Sister Laura Thomas

New Blog

2009-09-27T08:16:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I'm just writing to let you know that from now on I will be updating you all on my life at the following address: laurathefoof.blogspot.com. I hope to see you there!

Do I Bite My Nails?

2009-09-22T08:23:00.000-07:00

I've recently been studying the beginning of the Doctrine and Covenants. As I was reading section 3 I was impressed when the Lord says to Joseph, "But remember, God is merciful; therefore, repent of that which thou hast done which is contrary to the commandment which I gave you, and thou art still chosen, and art again called to the work." Joseph had just lost 116 pages of scripture. That's no small mistake. I'm sure he knew the levity of that error, but the Lord told him in essence, "You're not perfect. Yeah, it was a big mistake, but you're still learning. Just don't do it again." And what is amazing to me is that Joseph learns. He doesn't do something like that ever again.

So I have a friend with a horrible habit: he bites his nails incessantly. I remember once I was sitting by him watching a movie. He had asked me to help him stop biting his nails, so we had agreed that I would push his hand away from his mouth whenever he went to start biting his nails. So the movie started. His hand went up. I pushed it away. Ten seconds later his hand would go up again. I would push it away. This pattern continued until the two of us gave up. He must have tried to bite his nails, I don't know, 20-30 times in just ten minutes. It was absolutely exhausting. This happened over four years ago. Recently I was talking to this friend and he was still biting his nails as much as ever. Nothing has changed in four years. He told me that he stopped biting his nails on his mission, but that when he got back he started right up again.

How many times have I done something of a similar nature. I am in no way, shape, or form perfect. I do try to do my best, but I find that I make the same mistakes over and over and over. When I was on my mission, I went through the same trials repeatedly. I think the Lord was trying to tell me something. He was trying to teach me and it just took me a long time to figure it out. How amazing it is to me that Joseph only needed to be told once and he changed. That is true repentance. It's changing. It's being different. The Lord is so patient with me. I didn't even have the patience to push my friend's hand away for more than 10-15 minutes.

The Lord is so patient with me, but this is not to say that He doesn't expect us to change. The Lord goes on to tell Joseph in section 5, "Oh, this unbelieving and stiffnecked generation—mine anger is kindled against them."All the Lord expects of me is that I change and that I do better every day. Surely, it's not as hard as I make it out to be. I just need to be more aware of my own nail being drawn to my mouth.

One Day More

2009-08-05T19:46:00.001-07:00

Hello family! It's so nice to hear from you again. As much as I love the fact that we have email, I am more than excited to be able to actually talk to you! Yay!

It's been a crazy week. As always. Nothing changes.

This week I went to a funeral. That was my first and hopefully only experience with Portuguese funerals. Wow. One of the sisters in the other ward, Sao Miranda, her mother died last week. We found this out Thursday morning. So we deliberated all day wondering what is culturally appropriate to do, go to the viewing or the funeral or both. We went to both. The viewing was on Thursday and when we walked in, Sao looked at me like I was an angel. We've grown close through our time in the choir and I was grateful that I was able to help her during this difficult time in her life. The next day we felt that we needed to go to the funeral, so we walked the 40 minutes to the other chapel and got there in time for the service. That was all normal and wonderful. It was a beautiful service. Then we went to the cemetery. I was slightly shocked. I think that was one of my first experiences with culture shock. We got to the cemetery and then got out of the car to walk alongside the hearse. Then we got to the gravesight. It was all just dirt, there was no cobblestone, no cement, nothing. Just a large plot of dirt (probably about a 1/2 acre). Then we got to the plot and I saw a long row of graves dug out, probably about 20. There was only about 1'1/2" space between the graves and we were only given a few minutes at the plot because there were other groups coming in. I was shocked when they started burying the coffin right in front of us. It was so different and such a cold experience. How grateful I am for the gospel and the beautiful service that we had in memory of São's mother. São is a really great lady.

Right after the funeral we had Leide's baptismal interview. Everything went really well. Her only problem was that she didn't know how she was going to keep the Sabbath day holy, because of work. Some problems had arisen and she wasn't sure if she would be able to go to church on Sunday. But Elder Fernandes saw how ready she was to be baptized and so everything was fine. I called her the next day just to see how she was doing. She surprised me when she said that she had quit her job. She later told us that she needed to make a decision and so she did. She is now looking for a job where she won't have to work on Sundays. If that isn't faith, I don't know what is. She is so willing to do all the Lord asks of her. We are all so excited for her baptism. The ward has really come together to get things ready. I am impressed.

Cibele is still doing okay. She becomes more endearing every time we see her and her countenance is also changing. Clotilde is also starting to understand the Restoration and what it means for her, so hopefully she will be able to have the courage to change her life.

My last Sunday was weird. Irma Oliveira has been very tired this past week and Sunday was a hard day for her. It was weird for me. We had to do so much for the baptism and it was my last Sunday. Suffice it to say that I was a little bit stressed. :) But everything went well. We sang "Nearer My God to Thee" as the opening hymn in Sacrament meeting. That was a tender mercy for me. That hymn is my favorite hymn in Portuguese and has been very special for me. I felt the love of the Lord for me as we sang.

It was also comforting to see how nothing changes. Six months is plenty of time to pick up the patterns of a ward. Setubal 1 is such a funny ward. It really has become my home ward during my time here. I love the members so much. They have become like family for me. It will be hard to leave them. But I will see them again.

I also went to a rest home for the first time in Portugal. It was actually really nice. We visted an elderly Angolan sister. She was so delightfully Angolan. I have missed the Angolans and Cabo Verdians here in Setubal. The Relief Society president wanted to take me there to sing hymns with her and it was just wonderful. She was so excited that we were there. I love service! Nothing is better than singing hymns with people. They just love it.

Sunday night Irma Oliveira just wanted a good meal, so we went to the house of a member who ALWAYS gives us soup or something else that is amazingly good. But, alas, she had not made anything because she was too tired. But as we left her house, another member of the ward called and said that she's made us dinner. That was such a blessing for us. The Lord truly watches over us.

Monday we had district meeting and we took district pictures in our Sporting or Benfica jerseys. That was fun. We have quite the rivalry in our little district. Then I had decided that I would give out "district presents." What I did was gather together all the stuff that I didn't want anymore, divide it up and put it in separate bags. Elder Fernandes got my bandaids, Elder Gray my extra ibuprofen, Elder Walker got my travel size toilet paper and Irma Oliveira my hair gel that I hated. They laughed so hard. It sure is nice to give, isn't it?

Yesterday was a great day. Super normal. That's what I wanted for my last full day, was just a normal day. We taught, we had lunch with the Gaspars, and then we knocked some doors at the end of the day. It was also SUPER hot and the sun was bearing down on us. Perfectly normal in every way. I couldn't have asked for a better day.

Well, family, as always, I have much more to say, but not enough time to say it. But, this time I'll be able to catch you up in a few days! Thank you again for all of your love and support. I love you all!

Até já!!!
Irmã Laura Thomas
(the last time)

One Loyal Dog

2009-07-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

All,

Thank you for your interest in Laura and her mission. Next week will be her last email update. She will be returning home late on Friday, August 7th. She asked me to invite anyone in the Dallas area to come and listen to her speak in Church on Sunday, August 9th at 11:00 am. It's The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the address is 1324 W. Exchange Pkwy., Allen, Texas. Our home phone number is 972-727-2919 if you want to call her starting on the 8th. She will probably only be home a few days before heading back to Provo to find a job and an apartment - back to real life!. Her email address is: thefoof@gmail.com

Have a great day!
Susan

Hello dearest family! Thank you once again for the emails and the support. I love hearing from you every week. Remember that I still have one more week for emails. :)

It's been another crazy and full week. I got POUNDED by water balloons last week. Seriously, I think they all thought, "ooo let's get the seeshter!" i was soaked...good thing it was cloudy and a bit chilly...It was really fun to get all of the youth together though. I loved it.

I also had my last division of my mission last week. Irmas Watkins and Lister came down from Seixal. It was good to see them both and to get to know Irma Watkins better. When we were on our division, we passed by Clotilde's house. We've been trying to meet with her, but she lives really far away and always said that she didn't have time to meet with us. But we passed by and it was great! She was very excited to see us and seemed like she really needed to talk. So we went in and had a great lesson about the importance of prayer. We were about to drop her as an investigator, but I just felt like we shouldn't. I truly felt like an angel as we talked to her.

Then we went to the Duarte's house. Irmao Duarte is still very sick (it's been three months now). We swept their patio and then talked to Rita. I feel like I've been able to help them in some small way. I have always strived to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ every day, rather than worrying about the business of the day. When I am there I feel like I am right where the Savior would want me to be. There is no better feeling than that.

We also taught Leide about modesty last week. My goodness she's amazing. She took right to it, and while she doesn't have much money at all, she has done some small things to be modest. Every time we see her she is perfectly modest. She came to church in a very modest dress and nice sandals and a big smile on her face. She had gotten home from work Saturday night at about 2:00am and then went in to work early (7:40am) so that she could get her work done and come to church. That is true sacrifice. The ward is actually excited for the baptism, so that is a great sign. Maybe this is exactly what the ward needs so that real changes and progress can be made here. Who knows? But Leide is doing great and is very excited to get baptized next week!

We taught Leide with a recent convert in the other ward, Weverton. When we were with him he took us to a woman who is a less-active member from Brasil. Don't worry. She works at a bar. Seriously, we go to the strangest places to talk to people. And we talk to EVERYONE. It's been a great experience and she was actually very open to talking to us.

We got some sad news this week however, due to some complications in Tavira (which is in the Algarve), Elder Valencia was emergency transferred to that area. So we no longer have the "Dream District," but it was great while it lasted and the elders in our ward have been two of the best that I've served with. Things change so fast, don't they?

We went to Azeitao on Saturday. My goodness it was scortching hot. We couldn't hardly get anything done because the sun was so strong. Ick. My legs felt like lead by the end of the day. But, fortunately, Irma Oliveira told me some funny stories from her ward in Fortaleza. We had had a street meeting earlier that day and she gave away a copy of the Book of Mormon wrapped like a present. So funny. It worked though.

We had our musical fireside on Sunday. It went really really well. The Spirit was so strong and the choir just did great. I was so proud of them. However, between the two wards, only about 20 people showed up. President Torgan spoke (as did I, I found out about five minutes before...) and he also sang a solo. That was a shocker to us all. Never would have expected that one.

Yesterday we had a funny experience. Really, the strangest things happen to us. The Caleiras have two dogs, as I've mentioned. The one, Luna, followed us for about 20 minutes the other time and then went home when we got to our destination. This time she came with us for two hours. We had to stop at the church to get her water as it was quite hot. We knew that she was lost, so we called the Caleira's and they had to come pick her up. Seriously, the things we do. We couldn't work because we were babysitting a dog. I got a good chuckle out of that one. But she is a very very loyal dog. I am impressed by her.

We are also teaching a young Brasilian family, Andreia, Thays and Richard. Last week Andreia gave the most sincere prayer about how her life has gotten better since knowing us and this week, little Richarde, who is only 8 or 9 years old, asked us how to know which church is the true church. Wow. I am excited to see what happens with them before I go home.

Well, that's all the time I have. I have so much more to tell, but I'm sure you'll hear all about it. I love you all and have a great day!

Fishy Hands, Crazy Make-Up and 40ºC

2009-07-23T14:56:00.000-07:00

Hello dear family! It's been a very eventful week, so this is going to be a poorly written email so I can include everything. Here we go...

So last p-day that Nelsons came up from the Algarve to go to Mafra with us! It was so amazing and I LOVED going back. When we were on the main highway just north of Lisbon heading to Mafra I got SO excited. We saw the convent and drove around. It's a bit different now, they are making it more touristy and it looks good. We also went to see the Esteves and that was my favorite part. We walked in and President Esteves greeted us very warmly, as always. But my favorite part was when little 8-year-old Emma lit up when she saw me. Not only is she young, but it's been a year since I've been there. She remembered me! That was so exciting. I am so grateful that I got to know that wonderful family. I saw pictures of Filipe on his mission in Mozambique and he looks so happy. It was a nice visit.

Then that night we taught Leide more about keeping the Sabbath day holy. I felt very guided as we taught her. I explained that all of us can do better to keep this commandment and I invited us all to do better and to keep the Sabbath day holy as best we can. I was about to close up the lesson, but I felt like I needed to share with her what my dad always did when he had to work on Sunday. That he would go into work really early so that he could get back in time for church. That next day we called her to see how she was doing and she told us that she was going to work it out with her boss so that she could go in early then leave for church and then go back and stay later if she needed to. I was touched at her desire to keep the commandments.

We returned on Friday and had a great lesson on the gospel of Jesus Christ. We then invited her to be baptized on the 5th of August. She immediately accepted and said, Yeah, that sounds like a good day to me. It is certainly perfect for me too! That will be my last day in Setubal and will be the last real thing that I do as a missionary. She is the most amazing person. Truly humble and willing to change. It's been such a joy for me to see her change and become ever so much happier. So yay!

Friday night there was an activity in the other ward that we invited people to, so we went and were surprised to find out that it was an activity all about strengthening your marriage. We watched a film all about how to make your marriage better. It was a good film and very American. It was SOOO weird to see the American culture again and hear the different accents. I will have a shock when I go home. For sure. I couldn't stop laughing at the expressions that they used. Elder Valencia was laughing right along with me, so I'm not alone.

On Saturday we had a church cleaning project. I felt so Mormon as we cleaned. They really need to do more service projects here. Then right after we had a "Sardinhada," which is basically a sardine barbeque. Let me tell you what, sardines are not my favorite, but carapaus (horse mackerel)are AMAZING. What you do is put a piece of bread on your plate and then the grilled fish on top, then you peel off the skin and dive in with your fingers to eat the fish. It was SOOOO good. I ate four. Don't you worry. I am more Portuguese with every day. I LOVE fish. Who knew? We did smell like smokey fish the rest of the day though. But we're used to the smell. It's all the restaurants grill here.

The musical fireside is coming along quite well. We will be singing this Sunday and so it will be my last time with the choir on Sunday. I'm actually really sad about it. It's been my favorite service project that I've given on my mission. They very "subtley" asked me and Elder Wray to leave the room at the end of the practice...so they may be planning a party for us. We'll see.

Monday was a crazy day. President Torgan called Sunday afternoon and moved our interviews from Monday to Tuesday. It threw everything into chaos because we had eight elders in Setubal from other areas who then had to stay for an extra day and had nothing to do that whole Monday. But the zone leaders saved the day. We had our district meeting and then we took a lunch break and then we went back and played a "game" that Elder Wray made up. We had to go out and talk to as many people as possible and at the end we had to see who got the most points, based on a scale that we didn't know anything about when we set out. We got points for knowing how old an old lady was, for how many times and older man said that he was too old to change and how many times a business man said that he was in a hurry. It was so funny to hear the different points. At the end the companionship with the most points (we almost won) won "Companionship Night," which included a board game, popcorn, two ties and candy. We laughed so hard. The elders are so funny. Of course, you get a group of 19 and 20 year old boys togehter, what do you expect? They all really are like brothers to me.

Unfortunately, that whole day it was SCORTCHING hot. It hit 40ºC, which is 104ºF. Yes. It is hot here. Well, right now it's chilly and overcast...but that's beside the point.

Yesterday was a great day too. We had interviews. It was good, but very different. Then we went out with Sara Cordeiro, who is amazing. She went knocking with us and then went with us to teach Maria de Nascimento (Mary of the Birth). We had to HIKE up a HUGE hill to get there and then when we got there we walked into her house and saw that she had a shrine to the Holy Family. Really, very big. It was also very hot and this lady had makeup smeared all over her face. She kept rubbing her eyes and smudging it even worse. I don't know how I kept my composure, but I was really blessed. I hardly even cracked a smile. All I could think of was Iza from the Emperor's New Groove. Think of her and you will be able to picture this lady. I think by now I have pretty much seen it all.

Well, that's pretty much it. Phew! Today we're having a water balloon fight with a bunch of missionaries and pretty much all of the youth and young single adults of Setubal. It's going to be great! I love you all and have a great week!

Colombian Chili and American Cake...YUM!

2009-07-15T04:44:00.000-07:00

Hello family! Thank you so much for the emails and support! I love hearing from you all every week.

It's been another ridiculously fast week. I don't know where the time goes. It's so interesting that when you want time to slow down it speeds up.

We've met with some of our members this past week and talked to them about who they know who would benefit from hearing about the gospel. We had a great experience with a couple in the ward, the Martins. They are amazing and they came up with some great ideas. We have been trying to meet with them for weeks, but it never worked out. We are trying to do the work differently here. The members need to do their part and find people for us to teach. Our best as missionaries is just not good enough, so we're working more through them members and teaching them their role in the work.

Sunday I had an interesting experience. We were sitting in Relief Society and the lesson was about the temple. The Portuguese are always talking about having a temple in Portugal and wanting a temple in Portugal. So the lesson just became a bit of a debate on why there's no temple in Portugal. The teacher did a great job of teaching about the temple and the lesson came back to where it needed to be for us to learn and be edified. But as the little discussion was going on I became a bit frustrated and sad at how they just didn't seem to "get it" about why the Church here isn't ready for a temple. As I pondered about it I realized that we can use this great passion that the members have for having a temple here to give them the motivation for doing missionary work. If they want a temple here, then the Church needs to be stronger, so they need to share the joy of the gospel with those around them that they know. I felt very strongly that we needed to change a good amount of things in the ward and set a goal for the number of people we want in the ward by the end of the year. I talked to the ward mission leader and he agreed completely. Since then, we have all been brainstorming ideas and tonight we will meet with the bishopric to make some changes here. The Church here is so ready for growth. We have laid the foundation and now it can really grow. I know that by the end of the year, there will be great growth here in our ward, if the members do their part. And, they are amazing, so they will. I am grateful that I am here to be able to get things started.

Monday we had our district meeting and before it started we had a great lunch. Elder Valencia made us some GREAT chili and it tasted SOOO good. Wow. It was also Elder Walker's birthday. So...I used the cake that Mom sent me and made a birthday cake for Elder Walker. Oh my. The elders were all soooo excited to see that cake. I got thank yous for the rest of the day from all of them.

Yesterday we had a great experience. I have been bugging one of the young men here in the ward, Pedro Caleira, about teaching his friends, because he's a great member missionary and talks to his friends all the time about the Church. So yesterday we finally taught his friends. It was a great lesson. I love teaching about the Restoration! I was so pleasantly surprised at how well his friends paid attention (there were five of them, all age 17 or 18) and listened and participated. Two of his friends were really excited to get the Book of Mormon and to read and pray about it. The Spirit was very strong as we taught and testified. I was so grateful for all of the preparation that Pedro did so that his friends would have the respect to listen to what we had to say. Some really good seeds were planted yesterday. I am excited to see what happens with them.

Other than that, nothing else really has happened. Leide continues to do really well. We invited her to find a new job before Friday so she can get baptized, so we'll be working hard so that can happen. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Yes, I CAN Sing All Parts

2009-07-15T04:41:00.000-07:00

Hello family! First, I will not be emailing you all individually today. We had everything planned out, but then we had a little mishap with our money being left at home, so...we had to go back and that used up my other half hour of time to write you right now. I hope to be able to come back later today and respond. But, paciencia. I will be printing out your emails and reading them. Thank you!

Well, it's been a FAST FAST FAST week here. Really, time is FLYING by here and I am honestly starting to freak out a bit about it. Yesterday we had Zone Conference, my last one. :( It was great to meet President Torgan and Irma Torgan. They are wonderful people and will continue the work that President and Irma Terry started here. It was a bit of the "Irma Thomas Show" yesterday, to my dismay. I have already mentioned before that we have the chance to give a talk, at the choice of President Torgan, and guess who got chosen...ME! I was just a bit too smiley when they got here and kept making eye contact. I should know better than that. He went right up, pointed right to me and was like "Seester, you will speak on faith, Elder you will speak on charity." Bam Bam. He has such a thick accent. It's crazy and he's got a booming voice so it was just a little scary. It went okay...I could've prepared better...I also had the chance to give my "final testimony." No, I did not cry. Yes, I teared up and was very close to crying. It just has started to hit me that I'm leaving and will never come back here as Irma Thomas. It's very sad for me in that regard. But I feel a peace about what I've been able to accomplish and what we still have to accomplish. I have loved my mission and am so grateful that the Lord told me I needed to serve. It has changed me and my life. I also got called up by President Torgan to be used as an example. And they kept talking to me and Elder Wray. Actually, that was very nice. Irma Torgan went up to the pulpit and thanked me and Elder Wray for our service and wished us the best in our lives. I could feel her love for us and that was a tender mercy. Conference was very different, but very good. President Torgan will be changing a lot of things, but it will help the work grow here.

This week we had a couple of divisions with the young women in the area. We went first with Sara Cordeiro, who's actually a young single adult. Everything fell through, so we left the building we were at (after being chastised by an older lady--out her window on the 3rd floor, mind you--about how we shouldn't ring on her neighbor's door because no one was there, although someone showed up. Oh Portugal, the funny things people do here.) So I turned to Sara and asked her where we were going to go. She got a real panicky look on her face and said, no no no, Irma, I don't choose, you do. But we insisted and we ended up on this road. We knocked on the first several doors. Nothing. But then we knocked on the door of Heloneida, a lady from Cabo Verde whose sister is a member. She let us right in and we talked to her. It was a great experience and when we left, I turned to Sara and said, Wow! Look what you did! She got a big smile on her face and said that she didn't do anything at all.

Leide is doing great and we're still working on her papers and her job situation. We had a great lesson with her and she bore her testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. She has such a faith and is very elect. I love working with her and seeing her change. What a miracle she is.

Last night after Conference everything had fallen through and I thought of where we should go. Immediately, Lindalva came to mind. She had not been progressing at all, but we needed to go by anyway, so we went. When we got there, her husband, Marcelis, informed us that Lindalva's sister had died that day in Brasil, very suddenly, of a heart attack. We talked to her and listened. I felt so strongly the love of our Heavely Father for her. She really needed to talk to us and hear what we said. I felt so guided. Every day I am more grateful for the help I receive.

Sunday we had choir. So I was helping them with "Beautiful Savior." I ended up first helping the sopranos, while the altos were in with the piano. The sopranos got it down. Then the altos were okayish, but we were changing the ending, so I went upstairs to see how the men were faring. It was not pretty. But, fortunately, I knew the bass line...so I helped the basses. Yes, it was funny. Then the tenors were lost, so I learned the tenor line and helped them. We all laughed a bit. My voice was so hoarse. I love serving through music.

That's all I've got time for!I love you!

And I'm Once Again Brasilian!

2009-07-01T06:36:00.000-07:00

Hello dear family, I will apologize in advance for my weird English. I'm struggling with any language today. My poor companion. The morning is rough for me to begin with....

Well, things are just going great here. Nothing super special happened this week, pretty much the norm, but it was a good week. I went to the office on Thursday for the first time since October and it was really nice to see some people that I'd not seen in a long time. It was great to see Irma Oliveira again. Apparently, she had felt that she was coming here too, and had even written to President Terry to ask to come here to be with me. Funny how that happens, isn't it? Things have been going great ever since. It's been weird for both of us to be with someone else with experience in the mission. She just finished training. But, we've been laughing a lot and laughing at our bodies' falling apart.

Irma Oliveira is from the northeast of Brasil, Fortaleza and is a convert to the Church. She's the only member in her family and joined when she was 11. She was studying accounting before the mission but will change and study human relations after. She also has two sisters and they live with her mom. She's super tall and thin. Seriously, she's taller than the elders. It's funny. We bought bottles of water yesterday and it was a very tall and skinny bottle, Irma Oliveira, we compared it against one of me, shorter and a bit wider. I got a good chuckle out of that one.

We've decided to be very adventurous with our cooking this transfer, since neither of us could really cook before the mission. We made rice pudding last night...it turned out surprisingly well, considering we had a wrong recipe. I really do enjoy cooking. I'm sure I will enjoy it more when I have a dish washer and a microwave. :)

Things are going okay with our investigators and less-actives and members. No one we are working with came to church, which was disappointing, but I feel confident that things will work out. We had a great lesson with Leide on Monday and I really felt like I needed to talk to her about either getting Sundays off or getting a new job. She was very humble and said that she would pray about it and would make a change in her life. She is incredible.

I gave my last talk (probably) on Sunday. I had prepared my remarks based on Elder Perry's talk from Conference, but as I sat on the stand, I felt like I needed to focus solely on retention. So I talked about the Prodigal Son and about the importance of home and visiting teaching. I really felt the Spirit testify through me as I spoke. I don't know why I needed to say that, but I think it went well.

So we are preparing a musical fireside for the last week in July focusing on the Savior. I have an arrangement of Beautiful Savior that we sang last year. Normally, people are pretty chatty during choir, but as Nuno played the music of this piece, a calm entered the room and no one spoke. It was amazing. We all really felt the Spirit testify of the divinity of Christ. I am super excited for this fireside. It will be great!

So...I have been speaking only Portuguese with Irma Oliveira, other than when I am helping her with her English. She's said some things grammatically that I've wondered about, so I asked. Every time I've asked, she's had to stop and think about it and then say that she'd picked up a bad habit from one of her other companions that was learning Portuguese. At the end of the day she told me that my Portuguese was better than hers. This is FAR from the truth, rest assured, but it was funny to see that we really do rub off on one another. My Brasilian accent is coming back a little bit. I have to make a concerted effort to stick to Continental Portuguese. It's amazing.

Oh! I forgot to mention our diverse district. Three Americans, a Brasilian, a Portuguese who lives in Belgium, and a Columbian. Last week Elder Fernandes taught us a little French and this week Elder Valencia (who now lives in New York) taught us some Spanish. I really want to learn more languages. I really love it.

Well, sorry, nothing really new here. It's been a good week. Sorry for the rambling. I hope that you are all doing well. I love you!

Why Didn't Anyone Tell Me about the Card Convention?

2009-06-17T18:58:00.000-07:00

Hey family! ~Thank you so much for the updates and love. I hope that things are still great. I write to you from yet a different locale, a video rental store. Who knew that you could find an internet cafe in a video rental place? Best computers I've found too.

Well, it's been another crazy week. The baptism of little Joana went well, I had a bit of a hard time because Leide cancelled at the last minute (she had fallen asleep and could get ready fast enough). That broke my heart a little bit, but things got remarkably better in the area starting that next day. There were two holidays in a row last week and Thursday we tried to stop by Vanessa Sousa's again, hoping that she would be home. We stopped by and tapped on the window. Her daughter answered and told us that we could go around and they would buzz us in. We got to the door and guess what! WE GOT IN THE DOOR! This was quite the feat. The elders had been stopping by and for one reason or another, Vanessa would make up excuses for them to not be able to come in, and she did the same with us a couple of times. So I was thrilled that we were finally in her house and could have a lesson with her. It went great. She was so receptive and we set it up to meet with her three times a week.

We then saw her on Saturday and all of her kids were there and she promised that she would go to church the next day. So church came around and she wasn't there for relief society, I tried calling and got no answer. So gospel principles started and to my delight, Elder Rissi said that Vanessa was downstairs and had just arrived with her kids! I was so excited! The whole ward greeted her so well and it was just great. He mom and brother bore their testimony and I think it was good for her to see. Hopefully, things continue to go well and she chooses to let us in. But I am excited about her progress.

This week we've also had more time to go out with the young single adults and we even have gone knocking with them. Let me tell you what, they get so excited to knock! Granted, they would never say a word petrified to open their mouths, but they love just being with us. I am still seeing a small and subtle change in Sara Santana. She is a great girl and keeps saying to us, I don't know why, but I just love going out with you two. I know it's because she's feeling the Spirit and is able to bear her testimony and strengthen her faith.

This past little while our ward has been struck with illness. A brother in the ward has been sick for about six weeks, he's older and we hope that he will be able to get better soon. On top of this our bishop was diagnosed with cancer and will be undergoing treatment (hopefully) this week. Another brother had a heart attack, but was up and bearing his testimony on Sunday. I am constantly amazed at the members here. They have such a love for one another and it is truly like family. They worry about one another and take care of one another. I have not seen a ward/branch that is like this in my whole mission. The members have such a love and it is so evident in all they do. They truly live the gospel.

Right now I am in Lisbon! We are doing a division with the Lapa Irmas, Irmas Andrus and Machado. It's been fun to see their area and help with the work. And of course, Irma Machado and I always love seeing eachother. Yesterday I was with Irma Andrus and we walked by a bit of a park. We saw about 70 old men playing cards at various tables. Don't worry, we walked right by so I could get a good look. It was like a tournament. It looked like a flock of pidgeons hovering around bread crumbs. So funny!

Setubal has turned into a tropical rainforest...except for the whole forest part. It is ridiculously hot and humid. It keeps raining on and off, which takes away the heat, but then it becomes so super humid that it's suffocating. I dare say that it's worse than Texas. Let's hope that it lets up a bit. I cannot live in heat like this again. At least I will probably have air conditioning wherever I live in the future. Be grateful for air conditioning and ceiling fans. They are like little miracles. I can sleep without covers on though. I take great pride in that.

Things are going well here, better each day. Doors are being opened and we are being greatly blessed. It's such a joy for me to be able to see this progress and I hope that we will be blessed to see even more. I love you all and have a great day!

A Patriarch Could Win a Marathon

2009-06-10T06:17:00.000-07:00

Hello family! Thanks for the emails and the opportunity to choose a shirt color of my very own! Everyone was particularly funny today with their emails. I was having a good laugh.

Well, this week was a good one. I'll start with the highlight: interviews. I always love interviews. Recently, I have just enjoyed the time to sit and talk to Irma Terry. Before our interviews we had a zone meeting and all of the elders decided to take a picture of them without belts on. President never wears a belt and we all think it is so cute, so they took a picture. President took longer than usual this time as it was his last round of interviews with us, so it gave me a good bit of time to talk to Irma Terry. She has become such a dear friend and has taken good care of me while I've been here. It was good to just have time to talk to her as she mended an elder's pair of pants. (They were BAD.) The poor elder didn't bring a spare pair, so he stayed in the bathroom for a good half hour while she fixed them.

My interview with President was great. It was really like I was just talking to a friend. He never knew that I wasn't planning on serving a mission when we came here and ate with them. I felt so much his love for me and for the mission and it was much like my last interview. It was sad, but mostly a wonderful experience. We both have such good hopes and expectations for this great area. Things are really going to take off here with more hard work and getting the members even more involved.

We also had stake conference this past weekend, which was great. We got to go up for the Saturday session because the choir was singing. Elders Schutze and Caussé were at the conference and it was so good to see Elder Causse again. I got to talk to him a bit after the session and I sure hope that I get to see him again. I feel like I am really part of the Europe Area of the Church. It has been amazing to get to know such wonderful leaders.

At the Sunday session it was in an auditorium and as I was in the choir, we were on the stage. We could barely hear anything because of the acoustics in the room. But, afterward we sang a hymn and it sounded great. I got to see some of the members from Seixal (ps Jen, Carmen says hi!). It was great to see her and talk to the other members. I was shocked at how many remembered my name. Wow.

I had some funny things happen this week: I had a dream the other night that the Patriarch, Irmao Castro, was in a marathon for all of Europe and don't worry, he took first place. He smoked the competition. Funny what stake conference will do to your dreams. Yesterday we went over to the Caleiras to see the new baby. They have two dogs that roam around. Usually, they follow us home or down the street. Mind you, these are pretty good sized dogs. This time, one of their dogs followed us for literally a 25 minute walk until we got to another members' house and we had to shut her out of the building. The other dog followed us about half of the way, but probably got distracted and lost us. I felt strangely safe and like I was on Lassie.

Things are going really well with Leide still. She's looking into getting her papers processed and we have a girl getting baptized today and she can come because she has the day off. So we talked to her about baptism and what would happen. She then asked what she needed to do to be baptized. Wow. She is so amazing. The order of the lessons makes perfect sense for her. I know that she will get baptized some day and will bring her family into the Church in Brasil. It just may take a while, but she is one of the pure in heart.

More has happened, but time is short. I love you all and I hope that you have a great week!

A Little Bird Came to Visit

2009-06-03T05:02:00.000-07:00

Hello dear family! I write to you once again from the lovely library of Seixal. How wonderful it has been to be back here! I'll start backwards, I suppose. We came up yesterday and had a great time. I went with Irma Watkins, who is wonderful. We've always secretly wanted to serve together, so it was nice to at least be able to do a division. It felt like I had never left Seixal when I came back. Nothing has changed! Everything still smells exactly the same. That killed me. The apartment was the same, the building was the same. It was so great to see what while we live in such a world of change, Number 21 Rua do Minho still had the same smell, or smells I should say. I got to see Salita and Silvino, who were a recent convert couple when I was here. They have changed in the best way. While they are still the same, they have put down their roots even deeper into the gospel. That was wonderful to see. We also found a couple of great people in the actual area of Seixal. It was great!

As for Setúbal, things are about the same as always. Leide is amazing. She is progressing really well and is so hungry to learn! We are working on getting her a new job so she can come to church and our wonderful ward mission leader, Irmao Miranda, has been very proactive in helping us. We hope that she will be able to get a new job soon! I'll keep you posted. Leide is so wonderful. She is such a gem and is always saying how she wants to learn more and to change and be better. That is the thing every missionary dreams of hearing! I hope we start finding more Leides soon!

Well, it's been a VERY hot week here for us. VERY hot. I think upper 90s and quite humid. I am not excited about the rest of the summer. I am already SUPER brown. You are all going to laugh at my ridiculous tanlines, but I love it. My feet are particularly funny. We got to avoid the heat on Friday as we had zone conference. How wonderful that was for me! President and Irma Terry will be leaving us in the very beginning of July, so they gave their last remarks. Don't worry, I was bawling along with them. They have truly been like parents to me and I could not have asked for better people to have watched over me. As they talked and shared their feelings about going home, I found my own feelings reflected in theirs. It's funny how time passes so quickly. Conference was a wonderful highlight for me and was a great boost as well. Next transfer will be the first for President Torgan. I'm curious to see how it will be different.

