Rachel and her companion on Church Website

Current address:

Sister Rachel Edwards

Rua Hélio Cortez #279

Jardim São Paulo

Londrina, Paraná

86083-320

Brasil

Aug. 11, 2014~ Londrina, Brazil

{Rachel had a very busy P-day (companion had to go to Dr) and only had a few minutes to write. I was concerned today as we usually receive an email from Rachel no later than noon (Oregon time). I emailed the mission office when it was getting close to 6pm (Brazil time), knowing emails must be sent before 6. 

I wanted to share a bit of an email I received from AP in office. He speaks only a little bit of English and I really appreciated the time he took to write to me in English letting me know that he contacted Rachel and that she was fine. She and her companion were delayed at the Dr. office.

Rachel serves right next to the mission office in Londrina, and she delivered cookies to all in office today. They all say that Rachel is gifted in taking care of everything and everyone. She is an example to all. She does not always share in the family and friend letter all of her kind deeds.}

Good day Sister Jeanette Edwards,

 Her daughter passed today by the Office of Mission and was doing many things in his P-day. She left the office around 17:30. She would have until 18 o'clock at night to send an email for you.

 She has been a valiant warrior and defender of truth in the Brazil Londrina Mission, and has been the example for their companions in obedience, diligence and dedication to missionary service.

 She is very well. She is a devoted missionary.  She and her partner have a family of 4 persons to be baptized this Sunday. She is very well and being very well maintained by the members of Ward they are serving.

 We are grateful for his special daughter, who has helped many children of Heavenly Father approached Him more.

 Thank you,

 Elder S. Pereira

Assistent

Missão Brasil Londrina

 

From: Rachel Edwards: rachel.edwards@myldsmail.net :

Hello Everyone! 

This week was so stressful! I am exhausted. This is the last week of the transfer. It has really flown by! 

We had two baptisms fall this week. Both were interviewed but got nervous the last minute. We hope to help them out this week. We also had splits with the Sister Training leaders. I was with Sister Sedgwick. It is so cool to teach with her now. Very different than when I was being trained. 

We are teaching an awesome family that our recent convert Maycon passed to us. They are sooo prepared to hear the Gospel. The son went to church with us Sunday and then we met the family and taught them Sunday night. We are excited to teach them more. 

We also taught the most incredible 11 year old I have met in my life! She acts as is she was an adult. She is extremely smart and well mannered and presents herself sooo well. She understanded perfectly everything we taught her; Sadly she won't be able to continue with us because her mom is very against the church. 

We have tons of things to do this week and I am ecited to get rolling. Well,  I have to go. Sorry this is short. Have a great week!

Happy 16th Birthday, Jeffrey!

Love, Sister Edwards

Aug. 4, 2014~ Londrina, Brazil

Hey Everyone! I feel like I was just writing home! 

This week was great! We had a baptism!!! (Which makes it even better than great right?) It was awesome! Last week, Saturday, we taught that one young man, remember? The one that understands perfectly everything we teach him? Well, he went to church the following Sunday and this week we worked every day with him and Sunday he was baptized! It was so incredible! He was suuuuper prepared. He doesn't like coffee or tea and had no problems with any commandments and he read and prayed about the Book of Mormon and received an answer that it was true. 

On Thursday, he began to doubt if he should get baptized or not but we talked with him and he prayed and it was so neat because we were sitting in the front of his house and he prayed and then said nothing. He kept quiet for a lonnnnng time and looked up to the sky. Just staring at the huge blue sky. I had nothing come to my mind and we just waited, anxiously. Finally he looked at us and said, "I got an answer. The Lord trusts me to decide. He knows that I know the truth and trusts me and promised to be with me no matter what...." he paused and we waited for the rest, and he said smiling "This Sunday will be a very new experience for me." 

Man, if I wasn't a missionary I would have given him a huge hug, we were both sooooo happy!  He was too! The baptism was one of the best I have been too. He cried as the Elders Quorom sang "O Elders of Israel" for him. It was so spiritual. The President of the Elderes quorom cried too as he welcomed him and gave him a huge hug! I have never seen so many members at a baptism too. It was just incredible to see the instant love all the members and bishopric showed to him. 

