Tea with a millionaire

Olaaaa,
This week was ridiculous!
So GUESS WHAT. MARTA IS GETTING BAPTIZED!! She finally finally said yes! We went over on wednesday morning, planning to read 3 Nephi 27. We read it with her and asked, so which side do you want to be on? The side that endures to the end or the one that´s lanced into the inferno? And she said, "Obviously I want to be on the side that perseveres to the end". So we used some other scriptures to explain that the way to ENTER onto the road of enduring to the end is by the door of baptism, and that we don´t have to ahve a perfect knowledge beforehand because the Holy Ghost will guide us. We invited her to be baptized on the 25th. She avoided answering and started asking a bunch of questions about what do you wear, who baptizes you, do you have to have a lot of people there, etc. After we answered, we sat in silence for about 30 seconds and she just looked down, thinking. Then she looked up at us, smiled, and said "Okay. The 25th then." So obviously we freaked out a little bit. We told her we were really happy and she said she is too :) I am so excited.
Almost as equally exciting, we met the ex-boyfriend of a less active member this week and he also wants to get baptized! Sergio. If you could keep both him and Marta in your prayers we would appreciate it!
On Thursday morning we contacted a mute lady. Either that or she was a very good actress. It was confusing. Maybe I´ll learn Portuguese sign language.
Last week we met this lady named Clementina (like the fruit). We had our first lesson with her this week and, turns out she´s a millionaire. She gave us some lemon juice-tea stuff and some delicious cookies. It was probably the most expensive snack I´ve ever had. We sat in a half-a-million-dollar apartment teaching a millionaire about Jesus! But it was actually a really wonderful lesson--she is one of the most genuine, sincere moms I have met here. She retired so she could be a stay-at-home mom, and she basically would make a wonderful LDS mom. We are really excited to keep teaching her (and not just for her tithing).
I hope you all had a fabulous Valentine´s day! I love you all tons!
Com amor,
Sister Gidney
p.s. a picture from Bom Jesus at sunset, and a codfish store. bacalhau....

Happy Valentine's Day!

Querida família,
Hurricane Stephanie has hit Braga!
Okay that is a bit melodramatic. It wasn´t a hurricane, but there was a huge storm warning yesterday afternoon (and it really was named Stephanie). It was a Code Red so we had to go home a couple of hours early. We went around and shut all the shutters and blinds and gathered up flashlights and candles and charged our phone, preparing for the worst. The rain began to pound against the windows, and the wind howled, but besides that nothing happened. But it looks like your fast for rain worked!
This week we had some fun adventures! On Tuesday we had zone conference in Porto, so we took the opportunity to get lunch there as well. We got the best francesinhas in Portugal (we know because one of the elders who works in Porto has tried them ALL). And it was delicious. A francesinha is basically a heart attack sandwich. It has two pieces of toast. In between the toast is about 6 big pieces of meat, including sausage, bacon, steak, and who knows what else. Then 3 slices of cheese are melted over the top, and it is all covered in a creamy red sauce. It´s served in a giant bowl, and eaten with a knife and a fork. It was delicious.
On the way home from zone conference, we got to the train station about 1 minute before our train left. We had paid for a round trip before leaving, but we didn´t have time to tap our little cards on the machine to validate them before hopping on the train. Normally there is a ticket man that you can have do that, but when we got on, there wasn´t one. We spent the next few stops standing in the door to see if there was a machine close enough for us to hop off, vlaidate, and hop back on. It was kind of stressful. But finally a ticket man appeared so we just had him do it.
On Thursday, all of our plans fell through before we even left the house, so we decided to pass by the members in our area. We made a list of a few of them, and started to pass by. Almost no one was home. Finally we got to the house of Catia, who is completely active. We were a bit confused why we had felt to visit her, but we knocked anyway. She was home and let us in. we began talking, and long story short, we were sent there by the Lord. She had really been needing someone to talk to and was feeling a bit lost. Because of that a bunch of doubts were attacking her. But she said because we visited, she knows God loves her and she knows that she is doing the right thing to continue in the Church.
Thursday night we had our first English class. The students wanted to learn a basic get-to-know-you converstaion, but it seems they knew more English than we assumed, because in the practices we heard conversations such as: "Hi how are you? I love you. Let´s go to Mcdonald´s:"
On Friday, we had an amazing lesson with a menos ativa member, Rosa. She one of the first members in portugal, baptized in 1976, but hasn´t been to church for about a year. We had passed by the day before and set up an appointment. We went back and began to just talk. She is 65 and has recently gone back to university, so we helped her with her english homework. We then gave her the first lesson pamphlet--In english. She read and translated the first paragraph, which says basically "God is your Heavenly Father. He loves you and wants you to be happy". She began to cry a little and shared that on Wednesday night, she had had a dream that she hadn´t understood until that moment. She dreamed in English, for the first time ever. The dream was that she had a ring, and she knew it meant she had made a promise. Someone came to take away the ring because she wasn´t keeping her part, but two people showed up and were helping her, in English. She said that after we gave her the english pamphlet she understood, and she interpretted her dream to mean that we, the sisters, were sent by God to remind her of her baptism promise and to help her return, to keep that ring. She has a surgery this weekend, but wants to come to church as soon as she recovers. As she was explaining her dream, I just felt the Spirit so strongly and God´s acceptance and love. "As Sisters in Zion" came into my head, the second verse where it says "the errand of angels is given to [sisters]". It was really, really... wonderful!
Saturday night we went over to Ana and Margarita´s house for dinner and their dog ate off my plate.
We are also trying to try all of the Bolo de Berlim flavors. There are 18. We have had 8.
I hope you all have a wonderful week. It sounds like you are having a bunch of adventures as well. Have a good Valentine´s day! Do and be good!
And also happy birthday Dad!
Love you all tons!
Sister Gidney

