The Work Continues

         Marcos, the 14 year old whose Mom we baptized, hasn't been making much progress. It has actually been really difficult to meet up with him. He is always switching between the parent's houses and between that and school, we are having trouble meeting up with him. We were able to schedule a lesson for this week though- so hopefully we can get him back on track! His younger sister and his mom's boyfriend both accepted baptismal dates though! Woohoo! So we are super duper excited for them. i love their family! I think we will Skype from their house for mother's day, so maybe you can meet them quickly- though you all won't be able to communicate too much ;) And my translating just ends up half English half português! 

          This week was wonderful! I am absolutely loving working with Sister Prado. I feel a bit jipped though. This transfer is only 5 weeks long and as I have already been in Alfenas for nearly 6 months, it is pretty certain that I will be transferred. I would love to have more time with her! We made a goal to do secret acts of service this week. It was super fun. We cut out paper hearts and wrote notes for some of our investigators and recent converts and then heart attacked their houses. I think I sent some pictures of that for you. It was great to always be looking for nice things we could do without people noticing. We did get caught a couple times though- but that was alright because the bystanders just ended up becoming contacts and now we are teaching them! Oh, one day this weeks one of the irmãs (Sisters) in the ward agreed to go out with us to teach people. She got back to us only the morning of and so we had planned our day thinking she wasn't going to be able to. In other words, we were working in an area with a whole lot of hills that is on the outskirts of Alfenas. Thus this little 63 year old irmã ended up going on quite the trek with us. Haha, she was quite the trooper though. We definitely went at a much slower pace than normal, but this little old lady managed to scale all of the hills, would not agree to rest or take a break and still managed to testify and contribute marvelously in our lessons. She is awesome. I am sure that she also got a really good nights sleep afterwards ;)

         Yesterday I gave my first talk in português! Everyone seemed to understand what I was saying and the branch president didn't kick me out afterwards- so I think it was a success. I told a story about my first attempt making suco de maracuja (passion fruit juice) here. I explained that we don't have maracuja in the USA and that I had never made juice before. But I figured it couldn't be too complicated and I love suco de maracuja so I decided to give it a go. The only problem was that I didn't know you needed to use sugar and a whole lot of water to make suco... I just used the pulp and a little bit of water. And so my juice was sour and a complete disaster. Luckily, my companion had a lot more experience and wisdom than I did. When I realized that i couldn't make the suco correctly alone, and decided to ask for and follow her directions, I was able to successfully make a sweet, delicious suco de maracuja. I then related this experience to how we need the help and directions of the Savior in our lives. Alone, doing things "our way" we won't end up with the delicious juice that we want. it is only through obeying the commandments and submitting ourselves to the Lord's will that we will find happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. I think my talk was nearly as big of a hit here as Ben's famous waffle talk. I have the feeling that the members are going to be making a lot of suco de maracuja for me in the weeks to come... Good thing I love it! 

I love you all like crazy! 

Sister Emma Maxwell

Magical Powers or Heavenly Blessings

       After five months, I finally have a second companion! Her name is Sister Prado and she is from Curitiba. She has been out for 7 months- only one transfer more than me. She has one brother by blood and five more basically adapted siblings (think Noah, but onto the next level). She is 21 and she doesn't like chocolate. (not a problem, more for me) We have only been together for a few days, but I already love her! She has a sense of humor really similar to mine so we are always joking around. It is wonderful! Everyday is an adventure and we are able to laugh in even the most difficult of moments. Oh, she also has magical powers. I am not kidding about that. She seriously has magical powers or is extremely loved by the Lord. Our first day here in Alfenas she said that she was hungry. Not five minutes later a man that I contacted once on the street stopped us to Bible bash. Great. He started in on us full blow, going on and on. Then out of nowhere he paused, bulled out a bag and offered us pão de queijo (cheese Bread). It was even fresh and warm! We accepted, of course, and he continued on with his rant. When we finished eating the pão de queijo, we thanked him for his opinion and went our way. The next day, as we were walking down the street Sister Prado said she was craving something sweet. A few minutes later we arrived at the house of one of our contacts. The lady living there was not interested in our message at all ( I don't know why people give us their addresses when they really aren't interested). It was very hot though and we were very thirsty, so we asked for some water. Not only did she let us in to refill our water bottles, but she also filled a sack with some candy she had just made and gave it to us before she sent us on our way. The next day on our way to Almoço Sister Prado told me about how much she loved ice cream. As we finished up almoço, what do you know, the irmã brought out a bunch of ice cream for dessert! Like I said, magical powers. I am thinking that we need to put this talent of hers to work and get some pizza or something. Or even better, she needs to start talking about how much she wants baptisms! Needless to say, we are getting along great. The Lord is blessing us immensely and we are loving the work.

        The other new Sister in our house is an American fresh from the CTM (Missionary Training Center). I did not realize how far my português has progressed until she arrived here. Though I think my português was a bit better than hers when I first entered the field. She is not understanding much of anything right now. I do remember those first few weeks in the field- feeling so inadequate and useless. I still feel pretty inadequate for this great work, but I am so grateful that I can speak and understand the language now. I have a ton to learn, but I feel like I am making a difference now. Haha, her arrival also made me realize how bad my English is getting. Once I get talking or writing it's alright, but switching between the two is really difficult. Her trainer, Sister Sandrine doesn't speak any English. So occasionally she will ask me to translate or explain something in English for Sister Graham. I will start to talk to her to explain something only to realize that I am still speaking português! Then as I try to switch over to English words in português slip into my sentences and sometimes I can't think of the right word in English at all. Haha, how cool is that?! Sister Prado teases me and says that i am going to need my português- English dictionary to talk with you all on Mother's day. I think once we get started with the English I will remember again and we'll be able to communicate just fine ;) 

I love you all! Have a wonderful week and keep being missionaries :)

Sister Emma Maxwell

General Conference and Miracles

         I will answer your questions first so I don't forget or run out of time! First off, transfers! I am actually not being transferred. I get to stay here in Alfenas for another transfer! Woohoo! I love it here, so I am glad that I don't have to pack up and head out. I feel like I still have more to do here too. We have been making really good progress with Laudo's family and Luciana's family. I don't want to leave until I can see them all baptized! Sister Malta, however is being transferred. So I will have a new companion. Her name is Sister Prado. I haven't met her yet and don't know anything more than that really. I will head out to Varginha tonight to meet her. Sister O'Reilly is also being transferred. It has been really fun to be with her so long. A day hasn't gone by that I haven't seen her since I arrived in the airport in Georgia! But I knew that wouldn't last. So I am sad to see her and Sister Malta go, but I am excited for a new companion and adventure! 