Saturday we got to give service! We had been called on Thursday and told not to plan anything, as we would be helping witht ehf ood bank. We had no idea what it would entail and no one gave us any information. All we knew as of Friday night was that we were goign out to Azeitao and would be going to the Intermarché (a grocery store). We ended up getting there and there was no one there to help us. It was all very poorly planned and it was only the four of us missionaries helping. It ended up all working out when Elder Wray saw a scout drive by. The scouts were in charge of the whole thing and so we handed out bags to people to go get food in the store and then they would bring them back full of food. It felt good to serve in the community and I got to talk to some great people about the gospel in the process. The scouts here have ridiculous uniforms and they all wear the short shorts. Even the grown men. It's so funny.

Well, Sunday night I got back home and went to the room and noticed that there was somehting brown sitting on my pants in the corner. I went closer and got a better look. It was a baby bird! I couldn't believe it! We shooed him out of the room and then he just stayed in the tiny veranda type thing. He couldn't clear the ledge to fly out, but he gathered the strength the next morning to fly over. That was really freaky for me though. You never think of having a bird in your apartment! Don't worry, I got a picture. :)

Well, I love you all! Things are going well. I'm out of time!

Don't Worry, I'm Portuguese Now

2009-05-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

Hello family! Thanks for the updates as always. I feel very blessed to have such a supportive family.

This week has been a really good one for us. We are starting to see progress! We are starting to teach! This is exciting! We had a great week last week with using the members. Unfortunately, none of them got to help us teach anyone, but they went finding with us! We went out with Sara and Carla, two Laurels in the ward, on Saturday and they knocked some doors with us! Sara has already helped us a few times and she's great. She would not talk to me hardly at all my first couple of months here, but now she's helping us and she seems to really like talking to me. I've seen such a difference in her lately, she seems so much happier now. I don't know if it's related to her helping us, but I do feel like it was inspired that we work with her. Carla was fun to work with too. She was so nervous to knock doors. The poor girl. The most I had her do was push the doorbell and even then she seemed uncomfortable. But the next day at church she said that she liked going out with us and wanted to go again. Yay!

We also went out with Sineide, who is a rockin member from Brasil. She's amazing! She's new in the ward (and in Portugal) and we've really bonded. She really helped me feel at home here in Setubal. We always sit together in Relief Society and I just love her. Well, she lives outside of Setubal and about a 25 minute walk from the bus and she doesn't have a driver's license, so pretty much she's alone all day. But she really wants to help out with the work, so I asked how she could help us and she suggested that we talk to her neighbors. So we went out there on Thursday and knocked out a couple of streets. Let's just say that her area isn't the most receptive area you could find. Sineide was a bit shocked I think at how closed people tend to be here, as she is used to Brasilians and their open, friendly nature toward strangers. The Portuguese are wonderful people as well, but they have a hard time with strangers. Even after all the rejection she wants to go out with us again!

Did I mention that Setubal has a soccer club/team here? Vitória. Everyone is all about Vitoria here. Wow. A couple of weeks ago there was a game and seriously, I think the whole city went to the stadium to watch. Wow. Everyone was wearing green, no, everyone was wearing Vitoria clothes. Wow. Flags were flying, scarves were abounding and I was grateful that we had an appointment for that night. :) I have never seen a city shut down like that. I really felt like I was in Europe there.

A couple of days ago there was a field day for one of the schools at the park right by our house. They were recruting people to play rugby! I was so happy and excited! I haven't seen rugby here yet. Yay!

As you all know, we've been doing a lot of "finding" my whole time in Setubal. I felt that we needed to go back through our records and look up all of the potential investigators and former investigators again regardless of whether they have been looked up before or not. So we embarked on this journey and we have actually found a handful of people already in the five days we've really been looking for them. We found Marcelis and Lindalva, a couple from Brasil. They have already met with the missionaries about 10 years ago and they were very welcoming and receptive. I hope that they will act and will be ready to accept the gospel again. We've got a teaching schedule with them and they seem happier with every visit we make.

Also, on our division with Sara and Carla, Irma Lister and Sara finally got in touch with a less-active family that we've been wanting to work with. We've talked to all of the children, just not the mom yet. Well, they found her (consequently, Sara is related to this family, the Dias family). The elders have been working with Sonia's (the mom) parents the past few months and they told us to stop by. We had such a good feeling about them. So Monday we went over and had a GREAT family night with them. Wow. If there ever were people who were ready to come back, it is them. I mentioned to Sonia that her parents had been coming back to church. Surprisingly enough, she had no idea, but there was a hope and a joy that came into her eyes when I told her. I am SO excited to keep working with them. We're going back tonight!

Leide is still doing great. Just FYI. She's amazing.

I forgot to explain the title of last week's email. So, here in Setubal, I've been the cook and have discovered that I actually like it. I make killer rice now. Pretty much, I only cook Portuguese food. But I just threw things together a couple weeks ago in a skillet and IT WAS AMAZING! I am finally getting this whole cooking thing down more. It's great! Yay! Who knew that I had it in me?

So my confidence has beena bit down the past few weeks as several of the Brasilians that we've worked with have mentioned that they can't understand me or that my Portuguese isn't that good. Well, Sunday we were at lunch and a member's mom, she's probably in her 80s, told me that I am more Portuguese than American and that she understands me very well. If an old lady can understand me than anyone can! That evening at choir the members there also mentioned how Portuguese I am and that my Portuguese is quite good. I don't say this to boast, but that I think it's funny what different reactions I get. I do feel quite Portuguese though. What a great compliment!

Well, that's it! I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Guess What Family! I Can Cook Now!

2009-05-20T04:44:00.000-07:00

Hello family! Thanks for all of the updates! I am still excited that will be making family shirts. Yay! I've always secretly coveted my friends' family reunion shirts that they had at BYU. Now I get to have one of my very own!

It's been a good week here in Setúbal for us. We started out the week by bidding goodbye to the missionaries who left our fun little district. On his way out, Elder Murray handed us the teaching record of a lady they had been working with, Clotilde, who is the sister of our bishop's mom, so the bishop's aunt, I suppose. We went and saw Clotilde that same day, but first we went and saw Luciete, her sister. Our dear bishop has been having some health problems and his mom was very worried when we saw her. We went over with the intent of asking about Clotilde, but we were able to comfort and listen to her as she shared her concerns. Then we sang a hymn together, Ó Pai Celeste. (I don't know what it is in English, sorry!) A peace entered the room as we sang, that had nothing to do with our limited musical abilities. I could feel Heavenly Father's love for her through the comfort of that hymn. It was a choice experience for me this past week. Actually, this week has been full of them. Then we went over and we met Clotilde. What a sweet lady! Apparently, she gets VERY worked up about soccer and is worse than a man. Oh, how I hope I get to get a glimpse of that...But it was great to meet her and we will be working more with her in the coming weeks.

We've been working with a youth named Melissa. We had a great lesson with her on Saturday. We brought a member with us who ended up talking way too much,but surprisingly enough, Melissa loved it. She gets the biggest smile on her face whenever she sees us and has a true desire to learn and to partake of the blessings of the gospel.

We combined with her on Saturday to go to church the next day (I know we don't say combined in English, but I can't think of the English equivalent. Sorry...) So we booked it to get to her house before church to pick her up. We knocked, and knocked, and called, and called. No answer. We even went back after Reliefe Society and still no answer. Very saddened, I walked to church, a bit down that she wasn't coming with us because I know how happy it would make her. The stake president came and shared a message with us. He read through Alma 29:1-10, my favorite scriptures and the theme of my mission, as it has been. I felt the love ofthe Lord through that tender mercy and that gentle reminder that really, this is His work and that He knows what we need and will bless us in His own due time.

At church I also had the priviledge of helping Elder Murray's mom through Relief Society. It really reminded me of our coming to church with Jen here. I would occasionally give her the gist of what was going on and she seemed to really enjoy the class. I was glad to be able to talk to her and make her feel comfortable. She kept tearing up and after the meeting told me that I just make her cry (happy tears of course). Who knew I had that ability? :)

I also ate seafood rice this week. And it was AMAZING! Although, I didn't like the whole biting down on shells to get to the meat. I would skip the whole crab bit next time because of that. But it was amazing!

Leide is still progressing really well. We invited her to ask for one Sunday morning off per month and she said she would talk to her boss. It is so nice working with her. I really feel a connection with her and she is so ready for the gospel. She just takes it all in and even talks to her coworkers about us. Amazing, right?

Well, I love you all! I hope you have a great week!

No One Can Rain on My Parade!

2009-05-13T20:47:00.000-07:00

Hello family! Thank you for the emails! They were wonderful this week! Everyone was very descriptive! Thanks! And, YAY!, we're going to Disney World! Now I get to have the whole SuperBowl experience: So Irma Thomas, now that you are heading home, what's the first thing that you're going to do? I'm going to Disney World! It will be so nice to see you all! But...that is still a really long way away, right? I'm going to pretend that time will not fly by these next two transfers. Maybe it will work...

This week was a good one, though very rainy. I don't think anything really changed, but God blessed me with a light heart and the blessing of facing rejecting with a smile. We're still on the lookout for investigators. Unfortunately, our teaching pool took a huge hit. Of the few people we were teaching, we lost six of them (the majority of our investigators), two moved, and even more sad, four of them dropped us. Last night, I called an investigator we started teaching last week, a girl named Greice (Grace) and her family, who are very strong evangelicals. I called to confirm our appointment and she told me that she had talked to her preacher and he told her not to talk to us anymore. That is actually the first time that's happened to me. I didn't really know how to respond, but I told her that if she ever wanted to talk to us, she was always welcome to learn more. Normally, we teach people who don't actively go to another church, so it wasn't wholly unexpected, but it still was a bit of a damper on our night.

Also, Trindade and Artur dropped us because they think they're too busy. That was very sad for me because they are perfect for the ward and they know that what we are saying makes sense, at the very least. They had the startings of a testimony. Hopefully, when their lives calm down, things will improve.

Inspite of all of this, things are going well here. We are still teaching Leide, who is great! She is so happy and positive and she never breaks a committment. She has a hard time reading and praying because she's so busy, but we commited her to reading two verses a day and hopefully, she'll be able to do that. She is so sincere and so good. I feel the Spirit so much when I teach her. She is one of the pure in heart who want to know the truth. Leide is a blessing for me right now.

This past week we also got to help Arlette move! It was a great opportunity for us to build up some trust with her and get to know her better. She's a great lady. My goodness, she is so African!It's so nice to be around Africans again! I was helping her clean the kitchen and she did it SOOO differently. It kind of grossed me out, but I just had to remind myself that she was African. I am excited to be able to see her next week and talk to her about the Restoration. She is truly looking for the truth as well. It's so nice to have people to teach who are really searching!

Friday we had our Mission Conference, as I mentioned on Sunday. It was wonderful! I got to see everyone! Elder Smith got me updated on the goings on of Faro. I am so thrilled that Wumi is doing well and the Felicia is going to church and is not drinking! Did I mention that her son, Carlos, who we taught twice, showed up to church and now wants to be baptized? Yay! That just warms my little heart to hear! What a blessing it was to be led to her. The conference was great and Elder and Sister Kearon really gave us a great boost spiritually. My favorite part was when President Terry spoke. He went off on a random tangent that was exactly what I needed to hear. It's been hard for me to not be able to see any progress here when we are working so hard. But I can only control myself, my actions, my obedience and my diligence. How true that is. Though I may be rejected numerous times every day, that's okay. All I can do is keep on going. All we can truly offer the Lord is our will. How grateful I am for President Terry.

Saturday we had our ward activity. It was called "Praising our Wives" and they invited the missionaries as the special guests. It was a bit awkward to be there with all ofthe couples in the ward, but itw as very kind of them to include us. Rui Gaspar went around, as always, taking pictures of everything and everyone. They thought that there wouldn't be enough space for everyone, so they pulled in two little side tables for the missionaries to sit at. Yes, we sat at the kiddie table. Don't worry, I got pictures. I felt like I was at a family gathering again. Me, sitting at the kids tables, surrounded by couples. It was really fun though. They served some WEIRD food. Octopus and cuddle fish. The octopus was great, but I was served SO much and couldn't eat it all. The cuddle fish was NASTY. I have liked fish up until now. Just not that little number. Ick. Fortunately, the elders helped me out.

Things with the choir are progressing well. I got to be the conductor on Sunday because the Herminia couldn't go. So... it left it up to me. It went okay, except I didn't know the song. Oh well! It's nice to be able to help out and serve. The members are all happy that I'm staying to help with stake conference.

OH yeah! We got transfer calls. We are staying together. This meas that I will be staying in Setubal until the end of my mission! Yay! I'm very excited. I really wanted to stay and I'm so glad that I get to. I hope you have a great week! I love you all!

More Visas, Pop Socks and Jet Planes

2009-04-29T05:11:00.000-07:00

Hello family! Thank you for all of the emails and love. I hope that things continue to go well for you all. We are truly blessed, aren't we?

It's been a crazy week. I'll start from last Wednesday. We went up to Lisbon for an "irma p-day" and we met up with all of the irmas in the Lisbon area. It was really fun and nice to see everyone, but blazing hot! Fortunately, we went up to the Castelo de São Jorge, which is up on a large hill, so we got a good breeze. It was nice to see everyone again. Then Irma Vega and I headed to Oeiras for a division to wait on Irma Lister doing her visa. Irma Lister headed to Lapa (in Lisbon) for a division. Neither house had room for three. So, I ended up going with Irma West, our contingent from England. She is a riot! I learned all sorts of new things from her. Did you know that knee highs are pop socks? She also told me she didn't want~to teach me how to suck an egg and I asked her if she meant she didn't want to beat a dead horse or preach to the choir. Funny how we were speaking the same language but couldn't understand one another! We had a great time and hope that we get to serve together. Oeiras was great as always. John, everyone says hi and asks when the kids are on the way.

Then we found out Thursday morning that the visa place decided to be difficult as always, so Irma Lister couldn't start her visa renewal until Friday. So Irma Vega and I went back to Setubal and she stayed up in Lisbon until Friday night (Yes, it took literally all day of waiting to get one little form processed.)

In the mean time, we taught Leide, who we met two weeks ago. She invited her roommate, Jose Carlos a guy of about 25 from São Paulo Brasil, to listen to our message. He stood the whole time in the kitchen and listened to us. I couldn't tel lif he was even interested at all, but we invited him to read, pray and go to church, and he said he would. Well, he was good to his word about church at least. He came for the whole block! We went and picked him up, bright and early at 9:00am. Not only was he ready, but he was well dressed in nice jeans and a button-up shirt, and waiting for us outside his house. He was showered and nicely groomed. He even turned off his phone on the way there! Well, he was just great. Our ward mission leader, Irmao Caleira, really took Jose Carlos under his wing. He sat by him in all the classes and was great. The whole ward greeted him. José Carlos even read some scriptures in gospel principles! This from the guy who asked if he had to do anything and if he could just sit there quietly! We will be teaching him again tonight and I'm really excited!

The next day (Friday) we taught Trindade and Artur. It went really well. Trindade is letting us talk more and respecting our time and message very well. Unfortunately, they couldn't go to church because their son (who's 35 mind you) had pneumonia and they had to go take care of him.

Saturday was the 35th anniversary of Portugal's liberation from their dictatorship. Old men were wearing white top hats (sort of) and red carnations, the symbol of the revolution.

Sunday the other ward had a baptism and we were able to bring Rosaria to watch it. It went very well and we all felt the Spirit. Choir was a bit of a struggle. They are learning "This is the Christ" and no one knows it (except me!) including the pianist. So I had to sing at the top of my lungs so they could all hear me. It was a bit chaotic, but hopefully, we will be able to make choir more productive.

Monday was a turbulent day. We had interviews with President and while we were waiting I had the opportunity to talk quite a bit with Irma Terry. They are so close to going home! I talked to her about what she was going to do and she went off on sewing and quilting. It made me think of my mom so much! President and Irma Terry have really been like parents to me here on the mission. I am so grateful for them. My interview went well and we talked about the different challenges that my companions were facing and are still.

I found out later from Irma Vega that President told her that she would probably be going home since they can't seem to figure out what's wrong with her and she's not getting the help she needs. He called that evening to tell her she would be going home and yesterday she was picked up to stay at the mission home and this morning she left. I am already really missing her, but I know she'll be able to get better this way. We've both been very frustrated with medicine here and now she'll be able to get the help she needs. It was a great privilege to serve with her and I learned so much. I really learned how to serve and sacrifice with her. I really feel that I was able to grow and get to know my Savior better through everything.

I don't really have anything else to say. Sorry, I couldn't really think of any funny stories. My game with Irma Vega where we "called" everything was getting a little out of hand, with us calling every Smart car, mini Cooper, yellow car, Citroen blue car, etc. So I'll have to find another hobby.

I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

It's Amazing What People Will Throw Away

2009-04-22T04:56:00.000-07:00

Hello family! It was good to hear from you and I'm glad that things are going well for you all.

This week was a really good one for us. We've had to go up to Lisbon a couple of times to see the doctor about Irma Vega's headaches. Still no solutions, but we're able to work at a more normal pace now and I'm very happy about that. We are seeing the blessings of hard work here in Setubal. They are small, but they are there.

A couple of weeks ago we stopped this Brasilian lady on the street and talked to her about our life's purpose. She was in a hurry, but we were able to set up an appointment and get her address. Last Wednesday, we were able to go and talk to her, Leide, and her roommate, Aline. We went into the house (what we call a Brasilian house, where there is a different family or person living in each room of the house or apartment, but they share the kitchen and living room). We met Aline and at first Aline didn't really want to listen to us, but we were in her room, so she was polite. We started teaching the 1st lesson, but I felt like we really needed to focus on why we are here and how the Book of Mormon answers our questions. When we switched what we were teaching, Aline immediately started paying close attention and the Spirit really entered the room. We will be going back to teach them tomorrow afternoon and we invited the rest of Leide's roommates (housemates, really) to listen to us.

We also looked up a few old investigators to see if they would be interested in talking to us again. We went down into the downtown area of Setubal and looked up Betania, who Irma Vega already knew. When we got to the street that she lived on, a young boy called out "Irmas!" I looked up and all around to see who was talking to us and I saw, on a balcony, Orlando, with a big smile on his face. Unfortunately, his mom wasn't home, so we told him that we would pass by again the next day at a better time. He said, "okay, I'll tell my mom!" We passed by the next day, but his mom was again not there, but we were able to talk to Orlando's older brother, Henrique, and sister, Melissa. Melissa had the same big smile on her face and was excited to see us as well. We invited them to church and they all commited to coming. Even better, Orlando invited his friend, Rafael, who was there with him to church and Rafael told us that we should go see his mom. Rafael also told us that he would be coming to church. Orlando had come to church before (he's 10) and came by himself. He LOVED primary and was really excited about going back. I can't explain how warm their smiles are and how happy they were to see us. It was like a light entered into them when we talked to them. I really want to be able to teach them.

Saturday we had our mini MTC in the ward. There were two workshops and a bit of a testimony meeting. Oh, well there was supposed to be one, but we got started a half-hour late and there wasn't time. But anywho, we didn't even really have to do anything because Irmao Caleira had it so well planned out. All we had to do was direct traffic and give the five-minute warning, which, of course, was ignored. :) it was a great meeting and all of the active couples in the branch came, except one. i hope they are able to implement what they learned into their lives.

That evening we were walking back home, rounding the corner of our street when we heard someone call out to us. He was a guy about our age and normally we just ignore them, but he kept calling out, and so I turned around to talk to him. He asked if we were friends with "Irmao Murray" (Elder Murray, he's been serving here for the past six transfers and knows pretty much everyone). His name was Hernani, and he told us that he wanted to change his life and find happiness. Well, I think he found the right people! We were able to talk to him for about 20 minutes and give him a copy of the Book of Mormon. He was so grateful to get it that he tried to give me beijinhos! (the kiss on either side of the cheek. it shows gratitude here. you give them when you're given something generally) I had to tactfully explain that I couldn't give him beijinhos, but I gave him a hearty handshake instead. The elders have been in touch with him and hopefully he will make the changes he needs to make.

Maria Trindade and Artur are progressing slowly, but surely. They came to church on Sunday!! The ward was GREAT at welcoming them. All of the members greeted them and talked with them. There's a couple, the Martins, who are ward missionaries, so we asked them to sit by them. They didn't just sit by them, they sat on either side of Trindade and Artur. The Martins were wonderful and they even helped us teach last night. Unfortunately, Trindade is very very very chatty. Wow. She does not even breath between phrases. It's incredible. Don't worry, we're working on it.

We had a great zone meeting on Monday and we shared experiences that we had had with making contacts. Right now, our mission is making a big push with contacting and teaching people on the streets. That meeting was very edifying and since then we have made a more concerted effort to talking to everyone that crosses our path. We have had some great experiences from it so far. Monday was my best day in Setubal so far, hands down. Everything went so well for us.

The reason for my title, you might ask? Irma Vega and I have been noticing in our time together that people throw some interesting things away, namely, toilets and bidets. We have seen at least five-six toilets by the dumpster and at least as many bidets. It's becoming an epidemic.

Oh, I also got pooped on by a bird again yesterday. That marks two times in Portugal for me.

Things are going well here, we are seeing slow progress. I am really happy in the work and I know that I am a representative of Jesus Christ and that He has restored His church. I love you all!

Well, The Easter Bunny Came for Me... and It was Good!

2009-04-15T05:02:00.000-07:00

Hey family! Thank you all for the emails and the love and support. I'm excited that you all get to see each other! Yay for family!

This past week has been another rollercoaster. We're still adjusting to each other, but things seem to be getting better here for all of us. It's been really cold and rainy, unfortunately, but April showers bring May flowers, right?

Highlights:
Sunday was Easter and so we had the opportunity to go to lunch at the Melos. The plate for the day? Rabbit! I know, Jen, you're cringing. I've eaten rabbit before and it was not that good, but it was actually really good this time. I love Portuguese food. It all pretty much tastes the same, but it's always SOOO good. I still don't like bacalhau though. Silly dried out codfish. So, there's one more food that goes on the good list.

Later that day we had a musical fireside that our choir here was putting on to teach the Restoration and talk about Easter. It was kind of like Music and the Spoken Word. It went really well and I was impressed, but, unfortunately, the turnout wasn't so good. But President and Irma Terry came and President was one of the speakers. It's always nice to hear him speak. They are currently getting things ready to end their mission. I also had to opportunity to play the violin with one of the pieces and everyone LOVED it. Don't worry, I've already been enlisted to play for Stake Conference here in July if I'm still here. It's nice to know that the members appreciate what little Ihave to offer. Hopefully next time they can give me a little more notice...a couple of run throughs is not enough in Portugal.

This past week we got a call from the elders who are serving the the 2nd Ward asking us if we would look up a lady that they had talked to in her sewing and alterations shop right by the chapel there. Gladly we talked to her and went to her shop for the first meeting. Her name is Maria Trinidade (Mary Trinity. Yes, that is the essence of Portugal.) She's in her 60s and is very interested in learning English and in learning about the gospel. The only downside is that she's really really chatty and tends to go on a lot of tangents. We went back last night and she was ready to learn more from us. I'm excited to see how it all turns out.

Saturday we went over to the Duarte's house to teach them. They are long-time members, but Sister Duarte is very sad because her grandson died last year and she is still mourning his loss. I verymuch felt like we needed to talk to her about the reason for Easter. I was grateful to have the words given to me that I needed to help her right now in her time of difficulty. She and her husband said repeatedly how much they appreciated our visit. I was grateful to help them.

That's about it for now. I love you all and have a great week!

So We Found Where the Elect Are...In the Elders' Area

2009-04-08T08:14:00.000-07:00

Hello family!! Thanks for the emails and for everything!

This has been a week of transition for us. Irma Lister came bright and early Thursday morning and we've been adjusting to making our tripla the best it can be, but we're happy to have her with us.

General Conference was amazing, wasn't it? We are so blessed to be able to listen to the living prophets! I was so sad that it was my last time to watch conference on my mission. I feel like their words are so much more applicable to my life, or I guess, I am applying them better to my life now. It was so wonderful and I'm sad that it's over. I forgot to mention the last two times that I've been able to watch the Priesthood session. President Terry encourages us to watch it, so I've loved those sessions.

On Saturday before Conference, Irma Lister and I had the opportunity to do some finding! We went to the only street that I knew where it was in the area we were to look up some potential investigators. We had two in one building, 1st floor and 2nd floor. So we were able to enter the building and I was going to start with the 2nd floor and work down. Apparently, we only walked to the 1st floor and I accidentally rang the wrong apartment. Good thing I did! A man opened the door and said, "Seesters!!!" Don't worry, we found Rui Ribeiro, a less-active member who had moved. He was very warm and excited to talk to us. We invited him to conference and although he didn't come, I'm sure we'll be able to get him to church. It was great to be lead to where we needed to be!

Yesterday we headed up to Lisbon for Irma Vega to go to the doctor. Unfortunately, our train was very late and so we had to wait, but we ended up talking to Lina, a gal from Estonia. She ended up sitting by us the whole 50 minute ride up there. Her English was pretty good and I had a great time talking to her about her life and telling her about ours. I told her about how happy I was with our work here and what we do. She paused for a minute, really looked at me and responded, "You are happy," while nodding her head. That was the best thing she coul dhave said and noticed. She was able to see who I really was and what I really had. I hope that she talks to the missionaries in Estonia when she gets back. She could see how the gospel has really blessed my life.

Yesterday we did a division with the irmas of Lapa (Lisbon), Irmas Machado, McKee and Andrus. I got to walk with Irmas Machado and McKee all day yesterday and it was so great to see them! Irma McKee is the best missionary ever! Wow! We went to an area called Azeitao, which is outside of Setubal. Missionaries haven't really worked there, so it's a great place to work! They aren't sick of us! We ended up knocking for a couple of hours and getting into three houses! It was amazing! All of hte people we talked to were so nice and so open. It was great! We marked return appointments and were very excited about our day. Unfortunately, the elders informed us that Azeitao was there area. Hopefully we'll be able to work with the great people we found out there, as they are all women and live alone...I'm sure that either way, they'll learn more about the gospel and that's really what matters. I'm just glad we found them!

Well, we just went to a beautiful castle in Palmela and I was impressed that it was free and well kept-up. It's been beautiful here for about a month and I'm already getting pretty tan. Things are starting to look up here and hopefully we can continue working hard and can discover the cause of Irma Vega's headaches.

Have a great week!

No, No, No I Want to Be a Dolphin Trainer

2009-04-04T15:53:00.000-07:00

Hello family! Thank you for the updates and inspiring emails again! I love you all! Happy Birthday to Kat! And Congratulations to John!

Well, it's been another week of learning patience for me. Irma Vega continues to have really bad headaches and so we wait for her to get better.

We actually had a lot of success with less-actives this past week. I was shocked. We had two less-actives, Valentina and Luisa, at church, as well as a less-active family who came! It was amazing! I was so excited to see Rosie and Fernando at church with their sons. Granted, Rosie left half-way through sacrament meeting, but at least she came! She kept her word! We were so surprised that Valentina agreed to go because she was very defensive about going to church two weeks ago. Really, the word of God can change us and make us better. She's a bit of a different lady, but she was just chatting it up with all of the members and they were happy to see her. Our members greeted them so well. The members really are great here. I am impressed.

Rosária is still doing really well. She had to work on Sunday, so she couldn't go, but she's hired another lady to work at the café so she can start going to church and actually sleeping at night, poor lady. She has such a desire to learn and find the truth! I really think that she will get baptized. She committed herself to watching a session of conference on Sunday! We had a great lesson with her on Monday and I'm excited to see her progress.

Valentina is progressing well also. She's reading from teh Book of Mormon and this past week she's talked a lot about her brother who passed away from illness. So we decided to read Alma 40 with her to help her with understanding the scriptures. As we were reading I was thinking, oh man, I don't know if this was such a good idea, I don't know if she's getting anything out of it. But at the end we asked her if she had any questions. I was surprised when she asked, "what about the people who never knew the scriptures and the gospel?" PERFECT QUESTION! So we read 1 Peter 4:6 with her and talked about how everyone will have an opportunity to hear the gospel because God is just and merciful. I think she was thinking about her brother. I was so happy that we'd decided to talk to her about that chapter.

We also found Regiani and Geraldo last week off of the potential investigators sheets in our area book. They are very interested and Regiani committed to coming to church on Sunday!

Last Wednesday we went to the zoo! It was really nice to see the other sister and to go to a zoo. We saw an AMAZING dolphin show and now I want to be a dolphin trainer. Who wouldn't want to swim with dolphins and get flung into the air? Really? It was so beautiful to just watch what these great animals can do.

Oh, if any of you want to see a picture of me (and I'm sure you do!) you can go to humorsud@blogspot.com. Just scroll down toward the bottom.

Well, that's about it for now. We're seeing progress, slowly but surely. I am grateful to be receiving blessings right now. I hope that we will be able to really start working here soon. Oh! I almost forgot! We are getting another sister down here, Irma Lister. She's also new in the mission, so I'll have my work cut out for me. I hope that it goes well...

Have a great week! I love you all!

Well, I Always Wanted to Be a Ballerina...

2009-03-25T06:03:00.000-07:00

Hello family! Thank you all for the updates and the love and support. I am grateful to have such a great family.

Before I forget, please send packages for the time being to the office in Lisbon. The post office lady had a fit when I showed her a copy of my passport instead of the original. Fortunately, she got over the fit and gave me my package. So ridiculous.

Things have gotten better here this past week. We've been able to get out and work again most of this past week. So that's been a great blessing. Right now we're working on cleaning out the ward list (yes, missionaries have to do that here in Portugal, actually in Europe). So we've been able to come in contact with a few less-actives and find some people who are willing to listen to us. It's been nice to see some progress. Nothing too special has happened on that front, but I'll keep you posted.

On Sunday, Rosária showed up at church! We didn't even have her number and Ana Gaspar, her friend, didn't call her or invite her. She just straight-up came on her own. She works at café and that is a very tiring and demanding job. She left the café to the care of her daughter so she could come. That's a pretty big sacrifice. I was very pleasantly shocked! She got there for Gospel Principles and then stayed for sacrament meeting. She seemed to enjoy church and after the meetings I asked her if we could see her the next day, which was her only day off. She said that she'd have to see and that she would call us. I didn't push it, but kind of figured that if she really wanted to meet with us that she would mark a time with us. But I left it at that. The next day the elders called us and said that Rosária would be at Ana Gaspar's at 5:30pm for us to meet with her. (A lot of members don't have our number because one of the irmas kept losing the phone and so we got a new number, so they call the elders with messages for us. We're working on it.) I was again pleasantly surprised. We had a great lesson and she asked some good questions. She is truly searching. We had her say the closing prayer and she said a very heart-felt prayer. I am looking forward to seeing her progress.

This past Thursday, maybe Friday, I don't remember, was Father's day here in Portugal. So we decided to call our bishop and wish him a happy Father's day. He is, after all, the father of the ward, right? So we called him and he was so surprised and happy for our call. (He's a great bishop. SO nice and caring and funny.) As he we were saying goodbye, he told me to send "beijinhos" (little kisses) to Irma Vega. Normally, men don't say that to us because we're missionaries. And he recognized that, so he said, oh well, it's my day and I'll send you beijinhos! It was funny. We all laughed.

Well, as I am trying to boost my companion's self-esteem and help her see how great she is, I decided to try a new tactic. She is a dancer, and since I like dancing and have a pretty limited knowledge of dancing. I decided to have her teach me ballet. I figured it would be a good way for her to see the talents that she has and how capable she really is. So the past couple of days we've been doing ballet. She is great and I am...a beginner. It's been fun for me and I think for her as well.

I have learned so much this transfer about what it really means to lose yourself in service. I am really trying to serve and to give and I have been able to see areas where I can really improve. I have really been able to go to the scriptures for the answers and I have found them. The Lord has heard my prayers and answered them. This week I was given so much peace as I sat pondering about the mission of Aaron in Alma 21. The scriptures truly are the gateway by which we receive answers and personal revelation. This transfer has certainly been different than I thought it was going to be, but I have learned a lot. I feel like I've really been able to help Irma Vega and that she's why I'm here in Setubal. I love her so much and I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve my mission right now.

I love you all so much and I hope that this week will be one in which you find the answers you need through fervent prayer, unfailing faith, and diligent study in the scriptures. Have a great week!

Muitos beijinhos!
Irmã Laura Thomas

Oh, things are still going well for Wumi and she will be baptized on Saturday! YAY! Hopefully, I'll get pictures that I can send to you.

I Forgot to Tell you About Wumi!

2009-03-18T10:03:00.000-07:00

Hey family! I am glad to hear that you are all doing well and having good things happen.

Thursday we had to go up to Lisbon to begin the renewal process for Irma Vega's visa and so we waited, and waited, and waited. But it was refreshing to be outside and around other people. We were able to do a bit of knocking by our house...that was a bad idea. The people there were really sick of missionaries. Wow. So, once we are able, we are going to be working in areas further from our house.

Yesterday and the day before we had a division with the irmas of Portimao. Irmas Earley and Rasmussen had to come up for Irma Earley's visa, so I got to do my 8th or 9th division with Irma Rasmussen. It was really great to see her and talk to her. We got to go out and work as well! It was great! We didn't find anyone and I had no idea what to do here on my own...but it was still nice to be out and working. It's always good to see Irma Rasmussen. I also had my interview with President Terry and it was good to be able to tell him more about what's going on. I was able to feel better about my being here in Setubal.

I have no other stories from this week, but I have been forgetting to update you on Wumi! Let me start at the very beginning. We found out how she found us right before I'd left Faro. She had promised God when she left Nigeria to study here that she would go back to Nigeria closer to Him. What better preparation for finding the true Church could there be? So the first time we went to teach the three girls from Cabo Verde we were sitting in the corridor and we sang a hymn, "I am a Child of God," to start the lesson. Wumi heard us singing and knew that we were singing about God, so she came out to talk to us and see who we were. So with that she was more than willing to talk to us when she found out we were missionaries. (Golden!)

