looking up

Querida família,
This week was pretty great! We tripled our church attendance! (Not hard to do when you only have one in church... Then again if we had only had zero it would have been even easier to triple that!) But the whole week has been full of miracles. Two of our investigators are marked to be baptized in the coming weeks, and we have a few more with a lot of potential. If you want to pray for anyone: Jorge (marked for baptism but he is on kidney dialysis and he might not be able to put his foot in the water because of surgery), Amilton (also marked but he gets huge migraines), Maria do Céu (needs to quit smoking), and Maria do Carmen (she is awesome. She came to church yesterday. She just needs an answer about the book of Mormon).
We went on a division to Lapa again. I stayed with Sister Austin. She is really fun. I forgot my camera but I´ll send some pictures next week. We had a lesson with a recent convert Paula--which was awesome because on my last division in Lapa, Sister Call and I marked her for baptism. We also had a lesson with Luana, the girlfriend of a member. We marked her to get baptized! Lapa is a really fun area. And Sister Austin was so loving and taught with the Spirit really strong. I think I learn more from these divisions than the other sisters do.
On Saturday was our pancake party! I think we made more than 200 pancakes. We were in the kitchen for six hours... (that was kind of frustrating because everyone left hte missionaries to clean up alone and that took three hours). But I think it was a success. Everyone wanted the recipe! We had a few investigators and more than 10 recent converts there. But I never want to see another pancake again.
Yesterday in church teh first counselor in the bishopric gave a sweet talk. He talked about how a few years ago he got depression. He said it was a "hole so dark that no light could penetrate", but that finally, three things saved him. 1. The faith of his wife. 2. His home teachers who came by and asked what he needed. and 3. Seeing his sleeping baby at 3 a.m. I thought it was interesting that the most important things to help us face our future are our families, and our home and visiting teachers. Before my mission I never really understood why they were so important but now I am going to do it every month, even if I have to go alone. So if you didn´t go in April, go in May :)
Besides that, we cleaned out our house this week. There was so much random stuff left behind by the elders... Some things we found: A giant wooden spoon (3 feet), some underwear, a million plastic bags, boxes of magazines, painting supplies, a gutter replacement, lightbulbs, and an electric generator.
I hope you all have a wonderful week! And a great fast Sunday.
Love you tons!!
Sister Gidney

Odivelas Hotel

Ola família!
We didn´t email earlier today because we had interviews! (On P-day, yep. At least we still have email time). Anyway. This week was a pretty good start to the transfer. We didn´t have to much time to feel lonely in our "new" house, because the first four nights we had at least two sisters sleeping over. (We are the closest sister house to the mission office with space for visitors).Usually they called us about ten minutes before bed time to inform us. And a half hour later for directions. So we have lovingly re-named our apartment "Odivelas Hotel". Funcioning hours: any day, any time. Too bad we don´t have any of those little soaps...
Some of the highlights from this week:
Maria do Céu: We had a lesson with her and were talking about her quitting smoking (of course) and she ended up telling us her life story--how she used to be an alcoholic but she quit and she said "If I could do that, then I can quit smoking. Especially with the power of God. Because I know that this is what he wants me to do."
Jorge: We have this nice investigator who is getting kidney dialysis so we can´t meet with him very often. BUT we passed by on WEdnesday to see how he is doing and he had read the lesson pamphlet we gave him. He opened his door and said "Oh! I wanted to ask, can I start coming to church? I want to come every week. Also this pamphlet talked about a Book, can I have that too? Mormon or something?" We were like, ummm yes you can. And then we asked if he wanted to get baptized. He said "Yeah I would like that". Sooo now we just have to help him find a way to church because he got foot surgery.
Deep: We had a MEGA lesson and taught him ALL of the commandments--we had already taught the word of wisdom, but we taught the rest, because he said "I want to know all the rules". Before we left, he flushed his cigarettes down the toilet and said he was quitting. The only problem... He is moving to Belgium. Tomorrow. Well. Good reference for the missionaries there.

A scripture that I read during personal study and really liked: D&C 101:55,61-62. I really like that the servants are called "the warriors of the Lord". Not only are the missionaries the Lord´s warriors, but really ALL of the members of the church are. And the Lord has covenanted with us that if we are wise and faithful (notice it does NOT say perfect) then we will become rulers over many things ou seja joint heirs with Christ. THe other part I like is that the servant went STRAIGHTAWAY but the things were not fulfilled until AFTER MANY DAYS. Sometimes we are working and working and working and nothing is happening but as we stretch ourselves every single day to find new ways to show our faith and grow our faith, eventually the promise will be fulfilled. :)
I also liked today in my interview. I was talking to President about some of the difficulties we have been having and he said that our district is "four of the best missionaries our mission has to offer" and that he knows we can do the work that is here for us. So it was really nice how supportive he was.

