Hey Mom!

Thanks for the letter, and for the package. I got the package today. Tell everyone I said thanks! It came on Friday but the laws here in Portugal are really awful when it comes to packages and so whenever a package comes it pretty much always has a fee that has to be paid and normally the mission pays for the fee and then we pay them back (so they can hold the package for us) and so the elder who was picking up packages didn't have enough money to get mine too and so he left it there at the post office. Thankfully, the elders said that my package had a really cheap fee compared to others. Some of the people have to pay over $100!!! It's kind of ridiculous because if they can't refund the mission then the mission doesn't take it out of the post office and so it just gets sent back to the parents, then they've wasted however much money it was. So, I had to wait the weekend to go and get it. I went and got it this morning:). It's great, thanks a ton! I'm wearing my new skirt right now and I'm excited to eat all that candy, you guys are the best:).

My comp and I are doing fine. She's a nice girl. She's a hard worker. Jéssica and her mom are okay. The mother Asto, scheduled a hair appointment for during church yesterday and so Jéssica didn't get the Holy Ghost and we got in trouble with our elders because the last three of our baptisms haven't gotten it (I was only here for Jéssica and I have yet to meet the other two people). It's really sad and it makes Sister Briggs really stressed out because the others aren't answering our calls. One of them, she got offended, and then the other, he got a new job and now he works on Sunday (he also almost backed out of his baptism, so we're not sure what's going on with him) and we have no idea where he lives (don't ask me how that happened) and his phone doesn't work anymore. It's so sad to see when that happens, when the people miss out on blessings or when they receive trials or blessings to show if they really are committed to the gospel and then they decide to stop coming to church. The church is true, and that should be all that matters, not whether or not they were offended. I think that's one of the hardest things here. A lot of people are offended. The Portuguese people just have a lot of pride, in their nation and in themselves, which of course can be good, but it can be bad also. No worries though, Jéssica will get the Holy Ghost next week if it's the last thing that I do! The baby, Nunu, isn't doing to great. He came home from the hospital (he's stinking adorable) and then he had to go back because he caught this nasty cold that's going around. It's a bummer because Asto wants to be baptized, she's just never home for us to teach the lessons or to come to church because she's always there. I hope he gets better soon so he can come home.

Sorry about having a crazy week! Tell Katie to brush those teeth!:) Don't worry, I think I have some too (cavities). Dag gummit. That lipgloss sounds gross, but it looked beautiful on Jacob. Tell him he should wear it everyday. Poor baby Katie, tell her I love her:). Oh, and about the messiness... you would be surprised how much the mission changes that... I'm OCD now about cleaning. I absolutely hate when there are dishes in the sink or when the floor is messy. I think I've gone crazy. I always put all my stuff away too. You wouldn't believe it haha. Oh, and I made that chicken recipe you sent me and the cheesecake. The elders like the cheesecake alot, though I didn't have vanilla wafers and so I tried to use these super cheap Portuguese cookies called Bolachas de Maria, and it was gross. They burned. The chicken was great. I made it first on chicken that was boneless (boneless chicken is SUPER expensive here) and it was delicious. The second time I made it on a whole chicken (they come like that here, with the neck and little hairs on the skin and all) and Sister Briggs said it was delicious. I couldn't stomach it. Though, she's trying to make me fat, she makes this Brazilian food called Pão de Queijo almost everyday and man, I can't help myself, they're just SO good haha. Will you please send me the recipe that dad used to make the Brigadeiros in the microwave for Christmas? They're Sister Sandholtz's favorite and so I wanted to make some for her and send them with someone who is headed to the islands. I asked all the Brazilians in the ward, but I think they've been in Portugal so long that they forgot haha. One said he would bring it to me, but I think he forgot also.

