later. Or sometimes it closes and then just stays closed the rest of the day haha. Honestly the week was really rough in terms of lessons and people we taught, but this week will be better. 

On Thursday we had zone conference in Asa Norte. I loved zone conference!! Everything Sister Gaertner, President Souza (Sister Gaertner´s dad who was a mission president before), President Gaertner, and the zone leaders said was exactly what I needed to hear. It was a tender mercy for sure. One of the things the zone leaders said that I really like is, "When you get home from your mission be able to say ´I was a missionary` instead of `I went on a mission` because almost everybody goes on a mission but not everybody actually becomes a missionary." This is something I am still developing.

Last night we got to watch the broadcast from Provo about the changes in missionary work. It will be super delayed for the changes to reach Brasil, but I loved the video segments they showed during the broadcast. I never realized what a blessing it is to speak English. I started the watching the broadcast in Portuguese, because I didn´t know they had English showing in another room, and it was sad because I didn´t get to hear the voices of the apostles for that short time. But then I discovered they had English and I went there haha. It made me realize what a privilege it is to hear not only the words of the prophet and apostles but to hear their voices as well. Listening to the Portuguese translator didn´t have the same feeling for me. 

Anyway, I think that´s all I will write for this week! Hop you´re all doing great!

LOVE YOU! 

Sister Kerr

PS I am still LOVING Sister Muniz. She is crazy haha.

6 Months!

 Oi família,

This week I am going to have 6 months in the mission! It´s hard to believe I have 1 year left here in Brasil. 

So this past week with Sister Muniz was really great. She is a lot of fun and she works the same way I do. She likes to go contacting and I am learning a ton from her. We´ve been working a lot with finding new investigators because ours aren´t really progressing for now. After almost 3 months here in the area I feel like I´m running out of ideas of how to help them. Sister Muniz will definitely help bring new ideas and new approaches to the work in Guará II. 

Yesterday we had ward conference and the talks from the bishop and the stake president were really good. They talked a lot about marriage and how to have a successful marriage. On Thursday we have Zone Conference and I am really excited. It will be my first one in the mission :)

I hope everybody has a copy of the Liahona or Ensign with the Conference talks from April and that you are all reading it! Even though I watched Conference in English I am re-reading all of the talks in Portuguese. All I can say is I am grateful I got to watch it in English haha.

I love all of you very much!  Thank you for your continued support!!

Sister Kerr

June 12th was Dia dos Namorados (like Valentine´s Day) so Sister Muniz and I had a date night complete with pizza and soda :)

Saturday, Brasil had a soccer game against Japan so of course everybody was decked out. I took a picture in front of a house to show what it´s like

Sister Muniz and I. This is an example of the faces she makes all the time haha

Same Area, New Companion

Oi familia,

So today was transfers! I am staying in Guara II for one more. I´d be lying if I said wanted to stay, but I am at peace because I know everything has a purpose. Truthfully, when we got the call last night that Sister Damaceno and I would stay, I cried. And I cried again this morning realizing I would be here another 6 weeks. It´s not that I don´t love Guara II, because I truly do, it´s just that I need a change of scenery. Not to worry because my attitude totally changed when I heard who my companion would be!....Sister Muniz! She spent a week here during my first transfer (I sent a picture of us pretending to be dressed as elders). I had been praying that if I stayed I could be companions with her or Sister Munger. She is awesome and I am super excited to work with her! :)

This past week was full of ups and downs. Downs that were so low I didn´t think there could be another up. It was a very long week. But the best part of the week was going on exchange with Sister Tsukuda again, only this time I was in Lago Norte. Sister Tsukuda was seriously an answer to my prayer. I needed a day break from the work here in Guara, and she is so great. Four sisters live there in Lago Norte so I actually spent part of the day with Sister Muniz and Sister Carlomagno.

The apartment for the sisters there is super fancy! They have a dryer for clothes, gas instead of electric for the water, and they have a fitness center!!! I woke up early on Friday and ran on the treadmill for 5 min, biked for 5 min, and then did hang cleans, front squats, bench press and some other exercises. It felt SO great to get a real work out. It was the first time working out actually made me sweat here in the mission. I was happy :) If I lived there I definitely wouldn´t be as fat as I am now. Sister Munger is there with Sister Carlomagno now. We both got lucky with our new companions.

