Life on the lovely island

Madeira

This week was good. :) It was a little challenging. We were rejected a lot. But it was still

great haha I cant be sad for too long I just look outside and I

remember, oh yeah I am on an island... :) It really is the best thing

ever!!!!!! :) It is the prettiest place that I have ever seen!!  I just need to work

harder and be positive.

Family Night

This week we had a family night at irma Eduarda´s house with Rita.

It was soooo great!!! We watched the Joseph Smith film. I love it. I

feel the spirit soo strong every time. Ahe fed us a really yummy

dinner and I made cookies. Portuguese people love cookies. But I

just love Rita sooooo much. This week she invited us over to meet her

family. Her family is soo great. She has three daughters that dont believe

in God and a husband that is Catholic. It was sooo much fun!!

They are all really nice. They talk really fast and basically it was

only in Spanish (from Venezuela). I understood 90% of it haha. But they had so much

energy and I love them :). They also made us some Venezuelan food-- it

was alright.. haha. But Rita is great and she will be batized this

Saturday. (She atually found the sisters

and asked them what time church started and she had been looking into

the church for about a year.)

Beach Baptism

The other sisters had a baptism on the beach.. well it was like a big rock

beach... and  it was windy and they kept getting knocked into the

rocks... hah the man getting baptized was determined to get batized

there. It took a long time. :)

I know that God loves us. I know that the church is true. I know

that through Christ we can change and can change the lives of others.

I know that God listens to our prayers. I am grateful to share this knowledge with others.

Hike

Today is Sister Briggs Bday and a member took us on the prettiest

hike. Pico Ruivo, its the highest peak in madeira, 6,200 ft. We

were like on top of the clouds. IT was the coolest thing that I have

done on my mission.

Madeira

Adventures on the Island

The airplane ride was a lot of fun. I was kind of nervious because I

didnt know how it would be but...I LOVE MADEIRA!!! It is soooo beautiful!!

it is probable one of the prettiest places I have ever been!!! :) It is soo green,

I can see the ocean from every part in my area and has beautiful flowers.

They even have a flower that smells like popcorn!! It is not too hot

and not too cold, it’s perfect weather :) Everything is uphill so we use

the buses alot. Also in our area there are a lot of tourists. They say

that Madeira is like the Hawaii of Europe. Its fun to see people from

different parts of the world and hear them talk. I love talking to

anyone that is from England hah :) But we dont usually work where the

torrists go.

We live in a beuatiful house. We share it with 2 other sisters

Sister Cardoso (Portuguese) and Sister Prieto ( Brazilian). It has been

really fun to have other sisters in the house. Ha the first night I

woke up to go running and there was a giant cock roach on the floor...

ew... also we might have bed bugs!!! But its okay hahah I am on an

island :)

I love our little branch :) We meet in a pink church building and the

members our great. The accent here is a little weird... hahah Some

things I dont even understand!

This week we also had zone conference. We practiced on

inviting someone to be baptized and we also practiced following up. We

have a very small zone.

We have an Investigator that is ELECT!!!!! She has been

investigating the church for about 11 years and the sisters stopped

and talked to her in the street and she is marked to be baptized on

the 13th. She is from Venezuela. She is soo sweet and talks and

laughs alot :)

We went to visit someone that we had contacted in the

street.  When we opened the little gate and went to ring the door

bell three dogs come around the corner and start barking. I

carefully slipped out and my comp came right behind me. But the dog

bit her!!!! It wasnt huge, but it bit her ankle.

But it has been great!! :) Today we went to a castle :)

I have always wanted to go into a casle. :)

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week!!

Transferred To an Island off the Coast of Africa

Transferred

Guess what?!!! I AM GOING TO SERVE ON

Madeira!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I AM SOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) it will be great! I

got the transfer call yesterday at like 2 and they said that I had one

hour to pack and to get to the train station. I ran home and me and

Sister Caldwell were frantically throwing everything into my bag... we missed the

train by 4 minutes. But it all worked out! I was able to stay see my

old comp Sis Carroll and we stayed up talking sooo late... I LOVE

HER!! It was so fun! My plane will leave in a few hours I will be

serving with sister Briggs.  I can only take one suitcase weighing less than

23 pounds.   I am going to miss this area and the

ward and Sister Caldwell, but I know that they are in good Hands :)

International Party and Zone Conference

This last week was wonderful. We had a huge ward activity. It was an

international party :) Everyone brought food from different countries

and we mad a really fun jepordy game that they loved and we played

musical chairs :) It turned out to be a great activity. We have 6

investigators there and about 50 people. I made an apple pie :) it was

soo much fun.

We had a really great conference ,Elder Kearon came from the 70

and he spoke to us. It was amazing the spirit was very strong.

I am soo happy that I am a missionary an I am able to have all these

cool experiences. It was also great to see everyone at the conference.

okay sorry it's short, but my I have to catch my plane... :)  I love you all

so much!! have a great week!!!