WEEK 12- Hi EvErYoNe

 Here I am with a recent convert/Menos Ativo named Albertina. She is a cute little Grandma that could talk your ear off! It is always a struggle to leave her house because she has many stories to tell. It's funny. I love it. She is so cute, and when we took this photo she said "Wow! I am so tiny next to you!" It's true, she is so cute!

This is my first planner decoration. I thought I'd make it kinda like a Catholic thing, since everyone here is Catholic. Jesus has a little halo:)  =D Anyway, all missionaries here (and in the world I'm pretty sure) decorate their planners. It is a big deal, something I'm sure you would like Mama. I have big plans for my next planner. It will be EPIC. and sosos cute:) We will be getting new ones this week.

A gorgeous view of the eiffel bridge. We were back there today for transfers. I love how this picture turned out.

Ephesians 2:20....Jesus Christ is our cornerstone. Luckily he is not our "COBBLE" stone. In this picture I am holding a cobblestone from the sidewalk. All the sidewalks in Portugal are made this way...not sure if it makes a ton of sense. They fall out like crazy. =/

 I look bald in this picture.... But this is Amilcar! He is SO AWESOME!!! He is a really recent convert that lives really close to us. He lives in unbearable circumstances, his family is not thrilled about him being active in church, but he has a super strong testimony of Jesus Christ and his Gospel! He comes to EVERY activity at the church, choir, cleaning, futebol, anything. He loves the missionaries. He got to go to the temple for the first time this weekend in Madrid with some of the other members. He then gave a talk on Sunday about the responsibilities of the priesthood and said how he wants to serve a MISSION one day! ahhhh everyone freaked out! I hope he does it! This is a total life changer for him! Because of the church, he has work (someone in the ward hired him), he has good examples (he absolutely ADORES the elders) and he has a chance of marrying in the temple one day! Ahhh sooo coool!!!!:)))))

This is Samuel. He's closing his eyes in the pic lol. But he is so cool. He is our ward mission leader. He is a recently returned missionary. He went to England, so he knows how to speak English. He has a funny english/portuguese accent. But he is seriously so cool. He still has that mission fire. He remembers what it is like and tries his best to make what we want happen. He gets these ward missionaries fired up to do some teaching with us. He is also very funny! He was a counselor at EFY in Portugal once. They have that here! It's strange, for some reason I thought they wouldn't, but they have everything the same! Mutual, seminary, firesides....a tiny different, but a lot of it is the same! 

 This is the car I want Piper to have. I can see you bopping down the road in this Pips....a lot of people here like Hello Kitty, it's kinda funny. =P

 We found this donkey! It lives in this tiny grass field in the middle of the city haha....it has this little gate all around it. We always see him running  around and he reminds me of my Colonel. <3

 This is a beautiful sunset in the beautiful country of PORTUGAL.

A cool Catholic church I saw this morning in Porto. Porto is seriously the best. I can't see how Lisbon could top it honestly.

 Some cool graffitti pics. I wonder why someone painted Utah on a wall in Portugal! MORMONS UNITE! It is literally everywhere. I think if you want to be a gangster you have to be good at painting bubble letters. But some of it is pretty! I thought this woman looking thing was pretty.....prettty.

 Am I dreaming? OUCH! nope...=)

 

We walk by this church often. 

It is eye candy to me.

 An AWESOME looking Catholic church in Porto. Reminded me of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Amazing churches everywhere. 

It's like I'm in Europe or something.

Sister Jones zoomed in on me. I guess I'm just really excited? =D

These adorable women feed us lunch every week. Filomena and her Mama. They are very nice and buy a new cake for us to try every week... it's so sweet! And we roll on down the street when we are done! Love them. <3

My Letter Home:

Sister Barron here! I had a serously awesome week! We were drenched in the rains a few times, but mormon missionaries will work rain OR shine! I have officially finished a whole transfer out in the field! (6 weeks) Me and Sister Jones were OVERJOYED to learn that we were staying companions and staying in our area of Amial C. We had to help some sisters with transfers this morning and it was hectic. I'm so glad we get to stay in our cosy little house, in this area with the people we love. So many amazing spirital experiences happened, and I am taking off in this language! Wooo I love everything!

So one day we were just walking around (as usual) and the zone leaders (elders that are in charge of the missionary work in all of the Porto North Zone) called us and told us we had a reference from the church. Okay, for those of you who don't know, this is a BIG deal! Sister Jones was under the impression that it practically never happens. But basically what that means is that someone in our area of Amial C went on the church website (mormon.org or something like that) and requested a free copy of the Book of Mormon. And the missionaries are the ones that get to deliver it! And explain a little about it! It is such a cool system! So her name was Joana. We had her address and her number. The zone leaders tell us to go...go now! So we run over there! And, of course, her address doesn't exist. The addresses here in Portugal are SO random! The numbers on a street will be 79, 98, 120...or something like that. So we call her number! and the number has been disconnected. We were so sad! But we were going to do whatever it took to get this Book of Mormon to Joana! We have determination and fire! So we go door to door, knocking and asking if they know a Joana. A few people said yes, a few said no. Someone said they thought she lived in a specific predio. So we knock there...no answer. So we write her a cute note, saying we really want to meet her and we have her Book of Mormon. We leave our number....and that was it for a few weeks. We would go back there every once in a while, but no one ever answered. FINALLY one day someone answered and said that Joana didn't live there, but they knew her and knew where she lived. So we went and knocked her door and the heavens opened and the angels sang and her mom answered! YES WE FOUND YOU, JOANA! Her mom said she got our note and was really excited and surprised that the missionaries responded so quickly! (Little did she know we had been trying for weeks haha) But we learned that Joana suffers from extreme depression and doesnt have alot of friends. She spends most of her days either in the hospital getting treatments or at home watching tv. We resolved then and there to be this girls best friends! She is 28 years old, not much more than us (compared to the people we usually teach haha) and we were able to meet her that weekend. She remembered talking to some elders 4 years ago. When you plant a seed, people remember! Don't ever think that your efforts are fruitless! You are planting the seed of faith for some other missionaries down the road, whether it is in this life or the next! But she was really excited to have her very own Book of Mormon and we taught her a little bit about it and how we came to have it.....and then at the end we invited her to be baptised. She said she would really like to be baptised. It was a total miracle. We will keep working with her to help her prepare. People are ready! There are hearts that are being opened! This is something she desparately needs in this dark time of her life. I know that she can be put to rest through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He felt all of our pains and sorrows. Don't let the time you turn to the Savior be when you are in the depths of sorrow! Reach out to Him now! Trials are humbling and bring us closer to the Savior...when we let them. I'm so glad that Joana turned to the true source of happiness, our Savior, Jesus Christ, and His church in her times of sorrow. She is so special, and I told her so!

I'm glad to get some emails from you guys! I love you all and pray for you every night! I am doing great! Like, for real, I am. Sure, sometimes my body hurts, but I am so happy! I don't think anything could get me down right now. 

The letter was a little different this week, but I just feel so spiritally on fire. Tell your Mom you love her!

Sister Barron