T´was the week before Christmas...

Querida família,
Merry Christmas! Almost! Sister Warburton and I are probably way more excited for Christmas than we should be. We have all our little presents laid out by our fireplace (that we´re not allowed to use) and have a counter on the wall. Just two more days!
This week was full of surprises! My rainboots started leaking, which I didn´t even know was possible. If I calculated correctly I walked about 400 miles in them. But I got new ones today that are a lot cuter, so it all worked out.
So one of the fun things about Braga is the university. There are always poor little freshmen trying to get into sororities and fraternities being paraded around by the seniors. This week we saw a parade of them dressed up like Santa Claus. One of the Santas ran over to us and said "Merry Christmas!" in English and then hugged us. I froze and then awkwardly tried to escape. It was awkward.
On Thursday, one of our recent converts, Cristina, called us. She was really quite sick and needed our help. We went out with the Elders so she could get a blessing, and then we went with her daughter to the pharmacy. Turns out the medication she needed was prescription-only, so we went back empty-handed. When we arrived, Cristina started crying because she didn´t think she would be able to get any sleep without it. We prayed with her and told her everything would be okay and just to trust in the Lord. We left after doing some of her dishes. We called the next day and talked to her daughter who said everything had turned out okay. Turns out that almost right after we left, her stomach pains went away. She still wasn´t able to sleep but she finally thought "Maybe it´s because I don´t have enough faith" so she said a prayer and right after fell asleep and sleep longer and better than she has in weeks. She told us that she realized that sometimes we will have a battle, but after we make it through, Christ will take it all and we will have huge miracles.
Speaking of miracles, on Friday we got to teach with Margarita, our awesome recent convert who is 13 and more than 6 feet tall. Everytime she shared her testimony in our lessons, it was the perfect thing said in the perfect way with such strong faith that we ended up seeing a huge difference in our investigators. It is amazing how one little girl is already changing lives.
So in case you didn´t know, Heavenly Father has the biggest sense of humor. On Saturday we had a bunch of compromissos, and then we found out we had a meeting as well, so we were running around all day. Then we couldn´t find one of our investigators´houses, so we stopped in a few cafes to ask directions and ended up finding an amazing new investigator. We finally went home for jantar when we realized we had an appointment in 15 minutes, so we headed right back out the door. Sister Warburton said, "That´s too bad, I really wanted to make soup for dinner". We went to our next appointment with Marta (the brazilian). We walked in and she said "Oh I made you soup!" and gave us a couple of bowls of noodle soup. We went to our next (and last appointment) and THEY had made us soup as well. So we ended up having about 4 bowls of soup. So I learned two things. 1. Sometimes it is better not to ask, because you will recieve. (D&C 4:6. haha) 2. Heavenly Father really does give us "an hundredfold". When we do one little thing, like skipping dinner to go help His kids, He will bless us more times than we can count. But thankfully this time it wasn´t one hundredfold, but just fourfold :)
Yesterday Sister Warburton and I got to translate for an investigator. Michael is one of the elders´ investigators and he only speaks English so in church and the baptism after church we got to help them translate. It was hard.
Yesterday afternoon one of the little boys in the ward got baptized! It was so awesome. A bunch of non-member family members were there and the family gave them all Book of Mormons. And Bispo said after the baptism "So who´s next?"
CHRISTMAS in two days! It will be weird to talk to you... Because everyone will look different. But it will be awesome! Get your questions ready so it´s not awkward :)
Oh here´s a picture--we found the Road of Restoration!

Com muitíssimo amor,
Sister Gidney

Welcome to Porto Norte...

