When You Know You Have Had A Great Week

Beautiful Bella

Bella our newish investigator is so amazing. I love her so much!! She
 is so sweet. So she has 3 kids and is living with her mom. She
seperated from her husband and she has breast cancer. We taught her the 1
st lesson and the spirit was so strong durring that lesson. I was just
praying the whole time that everything would go good and that she
 would feel the spirit. We invited her to read the book of mormon and
to pray about it. After the lesson she made us stay and eat lunch with
her. She was asking us so many questions and couldnt believe that
we could only email our families once a week and she said " I have
 internet come email at my house." hahah she is so cute :). The next day
we came back and asked how it went and she said to be honest she didnt
feel any different. We taught her the 2nd lesson and told her to try
 praying again. When she came to church this Sunday she said that she
 read and prayed like she asked her to and she said that she didnt feel
anything again. She really wants her kids to come with her to church
and believe in God, So she asked her son to come pray with her and he
said no. After she prayed that her kids would want to learn about
 God and the Gospel. A few minutes later, her son came back and asked his mom
to teach him how to pray. They knelt down and said a prayer. She said
that it was her answer and that she knows the book of mormon is true.
 She is great. One thing that we need to work with with her is that she
smokes. She said that she wants to quit.

When You Know It Was A Really Good Long Day
 Also one night i was so tired. I started praying by my bed and fell
asleep haha. My companion thought i must have had a really hard day
 because my prayer was so long. I woke up like two or three hours later
and my knees hurt sooo bad. hahah :)

Zone Conference Strength
This week we had zone conference it was my favorite so far. I
felt the spirit so strong. They taught us how to do a more powerful
 invite to be baptized. Then we practiced, then we had lunch. We had
burger king salads... haha. Then they talked about obedience. Wow, it
was so powerful. They compared how nephi and laman and lemual were and
how nephi was so willing to do what ever the Lord asked hi to do. Also they
 talked about how David was a great man but he returned to his sins and
fell away but Joseph ran away from sin. They said that when we are
obedient that is when we truely enjoy the blessings of the gospel. The
spirit was so strong in that conference.

Albeita In Transition/Translation?

We taught Albeita this week and marked her to be baptized
this week. But when we taught her the next day, she was super confused
and thought that all the churches are the same. She wants to go to
ours and some other one that sings too... She is the one that only
 speaks Criol. I think that it has just been hard because
our member translates what we say and he doesnt always say it exactly
the way we say things..So she was not baptized but we are going to keep
working with her.

Many People at Church

Church was great. We had 4 investigators in church. Castro is great
haha he brought one of his friends with him to church. Also we
vistited the primary this week and taught them about missionary work
and they had so many questions for us hahah :) they are so cute. Sad
 thing is there are only 4 kids in our primary.

A Thunderstorm Of Miracles

I have seen so many miracles this week. We have found lots of new
people to teach. There was one day that we taught the first lesson
 sooo many times and it was so fun. I am excited to keep teaching some
of these new investigators that we have found this week. I am so
blessed. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family and the
gospel in my life.

Realized Blessing

Family Night

Monday we had a family night with Castro and some people in
our ward named Carlos and Maria. It was really fun. We talked about
 repentance and we used the object lesson that with sin and how it weighs
you down and through the atonement we can be free from sin. It was
great because now Carlos and Castro are really great friends. Castro
asked us if there was a place where there are mostly all mormons and
 we said Utah and he said "great lets all move there." hahah he wants to
move to Utah. He said its hard to live around people that are not in
the church and dont have the same standards as us. He recieved the
 Holy Ghost this week. It is so great. He has changed. It makes me so
happy. He just wants to be better and is constantly studying. (future
bishop one day woot woot ,)). Also he is preparing to go to the temple
and he has problems with his marriage but he said that he thinks he
 can work it out now because he is part of the church. Oh Castro is so
great.

