The True Spirit of Christmas

Amazing Companion

Wow, my comp is amazing. I have learned so much from her. I am so glad

that she is my companion. She is so focused on the work and works so

hard. What I love about her is that in every situation and opportunity

 that she has, she teaches. She is also really good at the language!  She studied

Portuguese before her mission.

Less Active Work

This week we worked alot with menos activos (less actives) and two of them came to church! I was so happy. :). One of the menos activos is Glousia

and she had her birthday this last monday so we had bolo rei and soup

 and sang to her. :).

One of the menos activos is named jeniza and she lives with two

of our investigators. Jeniza came to church this week. :). Its great

because she lives with two our investigators that are named Jessica

and Patricia. They are both in school right now and super busy.

 

Calling To Repentance

Antonio is great. Haha my companion was super hard on him and called

him to repentance! I was like sister Jackson hahah. Its crazy he is so

ready for baptism, but wants to wait until Easter when the water is

 warm. We told him it would be warm! He was like i am following Jesus

and sister jackson was like no sr antonio your not, because you are not

baptized. But he said that he wants to be baptized, but just wait. We

 shared with him the scripture of not waiting to repent.

We are also teaching two muslims right now. We have been working

more with members which I love! This ward needs support and also its

good because I feel like eventhough we haven't had any baptisms in a while, we are helping the ward.

 

Learning to Speak on the Fly and Some Pretty Awesome Parents

Also I gave a talk this week.  I had like no time to plan it

durring the week so I was writting it durring church. But my talk was

 teaching like Christ. My main points were teaching by example,

teaching people with love, and different ways we can prepare ourselves

to teach like Christ. In my talk I talked about how mom and dads

taught me so much, but most of the time it was not by what they said

 but by their examples. I shared how dads would wake up for his church

callings early and never complain and I shared a story about mom when

I would wake up and see her reading the Book of Mormon. Mom and dads

you both were such great examples to me. Thank you. hahah I started to

 cry when I talked about you guys.

The True Christmas Spirit

I love this work. I know that if Christ was on the earth he would be

doing the very same thing. I feel so blessed to be able to do this

work and help others to better their lives through the atonement of

Christ. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ. This is a

great time of year to serve and remember our Savoir, Jesus Christ.

Remember that He loves you all so much. Serve someone this week :)

A Wonderful Area and Wonderful People

Birthday and New Companion

My old cute comp took me out to chineese and ice cream for my birthday :) I love her :)

But I am lucky and I get to stay in this area :). I got a new companion. Her name is Sister Jackson. She is from Virginia and went to BYU.

 

Member Work

This last week was great. We worked alot with the members this week. They came and taught with us and we taught alot of menos activos (less actives).

Our members are really so great and help us so much. It was kinda hard to teach the menos activos. It was so sad because they have had the truth but something happened and they would just rather be sad and not go back to church. It is so important for all of us to continue to grow and stregnthen our testimonies. We can do this by reading the scriptures, praying, going to church and living the gospel of Jesus Christ. But, one of the inactives that we taught did come to church again.

Crazies

We had this crazy guy named Blue Sky come up to us and give us pictures of aliens... they were pictures of clouds... hahah it was so funny. On one of the pictures he wrote.. "while I prepare my Tabaco they talk to me telapathelly" ... what?  hahahh wierd and he thinks that Joseph Smith got attacted by aliens.

More Good Food and a Christmas Party

 Michelle fed us again this week. Wow it was so yummy :). We had hot dogs, fries, soup, and cake. So much food.

We had a huge stake Christmas party this week in Viseu! There were so many people and sooooooo much food. First we had a primary program and the little kids sang and then Santa came and gave the kids really good gifts like soccer balls and dolls!! Then they had a huge lunch. My fav thing was the choc solami. Then they had 4 baptisms. Antonio wasn't baptized, but we are still working with him.

Today I wiated for my new comp and I had to stay with a member all day. Haha We went on lot of errands and she was a crazy driver hahahh. She made me samon and it was actually good :). haha my taste buds are changing :) haha but she was so sweet to stay with me all day :).

Food for Body and Soul

FHE
Monday night we had a family night with a family in our ward.
 Luzi, I love her, she is a return missionary from Portugal. Our
investigator Beatrice and her brother Tiago came. We watched two films
 about Christ. I felt the spirit so strong. I felt the love that Christ
has for each one of us.

