LAST WEEK OF THE TRANSFER

Welcome to the new transfer! My new companion had to travel so long to make it to Boa Viagem... JK! My new companion is Sister Lopez! She was training in Pina and lives in the same house as me! Hahaha we have grown to be super great friends so this transfer is going to be full of a lot of happy working and laughter! We´re so excited! :)  We will be the Sister Training Leaders now here in Boa Viagem because Sister Juárez is leaving me. :(  Tomorrow we bring her to the airport to go to home to Mexico! Thankfully she gets to stay with us one more night! 

This week President Bigelow spoke in our ward.  He read D&C 18:10 that everybody knows about the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.  But he said that sometimes we don´t read verse 11 afterwards that talks about the Atonement. In Corinthians we read that we were paid for a price.  The price was a price of a god- our Savior Jesus Christ.  We need to constantly be repenting and trying to get better.  He said that when we come unto Christ and our Heavenly Father we see more easily our weaknesses. He said we can become examples of Ether 12:27 that says that as we call upon God and show him our weaknesses, they can be made strong.  I know that that is true and it sure made me feel good!  If I see my weaknesses this means I am closer to Christ that ever before and this applies to all of God´s children.  We CAN repent and we SHOULD repent daily.  We can use The Atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives and prepare to be made perfect and live celestial laws.  We are not gods and goddesses yet, but one day we will be and as it says in The Book of Mormon, now is the time we have to prepare to meet God.

I know this is true and I know that God reveals his secrets and the truth of His gospel to his servants, the prophets.  This Saturday and Sunday we will have the marvelous privilege to hear from the living prophet of God, Thomas S. Monson, his counselors, the 12 apostles, and other church leaders.  We have the opportunity this week to prepare spiritually to receive personal revelation and revelation for our families in some cases.  We are invited to read our scriptures, pray with real intent, and ponder questions that you might have and don´t have the answer too, and also "what lack I yet?" and how we can improve and progress as children of God in this difficult world.  I know that as we prepare to hear the prophet, our minds will be enlightened, and we will become better disciples of Christ and Latter-day Saints.  Let us follow the invitation that King Benjamin gave to his people before they heard his message: 

 And it came to pass that he began to speak to his people from the tower; and they could not all hear his words because of the greatness of the multitude; therefore he caused that the words which he spake should be written and sent forth among those that were not under the sound of his voice, that they might also receive his words.

  And these are the words which he spake and caused to be written, saying: My brethren, all ye that have assembled yourselves together, you that can hear my words which I shall speak unto you this day; for I have not commanded you to come up hither to trifle with the words which I shall speak, but that you should hearken unto me, and open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view.

I am grateful for all of your support and love!  Thank you for your kind messages and your prayers!  And since my family calls me Jillie Beans, I'll sign off in a new way!

Tchau Tchau,
Sister Feijão

Last district meeting!

Last Sunday for Sister Juárez! :(  Photos with Paula, Heribetro with his missionary tag, and Bispo Paulo Berneguer e família dele!

The jerseys for Santa Cruz that our recent converts surprised us with!! WOW! English class sign and when Paula went teaching with us we found a giant Pixar lamp.

MAIS FOTOS DA SEMANA PASSADA

HEYYY

This week was great! We suffered the last 2 weeks to find people but this week we were able to find 10 new investigators and marked a few baptisms! We are progressing and very excited! :) 

I was studying about the life of Jesus Christ this week and I found a quote that I really liked and wanted to share it with you.  "Partaking of a bitter cup without becoming bitter is likewise part of the emulation of Jesus." -Elder Neal A. Maxwell.  Happiness is a choice.  If we trust in The Lord and in God´s eternal plan, we don´t have to get down.  We can choose to be happy in our trials and "live after the manner of happiness" as we read in The Book of Mormon.  I invite all to join with me in coming unto Christ by smiling through our difficulties and letting it move us into becoming more like our eternal Savior that loves us so much.  

I don´t have time AGAIN but I love you all so much and am extremely grateful for your prayers and support! I encourage all youth to serve a full-time mission because it is THE BEST thing I´ve ever done and I could not have learned how much I´m learning or change how much I wanted to change doing any other thing.

Love you all,

Sister Garrick :)

Photos of Marco Zero

Fotos of Recife and Mercado de São José

PB and blueberry jelly sandwiches (don´t ask how) 

and mission counsel september 2k16

Our service project for Mormon Helping Hands was to 

clean the Restaurant Bella Nordestina!

They gave us food and sister conference!

banana chocolate chip bars and p-day of exercises with Sister Bigelow!

Elect

This past Saturday we were able to find the most elect couple! Aline and Wagner! They were a referral from a member and we love them!! They are a great example of people that are looking for the truth! Aline even took 3 of her kids with her to church the day after we met her on Sunday!  We are so grateful for The Lord putting people in our path in the minds and hearts of our members to visit and teach repentance.

