Portuguese Novelas

Querida familia,
This week was probably the craziest and funniest week ever. I love it here. It´s basically like we´re in a soap opera.
On Tuesday during district meeting the elders flooded the capela. They don´t have gas in their house because they broke it, so they always cook at the church. They invited us to stay for lunch. The sink apparently leaks and there is a bucket underneath to catch the overflow, but they forgot and it overflowed and filled the entire relief society room with water. Took about 40 minutes to mop up.
On Wednesday, we went to LISBOA. We got our residency cards! So now we´re official. We went to a mall and got these really nice pictures taken, then went and sat in this DMV-like place for five hours. Finally they took my fingerprints and my signature and sent me on my way. Luckily we only live a 30-minute train ride away. But we got to see a lot of people from our MTC group. Everyone is more blonde and more tan. And can speak better Portuguese. The best part about it was that afterwards they took us to the escritorio and we got to get some pedidos and some mail. We finally got some pamphlets and things we needed. (And I got a package from Aunt Miriam that was super awesome!) When we got back, we had a meeting at the capela. The elders met us at the comboio station because we were bringing them a bunch of Book of Mormons. This lady stopped us and wanted the address of the headquarters of the Church. She wanted us to call the prophet and get the address and was really confused why we couldn´t...
Thursday was a great day. We talked to a ton of people. We also had Aula de Inglês, which is my favorite time of the week. This little old man in our ward always comes (apparently he is the stake patriarch. I didn´t know that until yesterday). So we had taught colors and clothing items so we decided to play "I love my neighbor" to help them learn. This is the game where you sit in the circle and someone in the middle says "I lvoe my neighbor, except for those with___" and whoever is wearing that has to switch chairs, and the person in the middle tries to get a seat. So this man got to be the one in the middle, and he looked around, then as seriously as possible said "I love my pants!" He quickly looked around for a spot to sit, but no one had moved, so he said it again louder "I LOVE MY PANTS!" We helped him... While trying not to laugh. Basically every game is better when the people playing don´t understand the language. To end the class we did a nice round of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" because our zone leader said they love it. And they did. Everyone went crazy.
On Friday all of our compromissos fell through so we ended up goign to the north end of our area to try to find people. The only ones we met were a guy who said "I´d love to talk but I´m drunk right now" and a guy I think was on drugs. He was practically confessing his love to us as we walked away.
Saturday was hilarious. We went to a dinner compromisso but the lady got confused when she found out Sister Juilfs is allergic to meat so we ended up sitting behind the family at the table, and she fed us maria bolachas (these graham cracker-like cookies) and juice while the family ate chicken and rice. It was so confusing. We also met a man who grabbed our hands and read our palms. He told me I am good at art and drawing (yeah right), that I am going to have at least two children, and that I love cats. I tried to say "actually I don´t really like them" but he said "No I KNOW you like them. It is written. Here, in your palm. It is written."
Yesterday I got to play a violin! The elders had a baptism and wanted a special musical number so a ward member lent me her violin and I played "I Feel My Saviour´s Love" with Elder Taylor (he played the piano). I think it turned out alright. We also had someone tell us that the Book of Mormon isn´t true because the picture of Jesus in the front is white and "with where He was born He couldn´t have been white". So that was interesting.
The best part of the week is JESSICA. She is the best investigator ever. We were really worried earlier this week. Sister Juilfs and I both feel really strongly that she needs the Holy Ghost next Sunday, and so she has to get baptized before church. She didn´t want to get baptized yesterday because she wants her family there (makes sense), but also she wanted her friend to baptize her, and he will be in Spain until late Saturday night. So We were worried that she wanted to wait. But she said "No I´ve been praying. It has to be this Saturday. I don´t care who baptizes me as long as it´s on Saturday." So the member we had with us will be baptizing her. Also, her favorite scripture is 1 Nephi 3:7. "The Lord has already prepared a way for me. I just need to cumprir His ordens". She knows that there is a path for her; all she has to do is follow. I feel like SHE is the one teaching US-I always learn so much when we teach her.
I feel like there was more that happened this week but I can´t think of anything right now. Basically it is hard but we are having a TON of fun. I love my companion, the elders are hilarious, and I LOVE our investigators. (Not as much as some of them love us but.. that´s a story for another day). I also love you all TONS. I) hope you are reading the Book of Mormon. I am on chapter 16 now (in Portuguese!) Also one thing I have been doing that I love is writing down a miracle every day. Some of them are a stretch, but it is amazing to see how blessed we are. Good luck with the first few days of school--the Church is true and I love you!
Tchauzinho,
Sister Gidney

Com licença

Ola familia :)
We´re done with our second week here.. already. It´s starting to go really fast. Part of it is probably that we have been working to the last possible minute every single day (we usually end up running home to make it on time).
We got fed every.single.day this week. So I´ve now eaten chicken foot soup, octopus rice (including the suckers..), bacalhau lasagna, and some other fine delicacies. ..Yep.

