Hello from Portugal!

PORTUGAL WEEK 1!

Querida Familia,
Hello! So I can´t send pictures from this computer, so the few I have will have to wait. But I am alive and somewhat well. Here´s what´s happened the past few weeks:
On our last Tuesday at the MTC, our district got to usher at the devotional. It was pretty fun, and it was surprising to me to see how organized they really are. They gave us all these instructions and direction and everything. The next day we got to host new missionaries! They changed it the week after you dropped me off so sisters pick up sisters on the curb. So I got to help 4 sisters find their new class and everything. One of them was crying... I felt bad but wasn´t sure what to say because she didn´t want to come into the MTC and I didn´t want to leave!
Our last day was a P day so we got up at 4:30 to go to the temple one more time. After that we left! They took our luggage in a truck and we took front runner to the airport. When we finnnalllyy got on the plane and got going, I started getting sick and then I slept basically the whole way to Lisbon (when I wasn´t throwing up). So for all I know I could still be in the United States.
On Wednesday we got to LISBON! We grabbed our bags (which made it there safely) and the office elders and some senior couples were waiting for us with President and Sister Fluckinger. They got us all loaded up and since there were 50 of us, took us to a hotel. It was cool because the hotel they had us stay in was actually the place where the first official Church meeting in Portugal was held. So that night they fed us some weird meat and then we finally got to go to bed. The next day we had a couple meetings and then we met our trainers and left! My trainer is Sister Cutler. She´s from Utah too. Also she has only been here six weeks. Not like, in the area, but like, on her mission. But she lived in Brazil for like a year so she knows Portuguese pretty well. Which is good because I don´t understand anything. At all. Ever.
We´re in an area called São João da Madeira; it´s a little south of Porto. Sister Carroll and Sister Miles are in Villa Real and are in my zone, so I get to see them tomorrow at zone conference. It was hard saying goodbye to my MTC district, especially the elders because we can´t write to them.
Getting here was completely overwhelming. We took a 3 hour train ride (which I also slept on because once again I was motion sick) and then we had to take the metro and then we missed the last bus so the branch president came and got us four sisters in his van with a member named Renata (she´s a ward missionary and helps us a lot. She just got baptized like 3 months ago). We live with 2 other sisters, Sister Valdez and Sister Warner (Sister Warner is actually one of my freshmen year roommate´s sister´s roommate and she is a greenie too).
We got to the apartment really late and then had to make our beds... LIterally put them together; we are in an apartment that hasn´t been used for missionaries before. BUT I am glad because that means we have brand-new mattresses which means NO BED BUGS... at least not yet.
My first actual day was Friday. We taught 6 lessons that day. And by "we" I mean Sister Cutler taught and I tried my best to understand and say a sentence a couple times. It is SO hard to understand the natives. When they talk it sounds really pretty but I can´t understand at all. It sounds like mosquitos buzzing around my head. But I do have a story about one of the lessons. It was actually really cool- we were walking home for lunch, I think, and this lady stopped US and said something about her son needing to hear from us... So that night we went over and taught them both. Paulo and Linda are their names. We´ve taught them a couple more times, and they came to church on Sunday. Linda cried all the way through sacrament meeting. And Paulo needs to stop smoking (which he is trying to do) but they are both really great and I think they have been prepared to be taught the gospel. So that´s cool.
Church yesterday was good. We had 3 pesquisadores and 1 less active come (last transfer in six weeks they only had 5 pesq.s show up so it was amazing). BUT I couldn´t understand hardly anything anyone said. One woman gave a talk I think about some sort of ticket and gospel principles was about baptism, I´m pretty sure, and Relief Society I have no idea. Also I and Sisters Valdez and Warner had to introduce ourselves in sacrament meeting. Sister Cutler says I did okay.
Some funny language mistakes that Sister Warner and I have had:
Mixing up "pez" and "paz". Instead of saying "the gospel gives me a lot of peace" - "o evanghelo da-me muito paz"- it was "o evanghelo da-me muito pez"--the gospel gives me a lot of fish.
Also, ovelha vs. olho. Instead of "you have pretty eyes"-tu tens bonitas olhas- it was bonitas ovelhas--"You have pretty sheep".
That´s basically it. Oh, Porto won last night. Cars were honking all night and people were waving their Porto flags and scarves.
It´s really pretty here. I always catch myself thinking "Wow this looks like Europe". It´s kind of hard still but I am glad to be here. Hope to hear from you all soon!
Love you lots,
Sister Gidney