This week was interesting, and contained many surprises! On Monday, our p-day, Irmã Howard and I made a cake for a member that we work with a lot (it was her birthday). We went over to her house and had dinner with her. Lídia is from Cabo Verde, and cooks really well! She made a sweet curry that had apples in it...yum! It was good to get to spend the time with her, because she is amazing and works with us multiples times a week, so we were happy to get to help her celebrate her birthday.

On Tuesday we had a surpise Zone Conference! We found out at 11h in the morning that we had a conference in Setúbal, and needed to arrive ASAP. So we traveled by metro e high-speed trains to get there. The meeting was good, but it took up our whole day (we returned to Almada at 20h), which was sad to miss the time and lessons that we had planned. But, we learned more about diligencia and obediencia. It´s interesting (at least it was to me) that we can go along thinking that we´re doing a good job, but when you take the time to step back and evaluate, you see all the things that you need to improve! So, I was grateful that I had the chance to re-evaluate my work and habits and to see what needs to chance. Every day is about changing and improving! There are Always things that we need to change, but that is the great news about repentance- that we CAN! I was thinking about repentance yesterday, and how sometimes we (at least I) have the impression of repentance as a thing of condemnation (you need to repent!). But really, repentance is all about having a change of heart, and this changes our minds and perspectives of how we view everything- God, ourselves, the world and people around us. Repentance is more than just stopping from doing bad things, but changing and filling our lives with good things and habits that help us to become more like Heavenly Father! Sorry if I went off a bit, but really repentance is such an amazing gift that we have been given.

More surprises came this week...on Wednesday we received a call from President Torgan and he told Irmã Howard ´´O Senhor está a mandar-te ás Açores´´, in other words, my companion was transferred to the Açores Islands! Some irmãs went home in the middle of transfers, so things got mixed up a bit and now I have a new companion! Irmã Holtzclaw arrived on Thursday, and she is muito fixe. She has 6 weeks left in the mission, and she is determined to make the most of the time she has, so I´m really excited to work with her. She is my 5th companion already! And for sure I´ll have a new companion next transfer because she will leave in the middle. So there are always changes here, but life is good and the work continues! It has been rainy and I´ve been a little sick, but nothing can stop the work of the Lord! We just need to seek His will and follow His guidance, and everything will work out to the best.