WEEK 12- Hi EvErYoNe

 Here I am with a recent convert/Menos Ativo named Albertina. She is a cute little Grandma that could talk your ear off! It is always a struggle to leave her house because she has many stories to tell. It's funny. I love it. She is so cute, and when we took this photo she said "Wow! I am so tiny next to you!" It's true, she is so cute!

This is my first planner decoration. I thought I'd make it kinda like a Catholic thing, since everyone here is Catholic. Jesus has a little halo:)  =D Anyway, all missionaries here (and in the world I'm pretty sure) decorate their planners. It is a big deal, something I'm sure you would like Mama. I have big plans for my next planner. It will be EPIC. and sosos cute:) We will be getting new ones this week.

A gorgeous view of the eiffel bridge. We were back there today for transfers. I love how this picture turned out.

Ephesians 2:20....Jesus Christ is our cornerstone. Luckily he is not our "COBBLE" stone. In this picture I am holding a cobblestone from the sidewalk. All the sidewalks in Portugal are made this way...not sure if it makes a ton of sense. They fall out like crazy. =/

 I look bald in this picture.... But this is Amilcar! He is SO AWESOME!!! He is a really recent convert that lives really close to us. He lives in unbearable circumstances, his family is not thrilled about him being active in church, but he has a super strong testimony of Jesus Christ and his Gospel! He comes to EVERY activity at the church, choir, cleaning, futebol, anything. He loves the missionaries. He got to go to the temple for the first time this weekend in Madrid with some of the other members. He then gave a talk on Sunday about the responsibilities of the priesthood and said how he wants to serve a MISSION one day! ahhhh everyone freaked out! I hope he does it! This is a total life changer for him! Because of the church, he has work (someone in the ward hired him), he has good examples (he absolutely ADORES the elders) and he has a chance of marrying in the temple one day! Ahhh sooo coool!!!!:)))))

This is Samuel. He's closing his eyes in the pic lol. But he is so cool. He is our ward mission leader. He is a recently returned missionary. He went to England, so he knows how to speak English. He has a funny english/portuguese accent. But he is seriously so cool. He still has that mission fire. He remembers what it is like and tries his best to make what we want happen. He gets these ward missionaries fired up to do some teaching with us. He is also very funny! He was a counselor at EFY in Portugal once. They have that here! It's strange, for some reason I thought they wouldn't, but they have everything the same! Mutual, seminary, firesides....a tiny different, but a lot of it is the same! 

 This is the car I want Piper to have. I can see you bopping down the road in this Pips....a lot of people here like Hello Kitty, it's kinda funny. =P

 We found this donkey! It lives in this tiny grass field in the middle of the city haha....it has this little gate all around it. We always see him running  around and he reminds me of my Colonel. <3

 This is a beautiful sunset in the beautiful country of PORTUGAL.

A cool Catholic church I saw this morning in Porto. Porto is seriously the best. I can't see how Lisbon could top it honestly.

 Some cool graffitti pics. I wonder why someone painted Utah on a wall in Portugal! MORMONS UNITE! It is literally everywhere. I think if you want to be a gangster you have to be good at painting bubble letters. But some of it is pretty! I thought this woman looking thing was pretty.....prettty.

 Am I dreaming? OUCH! nope...=)

 

We walk by this church often. 

It is eye candy to me.

 An AWESOME looking Catholic church in Porto. Reminded me of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Amazing churches everywhere. 

It's like I'm in Europe or something.

Sister Jones zoomed in on me. I guess I'm just really excited? =D

These adorable women feed us lunch every week. Filomena and her Mama. They are very nice and buy a new cake for us to try every week... it's so sweet! And we roll on down the street when we are done! Love them. <3

My Letter Home:

Sister Barron here! I had a serously awesome week! We were drenched in the rains a few times, but mormon missionaries will work rain OR shine! I have officially finished a whole transfer out in the field! (6 weeks) Me and Sister Jones were OVERJOYED to learn that we were staying companions and staying in our area of Amial C. We had to help some sisters with transfers this morning and it was hectic. I'm so glad we get to stay in our cosy little house, in this area with the people we love. So many amazing spirital experiences happened, and I am taking off in this language! Wooo I love everything!

