WEEK 34- Eu Te Amo!!!

 Sister Neves taught me how to make a chicken dish and I was being all squeamish with the raw meat and she exclaimed, "Grab the meat Sister! Ahh.. you are so white!" Lol!!!

Just so you know, the chicken dish was so delicious and wonderful. I have really matured in my fear of touching raw meat.

 I'm a big girl now Mama! =D

My latest planner....they are becoming more practical. Something that I can use in my teaching.

 I ate the weirdest fruit this week. I have no idea what it is called. Sister Neves said that they have these in Brazil. It was kinda like a melon with giant seeds. It was really good.

We made some cake this week....my comp is really cute. =)

My Letter Home:

BOM DIA IRMÂOS E IRMAS! 

(That is how you start a talk over the pulpit in Portugal)

This week was new, fun, and an adventure!

So a while back my comp got a bug thing in her stomach, and she got REALLY sick. She is a crazy hard worker, and basically never took a break even though she was throwing up all over the place. So I finally put my foot down and called the missionary couple that is in charge of helping us with health issues. They booked an appointment for us at the local hospital and on Friday we went. Let me tell you, it was absolute CRAZINESS! There were people crying, and I didn’t understand what was going on, and it was NOT clear where to go or who to talk to or what we needed. We basically wandered around asking everyone until we finally ended up in the right place. But then we found out we had missed our appointment and it had been cancelled, so we had to make another appointment and do it all againnnnnn. Oh my goodness, such a waste of time. That is one thing I see a lot here. Ways that things could be more efficient, ways for businesses to save money....things that they are not doing. If I was the Queen of the Azores, things would run so much more smoothly. It would be glorious. (I like to think so anyway. LOL!) =P

This week we marked Joana’s parents, Minda and Marco, to be baptized on Sunday! They are really good people. They truly want to live like Christ. They have the purest intentions. I hope everything goes smoothly for their baptism and their marriage. They will be in my prayers a lot this week. I love them both so much.

I used one of my stories a lot this week. It was the story of me and my friend Whitney back when we were in high school. One day during the winter, we went to school. When we got there everything was CRAYCRAY because the entire student parking lot was covered in a thin sheet of ice. Cars were stuck everywhere and people were all stressed out. We were walking into the school and there was  this huge white van stuck in the ice. My friend Whitney said that we should go and push the car and try to help him get free. I was kinda skeptical because we were two girls, but I agreed. We went and pushed that van with all our might and LO AND BEHOLD the van got free! The man drove away and he was very thankful. We got SOOOOO excited, we were so happy that we had helped someone. We started helping other cars and calling out to passing students to come and help us. I didn’t even care if I would be late to class because I was helping others. When I finally got into school (NOT late) I started telling all my classmates " If any of you see a car stuck in the ice, go and help them! It makes you feel so good!" It really is true. When we help people, without having to be asked, you get this special feeling that doesn’t come any other way. 

Random fact: I conduct all the music in our branch! Everyone laughs at me because sometimes I have a hard time reading Portuguese, singing, and directing all at the same time. Good thing they all like me! =D

Até logo!

Sister Barron

WEEK 33- High School Musical!

 I cut my hair! Fun fact: I have been cutting my own hair since I was 13 years old. My Mom cut it before that. I think I have been to a salon like twice in my life. Don't worry Mommy, I am growing it out again. It just needed it.

Sister Neves really wanted me to make her "American Cookies".....I was happy to oblige. Although I am ashamed to admit that this batch burned a little...:(

 She is in her "Adventure Time" Prep Day shirt. She really does wear it every Prep Day! =D

My Letter Home:

Hey fans, friends, and family!

Sister Neves and I had a KILLER High School Musical Dance party in a desperate attempt to work out! Cuz its the STARTTT of something NEWWW.

This week Sister Neves hit her ONE YEAR mark, so we decided we would do something a little fun. (It’s funny how all of my companions have hit their one year mark with me. =P ) So there is this beautiful Catholic church up on this really steep hill, and I always had wanted to look inside and see what was in there. So we made the trek up the steep hill and went inside. It was totally BEAUTIFUL. It had all the getups, statues and nice music, etc. We went all the way up to the top tower. I swear, we looked out over the whole island. It was amazing. While we were there, we met the caretaker of the chapel. His name is Mario. He is a very interesting person because he is not religious at all, yet he spends the majority of his time caring for an old Catholic church. Apparently it was totally run down and abandoned for a long time, like teenagers would hang out there to drink and whatnot, but he BOUGHT it and fixed it up. I don’t know if it really counts as a church anymore, he puts on theaters and stuff like that now. But anyways, we started teaching him! And it was funny because we were sitting right outside this Catholic church teaching him. But he was very interested in what we were saying, AND he even came to church with us this week! He showed up on his little bicycle. We have marked him to be baptized this weekend! I hope everything goes smoothly and God answers his prayer to know that this church is true. How fun is that!

