6 MONTHS

Hi fam

I hit 6 months on the mission tomorrow and I'm having a 1/3 mission life crisis because 6 months have already passed and I still have so much I need to learn!! And become!! I'm still a greenie!!

Let me tell you about two new friends we found this week!! We were walking to the chapel, saying "bom dia" to everyone you know the usual, but then this one man actually said it back to us and was happy about it! We stopped him and he was just so happy to be talking to us. He said he talked to missionaries in Brasil but he hasn't since he moved here a couple yearss ago! We gave him a new Book of Mormon, he said "Thank you for the present" and we set up a time to meet the next day at the chapel. And then on Wednesday he actually showed up!! And he brought his wife!! There names are Cleber and Alexsandra and Cleber told us he sent a message to his member friend saying that he's meeting with us again! This lesson was sooo good guys. He actually remembered what the missionaries had taught him forever ago. His wife didn't know anything about the church and at first was very stand off ish. But at the end as we were explaining the Book of Mormon she was sobbing and so so happy. Like actually so many tears. It was amazing to see her and her disposition change literally almost in an instant. She sent us a text after our lesson that said "Thank you so much. I was surprised by the peace I felt as you explained the Book of Mormon. Tomorrow, I will read the chapter you left with me! It would be a pleasure for you to come to my house this week!" I know the story of this man and his wife sound like such a basic missionary story, but isn't that actually kind of crazy?? That stories like this, miracles like this, happen so often that we so easily over look them? The Lord's hand is so evident!! On Saturday we went and visited them and brought them cookies at there house, and I'm in awe at how open and excited Alexsandra is to meet with us. She's more invested in our visits than Cleber is! We're going to teach her tomorrow!! What a blessing.

Had a lesson with an Evangelico guy who served a mission in Bolivia for 8 years. and also did a 14 day long fast without food and water which idk if that is even possible??

We were messaging this woman about the chapter we had left with her to read. I wanted to send one of my favorite verses from the chapter but then Sister Adib said that we should wait and do it later. I kind of fought her on it saying "nooo we should do it now while we have the time and remember." We ended up waiting until later, and the Spirit was for sure working through Sister Adib, because we waited, and our friend actually sent US the exact verse I wanted to share with her. It actually was super cool, because if we had sent the verse earlier like I had wanted, it wouldn't have been the same and our conversation that followed with our friend would not have been as meaningful. This is a very small tiny little thing, but it just shows how intimately involved the Lord is!

In heaven one day I will ask to watch the video of Sister Adib swerving this man's beijos soooo hard oh my gosh so funny.

Taught the entire spiritual thought in our aula de inglês with my Sister Cornell tag hanging out the wrong direction.

Remember our friend Marcelo 2.0 na rua? Well I have sad news about him Marcelo is from Brazil and his wife and children are actually still there! He just got here to Portugal, and he's just been 24/7 looking for a job, looking for an apartment big enough for his family. I don't know if I've talked about this before, but people in Marcelo's situation are very common. There's so many Brazilians (and also Africans and people from all of over really but mostly Brazilians) who are coming to Portugal to try and live here because living conditions are just better! Marcelo has been here for a month now with no success, and earlier this week he told us he's going back to Brazil as soon as possible, and since then he's been avoiding our calls and messages. On Saturday we were doing some street contacting, and we ran into him!! Literally the biggest miracle ever. He was obviously very sad about the situation he is in and it was heartbreaking to see. We shared a scripture with him and he told us he still wants to meet with missionaries so we're gonna send his dot away soon. Sad but also I'm happy he still wants to learn!!

On Saturday one of our friends was super late to our lesson, and he kept saying "no I'm coming, I'm super close!" So we waited, but then finally he canceled which was actually very frustrating because we were now going to be super late to our next lesson because of public transportation. We decided to take an Uber and literally everything about the situation was another miracle. We were talking to our cute Uber driver and apparently when she was growing up, her dad was learning from the missionaries and she said the Elders were always at her house. We started talking and when we asked her if she wanted to learn more and meet with us, I've never heard anyone answer yes so quickly!

We went to this less actives house and we taught this family a cute little Christmas lesson, and I really really enjoyed it. That's all I really have to report on this lesson haha. I'm so excited to try and help this family. What a cool time in my life where I just get to know so many different people, and get to be invited into their houses, and teach about Jesus 24/7.

This week, in some of our member lessons, including the one with this less active family, we've been showing this video.

Why We Need a Savior

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/video/christmas-messages/2015-12-1000-why-we-need-a-savior--a-christmas-message-about-our-savior-jesus-christ-asaviorisborn?lang=eng

Every time I watch I get a little emotional! The end of the video says that Christ "can bridge the lonely gap between God and man and bring us home, if we let Him, if we love Him, if we follow Him. That's why we celebrate. That's why we sing, that's why He was born." It's very simply put and very powerful. I can not describe the love and gratitude that I feel for my Savior!! My heart could burst.

I love you all!

Sister Menden

Pics

1. English class!

2. A recent convert took us to an American restaurant! I look so wide in this picture that is not okay

3. Sister adib seeking help

4. A member gave us advent calenders!! So precious

5. Didn't realize we were trying to knock doors during the Portugal world cup game surprise surprise we had no success

6. The cute old train station

7. Ornaments mom sent me

8. idk if I've said this before but this is the street we walk everyday to the chapel!!! So cute!!

9. Lucy are we absolutely kidding