I hope you are all enjoying the last weeks of summer...this week will take us into Setembro! You can see a visable difference here in the number of tourists as the summer winds down; things aren´t quite so crowded here.

This week was a little bit rough as far as the work goes...not much progress on the part of pesquisadors that we are teaching, and searching for the elect, which can be rough when you feel you´re having difficulties finding them! But it´s interesting its always said that you grow through trials...because its true! I feel that I made a lot of progress this week personally (and now I need to pass it on to our investigators!). Something that we talk a lot about is the power and authority of our calling, and the power of the spirit needed for conversion. We had some really powerful, spiritual lessons this week where I knew that I was being led by the spirit, which was really neat. I was reminded of something from the first chapter in PMG- that we know we are successful missionaries (and people!) when we can feel the influence of the spirit and know that we are following it. So although those powerful lessons didn´t bear fruit that is apparant now, it is good to still have hope that what I am doing is acceptable to the Lord!

Today I finished the Book of Mormon (I read it all in Português!); I love the last couple chapters of Moroni. One verse that really struck me due to circumstances, was in Moroni 9, versiculo 6 (acho eu)- Mormon wrote to Moroni about the hardness of hearts and wickedness of the people, but then he wrote (parafrazed) nevertheless we will continue to work diligently, or else we will be under condemnation- and he spoke about the importance of continuing to work, trust in the Lord, and have hope for life eternal. So, even when it seems that we are not making forward progress, we need to continue to trabalhar diligentement! It also reminded me fo the talk by PResident Uchtdorf about pacience- that pacience is continuing to work diligently when the desired results don´t come immediately...so basically I just need more pacience and persaverance :) (easy to say, harder to do!)

But, I am really grateful for the spirit that I felt this week. I am so grateful to be here, even though it is hard work. I read an article today entitled `Member for Life´ or something similar, and there was a paragraph about the blessing of serving a mission. I have already received so many, and I know that I (and we :) ) will yet receive many blessings. After all ``sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven!!``

Sorry there aren´t any comical stories that I can remember from this last week. Last night we got on the same bus as the slightly crazy lady who yelled at us on a bus last Sunday...we didn´t hide, but I was praying that she wouldn´t notice us! Thank goodness that God answers prayers :D

This last week (as usual!) flew by...nothing major happened, but a lot of little things and miracles, né, that show the hand of God. We finally managed to find one of our new investigators at home a couple times this week...she is Brazilian, a mom with two (and 8\9ths) kids. (the 8\9 means that she is extremely pregnant!). The other sisters met her a few months ago, but never managed to meet with her. We passed by and finally found her in the beginning of this week. She said that the night before, she had prayed to God to give her a sign, or help her to know how to help her family (they are having some struggles). Then the next day we unexpectedly appeared! She is so open, and likes to read the Book of Mormon. The only difficulty is that she is 9 months pregnant (I think she may have given birth this weekend!), so there are things a little more pressing in her life :) But I really feel that we can help this whole family, so I hope things continue to go well with them.

We also randomly met an inactive member in the street; he contacted us and said he had been baptized 20 years ago, but wandered long from the church. He said that when he was studying to be a catholic priest, he found a BoM on the ground and started teaching the doctrines in it. The other catholics wanted him to destroy the book, but he refused. (Does this sound familiar?) I´m not sure exactly what is his story, but I can tell that he has a sincere testimony of the restoration, Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon. We met with him a couple times and he came to church this week! Something that has really brought me joy that I didn´t expect (because I didn´t really think about it) is working with less-active members, helping them to rekindle their testimonies and receive the blessings from the gospel. Seeing them change their lives again brings the same measure of happiness as seeing others come for the first time.

Every other week we have an activity in our ward (put on by the missionaries, basically- there´s no activity committee!!). This last week we had a ´´Pancake Night´´ where I used my pancake making skills. All the pancake breakfasts that I did in our Relief Society at BYU came in handy! I think that all that came enjoyed the night, and one of our investigators even brought her sister ,so it was good :) Unfortunately I was so busy making pancakes that I didn´t get to eat any :\ But that´s alright.

I know that I usually preach a lot in my emails, but really, a lot of interesting and random things happen in missionary life. I wanted to just share a couple things that happened yesterday to give an idea of what happens in our day-to-day life.

Well, after church and lunch at a members house, we went to pass a less-active family that hadn´t come to church. While we were ringing the bell, a pigeon dropped a bomb on my companions head! Later, when we were on the bus, we started talking to one lady, who (speaking english) said that she prays every night for peace, and starting ``uhmm``ing there on the bus. When I told that we know that God restored His church and that we have a living prophet, she asked his name and I told her. She got really mad, started saying that we were crazy and wasting our time, swore in English, and got off the bus (all within 3 minutes). It was a little abrupt and shocking, but these things do happen.

