wow, it seems like Spring is finally coming! I think we´re all excited, especially those in the snowstorms in Michigan! Good luck :)

This last week taught me a lot- at times it was rough, but I really felt the blessings of the Lord.

Last pday we went with our elders to Sintra, to the Quinta do Regaleira, which is a big old house with gardens that are AMAZINGLY cool- like underground caves and tunnels, towers, and just about everything you could wish for. It was the coolest ´´touristy´´ thing I´ve done here in Portugal. It was an awesome pday. At the end of pday our zone leaders called and said that our President and Assistants had prayed and they wanted to know yes\no if we would have a baptism this week. They asked us to pray and then call back with an answer, but if we said yes, we really had to baptise....(no pressure!). So we prayed and we felt that we would have a baptism, and basically we made a covenant that we would have a baptism this week. I´ve learned a lot about covenants and the power and blessings we have when we make covenants, but its a lot of pressure when you covenant with God that you will baptise someone! But I really felt that He would do His part as we did everything that we could...but there is always a trial of faith!

So this week we were really focused and really doing everything that we could. But the first couple days of the week were unusually rough- not finding new people, appointments falling through, and things just working out very well. I really felt that the Lord was teaching about humility- we could (and we were) doing everything that we could, but we cannot determine our own success. But it was really interesting- despite the difficulties that we were having, I could appreciate the lessons that we were learning in the moment, and I still really had faith that we would fulfill our covenant to have a baptism. And just like we always hear, the Lord fulfills his promises and after the trial of faith we will receive His blessings, and we did!

So we received the ´´call´´ on Monday, and we went 3 days without sucess in marking anyone. Remember that family that I talked about last week that I felt we should pass by and we found the daughter at home and she went to church? We had marked an appointment with her early in the week, but she had to leave to visit a relative and our appointment fell through. We tried to pass at other times, but she was never home (and she doesn´t have a phone). When we were on the way to visit someone else Thursday night, we saw her in the road and marked an appointment with her (no way it was coincidence to find her in that road at 9pm!). We had felt earlier in the week (after praying) that she was ready to be baptized, so in our lesson on Friday we invited her to be baptized on Sunday, and she accepted! It has been an amazing experience to teach her, becuase she is a perfect example of someone whose heart has been prepared by the Lord. She is so willing to learn, and recognizes the truth...we didn´t really have to do anything expect teach her, because the Lord had already done the rest. It was a HUGE miracle for us. She was baptised on Sunday after church, and it was such a special service, and I felt so happy for her, and for the changes that she is making. I feel so privileged that I had the opportunity to find and help her. It was so interesting how the Lord really showed us that it is NOT us that really do this work or bring conversion, but it is His work that is done in His way through th spirit. So even though it was a semana muito dura, it was so worth it for the things that I learned and the miracles that I saw.

We´re still teaching some other famies, and have lots of kids that come to church! We had a church activity on Saturday, and my companion was sitting with Dália (our baptism) and I was sitting with 5 kids ages 11, 9, 8,8, and 8- what a hand full! I want a family, but I want to spread it out a bit :P But I love teaching kids too, they´re so fun.

Well, one more week flew by! It honestly seems that every week passes by faster and faster...I need more TIME!! But this week was a good one.

An update on the flea situation :P - we got rid of them this last week washing and ´´bio-killing´´ everything in our house. Then my poor companion got 4 more bites during one day this week. But we don´t know if it is the same bugs or others...but we´ve gone a few days without anymore bites, so we´re hoping that´s a good sign!

Lately we´ve been finding and teaching lots of families, which is new for me and has been really fun. I love how kids are so willing to listen and learn, and they recognize the truth so easily. And they are actually excited to go to church!!! Yesterday we about doubled the size of our primary with the kids that we brought to church :) They´re really funny and so cute. We had a lesson about OLA (oração, leitura, assistir igreja) and we used mini glowsticks that my comp brought from the states. They don´t have them here, and the kids LOVED them! It´s so fun to teach families :D

The mission leads to lots of moments that you just have to laugh. Have I already mentioned that they have a LOT of dogs here? Yesterday we were walking and tracting on a road that had vivendas (stand alone houses instead of apartment buildings that are more common). There was a dog in the road in front of us, but I didn´t think much about it. My comp is REALLY scared of dogs, so she was a little reluctant to walk by. Suddenly we´re surrounded on both sides of the road by HUGE dogs that are in the yards of the houses on either side (like, St Bernard huge- like a pony!). There are about 5 dogs barking like crazy and growling at us, with one loose in the road! My comp ran away a little, so I found myself alone in the middle of all the dogs! We had to pass through to keep going in the road, so I went back to my comp and pushed\pulled her through the dogs to keep going, and the dog in the road was following and growling at us...finally I got him to leave us alone, but it was soo annoying! I never loved dogs but the mission has sealed a solid hate of dogs in my soul!!

