Sister Emma Kener in Florianopolis, Brazil

hello everyone! these past couple weeks have been awesome here in lages. we had Jose´s baptism last week and this week put a couple on date for their baptism and a wedding at the end of this month :) i am really loving my area (even the cold), the members and my comp!   a good scripture from my personal study this week that i wanted to share!  “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.”  love this a ton! alsoooooo happy fourth of july this week americans!! thanks to good old mama trish who sent us all things american, sister miller and i are feeling right at home ;) boa semana gente!   loves, sista kener

helllooooo! this week was one to remember! we had the wedding and baptism of Cristina and Ivonir and everything went SO well! they are the cutest fam ever. i couldn't be happier for them. be ready for a lotta pics :) i know i've been slacking in the email department lately so this is me making up for it - this week we were teaching our investigator Jandira when she started to cry telling us about the trials she was having in her life right now. she told us she was lost and confused and didn't know why God wasn't answering her. and because naturally we as missionaries tend to make other peoples' burdens our burdens, i got home that night and said a prayer with tears in my eyes wondering why Heavenly Father wasn't guiding her. the next morning i woke up and found the answer to my prayers: freaking AGENCY! haha. "But, behold, i say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right." YES, our lives would be a l...

ola! this week is gonna be more pics than words but i wanted to share a quick/cool experience we had sunday! our area is super big and we have some cities that are almost two hours from our house and the church.  we can only go if we have referrals. but yesterday we had the opportunity to take a little road trip with some members from our ward to Urubici (2 hours away) to attend sacrament there in the member's home. this family consists of 8 people (all from uruguay). they are the only members in this city so they hold their own meeting every sunday in their very simple and modest home. this experience was probably one of the most spiritual experiences i have had on my mission. i got super emotional as soon as i walked into that house seeing all the kids dressed in their sunday best and two trays of sacrament on the table in the middle of the room. when the members from our ward invited us to go with them they told us "we are going there to give them a push of encouragement...

hello! just wanted to give a quick shoutout to the best dad out there - happy fathers day t-money! love you to brazil and back :) some miracles that happened this week: 2 weeks ago we started teaching a 21yr old named jose. we met him at the LAN house (internet cafe) where he plays video games. we go there on pday to email our fams and so we got to know him. the first sunday he went to church he actually got up to bear his testimony... it was so awesome! then after church yesterday he asked us to give him a lesson. so i felt inspired to give him a lesson in the baptismal font.. literally IN it. so we did.  then we invited him to be baptized and he said he wants to be baptized but he is scared. at this moment i remembered something that good old mama trish said all growing up.  when we were scared or nervous she would say you have to have faith that everything will be ok, then you won't need to be afraid.  because "faith and fear cannot co-exist".  after i said th...

hello! i know its been a fatttt minute since i've written but i am here now alive and well. and to sum up this last transfer and my lack of emails thereof i will share this scripture "And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions." haha lol kidding kind of. but anyways! this past week i was transferred BACK to Lages (my first area) which means back to the coldest area in my mission... god is humorous.  saying bye to my family of Rio Tavares was superrrr hard. i am constantly reminded of a quote that i mentioned in my farewell talk 10 years ago that if we cant be with the people we love, love the people you're with! and i know i always say this but its truly incredible how much love you can gain for the pe...

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 ...