Well, this week was good. We walked lots, and talked to lots of people. We're a little dry in the teaching area because none of our investigators are progressing, but things are still good here. I'm happy to be here all the same:).We've met some good people this week in the road, so we're just hoping that they'll turn into investigators. We had a family in church this week, so that was good. I just have to humble myself to teach them. They're nuts about they're religion. They're spiritualists or something like and boy, do they know how to talk! Good people though, with good moral values, now we just have to get them headed in the right direction because Satan has got a good grip on them! Oh, tell Sister Rodrigues that Inacia is doing great, she's a cute little old woman and that Adão brings her to chuch every week, and that she's still telling us that her neighbor is a witch. Also, that Irmão Edson took her to his house this weekend and all the primary kids were there for an activity with Irmã Zíla and so they learned how to sing I'm a child of God and they sang it to Inacia. I think she had a good time, and now the ward knows about the state of her house. No one should leave a 92 year old to live alone. That's the problem with Benfica. Lots of old people. It was probably hopping in the 1950's, but now all those people are old and they didn't have any kids to take care of them. One day, the streets will just be deserted here.
Inacia is pretty good at doing stuff on her own though, at least for a 92 year old. She still walks after all:). Also, tell Sister Rodrigues that Inês still hasn't gotten the Holy Ghost and we try to meet with her every day, but she says she's too busy for us. She got offended at a JAS activity and now doesn't want to come back. I don't know if she can do anything about it, but maybe she could try and contact her on Facebook?

The church here is young, and the members are different than in the states, but wow, if you could just see the youth here! They're amazing. A lot of them were baptized without their families being baptized also and they come every week by themselves. They're amazing. One of them, she's an orphan, her name is Marisa. We went this week to where she lives (we had a CD from Portugal EFY for her, which is a great CD by the way, I don't know what it's called in English, something like Stand in Holy Places probably), and she lives in a CATHOLIC ORPHANAGE like forever away. Sister Briggs saw her first nun, she was pretty happy about that. Marisa is fabulous though. There are lots of them. Another that I like a lot is Kemmer. His mom and sister were baptized also, but he was baptized first. One day the missionaries talked to him the street and they asked him some serious questions, that got him thinking and he went home and talked to his mom about them, next thing you know, they're talking to the missionaries and he's baptized! They're great members, they're like a light in the dirty bairro:), now if only the dad would get baptized. We've been working with him, but he doesn't have a desire which is a big bummer. Irmã Odete says she knows he´ll get baptized later. I sure hope so. There are just a whole bunch of them. I'm really glad that they're the future of the church here. Now if we can just find a few more to strenghten them too. 

Well I have no idea what else to say, but I love you guys! Also, keep up the missionary work, Loretta will get it soon. Do you go to a weekly meeting with the missionaries and the ward mission leader? If not, you should ask the ward mission leader about it, because you should have one every week and you should be there to know what they need. They'll give you a paper with all the numbers and addresses on it of the people they're teaching, and it's your job to call those people and fellowship them. I know it seems kind of awkward to call random people, but one of the hardest things for us as missionaries is to get the ward to participate, and yet the work is 1000 times better with their help. The people the missionaires are teaching will need friends in the church to help them to stay firm and to learn more. Keep working hard, you'll recieve lots of blessings for it:). This is a great time to do member missionary work. The work is hastening and all the energy of the church is now being put on missionary work (did you see the Friend and the New Era?! Awesome) and as members it's our job to jump in and help! Think of someone that you could share the gospel with and do it!

Love you tons!

Love,

Sister Wach

P.S. Tell people to write me paper letters, the kind you send in the mail. I'm needing some letters!;) 

 Ricki – If anyone wants to send her a paper letter let me know I can take it to the post office for you.  It usually cost $1.10J The address is on the blog:)

Hey Mom!

Things here are great. We're working hard. We're a little dry when it comes to investigators, but we've got some really great appointments with some this week. All Brazilians. I have a hard time understanding Brazilian Portuguese. It's SO different. The accent is just SO different. We talk with lots of shhhing noises and the words are said as if you were saying them like they're read, so noite sounds like 'noit' with a silent e like we would do in english. But it's going good. I still speak with an american accent, but I'll get it soon enough. 