Mom asked about the scripture I picked for this transfer. It´s D&C 1:4-5. I like it because it reminds me that God chose us, not just to be missionaries, but to be where we are when we are and with who. So He knew what he was doing when He put Sister Juilfs and I here to open an area still trying to figure Portuguese out. And it´s also nice that nothing will stop us if we are trying our hardest. Not only will the people or Satan or whatever not stop us, but our own weaknesses won´t even be able to "deterá", because this is God´s work. He´s got this. "Porque eu, o Senhor, os mandei ir."
So we started teaching this AWESOME girl this week- Jessica. She is the friend of a member who just got his mission call. She´s probably the only blonde in Cacém, and she is SO elect. We marked her for baptism the first time we talked to her! She is 19 and was never baptized in any church, and said that right before we showed up she was looking for what she should be doing, if she should get baptized, or what should she do in her life. (Miracles happen). This weekend she came to a baptism at the capela and then to a ward activity, and then to all three hours of church, and the came back for choir. I think the most impressive thing though was that after the second lesson she asked "So what are the basic steps we need to take in this life?" So we left a 3ª lição panfleto and all the mandamento pamphlets and when we came back the next day she´d read all of them, the chapter we left in the Book of Mormon, and started reading the Book from the beggining. And her only question was "So how do we repent?" She´s really awesome. I am really really excited for her. Another awesome pesquisador we have is Nené. He is atheist, but after reading some chapters in Alma, he said he is starting to believe in God!
One miracle we saw this week was Quarta-feira night. The zone leader challenged all the areas to find 3 novos during the day. It was 9:20 and we still needed one more, and we also had to walk home. We stopped and said a prayer and said we knew it was possible, but that we needed to help. After we said ámem, we looked up and saw... nothing. No one was on the street. We stood there for a few seconds and then started walking up the street, away from our house, thinking for sure it was hopeless and that we would be late. At the corner we saw this car pulling up, so we awkwardly waited until they started getting out. The two ladies had a bunch of suitcases so we asked if they needed any help. They said no, but one lady started talking to us about her travels (she is from Madeira). We asked if we could say a prayer with her for her viagem the next morning... and she let us, with her friend. Turns out that the friend lives in our area, already has a Book of Mormon, and wants us to come back and explain it. We set up an appointment and then ran (as usual) home. We made it home on time AND found our new novo. Even though we were expecting someone to be like right behind us after we prayed, we still had the miracle we needed, because we took those steps of faith.
Okay one funny story to finish it up. We contacted this old man who was hanging out by a bus stop. We talked about Jesus for awhile and then he interupted us and said "You have beautiful eyes. They remind me of a fruit. Do you know which one?" We were confused and just said "uhhh..." and then he said something we didn´t understand. He repeated "Azeiton. You know, like the oil?" Yeah turns out he said Olives. So I have olive eyes so that´s cool.
Yep all in all we´re trying to get this area "up and running". We have a few great people to work with and are still working hard to find more. The hardest part here is that in our area (probably about the size of 3 BYU campuses) there are 9 churches. So please keep me and the people in Massamá in your prayers :)
I hope all is well with you all. I love you tons!!
Com muito amor,
Sister Gidney

