Verão chegou 🤗 suns out buns out 🤗

Oiiii querida família

The work here in Gaia is GOOD! I feel like all of the friends we had when I first got here at the beginning of the transfer (including a few with baptismal dates) are all goners and have fallen off the face of the Earth. But I'm excited now because we've been finding and we have some good friends that are sooo awesome.

Some of the miracles of our friends we've found recently:

- We found this lady at a bus stop by our house awhile ago and we had our first real lesson with her this week and after the first vision, she was emotional and said, "Is it possible that I'm receiving an answer about what church is true right now?" Um YES! And then she came and watched a baptism this weekend.

- I found a man on facebook this week and he wasn't a mid facebook friend he was a reeeaall facebook friend. And we met in person and he had actually watched all the videos I've sent him and he's gonna come to church next week.

- A random lady and her cute daughter showed up at church and we asked her how she learned about us and she said just online. And they LOVED it and her daughter LOVED primary and we have a lesson with them this week and I am HYPED.

- Me and Sister Larson were ruaing and I saw this lady from far away down the street, and I thought to myself that we should talk to her but then I lost her and then I saw her inside the store and I was like meh she's fine and we kept going. That was dumb of me. and then we kept ruaing and we were feeling very uninspired about where we should go or who we should talk to. So we decided to pray asking for guidance and then felt like we should go contact some people waiting for the metro. And guess who was there. The lady from earlier. We talked to her pois bro and of course she's the most perfect little Brazilian lady. We're gonna teach her this week!!

This week!! I went to the temple twice!! With all 3 of my recent converts from Aveiro!! AND I SAW SÃO!!! I am so blessed!!! It was a crazy week.

On Wednesday me and Sister Smith were able to go with Danilo and Cristina and it was just so good. From Gaia, Lisbon is like a 3+ hour train ride, so on Tuesday night and Friday night I spent the night in Aveiro to split up the trips. I love Aveiro Going to the temple with them two though was sooo tender to see their happiness and excitement going in for the first time and feeling the strong Spirit there. They were so happy to be giving other people the same opportunity they had to be baptized. I swear Cristina was glowing. After we had finished doing baptisms, I was explaining a little bit more about the endowment to them out in the hallway and Cristina said "I'm anxious for this year to end!" And Danilo told me that I need to make sure to keep my voice down so that the Spirit can stay. Hahahah. I love them.

And then on Saturday, me and Sister Smith went with Venky to the temple!! I kid you not, this was one of the most stressful days of my life. Literally everything that could have possibly gone wrong, went wrong. It started Friday night when Venkatesh still hadn't secured his ride from where he lives to the Aveiro train station in time to catch the train we all wanted to take together at 7:30am. And then we found out not only was it about his ride, but also the money. And then in the morning, after all the work to figure out travel things, Venky missed his train. I will spare you guys the millions of details and millions of phone calls as well as the literal tears shed and very fervent prayers given. But uau those prayers were answered though, because here is a list of all the miracles that happened that made it possible for us to go.

• Andre (in the bishopric) answered his phone at 10:20pm on a Friday night.

• Bispo answered his phone around that same time.

• There was enough Tithing money to pay for Venkatesh's expenses.

• Bispo allowed us to use that money.

• Sister Martinez called Venky and woke him up.

• A Taxi appeared out of nowhere (he lives in the middle of nooowhere) at 9am to drive him 30 minutes to take him to Aveiro to get on the train that left at 9:30am.

• Francisco (the other recent convert) missed the earlier train too so him and Venkatesh could meet up to get on this later train together.

• The 9:30am train came 20 minutes late (otherwise he would've missed it I'm sure).

• The temple let Venkatesh and Franciso in wayyy past their appointment.

• The office Elder was able to cancel our bus tickets to get back to Aveiro and Gaia and get refunded and buy us new ones for a later time in the day with no problem.

• Even having forgotten his temple recommend, they let Venky in.

• With only 45 minutes in the temple because of the buses we needed to catch, they were both able to do baptisms and confirmations.

• We got on our bus I kid you not 1 minute before it left.

• Venky found his bus and got on it successfully without us lol.

It was literally insane. I was sitting in the temple praying, trying to enjoy being there, but I literally couldn't because our bus was leaving in like 45 minutes from a place a 20 minute walk away and I just knew that Venky was in the bathroom casually changing clothes, blow-drying his hair, not knowing how pressed we were on time (and he was, his hair was nicely blown-dry when he came out, I was right). It was not my most favoritest day in the whole world. But all of the worry and stress and nervous sweats were worth it because Venky was so happy to be there. I knew it was so important for him to go as soon as possible, because if he wasn't able to make it to the temple this weekend, who knows how long it would've taken him to make it there. And with everything that went wrong, and all of the miracles that the Lord performed, I know it was important to our Heavenly Father that he made it too.

In the midst of all of the insane chaos, I was able to see Sao!!!! Oh my gosh I love her!!! She came and stopped by the temple for a few minutes just to see me. She just blows me away. She goes to the temple every week. And she's so sad because she's moving back to Capo Verde but she's not going to live on the island with the temple. And she told me she already has it all planned to get her patriarchal blessing in June in Capo Verde because the stake patriarch will be flying to her island for the week and it's all perfect. She kept hugging me and calling me "minha filha." Ugh my heart ❤️‍🔥

Some other highlights from the week for funsies:

- Someone drove by our apartment blasting Dancing Queen for like 5 seconds omg it made my day

- Sister Cornell tried to slide down a hand railing and she fell and got road rash on her knee and it was really funny I think she just wants more attention

- Earlier that day we were walking to ward council that starts at 8am (a literal crime) and Sister Cornell stepped/slid in dog poop. Screeeaming for attention

- Yvens (our recent convert of 1 week here in Gaia) at church was so excited that he's now able to pay tithing because he has a member number now. Like literally he hunted down the Bishop so that he could pay.

This week I've been studying a lot about how such a big part of our baptismal covenant is to be "willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort." Learning about just how important ministering is for others and for ourselves. On the mission we're so busy, in real life we are also just so busy. Ive had the words to Sister Cordner's favorite hymn in my head all week and one line has caught my attention more than it has before. In "Lord, I Would Follow Thee" it says

"Savior, may I learn to love thee,
Walk the path that thou hast shown,
Pause to help and lift another,

Finding strength beyond my own.
Savior, may I learn to love thee—

Lord, I would follow thee."

To "pause" and to stop to minister to others is a conscious decision on our part!!

In a BYU devotional I read Russell T. Osguthorpe said "Our calendars can never be so packed that we don't have room to show love to those around us."

Jesus "smiled at, talked with, walked with, listened to, made time for, encouraged, taught, fed, and forgave. He served family and friends, neighbors and strangers alike..."(Jean B. Bingham). Our Savior is our perfect example! Jesus was busy, he had places to be, people to see, but he never missed an opportunity to "pause" and minister to the one. There is so much power in fulfilling our covenants, even "finding strength beyond our own."

"Savior, may I love my brother

As I know thou lovest me,

Find in thee my strength, my beacon,

For thy servant I would be.

Savior, may I love my brother—

Lord, I would follow thee."

I love you guys! Send me updates!

Someone eat a QT spicy chicken taquito for me

Sister Menden

Pics!

- this babe hit 9 months

- I miss living next door to padaria Portuguesa