So this last week went by pretty quickly, without any grand changes. On Thursday we went to the mission office in Lisboa to pick up my new companion, Irmã Alves. She is french, but her parents are Portuguese, so it´s been interesting living with two international companions! It´s different than when I was being trained, because now I´m the one in charge :P I feel a little like a mom with her kids, but it´s fun :) The mission is supposed to prep you for life, né?

So I have to admit that last week when I got the news that I would be staying in Almada for another transfer, I was really surprised. I felt ready to leave and get to know another area and different challengs. But, as things often happen in life, the Lord had other plans for me! So this week I´ve been thinking a lot about my attitude and about what I still need to learn and do in this area. At times I feel like I´ve walked every street and knocked every building...when I was studying Pregar Meu Evangelho, chapter 9, there was a citaçao that I really liked. I don´t remember it exactly (and it is in Portugues!), but the Lord is speaking and He says that we are where we are because it is convenient for Him for the salvation of souls. I felt like that line really applied to me now, that I am here because it is convenient for the Lord for the salvação of souls. But, this line applies to all of us, not just full-time missionaries!

We had a fireside yesterday that was a training for the members to help in missionary work and be more involved. One scripture that we read that I really like is in D&C 88: 81-82 (I think). The lord talks about how we have been warned, and it is our duty to warn our neighbor. He says ´´não tem disculpa`` e que se nós não advertimo-los, os pecados deles vão cair sobre as nossas cabeças´´. In other words, we have the responsibility to warn, we don´t have excuses, and if we don´t fulfill this responsibility, the sins of them will be upon us! It really is true that we don´t have any excuse for not sharing the gospel. We have been placed where we are, in our families, wards, neighbourhoods, work, and mais because it is convenient for the Lord to save souls. We may be saving the souls of our children, family members, or friends or colleges, but we have been placed by the Lord in our circumstances.

I hope that you all have a fabulous Memorial Day! It is so hard to believe that tomorrow is June...time continues to fly by. At times it feels like I´ve been here forever and that I will be here forever, but when I look at our wall (we have a ´´transfer board´´ on our wall where we have all the irmãs and their areas, and also the names of irmãs that have died), I really how quickly the time really goes. I am practically an ´´old´´ irmã agora, but I don´t feel like it! Anyways, I hope that you have a great holiday, and remember that I love you

Well, another day of stressful waitful for ´the call´ has come and gone. My and my companion live in a house with another dupla of irmãs, one of whom finished her mission today. The other was transfered as well, so they both went embora. We got a call that we would be staying together, and that another irmá would be coming, and as a tripla we would cover both of the areas. But about half an hour later we got another call, and my daughter (companion) was told that she has a new calling, to be the only sister in the other area (Miratejo). She doesn´t have a companion! She will have to do constant divisions com membros, and plan and teach by herself and with them, and this is her second transfer! She is really freaked out (I would be too!), but I´ve been trying to help keep her calm at least! Things never goes like you think they will in the mission (or life também!) I´ll still be serving in Almada, with irmã Alves, who is portuguese\french. At least my portuguese should keep improving! :D

Yesterday we had some different and interesting experiences. We have been working a lot with Monica, a less active that started going to church two weeks ago after 9 years of not going. She has a lot of desire to go to church, but due to health and other problems she hadn´t gone in forever. She has cancer in her head\brain, and takes a lot of medications. Yesterday she didn´t go to church because she was so tired, and so we asked two priesthood holders to go with us to give her a preisthood blessing. They gave her a blessing, and promised that she would be completely healed from the cancer. The power of the priesthood was so evident, it was really neat! I am so grateful for the priesthood and for worthy holders who can call on the powers of heaven. After we visited her, we went to visit our recent-converso, João. When we got there, the door was open, with the keys on the floor, and we could see João lying in the other room (that was dark), abd he didn´t respond to our knocks or calls (Irmã de Almeida was scared to enter, so we just called from the door!). So our noble priesthood brethren went with us, and it turned out that João (who has had problems with health), had pains so bad that he was in a deep sleep and couldn´t wake up and move. They gave him a blessing of healing too. He also was confirmed yesterday. It is so interesting to hear the blessing of those who are confirmed in sacrament meeting. Often the bispo doesn´t know all the problems or history the people that he confirms, but I can see how each blessing is individual and aplicable to each of them. I love the priesthood!! God truly does miracles and manifests his power through those he calls and ordains through the priesthood.

It was great to talk to you all yesterday!! (Sorry Debbie and RD!) I´m glad most things are going well for everyone at home. I´m not sure what to write about because we already talked yesterday, but things are good here. My companion and I have been working hard, and we´re enjoying the work. On Saturday the other ward that shares our chapel had a baptism that we went to with one of our investigators. The baptismal service was so good, and the spirit was really strong. I don´t know if there´s any other meeting that has the same spirit as a baptismal service. As Nephi said in 2 Néfi 31, baptism is the gate to life eternal, and the spirit manifests the truth of this at every baptism.

On Sunday we had a baptism as well- João de Silva (his real name is different, but apparantly it´s an African (Angolan) tradition that the patrão (like the owner of the household or business) can give the child a name, so the patrão gave him the name João while his parents named him Ernesto. So we didn´t know until a few days before the baptism that João isn´t his real name!) The baptism went well, and I was really grateful for the support of our ward. Lots of them stayed after church for the baptism, and afterwards we had a feast!! It was really good.

Last night President Torgan gave a fireside about ´´vida depois desta vida´´, or life after death. It was really interesting- he talked about a scientific inquiry that dealt with people who had died for some minutes and afterwards been resussciated and their experiences. The question isn´t so much- is there life after death?- but what kind of life will it be? He talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and how if we live the gospel, death is just another step, and it won´t separate us from what we love. However, if we do not live the gospel, life after death will be alone and not very pleasant! He is a good orador and it was a really interesting fireside.