          The pizza we bought even before we knew who would be transferred and what not. We find out about that Monday morning. Basically she was craving a sweet pizza and I had never tried one, so we splurged and bought it to celebrate our last week together. It was super duper good! One part was banana and cinnamon and the rest was chocolate and coconut. Holy moly, heaven in a slice of pizza! The symbols on the box represent baptism (the water) and confirmation (the circle or head) 

         So now onto my week- and what a week it was! We had a zone conference with President Cascardi on Tuesday, splits with the Sister Training leaders on Wednesday and General Conference Saturday and Sunday. Yet even with all of this, we managed to have one of the best weeks out of all of our time together here in Alfenas. I think we had more lessons this week than ever before- which is crazy because we had less time to actually be out working and teaching. We were basically running from one lesson to another in order to keep up with everything! It was amazing. We had set a goal for this week to meet all of the mission standards of excellence. The mission standards are so high that it is nearly impossible to meet all of them in one week alone. It is very, very rare. We really wanted to though. So we worked and prayed like crazy! As we did all that we possibly could, we were able to see the Lord take over and work miracles. When our lessons fell through, the neighbors let us in to teach. When members canceled on us for lessons, we happened to run into another member on the street who was willing to teach with us. Everything just came together perfectly. We were able to meet all of the standards of excellence!! It was amazing.

          General Conference was also amazing. Friday night felt like Christmas Eve! We were all so excited to hear from the prophet and apostles the next morning. I did get to see all of the sessions of conference. We watched the women's session Saturday morning. I do have to admit that I missed all of our traditions from home. This conference there was no tent, there were no nachos, there was no puzzle, we didn't have a candy bar, or eggs Benedict and I couldn't wear my pjs... yet the spirit was as strong as ever. The inspired words of those men and women, called of God, is what really makes conference amazing. I was thinking that conference would be a relaxing, spiritual renewal. Haha, it was exhausting though! I have never had so many things to think about during conference. This time I wasn't just thinking about how the counsel applied to me, but also for each of my pesquisadores, their families, my branch, my companionship, and all of you back home too! Then to top it off they were all speaking in Português very quickly with an elevated vocabulary! For some reason they wouldn't stop and let me ask questions either ;) It was mentally exhausting. But although it wasn't exactly "relaxing" as I thought it would be, it was definitely spiritually renewing. It was fun to know that you were all doing the exact same thing that i was at the exact same time. It made me feel closer to home and all of you. I hope that you all loved conference as much as I did! Oh and Mom, I too was teaching lessons in between the conference sessions! We may be on different continents, but we are in this work together!

          To top off a marvelous week of hard work and inspired counsel, the Lord blessed us with a "Conference Miracle". During the last session of conference on Sunday, a young man came into the chapel to watch. At the end of the session we went over to meet him. It turns out that he had visited the church about a year back. A member he knows mentioned conference and so he decided to come. He proceeded to explain that he felt so happy and at peace there in the church. He loved everything he had heard during conference. I asked him about his religion and he said he was Catholic but that he decided during conference he wants to be baptized here. Wait... what?! I was definitely caught by surprise with that comment. My mouth probably dropped open. As I stood there in stunned silence he then proceeded to explain that he felt he had a purpose in life that he needed to fulfill. When he met us, the missionaries, he felt like he had finally figured out what that purpose was. He needed to serve a mission. So in two minutes we met went from complete strangers to ready to be baptized and serve a mission. Now that is what i call effective missionary work ;) Haha, though it was absolutely nothing we did! I think Heavenly Father wanted to show me that if I truly give this work all that I have, He will take that meager offering and work miracles. 

Oh how grateful I am to be a missionary and share the message of this wonderful gospel with the people of Brasil! I know that we truly have a living prophet and twelve apostles- just as Jesus Christ established when he was here on the Earth. And most importantly, I know that Heavenly Father knows me, loves me, and is cheering me on. 

I love you all! Have a marvelous week!

Sister Emma Maxwell

Running Home and Working like Crazy!

I have a lot to write this week and no more time than usual... Haha, imagine that. So I will get right into it!

Monday night Sister Malta and I held a family home evening with Luciana and her family. She lives in the farthest bairro (neighborhood) in Alfenas from our house. It takes about an hour to walk there. She always offers us a ride home after our visits. Only Monday night she wasn't feeling too great. We didn't want her to have to drive us home because she was feeling sick, so we declined the offer (you know when someone is just offering to be nice but really isn't feeling up to it). So we said our goodbyes and started down the street. The only problem was that it was nearly 9:00 and we have to be in our house by 9:30... Thus we walked until her house was out of sight, slipped off our shoes and then started to run. Haha, I am sure we were quite the sight to see. Two young women running down the cobble stone streets of Brazil in the dark, wearing skirts, shoes in hand and hair flowing in the wind. To make things better, the Sister Training Leaders had arrived that evening to go on splits with the other sisters in Alfenas the next day- of all nights for our plans to go awry! Haha, it was quite the adventure. I have to admit that running and laughing at the same time makes it a bit hard to breath ;) But we couldn't help but laugh at the craziness of it all. I am proud to say that we made it to our house with three minutes to spare. Sign me up for track when I get home. 

The week Sister Malta and I worked like crazy! We really wanted to meet all of the mission standards of Excellence (basically impossible because they are so high). So our week was jam packed. Our hard work payed off with two baptisms though! These baptisms really were miracles. First off- Luciana. I believe I already wrote about Luciana and her son Marcos. He is the young man that I contacted on the street and then he walked the hour to church by himself the next day- that never happens! So through him we were able to meet his mom and start teaching her. She is amazing. I love her so much! I swear that I knew her in the pre-existence. That is the only possible explanation here. She has been coming to church, but wasn't feeling ready to be baptized. We knew she was ready though, so we called in the Elders to give a baptismal interview and fasted and prayed like crazy. The night before we told her about the interview and that we would be holding a baptismal service that next night (her original baptismal date). She agreed to the interview without hesitation! The Elder said the the interview was amazing- she was basically just bearing her testimony for him! She was baptized Saturday night :) Ângela was our other baptism for the weekend. She was a miracle too. i met her late one evening when we were walking back to our house. She was sitting on the ground outside her house and looked pretty sad. I felt like I should talk with her, but I was tired and so I passed her by. The feeling came again and this time I listened to the spirit over my aching feet. I stopped Sister Malta and went back to talk to her. I shared a scripture with her, cheered her up a bit, got permission to come back and teach her another day and then continued on our way. When we sat down to plan though, i realized I had forgotten to write down her address. Great. All I knew was her name. Two weeks ago as we were walking to an appointment, I recognized her house! She happened to be home and so we were able to start teaching her. Two weeks later she was baptized! It is so amazing to be a part of this work! We see miracles every day. I have so much to learn and improve still. I am nowhere near the missionary that I want to be. Yet when I try my very best, and give the Lord my all, He makes up the difference. I saw that all too clearly this week- We worked like crazy and we were blessed with miracles. God really does love us. It is amazing to be a missionary and see Him work through us (as weak and imperfect as we are) to bless the lives of His children here in Brasil. 

