WEEK 43: A Week of Firsts!

 After I cut Sister Bakkers hair, she sent a lock of it in a letter to her family. I thought it was cute. (I didn't even know I could cut other peoples hair but it turned out good!) 

We bought a little Christmas tree at the Chinese store! It was TOTALLY worth it! I already put my presents underneath it! Ahhhh anticipation!!!!

 For Thanksgiving we made a PUMPKIN PIE!!! and it was dang good! We MIGHT have eaten the whole thing in 24 hours......I didn't even know I liked pumpkin pie!!!

We were pretty psyched. Apparently pumpkin pie is Sister Bakkers favorite. =P

This was the weird looking pumpkin after we baked it.

Letter Home:

This week was so fun and awesome. Sister Bakker is absolutely hilarious and so much fun. We crack up together everyday. I love it so much. She truly is a happy missionary. I love it! :)

My comp trusted me enough to let me cut her hair this week. I think it turned out good!  I have been cutting my own hair for years but this was the FIRST time that I cut someone else’s hair! Lol I neglected to tell her that until after I had finished. =) She may or may not have been a little shocked..... haha

We were in a lesson yesterday and in the middle of teaching I saw a louse on Sister Bakkers head! It was just hanging out literally on the top of her head. Well, there was no WAY that I was going to let this happen, so I invited our investigator to read a scripture and I SNATCHED the louse right in the middle of the lesson. Sister Bakker looked at me like I was crazy, and then it dawned on her and she just said, "...lice?" and I nodded my head. Well, after that it was realllyyyy hard to concentrate on testifying with the spirit and whatnot. But we finished the lesson and the investigator and the member were none the wiser. At the end of the day we did a THOROUGH check on both of our heads and neither of us had anything. I think she might have gotten it in that moment and I just happened to snatch it. MIRACLES ARE REAL! There is no wayyyyy I am getting lice on my mission! I have heard too many horror stories! Ummm no way. Nonetheless, we will have our hair in tight buns and braids for the next few weeks. Not worth the risk. It’s hard because in Portugal people greet each other by kissing each other’s cheeks, a perfect opportunity for the little buggers to jump from head to head. Ahhhh sorry Portugal, but beijinhos are risky!

We have some amazing investigators here. We are teaching this really cute girl named Liana, or Lili:) She is so cute and absolutely loves coming to church and participating in all the activities. She is 15, but she is like an African Amazon woman and looks like she is 18. =) She is almost as tall as me. This was a new change here: Africans are really tall! I feel almost normal here! Lili wants so badly to be baptized but in this moment her Mom isn’t letting her. But we can visit whenever we want and she has no problems with us so that is good:)

I haven’t really started my Sister Training Leader duties yet. Basically all that changed is that we planned divisions and have more conference calls. Haha wheee!!!!.......

 I absolutely loveee this area! It is so different than any of my past areas. I feel like I am in Brazil or Africa. Basically our whole ward are Brazilians and Capo Verdeans. It is so fun. There are a bunch of youth here and they are all pumped about sharing the gospel and going on missions. It is so fun to get to know them and hear about their plans for the future. I can say with all my heart that my mission in the funnest and craziest things I have ever done. I love it so much. I can’t imagine what it is like to live like a normal person now. What do you all do all day? Haha 

I love you all! 

Sister Barron

PS. Shout out to my Bae Alyssa!!!! Your email BLEW ME AWAY!!!

WEEK 42- SURPRISES!

 We got to go to the BEACH! Good thing too, because who knew that we would both be transferred and this was our last P-day in Portimao.

 Beach Babe! Haha, but I can't swim.

 My cute Companion!

 When we took this picture we didn't know that we would soon be leaving each other. =(

 The Elders in our district.

 This is all in our area.

 Haha! I tried to snag a picture of Sister Olsen and the speedo man....maybe you shouldn't post this one Mommy. ( Lol! Posted it.)

 With the beach air, my nails have grown tremendously.

 For her family.

 Our awesome district! Elder Empey had the longest arm, so he took the picture.

