Week 73: We Are BALLRAD!

Sisters Barron, Call and Conrad. 

Our new Tri-companionship!

 This is us today on Prep Day. Our area is along the beach. Hey! SOMEONE's got to do it. =)

 We walked by a park close to our house and saw this peacock. It was sosooo cool!

 Hi! I'm Sister Barron and 

I would like to introduce you to my afro.

 Today we also went to a Nutella cafe and ate some awesome crepes with ice cream.

 This is Sister Call. Love her!

 Me and our friend Shadi. She is so cool, she is from Venezuela and she has a bunch of family members who are LDS. We took her to a Stake Youth activity about "The Strength of Youth".

 During Mission Council I took some selfies with my Sisters in Zion. =)

  Each one is special to me. Sister Ribeiro and Sister Aiono are training this transfer, so I basically have two Grandbabies. =) I'm an oldie!

I got to do a division with Sister Rubio this week. She is so awesome! Her family lives in Brazil but her parents were both born in Chili.

 I contacted this cute girl on the street and she is in a traditional Portuguese outfit. She was on her way to dance at a fair. She taught me some moves. She was really cute.

We got ready for church on Sunday and went to leave the house and found this guy sleeping  (snorring very loud) outside our door. We tiptoed past him and skipped on our merry way to church. Lol!

Letter Home:

So you’ve heard of a bunch of great tri-companionships. Everything from The Three Stooges to The Powerpuff Girls to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. But NOTHING compares to the amazing machine of missionary work that we call Sister BALLRAD. Barron, Call and Conrad!

Basically, this is the best thing eva!!!

We love serving in a tri companionship! We are all totally able to teach well and speak Portuguese all the time and everything! When we walk in the street, we are like a gang of awesomeness! Everyone looks at us as we walk by. I have never had so many people stop to talk to us ever, most of the time contacting US. It is so fun. We all have a very similar sense of humor and we all know the same quotes from movies and everything. I am absolutely having the time of my life.

Last week we helped an Irmã named Maria Augosto make a list of all her nonmember friends. It was a really long list, to her surprise. We challenged her to mark an appointment with a friend in her house and to invite the missionaries. She was a little apprehensive, but she accepted the challenge. On Sunday, lo and behold, she shows up to church with a friend! She was so excited to show her friend to us. Maria said to me "She wasn’t even on the list! I can’t wait to get started on the list!" Haha I was so happy to see her excited to do missionary work and I hope we can get the rest of the branch on the same boat. It really is the best joy you can have!

So this week Portugal’s soccer team has been playing in the Europe cup and everyoneee has been talking about it. Sometimes we will be walking in the street and all of a sudden we will hear a scream coming from all the houses. Haha, GOAL for Portugal!!! All the members get super excited and basically no one meets with us during that time. But it’s cool.

We taught a couple from England and it was super weird to teach in English. They told us that apparently England is leaving the European Union and it is becoming a huge problem. Haha the world could be falling apart and we wouldn’t know.....

I love you all so much! Sister Ballrad loves you!

Week 72: TRIPULA DE PODER! (I’m in a tri-companionship now!)

 As a farewell to Sister Bravender today we went and ate hotdogs at the ocean. I will miss her.

 This one goes out to Boston. A member gave me this awesome "Doc. Who" shirt.

Hey! I found this Volkswagen Loafer bus. This one's for you Randy. :)

 Our studies are fun. In the second picture, I have received a personal revelation from my patriarchal blessing and Sister Bravender is practicing patience with me.

 Photo shoot on the streets of Portugal.

I, Quincey Barron, am a missionary 

of Lisbon Portugal.

Letter Home:

So people this is it. The last transfer. Six more weeks. Six more weekly planning sessions. Six more group emails. This one goes out for those of you that are still reading my emails. You all are the true champions here:)

So (drum roll) for the rest of my mission I will be staying in Cascais! Imagine the angels singing because this area is the BOMB and so beautiful and we go running by the beach everyday! The only down side is that Sister Bravender will be going to Setubal with Sister Vanaquer, our only French Sister of the mission. Sis. Bravender was overjoyed with that she apparently studied French before the mission and she is wanting to brush up her skills. I am sad though that I won’t be able to finish her training. She is so awesome and there was so much that I learned from her. I will miss her opera singing, British accent, and extensive journal keeping:) If her mother reads this email, I would like you to know that you raised a wonderful daughter and that she is very obedient. Her heart is in this work!