Homemade Bread and Conference
Tuesday we had apartment cleaning checks and ours passed :) Sister and
Brother Rose checked them. They were so nice and were so excited about
 missionary work. They also baked us zucchini bread haha I haven't had
home baked thing in so long :)

That night we went up to Porto! It was soooo fun!!! :)! We had another
sleep over!! :) We slept over with the sisters up in Porto. There were
 12 sisters and we all slept in the same apt :). Their house was huge and we
all just slept on mattresses. It was  fun. All of the sisters were so
nice :) Porto is a beautiful city.

We went there because Elder Dikes came and spoke to us. He is a
 member of the 70 and spoke I think last year in conference. There were
sooo many missionaries! It was so fun to see everyone :).

First Sister Fluckiger talked about obedience. She said that obedience
is what brings happiness and the spirit. She said that its our choice.
 This is so true. We are choosing to be happy when we are obedient. :)

President Fluckiger talked next and he talked about the importance of
having the spirit with us when we teach and that is what brings real
 conversion. He also talked about some really great scriptures of how
we should be happy :)

Sister Dikes talked next. She talked about being thankful. We have so
many blessings :). She showed us how to make these cute missionary
 thank you cards!! I loved it! I am going to use it :)

Elder Dikes spoke last and he talked about how happiness is a choice.
Each day we just need to decided that today is going to be a great day
and I am going to be happy. He also talked about how we need to teach
 to the needs of our investigators.

After we got subway sandwiches and went home!! :) wow it was such a
powerful meeting!!!! :) I felt the spirit so strong. I was so grateful
for that meeting.

Investigators and Members
Also this week we visited Vera who is less active and she taught us how
 to make her special soup. Basically all she does is put a ton of
veggies in a pot with water and then blends it all up :).

We are going to try visit Mark Senoir Antonio and invite him to a Christmas Party
this week.  He said he doesn't want to be baptized unless there are lots of people. We
 have a christmas party this week in Viseu and there will be lots of
people :) I hope he gets baptized. He is such a cute old man that
always buys us a treat and is dressed nice and loves his cats hahah.

Also we had a member meal :) Leonardo and his wife Michelle fed us.
Ohh it was the best food I have since I have been in Portugal.
 Michelle said that she wants to be a chef. She made us pork.  It was
so amazing. I love going to members houses because there is such a
different spirit about their houses than the nonmembers we visit. Its crazy how big the difference
 is. I just know that the gospel blesses families so much.

Miracle
I want to share a miracle that happened this week. We found this girl name Patrica
when we were knocking doors last week and she is 18 and super nice and
 going to school here. When we came back we met her friend Jessica who
is also studying and is also really nice. We taught the first
lesson and it went so good, the spirit was so strong. Then we were
almost done with the lesson when in walks her roommate who is a
 member!! Jenzi and less active, but she whipped out her
scriptures and helped us with the lesson. It was such a blessing and I
am so excited to continue teaching them. :)

Ward Party
Also this week we had a ward party! It was great. We watched the
 Joseph Smith film that is longer and talks about the life of Joseph
Smith. We set it up like a theatre and had popcorn :). It is such a
powerful film. I felt the spirit so strong. I am so grateful for
Joseph Smith and all he went through so that we can have the Book of
 Mormon and this church today. The members loved it and all of them had
never seen it before. We also had dinner. It was just whatever the
members brought. Hah it was so funny after the prayer there wasn't
really a line, everyone were kinda like vultures and swarmed the table
 and started eating hahah. It was really great to talk to the members
and spend time with them. Also It was good for our investigators to
see.

More Food
On Sunday it was fast sunday and we fasted until 8 30 at night!!! My
 comp and I were walking around like zombies we were so hungry. ha we
had to wait because thats when the member wanted us over. Jacklyn and
Susana made us bacalhua com bata, it was really good. It might have
tasted so good because i was hungry. hah but it was yummy :)!

An Attitude of Gratitude

Sleepover and Interviews
We went to Viseu for our interviews and we had to go up a day early
and stay with the sisters there!! :)! Ohhhh it was soooo
 fun!!!!!!!!!!! It was like a gaint sleep over. Haha the sisters that
live there are sister Fuller, sister Warburton, sister Duran, and
sister Briggs. They were all so fun!! :) We showed up and they were singing
 songs and made us hot chocolate and cookies. We squished all the beds
 together slept all in one bed haha it was so fun! ohhh but Visue is
sooo much colder!! I wanted to sleep in my coat it was so cold!

Interviews went great :). I love talking with President Fluckiger, he just helps so

 much. I asked him how I could know if I was doing enough and he just told me Heavenly Father loves me.  It was the perfect thing for him to tell me. 

