Hey Mãe!

Well, this week was INSANE for us. Monday we went and we partied it up in Lapa (where the cruise ships dock) for all of P-day! We saw a whole bunch of cool stuff. We went to a castle, a whole bunch of cool squares with famous statues in them, then we rode the elevator of Santa Justa, and then we went to a super cool museum that is made of a super cool church that was damaged in an earthquake and then a fire and so it didn't have a roof. It cost to go in, not much since I had my BYU ID and I said I was a student, but it was totally worth it. That was probably the coolest P-day I've had so far in my mission:). Then Tuesday was the start of an insane week. We're teaching some really cool people, all of them young, educated, mission age men. It's pretty cool. We went from spending all day in the road having people reject us to just not having enough time to teach our investigators! On Tuesday, we taught a man who I'd met last transfer with Sister Briggs who had come to church on Sunday. We'd talked to him in the street a few times and we always set up meetings with him and he never was there and we invited him to church and he never came. But we'd met him because he'd walked up to us and he asked if we knew where he could get "Joseph Smith´s Bible." We then handed him the Book of Mormon. The other times we saw him, he was always drunk or smoking, and he told us that he had read all of the book of Ether because it was the name of a drug, and he told us that the way that he gets spiritual experiences is by using mushrooms and that we should try it. Needless to say, we said no. But, after that, Sister Briggs and I nicknamed him "Eduardo Mushrooms." Well, on Sunday he showed up at church and we didn't know it until the elders texted us and told us that we had an awesome investigator in priesthood and that he was already ready to be baptized. Then, I saw who it was, and I thought they were insane. Well, Tuesday, we actually taught him! It was really cool. We went to his house with a member, and we taught the first lesson, and so as part of the first lesson, we always ask them to be baptized, well I did so, and then I felt like I should just keep going, and I ended up inviting him to be baptized on Sunday, and he said YES!!! Then we had him pray to know if it was true with us in the lesson, and he did so, and we just sat and waited to see how he felt, and we waited and waited and waited and waited until he finally looked up and was like "I don't normally feel this kind of peace, I think that's my answer." Then started the craziness! Wednesday we taught him the lesson, The Gospel of Jesus Christ with The Word of Wisdom, which he accepted. Then on Thursday we taught EVERYTHING else. It was insane. We did have a little bit of a misunderstanding though:). That night, a member came and said that she'd seen him smoking and that he'd been all excited to see her and to tell her that he was getting baptized, and so we went and found him, and I guess that we'd had a bit of a misunderstanding with the fact that illegal drugs are included in the Word of Wisdom...oops:). His interview was supposed to be on Friday, but we'd had another mistake where we had given him a talk by President Monson because he wasn't sure that he was a prophet, and we told him to read it and pray, but when he got to the interview we didn't have time to talk to him beforehand because we were teaching another of our investigators (Hugo, who is VERY VERY handsome, and super awesome. He speaks English like a pro and he's super nice:)) and the lesson had run overtime, so he went into the interview and the first thing he said was that he didn't know that President Monson was a prophet (we're bad missionaries, that was our fault), and so Elder Ryan, the DL, helped him to look up another talk online and rebooked the interview for Saturday. Then Saturday came around and he didn't show up!!! It was so stressful, and we were like, he's not getting baptized! But, we'd already scheduled members to do everything for the baptism, and so we decided it was easier to cancel all the things for the baptism Sunday morning that it was to try and put it together Sunday morning, and so we called and double checked with all of them, and we made the paper program. Then Sunday rolled around and the time that we'd texted him and told him to be there came and went and we were like, nope, not happening. Then 15 minutes before church, he just strolls up to the chapel and tells the elders that he's there for his interview! Then the elders called us (we were on our way to see if he was in the bar we always saw him at so that we could beat him), and we had to run around with our heads chopped off trying to get everything ready! Baptism days are the best, and the worst. Best because someone is getting baptized, and worst because everything that can go wrong goes wrong. First, the font wasn't on. Then the baptismal clothes (we're lucky we even had some in his size, he's a bigger guy) were super dirty. Someone hadn't washed them or hung them up. Then I couldn't find my USB stick where I'd saved the program. Then one of the speakers, who was also doing a musical number didn't show up. But, thankfully everything worked out just fine; the font filled in time and the water was warm, we scrubbed the dirty spots out of the clothes, I'd been blessed that I'd saved a copy of the baptismal program from Jéssica's baptism on the computer and deleted it, so all I had to do was restore the copy and change the names, and then the young women stepped up and did the music number instead and Aline prepared a talk in 5 minutes that was really good. We even had an investigator there! We were the only ones of 3 pairs of missionaries that had anyone in church, and we had 3 people! Plus, to top the day off, we had a delicious dinner at a members house. Then today, we've had a good day also! We took a nap and then we got haircuts! I just got mine a little shorter and I got my bangs back, but Sister Stokes cut off like ten inches! She had hair almost to her bum and now it's just longer than her shoulders! She looks adorable! I also got to see my twin, my favorite elder today, and my MTC comp and we're gonna go and get lunch:). It was a really good week. Missionary work is so much better when there is work to be done! 

