SEMANA 2

Ola familia,

This week was a little better than last week. A lot of funny things happened. Also, Paulo and Linda are going to get baptized! We marked the dates on Friday. I´m so happy for them.

So I still can´t really understand people. Sometimes I can kind of figure out the topic, though. So people here, we don´t always have a hard time getting them to stop and talk to us; we have a hard time getting them to stop talking. Sometimes they just say "Não, sou Catolica!" and keep walking but seriously, whenever we actually talk to people on the street, they start talking about wars and bread and the most random things for like 10 minutes and won´t let us say ANYTHING. But at least they are willing to talk to us right? Also this week I did my first contact! Kind of. I said "Ola como esta?" to this man and he stopped and was like "Who me?" and I said yes and then he said something but I didn´t understand him so then it was awkward and then he said Tchau and left. But I was trying.

On Tuesday we had zone conference so we took the comboio to Porto. I got to see Sister Carroll and Sister Miles and Sister Brand because we are all in the Porto zone so that was really fun. I also had my first interview with President Fluckiger. He is really really nice. Except I feel bad because I made him cry. He was asking me why I came on a mission and I was telling him about all the things I realized prepared me and then when I was telling him how I was in the car with you Mom when we heard President Monson´s announcement he got all teary. He and Sister Fluckiger are really great. I wish we got to see them more.

Tuesday night we teach English classes. A few ward members, a few pesquisadores, and also the branch president came this week. It was sooo fun. Probably mostly because I could understand everyone. And President Vasco (the presidente da ramo) speaks like perfect English.

Wednesday was a looong day. We had a bunch of lessons planned but no one was home or they didn´t let us in so we just contacted a bunch of people, and walked 400 miles. OH but we met this guy... He was talking to us about how he doesn´t need religion because religion is in everything and we were just like what... But he said he didn´t need a church and so Sister Cutler says something like, "Well we do need a church and you can see that because there were prophets that guide the church". And he says, "were, or are?" so we get excited and say both and try to start explaining the restoration but he stops us and says "Yes, are. There are prophets. Everyone is a prophet, because everyone has God in them." and we didn´t really say anything and he said, because of that, "Eu sou Deus. Você é Deus. E ela é Deus." So basically he thinks everyone is God. Yeah we got his information and then left.

Also we met a man who gave us his contact information, but only because he wants us to find him a wife. He kept saying "Ligar quando teem uma mulher para mim" (call me when you have a woman for me). Also we went to contact a reference; it was this lady who has an ooooold Book of Mormon already. It had a note in the front cover from these elders, and it was all yellow and there were no footnotes or anything. It was crazy. But my favorite part was that she kept calling us "Normans". "Honey it´s the Normans!"

The people here always say one of two things about me. 1. You have pretty eyes (because there aren´t many people with blue eyes here) and 2. Can you talk?

Bet you never thought anyone would say that about ME right? haha.

I wish I knew Portuguese better. I want to do so much like talk to people and knock on their doors and teach them but I feel like I can´t because even if I could talk AT them I can´t have a conversation or understand them. I am understanding a little more so I am just trying to be patient but it´s really frustrating. I used to think the gift of tongues was just like, you show up and know Portuguese, so this is disappointing. Ha.

Alright I will be sending some pictures later today from the chapel computer. I hope everyone is doing well. Isn´t it like the last week of school? Good luck with that and work and everything. I love you all muito,

Sister Gidney

P.s. Happy birthday to Kalen yesterday!

Hello from Portugal!

PORTUGAL WEEK 1!

