The Kingdom of God Rolls Forward Like a Stone Cut Out of the Mountain

FHE

We had a family night with Nilda and familia Cruz last Monday night.

It was good we talked about charity and then we played uno. Nilda is

progressing!! :) We had a great lesson with a member on the plan of

salvation. We taught with a recent convert and she did so great. She

testified and the spirit was there so strong.

New Members of the Kingdom

This week we found two new investigators. Treaza and Ana Rita.

They both have had really hard lives and they love learning about the

gospel. Treaza is marked to be baptized on the 29th but Treaza

smokes... but she wants to quit and I know that everything is possible

with the Lord. Treaza went to church this week and really liked it.

She said that she felt more at peace.

Also this week we had a member's mom who is not a member show up in

church! It was a miracle! I am so excited to start teaching her. Her

name is Ana Rita she is so sweet and she loved church :).

A Bimbi and Family

This week a member was trying to sell a Bimbi to my companion. My

companion really wanted to buy it. Its a kitchen machine thing. It

does like everything. It wieghs things, steams things, chops and mixes

things, and like everything else. hahha I wanted one. He made us a whole

dinner in it. He made juice, soup, fish casserole, bread sandwhich roll

thing, and ice cream!! It was great ha.

Today we went and visited Sister Parker's grandparents and

family. It was great! They were so so so cute!! :) They fed us and

showed us photos. We will be going back and visit them another

time.

Testimony

I know that this is the true church. It is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo important that we read the scriptures EVERY night and pray EVERY day

and go to church EVERY Sunday. It is protection from the bad things in

the world and helps us to be happy and helps us one day to return

to God. Dont forget to read and pray!

Celebrations and a New Companion

New Companion

But my new comp is great!! I am just trying to learn as as much as I

possibly can from her. She is such a great missionary. Also She is

sooooo funny! I like die of laughter all day. She also is so

great with people and has so much love for everyone. She is great!

Also she has a way fancy juice machine so we have been making lots of

yummy juices! Oh and her grandparents live here in Gaia so we are

going to go visit them next pday. We are also going to see if they are

interested in the Gospel and if they are we will be teaching them :)!!

With the march madness competion idk if we won or not but me and my

comp asked every person if they knew someone that would be interested

in hearing the gospel and we got more references then I have gotten in

my whole mission!! :)

Learning Something New

This week I learned that its not good to write in red pen here...?

I didnt know!! Ahh I have been writing in red pen like my whole

mission! Woops!!

Also Carnival was this week. Basically its like a 3 day holiday were

people dress up in halloween outfits and go to parties and walk in the

streets. I didnt see anyone in the streets-- it was raining.

We had our house checked by some members that live in Porto.

They said that we live in one of the nicest houses. Then they made

lunch with us. It  was a spaghetti with a ton of meat in it. The member

was so excited to teach us how to make it. She was so cute and sweet :)

International Women’s Day

Also this week was a holliday for all the girls in portugal. :) The

ward did a activity where they had a make up person come tell us how

to do our make up. Haha it was so fun! I actually learned alot.

Our investigator Nilda is doing good. She has been coming to church

and reading the Book of Mormon. She still doesnt believe in God but I

know that she secretly does. We have lots of plans to help build her

faith in God.

Pig Intestine

Also a member fed us this week and it was Pig intestines stuffed with

I dont know what.... lets just say it was nasty. I was dying!!!!!!

Never let anyone trick you into eating a pig intestine it does not

taste good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The elders caught us doing a contact in the street (this is with my companion last transfer)

Power of Singing

Transferred

So this transfer/week flew by!!!! I had so much fun with Sister

Bollinger! I am going to miss her! But I got a new comp named Sister

Parker. She is from the US and she is on her last transfer. She is

super nice and outgoing :). Her mom is Portuguese so speaks really

well. I am excited :) I will learn so much from her and I love this

area so I am glad that I am staying. We have such a great ward.

This week we did a family night with one of the Elders Recent converts

and it was so fun. I LOVE her, she is 23 and she is so cute :)!