Since I left she's been doing really well. She knows that it's true and she will be baptized next Saturday, 28 March. They taught her the Word of Wisdom and the other big commandments, the Sabbath day, the law of Chastity and she had no problem with anything. She responded by saying she would throw away her tea that day. I am still so sad that I can't be there to see her progress or her baptism. But I am grateful that we were able to find her. Who knew when I was prompted to stop Umara and Aidil that we would find Wumi, who was so ready for the gospel?

Yesterday I saw my first conversation in sign language here. It was so cool to see! I have seen so many blind people, but I've never seen sign language here. Languages are so fascinating!

Well, things are going well here. I feel confident that we will start seeing progress soon. I hope that you all continue to do well. I love you so much! Have a great week!

The Setubal Baby Has Arrived!

2009-03-11T15:38:00.000-07:00

Hey family! Well, I was done with my email to you--again--but the copy center lady ended my session. So, now I get to rewrite what I already wrote.

Well, it's been another week like last week. Irma Vega is still really tired and needs to sleep a lot. So I've had more time to myself. She is very slowly getting better, so we have been able to get out a little more every day.

We had Zone Conference on Friday and it was a very uplifting experience for me. I was having a hard day and it was just what i needed. i was very uplifted and edified by the spirit that i felt there. elder rissi, who works in my area, gave a talk and he read (in english, ironically enough) the words to "how firm a foundation" which has always had a special place for me in my heart. truly, the Lord is with us.

I was also able to get to know irma west, who is a new sister from Essex, England. we spent the whole lunch hour talking together (yes, she has a delightful accent and i enjoyed noticing the differences in our varieties of english). i was able to give her advice and help with some struggles that she is having right now. i was glad to be the right person in the right place for her. i felt that i was able to say just what she needed to hear. it was nice to be helpful to someone again.

sunday we went to a birthday gathering for irmao caleira. he is very well-off and the food at the gathering was all very froo-froo. it looks nice, but tastes funny and is less-than-filling. i got to pick between the big bug (lobster) and the little bug (prawn). Yum. the soup was amazing though, caldo verde. i love portuguese soup!

that evening we had a lesson with rosaria. she is friends with a member, ana gaspar. ana approached us last week about teaching her friend. so we were able to teach her the first lesson over cammomile (camomile?) tea and cookies. rosaria is really searching for the truth and was excited to hear us teach her. we were able to teach her the next day again at ana's and we watched the restoration film. the Spirit was very strong as we watched and discussed how joseph smith also found the truth. i am excited to see her again next week. we hope she can get work off to come to church. ana did a great job with her.

here in setubal the members see it as part of their duty to feed the missionary. the result of this: i am getting a setubal baby, as we say here in the mission. it is very nice to be able to get to know the members and help them to be excited about sharing the gospel. i am doing my best to ward off the growth of my stomach. we'll see how successful i am.

mom also asked about my apartment. let me just say, it is a palace. it is large and new and nice and even has a heating system and a centralized vacuum. i had forgotten that vacuums existed! i am in awe every day at how nice it is. wow. the only draw back is that there are full-sized mirrors.

well, i hope that all is well and that you all have a great week! i love you!

The Plagues of a Virus

2009-03-05T02:49:00.000-08:00

Well, family, I had written out my whole email when I touched a button and it all got erased. I am slightly annoyed.

It's been an interesting week. Irma Vega got sick on Friday with a virus that gave her a really bad headache for the past five days. So it's given me a lot of time to myself. I've been doing a lot of studying and on Saturday I decided that I was going to only read from the Book of Mormon. I was in the beginning of Mosiah and I started to get really confused. Have you ever been confused reading the book of Mosiah with all of the different peoples and lands and deliverances and captivities? I know that I always have been. Well, not anymore! You know why? Because I drew a map. That's right, a really great map with arrow and peoples and lands. (Each land is represented by a tree. I even drew a river to represent the waters of Mormon...I got THAT excited.) I now understand perfectly who is who and where they all ended up. I am very proud of my map and I will be sending copies to you as soon as I can. You will be amazed.

I had a really great experience with reading from the Book of Mormon. I mean I always had, but this time I really saw how my nature was being changed. I normally get antsy and impatient wanting to leave the house and go work. I never once got impatient, frustrated or complained during the past six days. It was a great blessing. I know that I was being blessed by my studying the Book of Mormon. My testimony was strengthened.

Church was really good on Sunday. I went there feeling a little uncomfortable because I still don't really know anyone, but as I walked in I saw Sineide Picanço, who is a really strong member from Brasil who is new in the ward. She and I had talked a bit the week before. I think we were both happy to see one another. She kept me company during Relief Society and I was grateful for that.

We also had ward choir that night and I was unsure if it was an unrighteous tradition of the sisters who had gone before me to go to choir. Well, we got a reference from a member, set up a time to meet with a member and her friend who wants to hear more, and the altos REALLY needed help. It was nice to get to know the people here as well.

Thursday we had a great experience. We were walking home for dinner after a day of trying to find anyone to teach. I saw a woman and her daughter walking home with groceries. We offered to help and she actually said yes. Amazing! What's more, she invited us into her home to teach her when we got to the door! Even more incredible! So we taught her, Silvia, and her daughter, Kimberly, who were both really receptive. Then her friend, Carla, came in and was also really receptive. Then her other daughter, Tainara, came in and was also really receptive. It was amazing! They have done the reading since then and I'm really excited to talk to them tonight! I hope that it all goes well.

Well, family, I hope that you all continue to do well. I love you all so much! Thank you for all of your support and help. I really appreciate it. Have a great week!

Love,
Irma Laura Thomas

PS I will be coming home on 7 August, just so you know

A Big Mountain and the Joys of Carnaval

2009-02-25T08:57:00.001-08:00

Hello family! Thank you for the emails. They were especially good this week. Thank you for the words of support.

This has been a week of adjustment, of course. Let me start with telling you about my companion, Irma Vega. She's from Wyoming, has one sister, and is a licensed cosmetologist. She will be fixing my bad haircut later today. :) She has a great desire to work hard, be obedient and wash the dishes, all of these things are aggreable with me. It's nice to have a companion who is so willing to learn and work. I've been helping her with her Portuguese (this is her third transfer) and it's been really fulfilling to help teach her. We're getting along really well.

Setúbal is a big area for me, coming from Faro. We walk A LOT. We also have a gigantic hill, it's really a small mountain, that we hike up frequently. I will be losing weight here, for sure. There are two wards in the city and four companionships of missionaries. I am also serving by Elder Gardner again, which has been funny. I still don't really know the members, but we're getting there. I feel like we're opening up the area right now because Irma Vega was being trained her first transfer in a tripla and was lost most of the time, then her second transfer her companion was sick, so they stayed in and then she got another companion for the last three weeks and there were some problems, sooo the area hasn't really been worked in a transfer and we're trying to figure out how to make the best use of our time.

Kat mentioned how it must be nice to see water and green. It's pretty much just buildings like the rest of my areas. There are, however, a couple of big parks. AND there are actually trees here. It's amazing to see trees! They are starting to bloom! So we've been making contacts in the parks, on the streets and everywhere in between in an effort to find people to teach. We've also been knocking a lot. We have one person that we teach, Carmen. Really, just one. We usually teach a bunch of people, I just don't mention all of them. So we're working on getting that up.

We taught Carmen yesterday and she's ready and prepared to be baptized, but she doesn't agree with tithing. So, she's working on that right now.

This past weekend was the weekend of Carnaval. Saturday we were trying to get buzzed into the building at the "Quem é?" box, when all of the sudden, I heard the sound of water hitting the ground. What could it be?, I thought. Then we heard it again. Every time the sound was getting closer. It was dusk, so visibility was getting low. All of the sudden I realized that they were water balloons. Someone had already thrown one at me and barely missed my face (thank goodness!). We were under attack and were pinned in a corner of sorts. Fortunately, there was a column that we hid behind. And who, you might ask, would throw water balloons at two siste rmissionaries? Let me tell you, two ten-year-old kids. Yes, me and Irma Vega, two grown young women, were pinned in a corner by two ten-year-olds, who were throwing water balloons at them. So sad. After about 15 balloons there was a ceasefire. I peeked my head around the side of hte column. They had retreated to refuel. So we took the opportunity to escape, hugging the wall as we went down the stairs so they couldn't get us again. We left with minor injuries: just one wet skirt on Irma Thomas. I will always remember Carnaval for the rest of my life now.

Yesterday was the actual holiday of Carnaval. ~There was a big party/dance thing that we brought Carmen to. I saw SO many people that I knew. I've really gotten toknow a lot of members in Portugal. Wow. It was fun to see them again.

Sunday was my first time at church here. I was overwhelmed at the amount of people that were there. Itw as incredible. It was also Elder Rissi's first Sunday int he ward as well. He's from Porto, so the ward was really excited about having him there. Tonight we're going to dinner at the Bishop's so he can get to know me better and then we have a meeting with Irmão Caleira, who is the Ward Mission Leader, and was the former Area Seventy. He's really excited about missionary work. I am really looking forward to getting to know these members better so we can work through them. Not to say that I don't love knocking doors, but...I would like to get references and teach the friends of these great members.

Well, the work is rolling forth here in Setubal. We will start finding the elect. Acutually we made a really great contact in the park on Monday, so we hope that Antonio will want to hear more. Thank you for your prayers and support. I love you and I love this work!

Everyone Hold on to Your Seats...

2009-02-18T07:24:00.001-08:00

Hey family! Thank you for the emails and updates and packages! I love you all and miss you all!

This has been a ROLLERCOASTER of a week. Wow. So much has happened.

Thursday and Friday were normal days for us. Though, on Friday we received news from Wumi that she would not be able to go with us to Lisbon because her supervisor decided that she needed to give a presentation on Monday. Wumi asked her supervisor if she could change the day and she was told that it was a possibility. So we started praying. We asked for the prayers of the other missionaries around here. Friday we still heard that she couldn't go. Saturday morning I had a great study and I studied about hope in Preach My Gospel. I was filled with peace that everything would work out and that she would be able to go. I didn't know how, but I was filled with peace.

The day was a little rough, we had been trying to find people to teach all week with no luck, so we were a little down, but I continued with the hope that Wumi would go. So after our dinner, Irma Machado and I went over to Wumi's (after she had had to change our appointment time about five times...I was a little nervous that she would cancel on us). But we went there with the expectation that we would really have to persuade her to come with us just on Sunday in the hope that she would have the faith to go with us. So we got there and I just simply asked if she could still go up with us just for Sunday. Wumi stopped, looked surprised, and asked, "I can go up just for Sunday?" We responded that OF COURSE she could go up just for Sunday, to which she replied, "Yes I will go with you!" I gave her a big hug and we were set to go! The ticket guy for the train even put our seats together!

So Sunday morning rolled around and we were getting ready for church. We got a text from Wumi that said, can you come over right now? So we called her right back and found out that she had dropped her friend's phone when she was handing it to her and broke it. The friend was upset and was making Wumi fix it and pay for it, so she couldn't go right to church and wouldn't be able to leave without fixing it. Fortunately, she was able to get it fixed and come to church and to Lisbon. The whole time we were so concerned for her coming because we knew how important it was for her. (Oh, PS my branch president, President Nunes, asked me to speak in church with 20 minutes notice...it went okay...I think...)

So we went up to Lisbon by train right after church and had a great time on the way. The meeting was amazing. The chapel in Oeiras was PACKED. The chapel was full, beyond capacity. There were extra chairs put in and it was completely full with people standing up everywhere. All of the classrooms were full as well, as well as the hallways. The missionaries were all in hallways, standing as Elder Bednar spoke. It was a singular experience.

Elder Bednar formatted the meeting as a question and answer session. The members asked questions and he and Elder Kopishke and Sister Bednar answered the underlying principle behind the question. It was wonderful. I learned so much about teaching and my desire to study the scriptures and learn more about the gospel increased significantly. Wumi loved the meeting. Loved it. She knows that he, Elder Bednar, is a man of God.

I also got to see all of the members from my old areas, it was a wonderful blessing to see them. I got a bunch of HUGE hugs from the members and hearty handshakes. It was so nice to see the love that they had for me. It warmed my heart.

Then I was surprised again by Irma Rasmussen requesting that I go with her to stay with some members, Niza and Neide, from Oeiras, who had gotten permission from President Terry for us to stay there. So I got to have a sleep over with two great members!

The next day was the best. We had a meeting just the missionaries and Elder Bednar with Sister Bednar, Elder Kopishke and Sister Kopishke. Elder Bednar did the same format with question and answer. It was great to hear the questions that he asked us and the answers we received from the Holy Ghost. We were greatly edified. After he had asked his questions he requested that we ask questions.

After several missionaries had asked questions he asked for one more question. So then Irma Machado elbowed me and told me to ask the question I had told her I wanted to ask. I was sitting in the front with the rest of the irmas, so I raised my hand and he called on me. I had already answered a question and he had stared into my soul before, but this was different. I asked what he and the Brethren would like us to do better as misisonaries. He told me that we should know who we are, why we're here and for Whom we serve. He stared right into my eyes as he taught more. I know that I will always remember that. He was looking right into me. It was a little terrifying, but I was grateful for the answer that I was given.

Then I went to the dentist because I had a cavity. Yuck. Then we came home.

Well, yesterday we had transfer calls and you know how I said that President said that I would be staying? Well, he changed his mind. I was completely shocked as he told me that I will be being transferred to Setubal, with Irma Barroso, who speaks no English (Wumi?) will be coming in. I am a bit devastated right now and I really don't want to leave this area, Irma Machado and Wumi. I love it here and I love this branch and the work here. But the Lord knows best, right?

I will be serving in Setúbal with Irma Vega who has been here for two transfers. She's from Wyoming and that's pretty much all I know. Here's my address:

Irma Laura Thomas

Rua de Badajoz
Nº5 1 FRT
2900-058 Setúbal

Feel free to send packages here.

Well, that's about it. I love you all so much and am grateful for all that I am learning and for the opportunity I had to learn from and Apostle of Jesus Christ. It was singular

I'm Seeing Purple

2009-02-11T05:57:00.001-08:00

Hello family! Thank you so much for the emails. It's good to hear from you all.

Well, last P-day I was laying on my bed all day, trying to recover. My fever broke that evening and I started to feel better. I woke up on Thursday morning, still feeling weak and gross, I thought it strange that Irma Machado was still in bed, so I woke her up and let her know it was time for studies, when she grumbled out, "Now I'm sick!" So the two of us were pretty pathetic for another two days. It took me longer to recuperate (until Friday) than Irma Machado, she was good enough to go out on Saturday. So we spent about five whole days indoors. It was weird. The week flew by because it was like one giant day. But now we're all better.

Saturday we had lunch with the Cabrals, who are a great couple. They've been renovating their house, so I've never been allowed in it. But we had lunch and it was...interesting. The soup was amazing, as always, bean soup. Yum! Then she brought out lasagna. I was really excited to eat lasagna. I started eating it and it tasted a little odd. Luisa then informed us that she used some type of wheat instead of meat in the lasagna. Hence the weird taste. We couldn't eat much because of our cold/flu we were getting over, but good thing Ana Lucia was there! She is TINY but eats a TON. She ate more than the elders. It was incredible.

Later that day we had Enrichment. It was a choice experience. For activity: beautification. Seirously. Candida Moutinho was in charge and she's a hair stylist. So she took the opportunity to talk to us about the importance of plucking our eyebrows properly. I think she really just wanted to pluck our Relief Society President's eyebrows, so she created the activity and just happened to choose her. The whole time the members were telling eachother how dry eachothers' hair was or how they themselves needed to pluck their eyebrows. It was meant in good love, the Portuguese are just really blunt. I was laughing the whole time...some of the time out loud. I love these members. They really feel like my family and they are really used to me now. They are super blunt with me as well. I take this as a sign of acceptance. Then Candida took turns plucking the other sisters' eyebrows. How I love Relief Society!

On Sunday Wumi came to church, don't worry she confirmed herself to come to church on Friday. Oh I forgot! We sent the elders to teach her while we were sick. They said it went well. But I ended up translating all of church for her. She loves coming to church and she's in 2 Nephi 9 now! Oh!!! She's coming up to Lisbon to hear Elder Bednar with us! I'm super excited! There is a special meeting for the members and investigators Sunday night, then there is a YSA meeting Monday night that she will be going to. She's really doing well.

We had a great lesson with her yesterday with Maria Joao. It is SOOOO nice teaching in English! The words just take on a whole new meaning for me hearing them and saying them in my own language. The Spirit was so strong as we taught her about the Restoration. I had told her that we had a message for her and that if she had any questions that we would love to answer them at the end. She tends to be a talker, so we hoped that this would help. It did. She really listened and when we taught we taught leading up to a scripture. Then she would read the scripture and she would really get it. I could see the understanding go across her face. Maria Joao testified and it was a powerful testimony. It was cute, we would be speaking in English and Maria Joao would look up all the scriptures in Portuguese. She understands English really well, but gets nervous, so I translate whenever she wants to talk.

Anyway, so the lesson was great. At the end I asked what questions she had. I was surprised when she had one! She asked if God wants there to be so many churches and if there should be so many churches. (Great question!) So Irma Machado led her to Ephesians 4:5 which says, One Lord, one faith, one baptism. This scripture really clicked for Wumi and she was so excited to hear that answer. She's reading, she's praying and she's going to church. She's so great. I am so excited to keep teaching her. I never imagined that I would come to Portugal and teach a girl from Nigeria in English. Who'd have thought?

Have I mentioned that everyone is wearing purple here? Every woman I see is wearing purple. Purple shoes, purple purses, purple shirts, purple coats, purple scarves, purple everything! The stores only have purple in the displays.It's all a really strong purple too. Yuck. I rather liked purple before this season...

Monday we saw something interesting. We were walking to the church and we saw a man inching out onto the road on his tush. Little by little, until he was in the middle of the lane, blocking all of traffic. Fortunately, the police were only a little blocked by the traffic, so they went between the lanes, pulled up right next to him, then opened the doors (two big men) and picked him up and set him on the side of the road. I don't think the man was all with it, but nice to know that the police were there when we need them!

Oh! We also discovered that Aurora, a recent convert, is friends with Felicia! So she's going to help us encourage Felicia to live the Word of Wisdom. Tender mercies!

Well that's it! I love you all! Have a great week!

Wake up! Little Claudia Wake Up!

2009-02-04T09:05:00.000-08:00

Hello family! Thank you again for writing. It sounds like most of us got hit with illness this week. Ick. But hopefully you are on the mend! I am!

Well, it's been another great week. I ate some amazing orange cake and had a lesson with a member and her friend. Don't worry, I got the recipe. Last Wednesday, we again went to Ponta da Piedade with the Nelsons. It was a great day and very nice to have a ride!

The three girls. Well...this past week they were down to one, Claudia. The other two were never at our lessons and they didn't go to church. But Claudia was there! We taught her the Plan of Salvation, but first we had a challenge. She lives in a dorm as I mentioned and to get up, you have to buzz the whole floor, then someone has to come down to let you in. Fortunately, someone came down and we were able to go up. We went to her room and we heard music, the door was also open. So I peeked my head in and saw Claudia, taking a nap. President Terry tells us that we need to be sweetly bold. She needed to hear the Plan of Salvation. So I went into her room and tapped on her shoulder. Nothing. I called out her name. Nothing. I tapped again. Nothing. I knocked on the door again. Nothing. Finally, I shook her and she woke up. She was really surprised that she didn't hear her phone when we called. But we had a good lesson with her. She also came to church, saying that she had to leave at noon for a study group. But noon came and went and Claudia stayed. Her excuse was that it was raining. (PS it's been raining since Sunday.) We're excited for her and I hope that I get over the flu quickly so we can teach them again!

We are also teaching Wumi, whom I mentioned last week. She is from Nigeria and it's so weird teaching in English. I really just translate what I say in Portuguese into English. But she loves the Book of Mormon and was relating Nephi to Joseph of Egypt and David. She asked why other churches don't use the Book of Mormon. She also came to church and she loved it. She asked if she could come again next week. She is truly elect and we are really excited to work more with her.

Oh! I almost forgot! Elder Bednar is coming in a week and a half and I get to go to Lisbon to hear him! We're having a meeting just for the missionaries and a couple of other meetings for investigators and less-actives. So we are going to try to get Wumi to go. We are SOOOOO excited! I was hopping around the church like a small child before English class. The elders got a kick out of me. I've been teaching Maria João at English class and it's been really fun. It's fun to be teaching again.

Saturday we had interviews with President Terry and Irma Machado, being the Southerner that she is, decided she wanted to make President fried chicken. Oh man, was it good! I love fried chicked! And she taught me how to make it!

There was a birth this past week. Emma was born! Arkadius and his wife, Joana, now have a little girl and I had my first experience going to a hospital in Portugal. Let me just say that I'm grateful that we do not have socialized medicine. I am grateful for the good medicine that we have back home. But it was nice to see Joana. Emma was born Sunday morning and Arkadius was at church! He didn't see Emma be born! Can you believe that? Don't worry though, Maria João was there and got pictures. :)

Saturday night we had a very choice experience. We've been working with a part-member family, the Joãos, Ana Lucia and Elias and their mom, Veronica. They are constantly yelling at eachother and there never seems to be any peace there. So we went over on Saturday to just check in and make sure that they were going to church the next day (which they did). We got in there and Carlos, the boyfriend, was smoking, upsetting Ana Lucia, and there was just a lot of yelling. I asked Ana Lucia if she wanted to gather in the rest of the family to hear a message. She went and got her mom and we sat down. Irma Machado picked "I Stand All Amazed" and as we sang a calm and a peace entered the room. It lasted the whole lesson and I could tell that they felt a difference. The calm of the Spirit was very evident.

Sad news, we had to drop Albertina this week. We will still go by every once in a while, but it was time to let her go. But she did still go to church. That was good. But she does want to get baptized, just not right now.

As we have been inside the past couple of days, I've taken to brushing up on my Spanish. Why not? It's been fun, and Irma Machado is a saint for putting up with me in everything.

So, things are going well. The work is rolling forth. I love you all and have a great week!

Surprise Calls and Slippery Roads

2009-01-28T06:37:00.000-08:00

Hello family! Thanks again for the updates! It's been another eventful week here in Faro. I'll start with yesterday and work backish.

Well, yesterday we were going about our work as usual, trying to bring people unto Christ, when I received a phone call from Elder Wardenburg, who was with me in the MTC and is now a secretary in the office. Yes, Jen, we all laughed here as well that he's in the office. He's a funny kid. So he gave me a call asking me when I was going home because he was filling out a report for President Terry. So I got my unofficial trunky call. It was very weird. So that got me to being weirded out for about an hour, when we got a call from President Terry. He asked for Irma Holtzclaw. I immediately started going through the possibilities. I thought that maybe something had happened in her family, but then I knew what it was--emergency transfer. So then President asked for me and confirmed what I thought. Irma Churak had gotten sick and had to go home, so President is doing the irma transfers three weeks early. So Irma Holtzclaw is going up to beloved Seixal with Irma Martinez and me and Irma Machado are staying together until April. Yep, I will be staying here until April. We are so sad to see Irma Holtzclaw go, but I know she will love Seixal. It was a big shock for all of us, so we've been running around to try and get everything done for her. I've been going through the freakout stages of staying not only in one area for four transfers, but being with the same companion for three of them. It will be good, I love Irma Machado, but I am a person who LOVES change, so it will certainly be a change for me.

We also heard this past week that our mission is going to be cut missionaries by 25% because other areas of the world are opening up to missionary work. So happy for the rest of the world, but sad for us.

Okay, on to other news. The three girls. They are still only three just Umara, Aidil and Claudia, but we had a couple of great lessons with them. We went back on Friday and Claudia was there on time. We asked how the reading was going and she said that she had finished 1 Nephi. Woah! I have never taught anyone who actually read the way I know that the Book of Mormon could be read. Finally! She not only read it, but loved it and remembered every detail about the reading. I was so excited. Umara came a few minutes late and read through 1 Nephi 8. She also remembered everything and loved it. Then Aidil showed up about 25 minutes late and had only read five verses. So as they came later the reading was less and less. But they all have very believing hearts and are open to the gospel.

However...we went to go get them for church (mind you it had rained that morning and we were SOAKED, I love living 20 minutes from the chapel...). So Irma Holtzclaw and I went to their dorm and buzzed up to the floor. Nothing. We buzzed again. Nothing. Again we buzzed. Nothing. Finally, after about 10 minutes (I'm sure the girls on the floor just love us by now) a girl came down and let us in. She ended up being the cousin of the Iranian guy we taught once. Random. So we knocked on the girls' door. Nothing. We knocked again. Nothing. Again. Nothing. Again. Nothing. So we left a note and hurried back so we could be on time to sacrament meeting. I was so sad, but I do realize that they are 18 years old, so there are some habits to be broken here. They are still excited about everything and we are going to be teaching them the Plan of Salvation tonight. I know it will bless their lives.

We also sang in sacrament meeting this week. Sister Nelson came over from Loulé and accompanied us. It went pretty well and the whole branch started crying, even President Nunes, who never shows emotion.

Some random happenings from this week: Diogo came to church even though his mom didn't. We have a man who likes to play the accordian right outside of our building some mornings, so we get polka versions of Somewhere over the Rainbow. Sometimes it's a man with a saxophone who plays great music. It's been a bit rainy the past week and so the roads have been very slick. Cobblestone is very slick when wet. I do miss cement sometimes. However, we were walking down the road, late of course, so we were walking really fast and all the sudden I heard Irma Holtzclaw squeal. (I was on teh phone of course). So I thought she had just slipped on the road. As it turns out, she had slipped on some dog doo doo that was on the road. I laughed SOOO hard at that. But, what's even better is that a couple of days later she did it again! The tragic part of all of this is that there is ZERO grass in Faro. Really, nothing. So she had to wipe her shoe off on a bush. We laughed really hard at her. Careful where you step! You must always be on your toes as a missionary.

Things are going just great here. We taught a girl named Wumi, who lives on the same floor as the other girls. She is from Nigeria and speaks English. She is great!

Life is good here. We are happy and working hard. This is the Lord's work. I have no doubts of this. Have a great week! I love you all!

One Year Older and Wiser Too! Happy Birthday to You!

2009-01-21T10:09:00.000-08:00

Hello family! Thank you for the emails! It was great to get the updates on the door and the President.

Well things are going great here. We had Zone Conference on Thursday and it was a great conference. We were all very edified by the Spirit and the pizza. We learned to protect our backs and our knees and to rely on the Spirit. We focused a lot on having the faith to find and that the Lord will guide us in our work. I have already seen this throughout my mission and am seeing it right now.

Friday I hit my one year mark! WOAH! It was crazy! My birthday was not my favorite day in the mission, so this day completely made up for it. My companions are wonderful. They kept surprising me all day. Irma Machado made fried chicken (and taught me how to make it :)). And then after our appointment with Albertina we got a call from our elders here in Faro. Elder Smith said that he needed to talk to us at the church. I was wondering what I had done. As it turns out, my companions had planned a surprise birthday party for me. We had juice, little biscuit things and Ana Lucia's amazing chocolate cake that they begged her to make. It was great! They sang "Happy Birthday" to me as well. I felt very loved. The day ended with a box of Lindt chocolate balls on my bed. YUM. A perfect way to end a birthday.

I can't believe it's been a year. My mission is starting to go really fast.

So not this Sunday but the last Sunday we were walking home and we had some extra time so I made a silent goal to contact people as we walked home. As we walked down the skinny sidewalk I saw two girls up ahead. So I decided to stop them. They seemed nice enough. They were smiling and all bundled up in giant coats. (No it's not that cold here. They were just from Africa.) So I stopped them and they were so nice and so open. They are studying at the University of the Algarve and gave us their numbers and we set up an appointment for Saturday. Throughout my mission I have not had great success with people actually following through on the appointments that we've made, but we called and confirmed and they were excited to see us.

So we went over to their dorm room at the university. And yes, it was very strange to be back at a university. Very strange. They buzzed us in the building and we were very warmly received by Umara and Aidil. They invited their friend Claudia to listen as well. We had our lesson in a little corridor right by the elevator. Before the lesson people were milling in and out and I wondered how it was all going to work out. But we sang a hymn ("I am a Child of God") and prayed. Then we told them about the restoration of Christ's church. The Spirit was so strong as we taught. These girls listened and understood what we were explaining. As I told them about Joseph Smith and the First Vision I felt the Spirit manifest the truth of it to me again. I then asked if they had ever heard of the Book of Mormon. Claudia perked up and responded that she had. In fact, she had a copy of it in her room and reads from it. She went really quickly to her room and got it for us. Her friend had given it to her and she seemed excited that we were from the same church that had the Book of Mormon. We finished the lesson and invited them to church the next day. They committed to coming and to reading and praying. During the whole lesson not one person entered where we were. It was an answer to prayer as we were able to have a reverent atmosphere.

That next day we went to pick them up for church at 9:15am. Aidil came down in pijamas. They had been up late studying and couldn't come to church, but they wanted to come later. So Irma Machado and Irma Holtzclaw went back to pick them up before Sacrament Meeting, as I was playing prelude. I only got to talk to them after the meeting, but the members were SOOO excited to see them. They were very warmly received. It was an answer to prayer. Really. They loved church and we were able to set up a family night with our members who are also from Cape Verde.

So that next night we had our family night. The girls showed really up late again, but to make up for it they brought a friend, Nancy! So...we were okay with them being late. We ate Cape Verdian couscous (AMAZING!). It's kind of like a bread. Kind of. The lesson was great and we were able to get to know them more. As we taught I could see in Claudia's eyes that the believed what we were teaching her. I am so excited to continue teaching these elect girls! It was an answer to prayer.

Yesterday we had a division with the irmas of Portimao and it was great to see Irma Rasmussen again. She'll be done in a few months and that's so weird to me.

Well, things are going great here. We are being greatly blessed with success. I know that this God's work. I am a representative of Jesus Christ. This is His church! I love you all!

Hark! Hark! Hark!

2009-01-14T10:19:00.001-08:00

Hello family! Thank you for the updates. Well, it's been another great week here in Faro. We went to Spain (the border, of course) last week. There wasn't much to see and it was a bit chilly, so it was pretty uneventful, though I can now say that I've seen Spain. This week we went out to a tiny island off of the coast by Tavira. It was short as well, but nice to toss a frisbee around again. I'll have to do that again soon.

This past week we had a great turn out for people at church. We had four investigators there and two less-actives! Everyone who said that they were going to come actually came. It was great to see. We made goals with a part-member family and they are working on them and achieving them. I'm so proud of them and can see a difference in them. I want to continue the goal making theme. I believe in the power of goals. They really help you out.

We went to a surprise birthday party for Arkadius, who is a member of the branch. His wife threw him a little party right after church and we sang to him and ate some amazing Cape Verdian food. YUM. It's such a blessing that I got called to a country that has really good food, even if it's foreign food to the country.

Laurinda's really progressing. It's subtle and small, but I can see a mighty change occurring in her heart. I am really starting to see people, especially less-actives, open up to the gospel. It's amazing to see.

Yesterday was an eventful day. We taught the Word of Wisdom to Felicia, who has a problem with drinking. We've been trying to teach it to her for about a week or two, but we've never been able to because she always has people over. But we taught it to her and committed her to living it and we are all grateful that we could be there to help her. At the end of the lesson I thought it would be fun to sing another hymn. I chose "In our Lovely Deseret." My companions snickered as we sang the second verse which is about the Word of Wisdom. It's really the little things that make me smile and laugh. Felicia liked the hymn as well.

Yesterday morning we were heading out to stop by someone's house when we felt like we should stop by an investigator that the elders had been teaching, Rute. She lives right by us and we've taught her before. So we stopped by there and she warmly received us and talked to us about how her life is not going the way she wants it to. We listened to her and comforted her. I really felt like I was living up to my baptismal covenant to comfort those who stand in need of comfort. I knew that we had been inspired to go over to her house. She is a great lady and the elders are excited for us to start teaching her if she is wanting to be taught and to commit.

Other than that things are pretty much normal. We have two family nights set up with members where they are going to be inviting friends over. I am very excited to see them taking part in the missionary work here in a more effective way.

Well, that's about it. We're doing well. I hope that all is well with you all. Have a great day!

No More Parties - No More Crowns

2009-01-07T09:05:00.000-08:00

Hey family! Thanks for the emails! I'll get right started, I have a lot of stories!

Well, I failed to recount something that happened this past week. We got back to our apartment on Sunday night after our day. We noticed that our water pressure was really bad. Hum, funny. Then we noticed that it was getting worse. Then we noticed that the water heater wasn't turning on. Then we noticed that we had no more water! Oh no! So, me being the hopeful thinker that I am, I waited until the morning to try and figure it out. So we woke up that morning. I fiddled around with the water heater. (Yes, I am trying to be more handy. And, no, I am not getting any more handy.) So that was not in any way useful. I waited until 8:15am when I deemed it late enough that I could call our landlord. I maybe might have woken him up, but is there a better way to wake up in the morning? So he groggily muttered out something and said that he would figure it out. So we were some dirty irmas that day as we did not shower, obviously. But we came back that night and the water was back on!

However, that morning we thought we would have enough water to flush the toilet--but we didn't. So Irma Holtzclaw had unscrewed something in order to try and get the lid off of the toilet tank thing. This created a leak. So that night we went home to a puddle in the bathroom floor. So we spent the next 45 minutes trying to get the screw back in and clean up the floor. Good thing my mother taught me how to turn off the water in the bathroom! Thanks Mom! It was an eventful finish to a funny problem. Really water is so important. That experience gave more significance to water and how the Lord says that He is the living water. We cannot live without water, as we cannot Iive without Him.

Our New Year's Eve, or Passage of the Year, as they say here in Portugal, was very lame. Really. Everything fell through. We were able to give an investigator some company, but for the most part we were trying to find people to talk to. NO ONE WAS OUTSIDE! We talked to a bunch of old men, the source of a lot of humorous things here in Portugal. One man asked us what we were doing that night to celebrate and we said we would be at home, sleeping. He laughed in our faces. It was so sad. The rest of the members had gone to Portimao for a party at the church. But we, by some miracle, found a vending machine, got some Fanta and drank Fanta at 10:30pm and took pictures. That was my New Year's Eve. New Year's Day no one was out. Seriously. No one. It was like a ghost town.

