Monday, May 26, 2014

Doing A LOT of Contacts...

Good Morning Everyone!!

This week has been a good one, well I am pretty sure I say that all the time, but really it has been pretty great. 

This week, like I mentioned last week we have been doing A LOT of contacts. Its really a great way to meet new people, and especially with such a small branch, its hard to work a lot with the members. This week we had 10 people in sacrament meeting- again including 4 missionaries. That is something that kind of breaks my heart a little coming from Utah County, but there are always two ways to look at a challenge. So there is a lot of work to be done here in Panambi. I am excited. But in these contacts, it has been really interesting to get to know a lot of different people, and if we are really friendly and nice they usually say we can share a message with them. 

We met a man this week named Nieltor who has a degree in theology. He is really smart and knows the Bible really well. Honestly, that scared me a little when we went to his house. But it went really well. We taught him about prophets and how Jesus organized His church when he was here. He quoted a scripture that talks about false prophets, and then asked us about Joseph Smith. It is awesome how in the moment God truly can put words into your mouth. We talked about if the Bible warns against so many false prophets then truly there should be one true prophet. He became real quiet and thought about that. After that we asked him to pray about we had taught, and he said he would. 

Also this week, we have been dying to talk to Melini. She was the girl that let us use her computer to skype for mothers day. She had a baptism marked, but got into a fight with her husband and backed out. So I went to talk with her at church yesterday to ask her when we could meet to talk about the baptism. But before I could even get 1 word out she told me she wanted to be baptized and that we need to mark a date. WOW! I am excited that she has such a strong desire to be baptized. 

Well my companion is really great! She is patient with me as I am learning how to train, which is awesome! I love the other Sisters I live with too, we have been working together with the other companionship to get to know the other less actives here in Panambi, and really I couldn't have asked for better Sisters to work with... Okay maybe if I could request for McKenna to get sent down here, and maybe we could put Kim back as a missionary... But hey! 

Well, congrats to Michael! Graduation!! Way to go, kiddo. Don't trip on your robe when you walk to get your diploma... okay?? JK you’re tall. That won't even be a problem for you.

Conner.... I am expecting a letter to hear how your competition went!! 

Thanks for all the letters folks!! You are all the best support a missionary could ask for!!

If I could just leave you with a quick thought I read this last week in studying the atonement:

To accept our weaknesses as permanent frailties is to deny the power of the atonement. This gospel is a gospel of change. We are imperfect children of a Father in Heaven who loves us, but who has high expectations of us. He knew on our own we couldn't be perfect so He sent His son. And through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ we can have the opportunity to access the power of the atonement and change, become better, and ultimately become as our Father in Heaven~Perfect.
(3 Nephi 12:48)

I love you all. I pray that you all have a great week. Thanks again for all the continued support. 
With all my Love, 
Sister K Seal


Sorry no photos it rained all week long, and didn't want to ruin the camera. Next week:)

Monday, May 19, 2014

Change

Morning Everyone-

Well this week has been a crazy one- Well okay they all kind of are in the mission field. It just seems like time keeps flying by. 

Well, I have my new companion. She is from Curitiba. She is very sweet and already teaches super well, it doesn't even feel like I am training. That is always a nice thing. 
Other than that 2 other sisters moved into our house. Sister Alves and Sister Reis. They are both Brazilian. So yup, I am living with only Brazilians. Yes, that scares me a little, haha but I guess that means my Portuguese is about to get a lot better, and my English a lot worse, so just prepare yourselves for some poor grammar folks. 

Thanks to mom, I got my package and loved it. I promise to write some good letters now that I have some fancy pens. 

Well, like I said this week flew by right now we are trying to build a teaching group, which means we are doing a lot of street contacting. So there is not much to tell, but I am excited to get to do a lot of work here. 

One thought I was thinking about today is the idea of change. I was reading about the atonement this week and came across this idea that has really stuck with me.  I “know I cannot change my situation, but I can change how I respond—I have to humble myself and depend on Him for help."  Here in the mission there are so many things I can't change. I can't change who will accept me into their house, how fast I improve my language.  But the thing that I can change is how I view my opportunity to serve. I can respond by not becoming frustrated with what isn't going right, but instead looking for the things I can improve and looking for the things that I have to the opportunity to change. 