Cristiano is progressing and very excited for his baptism this week too. He could use some prayers to help continue not smoking! We also taught another man named Edmilson, who has gone through tons of trials. He is looking and finding a lot of peace reading the Book of Mormon. It is neat to see him progressing too. 

We taught an entire family who accepted to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and be baptized. I am extremely impressed with their willingness and faith. I LOVE this area of VIVI XAVIER! I love Londrina, I love my companion, we are great friends. I love being a missionary. I love this gospel! I love you all and hope you have a great week!!!! :) 

Tchau! :) 

Com amor

Sister Edwards

July 28, 2014~ Londrina, Brasil

(Only 4 months left-Rachel returns home this November)

Bom Dia Querida Família e Queridos Amigos,

Que Semana! I am really lost on what I have told you all already. The days and weeks are really blending together and flying by. 

This week we worked a lot with a family. Simone, Rodrigo and their three boys Felipe, Tiago and Matheus. They are a very special family. Simone and Rodrigo are both trying to stop smoking. We have tried lots of techniques and nothing seemed to work and so we received inspiration one day. It was really neat. They had decided to give up and we taught them more in depth about the atonement of Jesus Christ and about Repentance. Then I asked for their cigarettes...

     They gave them to me thinking I would cut them or take them with me. Instead I took out some pamphlets and cut out a few pictures of Christ and slipped it behind the plastic on the front if the box of cigarettes. I wrote on the front, "Você consegue porque eu te amo." Which means, You can do it, because I love you. Then I gave them back their packs o cigarettes, still full, and I spoke softly and said, "Everytime you go to smoke, look at this and remember all that Christ suffered and sacrificed for you. He loves you, you CAN do this, because you are doing it for yourself, your family and for Him."

They kept quiet for awhile and finally accepted our invitation to repent. The next day we went to follow up and Simone who normally smoke 20 cigarettes a day hadn't smoked any. Miracles are real! She has made soooo much progress. Her husband also reduced a ton! 

I truly know that everything is possible through Jesus Christ, when we truly understand what he did for each of us individually and understand what our part is to thank and honor that sacrifice. Our part is REPENTANCE and CHANGE. I love being a missionary and being able to see people comprehend and apply these truths. 

A real miracle is a change of heart. 

Faith without works is dead, and those works are daily, sincere repentance. 

It is through our faith that miracles happen. It is through Faith in JESUS CHRIST, our SAVIOR. He has this title, Savior, for a reason. I know that he is our Savior and that he loves us and that we can change because of him. 

I have faith is Jesus Christ. I know He lives and I KNOW this is His gospel restored to the earth. I know that He guides and directs this church. I know that He is coming and we MUST prepare. What a blessing to know these simple yet essential truths. 

We used this same tatic with our other investigator Cristano. He has also been able to reduced smoking significantly. 

This week we met a young man who was not interested in our message. He was standing in the front of his friends house. We asked him if he knew anyone who would be interested. Jokingly he gave us his friends address. Saturday we went there to see if the friend was anything like his sacrastic friend. When we got there his little sister called him. We stood in the front of his house talking for more than an hour. He has been searching for the truth. We taught him the restoration and about apostacy and about priesthood. He understood perfectly! We invited him to be baptized. He accepted. He is 20. He is looking for something to do in his life. (My goal is to send him on a mission). haha He went to church with us and loved it. It was really incredible the way the Lord led us to him. 

Many other awesome things happened this week too. We lost all power in our house and had to use candlelight... (My Mom and Dad used candlelight regularly on their mission in the Philippines). 

We were also dumped on with a rain storm. My companion and I have really bad blisters again, and are going to the foot doctor tomorrow. This mission is worth every step!

We are going to be starting our English class this week. We met an incredible family! Mom, Dad and 5 boys ages 14-21. The 14 yr old and 21 are baptized and wanting to help their family. They are really wonderful! 

I am very excited to be working here in Vivi Xavier! I love Londrina. Cool Fact: Londrina means 'Little London' in Portuguese and was built to be a small copy of London in Europe! cool huh? 