This week we had a breakfast for new members Sunday morning and I made my mom's banana chocolate chip bars and they turned our great! What a miracle ;) haha.  Edlma and Alberto (RC) even brought a friend to the activity and it was very special! 

This week we had mission counsel, sister conference, 2 exchanges, and P-Day of exercises! It has been a long and busy week! But a great one!  Today, Sister Bigelow and President did exercises with us for 6 minutes and LITERALLY KILLED US. 6 MINUTES! They are hardcore and we are all weak de verdade.  They taught us how to be healthier and gave us sandwiches and I never want to eat chocolate again in my life.  We were able to work with the sisters from Pina and from Setúbal this week and I was able to learn so much from these wonderful missionaries! Shout out to Sister Taylor because I know her parents read these on my blog- she is a wonderful missionary and I loved my time with her in Boa Viagem! :)

At Sister Conference, Sister Juárez and I were able to lead a discussion sobre the talk "Um Apelo de Minha Irmãs" by Russel M. Nelson.  I forgot how to say it in English and this talk is so great! Google it! It´s from General Conference like last year!   (from mom: A Plea to My Sisters. )  We watched a video about The Atonement and Missionary Work by President Eyring and Elder Holland and watching in ON the mission is A LOT different that watching it before. I need my Savior.  I need Him every hour and I need His divine and infinite help in becoming better and more like Him.  Thank you all for ALL of your support!

Love,

Sister Garrick 

(from mom: Found this picture in Sister Garrick's email this week- 

A photo from leadership council)

Also from mom:  Sister Lopez's mom shared these pictures on Facebook today.  

Sept 7th was Brazil's Independence Day and the missionaries went out to serve.  

Apparently these sister missionaries cleaned a restaurant called Bella Nordestina.  

They cleaned it and also prepared lunch (chicken hearts)   

Hi From Sister Erica

Hello!

This week I was called by yet another name or pronunciation of Garrick! I was called Sister Erica by our 76 year old investigator, Maria José! hahaha WHAT!  Okay but this week was great! It was a real faith tester, but I know that we receive a witness after the trial of our faith. (Ether 12:6)  

We were able to have zone conference and ward counsel and leadership meeting this week so it was super hurried and we even had to travel to Camaragibe which was like flashback into the past because it´s super interior but man how I miss the interior! But my heart is in Boa Viagem now and I don´t want to leave! 

This week we were able to learn with President Bigelow about the premises of what we believe.  We have to understand why we keep commandments like pay tithing, obey the word of wisdom, etc.  and as missionaries and members of the church we have to align how we think with how the Lord thinks.  We as latter-day saints think differently and I will attach the talk we read for you guys because you can learn so much!! Learning is great amiright?!?! 

https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/as-he-thinketh-in-his-heart-?lang=eng

But my favorite part of this talk was this: 

When I say that Latter-day Saints “think differently,” I do not suggest that we have a different way of reasoning in the sense of how we think.  I am referring to the fact that on many important subjects our assumptions-our starting points or major premises-are different from many of our friends and associates.  They are also different from many assumptions currently used in the media and in other common discourse.  For example, because Latter-day Saints know our Heavenly Father’s plan for His children, we know that this mortal life is not a one-act play sandwiched between an unknowable past and an uncertain future.  This life is like the second act in a three-act play.  Its purpose is defined by what is revealed about our spiritual existence in Act 1 and our eternal destiny in Act 3.  Because of our knowledge of this Plan and other truths that God has revealed, we start with different assumptions than those who do not share our knowledge.  As a result, we reach different conclusions on many important subjects that others judge only in terms of their opinions about mortal life.

In some ways our experience is the same as the Apostle Peter’s, recorded in the 16^th chapter of Matthew.  Jesus taught His apostles that He would soon go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and finally be killed.  Quote:

“Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord:  this shall not be unto thee.

“But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan:  thou art an offence unto me:  for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men” (Matthew 16:22–23).

Peter did not savor “the things that be of God, but those that be of men” when he argued that Jesus would not be killed in Jerusalem.  By reasoning from the wisdom of men he reached the wrong conclusion.  If, on that occasion, Peter had reasoned from “the things that be of God”-from the Plan that required the Savior to die-he would not have been chastened.  Then, he would have had what the scriptures describe as the “mind of The Lord” or the “mind of Christ” (Romans 11:34; 1 Corinthians 2:16; D&C 102:23; also see 2 Nephi 9:39), which includes the ability to understand and think clearly about the application of eternal gospel truths and teachings to the various circumstances we face in mortality.

Sorry this email is really long but I am grateful for you all and grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  I am grateful that we think differently because it means we can help others come to this knowledge of the gospel too!

Boa semana,

Sister Erica ;)

Photo: Zone Conference (Zonas Litoral & Recife Sul)