The weather has been nice again, so that's great. I don't really know what we've been up too. The days all just blend together, but the last few days have been awesome with conference. Earlier this week I got to do some training with the Sister Training Leader, Sister Santos, and that was awesome. Turns out she was Sister Davis' last comp before me and so S. Davis talked about her a lot. It was funny because S. Santos (de Brazil) and I do like everything a like (because S. Davis was her second comp, you kind of find your way of teaching with your second comp), and so it was hilarious to notice all the similarities! Saturday we watched the Relief Society broadcast in the morning and then we got to go to President and Sister Fluckiger's house to watch conference!! It was so awesome! It was from 5-7, the first session, and it was great. I felt like the whole thing was about member missionary work. Sister Fluckiger made a delicious dinner too, which was awesome. We had barbequed hamburgers. It was like being in the US. It was cool too because there was also an RM there with her fiance. It just happened to be Sister Gangee, the trainer of Sister Davis, which then makes her my grandma in the mission (if that doesn't make sense, ask Dakota or any other missionary)! That was cool. She's marrying one of her converts from the mission. He went inactive when she left his area and has been for a year, but now he's going back to church because of her, so at least that's good. The power of women não eh?. Then on Sunday we went and watched the Priesthood Session in Portuguese with one of our investigators, André, who is moving to Angola this week, so that stinks because he loves the idea of the temple. Then we watched the Saturday afternoon session and the Sunday morning session at President's house again and we got to eat more delicious food. I brought Tarte dos Três. It was a hit and S. Fluckiger wanted my recipe! Oh yeah! There was the cutest little recent convert there, and she felt just SO privileged to be there! She is probably 70 and she was just shaking with excitement and amazement at the beautiful house the WHOLE time. Darling~.

Today we went to the ZOO! You know how I feel about the zoo. No thanks. But they have DOLPHINS. It was super expensive to go, but the dolphins made it all worth it. I'll show you the videos in a year. They had an awesome dolphin show. We went with the elders in our district, the office elders, so that was really fun, and before that we ate at the Brazilian restaurant. I don't know how everyone here has been eating there for three transfers. I can't eat there anymore. Haha. 

Well, got to go! Thanks for everything!! Love you tons!

Sister Wach

Hey Mama:)

I don't have a lot of time left, but I just wanted to say that this week was good and that we had a baptism this week! The little girl that I said that I found my first day here with S. Davis, she was baptized. It was the coolest thing ever. She was just so happy and I'm hoping that it will help kick start the mom so that then she'll be baptized next. She said she wants to be, she just doesn't feel prepared, which is our job of course. I ate at another Brazilian restaurant this week and we eat at the buffet owned by the member every week. I think I have eaten more Brazilian food this transfer than Portugese food, especially since the two members that have feed us this past week are Brazilians too... haha. Brazilian Portuguese is so hard to understand! I understand the Africans and the Portuguese but when it comes to the Brazilians I have to listen really hard and make them repeat themselves sometime haha.

I'm glad that you're having fun. I'm sad that I missed out on going to conference with you guys. I'll be there next year! Crazy! Tomorrow is the day that I will officially go home. It could be earlier than that, but it can't be after the first of October, so after tomorrow you can know for sure that I'll be home by then:).l I can't believe it's already been six months! Fastest six months of my life. Especially September and August, they just FLEW.
Keep being a good example and a good friend. Watch for opportunities to share the gospel. It will bless their lives, they just don't know it yet.

 Tell everyone that I said hi!

Love always,

Sister Wach

 

Hey Mommy:)