The other day we were walking to an appointment when the heavens opened and we got sooo soaked. We had umbrellas, but with wind and literally rivers of water in the road, it doesn´t help much! When we got to the house, I was wringing out my skirt in the doorway before going in...we stayed wet the whole day, but thankfully eventually the sun came out :)

One of the challenges of the mish (and life!) is learning to be led by the spirit to know what and where to do and go. We had one neat experience this week that really showed how the Lord guides His work. A few months ago the primary had its presentation, and I played the piano. We had a practice on saturday, so we were in the chapel. My comp invited some kids from the street to come watch the practice, and they liked it. We saw the kids a few days later in the street with an adult and talked to them briefly, but didn´t get their contact info, and never saw them again. A couple weeks ago I contacted a woman in the street that was going to buy compras, that said we could pass by her house another day. We passed by a few times, but no one was ever home. This last week while on the way to another appointment that passed by the house, I felt that we should try again. We knocked, and one of the daughters was home and talked to us, and told us that the two younger kids had already gone to our church once and always talked about the church when they passed the chapel- it was the same family that we had seen that one time! We went back the next day and met some other members of the family, and they went to church yesterday with us. It was just so cool to see how we were guided to find this one family- what is the chance that we would contact the mom of these kids in the street and find them again? It´s always neat when things like that happen.

Well, one more week has speeded by! This week was good- we taught a lot and I like working with my new comp a lot. We just need to strengthen our area and help our investigators to progress more. I am really coming to love the ward and the people here in Mem Martins...it´s weird to think that I might end my mission here (thanks for all the trunky emails, by the way :P )

But really, it hits me more every day how grateful I am for the opportunity that I have had to be here, and all the things that I have learned. I really feel that what King Benjamin said in the beginning of Mosias is so true about unprofitable servants. We may obey and do everything that we can to serve the Lord, but He will recompensate us so much more than the little that we have given! Truly the lord turns little sacrifices into great blessings. When we were doing our weekly planning, we started a new agenda because of a new transfer. I was filling in all the dates, and this trasnfer goes until the middle of March! I felt like i wanted to cry when I was looking at the yearly calendar and seeing how little time is left. I love you all, but I don´t want to come home!! I´m glad that I still have 3 long months left to be here, and do my best to help the people here.

This week we had a zone meeting that was really good. One of the scriptures that we read that I really liked was in Doctrine and Covenants, section 33, or roundabout. It talks about how we should open our mouths and it will be filled by the Spirit, like Nephi experienced, and that we will have many sheaves upon our backs (or something like that translation). I had read it recently and really liked those verses, but they asked a question that I hadn´t thought of- why Nephi was used as an example of opening his mouth. One reason I thought of is of what Nephi taught his brothers- basically repentance and trust in the Lord. How many times did they refuse to follow the counsels of the Lord, and didn´t even want to understand His way? Also, it was interesting to think of how Nephi was the youngest brother. He had to teach and chastise and call to repentance those that should have been the examples. Especially as a young missionary, you feel that way a lot as well. Here we are, more or less 20 years old, teaching so many people and families that have a lot of experience in the ´world´, but that need to be called to repentance. At times (a lot!) you feel weak, young, and inadequate, but it is by the weak things of the world that the Lord confounds the wise and brings about His purposes. A lot of times I may be more like Laman or Lemuel, but I want to be like Nephi! I was reading about Captain Moroni today as well, when he lifted the Title of Liberty. What power and courage he had! I want to have the same power in defending the truths of the Lord.

There are always interesting stories that come when you tract, but there were a couple of sad instances this week. We ran into multiple people who basically said the same thing- they didn´t know if what they knew or believed was true, but it was what they were used to and didn´t want to know the truth. When we flat out asked if they would like to know the truth for themselves, they said no. That made me really sad that there are people who aren´t even interested in the truth, but just content to stick to the statis quo. That just means that we as misssionaries and members need to find those who have been prepared by the Lord, that are looking for the truth. I know they exist everywhere- we just have to open our eyes to see them