Well, yesterday was the last party in the season. They don't say "Happy Holidays" as we do, but "Boas Festas" which means, have good parties. Yesterday was the day of the kings. We saw school children around Faro wearing paper crowns. It was so cute.

I witnessed a miracle this week in all seriousness. I have been working with a less-active, Laurinda, since I got here. When I arrived she was still mourning her daughter, who had died years before. A mighty change has been made in her heart. She is so happy now. She thinks positively about her daughter's life and is at peace because she lived a good life. She loves hearing the gospel from us and especially singing the hymns. I never thought that she would come to church because she had shot me down numerous times. But, this past week we invited her and she came! We went to go pick her up (and we walked about a 5K at a speed walk before church to get everything done) and she didn't answer her door. So we walked back to church. When we got there she was already there! She had waited for us, but misunderstood when we were going to meet, so she went ahead without us! It was a miracle for me tos ee. She hasn't been to church since her daughter's death. I have seen such a change in her in my three months here.

Oh, Albertina got her cast off of her foot! That's pretty much the only progress she's made, but at least she's healing physically, right?

Well, today we are going to see Spain! We're going to Vila Real de Santo Antonio, where we can see Spain and a castle! We got our groceries bought in under five minutes. It was a feat! Well, things are going great here. We are having great experiences every day. Sunday night we really tried to find by the Spirit and we were blessed. We ran into an investigator who had disappeared, as she had moved, we made some great contacts and it was all because we felt like we needed to walk down a street we never would have. My testimony grew of the importance of heeding the Spirit in all apsects of our lives. Have a great week! I love you all!

Com grande, o grandíssimo amor,
Irmã Laura Thomas

Making History and Playing Santa

2008-12-31T06:48:00.001-08:00

Hello family! I write to you from a movie theater. Yep. That's the only internet place on this side of town. The smell of popcorn is VERY enticing. But this keyboard doesn't stick so it's nice.

Well, we got our transfer calls yesterday and we found out that we will be the first tripla in history to stay together for a second transfer. We are really excited. Good things are happening here and none of us wanted to leave and we all get along great. We laugh a lot.

Christmas was really good. We successfully accomplished our Secret Santa project. Well...we got lost for about an hour, but it went really well. We went to the first place, which was an apartment building. So I buzzed up to the apartment to make sure that they were home. We didn't know how we were going to get into the building, but they buzzed us up without even asking who it was. I considered this a big blessing. So we jammed the soccer ball into the door so it would stay open and we waited outside for a while so they would dismiss the ring and think that we had buzzed the wrong apartment. It actually worked! So we stealthfully (is that a word or is it stealthily?) went up the elevators, dropped off the food, me and Irma Nelson went down the elevator and Irmas Machado and Holtzclaw knocked on the door and ran down the stairs. We walked along the building so they wouldn't see us (and good thing we did because the elders talked to the family and they said that the first thing that they did was run to the window to see who it was, but we left without a trace!)

The next family took a while to find. They live in the middle of nowhere. Seriously. We had to ask for directions about three times, the first two were guys who had NO IDEA where they were pointing us to, which you'd think the logical reaction would be to say that you didn't know and to NOT give directions. But we finally went to the gas station after an hour of wandering around these tiny towns. I was skeptical because my past experience with asking for directions at gas stations here in Portugal is that it is foreigners that work there and they have no idea where they even are. So, we walked in. I asked, again being a Doubting Thomas. The attendant, who was a Spaniard, responded and gave me PERFECT directions, including the time that each step should take. Really, they were the best directions I've ever gotten. I have no idea how he knew where to guide us to, but I was very surprised and grateful. We found their house and made our delivery. As we drove off, I spotted a bright pink house literally a minute away from the recipient family's house that I recognized. Yes, after an hour of searching, I had known exactly how to get there the whole time because, unbeknownst to me, the family lived by an investigator of mine, but around the corner. Well, it was a learning experience and now I know how to get there!

We heard a couple of days later from the elders that the first family was very grateful for the food. The father had had no money to get his children anything for Christmas and he was so grateful for the gift that we were able to provide through Irma Holtzclaw's generous friends. Being a Secret Santa is my favorite Christmas tradition from growing up and I was so grateful and blessed to be able to continue the tradition here in Portugal.

On Saturday we had a surprise baptism of one of the elders' investigators, Mihail (or as we call him Misha). He decided that day that it was time for him to get baptized, so baptized he was! It was a great baptism and we all enjoyed the Spirit. I was able to play the piano and the three of us saved the horrible interlude by singing accapella. Fortunately, we all sing, so we were able to bring back the reverence.

We had a great lesson with Laurinda, who is less-active, and she said that she would go to church with us!! It was a little miracle. She is so much happier now and is no longer mourning the loss of her daughter, which happened years ago. Truly, the gospel is blessing her life.

Well, that's about it! Things are going really well here. We're working hard and we are seeing little successes. I hope that you all enjoy a good New Year! I love you all!

A Forgotten Carol Christmas

2008-12-23T11:32:00.000-08:00

Hello family! this email is coming to you a day early because perhaps the stores will be closed tomorrow. The endearing joys of Portugal.

This past week has been great! We had a fun p-day with the irmas, we went bowling and I didn't get last place! I only got second-to-last place to Irmã Oliveira, who is Brasilian and was bowling for the first time. (And, I was in last place the whole game until the 10th frame and I rolled a spare...at least I saved my dignity at the end and got a whopping score of 50! Some things do never change.)

We had our Christmas Conference the next day in Miratejo and it was FANTASTIC! President and Irma Terry are incredible. They had a few surprises for us at the Conference. One was that they had gotten a DVD version of the Forgotten Carols and they had us watch it. I thought of you all and remembered when Dad told me the story for the first time. For me, that was a tender mercy. They also gave us a book full of our favorite recipes. Thanks Mom for sending those in! We were so grateful to Irma Terry for putting that together. The Spirit was strong as President and Irma Terry testified about Christ's divinity and gave us insights into the scriptures. It was very edifiying and I got to catch up with the elders I was in the MTC with, which was nice.

Well, one funny thing here in Portugal is that there are Santas hanging off of balconies and windows ALL over the apartment building. I guess since no one lives in houses, they don't have chimneys, so Santa just has to come through the window rather than down the chimney. I might buy one of them for next year, as tackey as they are.

Well we've had some success this past week. We marked Diogo for baptism! He is SOOO excited to learn and to be baptized. His face lit up when we asked him and his grandmother cried. Unfortunately, his mother and father are divorced and he's with his father on Sundays, since he works every other day of the week and he doesn't make any effort to bring him to church. But we're working on it. Diogo is SOOO excited though.

We also tried to mark a date with Albertina again. The Spirit spoke through me as I extended the committment to her, and I was shocked when she said no because of the strength of the Spirit in the room. She wants to get baptized, but she has difficulty in accepting some of the commandments. It just about broke my heart, but she has her agency and we're hoping that she will gain the faith to keep the commandments.

This Sunday all of Irma Nelson's piano students had a recital for Christmas. The sacrament meeting room was PACKED with standing room only. President and Irma Terry came down to watch it and it was wonderful. The room was super stuffy and the students are progressing really well. I was proud of them and of Irma Nelson. She does a great job with them. She also had me play the violin at the recital with her at the piano. We played "O Holy Night" and I had flashbacks of when that went horribly wrong years ago in church, but it went well this time and everyone seemed to enjoy it. It was nice to play again. I also directed our missionary choir at the conference as we sang "Where You There?" It's nice to be able to participate in music again.

Another way that we are participating in music is that we are going door to door caroling! It's actually been a GREAT experience. We've found some great people (families!!!) and we have fun with people thinking that we want money...but it's been very positive.

Oh! About Christmas, you can call this number at 4:30 my time so I think 10:30CST, 289801488. I think you need to put 351 before it. You have my cell number if you need it.

Well, I'm out of time. I'll talk to you soon! I love you all! I might be able to email tomorrow, so please let me know how you are all doing! I love you! Merry Christmas!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

2008-12-17T05:33:00.000-08:00

Hello dear family! Thank you so much for the emails and the updates about everything going on in Texas and Utah. Let me just say how grateful I am that it is not snowing here. It's gotten really cold at night, and unfortunately someone dropped the heater and now it's broken (and no, it was not me, surprisingly enough), but we have the hope that we can fix it as we have some handy elders in the area. But my hot water bottle and five layers between clothing and blankets keep me nice and warm at night.

Well, I write to you from Lisbon. Yep, that's right, I'm actually in Lisbon right now. We have our Christmas Conference tomorrow in Miratejo (just south of Lisbon), so the whole Algarve zone came up for the conference. There will be bowling today. We are all excited. Most of the irmas are getting together to go bowling today. It should be really fun.

This past week has been BUSY! Albertina is doing well, she has a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, but she just needs to act upon it. She knows she needs to be baptized and really live the gospel, but something's holding her back. But she'll figure it out. Diogo is also doing really well. He came to church and has been doing his reading. He is really participating in the lessons now and is excited to see us.

Felicia, the less-active that we found on the street about a month ago, came to church! We walked with her to church and she loved it. She really wants to get her life in order and is starting to really comprehend the gospel better. I was so excited that she came to church! It's been a few years for her. She is reading from the Book of Mormon as well. She's progressing very well.

We've run into a surprising number of Muslims this week. First we met Behrooz, who is from Iran. We don't know if he is Muslim, but he really wants to learn about the Church and is the nicest person ever. We also met Abido, who is from Morrocco. He was VERY Muslim, but very respectful, though he spoke a mixture of Portuguese and Arabic. Fortunately, Irma Machado speaks a little Arabic, so she was able to understand what he said. It was a very postitive experience both times.

Saturday it was POURING almost all day. Fortunately I had my red polkadot umbrella with me, but my legs and feet were SOAKED all evening and night because we were at the chapel all evening for the branch "dinner" that turned into a party, as I had predicted. We all had a good time and ate great food. There are some members of the branch that can really dance. Wow! I was shocked! Before the party some people were decorating and they set up the Christmas tree. There were some extra decorations, so Ana Marta, the branch president's daughter, who is very serious, quiet and a bit sullen, went to town and decorated me! So I became a Christmas tree as well. Don't worry, we took pictures. :)

The next day we had a couple of devotionals. We watched the First Presidency Christmas devotional, which was wonderful and way too short! I loved when President Eyring talked about making aluminum foil balls to throw at Samuel the Lamanite. Albertina came and watched that devotional, well, actually, we picked her up as she has a broken foot with a member, Noemia. Then she stayed for the branch's devotional. The devotional was actually pretty good, not too long and "Silent Night" was only a little funny...I maybe might have had to stare at my hymnal to keep from laughing...

We've been finding some great people to teach and one of our new investigators, Lena, even made us lunch on Monday! The work is going really well here and I am loving Faro.

I am excited for Christmas! I can't believe that it's next week! Wow! This month is going by soooo fast. I hit 11 months in the mission yesterday I realized this morning. I'm almost a year out! I can't believe it! Well, I hope that you all have a great day. I love you all! Merry Christmas!

Who Would Want to Cancel Christmas?

2008-12-10T06:13:00.001-08:00

Hello family! It was so nice to hear from all of you! It sounds like things are all going well and that you are all preparing for Christmas. I really just realized that Christmas is coming today. It's only two weeks away and we all know what that means! Phone calls and good food!

Well, it has been a HECTIC week here in Portugal. We had a special zone conference with Elder Gérald Caussé of the First Quorum of the Seventy this past Saturday in Lisbon, so the whole Algarve zone came up and we enjoyed the company of the other missionaries as well as Elder Caussé. He was SUPER funny. Wow. The whole conference was about the successes that we are having in Europe. The Area Presidency is really customizing the way that we do missionary work here in Europe. It's so inspired. Really. Elder Caussé said numerous times how wonderful President Terry and Irma Terry are and how priviledged we are to have them in our mission. Apparently our mission is the complete opposite of the rest of the missions in the area, where we are working well with the members but have a hard time finding people to teach. This is the opposite of the rest of Europe. But we got some great counsel and training and the whole conference was so positive. We all left with a resolve to do better and the energy and the excitement to do it.

President Terry asked our zone to prepare a special musical number. Well, he asked Sister Nelson to arrainge it (I can't spell anymore, sorry...) So, fortunately, my companions have GREAT voices and the three of us sang a beautiful arrangement of "I Stand All Amazed." It was such a pleasure to sing and feel the Spirit edifying us and the other missionaries. I was so glad that there was finally a musical number at a conference.

So we all know that the Church is very young here and they are all trying to figure it out. Our branch president does a fantastic job in training the members and helping them figure out how to fulfill their callings. He is a great teacher and usually branch council is a very uplifting experience for us all, but this month it was a little different. Many things happened that caused some feelings to be hurt in the branch, though they were smoothed over by the presidency. One member of the council raised his hand and asked why we celebrate Christmas since it is a pagan holiday. (Keep in mind that they already cancelled the Christmas party because they thought it wasn't appropriate and they don't celebrate Halloween or anything like it in Portugal, well, at least here in Faro.) So to me when he said that I thought, oh no! Don't cancel Christmas too! He went off on the birth of Christ being around April and how we shouldn't celebrate pagan holidays. Our wonderful branch presidency responded in such a loving way and showed the joy of the Christmas holiday and season. Just so you all know, Christmas will still be celebrated here in Faro. Fhew! We are all very excited about it.

I am so excited for Christmas this year. What better way to celebrate the birth of Christ than by being a missionary! The streets here are filled with lights, they don't light the buildings, but the streets and it's beautiful. Christmas music is playing in the stores and there are red carpets lining the downtown area of Faro. I love Christmas.

Albertina is doing great, family. She broke her foot last week in her apartment when she tripped over something, but we've been able to help her out. We talked to her on Monday and she told us that she knows that it's true! My heart was filled with joy as she said that. She is changing and being filled with the happiness of the gospel. She always calls us her angels. I am so priviledged to know her and to help her.

We were able to teach Felicia, the lady that we contacted a couple of weeks ago on the street, who is less-active. She is very receptive, is now reading the Book of Mormon, and wants to come back to church! I'll keep you updated on her.

Well, things are going great here really. My mission is really flying by. I can't believe how fast the time is going. The weeks just fly by and so do the days. I love this work and I know that it is the work of the Lord that I am doing. I am so excited to talk to you all on Christmas! Have a great day! I love you!

One Funny Poem Song

2008-12-03T05:24:00.001-08:00

Hello family! I am glad that everything went well for your various Thanksgiving celebrations! We had a great one here last week. The Nelsons made us dinner and it was SOOO good. Wow. I love American holidays and I'm a little nervous about the Christmas food here, but I'm sure it will be good. Everything else has been good here.

Well, first let me say how much I am loving the tripla. Wow. I love it. Irmas Machado and Holtzclaw are soo amazing. Irma Machado loves politics and the Middle East and Irma Holtzclaw has so much energy and is a theater major. We are all constantly laughing and singing. I am so impressed with them and their willingness to learn and to serve the Lord. They make my life so much easier.

Albertina is doing well. She's at the point of decision whether she wants to act on what she knows is right or not. I know that she knows that we are saying the truth, but she just needs to have the faith to act. But, I'm confident that she will find the faith that she needs.

Sunday was the Primary Program in church and it was so great. I loved hearing those sweet children sing. It is such an inspired program. We were all edified by the simple and powerful message of the primary hymns.

Sunday night we had a funny experience. So instead of having a Christmas party we are having a Christmas devotional. So each of the auxiliaries are in charge of having a musical number. So the Relief Society for some reason decided to invite the elders to sing with us and so we all practiced on Sunday night. We are singing "O Little Town of Bethlehem", I think, and "Silent Night". So, I volunteered to plunk out the parts as one sister conducted. She hovered over me and almost bumped into me the whole time and I had a hard time following her. So, I delegated to one of the elders.

So we started singing "Silent Night" and the director thought it would be a good idea to, instead of singing the hymn, have one person recite the hymn while everyone else "oooed" in the background. So various members of the Relief Society recited the hymn in their most dramatic way, while the other half tried not to laugh. Then someone thought it would be a good idea for ME to try reciting it. (I have no idea who thought that I could maintain my composure with having a choir backup.) So I recited the first verse and tried really hard not to laugh, but then I broke down in the second verse and laughed so hard that I was crying, my face beet-red of course. The rest of the choir (including the director) busted up laughing and we all had a good time. Let's hope that we can keep straight faces during the devotional.

We had a great family night last night with a family with only three girls, the Pintosillgo's. Those girls jumped all over me and entertained me, but the oldest girl really knew the gospel really well, I was impressed. I also learned how to make a really pretty snowflake/icicle thing. So, bonus.

But things are going really well for us. I am happy and loving being a missionary. The time is really starting to fly by. I know that this is the Lord's work, that I am His representative of His church. I love you all and I hope you have a great week remembering the birth of our Savior.

Lions and Tigers and Camels, Oh My!

2008-11-26T06:04:00.000-08:00

Hello family and Happy Thanksgiving Eve! Though, because Thanksgiving is not on a P-Day, we are celebrating today! The whole zone is getting together at the Nelson's, the senior couple in Loulé, for a feast! We are all really excited. So right now my hands are FREEZING! It is pretty chilly here in the morning and at night, but during the day it is fine, so we should be comfortable playing tennis later today.

This has been a CRAZY week! I've had three different companions! Irmã Churak had to go to Lisbon to renew her visa, so I did a division with Irmã Oliveira for about two days. It was great! I picked up my Brasilian accent again, sort of, and we had a great time. We've really bonded this transfer and I learned so much from her. She's a great teacher and we learned more about one anothers' cultures. But she had to leave Friday morning, which left me without a companion until that night. So I went around with Ana Lúcia, who is a young single adult in the branch. I had a pretty normal person day, as she had to do homework and take care of things around the house. This was fortunate because I was pretty sick with a cold/sinus infection. So it gave me the much needed time to rest and recouperate. The next day I was feeling much better and was back in the saddle again.

We've been working a lot with Ana Lucia's family. Her mom, Veronica, was less-active for a while, but now she's back to better activity and she wants to really live the gospel. We are working on helping her have a stronger foundation and also teaching her boyfriend, Carlos, and her son, Elias, as well as talking a bit to her other daughter, Vanha. It's been rewarding to see the changes she has made in just six weeks. I can see the desire that is growing in her to live the gospel.

Albertina had a weird week, but she's back to her normal self and she came to church on Sunday (the whole block, as usual) and then there was a baptism in our building from the branch in Loulé, so she came to that as well and she loved it. She also loved the food afterwords. :)

The branch in Loulé had a talent show that we were able to attend. The Ecuadorian men played some great music for us from their drums, flutes and guitars and the women did a traditional dance from Ecuador. They told me that if I came to their branch again that I would have to stay. They miss having sister missionaries there. We also had enrichment and Cristina, and investigator, came! It was a HUGE step for her to come to the church, so now that barrier has been knocked down. YAY!

Sunday we attended the baptism of two girls from the Loulé branch. Somehow I ended up helping out with almost everything. I got roped into doing the program (at the last minute), and it took longer than expected (of course), and it didn't print out right. But fortunately, there were some elders in the building that figured everything out. However, one of the jets used to fill up the baptismal font broke off leaving a bunch of gunk in the water. So...I got roped into finding a solution. That solution came in the form of a mop. So, feeling like I was cleaning out a pool, I was able to clean out the water in preparation for the baptism. Something I never ever pictured myself doing. Fortunately, I had help, and one of the elders actually touched all of the gunk, and my hands stayed clean. It's the little things really. The baptism was great and we were all edified. Albertina really liked it and I'm so glad that she came.

Well, the circus is in town family! It's right by where some members live, so we took a little side trip to see the animals. There were lions, and tigers, and camels, and shetland ponies. Those lions were HUGE!! Wow! And stinky. I never imagined that I would see circus animals on my mission, but hey, you never know.

I had a cool experience on Monday. I had just been thinking about how I needed to be better at listening to impressions that I get while I'm out in the road. So we walked by this woman who was cleaning up the leaves on the street and she smiled and said hi after we greeted her. We passed her and kept walking, but I felt the clear impression that we needed to go back and talk to her. So, I gathered my courage and we went back. After talking to her for a minute, we found out that she is a member! Woah! She ended up sharing some of her burdens with us and we were able to comfort her. We will be talking toher again on Saturday and I'm really excited. How grateful I am that I heeded that prompting and the help that I am given so freely. I am truly blessed.

So, we got transfer calls yesterday. Irma Churak is going to Setubal and I will be staying her and being put in a tripla, with Irmã Machado (American with a Portuguese name) and Irmã Holtzclaw. They both just got to the field this transfer, so I will be greenie-breaking both of them. It will certainly be a new adventure and I'm sure that I will be given a LOT of help, all of which I will use, to be sure.

Well family, I love you! I hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Eat too much food for me!

(No Subject)

2008-11-19T06:28:00.000-08:00

Hello family! Thanks for the updates!

Well, this has been a long, yet short week. We had interviews with President Terry this past week and it was so nice. I felt like I was just talking to an old friend. He is such a great mission president and I am so grateful that I am able to serve with him. I also cannot believe that the transfer will be over next week. This one has really flown by. Wow.

Well, Albertina is still doing well. She is kind of struggling with her testimony, but she's so wonderful and we know that she will find out for herself that what we are saying is true. We brought Ana Nunes, the branch president's wife, with us and shew as wonderful with her teaching. She was simple, clear and to the point. It was a miracle.

Right now we are working on getting to the less-actives. I had the opportunity of speaking on Sunday at church, which I found out about on SAturday night. I felt that I should speak on retention. I was actually nervous and I was having trouble with my Portuguese, I have my days. But it really helped strengthen my testimony of the importance of the work with the less-actives. I read through Luke 15 and I was impressed with how the father was looking for his son "while he was yet a great way off" (quando ainda estava longe). That is how we must work too.

Oh, so one thing that I've noticed about Faro is that, while it is wonderful and I love it, there is one thing that I could live without...but I guess it just makes it more endearing to me. Well, the dog owners of Faro do not clean up after their dogs it just does not smell great here. I don't know if it's from the canal thing or from the animal population. But Faro is SMELLY. Wow. Just in case you wanted to know...though you probably didn't. :)

Oh, I've also gotten my hands on a violin and Sister Nelson, who is a senior missionary here with her husband, teaches piano lessons as her mission activity. So the two of us have gotten together and we will be playing things for Christmas. It's been nice to play again. I even clipped my nails even more! It's a nice way to express myself. I am an artistic soul.

On Sunday we got a call from our elders at around 5:00pm saying that there was a baptism right then from the branch in Loulé. So we got there and the church was a madhouse! Everything was last minute, and it started really late. But it was probably one of the best baptisms I've been to. The Spirit was so strong throughout the meeting. The branch in Loulé consists of mostly Ecuadorians (random, I know) and they are such beautiful people! The men and the women have long black hair that they keep in a long braid. I just wanted to touch it! And their children are so beautiful! It's so hard not to hold the children here. They are such humble, kind people. AND they make great food. We had this great corn nuts type thing. So good!

We also helped out a recent covert, Maria Joao, this week. We just randomly stopped by on Friday night with the intent of seeing if she could teach with us the next day. But when we got up there she was a bit distressed. We asked if she needed help and, as it turned out, she had to move out thatnight and the next day and had no help. So we rolled up our sleeves and got to work! We also called the elders and they came right over as well. We helped her the next day as well and she got all moved over to her new apartment. She told us that night that we had been an answer to her prayers and that she had told the branch she was moving but she didn't have the courage to ask for help. How grateful I am that we were able to help her.

To thank us she made us this great couscous bread thing (which is a typical Cape Verdian food). Holy Hannah it was good! Wow. I love the food here. Yum. It was a good food week for us. The members are really starting to feed us here. It's so great. Really. I will miss the food here.

Well, Monday we had a bit of an adventure. We went out to follow up with an investigator, Fatima. She lives in the middle of nowhere. We went out there at 7:00pm and we had a bus at 7:55. So we talked to her and her wonderful daughters (really, they are the nicest people). We showed them "Finding Happiness" and the Spirit was so strong. They were riveted on what we were saying. Unfortunately, as we were heading out the door, we heard the bus go by. So after waiting in the cold and in the hope that it had only passed to turn around, we figured it out and called Noemia. She came to our rescue and picked us up, as there were no more buses. The members are great here.

Well, things are wonderful. I love Faro. I love this work. I know it is the Lord's work that I am doing. Next week is transfers so I'll let you know if we have any changes. There are 19 new missionaries coming in so there will be big changes in the mission. I hope that everything stays the same down here though. I love my district. Well. Have a great week! I love you all!

Com grande amor,
Irmã Laura Thomas

One Open House and a Christmas Dinner

2008-11-12T05:55:00.001-08:00

Hey family! Thanks again for the updates and emails. I hope that your week is still going well.

Did I mention that we use the internet in a Western Union? Funny, huh? I sure have used the internet in some interesting places. But there's no crazy Indian music and body odor in this one and they don't kick me off after a half-hour, so I count my blessings.

This has been a good week for us. Albertina is doing GREAT. We talked to her about baptism on Monday, but she doesn't know how she can pay tithing because she's on a fixed income and she can barely eat as it is. So today she is fasting and praying to know how God is going to help her pay tithing. She wants to get baptized, but only if she can keep all of the commandments. She is an amazing lady and every time we see her she just lights up. It's so refreshing to be loved by your investigator. She is changing and growing and becoming so much happier. She's so great.

Diogo is doing well as well. We're encouraging him to read from the Book of Mormon and we worked with the branch to try and incorporate him better in the branch. He's a good kid and I like teaching him.

There is also a young single adult here, Ana Lucia, who is great. We go over to her family's house every Monday night and I think it's my favorite appointment of the week because I can see how much they need to hear what we say. They are hungry for the gospel. Her mom, Veronica, especially really listens to what we say and applies it. It is a bit difficult to keep everyone on subject and focused, but they are just wonderful people.

So last week I mentioned that we were going to Ponta da Piedade in Lagos. That was an adventure. So we got there and had to find a place to keep all of our stuff. So we went to the old chapel and were able to keep our stuff there. That took a while. I was also flooded with memories of last year when we went there together. I took a picture on those stairs right where Jen and I were last year. I'll get that to you.

Travelling in a big group while sightseeing is a big NO. Everyone always has a different pace and idea of what to do. We finally made it to Ponta da Piedade with two hours before our train was to leave. So we (thankfully) split up into smaller groups and fortunately Irma Churak felt like being a mountain goat with me. So the two of us went with Elders Dimick and Curtis climbing around. I was grateful to have jeans again. I've missed them. It was really refreshing to be out in nature and I felt like I was back in Moab. We had a good time and took some good pictures.

Unfortunately, we left Ponta da Piedade a little later than we should have and not everyone wanted to run for the train. So we missed our train, but were able to catch a bus back to Faro. It was an adventure and now I will travel in smaller groups. But it was good to see everyone.

We also had an open house at the church that the branch set up as a missionary opportunity. So we and the elders were there all day to show people around and walk them through the different organizations in the Church. Only three people showed up, but it was a good opportunity for us to show our support to the members. I was able to talk to Presidente Nunes and his wife quite a bit about what they wanted for the branch and it was so nice to be able to see more of their perspective on things.

To set up for the open house included a display for each organization that each class did itself. But they wanted some pictures hung up on fishing wire from the ceiling tiles. So Elder McKinley and I set to doing that. He would climb up on the chair, get the ceiling tile out, hand it to me. I would stick the fishing wire on then I would hold the picture while he stuck the ceiling tile back in. I mention this process because it REALLY reminded me of my youth, helping Dad with any type of project. He would do the real work and I would "hold the picture" in the process. A simple, but necessary thing. It was a funny reminder of home and it made me laugh when Elder McKinley got covered in a bird's nest, while I just watched. Good times at the church were had.

On Sunday we had our branch council and it was wondeful as always. I love how this branch really counsels with one another. They bring up concerns and they figure it out TOGETHER. I've never seen a unit in Portugal do that and it's so good. They work in unity to figure things out. They discussed the upcoming Christmas devotional that we will be doing in place of the Christmas party. The branch president mentioned that they could do a dinner or some other type of social activity if they wanted to (I chimed in on that one. The Church here needs to have more fun!) I asked when we could have the dinner and after a good 15 minutes of discussion dates were set and everyone was excited for the "non-party" dinner. This is an activities branch.

Well, things are going well here. We're in the process of finding, but we're working on working better with the members. Things are progressing and I am happy. I hope that you all have a wonderful day! I love you all!

The Members Take to the Streets!

2008-11-05T04:39:00.000-08:00

Hello family! How are all of you? It sounds like everyone is doing really well and had a great week. So I see that we will be having some big changes here soon in the States. That should be interesting to see.

It's been a good week. Last p-day we went to Loulé to play tennis with the elders there. The weather was beautiful and we had a good time. I was on a team with Elder Dimick and fortunately, he did all the running around for me. Elder Rodrigues did the same for Irmã Churak. She did her best to learn how to play tennis. However, the next day at zone conference I was still sore even though I really didn't do that much. Oh well. But it was fun to play tennis and we have a great district. We laugh a lot when we're all together.

The next day was Zone Conference and it was really different because there were only about 18 of us and as there were three native Portuguese speakers, the conference was in Portuguese. Hearing from President Terry in Portuguese is just not the same. But we had a good spirit of comradry amongst us. I translated one of the trainings of the APs and I was surprised at my ability to translate, when I had tried before and it did NOT work. I'm growing!

Albertina is still doing REALLY well. We want to invite her to be baptized tonight. We'll see how it goes! She is really understanding and loving the Book of Mormon. She's starting to just teach us the lesson. She is praying and really growing. Last week we had an integration night with the branch. The Branch Presidency was in charge and they talked about prophets. Each one talked about a different prophet and then they subtlely (I can't spell anymore..sorry. but you get what I mean, right?) slipped out of the room and then popped out in costumes. One was Nephi, one was and apostle of Christ, Simon, I think, and the branch president was Spencer W. Kimball. He was already wearing a suit, all he did was put on his wife's glasses. I took a couple of pictures and we had a good time. We invited Albertina that Monday before but she had forgotten. So we reminded her as we were heading out the door to go to the activity. She was like, "oh it's right now? Let me get my jacket!" She had a great time and we are so excited for her. Really, she becomes happier and chattier every time. She is really understanding what we teach her. It's amazing to see.

On Sunday we did a training in Relief Society and walked them through doing street contacts because later that afternoon we took to the streets! (Mind you, none of this was planned by the missionaries, it was planned by the branch!) So we took to the streets and it was great! I went witht he Relief Society President, Maria Furtado, and a Young Woman, Ana Marta. Maria Furtado talked to EVERYONE! Wow! I was so impressed with her. She was incredible. I ended up spending a good amount of time jsut talking to Ana Marta. She's having a hard time right now and I really click with her. I hope that I can help her. But I am really liking being here in Faro, it's a good fit for me.

Well, I guess I should say I like the Algarve, right now I'm in Portimão, which is on the other side of the Algarve on a division. I went with Irma Oliveira and we had a bunch of time to find yesterday. I was so fun to be with her because it reminded me of being in Brasil. I have such a love for Brasil and the people from there. I love being able to talk about that culture again. It's fun to speak more Portuguese too.

I love being here in Portugal because there are so many cultures! I have learned so much, and tried out so many different foods. A couple of weeks ago I tried squid when Irma Brady came to Faro with her family and they ate lunch with us. Family, you can skip that one. Ick. But instead I ate salmon and it was GREAT! (I know family what you are thinking, "who is this girl and what have they done with Laura?!") I am turning Portuguese family. I can't speak English anymore, I wave my index finger around to mean I don't want something, I wave my hand in front of my face when someone does something less than intelligent, and eating with just a fork is weird. Yes, family, I am Portuguese/Brasilan/American. I accept it.

Things are going well here for us. I am happy and I am loving the work. Today we are going to Ponta da Piadade and I'm really excited. Pretty much the whole zone is coming. It should be fun. I am loving being in jeans! I hope you all have a great week and I'll talk to you soon! Happy November! (Where did October and September go?)

A Halloweenless Country

2008-10-29T05:24:00.001-07:00

Hello dear family! Thanks for all of the emails! I think I get more communication from my family than most missionaries. I consider myself very blessed.

Well, this past week was a really good one for us. I have a bit of a cough right now, but I'm on the mend. Fortunately, I got some mints from Aurora that are saving me right now. Yay for great members! This past week has really been a week of service. We helped Irma Candida set up an email account, took out a lot of trash, set up a water heater thing and various other projects. It's nice to serve.

Albertina is doing great! We asked her last week if she's been praying about the Book of Mormon and she has! She feels really good about it and she knows that it is from God. She comes to church for the whole block every week (which is so nice to see) and she is just progressing wonderfully. We love working with her and we can see the gospel really passing through her.

We found a bunch of new investigators last week and we went back to teach one of them, Sonia, yesterday. We asked her why what we are saying would be important to her and she said that she wanted to change and that we could help her do that. EXACTLY! That is why we are here! To help people change and come closer to Christ! Yay! She gets it! So we will be teaching her hopefully three times a week, like we are counseled to do, and I am excited for her. She's from Cape Verde (horray for diversity!) and she is just great. More to come.

We've had some funny occurrences the past week. Take Monday for instance. I have two questions for you family: how many people does it take to fix a paper jam? and how many people does it take to send a one line email? Answer: Seven people to fix a paper jam and three to send an email. Let me tell you how.