 She was on cloud nine!

Sad to see this time together come to an end. 

I love her.

 This is Ricardo. He is learning about the church. In this picture, he is drawing a picture in my diary.

 My cute comp.

 We were knocking doors one day and no one answered at this door. But they had this chalk board outside the door, so I drew on it. It says, "God loves you!" and our number. Hopefully they call! =D

 We contacted this old fisherman on a bridge one night and he didn't want anything to do with our message, but he thought that we were so nice that he gave us a HUGE sack of fish! The new Sisters in our house will wonder why there is so much fish in the freezer. (Sister Neves was transferred to Portimao! So we all know she can cook the fish!)

 This is Fernando Bailot, he was our ward mission leader. He was INCREDIBLE!!! He brought this huge cake for our correlation meeting. He was the one that took our bunches of bags to the bus stop this morning. He is an awesome forever friend! 

He always had our back.

 My new planner! "Son of the most high!" 

I drew it! Christmas is coming!

 This is Nuno. He would go teaching with us every now and then.

 A picture from my normal spot....the piano bench!

 Brother Bailot again and my dear friend Paula. She was so sweet and invited us over once. She is a special soul and I love her a lot.

 CARINA!!!! She is amazing! She would drive us around and teach people with us! She would drop everything to help us out. I totally love her. She found the church a few years ago, and now she is married to a returned missionary in the temple! Her life totally changed, jumped tracks! 

She is so amazing!

 This is Samuel, the son of Sonia. He is super cool! Future missionary!

 This is Irma, I talk about her in my letter below. Bless her heart Heavenly Father.

The last supper! Eating dinner in President Almeidas house! We basically demanded to eat with them on our last day in Portimao. It was fun knowing that we would be leaving so we could take pictures with the members and say goodbye to the beautiful people of Portimao.

Letter Home:

I WAS TRANSFERRED! I am now in Mem Martins, an area close to Lisbon. I was called to be a Sister Training Leader, which means that I will be going on divisions with other Sisters and teaching and helping them! I am sooo PUMPED to help and meet all the sisters! AND go to Mission Counsel! Wheee this will be an adventure! It was really hard to say goodbye to Sister Olsen. She is super special. She is totally a soldier. <3 We enjoyed this time as companions.

We heard from someone that this week the son of one of our members here, Irma Mira, had died of cancer. It had been really hard for her and the family. So me and Sister Olsen decided to go to the funeral. It was my first time going to a Catholic funeral. It was sad how everyone was crying so much. I just wanted to stand on the pew and declare that THEY WILL SEE HIM AGAIN! We had decided right before the funeral to buy a few flowers. We bought a yellow and white rose. We wrote a nice note. After the Padre had read from the Bible and everyone recited their prayers together, the congregation would follow the car carrying the casket for the cemetery. When Sister Mira was getting in the car, I felt a huge prompting to give her our flowers. There was kinda a huge group of people, but I wormed my way through and gave her our small offering. They looked pretty pitiful next to the hugeee bouquets of flowers other people had given. But Mira accepted them like they were the most beautiful of them all. It was a short walk. We felt a little strange, being missionaries from another church, but the whole thing felt like a good statement. I saw a lottt of people looking at our nametags and reading what they said. We will support and love people no matter what faith they have. And in this moment, Sister Mira needed support so we were there. Eventually we arrived at the cemetery, at the grave. When they were unloading the casket, Irma Mira insisted to put OUR flowers directly on his casket. Ours were the only flowers that went down with him into the earth. It was a symbolic move on her part. WE KNOW we will be with our families forever. This is something that I know. We were sealed in the temple. That means that we are linked together through time and all eternity. After the casket was buried, we stood there and sang some hymns with Mira, just us three singing. Other people looked on. It was really sad. And really beautiful. I will never forget it.

I love you all! There is so much more I want to say, but my Mommy wanted pictures so I had to deliver:)

Until the next adventure!

Sister Barron 

This is my new companion!!!  Sister Bakker!!!