Easter really wasn't much different than any other day for us missionaries. Our branch only even sang one Easter hymn! For Easter here everyone gets an Ovo de Páscoa (a giant chocolate Easter egg). they don't get an Easter basket or have an egg hunt, just the giant chocolate egg. The eggs are pretty expensive though, so we didn't buy one. I did have one Reese's pumpkin left from my Christmas package that I ate and pretended was an egg shape (haha... a Reese's pumpkin that I got for Christmas and ate for Easter... It was perfect!). I did buy nail polish and made cards for the other sisters in our house here though. I even managed to buy the polish and wrap everything in secret- quite the feat as a missionary! They all were super excited and it was fun to see them all receive an unexpected gift Easter morning. I think the best part of the day was the chance that it gave us to testify of our Savior, Jesus Christ. The holiday was the perfect conversation starter to share my testimony of the Atonement, Resurrection and Restoration. Three events that show God's boundless love for us. Goodness, how lucky are we to know about this gospel and to have the hope that this message about Christ brings? 

I love you all so much! I hope you had a wonderful Easter!

Love,

Sister Emma Maxwell

Almost Easter!!!

          I cannot believe that Easter is just a few days away! How in the world did that happen? It seems like Christmas was just yesterday. Today marks exactly 5 months as a missionary. Woo hoo! I still feel like I have so much to learn and improve. Good thing I ave more time here in Brasil. I miss you all like crazy, but I love being a missionary. The Lord definitely helps me focus on the work and not be homesick. 

           This week I am writing from Unifal- one of the universities here in Alfenas. We figured out this week that because it is a federal university it is open to the public- so we can use the computer lab for free! So today I get to use a nice computer in an air conditioned lab (it's actually a bit cold in here), with a functioning letter "g" and I don't have to pay anything! It is good all around. I do have to admit that it is kind of weird to walk around on a college campus right now. It makes me miss BYU. Haha, I want to go to class... The boys will probably make fun of me for that, but it's true. 

          I love that talk! I love how it is not just "it will all work out" but it is that "it will all work out in the end". So if things aren't working out, you know that it's not the end yet! I actually was thinking of that talk this week with some of the challenges that we had. Thaylor (also 14 yrs old) was set to be baptized this Saturday. He is a really fun kid. I have loved teaching him. He is a bit of a goofball, but really sweet and sincere. So we had everything set for the baptism and then he called only 3 hours before and said he didn't feel ready. He hung up on us after just a couple of minutes without really explaining. He doesn't have a phone and was using the cell phone of a friend so we couldn't get a hold of him that way. So we rushed over to his house only to find that he had left for the roça (countryside) for the weekend with his uncle. Needless to say, the baptism did not take place. That was really hard. We were both crushed. But, "everything will work out in the end". We were able to talk with him Sunday night and I think he was just nervous. He wants to keep learning and still has a desire to be baptized, so I have hope. I hope he will feel peace and have the courage to take this step. So next week hopefully you will be receiving some more baptism pictures. 

          One of our other investigators, Luciana (I think I have written about her before) has a baptismal date for this weekend too. She is absolutely amazing! I love her so much. She has such great faith. Every time we teach her a new principle or mandamento (commandment) she immediately puts it into practice. She has been coming to church steadily and is definitely prepared for baptism. The only problem is that she doesn't think that she is quite ready yet. I am praying so hard that we will be able to help her recognize the importance of baptism and that she really is ready. Her daughter, Ana Julia, has 8 years, but has the sass of a grown black woman. It is absolutely hilarious! She is so dang cute (probably drives her mom crazy, but in the small doses that we get it is perfect). Sunday night we stopped by to teach Luciana and the family. During the lesson Ana Julia slipped away into the kitchen. Then when we finished up she proudly walked into the room with two plates of little sandwiches that she had made herself. They were a bit messy and lopsided, but they were absolutely perfect. She set the plates on the table and declared that since her mom hadn't prepared anything for us to eat, she did it all herself! Haha, it was so cute. We are meeting them this afternoon for ice cream (Ana Julia has been talking nonstop about this the entire time we have been teaching them). You know you really love your investigators when you give up your time on p-day to visit with them and teach (ice cream is just an added bonus) 

          I love you all! I hope that you all have a wonderful Easter and take time to remember the real reason we have to celebrate- our Savior Jesus Christ! I am so very grateful for Him. Because of the Atonement, we have cause to celebrate and be happy every single day! 

Happy Easter!

Sister Emma Maxwell

So much JOY!

My dearest mother,

I am kind of excited to hear that my letters are slipping into português! That is pretty awesome. I am always in such a hurry to write that I know there must be tons of spelling errors, typos and now português mishaps! It still bugs the perfectionist in me, but writing everything I want to is more important than sending a perfect letter! Hopefully I'll pick up English quickly when I get back home so I don't flunk out of BYU ;) 

...And onto my adventures of the week!

This week one of the recent converts in my area had a birthday (she was before we came to the area though). She is an older lady and none of her family are members. I think she gets a bit lonely. We try to visit her every week to give her some company and keep her strong in the gospel. I wanted to do something for her birthday, but my budget is very limited and yes, my craft supplies are very limited. So I had to get really creative! I took one of the old jars that we use as a cup (our kitchen supplies are limited too... haha) and decided to make it into a little vase. So using borders and edges from the Liahona (you never realize the value of good pictures and patterned paper in the Liahona until you serve a mission...) I was able to decorate the jar and make a matching card. We then picked some wild flowers to fill the jar and delivered it to her. She was so excited to see us and to get the simple present. I think that was the only gift she received on her birthday. I am so grateful I have a crafty, creative Mom who taught me to serve and think of others! 

