Hey Mommy!!

So, this week was a great week. I LOVE my new comp! She's super fabulous! Love her to death:). Manuel is doing awesome. Still prepping for the mission, and as you can see, he came to a baptism (of the other sisters in the other ward) dressed very nicely (see attached photo). He goes to institute every week and is really excited to be a ward missionary (just like you!) and the ward really wants to send him out on a mission:). As long as he doesn't get deported to São Tome (The problem is that the church is not in São Tome), then we'll all be happy. He's also been working on his family history. Our little eleito! We've been fasting that his stepmother will let us teach the rest of his family, nothing yet, but we're gonna try some brownies, no one can say no to brownies.

So, when I say that this week was great, I really really mean it this time:). I love my comp! We worked really hard and had fun too:). We marked a man named Luis for baptism, but then he unmarked himself when he refused to keep the Law of Chastity (sick haha) and said that those things were "natural" things (he wouldn't take the fact that the scriptures say that the natural man is an enemy to God) and that he didn't believe that was a law from God. There are some really interesting people in this world, plus I can't believe anyone would even break that law with him:P. We saw him the day after, and he had changed his mind. He says he really wants to be baptized and that he will obey all of God's commandments. We're gonna really pray about him first, a baptism isn't worth the risk of his soul if he backs out of that. Missionary work is a little scary when you think about the fact that people who get baptized and make wrong decisions and don't repent are condemning themselves... yikes. We also found a family of 7 people in one day! We were fasting and we were tired and grumpy, and Sister Warner, who had just come from training a greenie, told me to go and contact a young man, and being a willing companion, I contacted him. Turned out he'd just moved here from São Tome to be with his family here and he was very nice, but didn't have a phone and didn't remember the number of his house. So we stood there kind of stumped about what to do until an idea came to my mind to ask him if we could just walk to his house with him. We did, and we found a huge family of seven smiling family members who were really nice and totally open to listening to us. Then, the best part of them all, that is usually the scary thing here, I asked them if they were married, and THEY WERE!!! We're super excited about them. That same day, we also ate at TWO houses. I was extremely full. 

Then Sunday, we had a miracle in church! We'd invited a whole bunch of people and we'd passed lots in the morning and yet no one who we had marked to be there showed up, but we still had 3 people! We'd done a contact in the road on Saturday who is from France, and he came and brought two friends from France! We are going to pass their addresses to the missions in France. I hope that there are some missionaries there who speak Portuguese! We also had a fun party for one of the sisters who is going home next week. It was kind of crazy, because she was supposed to go home at the end of this transfer, and President called and he said he felt like she should be sent home a month early! So, she's on her way home! 

Oh, and poor Sister Warner, I wake her up all the time! I've never talked more in my sleep than this past week! I think that the practices that president has got us doing are stressing me out because I keep having dreams about doing the practices, and then I wake both of us up repeating the practices and scriptures out loud in my sleep... oops:). Just thought that was funny:).

Then today, Sister Warner and I went to this cute little used clothing store, and I (for my birthday and for my halfway mark, which it's almost been a month, but oh well) got myself some really cute used skirts for super cheap:). I'm pretty excited about them:). Now the problem is just how am I going to transfer with them? Good thing that winter is almost over and I can just leave that stuff here...:)

Well, I love you tons and I hope that you have a great week! This week, carry a Book of Mormon with you, give it out to someone who needs it. I promise that you will find someone:). 

Love always,

Sister Wach

 

Hey Mom!