So Monday we had to make copies for our upcoming open house that the branch is putting on. We went to the chapel to get the original and make copies and the other elders from the zone were there because of a district leader meeting. So we talked to them for a bit and then proceeded to make our copies. No sooner had Irma Churak started to make the copies than that copier started freaking out and there was a paper jam. So we, the two of us, tried to figure it out and we couldn't. So then we enlisted another elder to help us. Still nothing. So then we asked the other elders waiting. Still nothing. Then we asked Noemia, who is a member that takes care of the chapel, to help us. Almost something. Then, Elder Marriott decided to just lift up the machine, of course, we all had to help with it and he shoved his arm up the copier to get out the jammed paper. Finally, success and the copier was successfully fixed, with all seven of us jammed in a little tiny room, some watching, some hindering, and a very few actually doing anything helpful. Some things are just universal, aren't they?

Let's see, what else? I learned yesterday that Halloween is looked badly upon here in Portugal. Apparrently it's a really bad thing here. For me, I just get candy and I get to wear a costume. I love Halloween, but here it has a bad meaning. So I had, in my ignorance, planned a bit of a party with our English classes for Friday (by planned, I basically just told them to bring food). But then I asked our Branch President where we could buy pumpkins because we wer ethinking about carving some for p-day today. He then proceeded to tell me that they don't celebrate halloween and I never found out where to get a pumpkin. Subsequently, the party was cancelled. :( Oh well, I'll celebrate with Irma Churak.

We also discovered that our next-door neighbor used to go to our church and she really liked it. We will be inviting her to our open house. :) I am loving the work here in Faro. There are so many amazing people here and they are so willing to help. I am already making connections with the members, with some that the missionaries haven't been using in the past. So it's been great to see how I can reach people that others couldn't, and visa versa. There really is a reason for each one of us going to different areas.

I am doing so well now. I love this area, this branch, and this work. I know that I am where I need to be, doing the Lord's work. I know this is the true church of God. I know that it is true.

Have agreat week! I love you

Shouldn't a Pianist Have a Toilet Seat?

2008-10-22T05:31:00.001-07:00

Hello family! Thank you so much for the emails. It was nice to hear about the adventure of the upstairs window. I am glad that things went well for you all.

Well things in Faro are going GREAT! I love it here and it's wonderful to be down in the Algarve. Let me tell you, the Algarve is where it's at! The Church actually functions here like it should. We had Branch Council and PEC on Sunday. The Branch Presidency met with us to see about the work. It was great! They are wonderful members and it's great to be here. Unfortunately, no one here can play the piano, so they are left with me to play during church. Poor things. It was a little rough this week, as I only played the melody, but it was better than nothing, right? Beggars can't be choosers. The good news is that we have a simplified hymns book and with a little practice I can play the hymns out of that book. So Mom, those years of piano lessons were not in vain. I can still play something! Yay! The members seemed to appreciate my poor attempts at playing the piano. Really this branch is great. It has about 50 people and a great chapel. It's nice.

Another great thing about Faro is my apartment. It is new and nice and BEAUTIFUL and right next door to a comic book shop. Funny! The house is so nice. But as it's new, it's missing a few things, like pots, pans, a dish rack (which we've already bought since I got here) and a toilet seat. That's right family. I do not have a toilet seat in my apartment. I thought that Irma Churak was trying to play a joke on me, but no, no she's not. So, we'll be talking to our apartment owner to see what he can do. Oh the joys of the mission!

I am also in the biggest district in the mission right now. There is a triple of elder covering both Olhao and Tavira, so they come to our district meeting, but we've got elders in Loule as well as a couple, the Nelsons, and then our amazing elders here in Faro. It's really nice to be around people again and to see other missionaries.

Irma Churak is from around Tyler, Texas. She's about 5'10" and has a Texas accent. She's very nice, but also very sensitive. So I've been learning how to talk in a different way so as to not hurt her feelings, a good thing for a Thomas to learn. But she's a nice girl and wants to do her best. We're going to have a good transfer together I think.

As for the work, we are working with a great woman, Albertina, who is progressing well. She's great and I'm excited to get to know her better. We also teach English class two times a week and it's intense here! We have four levels and I teach the second highest level. My students really want to learn and aren't intimidated by my intensity. They actually really like it!

We've been finding and teaching a lot and things are going well. Life is good here in the Algarve, as well as the weather! I hope that you are all doing well and that this week brings you greater happiness through the gospel! Have a great week!

The Gospel Blesses Lives

2008-10-15T05:21:00.000-07:00

Hey family, well my email just got erased again and I had just finished it. Ugh. thank you all for writing. It was really nice to hear from all of you.

Yesterday we had our transfer calls and I am being transferred to Faro. I am really excited to go down there. I will be with Irma Churak, who is also from Texas. I am super excited to go, but really sad to leave here with the members and investigators we have.

Here's my new address
Rua Dr. Joao Lucio
Nº2A 2º ESQ
8000 Faro
Portugal

Barbara and her family came to church on Sunday! It was so amazing to see! Maria was able to get off of work and so they found the church themselves, though they don't even live in Mafra. They loved church and it was a great meeting, although it was POURING outside. Wow. But the members were great and very welcoming and the testimony meeting was probably one of the best I've ever been to. The testimonies were amazing and I loved it.

We talked to Barbara yesterday and she told us how much her family has changed in the past few days. The contention that they usually have is all gone and they are so much happier since Sunday. She said that she has been praying to have more peace. She and her dad are reading every day from the Book of Mormon. Loretto is really putting to test what we told him about how we can have more peace and happiness in our lives form the Book of Mormon. It's been miraculous to see. I am so excited for them!

Yesterday I ate shrimp and I liked it! Gonçalo Esteves taught me how to eat it and he did it in true 15 year old fashion, even spraying shrimp juice in my face. The Esteves have really become very dear to me. They are part of my Portguese family here.

Things are going really here. We were able to teach SOO much last week. I twas amazing. We are being very blessed. I am sad to leave, but I am excited as well to go to Faro. Tomorrow I get to take a three hour bus! I hope that you all continue to do well. Have a great day! Sorry this is short.

Nine more months! Happy Hump Day to me!

Snails Anyone?

2008-10-08T06:19:00.001-07:00

Hello family! I am glad to hear that all went well in Utah this past week. Things have also been going well for us this week. I am learning and growing a lot!

Well, for General Conference we went down to Oeiras to watch and we did a division with the sisters down there as well. They are in an old elder's apartment, which, consequentally, John lived in. The connections continue. I ran across an old Bible of his and met his old dona, who is very nice. The ward there is wonderful and I got to talk to a good part of them during the weekend. They all talked about how wonderful Elder Van Orman was and that the whole ward just loved him.

I especially loved Conference. I was able to see all sessions, including the Priesthood Session. President Terry encouraged us to go. It was awkward at first, but some other elders had brought a recent convert who was a woman, so we helped make her feel less awkward. We watch one session on Saturday and the rest on SUnday, so it was a long, but wonderful day. I was so touched to hear that Rome was getting a temple, but even more so that Kansas City is getting a temple. I am so excited to hear about where it is!

Well, the division went well. We were encouraged to go out and talk to people between sessions, so we had the chance to do that. I went with Irmã Fonseca and we had the chance to talk to a family that was really excited and interested. I hope that they continue with their interest. It will bless their lives.

Yesterday I had a wonderful experience. We went to Malveira to teach Barbara again. It was raining, but we hiked up the HUGE hill to her house and knocked on the door. We were excited because we saw the light on and heard voices, so we knew that others were home too. However, when we knocked on the door. It fell SILENT and no one came to the door, though we knocked a couple of times. We wrote a note stating that we would come back at 1:30pm to see Barbara and slipped it through the wooden insert to replace a window.

So we went to grab lunch and it started to rain cats and dogs. It was really coming down. Just as it was time to head out the door it started raining even harder, but we went out with a determination to teach Barbara. So we hiked up the HUGE hill again and as I went up I said a silent prayer asking for help to teach her. She's only 14 so we can't go in her house unless her mom or another female adult is there. It was clearly not going to work out for us to be outside to teach her. But we went with faith, knowing that we were doing the Lord's work.

This time as we knocked on the door, the occupants immediately said, "Barbara!" and she came and promptly answered the door. She let us in (because her mom was miraculously home) and we ended up teaching the entire family. Family, let me tell you how amazing that was! That was the first time in my mission that I have taught a family. The father, Loretto, listened very attentively and asked great questions. As his wife ranted about one thing or another, he picked up the Book of Mormon, put on his glasses, and started reading. It was incredible. We asked him to say the closing prayer, taught him how and he accepted and said the closing prayer. He spoke from the heart and gave thanks to God for all of his blessings. I know that it was the Spirit that was teaching the lesson, that inspired us with words and that it touched their hearts. I hope that they continue to feel of this joy that the gospel brings. It was such an amazing experience to teach them.

I have been having various experiences with prayer. I am so humbled to see that if I ask sincerely and specifically, then I am given specific answers. We made a bus that we should have missed when we were going to Oeiras because we were given the help we needed to help this work go forth. I know that God answers prayers.

So last week, I forgot to mention that I ate snails. Well, snail actually. There was no way that I was putting more than one of those things in my mouth. The verdict: it tasted like dirt. But it was an experience.

Next week I'll know what's going on with transfers, so I'll keep you informed. I hope that all is well. I love you all!

I GOT INTO A DOOR!

2008-10-04T05:07:00.000-07:00

Hello family! It was so wonderful to hear from all of you today. Thank you for your constant and consistent support. I really appreciate it. I was very saddened to hear about Grandpa's passing. But the gospel of Jesus Christ provides such peace and comfort that this life is not the end, but only a small part in the whole spectrum of our existence. We will see him again. How comforted I am to know that.

This has actually been a really good week for us. We are FINALLY finding people who are really interested in the gospel. It's like a miracle, really. I have investigators who are actually progressing! Who are reading, who are praying, who are keeping committments! It's SUCH a nice change, let me tell you. Wow. We have beent eaching Fátima and she went to our activity on Friday, but unfortunately, none of the members showed up, except Manuela, who just kind of weirded Fatima out. Paciencia. But Fatima showed up and that was what was important. She's excited to talk to us tonight. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she was super excited to read from it and just started applying passages to her life. I didn't say ANYTHING. She's great!

We also have Lourdes, who we contacted on the street the first or second day in the transfer. She is really curious and wanting to learn more. She printed out the whole mormon.org website to read at home! She had some concerns, but Filipe came with us and she is really excited to learn more. She is the sweetest lady ever. Seriously.

Anabela has done a great job with Fatima. She's testifying of the Book of Mormon and really helping her friend see the joy of the gospel. She is still not coming to church because of her husband, but I think it's been really good for her to have a purpose in having a testimony.

On Saturday it was my birthday as you all know, and the day was kind of blah. I was kind of bummed because it was my birthday and itw as a weird day and it was about to rain cats and dogs. But we had gone and knocked some doors and one lady said we could come back that night at 8:00pm. So we visited Maria and Adalto and then went back. We knocked the door and we heard them inside debating whether or not to open the door. Irma McKee and I were determined. We were going to wait there as long as need be. Fortunately, we didn't have to wait too long and they opened the door. THEY LET US IN THEIR HOUSE! That was my first door that I've gotten into in Mafra.

We then were able to talk to Ilda and Sofia. Ilda is REALLY searching for the truth. We talked for a little while and then set up a return appointment. I'm really excited to go back and teach them. That was probably the best birthday present, was that door opening to people who were normal and ready to learn.

Unfortunately, Sporting lost to Benfica. Sigh.

Yesterday we taught Barbara, whom I had contacted last transfer and she was really excited. She made me give her directions to the chapel and even reminded me when I forgot! The work is starting to go somewhere!

In other news, Continente just opened in Mafra. There are signs EVERYWHERE about it. Continente is the Target of Portugal. Also, we have been seeing this couple with a horse and buggy. We have seen them in several different cities around the area. Not something you see every day.

Well, I'm out of time, but know that I love you all and that I am doing well and feeling MUCH better! It's nice to be able to work again! I hope you all have a great week! I love you!!

Beijinhos,
Irmã Laura Thomas

Canoes in Portugal? Who Wouldv'e Thought?

2008-09-24T04:36:00.000-07:00

Hello again family! Thank you for the emails andthe birthday well wishes. It's crazy that my birthday is this week! Wow! I can't believe it! Now the elders are going to REALLY think that I'm old!

This past week we had some good experiences. Friday, we were feeling silly after planning for a long time and so, as I was filling out the progress record, we joked that I didn't have time to do anything, not even brush my teeth! So, to be funny, Irmã McKee went and got my toothbrush, complete with toothpaste, and started brushing my teeth for us. It was really funny. Don't worry. We got pictures. I'm trying to burn them onto some CDs to send home, so soon you will be seeing more of my mission. Get excited!

Thursday we were in Torres Vedras to teach some less-active members and we got hailed down by a member. He was excited to see us and we got his phone number. Yesterday we went out with the Parkers, who are a senior missionary couple, and we found his house 8(which was in them middle of NO WHERE and it took us about an hour and a half to find it). He wasn't there and some people who knew him joked that the police were able to get up to his house so...hopefully we'll be able to talk to him soon!

Saturday was a branch activity! We were really excited about it and hte whole branch asked us to come with them. We got permission from President Terry to go so off we went! They went up by Abrantes to go canoeing. So we went up and chilled with the members who didn't go canoeing. I took some great pictures and after the canoeing adventure we had a picnic. The boys, including our branch president and counselor, started seeing who could jump over the bikes and they kept raising the height. It was really funny to see. I got some GREAT photos. Then we played limbo. I am still sore from that. Who knew my body could bend like that? I had no idea. The Young Woman in the branch, Debora, was AMAZING. Wow. Elastic! Then we played jump rope and tried to see how many we could get jumping at once. We got about 7 I think, It was fun. The other people there were watching our good times. Unfortunately, I was a little sick, so I had to take it easy. I've been a bit sick this past week, so we're going to be taking it easy today.

Sunday President Martins came to our branch. He encouraged everyone to go to the Saturday session of Stake Conference and talked about how he knew that Sporting was playing Benfica (the biggest rivalry in Portugal for soccer) that night, but how he was still going to be going to the game AFTER the session. I thought that was HILARIOUS that he had to talk about that over the pulpit. So funny. You know you're in Portugal when...

Yesterday we went out with the Parkers as I mentioned and it was a great time. They are a really funny couple and they are so helpful. We were able to confirm the address of a couple of less-actives, so that was nice. Hopefully, we will be able to talk to them sometime.

Things are going well here. The branch is still struggling a bit, but they are all such wonderful people. We started teaching a woman named Fatima, who is the friend of a less-active, Anabela. She is wonderful and I think so ready for the gospel. I am excited to see what happens with her.

I hope you all have a great week and stay strong! I think about you often and love you all. I know that this gospel is what brings lasting happiness. I see it everyday. So many people try to find happiness elsewhere, but it doesn't last. This is the true way to have the greatest happiness. I love you all!

Knock, Knock on the Door

2008-09-18T21:43:00.000-07:00

Hello family! I am glad to hear that all is well. This has been a tiring week, though good.

We had our Zone Conference and I had the pleasure of speaking. President Terry always asks two missionaries to give a talk right on the spot, we are told the topics and are expected to come prepared. I spoke on charity and I think it went well. Conference is always a big boost for me in the transfer, to be with other missionaries, to receive training, to feel the love of the Savior through the Spirit, to be edified. I love Zone Conference. We received some good training that is coming to all of the leadership of the Church about misisonary work. I am SUPER excited that the Brethren are making missionary work such an emphasis. The work will only go forward through the members. It's so true. It's so inspired that they are placing a greater emphasis on member missionary work because that is exactly what Portugal needs to become the lighthouse of Europe. It is only through the members that we will see greater success in bringing the light of the gospel to others.

Last Thursday we went up to Torres Vedras to see the less-actives and try and find some new investigators. After we had made our possible visits we went up to a neighborhood that looked nice and began knocking. We had a great time knocking those doors, though no one let us in to talk to them, we still had a good time talking and joking with eachother. Irmã McKee helps make the work more fun.

Friday we went over to Ana's to try and soften her heart toward the gospel and the members. I got there and I had the thought that I should let her play around with my hair. So I did. Well, about 20 minutes later I looked like I had just stepped out of the 80s, but she was smiling and very happy about how "pretty" she had made me. So, that smile on her face, and the laughter I suppressed, made it all worth it to me. We are still struggling with her to help her to see the need to forgive others. We really do choose to be offended.

Well, we took Felipe Esteves to a few lessons this week and it went really well. (Oh, John, Felipe says hi. He was shocked to know that we were related. Did you talk to everyone in Portugal?) He teaches really well and explains the gospel in a very basic and understandable way. Plus it's good preparation for him for his upcoming mission. We had a really good experience at one of our investigators' houses. She asked why we needed the Book of Mormon if we had the Bible. (Great question!) And we were happy to explain how the Book of Mormon has the fulness of the gospel and fills in the gaps that the Bible has from the truths that have been lost through the various translations and other things the Bible has been through.

Church was again very uplifting this week. The members have even mentioned how the Spirit has just really been at church the past two weeks. We went out with Fatima Esteves to do visiting teaching and I was excited to help her.

Yesterday at Zone Conference I took the time to talk to Elder Kapp and Elder Tipton who are serving in Olivais, I served with Elder Kapp there. They told me what was going on in the area and about some of the people I worked with. They told me that now Tania wants to get married! and that now Mario, who was a less-active that Irmã Ives and I found, is now attending church regularly, and even wearing a suit! I was really happy to know that I made a difference for some people there because of my listening to the Holy Ghost. It was very gratifying to hear about.

Well, I hope that you all have a wonderful week and have success at work, meetings and school. I love you all!!

Muitos abraços,
Irmã Laura Thomas

A Filhinha is Born!

2008-09-10T04:52:00.000-07:00

Hello family! I am so glad that things are going well for all of you! Thank you for the love and support and the prayers. I love you all so much!

Things are going well here in Mafra. I'm actually not freaking out about being a trainer, which is nothing short of a miracle. I've been really blessed by the Lord and really helped. Irmã McKee is my little "daughter" and she is GREAT! She works hard, loves talking to people, has no fears of talking to people and is patient with me. She is a great companion and I am excited for the rest of the transfer.

We have been doing a lot of finding this past week and we've talked to a surprising number of lonely old women. I am grateful that we were able to comfort and listen to them. They needed to talk and we were able to listen and share the love that the Savior has for them. We have not found anyone who is ready for the gospel, but we're continuing the search and have the faith that they are here.

Maria da Graça is still doing really well. She left for Angola yesterday and was SOOO excited to go back. I hope that her trip goes well and that she is able to do a lot of gospel studying like she wanted to do. I love talking to her and seeing the changes that she is making in her life because of the gospel. It is truly amazing every time I see it.

Monday night we went over to Ana, Julio and Joana's. They weren't at church and I think they are at a critical point for them in deciding whether to continue in this path of happiness that is sometimes difficult, but always worthwhile. I was able to spend a bit of time with Ana, helping her get dinner ready. She is so hungry for spiritual knowledge and truth and the joy of the gospel, but she needs to chose to make that change. I hope that she can see the love that I have for her and that I want to help her. I have really grown in my love for the members and people that we are working with. We went to get Maria Helena and Adalto to church on Sunday (and we even woke them up to go!), but they decided not to come, which made me really sad, but I hope that they decide to come this week.

Church this Sunday was amazing. It usually wears me out because there is always something I need to be helping with, etc. But I was very spiritually fed. It was so nice. I could really feel the Spirit and was very edified. After church we went over to Manuela's (who is a recent convert and is in her 60s) she fed us dinner, but it took FOREVER for her to get everything ready. People kept coming over. And then, for dinner we had bacalhau. My poor little Irmã McKee and poor Elder Lloyd. Their first meal with a member in Portugal was bacalhau. Ick. It will never be a favorite meal of mine.

Let's see, what else...this past transfer one of the focuses of the misison has been studying Chapter 5 of Preach My Gospel, which is all about the importance of the Book of Mormon. I haver really felt the need to increase my testimony of this amazing Book of scripture. So I have been studying and reading and pondering and my testimony has really grown. I love the Book of Mormon and I know that it is truly a book from God. I hope that all of your testimonies are growing each day as you read, study, and ponder its message.

Have a wonderful week and enjoy, Mom and Dad, hearing from a prophet of God this weekend! I am so excited for all of you. I love you all so much!

Training a New Missionary

2008-09-03T05:17:00.000-07:00

Hello family! Thank you again for the news and updates and love and support. I hope this week is a good one for all of us. This past one has sure been a good one for me!

Well, yesterday we got our transfer calls and President called at 2:15pm, which was really early. President talked to me an asked me if I would accept the responsibility to train one of the new sisters coming in. I am a little nervous now, and I know I will be REALLY nervous come tomorrow, but I'm also really excited. Irmã Brady was such a wonderful trainer/Mission Mom for me that I hope I can do the same for my little daughter-to-be. So, I'll be picking her up tomorrow at 9:00am. Elder Burkett will also be training, and during his last transfer at that! So we'll both have some new challenges and hopefully it will help us be a more unified district.

This past week has been a really good one. We had a stake activity that our zone of missionaries put on. We went "Back into the Book of Mormon". We were all different characters in the Book of Mormon. We had King Laban, which was Elder Wardenburg. He got Chinese store pijamas and wore fake gold chain necklaces and a Burger King crown. He had a fake cheesy sword as well. It was hilarious. I'll figure out how to send pictures some day. Internet here is a nightmare. Elder Hansen was Zoram and he handed out the little gold plates that my district made. He bought geenie pants that are all the rave here. They are the least flattering, ugliest pants that Europeans think are attractive. Ick. I hope that it never makes it over to the US. There were other characters, but Irma Rasmussen and I were Nephite women and wore sheets that we wrapped around to make dresses and had headbands. We helped people make bracelets out of yarn. It was fun. It was a great activity and our branch actually came! I think they are actually starting to like activities. It's a MIRACLE!

Portugal is a funny place and I will briefly mention some funny things I've seen this week. I've gotten directions to go "down by the dog, avoid the horse, and go just by the sheep". Seriously. I live in a funny area.

We went and saw Maria da Graça this week and she is doing SOO well. She's excited to go visit Angola and her family and she is progressing really well. She stopped drinking coffee when we mentioned about the Word of Wisdom. She did it all on her own. We haven't even taught her yet. She is the most Christlike person I've ever met. We went and did service at her house yesterday with the elders. We carried sacks of clothes that she sends to the poor in Angola up to her attic. Then we cleared out a bunch of rubble and rocks and brush from her back garden area and planted a tree and flowers. It was nice.

The members here are hanging in there. We found out that Fransisco and Isabel are getting married! They are both members in the branch and we're really excited for them. We love the members here and this area. They love us back and treat us really well. I am excited to continue working with them and strengthening this area with the help of the Lord.

Tonight we are having a movie night/party! Yay! The whole branch is coming and two irmas are coming up here to visit the branch as they are either going home or training next transfer, so we're excited. I love parties! We're going to be bringing 10 nonmembers tonight, hopefully. So it will be great!

I hope that you are all doing really well and are learning and growing as well. Have a FANTASTIC week! I love you all so much!

Changes, Changes!

2008-08-27T06:36:00.001-07:00

Hello family! Thank you again for the emails and the love and support. I hope that things are going well for you all.

I cannot believe that school is starting up again already. Wow. The summer just started! How is it over already? Good luck in school to everyone!

Things are going well here in Mafra. Right now I'm back where I did internet when I was in Olivais. We're doing a P-day with the Irmãs of Seixal, so we«re meeting in Lisbon. I've returned to my old areas this transfer.

We were blessed to be able to teach a lot last week. It was great. We are still struggling to find people, but that will come. We are working hard and loving the work.

We have been trying to teach a member every day to try and strengthen the members here. They are all so new in the gospel and need nourishment from the word of God. It's been working well and we've been finding it successful. The members here are AMAZING. I love them and am excited to stay more time here. We found out this week that Ana doesn't have a testimony and only was baptized because her husband wanted her to be, so we're working with her and trying to help her to want to have a testimony. That's really the first step.

Family, I am learning SO much. I really am starting to feel myself get lost in the work. I can't believe that the transfer is almost over. I have learned SOOO much this transfer. The best lesson that I've learned is that I can be happy in whatever situation. It is really just a matter of choice. I am really happy and I am loving the work. It is not easy and things aren't perfect with me and Irmã Rasmussen, but I am doing my best to make her happy and to be more like Christ and to work hard. So I am happy in this. I make mistakes. That is okay. I am not perfect. But I am so happy to be a missionary and to be able to help people and to bring them happiness. Yesterday we taught Ana and we read from the Book of Mormon with her. She said that she wouldn't pray, but after the lesson I asked her to do it again and she did! She prayed! It was something so small, but it was her softening her heart to pray and she did it! It's the little things that really help.

I've been making a list in my planner of the things that have been "positives" in the day. A good portion is good food, actually...but it's so nice to look over and add to it to see what good things have happened. What I have to be grateful for. We had our interviews with President Terry and he said that was a great idea and was really excited about it. I can feel myself growing and stretching and changing and it's great! It hurts sometimes, but it's great!

Interviews were really nice. I love talking to President and getting his counsel. He told me that I would be getting a different companion next transfer, which will be good. Irma Rasmussen has not been very happy, so I hope that she will find more happiness in her next area.

Let me see, what else. Oh! The chapel got a new piano! We had had an electric organ, ick, and it worked...okay. Now we have a nice new electric piano that has all of the hymns already programmed on it. It's so pretty and so amazing! We're all excited about it. Oh, also, Mafra now has a Continente, which is their equivalent to Target. Mafra's hit the big time now! Everything's changing!

Sorry if this was a weird email, but know that I am doing great and that the work is rolling forward in Mafra! I love you all! Continue being strong! Have a great week!

Trust, Castles and a Couple

2008-08-20T06:54:00.000-07:00

Hello dear family! thank you for the wonderful emails! They were especially good for me to read this week. Right now I am in a public library in Sintra. Irmã Rasmussen and I are going to Quinta de Regaleira, which has some caves to explore. I hope it will be fun. It's at least nice to be in a different area.

Things are going well here. I am learning a lot and we are working hard. We are still in the finding process, but our faith is strong and I think we will start to find those who are willing and ready to receive the truth of the gospel. Saturday we called one of our investigators, Hilma, to confirm an appointment. She then told us she would no longer read the Book of Mormon and didn't want us to talk to her about it. Her family is NOT supportive and so she doesn't want to continue. I was sad for her, but I think she will be ready to learn here in the future. One thing I am finding is that people are so afraid of the unknown. They don't want to talk to us because of fear, not because we are mean, or ugly (though I am getting a little frumpy, my hair is so crazy here), but because it's walking into the unknown.

On Saturday we went to a town called Malveira and it started to pour! Wow! Fortunately, we had brought our umbrellas, so we kept on going and searching for people to teach. We've spent a lot of time trying to look up former investigators and to find new people to teach. We also want to work more with the branch. I feel very strongly that we need to be teaching them more and strengthening them. The branch is only two years old and there are so many recent converts. One, Ana Bela, has already fallen away and is rapidly losing her testimony. It is so sad to see, but then there is Manuela, who brought her neice and her neice's daughter to a lesson, so that they could see the joy and happiness that she has now because of the gospel. It was so interesting for me to see the difference. It is all about how we nourish our own seeds and cultivate our faith. If we are doing the little things to keep us strong in this gospel.

On Sunday I was just minding my own business in Gospel Principles when Elder Davis was teaching about how we all have different gifts, and then said how I was such a hard worker. Then the rest of the class went off and started talking about what they liked about me. It was completely unsolicited, believe you me. I think I was bright red the whole time, but it was so wonderful for me to hear that the other members of the branch trusted me and loved me. It is such a blessing to have that acceptance so quickly and to be able to work better with the members. They are truly amazing here. They are all my kind of people and I really feel like I was sent here for them. It's so amazing to see. I wish you could all see it as well.

I've been thinking about how funny Mafra is. It's a pretty small town with a GIGANTIC national palace that was turned into a Catholic convent. That in and of itself is quirky. Then add on top of that the fact that the police ride around on horses. Then the fact that it houses Portugal's largest military base. This morning I could hear them doing their drills. I constantly see soldiers here in uniform. Then there are the old men that congregate in a little park, which used to be bigger, but now it's under construction, so they have to be in a higher concentration. I can imagine that the other residents would add one more oddity: the missionaries. I am sure we are one more thing that makes Mafra quirky and I love it!

On Thursday we had the priviledge of going around with a senior missionary couple, the Parkers, who are up in Caldas da Rainha, which is an area that John served in. They took us around to all of the little towns outside of Torres Vedras, where there used to be a branch, so that we could look for less-actives. We had a great time with them and it was really nice to be around people of a different age. Elder Parker has such great energy and it was a pleasure to work with both of them. We went to the dinkiest little towns to find some less actives that there was NO WAY we could have found without them. I loved working with them.

I hope you are all doing well. Things are going well here and we are working hard and staying strong in the gospel. I pray for you and I love you all so much. Please know how much I love you, but what is more how much our Father in Heaven loves each one of you. Have a great day!

Back South of the River, but only for a day

2008-08-13T05:54:00.000-07:00

Hello dear family!! Thank you again for all of the emails and updates. I hope that everything continues to go well for you all. I am glad to hear that we have another missionary in our ranks! Yay Dad! I can’t wait to see how missionary work functions in the US. I bet it is SOO different, but very much the same.

Well, it’s been a good week for us. Right now I am in Seixal on a division. The areas of Seixal and Almada got combined this transfer because an irma broke her toe. So, Irma Rasmussen and I came down to do a division with the three irmas here. It was great because we could both show these areas and get to see our old areas. It’s been really weird being back here, but very rewarding. I got to see Kenia, Celeste and Salita. Celeste is doing really well and she is finally getting it about the gospel. She has grown so much and changed so much. It’s crazy. It was really fulfilling for me to see that I had helped her. Irma Brady and I knocked on her door and she let us right in. She is so much happier now because she is learning about the gospel and reading from the Book of Mormon. It was so good for me to see that I had done something here and made a difference.

It was also really fun to see this area. Irma Martinez and I ended up running into two contacts I had made here, whose addresses were wrong and I had looked for a couple of times to teach them. So, hopefully they will be able to follow-up on that and see those two women. I could see the hand of the Lord yesterday as our paths crossed and I could talk to them again. It was also fun to see how much my Portuguese has improved and my comprehension!

Things in Mafra are going pretty well. We were visiting a less active last week, Jayra, and we started out by singing hymns, which is always good. So we sang one and she really liked it, so we sang another one, and then a man who lives in one of the other rooms came into the kitchen and started banging around and making as much noise as possible. I thought it was weird. So we finished that hymn and started singing another one. He went off on us and started yelling saying that he didn’t have to listen to us and he paid to lived there and was being disrespected. I thought that was so weird, because everyone loves the hymns. Seriously. Woah. So we left the kitchen and had our lesson in her room. That lesson was special as well because I felt very directed by the Spirit. We had a very open conversation about why she was not active in the Church. She spoke very honestly and I think we were able to help her. I would never have asked her some of the things that I did had I not been directed to do so. Truly the Lord knows what we need better than we do ourselves, or anybody else.

We have been working more with the members this week and it’s been GREAT! I love working with the members and we have some great ones here. They are fantastic really. They will come whenever they can. We took Fransisco with us to teach a couple and he is a wonderful teacher and helps bridge the gap of awkwardness that sometimes exists. Unfortunately we had some difficulty teaching lessons with the members because our investigators would not let us in the house to teach them. So…we’re in the process of finding those who are ready to receive us. But it has really been great to work with the members and get to know them better.

A funny thing about Mafra. Saturday night we were walking back from Vila Velha to the main part of Mafra. It was absolutely FREEZING outside. Isabel, one of the members, and Irma Rasmussen did not believe me that I was so cold. My fingers were red and were like ice. I went home and put on my sweats and heated up some apple juice to drink. I’m sorry, but what happened to August and Summer? I usually need a jacket or sweater at night.

I ate lamb on Sunday at Manuela’s. It’s definitely not my favorite meat. Ick. But she kept putting more on my plate. Ugh. I was so full after that meal. She also gave us fruit as our before dessert dessert. So I started eating a peach and she was horrified that I was eating the skin. She took the peach out of my hand and asked me why my mother didn’t teach me how to get the skin off of a peach. So, thanks Mom. Apparently, this is a vital life skill that I was lacking in my life. Who knew?

Things are going well here for us. We are still looking and will be working with a senior couple tomorrow up in Torres Vedras. We are looking for a whole branch that went inactive up there and the couple is going to work with us. I’m really excited. But today is Irma Rasmussen’s birthday, so we are going to go have a little party for her. I am really enjoying being back here. It’s so awesome to see how open people are here.

I am learning a lot and growing a lot. I really am not starting to recognize myself. It’s crazy. I love you all!

Sheep Ears, Flocks and Shepherds

2008-08-06T06:26:00.000-07:00

Hello dear family! How are you all doing? Thank you for all of the emails and letters! I loved getting those pictures and I will be putting them up in the room.

Things are going really well here in Mafra. I'm still freaking out a bit that I'm in such a small town so far away from everyone else, so I'm still adjusting, but life is good here. We've been doing a LOT of finding the past week, which has been different for me. My fingers are getting really good at pushing the buttons to get to talk to people over the intercom.

We had one great experience this past week. We went over to this really nice building to give it a shot with knocking and by chance the door was already opened, so we didn't have to get buzzed in. So we walked in and went to the top floor. The door to the apartment was already opened, so we rang the bell and this older lady walked by. She was a little taken by surprise, but we talked to her about how we were here to bring her happiness. She responded back in broken Portuguese that she wasn't interested, but invited us in to have a glass of water or a Coke with her. I then asked her where she was from and she responded South Africa! I was really excited to speak in English with her rather than hammer through a broken conversation in Portuguese. We ended up having a lovely visit with her and she was a very interesting woman. Her name is Hester and she ended up asking us about why we were here and what we believed. We were able to teach her some principles about the gospel, that she would see her husband again and that God still speaks to us. After we talked about that she invited us over to visit her again. We left her with a prayer and she asked us repeatedly to come back to visit. I could tell that she felt so much better after we had left. She could see that we were servants of God. It was nice to be able to help a person in need.

