Happy Holidays Família!

This week feels like it was really long...last Monday we dropped off Irmã White and I began speaking only Portugués. It seems like forever ago! But this week was really good.
On Wednesday we had a mission conferencia de Natal, with all the missionaries except those in the Açores. It was really neat to get to see all the missionaries and feel the power of our combined forces! The Assistants gave a really good training about ´tendes bon animo´(be of good cheer)- it is amazing how many times the Lord tells us that and gives us comfort! No matter what difficulties we may be having, we always have a reason to be of good cheer and to rejoice, because Christ conquered all.
On Christmas Eve, we were walking to an investigators apartment and got slightly off course (it happens...com frequencia). BUT, behind a dumpster one of my companions spotted a big branch from a pine tree lying on the ground. She picked it up and joked about how we don´t have an arvore de Natal. She joked, but I really wanted a Christmas tree!! So, we carried it with us to the rest of our apointments, leaving it in the stairways of apartment buildings. At the end of the night we had a dinner with a member and recent-convert, and we got a ride home. This meant that we had to fit our tree into the car! It was an adventure, but we ended up with a real (well, semi-real, since it was already dead) Christmas tree! Little blessings...
Christmas morning, we opened up the one present that we had from a mysterious Pai Natal. We were surprised to find presents for each one of us! I got a pair of pajamas and a wooden display of the Plan of Salvation in Portugués- optimo! I was reallu surprised and happy for little blessings like that. And we have no idea who is it! It must be a sister in the mission, but it really is a mystery who is Pai Natal.
On Christmas we had lunch with a less active family that is really awesome. I went to their house one of my first days here. It was really interesting (and a relief!) to be able to tell a difference in what I understood there. They had a keyboard, but none of them know how to play it. So I was able to play a couple hymns and Christmas songs, and it was really neat. I am grateful for the talent that I have to be able to share music with others!
On Saturday we had a baptism of a 13yr old girl- Catia. She and her mom have been investigating the church for a little while, but her mom is not married to the less-active member she lives with, so she cannot be baptized yet. During the mission conference on Wednesday, we felt like we should invite Catia to be baptized this week. We did, she said yes, and she was baptized on Saturday! It was really a miracle. Her mom plans to get married in January, so we should be able to baptize her after that.
Sunday night we visited some potential investigators and watched ´Joy to the World´with them. It was the first time I have seen it in years, if ever. It was so awesome! I was so glad for the reminder of the reason we have to rejoice every day. Because of the birth, life, atonement, death, and ressurrection of Jesus Christ, we know what we need to do to find joy and return to our Heavenly Father, and we have the capacity to do it with the help of Christ! In this we can rejoice every day :D
I am grateful for all of you and hope you had an excellant Christmas. Happy New Year, and may 2010 bring us all happiness and joy.

Feliz Natal!

I can hardly believe that Christmas is already this week! Granted, it doesn´t really feel like Christmas to me here...but I´m excited for all the festivities that you are having and for the chance you have to be together (and that I get to talk to you this week :D )
It feels like it has been a long time since the last time I wrote! It´s hard to remember what day it is here...but the week was good. Domingas, an investigator from Cabo Verde was baptized on Saturday! We got a call at 1 am Friday night/Saturday morning from her husband who is a member, and some problems that he has came to light. But, Domingas is really strong and has a testimony of her own, and still wanted to be baptized Saturday. It is so amazing to get to see and help people who are newly coming to a faith in and understanding of Jesus Christ and His gospel. It is His love that makes this time of year (and all others) full of joy and happiness. I think it´s just easier to follow His example this time of year.
As I may have written last week, the theme or motto of this mission is to Find and Fulfill the will of the Lord. So, I have been studying that some in my personal studies and it has been really interesting. One interesting example (of what not to do!) is the people of Limhi in Mosiah 21. They wanted to escape from bondage, and so, acting ´according to their own desires´they tried 3 times to fight their way out. What did they get? Pain and suffering! If we just try to do things our own way without seeking the guidance and will of the Lord, we will get no where! The people of Limhi had to suffer grief and pain before they humbled themselves to turn to the Lord. But, if we follow His will, we won´t escape hard times, but He will support, strenghen, and guide us.
On Saturday after the baptism of Domingas, the ward had a Festa de Natal...which mostly consisted of eating desserts! I tried a lot of stuff, because when am I going to be in Portugal at Christmas again? (except next year!) It was really good!
Merry Christmas to you all, I hope that you have a wonderful week and remember the reason that we have to celebrate every day of our lives- Christ!

