WEEK 41-Fountain Frolic!

 This is a part of our area. It is a touristy part. It is SOOO cute and I know Mommy that you would love it.......lots of little Portugal trinkets to buy. =)

This is a part of the package Sister Neves sent me. Okay, story time. This is a joke guys: It says "If any of you lack wisdom, drink more!" Haha So on the Azores we lived really close to a bar and ALL DAY EVERYDAY there were drunk men there. In our church we don't drink alcohol, so as a joke between the two of us, me and Sister McChesney started kidding around that it was a rule that they HAD to be there and if they left they would be punished! It was really funny ("AT YOUR POSTS MEN") and whatnot. So one night we passed and there were the usual group of drunkards there but we were safe because we were with our friend Paulo Jorge and I exclaimed, as a joke "If any of you lack wisdom, drink more!" and Paulo Jorge CRACKED UP and from that day forward he started telling this story to EVERYONE. I kid you not, I heard this story 100 times. I am afraid that it will become some legend or something. =/ Not really what I wanted my legacy on the Azores to be! Opps! Haha! Sister Barron better watch her jokes. Lol! They might be posted on the internet! =0

My Letter Home:

       Hey guys! So in our area, there is a town square with like a splash pad that kids will sometimes play in. Recently it has been abandoned because it has started getting a little cold. I would always say to Sister Olsen that I would PLAY IN IT one of these days. Well, that day came. We were walking on the way to our apartment at the end of the day, and we passed the squirting water. I slowed down and me and my comp made eye contact. My eyebrows raised... I gave her my bag, my coat, my planner, and I RAN THROUGH THE FREEZING COLD FOUNTAIN in my dress! Haha it was so funny! We started cracking up like crazy and Sister Olsen said "Sister Barron, I have to finish my mission with you! I will never get trunky!" (Haha I take that as a huge compliment:)

        The Zone Leaders played a prank on us this week. It was really funny but really annoyingggg at the same time! They called us during weekly planning and said that we would be having a surprise cleaning check in 20 minutes. We looked at each other with shock in our eyes. As soon as we hung up the phone we started SCREAMING and cleaning the house like crazy. We were throwing things away and sweeping like we would die. It was the fastest we have ever cleaned our house. After about half an hour and no one knocking our door, we called the Zone Leaders and they just started laughing. Those stinkers. In the end, our house is sparkling clean now. We sent them a text with the scripture 2 Nephi 9:34. Haha you can look it up if you want. 
( Link: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/9.34?lang=eng

We had a conference this weekend on Saturday. We ended up bringing our investigator named Ricardo with us. We had met him in the street a few days earlier. It is a long way away, but some members offered to give us a ride in their car. There was room for us and Ricardo. The problem we didn’t foresee: Ricardo gets car sick. Soooo in this little trip, after meeting all the people in the car a few minutes earlier, our friend ended up barfing a total of 3 times. It was super awkward and funny. We were trying not to laugh, it was actually really sad. But Ricardo was a trooper. He just kept telling us that it had passed....right before he barfed again. The members all looking so uncomfortable. The best part was that the whole time Celine Dion was playing on the radio ("Allll byy myselfffffffff" *barf*) He ended up LOVING conference and accepting the invite for baptism! Haha he is so funny and sweet. The mission is a huge funny, awkward story.

         We met this man in the street one day when we were in Lagoa. He was an interesting looking guy, tattoos and rings and chains. But hey, I have already seen way weirder so we just started talking to him. I think he was a little drunk. But we went and sat on a bench in a park and started talking to him. He said that ever since his wife had left him he was super depressed. He said he wanted to end his life. We all just sat there in silence for a little while. We testified that he was SO PRECIOUS to our Heavenly Father and that he had so very much to live for. He cried. It was a powerful testimony to me of the love our Heavenly Father has for each one of us. Every sheep that is a little lost, Jesus will go after them!  I like to think that sometimes we are like helping shepherds or something. Anyway, it was an awesome experience and on Sunday he was able to have lunch with us in a members house and afterwards come to conference with us. It was a great experience. I hope he will continue on this path.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Barron

WEEK 40-NINE MONTHS YALL!