Worcestershire sauce

Ola queridinha família,
I can´t figure out what to say in this first paragraph, so here is what we did this week!
On Tuesday we were heading to district meeting and we ended up being late because we ran into every little old lady ever. I think we know them all. One of them is Maria. She lives down the road from us. We keep trying to teach her but every time we do she goes off on a story about her liver, or the livers of her children.
On Thursday, we had an appointment in Center. We arrived a few minutes early so we tried to contact. We started talking to this little old lady, who said she would be willing to talk to us again another day. We asked her for some contact information so we could pass by her house or call her, and she started lying. She was saying "I don´t know where my house is. I am very old. I don´t know my phone number. Actually I don´t have a phone." and then she realized how ridiculous she sounded, so she just started laughing. She was laughing so hard that she almost fell over. Then she made this weird little noise trying to breathe, so then Sister Warburton and I started laughing. We said "You shouldn´t lie to us" and then we all just laughed harder. It was really weird. We didn´t get her contact.
We´re still teaching Marta. She´s been to church about 10 times now, but still says she isn´t ready to get baptized. We are trying to figure out exactly why, so on Friday we asked her the bapstim interview questions. She answered them all and testified, too. When we asked if she believes that we have a living prophet, she said "Of course! I didn´t know before but I am glad I do now because I think it is really awesome!" So basically now we are praying for a miracle because we don´t have any control anymore. We´ve taught her everything, now it´s just up to her.
I am still super tired. Yesterday we went out to visit Ana and Margarita and when we sat on their couch I could feel my heartbeat in the back of my legs.
Yesterday we had stake conference. I didn´t know before but turns out it was a huge joint conference for all of Spain, Portugal, and Cabo Verde, and it was broadcasted all over. Elder M Russell Ballard spoke, as well as the area seventies. It was really wonderful. Elder Ballard talked about 10 "small and simple things" we can do daily to make a big difference in our life. A few that stood out ot me were to share the gospel in a simple way each day, and also to make personal goals for the future. If we don´t set and evaluate goals for ourselves, we will fall short of our potential. (So I made a goal to eat more ice cream :) ). He then said he felt impressed to talk about 3 Nephi 11, which was an answer to mine and Sister Warburton´s prayers because it was like he was talking dirrectly to Marta. "We must look to Christ, and then we will be made whole. We must have faith, repent, and", then he emphasized, "be baptized! And then we must persevere to the end, and we will be sanctified." All in all it was perfect. Except it was a little silly, because Elder Ballard was talking in English, but we were watching with a Portuguese translation over the top, but then Sister Warburton and I were translating it back into English for Michael.
Braga is still being Braga. We are having a hard time finding new people who are interested, but we keep on keeping on. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. I love you all tons!
Com amor,
Sister Gidney
We defrosted our freezer! Well we scraped some of the ice into the sink.
The view from a random street