This weekend was amazing because we got to hear from one of the SEVENTY! In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we have a prophet, twelve apostles, and then there is a group of seventy below them. This is how the church of Jesus Christ was organized in the Bible. So it was a big deal that we got to hear from him. He was Portuguese, and veryyyyy Santa Clausey. He was chuckling the whole time. He had some very good advice on how we can help new people in the church stay. We also got to hear from the Mission President and his wife. They are so adorable and have the BEST mission stories. There was one week of his mission where President Tavares baptized 40 people! Like what?!?

This week was also really special because I got to teach some of our investigators with my recent convert, Joana. She was absolutely AMAZING! She bore her testimony with so much power. She is on fire  with this major discovery in her life. The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love her so much. She is an example to all the members that have lost their fire for missionary work. She will take us to her friends houses without a moment of hesitation.

I love you all and I hope you all have a fantastic week! I know this church is true! I talk to a lot of people who say "I believe all churches are true!"...but I’m sorry, that doesn’t make sense. All churches teach different things! There is only one God, there should only be one church! He is not a God of confusion! He has one way, one gospel, one baptism! And I believe that this church is the one true church in the world! Don’t take my word for it, go and ask of God!

Loveeee, Sister Barron <3

WEEK 32- BYU COUGS I LOVE YOU!

 This is so normal.

 Our awesome hike to Relva on Prep Day.

 The Azores really are a paradise.

 My comp is a spicy Brazilian BEAUTY.

Some delicious food Sister Neves made for me.

 We went to a place called Furnas again. I have been there, but it was fun to go with Sister Neves. It is a lot like Yellow Stone, lots of naturally hot springs, actually boiling hot. Steam is floating up everywhere. I lot of people put bags of corn on the cob into the hot water for it to cook. That is what I have in my hand....it was really good! This is DEFINITELY a wonderful place... you can tell because of all of the old American tourists walking around with their fanny packs!

Mmmm...cwown

 (That's how Piper said it when she was a baby.)

                           

"There are these natural springs drinking fountains that you can try......and they are varying degrees of grotty." Sister Neves

My Letter Home:

I feel like so much is going on in the real world and I am out on these forgotten islands that no one knows about! It is fun, definitely, but I am the lasttt one to hear about any sort of news. Oh and by the way...

GOOOOOO COUGSSSSSS WHOOOOOOOOO! Is a legend happening without me?! Everyone stop having fun for 11 months! Looks like we have an awesome new quarterback! RISE AND SHOUT COUGSSSS!!!

This week was so fun! Sister Neves is hilarious. I think it is a sign you are pretty good at a language when you can understand sarcasm. =D She is so hilarious, we are always laughing and screaming and freaking out and talking to people. It is an absolute blast.

This Sunday, all of the new missionaries in our branch were given the opportunity to speak in church. Luckily I am one of the seasoned/oldies here on the Azores (heehee) so I was able to sit in the audience and soak it up. I can testify of the power of a missionary. We had a variety of missionaries (Greenie, Brazilian, American, Mozambiquiandfahsdlfk) and all of them spoke with such amazing power. Elder Kaelberer ( I know, poor guy...the Portuguese will never get his name right) spoke amazingly well for his 2nd Sunday in Portugal. I had little flashbacks to when I was a greenie in Amial, bearing my testimony for the first time in front of the congregation. Sister Neves had a wonderful talk too. She spoke about rescuing those members that have fallen by the wayside. She said something that really hit me. She said "Look around, a lot of the chairs are empty. How many of our brothers and sisters will we allow to fall away without anyone there to catch them?" I know that she is inspired. But the talk that really hit me was by Elder Mubai, an AMAZING elder from Mozambique. He has the most deep voice I have probably ever heard, (he could be a radio talkshow host.) But he spoke about how this branch has so much potential, and that NOW is the time for the members to put forth a little more effort and go the extra mile to duplicate the amount of people here. His words hit the heart, he spoke with the spirit. I can testify that when we put on this nametag, we are given the spiritual gift to speak to people’s hearts.

This mission is the best mission because it is the mission for ME! Everyday is a battle, my legs hurt and my feet hurt and I sometimes struggle to talk to people...but I just have to keep going. The Lord has His hand in this work. But it is all worth it! I love the Lord and I love this work! Until next week!