This week we also met with Marcos' father. I was super nervous for that lesson. Marcos had told us that his dad didn't support him getting baptized and that he worked for the police too. Because of his job, his schedule is really wacky and erratic. It is hard to catch him at home. One night when we were passing by, he happened to be there though. To ease my nerves (NOT) he had just returned from work. Nothing like a big burly Brazilian in a police uniform with a gun at his waist late in the evening to put you at ease! Haha, it ended up being a really good lesson though. It turns out that he is actually a very inactive member. He was one of the very first people here in Alfenas to join the church (about 20 years back). Thus he knew all about the church, Joseph Smith and the work that we missionaries do. Turns out he actually fully supports Marcos learning more about the church and getting baptized. When Marcos had talked with him earlier he had thought he was talking about a different church. So now we can not only help Marcos progress, but also have the challenge of reactivating his dad! Goodness there are so many little details lining up with this family- we also learned that the boyfriend of Marcos' mom (his parents are divorced) had requested a Book of Mormon online several months back. He moved soon after he requested it though, and so he never actually received it. We were all too happy to help him out and hand over a long awaited copy of the Book of Mormon. So now we are teaching him too! I really love this family. Seriously. They have the same sense of humor that we do! That is a rare thing. So for the first time in a long time, I can joke around like we do at home. It is nice to speak the language well enough to crack jokes too ;) I am so excited to see this family progress. They have a lot of challenges and I don't think it is going to be easy to get to baptism, but I know it is possible. Especially with the Lord on my side!

The other big news of this week is that Laudo went to the temple!!! Our ward had another caravan this weekend and so he was able to go down to Campinas and do Baptisms! He absolutely loved it- of course. I wanted so badly to go with him! Dang mission boundaries. But seeing and hearing him just talk about it was amazing. I love the temple so much. It is even better to help someone get there than to be able to go yourself. 

I love you all so much! I love being a missionary and serving the Lord! I hope you all have a wonderful week filled with much laughter, many miracles and the joy of the gospel!

Sister Emma Maxwell

Awesome Week of Lessons

          Today we mixed things up and went to the market before the LAN house to write. I don't think I will ever do that again... I was so distracted and anxious the whole time. Writing and hearing from you guys is definitely the highlight and priority. Forget groceries- e-mails from my mom are waiting! 

          The puppies were absolutely adorable! I wanted to take one home so badly. The mom died and so the family was giving them away for free. I haven't ever been so tempted to break a mission rule.  I stayed strong, obedient and petless though. The plenitude of dog poop on the sidewalks afterwards were a nice reassurance that I had made the right decision too. 

          Marcos, the 14 year old who walked to church, is doing well. He has a really complicated family situation with divorced parents and such. We were able to meet with his mom though and she is amazing! (She also makes a killer cake with goiabada- I am going to get the recipe and send it to you). She came to church this Sunday! But Marcos didn't... he stayed with his Dad. His Mom really liked church though. the Relief Society lesson was perfect for her- it moved her to tears! Haha, sometimes as a missionary it is good to make people cry. We are going to meet with her several times this week. I am hoping that in the next couple of weeks she and Marcos can be baptized together! 

          We also have had some progress with Laudo's wife. During the entire time we were teaching him before baptism she was very antagonistic and standoffish with us. This week I had the idea to take a copy of The Family- A Proclamation to the World to her. So Sister Malta and I prepped a killer lesson on this and made the trek to the outskirts of Alfenas where they live (I swear everyone with potential either lives really far or at the top of a crazy morro(hill)!) When we arrived Laudo happened to be home too- his work was cancelled due to rain. So he let us in right away (we were a bit worried she wouldn't let us in- so that was a miracle!) As we sat at the kitchen table just chatting with them we somehow found out that Luciana's father passed away just two years ago. It was obviously still a very tender topic for her. So in spite of our other plans, we moved into a lesson on the Plan of Salvation. We taught in perfect unison and the lesson flowed flawlessly. I don't think we would have taught that well, hitting exactly the points she needed- if we had planned and practiced to teach that lesson. I love it when the Lord takes over in lessons and all of our weaknesses melt away. It is the coolest thing ever. She had o travel this Sunday, but Laudo said she is anxious to come to church next week and wants us to come back!

          I had another really cool lesson this week. It was more of a learning experience for me. We were teaching the Restoration to a college student named Isabela. We teach this lesson so often that it is easy to fall into a pattern and say the exact same things every time. After I finished the first part of the lesson and Sister Malta was teaching, I realized what was happened. We were just being missionary robots. I decided then and there to change. I started praying to know what she needed specifically and started to really pay attention. When my part came, the words started to flow. Rather than moving on to the first vision as usual, I took the time to fully bear my testimony of the atonement. The change in the atmosphere was all too clear. the spirit filled the room and I could see a physical change in her. She was suddenly intently paying attention, cherishing every word. The  change in me was all too clear too. I stopped stumbling to find the right words in português ad just spoke. When the spirit takes over like that I could be speaking English it is so easy to say what I want! Haha, if only it was like that all of the time! Needless to say, it was an amazing experience. Lessons like these make all of the hard work worth it. We leave those lessons ready to climb the tallest hills and face the dark rainy evenings. 

          So on to some of your questions. We do still keep working in the rain and thunder. If we are lucky we can pass most of it in the houses of investigators teaching, but even if not, we keep on woking. My shoes are holding up pretty well. I doubt they'll make it through the whole mission, but they are good for now. They don't dry out totally in one day if it has been really rainy. I have a pair of plasticy flats that I bought here for 10 reals though. So I switch off wih my shoes. The flats make my feet hurt a bit, so I can't wear then everyday. 

          The picture of the ice cream cone I sent was half ice  cream half açai. So so good! We can only get those in Varginha though... another reason to love zone conferences! The cone is in fact coated with Nutella. Yes. It is basically heaven. Sister Malta also introduced me to brasilian churros this week. They fill their churros here! Sweetened condensed milk, nutella... it is super duper good.

Love you all!