Later, we were in a square and contacted a man who lives in France, but had been in Angola for a year and was stuck here in Portugal for a few days. Before he had left for Angola, he had talked to missionaries, so we talked with him for a while. While we were talking to him (and he was golden!), an ex-pesquisador that we haven´t seen for months came up (drunk and high on drugs), pinched my companion, and started talking about how I had lied, that we didn´t like him, and worse things. It was so weird and random! Luckily, the guy with whom we were talking defended us and got the high-ex-pesquisador to leave. So while we were talking with a golden contact from France about baptism, we were accosted this wild man. And that was the end of our day...so, life is always interesting here! We meet the elect, not-so-elect, and very un-elect! but all the while we have the assurance of the spirit that we are on the Lord´s errand and in His hands. So everything is worth it :D

Wow, time just keeps on flying. I can´t believe its already another pday! Last pday being the first of the month, we went to the Lisbon Zoo. It was pretty cool. The best part was that they had a dolphin and seal show that was really good. I got ´´kissed´´ by a seal! More of a head-butt, but it was neat :) I always get a little depressed at zoos becuase the animals are jsut stuck in cages, but it was still good. They had elephants, white tigers, rhinoceras, and lots more. IT´s interesting to see Lisboa from the perspective of a tourist and the things that are here to do.

This week was good, but went really quick and I can´t really think of anything spectacular to write about. We saw a lot of littles miracles here, which is always gratifying. We marked one of our pesquisadors, Pedro, to be baptized next week, so I hope that everything continues to go well with him. What else..? I can´t really remember much. We made a BOATLOAD of chocolate chip cookies because we made cookies for practically the whole ward; we made little goodie things with cookies and a note to show our love and appreciation, hopefully to help unite the ward!

Really nothing huge happened, just lots of small miracles. A less-active member contacted us in the rua, and we passed by his house. Another less-active that has recently started to return decided that she wants to quit smoking, a man contacted us on the bus, we found a family of 5 siblings from Guiné that are really neat, and lots of other small things that really are miracles to me. I am so grateful for the mercy of God! It is really easy to miss everything that He gives us, but if we just stay with eyes open and searching, the evidence is everywhere of the love and concern that he had for us.

I know that God loves me and you! He wants us to be happy and successful here, and most improtantly have united and happy families that will be eternal. This is His plan!!! And He already marked the way for us to follow....

Agosto is already here! It is really hard to believe how time flies... While the days may seem long, the week goes by quickly, and I have to come up with something new to write! :P

This last week we had a conference with Elder Texeira, who is in the area presidency here. It was a really interesting zone conference. General Authorities tell a lot of stories, so I can´t really relate much of what he said without just telling a lot of stories, but I can share what I felt and learned!

He talked about a time when He was mission president and he challenged the missionaries to teach 21 lessons a week at a time when the average was 6-7 lessons, and how most missionaries were incredulous. But he had one in particular who worked hard and met the challenge, just saying `President, it is possible`. I thought of the many times that we are asked to do a myriad of things, that in all appearances seem impossible. How much faith does it take to not believe that it is possible, but to do EVERYTHING in our power to make it happen. Something that has stuck out so clearly to me here is that having faith and knowledge is so much more the just words. There are so many people who have ´faith´, but do nothing, or know what they should do but still lack the action. This supposed ´faith´ values nada if we don´t act! Real faith is believeing, not just in our hearts but in our lives and actions- we show our faith (and increase it) by esforçar-nos (don´t know exactly how to translate in english) and obedience.

He also talked about his son who served in NY, and how he had promised his father to teach 21 lessons the first week in the field (little did he know that the average was 4-5!). But, when he got there and told his trainer, they changed their approach in many ways and reached the goal, eventually having a lot of success. I felt that change realize is possible, and not just possible but that we should pursue change and improvement. It is really easy to stay put with the things that are comfortable, and to be satisfied with the statis-quo. But, thanks to our divine nature and the infinite power of the atonement, we have endless potential and improvements to make! Although its easy to be satisfies and think ´´all is well in Zion´´, we not only need to watch, but we need to be better! We´ll never be good enough in this life, but we can be closer to our eventual goal of perfection.

So, the conference was really good. I felt the spirit, and felt motivated that I need to continue to change (now I just need to keep that motivation every day!). Other than this, the week was good too. I really like the ward here, despite the challenges that every ward has. The members seem that they are starting to trust more in us, and we want to involve them even more. But two families brought friends to church yesterday! That was honestly the first time that has happened here in my mission, and it was really a miracle, even if a small one. I know that miracles happen every day, but sometimes it is really easy to miss them.

On Saturday afternoon, right after we had started our fast, everything seemed to be going wrong. Compromissos that we had marked and confirmed fell through, and I was starting to get really frustrated. We left the predio where some pesquisadores (em potential) live and were walking up the road when a woman ran up to us. We talked to here 2 or 3 weeks ago when we were looking for someone else, and she hadn´t shown the least interest, but we left a panphlet with her. She said that she had read the pamplet and became interesting in the BoM, and wanted to know where she could buy one. She was really surprised when we handed her one and said she could keep it! She is married with a 5yrold boy. She was such a blessing (and miracle!) to us on Saturday. Many timed when we are trying to do even better we face opposition and disappointments that seem even more devastating, but I know that the Lord is mindful of us, that he watches every struggle and sacrifice, and helps and rewards us abundantly.