Sister Emma Kener in Florianopolis, Brazil

i don't have much time today but i just wanted to thank everyone for all of the birthday emails! i was brought to tears! i am blessed with the best that's for sure!!  this birthday will go down as the best one, so far.  not only did I feel so much love from home, but the members here threw me an awesome surprise birthday party, brazilian style.  which means there is no shortage of food, desserts, and fun! they truly are the most loving and selfless people.  everyone should find some brazilian friends and have a brazilian birthday party at some point in their life.  do it, you will be glad you did. just when things seem too hard or too heavy, my Heavenly Father throws me a lifeline.  this week especially, i experienced many tender mercies. i have felt His overwhelming love for me.  i am so grateful for the knowledge that He is aware of me and will never leave me comfortless.   have a great week! thanks again! love you all a brazilian! ...

hello again! a quick update of the crazy couple last weeks i've had.  i got a new companion, her name is sister marques from brasilia.  she's superb.  we have a lot of fun together and are actually pretty similar.  last week it was "carnival" in brazil so it was nuts! our president told us to work with wisdom and if things got too crazy, to go home.  so when we discovered that the gay party was starting right where we were working, we got on the bus to head home.  our 20 minute bus ride turned into 4 hours because of all the traffic, and a drunk woman threw up all over my feet.  i love carnival!:(  last wednesday we were eating lunch with the americans living here.  it was the best because we ate french toast and i got to speak english the whole time while my comp sat there, it was kinda awesome haha.  anyway, after we left their house we got a call from president saying an emergency transfer was happening and we were gonna be in a trio ...

hello everyone! this week was the last week of the transfer.  my comp sis mendes was doing a trial mission, luckily she passed so she gets to continue on in this mission! the only bummer is that she never went to the MTC, so she has to go back there first.  strange i know! so im getting a new comp, i can't remember her name but she is from Brazil! background on these pics: 1 - baptism of tiago this week 2 - this 10 lb coconut fell on my head (slightly concussed) 3 - me sweating out all of the water i drank from above mentioned coconut, the pic doesn't do it justice. it's soooo HOT!   hope you're all enjoying the snow up there! send me lot of cool vibes so i don't get heat stroke! read your scriptures, and go to church:) tchau! sista kener

hello everyone! it's been a fat minute since i've written, my apologies to those who still read my emails, so sorry mom!:) these past few weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions.  as you can see in these glamorous photos, i hit the halfway point in my mission! it really got me thinking about all my experiences, trials and growth thus far.  i saw a quote poem in one of my comps journals one day that really hit home for me.  for those of you that have already served or are serving, i'm sure you can relate 100%.  and for those of you who will serve or didn't get the chance to, this will help you understand a little bit better what a mission is actually like! "a mission is a strange experience, it is a trial and a test a mission throws at you the worst, yet it teaches you the best i've never been so happy, and i've never been so depressed i've never felt so forsaken, i've never felt so blessed i've never felt my Heavenly Father so d...

hello my good people of america! this week was an interesting one. it started off good with zone conference. (i had tons of christmas cards waiting for me! so thank you so so much for the kind gesture, meant so much to me!). then a day or two later we got hit with a huge rainstorm which ended up flooding our house.  so we spent the entire day pushing the water out with brooms.  and to top it off, the storm caused a power outage so we had no power for the night, which meant we had no fans!!!! i wish you could all experience just how hot my room was that night.  so at 2:00 am, i got creative, lathered up with my icy hot, and moved my mattress down by the back door in search of a slight breeze. turns out, the bugs like that spot as well. i got like 10,000 bug bites but i'm picking my battles these days and at that moment, sleep won.  my comp was sick a lot too so it wasn't a super successful week for us, but on sunday we had a baptism! cute little 11 year old stefani an...

it's soooo hot here!  i sleep with a wet towel and put icy hot all over my body, but it doesn't help.  i'm jealous of all the snow back home! the bugs are a force to be reckoned with as well, lets just say Amber Kilgore would not do well here haha!  we're still kind of figuring out this new area.  the people can't say kener so they call me kinder ovo, cause apparently that's easier to say? go figure.  we do a lot of knocking, but not a lot of talking.  the people don't seem to be as nice here, but the members are great! we did have a baptism this week in our ward so that was cool and there is a nice American family in my ward who is from Saratoga Springs, Utah!  never underestimate the power of a friendly face!  my comp sis mendes has some limitations walking, so she wasn't super happy with me making her walk to the top of the hill to knock a door, but no pain, no gain, is the english phrase im teaching her. all in all, things are good here a...