First Talk

Sat night at 9:30 pm the bishop called and asked for one
 of us to give a talk...!!!! My companion really didnt want to and i
really didnt want to, but i said i would. hahah idk how i have gone 6
months into my mission with out giving a talk haha. But I gave it on
the Book of Mormon. It was really rough because i didnt have much time
 to prepare it and i still can't speak Portuguese very well but i did my best. I
just hope that they have a greater desire to read the Book of Mormon.
I know that it is true. That book has so much power. I LOVE the Book
 of Mormon.

Sabation

We are also teaching this lady that only speaks criol.. idk spell. But
we have this member come and translate the whole lesson for us for
her. This member is named sabation. haha he is so funny... he likes to
 tell everyone that he has been a member for 30 years. When he
tells people he throws his arms in the air hahah its really funny. But
we started to teach the first lesson and I said God is our loving
Heavenly Father and I waited for him to translate that and then he
 did and then he went straight to saying Joseph Smith went to
the forest and prayed and restored the church and this is the only

true church. hahah no introduction at all to who joseph smith is or

anything. hahah he is funny.

 

 

Another Fantastico Brother Got Baptized

Castro

This week was wonderful!! :) We had a BAPTISM!!!!! Castro was baptized
:)!! We met with him every day this week to make sure that he felt
prepared and ready. One of the days we watched the Joseph Smith film.
I love that movie. It is so powerful. I felt the spirit so strong when
Joseph had the first vission. I just am so grateful for Joseph Smith
and that through him we have the church today. Castro loved the movie
so much that he asked if he could keep it and watch it again. :) I was so 

happy the day of his baptism. When he came out of the water and as
he was leaving the font he was so happy and said, "Maravilia and
Fantastico" hahahah :) oh Castro!! The Elders had two other people
baptized that day. There were alot of people at the baptism. One of
the lady baptized was almost 90! She was so old! It is never too late.

Aisha
This week we have spent alot of time with Aisha. Her mom is in the
hospital. Aisha has been super sad this week. We have been teaching
her and she said that when her mom is better she will go to church

Aylton
Aylton said he doesnt really have a desire to be baptized. He said
that he knows that Joseph Smith was a Prophet and that the Book of
Mormon is true. He has doubts about the plan of salvation. He said
that he is moving up North for school. We are going to meet with him
this week and then i think that he is moving up North.

Cristo Rei

Last Monday we all went to Cristo Rei. It was wonderful!! :)
The view is so beautiful. I love the ocean. :) Then we went to Almada
Forem the mall for lunch. We didn't go shopping but we are going to
go next week. But the mall was HUGE!! It was so cool and had so many
fun stores. I am excited to shop in it next week :).

This week was great and we have transfers this Wednesday I am happy 

that I get to stay with my companion and in my area for at least one
more transfer :).

We Are So Blessed

Progress of Castro & Alyton

This week while we had a lesson with Castro,  he
asked if he could go into the chapel and ask Heavenly father if this
is the true church and if he should be baptized. He came back after 15
mins and said that he feels like he needs to be baptized. I was so
happy that Heavenly Father helped him and answered his prayer. I know
that Heavenly father is listening and answers our prayers. He will be
getting batized this week. (well thats the plan). This week we are
going to set up an family night for him.

Alyton finally came to church again! He said that he is feeling better
about baptism but wants to still continue to pray about it. After
this week he might be moving to Porto for school :(.

Transfers Already
Transfers!! WOw this transfer has just zooomed by. I love my companion
and area and ward!! I am scared!! I dont want to leave!! We find out
this next sunday..

Also I feel like my mission is flying!! I cant believe that I have
been here 5 months!!! Haha to celebrate we went to get Ice cream all
together :)

Komar & Forgetting English
We have a new investigator named Komar. He is from India. He only
knows how to speak a little English and his language. He believes in
God and he used to be hindu i think.. and he doesnt believe in it. We
found him in his store.  He gave us this bird seed looking stuff that 

people from India eat after they have a meal.