Ola família,
Sorry that this is a day late! Yesterday we had Christmas Conference so we didn´t have time to email! I am sure you were all up all night worrying about it.
We survived the first week of the transfer. It was actually a really great week! We had tons of miracles, and, more importantly, tons of parties.
Saturday was the ward Christmas party. It was probably the best party I have ever been to. First of all, when we got there, one of our pesquisadores was there and she said "I have good news. I want to get baptized"! We have been working with her since I got here and she finally has the desire to follow Christ. That was super exciting. The actually party itself was hilarious. The primary kids had a nativity play. Sort of. I have some videos of parts of it that mostly include the kids running off stage, singing the wrong song, or forgetting their lines. The cutest part was the little 5 year old girl who was playing Maria. She had her little baby doll and was kissing and cuddling and rocking it the whole time. After the primary kids, some of the ward members played guitar and sang. Then, the creepiest and best part of all--Santa showed up! Ou seja, Pai Natal. This member came in with this fake beard on and was giving all the kids chocolate bars... but only after they kissed his cheek. And I thought American Santa was scary. Finally all the candy was passed out, and we had a HUGE dinner. It was delicious. But the best part of all was that we had 6 or 7 pesquisadores who were there and making friendships with the ward and really becomming a part of the ward. We are teaching this wonderful girl Natália (I will tell her story later) who is only 12 but she is taller than me. Margarita, our 13 year old recent convert, is taller than 6 foot. When she saw Natália she ran over and said "You are tall! I love you already!" and then took her off and they are already best friends.
Yesterday was Christmas Conference for the missionaries in Porto and Porto Norte. We got our packages! I had a silly miracle. When we first got to the stake center, all the mail was on the hallway so naturally we looked to see if we had anything. I saw a couple of things but no package from you. I was thinking "That´s the only one I want!" So we went in and had a training on helping our pesquisadores pray with specific questions to get a specific answer, so I thought, "Bem it works for them it will work for me" so I said a prayer and was like "this is silly but please bless that the mail from my family is here. for Christmas" and then I stopped worrying about it. At the end when they passed out all the mail, it was there! I know it wasn´t there earlier, but it was by the end. A true Christmas miracle :) haha
One of my favorite miracles this week was meeting Natália, and her aunt Marta. On Wednesday morning we had a lesson with a casal before lunch. We always have back-up plans written in case a lesson falls through. They were there, but we still had a few minutes that we could keep working before lunch afterwards. We decided to go to one of the backups we had written down. When we got there, the front door was open so we went up to the door. We knocked and it had turned out that this person had moved, but Marta answered. She invited us in right away and said she would love to come to Church, and bring her niece. They are from Brasil and have only lived here one month. They came to the Christmas party and to all 3 hours of Church and are reading the Book of Mormon together. they are so wonderful and so easy to teach. (Is this what it is like every day for Brazilian missionaries? It is nice)
Another miracle was on Thursday. We decided to go running for morning exercises and we wanted to run the trail by the Roman ruins so we started up the street. It was a little cloudy and overcast so I said to Sister Warburton it might be too dark and we might not want to run up. We decided to see what the trail was like and so we kept going. I felt like maybe we shouldn´t go but I thought that was probably just me not wanting to work out. We started down the trail. It is striaght for a while and then curves behind a band of trees, so you can´t see what´s on the path on the other side. We got down about 15 meters from the trees and then both of us just stopped suddenly in our tracks and said "Nope". That was when we realized it was the Spirit telling us not to keep going. We turned around and left. I don´t know what would have happened down the trail (maybe it was too dark and we would have tripped and gotten hurt) but I know that whatever it was, we were protected because of the Spirit. I thought it was interesting that we felt the Spirit so strong for something that was not technically "missionary work". I realized that we have a right to the guidance of the Spirit not just to help the Church grow or to help others progress, but also for ourselves. When we are worthy.
Also. I AM SO TIRED. Am I going to be this tired for the rest of my life?
I hope you all have a wonderful week!! I guess I will be skying with you a week from tomorrow. Weird. Have fun with your days off of school and get ready for Christmas! And thank you for the Christmas packages! I am excited to open everything.
I love you TONS! Merry almost Christmas!
Com amor,
Sister Gidney

Braga, Take Two

Queridíssima Família,
So we got transfer calls last night... I am staying in Braga! Sister Bollinger and also our district leader are leaving. (I must be good luck because all my district leaders become zone leaders). My new companion is Sister Warburton. She is from England so maybe she will teach me to be a little more cultured.
This week was kind of a roller coaster! We had two people who were supposed to get baptized who ended up running away from us, and then another who we thought wouldn´t, did. So Sol Amor got baptized on Saturday! Sister Bollinger and I contacted him in Center while he was playing the guitar sitting on a fountain. It was just as awkward as it sounds. But he ended up coming to church and now he is a member! (Yes that is really his name).

