Well, today is transfer day :) I am going to be staying in Mem Martins, but Irmã Reis is leaving and Irmã Egbert will be my new companion! She is my ´grand-daughter´ (I trained Irmã Almeida, who then trained Irmã Egbert), and she´s awesome, so I´m excited to serve with her.

This last Friday we had a combined zone conference with Elder Caussé, who in the the Presidency of the Europe Area (general authority). It was an amazing conference that I loved, and some big news was announced as well. As of July, the Lisboa and the Porto missions will be combined, and there will just be one Portugal mission! President Torgan will take over the combined mission! This is really big news here, and I´m excited for the progress that this shows we are making, even though I won´t be here when it actually happens. It is amazing to see all the blessings and miracles that the Lord is doing here in Portugal, and I´m so glad I get to be a part of His work :D

I loved the conference that we had- we talked a lot about consecration, which has been on my mind a lot recently, and it was amazing to truly learn by the spirit. Elder Caussé started off by having us personally answer 3 questions- why we are on a mission, what are our srengths, and what do we want to improve. It was interesting to reflect and then see how my own thoughts and needs were responded in the conference. One of my favorite scriptures during my whole mission has been Helaman 3:35. I always focused on the prayer and fasting, and have really tried to put into practice these concepts. It didn´t really hit me until Friday how I was missing the part in the middle of the verse- that they were firm in Humility and strong in Faith. One of the themes that I really got out of the meeting was the importance of humility. Reflecting on my thoughts and actions recently, I realized how prideful I have been! It´s always good when the spirit brings us down...the next day during personal study I read Alma 37, when alma is giving counsel to his son. At the end of the chapter he talks about the need to avoid pride, and not thank God for being better than other people, but to recognize our own unworthiness before the Lord! That chapter was really for me that day, especially following the conference. At times it is so easy to judge others without knowing their heart or circumstance. We really can not compare ourselves ,but just work to improve our own faults and work out our own salvation. I learned a lot of things at the conference, but don´t have much time, so I´ll just leave you with that bit :)

Well, we´re hitting the end of January! After a couple of spring-like days the cold, wind, and rain returned with a vengeance! I never knew that you could put on so many layers of clothing ;) Usually I use 2 pairs of pants (leggings), under my skirt with boots, and 2-3 jackets under my coat and scarf...it takes 10 minutes just to get all the layers on before leaving the house!! :P

This week was good overall. We had a baptism yesterday of a girl that´s nine years-old. Her parent aren´t members, but she has two brothers that are members, one serving a mission in Porto. We started teaching her a few months ago, but in the end she didn´t have a lot of desire to be baptized. We decided recently to start teaching her again, and it was interesting to see the difference, and how the Lord prepares the hearts of His children. She really wanted to be baptized, and it was neat that her brother was able to baptize her (he´s a priest). It took him three times, but he did a good job!

We´ve also started teaching a mom and her teenage daughter, and they´re amazing. We contacted them a few weeks ago, but after several missed connections we finally began teaching them last week. The first lesson was really good, and they came to church (which is always a higlight :D )I´m really excited for them and hope they continue to progress.

It´s funny how we receive so many blessings, and how at times the Lord answers prayers before we even think of them. On Saturday we had to pay our gas bill, which we had meant to do during the week but never had time or were close to the place. We got there on Saturday at 12:35, to see the sign that says they close at 12:30. We didn´t know what to do since it was the last day to pay the bill. So while we´re standing there thinking and debating what to do, a woman comes up, and entering asked what we needed. We showed the bill we needed to pay, and she helped us so that we could pay the bill even though the system had already been shut down. What a BLESSING! It´s amazing how the Lord knows even the little things that we need...

At the beginning of the month, our President talked about the value of our message and the truths that we teach (see D&C 6:7). He grabbed a backpack and asked who we know that needs 2000 euros...what we have is worth even more. So following this method, we have had a few lessons of ´´2000 euros´´, where we ask members who they know that needs 2000 euros....which has led to some intresting situations!!!!! We asked one member who he knew that needed 2000 euros, if someone he knew had had a baby, a death, or other event or problem recently. He then started to recount how his son had died last year, but he hadn´t told anyone in the church, about the problems he has....basically pointing to himself. When we pulled out the ´´´2000 euros´´ (aka the Book of Mormon), he just started to laugh. Similar things have happened with other members...funny how it is human nature to think of ourselves! But I know that we really do have the greatest wealth, which is the truth. We have hope to achieve eternal life, which is the greatest gift that we could ever receive.

sorry this email is random and scattered...but sometimes thats kinda the way life is!! I hope you have a great week and remember I love ya. :D

Irmã Geiger

PS- Who do YOU know that needs 2000 euros?!

I know I say it every week, but I can´t believe its pday again. The days fly by here...this last week was just normal. We´ve found a lot of new investigators, which is good, but a lot of our return appointments fell through, which is always sad and frustrating. But we found one family that was taught and went to church about 4 years ago, and they have a friend who is a member who talked a lot with them when they visited Switzerland one time. The mom went to church and loved it, and I´m excited to hopefully see them progress.

This week in our district meeting the zone leaders had given us some scriptures to read about santification (? santificação). I love reading and learning about this topic, because really this is our purpose here- to become sanctified. One of my favorite scriptures is Helaman 3:35, where the members of the chuch fasted and prayed, and became sanctified as they gave their hearts to the Lord. Oftentimes we talk about the sanctifying power of the holy ghost- I really like Alma 13:11-12 that talks about this power. There are a lot more scriptures that I found and like, but I´ll leave it to you to find more!