first week in cacém

Ola familia,
Well as you know I got transferred. I am now in Cacém B. We live and work in Massamá. The area is TINY compared to São João, but there are SO many people here. This week we found 28 novo pesquisadores- that´s in the 5 days we were working here. My new companion is Sister Madison Juilfs from Las Vegas. She is 19 and also goes to BYU. In our district/ward there are 3 duplas-us and four elders. Apparently we are the first sisters to be here since like 2007. So we went to ward counsel yesterday and the bishop was like "Yay! Sisters! We´re going to treat you like princesses!" And then elder Lopes was like "and not us?" So I guess all six of us will be princesses. And by princesses, we mean pigs. We got jumped on by four famillies wanting to feed us this week.... Hopefully we don´t gain weight... Probably not though because I think my stomach might not be able to handle the food here. It tastes good but it is just not what I am used to... (see the picture of chicken foot soup).
So we are basically opening this area. It was opening last transfer, kind of, and now we are whitewashing, so we just have to go out and find people. As usual, we meet a lot of weird guys who are interested... in us. So that´s fun. We met a guy this week who tried to hold our hands. I decided if there is one word to describe being a missionary it is "awkward" (but a close second is "AWESOME").
Oh so we live with a member. The ceilings are tiny. She does our laundry I guess, and also cleans once a week? It´s kind of like we have a maid, except I want her to let us help. She also has this fat little dog that´s pretty cute and really likes missioanries.
So when you first arrive in an area and don´t know anyone, funny things happen. We found a menos ativo in our area book so went to visit her... turns out she´s actually been active since 2010 so. Oops. Also, we met a guy who asked if we spoke ENglish. When we said yes, he started speaking to us in Creole. Oh and last night, probably my favorite. We got a call from a potential investigator... we thought, who said meet by the school we met at the first time. We show up, and he´s not there. Turns out it wasn´t the right guy. So we ask where to go and we start walking there. We still aren´t sure who it is, so we decide that it was probably this other guy we talked to. When we got there though, it was a THIRD guy we had talked to...and we didn´t remmeber his name. To be honest, we still don´t know it. We may never know.. THe names here are a lot harder because there are a ton of Africans, so not everyone is named Maria and Paulo.
Hey cool thing. I can understand people here! Not everyone, and not all the time, but I understand probably 80 or 90%. I don´t know if it´s because the accent is easier or if I finally have the gift of interpretation of tongues but it was interesting. On the way here, I still couldn´t understand. But as soon as we got into our new area, I started understanding a LOT. When we´re on the street and in lessons. But still not in church. So I guess it really is a blessing. We´re called and so we´re qualified. Sweet.
I´m not sure what else to say. We talk to a lot of people every day so we can build up a base of pesquisadores (we are basically starting with nothing). Everyone says this area is "elect" so we are trying really hard to find people that are ready for the gospel. It´s hard here, but also not. I can´t explain it. Also I am really tired so I will go now.
I hope everything is going sooo well with you all. Good luck getting ready for school to start. Don´t forget to read the Book of MOrmon with me! I am reading it in Portuguese. It´s hard.
I love you all TONS- siga sempre em frente :)
com amor,
Sister Gidney

TRANSFERRED

Ola familia,
It has been a CRAZY week. I probably don´t remember most of it.
Last P day we went to the castle in Santa Maria da Feira.. Hopefully I can send pictures sometime. It was really fun. And it makes me wonder who has walked where we walk every day. Tipo, anciently.
This week we had no novos until Friday. No one wanted to talk to us. Everyone kept saying it´s a waste oif time and not worth it. Finally on Friday we were talking to this lady, "Oh it will be a waste of time" and I just started talking saying "It won´t be a waste because God loves you" and just kept going and afterward she was like "oh" and then gave us her contact info and prayed with us. So I guess a little righteous indignation sometimes is a good thing :P
Alright since I am really tired I don´t remember much of last week. On Sunday night at like 10 p.m. we finally got our phone call about transfers. I thought I was staying, but nope! Sister Cutler and I both got transferred. So did Sister Valdez. They are combining the two areas and leaving Sister da Silva (who got there three weeks ago) to do them both... while she´s training. So we stayed up until 2 ~packing (and crying) and finally got to bed. Just in time to get up at 5 so we could catch our 6 a.m. bus. We went to Porto and then rode the train to Lisbon and to the mission office. There I met my new companion-Sister Juilfs. She got here the same time as me. She is really really nice... and also knows the same or less Portuguese than me. This is going to be interesting! We are whitewashing an area that was only opened last transfer-basically opening-- in Massamá. Near Cacem. Near Lisboa. I am in the Oeiras zone, which altogether is smaller than São João. But everyone keeps telling us this area is bem eleito. We are the first sisters to be in this ward since 2007. Hopefully we do a good job.
I hope you all are happy and healthy. Love you tons-please pray that I will understand the people here :)
Love,
Sister Gidney