30 de Abril

Hi Family!

We made the chocolate chip cookies today! They are delicious. It is nice to have homemade, ´American´ chocolate chip cookies, haha. We gave a few to the Elders. They are happy.

Those decorations are adorable! Parker will love them. I feel a little sad that I can´t be there to help with things, and to meet Parker when he´s a tiny baby, but it´s good to be here.

SO Mother´s Day here is on May 6th. I only just found out that Mother´s Day in the USA is on the 13th. Hahaha. I am calling on the 13th, not the 6th, don´t worry. I was planning on 6:30 pm (on May 13th), which I think is 2:30 pm your time, which I thought was after church for you all. If 6:30 ish is not good for you all, email back with what time is better! I am pretty sure the time difference is four hours, but maybe you can double check as well. The Açores are different than Portugal, and I think Portugal is five, so Açores are four... I also have a terrible terrible fear that my phone card is not going to work. But now I have an extra week to come up with a backup plan, so it will all work out!

Don´t worry about sending things, I can get almost anything here, and whatever I can´t, I can do without. I do really appreciate what you´ve sent me! It makes me feel loved. I will let you know if there is anything I really really need that I can´t get here. The only thing I´ve really had trouble finding is stockings, which is frustrating because they wear out so easily, because we walk so much and because my feet are kind of callused. But I´ve just stopped using them every single day, just Sundays, especially since it´s hotter out now, so they last a little longer. So if you ever are going to send a package, at like Christmas or something, that´s always useful (but don´t worry for now, I still have the ones you sent at Easter. Just in the future) But seriously don´t worry about sending packages. Although I wouldn´t mind getting a letter once in a while, if you have time. Next week is transfers, though, and while I can´t imagine I´d be transferred, because I was tranferred last time, we really never know. I will let you know next week =) Oh we are having interviews on Friday, so in the end, it´s not going to interfere with P-Day. Things got delayed this transfer, it´s odd that it´s happening three days before the transfer ends.

This week when we were knocking on doors, a lady answered the door and invited us inside. We talked to her a little about the Plan of Salvation, and then she started crying and said that her husband had just passed away. One interesting thing was that before we had explained too much, she told us about some things she believed, like that we lived with Heavenly Father before this Earth, that God and Christ are separate beings, and that we will all be resurrected one day. Which is basically the Plan of Salvation. I can´t really explain it in words, but it was a really powerful experience, the Spirit was so strong, and made me realize that some people really have been prepared to receive the Gospel in their lives. Normally nothing comes of door-knocking -- the people we teach are usually referrals from members or people who have been taught in the past. So we are really excited to teach this family. I think she has three kids.

I am afraid there is not much new happening here... it´s kind of ´same as always.´ Let me know if 6:30 Azorean time is alright for you all on Mother´s Day! I am excited to call in two weeks.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Julia

23 de Abril

Hi Family!

Ha! I love getting your emails. It sounds like you all had a great trip to North Carolina. The yogurt place sounds yummy too. There are loads of yogurt places in Provo, Carolyn you should totally go to one sometime, if you like that kind of thing. So I feel a little dumb saying this, but when all those yogurt places in Provo started popping up, never on any advertisement did it say ´frozen yogurt´ so I thought it was just normal yogurt. And hey, there was a rice pudding shop, why not a yogurt shop? And then one day some friends and I decided to go to a yogurt place after playing tennis, and I found out that it was actually frozen yogurt. It was actually kind of disappointing, you know, when you expect one thing and it turns out to be something else. But it was delicious enough that I got over it pretty fast.

Washington DC sounds like it was a lot of fun! Ha maybe we can visit the Library of Congress on the way to Florida after I get back. I would like to see it. Just like in National Treasure.

Thanks for the basketball update, Bradley! I appreciate it. That is disappointing that BYU lost so quickly. It is odd thinking it was a whole year ago when all that crazy basketball stuff was going on. Hey if you have a minute sometime, I need to know which Portugal soccer team is better, Sporting or Porto. It is hard to know because my companion in Braga said Porto, but my companion here says Sporting.

I am excited for you to go out to BYU, Carolyn! Don´t be nervous about your roommate. Just love her and be nice to her, and while it´s fun to be best friends, it´s okay if you´re not. There are plenty of people to be friends with.

OH I did get the chocolate chips! Thank you so much, that was a nice surprise! We are excited to make cookies with them. I really appreciate it!

So with the phone call on Mother´s day: I don´t know exactly what time, probably sometime in the early-ish afternoon. (We are four hours ahead, I think? Açores are one hour behind Portugal, so I think four hours ahead of New York) I will definitely let you know next week, a better estimate of what time. Elder Rose, the zone leader said that I can make international phone calls from the chapel, but I will have to look into that. Otherwise I will buy a phone card. I heard I can actually talk for an hour, not 45 minutes like I thought. Elder Rose also said we can use Skype if we want, instead of regular phone calls. But I don´t really know how to use Skype, and I´m not entirely sure where I would find a webcam. But if you guys have skype and want to use it, I will figure it out. But otherwise I think I will just make a regular phone call. Maybe we can do Skype at christmas.

SO updates here. Life is exciting, as usual. You can tell it´s nearly summer because we see cruise ships almost every day. I like seeing them, because it makes me feel like I´m on a tropical island. Which I am. But, you know, it´s cool. The one that was here on Saturday was GIGANTIC, the biggest I´ve ever seen. It had three waterslides on top. Normally we don´t see them that close up, because the dock is in the Elders´ area, but we had a meeting on Saturday in the chapel, which is kind of close to ´downtown´ Ponta Delgada, where the dock is. They dock there, and then there are these double decker buses, very touristy-looking with the top open, that take all the people to the other side of the island, where they go look at the pretty rocks and stuff. I am not really sure what there is to see, but all these people go there so it must be good. Maybe one day I will come back and visit the other side of the island.

