Sept. 21, 2015 - Ezra Taft Benson

So this year we're obviously reading from the teachings of Ezra Taft Benson at church and this week we read about pride. And there was the best quote ever! I hope my portuguese translating skills are sufficient. it said "We have to replace the thought of what do I want from my life? with what does God want that I do with my life?" Super cool perspective of seriously just humbling ourselves and having no pride whatsoever and saying heres my life God, now what do you want me to do with it. Really cool insight. 

Anyway school started here in the good ole country of Portugal. Yes the 3rd week of September is when school starts haha be jealous Americans. But this city is a huge college town. We have one of the best medical schools in the country so there are a ton of college hooligans everywhere now. 

I got a parking ticket. That was a shame.

Maria Jose came to church this week and she was all dressed up in a nice dress and everything! Seeing the change in her is so cool! It was hard though because we have 2 women in our ward who have become best friends with her and we always teach with them but they both weren't there at church! And in a ward of 15 people that's pretty rough to be there at church alone just having to sit with the elders. BUT she still really liked it and we are praying and fasting that she will get baptized conference weekend!

So you know in the book Charolette's Web how at the end all the little spider babies are flying around on their web kite things, yeah thats happening here! We are being attacked by little floating spider web strings all over the place! Haha its weird. 

Other than that we had a pretty chill week. I've been listening to a ton of conference talks and I've been downloading them from the late 90s until now. And for the past 4 months I download about 25\week and listen to them all during the week. And I've realized president Monosn uses the same stories in some of his talks!! Haha I was listening to one from like 2008 and then one from 1997 and it was basically the same talk! Haha anyway I'm pumped for conference and I hope you guys are all prepared!

Love you all and I hope you have a marvelous week!

 

Sept. 14, 2015 - Saude, Dinheiro, e Amor

Bom dia! My subject comes from this random guy who actually came up to talk to us and was saying how we havent been over to his house in years and where have we been then we say well when can we come by? and he says no no hes catholic and we cant come over... haha then he goes off and rambles about soccer or something and we say well do you want to come to chuch with us and he says "the 3 things you need in life is Saude, dinheiro e amor" (or health money and love) then he walks off. I guess hes kinda right... haha

This week we had to say goodbye to Luis who had to go back to LIsbon because he has no money to stay here. It was pretty sad but I'm really hopeful the elders down there will get him baptized! His prayers were always so heartfelt and he felt the spirit so strong theres no way he wont be baptized! 

We were walking and this lady, Teresa, with this big white eye patch stopped us and asked if we had a prayer because she had just been operated on and needs a prayer. So we explained how prayer isnt memorized and we prayed for her and got a return appointment. She lived way the heck out in the boonies like 20 minutes driving up this mountain road. We get to her little town and takes us 2 hours of walking around and asking people where she lives and we finally find her as we're driving home! She was standing on her balcony and she sees us and stops us! Crazy. So we get to her house and she asks for another prayer or a blessing or something. And so we explain priesthood blessings and ask if she would like that and it would only work if she has faith and really believes what we're doing is with the right authority. And to be honest I was skeptical to just give this random person a blessing who doesnt know anything. So I annoint her with the oil and I still felt pretty uncomfortable. Then while my comp seals it and blesses her it felt so right! We say amen and immediately she says "wow i fell so good like something really clean and nice washed over me" Whoa. the spirit is the best missionary ever!! Then we keep talking and towards the end she says "I want to be a part of this church." MILAGRES!! So cool! sadly she lives really far away and there arent any buses on sunday so it will be quite the challenge to get her to church but I believe everything will work out just fine! Cool stuff man. 

Also with 9\11 being this week Im feeling a little extra patriotic. I just want to say how grateful I am for being an American. I am so grateful to be able to have the freedom of religion and I know that America was set apart so that this great gospel could be restored. I am so grateful for all the soldiers who defend this great country and I know we can never repay them. I know this church is true and I'm proud to be an american where at least I know I'm free!

Have an awesome week!

Sept. 7, 2015 - 6

So I'm still here in the beautiful city of Covilhã for my 6th transfer! My comp stayed as well and we have a goal of 3 baptisms this transfer! And as of now it looks so possible so we're pumped! 