I am on my third transfer in the field here in Brasil (four if you include my transfer in CA) and I am with my third companion here, too. Life is good. I am really looking forward to this transfer with Sister Muniz, who is carioca too. Today at the transfer meeting I saw Elder Lant and Elder Anderson who I met in the Provo MTC. I was happy to see them.

Hope you are all doing well!! Love you

Sister Kerr

Pictures:

Sister Tsukuda and I (a lot of people ask if we´re sisters)

Sister Muniz and I :)

I got an email today from an elder from the San Fernando mission. One day I made a contact at our apartment building in North Hollywood with Nicolas, an older guy who lived there and only spoke Spanish. I used my Portuguese-Spanish to talk to him a little bit everyday and eventually handed him over to the Spanish elders. Elder Guevara sent me a picture today from Nicolas´ baptism :) Maybe that´s why I spent a transfer there in North Hollywood. 

JUNE

Querida família,

Como vocês estaõ? I can´t believe it is June already! I have 1 year left in the mission. Time is flying. Well, truthfully, it depends on the day haha. I was talking with Sister Gaertner yesterday and I really liked something she said. She said she is counting the transfers until their mission is over and any missionary who says they don´t miss home is lying. She said she is dying of homesickness, but it doesn´t mean she doesn´t love it here and that she isn´t going to work hard. If the mission president´s wife can admit she is dying of homesickness and counting down the days, then I think I have the liberty to do so, too :) 

Saturday was a very long day...so long that Sister Damaceno and I skipped church yesterday! We spent the entire night at the hospital because she was having really bad back pains. We got there at 9:30 pm and left at 3:30 am. We ended up sleeping at the mission home (super chique) because Sister Gaertner was at the hospital with us and we had to return late Sunday morning to the hospital for one more test for Sister Damaceno. We weren´t planning on not returning home so we didn´t have anything with us. I slept in my clothes from the day - skirt and t-shirt - and used it again yesterday. Gross haha. 

Of course the one Sunday we miss church the whole world decided to attend. Seriously! Adlia picked us up to drive us to lunch when we got back to Guara II and she had a laundry list of the less actives who showed up. After weeks and weeks of trying to get these people to come they decided to go the one we week we weren´t there! haha. But at least they went :) The elders from Guara I attended our sacrament meeting to take care of our investigators. 

I am dead tired today after a long week and a long night on Saturday. Yesterday was super great because we did an exchange and I got to go out with one of the ward missionaries while the other one stayed home with Sister Damaceno. I was so worried about not being able to work but everything worked out. We´ll have to see how this week goes. This is the last week of the transfer!! I have no idea if I will stay or go, but if I am transferred my email will be later in the day next Monday because of transfer meeting in the morning. 

This beginning of last week, specifically Sunday til Tuesday, were the BEST days of my mission here in Brasil so far. I was ridiculously happy. I definitely needed that. Of course the rest of the week was super hard, but at least I had a little bit of happiness saved up from those first few days.

We have been working a lot with less actives here in Guara II. Within the past two weeks we have had 5 less actives approach us in the street and start a conversation with us. The work is going well. Missions are hard, but the good days make it all worth it.

I know I am forgetting a ton of things! This happens every week haha. You think I would be used to it by now, but I want to share every moment with you guys! I hope everybody has a great week and that the month of June has started wonderfully for each one of you. Thank you for your love and support! 

LOVE YOU

Sister Kerr

Happy Memorial Day!

Querida familia,

Happy Memorial Day! Even though we don´t have this holiday here (obviously), I looked at my calendar from the US and realized today is Memorial Day. I hope everybody is enjoying the day and that you all have the day off :)

This past week was crazy busy. We went to Asa Sul three days in a row for training, but it was SO great! Our training was on the importance of the message of the Restoration. President Gaertner even showed up for the first half hour of training on Wednesday. He spoke a lot about how the church is different from all other churches because we have personal revelation. A lot of what he said was like he was reading my mind! I really enjoyed hearing from him and from the zone leaders. The practices we did were fun and helpful. 

I also discovered this past week that I love contacting (talking to random people in the street). I think I have less shame here because it´s not my country. How terrible am I? haha. What´s really interesting is that I can have a conversation with somebody and they understand every word I say, but once they discover I am American and my comp is Brasilian they immediately stop talking to me and address all questions to her. It´s like once they have a confirmation I´m American they all of a sudden can´t understand a word I say. Don´t do this with foreigners in the states!!! Always give them a chance to talk and TRY to understand what they are saying even if it´s difficult. Serving in a foreign country has been a humbling experience and it has made me more aware of how I treat others. 