I hope everything is well with all of you and that you are ready for Christmas next week! It has been an interesting week here...
I left Utah Tuesday morning, and after three flights (all delayed due to weather) I eventually made it to Lisboa! President and Sister Torgan met me at the airport and I spent the night at the mission home (I am the only new missionary here). The next day all the assisants and secretaries had a training for just me ( lots of attention!). It was kind of funny, because President Torgan doesn´t speak english very well, and some of the missionaries are Brazilian and don´t speak a lot, so the training in english was...an adventure! But, my trainer (Irma Barroso) picked me up and President and Sister Torgan drove us to my first area.
I am serving in Oeiras; right now there are four sisters here. Irma Barroso, my trainer, is from Brazil. The other sister are Irma Nkutxi (from Angola) and Irma White (from the US). Irma White is going home next week, so then I will be in a triplet with two natives! It´s actually pretty fun being with natives, even though it can also be very confusing! But I always have to speak Portugues, which is good for me. I can usually at least have the gist of a conversation (at least if it is related to the gospel so I know the vocab!) My first day here, I talked to a lady on the bus while my companeira was on the phone. I really had no idea of what she was saying, I would just catch a word that I knew and ask another question about that! So, I´m not really sure what happened, but I hope that it went okay!
This is a really nice area that has a ward and a real chapel. Yesterday in sacrament meeting the Primary put on a program, and it was so cute! They had many families from the ward have some theme and talk about how the gospel blesses their family. Then they and the primary would sing a song. I loved it! Little kids and families are so amazing.
Missionary work is coming along here, but we can and need to do a lot more. Hopefully we will be having a baptism this weekend for a wife of member (she is from Cabo Verde). I really enjoy talking to and teaching the people here! (well...I can´t really talk to them yet, but I´ll get there!) Life may be a little different here, but we all essentially struggle with the same things. The gospel and the atonement of Jesus Christ can bless the lives of everyone, even if they don´t want to hear it yet!
This morning I was reading in Mosias 7, and thinking about how we are all put in a kind of bondage when we stray from the things we should be doing. I love verse 33 (? the last one) that says if we will return to the Lord with all our heart, trusting in him and giving our mind in all diligence, we will be freed from our bondage. If we just turn to Him and follow Him, we will be freed and find more happiness than we can imagine!
The theme of our mission is to ´seek the will of the Lord and fulfill the will of the Lord´. In everything we do, we seek to do what He would do, and to walk in His path. This is such a great goal!

I made it! It was a long two days of traveling, with every flight delayed, but I am now in Portugal!
Since it is late here (or at least I feel tired), I´m not going to say much. But, I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and am happy that I get to share it with the people of Portugal!
I hope you have a great week and I will talk to you soon at Christmas!

