CLEANING INSTRUCTIONS: HAND WASH ONLY

"When President Tobias came, he brought a washer with him! Yay! The only problem is that we don´t have a hook up in our house to plug in the water and the electricity...so we can´t use it. Today I did laundry (by hand ) and hung everything up to dry only to have it pour 1 hour later. We don´t have a covering for our laundry area, so everything is now soaked again. O the adventures of Brazil!"

"I attached a picture of our study area where we spend 3 hours every morning. Sister Judd and I are learning the Brazil national anthem, so we thought it would be a good idea to put up a flag. This flag is just a paper one, but it does its job. "

This is Erika with her Great Aunt Yuri, who is serving a mission in Sendai, Japan. They were both in the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah at the same time!!

"Charity. . .seeketh not her own"

" One really neat thing that happened this past week was we had a family baptized into the ward! They felt that God had a purpose for them so they left their home and moved to Rio Verde two months ago. Celia (the wife) had a dream that the missionaries came to her house, taught her the lessons and she and her husband (Tiago) accepted it all. When she woke up from the nap where she had this dream, Sister Judd and I had just showed up at their house. Sister Judd and I were teaching them, but the Elders in our ward have been having such a hard time finding investigators. They´ve been fasting and praying to find an investigator who can be baptized this month, but their only baptism for the month fell through. After a tearful prayer, we decided to let the Elders finish the discussions and then let them baptize this special family. So the Elders got to be a part of the miracle and it turns out they were the ones that she saw in the dream!"

". . .this family (husband and wife) were baptized this past Sunday and it was super special! Sis. Judd and I had two baptisms of our own: Antonio and Carlos Henrique"

LATE ENTRY

Erika sent her email last week to a wrong email address. Hence, this late entry. . . .Here is a picture of her first baptism in Rio Verde.

"His name is Lailson and he is one of the 7 men we brought to church on our first Sunday here in Rio Verde. He is 21 years old and is working here in Rio Verde. He lives in a house with a bunch of other guys (apparently that´s really common here in Brazil to live with 9 other people) and we were teaching 5 of them. He decided on his own to be baptized, even when his friends weren´t so sure. But he received an answer to his prayers and knew that he had to be baptized even if his friends backed out."

ERIKA'S MAILING ADDRESS!!!

Here is Erika's mailing address (it may change from time to time, as she transfers location. . . .be sure to always check out this blog site for any updates):

Rua Abel Pereiro de Castro, 819-Centro
75900-000 - Rio Verde, GO - Brazil

(NOTE: It MUST be written exactly like this.)


She wrote: "We had another baptism this week! A woman named Terezíla. She has faith like I´ve never seen before in anyone else. When we taught her, we would always extend a commitment for her to pray to know that our message was true/Joseph Smith was a prophet/ the Book of Mórmon is true. We extend this commitment with an understanding that they will pray once we leave the house or later on that night. But when we asked her to pray, she bowed her head right there in the middle of the lesson and prayed! And she would get an answer! She accepted everything we taught her and was baptized this past Sunday!"

Computer WOES!

I wrote a super long letter with pictures and the computer logged me out. Now my time is up and I can´t say much other than I love you! and You will be hearing from me again in 7 days! muah!

Transferred to Rio Verde

"I spent 5 hours on a bus with my companion from the area Parque Amazonias to Rio Verde! Yay! We´re finally here and I am so excited to get to work!"

"Because we are the first sisters here in over a year, we have to start from scratch when it comes to housing. We moved into the house they rented for us and there were beds and 2 chairs...that´s it. No refrigerator, no oven/stove, no tables, no washing machine, no iron, nothing but the things we packed in our bags with us. So, this week we will slowly but surely be getting our furniture and then we can really settle down. Because there are only 5 areas where sisters can serve right now, it´s not uncommon to spend 4-6 months in the same area. I´m excited because I´ve been living out of a suitcase for the past 3 weeks and now I can finally unpack...once we have a dresser."

"Rio Verde, what little I´ve seen in the past 24 hours is a bustling city, but I´ve heard that our area also covers farmland. There are macaws that just kind of fly around and live in the palm trees that line the medians of the road. Welcome to Brazil! "

"Silvia (an investigator) didn´t know if Joseph Smith was a prophet or not and she didn´t understand why she had to be baptized again when she was already baptized in another church. Sis. Judd had already addressed these concerns when she was teaching her before I came to the field. So we all knelt down and Silvia prayed aloud to know, then and there. Heavenly Father heard her prayer and the spirit was so strong that as soon as she finished the prayer, she said she wanted to be baptized that Sunday. So she was!"

PICTURE TAKEN IN BRAZIL

"People here not only assume I am Brazilian, but they can all pinpoint that I am Japanese. I have no idea how they know this...I don´t think I have very Japanese features. But after we introduce ourselves and they realize that I am American, a lot of people ask if I am Japanese (and then do the asian eyes). "

"I have a new favorite fruit...maracuja (passion fruit). So good! WE made mousse yesterday with it and juice and yummy!"

Erika and her companion, Sister Judd, found 2 investigators. They, Mauricio and Joaquime, have both committed to be baptized!




In the Provo MTC with her travel plans to Brazil.









Erika is on a dirt road in Brazil with her companion, Sister Judd.