It feels like a long time ago since the last time I wrote! This week has been a week of re-orientation. Last Tuesday I got everything all packed up and traveled by train and ferry across the river to Almada, my new area with Irmã Howard. This area opened for irmãs only the previous transfer, so the missionary work here is still beginning. There is potential here, but also a lot of work! This week we mostly did a lot of procura, contacting people from the area book and doing ´´contatos da oracão´´. It was an interesting week and we met lots of people. There is one investigator here, Nicolau, that is pretty much a golden investigator that appeared two weeks ago. After several attempts, we finally had a compromisso with him, and invited him to be baptized this next week. He accepted, and we´re really excited for him- he´s a really good person.
On Sunday I went to church with a member and an investigator while Irmã Howard went to buscar o outro pesquisador. We arrived at the chapel (which I had never been to before!) right on time for sacrament meeting. When the counselor started to conduct the meeting, he announced that Irmã Howard would be the pianist, but she wasn´t there yet! So, I got to play the piano for sacrament meeting- I´m just grateful that I am able to and that I got to practice in Oeiras a lot!
Sunday school was...interesting. The bishop teaches the class, and yesterday went off on lots of tangents that were not related to basic principles of the gospel! It was both a little frustrating and nerve-racking: you don´t feed the carne before the milk!
But, it was interesting being in a smaller ala slash branch. They could use a lot of help.
I was reading this morning in 2 Néfi 2, and I really liked the first three verses(I like them better in Portuguese!). In spite of the afflictions that Jacob passed through, he was blessed because he knew of the greatness of God, and his afflictions were consecrated for his good. I know that we all pass through afflictions, but that these experiences are for our good, and that we always have something to learn. No matter what we go through, when we have faith in Jesus Christ, we have hope because we know that Christ overcame all.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Transfers!
Today is the last day of my first transfer (transfer? transfaréncia). Can you believe it? The time has really flown by. Today was my first experience of waiting for...the phone call...from President, to tell us if any of us are moving. Luckily the phone call came around noon, so we didn´t have to wait for too long. The News...I am being transferred!!!!
I am moving from Oeiras to Almada, which is across the river. My companion will be Irmã Howard who, interestingly enough, was in my freshman ward at BYU! She has been in Portugal since August, and we are the two newest sisters in the mission. It should be interesting! I know it will be hard, but I am excited because I know that the Lord has a purpose for this, and that there is a lot to learn!
This week was interesting. We worked a lot with our investigator Nito, meeting with him every day to help him feel prepared for baptism and be able to stop smoking. Miracles really do happen! He was baptized on Sunday after church, and he was so excited and happy to be baptized, it was great. Funny detail- after the fiasco last week of not being able to heat the water, we lit the aquecedor a whole day before the baptism to heat the water. Well, when it was time for the baptism, the water was too hot!! So we added a couple panfuls of cold water to make the temperature better...never without adventure here!
Often times things happen that make it so clear that this work is not being done by us, but that we are only instruments in God´s hands. A couple weeks ago we received a reference from church headquarters with a name and endereço of a woman. After a couple tries we finally found the right rua and predio that the reference listed, except a woman by that name does not exist in that predio! We knocked every door in the predio and could not find her. However, at the address that the reference listed, there was a family. We left a pamphlet with them and said we would return later. Yesterday we went back to their apartment, and found the whole family there. They let us in and we talked about God´s plans for families. They are an incredible family! We made an appointment with them to return, and we found a new family to teach!! This is the first complete family that we found, and it is very exciting! They are truly golden. I´m sad that I am leaving before we teach them more...But, we felt that our goal this week for new pesquisadors should be 10 pessoas, and we found the last 5 last night! Heavenly Father truly placed this family in our hands, and now it is up to us to do our part!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
This week passed by quickly, but at the same time, it feels like it lasted forever...times moves weirdly.
We had interviews and training on Tuesday this last week. We have them once a transfer, and it was my first experience with them. It was amazing! President Torgan teaches from the scriptures, and the insights and applications that he made were so insightful and clearly inspired. It made me want to be a lot better!