Other stuff:
I got my first sunburn this week! In the morning I felt like I should find my sunscreen and use it but we were late so I just ignored it and then I got ROASTED. That´s the last time I don´t listen to the Spirit.

We saw a lady stealing flowers out of people´s front yards. She saw that we saw and said "God forgive me, I´m going to give them to mother Mary." How ironic.
An old man: "Ola vocês são bonitas! I love you!" (he said that part in english. then tried to kiss us.)
That´s about it for this week. Easter was wonderful (they gave us chocolate at church). I love you all bunches. Hang in there, Heavenly Father is preparing you for a great ending! Happy week!
Love you TONS,
Sister Gidney

transfer 8, check

Querida família,
Transfer news:
Sister Derrick and I are both staying!
The other sisters´ area is CLOSING. Now it will just be me and my comp in our house. Weird.
The elder who got emergency trasnferred out four weeks ago came back and is with the elder who got emergency transferred IN two weeks ago. Complicated.

So I am going to tell you about a couple of the people we are teaching.
Quen Ling Deep. He goes by Deep. He is half Chinese half Mozambiquan. He was one of the ones taught by the elders 20 years ago. We have been reteaching the lessons and he came to general conference and to church yesterday. The only problem is he smokes. So we are helping with that. But he really loves learning the gospel.
Maria do Céu (mary from heaven). She is this little old lady who was a reference from her neighbor. We have been helping her to quit smoking (everyone and their dog smokes here) and the elders gave her a blessing a few days ago. She really wants to improve her life and her daughter´s life. We were talking about the changes she has to make and she said "Yeah but no worries. It´s the will of God so I will succeed." We are hoping her health problems will ease up enough for her to come to church this week.

Funny events from the week:
Flying noodles: Yesterday we were walking down the street when some chinese noodles came FLYING out of a third floor window above us. We dodged out of the way and they splatted to the ground.
Members gone wild: We had a lesson with a very well-meaning member the other day who ended up walking home the same direction as our investigator. We didn´t know until church when the member told us the conversation they had... Basically the member told this investigator about temple sealings, baptisms for the dead, and the Douctrine and Covenants. And then said "but you two should probably pray for guidance on how to clear up his confusion about those things in your next lesson". ...Thanks. Please, if you are helping the missionaries, keep your teaching SIMPLE. Talk about the Book of Mormon before you go off about temple convenants.

My transfer scripture for this new transfer is D&C 84:81-84. I just really like it. Also it´s funny because basically it says "tomorrow will be bad enough for itself, just worry about today today and leave tomorrow for tomorrow." That´s one thing I have been working on--not worrying about the future, just taking it one day at a time. And it helps a lot! So there is my advice.
Yep so I am going to have at least six more weeks here in Odivelas. Three more transfers after this one!
Love you all tons---Happy Easter this Sunday!
Com amor,
Sister Gidney

Conference

Ola família,
I love General Conference! What was your favorite talk and why?
This week has been full of ups and downs.
The downs:
--My companion and I were told that we haven´t been working hard enough, because we haven´t had a baptism yet. That was sad because we are working our hardest but people kind of have to WANT to live the gospel.
--We were teaching this really really wonderful woman and we went over on Saturday to mark her to be batised but she said she can´t come anymoe because her husband is too Catholic to let her.
The ups:
--We had a lesson with this woman Maria who we met last week. We were teaching about the gospel of Christ. She said she would pray to confess her sins to God and ask forgiveness. Then when we talked about baptism, she said" I think my baptism was valid but... I think I´d like it to be MORE valid". We just said "God would like that as well".
--We met several people who met the elders 20 years ago. They have verse-less Book of Mormons and also remembered the name "Jospeh Smith". I guess those flip-charts were good for memory.
--We got McDonald´s and PIzza Hut (on different days)
--We got to watch a session of General Conference at the mission home! We also had a meal. There were about 18 missionaries there. It was fun. Also it was the first time I ahve walked on real carpet in a year.
The in-betweens:
--The elders had a baptism and he was too tall and he ended up having to repeat 4 times.
--I hit a year? I don´t know how I feel about that.
I really liked General Conference! Especially Elder Ballard´s about follow-up. So I´m goign to follow up with you if you are reading Preach My Gospel? Let me know how it goes :)
We had a bunch of meetings this week so not much else happened! I hope Emily had a great birthday :) and that you are all doing well.
Next general conference I´ll be sitting on our couch!
Love you all tons!
Com amor,
Sister Gidney