Tchau tchejo

 HELLO!!!

IM GETTING TRANSFERRED TOMORROW!!!! To Aveiro!!!! I'm excited to go but also sad to leave Tejo and Sister Cornell  and the temple  and São  and Padaria Portugeusa  Aveiro is Sister Cordner's old area!! How cute is that!! I'll get transferred tomorrow but luckily I'm coming back to Lisbon on Saturday for an activity a missionary couple is doing!! I'm in one of the musical numbers so I won't have to go too long without seeing Sister Cornell 

This week was so fun!!!

Terça:

- Weekly planning! I have a new goal to be able to do a back bend. Update: I did one bridge (not even a backbend) and Sister Cornell said it was more like laying on the floor than a bridge and then I had back pain for like 3 days. 

- Made and took cookies to our ward mission leader to say thank you. He was so grateful 

- I found the biggest moth living in one of my claw clips??? 

- Is there a rocket or something going to the moon right now? Because in the closing prayer of a lesson with a less active, he blessed the people in this rocket. And then later texted us that actually he found out that there's actually only fake people inside the rocket?? 

Quarta: 

- Sister Cornell's birthday!!!!!!! SO FUN!! Celebrated with pancakes and mountain dew for breakfast  

- We had district council and celebrated Thanksgiving!! We all coordinated and brought food. 

- Sister Cornell threw up our thanksgiving 

- Our lessons with São are always a highlight for me! During this lesson I cried while explaining garments and talking about how important they and my covenants are to me. 

- There's a family, really one of the only families that feed us, that had fed me every week for 3 transfers now. They are angels. And they moved our dinner this week to Wednesday so we could celebrate Sister Cornell!!! We took a Polaroid together and they gave it me assuming that I'd be leaving. So precious!!

Thanksgiving!!!!!!!

- Sister Cornell said that my "grey hairs are white and ready to harvest." So awesome for me!!!! 

- I literally am so blessed with the best mission leaders in the whole world. The world cup started this week!!! And we're allowed to watch!!! There are of course lots of rules as to what and when and how we can watch but even with those I'm so grateful. So on Thanksgiving we were able to watch the Portugal game with one of our friends and a member!!! It was so awesome!! It was suuuper weird to be sitting down watching TV for 2 hours and have it be allowed. But my heart was so happy to get to watch the game. Ganhamos 

Sabado:

- Found out that a member is in love with Sister Cornell and it's actually kinda scary. 

- We had a lesson with our friend Francisco! This lesson was kind of crazy. So he met with missionaries 10 years ago, and just recently sent a referral for us to meet with him again. We met with him last week as well, but I don't think we fully percebered how catholic this man is until Saturday. He's been reading the Book of Mormon a lot but he will only pray to the saints and will only say the  memorized prayers. It was super cool though, Sister Cornell pulled out some scriptures from the Bible and Book of Mormon that talk about praying to God, and then bore a strong testimony. As she bore her testimony tears were running down his cheeks. We asked him if he'd be willing to pray to our Heavenly Father, and he sat there for a long time, thought really hard, then finally agreed. 

- Going to the temple for the first time with São!!!! Ok actually this is kind of a sad story. We got to the temple and São wasn't there super early like her normal self so already we were like somethings up. She arrived right on time a little distraught and said to us "Sisters, I think I left the stove on in my apartment. I've called my friends, no one can go, no one has keys. I can't go in the temple like this. I won't feel at peace." So after some trying to figure things out, me and Sister Cornell offered to take her keys and go to her apartment while she went inside to do baptisms so she wouldn't miss her appointment. So me and Sister Cornell took her keys and left and São went to do baptisms with one of our members. It wasn't a quick trip there and back that's for sure, and there were some tears shed. By the time we went out and there and came back São had finished the baptisms in the temple. And the stove wasn't even on  but São was soooo so happy. We talked to her after and she said that when she was inside, she forgot about everything. She told us that she wants to be in the temple all day every day. We talked to some Sisters who had been in the temple at the same time as São, and they said that she was crying sobbing happy tears the whole time. Kind of heart breaking to not have been there, but I'm sooo so happy all the same. I love São! 

With Thanksgiving, I've been thinking a lot about gratitude. And I'm just so happy and grateful to be able to serve!! We had our weekly call with our STL on Thanksgiving, and she asked us to share one thing we're grateful for, and I ugly cried for real, because I can't even express adequately in words how blessed I am. 

"The privilege of representing the Savior Jesus Christ and His Church cannot be ignored. Participating in countless prayers, developing and bearing your testimony several times during the day, studying the scriptures for many hours, and meeting people whom you would never meet if you had stayed home are indescribable experiences."

 - Elder Denelson Silva

I'm so grateful for the millions of prayers we say. I'm grateful that I get to bear testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ so many times throughout the day!! I'm grateful for the people I'm meeting here and the relationships that I'll have forever. I'm grateful for serving here in Tejo. I'm grateful for the growth I've seen in myself, in Sister Cornell, in São, and in our area. I love being a missionary!! 

"Are you ever burdened with a load of care? 

Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?

Count your many blessings; every doubt with fly

And you will be singing as the days go by."

 Sister Menden 

Pics!

Sister Cornell's birthday and Thanksgiving and the world cup and the temple and São and isn't Portugal so pretty??