Here is a funny story: The other day we were walking back from the chapel from some meeting or another, and we passed this guy selling popcorn. It was sweet popcorn, with this red sugar drizzled over it. It looked good, and it was a fundraiser for something or other, so we bought some. But then it turned our hands and our tongues bright red. And we had appointment in the next town over, no time to go clean up. It was really bad. But we had a few crackers in our backpacks and thankfully our tongues turned back to normal rather easily. Hopefully no one noticed our pink fingers. But here´s the good part: when we bought the popcorn, the guy asked, oh what church are you from, and then he asked about The Book of Mormon, and so we asked if he´d like a copy, and he said yes! So the next day we brought him a Book of Mormon and he said he was interested in it and interested in going to church. So that popcorn eating was actually very inspired. Unfortunately he lives in the area of the Elders, so if anything comes of it, they will teach him, not us, but it was good popcorn and a good story.

AND more seriously: We had a baptism on Sunday! The man who was baptized is named Mario Jorge. He is awesome. His brother is a member, and he has come to church with his brother a few times. And the past few times, he brought a friend with him! We´ve been trying to talk to him for a while, but it´s hard because he works all day, every day, leaving his house at 6:30 am and returning 11:30 pm. But we found out he works close to the chapel, and so we started talking to him in the chapel for a little bit every day during his lunch break. AND a few times he brought his friend to our lessons! He was a great missionary before he was even baptized. His brother baptized him, and that was a really really special experience. They were both so happy. I have to say, there was very little we did, as missionaries, in this case. His brother had done most of the work, given him a Book of Mormon, been a good example, encouraged him. Here´s a picture. Arginaldo is on the left, Mario Jorge is on the right.

The language is still really hard, and sometimes it feels like I´m not making any progress. But I am trying, and hopefully it will come. It can be frustrating because I feel so helpless, like I can´t really do anything. But it is getting better, I can understand people a little more. And I know as long as I am trying my hardest, Heavenly Father will help me. The people are so kind and so patient here, which is really good. And my companion is very patient with me as well. I am glad she speaks Portuguese.

Anyway, Thank you all for your email! I love you all! Have a great week!

Julia

16 de Abril

Hi Family!

So it is Monday, and I am emailing you... we didn´t have interviews this week as planned, so they might be next week. (I am sorry I haven´t really known exactly, things have gotten switched around here. I think in part because our mission president just got called to be an Area Seventy. But he will be our mission president until July.) I am pretty sure our interviews will be on this island, because I heard the zone conference was on the other one last transfer, so I might be able to email on the normal Monday, but it might be Tuesday. Sorry I know so little. Ha.

So the most important thing, CONGRATULATIONS SARAH! I am so excited to hear about my nephew, and I absolutely love the name Parker Rowe. You all are in my prayers. That is fun that you all went down and put the nursery together. If you have pictures, email them! I want to see! And when the baby is born, you better email lots and lots of pictures every day! I am glad to hear that you all got home safe and the cats are well. I worry that they won´t remember me when I come back. There are loads of white cats here, way more than I ever saw in the US.

Time is going fast, it is crazy! We´re already halfway done with this transfer. I am hoping I get to stay here for a little while longer. I heard that in the islands, missionaries usually stay for several transfers, but really, you never know.

We´ve seen a couple cruise ships passing by, it´s pretty exciting. There aren´t any tourists in our part of the island, nor is there really anything to tour, so it´s kind of strange, but kind of awesome to think I live somewhere that people take cruises to. Someday I´ll come back and visit the part where people vacation! Irmã Suzarte said that last transfer, they saw a Disney Cruise ship. It is kind of odd to think about all those kids on that ship and how very different their lives are, compared to the kids on this island.

I am glad to hear about Andrew´s show, that is really exciting! Maybe I can go see it if there is a show nearby when I get home. If it is in Cleveland I will take a detour to get some Graeter´s ice cream.

I am trying to think of what all I should say. This week was a little frustrating, all but two of our appointments with investigators fell through. For the entire week, we only had two appointments. And we always make back-up plans, but those fell through too. We had a handful of appointments with recent converts and less-actives, but besides that, that meant A LOT of unscheduled time. So we did lots of contacting. And we met lots interesting people, a few of whom seem like they really do want to talk to us, so that is good. Sometimes it is hard to know, because the people here are super nice, and almost anyone will say ´sure come on over´ but then they aren´t home for the appointment or they don´t actually want to talk to us. But it´s okay, that´s just how some weeks go, I think. It is unfortunate when people we´ve met while tracting don´t want to talk to us, but it is harder when our investigators who we have taught for a long time stop talking to us. You can´t help but love these people, it is the strangest thing because they´re people I don´t really know and can´t really even communicate with, but I feel so much love for them. And then when they stop wanting to talk to us, it is the saddest thing because I know they are giving up the best blessing they could possibly have. There was one investigator, the very first one I met, who told us ´I know that The Book of Mormon is true, and that the things you are teaching me are true. Thanks for teaching me to read the Book of Mormon and to pray. But I can´t keep doing this, I needed to choose to follow the world or to follow God, and I chose to follow the world.´ It was the saddest conversation, and probably also the strangest. Of course that´s why anyone loses interest in the Gospel, because it´s much easier to follow the ways of the world, but I have never heard anyone say that, just like that. But at the same time, I am pretty sure that these people, who progress so much and then loose interest, are the ones who will one day decide to come back and learn again and be baptized. Maybe it will be a few months, maybe many many years, but I have no doubt that this guy will get baptized one day.

So that is all for now. I hope you all are doing well! I love you all. Have a good week!

 

Julia

09 de Abril

Hi Family!

