Obrigada pela atenção 😀😀

Hi!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOM!!! My best friend Everyone go buy her a 44oz diet coke extra ice with fresh lime

First of all an update on our bestie São!!! She got a calling last month ugh. She's amazing. and Sister Cornell told me that she is going to the temple to do baptisms every week this month. I freaking love her!!!!

Bad news guys. All of the hard work me and Sister Cornell did, for nothing. All of my freaking grey hairs we searched for and plucked out are back and better than ever. I bet you thought I was talking about missionary work but nope. A different, but equally as important work.

These past two weeks have been a testament to me of the gift of tongues for real for real. I've had to step up my Portuguese game recently because Sister Smith doesn't understand as much, and it has been amazing to see how much better I understand because I have to.

During our weekly mission wide zoom devotional, President Barcellos invited each of us, to everyday this week when we're talking to people on the street, to bear a simple and strong testimony of the Book of Mormon, invite them read it and pray about, promise that they'll receive an answer, and then give them the book. Guys the miracles we've seen this week as we've made more of a conscious effort to do every part of his invitation

Ok 2 miracles!!!

These contacts on the street I think I will remember literally forever for real. On Tuesday we were leaving the chapel for the night and we started going one direction to knock some doors. It started raining so hard out of nowhere, so we stopped, opened our umbrellas, and then decided maybe we should go the other direction to knock doors. We walked back, past the chapel again, and as we walked past the chapel this random lady was standing in front of the church door all of a sudden. Her name was Sandra and she is a cute young mom with a couple kids, she's an immigrant from Brasil, we started talking about faith, and we introduced the Book of Mormon. We didn't explain a lot of details about the Book of Mormon or really anything. We just bore strong testimony of the power of this book and the Spirit was sooo strong. There in almost the pitch black, pouring rain, the Spirit was so strong. I'm literally getting emotional writing this! As we bore witness of the truthfulness of this book, of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, the Spirit touched her heart and she started crying.

The next day on Wednesday we were going to the church, and we decided to take the long way to the church to find more people. We stopped Cristina on the street! She also was a cute young Brazilian lady (pois). We talked for a hot sec and then introduced her to the Book of Mormon. We bore a strong but simple witness of the truthfulness of the book, the restored gospel, and she happily accepted our invite. When we told her the copy of the Book of Mormon was for her, her jaw was on the floor. She told us that we "came from God" to talk to her.

As we were talking to both of them on the street, there was really nothing fancy or amazing about the words we were saying. "My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power!!!" In both of these instances, I really learned "that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

Guys missionary work is literally so hard. We have been teaching our friend Cristian for this past transfer. He moved here from Argentina, and he is living with a member family. About a month ago he told the member family that he thinks the reason why he came to Portugal was to find the church!! So we were super excited!! But something changed. We've been having lots of lessons and he's been reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church, praying about baptism, but after all this time he still doesn't seem to have his own testimony. On Thursday during my personal study, I was feeling very frustrated because I didn't know what we should teach him or how we could help him progress. I'm not gonna lie there were tears shed. We decided to have just a very powerful lesson on Christ, on His Atonement, His love for us, His church. We had a member help in the lesson, and we ended up showing the Because of Him video from Easter awhile back. It was the craziest thing, because the Spirit was strong, and I was testifying to him of our Savior and His love for him, but in that exact moment, I could feel that Cristian wasn't receiving it. He had this blank look, half-smile on his face, but he literally seemed to have this glaze over his eyes. After the lesson he sent us a message saying that he is waiting for the church to change his life, for a sign, before he gets baptized. After we responded, he told us that he only was reading the Book of Mormon to learn English and that even after all this time, the only thing that has changed in his life, is that he has our phone number now. !!!! Bro!!!! Rude and also ouchies. I've never seen a sadder text ever. It is so sad and so hard to see him, someone we love and have come to know so well, so blatantly reject the gospel and the millions of blessings that are just waiting for him. He sent that message Friday night, and then Saturday we ran into him on the street. That was for real a big miracle. He started getting nervous and defensive and coming up with excuses, but after that, I just voiced how much we love him and that he's always welcome at church and that when he wants to meet and learn more, we are always dispostas e disponíveis. He was visibly relieved when we said that. Later he texted us again saying he's glad he ran into us. Our Heavenly Father's plan is perfect, and His time-line is perfect. I don't know why things with Cristian played out as they did, but I do know that "all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things." (2 Néfi 2:24) How grateful I am for that

Mosiah 26:3

"And now because of their unbelief they could not understand the word of God; and their hearts were hardened."

Mosiah 3:19

"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit."

Alma 32:16-18

16 Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe.

17 Yea, there are many who do say: If thou wilt show unto us a sign from heaven, then we shall know of a surety; then we shall believe.

18 Now I ask, is this faith? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to believe, for he knoweth it.

Sinto vossa falta!!

Sister Menden

Pics!

1-2. Some more beach pics that I forgot to send last week!

3. This beautiful art?? They chipped away at the cement and how did someone just do that??

4. Sister Adib being portuguese taking her smoke break

Ok and theeen there's district council in there and I had a division with my stl Sister Collins!! Mom sent us Ben and jerrys through Uber eats

Ok that big party thing out our window! Apparently starting now and throughout the whole summer, there's tons of catholic holidays to celebrate all of the different saints. So all weekend there was this festival and this parade on Sunday it was so bizarre.

The pic of the sisters in the church building, that's where we teach all of our lessons in the church and our english classes and everything.

And then also we decided that I will never be a red head. That last picture if Sister Nielson had us in tears bro