This week was good.We didn't hit our goals, but transfer weeks are always a little bit of a shake up; getting to know a new area, meeting investigators, and just working things out. Benfica is pretty cool. It's really dirty and ghetto, there isn't a single tourist spot in the area, but I'm glad to be here. My companion, Sister Briggs is really great. She's from Minnesota and she's in her second transfer, so I'm training her. She speaks amazing Portuguese and she likes to work hard. Her first transfer was really rough, she wanted to go home and she had been praying for a new companion because the first one was just not working out. Now, here I am, and I totally understand how she feels. She's great though and I think that she's starting to see the mission differently already. 
The work here is at a full on sprint. It's kind of crazy after working in an area where the work was crawling. We have four people marked for baptism in the next little while and we're teaching a whole bunch of progressing investigators, it's super crazy.SO DIFFERENT. I don't think that I could have gone from an area any different to São Miguel. Though the ward members here seem really great also.
Monday, I got here and it was rough, actually until Thursday was a little rough. Because we're by the office (not the mission home), we're kind of like a hotel. We have one room and a tiny little living room. Both very small, and yet we have 6 mattresses so that we can house others. So until Thursday we had people staying with us until they left, one of them was S. Briggs old comp- talk about awkward. It was like stepping all over someone else territory.  This week we taught some people that were actually home! It was weird because we taught the third lesson and I've hardly taught that lesson because we just didn't make it to teaching it in São Miguel, and now I've taught it 3 times in one week! We also ate at a Brasilian restaurant, like the one in Salt Lake with the people who bring around the meat. It's owned by one of the members and so every week, we and the office elders go for free! It's awesome. All the members here are either Brazilian or African, which is strange for me also after coming from an area with only Portuguese.
Because I still don't know the area too well, there isn't too much for me to talk about, but there have been a few things that have happened that were really cool! When I first got to the mission, S. Davis and I spent the night here in Benfica while we waited for our flight to São Miguel. While we were here we had the opportunity to teach some lessons and do some contacts. We contacted this woman named Asto and her daughter Jessica and S. Davis and I were just sure that they'd been baptized. Well, they weren't, but they are still being taught. Asto, at the time was pregnant, but she gave birth really early and so the baby has been in the hospital and she never has time for the lessons and hasn't come to church, but Jessica, absolutely loves the church and everything about it, she really wanted to be baptized, but she hadn't been to church either because of her mother not being able to go. Well, this week, we had church on Saturday (stake conference) and so right before, S. Briggs and I decided to go and get her. She absolutely LOVED it. She said that she felt so happy. The temple president and his wife from Madrid came and spoke and Jessica loved the idea of temples too. She was so perfect, the most well behaved 9 year old I have ever seen in church. Well I asked her during it when she wanted to be baptized and she said she was thinking the 29th of September. So, now, she's getting baptized on this next Sunday! Her mom already gave her permission and everything! How cool is it that the first person that I ever talked to in Portugal (Jessica and I walked together carrying her mom's heavy groceries and we talked about what she liked to do the first time I met her) is now going to be baptized and I'm going to get to watch?! Oh, and another cool thing is that she even remembered me! She saw me and she gave me a big hug and then she told me that she'd seen a picture of Sister Davis when she was working in the Algarve, and she also told me that she remembered that my favorite color is purple. Crazy huh?
I forgot to tell you last week, that Irmã Alexandra bought me new shoes again. Super expensive ones. It was really nice of her. They're from a sports store and they look like hiking shoes only they have straps on the top. In Ponta Delgada I was starting to lose my tan, and here it's coming back and I've got some great lines on my feet because of the straps;)

That's really cool about the card that someone sent. That was really nice of them. If you figure out who it was, tell them I said thanks a ton!

Well, I've got to go, but I love you! Thanks for everything! Have a fantastic week! Work hard with that new calling, it's one of the coolest there is. You're doing what Christ has asked us to do, to help him save his sheep. It's a fantastic calling. I hope that I can be one too when I get home. I would do it so much differently than I did the first time around.

Love always,
Sister Wach

 

From Ricki -   The card that Meg is talking about was a card we received this week from an anonymous person that had $100.00 in cash for Megan to put in her mission fund.  Thank you, thank you whoever you areJ  Not only did you help Megan but you also helped Ryan with his mission fund.  As most of you know Ryan has been paying $25.00 a month towards Megan’s mission (he works at Chick fil a).  So, you helped TWO missionaries  (now Rye can save 4 months worth for himselfJ) – thank you, thank you. 

The calling she is talking about is that I am now a ward missionaryJ hee, hee.

 

Hey Mom,

How is life? Well I have no idea what to write about and I have to write fast as I think I've probably taken to much time. My new comp still hasn't gone and so I should probably give her a chance since we only have one computer, which I'm so not gonna keep emailing like this. It's such a waste of time to only have one computer and each of you only do a little bit of time for free at the office instead of going to a library or something and then both of you doing it at the same time. But ya:).

Well, I'm exhausted. This day has been crazy. I got up before the sun and I went to the airport and my comp for the day was Elder Manzke, which was fun. He's cool. It was really sad to leave the island though. All the members were really sad (I got called the "best sister missionary to ever come to Ponta Delgada." Compliment anyone?:)) and I was sad too. It's sad to think that I will probably never go back there again or ever see those people again in my whole life. But now, I've gone from cows, an ocean view, and the biggest apartment in the mission, to skyscrapers, tons of people, and the smallest house in the mission. Well, less to clean. I've already seen more people outside today than I would in a whole week in Ponta Delgada and we haven't even started working! My new comp is Sister Briggs. I miss Sister Sandholtz and Elder Brooksby (he's my twin in the mission he said:)) but now I'm gonna get to see Elder Fuller again. I told him I really wasn't stalking him and he laughed. It will be a good transfer I think. I'm just ready to get to work! 