So one day we were just walking around (as usual) and the zone leaders (elders that are in charge of the missionary work in all of the Porto North Zone) called us and told us we had a reference from the church. Okay, for those of you who don't know, this is a BIG deal! Sister Jones was under the impression that it practically never happens. But basically what that means is that someone in our area of Amial C went on the church website (mormon.org or something like that) and requested a free copy of the Book of Mormon. And the missionaries are the ones that get to deliver it! And explain a little about it! It is such a cool system! So her name was Joana. We had her address and her number. The zone leaders tell us to go...go now! So we run over there! And, of course, her address doesn't exist. The addresses here in Portugal are SO random! The numbers on a street will be 79, 98, 120...or something like that. So we call her number! and the number has been disconnected. We were so sad! But we were going to do whatever it took to get this Book of Mormon to Joana! We have determination and fire! So we go door to door, knocking and asking if they know a Joana. A few people said yes, a few said no. Someone said they thought she lived in a specific predio. So we knock there...no answer. So we write her a cute note, saying we really want to meet her and we have her Book of Mormon. We leave our number....and that was it for a few weeks. We would go back there every once in a while, but no one ever answered. FINALLY one day someone answered and said that Joana didn't live there, but they knew her and knew where she lived. So we went and knocked her door and the heavens opened and the angels sang and her mom answered! YES WE FOUND YOU, JOANA! Her mom said she got our note and was really excited and surprised that the missionaries responded so quickly! (Little did she know we had been trying for weeks haha) But we learned that Joana suffers from extreme depression and doesnt have alot of friends. She spends most of her days either in the hospital getting treatments or at home watching tv. We resolved then and there to be this girls best friends! She is 28 years old, not much more than us (compared to the people we usually teach haha) and we were able to meet her that weekend. She remembered talking to some elders 4 years ago. When you plant a seed, people remember! Don't ever think that your efforts are fruitless! You are planting the seed of faith for some other missionaries down the road, whether it is in this life or the next! But she was really excited to have her very own Book of Mormon and we taught her a little bit about it and how we came to have it.....and then at the end we invited her to be baptised. She said she would really like to be baptised. It was a total miracle. We will keep working with her to help her prepare. People are ready! There are hearts that are being opened! This is something she desparately needs in this dark time of her life. I know that she can be put to rest through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He felt all of our pains and sorrows. Don't let the time you turn to the Savior be when you are in the depths of sorrow! Reach out to Him now! Trials are humbling and bring us closer to the Savior...when we let them. I'm so glad that Joana turned to the true source of happiness, our Savior, Jesus Christ, and His church in her times of sorrow. She is so special, and I told her so!

I'm glad to get some emails from you guys! I love you all and pray for you every night! I am doing great! Like, for real, I am. Sure, sometimes my body hurts, but I am so happy! I don't think anything could get me down right now. 

The letter was a little different this week, but I just feel so spiritally on fire. Tell your Mom you love her!

Sister Barron

WEEK 11- I Promise I Do More Then Eat. =)))

 This is me next to our Rua (road)...we walk next to this highway everyday to get to our area....its great. And very very safe;)

 We tried our best to make an American meal. We made hamburgers! The fries were just cut up potatoes and the bun was a crossaint....but hey, it was dang good! We are skilled;))))

 A cool old European car. We see these little cars everywhere. I don't know what they are or what brand they are, but they are SO CUTE and I want one. ;) Like little white boxes everywhere.

 These don't look super good, but they are DELICIOUS! It's called Pao de Queijo (Bread of Cheese) and it is soossoso easy to make and sosososos delicious. Takes about 20 minutes to make. Sister Jones made them for breakfast this morning. So tell her mom she is a perfect little baker. ;) She spoils me. I doubt that it would be there in Arky, but you should look for the flour for these things at the grocery store. They have a special flour. I can send an easy way to make them if you want. =D Fun little snack.

