Tejo!!

 

Olá minha família!

I made it to Portugal!!!! IT'S BEEN SO CRAZY!!

Oh  my gosh I'm so stressed rn there's so much I want to say but so little time ok. A lot of my notes are from during the week so forgive me if tmi. 

Monday:

- Pday back at the MTC!

- Mal dropped off some swig while we were at the field  I even saw her car driving away 

Tuesday:

- "Sup Devin Booker" long live

- Devotional! So so good!! Elder LeGrand R. Curtis showed new Boom of Mormon videos that haven't come out yet! We watched Christ call out the names of those he gave authority to baptize, and they all accepted the calling and came to Him. I know I received my calling in an email, but it's the SAME authority! Imagine me getting called and going up to Christ. We are instruments in the Lord's hands, but what kind of instrument am I??? Strong, well-balanced tennis racket, or old and broken? God can use both, but can be much more effective with one over the other. 

Wednesday:

-Miracles today: 

- Being able to see and talk with Brenner!! My cousin going to Orem Spanish speaking! When I talked to him he had only been at the MTC for a day but he's so ready and I'm so excited for him!! 

- Being able to go to the temple!!! 

- The organist in the chapel played 

"Abide with me tis eventide" perfect for my last night in the MTC 

- Mallory brought me canes somehow  truly amazing I love her 

NOT a miracle today: lol

- Checked bags are 55lbs each 

- Carry on 35lbs 

- Backpack 20lbs. Had to break my back in order to carry my 2lb bag of peanut butter mnms as well as my books. What can ya do 

Thursday:

- So terrifying getting all of our luggage on and off the trains multiple times to get to the airport. 

- Had to move stuff over to one of my suitcases and pay the overweight fee. The whole world could see my squishmallows. 

- # of people who came up to talk to us at SLC: 9

- # of people who came up to talk to us at JFK: surprisingly 3

- An important realization I had at the airport: 

- Biggest fears:

- Tsunamis 

- Not being able to have children 

- Not going to the Celestial kingdom 

- Living in Portugal and not being able to understand what the people are saying. (Not necessarily in that order.) 

Friday:

- Arrived in Portugal!! and President and Sister Barcellos are SOOO NICE I love them so much!!! 

- Lisbon reminds me soo much of Sao Paulo it's crazy. Only it's a little cleaner and a lot safer hahah. Kind of like coming home in a way 

- One of the first things Sister Barcellos asked me was if I wanted to stay in a hotel with Maddy that night and I immediately started crying I was so happy. It was literally such a miracle and blessing me and Maddy were able to play for awhile - God is so aware of me and my needs. 

- We had an arrival dinner and it was soooo yum omg. President and Sister Barcellos are from Sao Paulo and they made us Strogonoff and I was having Graded flashbacks it was bomb. 

- Understanding President and Sister Barcellos' Portuguese gave me false hope for the rest of the people here LOL.

- Maddy and I were able to catch up and it was the best thing ever I love her so much  atè mais babe 

Saturday: 

- Training! 

- My trainer is Sister Taylor!!! She's from Ohio and she's super nice and we get along really well!! I'm not gonna lie to you guys tho, this weekend has been a little hard. She hasn't been here too long and I'm her first trainee so steep learning curve for the both of us haha. 

- I'm in Tejo!! Which is in Lisbon!! So after training we didn't have to travel far, we walked 5 minutes to our apartment. So that's awesome we're just 5 minutes away from the church AND the temple!!! Which is sooo so pretty. 

Sunday:

- We have a pretty big ward! It's funny because I'd have to say this ward is probably the Portugal equivalent to the ward we were in in Sao Paulo. Big ward, in the city, and some people that only speak English so it's someone's calling to translate sacrament meeting for them. Kinda crazy. It was so cool to meet all the members and hear how strong their testimonies are. There's also a BYU study abroad here and all of the students go to our ward! So that's funny too lots of Americans. 

- The Portugal accent is CRAZY some people I can't understand a literal thing. I'm just  Definitely gonna take some time to get used to. People can understand me (sometimes ha) I just can't understand what they say back lol. 

- I went up to these two guys on the street and asked them if they wanted a pass along card of Jesus. And for some reason they refused to understand my super simple Portuguese hahah. And in heavily accented English they said  "English?" And I said in pretty simple Portuguese that I had a picture for them! And they said again in English "in the movies?" Pointing to Jesus. And I was like hmm maybe and they said "I don't know Him" and would not take my picture. Hahaha.  

- We went and knocked doors and Sheila let us in and I'm pretty sure we taught her terribly omg. I don't think Sister Taylor is used to leading lessons really, because she wasn't asking questions or anything so I tried to jump in a lot, but I think it ended up being sooo all over the place. In the end she accepted an invitation to read the Book of Mormon and we're going back on Friday!! So hopefully the Spirit testified of what we could not lol. 

Monday or today: 

- We went to Praça de comércio and it was sooo pretty. So touristy but so awesome its so pretty ill send some pictures. 

This week, and especially this weekend lol, a few quotes keep running through my head: "If you want more faith, you need to do things that require more faith." "Be okay with not knowing everything." "Be comfortable with the uncomfortable." All of these came from very wise people, the Prophet, my Mom, and Mallory hahaha. I know that the Savior strengthens me as I exercise my faith in Him. I'm so grateful for Him and the peace I can find in Him!! 

I love you all!

Sister Menden