On Thursday we were walking to the chapel and on the way there I saw a flock of sheep grazing on the side of the road off of a hill. They came complete with sheep dogs and shepherd to complete the package. It was SUPER funny. I am in a completely new environment.

Also on Thursday we went up to Torres Vedres, which takes an hour by bus on small windy roads through small little dinky towns to get there. There used to be a branch up there, so there are a bunch of less active members up there. So we went up there and all of our plans fell through, so we knocked and did some contacts. I had a goal to give out a Book of Mormon before we left, but no one was giving us the time of day, so I wasn't sure what would happen. So we were waiting at the bus stop for our bus back to Mafra and I saw this woman who gave up her seat on the bench to let an older lady sit down. That impressed me and then I had the thought that I needed to talk to her. I kind of pushed it to the side, but then remembered that I would regret it later, so I ended up going up to her and talking to her and she and her friend were really nice and really receptive to the gospel. I was able to testify of the Restoration and the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and she accepted a copy! YAY! It is always amazing for me to see that if I really put my mind to a goal, the Lord helps me to achieve it.

On Sunday we went over to the Esteves' house to eat lunch and it was crazy. They have a daughter, Emma, who is SUCH a girly girl. Wow. I don't know what I would do if I had a daughter like her. She was being a little annoying the whole time, but she's a kid so it happens. We just got this new film from the Church called Finding Happiness, so we put it on to watch with them and there could not have been more commotion, but the son, Simão, was listening and I was really edified, so it helped me. I found myself refocusing what my purpose is here. I really am here to bring happiness and light to Portugal, to Mafra.

Although people brush us off and don't want to talk to us, they really do. They have no idea what they are missing. They really don't. They cannot even imagine what happiness they could be having with the restored gospel.

Monday night we had a family night with Júlio and Ana. They like to cook really weird food and see what the missionaries do. Monday nights menu: sheep ears. Ick. They tasted REALLY gross. It was like chewing on really soft bones with no flavor. I was not a fan, and consequently put the rest of it on Elder Burkett's plate when no one was in the room. :)

Yesterday we had zone conference and it was SOOOO nice to be around other missionaries. I learned so much and was so edified. President Terry is such a wonderful man and I am so blessed to be able to learn from him and from Irmã Terry.

Things are going really well here in Mafra. We are still trying to find those who are ready to receive us, but we are working really hard and that's all we can do. I love you all and I know that this is the Lord's work. Have a great week and I'll talk to you soon!!

Orchards and Vineyards

2008-07-30T05:45:00.001-07:00

Hello from Mafra! Well, there are like ZERO computers in this town, so I was at the library before, but I could only use the one computer for a 1/2 hour, so now I'm standing in a café, using a computer. So random. Things are going really well here. I really like Mafra a lot. The branch is amazing. The people are really welcoming and warm. I was asked by President Esteves to give a talk, so I talked about missionary work. It went...okay...but the branch listened. There are about 30 people in the unit and they are working toward having a ward, so they want to have six men baptized by the year's end to meet this goal. Hopefully we as sister missionaries, can help with this goal. I've pretty much only worked with women so far.

So the chapel is great. It's the second floor of a building and it looks like a couple of apartments that they opened up to be a chapel. It's a long hallway with a bunch of rooms. They got a microphone a couple of weeks ago, which is exciting.

Mafra is pretty small and has a gigantic convent in the middle of town. There is one main street in the town, which is where the convent is. It was the last royal palace built in Portugal and was built as a summer home. Unfortunately, the royal family didn't realize that it's kind of cool here in the summer. Whoops! So they gave it to the Catholic church to use. We will be touring it later today. It is a bit chilly today. I was wearing a jacket earlier, but it's warmed up and is HUMID! Woah! But no where near the 104 degrees you guys had.

I am serving with Irma Rasmussen, whom I knew in Seixal. Things are going really well with her. She's very sweet and nice. I am liking serving with her so far. The elders are Elder C. Davis and Elder Burkett. Elder Davis was with me in the MTC and he's HILARIOUS. He's got a thick southern accent and has a great sense of humor. I still don't really know Edler Burkett.

Some things about Mafra, it's very Portuguese and very Catholic. People don't really want to talk to us here, but we're working on that. The police ride horses here. No, I'm being serious. I heard horse clopping a couple of days ago and said, wow, that sounds like horses. Irma Rasmussen said, oh I forgot you didn't know! The police ride on horseback here.

So Saturday we went out to a neighboring village called Gradil, population 500. It's really pretty there and has vineyards and orchards all around the town. It's really pretty up here with rolling hills and trees and countryside. I love driving between towns here. It's soooo pretty! We taught Maria da Graça and Luis and Ana there. Maria da Graça has been investigating the Church for over a year. Her daughter Ana also is investigating the Church. She's 10 and very sweet. Graça is the most warm and loving person. She's Angolan and just super super nice. I can't get over how nice she is. We taught them in her backyard. I seriously felt like I was at Grandpa Thomas' house when I was there. Just the whole feel reminded me of Blossom, Utah. Luis is Graça's friend and he didn't really know anything about the Church, so I told him about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He is really open and curious, so I hope that he follows through on reading the Book of Mormon.

Another thing here is that there are weddings every Saturday. Here in Portugal it is customary to wait outside of the church for the bride, which can take up to two hours. So at the convent we drove by a wedding and they released balloons in the air when they saw the bride.

Let me tell you about President Esteves. He is amazing! He is super excited about missionary work and goes out with the elders every day. He really wants to see the Church grow here in Mafra and he is doing something about it! He has the missionaries over for lunch every Sunday and so we ate some great food and they have BYUTV and were waiting for the Pioneer Day broadcast to start. So we finished lunch and then the broadcast started. I was excited to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and we were being edified. And then, all of the sudden, the Osmonds come on and take over the whole program. It was horrible! It ceased being about the pioneers and was about the pop culture of the US. I was disappointed.

We also teach a good group of recent converts here. They are really great women with a thirst and hunger for truth and knowledge. Yesterday we taught Ana Bela about prophets and I felt the Spirit testify very strongly to her that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet in our days. I saw the light come on for her as we explained how to receive revelation. This was a great blessing for me to be able to teach because I've been feeling a bit under the weather. Yesterday I spent most of the day resting and sleeping and I'm a lot better. I lasted 6 months without getting sick, so I'm pretty proud of that!

Things are going well here. I love this area and the people here! I know that this is the Lord's work. I hope you all have a good week!

Chillin' with the Village People doing the YMCA

2008-07-23T04:17:00.000-07:00

Ola Querida Família! Well, I got the call yesterday from President. The whole transfer we thought I was going to the Algarve or to Almada, but I was shocked when President asked if I would serve in Mafra with Irmã Rasmussen. Mafra is close-ish to Sintra and is an area with a strong branch. I am excited to serve with Irmã Rasmussen because she was in Almada when I was in Seixal so I saw her all the time. It's going to be fun. The area is big and has just a bunch of little villages in it. I'm thinking it's pretty green and I'm hoping it's cooler up there. We will be the only irmãs north of the Rio Tejo, so the next closest irmãs will be in Seixal, about two hours away by train, taxi, and bus. Crazy.

I am really excited to go up there and I think it is the perfect place for me. President said that he felt very strongly that I needed to go up there, so we'll see what work I need to do there. I'm really excited though.

This was a good week for us here in Olivais. We discovered that if you go to the city hall type things here that they will give you free pins and patches with the seal of the city on it. So right now I have a little Olivais pin on. It's rad.

Well on Sunday was our musical fireside. It was awesome!! We got the whole zone together a couple of hours before to run through everything. It actually ended up sounding pretty good. The whole zone sang Faith in Every Footstep and Ide por Todo o Mundo, which is a Portuguese hymn. I saw a lot of growth in the elders through this experience. They all got out of their comfort zone and they ended up loving it. I sang a duet with Elder Rindfleisch called In a Quiet Grove. We blended PERFECTLY and it sounded really nice. I can finally support my voice!! YAY! Elder Davis told me later that because of the fireside he wants to learn how to sing better.

There was a great turnout. The chapel was about 5/7 full, which is AMAZING for this area. We were expecting about 20 people, but we invited the whole stake and some other missionaries brought investigators. I think that it was a really positive experience for everyone. The Spirit was really strong as we bore testimony of the Restoration through song. I ended up singing A LOT. It was really great, though BOILING HOT. Wow. I miss air conditioning. I was wearing a jacket too and I feel for the men in the Church. Wow. I am so glad that I don't have to wear jackets very often. President Terry spoke and it was wonderful. He bore testimony of the Restoration. This was definately the highlight for all of us in the zone for the transfer and I'm glad that we pulled it together.

We went to say goodbye to a member in the other ward, Maria Encarnação, who is the APs recent convert. We ended up having dinner at another member's house, Rita, with the APs. We had a blast! There were a lot of laughs and it was fun to see Elder Davis and Elder Rindfleisch in a different setting. Encarnação and Rita were fussing over the elders the whole time, rustling in and out and pushing food on them. Poor elders.

Random tidbit: the Sporting Stadium is in my area. So thus, I am for Sporting. On the stadium it says " Só eu sei porque sou fã" (I only know because I'm a fan).

Well, we've been getting the apartment ready to be cleared out. Let me tell you, we have cleaned some gross things. Ick. Another icky thing is the mullet. Yes, the mullet is also here in full force in Europe. I don't know whoever thought that was a good idea back in the 80s, but Europe has really taken to it here. (note: for those who don't know what a mullet is, it's a haircut where the top is short and the bottom is long. SLT)

So as Irmã Ives and Elder Davis are "dying" in the mission, we held a "funeral" for them after our district meeting and mourned their loss. I think they are both freaking out a bit about it all. It's been great getting to know them and seeing the other end of the mission through them. (note: "dying" in the mission is the term the missionaries seem to use to mean that their mission is over and they are going home. SLT)

Today we're going to the aquarium and the Almada zone is going too, so I'll get to see some old friends. Last week we had a barbeque and volleyball tournament and I got to see some elders from my MTC group. It was really fun.

Lucy is doing pretty well. She and Tania were really sad that we are leaving. They started crying and, actually, Tania got really mad and started talking about "Senhor Presidente" (President Terry) and how he's blonde in the head and had gray hair and didn't know what he was doing. It will be hard for them for us to leave, but I think it is a great opportunity for the ward to step-up and take care of them.

I have learned a lot here in Olivais. I know now more than before how important the members are. We have such a great responsibility to teach, nurture and share this message of happiness to others. I know that this is the Lord's church on the eartha gain. I know it brings greater happiness because I have seen it. I know it is the best way because I have lived it and I can see it. The gospel changes lives. It changes people and they have such richer fuller lives.

Have a great week. I love you all.

Six Months and Kittens!

2008-07-16T05:33:00.000-07:00

Hello dearest family! Thank you all for the updates. It sounds like it was a really good week for everyone, myself included.

Well, today is my six month mark. Can you all believe it? It seems like I've been a missionary forever, but in Portugal for about two months. It's starting to fly by. Irmã Ives and I are trying to figure out what we can do to celebrate.

Well, we'll start with the bad news. President Terry called us Friday before we started our weekly planning to tell us that he will be taking the sisters out of Olivais permanantly. We were really sad to hear this, but we had kind of known the whole transfer that two sister areas would close and Olivais was one that would probably close. President has had a lot of problems with the ward here, but I hope that things will get better and that the ward will be stronger sometime in the future. I won't know where I'm going until next Tuesday, unless the APs let something slip, but I highly doubt it. So I'll let you know next week.

So our kitchen faucet fell off last p-day, so our dono and our dona came up to fix it. It was a show! They were doing a lot of banging and shoving of things and there was a lot of grunting and muttering. They were talking to themselves in the "tu" form. It was hilarious!

Irma Ives' ear has been infected this past week as well, so I have had the lovely pleasure of putting goopy drops in her ear four times a day. The joys of a companionship. You will all be relieved to know that the swelling has gone down and the redness has decreased. Phew! We're hoping it clears up before her family comes next week, or they will have that lovely pleasureof the pussy eardrops.

If you were wondering what the "I can't, I have to wash my hair" excuse of Portugal is, well you can stop wondering because it is "I can't, I have to take my dog to the vet." We had a lesson set up with Pedro with our Bishop and we were excited for the two of them to meet, because it is realy hard to get the Bishop out and Pedro works a lot. So we had it set up and then Pedro texted us to tell us that he had to take his dog to the vet, at night, on a Friday night. I don't know about you, but I think that if the grocery stores close early at night, then the vet probably does too. Wow. Irma Ives and I had a good chuckle over that one.

Oh! We have stray cats that get fed by our dona downstairs that like to wander into our house. We were repulsed by them, but guess what! They had kittens!! This is probably the closest to a pet I can have, they are still TERRIFIED of us, but they are sooooo cute and fluffy and they dont come into our house, so even better! They have no traction and slide around on the tile on the veranda. So cute!

We also live a few doors down from a snail factory. That's right. A snail factory. Sometimes, when the wind is just right and it's hot enough (and believe me, it's usually hot enough) then the apartment kind of has a snaily smell. I think only in Portugal would this ever happen. I think it's charming, though a gross smell.

This week we had a wonderful experience. We were meeting up with Nelo, a member, to go to contacts or knocking. We were waiting for him in the metro station (how we usually travel here) and we got "O Eldered" by this guy standing on the side. By the look of him I thought he was just going to bug us, but he actually turned out to be an inactive member. He, Sandro, was SUPER nice and SUPER normal. He invited us to come back to his house and talk to his dad, who is a less-active member. So he was nice enough to wait around for Nelo and we all went down there. He was really open and talked really well about the Church. So Sandro took us to his dad, Mario, and Mario was really open and nice too and had only left the Church because people weren't super friendly, which I can believe. So we gave him appropriate faca and love and they are both going to come to church on Sunday! I am so excited! The whole family was SUPER nice and respectful and awesome. I really think they will come back to full activity. Mario was a great leader in the Church before they moved and went inactive, so he would be a great help here.

We also went around with the BYU professor, Valerie Hegstrom, yesterday. We were going to teach Lucy the Law of Chastity with her (we thought we would help the elders out before we leave and go over that with her. I think they were very appreciative of that). But Lucy wasn't at her apartment and we couldn't get a hold of her. That never happens with Lucy, she loves us coming over and she always calls if she will be late. So we hope that everything is alright with her. So we ended up taking Valerie tracting with us! Fun! She had served a mission in Peru and was rather enjoying herself. She told us mission stories and talked to me about the Spanish/Portuguese department and other things. She has really been a tender mercy for me here. I have loved working with her and hope to continue our friendship at BYU. They ended up feeding us dinner and I felt like I was in the STates! Though we ate Spanish food.

Things are good here and I am doing well. I will let you know where Im going next week. I love you all and hope that you are staying strong in the gospel and doing all that the Saviour would have you do. I love you all!

The Fanny Pack and Manpris

2008-07-09T05:29:00.000-07:00

Hello dear family!! Thank you so much for the emails and the support! I love you all so much and am so grateful for all of you. Did you fast for me on Sunday? I felt such support and strength on Sunday and I wondered if you, or some of you had been fasting for me. Thank you so much if you did because I could feel it. I appreciate the prayers and the love. Really, thank you.

Things were a lot better this past week. I did a division down in Almada, which was fun. Irmã Millet had busted her toe, so one of us stayed in with her and the other went out with Irmã Marinho and worked their area. Wow. She walks REALLY fast. I'm usually the faster walker, but I had to ask her to slow down. Wow. It was fun to go back down south of the river. I could understand everyone SOOOO much better, too. I love that area and I hope I get to go back to the Setúbal Stake to serve again. So it was a positive experience.

The next day were interviews with President Terry. President Terry is incredible. He gave me some great counsel and knew exactly what I needed to hear. I am very grateful to have a mission president like him. It was also the 4th of July and he, as well as the office elders, were wearing red, white and blue. I failed to celebrate the day of our independence. There just wasn't time!

Saturday we had a practice for the upcoming musical fireside the ward is doing. We, the missionaries, are providing musical numbers (since Portugal is lacking a bit in the musical department) and the elders inthe zone are SUPER excited about it. They are doing wonderfully and learning quickly. I am using my limited piano abilities to plunck out their parts so we can practice. Yes, I wish that I had practiced more, but I'm learning now, and it's never too late! We are doing fireside about the Restoration and the pioneers. All of the text is from Preach My Gospel. It will be great to get the ward members to come to the church again during the week. It's going to be great and everyone is very excited.

Sunday we taught Lucy during Gospel Principles with a visiting member, Valerie Hegstrom. Valerie is a professor at BYU and is here with her family doing research. The lesson was AMAZING and she really helped Lucy with some parenting skills and some gospel habits. We had worked really hard tog et the members to come with us, but everything fell through except this lesson and it made up for everything else. It really helped Lucy.

We are talking to Tania about the importance of the family and marriage right now. I happened tohave the only family picture I have and Jen's wedding announcement with me. So I showed them to Tania and talked to her about how happy my family is because we were sealed together for eternity in the temple and that we can all be together forever because of the temple. I talked to her about the importance of marriage and the examples that you are all to me. I think it really helped her. So, thank you all for your examples to me.

I left my planner with all of what happened this week back home, so I'm sorry that I can't remember a lot of specifics. I entitled this email the fanny pack and manpris because they abound here. Wow. Men wear fanny packs like they are going out of style. They also have this little pouch things on a string too. There is no American man that would be caught dead wearing a fanny pack like them or these little purse pouch things. Ick. But it's Europe and you've got to love it. They also wear manpris (man capris) here a LOT. So funny. I forget sometimes what I'm seeing and how different it is here because it just feels like the usual thing for me.

Ana, the Bishop's wife, was telling us about the American professors' family. Their son, Joseph, is about 10 but could pass for about 40. One day in primary he was fasting and he was REALLY tired. So Ana went down to tell the dad that he was really tired and so he could check up on Joe, so she went down there and talked to Brother Pratt. She expected him to jump out of his seat and run up the stairs to see if Joe was okay, but he calmly listened and walked slowly up the stairs. He calmly patted Joe on the arm and asked if he was okay, found out that he was okay, and then proceeded to go back down to Sunday school. So then Ana gave Joe something to eat and was taking care of him. Then she went to go get Sister Hegstrom to check on Joe. Again, she expected the overreaction that is normal here. But Sister Hegstrom just went up calmly and checked up on him. Ana was floored at their response. I had forgotten how different our culture is sometimes until she said that.

Things are going well here. We are doing well and working as hard as we can. I love you all! Thanks again for the love and support! Have a great week!

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

2008-07-02T04:39:00.001-07:00

Hello dearest family! It was great to hear from you and to get news from home. Thank you so much for all of your support and love and prayers. I really appreciate it.

Well, this has been a week of challenges, but we have learned and grown a lot from them. All of the appointments we set up last week fell through, which was hard, but we were able to have other opportunities that we would not otherwise have had. We got to teach Soraya, whom I might have mentioned last week, but she is great and we hope that she will be able to get Sundays off of work to be able to come to church with us.

Lucy is still doing well and progressing at a good pace. She is keeping her committments and is no longer smoking! She is also speaking in English more with her kids and they are learning so much! I am amazed at how well they understand us when we speak to them. I think they will start responding in English soon.

Tania is doing well and is so amazing. She is on medication that makes her very very tired, but she still gets up every Sunday morning to go to church. I am very impressed by her.

Yesterday was a really good day for us here. We had a lesson with Felizmina and hopefully she will come to church on Sunday. We are trying to get her more excited about the gospel, because she already knows that the Church is true, she just needs to act on it. Later that day we went and got ice cream with a member in the 2nd ward, Encarnação, who needed to talk and her husband won't let us come over. So that was good that she wanted to talk with us. She seems to be doing a lot better. Then we got a member involved in the work!! Antonio went out with us to make contacts and contact some less actives in the ward. He is amazing with contacting and we seemed to run into only Angolans, which was great because Antonio is Angolan. That really helped.

Then I got to teach English class! I taught the body and made Elder Kapp draw a missionary and we labeled him. Then after I taught them all of the words, I let the elders teach "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes,0" which ended up being a bit hit with everyone, especially with the kids who were there. I really enjoy teaching the classes and I have a lot of energy to do it, so I think everyone benefits.

We are planning a big musical fireside for the 20 July. We are getting our whole zone involved and inviting the whole stake. It's going to be great and the elders of the zone are all really excited to participate.

Oh, I have the phone from Lagos, which I think John had. Crazy. The family connections continue even in Olivais.

Well, that's about it from here. While things are challenging here all I can do is have the faith that the work will progress here and the ward will help us with the work. I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

Indian Music and a Hair Salon

2008-06-25T04:08:00.000-07:00

Hello dearest family! Thank you for all of the updates and the prayers, and everything. I am doing really well and things are going well here in Olivais. The transfer is really starting to fly by and I can't believe it.

I thought I would start off by telling you about where it is that I am emailing from. I am at a metro station, still inside the station, in a teeny, tiny little internet cafe. Actually, it is half an internet cafe and half a hair salon. There are hair ads all over the little cafe. And to make it better, the people who own the shop are from India, so they play this crazy Indian music in the background. The people who own it always speak in broken English to us. It's really funny. Quite a contrast to the quiet, cute little library where I emailed from in Seixal.

It's been a good week here in Olivais. Lucy is doing really well. I am amazed with her. She is really trying to "put off the natural man" and change her life to live the gospel better. She is doing so well. She is speaking to her children in English and they are understanding her. I think they will soon start responding in English as well. Lucy has a great heart and she loves having us over, which is very refreshing.

Tania is doing well as well, she is a recent convert from Angola. She is so great and, when gross guys are hitting on her at the gym, she tells them that she has her law of chastity. She's so great and is really trying to live the gospel as well.

We found a few new people last week through less-actives. I already mentioned Ana Paula and we haven't been able to teach her again as she has been busy, but we found Felizmina, who is from Moçambique and has already been meeting witht he missionaries in Moçambique for over a year. She knows a lot about the gospel already, but we are trying to get her to church.

Pedro is doing well too, but he didn't go to church. Going to church and reading and praying are SOOO crucial and so basic and so important.

Sunday was an interesting day. We did more contacts in English than in Portuguese. We've started carrying around pamphlets in English so we can hand them out. The best contact was with a German couple who happened to be missionaries for the Jehovah's Witnesses here to teach the Chinese about their religion. We met them in the metro station and we started up a conversation with the man. His wife came over and she was super interested in learning about the Church. She asked some great questions and was so curious. I was able to testify about prophets and modern revelation as well as the Book of Mormon. They were very respectful and nice and had a sincere interest in learning. I hope that we were able to plant some seeds for them.

My apartment is the hub for all of the irmãs who need to come up to Lisbon. In the past week we've had six irmãs here. Wow. It's been fun to get to know some of the irmãs who are serving in areas I've not been.

Last week we had an appointment set up with Teresa, a new investigator and we brought Maria Encarnação, who is a recent convert of the APs in the other ward, with us to teach. She drove us over (whichw as really nice) but then we got really really lost. It ended up being exactly what needed to happen ebcause she really needed to talk to us and have us listen and give her support. God is very much in charge of this work and we helped her come unto Christ through Him guiding us, as He is always doing.

Sunday we also saw a group of old men playing bocci ball. It was soooo cute! I never thought I would actually see people playing bocci ball, which is like curling on grass or concrete. I love the culture here. I forget how different it is to the States, but it feels like second nature to me. We got to see a film that the Church just put out called Finding Happiness yesterday in Portuguese. I think they filmed it according to the regions of the world because all of the filming was done in Europe and the accent of the man was in Portuguese from Portugal. I didn't even realize that it was Europe until halfway through I realized that it wasn't the States, then I started realizing all fothe differences. I love being here in Portugal in this culture. The people here are so wonderful.

I hope that you are all doing so well. I love you so much and think of you often (but not too often, don't worry). Have a great week and continue strong in the gospel! It makes all the difference in the world.

American in Lisbon

2008-06-18T16:09:00.000-07:00

Hello family! I am glad to hear that everything is going well for all of you. I appreciate all of the updates that you all gave me. Before I begin the updates I would like to send a shout out to the whole family about the holidays that we will have: Happy Birthday (late, sorry!) to Dad, Happy Father's day, Jeremy and Dad, Happy Birthday Jen and John, and Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad and Jeremy and Kat. I think I got it all.

Things are going really well here in Olivais. It's really weird to be here and I am still adjusting, but I'm liking it more and more every day. I never imagined that I would be living in the city, I am such a country lover. We take the bus and the metro every day, so I am no longer on the train every day. I am in a ward that goes to a BEAUTIFUL chapel. Wow. We drove by it when we were here before. It is in a big beautiful old house in a great area. It has beautiful wood floors and I love it. The ward struggles a bit here and we are really working on re-activation, as that is what President Terry wants from us.

However, we have also been able to find two new investigators, which has been huge. We only had two other people we were working with, so that doubles our teaching pool! Yay! We are really being blessed. Both of them, Teresa and Ana Paula, are really ready for the gospel. They are so ready to learn and are excited to go to church as well. We just started talking to Teresa on the street and then taught her the next day. Then we went over to Ana Paula's house because her dad is less-active, and she was SUPER interested in the gospel. We had a great first lesson with her yesterday. I hope things continue to progress and grow here.

We are also working with a woman named Lucy. She is American and was deported to Portugal from the US because she was born here in Portugal. She's had a rough life and is still trying to figure things out. She was raised in the Church, but was excommunicated, so we are re-teaching her everything. She has such a hunger to learn and to do all she can to be better. She has three kids, two twins, Gabriel and Gabriella, and a baby, Anjolina. The twins speak Portuguese and not much English and Lucy only speaks English and broken Portuguese. That's a problem. Because of the background I've had in languages and in studying language learning I could see that. Lucy had been talking to her kids in broken Portuguese, so they really couldn't communicate all that well. So we talked to her about speaking only in English with them, because it is vital that they learn English natively so they can communicate with their mom. How grateful I am that I was able to put my education to use. Thank you BYU. But she is great and I love being able to teach in English. I can express myself well in Portuguese, but it's so different speaking in English and understanding every meaning that Lucy says.

My companion is Irmã Ives. She is GREAT! She is from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Can you believe that, Mom? She knows where Holt is as well. She is a convert to the Church and joined when she was 18. The rest of her family is Catholic as well. It's been wonderful to serve with her and we get along really well. I am loving serving with her, but I'm sad that we will only be together for one transfer, because she is finishing her mission at the end of this transfer. But I am loving her and loving being here in Olivais, though I miss Seixal a lot. It was a wonderful area and I hope to be able to go back to see the people there.

Nothing too funny happened this week, so I will recount two funny stories from the week before that got erased.

A week ago SAturday we went down to an old abandoned chapel of ours to fix up. It needed a LOT of love. The grounds were all over grown and I didn't even go in the building. We just focused on cleaning up the grounds to begin with. It was really hot, but really really fun. We were low on tools, but high in spirits. Elder Hawkins immediately weilded a saw and took to the overgrown palm. He started hacking off branches to make it look better. So, seeing a need to dice up the HUGE fronds, I weilded my own tool: the hatchet. That's right family, I was using a hatchet. I also took pictures of this, don't worry. So I started chopping up the fronds and I felt very empowered and I remembered all the good times at Eagle Scout projects. I loved helping out at those. We cleared out all of the brush and started ripping up all of the dead grass. It looked quite a bit better when we had to leave. Before we left, however, we grabbed lemons off of the lemon tree. The elders used the pitch fork we had (I know, we had the most RANDOM tools with us) and plucked a bunch of lemons off. We all then decided to eat some lemons straight up to see how sour they were. Woah dang! They were sour! I got some great pictures of everyone's faces. It was a great service opportunity and good zone bonding as well.

The previous Thursday we had interviews with President. Before interviews we wait in another room with other missionaries in the zone and with Irmã Terry. She is so nice and always brings a box of bolachas, or little biscuit cookie things. I decided that I wanted a picture with Irmã Terry to put on the phone, so I was heading over to take the photo with her. The chair was about a foot away from her, so I was planning on moving it after I had sat down. So I began my descent into the chair. She, in the meantime, had also seen the huge gap between our chairs and decided to move the chair before I sat down so we could be close together. Irmã Terry is a very nice woman. So, as you could imagine, this did not turn out according to plan. Fortunately, I was holding the box of bolachas without a lid and the elders of Seixal were sitting there with us, and the elders of Almada had just barely walked in. So of course, I only landed on half of the chair. I went flying. The bolachas went flying. I did remember that I was supposed to have quiet dignity as a missionary, so I used my right arm to keep my skirt from flying through the air as well. In the end, all I ended up with was a giant bruise on my forearm, and laughter that was really loud.

Things are going really well here. I promise I'll have some stories from here soon, but as for now, that's about all I got. Life is good. I love this work and I know that it is only through the gospel that we have the greatest happiness. Have a great week! I love you all!

Alma 29:10

2008-06-04T04:38:00.001-07:00

Hello family! It was soooo great to hear from you all today! This morning the alarm went off and I thought, okay, I can get up, so I slowly rolled over and thought of the day ahead, and then I remembered, it's P-day! I get to hear from my family! Then I suddenly felt energized for the day. So thank you everyone for writing.

This week has really been soooo amazing. Really. The Lord is pouring out blessings here in Seixal. I titled this email from a verse in Alma 29:10 because that is how I feel. I find joy when I see my brethren (sistren really) coming unto Christ and repenting. I have been keeping you all updated on Sara's progress. We've taught her three times since last I wrote and she went to church (the whole block AND she brought her cousing) and she went to mutual. We wanted to talk to her about baptism on Friday, but the time wasn't right. So we waited. Yesterday we were talking with her and she asked us about her being baptized. She's already talked to Diego about performing the baptism. We talked about the baptismal interview questions, because she still has some preparing to do before baptism, with regard to her testimony. And she knows that, so she is going to take this time to study and to gain a stronger testimony. She knows the Church is true, but she wants to have a stronger testimony of it first. So we set her baptism for 19 July. I really hope that I can go to it.

The most amazing thing is that I have seen such a change come over her in the past couple of months. She has really matured and I can see the light of Christ entering her life. It is an incredible transformation that I can't really describe, but it is truly miraculous.

Alzira is really progressing as well. She's reading the Book of Mormon every day and going to church every week. She's quitting smoking and is praying with real intent to know if the Church is true. It is incredible. This all really came about because of the help of the members.

This past week we also had a Family Night at Clovis' house. Wow, Dad, Clovis LOVES you. Seriously. He has nothing but good things to say about you. We had Marcelo and Leo at the Family Night and it was so great. WE watched the Restoration video and bore testimonies. The Spirit was very strong and I know that they felt it as well. Clovis and Kenia are so great. Such great members.

This past week we've seen A LOT of our elders here. They are sitting right by me as I type. We are a very unified district, which is great. We've eaten at Irmã Rocha's house twice. Irma Rocha is a very honest woman. She is the wife of Elder Rocha, who is an area seventy. She told me that I laugh to loud to be the wife of a seventy. I guess there are worse things in the world than a healthy laugh. Her bathroom has music in it when you turn the lights on. Wow. That is fantastic. Irma Rocha has rules in her house to with regards to meals. The elders have to do all of the serving and clearing of plates, etc. And we also have bibs to wear. I picked the one with a turtle on it.

This week has also been a week of missing the bus. Seriously. We have missed the bus by a minute in places where the bus only comes every 1/2 hour, so we've done a lot of waiting as well.

Oh, Mom, you will be sad to hear this. I am getting a Seixal baby. Let me explain what a Seixal baby is. It is the result of the members feeding us all the time and getting fat. I avoided it for two months, but the inevitable has come to pass. Fortunately, this is my first area and I have another year to lose my Seixal baby. But for now, I'm enjoying the good food and the good company.

Things are going really well for us here in Seixal. We are being so blessed by the Lord and all that He has done for us already. It is so rewarding to see the change that comes over people as a result of living the gospel. It truly changes lives. I hope you all continue to do well. I love you so much!

One crazy child

2008-05-28T04:49:00.000-07:00

Hello family! It was good to hear about how things are going for all of you. I love the stories and updates. Oh, by the way, all of my pictures from the MTC and my first transfer got wiped from my camera, so that's why you haven't seen pictures yet.

A lot has happened this week and it has been great. The Lord is really blessing us here. We had a goal to focus on our member present lessons and finding new investigators, so we worked really hard to achieve our goals. And through the blessing of the Lord we were able to do so. We had great lessons with our members and now Sara, who we were about to drop, because of the members, is going to church and every youth activity, as well as reading the Book of Mormon every day and wanting to meet with us. It has been a miracle and I am so excited for her. She needed friends in a bad way and the youth in this ward have really taken to her. I am so grateful for them.

On Sunday we were focusing on finding new investigators and so we had set up appointments with a lot of people who were potential investigators. So we went and taught João and Denise, and Denise was NOT excited about us being there. We had knocked into João last transfer. But throughout the lesson, she began listening more and more intently and was really excited about the Book of Mormon. So that was great. I could really see the Spirit softening her heart toward the message of the Restoration.

That night, everything had fallen through, as happens quite often, and so we were walking to try and teach a reference, who was not answering the phone. Then I had the thought that we needed to go teach Suali, so we turned around and went there. I thought that we would not be able to make our goal, but I am here on the Lord's errand and so I must do His work His way. So we went there and met William, who is renting a room from Suali and her husband. He came in during the middle of the lesson and was messing around in the kitchen very quietly, Suali was reading a verse in the Book of Mormon and I really felt like we needed to invite him to listen. So I did and he was so interested and was applying the scripture in his life (Helaman 5:12) and relating it to BIble stories. I felt like I was talking to a member by what he was saying. They got the address to the Church and, fortunately, Suali already had two copies of the Book of Mormon, so she was going to give one to William. He is very ready to hear this message.

Then Monday we were walking around and everything had fallen through. I kept thinking about this market here called Fly. We had gone there a month ago or so and talked to a cashier there. I couldn't get it out of my mind because I had had a dream the night before that we were there. I thought it was really weird, but I couldn't get it off of my mind. So we went to Fly and met Kleide. She is another cashier from Brasil whose brother is a member. She brought up the church and got the address and promised about 12 times that she was coming and for us to wait for her at the entrance. We taught her some of what we believe and she talked about how she needs church in her life and how unhappy she is right now. I am so excited to see her at church. She is so ready and I know that the Lord really wanted us to talk to her.