March Madness

We had zone conference this week. We learned how to do better contacts

in the street and how to we need to talk to everyone!! I loved it! It

was a great zone meeting!!! :) This month we are doing a march madness

with our mission :) a compatition with who can get the most references

and teach the biggest group of people!! :) (I am going to win) haha

Also this week we visited Sonas family with the elders. They helped us

teach Sonas oldest daughter Nilda who was the only one not baptized

because she has had a really hard life and doesnt believe in God. But

she promised us that she would read the book of mormon every day and

pray and go to church for a month and if she felt like there was a God then

she would be baptized on the 29 of March. I know that if she does this

she will recieve an answer.

Karaoke & Menos Activos & More Singing

Also this week we had a ward activity and sang kareokee!! :) it was

alot of fun :)! It turned out great and we had some investigators show

up and also 2 menos activos families. It also was a party for an elder in our

ward. He turned 27!

This week we visited a lot of menos activos. We first visited this

really rich lady who was so sad. She fell away from the church and she

doesnt feel like she can go back because her family will not go with her.

Then we visited a really poor menos activio and she was super sad.

After visiting them both in one day, I was spiritually exausted!! It was

just so sad. I know that there is not enough money in the world to

make someone happy. Happiness comes from living the gospel. It is

sooooo important that we ALWAYS remember Christ and have Him in the

center of our lives. I am just so grateful for our family and this

gospel.

We also finnally were able to talk to a menos activo that we have been

trying to talk to for this whole transfer. At first she was mad and

didnt want to talk to us. We started talking and then she let us in.

We talked a little and she told us her problems. She had so much anger

and hate inside of her she was shaking when she was talking. My comp

was freaked out so we were like lets sing a hymn!! We didnt have our

hymn books so we asked her if we could sing I am a Child of God in

English for her. After we sang it, she was smiling. the Spirit was

there. Then we met her grandchildren and they are sooo cute!!! :) She

said that she wants us to teach them :)!!! I am so excited!! Their

parents are Menos Activios too but I have never met them.

Also in church this week we had 3 investigators there!! :) We started

teaching this mom and daughter named Beatrice and Treaza and they are

searching for the truth and they liked church!! :) It was great! Also

a member family from Aveiro came up and surprised me!! I was giving my

testimony and then in walks their daughter and I couldnt even

concentrate!! I was so happy to see them!! :) They made lunch for us

and we talked about my last area. The little girls that we started

teaching in my last area got baptized last week!!! :) I am so happy!! I love this

gospel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Love Stories and a Lot of Food

Hard Farewells

We taught Maria almost everyday this week because she left this Friday

for France. She will be there for 2 months. We found a church that is

kinda far away from her house... but we sent her information over to

the missionaries there. She was crying when she gave us a hug goodbye.

Interviews

We had interviews this week. It was good we learned how to teach

about tithing and how to invite people to church. In my interview

President asked how I was doing and I said great but the language is

still hard for me and then he asked me if I have had a native comp

yet. I said no. Then he wrote something on a peice of paper... AHHH!

Less Active Love

Also this week we have been passing by a lot of less actives. A less

active member named Maria invited us over for lunch. Her friend from

England came too. His name is Sam. He is in love with Maria and was

visiting for the week. Haha he kept wanting me to translate all of

these really cheesey love lines to her... like... "Maria I dont care

where we go as long as I am with you..." or "Maria you dont have a

price you are priceless..." hahah!!! She was not interested in him at

all. But he said that he would talk with the missionarys in England so

we gave his info to the missioarys there. Hahah it was a really

interesting lunch.

Member Missionary Activity

Also this week we made cookies and brownies with our members. It was

my first brownie in 10 months! :)! We also had an activity with them

this week, where they had to be missionarys. With the elders we

pretended to be people in the street and they had to contact us and

invited us to church. It was fun because they got to see a little bit

of what it is like :).

Lots more Dinners

One of the elder's investigators named Gloria (from Italy) invited us

over for dinner this week. Haha, she was soo fun and nice!! She loves

the missionaries! She was so full of energy and loud and loving hahah I

love her. Its really diff because people here are not like that at all. She

has been an investigator for a long time and wants to get

baptized but she still has to prepare.

Also our stake president had us over for dinner this week. We have just been

fed so much this week! Yeah!  Also today we went and explored in Porto it was

so much fun :)  I will include pictures.