Sister Barron

Random Fun Fact: I have already worn out 4 pairs of shoes! To all you future sisters: BUY THE UGLY BUT COMFORTABLE SHOES. THE NURSING/LIBRARIAN SHOES.  THE ONES I SWORE I WOULD NOT GET. YOU WILL STOP CARING ONCE YOU ARE OUT IN THE FIELD. It is so very worth it. My sense of fashion has gone out the window.

WEEK 31-Sister Neves can dance the SAMBA! Cha Cha Cha....

MY NEW COMPANION! Sister Neves! She is so very cool. She is sassy, has a lot of spirit, teaches with a LOT of power. I am learning so much from her (including how to dance the Samba and COOK Brazilian food! And how to tell horror stories in Portuguese (which end up being WAY more funny then scary.))

Haha! Right after I took this picture she said, "Sister, I am very ugly right now and if you send that picture to your Mom, I will kill you......."HEHE I'M SENDING IT LOLOLOL! Don't worry, she says stuff like that all the time. She is hilarious and hates cats. She says in Brazil they would eat cats. You can imagine how horrified Paulo Jorge was when he heard this, he lives with about 20 cats that he calls his "criancas". (His children.) =D

Sometimes I find weird fruits that I have never tried before in the US and I buy them. One of them was this. I don't remember the name of it but it was like a flat peach. I affectionally named them our "teething rings".......they were really good, kinda tasted like an apricot inside. I title this picture, "My Georgia peaches!"

My letter home:

I HIT MY 7 MONTH MARK! WHOOOOO

This week has been really interesting. Sister Neves doesn’t know this area at all, so I have to kinda lead us around. I was really nervous before because I have never really been the one to drive this car we call missionary work, but it has been going great! We haven’t gotten lost a single time! This week I have realized a bunch of things I have learned and that I am learning out here on the mission. Here is a quick list: 

-How to read a map! Before my mission I would look at a map, laugh, and whip out my iphone with GPS. But now I can use a map with ease, look at it and imagine the street in my mind. It’s incredible! 

-Cook! My new companion is teaching me the basics of how to cook. She said that she has been cooking meals for her family since she was 14 years old. She knows alllll the spices and whatnot (haha the first day she came to our house she went through all the spices and threw away about half of them that had gone bad and had mold. oopsy, I didn’t even realize!) She is a master at Brasilian meats and beans and rice and all the good stuff. :P

-Clean! You would not believe the gross stuff that gets accumulated in a house of missionaries. We live in kind of a temporary mentality, like "what’s the point of unpacking, I will leave in 6 weeks" or "what’s the point of cleaning the fridge, I will just let the next missionaries clean that up." The result? A HUGE ACCUMULATION OF ABOUT 1000 PLASTIC BAGS FROM THE LOCAL GROCERY STORE HIDDEN IN THE CLOSET! Cmon people! Are we animals? Clean up what you get out! Ja heez! ( imagine that in the voice of Kip from Napoleon Dynamite) 

-Power through being awkward! Many times in life, when people feel awkward, they shut down or run away. Heads up friends, missionary work is the most awkward thing I have ever done in my life! But we just have to power through and be cooler than that. 

I had such an overwhelming feeling of fulfillment this week when Joana was confirmed. She received the GIFT of the Holy Ghost. This means that from now on, if she is following the commandments and keeping her covenants, she has the PROMISE from the Lord that the Holy Spirit will be with her. It was a great opportunity for me to see her smile afterwards with her teary eyes. She really is so special. And in the same day she went up to the pulpit and shared her very first testimony with everyone. I felt like a happy mommy watching my child go to their first day of school. Joana has such a strong testimony already. She is already so integrated into the ward, is already one of the youth. She is attending seminary and cleaning the church and coming to English classes and everything. I love her so much. I will never forget her, and I totally teared up when she said in her testimony that "We thank God everyday that the sisters were sent to our house."

One thing that I like a lot that my Dad wrote on my blanket (before my mission my mom made me a quilt, a lot of you signed it. I use it everyday! I love it so much and all my comps think it is adorable!) He said "You never have to be embarrassed. The people who reject you will forget you. The people who accept you will LOVE YOU FOREVER!" I testify that this is true. We never have to be afraid of rejection. This work is bigger than that.

I know that this church is true. I will NOT give heed when people try to convince me I am wrong everyday. I have seen the changes happen in people’s lives. I have witnessed miracles. I have witnessed hearts change. I know that to gain this certainty, every single one of us has to get on our knees and ask the One person who knows everything. There is no other way to know. 

I love you all with all my heart! You are in my prayers! 

Sister Quincey Barron