This is Pingo Doce, our grocery shop. I like to call it O Lugar Dos Sonhos (The place of dreams)  It's like a funny tiny Walmart. We come here every pday. We are getting to know the workers there really well. The whole place smells like fish because of the stinky Bacalhau..... One thing we can buy there is this magical cereal called MY TIME! It is sosososo good. Any Portugal missionary can tell you how good it is. The one I am holding here is the chocolate version. Basically dessert for breakfast;)))) don't worrryyyyyyy I'm healthy…..=D (Fanny Pack sighting! Paige)

 It's MY TIMMMMEE…..

Sis Jones…..!!!! =I     hehe…

My Letter Home:

This week was wonderful!

Okay, so, to start off I am officially saying this.....a lot of you will probably disagree...But I have to get this off my chest.... I HATE DOGS! They are literally the most annoying thing ever to a missionary! And they are everywhere here! Imagine, you are trying to be spiritual and pray in the street or in a doorway or anywhere and there is a dog barking the whole time! It is the worst! And then they are jumping all over your church clothes and they smell bad and there is dog poop EVERWHERE.....no one picks up their dogs poop here. Like, people, cmon now.... I don't think I ever want a dog now. Mommy, I suddenly understand. No dogs for me. My eyes have been opened.

Remember last week when me and Sister Jones had a surprise musical number? Well, this week we had surprise musical numbers 2 AND 3! The first was at a Portuguese baby shower, or Festa da Chuva (Party of Rain).....it was very different.... (We made tiny little Elder Futuro tags for them....super cute) First off, the fathers got up and read a beautiful letter they wrote. I didn't understand though, because they were like bending over funny while they were reading. I thought it was just a love letter to their wives. But Sister Jones told me later that they were reading these letters to their UNBORN CHILDREN. Then the Primary children sang, and some people spoke, and then, was the awful finaly = / , me and Sister Jones and a Sister in the ward sang Fala-se com Amor (Love is Spoken Here) and it is a very high pitched song. Super sonic high. Our voices were cracking like nuts. But I think everyone thought we were crying, especially because the woman singing with us was literally sobbing. Everyone was in tears. They love us now and told us we are very beautiful singers.=)  I don't think they have a very high standard for musical ability here in Portugal. But, thanks! =D

The next musical number was at a baptism for another ward. The Asisstants to the President snagged us and asked us to sing in the missionary choir, and because they are the APs we had to say yes ;) The pianist was not very good at the music and the whole thing CRASHED AND BURNED. Like, the missionaries were all just singing, like we do, and the piano was at a totally different spot. I got the giggles and it was so hard to finish. But luckily the last verse worked out and the spirit was strong. So, I guess that's all that matters. Everyone was tearing up again. Oh, Portuguese. =)

Rui, the man who said we wanted to be baptised this week, had to be postponed:( He had an emergency work thing in Lisbon. We were very sad. But he is still set in his desire to be baptised. He always tells us about how he has already had such a huge change in his life. He has more hope now. He has more faith now. He is reading the scriptures and loving it. He was so elect, and so prepared. We don't meet many people like him, but I know now that they do exist. People who are just waiting, watching, searching for something more out of this life. It is very important that we actively search out for these souls! Not everyone is ready to hear our message, but those who are will recognize the truth of what we speak and respond! It is so amazing how this whole missionary system works. I love it. <3

Thanks for reading another episode of Sister Barron! I love you all! Reach for the stars! Achieve your dreams! And all of the above!

oxoxoxox

Sister Barron Giggle Face

WEEK 10- Email QB Style!!!

 Porto, Portugal!

 My awesome Companion Sister Jones!

 Porto North Zone Conference

An awesome day!

 Me and Sister Jones in front of a cool castle. These are everwhere in Portugal.

 And I bought a butterfinger at the American store at the mall! They do not commonly sell these in Portugal, so it was kinda a big deal. You know how I like me a butterfinger ;)

Salute USA!

  Today we went on an outing into the city! It was super fun and totally awesome. The city here is beautiful. Kinda like when we went to Spain, but in my opinion prettier. Being a missionary, everything is suddenly so much more beautiful and exciting! This pic is of me on the streets of Porto.

