Week 64: MIRACLE BAPTISM!

 Fatima is baptized! <3 Wonderful day!

 This is Fatima and her husband Luis, the man that baptized her is standing on the left. His name is Luis too. Haha we need new names in Portugal. Love them so much!

Sister Ribiero did Fatima's hair to prepare for the baptism. It was so fun.

 THE BEAUTIFUL FATIMA 

THAT WAS BAPTIZED!

Us with Fatima's Jehovahs Witness Bibles that she gave us.

 Our goals to teach Fatima the rest of the lessons before her baptism.

 We went to pizza after the baptism to celebrate!

From our Prep-Day today! We visited a famous castleeeee called Castelo de Mouro. 
Oh the beauty!

 Me with a cool flower.

 Burger King after a longs days work.

 We are funny.

 I love small European cars! Cute!

 Me

During a division this week with Sister Anaya, we found this giant box. We came up with an awesome idea to take it home and to scare our greenies. Haha...In the end our plan was foiled, but we had fun giggling and stuffing the giant box into our car.

 Entitled, "The Box Adventure"

I am loving serving with Sister Ribiero!

My Letter Home:

So we have been teaching Fátima for a while. Me and Sister Aiono knocked on her door and she let us in. It was sooo nice because she lives in the same street as the chapel and it’s really easy to help her get to church. She seemed like a person with struggles who needed help, and she does not have a lot friends to help her out. Basically her main friends were missionaries from the Jehovah’s Witness church. They visited her every week and sometimes helped her out. She had been studying with them for OVER 30 YEARS and she had still not been baptized. She really wanted to be baptized but they kept telling her that she wasn’t ready. We came into her life like a ray of sunshine. She lovesss us a lot. We would do service for her and walk with her to church. She really liked church and was amazed that we invited her to be baptized in the first lesson. She continued to come to church to prepare for her baptism but heard something about tithing and got scared. She still didn’t have a testimony that this church is true. She was still meeting with the Jehovah’s Witnesses. She had one foot in our church and one foot in theirs. She decided she didn’t want to get baptized in our church. It was just too complicated.

The End.

JUST KIDDING!

Sooo when I had to have my surgery, we lost contact with her for a few weeks. When we finally came back, we called her up and she was soooo happy to hear from us! She was so concerned that we hadn’t been passing by or calling. We invited her to church and she came in her Sunday best! That week our Mission President planned a "consecrated P-day" that would end at 2 o clock and we would spend the rest of the P-day studying how we could help people accept the baptismal invite for next Sunday. I was without hope. We hadn’t been in our area for a while and we didn’t have anyone that seemed to have a lot of potential for the next Sunday. I remember being in our apartment and realizing that there was soooo much more that I could be doing. I needed to change a few things. So I went in a room alone and prayed. I prayed with allll my heart, asking the Lord to forgive me. I am not a perfect person and in many ways I waste the precious time that God has given me as a missionary. I asked Him to help me be better and to illuminate what we would have to do in order to baptize this Sunday. I remember very clearly that after the prayer I heard the voice of the Spirit say to me "Call Fátima. And call Maria Amélia". Maria Amélia is a very sweet old lady that was baptized a few weeks ago. She is sooo full of testimony and fire for this gospel. She is already doing all her family history work to take to the temple. So after this prayer I called for Fátima. She didn’t answer. Then I called Maria. I told her our situation, that we had a friend that we wanted to help enter the waters of baptism. Maria met Fátima at church and really liked her. She said she would be happy to pass by with us. So we planned to pass by. We didn’t know if Fátima would be there or not. But we went. And she was there! We had a wonderfullll lesson and Maria bore a beautiful testimony. She testified of the changes that happened in her life and how she is a happier person. Then she said "I want you to have all that I have". Then we challenged Fátima to be baptized that Sunday, a week later. She was a little blown away. She didn’t seem to believe it was possible. But in the middle of the lesson a friend of hers called and she answered. She said "Yeah, I’m going to stop meeting with Jehovah’s Witnesses. I’m going to be baptized in a church on my street." WE STARTED FREAKING OUT!!!!!!! 

Long story short, she wrote a letter to the JW church asking to be released and to not have the visits anymore. Then she asked US to deliver the letter! Soooo, we did! We just gave it to the greeter at the JW church. We know that the leader got it. It must have been a strange sight! 

She was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. The water was cold, but she was dead set on being baptized. It was a miracle that all this happened. She is a completely different person. At church she was talking to everyone and thanking everyone. I love her so much and I’m so glad we had this chance to fight for her salvation!

I know our Mission President is inspired. It was all because of that study he asked of us. I thank God for giving us inspired leaders to help us build the kingdom of God on the earth!

Sister Barron

Week 63: Minha Boquinha!

  At the hospital. There was a random Saint in front of the hospital. A nurse asked us what we were doing and I said I wanted to take a picture with the doll. She cracked up.

There was a wall with a bamboo forrest......we were desperate to have fun at this point.

My IV. (Momma said she wanted picturrrres....)