Sister Emma Maxwell

Back at it Again

           This week I was finally able to get back to work with Sister Malta- Thank goodness! By Wednesday she was up to par and ready to go. In the days before that though I still managed to get some good work done. But goodness gracious- it is a lot of work to plan out splits with sisters from the branch for the entire day and also find sisters to take care of sister Malta while I was out working... I am grateful to have a healthy companion again! It is also much easier to teach when you have a companion that knows what is going on and won't go off on crazy tangents about deep obscure doctrine. Haha, that made for a few interesting lessons. It was a really good confidence booster for me though. 10 days basically without a companion forced me to step up and do everything on my own. It was a bit stressful, but helped me realize that I actually can do a lot more than I thought. I am a bit more confident in my português and other missionary skills now. I also realize that I still have a ton to learn though! Good thin I still have plenty of time here in Brasil.

           We have had some new company in our house here in Alfenas this week. Sister Bicaleti was transferred and we now have Sister Sandrine from Recife. She is pretty cool. Haha, I swear she talks non stop though. Seriously. Other than when she is sleeping I don't think 5 minutes have passed when she hasn't said something (haha, sister Malta and I tried timing it one night). I am glad to have her here though! Our other newcomers I am not too excited about... A family of cockroaches moved in. They mostly just come out into the bathrooms in the evenings, so it isn't too bad, but still not my favorite thing in the world. I am super grateful for Sister O'Reilly. She is the only one brave enough to kill them! Maybe by the time I am heading home I will have reached that level. Right now I can only manage killing ants. 

          I also discovered that my voice changes when I speak português now! It is a higher pitch. It is really weird to switch between português and English. It's like my voice switches to a different place. So English feels a little weird in my mouth, all jumbly. On p-day after writing to you guys in English it isn't a problem, but during the week when I am only speaking and thinking português it is a bit rough at first. You may need to start learning português so that we can still communicate on mother's day!

          I had a really cool experience this Sunday. Someone that I contacted on the street actually came to church! This alone isn't unusual, but we hadn't visited or taught anything yet. He just decided to come on his own. He is only 14 years old. He lives nearly an hours walk from the chapel. He doesn't know any members or anything about the church. Yet all on his own he got up early Sunday morning, made the hour long trek to the chapel and stayed for all three hours of church! Holy moly- why can't all of our pesquisadores (investigators) be like him?! We try everything possible to help people get to church, often with little or no effect. And then along comes Marcos. Haha, it was really cool. He had a good experience there, seems to have made lots of friends already and wants to come back. We went to visit him Sunday night and he readily accepted a baptismal date. We also met another boy with 14 years and he is super interested too. He accepted the same date. i hope all goes well n the next two weeks and they can be baptized together! How cool would that be?! 

Love you all!

Sister Maxwell

Talk about this weather!

         First off - the hail storm. Holy moly that was one heck of a storm! It was actually a miracle (yes, another miracle!) that we weren't caught out in it. So this week both Sister O'Reilly and Sister Malta came down with Dengue. So Sister Bicaleti and I did a lot of work together while our sick companions were at home. On Sunday, we finished up a lesson and were heading to the town square to do some contacting and it started to rain a bit. I realized I had forgotten my umbrella (that never happens). It wasn't raining to hard though, so we were just going to keep going. But then we felt like we should head back to the house to check on our companions. Minutes after we reached our house the storm hit full force. Hail, super strong wind, lightning... the whole shibang. The house was shaking and we ran around to close up all the metal shutters on the windows to keep them from breaking. Our doors don't really seal though so we had hail and rain flying in the house through the space under the doors. It was crazy! We lost power for a bit and then our laundry room area started to flood (yes, the two pictures are of our laundry area. The one with the clothes lines is open to the sky and the other has a bit of an over hang roof but is basically outside too). Thankfully it is slightly lower than the level of our kitchen. It was within centimeters of flooding our house though! Post storm, trees were down everywhere, power was out almost everywhere and there was a pretty good amount of damage. We were so blessed to make it home in time! Between our house and center there are mainly just shops which are all closed on Sunday, so we would have been caught outside in the full force of the storm. Heavenly Father definitely protects his missionaries!

           Like I mentioned earlier, Sister Malta and Sister O'Reilly caught Dengue this week. Both have it a bit worse than I did. And Sister Malt has it really bad. I don't know if I just have a higher pain tolerance or better immune system, but she is way out of it. We spent a whole lot of time in the hospital and at home this week. Last night I had the joy of sleeping (sort of...) in a hospital chair. And not the reclining kind. Just a  normal chair. That was pretty great. I am still feeling better than her though, so no complaints. She is on the path to getting better now though. I think she is still going to be pretty out of it though. It is killing me to not be able to work though. Even when I am on splits with Sister Bicaleti half of our time is spent in her area, so my area is suffering a bit. I couldn't do much teaching this week. So hardly any of my pesquisadores showed up for church on Sunday and all of my baptismal dates for this upcoming week fell through. I am not too happy about that. But we did have a baptism this week! Laudo was baptized Sunday morning before church. He is absolutely amazing! He is already such a strong member. I have no doubt that he will stay active and contribute to the ward. He is really one of the Lord's elect. Now I just need to get to work on his family! As for Diego, the friend of Tales who was baptized last week, I wasn't able to visit him at all this week and he wouldn't answer my phone calls. Tales really needs a friend in the church though. he is kind of alone right now. He knows it is true, but I worry that alone he won't have the courage or motivation to stay strong. So Diego and Laudo's Family are my challenge and goal for this transfer. Oh, I will be staying here in Alfenas for another six weeks with Sister Malta :) I would love to have your prayers in his behalf! Every little bit helps. And Mom, your comment about tearing up reading about the miracle for Tales' baptism is kind of funny. I told Sister Malta that if they couldn't figure out the water problem we would just cry... And fill up the font with our tears! Thankfully, the Lord came in and didn't let us cry that much.

 

          The "Sisters de Alfenas" sign was the result of me being stuck in the house with a sick companion. I laid into our Liahonas and started to decorate the house! So no, the pictures aren't of us... just pictures from he Liahona. We are going to make it into a commemorative wall that all the sisters who live in that house will add to though. Years from now it is going to be even cooler. Oh, and the picture from last week wasn't a baptismal program, it was a little booklet I made with testimonies from everyone at the baptism to give to Tales. We don't have programs for sacrament meeting here, let alone baptisms... haha. For the minha família(My family) booklet I just want the individuals like you said. And maybe a couple of our whole family that I can paste on the cover. Thanks!

I love you all!

