ANIMALS

This week was the week of animals.  Ya'll I don't have much time to write today, but you need to watch this video if you haven't yet: https://www.mormon.org/easter  It's truly inspired.  #Aleluia (in Portuguese) 

But yes, this week I ate fish, clams, held a turtle, held a monkey, you name it! This week was the week of animals.  Speaking of animals I hope you all got a nice visit from the Easter Bunny ;) But most importantly that you all took a moment to remember the Savior in a special way this Easter! Because now it´s time to prepare for GENERAL CONFERENCE WHOO HOO! This week we had another Family Home Evening at the chapel which was fun and we missionaries are poor, so the snacks we brought were juice, crackers, and butter and the people here are so great. We were like sorry this is all we have and they were all like no no this is delicious, amazing... eating everything. haha I love them! 

I also finished reading The Book of Mormon again yesterday! It was the BEST way to celebrate Easter! I KNOW with all of my soul that this book is the word of God.  It was written for us, for me and for you! Never forget that and never stop reading! 

Today we had a P-Day with some people from our District in Cruzeiro in our area.  You can see our whole area from there and it´s bem-legal! I´ll send lots of photos! But é isso, sorry hard to think in English completely right now! Love you all and I truly LOVE this gospel.  It IS the gospel of Jesus Christ.  There is only one path and it´s this one.

Amo vocês,

Sister Garrick

Photo 1: Sister DiSpirito and I at our District Meeting... can´t you just feel the love?! :)

Photo 2:  The spine left from the fish I ate... misericórida you do everything to get a baptism am I right? ;) JK! I can't believe I ate fish... and clams! AH!

Photo 3: The Bishop of the Gravatá ward gave us giant chocolate eggs cause he knew it was hard to be away from our family this Easter :´)

Photo 4: My dream came true- I held a cute little monkey... and it didn’t hurt that bad when he bit me! Macáco bravo minha nossa 

Photo 5: His name is Chico

Photo 6: How we exercised today to lose weight... we lasted maybe 10 minutes in the blazing sun at 6:30 in the morning... misericórida

Photo 7: The stairs to Cruzeiro

Photo 8: Part of our District!

Photo 9: Cruzeiro 

Photo 10: It looks like Rio haha 

Photo 11: District picnic :)

Photo 12: I love Sister DiSpirito! 

Feliz Páscoa! Happy Easter!

Hello friends and family!!  

This week was great! I got to see one of my two CTM companions because she is in my District now: Sister DiSpirito! It was awesome to talk with her again (this time in better Portuguese).  This Sunday was awesome! We had 6 investigators in the chapel again and Sister Feltran and I taught Gospel Principles class.  We had a lot of recent converts and investigators in there and the recent converts all bore their testimony of Jesus Christ and ther conversions to the true gospel! My eyes were filled with tears of pure joy during the whole lesson because they led the discussion and the spirit was so strong and our investigators all said that they LOVED it.  I´m so grateful for our members here! They are so firm in the gospel.  I was also asked to lead the music in Sacrament Meeting too!  This past Sunday we also held an open house at the church to invite people who weren´t members of the church and never visited to see what it as like.  Unfortunately we only had leaders from Relief Society, Young Men, and the first counselor there to talk about each organization.  But our members stepped up to the challenge and talked about Young Women, Quorum, and Primary too! I love them!! We ended it in the chapel where Israel (1st counselor in the Bishopric because we don´t have a Bishop) talked about the Sacrament and it was so spiritual.  We ended with snacks and gave everyone little goodie bags that we made for them with candy, pass along cards about families and Easter, and a copy of Cristo Vivo.  Sadly, none of our investigators came to the open house and nobody we invited during the week, so we ran out into the streets and invited literally everyone we saw.  We didn´t end up with a TON of people but it was sufficient and the spirit was there and we gained 2 new investigators because of it!

I want to talk about some funny things that happened this week: We were in Recife (I can´t remember if I already wrote about this) but we were looking at the list of hamburgers at his place to eat and one said "cheddar bacon" we bought two, but when we got it it didn't have a hamburger! It was literally just a brad, a little bit of cheddar cheese, and bacon bits. My gosh what a rip off. We looked at the menu again and it literally didn´t say that it included a hamburger hahaha what is life in Brasil!?  Also this week I saw a lizard that was HUGE I wish I had a photo because I can promise you that it belongs in Jurassic Park (literally a mini velociraptor) not kidding.  Also, we hear every type of excuse from our investigators for reasons why they can´t go to church on Sunday, but this one was my favorite- "Oh this Sunday´s not going to work because I got to kill a chicken." WHAT?! Hahaha I tried so hard to not to laugh but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do. 

I also want to copy what Sister Dibble did in her email once- 

You Know It´s Hot When:

You have the oddest tan lines and the elders tell you they have tan lines of their tie and their name tag!

