Monday, February 27, 2012
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!
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!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
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!
tchau!
Monday, February 6, 2012
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.
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