I don´t have lots of pictures, but here are a few. Also, pictures from Gel´s baptism, in Braga, it´s a few weeks old but I thought I´d send them anyway. I will try to take some others. It is hard because we can´t really take pictures during the week, and there isn´t anything particularly interesting to take pictures of on the way to the chapel (where we write emails) on P-day. I didn´t think to take pictures of my apartment, if you really want I can send some next week, but it´s just normal-looking. (and we do have a washing machine, thank goodness. We did in Braga, too. Although I heard in Porto, they don´t, they pay members to do their laundry) Like any place, there are neighborhoods where the people are poor and neighborhoods where the people aren´t poor. And some of the people in the ´poorer´ areas are poorer than others. It is just kind of odd because there are some places that are really poor, but then if you walk forty-five minutes or so, you can get to the mall or whatever. Thank you for offering to send Fruit Roll Ups, but I think it would be easier if I just went to the grocery store and bought fruit snacks or something, if we wanted to give them to some of the kids.

I hope you all had a good Easter! Thank you for the Easter candy, I am really enjoying it! It rained like crazy here yesterday. It rains pretty much every day, but yesterday it was pouring all day, with loads of wind. But it was actually a good thing, because nobody wants to talk to us when it´s raining, and nobody wanted to talk to us because it was Easter, so it was good that it happened on the same day. And actually, we found a few people to talk to. We had dinner with a less-active family, they are super awesome and super nice to us. Their cat had just had kittens, so it was fun to see tiny baby one-day-old kittens. They aren´t really cute yet, but maybe in a few weeks. Ha.

So we were talking to this twelve-year-old boy the other day, a somewhat-recent convert, and he was trying to explain to me that he had gone rappeling (I don´t know how to spell it, but you know, with the harness and you kind of slide down the wall), but I couldn´t understand what he was talking about. I told him I could look it up later, but he was so excited about it, and he wanted me to understand, and we couldn´t find the word in the little dictionary I have. So this poor kid, he had hurt his foot somehow, (maybe rappeling, I don´t know) he hops off to go find someone who speaks English so he can explain. (he´s at a boarding-school type place because he was ditching school, so he went to go find the residence person in charge of him) And I felt so bad, because I could hear him hopping around all over the place, and then he finally comes back. And it turns out that it´s the same word in English and in Portuguese. And then I felt even worse. But he thought it was hilarious. So I guess it is okay.

I am trying to think of other stories... ha, I don´t really have tons. Life is exciting. The people here are awesome. We have a new investigator who is amazing. We taught the first lesson, and left a copy of The Book of Mormon, with a few verses for him to read that night. And we came back the next day, and he had read the little bit and a whole lot more, he was just so excited about it. He has so much faith, it strengthens my faith to talk to him and to hear how much he loves the gospel, already, and we´ve only been teaching him for a week! I think he is divorced but he has a couple of kids who live with him, so we´re hoping to be able to teach them too. His mother lives with him also, and we´ve been teaching her along with him, she is this awesome old lady. She is super Catholic, but she likes to talk to us anyway. And I think she memorized the whole Bible, because whenever we say we´re going to read a scripture from the Bible, she recites it. She is funny. The only problem is I don´t really understand her often, and she is always directing her comments to me. So I just smile and nod, and apparently that is sufficient because she smiles and nods back and keeps talking. Ha.

Anyway, that´s all that´s happening here. Oh I think we have interviews next Monday. I don´t know when or if I will be able to email on Monday, but if I can´t on Monday, it will be sometime during the week. I will find out about calling on Mother´s day.

I love you all! Have a good week!

Julia

 

 

02 de Abril

Hi Family!

Thanks for your emails! It is always so good to hear about what is going on at home.

I didn´t get to see very much of conference, actually, and the part I saw I didn´t really understand. Saturday we were only allowed to watch if we brought an investigator with us. We ended up bringing someone for the last half hour of Saturday morning, so we heard President Eyring´s talk. I didn´t even see Saturday afternoon, with the MTC choir! (it was on very late at night here anyway) And then we were late for both sessions on Sunday because we were talking with investigators (and trying to get them to come with us). It was all in Portuguese, so I understood more or less what the talks were about, but it was a bit more difficult than usual. Haha. I figured I would just read the talks (in English) but now I am going to try to figure something out so I can listen to the MTC choir! Bring my speaker or something next week when we do email. That is so exciting that they were there. And exciting David Archuleta was there too!

 

I wish I had some awesome island stories, but I don´t really. Ha. The island I´m on is São Miguel. It´s pretty big, I think. And it is very beautiful here, very green with lots of hills. There are palm trees here, but actually I think there were more in Braga. The only sad thing is, while there are lots of beautiful places to visit, none of them are in our area, so it´s not like we can go see something exciting on Pday. But our area is plenty beautiful as it is, even if it´s not a ´destination´ and we get to see the ocean every day. The people here in general are poorer than those in Braga. It is interesting, because there are some areas, like where we live, that aren´t that different-- people have nice, normal apartments and some of them even have TVs and cars. But there are some areas that are so, so poor, it is like a different world. It´s hard to believe that it´s the same island. We have children come up to us in the street asking for a copy of The Book of Mormon, because they don´t have any other books in their houses.

I ate some fish the other day at a member´s house. It was pretty good, though I wasn´t totally sure how to eat it, they just had these tiny fishes, whole, and they were salty. And we also were served spaghetti with ketchup and a fried egg on top. That was different. The members here are pretty awesome, though I don´t know too many yet (given it was conference weekend). One family has given us all these ananás, which are kind of like pineapples but really small. And delicious.