I will be serving in a TRI companionship with Sisters Call and Conrad, both seasoned missionaries. My first time not training in 4ever! It will be strange to work with others that have the ways they like to work. I am so ready to learn and just work like crazy. President said that his idea for Cascais is that during the day we 3 work together, but every night we will go on splits with members. I think he is testing this area to see if it can handle 2 companionships. We will have to work hard to prove that Cascais has enough people to teach and members that are excited and willing to help. I hope this branch is up to the challenge and that we can get some killer work done.

My good friend Elder Soares finally was taken off his throne as Assistant to the President. He is an awesome missionary and his greenie is so lucky!

This week was hard for me. I had a certain day that I just felt like I am not making a difference. I got pretty emotional. I know that in the end of the mission Satan tries to get us. He tries to make us feel like we are awful missionaries or that we didn’t make a difference or the time is out for us to become who we truly want to be. If you are a missionary that is near the end, I have something you need to know: DON’T LISTEN TO HIM! God accepts our sacrifice. Don’t live a life of regrets. We should do our best and let God do the rest. I hope I can stay strong until the end and strengthen any other missionary with me. We are all part of the army of God. He has chosen us, all members of the Church in this generation, to declare the good word of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We are the chosen generation. Satan wants us to feel tired or depressed or incapable...all of which are lies! I know that the Atonement is real. I feel the arms of my Saviors love every time I kneel in supplication to the Lord. He hears the wounded heart and he heals the aching soul. I love this gospel. And I love the miracles that happen everyday because of it. If something is standing in between you and this bliss that only comes through Jesus Christ, my invite for you is to eliminate that wall and run to Him!

I love you all and I love my mission. I know this church is true. I know Jesus Christ lives. I know that He is the way to eternal life, which is living in the presence of our Loving Heavenly Father for forever and forever.

Loves

Sister Quincey Barron

Week 71: Beijinhos To God

 We took these missionaries on a lovely tour of Cascais today for Prep-Day. They loved it to say the least! And hey, I got to hang out with Elder Foust who got his tonsils out when I got out my appendix out. Great to see him again!

Letter Home:

Dearest friends, followers and such,

This week was nutso because we had a whopping THREE divisions. I have definitely never done that before. When I finally got back to serving with Sister Bravender, we were all happy because it felt like we hadn’t seen each other in so long! After all the divisions, I was EXHAUSTED. Lots of times during divisions I feel like I am constantly receiving revelation and at the same time trying to show a good example in teaching opportunities. I am kinda excited because I have a lot of Sister friends. I know a lottt of Sisters and it’s so fun when they will randomly call just to see how we are and what we are doing. I try to always tell them a funny story of something that happened recently so that they love to call us. =) It is working well. I feel like a lot of them like me and respect me, but a lot of the time I feel a lot of pressure to be a good example.

One day, when I was on a division with Sister Selk, we sat in front of the ocean and ate hot dogs and talked about how we can finish our missions with grace. We talked about how we want to accelerate to the end, never lose our steam. I love her a lot and I want to live up to the promises we made.

During the sacrament I heard this little girl behind me saying every single word of the sacrament prayer. It was so cute and she had the whole thing memorized. I was hit with the sacred importance of the sacrament, a thing that a lot of members forget. When we look at the sacrament table, we can imagine that it is literally the body of Christ. I hope that we can all strive to make that moment even more special each week. Once my father explained to me how the sacrament prayer is the only memorized prayer in the church, and how it is like we are all saying the words together with the same desire. I love that

Funny story: During a member meal this week, Sister Bravender was asked to say the closing prayer. (oh my gosh it is so funny, they literally always ask her to say the prayer. I’m not even kidding EVERY TIME. I think they like to hear her Portuguese and help her practice. I like haven’t even said a prayer in a member meal this whole transfer) Well, as she was closing the prayer, she gave Beijinhos to God! (side note, beijinhos is a common Portuguese goodbye, it translates to "little kisses") I almost exploded laughing but everyone else stayed completely serious! I’m sure Heavenly Father got happy that she said something so endearing!  I think it was an accident, but now it is a norm in all the Sister Bravender prayers. She is so precious.

Love you all! Beijinhos!

Sister Barron

Week 70: Going Forward With Faith

 So today during pday we were walking around and we were stopped by this young couple. They are members of the church from AUSTRALIA! They said they saw our nametags and wanted to buy us lunch! So we went with them to a fancy restaurant and talked to them. The guy said he had served his mission in Sydney, Australia and LOVED it! He was so nice, and his wife too. We had so much fun meeting them and talking to them. They got the biggest kick out of me speaking Portuguese to the waiter.