After the interviews we went out to eat at this place in Visue that is popular there. They have these cornish bread things shaped like a tringle stuffed with cheese and ham. hmmm it was good :)

Investigators

So this week Heickel told us that he doesnt have time to talk to us.
 :(. Ohhhh i was soooo sad. He said that he has only been getting 3
hours of sleep and that he is starting a new course and now doesnt
have any time. I told him that we could just talk to him for twenty
minutes. I am so sad. I tried telling him how important these things
 are and how they will help him in his life. He said that he wants
these things in his life but its just too crazy right now. AHHH nooo!!
But even though he said that he doesnt have time we are going to try
to see him every once in a while.
 
Also this week we taught one of our investigators named Luis who is
from Brazil the first lesson. His house is sooo dirty. He thinks
that as long as we love everyone then we are fine. In that lesson we
focused alot about the importance of prophets. I felt the spirit so
 strong during that lesson and why its so important that we have
prophets. I am so grateful for our prophet and the guidance he gives us today.
 
Church
Church was great. We had the primary program for sacrament meeting and
 the children were so cute :). My favorite song was  "I hope they call me on
a missioin." It brought the spirit so strong. I am sooo grateful that I
am a missionary and that I am able to have this experience and help
 share the gospel with others.
 
I taught gospel doctrine at church it was on prophets receiving revelation
for us today. I talked about modern council given by our prophets.  I then
taught about the council to have family nights. I shared the story about one of our family nights.  It was on the one about everyone helping and keeping the house cleaner. I told them how you put a five dollar bill inside a crumbled piece of paper and left it on the floor. All day no one picked it up.... and you used that to make a point. ha ha.  I LOVE OUR FAMILY. I am
so grateful that we had family nights and that our home was a place
that I could feel the spirit.

Members

We had our first member meal!! :) it was with a menos activo Vera. She
made us soup!! Yum it was good!1 I really like the soup here. She said
 that she will teach us how to make it. Basically they just mix up lots
of veggies, its so yummy. She is so proud of her soup hah she calls it the
soup of Vera. We are trying to get her to come back to church because
 she is great and has a big family with lots of kids. She said that the
people at our church are wierd and she doesnt feel the spirit there. We will
work more with her.

Gratitude
So they dont celebrate thanksgiving here but I hope you all have a
great thanksgiving!!

But I have so much to be thankful for and so many blessings!! :)

I am sooooo lucky to have such an amazing
family. I am so grateful for this gospel and that I have this knowlege
and guide in my life. I am so grateful for the Savoir and his
 sacrafice and his love for us. I am so grateful to be a missionary and
the oppertuntiy to serve the people here in portaugal. haha they are

so funny. I am so blessed!!

Things are Picking Up Again :)

Training
We went on divisions with the Sister Training leaders.
I went with the Brazilian Sister Peigman and Sis duke went with Sister
Parker. Sis Peigman was great. She talked so fast and would chase
after people, Haha I felt like we contacted the world that day.

Investigators

We taught Senoir Antonio and we have been really trying to get
him baptized because he is so ready! He has a testimony about Joseph
Smith and the Book of Mormon but he wants to wait and get baptized
during Easter. AHH! We are going to try and figure out what his doubts
are or fears so we can help him to be baptized.
 
We taught Beatrice and she is the little girl that is a little slower.
We taught her with a member named Michelle. Michelle did so great. I
need to learn how to teach to little kids better. But Beatrice is so
sweet and this Sunday she remembered who God and Jesus Christ are. I
was so happy.

Heickel is good too. We taught the second lesson and I felt the spirit
so strong during that lesson. He is the closest to baptism. He
still feels like he hasnt recieved an answer to his prayers yet. But
he believes that Joseph Smith is a prophet.

Also, we have been finding so many people. I love meeting new people.

Everyone is so nice and different. We are next to a college so we meet
lots of young people that are our age. It is fun because they are many
that are from different countries, I love it :). The only hard
thing is that they are all really busy and they go home on the
weekends!

But Church this week was great :) Beatrice and Helana and Antonio came

:). We talked alot about charity in church today :).

Also there is a lady in my ward that is from the Philippines and she

said that she would make me philippine food!! :) I am excited hahah

and I had her speak to me in Tagalog... hahah poor jake!!!!!

 

Positivity the Cure to Any Ailment

Switched Areas, a Little Sickness, But Staying Positive

Some sad news, our area got switched with the Elders... :(. I was so sad because we had probably 5 progressing investigators and we had to give them all up to the elders :(. Also the Elders didn't have any investigators to give us... But its okay :) hah I know that everything happens for a reason and maybe the Elders needed to teach our investigators so that they could be baptized. And I am excited to work in a new area and find new investigators :).