I am loving it here, even though it is really hard. I am still having a lot of trouble with the language, and the interesting accent and different dialect doesn´t make it easier. It sounds almost French. It is difficult because Irmã Suzarte is on her second transfer as well-- I don´t think this usually happens, putting two ´greenie´ missionaries together, especially since I don´t speak the language very well yet. I think it will be a long time before I forget that moment, our first morning together, when we sat down for companionship study, and pulled out the training manuel and just looked at each other and laughed. It is frustrating sometimes because I can´t communicate well with my companion or with our investigators, but I really really need to learn, because Irmã Suzarte really really needs a companion who can help out. It is good though, because I think I will learn faster (both Portuguese and how to be a good teacher) than if I were put with a more experienced companion. I am grateful for this opportunity to completely and fully rely on the Lord, because there really is no way we could do this by ourselves.

And hey, at least I get to struggle through this on a beautiful island. And I am plenty healthy and happy and life is good. I will try to send some pictures sometime soon.

I love you all!

Julia

Transferências e um Baptismo (Transfers and a Baptism)

Óla!

Oh My Goodness the past few days have been the craziest of my life. But in a good way, y´know.

So on Thursday we decided to pass by an old investigator who is amazing. He has a testimony of the gospel, he loves hanging out with the young adults, he goes to church most weeks... but for whatever reason, hasn´t been baptized. He´s been taught by missionaries for quite a while, taught and then dropped, taught and then dropped... it´s hard to know what to do with him, because he´s so great (and such a fantastic missionary too, most of the references we get, are from him, and he wasn´t even a member) and I really think he´s wanted to get baptized for a long time, but never wants to commit... It´s difficult, I don´t really know... but anyway, on Thursday, we stopped by, and taught a really amazing powerful lesson. And the best part was, I actually taught part of it! Ha. I always teach part, but it was the first time I felt like I was really teaching, rather than just trying to find the right words in Portuguese. We had planned to invite him to get baptized 1 April, but ended up filling out the paperwork right there because he said he wanted to get baptized that weekend. So then on Saturday he had his interview, and we always go and wait while that happens. But it took three hours and talking to the district leader and a zone leader and it was hard not to wonder if this was actually going to happen, he´s been a ´work in progress´ for so long and has had dates set for baptism before. But in the end there wasn´t any problem, and he felt fully satisfied he was ready for this, and was baptized on Saturday and received the Holy Ghost on Sunday. It was amazing, and I am so glad to have been there for that. I have pictures, I will send them sometime.

And THEN, last night around 9:30pm, I get a phone call that I´m getting transferred, and have to leave at 5:30 am this morning. So I hurridly packed (Irmã Lima left too, and Irmã Olson stayed in Braga), got up this morning around 4:30, and we called the taxi... and they didn´t answer their phone. So we call a member from the ward who was going to give the Elders a ride this morning (same train to Lisbon), and ask if we could get one two, before they have to pick up the Elders. So we pile all our bags in and get to the train station, and try to buy tickets to Lisbon, and they say ´Sorry we´re sold out.´ So then we had to figure out the next best route, seriously, I felt like I was on the Amazing Race this morning (and it gets better...) so we get on a train to Porto, and then transfer to a train going to Lisbon, and then when we get to Lisbon we wait for the office Elders to pick us up.. and then I am told that my flight to the Azores leaves in an hour (and by the way, the Azores was not where I was told I was going...). So I hurry to the mission office and rearrange my bags because you can only take one to the Azores, (and picked up my package THANK YOU SO MUCH, I really appreciate it! Really alot) then hop in the van to hurry to the airport... but we go to the wrong terminal, so back into the van then get to the right place... the office elder basically hands me off to some random airport worker, gives him my flight plans and says ´She doesn´t really speak Portuguese, get her where she needs to go, bye´ and I felt a little slighted because I speak SOME Portuguese, at least enough to get around an airport where everything is repeated in English anyway, but it ended up being a good thing, because when I got to the check-in gate the lady said, ´Sorry, the check-in is closed.´ But really, what are they going to do with an American who doesn´t speak Portuguese, without a telephone, money, or any way to really go anywhere or do anything... so they check me in nonetheless, I run to the gate, and then turns out the flight is delayed anyway... ha. It was exciting. And here I am, in the Azores, which is every missionary´s dream... I have heard it´s hard to go back to mainland Portugal after living on the islands, and I believe it. But mainland Portugal is awesome too, it will be fine when I have to leave, and I´m so excited to be here, now, because it is beautiful and amazing. There aren´t too many missionaries who serve on the islands, so I´m glad I have this opportunity! My companion is from Brazil, I think, but she got here the same time I did. Which is really odd, because we´ve both only had one transfer. The new training program lasts twelve weeks, and we´re only six weeks in. So I guess we will be training each other. Ha. She knows the language and knows the area (she served her first transfer here) so she has a little bit of a leg up, but really, ít´s kind of nice to be sort of on the same page. I´m excited for it. I think it will be good, even though we´re both inexperienced, we know enough. The only other problem is apparently they speak some other dialect here, not actually Portuguese, so it will be interesting, since I don´t really know Portuguese that well yet. But it will be good. I´m excited.

Irmã Gourley who I knew in the MTC is here as well, she was here last transfer too. She and her companion opened an area. It is pretty awesome, they don´t have a chapel so they have church in their house. They baptized two people, but one left, so they have one member. They just leave the door open and people walk in and they have church. I guess they ship in some Priesthood holders every week so they can have the sacrament. Their goal is to get six people in the area with the Aaronic Priesthood so they can have a branch. My area is a little more established, there is a chapel and a branch and everything. Anyway, I am so excited to be here, and I will let you know more next week!

Hope everything is going well for all of you!

I love you! Thanks for everything!

Mais fotos! (More Photos!)

Olá! (Hello!)