Well I love you all. Thanks for all the letters and package this week too mom. I am so grateful for them. The secretary of the mission said that I am the missionary who receives the most letters, that made me laugh and then I realized how great you all are!! SO, THANK YOU!!

Until Next Week,

Much Love, 
Sister K. Seal

Subway in Santa Maria

Monday, May 12, 2014

Transfers!

Bom dia!

Good Morning Family and Friends! I hope everyone had a wonderful Mothers Day! It was so good to talk with my family- Special thanks for Kim for driving clear down from Idaho. It was so good to talk with you. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms!!

Well this week is week of Transfers! And well it finally happened. I am going to start training. I am scared as all get out. So I am going to solicit the prayers of all of you. I am going to need extra help this transfer. I don't know much about my new companion, but I do know she will be Brazilian. I am excited, but very nervous to meet her. I get to meet her tomorrow and then we will return back to Panambi. I am very excited to stay here in Panambi. It is a very big city and there is lots of work to do. 

We are right now teaching 2 people that will be baptized this month. One is Diocir. He is awesome and going strong in his goal to stop smoking by the end of this month. When we first met him 3 weeks ago he was smoking around 40 cigarettes a day and now is down to 11! 

The other lady we are teaching is Melini. I honestly love her. The Sisters before us helped her get legally married. And she is about 23 years old and is amazing. She makes us lunch once a week and she is preparing to be baptized as well. 

Well this week is going to be another busy one, but I am very excited because I am going to Santa Maria so that means I am going to get all your wonderful letters. Big shout out to the faithful writers and big apology also for the lack of letters. No need for a call to repentance. I already repented and am going to write a bunch of letters today! 

Well I love you all and just wanted to leave you with a quick message from one of the Greats...
Neal Maxwell 

Just as "doubt, despair, and desensitization go together, so do faith, hope, charity, and patience.  The  latter qualities must carefully  and constantly nurtured,  however,  whereas  doubt  and  despair,  like  dandelions,  need  little encouragement  in  order  to  sprout  and  spread.  Alas, despair comes so naturally to the natural man!" 

I love this thought. Satan is clever, and truly following him will always be easier. And at times even more enticing, but when we hold fast to our faith, our hope, and our charity we can know and WILL know that there are better days and better ways! 

I love my Savior and the opportunity and privilege I have to represent Him and in His work. I love the Gospel and the perfect plan our Father in Heaven has for each one of us. I know God lives. I know Jesus is the Christ and He too lives. And because of this we too WILL live.

Love you all. As Kim would say: Be good! 

Thanks for the continued letters and support. 

Sister K. Seal


Monday, May 5, 2014

Panambi

Good Morning Family and Friends!

How is everyone?? I am so excited to see and talk with everyone on Mother’s Day! I am also really, really excited to see my best friend McKenna!!

Anyways, this week has been really slow. We had a family night with a recent convert that recently moved into our branch. That is a real blessing (guess how many members we had Sunday at church.... 12-- that is including 4 Sister Missionaries and 2 of our investigators). Anyway his name is João and he is really funny. He is about 50 years old. He is starting to memorize the articles of faith, and I decided that it would be a good idea for me to memorize them with him seeing as how I only know them in English. But it was really fun. His brother is investigating the church and he came too. His name is Diocir. We are actually helping him stop smoking. They are very funny together- it only slightly makes me miss my own sister.

Well I received an email from a Miss Kimmy that reprimanded me for not talking a lot about my area so I will try to give you all a quick synopsis. 

The area is called Panambi- it is about 5-6 hours away from São Borja, and I traveled by bus to get here. It is beautiful here with all the hills. Everything is so green. The members here are really nice, but there are very few. But we have lots of investigators to work with! There are a lot more German descendants here which I really like because I feel like I fit in better! Our house is really nice-- we don't have study desks, but I actually count that as a blessing, because it gives me an excuse to study cuddled up in my bed.

My companion is Sister Taynã she is from Recife. Which is really close to where McKenna is. She has a crazy cool accent-- kinda hoping McKenna returns home with this accent. She has 11 months on the mission, and she is super nice. 

Well I hope that cleared up any questions anyone has about my new area. Today we are traveling to Cruz Alta for a Zone Conference we have tomorrow so I promise to take photos for everyone! Also hopefully mom's package is there. Well, I love you all. Thanks for the letters everyone! 

Sister K. Seal


P.S. sorry no photos this week, the computer I am working with is slightly dysfunctional.