Here are some good pastries I tried this week. They were delicious, cream in the middle and peanuts on the outside. Mmmmm the pastries are so good, so cheap, and EVERYWHERE! =)))

 This is of my kitchen. It is pretty tiny, we have a tiny washer in the background. We do not have a dishwasher (or a lot of dishes haha....we could probably get more but we are too lazy to ask.)

 This is some homemade icecream that we made. It looks so gross, but it was actually really good! 

This is what it looks like to be on a bus in Portugal. We ride the buses here all the time. It's either that or walk!

My letter home:

Hey everyone! I don't have a ton of time today, so it is going to have to be a short one! I will make a list:

1. We see a lot of old women here in Portugal and for some reason they ALWAYS are wearing purple....we call them purple grannies. Family, you will know what I am talking about. =)

2. I had a lesson this week with 4 people at once, and it was crazy! They were all talking all at once, so fast I could hardly understand what they were saying. It sounded like they were arguing with eachother! I only found out later that everything was good, that's just how the Portuguese are haha. They LOVE to talk. We have had street contacts that have lasted like 40 minutes because the people just talktalktalktalktalktalk. =)

3. I went to zone conference! It was so fun! And I WAS IN A MUSICAL NUMBER! We didn't know until we saw the program! And it was probably the highest notes ever =0.....and now someone in the ward has signed us up to sing at an upcoming baby shower! ummmm people, we are not singers! Haha I guess being a sister missionary means you are automatically musically talented. 

4. We invited 16 people to be baptized this week!

5. I put a pass along card in the hat of a sleeping homeless man...…Sister Jones dared me. =)

6. The pianist in our ward is 8 years old! They are in desparate need of a musician....when they found out that neither Sister Jones or I could play, they were very disappointed. Practice your music, boys and girls!

7. I bore my testimony in church on Sunday. Everyone thought I was so ´´courageous´´ haha.....is that code for ´´your portuguese needs practice´´? Hope not. =)

8. I ate BLOOD OF PIGS!!!!! And it wasn't even that bad. It looked like this dark brown spongy stuff mixed in with the meat.....lol What's next, bring it on!

9. We invited a man last night to be baptized. His name is Rui (pronounce the R like you are clearing your throat....so kinda like hooee)...He is an old man (surprise) and he is kinda lonely.  I think he is really interested! He came to church on Sunday and LOVED IT!!! He really loved our church because he said it felt like a family. It was a total miracle, because we had only ever talked to him on the phone. We had his number from some past missionaries. Later that night we went to his apartment and taught him the story of Joseph Smith in the doorway. I felt like I was in that garage scene in Sons of Provo because the light in the hall was on a timer and would go off like every 2 minutes. I had to keep pressing the button. But even though it was probably the most distracted lesson ever, it was SO powerful. I think he really felt the spirit of what we were saying. He said he felt ´´lift´´ when he came to church......like relief and peace. I hope all goes well and he is baptized this upcoming Sunday. I know it will bless his life more than he can imagine. 

I love you all! Big ol´ beijinhos! I know this church is true!

Sister Barron <3

Missionaries of Amial (aka best ward in the country)

We got another email the next morning!:

My zone leader let us email this morning because we only got like half an hour yesterday. And I'm really happy because we had a totally awesome experience last night!

A little note beforehand: Last week we were walking around Ermesindes trying to find a street (as usual) when we ran into our Stake President, President Gimes! He is really awesome, and he helped us find our street. We told him a little about the man we were going to see and asked if he knew anyone we could help. He gave us some names and then said goodbye and left. The next day at church he went up and bore his testimony. It was a few people after I bore my testimony.. and during it he talked about us. He said he was walking down the street and saw two ´´anjas na rua´´ or ´´angels on the street´´....he tearfully bore his testimony about the missionaries and how we are called of God, and how he knew it when he saw us that we were truly angels of God. It kinda took us aback, we do not consider ourselves angels, but it was such a sweet thing of him to say. We loved it.