Sister Emma Maxwell

 

(Pictures of the Hail Storm will be in next weeks letter)

Pictures from last weeks baptism

The Baptisimal Miracle

          I have just been dying to write you this week! So much to say and (as always) so little time to write! I will start off with some info about the pictures. All of the cooking and baking with corn was last p-day during carnival. It was just a couple ladies in the ward getting together, not an official activity or anything. It was really fun though! We made Cural (the corn pudding stuff) e Pamonha (tamales). Both are super duper delicious. Holy moly, I could eat that stuff all day! It was super fun to go through the whole process with them- starting from scratch. And yes- that was an actually fire there in the kitchen- pretty awesome, right? Haha, I don-t think I have ever shucked that much corn in my life though. It was awesome. (PICTURES ARE IN LAST WEEKS LETTER!) The cookies were the next p-day (one week ago). We held a family night with a member, a recent convert and a pesquisador-  all older single ladies. So I taught them how to make cookies with an analogy about o evangelho de Jesus Cristo (the gospel of Jesus Christ). I think it was a pretty good lesson and a super fun evening. The cookies turned out pretty good too. I thought they were a bit off, but no one else knew the difference and loved them. I found something pretty similar to brown sugar- it wasn't quite the same but worked alright. And yes- I splurged and bought chocolate chips! 

 

          So this week was absolutely amazing! First off, as this is week 11 here in the field, I am now Senior companion to finish up training. It is going pretty well. I like having a bit more control over and a say in things :) We ran out of cellphone credit last week though and don't get more until tomorrow so that added a bit of a challenge to the week. Haha, first week as Senior and I can't call anyone! But everything worked out just fine- phew! Transfers are next week. Yes, we have transfers every six weeks here. But one transfer every year is only 5 weeks long. I don't remember exactly when that is though... so sorry Mom, but you can't quite plan out the next 15 months yet! 

Apparently I started talking in my sleep a couple nights this week too. At least so Sister Malta tells me. She was even able to have a bit of a conversation with me. You know what that means?? I was talking in Português! So it is now official- I am dreaming in português! I am pretty sure I have been for awhile now, but now it is official.

           And the highlight of the week- Tales was baptized!!! Holy Moly, what an amazing experience! So the night before the baptism, we were at the church to set things up (the baptism was at 10 am because of his work schedule) only to find that the chapel didn't have any water. Turns out a couple pipes spontaneously broke and so all of the water storage was gone. You kind of need water for a baptism... So we started looking into other options. We were going to have to have water shipped in or find someone with a pool willing to let us use it. By 10 am the next morning. Haha, great. It was nearly 9 at this point and so Sister Malta and I had to head home. One of the members there with us said he would figure it out and sent us home and told us not to worry. Right... not worry. Haha, I don't think I got any sleep that night. After everything we went through to get to the point of baptism, it now wasn't going to happen because we didn't have any water! So rather than peacefully dream of bright white jumpsuits and saving ordinances, I tossed and turned and prayed like crazy. The next morning we rushed over to the chapel (remember that we don't have any phone credit here to make things even more exciting). We ran into the primary room and opened up the baptismal doors- to find a font filled with water. How?! We found the brother who was there the night before and asked him what happened. Who paid to have water shipped in? He simply replied that he turned on the faucet in the font and said a prayer. And the water flowed and the font filled with exactly enough water. Exactly enough. A miracle. The chapel did not have any water- none of the faucets ran, none of the toilets worked, yet the font filled with water. I am still in awe just thinking about it. Goodness, everything about this baptism was miraculous. I know that there was nothing I did or could have done to prepare Tales to be baptized or fill that font with water. Yes, I taught Tales and I prayed, but it was really the Lord who made everything possible. I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have to be a tool in the Lord's hands to bring about the Salvation of His children here in Alfenas! I am going to keep working hard, praying and hopefully you should be getting some more pictures this week :)

I love you all so much! Have a wonderful, wonderful week my dear family! I will be sending lots of warm thought your way!

Love, 

Sister Emma Maxwell

Crazy Work, Good Memories

          This week was absolutely crazy! We have so many investigators now in so many areas that we are running around all day trying to visit them all, teach what they need, and keep them all on track. Haha, it is quite the change from when I first came here to Alfenas and we spent nearly all of our time clapping outside gates and hoping people would let us in. This week I should have my first baptism! I am super duper excited, and a bit nervous. It will be for a young man named Tales. He is 17 years old and absolutely amazing. Yes we are teaching him, but it is blatantly obvious to me that it is the Lord doing all the work here! He has been working with Tales for a long time, now He is just working through us. Now the part that I am nervous about is that this baptism was supposed to be for Tales and his best friend Diego. Think Noah and Jonathan here. The live just across the street from each other. Both were progressing really well. Last week we met with their parents, taught the first discussion again and got permission for them to be baptized. All of that went really well and Sister Malt and I were on cloud nine. It was actually pretty funny. Before we went into the lesson with Diego and his mom we said a prayer and then I said that if she agreed to let Diego be baptized we would need to celebrate afterwards. So then we go in, teach the lesson, she agrees and signs the baptismal form and then she offers us some chocolate cake. Haha, I guess Heavenly Father heard that part about celebrating even if it was after the 'amen" of the prayer! It was pretty funny. We just looked at each other, responded affirmatively, and then tried to hold in the laughter. The next time we went to meet Diego though he told us that he didn't want to be baptized anymore. He said he and hi mom talked and he decided he wasn't ready. Wait... what (I can't find the question mark on this keyboard and I don't want to waste anymore time...) So then we had one of the most spiritually intense lesson of my mission up to this point. As we talked about his concerns and testified I could feel the spirit so strongly there. It was really cool to have all of the scriptures and ideas come to mind- perfect for Diego. In spite of all that though, he chose to not come to church on Sunday. My heart is just aching for him! I know that he knows this is true. I am nervous that his choices will affect Tales and he will back out too. I am praying so hard that it will be the other way around. That Tales will stay strong and be an example for Diego. 

One of our other investigators, Laudo, is super amazing. His wife and kids don't come to church at all, but he comes every week and is always willing to meet with us. We taught him about the temple this week and showed him a picture of the temple in Campinas. He then told us that without a doubt he was going to go to our "chapel in Campinas". It is awesome to see him so excited. Then on Sunday he was asking us how long he had to come to church before he could go to the temple and what he had to do to go inside and not just stay in the garden. He also told me that first he is thankful for God in his life. Second, he is grateful for me and Sister Malta for bringing him the gospel! He said he has learned more with us in this short time than he learned in the past 16 years in his other church. It is comments like that that make all the work worth it! I love being a missionary!