My companion is an aunt

Querida família,
Well, another week has passed. I am very tired.
One of the most interesting things is how some mission days go swimmingly, and others seem to flop. On Wednesday, we were working hard trying to talk to people and visiting everyone we could think of, and nothing was happening. No one was home, and everyone on the street was shooing us away. (My favorite is when they are standing on the street, doing nothing, and when you approach they say "Estou com pressa!"--I´m in a hurry!--and they shuffle two or three steps away and stop again.) We were getting a little frustrated, and so we stopped to say a prayer. We basically asked to just find one person who would progress and become a solid investigator. Right as we ended our prayer, we both spotted this woman walking and both of us felt "HER". So we went up and, walking alongside her, introduced ourselves and asked her name. She looked at us, glared and shouted "Não quero nada!" (I don´t want anything) and then ran away. Sister Warburton and I looked at each other a bit confused, because we thought for sure she was the answer. But as we turned around and headed back up the street, we met the real answer--this delightful lady named Conceição, with knee-high bright red boots. We talked to her for about 20 minutes and set up a return appointment. So the moral of the story is, the eleitos wear red animal skin boots.
Marta is still progressing well. On Tuesday we had a kind of "break through" lesson with her where we learned a lot and now know better how to help her. She said it´s like she´s on a path with little lights on the side, and every day they get bigger and brighter, and soon she´s going to be able to see the path with perfect clarity.
Marta also cured my cold this week. She made me this "tea" thing... Here´s how you make it. Chop up:
-1 onion (with the skin). Purple onion is best.
-3 to 4 garlic cloves (also with skin)
-1 lime.
-A chunk of ginger root.
Put it in a pan with:
-1 cinnamon stick
-Some honey
-A spoonful of suger (it makes the medicine go down...)
Stir it around and cook it a little, then add a few cups of water. Let it boil, and then drink it.
It wasn´t too bad.
We have a few new investigators who are really awesome. Andrea and Élvio. Both are from Cabo Verde. We met Andrea on the street last week and had our first lesson with her on Saturday. She met with us on her one break in a 12 hour work shift. She has been searching for the true church of God so she can get baptized. We have known Élvio for a couple weeks, and yesterday he came to church. He really enjoyed it and wanted to stay for all three hours, but had to go finish a group project for school that they worked on until 6 a.m. the night before (and he still got to church before 9!)
We had some funny moments this week as well. One night we were down in Center for a lesson, and then really had to use the bathroom. There are some free ones under the mall, so we went down and were waiting (both the stalls were occupied). We heard some of the loudest gas I have ever heard... and then a few minutes later this little old lady came out, fixed her lipstick, and joined her husband in the hall.
Sister Warburton and I have also worn out another set of rainboots. No more puddle jumping for us.
We also found out that my companion´s brother´s wife had her baby, so Sister Warburton is an aunt now. She was really excited. And then I was excited because to celebrate, she bought us both Chinese food :)
I hope you are all doing fabulously. The Church is true and I love you!
Espero que tenham uma semana felicíssima,
Com amor,
Sister Gidney
P.s. Check out this stick face we found when we were a little sad.

Staying in Braga

Querida família,
Transfer calls came in, and I am staying in Braga with Sister Warburton! I am excited because she is one of the best friends I´ve made on the mission. But if you want to all start praying that I go to Madeira that would be great :)
This week was pretty normal. Two of our investigators broke up with us. It was interesting how they used all the classic break-up lines: "It´s not you; it´s me" "I just have to follow my heart" "We will still be friends". I didn´t realize that these same lines existed in Portuguese as well as English. :) It was sad, and also really weird. We were talking about it afterwards, thinking that if they truely were seeking with a pure heart and real intent, they would have received the answer that these things are true. But as we talked about them, we realized that both of these women seemed to be searching to kind of prove themselves right, rather than the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints. It was interesting to see how agency is the only think that impedes progression... The gospel IS perfect, it´s just US that aren´t.
It kind of seems like Heavenly Father is helping to "clear the field" so that we know who to really focus on in this transfer. This is going to be Marta's transfer to join the church, I can feel it. She´s our little Brazilian and she is really progressing--and is accepting and living the commandments as we teach her, and her niece (who she is looking after) is now starting the young women's program. So we have a few people to keep working with, and no doubts a whole bunch more to find over the next few weeks! I'm just really grateful to be staying with Sister Warburton. Honestly, Braga is quite a spiritually draining area; our spiritual "shields" and protections seems to be a bit more battered by this area by the end of each day than in my other areas. But I really do love it here, especially the ward--they are just fantastic, and we're really a part of the family here. It was wonderful yesterday in Church because we just felt a huge LOVE from and for them.