So I am basically a model for the Church now. Sister Fluckiger called us up on Tuesday and asked us to send her a picture of us entering a pesquisador´s house. So we aquardly had a photoshoot for five minutes. Probably that picture is just for the next Preach My Gospel or something. No big deal.
A pigeon pooped on Sister Bollinger´s ankle on Saturday. We wiped it off with a leaf.
One of the most miraculous moments of the week was on Thursday. Our appointments had fallen through and we didn´t know where to go so we prayerfully decided to pass by a member (recent convert of a little more than a year). When we got to her apartment building. she was sitting outside in her car with her son just looking really upset. We went in with her and had a little lesson and turns out she was having car problems and was really really worried but she said we showed up just when she needed help. We got to comfort her just in the moment she needed.
Oh yesterday in Sacrament meeting it was the primary program. The kids here are sooo cute. There are probably 12 or 15 of them and they all did a great job. It was exactly like america though--every single one forgot to say "In the name of Jesus Christ Amen" so they all had to run back up, hurry and mumble it, and run back to their seat all embarrassed :)
I am excited to stay in Braga one more transfer. This is an awesome area with a great ward and wonderful people.
I hope you are all surviving the snow and that you have a wonderful week! I love you tons!
Com amor,
Sister Gidney

thankful

Querida família,
So guess where I am right now.
I am in SÃO JOÃO.
Remember, my first area?
I am there RIGHT NOW.
Here is the story. Sister Bollinger had to go today to Lisboa to get her residency card. I found out that one of the sisters in São João also had to go. So rather than having me and her companion both stay in Porto, when the executives called to arrange everything, I asked if I could come stay here.
And here I am!
I got here last night and I already got to visit Paulo and Linda. It was so awesome because I stood on the stairs where they couldn´t see and Sister Hill knocked on the door. Linda answered and was like "What are you doing here alone? Where is your companion?" Sister Hill said, "She had to go to Lisbon! So I decided to bring a Christmas surprise to you!" So then I popped up and I thought Linda was going to have a heart attack. She gave me a huge hug and Paulo gave me a huge handshake (ha) and we were all just so happy. It was a Christmas miracle to get to see them again :)
One of the neatest miracles we had this week was with a lady named Teresa. She lives next to some membros who brought her to church. We met her there and then had a lesson a few days later. She said she really loved church and she even told the member "Even if you aren´t going to be there I´m going to church every week!" so then we asked her "so... would you like to be a member?" And she said yes! We haven´t even taught her the first lesson yet and she is marked for baptism. Church is so so so important and can really change our hearts.
We had a "tour da missão" this week with Elder Dyches from the 70. I really learned a lot. He also told us about what it was like to speak in General Conference. (It sounds awful). He and his wife are really, really nice and so inspirational (prerequisite for the job?). One of my favorite things was this quote: "I, for one, choose faith over doubt, desanimo, and fear. I know in Whom I trust. Let us, no matter the trial of our faith, hope on, pray on, press on!"
On Thanksgiving we had lunch with the English family in our ward. They made us chili, because it´s "cheerful and cheap".
Another thing I realized this week is that the people here recognize me and my companion and other missionaries as "different". We were talking to a girl on the street and she said "I am seeing that you are really happy and I feel this inner peace. Maybe that is power from God?" Even though she doesn´t really understand who we are or what our calling is, she recognized that we have POWER. That is because we were called and set apart by the priesthood of God. We have authority to represent our Lord and Saviour Jesus Cristo. And even though the people don´t know what exactly that is, they can see we have it. And now we just have to live up to it :)
Basically this week was cold and wonderful. I hope you all are reading your scriptures and I hope you know that I LOVE YOU!!
Com amor,
Sister Gidney

let´s just take all the eleitos, and put them in the font

Queridíssima família,
First of all, AWESOME NEWS. I got a call yesterday from Sister Juilfs, and Sabino finally got baptized! We contacted him in our first transfer in Massamá. I was so happy.
Besides that, this week was really interesting. Half of our pesquisadores decided they want nothing to do with us. I think something really good is about to happen otherwise it would be easier.
On Tuesday we had interviews and zone conference. We had ot get up 2 hours early to get there on time, but we got mail! John and Jen sent me peanut butter, so that was the best thing ever.
We locked ourselves out of our apartment on Wednesday. The doors here are weird; if you don´t have a key, you can´t open it, even if it isn´t "locked" (because they have no doorknobs). But it turned out to be a really miraculous coincidence because we went over to this member´s house to get the spare keys, and she invited us to teach her husband! We had a good lesson with him on Friday. He has already been taught by missionaries before but maybe this time his heart is ready.
Speaking of locks, we also got locked in the basement under our apartment building. So never going exploring again.
Other fun things: picked an orange OFF OF A TREE and ate it yesterday.
Mostly this week we just worked. But because of everything this week I am really grateful that I was born into the church! We see so many people every day who are lost and sad and completely hopeless. And WE know how much the gospel could bless them, but they don´t understand. We have such an amazing perspective and so much light, but they are stuck in the dark. Sometimes I just want to climb on top of the Braga Parque and be like, "Olha, everyone. This will make you happy. Just try it out." And some of them are. We have some really great investigators who want to change their lives for the better.
That´s all I really have to say... I´m cold and tired. And very very happy. :)
I hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving. Eat some pie for me....
Love you TONS!!
Sister Gidney

