Week 56: Press On!

 This morning we surprised Helia and brought her a cake and a kiesh for her Birthday! She really loved it! We call her our Mission Mom. 

<3 Love her so much!

 My NEW scriptures! 

My old quad.....REFORMED. 

I got them rebound and I LOVE them!

We spent last P-Day at our awesome friend Renata's house! She is super legit and so much fun! She speaks fluent English and seriuosly is one of my favs.

 Had to get a pic with the giraffes cause it's my Momma's favorite animal.

 We went to the Zoo today for P-day! It is the biggest zoo in Portugal! We had a great time!

 Even got to see the Dolphin Show!

 The Elders kept crashing our pics....

 Lions!

 We found this in the grocery store this morning and had to take pictures. Ew! 

(It is wrapped in plastic.)

I wasn't so sure....

My letter Home:

This week we found some new people to teach that have huge potential! One of them was a cool story. Back when I was back with Sister Bakker, we one day saw an older woman struggling to carry a large TV. We ran up to help her, along with another random girl. After helping her, I really wanted to get the information of the girl who helped us but she left. Later with Sister Aiono, we found the same girl again! =D Yesterday we went in her house and taught her and her little brother! Her name is Mara and she is from Capo Verde. It was awesome and I am so excited to keep teaching her!

We had a huge stake conference this weekend and we were able to hear a Seventy speak! It was really awesome and I especially loved his wife’s talk. She spoke about how we can truly use the Atonement to get through the toughest moments in our lives. Everyone hits a rock bottom in his or her life...but because of the Atonement we can build up from these dark moments to something beautiful. We can become something clean, beautiful, and ultimately stronger.

I am so thankful for all the amazing support I have received on my mission! I really do appreciate it! I love that blanket that my Momma made for me that a lot of you signed! I still use it, read your notes you wrote on it! They make me giggle, feel happy and loved.

I love you all!

Sister Barron

Week 55: Musical Chairs!

 This is our friend Renata! We spent this P-day at her house. =) She is from Cacem and is soooo cool! Also, she speaks fluent English.

 This is Sonia and her sweet son Reuben. 

We love them so much!

 This is a group picture of the training meeting that we had with a visiting General Authority of the church. His name is Elder Dyches. It was a wonderful and inspirational meeting!

 This is us and the Bishops family! We had lunch at their house after church. He is seriously the coolest Bishop. We love him!

My Letter Home:

This Sunday all of our investigators in church were children. I really love how the Savior taught us that we should become as little children. In so many instances they are so prepared and open to the message...while their parents are not. It’s so hard because we really want them to have support in the home to help them on this path. We will continue working with them.

We taught primary this week in church. It was crazzyyyyy! Haha there is a big primary here in Mem Martins. We taught them about the tree of life and then played some games. Sister Aiono learned a lot of command form Portuguese words as she told them to "Sit! Wait! Listen! Stop!" (Good learning experience:)

This week we heart-attacked an Sister in our ward named Hélia. I affectionately call her my mission mom. We stuck all the little hearts on her door and then rang the doorbell and jumped in the elevator. Apparently she got so freaked out and thought we were robbers. Hahah She is the best! She takes care of us and always gives the best hugs. 

One of my favorite people in Mem Martins is a man named Mariano. He is a recent convert that was taught by Sister Bakker. He is soooo funny. When he was baptized he was homeless. But now he has work, has the priesthood, and got a haircut! This week he was a great example of a member missionary and invited one of his friends to hear the missionary discussions. It was funny because his friends name was Helder (pronounced Elder). He is very Evangelical and was fun to teach. Right after hearing the First Vision, he motioned for us to be quiet, pulled out his phone, and played some Christian rock music. Haha we got some giggles. He is really nice and I hope he comes to church next Sunday!

This Saturday we had an activity. Me and Sister Aiono were in charge. We had invited this 13 year old less active named Luis to come and he said he would bring his friends. Well, surprise for us, he shows up to the activity with like 7 friends! And the funniest part was that we recognized this little gang of boys! They always follow us in the streets yelling "Hello! My name is! My name is!" haha they get a big kick out of hearing us speak English. Not gonna lie, sometimes they are a little annoying...like when they stole our bag of Cheetos! Anyways, so Luis walks in the church with these crazy little boys and I just think to myself...well, this will be interesting. But in the end it was a huge success! We got them under control and had a really good experience. Sister Aiono had a ton of ideas of games to play that she did at family reunions and we did musical chairs and everything. All the members were so excited and supportive. They definitely love the Sisters! We love these people!

I love you all!

Sister Barron

Week 54- Happy Valentines Day!!!

This is Netinha! She was baptized last weekend! We love her! Notice the words "Jesus Cristo" in the picture....you can't PLAN that! Sparkles!!!!

 The district at her baptism.

 Transfers came and......

WE ARE BOTH STAYING!!! YES!!

This is us celebrating when we found out.

 Today we went to a palace for P-day!

It is called: Palacio De Pena

In my hand I hold a Kings orange!!! 

(I feel so regal!)

Weirdos

 Pics inside the castle.

The District decided that this is 

my future child apparently.....

 Fairy land.

 Us with some youth in the ward.

 We gave this to Elder Nash who had a birthday. Remember this?! We posed for Christmas pictures in it! Happy Birthday!

Selfies!

My Letter Home:

Happy Valentines day!!! 

TRANSFERSSSSS: I am staying in Mem Martins (aka the promised land!) with my baby Sister Aiono! I am soooo happy and excited to stay here in the best area ever! This transfer is going to be full of miracles and baptisms, I can just feel it!

I have been called as the new Trainer of the Sister Training Leaders. Still not sure what that means. Basically I get to help with Baptismal documents and do divisions with all the STLs. I am superrrr excited and ready to work! I love divisions so much, getting to talk to and help the Sisters is the best thing that I can do with my time:) They are my first priority. 

This week we went and found Paulo and were teaching him everything. We had some really powerful lessons with him in the middle of a park. It was really awesome. But then on Thursday we showed up for our appointment with him and everything went wrong. I was on a division with Sister Jarnagin. Paulo started saying all these things that aren’t true, like how we worship Joseph Smith and don’t believe in the Bible, etc... It was all complete lies!  So we dug a little deeper to find out why he thought those things and it turns out he found some anti-mormon material on the internet. It shook his whole testimony and he decided that he didn’t want to meet with us anymore or go to church with us. We were really hurt. It is so very important to listen to the spirit when searching for truth, not man, the world or the internet. )We testified with all our hearts but he had already made his decision. When he told us he would be going to other churches, I told him to go. But that he will never feel what he felt in our church and when he was talking with us. He said that he will call if he changes his mind. I pray that God touches his heart and he comes back to us. He is someone searching for the truth. He is so close.

On Sunday the Elders had a whopping 4 baptisms! It was such a huge party! So many members came to see this amazing event. It was very spiritual and awesome. Netinha, (a woman that was baptized), lovesss us and wanted to take some pictures with the Sisters in front of the church afterwards. I love her and it was so fun to participate in this special day. We had a special musical number (as usual:)) and I had to play the piano. It was awesome. We even made Oreo balls, which all the members freakeedddd out about and wanted to know how we made them. Hahaha mission secret!

It was superrrr cold this week! Raining all the time! But we had a good time and had good attitudes the whole time. 

I can’t believe that another transfer has ended. It is all going by so fast. I love my mission with all my heart and I can’t stand the thought that someday it might end. Everyday is an adventure, an opportunity to invite someone to be baptized and follow Jesus Christ. We invite people every week to be baptized. Its only a matter of time until we find the elect!

Love you all!

Sister Barron