 We also wandered around our area in these beautiful sculpture gardens.

 More silly garden pics.

 This was the week of the SUNGLASSES! The rules have changed and we can now wear sunglasses.....we love them! Our eyes aren't frying any more. Wheeee

 One day we got lost and we ended up walking along the beach....it wasn't so bad in the end! That is when we met Shadi!

Letter Home:

The other day I could sense that my comp was kinda bothered and I wasn’t sure why. So during our comp inventory I used some inspired questions to try and figure out what was wrong. And I did! She opened up and explained that she was really stressed because her journal-keeping has been lacking. Her "journal" was just a bunch of pieces of paper that she had stuffed in a bag. She was dying to organize it, but we didn’t have time. In that moment I had to make a decision. What was more important, my companions happiness or the training that I might give her? I made a decision and then we spent the next hour organizing her journal. I cut out SO many little pieces of tape and paper. Glue sticks were flying. In the end we didn’t even finish, but we got a good chunk done. Afterwards she got really happy and thanked me a lot. Maybe it wasn’t the most obedient thing for me to do, but I don’t really think so because it was l was serving my companion. I have been praying for ways to serve her and this was the thing I was waiting for. It reminds me of something that one of my good friends here in Cascais told me, "Missionaries that don’t keep the rules are bad missionaries, BUT missionaries that leave behind their companions to keep the rules are WORSE." We are called to be representatives of Jesus Christ, not only to those that have the potential to be baptized but to EVERYONE. Members, neighbors, and ESPECIALLY our companions. I believe that the BIGGEST fubeka (Portugal missionary slang for "lazy missionary") is the missionary that can’t love her companion. If I don’t baptize a single person, but I love my companion and we try our best then THAT is success. One of my biggest mission successes is that I am friends with all of my companions. I love them all, each one. They all have a special place in my heart. I hope they can say the same thing about me.

Another thing that I learned this week was that my parents taught me how to WORK HARD. An Irmã in our ward asked us to  come over and work on her garden. Honey, I just went to town. I was ripping out weeds like nobody’s beeswax. And in the end her yard looks really good! She thanked us so much and said "Wow, Sister Barron, your parents really taught you how to work!" That is for sure:) When I was younger we had goats and a  donkey, and I cannot count how many barrels of poop I had to scoop. It was horrid. But after  that, any sort of work looks easy! I am grateful my parents taught me how to work and work HARD.

So this week we had a meeting in the chapel with our ward mission leader, João. Okay, just to explain a little bit, our chapel is an old house that was converted into a church. So it’s really different than any other chapel that I have worked in. During our meeting, we heard some strange noises upstairs, so we run up there to check and there’s nothing. We shut all the doors and go back down and continue our meeting. All of a sudden we hear another sound and we go to check and TWO OF THE DOORS ARE OPEN. I started freaking out and João opened up and told us that a lot of people joke around that our chapel is haunted. Lots of weird things have happened in there that don’t have explanation (EX. the sink randomly turning on and off, the piano playing by itself, doors opening and shutting) So we start flipping out for fun. Sister Bravender is on cloud nine, super excited that we have a ghost friend. When she went to the bathroom afterwards, me and João decided to play a joke on her and write on the whiteboard "I am here" in creepy, little cursive handwriting. But when she came out and saw it she was not impressed and didn’t believe. We laughed and left, locking the chapel. We talked with João for a few minutes and then he said he needed to use the bathroom. When we went back in the chapel, THE DOORS WERE OPEN AGAIN and, best of all,

 THE WORDS WERE ERASED OFF THE WHITEBOARD!!!!!!!!! Lol! (I have a feeling a certain Ward Mission Leader was the culprit)

I started screaming and freaking out. We went and got ice-cream to cool down. =D

One day we were lost (surprise surprise) and we ended up walking along the ocean to get back to our house. As we were weaving through the tourists, this girl comes running up to us. She knew we were Mormons and missionaries and she said that she has a cousin that is serving a mission in Colombia. Her name was Shadi ane she is from Venezuela. She told us she wanted to come to church with us, that she had never been to the Mormon Church but she was very curious. The next day we met up with her and she came with us to Stake Conference. She loved it and had so much fun looking at all the babies that the families had. She is super cool and we are excited to start teaching her.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

~Sister Barron