Well, absolutely nothing interesting at all happened this week. Serious. Nothing. This week might as well have not even happened haha. We had no new investigators (at least not who were progressing), our man who is marked for baptism was in Santa Maria all week and so he isn't progressing. Plus the fact that transfers were coming up was a bit stressful too. We ate at Bruno's house on Sunday after we found out I was being transferred and I have never been so stressed out about packing and cleaning in my whole life. Haha, Elder Brooksby was just like, "Deep breaths Sister Wach," but I couldn't do it haha. Ana and Cátia did take us out to McDonald´s though, so that was cool and really nice of them. 

Well I've got to go, I'm sorry this was so short, but P-day has been a little crazy. There is a letter on it's way though that I sent from the airport today:). 
Love you! 
Have a great week!
Love always,
Sister Wach

from Ricki - she was sent to Benfica - outside of Lisbon.  You can mail her letters/packages to the mission home and she will walk over and get them:)

 

Hey Mãe! 

So this was an interesting week. It was definitely a week of giggles and craziness, miracles and fallen appointments. 

I'll start with the funny stuff first:

1. "Irmazinha has a strong pimp hand"- Abraão

Yes, straight from the mouth of Abraão. Just what I needed to hear. I think my jaw dropped. Sister Sandholtz and I laughed forever after that. I don't remember exactly why he said it, but for some reason I pretended to slap the air and that's what it was to him. His description of pimp hand is that it means to slap the girl when she decides to like someone else and then drop her and get another. We almost died.
2. "I'm using wine just like Jesus would do" -investigator from Italy
Yup, I bet I'll never hear that again in my mission. We were teaching this guy, just for one lesson, but it was the craziest thing ever. He is definitely a free spirit. He wouldn't let us say "God" because he said that it was disrespectful to give "it" a name and would flinch whenever we did. Then he kept saying that if we ever really wanted to get to know God, we have his phone number. He also said that the Book of Mormon was evil. Then, Sister Sandholtz felt prompted to tell him that he should stop drinking whine, and he was like I think that drinking is one of the most sacred things we can do, I'm using wine just like Jesus would do." Then we let him pray in his own way, just so that we could get out of there. Talk about five minutes of us just sitting there with our eyes closed doing nothing until Abraão, who obviously didn't realize we were meditating, said Senhor, you can pray outloud. That was the end for us. We got out of there so fast and it was hilarious.
3. "The transmission was good."-Random lady named Sara we met in from of a bar... where we saw one of our members... awkward...
We stopped in front of a café because one of our members was outside of it and I asked him if he was going to come to the sunday night film and then invited him to come and help us teach and then this people came out of the bar and were standing there looking at us and so I starting getting nervous so I talked to them too and told them what was going on (last thing I wanted was to have a bunch of drunkards gang up on me...) and then one of them spoke english and so we talked to her and invited her to the film and gave a little of our message. Then when we were walking away she was like "The transmission was good, I really felt something there. " I'm glad we have good transmission when it comes to the spirit. 
4. We called a lady 38 times.
We had a lesson scheduled with a lady who lived really far away and so we called her first, only to learn she wasn't there and so we decided not to go, especially since the casal missionary was coming and we and the elders needed to prepare their apartment. Well, when we got done with that we got home and checked the phone and we'd called her 38 times! Poor thing. She even sent us a text and she was like, "we don't want to meet with you today, tomorrow, next week, or EVER." Oops. 
5. "Do you have a compromisso with Maria?" -José
I love José. If I never baptized anyone else in the whole mission, I'm glad it was him that was baptized. He is absolutely amazing. He's headed to Canada this coming week, which I'm really sad about. He has such a strong testimony and he helps us so much all of the time. He is also a really big jokester. Background: so there are these cookies, more like crackers, that are really big here in Portugal, not because they're good, but just because they're cheap and made here, they're called Bolachas Marias. They're also really fattening. We were with José and he asked us if we had a compromisso with Maria, and S. Sandholtz and I were both like, we're not teaching anyone named Maria, and then he said, you know, the one that comes in the packaging and makes you fat? I think it took us like a minute to get it. Awe, I'm gonna miss him so much, but he'll do great in Canada. Did I tell you that he lives across from the temple in Canada? Well he does, and so he is getting his temple recommend today and then going to the temple the day after he gets home! Wow, I wish I could just explain how amazing he truly is! You would love him:). could you tell Sister Davis (um, I mean Kelsey) that José like loves her, he said this week that she made a huge change in his life and he'll always remember her (I'm sure he'll remember me too, but he calls me Sister Walker, so you know, that's a little different;)). It was cool to hear from him.
6. Elder Brooksby predicted it.
Elder Brooksby is my twin in the mission. He says so. I'm not so sure haha. He says he will feel lost when I'm transfered. I think he was just trying to make me feel good haha. But today we went with the elders for a district activity. It was really fun. We went and climbed some big rock right off the coast that we could only climb in the morning while the tide was out, and then we had lunch. Sister Sandholtz and Elder Wilson when out and climbed this big rock and Elder Brooksby and I stayed behind. He called that one, I guess he told Elder Wilson he knew how this was gonna go, that he and I would not go and the other two would. He and I had a good gospel discussion though as we waited. He says E. Wilson and S. Sandholtz are like the sons of Mosiah, it's like their parents were told that they can climb rocks and they'll be fine and ours were told to not even think about it. E. was like " What have we got to lose if we go? Um Everything.". He makes funny expressions, it's not that funny written down, but you have to know him. So he and I awkwardly stayed back while E. Wilson and S. Sandholtz risked their lives. I heard it was beautiful though.