I have the hardest time teaching in English now... hahah it
was so funny. Every other word switched to Portuguese.  It was so
hard. Also I basically forgot how to pray in English, it is crazy!
It is hard teaching him because he doesnt even understand English very
well... But we gave him a book of mormon in his language. We are still
going to teach him.

Home with the Adrianos
Also we had dinner with the Adrianos (relatives of dads work). It was
so good! we had mexican food! Ohhhh I miss eating mexican food.
I love going to their house,  I always feel more at home and
the spirit in their home. We shared with them one of my favorite
scriptures Helaman 5:12. Sister Carroll shared an experience about her
friends and how they were not a good influence on her. The mom after
said that it was perfect because their son was having problems with
friends at the time.
I am Blessed
 My mission has really taught me how blessed I am.

 Just the other day we contacted a man in the street and he gave 

us his address and it was in a small part ofour area that has a few small

 houses. My companion and I thought
 WOW  he lives in one of thoose houses.. he must be so rich.
Afterwards my companion and I laughed at how funny that sounded. We
are so blessed! 

Helping the Lost Back to the Fold

Finding the Lost Sheep

Our goal this week was to find Castro. We called him 3 times a day and texted and were constantly praying that we would find him. We would have just gone to his house but he moved like 3 weeks ago and we always met in the church to teach him so we didnt have his new address. we found him :)!!!

No, but I found his friend in the street one day and I asked him where he lived and he only remembered that it was 10C and by this one store. So we went over to that store and knocked all the 10C appartments. None of them were his but then I saw another one of his friend and I had him walk us to his new appartment. Ha then we hit 10C and when I heard Castros voice I almost died! Me and my

companion were so happy. We talked to him and he said that he just didnt feel ready for baptism and that he wants to be completely changed before he is baptized. He also said that he felt like he was just getting baptized for us and not because he had a testimony. I guess he has doubts about Joseph Smith. We are going to work with him this week. But it was a Miracle that we found him!!!! Also he came to church so that is good. :)

 

Aylton has not been progressing. I feel like we have done everything that we can with him. Right now he said that he feels kinda lazy. He is not reading his scriptures everyday and not praying. He is not doing the things that he needs to do in order to get an answer. We are still going to work with him.

 

Mission President Training

Also this week we had a special training with the president. He focused on planning and how to plan to the investigators needs! He said that he wants our mission to be exactly obedient. He had all the missionaries stand and asked about every rule and if you had broken that rule you had to sit down. Me and my companion were the last ones standing but then he got us when he said;" speaking portuguese as muchas possible." Me and my companion decided that we wanted to start speaking alll the time in portuguese. So this week that is what we have done we have only spoken in Portuguese in the streets and English in the house. It is so hard haha! But our investigators need blessings and with obedience comes blessings!!

 

More About Food         

Also we had our interviews. I was last. (sister miles cried the night before because she was so scared). We had to ask an inspired question. I asked about how to help Castro. He just said that I need to find out what is stopping him from being baptized. Then I asked him if we could have dinner and he said.... YES!!!!! :) ohhhhh I was so happy!!! Hahah he also smiled after hahah he probably thought it was the stupidest question ever but its important to me to be obedient and I also like to have dinner so I am so happy!!! :) (our zone leaders had told us that we could not come back and eat dinner)--It was so hard to have a sack lunch and sack dinner each day.  I am excited to be able to eat one hot meal now. :)

 

Also Aisha is back. She fed us dinner. ewwww ahhh. So what it was was this brazilian pork dish. But basically it was just a huge chunk of fat. Me and my comp were horrified. Haha, when she turned we hurried and shoved the fat into our napkins and put it in our back packs. I couldnt get myself to eat it. But we probably can not go over there anymore because all she ever wants to do is talk and feed us and will not let us talk about the church.

 

We found some really great new people to teach that I am excited about. For a while it was really hard because all of our appointments falling through and I was dying I just wanted to teach! It has been so long since I have taught the second lesson! But I think we will have a lot more lessons this week :).