I recently started taking advantage of Family Home Evenings with members to teach my investigators. Holy moly it is one of the best things ever. It is the best way I have found so far to integrate pesquisadores with the member and teach them in a fun, less intimidating environment. It is perfect! Plus I can come up with and use fun object lessons and activities to teach for family home evenings that I can't use in normal lessons! I think you guys should try it out. Invite over some other families for family home evening! Whether you invite the missionaries too or not, it is a great opportunity to share the gospel in a completely non confrontational way. 

This weekend Carnival starts up here. Luckily it isn't too big here in Alfenas. Missionaries in Juiz de Fora have to be in their apartment by 6 every night. Here we just have to avoid the main square and surrounding streets in the evenings. That is a bit of a pain when we need to get from one side of town to our house on the other side of town, but we walk so much already it isn't much of a big deal to walk a bit more! All of the wards here have a huge campout for the youth during carnival. Like a regional youth conference over this weekend. They have their own sacrament meeting and everything. All of the youth love it and they stay far away from carnival and all of that craziness. Cool idea, isn't it!

I love you so much! Have a wonderful week!


PS (Note from Allegra, Emma's sister): I don't know how the photos relate but she sends them so I share them!

Everything corn...

Sisters of the district!

Dengue is frustrating!!!

           I had debated writing to you about Dengue or not because I didn't want you to worry too much. I finally decided to write about it because I was feeling better and I honestly didn't have anything else during the week that I could write about! I am still feeling good. Yes, I was a bit more tired than usual this week and still have a little bit of pain, but nothing worth worrying about. Not enough to slow me down in the work! Actually, we had more lessons and contacts this week than ever before. I guess I had a lot of catching up to do after my week down. I am happy, healthy and hard at work. So as much as I would love to see you all, don't be expecting a phone call about me coming home! I still have a lot to do here in Brazil before I am ready to come home. 

          Dengue has actually become a bit of a problem here in Alfenas these past couple of weeks. A lot of our investigators came down with Dengue. That has been really frustrating. They aren't exactly in good condition to hear and understand our lessons when they are sick! The good news is that I can empathize with them and understand what they are going through. So even if we aren't exactly able to teach the lessons from Preach My Gospel, I can share scriptures and experiences to help comfort and strengthen them. It has been a good week for building confidence, trust and friendship. The sad part is that because of Dengue my investigators with baptismal dates for this week did not make it to church. So we had to push back their dates for next week. We have so many investigators so close to baptism right now! I am so anxious to help them make it to the point of baptism and that wonderful covenant! Yet Satan is also very anxious. Goodness, he works so hard to stop us and our pesquisadores(investigators) from progressing. It is crazy how many things he throws in the way. From weddings to mudslides to dengue... I've seen it all. Seeing all the opposition to the work builds my testimony though. He wouldn't work so hard against us if the church wasn't true! So I just have to work harder than him and keep my investigators on track- challenge accepted!

          So this week we met a woman on the street who was very interested in our message. We went to visit and teach her later during the week. As we got to know her she kept repeatedly expressing how she was a "Christian". Over and over again. That was a little odd in and of itself (seeing as just about everyone here in Brasil believes in Christ). As we started to teach though, things just got weirder. Before long she was telling me that she really felt a connection to me. She decided that in a life before this one she was my mother. And I was black. Haha, okay... that escalated quickly. So in spite of her proclaimed "Christianity" she had a strong belief in reincarnation, and didn't trust much of anything in the bible. I can honestly say that I haven't been adequately grateful for the general knowledge and belief in Christ here before this experience. It is so much harder to teach someone without this foundation! Haha, who would have thought I would need to explain the difference between reincarnation and resurrection here in Brazil! Overall though, I think our lesson went really well. We will be going back to visit her again. She has a lot of potential and I am excited to teach her more. And don't worry Mom, I explained that the role of my mother is already taken ;)

 

          I get comments?! I didn't think my letters were comment-worthy, but that is cool. If someone says something important I guess you can pass it along. Haha, i don't know. It's up to you. Is it people I know or strangers?
          Thanks for another wonderful letter of updates and advice! I love reading your letters so much! I can almost hear your voice when I read them. Thank you for the prayers and all that you do for us. I am praying for you and the fam too. Haha, my companion teases me because I pray so long every night. I just tell her that I have a lot of people I need to pray for. Haha, she only has one sister. 

I love you all! Have a wonderful week filled with much joy and happiness! Make someone else laugh this week for me, okay?

Love ya!

Emma

Making suco de maracuja.... a drink of some sort

Being sick is no fun

         This week I heard your voice of advice through the scriptures. Seriously, it was as if you were there in the room talking to me! I will explain more a little bit later. So before I relate the events of this week, I need to start off by saying that I am now healthy, happy, and you have absolutely nothing to worry about. With that said, we can start in on the week!

          Last Sunday evening I started to have a horrible headache. The kind where it feels like a knife s stabbing your head. I didn't want to have to walk all the way back to our house just to get some medicine though, so we just kept working. Monday morning I felt a bit better, just sore and still with a bit of a headache. It was p-day though so I was able to take it relatively easy. The next day the Sister Training Leaders came out to Alfenas for splits with me and Sister Malta. I had a very full day planned for us! It ended up being a very successful split. We taught tons of lessons, set several baptismal dates, made a lot of good contacts- and I didn't even get us lost! I think I was so busy making sure that everything went well during the day that I didn't have time to think about myself. By the time 9:30 rolled around and we finished planning for the next day though, I wasn't feeling too great. I just hurt everywhere, my eyes were burning and my head ached like crazy. I took my temperature and had a fever too. I didn't want to slow down our work or the next day though or inconvenience anyone, so I just went to bed hoping I'd feel better in the morning. The next day though things were even worse. I took some pain reliever and fever reducer and got to work though. The meds didn't help much though. I made it through morning exercise, getting ready for the day, breakfast and started in on personal study. I was reading in Jacó 6. Even though it was in portguês, when I read verse 12 it was as though you were right there talking to me. In português it starts, "Oh! Sede sábios!  Que mais poderei dizer?"  I'll let you look that up in English :) (I looked it up for you! Jacob 6:12 "Oh, be wise.  What more can I say?") I then remembered you telling me to take care of myself and not just push through pain and sickness. I had an internal struggle over the matter briefly- I really wanted to visit our investigators we had planned out for that day. They really needed us! Yet the Mom voice won out. I told Sister Malta what was going on and Sister Bicaleti happened to be walking by. She asked a bit more about my symptoms and then told me that I probably had Dengue... (she took a medical course pre-mission). So we called up a member in the ward and they took us to the hospital. After several hours there, they diagnosed me with suspect Dengue and told me to just take some pain meds and come back if things got worse. So we did that and then went home. The next day we tried to continue on as normal. After our first lesson though I wasn't doing too great. So we went back to the hospital. This time we got them to run a blood test and sure enough, I had Dengue. There isn't really a cure for dengue. They gave me an iv again and a liter of a saline solution (I think... something to keep me hydrated and flush my system. I finally go to go home at about 1am... After that I was on orders from President and the doctor to rest up, drink a crazy lot of water and stay home for a few days. They gave me some better pain killers and fever reducers. The first day the pain killers were doing nothing. It was miserable, I just hurt everywhere. Then I was able to get a blessing from some Elders though. Within the hour I started to feel better. By Sunday I felt fine again and was sick of being stuck in the house. Today I will finally be able to return back to normal missionary life and teach my investigators again! Like I said when I started off, I am back to normal health wise. I feel great and am good to go. Don't worry, I will definitely be careful still and take it easy if needs be, but I am so happy to be getting back to work! 

