April 23rd E-mail

Family and Friends,

My second transfer is officially over. Weird. I will be transferred!! I don't know where yet, but according to Sister Wegener, I will probably be headed to a place called Campus Norte with another American companion named Sister Grant. I will let you know when I find out for sure! To tell you the truth, I am a little nervous. It kind of feels like my first day again.....I was starting to feel comfortable here. Ha I should have known that the Lord would kick me out of my comfort zone! It is how we progress, I guess! 

The Portuguese is coming along more and more everyday. I still struggle to really express myself profoundly, but I can express almost everything I want to in simple and basic and choppy terms. The flowering and fluidity of my speech will come along. Haha I am learning patience for sure. 

We have some really good investigators right now.....many of which will be baptized! I won't be here for the baptisms of course, but I feel honored to have been a part in their conversion! Ahh!! There really are so many people in this world that are searching for the truth! They are only kept from it because they know not where to find it! It is a privilege to help people find it! 

I heard from my companion in the MTC, Sister Zeller, the other day! She arrived in Brazil about a week ago! Glad she finally made it! 

I will tell you a little bit more about Brazil I guess!

They take holidays really seriously here. When there is a holiday....EVERY store is closed and the streets are deserted! Tumbleweeds. Creepy.

I take hot showers here. 

It is really annoying coming into fall now. It is cold in the morning....hot during the afternoon.....and cold in the evening. It makes deciding what to wear a pain. 

I. Hate. Dogs. Everyone and their dog (hahaha) has a dog. Twelve dogs. And they are annoying. And they bark non-stop. And I don't see why people here like having twelve annoying, barking dogs. 

Well, time is all but out. I love you all. I know this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I know families are forever. Press forward in Faith!

Sister Autumn Barnes

April 17th E-mail

Dear Friends and Family,

Tomara que vocês estejam felizes e saudáveis! Eu estou bem! Estou aprendendo cada vez mais! É um grande privilegio de ser uma missionária! 

My week was really good! Long.....but really, really good. This week, we began teaching two families that have a ton of potential. One of these families was a reference from a lady who was baptized in a different ward a couple weeks ago. This lady, whose name is Lira was so excited to be baptized and wanted her sister, Sylvia, to have the opportunity to hear about the church as well. Sylvia is so cool! She has been reading the Principles of the Gospel book because her sister gave it to her to read.She has also been reading the Book of Mormon of course. The one hold back is that she is living with her boyfriend. However, they have been talking about marriage, which is good. She came to Stake Conference this Sunday and many of the talks were about family relationships and marriage. She cried throughout most of it. I know it really touched her. We will be teaching her, her boyfriend, her son, her daughter, and daughter's boyfriend tonight! I hope that wasn't too confusing! 

We are also teaching another really awesome family: Mara Ione, Fabio, and Eduarda. Mara Ione works with a member of the church, and the member has been talking to her about the church. We taught a lesson with the member present, and this family had a lot of questions. Fabio, the father, suffered a really bad accident a little while ago and has really bad burn marks all over his body......he was especially interested in the message of the gospel. 

I want to tell you about one more guy that we are teaching. His name is David. He is the grandson of Suely (the older woman that was just baptized). David is 22 years old and is living with Suely right now. Just a few months ago, he was a drug trafficker. He was beaten up by the equivalent to a cop here, and left on the side of the road to basically die. Since his recovery from that, he has been trying to change his life around. He has an honest job and has been reading Suely's Book of Mormon. He said he doesn't really understand anything he reads in the Book of Mormon, but he feels a peace when he reads it. 

Ahhh!! I know the Book of Mormon is true! Even a simple boy who doesn't even understand what it is talking about can feel its power. I know that it works together with the Bible to testify of Christ. I am filled with the love of God, with answers, and with comfort every time I open its cover. One thing I have learned while on the mission is how to truly apply the Book of Mormon into my life and the life of my investigators. The Book of Mormon is a powerful witness that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God, that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world, and that His true church is on the earth today. Never take that book for granted!!! 

I love you all! 

Sister Autumn Barnes

April 10th E-mail

Friends and Family,

Happy Easter! 