So first off, We Had A Baptism!!!! It was so exciting! His name is Armando, and is the one who we´ve been helping to stop smoke. I have been amazed at how well he´s done-- after our lesson on the Word of Wisdom a couple weeks ago, he went home and got rid of all his cigarettes, and hasn´t looked back since. I forgot to say last week, we made him this awesome thing, I wish I had taken a picture, a little box the same size of a cigarette box, but we glued pictures of Christ and things we cut out of one of our pamphlets onto the box, and then we wrote out scriptures on index cards and rolled them up and put them in the box, and told him everytime he wanted to smoke, to read one of the scriptures instead. He´s been doing so great, and was so, so, so excited to get baptized. And it was such a powerful, sweet meeting. There were a few snags but nothing terrible: apparently we did the water wrong and it was freezing, icy cold (sorry, Armando...), and then someone had the bright idea that I should conduct the music... well it was interesting. My lack of conducting abilities combined with my lack of Portuguese abilities made this a little less than smooth, especially during the intermission bit after the baptism when the pianist just called out numbers (56 and 106 sound pretty similar, when they just say it fast). But it was okay, no one ever pays attention to the chorister anyway. We had some issues making the program too, but who needs programs, anyway? Ha. But it was really nice, it was a neat experience. And his parents came, too, which was great. They are really nice.

So one of the cool things we get to do as missionaries is work with the recent converts, to strengthen them and make sure they are doing well, after baptism. In some wards this job is turned over to the ward missionaries or ward mission leader or someone else, but in Braga, we get to do it. And it´s always neat to talk to these new members, because they have such a fiery testimony, they are just so excited about everything and so anxious to learn more and of course sometimes a little doubtful or unsure but still, just so eager. So we were talking to a woman named Maricela on Thursday, she is awesome. And the ward was going on a temple trip to the Madrid temple Friday/Saturday, and she was going to do baptisms for the first time, so we were talking a little bit about the temple. And I was just thinking, how grateful I am that I´ve always had a temple nearby. These people are so grateful that it´s only an 8 hour drive. I am just so unbelievably excited for the Portugal Lisbon temple, I have no idea when it will be finished (hopefully the ground breaking will be while I´m here) and of course I was excited ever since I got my call but now that I actually know these people and love them I am so excited for them to have that blessing and opportunity. I heard rumors that when the ground breaking happens, the missionaries will be invited to attend so I hope I will be able to go.

So another one of my favorite things is when we have district meetings, not because I just absolutely love district meetings (not that I dislike them either) but we get to go to the beatiful beautiful city of Guimirães, I think that´s how it´s spelled. I don´t have any pictures of it but maybe you could google it, but really, a picture couldn´t capture it very well anyway. It´s the ´birthplace´of Portugal, and so amazingly amazing. Everything is very old, and not just very old but also very well preserved. Walking down those narrow cobblestone roads with the old town houses and everything, I feel like I´m in a different time and place (well it is a different place of course, but it feels even more different. And Braga has cobble stone and old buildings too, and is very beautiful too, but it´s not the same) Maybe someday I will have a chance to take a picture. As of now, sisters don´t get sent to that area, but maybe things will change- we are getting a new mission president in June. But I get to go there once a week, and that´s plenty =)

 

I love you all! Have a great week!

12 de março (March 12)

It is odd because sometimes a year and a half seems like such a short amount of time, but sometimes it seems really long- it is odd thinking that Bradley will be 15 and Carolyn will be almost 19 by the time I get home. At first it was really hard to imagine getting up and walking around and trying to find people to teach for another 16 months, but now that a month in Portugal has gone by I am realizing that it is going to fly by. (Somedays it still seems like a lot, and somedays are harder than others, but overall it seems more doable than it did at first)

There are loads of cats here, tons of strays everywhere, it is kind of sad. Our cats should be grateful that they have a nice warm home and a family to love them!

So today on Pday we went to this magnificent Catholic cathedral that is in our area, it was huge. It is way up on the top of the hills, and is really old and very beatiful architecture. It is called the ´Bom Jesus´ I took some pictures, I will send them next week. But it was pretty neat to see, the area around it is very nice too. They let anyone go in, so we went inside, and there were all these giant paintings and statues gold trim everywhere, everything was very detailed but it felt a little eerie inside. But it was neat to see, and kind of fun to be a ´tourist´for a change.

This week has been kind of crazy, full of ups and downs. There was this one guy we´ve been teaching, he is about 32 years old, and he quickly gained a testimony of The Book of Mormon and was very eager to get baptized. He was a ´golden investigator´ to the extreme. So we taught him Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then on Thursday we taught him about The Word of Wisdom. And he didn´t really like that, but he said he would try. But then on Friday and Saturday he was out of town (in hindsight it probably wasn´t good to teach that right before we wouldn´t see him for two days) and then on Sunday when we stopped by his house before church he said, thank you very much but I´m not interested anymore. It was heartbreaking, to say the least. Because of things he said and how he described how he felt before, I know he knew that The Book of Mormon is true and the things we are teaching are good. We are going to wait a little while and then stop by (we are teaching another investigator who lives a block away, so we are up there a lot anyway, we might even run into him in the street or something) and then if he still doesn´t want to talk to us anymore, let it be, I guess there really isn´t too much else we can do.

Oh but here is a happier story: there is this other guy we are teaching, he is a friend of the stake president. Well I feel like we can´t take too much credit for this, because when we met him he was practically a member, he´s already read The Book of Mormon, goes to church every week, everything. I don´t really understand why he hasn´t met with the missionaries before, or if he has, why he stopped, but anyway, he´s awesome. His only problem is that he smokes. A lot. But he has a very sincere desire to quit. So we pulled out a plan the church has for quitting smoking, and have all sorts of ideas for how to help him. But when we talked to him on last week, before we photocopied this plan and all these things, Irmã Lima told him to read The Book of Mormon everytime he wants to smoke, and to drink a liter of orange juice a day. And this morning we talked to him on the phone, and he hasn´t smoked since! It´s only been a few days, but things are looking good. But we will see, because it is hard to overcome an addiction like that, but I think the thing really going for him is the fact that he really truly wants to quit.