Yesterday we had 10 investigators at church!! It was amazing. One investigator, Leeraney (pronounced Lee-HA-knee), is the grandson of Irmã Nena in the ward. Nena was inactive for 25 years and started coming back to church in January. I don´t think I have emailed much about her, but she is one of the most incredible people I have ever met. Leeraney is 18 and such a good kid, he just lacks good friendships and direction in his life. Saturday night when we were thinking about who would come to church we wrote "Leeraney (milagre)" because we knew it would be a miracle if he came. When he walked through the doors during the sacrament hymn I got the biggest smile on my face! Poor Nena didn´t see him walk in so by the end of sacrament meeting she was crying because she was so sad and frustrated he didn´t show up. We have been trying for weeks to get him to come. We even gave him a tie so he would have a complete outfit for church.

It was so great having so many people in church. Hectic, but great. This week we have more training in Asa Sul about the Book of Mormon. We already went this morning and have practices tomorrow. The weather here is getting more dry, but I like it. Right now the climate feels like home :) 

I included a picture of Sister Damaceno, Irmã Nena, Leeraney and I at church yesterday. Thanks, mom and sis, for the cute dress!!! I got a ton of compliments on it :) 

LOVE YOU ALL!! 

Sister Kerr

Ps. If anybody sends any packages please write "Missionary Supplies" or something similar as the contents of the package. Also, make sure to mark it as a gift! And don´t disclose the true value of the package. Packages can be subject to a tax if they think you are going to resell the contents.

Thanks :)

5 Months!

Oi familia,

Yesterday was 5 months in the mission!! Woo hoo! It seems like a lot more, but not. Next Sunday will be 2 months in Brasil. I cant believe it´s only been 2 months...I feel like I have lived my whole life here haha. Not in a bad way. 

Thursday we spent the whole day in Guara I with the elders because our district leader asked us to come help with some of their investigators. It was a day lost being able to work in Guara II but it was such a great day! We met two of their investigators - Carol and Delmar - who I loved! I´m pretty sure Delmar taught us instead of us teaching him. He is amazing.

Saturday night we had our ward activity that we planned and it was a success! I made persimmon cookies and nobody believed it was a recipe from my mom. For some reason they were shocked we have persimmons in the states. Here persimmons are called caqui...I think cookies de caqui has a cuter ring to it :)  My only regret of the night is that I didn´t take any pictures because Sister Damaceno and I were busy serving food. Oh well. I think Irma Adila has some photos. 

We took it upon ourselves to serve the food because we wanted to make sure everybody would get a chance to try a little bit of everything. It worked out well because each of the plates lasted a good while instead of disappearing after the first 10 people. 

What made me super happy is Saturday night I had a dream that kinda related to this concept. In my dream I was talking about economics and the idea of the "tragedy of the commons," which is an econ principle that more or less goes along with this. I woke up happy yesterday morning because I realized I still remember econ! Hooray! haha. Despite being on my mission, I am still an econ nerd. 

Well, I hope everybody is having a great week! Love you

Sister Kerr

Our district - Sister Munger, Sister Mendoca, Sister Damaceno and I.

Elder Furphy (from AZ), Elder Sowards (from CO), Elder Motta (from Brasil), and Elder Brito (from Rio)

Sister Munger and I found our mini-me´s!

 

One of the investigators, Fabiana, who´s 10, drew this for me. Haha

Happy Belated Mother's Day!!

The work this week was not as successful as we hoped. A lot of appointments fell through and we weren´t able to make contact with too many people. But I am happier than I have been in a while because yesterday I Skyped with my family!!

It was the shortest hour of my life but it was the best! I can´t even put into words how happy it made me to see them. Irma Adila made the day special for us, knowing it was mine and Sister Damaceno´s first time Skyping with our families in the mission. She made feijoada for dinner with arroz and farofa and brownies with ice cream for dessert :) 

I know I am forgetting a ton of memorable things from the week, but my mind is still thinking about how happy I was yesterday.

I hope everyone is having a great week! Love you all!!

Sister Kerr

My favorite picture in the mission :)

Ace, even though we can´t see you, you were there. 

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Can you believe I come to Brasil and eat at a Quiznos of all places? Haha.