Christmas Music in September 🥰

 Hi!

This week FLEW. I've never had time go by this fast literally ever. 

Highlights of the week:

- We ate at x-dog this week  faz tempo.

- We started listening to Christmas music!!! In September!! No this wasn't really a conscious decision and yes this is a highlight because it makes me so happy. "Light the World" by the Bonner Family has been on repeat. I love Christmas. 

- The past weeks have been sooo crazy it's been hard to find people to teach. But we have been SO BLESSED this week. And have had so many people send in self referrals online! Wanderson and Jocemir and Joaquim all sent in self referrals last Sunday (they are all completely separate from each other) and they are all miracles. Miracles that they actually want to learn about the gospel and that they didn't think the the Come unto Christ ad was from the Catholic church. Miracles that they have the time to meet. Miracles that they showed up to lessons this week. Multiple times. And then Wanderson and Joaquim even came to church on Sunday!!

- We did a really awesome weekly planning last Monday and really counseled with the Lord about our plans. And the next day on Tuesday we head out to go knock doors at this one very specific building we had picked and the first two doors we knocked we found 2 new friends to teach 

- We have had a goal to do better comp prayers every night. To do it as soon as we get home, still in our pros clothes, still awake, and with our friends fresh on our minds. And then to after, sit in a few minutes of silence to receive any revelation. It has been sooo amazing. I read recently in Preach my Gospel that "prayer is a two-way communication with God" and that has stuck with me, and I don't think I fully understood that phrase until this week.

- I have a stronger testimony of the fact that the Holy Ghost will bring all things to my remembrance. And for me personally, in other cases, He will NOT bring things to my remembrance for a reason. We were in a lesson and with one of our new friends (bless) I could not remember this tender friend's background and necessidade. I could remember there was one but I couldn't remember. While he was talking I prayed that the Holy Ghost would remind me of his needs so that I could attend them better as we taught. And then I remembered that his sister was in the hospital delivering her first baby. In another lesson, with another new friend, we had fully planned to give this guy a good pre-convite to baptism ("When you receive a witness of these things... will you be baptized..."). And we finished the lesson and I had completely forgotten. And then I asked Sister Hagedorn and she said she had remembered in the lesson but that she felt it wasn't the right time yet.

- Domingos finished the Book of Mormon 

- I had an exchange with Sister De Gaston here in Faro!! We talked a lot about "Our Heartfelt All" by Elder Uchtdorf and I'm convinced this exchange (all exchanges really, but especially this one) was equally for her as it was for me. Our objective of the exchange was to focus back in on what's most important. Our "common, overall objective (was and is) to follow the Way of our Master, Jesus Christ, and return to the presence of our beloved Father in Heaven. This objective must remain constant and consistent, whoever we are and whatever else is happening in our lives."

Lowlights: 

- Guess how many people came to our english class this week!! 

- I am totally throwing Sister Hagedorn under the bus right now but she has now eaten stroganoff and rice for breakfast twice this week. It's truly impressive. She told me to include this as a highlight but I cannot hahah. There are some things we do as missionaries that make me wonder, that when I opened my call, if I had any idea that maybe eating stroganoff for breakfast would faz parte do chamado ya know what I'm saying. 

- We travelled to this farther part of our area and spent the day there! And I swear I have never seen more rejection in my entire life!! We didn't even get one single good conversation in with not a single person the whole day.  

- I'm soooo tired. 

I have read "Our Heartfelt All" a million times on the mission and every time I get something different out of it and it is always exactly what I need. I hit 15 months on the mission this next week  I am so excited to work so hard these next 3 months!!! 

"Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is not just one of many things we do. The Savior is the motivating power behind all that we do."

 Sister Menden

Pics!

- This cute old Portuguese lady

- Elevator pics 

- Conselho de Distrito!

- One night we had two lessons back to back and so my fav member fam brought the whole family. And the Irmã helped in one lesson, then right after the Irmão helped with the other lesson. And then we ended up all leaving together and look at how cute this pic is of the members being friends with our friends 

- The lunch that that same member fam made for us the day after sooo good. 

- Cristian!! Who me and Sister Adib taught almost a year ago got baptized on Saturday!! 

- I think these little dog poop bag thingies are so funny. Look at this, the accent on the second o of cocó is the dog's poop. 

- Yasmin and her mom and one of our friends came and started their family search accounts