 Joking around with my camera on the LONGG train ride to Zone Conference. 

It was a lot of FUN!

Zone Conference was amazing! We got to see our Mission President. He and his wife are totally inspired and wonderful leaders.

 Wow Portugal is pretty. Luckily the weather this week was FANTASTIC. I am still wearing short sleeves.........for now.

This is the view from our balcony at our apartment in Portimao. Totes beautiful!

 (The pink building is my eye candy.)

Haha! I took the traditional prego picture for my nine month mark. I think it's like a rule or something that all sisters have to do this. Haha! Too funny.......it was a balloon people!

(Note from the editor: It's true. Paige/me on my mission in CA 20 somethin years ago. Apparently I was expecting quads at least.....)

My Letter Home:

This week I officially hit MY NINE MONTH MARK! Halfway, whoooo! It doesn’t even feel real. Like, I still feel like a greenie. I cannot believe that I am on the downhill slope. It is all going too fast! I just got here, people! For my halfway mark, I wanted to go out and eat sushi for lunch. I loveeee sushi, it was one of my last meals in Bentonville, so I was totally psyched. Sister Olsen was a little apprehensive, but like an angel she agreed to go with me. It was so much fun! I ate a tonnn of sushi, and even coaxed Sister Olsen to eat squid! Haha she was a total trooper, I am horrible :) ("eat it! now! oneee...twooo....three!) It was a great day for sure, and we talked with everyone in our path! Yeahhhh mission life is fun. It’s the little things:)

So this week we had Zone Conference. That means all the missionaries from the Algarve (the southern part of Portugal) all got on trains and buses and met up in one chapel to hear the words of our Mission President. It is always a miracle when we manage to get to the desired destination here in Portugal. After missing countless numbers of trains and buses, I do NOT trust in the public transportation. =) It was really fun to see all the other missionaries! A lot of them I had never seen before in my life, so it was fun to meet them. There are only 3 duplas (sets) of Sisters in the Algarve, but it was fun to see them. We have to stick together amongst this sea of white shirts and ties!

My last companion, Sister Neves, sent me a package for my birthday in October and I finally got it. It was sooo full of chocolate! She is the best and I miss her like crazy!

This week the weather started off horrible and gradually got better. It was raining GATOS E CÃES but eventually let up and now it is beautiful outside. I am sooo grateful that I am in the south of Portugal for the winter. What a perfect place to be! 

This week playing piano in church was a disaster. I totally goofed and messed up a bunch. The cherry on top is that the branch here wants to do a special music number for conference next weekend and who is the pianist? ME. Oh my goodnessss....we will be singing "Carry On" and that song is not very easy!  But I can play it, I just have to say a few dozen prayers beforehand. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Thanks for everything!

Sister Barron

 Sister Olsen with her fishy friend!

 We went on a walk with Sara! It was so beautiful!

 Lots of clover!

 See any four leaf?

 Cute signs.

 Lots of seagulls all over our area!

 This is Rosa! We visit her every week :) She has been a member for 5 years, but no longer can go to church, so we visit her! SHE IS SO CUTE! She even does her makeup every day :) 

Isn't she beautiful.

This says, "The Lard Building"

WEEK 39: Happy Halloween!

 The Ward had an awesome Halloween party! It was so much fun! 

I was a soccer player in a skirt and 

Sister Olsen was 

"SUPER SISTERRRRR"!

 My comp is cute. She even wore her glasses to look like Clark Kent.

 This was a view of the party. It was awesome and EVERYONE brought tons of food! That means success in my eyes! It was a party with music and dancing and games. Total classic Mormon party. Eva, one of our investigators  came with us. I really hope that she liked the good atmosphere and getting to know the people. Everyone is so wonderful.

 I heard some of my friends from Portimao contacted you (Mom)! I love that! Haha! They love their Sister Barron already. =D

We had a competition to see who could make a mummy the fastest. Who won? Haha oh right, me. It was super fun. =) The girl I mummified is an investigator of the Elders and I love her so much.