It is hard to believe a week has already passed and it is December! Thanksgiving here was pretty amazing, and I feel really blessed for the opportunity to be here now.
On Tuesday night, Elder Dallin H Oaks came and talked (I love him!) He talked about a Lot of stuff- I felt like I was trying to drink from a fire-hose! But it was so good. One topic that he talked about was challenges that missionaries face, and I think these challenges really apply to everyone. The challenges are the challenge to: change, achieve, and become. This challenges are definately true in the mission fied- I am trying to change my prior habits and in a way, change who I am. It has definately been a process for me to change my focus from myself to those that I am serving. It is also a challenge to achieve the skills and abilities that are required to be a successful missionary- speak the language, be a good teacher, and so many other things. But I think the most important challenge is the challenge to become. It is pointless to change habits and activities if they do not change your nature and who you are becoming. One of my goals is to become someone more and better than I am now, more like the person that my Heavenly Father wants me to be. As I succeed in meeting the challenges of changing and achieving, I am being molded and becoming the person that I need to be. So, I thought it was really interesting that Elder Oaks talked about those challenges.
Thanksgiving day was really good here as well. In the morning, Elder Jeffrey R Holland came and answered questions that missionaries had submitted. It was a more informal devotional, I really enjoyed the opportunity to hear an apostle of the Lord just talking to us. One of the questions he answered is "why is life hard?" I think we all ask that at one point and another. One thing he said was that there is something in the nature of discipleship that requires restraint and refinement, and that the rough times of life help us to harness and refine the natural strength and power that we have. As disciples of Christ, how can we expect life to be easy when He who we are following suffered beyond all? Elder Holland's reply was a good reminder to me about the necessity of pressure and opposition; that is truly when we can be molded and changed, and meet the challenge to become!
I am really grateful for the opportuntiy to change and to become someone more on my mission. I know that we all need to do this through-out our lives, and that the only way it is possible is becuase of the atonement of Jesus Christ. I love that I do not have to be stuck the way I am today! I know that as we seek and counsel with the Lord for strength and knowledge of who we need to be, He will provide a way, because it is only He who knows our true potential.

I hope your weeks are going well. As you may have noticed, this email is not coming on the typical day...there have been some changes here.

As a result of the 230 plus Brazilian bound missionaries that are stuck here waiting for visas, they have had to split the Portuguese zone again. So, I am now in a new zone and in an Italian branch (happy Dave?!) This means that I am on an entirely new schedule and that Tuesdays are now my P-days until I leave the MTC. It's been funny how such a little thing as a schedule change has had such an impact on life. The new schedule switches us from the latest to the earliest schedule, which is annoying as far as eating times and such. But, the saddest part is that we never really get to see the other Portuguese missionaries that are now in our old zone.
When the first told us of the change, I was rather upset and annoyed that we, the oldest district, had to change. But, when we went to Sacrament meeting with the Italian branch this Sunday, I really felt that God really IS in control of this work, and He knows what He is doing. Regardless of the convenience or lack thereof of schedules, there is a purpose for everything that we go through. All we need to do is to look for what we can learn, and trust in God to lead us to where and who we need to be. So, I am grateful for this chance to have learned this lesson in a (relatively) small matter.
But, not much has really happened since it has only been three or four days. The schedule change has been the big news and deal here. I am excited for the Devotional tonight though, they are always so good! I love the spirit that General Authorities have with them, and the power of the Spirit.

