Monday, May 25, 2015

Week 70 - Camaragibe

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for all the pictures and letters!! I love all the pictures you sent. I can’t believe how tall Emma is!! She is almost the same height as Rae!! They are the cutest little friends together :)

This week has been the best. I have felt like a true instrument in God’s hands and it is the best feeling. I think that everyday just gets happier and happier. We have been knocking a lot of doors and contacting a lot of references and looking for less active families and we have seen a lot of miracles happening. We have been praying a lot to be led to the right people who are prepared for the Gospel and God has been answering our prayers. We worked in a new area that we’ve never been to before and met so many great people. We taught everyone about the Book of Mormon but every lesson was different. I think it is amazing how the Book of Mormon can answer all the questions that anyone could have. And since everyone has different needs we were able to teach about the Book of Mormon but according to their needs. We felt so guided in each lesson, it was awesome. We even taught the wife of a pastor of a really big church here about the Book of Mormon and she agreed to read a chapter and let us come back to teach more. And that is the biggest miracle of all because in 16 months I’ve never taught someone from this church that is open to learning more!!

I am so grateful to be serving a mission. Lately I have been feeling more love for the people that I serve. When we think of everyone has God’s children- as we literally are- it is so much easier to want to serve and help them know the restored gospel. I love getting to know so many people and hearing their stories, dreams, goals, and life experiences. Everyone has a different story and always no matter what their circumstance, the restored gospel will bless their lives.

I love you all!!! I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Sister Bedke

 Olá Poochy!

 Pretty Brazilian Sunset


Monday, May 18, 2015

Week 69 - Camaragibe

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for all the cool pictures! Happy birthday to Rae! That is so weird that she is 16!! Is she going to get a car?? I sent her an email last week but idk if she got it because she didn't respond :´(  Also dad and Cart's pictures were cool from Camp Crosley!  Did Carter do the talent show?  Did dad get some sleep this time? haha Glad you guys had a good time!

Today is the first day of my last transfer. I’m super excited for the next six weeks, They are going to be the best yet. I’m staying in Camaragibe, and also I’m staying with Sister Vasquez!!! Which is like a miracle because I've never seen two people stay together for four transfers! But it’s good because we work well together and she is a super dedicated missionary. We have a lot of goals for this transfer. We have both been feeling like this one part of our area that we have never been to before has a lot of people waiting for us, so we are going to start working there a lot and we just need to find a lot of new people. We are super excited!

Yesterday before church was D and R’s baptism finally!! It was worth the wait though. It was super special and they both were so happy. S baptized them which also was really special. It was cute how he got emotional to be baptizing his two daughters. They both got Faith in God books and are excited to start working on that. And also R was already assigned to give a prayer in primary and D a talk. They’re already a part of the ward :)  It was so cute, after they were confirmed they came skipping down from the stand back to their seats haha. Today I will finally be able to send pictures so you can see!!

Other than that this week was pretty normal. I did two companion exchanges which I love doing! It is a lot of fun to work with other missionaries. I always learn so much every time. I have a lot of pictures to send this week!

Love you all and hope you have a great week!!

Love,

Sister Bedke

 Banana Farm

 The District

 Happy (late) Mother's Day!



 What does a cool accent get you?  Free sushi!

 The baptism



Monday, May 11, 2015

Week 68 - Camaragibe

Dear Family and Friends,

It was so good to see and talk to you guys yesterday! Idk how it was for you, but for me the time went by so fast. I have so much more to tell you. When I get home I’ll tell you guys about everything and I want to know everything that has happened there too. Everett is so cute! It was awesome to see him! I’m glad that everything worked out with the 3-way skype. The Irma was doing like a 6-way skype with her nephew who is a missionary and her sisters. It was awesome! Everyone said that we have a beautiful family. They liked seeing you guys!

This week was good! I don’t have much to say because I told you guys most of it yesterday. We have been talking with a lot of people.  Yesterday before skype we were knocking doors close to the member’s house and we met a young lady. Her name is Karol. We taught her about the plan of salvation and it was a really good lesson. We will see! 

We had a leadership meeting this week with President Bigelow. He taught us how we can teach better about prophets. A lot of people here think that if you believe in God then you are a prophet. Or they think that we are prophets! He showed us a lot of scriptures in the Bible that we can use to help people better understand that there is only one prophet on the earth at a time that has the keys and authority. While I was writing about that I just remembered something funny that happened a few weeks ago. We met the funniest/weirdest man on the street. I don’t know if he was drunk or if he is just really weird. But he saw that we are missionaries so he came up to us and started telling us how he is a prophet and all the things that God has told him to do and a whole bunch of random stuff. He talked for forever and then we had to cut him off to be able to leave but he was like "nooooo please don’t leave!! I’m gonna go with you guys. With 3 of us God will be with us more strongly. Let me walk with you till the light pole!" and by this point I was laughing so hard because he was being so funny! He was saying so much random stuff and then added in your pretty! and then continued on with his sermon. Idk how to explain it very well you just had to be there. But he finally did go away. I hope to see him again someday, because he made our day!

I have a lot of pictures to send! I hope you all have a great week! Love you all! Thank you for everything!

Love,

Sister Bedke

Week 67 - Camaragibe

Dear Family and Friends,

Everything is going great here in Brazil. We have had a really good week. Yes the baptisms are still on for Mother’s Day. They are super excited. D is always telling us how she is tired of being a visitor and is ready to be a member! haha She is so funny. I think she is the most mature and serious 11 year ever. Yesterday in testimony meeting Sv and Sl shared their testimonies!! It was a proud moment as a missionary :) Sv talked about how grateful he is to know that God lives. And Sl was sooo nervous I thought she was going to pass out!! At the end she said "this prayer".  And then D who was sitting with us said very loudly "prayer?!!! Nooooooo!!! It’s a testimony!!!" hahaha It was so funny.

We are teaching an awesome guy named R! He was a reference from a member that lives in a different ward, but we were never able to get ahold of him and he lives in a part of our area that we’ve never been too--it’s like a 45 minute bus ride away. But finally we were able to talk to him and he is awesome!! He has been trying to get in contact for a while now and was super excited to start meeting with us. He watched General Conference last October with his friend and loved it. And then watched it again in April on the internet in his house. So he has been super curious and interested for a while now. But yesterday he came to church and we were able to talk to him for a while afterwards and answer some of his questions. We are excited about him!

This week we did a comp exchange. I went to a different area called Várzia. It’s cool getting to know different areas, members, investigators and work with other people. I love it! Oh and also this week Elder Whitney L Clayton and his wife came to Recife! We had a mission conference with them and it was awesome. They are perfect and I learned so much. I really liked especially Sister Clayton. She was like an angel! I want to be as sweet as she is.

Thank you so much for your emails and the pics! Love you guys! Talk to you soon!!!!

Love,

Sister Bedke