Something that I have learned more, especially in the last week is that when we pray specifically, we get specific answers, although they may not be quite what we imagined. When I was in the MTC, I prayed to have a native companion, because I thought that would help me the most here. What did I end up with?...TWO natives!! Heavenly Father more than answered my prayers, in a way I did not expect. This last week I saw how quickly prayers can be specifically answered as well. We have an investigator, Nito, who has been progressing, and we wanted to invite him to be baptized. I prayed the morning before we taught him that we would know if it was the Lord´s will to invite him to be baptized this next week. During the lesson, we invited him to come to another investigator´s baptism, and were talking about baptism. He said that he wanted to be baptized, and so my companion, Irmã NKutxi invited him to be baptized this next weekend, and he accepted. The Lord answered my specific prayer and Nito showed us his desire! I also have a more...interesting story.
I think last week I mentioned Julia preparing to be baptized. We had her baptism planned for 5pm on Saturday (this is the baptism we invited Nito to attend). I had prayed with my companions for her to have an ´´inesquecivel´´ (unforgettable?) experience at her baptism. We arrived at the chapel a little after 4pm to get everything ready. The baptismal font was all ready and full of water, but the water was bem-frio!! (semelhante to Lake Michigan this summer!) Júlia has health problems and has been sick, so there was no way that she could be baptized in that cold water...and the heater for the font was not working. One idea we had was to heat up water in the kitchen and add it to the font to raise the temperature. We tried this for about an hour, but it wasn´t having any success.
Our next solution was to try another chapel that was already having a baptism and would have a font ready...but they had all already emptied the font. So the Elders in our district in Cascais prepared their chapel for us to use...and the font takes 2 hours to fill up! So, a lot of pandemonium occurred, but we finally had a baptism at 8 pm. It was definitely an unforgettable experience!!! We spent 5 hours at the chapel to have one baptism! (and of course this was the night we planned to have a three-way division, but these things happen) I think in the future I will be a little more careful with my prayers, and stick with praying for a spiritually uplifting experience!
But, I really do know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers, even when the answers may not be what we want or expect. When we have faith and hope, we trust in Him and His plan for us, and recognize that ´´my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.´´(Is. 55) I am grateful that we can always pray to our Father in Heaven to know his ways!
We had interviews and training on Tuesday this last week. We have them once a transfer, and it was my first experience with them. It was amazing! President Torgan teaches from the scriptures, and the insights and applications that he made were so insightful and clearly inspired. It made me want to be a lot better!
Something that I have learned more, especially in the last week is that when we pray specifically, we get specific answers, although they may not be quite what we imagined. When I was in the MTC, I prayed to have a native companion, because I thought that would help me the most here. What did I end up with?...TWO natives!! Heavenly Father more than answered my prayers, in a way I did not expect. This last week I saw how quickly prayers can be specifically answered as well. We have an investigator, Nito, who has been progressing, and we wanted to invite him to be baptized. I prayed the morning before we taught him that we would know if it was the Lord´s will to invite him to be baptized this next week. During the lesson, we invited him to come to another investigator´s baptism, and were talking about baptism. He said that he wanted to be baptized, and so my companion, Irmã NKutxi invited him to be baptized this next weekend, and he accepted. The Lord answered my specific prayer and Nito showed us his desire! I also have a more...interesting story.
I think last week I mentioned Julia preparing to be baptized. We had her baptism planned for 5pm on Saturday (this is the baptism we invited Nito to attend). I had prayed with my companions for her to have an ´´inesquecivel´´ (unforgettable?) experience at her baptism. We arrived at the chapel a little after 4pm to get everything ready. The baptismal font was all ready and full of water, but the water was bem-frio!! (semelhante to Lake Michigan this summer!) Júlia has health problems and has been sick, so there was no way that she could be baptized in that cold water...and the heater for the font was not working. One idea we had was to heat up water in the kitchen and add it to the font to raise the temperature. We tried this for about an hour, but it wasn´t having any success.