 

I don't really have much time to write, but I will do my best to fit in as much as I can! 

 

Easter was really good. We ended up having fast and testimony meeting, and the spirit was really strong! We went to a member's house afterwards, and ate lots of food. Picture the biggest chocolate easter egg you can think of.......yeah, this place is loaded with HUGE chocolate eggs for Easter! Let's just say I ended up eating a ton of chocolate! 

Marco (the boy that got hit by a car) is doing well. He didn't break anything (miracle), he just scraped up his body a lot. We don't know when the baptism will be. We are working out some issues with that. The Lord will make everything right! 

GUESS WHAT!!??? I just got an email from President Pavan......and guess who is coming to visit my mission??? ELDER JEFFREY R. HOLLAND!!!!!! (Ethan, be jealous). April 27! Oh boy.....I am excited! More details to come. 

I love you all! I hope to write more next week! Today was really busy!

This gospel is beyond true! Stay firm in the faith!! 

Sister Autumn Barnes

April 3rd E-mail and Pictures

Whooo.....

This week was crazy!!!! 

Sister Wegener was really sick for most of the week, so we didn't really get to work that much. But, one of the days she was sick, we had permission to leave Sister Wegener with one of the Sisters in the ward and I went out to teach with Carol Toebe (an 18 year old girl in the ward). Talk about scary!!! I was the Senior Missionary in that case. I was really nervous.....but I was really surprised by how much I could actually do without the constant help of Sister Wegener. The language, the teaching.......is coming along! 

Conference was so great! I was so excited to be able to hear the counsel of the Prophets! We watched it at the chapel. A lot of the other missionaries from Novo Hamburgo came to the chapel to watch it as well, so it was pretty much a party! Just kidding.....we had a couple of investigators come to watch some of the sessions. We watched half of the sessions in Portuguese and half in English. Haha it was good in Portuguese, but I missed hearing the actual voices of our church leaders! Not to mention I didn't understand all of it in Portuguese...the apostles use lots of words that you don't hear everyday! 

About Marco's baptism. I kind of want to cry just thinking about it. But....everything will be ok. Everything was set for his baptism in between conference. His mom, who refused to come beforehand, decided to come. In the hour of the baptism, we found out that something had been wrong with the drain plug, and the font drained. And.......the church ran out of water. I felt so so so awful. The baptism was rescheduled for tomorrow. This is the really, really, really sad part. Marco was hit by a car today. We don't exactly know how he is doing, but we know that he is in the hospital right now. I will be praying REALLY HARD for this boy! 

I know this church is true. While listening to conference, there was no way in the world I could deny it. I know we have a living prophet on the earth today. If we follow him, we will never go astray! Love you all! 

Sister Autumn Barnes

 

General Conference at the chapel

Eating pizza at a restaurant with Carol Toebe. They eat pizza with a fork and knife here. They make it a lot harder than in needs to be!

It doesn't feel like I am living in an oven anymore!

Friends and Family,

Sueli was baptized on Saturday! Wow. To be perfectly honest (and I am ashamed to admit this) I wake up some days and think, "Why am I here?" But, when I saw Sueli enter those waters of baptism........there was no question in my mind. I am here to bring others unto Christ. My purpose as a missionary is nowhere near trivial. The message I have has the power to change the lives and ETERNITIES of people here in Brazil. Seeing Sueli make sacred covenants with the Lord made all of the work more than worth it. I know why I am here........and I will work hard during the short time I am here. 

So about the Toebe Family. Irmão Juares is the Ward Mission Leader. He has been a huge blessing. They have opened up their home to us. Three of the kids from the family (Dwayne, Tina, Carol) always take us to lunch on P-days or play volleyball with us at the church. Oh my....I am to the point where I can pretty much understand everything that people say.....except when I am at their house. There are 11 of them.......so naturally, there are always like 5 people talking at the same time. They also use a lot of slang and tell a lot of jokes and stuff. hahaha so it is difficult to understand what is going on half of the time, but it is fun! It is good for me! It is definitely helping me to converse better! 