We went back to see Rui that night. We love him so much. He is just drinking in this gospel. He was asking us all these questions about his upcoming baptism this Sunday, like what to wear and bring....whenever he would look away me and Sister Jones would look at eachother with these shining faces of amazement and excitement! =D We were kinda nervous though, because the night before he had talked a little about how he loves to drink coffee and how he thinks it's really healthy for him. We were not looking forward to the Word of Wisdom lesson we would have to have the next time we saw him. Anyway, the time came for us to tell him that coffee is not good to drink. He was a little surprised when we said it at first, but he immediately agreed to live by this law. It was a total miracle. It was so amazing. He said ´´Para mi, ja acabou´´ or ´´for me, its already finished´´......the spirit was so strong. He is so ready to change. He was totally prepared. He had quit smoking and drinking a few years earlier and has totally seen a difference in his life. He seems really excited for his baptism, we just hope we can prepare him adequately. 

When we said goodbye that night after praying with him, we turned to leave, and he stood outside his apartment to watch us leave, waving the whole time...and when I saw that I remembered Brother Gimes words about how we are angels. In Ruis eyes, we are angels! We have brought him something that he has been searching for, a peace and a lift that he can only find in this gospel. Each time we pray he tears up...and I know he feels the truth of what we teach. We are so excited for him and I hope everything goes smoothly for his baptism. I know that this gospel is rolling forward, we are finding these people who have been prepared, we are doing everything we can to save these precious children of God. I'm just glad I am here to witness it.

I love you guys! Stay golden!

Your Girl

WEEK 9-The Three Jose's! Yes way Jose!

This is me and Sister Sorensen who I went on divisions with! She is super cool and said that her Mom knows my Mom! I guess you guys were friends in college? She is super fixe. (cool) I learned a lot from her! (Note from Paige: This girl is the daughter of one of my best friends at BYU Hawaii! I lost contact with her until we found each other on the Portugal Missionary Parent page on Facebook. Both of our girls are serving in Portugal. =D I am so happy that they got to serve together for the day!)

This is me in front of our 

awesome chapel on Pday!

  I wanted to take a pic in my Portugal jersey. Everyone thinks it is so cool,  people here are VERY spirited when it comes to futebol.

 Here I am showing my enthusiasm for Port futbol.

 This is our living room and where we study. Below is also our laundry rack. =)
 No one has dryers here.

 This is the view from our window. No ocean to be seen! Haha but I love it. The north is actually super cool. Our apartment is in Amial, but our area consists of mostly Sao Mamede de Infesta and sometimes when we feel crazy we head up to Emersindes for a day which is also in our area.

 We have a large area and have a 

hard time really covering it all. 

 This is a Portuguese food unique to the north called a Francesinha. Basically, its a sandwich full of TONS of meat with an egg on top, covered with slices of cheese, and all this sauce on it with fries on the side. Basically a heart attack on a plate. =) It was good, but don't worry about me eating these everyday and becoming a blimp. But it was fun to try it out! Viva Portugal! We went and ate them on Sister Jones birthday. She's twenty!

 These are some reallyyyyy good pastries called ´´pastes com natas´´ or pastries with cream. They are really good and Portuguese.

 Not too sweet, but very delicious. =)

We found this tiny door on a random little street and thought it was funny. 

It even had a tiny letter slot!

 People drive VWs here all the time!  I had to take a picture in honor of Junebug. And plus it matched my skirt.

 This is the little Easter layout I put together to celebrate! Feliz Pascoa! =P

(Sister Jones provided the American candy...yay!)

 This is our shower (don't worry Daddy, we got it fixed.) It was a fun adventure for a while haha. The edge would give us little cuts sometimes. 

Gotta love the mission life!

 Haha ´´careful with the dog´´.....we walk past weird looking doors like this all the time.

 On Easter, all the cute little Catholic churches decorate with palm leaves and flowers. And it's also a day that almost everyone goes to church!  There are tons of these little churches, like 4 in our area. LOVE how cute they are.

Also, everyone lays out flowers in front of their doors. Not sure exactly what it is supposed to mean, but it is a cute tradition.

So I guess this camera is actually way cooler than we thought it was? It has this flippin sweet setting where you can change peoples faces to make it look like they are smiling. We had some fun with it;) It also has all these different effects and stuff you can do....I promise to send more pictures now haha!