This week a lot of the focus was on Portuguese. We had to teach the lesson of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ on Thursday all in Portuguese, so it took a lot of work to build enough vocabulary and grammar skills to be able to communicate for 50 minutes in Portuguese! But, it actually went pretty well. Although I can get frustrated by not being able to express myself as well as I would like, when I stop and consider that I have only been learning Portuguese for 5 weeks, it's pretty miraculous! The Portuguese is coming along- I can understand fairly well when people speak slow, and can get across my general ideas. Hopefully the next four weeks will help me a lot before I actually go to Portugal. But yeah, the language is going fairly well.
I was wondering what I should write about this week, becuase it doesn't really feel like a lot has happened, just more of the same routine. But I was thinking about some of the things that have stood out to me this week, and thought I would share those with you.
First of all, God answers prayers. I've always known this growing up and had experiences of many varieties. But this last week, I have seen soo many of my prayers answered, oftentimes very quickly (which always makes me happy!). But I know that God hears and answers our prayers, and that when do the work by praying and doing as much as we can, He will make up the difference and answer our petitions. I was studying about why we pray using Jesus' name, to answer some questions from investigators. The bible dictionary says that we pray in Jesus' name when our mind is the mind of Christ, and our wishes are the wishes of Christ. Thus, in order to truly prayer in Christ's name, we can't just say the words "in the name of Jesus Christ", but the words and intents of our prayers must be His as well. That struck me as really interesting and important, and it is when we pray according to Christ's mind and wishes that our prayers are most likely to be answered.
I have also been studying love this week. Some interesting connections from the Book of Mormon- King Benjamin teaches in Mosiah 2 that we serve God by serving others, and then says in chapter 5 "how knoweth a man the master whom he had not served and who is a stranger to him and far from the thoughts and intents of his heart". We serve God by serving others, and the thoughts and intents of our hearts need to be the same as Gods to truly serve. In other words, we truly need to have charity, the pure love of Christ, for everyone that we serve, especially as missionaries and representatives of the Lord. In his talk from General Conference, President Uchtdorf taught that love should be the defining characteristic of a disciple of Christ. And that is soo true!! (a prophet would know!) Everything that we do should be centered on our love for God and our fellow-men. The only way that I can be an effective missionary and to help others feel God's love is to feel that love for them as well and share it with them. Love is the key!!
So, on that note, I love you all!!I am so grateful for all of the wonderful influences that everyone has had in my life. I am grateful for this opportunity to more deeply understand the gospel of Jesus Christ and to be able to serve my God by helping others to receive His blessings. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live, that they have a plan for us, and that as we follow the guidelines they have set through the words of prophets, we will be blessed with peace and happiness and with the opportunity to return to live with them. And I am so grateful for this knowledge!!

Sorry if this is preachy, but the only this I really have to share this week is my testimony. I hope that it strengthens yours and helps you to come a little closer to Christ. I know that His arm is ever stretched out to encircle, help, and protect us.

It is hard to believe that another week has passed already! I have now been here for a month, which seems crazy. This week was a good one, even though it zoomed by.
One thing that I have been meaning to write about but keep forgetting is the Brazil situation here. They are not giving any missionaries visas to Brazil, or at least only like 2 a month. So, they are sending all the missionaries that were supposed to go to the Brazil MTC here instead. This means that instead of about 7-10 people every three weeks, or zone receives 20-30 people a week. This has led to insane growth of our zone, and craziness for doing laundry, gym time, going to the temple, and other zone activities. So this Sunday, to mitigate the problem, they split our zone/branch into two to make it more manageable (we now only have around 80 people in our zone). While it was sad to see districts going away, something had to be done! But I still am in the same zone and branch, for which I am grateful. Without the Brazilians, there would only be about 12 of us intead of 150 plus. It's interesting how this one issue has such a large impact on the MTC experience.
This week for devotional, Ronald Rasband from the Quorum of the 70 and his wife came and spoke. I know their son from econ at BYU, so it was kind of cool to have a semi-personal connection to them. Brother Rasband talked a lot about being bolder in our missionary work. I know that that is true and that it is something that I need to work on. I know that this gospel is true and that it is the only way that we can truly be happy. I need to be bolder and more persistent in sharing my knowledge with others so that they can feel the blessings of the gospel as well.
Since I have been in the MTC for over 4 weeks now, we have begun the "sempre Portugues" phase, which means that in my classes we will only be speaking Portugues. It's a little challenging, but I think it is actually really fun and it will be really beneficial for picking up the language faster.

That's about it! I hope everything is going well for all of you! I have been studying the atonement a lot this week, and I know that it is only through Jesus Christ that we can freed from our sins, strengthened to endure trials, and perfected to be able to live with God. I am so thankful for my redeemer and my Savior! I know that it is upon Him that we must all rely, and that the only means of Salvation is through His name.

First night in the MTC!!
Mission district at the Temple!