Well, that's all I got for you today! Love you mom!

Love,

Sister Wach

 

Hey Mom!

The stuff didn't help my face at all. I have taken it every day without missing even one time and nothing changed. I stopped taking it, and I talked to Sister Fluckiger instead and she had me go to a dermatologist. So, I'm now on Accutane. Turns out that I don't have to do all the really crazy stuff that I had to do the last time I tried to take it (going to the doctor tons, taking birth control, etc) because the doctor thought we were nuns. Good stuff. My face hasn't changed too much because it's only been a few days, but we'll see:). When I'm done taking what she gave me, I'll go back to taking what you sent because at least I'll have the other in my system also. Sister Stokes is really great. She's super sweet. I'm glad Sister Pinto liked my picture. Inacia, the woman in the picture, She´s 92. But, she comes to church every week and she says she wants to help us and walk with us because our portuguese isn't good (supposedly, but hey, people say they understand), she also insists that she wants to pay her tithing and that she paid to be baptized. She always says that this is "the church of the future." Boy is she right, the church of the past, present and future far beyond what the mind can comprehend:). Gotta love old people:). Sounds like ya´ll had a fun week! A little bit crazy, but crazy is better than boring:). I don't mind hearing about the project, it sounds like it's going really well:). Oh, and I did get the seeds. Thanks! I got two things at the same time from you because the elders in the office had been hiding them from me haha:). 

So I have some lovely things that are gonna add a little stress to your next few days:). Christmas packages have to be sent from the US by the 21st of this month. If not, then we won't get them by Christmas. They might get to the office in time, but we won't get them until after Christmas the next time that president comes. I can't really think of anything that I want, but I do have a few things to ask for. I was wondering if you could send me a new watch (I gave mine surgery, it was falling apart and so I sewed it and then I taped it... it's a wreck;)), some mascara (I like the Covergirl eyelights waterproof one in the color black gold, so if you can find that one, that's great, if not, no worries), a white short sleeve shirt from Downeast Basics, and a thing of deodorant (the kind they have here is awful. I like the Dove kind, but whatever, beggers can't be choosers:)), and I think that's it:). Sorry, it's a long list for short notice:P.

Well, this week was good. we were busy, so that was nice. We spent a lot of time with the members, which is my favorite. One thing I've learned about missionary work is that when the members are your friends, it is just so much better, they're willing to take you to meet their friends, or to spend the day working with you. The members here are awesome. Every week we teach an English class, we also have a gospel principles class, and family home evening, plus this week, I taught the young women how to make brigadeiros in the microwave, which was way fun. We were supposed to have the young men too, but they ended up going to a soccer game in our area in the stadium of Benfica that was Portugal vs. Sweden. Portugal won. They scored one goal, Ronaldo (who is very very nice looking...;)), scored it and people are still excited about it. When the game ended we happened to be in the area (we got in house late because we couldn't even walk through all the crowds, and I lost Sister Stokes twice!), and it looked like a gigantic mass of thousands of people leaving a funeral. They all looked so sad, I thought they'd lost. The Portuguese are so different that us in the US! We would have been going crazy:).

I can't think of anything really to say, we haven't been up to anything new. Arlindo (Jessica's grandpa), nothing has changed with him (he fell up the stairs in his apartment building and so he couldn't walk to go down them so he could go to church, and so he didn't come:(). Guilherme didn't come to church, which was super super sad. We did have a man who showed up though named Eduardo. Sister Briggs and I met him last transfer. He came up to us and asked us how he could get Joseph Smith's Bible, and so we handed him the Book of Mormon. Yesterday was the first time I haven't seen him drunk. I think he liked church a lot though, so that's cool. He always has lots of wacky questions. Sister Briggs and I called him Eduardo Mushrooms because he told us one time that that's the way that he has spiritual experiences and how great mushrooms (the drug kind) are, and then he tried to convince us we should try it. I couldn't believe that he actually came to church so that was awesome. Then the girl that we met last week, who was the friend of a member, she went to YWs and to seminary once this week. She really likes the church, she likes that we don't scream when we pray. She says she wants to be baptized, but she's still underage and she doesn't have the time right now to talk to us. I hope we can figure it out though because I would love to see her and her niece baptized:). Oh, Yesterday, we spent almost all day with an inactive member. She was super nice, and she's gonna come to church on Sunday because Irmã Ellen is gonna give her a ride. We stayed to long and We had 30 minutes left before we could go inside and we tried to contact a few people, but it was super pathetic. We contacted this man and his dog, introduced ourselves and asked him if he believed in God, and he said no, and we were so tired we didn't even keep trying to talk to him when he walked away haha. Then we decided to wander on our street and contact everyone that we saw... which was no one because it was cold and dark and a Sunday, but we were about to turn back when we saw a young man and we decided we should talk to him. His name is Hugo and he speaks English perfectly and he's really awesome. He was super curious and we ended up teaching him the first lesson in the road, in English, which it is super hard to teach in english, especially to pray. We're gonna meet with him this week, and we're excited about it. It's funny, because we were so anxious to go inside and we had like 15 minutes til we could go inside and we talked to him and we ended up going in 5 minutes after the latest we can be outside (we can go in the house at 9:30 and we HAVE to be in the house by 10 or else we have to call the Zone leaders)! 