I spent a week living in the Mission Home recovering. This was the view out my window.  Vida boa!

 This is the puzzling group in the Mission Home. Elder Foutz got his tonsils out that week and was staying in the Mission Home too. We became good friends and I basically know his life story now. We are both back in the field working now!

 President Tavares when he was a missionary in the field. Love the short tie! Haha

Sister Ventura who has already gone home (Megan) came to visit Portugal with her parents and I got to see her when I was in the Mission Home!

Today I received a PACKAGE from my Mom brought to me by my neighbor from Arkansas who is in Lisbon on vacation! Thank you for bringing it Michael! I'm so excited!

My Letter Home:

So this week has been an interesting transition back into the missionary field. My scar is healing nicely. I have given the name of "boquinha" which means "little mouth". My comp thinks it is hilarious. 

The Blessings that have come from getting my appendix removed in Portugal during my mission:

• I got to know my President and especially his wife a lot better! I love them so much and I loved every moment I had with them.
• I got to hear all the mission stories first.
• I got to see Sister Ventura, a girl  that served here and ended little time ago! It was so fun to see her and she gave me Goldfish! 
• I got to eat reallyyyyy good food everyday. They have a women that works there and just makes really good food. It was glorious!
• I got to know my comp, Sister Ribeiro, really well. She is so funny! I am so glad that we are together! I hope we can get back to work quickly so that I can actually start training her haha. But she basically doesn’t need any training. 
• Now all the future missionaries that have this problem will have a clearer plan so that they can get quick surgery. 
• I have studied every Liahona (church magazine) that has ever existed!
• The members are all concerned about us and really want to help us. Hey, we will accept any help we can get!
• I got to take naps for the first time in more than a year! Weeee

On Sunday our friend Fátima came to church. It was so cute because she got all dressed up and was so excited to see us. She got so excited when I told her I got my appendix out because she had a stomach surgery recently and she had sooo much to say to me about it.  I think we bonded! Add that to the list of blessings!

Sunday night we went and passed a reference from a member. They were her neighbors, a Brazilian family with 2 children. We decided just to knock on their door and try our luck. The wife answered, named Ana, and she was so awesome! We taught about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and she seemed really interested. Her cute children listened in, too. I hope we can go back and talk to the husband as well. I love teaching families! Hopefully they accept our invites to read, pray, and be baptized on the 1st of May!

I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

The theme of this week has been Alma 37:37

37 Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

 I am so thankful for everything God has given me. I am truly blessed. We should all try to be a little more thankful. 

Sister Barron

Week 62-The Tale of the Grumpy Appendix! By Quincey Barron

 Getting ready to have the surgery

 My Sailor Moon socks!

 I count my blessings this is not a video.

I adored my wonderful nurse at the hospital.

My Letter Home:

So Saturday night I woke up repeatedly because of a huge pain in my stomach. I was confused as to what it could be, so I just popped some Advil and tried to go back to sleep. Well, the pain continued for the next few days. I wasn’t able to go to church. It hurt to walk. It felt like someone was grabbing my stomach and squeezing it. It hurt to bend down and tie my shoes. Most of the time I just spent curled up on the floor. There even came a moment that President Tavares, our mission president, came to our house and gave me a blessing. Finally on Tuesday I went to go to see a doctor. The pain had plateaued, but it wasn’t going away. So we went to the doctor and as soon as she started poking around in my stomach I started crying because it hurt so bad. She decided I needed to get an ultrasound to look at it. Before I could go in they told me I needed to drink a whole liter of water in about 10 minutes. It was TORTURE. I never wanted to drink water again. Then I finally went in. She took a good look at my guts and said "Hey! You have appendicitis!" (After telling me that my ovaries are beautiful). Once she discovered this, it was all a huge blur. Everyone started freaking out, telling me that I needed to get surgery TODAY. There was a lot of stress, running around in a Portuguese hospital with only my comp to help me. I was in a lot of pain and I was sick of waiting and I was super hungry. We were frantically looking for a taxi then the Elders from the office finally came and picked us up to take us to another hospital where I would be operated on. I changed into a weird paper dress thingy and socks that went up to my thighs, Sailor Moon style. I climbed into bed and the Elders gave me a blessing and I got to talk to my parents on the phone! (Love you Mama and Daddy! See you guys on Mothers Day!) It was so fun. Finally they came to get me for the surgery and I remember rolling around on my bed everywhere, switching beds like 4 times in my awkward paper dress, and having a lot of women in hair nets prepping my body. They gave me an injection and BOOM I was out. I woke up in a very warm bed, very confused and in a lot of pain. Eventually they rolled me back into the room with my companion and Sister Tavares. She was so worried about me, it was so cute. Apparently during the surgery the missionaries of the Algarve did a group prayer for me. That is sweet. And a little embarrassing, but I thank them. 

Ãfter that I have been just hanging out in the mission home, waiting for my wounds to heal. Slowly but surely I will! They should be taking my stitches out on Wednesday.

That was my week!

Sister Barron

Ps. The church is true!