Well that´s just ridiculous

Ola querida família,
Guess who got transferred? I just got to my new area in Braga. My new companion is Sister Bollinger. I´m pretty excited--I´ve heard this is an awesome area. Also our house is like a mansion. It smells like America inside.
Even though I´m excited, it was REALLY hard to leave Cacém. I knew I was leaving on Friday (well at least I was pretty sure) so I started packing my bags Friday night. Sister Juilfs and I went over to Jessica´s to say goodbye to her and her sister Daniela and it was so sad. But Daniela said the most amazing prayer. Eu fiquei muito contente.
Alright I am going to tell you about our main miracles from my last week in Cacém:
Segunda-feira (Monday): Sister Juilfs and I were working with Irena, this wonderful member who helps us a lot. We went to our compromisso but they weren´t home. So we were heading to our plano alternativo on the main road when suddenly I was like "hey let´s go down this sketchy alley instead" (because I was really curious) and they were like "uh..." but I was already heading down there. Suddenly this lady appears, BAM. We start talking to her; turns out she´s super elect and has been SO prepared to learn about the gospel and the Plan of Salvation. All because we went down a dead-end alley.
Terça: We were running late for district meeting but the comboio was 30 seconds late so we ran down the escalator and jumped in just in time. I felt like Indiana Jones.
Quarta: It rained a LOT but we managed to get to our compromissos despite the river in the rua. Everything worked out perfectly. I also was wearing my rainboots even though it was sunny earlier.
Quinta: We met a really nice Brazillian lady first thing in the morning. We didn´t get her contact info and I was kicking myself as we walked away. About an hour later as we were walking back towards the comboio, we ran into her again! She said she had read our pass-along card and that she wanted a Book of Mormon. We gave her one, got her info, and set up an appointment to go back.
Also, learned the Linha Sintra handshake. It´s the handshake that all the jovens on the Sintra train line know.
Sexta: There was another random rainstorm. We had a lesson in Massamá Norte but there was ligtening and it was POURING rain and so we didn´t know if we´d be able to get there. We ended up stopping by a pesquisador we hadn´t seen in awhile and then right after the lesson, the rain stopped so we were able to go up to see our other compromisso, too.
Sábado: So our pesquisador Paula has been trying and trying to find a job because she has no money to eat and on Friday night she got kicked out of her apartment until she could pay for the luz and água. The next morning, only about 12 hours later, Irena called and said she found a job for her. So now she can move back and we can keep teaching her.
Domingo: I don´t know why but this week was probably the most meaningful week in church I´ve ever had, especially during the sacrament. I learned a lot from the talks and it was really nice.
So when I first got out here, I decided to make some goals for my mission. One of them was to find a baptism in every single transfer. But when I was praying about them, instead of that, I said that I wanted to change someone´s life every single transer. Because sometimes baptisms aren´t life-changing. I was thinking about this transfer, and I think the life I changed the most in the past six weeks was my own. I don´t know exactly how or why, but I kind of feel like a completely different person. But at the same time, I feel like I´m finally who I really am. So. Yeah.
I guess maybe I should include something sappy and inspirational but I don´t really have anything. I just know the Church is true and I know that Christ is our Saviour. And I am SO lucky and SO grateful to be here. I am going to be depressed when I have to come home. But the Church is true on every part of the globe!
Challenge of the week: Write down one miracle that happens every day this week!
As our English class would sing, "If you´re happy and you know it, shout `I LOVE JESUS`!"
Com muito amor e carinha, Sister Gidney

Bú kré bai igreja kú mi?