It sounds like it was a good week. Eventful is always better than nothing happening. Give Jake a kiss for me and tell him I said I'm sorry that he hurt himself and that I love him! I did receive your package! Thanks a ton! I also got a few cards, which was really nice, and Gma e Gpa Wach sent me some tights, which I was needing because the tights here stink and I have holes in the toes of all my others:). The life of a sister missionary:).I'm still in Almada, but I got a new companion. Her name is Sister Warner and she's from San Fransisco. I had to wait in the train station for 4 hours for her to get there! Thankfully, Sister Galloway from my district in the MTC had to wait too and so she and I waited for 3 hours together:). Manuel is doing fabulous, he just got called as a ward missionary and he's really excited about it, but he was really sad that Sister Williams left. It's cool because the ward has a goal, they want to have him out on the mission by the end of the year, so they're working on that! I just hope that he can figure out his citizenship because right now he's not a Portuguese citizen, he's from São Tome and was just here studying. But I know that if the Lord wants him to serve a mission, then he'll get everything figured out:). The emails that I send and receive just stay in my LDSmail because it's too expensive to print them out, and I would have to lug them around during my mission and that would stink. I'm just hoping that I don´t get transferred from here until the end of winter so that I don't have to take any of my winter stuff with me. We have no new investigators, which is really hard. We've been strictly obedient and we've been doing contacts ALL day every day, but sometimes we just have our faith tested and then we receive blessings. I can feel that things are about to turn around here with Sister Warner here with me. My birthday was great. I got up and the other three sisters sang Happy Birthday to me, and then Sister Williams made pancakes for breakfast. Then we went out and worked for a while and then we had a cake that I'd made (from the package because I got it the day before) for lunch and all the 6 of the sisters were there. It was really fun and they tried to sing to me in portuguese but it went really badly haha. The song is different in Portugal than in Brazil and so none of us know it all the way, we hit this point where when the Portuguese sing it the words become inaudible and so we just kind of all mumbled at that part haha. Oh, and Cátia from São Miguel called and wished me a happy birthday, so that was really cool. Then the rest of the day we just worked:). It was good. I liked it a lot. On Sunday, we do go to all three classes, except instead for going to regular sunday school, they have one especially for investigators and recent converts that we go to. 

Things are going well here. We really still aren't teaching, and that´s hard, but as long as we just keep trying, everything will work out. Truthfully, there is not anything to talk about. Sister Williams and I taught our first first lesson (the restauration) together for the first time in the transfer, so that was interesting. We're working on finishing up teaching our recent converts and just looking for new people. 

Oh, and I learned some AWESOME news! Remember José, my first baptism, the one in Ponta Delgada? Well, before I moved from the islands, he moved back to Canada, and so next month he's going to go to the temple for the first time! Then in October he's going to Utah to see all the temples!! So I might be able to see him right after I get home! I'm SO excited for him! He is really really awesome!

Well, I love you! Give everyone there my love! Thanks for everything mom!

Love always,

Sister Wach

 

Hey Mom!

I love the picture! It's adorable! Tell everyone that I said thanks and that I love them all!:). I'm glad that you had a great birthday! It sounds like it was a fun day, though I do not want to hear what tasty food you ate or what movie you went and saw that I have to wait 9 more months for;). That's cool that you got to go to Sunday School, and I'm excited for Ryan to start his mission papers (I want you to send me a video when he opens his call) and I hope that Jacob LOVED the temple:). I haven't gotten the package yet, but I'm sure it will get here eventually. The dermatologist went well. The lady said that it's looking good, and she's right, I'm not really clearing up everywhere, but my forehead is really clear and she said the rest will be in a few more months. It was kind of a nice day when we went because we had to go back to Benfica. We'd just finished divisions with the sister training leaders (I went with Sister Nigri from Brazil, who is really great, and I learned a lot, and I contacted a TJ on accident and wow, in the end of the contact, he was crying and he even let us pray with him! It was a super strong contact!  Afterwards, Sister Williams and I took the metro from here in Feijo to Pragal where we took the train, and then we took another metro to Alfornelos and then walked to the office. I'd actually gotten a package from Gpa and Gma Wach which was really nice of them, tights, which was perfect, because I had just gotten a hole in my last good pair of black ones:). Then we went to lunch in the mall (I had Brazilian food, tell Dad he should be jealous;)) so that was a change:). Then when we got back to our area and we had a ward activity where we watched a movie:). It's always nice to have a little change.