Our next solution was to try another chapel that was already having a baptism and would have a font ready...but they had all already emptied the font. So the Elders in our district in Cascais prepared their chapel for us to use...and the font takes 2 hours to fill up! So, a lot of pandemonium occurred, but we finally had a baptism at 8 pm. It was definitely an unforgettable experience!!! We spent 5 hours at the chapel to have one baptism! (and of course this was the night we planned to have a three-way division, but these things happen) I think in the future I will be a little more careful with my prayers, and stick with praying for a spiritually uplifting experience!
But, I really do know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers, even when the answers may not be what we want or expect. When we have faith and hope, we trust in Him and His plan for us, and recognize that ´´my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.´´(Is. 55) I am grateful that we can always pray to our Father in Heaven to know his ways!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Bon Ano Novo!
I hope that the last week has treated you all well, with lots of play and rest! This was a pretty typical week, with lessons, procurar (searching?), and other acivities. We have an investigator, Julia, who plans to be baptized this coming Saturday, so we have been working a lot with her. She has problems, like every one does, but she has so much faith in Jesus Christ that it is incredible.
This week marked the beginning of 2010- incredible! I can´t believe that we are starting another decade. There was not a big celebration here. We were out and about until 9:30, and there was not really anyone out on the streets (most are inside drinking). There was one firework that went off at 11, but other than that is was a pretty normal night! But, as always, the beginning of a new year is a great time to set goals!
My companion, Irmã Nkutxi pointed out an interesting observation from the Pearl of Great Price. In Abraham Chapter 4, the chapter summary states ´´The Gods plan the creation of the earth and all life thereon—Their plans for the six days of creation are set forth.´´´It´s interesting to note that it is a godly attribute to plan! If God planned the creation of the earth and everything thereon, how important is it for us to have a plan for our year?! How can we judge our progress or know if we have been successful unless we have a benchmark against which to judge ourselves?
Since I will be on a mission for this whole year, the goals that I set were mainly goals for my mission; what I want to do and who I want to become through my service here. The most important thing to me is to become who my Father in Heaven wants me to be. I invite all of you, if you have not already done so, to think about and set goals for this year. And whenever we have a goal, we need to have a plan of how we are going to achieve that goal. I am grateful for the chance to set goals to improve, and for the help that I have to reach my goals from Heavenly Father.
I love you all! I hope that you have a fantastic beginning to 2010 and that this years brings happiness and blessings to us all :D
I hope that the last week has treated you all well, with lots of play and rest! This was a pretty typical week, with lessons, procurar (searching?), and other acivities. We have an investigator, Julia, who plans to be baptized this coming Saturday, so we have been working a lot with her. She has problems, like every one does, but she has so much faith in Jesus Christ that it is incredible.
This week marked the beginning of 2010- incredible! I can´t believe that we are starting another decade. There was not a big celebration here. We were out and about until 9:30, and there was not really anyone out on the streets (most are inside drinking). There was one firework that went off at 11, but other than that is was a pretty normal night! But, as always, the beginning of a new year is a great time to set goals!
My companion, Irmã Nkutxi pointed out an interesting observation from the Pearl of Great Price. In Abraham Chapter 4, the chapter summary states ´´The Gods plan the creation of the earth and all life thereon—Their plans for the six days of creation are set forth.´´´It´s interesting to note that it is a godly attribute to plan! If God planned the creation of the earth and everything thereon, how important is it for us to have a plan for our year?! How can we judge our progress or know if we have been successful unless we have a benchmark against which to judge ourselves?
Since I will be on a mission for this whole year, the goals that I set were mainly goals for my mission; what I want to do and who I want to become through my service here. The most important thing to me is to become who my Father in Heaven wants me to be. I invite all of you, if you have not already done so, to think about and set goals for this year. And whenever we have a goal, we need to have a plan of how we are going to achieve that goal. I am grateful for the chance to set goals to improve, and for the help that I have to reach my goals from Heavenly Father.
I love you all! I hope that you have a fantastic beginning to 2010 and that this years brings happiness and blessings to us all :D
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