Love you all! Have a great week! You are all in my prayers!

Love Sister Edwards

My address:
Sister Rachel Edwards
Rua Hélio Cortez #279 
Jardim São Paulo
Londrina, Paraná
86083-320

Brasil

July 21, 2014~ Londrina, Brazil

Dear Family and Friends,

Holy Cow! What a week! I don't even know where to start! So much has happened. 

Monday- I wrote you all about the transfers. That day we cleaned our apatment like crazy to be spikin span and then headed to Londrina. We arrived to Londrina at night and went to sleep at a house that Sisters are living in (it is now Sister Sedgwicks area!! Cool we are in Londrina together!) 

Tuesday- The next day all the trainers met at the church in the city center to pick up the new missionaries. We had a brief training and then... they arrived. We got assigned our companions and I was put with SISTER NASCIMENTO!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is from Santos São Paulo. She is 26. She is amazing! We are are such great friends already, She is a very hard worker and we are loving working together. We are very alike and our differences compliment the other. She speaks Engish fluently and we are going to be teaching a free english class at the church. She is extremely motivated and determined. We went to our house in our area to find that the previous Elders had left it a MESS. It looked and smelled as if it had never been cleaned! We spent the rest of the day cleaning. 

Wednesday- We cleaned more and got started working. We met tons of members. Our Ward mission leader is heaven sent. He is incredible! We ate at the Bishops house for lunch and he help us split up and learn more about the area. The members are all soooo wonderful! This is the first time EVER this ward has had Sisteres. They are very excited! We are too! oh I forgot, the name of our ward and area is Vivi Xavier. It is the north side of Londrina. Londrina is so huge!!!!!! It is very busy too. But it is a really beautiful city. Our area hits the end of the city and so there is a tons of incredible landscapes and farming and then looking the other way a giant awesome scene of the city center in the distance. Our area also has tons of hills! 

Thursday- We ended up navigating ourselves (still without a map) to the mission office to pick up supplies and an area book. We talked to tons of people and then had a meeting in the church with the leader and the ward missionaries. We were still organizing our area, house and everything too. 

Friday- We worked contacting lots of people. One house we went to was suppose to be a young lady we talked to in the street. She gave us a false address (which is normal haha) and we ended up meeting someone else who is 100% ready to hear our message! She is legally married and has 3 adorable boys. Two of them have the age of baptism. She really liked our message and is trying to now stop smoking to be baptized. 

Satuday- We had another Festa Juninha! We arrived at the right time! :) We invited our new investigating family and they went! They really liked it too! We got to know our area a lot better. It is so great! Filled with awesome people! We also visited a few recent converts and less actives.

Sunday- The family went to church with us. The members were quick to make them feel welcome. The boys made friends easily and loved primary. Their mom, Simone, also loved church. We are so excited for them! We also met some other great investigator who we are excited to teach. I really saw how the Lord guided us and then literally put these people in our pathway. At church we all spoke and introduced our self. It was neat because we were announced as the pioneer warriors of the ward, the first Sisters ever. They are thrilled and so are we! It is humbling to be trusted with this responsibility.

I love this area already and cant wait for what is to come! Love you all and am praying that you have a successful week! 

Love Sister Edwards

Rachel walks everywhere and has only been in a car 3 times over the past year. She gets motion sickness very easily now. 

Elder Delgado serves in mission office.

Sisters Sedgwick, Nascimento, Edwards

Sisters Azevedo, Oliveira, Nascimento, Edwards

Sister Nascimento means 'Birth' in English

Awesome family in Londrina

Taught them Skills learned in Africa

Repairing lights

Changing light bulbs

It's cold in Brazil right now

Puppy is named Scooby

Simone, Rachel

Downtown Londrina

Landscape

Share apartment

July 14, 2014- Last day in Assis

Wow. The day has come! I am being transfered. I am going to be leaving tonight at 7:15pm to go to Londrina and pick up my new 'daughter' (New Sister Missionary) tomorrow that I will be training. Then we will actually stay in Londrina in a new area! We are opening a new area that was formerly an Elder's area. There will be another 2 sisters there too. The other Sister will also be training! 