It's hard to believe that it is P-day already and that another week has passed! I've been here for 3 and a half weeks, and in some ways that feels like forever, but the last few weeks have sped by. Tomorrow is Halloween! I don't think anything will happen here, but it is cool that it is a holiday!
This last week we were really fortunate to have Elder L. Tom Perry to come talk to us for our Tuesday devotional. It is amazing just the spirit that comes with apostles. He talked about teaching, and refered back to a Worldwide training given by Elder Holland, I think in 2000. It is called "the gift of teaching". I had actually watched that training video Sunday night, so it was cool to know exactly what he was talking about! If you don't remember that, I would recommend you re-watching that training. I really liked that Elder Perry emphasized that to be a good teacher, you have to be a good student! How many times do the scriptures say that you must obtain the word before you can preach it?! That really is such an important principle. He also talked about letting the student assume some of the responsibility- as they are more involved, they will become more motivated and better able to apply what they are learning to themselves. That is something we have been working on this week- teaching in a way that helps people to apply the gospel to themselves and their own lives, not just giving a historical and factual presentation.
Each week we have a "big deal" practice lesson in the TRC on Thursday morning. This week, my companion and I were randomly selected for testing out a new evaluation process- you are in a room that has a camera that an outside observer watches, and then at the end of the lesson you receive evaluations from the investigator, observer, and do a self-evaluation. It was kind of need to be able to get many perspectives on a lesson to know what others think of it as well.
Not too much else has really happened- life can get rather repetitive at the MTC. I am blessed to have two Awesome teachers. The portuguese is coming along, though slowly. But I know that this is where I am supposed to be, and that I have a purpose here. I am learning a lot, and am so grateful for this opportunity to represent the Lord. Sometimes I can still not believe that I actually am a missionary! But I am grateful that I can be, and that I can share what is most important to me- the gospel of Jesus Christ. He truly is each of our's Savior and Redeemer, and it is only through Him that we can learn, endure, and have joy!

This week has passed by so quickly, I'm not really sure where all the time went and what all we did! We had a lot of really good big group meetings though. On Sunday, our fireside was given by Richard Heaton, who talked about teaching with the Spirit, and having faith and confidence in the Lord that as we do all we can to prepare and teach, the Spirit will be with us. It was a really good talk, and encouraging because trying to teach with the Spirit is probably the hardest part for me.
On Tuesday the devotional was by Lynn Robbins from the Quorum of the Seventy. He gave a really good talk about planning, and the importance of planning in having success. I loved that he said "success is not luck, it is planned" because that really is true! We don't just have lucky mistakes that work out well, we must plan and prepare and then we will be blessed with success. He talked about planning each day being an act of faith, and as we do such, God will bless us to be successful. It was good.
So, the way the MTC works is that the main event of each week is the TRC, which means that each Thursday morning we have an activity where we contact in Portuguese and then teach a lesson in English. Most of our language study and lesson study focuses on the upcoming TRC. Yesterday we door knocked in Portuguese and then taught the first lesson about the Restoration of the Gospel in English. My companion and I had been preparing all week, and really praying that we could have the Spirit and be able to have an impact on the volunteer investigator. It is amazing how prayer really does work. We had such a good lesson yesterday, and it wasn't at all because of us. The Spirit was really strong, and the whole thing just flowed as we taught. I am so grateful that we do not have to do this work alone! The Spirit is very much the Senior Companion in all companionships.
Today being P-day, we got to go to the temple, and it was so good. I love the feeling of cleanliness and peace in the temple. I am so grateful that we have the gift of the Holy Ghost, so that we truly can always have that spirit to be with us. I know that that Spirit blesses our lives.