Yesterday the Elders had a baptism and we got to go, and it was really neat. Elder Baltodano, who was in my district in the MTC, did the baptism so it was pretty neat to watch. And we brought one of our investigators, so it was a good experience for him. I am hoping next week it is us who has the baptism! But who knows. I never realized how hard it is. I mean, I knew it was hard, but I didn´t realize that, after someone says they want to be baptized, have a specific date set, are so so excited, that usually, they end up not baptized. We´ve had people ´marked´ every week but yet to have it happen. (well we know by Saturday or so that it´s not going to happen, it´s not like a surprise on Sunday when they don´t show up) I know that it is a big decision and a big change, it is just odd when they are so excited and then... not. The only sad thing is usually they end up not talking to us anymore, rather than postponing or something. I am not really sure what we can do differently, though.

Thanks for all of your love and support. I love you all! Have a great week.

05 de março (March 5)

The people here are so funny with their futebol. So there are about a million caffés here, several on every block, that sell all sorts of pastries and bread and also grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. And they all have TVs in them as well. And every single night, every single caffé we walk past is PACKED with people watching futebol. GLUED to the screen, it´s dead silent, they don´t talk to each other or even eat their food, they just watch. It´s pretty cute, too, on Saturdays and Sundays, all the parks are full of dads out playing futebol with their kids. They are very devoted to their sport.

There is a kitty who lives in the apartment building next to us on the very top floor who is all white, and makes me miss our kitties. He isn´t very smart though, he´s always sitting on this little ledge, maybe three or four inches wide, outside the window, and he´s about twelve stories up. But he hasn´t fallen yet, so I guess he knows what he´s doing.

I don´t think anyone in Portugal really has dryers. Even the big, fancy houses always have clothes outside drying on lines so I think it´s something they just don´t have here. It is funny because in the apartment buildings a lot of people string their lines between windows (almost everybody in my area lives in apartments. I have only seen a handful of houses here, don´t know if all of Portugal is like that or if it´s just Braga) and even the people who live at the top do that, I would be so worried about all my clothes falling down but I guess it doesn´t happen to often because that´s what all the people do. We dry our clothes on a rack in our apartment, so we don´t have to worry about all our clothes falling.

Well I don´t have too much to report. The two people who were supposed to get baptized on Sunday didn´t, and they didn´t even come to church, which is a little discouraging. The elders were supposed to have two baptisms as well, two teenagers. But then the parents read some not-so-nice things about our church on the internet and forbid the missionaries from ever contacting their children again. The ward mission leader is going to try to talk to them this week, though, so hopefully that will go well.

Anyway, I hope you are all doing well. I love you all!

Fotos! (Photos)

27 de fevereiro (February 27)

Last week at the grocery store we got some ketchup-flavored cheetos. They sell ketchup-flavored chips too, but I don´t know that we will get those anytime soon. The cheetos are actually pretty good, and they really do taste like ketchup. The only fish I´ve had so far are frozen fish sticks, but for what it´s worth, they were really really good fish sticks. We don´t really have too much time to cook, so we eat a lot of cereal and sandwiches and things. Oh yesterday we went to a family´s home for dinner, and for dessert we had Jello with whipped cream on top. I was glad to know that this particular bit of LDS culture is not limited by geographical boundaries.

This week had it´s ups and downs as I´m sure every week will. Every single day, Monday through Friday, we had all but one appointment canceled. And some of those days were booked solid! And we didn´t even meet that many new people, and some of the old people wouldn´t answer their phone. And then Saturday was pretty golden. We lost two appointments, but the rest were so so good. We taught one of our investigators, and she said she wanted to be baptized on March 4. She is 18 years old and so excited about the gospel. But here is the tricky thing: Her mom is totally fine with us teaching her and her going to church and things, but her dad doesn´t like us very much. And she can get baptized without her dad´s permission because she´s old enough, but it´s always easier when the parents are supportive. And so Sunday, we called her phone before church, and she didn´t answer. And then we went to her family´s apartment and no one was there. So she didn´t come to church. Apparently her dad, who was actually supposed to be out of town, didn´t go out of town and then wouldn´t let her go to church. So she can´t get baptized on March 4 because she needs to go to church twice before she can get baptized, but she is so determined that I think she will get baptized soon. I am praying and praying that her father´s heart will be softened and that he will be okay with this.

Sunday was kind of hard because on Saturday about seven people had said they would come to church, but when we called Sunday morning to remind them none of them answered their phones. And so only one investigator came. This investigator is an interesting guy. He is 24ish and going to school here in Braga, I think he´s from Mozambique. He was taught a lot of lessons a while ago, but stopped really investigating because he had a serious problem with one of the commandments. We´ve been teaching some of his roommates, though, so we talk to him once in a while and he comes to a lot of the YSA activities. So he came to church on Sunday, and the Sunday School lesson in Gospel Principles class was the exact thing he is struggling with, which in some cases might be bad but in this case it was good, he needed to hear that lesson. And then later that night we had a really good lesson, and I think he is slowly becoming more willing to change his heart and change his behavior. I am really hopeful.
Braga is a beautiful place-- there are orange trees everywhere, and other fruit trees too, and some parts of Braga are really old. The chapel is a beautiful building as well.

Anyway, I love you all! Have a great week!

21 de fevereiro (February 21)

I am in Braga right now, and it is beautiful. But all of Portugal is, really. Braga is an interesting area- there are a lot of universities here, and a lot of young people. There is a huge group of Young Single Adults, and they have activities several times a week, which is nice because most of the people we teach are in that age group. There are buses but I guess the routes aren´t very good because we just walk everywhere, walk and walk and walk and sometimes run because there is never enough time to get to all of our appointments. The people here are very receptive, and Irmã Lima, my trainer, has had a lot of converts in past weeks, so hopefully we´ll be able to teach lots of people! It is neat to see how Heavenly Father has prepared these people to receive this message. I had thought almost all the people we talk to on the street would not want to talk to us, but we carefully and prayerfully choose where to go and find people to talk to, and most of the people we talk to agree to set up appointments for lessons.

