We got to go to the BEACH! Good thing too, because who knew that we would both be transferred and this was our last P-day in Portimao.
Beach Babe! Haha, but I can't swim.
My cute Companion!
When we took this picture we didn't know that we would soon be leaving each other. =(
The Elders in our district.
This is all in our area.
Haha! I tried to snag a picture of Sister Olsen and the speedo man....maybe you shouldn't post this one Mommy. ( Lol! Posted it.)
With the beach air, my nails have grown tremendously.
For her family.
Our awesome district! Elder Empey had the longest arm, so he took the picture.
She was on cloud nine!
Sad to see this time together come to an end.
I love her.
This is Ricardo. He is learning about the church. In this picture, he is drawing a picture in my diary.
My cute comp.
We were knocking doors one day and no one answered at this door. But they had this chalk board outside the door, so I drew on it. It says, "God loves you!" and our number. Hopefully they call! =D
We contacted this old fisherman on a bridge one night and he didn't want anything to do with our message, but he thought that we were so nice that he gave us a HUGE sack of fish! The new Sisters in our house will wonder why there is so much fish in the freezer. (Sister Neves was transferred to Portimao! So we all know she can cook the fish!)
This is Fernando Bailot, he was our ward mission leader. He was INCREDIBLE!!! He brought this huge cake for our correlation meeting. He was the one that took our bunches of bags to the bus stop this morning. He is an awesome forever friend!
He always had our back.
My new planner! "Son of the most high!"
I drew it! Christmas is coming!
This is Nuno. He would go teaching with us every now and then.
A picture from my normal spot....the piano bench!
Brother Bailot again and my dear friend Paula. She was so sweet and invited us over once. She is a special soul and I love her a lot.
CARINA!!!! She is amazing! She would drive us around and teach people with us! She would drop everything to help us out. I totally love her. She found the church a few years ago, and now she is married to a returned missionary in the temple! Her life totally changed, jumped tracks!
She is so amazing!
This is Samuel, the son of Sonia. He is super cool! Future missionary!
This is Irma, I talk about her in my letter below. Bless her heart Heavenly Father.
The last supper! Eating dinner in President Almeidas house! We basically demanded to eat with them on our last day in Portimao. It was fun knowing that we would be leaving so we could take pictures with the members and say goodbye to the beautiful people of Portimao.
Letter Home:
I WAS TRANSFERRED! I am now in Mem Martins, an area close to
Lisbon. I was called to be a Sister Training Leader, which means that I will be
going on divisions with other Sisters and teaching and helping them! I am sooo PUMPED
to help and meet all the sisters! AND go to Mission Counsel! Wheee this will be
an adventure! It was really hard to say goodbye to Sister Olsen. She is super
special. She is totally a soldier. <3 We enjoyed this time as companions.
We heard from someone that this week the son of one of our
members here, Irma Mira, had died of cancer. It had been really hard for her
and the family. So me and Sister Olsen decided to go to the funeral. It was my
first time going to a Catholic funeral. It was sad how everyone was crying so
much. I just wanted to stand on the pew and declare that THEY WILL SEE HIM
AGAIN! We had decided right before the funeral to buy a few flowers. We bought
a yellow and white rose. We wrote a nice note. After the Padre had read from
the Bible and everyone recited their prayers together, the congregation would
follow the car carrying the casket for the cemetery. When Sister Mira was
getting in the car, I felt a huge prompting to give her our flowers. There was
kinda a huge group of people, but I wormed my way through and gave her our
small offering. They looked pretty pitiful next to the hugeee bouquets of
flowers other people had given. But Mira accepted them like they were the most
beautiful of them all. It was a short walk. We felt a little strange, being
missionaries from another church, but the whole thing felt like a good
statement. I saw a lottt of people looking at our nametags and reading what
they said. We will support and love people no matter what faith they have. And
in this moment, Sister Mira needed support so we were there. Eventually we
arrived at the cemetery, at the grave. When they were unloading the casket, Irma
Mira insisted to put OUR flowers directly on his casket. Ours were the only
flowers that went down with him into the earth. It was a symbolic move on her
part. WE KNOW we will be with our families forever. This is something that I
know. We were sealed in the temple. That means that we are linked together
through time and all eternity. After the casket was buried, we stood there and
sang some hymns with Mira, just us three singing. Other people looked on. It
was really sad. And really beautiful. I will never forget it.
I love you all! There is so much more I want to say, but my
Mommy wanted pictures so I had to deliver:)
Until the next adventure!
Sister Barron
This is my new companion!!! Sister Bakker!!!