Well, this week was good. We saw the drunk man who I almost hit with my umbrella a few times. He had a lovely metal stick this time and wanted to know where my umbrella was haha. We see him all the time, and he always says "Ola Sister! Onde está a guarda chuva?!" I think I'll remember him forever:). 

Well, truthfully,  I can not think of anything else to say about the week! It was one where everyday was the same. It was a little rough:). It was cold and dark and rainy. Plus we have absolutely no investigators. I don't think we taught any actual lessons this week other than for our recent converts. Manuel is doing really good. He's been going to the Young Single Adults activities and he likes to walk with us in the road and do contacts. He also is going to talk to the bishop this week to talk about preparing to serve a mission, or at least a mini mission. Oh, and during church yesterday, the bishop gave a really strong talk about how the members need to bring someone to church next week for Ward Conference, and invited everyone to do so, and so after church, Manuel was telling us that he was going to bring someone.  He's a really great guy. Then Pedro, who was baptized just before I got here, he got the priesthood on Sunday (Sister Pinto actually found him when she was here, and she calls him every Sunday to make sure he went to church, in fact, I got to talk to her yesterday on the phone! Super weird:)), and he's super excited to use it. Then another recent convert who had gone inactive, she came to church on Sunday because we taught her this week with one of the counselors in the YWs (the girl is 15), and wow the counselor did amazing! The counselor, Irmã is a recent convert also, who was baptized in São Miguel and moved here. There are SO many amazing members here! 

Our only investigators that we have, we're going to drop. It's really sad. The man, M., is just to much of an atheist, and the mother just thinks we're entertainment, those cute little American girls;). We went over to their house yesterday and we talked about the Book of Mormon and we watched the film The Testaments with them, and M. was really rude and just laughed through it. Sister Williams and I were pretty offended by that, and when we got out of the house, we both decided that we weren't going back because we're not helping anything, plus the house is just not a good environment. I've never taught in house and had an investigator that makes me doubt what I'm doing until now (Sister Williams said the same), and we decided that it wasn't worth it to keep teaching them. Maybe one day they'll both be ready. I think that one day M. will accept, but not just yet. It’s always sad to drop people, because we just come to love them and we feel sad that what we've got, that will bring joy into their lives, isn't what they want.

It's almost time for transfers again! This is the last week of the transfer! Kind of crazy! Sister Williams will probably not stay any longer, so I could have a new companion next week! 

Well, I love you tons! Have a great week!

Love always,
Sister Wach

 

Hey Mom!

Sorry, I won't really be writing today! I only have ten minutes due to the internet being down where we usually go and so me and one of the other sisters who live in our house ran to the chapel so that we could do internet for at least 10 minutes (we called President about doing it another time and he said we just had to wait until next week, and so the other sister and I decided that it was worth it to go even just for a few minutes).

We'll do better about getting to the computer place earlier in the day. We went to Lapa today and we had just enough time to do internet but when we got there, the man who owns the place said that the internet is down in the whole area, and so we couldn't figure out what to do and the other sisters didn't want to do anything, and so Sister Taylor and I decided to call and see if we could go on a division, and we ran to the chapel. It's about a 30 minute walk, and we ran it in ten. I'm super sweaty! Haha.

But it was a good week. I almost hit a drunk man with my umbrella, so that was fun:). Sister Williams was walking in front of me and talking on the phone and the man came out and he touched her face and grabbed her arm and then he came to touch me and I told him to back off or I would hit him with my umbrella. It was funny, especially since we've seen him a few times since then. Drunk people are crazy:). Manuel is still good, he got the priesthood on Sunday! For our halfway mark we took some great pictures that are tradition that I'll try and remember to send next week, and we at pastries at a pastry shop:).

Love ya!

Sister Wach