Being an American definitely has its benefits sometimes here in Brazil. There have been so many times when people haven't been very interested in our message, but after they ask where we are from......they are suddenly interested. Usually not interested in the gospel, but in us rather. However, it gets our foot in the door. Oh boy, does it. The Brazilians down here love to hear about the United States. I can't tell you how many times I have been asked if I live close to Justin Beiber. It is actually quite ridiculous. Haha it is hilarious when Brazilians try to tell me what America is like. "Oh, it is cold all the time there." "People only eat fast food everyday." But anyway, it is a good conversation starter!

It is starting to cool down! I now sleep with a blanket at night! Whoo! Soon I will have to wear sweaters when I go out! Thank heavens! I love Autumn! (ha, get it?) 

I love you all! There is nowhere I would rather be than here. No one I would rather be than a missionary of the Lord! 

I am so excited for General Conference! Go here the voice of the Prophets! We are SO blessed to have a living prophet on the earth!

Sister Autumn Barnes

My district. Goofs!

Sueli's baptism. Bispo baptized her. I know she doesn't look happy, but trust me....she is. 

 Bad quality.....but this is a picture of us at Irmão Liege's birthday party. Lots of food. Yeah.

  

My planner! Ethan asked if we cover our planners to protect them. Yep. This is how I covered mine! 

 

March 20th E-mail

Oí Family and Friends!

Things are looking up! I went through the last transfer with what seemed like not even a speck of success. No one was accepting our message, I was really down on myself, the language barrier was hard, and the like. This transfer is already going better. The Lord gave us a present on Sunday. We were at church, and there was a lady there whom I had never seen before. Her name is Lurdes. Turns out she hasn't been active for some time, but decided to come back to church. She brought her nine year old grandson with her. After sacrament meeting, Lurdes approached us and said, "Marco (her grandson) wants to be baptized. Will you teach him?" My jaw literally dropped. We went and taught him yesterday, and turns out he has been reading the Book of Mormon and is in Mosiah already. He is nine years old! While I was teaching, I asked the question. "Do you know what kinds of things Jesus did when he was on the earth?" I expected to receive a nine-year-old response like, "He helped people." No, this kid started with the birth of Jesus and told me all about His life up until His Resurrection. He will be baptized inbetween General Conference sessions. 

We will also have two more baptisms this month. Sueli is an older woman who lives alone. We have been teaching her ever since I arrived in the field. She is a woman of great faith, and has a solid understanding of the Bible. She has been coming to church with us every week, but was having a hard time accepted the concept of the Priesthood Authority.....which means she hadn't received a testimony of The Restoration yet. Well, this Sunday...guess what the lesson was about in Relief Society? The Priesthood. And guess what the lesson was about in Gospel Principles? The Priesthood. Let's just say....this was a huge blessing. Sueli will be baptized this Saturday. 

There is a family here in the ward that has become my second family......my Brazilian family. The Toebe's. Irmão Juares, Irmã Liege, and their NINE children. At times I feel like I am in a whole different world.....but in their home......I feel at home. They have been a really big blessing to me as I have been adjusting to the mission. I will tell you more about them when I have more time! 

If I could offer any advice to you all.....it would be this.......keep the commandments. I have truly gained a testimony of just how much they protect us and make us happy. Drugs and immorality are HUGE here..........and it is so so so sad. Disobeying these sacred commandments ruins lives and tears families apart. God wants us to be happy, and he has provided a way for us to be so. Follow him and keep his commandments, and he has promised to bless you! 

I love you all! I know the Savior lives and his church is upon the earth today!  I will write more next week as I will hopefully have more time! 

Love,

Sister Autumn Barnes

March 12th E-mail

Dear Mom and Dad! Sorry.....I don't have much time. I am also sorry that I forgot to tell you last week that my P-day will be today because of transfers. I will be staying in Novo Hamburgo with Sister Wegener this transfer. I am doing well! There is a chance I will be able to email tomorrow because it will still technically be P-day (because of transfers!) Sorry! I love you so much!

Autumn Rae

 

Novo Hamburgo

My District. The Elder with the red tie thingy is wearing traditional Gaucho clothing.

My zone.

At lunch with some cool members of the ward I am serving in! Carol, Dwayne, and Tina.