Anyways, I hope that you all have a great week! Remember that I love you, and that I always like to receive pictures (snail mail or email)

Can you believe we´re already in May? Time just keeps flying...

This last week was good- we had Zone Conference, which I always love. We talked about a lot of stuff, but the scripture that was used the most was Alma 26:22 which talks about how they were able to baptized millions of souls. They repented, excercised faith, did good works, and prayed without ceasing; because of this they were able to learn the mysteries of the Lord, reveal things that had never before been revealed, and brought thousands unto repentance and baptism. Meanwhile, verse 30 talks about how they suffered all species of suffering as well...success never comes easily! I think when we read the stories about the great prophets and missionaries in the Book of Mormon (and the Bible) it is easy to see and remember the successes that they had, and forget about all that they suffered and endured before reaching that end or point. I´ve been reading in Alma, around chapter 12-15, when Alma and Amuleque are preaching to the people in the city of Amonia. They are an amazing example of continuing faith and trust in the Lord in the midst of trials...we really can learn so much from the Book of Mormon that helps us now, in our lives. I am so grateful for the second witness that we have that Jesus Christ is our redeemer, and that we have the plenitude of the gospel in this book.

Today being the first pday of the month, we had the chance to leave our zone. Our zone had a lunch and games day...we played basketball, frisbee, and football. The weather is beautiful here now, and it was so fun to just be able to play outside!

I hope that you all have a great week! Happy early mother´s day :D

I hope that this week passed well for you all! Spring has almost officially arrived here, and the weather is beautiful!! It always makes me happy to leave the house when the sun is shining with a bright blue sky.

This last week went by really fast, I can´t really remember all that happened. We worked a lot, talked with a lot of people, and did a lot of procura. It was a good week :)

This week I´ve been reading in Alma in the Book of Mormon. It is really interesting to read about the missionaries in the Book of Mormon; I never noticed how much of the Book of Mormon talks about missionary work until I got to the mission! Alma and Amuleque are such a great example of how to preach with power and authority, and how to work in a companionship. I love the scriptures Alma 7:15-16, when Alma exhorts the people of Gideon to `come and fear not´, to leave the sins that easily ensnare us, and to show God that we have a desire to repent.Really, it is this desire that is the most important thing that we need...our desires are what motivate us to action and determine what we will do. Our desires and goals will determine the shape that our lives will take.

This last Sunday Luis, a recent convert, gave his first talk, about honesty. We talked with him during the week to give support and help him prepare. IT was really interesting to talk with him about honesty- honesty with others, ourselves, and the Lord. Something that he said reminded me of repentance. The first step of repentance is to recognize that we have done something wrong, or that we need to begin to do something good that we are lacking. In this first step of repentance, honesty with ourselves is essencial. Without honesty, we can never change our behaviors, repent, and change our lives. Sometimes we are blinded by ourselves, and it is only with the help of the Lord that we can honestly evaluate ourselves and our lives.

Also about honesty, I shared with him the story of Ananias and Safira (? not sure of the name in english) in Acts chapter 4 or 5. They kept back a portion of what they gave to the church, and then lied to the apostles about it. They both died on the same spot. While this may seem like an extreme example, it represents what happens to us when we lie. When we try to decieve the Lord or others, we distance or remove ourselves from the Lord. This is a spiritual death. So although we may not die physically on the spot, we are doing the same thing to our spirits that happened to them... Just some thoughts I had from talking with him.

This week was great! I am so grateful for the blessings that the Lord gives us and the miracles we see every day (when we´re looking for them!). My greenie, Irmã de Almeida, arrived on Tuesday. We had to return her to the mission office on Wednesday, and pick her up again on Friday, so we spent a lot of time in transport this week! But Lisboa is cool, so it was neat to get to spend a little time in the city.

This week was so good :) I don´t know if I can really pinpoint or explain why, but becuase we had a lot less time to work (becuase of traveling), it felt like the Lord was blessing us to be really productive in the time that we had. We found some incredible new investigators this week: one is a 50yr old lady that lives and takes care of a senhora with 95 yrs; she is incredible and is ready to accept the gospel. The only challenge with her is that she cannot leave the senhora alone to be able to go to church...so this week we need to find someone or someway that she can go to church...But she is amazing- when we invited her to be baptized on May 1, she didn´t say yes or no, but just asked, á que horas? (at what time?); the other is a man from São Tomé, Luzú, that is really neat. I am really excited to keep working with them.

Training has been really fun and really good for me (all 6 days already :P ) Minha filha is incrível, and is already an example to me. I always heard about the ´greenie fire´, and it is neat to get to see and work with fogo! When President Torgan was talking to the treinadors, he talked about the importance of teaching by example. The quote ´´your actions speak so loud that I can´t hear your words´´ definately applies. So as I have been trying to teach by example, I have become better as well...I am definately already learning a lot.

I was reading in D&C this morning in section 95, and there was a verse that I really like. The Lord is talking about how the saints sinned because they were not building. He says that it is His will that they build a temple, and that if they keep the commandments they will have the force or power necessary to do so. Here in the mission we are always seeking the will of God, to know what we should do. But, we also have to be keeping the commandments and living worthily to be able to receive his help to be able to accomplish His will. We know that He always fulfills His part, we just need to do our part to be able to do milagres!

I am so thankful and happy to be here...I gave a talk this last Sunday about the two great commandments, to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves. I know that God loves us and that we are here because of this love. Have we not reason to rejoice because of the goodness of our God?!