My Letter Home:

Hey everyone! Sister Barron here again! The meninas would like to wish you all a FELIZ PASCOA!!!! (Happy Easter!) I hope you all ate chocolate until you were sick. This week was huge! My two month mark! Wooooo, I am officially 1/9th done with my mission! Moving so fast! This week we also had: Sister Jones birthday, my first zone meeting, General Conference, my first divisions, and much much more! Stay tuned for more details.....

This week I met three men named José. They were all very unique. But all equally children of God. I would like to start out with One-legged Jose:

So we had records from past missionaries here that they had been teaching this man named Jose Barbosa that had only one leg. I think he lost it in a car accident. But they always met him on a bench in the middle of the town square and would teach him about Jesus and the gospel. We didn't have an address for him. Then one night we were walking and we saw a one legged man and thought HEY that must be Jose Barbosa! Haha he was very confused about how we already knew his name. But we invited him to come to conference and he said yes!!! Wooooo!!!! So we told him we would meet him on his favorite bench and walk with him to conference the next day. And he was there! So we walked with him, verrryyyyy slowly, the mile to get to the church. He was a trooper on his crutches.  I love how as a missionary we associate with people from all walks of life. =)

No teeth Jose: he saw us walking with one legged Jose a few days ago and followed us to church! Apparently he had been baptised into the church years ago but he had stopped coming. But when he saw us with one legged Jose he just came right along! Haha he's funny. Lovesss the missionaries. When we asked him why he didn't have dentures, he responded ´´I dont need them!´´ Haha funny dude. I hope he can start coming back. He said he really liked Conference!

Last but not least, "not giving up" Jose: He has been meeting with the missionaries for years, but he hasn't been baptised because he cannot give up his drinking habits. It's so sad to see, because this addiction has seriously taken over his life. He has so many health problems because of it. And he always talks about how he wants to quit. But he just cant muster up the will to really DO it. Poor guy. We are not really sure what to do for him. Hopefully he is relying on the Lord like he needs to. We can do all things through Christ and his Atonement. He has felt all the pains of the world, every pain of every average Jose. He knows me, and you, and each of these men perfectly and just wants them to come back to him. I hope I can fulfill my duty in bringing each of these precious children of God back into His presence. I will do whatever I have to, whether it is walk with a crippled man for an hour and a half or learn a language or walk until my shoes fall apart in order to please my Heavenly Father. That is all I want.

This week I had my first divisions. That means I had a different companion for a day. I was paired with a Sister Sorensen! (This is the daughter of My Mom's friend when she went to BYU Hawaii!!!)  She is in her last transfer, so she is getting ready to go home soon! She is such and awesomeee missionary. She really inspired me and showed me exactly how I can do this work to the fullest. It was strange to not be with Sister Jones, especially because she kinda made me be in charge. Haha I am kinda used to just following my senior companion. I don't know what I'm doing! But it was really good. I gave out some cards with a link to an awesomeee Easter video (#PorqueEleVive or i guess #BecauseHeLives. Go watch it! It is seriously the coolest). It was an awesome experience and at the end of the day we had a dinner appointment with some ward members. We had bacalhau (codfish) and olives. It was literally the saltiest thing I have every eaten. Sososoososos salty. I was drinking water like crazy for hours trying to recover. I had some other good foods this week, I'm sure my Mom will post pics on my blog. (Go there for more information:)

I love this missionary work! Even when people give us wrong addresses and make fun of us (haha they always call out ´´OI ELDER!´´ lol we are the SISTERSSSSS) I know that this is the closest I can get to walking in the Saviors footsteps. I love it. I cannot wait to get better in this language haha, but I know that I can do this. A mission is an eye opening experience. There is a whole WORLD out there, full of different people and different things to experience. But we are all the same in a few ways, we all want the best for our families and want to be happy. That is why this gospel is universal, because it can be applied to these sacred, personal needs. I love you all and I hope you all do something nice for someone else this week. I officially challenge you all to serve someone, someone unexpected, and see the way it changes your day. 

This is Sister Barron, signing out. <3