We had a sweet Zone Meeting on friday and my Dad is in my zone! So that was exciting to catch up with him! In the meeting we talked alot about our appearance and our language and our stature has to be professional. We are representing Christ so we need to look as if he was walking with us! We arent rebellious dumb teenagers anymore. We have to hold our selves to a higher standard. It was a good reminder! And with that we learned even more that President wants Quality over quantity. He doesnt care if we have 300 lessons a week and 100 investigators in church if we have no baptisms those lessons and investigators are fake and weak. We need to find and teach people with real potential that will help the church truly grow. I got pumped!

We are still teaching Luis and hes doing so great! He is loving the stuff we tell him and the church and the members. He is still living out of his car but hes still pretty happy. On saturday we had scheduled to meet with him but he didnt answer his phone. We still wanted to find him but we didint know how. I remember him saying he was parked by the city park. So I said well lets just walk over there and try to find an older looking car with some blankets in it and maybe he will be there. So we're walking around this park just hoping for a miracle and THERE HE WAS! Just strolling through the park with nothing to do! It was insane. So we sat and talked with him and he was all excited for church and everything! Milagres acontecem! 

Maria Jose came to church again and she loved the fast and testimony meeting! All the memebrs have been taking her in so well and its been awesome! She is always saying how much she loves the people and how happy they all are! I love our members (:

Well hopefully we get some people marked for baptism this week! Stay tuned until next week! Love you all! Beijinhos :D

Aug 31, 2015 - Luis!

So we found this guy Luis about 2 weeks ago. Hes from Lisbon and is here visiting his son for about a month or 2. We contacted him in the street and he said that he has always seen the elders in Lisbon but never talked to him. So we invitied him to church and he said yeah he'll come by. He lives out of his car and doesnt have any clothes except one purple striped shirt and one green striped shirt. So hes in the perfect humble sitauation to accept the gospel!

So last week he didnt come to church and we call him wednesday to talk to him and he said " I didnt lie! I came to church! But I came at 3 and it was already closed! I didnt lie I didnt lie!" Haha Luis calm down just come next week. So then on friday we had an awesome lesson in the chapel with him and he said the most heartfelt prayer I've heard in a long time! He just poured out his soul just asking for a little luck. Then at the end he said he wanted to cry for some strange reason. (Yeah thats the spirit punching you in the face:D) So then yesterday he came to church and he really liked it! Hopefully he'll be here long enough for him to get baptized before he goes back to Lisbon! But yeah Luis is our best friend now!

Other than that nothing too special happened. Maria Jose didnt come to church but we helped pull some onions from her garden! It was pretty fun!

The Portuguese catholics do some good work on their Cathedrals!

Tenham uma semana maravilhosa! Até logo!

Aug 24, 2015 - MARIA JOSE!!

This week was awesome!!! :D

We've been working with this awesome lady Maria Jose for months now! And she lives literally next door to the chapel. I've come to really love her and SHE FINALLY CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY!! It was so aweomse! She just walked by herself and finally showed up! The memebrs were so awesome in making her feel loved and she had a good time! I actually spoke so that was a good coincidence and there were 30 people in sacrament too! (normally we have 17-19) So it was awesome! So now we can finally talk more about baptism and we are going to push for her to get baptized this next week!!

Oh I had ratatouille this week! We had a member meal and it was delicious!

Ok so I love my comp but sometimes hes a little blonde..... We were making a cake for his birthday from scratch. The recipe was written like this

4 flour, 

4 sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 salt

etc etc

So obviously the flour and sugar are cups and the salt is either Tbls or Tsp. But he insisted that no we have to add 1 and a half CUPS of salt. CUPS! I told him a million times no dont put in 1 and a half cups! Its Tbls! Thats insane! As he was doing it i was like yelling at him and it was too late and he reasoned that with 8 cups of the other stuff 1 cup of salt is nothing and will be evened out. So obvisouly we tasted it and we almost gagged and his cake was ruined. Too funny! Haha I love him:D

We watched Finding faith in Christ this week with an investigator! And the part where he has the adulterer brought to him and says "he without sin cast the first stone." THEN he tells the adulterer "Go and sin no more" I have a question that I cant find the answer to. Does the phrase go and sin no more mean she literally was blessed to never sin again and was perfect from that point on? Or was she just forgiven and told try your best not to commit adultery again and not to sin again? Because it kinda sounded like a command or a blessing as if she WILL SIN NO MORE. I hope my question makes sense.