         So things that I learned this week: 1)People in a hospital waiting room are pretty open to a gospel message, (2) if you are sitting next to a bunch of people who also have IVs in their arm, you should share the gospel. They can't go anywhere (3) Nurses are more likely to help you if you say thank you often and give them a pass along card (4) Juice is heaven (5) My medical vocabulary could use some work (6) Not being able to visit my investigators is torture (7) a companion isn't quite as good as having a mom (8) Priesthood blessings have amazing power

        Needless to say, after this week I will be using my bug repellent religiously (and not just because I am a missionary)! I don't have much else to write about this week... weird, it's like I didn't get to do anything! Haha! 

 

Sister Maxwell

Nice apartment.. don't mind the weeds or barbed wire

American Food!!!!

Another week- More Miracles

           This week was a rough week for Sister Malta. She hit her one year mark a little bit ago and was feeling very homesick this week. Then two families we were teaching cut us and that did not help with her optimism! So I had to definitely step up this week and be more of the senior companion. It was weird to be the one encouraging her when I am the one with way less experience with the work and language. One morning during companion study she broke down crying. After some hugs and hot chocolate I was able to get her calmed down though (chocolate works wonders!). I then shared the story of the sons of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon with her. We always remember them as these amazing, super successful missionaries. And while this is true, they also had a whole lot of trials too! I shared some scriptures about all of their difficulties with her and told her that when things are hard here we are in good company! We are among the greatest missionaries of all time! I promised her that if we had faith and worked hard that day the Lord would bless us with miracles. I also decided to fast for her too. That evening, sure enough, the Lord came through! We met a man while we were out knocking doors and had an amazing lesson with him. He was there alone so it was just standing on the street by his gate. Yet it was one of the coolest lessons I have had yet. I would ask him a question and then he would go off and explain his thoughts on the topic- which were always exactly what I was going to teach! At the end of our lesson he explained that he had seen our chapel several times and thought to himself, someday, God is going to send someone to invite you to visit this church. I got to be that person! This was on Friday night. Saturday evening he came to a baptism for the other sisters here and Sunday he came to church. We  have another lesson marked with him for Tuesday night with his whole family! I am so excited for him! The coolest part was to see everything come together- my promise and prayer for Sister Malta, his prayer about visiting the church... Nossa (WOW), God is real! 

         Remember that family I wrote about last week? Elsa and her kids? Well, her brother is in the hospital in a coma because of excessive drinking. He has been there for quite awhile, always with a fever  and not doing so well. She visits everyday to clean him up and stay with him. Saturday night when we met with her for a lesson, we had a couple in our branch come along. We talked a bit about the priesthood during the lesson and then she asked this brother to say the closing prayer. In the prayer, he asked a blessing upon her brother. The next morning she went to the hospital before church. When she arrived the nurses told him that his fever had finally broken! He was doing better all around. She asked more and found out that his fever broke around 8:30 the night before- exactly the time we were ending the lesson! She definitely has a testimony of the power of prayer now! It was definitely a miracle. The only problem is that she and her husband were only married in the state or something like that- so it isn't valid for baptism. So we have to figure out how to get that resolved with them and paid for before they can be baptized. Time and money :( We are going to try and mark baptismal dates with two of her kids who are old enough this week though. 

          Things are in motion for mixing things up in the branch here. We finally convinced the branch president to call an instructor for our Sunday school class! We really don't have the time to prep a lesson each week. We do fine, but with an instructor it is much better. So we had an amazing week with this recently returned missionary teaching for us. Then the next week the President called her to be a counselor in YWs... haha, so we are back to square one there! We are starting up some English classes this week. I am a bit nervous about that... I don't really know how to teach English, but hey, things will work out- they always do! We also have an activity planned for next week that I am really excited about! A night of desserts! So basically we are having a dessert show-down in the branch. Each family has to bring a dessert and then we judge them and the best dessert gets a prize and the title. I have high hopes for the activity. It is perfect for inviting our pesquisadores (investigators) and doesn't take too much time or prep on our part. We also want to do a big plan of salvation activity- where everyone starts on a plane, dies, and then goes to different rooms and learns about the spirit world and degrees of glory and such. It is  going to take a lot more planning and prep though. So we are in the process of working with the branch president to get members here to take over running everything. If it all works out how I see it in my head, it will be awesome! You could try some activities like that there too. We call them nights of integration. Simple (well, usually...) activities that members can invite friends to and we cam bring pesquisadores (investigators) to. Everyone gets to know each other and gets a look at the chapel. 

          And some of your questions : I wear my hair up everyday except for p-day. So it stays looking pretty good. Buns are like the best thing ever! We go out rain or shine. Though this week it was near constant rain. So my umbrella and rain jacket are getting good use! If it isn't too windy we can stay pretty dry, so we aren't too gross and soggy when we teach. I always look forward to lessons with our good investigators. I also love visiting the members in our branch and getting to know them better. Those are definitely highlights. I also love Mondays at about 12:00... that is a magical time!

 

I love you all!

Sister Emma Maxwell

Hard work calls for a selfie