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.