Love you all and an awesome week!

And this our go kart adventures!

 

 

Aug 17, 2015 - Grape season!

So grapes are in full ripe season right now! And theres a law here that if any fruit is hanging over the fence theyre free game! So thats pretty cool. And theyre so yummy!

My comps birthday is today so we're going Go Karting! Its like the only Go karting place in the whole country and its in our area! I'm pumped!

Church was really interesting. So there was the portugal EFY this weekend so all the youth in our ward was gone. And my branch president is like 23 so he went too. ( I think it was like a 16-25 age group thing) Anyway, also our one other priesthood holder and his whole family was gone so it was just me, my comp, and 12 women at chuch! hahah so weird! So I presided and it was probably my first and last time having to take the sacrament first! Then I had to teach gospel principles class on honesty and I told the story of how when I was 10 or so my parents got me in a lie and I had to eat a spoon full of tabasco sauce. They all loved it haha then a couple from porto came late and so for priesthood it was just me, my comp and this one guy just chillin and talking about the brother of jared. Weird day!

I had my first district meeting which was pretty sweet! I love my district!

I was reading in 3 Nephi and in chapter 7 there is a verse that apparently I must not have read every other time I have read the book of mormon! In 3 Nephi 7:19 Nephi raises his brother from the dead!!! His brother who was stoned to death, Nephi was just like "nope I'm a prophet youre not dying today!" Crazy things man.

We find this guy Rui. We knock his door and we go in to teach him. He's a little slow in the head and isnt really understanding anything. Yada yada yada we're at the end teaching prayer. And we have to tell him 5 or 6 times how to pray and finally I just say ok. I will say each line and you reapeat it. I asked him if he had a question for his Heavenly Father. And it was weird he just wanted to know where he was. Actually a pretty interesting thought. So I say the most simple prayer I could.

Father in Heaven. Where are you? Are you here with me? In the name of jesus christ Amen

And the most incredible feeling came over me. I just felt calm and happy and all my stresses and everything left me. I felt really happy and I knew for a fact that he was there with me and with us in that room. I dont know if Rui could feel it but I feel like that little prayer was more for me. It was incredible. Prayer is so powerful and I am so grateful I can talk with my father in heaven whenever I want!

Everyone have an awesome week and have fun in school! Love you all!

Aug 10, 2015 - Sushi!

Bom dia tudo mundo!

This week went by way too fast! Last P day we went a had some sushi which was like a 5 out of 10 but still way good becasue he beat our cooking! But then on tuesday we went to a little gypsie neighborhood which sometimes could be a waste of time but we have one little family that we are trying to work with. Anyway we are talking to all these kids and they start asking us if we know all these WWE wrestlers haha like they are talking all about who is the best WWE wrestler and they have all these youtube videos of WWE. It crackd me up. 

Then we had our Zone meeting! It was the best zone meeting yet! First we wrote a huge list of things of why it is so hard to baptize in Portugal. So we wrote catholics, and church was too early, and people too hard to change, and everyone is on vacation etc. There were like 40 reasons. Then we read 3 profecies specifically about Portugal and we dissected D&C 4. And basically they asked if we should have these excuses or trust in modern day prophets and modern day revelation? I dont know why it didnt feel like scolding but got me super pumped! Then we talked a lot about teaching and finding families and fathers. And president said that if we find a woman or a wife or kid, we cant teach them without the father giving permision or him being taught too. So its been hard this week to find these families and the dad wants nothing to do with us making us have to drop them. But I know that this counsel is revelation and definietly will make this country grow and become stronger. 

Miracle story. It was like the last 45 minutes of the night and we hadnt had ay success. So we made a goal of just finding 1 new investigator. Just 1 before the night was over. So we said a prayer asking for guidance and we start knocking this building. The 2nd door is a family who has already been taught a lot by previous elders and are way super nice and boom. Miracle. I know for a fact that Heavenly Father hears our prayers and he is always there to help us! More on them next week. 

We had a FHE with our branch president again andwe talked all about the Book of Mormon and why its so important etc. The lesson went really well but its so awesome being a missionary because we teach so much and while I teach I learn so much too! So by the end of the lesson my testimony of the Book of Mormon was that much stronger. We didnt teach anything deep or some new revalation but just simple truth. And I know that the Book of Mormon is true and I love it!

Well hope you guys have an awesome week! Abraços!