We have one named William and he is from Brazil. He came to church and he is probably 27? We still haven't taught him. But he fell asleep in sacrament meeting. Hah he was completely out.

Its starting to get Chilly!! Today is nice but it has been raining alot. Sister Duke got sick the other day with the flu and so we needed to stay in the house the whole day. I read some articles, wrote in my journal, I tried to make gluten free pizza for her because she can not have wheat (it was nasty) and read the scriptures. It was a nice little break.

Teaching in All Capacities

Church was great :)! I had to give the D & C class. Sister Duke and I switch off every week. This week it was on family history and temple work. This help me gain a stronger testimony of this principle and want try do this more when I get back.

I was super nervous about giving the class because I feel I still cant speak fluent Portuguese! But, no worrys we have Irmao Santos hahah. He is so funny!! He like gave the class. I would say a sentance and then he would coment and talk for like 30 mins. I would think that he would be done and I would start talking and then he would say.. " E O que e interasante...." (idk spell) hahah he is funny. I have got to figure out a way to involve the others in the class and learn how to not breath or else he might start talking again. ha He is funny and a blessing too because I am not exactly fluent in Portuguese.

Also there was a member that gave a talk yesterday and for his talk he told us that we all need to wash our feet often and brush our teeth and not bite our nails and to wash our hands before and after we go to the bathroom. haha He didnt tie it into the church at all and thats all he said. Haha it was interesting haha :).

I am so grateful for the gospel, I have a strong testimony of it.  I know I am a child of God. I know that Heavenly Father knows each of us individually and loves us so much.  I am grateful for my Savior. I am so grateful for this church and my wonderful family!! :) I am so blessed!!!!!! I miss you and love you all so much!! I hope you have a great week.

 

 

Beautiful New Area of Aveiro!

Love – Missionary, Area, and People
Oh I just love being a missionary :)!!
I love reading about what everyone is doing. You are all such great
examples to me!!

New Area

Okay, so Aveiro, my new area is wonderful!! :) It is sooooo pretty here... I love it :).
Its sooo different. My other area kinda felt like I was in
Africa, but now i feel like i am Portugual, hah. It also is cleaner here.
I love my companion. She is soooo sweet! :) She is from Sandy, UT and
went to Utah State studying to be a dental hygienist. She has been out as long as
 I have been and has been in thi area for one transfer.  She is very talented at art :)
Oh and she loves to run!! :)
So my first day here we went and taught Helana. We went to a
members house and it was sooo different. Haha I wish you could have
been there. I felt like I was in the middle of a play.  Everyone there were such
interesting characters and unique. There was Helana and I think
 she might be crazy and she was talking alot. Then we have Paulo, the
member and he doesnt say a word the whole lesson and he is a little
bigger and at random moments in the lesson he wouldl get up and take
pictures of us hahahhah and he has like ten million music cds. Then we
 have his wife that speaks English in kind of a high pitch voice. Hahah
it was funny they were just so different and it just felt like i was
in a play with these super different people hahha :).

Zone Conference

We had zone conference. It was really good. We learned
about how to start teaching and how to ask inspired questions. I
always learn so much when I go to zone meetings. We had to
take two buses to get to Viseu.. Elder Wiscombe from home is in my zone!!!
Hah it was so fun to see him :).

Halloween

They don't really celebrate Halloween here. I saw maybe 20 people
dressed up. My comp and I dressed up like elders hahahha :) (attached picture) I also
made chili, because thats always what we have at home on Halloween:)

People

We are teaching Beatrice, she is the daughter of a member and she
is 12. (I think she has some problems). We tried to teach her about
God, Jesus and prophets. I would say okay God is our father...
Beatrice would respond " who is God?....Our brother?" We repeated this like 20
 times. I think we will just go super slow with her.

Haickel is 30 ish and he was in our area book and we saw that he had

gone to church, so we taught him.  He came to church
and is reading his scriptures!! :) We want to mark him for baptism.

Also there is Antonio and he has been taught everything. I think that

he is scared to be baptized. He is like 76 and so sweet haha. We are
helping him.

Ward

Our ward is kind of small and has a lot of older members. The ward members are nice. I
think this area the missionaries work a lot with members and less actives. In
relief society the women just fought the whole time and then in sunday school,
when sister Duke was giving her lesson there was this guy who talked the whole time.
It is sad, this area has not had a baptism in over 7months! I am going to help change that!! haha

But, I love this area. There are so many more people :) I love talking
 to people on the street. Everyone is so different and special. I know
that God loves us each so much. I know that if we live the gospel of Jesus
Christ we will be happy. :)  I feel so blessed to be a member of this
church.