Since there were so many new sisters, almost all of us are tripled up instead of in duos. So my other companion is Irmã Olson, who was at the MTC with me. Elder Baltodano, who was in my district in the MTC, is also serving in Braga. We run into the Elders a couple times a week, on Sundays at church and also sometimes when we teach at the church, so it is really nice to see him, just to see a familiar and friendly face. It is nice when we teach at the church because it is only about a 20-25 minute walk from our apartment, and usually we have a few appointments scheduled in a row. We usually only teach at the church when we´re teaching a guy who lives alone and we don´t have members who can come with us.

Irmã Lima is super nice and patient, which is good because I´m still struggling with the language. She is from Cape Verde, and doesn´t speak much English. Although actually I think her English is getting better faster than my Portuguese, because Irmã Olson and I are always needing her to explain what people say. It is kind of frustrating, not being able to understand much. It is funny, because in lessons, I can teach well enough, and usually understand what the investigator says, more or less, but just talking to people in general it is really difficult. People are really nice here, though, and patient. Mostly they are impressed that an American is here trying to learn their language, which I think is different than America, where people sometimes get a little frustrated with people who don´t speak much English. This makes me want to be extra extra extra nice to people I meet when I get back who are trying to learn English, because it is so hard being in a country where I can´t understand anything and can´t communicate very well.

A lot of the people here are from Africa, a lot of the others are from Brasil, and the rest are Portuguese. Apparently a lot of the African people speak Creole, but I can´t tell the difference yet because I don´t know Portuguese well enough. I guess they are very similar, anyway. Our ward is maybe half African, and the rest is split between Brasilians and Portuguese. And there´s one family from England. Sometimes they speak English to us.

I haven´t tried any really different food yet. The only weird thing was smoked ham flavored potato chips. We´ve eaten at members´ homes twice, and it really hasn´t been that different yet- pork and potatoes and such. The rice is a little different, and they use different spices and things with the meat, but it´s just food. No tripe or black pudding or even any seafood yet, but I´m sure I will have plenty of opportunities to eat strange foods. The bread I´ve tried is really good, and they drink a lot of juice, apple and orange but also nectarine and pear and probably other fruits but those are what I´ve had.

Zone conference was really good. I didn´t understand every word but it was a good meeting, we talked about goal setting and teaching with the Spirit and other important things. A bonus was that it meant most of the day we were riding on trains and sitting in meetings, so it was good to have a little break from walking everywhere. Ha.

All of our investigators are super awesome. I haven´t met all of them just yet, but there are a few we are working with that we hope will be baptized on Sunday. My first real progressing investigator I think is Aumi, because the others Sister Limã had taught before. We have a few other new ones, but he is the first one that I´ve taught twice. He is super nice, and from Brasil. He is friends with one of the recent converts in the ward. He is here going to school. He told me that I speak Brasilanese, not Portuguese, which is funny because I´ve been consciously trying to say the t´s and d´s and s´s right. But I guess there is more to it than that, because he totally knew I had learned my Portuguese from a Brasil teacher. Ha. I thought it was funny. And was glad he at least recognized I was speaking the right language. One of my friends who went to Brazil got there and started speaking Portuguese, and someone asked her, "Why are you speaking English? You´re in Brasil!" I think I will figure it out soon enough. One of the good things about having to learn a language is it means I have to rely on the Lord that much more, because there is really absolutely no way I could teach these people on my own.
It has been a whirlwind of a week, really hard but really good. I hope everything is going well at home.

Nos estamos aqui! (We are here!)

We got here safely, I just got my first assignment, but I don't know how to spell it, it starts with a b and it's up north... but I'll let you know soon enough ha. Really I just have a second to say we're here safely, it's absolutely beautiful!
tchau!

06 de fevereiro (February 6)

One of our "investigators" dropped us, it was sad and frustrating because I don't know what I could've done better, but our other pretend investigator got baptized! which is good except that everyone else's pretend investigator got baptized a few weeks ago so I feel a little behind sometimes. But it's okay. I'll just keep trying to get better at this.

Sundays are so good here! Yesterday was mission conference so we got to hear lots of good talks, it's kind of like stake conference. Also, last week's devotional, it was really good, Elder Nelson and Elder Holland came and we got to sing in the choir. Elder Nelson rededicated five buildings on campus, including our residence hall! It was really a very neat experience, to be there for that. I sure came at the right time! To be here for Christmas AND the 50th anniversary of the MTC, is pretty special!

Anyway, we had very good talks yesterday. President Brown gave a powerful talk about repentance and the Atonement. And this is something that Pres. Nally said: A testimony is knowing what is true, a conversion is being true to what you know. I really like that, and it kind of echoes what Elder Bednar said on Christmas, about how having a testimony isn't enough, for us or our investigators, we need to be converted, we need to really *know* what we know, and live it. And another favorite part of Sundays is after devotional we get to watch either church movies or old MTC devotionals, we always watch the talks because you can see movies any old day, talks are only available in the MTC, so we watched a really powerful one on prayer by Elder Scott. It was really good, and reminded me that prayers are answered on the Lord's timetable, not ours, and His answers are the ones we actually need, much more than what we think we need. It was a really good talk.

Metade do caminho através da MTC (Halfway through the MTC)

It's good to be here, never again will I have so much time to dedicate to studying the gospel!

Tuesday Elder Russell M. Nelson spoke at the devotional! It was so great, he talked about the gathering of Israel and how we are taking part in this great work that has been prophesized so many many years ago.