Its going to be really fun. This area has had tons of success in the past. I am excited to get going and have lots of new expereinces. 

I am sad to be leaving Assis. Six months in Maringá and 6 months in Assis. I have made lasting friendships and have several special memories in these areas. Both feel like home. I am also sad to be leaving my companion Sister Buás. We learned and grew so much together. She is staying here in Assis. Her companion is coming today and there will also be another companionship coming to split the area! Thank goodness! This area is huge! It is more than 5 cities! We need the help. The members are excited to have 4 sisters again. 

This week we had 2 baptisms! Thayane and Rafaela. Rafaela is Pedro's little sister and Thaytane is the daughter of Rosilene who is the less active that we found knocking doors. The baptisms were great. All the YW attended and sang, and the YW presidency spoke and presented Personal Progress and For the Strength of Youth. The girls were confirmed in Sacrament meeting on Sunday. 

It was great! Both smiling happily. They are both the most shy I have ever seen in my life! It was funny to hear about the interview with the Elder because he said that he couldnt get them to look at him. But even timid they were baptized and even bore quick simple heartfelt testimonies. They are so cute. Pedro was able to baptize his sister and Antonio who is actually Rosilene's and Thatyane's neighbor, baptized Thaytane. It is so neat to see our recent converts teaching and baptizing others into the true church of Christ. It reeally shows their conversion. Mayara helped us a ton to teach these girls.

We had our Zone conference with The Assistants and President and Sister Genaro. It was incredible. I sure do love them! I learned a ton! At one point during the training President Genaro asked me and Sister Buás to teach all the missionaries how to help a person who doesn't believe in God. I was soooo nervous! There were almost 50, maybe more, missionaries there, all looking at me! But it was neat because I said a quick prayer to help me calm down and I was able to teach as if it was a person in our neighborhood-naturally. And Sis Buás, who is so new, did a great job! 

President Genaro said that he really liked our example. I was grateful for the Spirit who guided us in that moment. I have a testimony that the Spirit truly guides and orients us. 

This week I read the talk from conference of L. Tom Perry. I LOVE it. I invite you to study it. The comparison that he makes is so cool, I never thought this way. And I really like the Scripture he used, James 3:3. I am sharing it with everyone and explaining how the spirit is our guide WHEN we obey. Obedience is essential. 

Cool news! The Church thought that we would have difficulties baptising in Brasil during the World Cup. But.... we had the opposite happen. Our mission broke a record and we had more 203 baptisms in the month of July. cool huh?! 3 were ours here in Assis:) Our mission might be in the church magazines or church news. If so, watch for us! 

Last night, all of my recent converts and a few members had a going away party for me. They made a suprise video of pictures, music and quotes of my time here in Assis! They all wrote special poems and notes to me and we did a secret friend gift exchange. I was totally suprised. I felt sooo loved. 

I also realized even more how much I love each of those people. It was such a blessing and privilege to teach them, and I feel, as they were changing, I too was learning and growing with them. Roberto, Sueli, Antonio, Pedro, Claudio, Marcio, Mayara, Thaytane and Rafaela have a special place in my heart. 

This week our other investigator Tauan will be baptized. He is very excited and faithful. He and his family have been investigating the church and we have been able to have some neat experiences with them. I cant wait to see the pictures of his baptism! :) 

WELLLL, our apt looks like a tornado passed though with all the cleaning and packing we have been doing. I need to go finish now. I love you all and am praying for you. Thank you for the emails of love and support. I look forward to hear more about your summer vacations:) HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! I love you!!! 

Have a good week! 

Love, Sister Edwards

Baptism of Thaytane e Rafaela

The one phone that made alllll the calls possible.

Best District Ever. ;)

Sister Sedgwick who trained Rachel, Sister Buás who Rachel trained. They refer to each other as Grandmother, Mother, Daughter.

Teaching Tauan Daizi Antonio Eduardo w Mayara Miria Sara

Studying with Antonio and Miria

Lunch

Vou ter muito saudade de Assis!