That's it for the funny this week, I don't doubt that there were more. Probably lots more. It was a great week for it.

Milagres:
1. The casal finally made it! 
They're great. Casal Phippen. They're very sweet and very old. This is their 4th mission. The first was in Brazil. They were the first couple missionary there in 8 years and the president had no idea what to do with them and so they were given an area and they proselyted door to door just like any regular missionaries! Then they served in the Marshall Islands, and then they were institute directors in N. Carolina. Their accents are a hoot. Cute little Sister Phippen bore her testimony in church and it was just so cute. It was like half Brazilian half American. When I first went for the mission, I hated the Portuguese accent and loved the Brazilian, I've done a one-eighty. But she was like "Eu... sou... grato... por... você..." as she was speaking to the congregation. It was cute to see the cute little mistakes:). I think Elder Phippen must have tried to coach her beforehand:).
2. Elsa
It was 9:30 pm and we were exahausted. It was time to be inside, but we felt like we just had to walk to the corner of our apartment and look around the corner. So we did, and there was a woman who was trying to put a big box in the garbage, and so we just knew we were supposed to talk to her. She is awesome. She's from Porto and I understood everything she said because she doesn't have the goofy Açoriano accent. She wanted to know everything about us and about the mission and the church and our lives before. She said we come from beautiful families. We haven't talked to her again, but we're gonna call her this week.
3. Antonio
I met Antonio with Sister Davis. He was riding past on his electric scooter and he just dropped it in the road to talk with us. He doesn't read a lick of anything. He's great though, and this week we had a compromisso with him because he chased us down the road because he wanted to talk to us so bad. We also marked him for baptism this week with the help of José. José did amazing. He answered all of the doubts that Antonio had and wow, I can't even believe it. Can I just rave about José some more?
4. Lurdes and Hermano
Our eternal investigator, Lurdes, is finally getting baptized! They're finally gonna get married! They came and told me the other day! And they said it was because of something that I said! I guess that when I told them that they should just sign the wedding papers and have the party later when they go to the temple because that's the real time to party, I really struck something. That was the gist of what I said, but I don't have time to say more!
I love you all! I have one minute left! Talk to you next week!
Love always, 
Sister Wach

 

 

Hey Mom,

How are things there? Sounds like it was a good/crazy week. Thanks for the pictures. Give the family my love. Thanks for everything.