 This is our friend named Eva. She is learning about the church. (We brought her to the Halloween party.) She is super cool and very spiritual. She likes to meditate. I love being in her house because it is so peaceful. Even her dog is named Zen. =)

 This is the view from a bridge in our area. We are right on the ocean. It is stinkin beautiful.

SURPRISE! I'm takin your picture Sis. Olsen!

 These are our friends. They are so cute and sweet! On this day they both were wearing their "Sister Barron Bracelets"! Wheeee............

these bracelets are all over Portugal! 

I have so much fun giving them out!

 Portimao sunset.

Going on divisions with the Sister Training Leaders. I served with Sister Mancuso! (Red Hair)

Letter Home:

Olá to everyone!

We had the funniest lesson this week with two soccer players. One was from Nigeria and the other was from Ghana. They both spoke English, not perfectly but enough to understand and they didn’t speak Portuguese. It was such a funny lesson. Me and Sister Olsen were stumbling over our words and getting so confused. I had never taught the missionary lessons  in English before. But they were both really cool and interested. They both felt the desire to come closer to Christ. It was especially funny because we invited Bruno (a recently baptized member of the church) to the lesson and he hardly knows any English. But he tried so hard to bear his testimony with a "Church...Baptism...I like!" =D

So here in Portugal they actually don’t celebrate Halloween, but because our branch has 3 American missionaries that love Halloween, we decided to have a MEGA PARTY and invite everyone! It was perfect, there were decorations and food (haha interesting Portuguese food, like pastries and mystery soup) and music. We got special permission to listen to the music and it was torturous because it was all this classic stake dance music! Seriously, all the same stuff from Crazy Frog to Cotton-Eyed Joe. It was so hard because one thing about me is that I love to dance! Not like serious dancing but like flailing and jiving, so it was torture to have to sit in my chair and be an angelic Sister of the Lord.  It was so fun though :) Great memories were made. 

Yesterday was a day a little different than others. It was a holiday in Portugal called "Dia dos Santos" or Day of the Saints. It is a day when everyone will go out to the cemetery and put flowers on the graves of their family and remember them. Sister Tavares (the mission presidents wife) had the idea that all the missionaries would go out to cemeteries all over Portugal and do proselyting. It was a very different experience than normal proselyting. We had to be a lot more tender and sensitive because a lot of people were crying or in pain. I prayed to my Father in heaven to guide me to who needed me most. I contacted this really cute young woman with crazy blonde curly hair. She was there with her mom at the grave of her father. He had died only two weeks earlier. I kinda just walked up and joined them in looking at his grave. They had put some beautiful flowers on the grave. I said to the girl "Can I ask who is this man?" and she explained to me about him. Once she told me that is was her father, I felt the spirit so strong and I knew that he was there with us. I started crying. Like, a lot. I was just thinking about my father and how I love him so much and I would be crushed if I ever had to lose him.  I asked her what it was that he liked to do and she said he loved the ocean and the beach. I told her that I know she will see him again and that she will always be his daughter. I then told her that there is a place where we can be sealed with our families forever and gave her a card with a picture of the temple in Spain. They had to leave before I could say more, but I gave her a hug and we all continued on. It was a beautiful moment. I hope she remembers my words and has the desire to look up more about our church and the temple.

One thing that I was thinking about last night is that I LOVE MY MISSION SO MUCH. Sure, there are moments when it is hard and cold outside (by the way, this week has been freezing cold with lots of rain! Winter is coming and I am not looking forward to it! Luckily I found old rain boots in our house so that’s good) But overall I am having the time of my life! I do hard things everyday, like talking to tons of people I don’t know or playing piano in church when I’m really not that good, but I always can do it! I bear my testimony everyday. There is nothing that makes you feel more fulfilled and happy than bearing your testimony to someone. 

I Love you all so much! Have a wonderful week!

Loves,

Sister Barron