Yesterday we had a good devotional, an MTC administrative director, it was good, he showed us all these old church homestead commercials and they were funny and cute and nice. Then after, we get to watch church movies or talks and we watched this video from a devotional Elder Holland gave a few years ago, and it was POWERFUL. He is such an intense speaker! He talked about how we only get this one chance to serve with all our time, efforts, directing every thought and action to serving Heavenly Father and teaching the gospel. He said being a missionary is a little like being an apostle, and really, for most of us, it's the closest experience we'll have to being an apostle, dedicating everything towards this work. He talked about working hard so that we can go to where miracles happen, I don't know if I'm saying this so it makes sense, but we need to keep pushing a little harder so miracles happen. And he said that it will be hard, really hard, because salvation isn't supposed to be easy. It wasn't easy for the Savior, and it won't be easy for us or the people we teach, it's just a tiny taste of what pain the Savior suffered but it is a taste of it, but along with it is a taste of the joy He feels when we come unto Him, we'll feel a bit of that joy when we see people we come to love make those changes and let the gospel in their lives.

It is really great to be here, I am so grateful for this opportunity. And we are getting so excited to go to Portugal! Mostly I'm worried about knowing enough of the language but I think it will be okay because when I'm there I'll HAVE to learn it, well. I think nine weeks is the perfect time at the MTC, ha. We will probably get to fly through Paris, spend a few hours in the Paris airport. But I don't know for sure because we aren't leaving for almost a month, ha. But usually going to Portugal missionaries stop in Paris, is what I've heard.

I love you all! Thanks for all of your love and support!

09 de janeiro (January 9)

The food here is pretty good. There's enough choices that you can find something you like. There are two different entrees, plus a grill-type line that serves either some kind of burger or hotdog every meal, also a different really good salad every meal, and then a wrap bar thing, where they will make you whatever kind of wrap you want (or salad), so that's always a good option. Plus soups and such. We do have BYU brownies every once in a while, they always are the mint kind with no nuts. They are very tasty! AND we have BYU ice cream every Sunday and Wednesday. YUM I try not to eat it too often though.

We do get to work out five times a week, there's a gym with treadmills/bikes/etc and free weights and they show church movies/ general conference on tvs while we run. Also there is a gym with a few treadmills/bikes/etc but also a track (they switch the direction you have to run on the track everyday, I thought that was pretty funny, but I guess it's some health principle that it's better not to run in the same direction every day) and also volleyball, basketball, and foursquare. The weather's been so nice, we've been hoping they'd let us go outside for gym, but I guess it's not really normal to staff the outdoor fields in the middle of January, ha. It finally snowed on Friday, though, and it's been cold since. Before it's been cold sometimes but sometimes it's been so warm we don't even need our coats. It's really odd.

Today we got to go to the temple for the first time since we've been here! (it's been closed for the holidays) It was really nice. The Provo temple is HUGE. But it was super good and nice and I really love the Provo temple, it brings back memories of walking over there from school.

Here is a funny story while I am thinking about it, it seems like it should be in some sort of reader's digest: I was in the laundry room reading an Ensign, there was this elder nearby carefully reading the back of a box of dryer sheets. His companion came over, and the first elder said "I don't know what to do with these!" The companion looked at it for a minute, puzzled, and then said "Elder! I've got an idea!" the other said "What's your idea?" And his companion said, "We ask the sisters!"

This week we went to the TRC for the first time, it was pretty awesome because there we just teach members, there is no pretending or anything. Just sort of like how the missionaries share a message when they come over for dinner. I volunteered there once when I was at BYU, so it was cool to go back, but on the other side of the table, ha. This one guy we taught, he spoke Portuguese SO FAST. and then we found out that he also speaks four other languages and is working on German. He learned them all from reading the Book of Mormon and talking to people. He served his mission in Idaho.

Sometimes the Portuguese feels like it is going really well, sometimes it is really frustrating and I feel like I don't know anything. Our investigators weren't keeping their commitments, so I was feeling a little discouraged, but then I talked to Sis. Jacobs, who is a teacher who subbed for us once, she is super sweet and nice and she's from Brazil and doesn't speak too much English, and she said my t's and s's sounded just like Portugal Portuguese! even though all our teachers are Brazil. So that made me feel a better =) But I need to work really really hard, the weeks just keep flying by and I'm definitely not good enought to say much of anything in Porgugal.

I love you all! I am so grateful to be here, and so grateful for all of you love and support

Feliz Ano Novo (Happy New Year!)

Because our teacher was out of town, we've been having substitutes. We had six different teachers over four days! It made it a little difficult. But one of the teachers spoke Portugal Portuguese to us (our normal teacher served in Brazil) and it was practically a different language. We couldn't really understand anything he said. So we've been practicing it with the proper pronunciation, and hopefully we'll pick it up in Portugal as well. One of the substitutes also told me and my companion that we needed to stop using our little red handbooks, that have lesson outlines and sentances and things written in both English and Portuguese. So we were terrified, because that's how we get through the lessons! But we decided it would be good to try. And the first lesson was a complete disaster, we didn't know what our investigator was asking about, let alone how to answer him. But the second lesson went SO WELL, the Spirit was so strong and the investigator went from thinking the Book of Mormon was evil (because of our bad lesson the day before) to agreeing to get baptized (but not really, because he's just a pretend investigator). For the first time I felt like I was really teaching and really saying what I was feeling and not just trying to say Portuguese words. But it was really cool, I feel like our Portuguese has gotten so much better just in the past few days. I carry a little notebook with a few Portuguese words that sometimes I forget, but that's it. And of course our Portuguese scriptures. It is good because before, sometimes we didn't really know what we were saying. Now we are saying much simpler sentences, but it is okay.

I hope all of you had a good New Year! We celebrated a little at around 9:30/10:00, Sister Palmer's friend had sent some sparkling juice and noise makers. It was pretty fun. It's strange thinking that it is already 2012.

I love you all! Thank you so much for all of your letters, I really appreciate them! Have a great week,