Ola minha família,
Guess who´s learning to speak Creole? That´s right, I am. Yep, I haven´t even learning Portuguese all the way, and now I´m learning a dialect of it anyway. (Creole is a Portuguese dialect spoken in Cabo Verde and Guinea-Biseau). After trying to talk to a bunch of poeple who "only" spoke Creole, Sister Juilfs and decided just to learn it. We know a few sentences now--enough to contact someone. My favorite sentence thing to do is to ask if they speak Creole, then ask in Creole if they want to come to Church with us (Bú kré bai igreja kú mi?). They think it´s hilarious to see a little white girl trying to speak it. And then they talk to us. And it´s awesome.
My descent into an old Portuguese woman has continued this week. We decided to try to make some hot chocolate, so we bought some powdered chocolate milk mix at the Mini Preço, heated up some of our (still a little orange) tap water in the microwave, and tried it out. It was alright. The only problem was, well, let me explain. We have about a million fruit flies in our kitchen. They are seeking shelter from the rain, and like to eat our garlic. Whenever we open the microwave, at least one flies in, thinking there must be more and better food inside. Instead it meets an ignominious death (find that Book of Mormon scripture), usually landing in our food. Well, this happened with our hot chocolate. I was using a spoon and pulled up a fruit fly. I just pulled it out, put it on a napkin, and kept drinking. Portugal is changing me!
We are seeing lots of miracles this week. One was that we were saved from an attack by a drunk guy by Santa Claus. So on Wednesday, the elders and we were doing an activity in all the different areas, contato da rua, where we go out with some members and contact people and sing and some other things like that. We started out in Cacém and then worked our way over to São Marcos. There aren´t very many people on the street except for right by the Pingo Doce, but unfortunately the praça right next to it is often inhabitted by a very angry man. He has threatened to kill the elders before (with his green water gun). We were near there when we saw someone we had contacted in Massamá so Sister Juilfs and I went over to talk to him. We were talking to our friend, who looks a little bit like Santa (he has a white beard and is very jolly). He was holding a trash bag that we offered to help with. He said no and after talking for a little bit we were leaving to stand closer to the members to help them. Suddenly, the drunk angry man started storming over. He was wearing a construction vest and a hard hat and had his watergun strapped to his belt. He started yelling at Sister Juilfs and I and tried to swing a punch at us so we started walking quickly away and he was about to chase us but our friend got in between us and started whacking him with the garbage bag. The trash was spilling everywhere and so all of us missionaries were leaving the area as the cops showed up to diffuse the situation.
Another miracle was that we found a wonderful lady, Paula. We talked to her on the street, and she didn´t seem too interested, but when we went back she listened attentively. When we told her that God has called a prophet again on the earth, she almost started crying. She is reading the Book of Mormon every day and wants to get baptized (we just have to help prepare her before she moves to Alemanha).
We also felt the gift of discernment this week. We had been teaching a lady in hte past couple months, but she decided she didn´t want to actually act on anything. We went over one more time to try to help her, but she basically said, "I´m fine the way I am. I will read the Book of Mormon every once in awhile but it´s not worth it to go out of my way. I don´t want to change my life". It was sad, obviously, but not just because she doens´t want to get baptized or anything. In that moment I had the distinct impression that she is going to the terrestrial kingdom. Because yeah, she´s a good person and a good mom, but she doesn´t want to esforçar herself enough to actually follow God. It was a big lesson to me, about a lot of different thing. Like how God knows everything--because I feel like I "know" her future, but it´s because I know HER. And about how we really will get a recompense according to our works.. and our desires. And that makes me want to re-evaluate myself every day and make sure I´m actually trying really hard. And also I am SO grateful that I was born into the Church and have such great parents :)
Another interesting lesson I learned was in Church this week. It wasn´t actually something that was being taught (I still don´t really understand the lessons unless I try really hard and then I get a headache) but just from observing everyone. I was looking around in sacrament meeting, how there were a bunch of people with crutches, one in a wheelchair, one that is blind, a few who can´t really hear, and a lot more with infirimities that can´t necessarily be observed right away. It made me think of that scripture "Come unto me, ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest". The Church really is for ordinary people, with ordinary sofrimentos and trials and problems. We´re incredibily flawed--but luckily, Christ was incredibly perfect. And that´s why I´m here. Sister Juilfs and I are here to find our brothers and sisters who are suffering--who need to be healed-- and who WANT to be healed--and give them the tools to do that. But they have to want it, and they have to follow the Doctor´s orders. We´re just the pharmacists :)
I feel like Sister Juilfs and I are working really hard out here. We come home every night exhausted. And we were talking about if we are going to be this tired for the rest of our lives and I thought, "Yeah, if we do it right". We should wear ourselves out. We´re hear to WORK, not to sit around. We´re here to FIGHT, not to stand idely looking on. I am SO grateful for the opportunity to be here, serving the Lord and our God, fighting against the powers of evil. I am getting really cheesy, but this really is the most amazing experience I have ever had. Thank you for supporting me and for all your love and prayers!
I hope you have an absolutely fabulous week! I love you and am praying for you
Bú kré bai igreja kú mi? :)
Vos amo,
Sister Gidney