Through the Clouds of Cold Cascades Shines the Sun of Success

Through the Clouds of Cold Cascades Shines the Sun of Success

This week was great :) it rained alot though.  I have broken so

many umbrellas!!!

We started the week off with another family night with the Pinto

family and they fed us yummy food! :)

The next day we taught Maria Concecao with the elders. Ah, the elders

teach so well!!!!!! hahah she had this necklace that she prayed to and

Elder De Pina made her give it to him hahah it was funny. Maria is so

funny... hahah! She helped us a lot this week with our portuguese :)

especially the word bacalhau... I hate that word! We taught her each

day to help her understand better and prepare her for her baptism and

she was baptized!! :)

Oh it was so great!! Her baptism was great, we did it right after

church. She was so cute and bought this cake and sandwhiches and

candies for her baptism. She was a completely different person. She

shined!! She was so happy!! Oh I love her!  We met her in the street

my first week here. She said after we talked to her she cried all the

way home. She made lots of progress hahah because the first time

I talked to her at her house,  I told her that we

didnt pray to maria and she snapped her fingers and slammed the door

in our face hahah!! But we went back and she let us teach her. She

loves the Book of Mormon and she said that she felt so much happier

every day. My favorite thing about my mission is to see how the gospel

blesses people and changes them.

Cold Showers

This week we didnt have gas in our house because the elders didnt pay

the bill...... So we had the coldest showers!!

I couldnt do it so I had my comp run to the microwave and heat up water

and then bring it to me! haha  and it was still so cold!!! But I am glad we got to

experience this because now I know how much I love warm showers :).

So when we called the mission office,

the finance elder  is from Ireland and he started talking to us in

English and I seriously had no idea what he was saying... his accent

was soooo wierd!! We told him to speak in Portuguese because we had no

idea what he was saying in English... hahah!!!

Valentine’s Day

On valentines day I got mom's package!!!! :) The warm

blanket was so amazing!!!!!!!! To celebrate valentines my comp and I went and

ate a salade at a restraunte :). Also that day the elders passed one

of their investigators to us. Her name is Debra and she is 14 and from

Brazil. She knows the church is true and loves the book of mormon. Its

just her parents that are not okay with her switching religions.

Obedience Brings Happiness

Also this week we had a ward activity and it was a movie night! It was

great! There were so many members there. Also the members brought

friends!!! :) They watched the crodes (sp?).. its about cave people. hahah

idk. But I thought for sure we would get permission from our president

to watch it, but he said no :( I dont think I have ever been so tempted

on my mission!!! hahah I wanted to  watch that movie so bad!!! But we

sat outside instead.  Blessing comes with obedience.

For Sunday I gave a talk. I talked about obedience. I choose to talk

about that because the people here look so sad... so a way to be happy

is to be OBEDIENT!! :) Our purpose here on earth is to have JOY! I

know that Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and He has given us

commandments to help us be happy. I know that this is true. I know that

each day we can choose to be obedient and happy. Whenever we recieve a

blessing its because we were obedient. So Choose this week to be

obedient and you will be happy!!! :)

The Strength of a Testimony Grows Stronger

Members, Friends, and Food

We had lots of dinners this week with members! They are wonderful! We just

have the greatest ward!! I love them!!! :)

This week when we were contacting we found alot of people that were

friends with our members. I am excited to teach them with the members.

Working with the members is so much more effective!!

 So hahah we are teaching this older lady named Maria (60 ish). She is

Catholic and we found her 2 weeks ago. She wants to be baptized. She

is a little confused about alot of things. Ah sometimes I get so

frustrated with myself that I cant teach in a way that they can

understand! But the elders are going to teach with us too. (also

to see if she is not crazy). But she came to church and started

bawling durring sacrament meeting because she said she felt something.

She loves the book of mormon, but she doesnt understand how our church

is different than other churches. She is marked to be baptized this

Saturday, but we will see.

The Plan of Salvation and Eternal Families

This week my testimony of the plan of salvation was strengthened.

This week a member passed away in our ward. It was a older man and he

was a active member and sealed to his wife. It just strengthened my

testimony of the plan of salvation. It is so perfect. I thought a lot

about how this life is such a short time, so we should enjoy it and

prepare ourselves to meet God. I am so greatful for this gospel and

this knowledge we have that if we live like Christ we can return to

him and live with our families forever.

This week one of the Elder's investigators got married and baptized

this week. It makes me so happy to see familys making good choices so

that they can be together forever!!! :) The wedding was really simple

but they had lots of cake.

The Spirit and Its Guiding and Protective Powers

Also this week we went to find a person that we talked to in the

street and her address was wrong but then I felt like we should knock on

a door right by her house. Then this lady opened the door and she has

3 kids and she is amazing and so are her kids!! They were so nice and

I am so excited to teach them. The older daughter and son are atheist

because of the hard times they have had when their dad left them and they

had to live in a car.

So one day while we were walking someone shot at Sister Bollinger with a BB gun.  As we were walking we heard this gun shot and then looked and she had a hole in her umbrella.....ahhh freaky.

I am just so grateful for all the blessing of this gospel and our

wonderful family and my opportunity to try and help other families have

the blessings of the gospel!!!

The Power of the Book of Mormon and Members

FHE

We had a family night with the bishop and his wife! They fed us

dinner and it was great. :)

The Book of Mormon Changes People

This week we passed by a menos activo named Roselina. She was baptized

20 years ago and hasnt gone to church in a long time. When we first

talked to her, she didnt want to talk to us or let us in. But after we

talked for a little she let us read with her in the Book of Mormon.

After reading the Book of Mormon she was like a whole different

person. I love seeing how the gospel changes people. She said that she

would come with us next week to church. :)

Working with the Members

We have a investigator named Nazarie that lives in our same

building, she has a daughter that is 12 and her husband. We have been

teaching her with members this week. We brought the relief society

president with us and her councilor. They helped us so much with the

lessons and after in ward council they were so excited about our

investigator and excited about missionary work! I love working with

members!

This week we went with a member to Avientes to visit Sonja and her

girls. This part of our area has has lots of hills and tiny roads. We got

lost and she had to back up in these tiny roads with a stick

shift. After getting stuck the second time she was backing up and then

we heard her car hit the wall.... oh my stomach dropped!! She only

scratched her car but I felt soooo bad. She has a super nice car!

Stake Conference and an Apostle Visit

We had stake conf. this week. We went to Porto and the conference

was about working with missionaries. There was a woman (25)  that

was a member from North Carolina. She was so cute. I asked her why she

was here in Portugal and she siad I ask my self that every day

hahahha! She came here to teach English. My zone asked my to

translate for her. Yeah I tried... hahah so I would translate a

sentence and then I miss the whole other sentance. Ha so I asked

another sister to switch with me.  On Sunday Elder Russell M Ballard spoke and another

seventy spoke, it was great.

This week was wonderful! I am so happy I am on a mission! I miss you

all and love you all!! I know that Heavenly Father loves each and

every one of us. He listens to our prayers! We are so blessed to have

the gospel in our lifes :)!!