I read an article by President Henry B. Eyring this week and one part really stuck with me, and I just feel like I should share it:
"It is not surprising that we feel from time to time nearly overwhelmed. Your thought that `I´m not sure I can do this´ is evidence that you are understanding what it means to be [a missionary, a priesthood holder, a member missionary, a disciple of Christ] .The fact is that you CAN´T do it by yourself! The responsibility is far too DIFFICULT and far too IMPORTANT for your mortal powers."
I can feel how true this is every day. Some days I wake up and just think, I can´t do this today. So I just put my feet on the ground, and then Christ carries me all day. Or I just open my mouth, and then the people teach themselves. The fact is, this life, or a mission, is HARD. And we just can´t do it. But Christ can, and already has. And all He wants it that we get in the backseat while He drives us there :)
I am officially "over the hill" today.... I am in my 7th transfer with 5 left. It´s really really weird. It kind of feels like everything is a dream. But at the same time that nothing is.
I hope you all have a wonderful week. I love you tons!
Love,
Sister Gidney
P.s. Us with Angelo, the son of a member (he´s 7) and their cat Mia. and then a house

another year older (and deeper in debt)

Querida família,
So I guess I´m 21 or something. That´s weird.
I am really learning so much on the mission. This week I learned the definition of "gluttony". It´s when you´re at your third unplanned dinner in a row and they pile your plate to overflowing and you have to eat it, because if you don´t eat they´ll get offended. And the food is good, it´s just that you literally can´t eat any more. Not just your stomach, but your entire esophagus is full of food. The food starts to become tasteless and you are just trying to shovel it down, but every bite you try to swallow just makes you gag and you throw up a little but can´t do anything about it. So you smile, with tears in your eyes, thanking the host for the delicious dinner, as you try to sneak your salsicha to the cat. And then they bring out the dessert, which is probably mostly sweetened condensced milk or cream. You roll yourself out the door and try not to get seasick with the motion of walking.
So we got fed 11 times this week. And then a lady at church gave us a bag with bread and yogurt. I guess they are really starting to feel the spirit of missionary work!
I also learned the Portuguese national anthem this week. It is wonderful because it doesn´t really sound like a song--just a bunch of snippets of music all squished together. Very Portuguese.
One of the miracles this week was seeing how people are beginning to recognize our calling as messengers of God. (Four of them cried). For example. On Wednesday night we had an appointment fall through and we felt prompted to go visit a recent convert, even though we had an appointment with her the next day. We went over, only having about 20 minutes before we had to go home. Her Bible was on the table, and I thought of a verse I had read that morning in the New Testament. I opened and was trying to find it but I couldn´t, so I just read a random verse and then we said 3 or 4 sentances about it. I don´t even remmeber what we said, but she started crying and said that those words were mesmo from Heavenly Father from her in that moment, "That wasn´t you but Him. It was exactly what I needed. Thank you." It was really incredible.
Another instance was one of our street contacts. We started talking to this woman and about 5 minutes later she was crying for she had "met two angels of God".
Saturday was a pretty great day. President and Sister Fluckiger were in Porto and, since they are looking for new apartments for the Braga missionaries, Sister Fluckiger came up to check out some of the apartments. Since it was my birthday, she ended up taking us to lunch at this really nice Brazilian restaurant. I love her so much. She is the best little mission mom ever. We also got letters, so that was exciting.
On Saturday night, we had the best noite de integração that I´ve ever been to. We had planned to watch The Testaments, so we got some popcorn. About 20 people were there, including the bishopric, recent converts, and investigators. During the whole filme, the Spirit was SO strong, but especially when Christ is visiting the people in America after He ressurects. When He heals the dad of his blindness, He first calls him by name. I had never noticed before, but we had English subtitles on for Michael. I thought that was so wonderful and so... true. Christ knows each of us by name and knows where we are and what are problems are and will come to us even if we don´t have the resources to reach Him ourselves. Because He loves us a lot :)
Speaking of English subtitles, I am learning a lot from Michael. He is the elders´ American recent convert and he doesn´t know any portuguese, but he comes faithfully to every meeting and the activities and just sits patiently. Sister Warburton and I translate for him in some meetings, but we can´t in all of them. Yesterday in sacrament meeting I was conducting the songs and so I was looking around at everyone during the talks. I thought it was so interesting because Michael was sitting in the back, not understanding anything. Everyone else looked bored or was playing on their phone or asleep, but he was looking intently at the speaker and looked like he was understanding more than everyone else who were understanding everything.
One of the best (and creepiest) parts of being a missionary is realizing how thin the veil is. We can feel the forces, both good and bad, working around us every day. One of the most comforting things is feeling the angels that are around us to protect us and walk by our side. Thank you all for your prayers-- I can feel their power!
If you haven´t seen it recently, you should watch The Testaments this week. It is a powerful testimony of our Saviour :)
I love you all tons! Thank you for the birthday wishes. The cake was also delicious :)
Com amor,
Sister Gidney
P.s. Look at this tiny car.