Well, I've got to go! Love you all tons! This gospel is true!

Love,

Sister Wach  

Hey Mãe!
My new companion is Sister Stokes, she's not so new, since we're now going on week three together:). She's sweet. She's almost a year older than me, she's very pretty and she's from Henderson, Nevada.

Well, this week was good. It started out a little rough, but ended fabulously. We went to Linda Velha for Pday and we went to the Torre de Belém, a monastery, and the Monument to Discovery. It was all really cool and I took lots of cool pictures. Tuesday we had training and interviews with President. It was good. It's always good to learn to be a new missionary. Then we, on Wednesday, had the sister training leaders come and we did divisions and so I spent the day with Sister Gibbs, who came into the mission with me. She was great, and it was just what I needed. I'd been having kind of a rough time lately and I had just felt like I'd kind of lost Megan somewhere along the way, the fun spirited and hard working part. I was just tired and kind of ornery. But in the training with President we'd been given these new books that the church is now giving missionaries that talks about better adjusting to missionary life, and we were challenged to use it, and so I decided to do just that. I'd already read it all, because I'd borrowed it from the office with the office elders' permission a few weeks before, and so I decided to look in a part that I remembered reading about "rededicating yourself" to the Lord and so I decided to give it a whirl on Friday:). When I woke up on Saturday, I just found myself ready to have a great day, or at least to fake it. We ended up talking to LOTS of people and it just turned out great. Then I had more confidence for Sunday, so on Sunday, Sister Stokes and I taught our first lessons of the transfer that weren't just in the road lessons! We even had a member present for all of them! It was an absolutely fabulous day. We had two really cool experiences. The first one we had just taught a lesson at a house when a little girl that I had seen before came up and stood by us to stare at us. I'd talked to her before and given her one of our cards with Jesus' face. I asked her if she still had it and she said yes, that it was on the wall in her bedroom. Then we asked if we could talk to her mom, and she said she didn't live with her mom but with her aunt instead. We went with her, and the person who opened the door at her house was one of her cousins, who just happened to be a friend of the member's from school. Then the member invited her to an activity we're having (I'm going to teach the youth how to make brigadeiros in the microwave) and said she'd come and get her before so she could come to the activity also! Then afterward we taught a lesson with a man who had been taught in the past by the sisters named Guilherme. We were a little apprehensive because we read his record that we have from the last time he was taught. we got to the lesson, and he lots of questions. We didn't have answers for them, so
I told him that he just needed to pray and he would know that the church was true and if he knew that, then the rest wouldn't matter. He told us after that he had done that already but that he hadn't received an answer. So then I told him that I was the same way. I hadn't felt any warm feeling in my heart or anything fancy when I prayed to know it was true, but instead I had put it into practice and learned that it was true. So I promised him that if he put it into practice then he would know it was true. Then a member invited him to an activity about eternal marriage and I told him that he should go if he really wanted to know and come to church also. He said he didn't have time because of school (he's working on a masters in engineering), but I told him that if he really wanted to know, he had to do the work to find out. Then we left at that and we went to our apartment to get our jackets and a quick dinner. When I was making dinner I felt like I just needed to call him, and so I did. When I called him I told him that if he would act like a member, read his scriptures, pray, keep the commandments in the pamphlets (he'd had all the lessons the first time around, but had a ton of questions about each "rule" and so we just handed him all the pamphlets and told him to read them), and go to church, he would know that it was true. He said that he didn't have time, and I pointed out that it was just ten minutes of scripture reading, and two one minute prayers, and an hour of church, and he said he would do it. I know, with all my heart, that if he does what we told him to do (which is what the spirit told us to say), he will know it's true. It was a cool experience, to be able to promise something like that as a servant of the Lord and say it without a doubt. Afterward, we were on fire, and so we did 8 contacts in half an hour. It ended up being a really good day, and it was nice to have such a pick me up after two rough weeks:). All in all, it was a great week, I even finally got the recipe for microwave brigaderios. I made them for some of the ward, and they loved them. I was told a few times (this is hilarious that this what a Brazilian man considers to be something that you have to have in a woman) by a few of the Brazilian men that after the mission I am finally ready to get married haha. So the qualifications for marriage for Brazilians living in Portugal is to be able to make good brigadeiros haha:). We're also teaching a man named Arlindo, it's Jessica's grandpa. He's really great. He can't walk though because half of his body is paralyzed and so a family (the same family that pays for us to eat out) picks him up on Sundays. He says he knows the church is true and he wants to be baptized (we had a really powerful lesson with him about it) but he says that he won't be baptized until he can walk to church by himself. So, we'll just see what happens there. We're still teaching Andre, but he probably won't be baptized this week because we haven't been able to get into contact with him.
Well, I got to go, but I love you tons!
Love always,
Sister Wach