Hey Mom!
I hope things are well and that this week was great! I attached some pictures, one is right before the baptism of Manuel, which was a little crazy but turned out really well, Sister Williams and I look a little crazy because we hadn't showered, in fact, we took our first showers this morning since before Christmas because we finally got the water fixed! The other is at Cristo Rei looking out on the bridge with the statue behind us, and the last is Christmas Eve with the family who fed us that night:)
Well, this week was good, it was nice to talk to you all, and we'll talk again soon, as I'm sure Dia da Mãe (this is Portuguese, by the way, not Brasilian, which would be Dia das Mães, just so no one tries to correct me...;)) will be here before we know it! It's super crazy because I'm gonna hit my halfway mark this week! I can't even believe it! It's the fastest/slowest 9 months ever and I hear it only gets faster! That's frightening. We're gonna go out to eat with the other sisters in our house because Sister Carroll (one of the other sisters), Sister Williams, and I will hit our halfway marks all at the same time. It's gonna be fun:).
Well, for what we did this week, sadly I can never remember haha. Monday we went to Cristo Rei, which was really fun, and then we ate at an Indian restaurant which was really good, and REALLY expensive, but the people who worked there thought we were cool, and so instead of paying 33 euros like we should have, we only paid 10. Sometimes it pays off to be from America;). Then we wandered around in the rain. That's the theme for this week, rain, it hasn't stopped yet! But hey, at least we'll have lots of water later. Tuesday we only taught one lesson, the lesson for Manuel, his last one before his baptism, tithing. It went well, and he ended up explaining it to the member who was there, that was new (we're teaching them together because recent converts have to have all of the lessons again after baptism, and because we need a place to teach Manuel since his mom won't let us visit the house anymore). He's a really cool guy. Then we ate dinner at a member's house, Cátia and João and then Cátia´s grandparents, Rodrigo and Perpetua who are all in our ward. It was fun, and they were really nice to us, but we got home at 11pm! We had to call president and ask for permission to stay out, he was a little annoyed, but I think that a lot of other people had already called also. Meals here in Portugal are big affairs that take hours and start really late (they eat dinner at like 9pm, and it takes at least 2 hours to eat). Then Christmas we got up and we opened our presents in front of our paper tree that one of the mothers had sent. We read Luke 2 for companionship study (all 4 of us together), then we all caroled together in a square. After, we went with the elders in our district and we had lunch at Irmã Lidia´s house. It was a TON of food. There wasn't anything super weird and most of it was really really good:). Then we went to the capela and I talked to you (that was fun by the way! Love ya all!), and afterward all 10 of the missionaries in our ward and the other had pizza together. It was a good Christmas! People always say that the Christmases in the mission are the best, and I can see why, it was definitely cool to get to serve the Lord on that day and really understand the purpose of the Savior´s birth:). Thursday we taught some recent converts, had Manuel´s interview (which he passed! Woot! With flying colors, and Elder Bryan was like "good job on finding an eleito, sisters." That's how we sisters roll;)) Afterward we had dessert at an investigator's house. They texted us because they know that I have a weak spot for desserts and they gave us a TON of cake. I think I gained ten kilograms in 3 days. Serious. Friday, I don't even remember, other than that we had weekly planning, and that the owner of the house we live in came to check out the house and so we spent a while doing a deep clean and hiding our (well, the other sisters) empty cereal box collection from last transfer (imagine 100+ boxes of cereal on top of the cabinets in the kitchen... yup.). Sadly she didn't fix the water, she did give the other sisters a good scare though because they all went and hid and left me to talk to her! Saturday we had lunch with Irmã Lidia again. It was really good, and there wasn't TOO much this time. We had cachupa and mango pudding. It was good. Then we had Manuel´s baptism, which was a little crazy. It was sad though because none of his family showed up, neither did his friend who gave him a reference, or any of the members who were supposed to speak. So, Sister Williams and I gave the talks. The baptismal room was filled with 10 missionaries, the 1st counselor in the ward, one family of four people who I'm really grateful for, and Manuel. Talk about a little crazy. Baptisms on Saturday are hard, but at least it's a lot more likely they'll show up the next day to get the Holy Ghost! Sunday was good. We went to church, where there was a 70 who is from Portugal. He gave the ward some hard faca about getting an education, talking about how we need to know our own religion, and telling them that those people who are out of work are never going to get work again because of the economy. He also talked about the blessings of the temple and how we need to work together to get the temple here, especially since it's been 4 years since it was announced and the fact that people keep being baptized but yet the ward still isn't growing, and is instead shrinking. It was a fantastic talk. We taught a really cool lesson also. We went to one of our investigator's houses, and we brought the Restauration DVD with us, and it just was not working and I just started praying and it started working. One thing I'm learning more and more in my mission is that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers and that prayer is a very powerful thing! The spirit was really strong during the lesson. I LOVE feeling the spirit! Best thing ever! Then after, they fed us dinner and dessert. I'm getting fat. Today was good too. We got the water fixed! (The man who fixed it, he's a bishop in Caiscais, and he's really awesome. He was a good guy, and he sang hymns the whole time that he was working. I want to marry someone like that haha, handy, and sings hymns while they work out of happiness!) Then we just bummed around all day.
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