It's 2014!!!

Queridinha família,
Happy new year! This week was a good start to the new year!
The funniest story of the week happened on New Year´s day. Remember how we have been killing umbrellas? Sister Warburton bought a new one for 5 euros Monday evening. It was a nice size and pattern ,and she was determined to keep it until at least the end of the week. On Wednesday, we went out after lunch, and the streets were absolutely empty. (I guess everyone was still hung over from New Year´s Eve.) Well anyway, we were walking, and the wind would start up. Sister Warburton would stop and grab her umbrella and shuffle against the wind to keep it safe. As we continued in our way, we reached a rotunda, where the wind started to come from all directions. I looked over at Sister Warburton just in time to see her throw her arms back, and the umbrella be stripped like a daisy´s petals being pulled off. She paused, then began screaming "NO!" and then just kept screaming as she started smacking it on the ground over and over again. She just kept screaming and whacking and laughing and crying and I was laughing so hard that I had to sit on the wet ground. Thankfully no one was around to see that missionaries are not always that dignified....
So I guess Friday was my 9 month mark? I kind of had a little freak out during studies that morning. I have so many feelings. I am happy and excited but also sad because I don´t want to leave Portugal. It´s like I just turned 50, and I realized how old I am. It´s like a little relieving becuase I am tired and wearing out but also really sad.
Other exciting events this week:
--I took apart? a giant shrimp. You know like peeled it and stuff so I could eat it. It was freaky.
--We had new year´s good luck lentil soup with our investigator Marta. She said there was a penny in there, and whoever got it would have super good luck the whole year. We ate and ate trying to find it but I think one of us ate it because we couldn´t find it.
--Sister Warburton has synethsisia? I don´t know how to spell it but it means she thinks in colors. She said I am a really nice warm brown.
--I accidentally melted one of my nametags... We have these little space heaters and we usually put our coats by them so they can dry a little bit during our meal. It was too close and my nametag got bent in the middle so now it pokes out where it says "Jesus Cristo". At least it´s emphasizing the right bit.

--We were walking out to see our recent converts Margarita, Ana, and Bruna, and we got splashed by a car. It was like a tidal wave from the street. It covered us from our heads to our feets. So luckily we didn´t have to fight the wind with our umbrellas anymore, since we were already soaking :) 

--We had zone conference on thursday! I got my birthday package :) Funfetti frosting, here I come.
--Sister Warburton and I experienced the closest thing to a Pokemon battle that a prayer can become. This girl was praying with us for the first time, and I guess she had been fighting with her family before we got there, because then her aunt cut in and was praying, kind of yelling at her in the context of a prayer, and it just escalated from there... all ending in the name of Jesus Christ. We kind of mumbled amem and left.

The best part of this week was during Princípios do Evangelho yesterday in church. We were in class and the assunto was Missionary Work. The teacher asked something like what is the best way to be missionaries. Our investigator answered that Sister Warburton and I were doing a great job because we were kind of just loving her into the Church. That made me really happy because I have been working really hard on having charity and focusing on the people here. I guess we are improving :)
I hope you all have a fabulous week going back to school! I love you all tons and you are all in my prayers.
Love,
Sister Gidney