One Loyal Dog

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!