Well, this week was rough. Really rough. We spent almost all of it in Lisboa, from Monday to the end of the day one Wednesday, which means we did hardly (numbers wise) anything because Tuesday and Wednesday were our days with lots of appointments with lots of good people. Lisboa was cool. I hope I get to serve there. We stayed in Lapa with the sisters there. One of the sisters was Sister Hayes, my MTC companion, so that was really cool to see her.  But, back to Lisboa. We got in late Monday night and no one was there to pick us up, so we called and woke them up to come and get us, then they dropped us off in Lapa where we spent the night. Then in the morning we went with some other girls so that they could get their residence cards and Sister Sandholtz also. Then we spent the rest of the day working in the office because there was a leadership conference going on and so they needed help. Afterwards I opened my suitcase, which was perfectly fine and everything was there. Most of the suitcases looked untouched. The mission sure spins big rumors when the president doesn't say it right out. Sister Fluckiger said that what had mostly been stolen was an ipad (someone had bought it here cheap to take home), electric razors, cameras and a few other electronics. Nothing was stolen from mine though, so that was good. One of the elders in our district though, his razor was stolen, and the poor guy, he really needs it because he got a haircut but it wasn't mission worthy and so another elder cut it, and it looks AWFUL:).Then we went back and spent the next night in Lapa again. Though we ended up having dinner with some members there, which was really awkward because we weren't invited but we had to go with the sisters anyway. They were really nice though and we had atum with natas, which was delicious. Fish is really starting to grow on me. Then the next morning we went and got my card with Sister Dudley, Sister Radvansky, and Sister Caldwell (Sisters Rad and Dudley were in my district and I knew Sister Caldwell before the MTC) and so that was really fun to get to hang out with them all day, even if it was just like 4 hours at the card place:). Then we hung out in the office for a while again and then we went to the airport. Irmão João was nice enough to pick us up from there:). 

Thursday was okay, we marked one our investigators for baptism for this coming Sunday which we're excited about. Considering we've only taught the first lesson, this is going to be a really busy week:). His name is André and he's 18. He is a great kid and we've been talking about him going on a mission also. We need more boys in our ramo because we  have a bunch of unmarried women and moças, so it's a good thing that Sister Sandholtz and I are pretty much only teaching young men between 18-24 right now haha. Then in the evening we had to do a second de licing treatment, not because she still had lice, but because those were the instructions on the package. Thankfully we are lice free! We watched a movie and ate lots of popcorn. I'm a popcorn addict.

Friday we did planning and the visita guiada of the capela, it was actually a really good one and we're really excited about the people. There was a man and his son who came who had actually been looking up online information about the church and had found the address of the church and had walked there just hoping to find someone there they could talk to about it! They live in our area, but because they are men, we're gonna let the elders teach them. The elders are very confident that they'll be baptized. We also met André there and another young man named Rodrigo that we're really excited to teach also. Before the visita though, we had an appointment with these two young men with 18 and 19 years and we were supposed to be there at the capela at 3 and we were running behind and then this random man in the road wanted to talk to us and so we were even later and by the time we got there, it was 3:15 and no one was there so we waited a little longer and no one showed up, so we decided to leave and we started walking and this lady stopped us. Turned out she was a member from Ribeira Grande and we talked with her and her son for a few minutes, and right as they were saying good bye, our appointment showed up! It was awesome. We didn't get to teach though because they had an emergency and they'd just come to reschedule (!!!) and so we're meeting with them this week, but it sure was awesome to have all those people put in our path so that we could get into contact with these two boys. Imagine if we'd been there on time.

Saturday, all of our appointments fell through except one with a man named Francisco who we were gonna mark but we ended up not doing so and will do later this week. Then we had ward counsel. Sunday was good. We didn't have any marked appointments so we went and tried to invite less actives to the movie night. None of them came, but an Italian guy that I had met two transfers ago came, and agreed to let us teach him. It was kind of a hard day to work though because there was this big procession going on in the city for the saint Sta. Clara and the streets were just filled with flowers and people. It's a little hard to talk to people when they're at the time, professing their love for some saint, plus we're not supposed to teach in front of religious processions or other churchs.

Now I'll answer you're questions:) Yes, I exchanged the stuff from my suitcase and got my makeup, though I probably won't need what I brought because transfers will be next sunday (not this coming one, but the one that is like the 16th or something like that) and it's likely that I will be transfered, which I can't decide if I'm happy about or not. I need a change, but I'll miss the members here and this area. People are taking bets on where I'm headed, right now it's either Lisboa or Braga (according to the other missionaries). So you'd probably better not send anything next week, and when you send packages they take about 2 weeks (thanks for the snickers by the way:). The senior missionaries are coming this week! They're coming on the 5th or 6th and they're moving into another apartment that we found and we're keeping ours, which is the most expensive in the mission (woot woot;)). We're in charge of preparing things, but I'm not sure what that means because we haven't got the apartment key and we haven't heard from Sis. Fluckiger about it in a while. We're excited though:).

Well,got to go! Love you tons!

Sister Wach