I am so grateful for the blessings that have been poured out on us here. The Lord is really taking me by the hand here. I cannot believe it. I know that I cannot do this on my own and am so grateful that He is here with me.

So funny story: Saturday, everything had fallen through again, so we were getting a little treat. We went to go get a chocolate crescent at a little store in Arrentela. As we were walking there this little group of kids was playing. One was on a plastic tricycle and started to beeline it towards us. He ran over Irmã Johnson's foot and kept following us. So we brushed it off and got our crescents. Then we went back to the park, as it is the only place to sit down there. So we ate our crescents and this kid came up and kicked me in the shin. Don't worry, he was only four so it didn't really hurt. Then he started wrestling his older cousins to the ground, pulling on their ears. He then came up and tried to steal my soda. Fortunately, the cat-like reflexes that Dad instilled in me by the handslapping game came in handy and I succeeded in guarding my soda. We finished up our crescents and went on our way. We went up some stairs and the little boy followed us there as well. I was still thinking, oh what a cute little boy just playing with his cousins. Then, out of nowhere, he came flying up another flight of stairs and latched himself on to me. I was thinking, oh, he wants a hug, okay, well I can get him off of me. Then he grabbed my arm and bit me. That's right. He bit me. Luckily, he did not bite that hard and it was no problem and his bigger cousin came up pulled him off of me. The life of a missionary is full of craziness.

Life is good here and I am learning a lot. I love you all and hope that you continue strong in the gospel! Have a great day!

Target Practice

2008-05-21T04:55:00.001-07:00

Hello family! It was so good to hear from you and to see how everyone is doing. I am glad that the piano turned out. I am actually using my piano skills now too. I thought that would make you proud, Mom. I have to play for the Primary, so they gave me a piece to practice and I will be playing with them on Sunday. I have improved rapidly with practice. It's been nice to be doing something musical again.

This has been a good week so far. Last week was really hard, but the light at the end of the tunnel was zone conference. And it was amazing! We always have to prepare two talks and the topics were knowledge and the Atonement. I LOVED preparing my talks. Again, my companion was asked to speak. What can I say, I have the touch. President talked about the Atonement and throughout this transfer I have really started to see the Atonement becoming real in my life. More real than it has ever been in the past. I find myself relying on Christ, rather than on myself. I know that it is through Him that we can overcome all things and do all that we need to. The missionaries going home have the chance to give their "last testimonies," which really end up being words of advice, lessons learned and testimonies. My zone leader, Elder Hawkins, is going home, "dying," this transfer and so he gave his last testimony. It was weird to hear that because I am just beginning and he is ending. I could see just how short the time is here that I have and how I must make the most of it.

Saturday was soooo funny. Wow. By 1:00pm our entire day had fallen through and thus started the back-up plan. Wow. I had to figure everything out and we probably went through plans A-Z three times over. However, a series of funny events took place that made the day better. First, everything fell through so quickly. Then we got lost (my bad!). Then a random guy stopped his car in the middle of the road to talk to us and tell us that we were very pretty but that he didn't like President Bush. Seriously, he stopped his car in the middle of the road, just to say that? People are really funny. Then a drunk guy stopped us and wanted our number. We happily gave him a pass-along card with the office number on it. He kept turning the card over so it was upside down and trying to read it. Silly people. We admonished him to stop drinking and went on our way. A little later on in the day I pulled up the flap on my bag (I've downsized to John's little bag, which is perfect, thank you!) and felt something wet on my arm. Lo and behold, a bird had pooped on me and by some miracle, it only landed on my bag. The hits just kept on coming. But it made for a funny day. NOTHING worked out that day until that evening when we taught Deolande and gave her a Book of Mormon. That was great.

A theme/focus of this transfer is using members. Seriously, they make all the difference for the investigator. So Sunday I was feeling a little overwhelmed at the thought of using the members and all the planning that it required, when suddenly church ended and I had set up a bunch of teaching appointments with members. It was only later, when I thought about it, that I realized how easy it had been and how the Lord had really helped me and held my hand along that process.

Yesterday we realized these lessons with members and they were AMAZING!!! The members were so great at friendshipping the investigator and helping them be comfortable. It was such a blessing. The lessons were 10X better because the member was helping with the teaching, relating with their own lives and helping with everything. Please talk to the missionaries in your wards and see if you can help them with teaching and fellowshipping. It will help them out so much.

Monday we had a district meeting with the zone leaders. I was in charge of the language lesson (again). I think I may be in charge of the language lessons in district meetings my whole mission. I have already done it about half of the meetings we've had. And I guess Elder Hawkins liked the lesson last transfer and asked me again. So this time I created a game! Let's make learning fun! So I made them practice giving directions and judged them on their creativity. They were all hopping around and being silly, while still learning.

That day Elder Smith was on a division here with Elder Holmes. The four of us went to the home of Humberto and Maria de Luz. They have two kids, Italo and Ingrid, who are SOOO cute! They are in the youth program. This family has had a lot of inactivity problems, so both sets of missioanries are working with them. We had a BLAST at their house. I love this family so much. They are Brazilian and they love that I love Brazil. Plus their accents are soooo cute! We played games, ate great food and laughed a lot. Elder Smith accidentally put on WAY WAY WAY too much piri piri sauce on his spaghetti. Whoops! His mouth was on fire and there was nothing he could really do about it. So what did the other three of us do? Of course, we put on some piri piri sauce on our food just to see how hot it was. I only put on three drops and it BURNED. Woah dang! It's fun for me to be around the elders. I feel like I have a bunch of little brothers.

This week I get to go to the office to work on renewing my visa. I get to see all of my elders from the MTC!! YAY! I'm super excited to see them and talk to them again.

Things are going well here. I know that the Lord is really taking me by the hand with the work here. There is no way that I, being as inexperienced and un-fluent in Portuguese as I still am, could be doing all that I am right now. I am not alone in the work I am doing here. He is right here beside me, as He is with all of you in whatsoever you are endeavoring to do. I love you all! Have a great week!

Divisions, Street Meeting and Getting Lost

2008-05-14T05:29:00.000-07:00

Hello family! It was so great to be able to talk to all of you at the same time! YAY! I was reminded of when we were able to do sealings together. What a blessing modern technology is. Look I get to email on my mission!

Things are going well here in "Seixal" (I've only actually been to Seixal twice since I've been here). We are still searching out for people to teach and continuing to help those we are teaching progress. It's a process. Fredy still wants to be baptized, but he hasn't been coming to church, so he probably won't be able to be baptized on the 31st, but we will keep working with him to help him prepare for baptism. We haven't been able to meet with Marcelo, but he has been reading from the Book of Mormon, which is a great sign of progress with him. Alzira has been coming to church as well the past couple of weeks with her daughter Marisa. I sat by them at church and Marisa was trying so hard to be good, so I ended up drawing with her and learning lots of new words. She seemed to appreciate the time I took with her.

Kelson and Ana are doing well. Kelson understands the gospel and the scriptures so well for someone who has been a member for only three months! He's amazing and has the best attitude about life. The life of an imigrant is not an easy one here, but he is always so happy and smiley and asks us what he can do for us. Ana is amazing as always, but is not looking forward to moving to England next Sunday. I will miss her, but I know that Pedro will take good care to nurture her in the gospel there.

I have found that I am working with a lot of less active women here over the past couple of weeks. I love visiting them and showing them the love i have for them. I am blessed with great love and compassion for them and I feel that one reason that I am here inthe Seixal area is for them. To nurture and bring them back to the fold.

Last week we did a division with the irmas in Almada. I went down to Almada with Irma Rasmussen and Irma Johnson stayed here and went with Irma Marinho. I had a great time on the division. I loved working in a different area and getting to know new people. Irma Rasmussen is great and kept me laughing. She is also a great cook, though her garlic biscuits were not my favorite thing...We're planning on doing another division this transfer with the irmas in Setúbal with Irma Kava and Irma Vea, who are actually cousins.

Monday Irma Johnson wasn't feeling well, so we stayed in most of the day. I got a lot of reading done and I felt like I was back at the MTC.

Yesterday was a day of getting lost. My goodness. Totally all my fault. I am the one who is supposed to know the area, but I kept taking us the long way to get everywhere. We probably walked a few miles extra because I kept taking the roundabout way there. We then found out that the zone was doing a street meeting down in Cacilhas, so we went down there with them and that was so fun! We did street contacts and talked about how important family is and how we can do family history.

So as an irma I tend to talk more to women on the streets. I just feel more comfortable with them and this is why. So on Sunday I contacted this guy who looked nice and receptive, which he was, but I think he was just more curious about the fact that I was female and American than the gospel. He kept inching closer when he was talking and I kept inching further and further back. We said goodbye and I put a little X by his contact information. Yesterday at the street meeting Irma Rasmussen and I contacted this guy from Senegal. We ended up speaking to him in English because his Portuguese wasn't very good. We talked to him about families in the gospel and then he asked if we had boyfriends. To which we replied, why yes we do. So family, in case you didn't know it. I have a boyfriend back in the States waiting to marry me when I get home. Oh the funny life of a sister missionary!

Yesterday I got told I was not going to be saved for the first time! We got into the house of this woman and we taught her the first lesson, with a LOT of interruptions on her part about her opinions about other religions, which were not favorable. Apparently, she didn't really like ours either. One thing is for sure, I walked away from that experience with a stronger testimony about the priesthood and the blessing that it is for all of us.

Life is good here. I am finding myself learning so much every day and I know that through striving to do my best, I will be able to do this work through the Lord, who is the source of all strength. We can do all things through Him. I know that the trials we have are for us to grow and to learn and that the Lord qualifies us through them. I love you all and hope you have a great week!!

Piri, Piri, A Baptism and Transfers

2008-04-30T04:50:00.000-07:00

Hello family! It was so nice to hear from all of you today. It is so great to hear what is going on and to be able to laugh at the funny stories that are going on in your lives. I am very blessed to have all of you in my life. I love you all so much.

This past week we had Ana's baptism. It was so nice and went so well. We spent a great portion of the week preparing for the baptism, which included getting the program done, which took forever, and preparing a musical number, which took forever. We practiced a song for me to sing because we couldn't find a violin anywhere, but then at the last minute we found one, so we played " A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" which was pretty well done. Irmã Brady did a great job of getting the piano part down pretty quickly.

We finally met Ana's boyfriend, Pedro, who baptized her. He is great and was a fantastic missionary in Porto. We had a really fun time with them the night before her baptism. We ate dinner and played games. Her brother and his girlfriend were there and we were able to have a gospel discusison during dinner, which was great because it was really low key and we taught really important principles about the Plan of Salvation. Her brother, Ricardo, is hilarious! He couldnt make it to her baptism or confirmation, but I'm going to try and get him going in church.

Oh! Transfers! I am staying here in Seixal and so is Elder Gardner, but Irmã Brady is going to the AÇORES! Woah. She's afraid of the ocean and of flying, so President had to make sure that she would be able to handle going there. Elder Xidis is going zone leader and he's headed up to somewhere in Lisbon to be companions with Elder Halling, whose older sister Anna-Lisa was my Portuguese teacher. She was rad. Irmã Johnson is coming up from the Algarve to "greenie break" me and Elder Holmes is coming up to be my district leader. Lots of changes going on here in Seixal, but I'm really excited to work with Irmã Johnson, though I will really miss Irmã Brady. We've become good friends and laugh a lot together.

The baptism was great though. The camera girls came and filmed the whole thing, but not the baptism itself. Ana was so happy and so was Pedro. She is so amazing and I'm so sad that she's moving to England in a month. She's so great and has become a great friend.

Monday we all got together as a zone to have a zone meeting. It was fantastic. First I love my zone and all of the missionaries in it. It's so nice to get together with other missionaries and see what they are doing. We had a couple of talks given by the district leaders and Elder Davis spoke to us about giving a consistent and diligent effort, which I think is something we can do all of our lives. We talked later about the people who have been the "saviors" with a lower-case "s" in our lives. It was so interesting to see the influence that one person can have in our lives. I really hope that I can make that difference for someone here. The whole meeting was so edifying and I feel a greater desire to do all I can as a missionary.

After the meeting we had lunch! We at tacos, which was fantastic. It was nice to have something different to eat. The food here is fabulous, but it's all pretty much the same, so it's nice to mix it up a bit sometimes. Then afterword, some of the elders, Elders Mortensen, Flint and Coombs, decided to eat a piri piri. A piri piri is a really really hot pepper. So they each ate one straight up. I took pictures and then bemoaned the fact that I didn't take part in it, so Irmã Brady gave me a little prodding and so I decided to take the plunge myself and eat a piri piri. I, of course, didn't want to do it by myself so I make Elder Marriott do it with me. I was smart and didn't drink too much when I ate it, knowing that it made it worse, but Elder Marriott wasn't, poor guy. It was like fire though. Wow. It was really hot, but a good experience. However, I got a bit of a headache afterwords, so trade off there.

Life is good here. Our investigators are doing alright. None of them came to church on Sunday. Leo and Renata are working in Lisbon, so they can't come down. Celeste is still reading the Book of Mormon and progressing as is Renata.

I am loving my life and feel such satisfaction in this work. My Portuguese is coming along pretty well and I've been very blessed. I love you all! Have a great week!

Crisis Overted and a Documentary

2008-04-23T21:33:00.000-07:00

Hello family! Sorry this is coming to you a little later than usual, but we were in Lisbon on a division, so we waited to do email until the end of p-day. It was so good to hear from all of you. Oh, I think an email might not have gotten out last week, so if one of you didn't get one, it just didn't go through. Thank you all for keeping me updated on everything!

Well, it's been an interesting week here in Seixal, Cruz de Pau, Arrentela, Torre da Marinha. We have been busy as usual, but a LOT of things have fallen through for us. There have been these three girls who have been following the mission for a few months making a documentary. They met us when we got off of the plane to Lisbon and they followed our orientation and things like it. They talked to Irma Brady my first day about following us around for a day and wrote down our number. I didn't think anything of it, until they called about two weeks ago to take us up on the offer. They ended up following us around all day on Thursday. It was a little weird at first to have them with a camera constantly on us, but I just got used to it and to them. They are great girls who have graduated and just want experience. They chose to do a documentary on the Church because they wanted Portugal to see what the Church is all about. They aren't members but were intruigued with us. They want Portugal to see the good things that we do and the good people that we are.

It was so funny to see how people reacted to the camera. We had set up a bunch of appointments and let them know that the camera would be there so they wouldn't freak out. So we were going to our first appointment with Carmen, who is a member, and these kids started yelling, trying to get the attention of the camera. All day when we were out and about people were either avoiding us more than usual, or they were flocking to us so they too could be on camera.

The people we taught all reacted so differently and it was funny to notice. I didn't find it difficult to just be normal, but everyone was so different. Carmen had put on her best clothes and fixed up her house all nicely. Sofia and Junior acted like a perfect family and had made a cake for us to eat. Celeste was herself, which I expected, and so was Ana. Everyone was just a little bit different and put their best self forward. It was an interesting day to observe how people react.

The lessons we taught went well, but we were teaching Celeste the 2nd lesson, which is the Plan of Salvation. I felt so distinctly that these girls, who I think may be atheist or agnostic, were listening very closely. I felt the whole time that we were really giving the lesson to them. I really think that this message touched their hearts.

They are planning on coming to Ana's baptism this Saturday to document what goes on. I liked them so much and am so glad they are coming back. Speaking of the baptism...Ana is doing great! We ahve been able to see her pretty often and teach her all that she needs to have learned before her baptism. She is so excited and so ready to be baptized. Her boyfriend, Pedro, should be back from England now and will baptize her. Every time I talk to her my testimony grows. She was so prepared for this great step and change inher life. She tells us all the time how much happier she is now because of the Church and the gospel in her life. She's become a really good friend and I can't wait for her baptism. I realize I have't put up any pictures. I'll make sure to do that next week for you all. Sorry!

Leo and Renata are doing pretty well. Renata found a job in Lisbon, so we haven't seen her in a long time. I don't know when we'll be able to see her, but I'm glad she was able to find a job. Leo is still waiting for his paperwork to go through, but he is doing well. He and his friend Marcelo came to church on Sunday and we're going to talk with them this coming Sunday, I think.

That's pretty much it on the progression chart. Celeste is still doing well and reading from the Book of Mormon each day. I think she knows it's true. She says she always feels good about it, but she hasn't prayed yet. I think she's afraid to and she can't come to church because of work. We asked her if she could trade shifts and she said no, so we're going to continue to work with her on that.

Over the weekend we helped overt a crisis. Our relief society president is Salita. She's been a member for about 8 months. Yeah. She got way overloaded and decided that she was not going back to church, so we talked to her for a long while on Saturday and encouraged her to go to church. Fortunately, she was there on Sunday and everything was smoothed over. She also went to our mini MTC that night, which was AWESOME! I think it was done so well. It would be great to do back home, I think.

Next week are transfers so we'll see what happens. Oh! I did divisions yesterday in Lisbon! It was great! I worked with Irma Bradford, who is SUPER quiet and timid, so I got to speak a little more and kind of take the lead. We got into a door and taught the first lesson. It went SOOO well! I am excited to hear about the progress of Jane. I got to talk to so many people yesterday on the streets and there was one woman who was super receptive. It was great to see how other misisonaries work and to see just how much I am capable of when given the chance.

I can't think of any funny stories right now. Sorry! Just know that they happen and that that people here do the craziest things sometimes. As does my hair. It is crazy here. It makes perfect ringlets all around and is SOOO curly! Everyone comments on it and yesterday I was told that I looked a lot younger than 21 because of my hair. That's never happened before.

Everything is great here. I love you all and I hope that life continues to go well!

Michael Jackson and Elder Gardner

2008-04-16T07:23:00.000-07:00

Hello family! I can't believe that there was a tornado in Allen! All those years that we lived in Kansas and there was never a problem, and all of the years that we've lived in Texas. I am so grateful that everyone is okay and that there wasn't any damage. That is truly a blessing. And now there are great opportunities for service! Yay! Happy tax day to you all as well. Oh and guess what! Today is my 3-month mark! It seems so short and so long as well. I've also been here in Portugal exactly four weeks.

It's been a good week here in Portugal. We've really seen progression with our investigators. Leo has a sister, Renata, who we have also been teaching. In the past she's kind of blown us off and not kept committments or appointments, but we met with her last week and she's really had a change of heart. She and Leo came from Brasil about 8 months ago and still haven't been able to find jobs. Life is really hard here in Portugal for a lot of people. There are no jobs to be found and those who have jobs work 6 or 7 days a week, all day, with little pay. But this trial that Renata and Leo are going through has really effected them in different ways. Renata has been turning more to the Lord and been relying on Him. She wanted her own copy of the Book of Mormon and has been reading it. She's been coming to church, she's been coming to appointments and is really progressing. I can see the gospel really passing through her and entering her heart. Leo has been reading as well, we think. He has been avoiding us and still has some distance to go before he can let the gospel bless his life the way that it as Renata's. He needs to let it in and no one can do that except him.

Celeste is doing really really well. She continues to read from the Book of Mormon each day and is really searching. We are focusing with her on praying to know if it is true. I think she's a little scared to know, but I know that she will find for herself that it is true if she asks our Father in Heaven. She needs the gospel in a bad way right now and I think we found her at just the right time for her. The Lord really led us to her.

Ana is doing FANTASTIC! She is so incredible! I am so blessed to be able to learn from her. She is so friendly and nice to everyone in the Church and is so willing to do all that she needs to do to be ready to be baptized next week. She brightens my day every time I talk with her. The Lord really prepared her to learn about the gospel. I think she was friends with every member of the Church her age growing up. What a blessing. I can't wait for her baptism, and what's even better is that she can't wait either.

I have really been SOOO blessed with my communication skills. I can really understand what is giong on around me and my own speaking has improved quite rapidly. I can get my point across and do it correctly. I am figuring out my mistakes and am able to be understood. YAY!

This week for our district meeting, the elders, Elder Gardner and Elder Xidis, pulled out a bunch of unshelled peas. And we shelled peas...for an hour. Point of the activity? I still don't know. The elders came up with some analogy that we are trying to find those peas and shell them, but we all have to do it in different ways. I just got green fingers and dirty nails. But wait, it gets even better. That night we went over to Jacinta's (who is the mom of one of our members, Salita), and what were they doing over there? you may ask. They were shelling peas. So Irmã Brady and I shelled peas, again. I am quite apt at this now.

This has been a week of weird lessons. We started saying the prayer for a lesson and a party walked in on us. That was awkward. It's hard to get people on task here to teach them, well those who are progressing, it isn't difficult, but teaching those who aren't, it's an uphill battle to get the lesson taught. Oy veh.

Last night we had a Family Night. It was SOOO fun! We had a great conversation at the table and Irmã Brady and I were making everyone laugh. Ana started calling Elder Gardner, who is really awkward at times and SOOOO white, Michael Jackson. Then she'd start singing a Michael Jackson song. So funny. We laughed a lot last night and I can actually be funny in Portuguese as well as English! Yay! Well, one might argue that I'm not that funny, but I think I am, and what's better, so does Irmã Brady. She calls me a muppet. Apparently I make muppet faces. Thanks a lot, Dad.

Life is good here in Portugal. There are ups and downs, but being able to see the difference the gospel has in peoples' lives is what makes the bad times bearable. I love this work and I love all of you! Have a great week!

A Week of Conference

2008-04-09T05:37:00.000-07:00

Hello family! I am so blessed to have a family who knows me so well. I got two updates that Kansas won the NCAA tournament. I knew that they would win this year. Seriously. I knew that since I was serving a mission they would win. The one year I didn't fill out a bracket...but I'm so glad you gave me that update. Thanks! Thank you all so much for the many updates this week. Wasn't Conference wonderful? I just loved it. Especially being a missionary. It was so much more meaningful for me.

Well this week has been a week of conferences. I spent probably half of my time this week up in Miratejo, which is where the Irmãs of Almada live and where all of our meetings as a zone are. We had zone conference on Friday, which was so great! We were with two other zones and so I got to meet a lot of great missionaries and see some old friends from the MTC. I learned some great things about working with the members to move this work along and there was a great talk from one of the zone leaders that really got me thinking. He talked about how the prophets always say "come unto Christ" not "go unto Christ." For them to be able to say "come" they need to be where Christ is. As a missionary, my purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ. Thus, I need to make sure that I am where He is and that I have the Spirit guiding me in this work. Food for thought.

While at zone conference we discussed our upcoming CTMM (MTC for Member Missionaries) that we will be doing a week from Sunday. I also met Elder Marriott, who I think Jen knew in the MTC. He lived in my same neighborhood area in Brazil. Crazy. It's a small world in the Church. Irmã Terry gave her training as well. She talked about manners, which I think was good for some of the elders to hear. She is a really funny lady and I think we all enjoyed the advice she had to give to us. President Terry talked to us about the trial of our faith. He recounted a mission story where he had to search for months to find even one person to teach (and he was in Brazil), but that they were greatly blessed in their efforts. I love President Terry and am so blessed to have him as my mission president.

The next day was Saturday and our whole morning plans blew up in smoke, which is pretty normal. so we ended up going over to teach Leo (Leu). It was my first lesson in the stairway! We talked to him about testimony and we've been teaching him for about four months now. I asked him if he had prayed to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet. He still hasn't, so we're going to be working with him on that. Having a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon is everything in the gospel. Without it, there is no progression. It is so important to have this testimony. I have seen this with a lot of our investigators. Those who have this testimony are making so much progress and coming so much closer to the Savior.

Then we rushed over to teach Celeste. Everything was going well and we were just waiting for our bus to get to her apartment in Arrentela. So we waited. and we waited and we waited. The bus never came. Oy veh. Finally another bus came and we got over to her apartment. When we got over there she was a wreck. I really think that we came into her life at just the right time for her. We were able to give her someone to talk to and to leave a talk with her about the Atonement.

Then we headed up to Conference for the weekend. We stayed up with the other irmãs for Saturday and Sunday, which was fun. I love those irmãs. I LOVE CONFERENCE! So many of the talks were exactly what my investigators needed to hear. My intent in going to conference was so different this time because I went listening for what they needed to hear, as well as what I needed to hear. But there were so many things that were said that were exactly what they needed to hear.

We watched conference with our whole zone of missionaries. Elder Baldwin is in my zone and he worked a lot with John. We were able to watch conference in English, so it was basically just us missionaries down in the basement watching conference. We made lunch for the elders on Sunday and that was AMAZING! I got some gooood recipes from that. I love my zone and we're all getting together today to watch some movies (all missionary appropriate, of course). It's really nice to mix it up with different people, plus the elders make me laugh really hard.

Monday we went back home and ended up getting caught in the rain and SOAKED. Irmã Brady could ring out her shoes and her skirt. I just smelled like a wet dog. I don't know which was worse for us, my smell or her wetness. But we knocked doors and had some...interesting experiences. There was a man who wanted us to debate with him. He knows that his church isn't true, but doesn't want to change.

Yesterday we had interviews with President Terry and that was another time for the zone to get together, since the schedule is usually behind. Irmã Terry brought cookies and we laughed at the funny things that she says that you would never think she would say. She really is the mom of the mission.

We've had some good lessons with investigators and members. The members help out SOOO much when they teach with us. I wish that every lesson we taught we could have a member with us. wow. What a difference. Ana is progressing wonderfully and is really close with the ward already. She's such a blessing for us.

Oh, I forgot! When Elder Bednar told us that members should be doing the finding and missionaries doing the teaching, there was a cheer from each of us during conference, as well as some good fist pumping. That was GOLD for us as missionaries to hear.

Things are GREAT here! I love this work and being able to teach and talk with God's children. I am so blessed. I can understand pretty much what everyone says, except the Cape Verdians. Fogo! they talk sooo fast!

I love you all! Have a great day! Good luck with finals and everything else!

The Missionary Handbook Blesses Lives

2008-04-02T05:30:00.000-07:00

Querida família! Hello! It was so nice to hear from you and how everything is going back in the EUA. I have absolutely no concept of time anymore, so it's nice to hear what's going on back home.

Life is great here in Seixal, Amora, Arrentela, Cruz de Pau. I don't really know what to call where I live. I live in Cruz de Pau, but we work most of our time in Arrentela. The weather is finally starting to warm up, and warm up it has! I'm already starting to get brown. Yesterday we were in a pastelaria and the workers told me I looked like I had come from the beach because my face was reddish from being outside all day. It will not be long until the tanlines come back with a fury. But I'm really enjoying the pleasant weather here. It makes me sooo happy!

Things are great with Irmã Brady. We get along really well and have become good friends. We have a lot of laughter in this companionship, so that's been really nice. My Portuguese is still improving, but I still have a LONG way to go. Especially since the people from Cape Verde speak SOOO fast and have a hard time understanding everything they say, but I get the jist (gist?) every time, so that's a blessing. I'm really enjoying the time that I have with Irmã Brady and she's been a great companion for me. We're both learning and growing a lot from one another.

Well, last week we cleaned the house of a very less-active member, Rosaline. She's from France and speaks Portuguese with a weirder accent than I do. Her house was absolutely disgusting, bless her heart. There was trash everywhere and grime as well. We spent four hours over two days getting her house cleaned up so that she would be ready for her daughter and her 3 month old granddaughter to come. I would not want a baby around what was in that house before we came. Ick. I learned a great lesson that reinforced my testimony that the Spirit really can abide better in homes that are clean and tidy. It was such a different home when we left. Though Rosaline did not appreciate our message about visiting teaching, I have the hope that her heart will change and she will see the benefit of serving others. I certainly can see that in my life, because we felt so happy and fulfilled by helping her.

Our investigator Anabela is a character. She always insists on feeding us something, unless we are very firm. Last week during one of our lessons she started breastfeeding her son right in front of us. Needless to say, I felt very awkward. This week I gained a greater testimony of the missionary handbook. The kids here are sooo cute and I love them so much. I really have never seen more beautiful children than those here, especially the children from Cape Verde. It's really hard for us to not pick them up and hold them, but it's a rule that we can't, so we've been obedient, and my, we've been blessed. So we were teaching Anabela about keeping the sabbath day holy and her daughter, Mariana, was sitting on her lap. We were about done with the lesson when we heard the sound of water hitting the tile floor. I thought that was strange then I thought, there's just no way, but oh, yes. Mariana had decided to go to the bathroom right there on her mom's lap. My how grateful I am for the rule that says we cannot hold children or put them on our laps. That could have been me. Dodged that bullet.

Well, we've been stood up by a lot of our appointments this week, but we've been blessed with the opportunity of finding new people. We were knocking doors and found Celeste. She's from Cape Verde and she's AWESOME! She's been searching for the truth and when we got to her door she let us right in without our saying more than "Hi, we're the missionaries." Seriously. We taught her the first lesson and left a pamphlet for her to read. When I shared the 1st vision with her the Spirit was very strong in the room. She was touched and I could see the change in her from these words. We went back yesterday and gave her a Book of Mormon. She was so excited to get the Book of Mormon and kept thumbing through it. I can really see the light coming into her life as we teach her the truths of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I'll keep you updated on her.

On Saturday was Irmã Brady's one year mark on the mission. For this we did splits with the Irmãs in Almada. I went to Almada and it was great! I was with an irmã that I was able to help a lot. We knocked a lot of doors and had a lot of street contacts. I talked to this great guy who didn't believe in God. I was able to testify to him that God does exist and that he loves him. It has been my best contact because it really felt like a conversation. I loved talking to him and bringing him truth. The area of Almada was great too. It was fun to see how differently missionaries work.~

We had 5 investigators at church this past week! Our investigators are all doing well. Ana is progressing so well and is so excited about the gospel. She really gets it and understands how important it is. We had a family night with the Castros. It was wonderful They really took to Ana and we had a great time eating an amazing meal and talking about the gospel and our Savior, Jesus Christ. She is holding strong and not smoking. Instead, she's taken to running every day.

Leu is doing well also. He went to our ward family night and we had them pretend they were misionaries knocking doors. I was an "investigator" and I was taught by Silvino, who is a recent convert, and Leu. They were amazing! Leu committed me to coming to church and testified of how important it is.

I am so blessed here. I love this work and the people I am teaching. I have been so prepared to be here by my living in Brasil and being taught about Cape Verde and learning Portuguese before. I can see the hand of the Lord in my life everyday as I strive to do all I can for this work.

I love you all and I hope you enjoy Conference! I'm SOOO excited!!

The Fro is Back!

2008-03-26T06:01:00.000-07:00

It was so amazing to hear from all of you! I realized today that I hadn´t heard from my family since I left. I was used to hearing from Jen almost every day. I was so glad to hear that everything went so well at the open house. I bet that food was amazing. Oh, I would love to eat that food, though everything I´ve eaten here has been good, except for some slimy noodles.

Well everything is going well here in... SEIXAL. Can you believe it? Seriously, it´s the family place to be "born" in the mission. President Terry announced that I was going to Seixal last week and I couldn´t believe it. I should´ve guessed though. Duh. I've followed Jen everywhere up until this point, so why would it change now? My trainer/Mom is Irmã Brady. She´s only 10 months out in the mission field, and I think that Jen met her a few times at the MTC. She´s a great companion, but I don´t think she´s used to being with someone who has an opinion. I think it was an adjustment for her to be with someone more like herself. Sister Skinn and I were pretty similar so I was already used to it. She was also shocked to learn that I already spoke Portuguese, she said in our district meeting that it was humbling for her to be put with me. I think we´ll be able to learn a lot from one another this transfer and I know that the hand of the Lord has been really really guiding my life. Why else would I be here in Seixal of all places? PS I think I´m using Jen´s old water bottle for my bed. It´s red and persnickety.

Oh, before I forget, here´s my address
Rua do Minho Nº 21
4 FRT
2845 Amora
Cruz de Pau
Portugal

Feel free to send me lots of letters at this address. :)

My elders who were my "companions," Elders Merrill and Walker, were so great and so good to me. They took good care of me on the trip over to Portugal. Let me tell you, the airport in Paris is HUGE! and so confusing. I think we walked a couple of miles to get to our gate with all of the time we spent backtracking and searching around for where we needed to go. Anyway, we arrived in Portugal, finally, after 26 hours of travelling and had no problems with getting our baggage, which was a small miracle, because the different groups have had to wait for almost three hours sometimes to get their bags. We waited about 20 minutes, and with a group as large as ours (16, which was the biggest group that President Terry has gotten thus far), that was a miracle. Then we went to get our visas stamped, and that also went very smoothly and the people there were great. All of the secretaries from the office came to help us get our bags (and ourselves) to the mission office to drop our stuff off. We all stayed at the mission home that night and had a nice dinner, testimony meeting and interviews. We got to go to sleep after we were interviewed and President interviewed me first, so I went to my room at 8pm. I had my own room and my own bathroom. It was wonderful. And I also had a picture of Tyler Terry and Grandma on my mantle. Funny!

The next day we had orientation and met our trainers. The Terrys were so wonderful and made me feel so welcome. They say hi, by the way. It was sad to say goodbye to my elders, but I was excited for the change. I´m in a district of four, me, Irmã Brady, Elder Xidis (who is my district leader) and...Elder Gardner. That´s right. He´s being trained as well in my district. So, as you all know, the members feed us every day here so we see the Elders often. I was a little worried about being with Elder Gardner, because he tends to get under my skin, but it´s been really nice to have a familiar face and someone who I can joke around with about things that happened in the MTC. So that´s been nice. Elder Xidis is hilarious, so we all joke around all the time and it´s fun to get to see them and get to know them better.

It was so strange for me to come back to this area and remember all of the places and remember where Jen used to live. President Terry wants us to be living in apartments without a dona, so we live in our own apartment. I am so glad that we don´t have to live in the house of someone else. We can have the Spirit in the home more and don´t have to worry about anyone else. I think this was a very inspired change.

