Week one of transfer 4? Do you realize I hit 6 months in TWO WEEKS

Sept. 23, 2013

Ola minha querida familia,

This week was pretty much normal. The best part was all the different things we saw driving down the 4-lane street:

-An old man in a motorized wheelchair. He had a traffic vest.

-A weird three-wheeled car that kind of looked like a giant sardine can. I don´t know how he got in and out.

-A tractor

-A horse-drawn cart with two wheels. It was more of a pony. We saw it go around the rotunda. 

We ate squid this week. It was really chewy and really salty and the legs freaked me out because there were like a million.

Here is a picture of my knee. The cobblestone is really slippery when it´s wet. 

Also here is a cute picture for you guys :) 

And one of store water vs. the sink water 

So basically I am freaking out a little bit because in two weeks we hit our "Year-left" mark. That means if I was an elder I would be halfway done, kind of. I can´t believe how fast time is going... And I feel like I still am not fluent in Portuguese! Or in teaching. But we are getting better every day. I think, anyway. And I am pretty much fluent in understanding, so that is really great. We even have people talk to us in Creole and we can understand. Like, one lady was talking about how she needs to go to Guinea to break the witch-curse on her daughter before she can come to church, and we understood it. And I am forgetting English, so that is another good sign. Sorry if I coem home and speak only Portuguese :) 

I hope everything is going wonderfully for everyone. Get good grades and read your scriptures-Love you TONS 

Com amor,
Sister GIdney

a picture of portugal

and of my knee after i fixed it. love you!

Sept. 30, 2013

tomorrow is one year left

Bom dia familia! 

Como vocês estão? Espero que tudo seja bem e que vocês estejam a ter boas semanas em escola e trabalho. Eu queria tentar a falar Português porque, devo saber agora. Já tenho quase SEIS MÊSES na missão. Tempo está a passar TÃO rápido. Talvez vou ficar mais de 18 mêses...

This week, winter started. That means--rain. I guess I will have wrinkly feet until July :) But the good news is, my athlete´s foot is gone... And at least it´s not cold rain. Just wet. And because of the humidity you stay wet. But it is nice-- we never have to get out of the "shower". 

This week was pretty Portuguese. We saved our bread bags, after we finished the bread, so we could put other stuff in it. We washed out our empty tomoto sauce can, too. And kept it. Now it has a centipede in it on our mantleplace. It´s named Maria José. Sorry if I come home Portuguese... :) 

So at the train stations here, you buy a ticket for where you want to go, then you scan it and go through the little gate. It closes after it senses you go through. A lot of people try to go through behind others, because they don´t want to buy tickets. We usually just stop right on the other side so no one can push through behind us. On Wednesday, though, this guy went behind me and then when I stopped he started swearing and yelling. Then he saw my nametag and said basically, "You aren´t following Christ because the Bible says to let people through behind you". It made me stop and think, what is the greater law? Honesty, or charity? Because that was his argument; if you had charity you would let me through. But I was thinking about it, and the greatest way we can show and develop PURE charity is to help others follow the laws of God so they can grow closer to Him. Because all we´re doing here is preparing ourselves so we´ll be comfortable in God´s presence. That´s why we have commandments, and covenants, and families and temples. To try to be "fit for His kingdom". 

Alright I will get off my soapbox. Some funny things fro,m this week:

-We realized that the only thing scarier than a Portuguese driver in Portugal is a Brazilian driver in Portugal. We went to a lesson with a Brazilian member who, as we were pulling out of the underground garage, hit the corner and completely dented the car. We thought the windows were going to shatter and we were going to die. The only comment was "Good thing the car isn´t new". 

-We got contacted on the street by the Testemunho Jeovah missionaries (Jehovah´s witness). We testified to them about the Book of Mormon and gave them the address of our capela. 

- This week was the election for the county mayor or whatever it is, so everyone was campaigning at the train station. One had their own theme song: Sintra pode mais! (It just means "Sintra can more"). I´m not sure what it is supposed to mean but it was very catchy. Said Sister Juilfs of the interlude: "it sounds like a leprachaun with a flute jigging around a colonial American flag".

-This random guy on the street gave me a flower and siad "uma flor para uma menina bonita" 

-We watched a car trying to go up a hill in the rain. It just slid backwards. Really scared the cars behind it. 

-I accidentally punched our ceiling doing morning workouts. We live in a hobbit hole. 

-The missionary who was serving in Vegas just got home. He can´t remember POrtuguese. I´d like to be like that with English, so if everyone could email me in POrtuguese that would be great :) 

This week was great. We have a lot of people we are teaching. They are all changing and growing and it is really amazing to watch. There will be a lot more bigger changes soon too (because since it rains all the time, the only people to contact are the smokers. ha). 

Just so you know, I had a dream about coming home. I got in a fight with Katy about using her shampoo.

Portugal is great! I love it here sooo much. And now that I bought rainboots today, i could stay here the rest of my life :) 

I love you all tons. Take care of yourselves and keep reading the Book of Mormon. Have a great week! 

Com tanto amor,
Sister Gidney