You´re used to being wet and you have sweat in places you never knew you could sweat (for example, my ears)

You touch your hair for longer than 5 seconds and your hand burns

The dead animals on the street weren´t hit by cars, but because the sun is scalding

Alright, I would like to end my email with an experience that I had this week.  There was one day that I was sad and stressed and overwhelmed thinking about the activities we were planning and lots of other things.  I wasn´t doing very well mentally to the point where I just broke down in tears.  Nobody saw but I needed help.  I had a thought to read a book my grandma sent me.  It´s this little book of quotes by Thomas S. Monson (our prophet) for each day of the year.  I looked under the day March 19th- it said, "'Entitled To The Lord´s Help' 'With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.' (Psalm 89:21) 'Our task is not insurmountable.  We are on the Lord´s errand, and therefore we are entitled to the Lord´s help.  But we must try.  From the stage play Shenandoah comes the spoken line which inspires: 'if we don´t do, then why are we here?' When the master ministered among men, He called fishermen at Galilee to leave their nets and follow Him, declaring, 'I will make you fishers of men' (Matthew 4:19).  And so He did.  Tonight He issues a call to each of us to 'come join the ranks.'"  This was EXACTLY what I needed to hear.  I testify that we have a living Prophet of God.  He talks with our Heavenly Father face to face and receives revelation for ALL of us- Mormon or not.  I´m so grateful for The Book of Mormon and for the examples we can learn from from these ancient prophets as well.  This week and next prepare to hear the words of our LIVING prophet, Thomas S. Monson at General Conference.  It´s going to be revelation for us.  I hope you all think about The Atonement this week in preparation for Easter and the true meaning of this holiday.  Love you all!!

Write me!! My address changed it´s now the same for letters and packages: 

Sister Jillienne Garrick

Brazil Recife Mission

Rua Das Ninfas 30 

Boa Vista

 50070-055 Recife- PE

 Brazil

Com amor,

Sister Jillie Garrick :)

Photo 1: eating a giant chocolate bar ;)

Photo 2: The chocolates we made for the members who helped with our open house!

Photo 3: Sister Feltran, Sister Cordeiro, e eu! :)

Hastening the Work in Boa Vista

Olå todos!

This week was awesome!!! Boa Vista is an AWESOME and GORGEOUS area!!!!  Our area is filled with mountains, jungles, flowers, ranches, rivers... it´s seriously gorgeous! However, the mountains make for a lot of aching bodies at the end of the day. ;) Sister Feltran and I have been thinking of ways that we can make this work move faster in our area because everybody says that this area is one of the hardest in the mission to have a baptism because nobody wants to change or the ones that do aren't married and don't want to get married.  BUT, we aren't getting discouraged or disheartened! We are working hard!  Yesterday at church we had 6 investigators show up! It was so nice to see people making an effort and using faith to go to the true church of Jesus Christ. We organized a family home evening at the home of one of the members here and invited members of the ward and investigators as well.  We had a lot of people show up and it was so awesome! We had a lesson, played some games, and ate cake! We would like to have one family home evening each week if possible.  We are also organizing an open house in the church for non-members to see how are church runs and to get to know the classes and what goes on.  We are excited!

Also, this week we ate hot dogs at this place called Sr. Dog and it was sooooo good. Best hot dog I´ve ever eaten in my entire life. Mas, é isso.

I just want to let you all know that I know that when we put the Lord´s will before our own, we will have joy.  We will see miracles in our life when we obey all the commandments and strive to become like Christ! Love you all and am thankful for all your messages to me!

Com amor,

Sister Jillie Garrick :)

Photo 1: On top of our area

Photo 2: "This isn't missionary work, this is missionary fun!" -(I forgot who said this)

Photo 3: Noite familiar! (Family Home Evening)

Photo 4: Our friend, Donkey!

Photo 5: I wish I could force our investigators to read The Book of Mormon 

like I forced this cat to.  (No cats were harmed in the making of this photo... probably)

Photo 6: Our chique demais lasagna :)

Photo 7:  (Sorry- you're gonna get lots of photos today) 

Denis at church- one of our investigators 

Photo 8:  Our first Sunday as companions!

Photo 9: The gorgeous scenery! 

(This is the area of the other sisters we live with but still)

TRANSFERS

Hello all! 

This week a lot happened! George was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! He is so awesome and is going to make a very good leader in the church one day! He is already a great example for me.  

The day after the baptism, we went to Recife to get a boot for Sister Gomes´ foot. Thankfully she´s doing a lot better now! But this week it was hard to work because we pretty much had to stay in the house because walking a lot would worsen her foot and she also had Dengue which causes pains in the whole body.  But don´t worry- she´s a LOT better!

This week we found out about transfers, and I was transferred to the city of Gravatá, area Boa Vista! It´s about an hour more interior from where I was. My new companion is Sister Feltran! I actually met her on Facebook before the mission which is cool! She is super sweet and I´m so excited to work here with her! Gravatá is known for being the coolest part of the mission (temperature wise).  It´s still hot and sunny during the day, but at night my comp said she sleeps with a comforter!!! WHAT IS THIS MADNESS!?!?! In Vitória, we always sleep with 2 fans on top speed with no blankets, and we are literally dying. Every.night.  This is an incredible blessing in my life to be able to sleep with a blanket. haha! It was so sad to leave our ward and Sister Gomes, Aguiar, and Iglesias, but I know I need to be here in Boa Vista now! I´m excited to get to work! And I´m really used to moving to different houses- so this is nothing ;) 

Thank you for all your support and prayers,

Sister Garrick 

Photo 1: George's baptism!

Photo 2:  My ticket for our quick trip to Recife

Photo 3:  Last District meeting in Moreno :(

Photo 4:  George's 2 year old daughter, Julia so cute!

Photo 5:  Bye Sister Gomes :(