Imeda and the Challenge

The other great news of the week is yesterday-we finally were able to teach Imeda a Cape Verdian who we contacted on the street and were like do you have a church (she just moved here) and she’s like no and we were like do you want to come to ours—yeah well we had an amazing first lesson with her the spirit was present, and she was very very receptive she believed in everything—now all we have to do is watch and see if she’ll act, which we’re praying hard for her to do. She has a lot of faith though. So that cheered me up and helped me remember why I’m on a mission. I invited Imeda to be baptized on our first visit, the thought popped in my head and I almost shrugged it away, but I thought about it and was like okay you better help me do this because I've never done it before. The spirit was strong and I just invited her nothing big she didn't say yes or no but I'm really hoping that she understands and has a desire to progress and be baptized really it was a good lesson, it was the crowing moment of the past six weeks, it erases all the other bad moments and there were a lot of those, isn't that funny.

Porto and the Man's Sandwich!

This past week was crazy we went to Porto on Tuesday so that basically ate up the day, we finally had Francizinhas, I’m sure I didn’t spell it right, but basically it’s a mans sandwich it’s wrapped in cheese, you have like 5 different meats on it, it’s covered with egg and French fries and there’s this special kind of sauce, it was pretty good, all the Elders are in love with them. They say the best ones are in Porto-so we had to eat it there. I just ate another one today for Elder Spiel’s B-day we went out with the Elders and they made fun of me because I’m forever slow.

Sooooo Different!

Thursday and Friday I. De Souza my trainer came because she’s going home and wanted to say good-bye to everybody so we went around with them, it’s kind of a hassle but was good to see her again, oh how different I am from last April.

Worth the Wait

Saturday we caught a bus and went to Viseu, it’s a pretty little city, I like my Coimbra more but there was a baptism and it was really very wonderful, I. Svedin marked her but then got transferred anywho she’s been investigating the church for 20 years, her husband joined 20 years ago and her sons-twins joined 3 years ago and went inactive, but after conference they haven’t missed a week, and so yay finally they’re all baptized and can progress together. Just thinking about what that brings and means brought the spirit so strongly to me and it was just a really sweet experience. So next thing I now I. Svedin got permission for us to stay in Viseu, and so we did, it was Women’s Day, seriously every country but the United States celebrates that, I don’t get it.

Sorrow, but the Church is TRUE!

There’s an Elder Pimento in our mission who was diagnosed with spinal cancer so we had a special fast, it’s so sad. We saw him in the office on Tuesday and were like weren’t you on Madira? He told us he was having back pain-now we know. I guess the other big news is I. Svedin broke out in hives on Thursday night, that was fun I was like I don’t know what to do for you, I tried blowing on her, I don’t think that it helped to much, we were able to buy her pills in the morning-that was an exciting adventure-they made her happy-it was hilarious you should have seen her. She’s doing better, but I’m still being eaten alive by bugs—4 more months about 4 more months. I know this Gospel is TRUE, I know in whom I put my trust. I love my Savior and little by little I understand more about the Atonement of Jesus and how personal it is. I am so grateful to be a member of this church. I love you all thank you for your support it means everything to me. Have a great week!

This Week Was Hard!

This week was hard, I missed you all and I missed home, but I have the Savior to help me through those times of longing, I'm back to my dreams where yeah it's just purely family.

Come What May...

So a couple of nights ago I realized I'm an almost 24 year old sleeping with a camel, alarm clock, itch ointment, and tissues on the top bunk--not where I pictured myself at the age of 24--I wanted a man! It's funny where the Lord puts you. Well Coimbra is as beautiful as ever, I decided I'm going to compare the weather to the weather in Arizona, it started getting quite warm in the afternoons and I'm like stink it's only February. It rained this weekend though and cooled it off again, I don't know it's not until next month that I can compare Portugal with what happened last year-my time is running short, yeesh it goes by so fast, truly we have to enjoy the passing moment, seriously I can't believe I've already been a way from home for a whole year.

Carnival :(

This week was very uneventful, they had Carnival which I explained is basically like Halloween, well what it really is, is Marti Graw-I don't know how to spell that- what Americans celebrate, but it's a bigger thing here, and a bit different. So all the missionaries were basically canceled on and so we had dinner at the church, and I like the Elders here, it will be sad when transfers come, I've gotten quite attached to the people here. Oh well that's life, even though I don't like it come what may and love it, right?

What Day IS It?

Friday we went to visit Guilharmina an investigator and we arrived early because of the bus so we were planning out our week, anywho she saw us and came out and was like what are you doing here, we planned for Sexta and we looked at each other, looked at our watches and were like it is sexta (Friday) she thought it was quinta (thursday). So she was going shopping to buy stuff for a suprise party she was throwing for her little brother-so here in Portugal people are prideful and whatever else and they don't like help >_> So in typical fashion I asked if she needed help thinking she'd say no, because we had other things we needed to do, but she said yes and we're like okay, so we helped her with her bags and helped her make fruit pizza, so this is actually a long story but for the fact that I don't have time, basically it ate up a lot of time and I was hoping she'd come to church from it, but no, she didn't, but I'm not losing hope I'm hoping it will be a factor later on down the line, I don't know I can't see these things it would be so nice to be able to see them, but I guess where would be our faith if we did see where these things lead to before hand.

Futebol Tournament :)

Anywho Saturday we had the Futebol tornament in the rain, it was funny to see everyone sliding around on the pavement, an added challenge--they play on cement here not grass-did I mention this before? There were a lot of people there, that were not members so that was a good thing. Lets hope that something comes from that.
Then that night we have a less active that's not the most stable she told us the night before that she didn't believe in prophets and Jospeh Smith, I was like who allowed you to be baptized anywho we're trying to get her to allow her children to come back to church, so we went to this evangelistic church, assemblies of God-first off I have a testimony that our church is the only true church on the earth-I tried to not be judgemental and critical because this was my first time in another church, and so I tried to go off of feeling and yeah our church is true, my testimony was strenghthened by this experience anywho to basically sum it all up, it was being yelled at and freezing for 2 hours, seriously the preachers are like sports announcers I wanted to shout out GOAAALLL!! It was an experience a definite lack of reverance and yeah I think were going to go to mass next week. We tried to get Jessica to church, but that didn't work and only involved a lot of walking >_> We had a lesson with her and her mom that night, we watched finding faith in Christ and all told of our favorite parts on the movie, it was good, I love the spirit. So I am blessed with a good ward here in Coimbra they are very willing to help us out and do missionary work-now if only we had people to take them to. The Elders are having a lot of success though, so that's good-It's neat to see things grow, this Gospel is true I know that Joseph Smith was chosen by God to be the prophet of the Restoration, I love this Gospel, I love all of you so very much, thank you and I wish you a great, grand and wonderful week.