All of the members were sooo excited to see me. Some of them remembered me, but most said, Hey we have another missionary with that last name? Then I would explain that the other Irmã Thomas was my sister and they were all SOOO excited! PS thanks Jen for being a good missionary. It makes my life a lot easier, but I also have some big shoes to fill. The members are great here! We´re trying to figure out a way to have them help us with the missionary work better. They are wonderful at feeding us, which we really appreciate, but they want to help us, so we´re trying to train them on how to help us best. We ate at Fatima Assis´house on Easter and that´s been the best company thus far. She is so kind and she told me about one of Jen´s first Sundays here when she didn´t understand anything and Fatima became her Portuguese Mom. She´s great and I think is a mom to all of the missionaries in the area still.

We have family nights with the members and our investigators here a few nights a week, which has been so great. I love seeing the members and the investigators bond together. We have SO many investigators. It´s so incredible. None of them are Portuguese. We only have one that even grew up here and she´s Cape Verdian. All of our investigators are immigrants.

First we have Ana. She will be baptized in a few weeks and she´s amazing. We went over to her house on Saturday to teach her the third lesson and follow up on how the Word of Wisdom has been going. She told us that she´s been able to quit smoking completely! That was so incredible to see. She truly has been blessed and she told us that it was easy for her this time and has been praying for strength. She amazes me. She is really progressing.

The next ones we have are Anabela and Manafá. They are from Guinea or Angola, I don´t remember. I still havenºt met Manafá, but he really wants to be baptized. They are waiting on getting their papers from Guinea (oh right!) in order to be married. The people here work sooo much. They hardly make anything at all and just work themselves to death.

Our next ones are Leu and Renata. They are brother and sister from Brasil. We´re actually teaching a lot of Brasilians, so my knowledge of Brasil and of the accent has been helpful. My accent is SOOOO weird. Everyone here makes fun of it. I would too. They all look at me and ask very quizically "Where are you from?" because my accent is so strange. But Leu is so nice. Probably one of the nicest, best people IºVe ever met. He is so kind to everyone.

Those are the ones we work with the most, but we have so many more. We constantly have more people to call and visit. The Lord is really blessing us in this area.

The other day we were walking and we were being "O Eldered". So Irmã Brady explained that we were Irmas so they should said "O Irmã" instead. So we walked away and these kids said "O Irmã"! as we walked away. Soooo funny.

Im catching on really fast to the language. I can´t believe how my comprehension and my ability to speak has improved. I´m so grateful that I´ve been able to hit the ground running.

I love you all! I love Portugal! Thanks for the emails!

Laura's New Address

2008-03-19T19:21:00.000-07:00

Laura arrived in Portugal today. If you would like to write to her I'm sure she would really love that. This address will be good for the rest of her mission.

Irma Laura Thomas
Portugal Lisbon Mission
Apartado 40054
P-1500 Lisboa
PORTUGAL

So Long, Farewell, Auwederzein, Goodbye!

2008-03-16T10:22:00.000-07:00

Hey, I could add John on the list now! I hope that all went wonderfully at the wedding today. My thoughts were with you and I'm glad that it has turned into such a nice day. Please give me all the details on what happened/will happen today. It was great to hear from all of you this week, thank you so much for writing. I hope that everything worked out alright with the boys being sick and that they are doing much, much better now.

Well, it's been another week here at the MTC, except that it was my last full week! I'm so excited to get to Portugal and on to new and exciting food. This week has been somewhat uneventful, but I'll try and remember some things that happened that would be good for all to hear about.

I completely forgot to mention last week that Elder Holland spoke to us in our Tuesday Night Devotional. Whoops! Well, it was fantastic! He really gave us some great advice and was sooo funny as well. I learned so much from him and I have not written that fast in so long. He talked to us about how when we have hard, discouraging days, that we need to think of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the last few days that he had on this earth. He talked about how we need to turn to Him when things get rough and to remember that perspective.

Well, we also had Sister Cook speak to us. She recounted mission experiences, which I find to be the most useful for me. I can really relate to them. Relief Society has been so wonderful here. We hear from the leading women of the Church almost every week and it's such a priviledge to be able to learn from them.

We've had some extra group meetings this week in preparation for our leaving to the field, one of which was a health meeting. Here's what I gathered: wash your hands, drink clean water and don't eat any raw meat. Pretty basic. Poor Sister Skinn doesn't know what she's getting into in Cape Verde. It's certainly going to be an adventure and a HUGE lifestyle change for her. Of the three sisters here in the branch, she's definately the most high maintenance, so I hope she's able to figure out how to get ready in the morning there. I'm sure she'll do great. She's SOOO creative.

Well, the elders have finally discovered that they can play tricks on each other--and I'm in no way discluded in this effort. They've taken to taking scriptures, books, anything pretty much, and "hiding" them throughout the room. The only thing that there is to hide anything under is desks, so that's one swell hiding place, but it is entertaining for all of us. Can you tell that we've all been in one tiny room for almost too long?

Well, only one time left in gym, which is unfortunate, because I've started to dominate over the elders. It's been really fun to play with all of them. We all have a four-square comradery amongst all of us.

We talked with Marie again this week and she kept all of her committments again, but is up against a wall of faith right now. The closest branch is two hours away and she doesn't think that she can make that kind of sacrifice. I pray that she is able to go to church and that her area opens up again very soon.

Life is good here at the MTC. It's been hard for us not to have teachers, but we've gotten through alright. I'm excited to go out and learn in the field. I went to the RC last night, because we'd had MDT all day and 11 hours of straight studying is a bit much. I did follow up calls and got one million answering machines and one million invalid numbers. It got me really excited to get to Europe.

I love you all and I hope that everything goes wonderfully today! I've been studying about hope this week and I just wanted to share very quickly about what I thought about. The word in to hope Portuguese is esperar, which has three meanings, to hope, to wait and to expect. God wants us to do all three of these things when we have hope. He will bless us, we just need to wait and expect that He will bring these blessings in His due time.

Love,
Irma Laura Thomas

Flight Plans, Bird Noises and Makeup!

2008-03-07T14:55:00.000-08:00

I hope that everyone is doing well. It seems as if that is the case. I would be sympathetic about the snow in Texas, but hey, it's freezing here. Here's to hoping that it's warmer in Portugal, but if not, I've got me a lot of warm clothes.

This has been a good week here at the MTC. The food all tastes the same to me, but other than that life is good. It's been interesting to not really have teachers, but we've made the best of the situation. I am amazed at the focus that my elders have. They amaze me every day. We have about twoish hours with teachers each day, so the other time we study on our own and we get together every day to do grammar reviews. I've been able to help out with those and explain things, so I'm glad to be of some use.

Two of our teachers are Irmao Hibbert and Irmao Christofferson. We met Irmao Hibbert in Portugal when he was serving in Santarem. Small world. He's been great. He cares about us and we can tell. Last Saturday he created a scavenger hunt for us to do to practice directions, which was so much fun and he always shows that he cares. That is something that I've really learned here: the importance of showing that you care and making the effort to care. That is a lesson that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. We had a great lesson last Friday from Irmao Schlappi, he takes his day off to teach us on Friday nights, about Christlike attributes that we've all taken to heart. We all discussed charity, patience, diligence and humility. These four qualities are SO important in missionary work and in life. It was a much appreciated lesson for our district and we've all been striving to have these.

I also moved seats (again) in the classroom. I was sitting underneath the vent and it was like 12 degrees in my spot and I ALWAYS had my coat on and the elders were so hot, so Sister Skinn and I moved away from the vents. It was an adventageous move for everyone.

I've always been a little disappointed in myself that I can't make good sound effects. Really. I always wished that there was something that I could do that would actually sound like the sound something else makes. Well family, that day has arrived. I can make good bird noises. Yep, that's right. I can sound just like a crow. Caw Caw! I thought I would share that with you all to let you know how much I'm growing here.

We also went to a makeup class this week that they provide for the sisters. They pretty much told us that we need to look our best and gave us free makeup. That was pretty much the only sisters time I'm going to get here and probably in Portugal as well, so it was really nice to be around women. I always look forward to Relief Society because it's SOOO nice to be around women again.

This week we had another appointment set up with Marie, the woman we chatted with in the Referral Center. We went there and I figured that we had about a 50/50 chance of her getting on to chat with us. This woman truly is amazing. 11:30am on the dot she was there and was so excited to talk with us. The first thing she said was "you don't know how many times I looked forward to talking with you again." She's read about half of the Book of Mormon and knows that it's true. She told us that she loves it because it helps clarify the Bible. AMAZING! She's going to have a hard time getting to church, as the closest branch is an hour away and the missionaries aren't in her area anymore, but I'm pretty sure she'll go. Marie has truly taken hold of the gospel of Jesus Christ and I can see the light that is in her life now. She asked us about drinking iced tea (because, don't worry, she'd already read the Word of Wisdom on her own) because she had started feeling guilty about doing it. We committed her to living the Word of Wisdom and I know that she will be so blessed for keeping this commandment. She is so incredible. I can't believe I am privileged enough to be able to help her. She is such a blessing in my life. I look so forward to talking with her again next week. We asked her to finish the Book of Mormon and I know that she will. She loves it so much.

I'm just doing great! We got our flight plans today, I leave 18 March and fly directly to Paris. I don't know what I'm going to do there, it's not like I can speak French, but I am so excited to be able to see that great city and to finally get to Portugal.

I love this work. I am so blessed to be able to be a missionary. This is the true church and Christ is at the head of it. The Book of Mormon is the word of God translated by the prophet Joseph Smith. I love you all! Have a great week!

Abraco,
Irma Laura Thomas

Miraculous Chat

2008-03-01T18:49:00.000-08:00

It was so good to hear from all of you. I love getting the updates on what is going on with everyone. I'm glad to hear that the wedding plans are going well and are moving forward. I can't believe that Jen gets married so soon! Crazy! And, to think, I'll only be about 20 minutes away. I'll be in the temple that day though, so I'll be with you all in spirit.

This week has, yet again, been a week of a lot of change for my district. We love being in a classroom with a window, but we don't really know if we'll be staying there. The TEC took Jen back, so my district is, yet again, without teachers. At least this time we only have two and a half weeks left. For this we are all grateful. Hopefully the MTC figures out what they are going to do with us.

On Sunday I was in my PEC meeting and the branch president told me that they were working on my leaving on Tuesday (like three days ago). That news completely surprised me because I thought that I was pretty much just here for the duration. So I went to the travel office on Monday to see if everything was in line and they told me, yet again, that I had not been advanced. I needed to be advanced to be able to get my visa. Clearly, this was a problem. So I talked with Irmao Harmon and he called Irmao Christoffersson, and then on Tuesday night I was finally advanced, but I won't be getting my visa for a couple of weeks, which, fortunately, is when my district leaves. At this point I'm really hoping that my visa comes in time to leave with my district. I know that everything will work out alright though. The two elders in the zone that spoke Portuguese left this week for the field, so I'm finding that my patience is growing with each day. I miss being able to work with them on the lessons, that was a great blessing for me.

Well we've had some leadership changes in the branch. I'm no longer the coordinating sister, now Sister Skinn is. We also have new zone leaders, Elders Merrill and Walker, who are in my district. They are doing a great job, but I don't think they quite realized how demanding that calling is. It is a great opportunity for them to grow and develop leadership skills that they will use for the rest of their lives.

We also got a new district in this week. There were only supposed to be 3 come in, but the US is having visa problems going to Brazil, so we have 9 visa waiters here. Five got their visas and will be leaving on Tuesday (which includes the two sisters. Sad!) It's fun to have some missionaries going to Brasil. Some of them are going to be really fun to have around.

This past Wednesday was probably the best day I've had at the MTC so far. It was just a nice day to begin with (the weather is really starting to warm up here. There's no more snow on the ground!!!) and we were going to the Referral Center, which is where people call when they see a commercial from the Church and want a free Book of Mormon or Bible or Lamb of God video, etc. So we go there every Wednesday to work there and this week we were lucky enough to get a chat. Sister Skinn and I chatted with this woman named Marie. She was incredible! I was so incredibly impressed with her. She wants so badly to know that the Book of Mormon is true and I think that she knows it, she just doesn't recognize the answer that Heavenly Father has already given her. Sister Skinn and I committed her to do some reading and she was so excited to read what we assigned her. I understand now why we give people committments: it's because they want to do what is God's will and they want to come closer to Christ, they just don't know how on their own, so we help them get there. We set up a return appointment with her next week and I'm SOOOO excited! She really is incredible and I feel so blessed to have been able to help her. I can't wait to get to Portugal and meet more people and invite them to come unto Christ.

I am doing really well. I'm loving life as a missionary. I know that this is God's work and that we can all come unto Him if we repent and have faith in Him and His Son, Jesus Christ. I love you all!!

Love,
Irma Laura

Onto the Third Classroom

2008-02-22T14:33:00.000-08:00

Well this week has been great! It's been another week of change, as we are now in our third classroom here at the MTC. This was a great change because the room we were in before was a bit like a bunker, no windows, loud from the class next-door (which was only separated from us by a curtain) and poor lighting. Now we're in a room much like our first with a window and an overactive air conditioner that the elders just LOVE. I, however, wear my coat much of the time. It's been wonderful to have set teachers again. We're all praying that they don't combine our districts after this week. I am truly blessed to be able to have Jen as my teacher. I thought it would be a little weird--and it is sometimes--but it's so fun to be able to see her so much and laugh about things from the past. There have been a few times where we've started laughing about something and the rest of the district just sits and stares at us with quizzical looks on their faces. We have Irmao Cuaira and he's hilarious. He has a very different teaching style than the other teachers, which works well for some of the elders in the district, so it's been good to mix up the teaching styles so everyone can learn well.

The two elders who got here two weeks ago and already speak Portuguese are heading out this week to their missions. It's a little bit hard to see them go, but I know that I need to be here. I'm seeing little by little how the Lord has placed me here for a reason. I don't expect to know all the reasons while I'm here, but I've been blessed to see some of them so far.

This past Monday we taught in Portuguese for the first time. It was SO much fun! I LOVE teaching in Portuguese! I was amazed at how much I was able to communicate and how I felt that I was being led by the Spirit to tell our investigator what he needed to hear. I look forward to teaching more in Portuguese...actually, only in Portuguese.

A few weeks ago we got a new sister in the branch, Irma Evans. She's from Mesa and is so cute. The three of us get along really well and have a great time together. She's very easy to get along with and is so nice. We've been rooming with three other hermanas here and that has been a great experience too. Right now Hermana Anderson is our only other roommate and we all get along a little bit too well. I'm so blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing people. Next-door to us are our other Hermanas, who came in to the MTC the same time as us and are on our same schedule, so we've become really good friends, as well as the elders in their district. I have been very blessed to know them.

So let me again just say how much I love my district! They are so incredible to me and they help me to see why the Lord trusts we who are so young with this work. Whenever there's a little problem that comes up they want to resolve it right away, so we always talk about it, which has been very beneficial for us. They also really like the smell of girly lotion and found some Sparkly Peach lotion a few weeks ago that they use...yes, they use it. Sister Skinn brought in Exotic Coconut lotion yesterday that was a big hit with the elders. They keep me on my toes all the time. I really feel like I've gained 8 younger brothers.

I am doing really well. I love being a missionary! I had my interview with Irmao Cuaira this week and he asked me what my favorite thing about being a missionary was. I told him that it was being able to study the gospel and study the scriptures. It has been so wonderful to be able to have the time to devote to this study. It's so wonderful to have this be my whole focus. I love it!

This week at Relief Society the speaker talked about the Children's hymn "Nephi's Courage," and how it helped her to know that she can do whatever the Lord asks of us because He will provide a way. I know that this is true. I know that whatever the Lord needs of me, or of you, I'll be able to do because He has already provided the way for me to be able to accomplish it. I would encourage you all to study 1Nephi 3:7 and see why this scripture is important to you. I know that if you do this you will find comfort in the knowledge that if we rely on the Lord, He will provide for us.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Irma Laura Thomas

The Hazards of Gym

2008-02-15T14:10:00.000-08:00

I'm glad to know that I actually have all of your email addresses right. Things are going really really well here. It is bitter cold out right now and I am grateful that today is P-day and that I can wear pants. Knee highs only do so much for you in the way of warmth. How is everyone doing? Please keep me updated on the goings on back home! And thank you for all of the letters!

this has been a great week. I had the opportunity of speaking in church on Sunday. Each week they call two people up to speak from the stand at random and one of those was me. We already had our topic assigned to I just had to read the talk that I had already written previously. Unfortunately, I forgot that we had some ward business to attend to, so I sure did go up to the stand at the wrong time (I was already sitting on the stand because I was conducting the music.). Everyone laughed when the whole branch presidency said "Irma Thomas, Irma Thomas, you're not up yet". I was, of course, bright red, but it provided for a really funny experience to share with all of you.

I've enjoyed being able to go to all of the meetings we have in the branch. I'm involved in PEC every week and it's great because then I get to hear about what's going on in the branch and be able to put in my two cents when they ask for it. Also, it's great because they teach us protocol each week. This past week we sang "The Spirit of God" in church, which was a disaster because our pianist can't read music, but plays by ear (I regret that I can't play the piano better, but I've been practicing here, so hopefully, I'll be able to play better some day). They shared with us that this hymn should really only be sung at temple dedications and spontaneously when the Spirit is so strong that the song just bursts out. I found that so fascinating and I will always remember that now. Mom, I thought you would like to know that they teach us proper church protocol ALL the time here. They really are training us for the future.

This week I taught at the TRC like normal, but I actually knew my investigator. Crazy! It was my friend, Ryan, from Study Abroad. It was a little weird to teach him the lesson, but it was good to see him and be able to see how things were going for he and his wife. I've had some connection with all of my "investigators" at the TRC since I've come here.

Something else that happened this week was my clumsiness got in my way again. I drop whatever I'm holding or whatever is on my desk every two seconds, and poor Elder Daley (who is too much of a gentleman to not help me out) always bends over to pick up whatever I've dropped. I'm pretty grateful to sit next to him in class because I ALWAYS drop something and he's nice enough to pick it up for me and get annoyed when I beat him to it. However, this is not what I'm referring to. I got hit in the face with every type of ball that exists in the gym this week. The foursquare ball, a basketball and a volleyball. The volleyball knocked my glasses off my face and the basketball left an imprint of my glasses on my ear. Ouch. I think I may start running on the track more often.

So, as you all know, I got new teachers this week. Jen has been so great for our district. The elders can really tell that she cares about us and that has made a world of difference for them. They are learning so much because of her and love when she's in the classroom. Our other teacher is Irmao Cuaira. He's from Mocambique and he's HILARIOUS. Wow. He just tells random stories about his life right now that make us all laugh. We are so grateful to have teachers again and it's been wonderful. We have Irmao Schlappi tonight and we're all really excited.

So yesterday was Valentine's Day and the elders in my district, who are SOO wonderful to me and Sister Skinn, gave us a picture of our whole district and a picture of most of the elders in the district, as well as a box of candy hearts. My elders are truly so amazing. They love us so much and show it by how they treat us. They are really protective of us and make sure that we always have the best. I really could not have a better district--and everyone, including us, knows it.

I read in Acts 9 this week about the life of Paul and it was so interesting to me to see how merciful the Lord is to us. He always gives us another chance, always. He wants the best things for us and truly wants us to come back to live with Him again. I love this gospel. I know it is so true with all that is in me.

I love you all and hope that you have a great week! Happy Valentine's Day!

Love,
Irma Laura

Fire Drills, Creole and Many Changes

2008-02-08T14:03:00.000-08:00

Things are going well here at the MTC. It's been a trying week for all of us in our district. I'm sure Jen's told you, but they took my teachers away from our district this week, which was really hard. We loved our teachers so much and it will be very different without them. You all also probably know that Jen is going to be the only teacher that we have. We're going to be combined for the other teaching part of the day with another district. So there's going to be 20 of us together trying to learn a new language. This has already proven to be difficult, but I know that the Lord will bless my district and they will be able to still learn this language. I am so glad that I can help them. The highlight of my day is when I can help the elders in my district (Sister Skinn is so good she doesn't really need my help). I know they truly appreciate all that I have been able to help them with. To me, it is a great privilege to help them and I feel a responsibility to share all that I know with them. I have been truly blessed with my district. All of the other districts have problems, but not mine. We all truly love each other and make sure and say it too! I know that because we have those deep bonds that we will get through this difficult time just fine.

I haven't even talked about the elders yet have I? Well, there's Elder Merrill, who is a convert (also Elder Gardner) they have both been members for two years and are incredible. Elder Merrill's work ethic and testimony is so impressive to me. Elder Walker is Merrill's companion. they are hilarious together! They are both so sarcastic, but because Merrill is loud, he always gets the blame for the teasing they give each other. They have become good friends of mine and I feel so blessed to have them around. Then there's Elders Daley and Wardenburg. Elder Wardenburg has the BEST sense of humor. He is so goofy and has absolutely no shame in it. This week he's been parting his hair down the middle and pulled his pants up really really high once. He topped it off with really big glasses. He keeps us all smiling. Elder Daley has the biggest heart. He is a farmboy and as such is so chivalrous with me and Sister Skinn. He doesn't let us do anything! He has such a big heart and is so compassionate. I've been able to work with him on the language and he has such a strong desire to learn. Then there's Elders Kearl and Schwendiman. Elder Kearl is from Clinton, Utah and LOVES to hunt. Really. LOVES it. He really surprises me sometimes with how thoughtful he is. Elder Schwendiman is my district leader and is so laid back. He is kind to everyone and is a great leader. I can't say enough about my district. Then there's Elders Gardner and Markarian. Elder Markarian is a newbee to our district. All of the Brasilian elders got their visas, so he was put into our district. He's adjusting, but is already such a blessing for us and for Elder Gardner. Elder Gardner LOVES math. So clearly we can teach each other a lot!

Well now I live with four other girls in one room! Yikes! It's close quarters here at the MTC, but I'm never in my room so, nao faz mal (no big deal). We got a new sister this week and she's pretty quiet. She's very kind and sweet, so she'll be a good contrast to me, since I can be a bit feisty sometimes...

Before we went through this big teacher change I was able to learn some creole from Irmao Schlappi. He served in Cape Verde, where they speak a Portuguese creole. He told us to come find him before and after class to keep learning creole, and believe me, I will. It's a great language and I will love speaking it with the Cape Verdians I meet in Portugal.

This week there were more changes as well, our oldest district left this week for their missions and so that was sad, but we gained two new districts and the best part is...there is a fluent Portuguese speaker!!! YAY! So I've talked with Elder Clegg and his Portuguese is PERFECT, well, for a Brasilian. It's been nice to be able to talk with someone and he will certainly help me out. Hopefully we'll be able to plan our lessons together, but it will take some thinking so that we will be able to still be around our companions or our districts. But I know everything will work out. It's so great to be able to practice speaking. I was able to go to the TEC and Jen helped me with teaching in Portuguese. It was a bit rough, but it was my first time going through the lesson in Portuguese, or anything in Portuguese, for that matter.

Well, having all of the sisters in one building has been an...adventure. Last week I was ready to sleep (since it was bed time) and the fire alarm went off. Man was it loud! We all thought it was a drill or a mishap, but don't worry, when i got out to the hallway I saw smoke. Someone had burned popcorn and set off the alarm. A half hour later and we were able to go back in. Actually it was about 45 minutes later. How annoying. Lesson for all: keep the rules and no one will have to leave the building at 11:00 at night.

Gym time has been fantastic. We can play volleyball, basketball, run on the track, lift weights, but I play four-square. That's right, four-square. Keeping up the family tradition. My district has gotten really into it. They are hilarious! I can actually hold my own too. We have so much fun that more and more people are starting to play because they know where the fun's at.

Well that's about it! Life is good here! I've been reading a lot about trusting in God and there's a passage in Alma 57 that I want you all to read. I think it's verses 22-27, somewhere around there. It talks about the stripling warriors. I learned so much from that passage about how when we trust in God everything works out and I know this to be true. I love you all!

Jumping Jacks

2008-02-01T13:04:00.000-08:00

Everything is going really well here in Provo...that is the MTC in Provo. I can't believe how much I'm loving life as a missionary. I have never been this happy in my life and I truly know that this is the Lord's work. The weather's been a bit dreary, but today the walk up to the temple was beautiful with snow cascading all around me in perfect white. I feel so blessed to be in such a beautiful place, though it's weird to look at the mountains and realize I'm still in Provo.

Sundays they have Relief Society with all of the sisters in the MTC and they had Sister Elaine Dalton speak to us. It was incredible! She spoke about being perfectly obedient and the blessings that we will receive because of it. That night we had a fireside (which was fabulous) and we always sit in the same place as a zone and as I was sitting there I realized that Sister Skinn and I were the ONLY sisters in our entire area of about 200 elders. You could tell when we were singing that we were the only sisters there. It's a little weird that I am a minority there. I'm getting used to the standing up in the cafeteria when Sister Skinn and I come to the table. I am coming to like it.

My district is still amazing as always. I'm amazed at how we can all be in a tiny room for HOURS every day and get along so well as we do. Truly a blessing. The elders and I are all good friends now and it seems strange to me to think that Ive only known them for a couple of weeks. We are all so close. My teachers continue to impress me so much. They teach by the Spirit and they help me to want to be so much better. Irmao Harmon is always telling us really funny stories from his mission and this week he told us about how EVERYONE in Portugal will call out to the elders and say "Os Elderes!" whenever they pass. Seriously, they will stop a conversation on the phone to yell that out. so they were in Coimbra (which is a big city in Portugal) one weekend, and all of the people had vacated to the country for the weekend. they were walking down the street and a police car came up and over the loudspeaker they said "Os Elderes!" and ducked out of view in their car so that the elders wouldn't think they were really there. Of course, who would think that? Hilarious!

This week was moving week! We moved Wednesday morning and had about 10 minutes to do it. Seriously. We were given from 6:30-8:30am to move, but oh wait! We had service from 6:30 until 7:45, so we ran and grabbed breakfast after service (I vacuum the hallways in the main building, it's great!) and then ran back to our old residence, shoveled down our food, moved our stuff over to our new building and threw our stuff on the ground, changed into missionary attire and then were 30 minutes late to class. Our new building is where Jen works. Haha! So I'll probably see her a bit more, maybe. There are six beds in a room, that's right six. There are four of us in a room right now, me, Sister Skinn and two hermanas in another branch. Come next wednesday there will be five of us, because my branch is getting another sister. YAY!!

The funny thing about this building is that they renovated it from an elders' residence, so they haven't quite finished everything. There are four toilets without stall around them where the urinals used to be. Whoops! And some of the showers didn't have curtains, but now they do. They put up stalls around what used to be the "Tree of Life" showers, with no stalls, no privacy. Now they have about nine showers (with complete privacy, don't worry). It's funny to think that I'm using the Tree of Life showers.

So a couple of nights ago I was planning on unpacking, but I got a bloody nose instead! It wouldn't stop for about a half hour. It was awful. But everything's fine now. I'm drinking more water and hopefully everything will work out better now.

Yesterday we weren't quite awake in class so Irmao Harmon made us do jumping jacks and stretch during class. You need to realize that our classroom is TINY! We have the smallest room in the zone and there are ten of us plus a teacher in there. That was hilarious.

Things are going so well here. I am learning so much. I don't know when I'll be leaving here. I talked with the Branch President and he told me that my leaving really depended on a lot of things: the Portuguese government, my visa and if President Terry can use me right now. So I'm trying to be as helpful as possible. The teachers have had me teach some things for them while they had to be out. so that was great. We all, as a district, do our language study, so I've been helping out a couple fo them who need a little extra help. That has been the best. It makes me feel like I'm really making a difference and am serving the Lord. I love missionary life!

A couple of nights ago the elders were not focusing during our planning time and Irmao Schlappi took that time to teach them a priciple found in 1Nephi 3:14-16 (I think) about diligence and being exact in how we serve the Lord. I think it is good advice for everyone and I am so glad he took that opportunity to teach us all that principle.

I know this is the Lord's work and His Church. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet.

Sister Laura Thomas
MTC Mailbox #298
POR-LIS 0318
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Letters and Laundry

2008-01-27T13:38:00.000-08:00

Hello family! i can't tell you how nice it is to be at a computer again. wow. things are going so so so well here at the mtc. I truly am blessed. My district is incredible! I love them all so much and am so sad that we aren't all going to the same mission. Elder Paull is visa waiting to go to Brasil and Sister Skinn and Elder Schwendamen (no relation to the ones in Plano) go to Cabo Verde. My love for my district and my zone grows tremendously with each passing day.

I had written a list of things to remember to write home, but unfortunately I left my planner in my coat, which I'm not wearing because I want a break from it and it's not terribly cold today. I'll just have to remember as best I can.

First off, thank you SOOOOOOOO much for the letters and packages. I had only heard from Jen until this morning and I was hoping to hear from you all soon. It felt like Christmas. I got letters from Mom, Dad, Kat and one of my friends from school, as well as a package. By the way, the cookies are amazing! Thank you so much. I'm glad to hear that you are all doing so well. I was so sad to hear that Kat and Jeremy's heat went out. That would've been so awful!

I'll just go to answer all of Mom's questions. She was pretty thorough. I LOVE my companion, Sister Skinn. She is an amazing example to me of patience and love. I'm sure I am not an easy companion to have. I tend to get really impatient and want to do things my way, but as time goes on, I am learning to be more patient. (Yes, that is my Christ-like characteristic I'm working on this week. :)) She graduated from Y-Daho with a degree in graphic design and has really cute clothes. She and I get along really well, but it can be a little difficult being the only sisters in a zone of fifty. The elders are good to us, some are amazing to me. My district is fantastic. We are a really chatty bunch and we've bonded so much. I can see now why Jen is so close to her district. You spend literally every minute with them, except sleep and shower time. The elders can be...a little immature at times, but for the most part, they are wonderful and I am so blessed to have them in my life. I couldn't imagine being with a different district in the zone. They are a perfect fit for me.

My teachers are absolutely incredible. Every day they impress me more and more. Irmao Harmon is like a little warm fuzzy every day. He is a really sweet guy and has a good time joking around with us. He is a little more open to us joking with him and I think he's glad that I'm in his class. Irmao Schlappi always says exactly what I need to hear. His love for the people of Cape Verde is so apparent. He is so enthusiastic that I have a hard time trying to do my own thing, as I do during language study. Two nights ago we had a BLAST in class. We were all teasing eachother and laughing and laughing. I was afraid one of the teachers would come in and tell us to quiet down (since they've already done that before. Whoops!), but they didn't. The teachers give me a hard time about my accent, but I know they aren't worried about it. Yesterday Irmao Schlappi told us about his last week on his mission. He read us the email he sent to his family and it was such a powerful letter and lesson for our whole district. It made me want to be the best missionary I can be and to love the people and the work with all of my heart. My teachers are incredible and I hope that I'm not too much of a nuisance for them. I tend to get a little bored during language time, but I've found that I should never be bored because I have way too much to do before I leave. There is never enough time to study here. That was so surprising to me. I am never going to learn enough, but I know that if I do my best, the Lord will make up for the rest.

Gym time is FANTASTIC. I wish that we could go outside, but there's about a foot of snow out here, so I odn' tknow how fun that would be anyways. I play volleyball every day and four square. don't worry. I dominate four-square. I bring the sisters pride to the gym. there are usually only six sisters during gym and they all run or play basketball most of the time. P.S. I am HORRIBLE at basketball. Wow. We're planning on doing district volleyball or basketball sometime this coming week. That will be a blast.

My schedule is BUSY! We have breakfast at 8:15, lunch at 1:00 and dinner at 6:00. We have to shovel food down, and I'm ususally done in 15 minutes. Then we have class twice a day with teachers and another block of time without a teacher where we do personal, companion and language study. An hour each, respectively.

My branch president is great. They all served in Brasil and are wonderful men. Irmao Schlappi has been working so hard to see when I can go do Portugal. Every day he has been working to get the ball rolling. Yesterday he left a note on the chalkboard saying that he and the other teachers had sent in to get approval to the Branch President to see if I can leave in two weeks, pending on my visa coming in time. I have mixed feelings about this because I don't know if I'll have had enough time in Preach My Gospel and teaching in Portuguese. I don't really expect that my visa will come in time, but we'll see.

That's about it from here! I love you all and hope that you're doing well. Thank you again for everything.

Laura's Mission begins...

2008-01-27T13:33:00.000-08:00

Laura has asked me (her mother) to update her mission blog while she is gone. She will be able to email her family every week and I will paste her letters to this site. Now, let's just hope I listened carefully when she explained all of this and that I'll be able to make it work. Well, here goes.....

Welcome to the Journey

2008-01-10T18:32:00.000-08:00

Hello readers!

As you may or may not know, I am going to be serving a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I will have the great opportunity of serving in Portugal for 18 months.

First, though, I will be heading to the Missionary Training Center (MTC)in Provo, Utah. As I already have an adequate grasp on the Portuguese language, I don't know what they're going to do with me for two months. It will be a great blessing if I get my visa before I leave the MTC, but who knows? I could have the opportunity to serve in the States for a while if it does not arrive, which would be a great adventure as well. I'd be able to practice my teaching skills in English first, which would be wonderful. During these two months in the MTC, I will not be able to email my family, so this blog will probably not be updated. However, once I leave the MTC, I will be able to email my family and so they will update this blog with my progress and stories from my mission.

During my time in Portugal I will be preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to all those who will hear me. (Hopefully, they'll be able to understand me too!) I consider it a great privilege to be able to do this work. I know that I have been called to be a representative of Jesus Christ and I hope that I will be able to influence the lives of those I meet for good.

To all of you who read this I wish you the best of luck and I would love to hear from you!

Laura

MTC (until about March 18th):
Sister Laura Thomas
MTC Mailbox #298
POR-LIS 0318
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Letters to Portugal (after MTC time):
Sister Laura Thomas
Portugal Lisbon Mission
Apartado 40054
P - 1500 Lisbon
PORTUGAL
(US postage 90 cents)

Packages in Portugal:
Sister Laura Thomas
Portugal Lisbon Mission
Rua Jorge Barradas 14C
P - 1500 Lisboa
PORTUGAL