Army of Helaman

It is hard to believe that I have been at the MTC for 10 days now. Time moves oddly at the MTC. Hours can fly by, days go on forever, and then suddenly a week has passed! But I am grateful for the time I have already had here.
One of the most power moments this week was actually on Sunday, before the Sunday fireside. Because they ask you to get there 20 minutes early, they start singing prelude songs about 15 minutes before the meeting begins to give you something to do. The last song that we sang in prelude was "Army of Helamen" from the Children's songbook. I have always loved this song, but it hit me so much harder. They changed the words in the chorus to "we are NOW the Lord's missionaries to bring the world his truth", and it hit me like never before that I truly am a missionary of the Lord and have a duty to bring the world His truth and the good news of the atonement. Having 2500 plus missionaries singing that song was truly like the Army of Helamen, and I felt the Spirit as such a strong force as never before. It is amazing how music can bring the spirit so strongly.
This week we have begun teaching a lot more lessons, focusing on the restoration of the Gospel. We had a big practice event, and then had an evaluative meeting afterwards. The teacher talked about how many missionaries teach the first lesson as a history lesson about the church. Rather, it is a lesson about the restoration of the GOSPEL, which is the ability to be able to be cleansed and redeemed from our sins through faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, the holy ghost and enduring to the end. As missionaries, we need to focus on how we can help people to change their lives by being freed from the burden of their sins. Only in this way can they truly find happiness. It's not really about the church per se, but about how we can be changed through the atonement. I don't know if that makes sense the way I explained since I'm typing as fast as I can (!), but it was a major mind shift for me in how I approach teaching.
We also got introduced this week to the Referral Center, and made outbound calls following up on products ordered. Most people I called weren't home, but some that I talked to tugged so hard at my heart. One was an older middle-aged lady who had ordered a bible. She said that she had lung cancer and was going to Birmingham, Alabama for treatment. I talked to her about the Book of Mormon and sent the missionaries to her, but when she asked me to just pray for her, my heart about broke!! That is why I am serving a mission- to be able to help people like understand the purpose to their lives and how to make it better.
Today was Preparation day, and we got to go to the temple, so that was really nice. It is only P-day until 6 pm here, so you furiously try to get as much done as you can! It is interesting living life with every hour planned- you get a lot done and you always know what you need to do!

Hello Everyone!

It has been a crazy busy, but rewarding first few days in the MTC. After being dropped off on the curb (literally!) I was given my materials, orientated, and met my district and teachers. I have two teachers: Sister Secrist and Irmao Schlappi; they are both really good. I have already learned how to pray and testify in Portugues, and I taught lesson 1 from Preach My Gospel (about the restoration) to an investigator this morning.
There are 10 people in my district, most of them Brazil-bound and waiting for visas. That is the case with my companion, Sister Steinbeigle. I am lucky to have a companion for now, but I am not sure how long it will last. When she gets her visa, I will probably become a "solo" sister. We get along really well and complement each other, so I'm hoping it's a long time before she can get her visa!
Thursday night we met together as a branch to meet the Branch Presidency. There are three districts in it, and ours is the only district with sister missionaries. This doesn't really bother me, except that when Sister Steinbeigle volunteered to play the piano and I to lead, I didn't realize that I would end up singing a solo sister part with all the Elders there! Oh well, it went fine, and it doesn't really matter anyways. It's just kind of funny.
The spirit is often very strong here; the first time an Elder prayed in Portugues, it was amazing how strong it was. I think learning a new language makes you re-realize the meaning of words and gives a new sincerity to your speech. I may not know how to say much in Portugues, but I mean every word that I say.
Today we had a half P-day, and we had "Saturday softball", where the whole zone plays softball. It was really fun and so nice to just be outside on the grass, in the sun, by the mountains and temple. We are inside all day long, which makes me miss the sun and outdoors, so that was a perfect treat for me.

I love you all and miss you! I hope that things are going well and that you always remember that God loves and I love you :)

Into the MTC

Juliana went into the MTC this afternoon!!! We love her and will miss being able to see and talk to her so easily, but are so glad she gets to serve a mission. Hopefully she'll keep us posted often!!