Querida Familia,
Hello! So I can´t send pictures from this computer, so the few I have will have to wait. But I am alive and somewhat well. Here´s what´s happened the past few weeks:
On our last Tuesday at the MTC, our district got to usher at the devotional. It was pretty fun, and it was surprising to me to see how organized they really are. They gave us all these instructions and direction and everything. The next day we got to host new missionaries! They changed it the week after you dropped me off so sisters pick up sisters on the curb. So I got to help 4 sisters find their new class and everything. One of them was crying... I felt bad but wasn´t sure what to say because she didn´t want to come into the MTC and I didn´t want to leave!
Our last day was a P day so we got up at 4:30 to go to the temple one more time. After that we left! They took our luggage in a truck and we took front runner to the airport. When we finnnalllyy got on the plane and got going, I started getting sick and then I slept basically the whole way to Lisbon (when I wasn´t throwing up). So for all I know I could still be in the United States.
On Wednesday we got to LISBON! We grabbed our bags (which made it there safely) and the office elders and some senior couples were waiting for us with President and Sister Fluckinger. They got us all loaded up and since there were 50 of us, took us to a hotel. It was cool because the hotel they had us stay in was actually the place where the first official Church meeting in Portugal was held. So that night they fed us some weird meat and then we finally got to go to bed. The next day we had a couple meetings and then we met our trainers and left! My trainer is Sister Cutler. She´s from Utah too. Also she has only been here six weeks. Not like, in the area, but like, on her mission. But she lived in Brazil for like a year so she knows Portuguese pretty well. Which is good because I don´t understand anything. At all. Ever.
We´re in an area called São João da Madeira; it´s a little south of Porto. Sister Carroll and Sister Miles are in Villa Real and are in my zone, so I get to see them tomorrow at zone conference. It was hard saying goodbye to my MTC district, especially the elders because we can´t write to them.
Getting here was completely overwhelming. We took a 3 hour train ride (which I also slept on because once again I was motion sick) and then we had to take the metro and then we missed the last bus so the branch president came and got us four sisters in his van with a member named Renata (she´s a ward missionary and helps us a lot. She just got baptized like 3 months ago). We live with 2 other sisters, Sister Valdez and Sister Warner (Sister Warner is actually one of my freshmen year roommate´s sister´s roommate and she is a greenie too).
We got to the apartment really late and then had to make our beds... LIterally put them together; we are in an apartment that hasn´t been used for missionaries before. BUT I am glad because that means we have brand-new mattresses which means NO BED BUGS... at least not yet.
My first actual day was Friday. We taught 6 lessons that day. And by "we" I mean Sister Cutler taught and I tried my best to understand and say a sentence a couple times. It is SO hard to understand the natives. When they talk it sounds really pretty but I can´t understand at all. It sounds like mosquitos buzzing around my head. But I do have a story about one of the lessons. It was actually really cool- we were walking home for lunch, I think, and this lady stopped US and said something about her son needing to hear from us... So that night we went over and taught them both. Paulo and Linda are their names. We´ve taught them a couple more times, and they came to church on Sunday. Linda cried all the way through sacrament meeting. And Paulo needs to stop smoking (which he is trying to do) but they are both really great and I think they have been prepared to be taught the gospel. So that´s cool.
Church yesterday was good. We had 3 pesquisadores and 1 less active come (last transfer in six weeks they only had 5 pesq.s show up so it was amazing). BUT I couldn´t understand hardly anything anyone said. One woman gave a talk I think about some sort of ticket and gospel principles was about baptism, I´m pretty sure, and Relief Society I have no idea. Also I and Sisters Valdez and Warner had to introduce ourselves in sacrament meeting. Sister Cutler says I did okay.
Some funny language mistakes that Sister Warner and I have had:
Mixing up "pez" and "paz". Instead of saying "the gospel gives me a lot of peace" - "o evanghelo da-me muito paz"- it was "o evanghelo da-me muito pez"--the gospel gives me a lot of fish.
Also, ovelha vs. olho. Instead of "you have pretty eyes"-tu tens bonitas olhas- it was bonitas ovelhas--"You have pretty sheep".
That´s basically it. Oh, Porto won last night. Cars were honking all night and people were waving their Porto flags and scarves.
It´s really pretty here. I always catch myself thinking "Wow this looks like Europe". It´s kind of hard still but I am glad to be here. Hope to hear from you all soon!
Love you lots,
Sister Gidney

PORTUGAL!!

PORTUGAL!!
I feel I may have missed a letter I should have posted in the craziness of the last few weeks. BUT anyway here is Sister Gidney's first letter from PORTUGAL

Ola família,
I have arrived in my first area! Got permission to tell you. (Also I threw up again on the way to Lisbon so that was fun). I´m in an area called São João Da Madeira, just south of Porto. It´s a little cold here but it´s good. My trainer is Sister Cutler from Centerville. This is her second transfer but she already knew Portuguese which is all I was really worried about, ha. We got here reeeaaally late Thursday night so yesterday was really my first day. We taught some people and met some others and luckily we haven´t had to go knock doors yet. I´ll tell you more on Monday (P day). It´s been kind of hard the past few days (between getting sick and being overwhelmed) but it will be okay. I miss you and love you all,
Até Monday,
Kimberly (Sister Gidney)

last week at the mtc!

MTC WEEK 5!!!!

Querida familia,
WE GOT OUR FLIGHT PLANS!!! We leave Tuesday. We have like 28 hours of travel (two layovers) and by Wednesday I will be in PORTUGAL. I am getting so so so excited. I can't even handle it. Also-our whole district will be on the same flight. And not just our district - but all FOURTY THREE of the missionaries here are on the same flight (there are around 55 missionaries going to Lisbon that day, and 43 are in this MTC). So that will be crazy- especially for the 7 other passengers on that flight. ("Dude I just boarded and there's like 600 missionaries on here").
This week was a lot better. Our district re-wrote two Little Mermaid songs to be about Portugal and missionaries... ("Partuguese World" and "Across the Sea") we sang them to our teacher who served there and he was dying of laughter. Maybe I'll share them with you someday. But some of it you might not think was funny. The ambience has to be right, too.
I actually have liked the MTC. I like how friendly everyone is. On Sunday we went to the devotional early to study there, and Sister Carroll and I ended up talking to three elders going to Africa for almost an hour just about missions and things like that. And yesterday we were studying outside and it started raining and so we were walking back inside and we met a guy here volunteering and he asked us where we were going and ended up talking to us for 20 minutes. (It was a little weird though because he was like "I came out in the rain and met two beautiful rays of sunshine!" and we were like "...yep".) But everyone is friendly and I love just talking to all these different people. But now I get to go do that in Europe!! Ah, I am so excited I can't even explain it.
Sorry I didn't write any letters last P-day-I'd just written three days before, so I took a two hour nap instead. It was glorious.
So we have this "investigator" here who is an atheist. And we have been teaching him for almost 2 weeks and there was no improvement. Buton Wednesday we went in to teach, but instead of teaching, we just listened and testified. We stopped the lesson after about 45 minutes, but it was so amazing. It's weird how much I care about a "fake" investigator... It's going to be so crazy when it's a real person, really coming to know that God lives and loves them. (The "pesquisador" is starting to believe, by the way. :) )
Oh! This Sunday was fast Sunday (it was a long day..) so instead of Relief Society/Priesthood we had a "mission conference" thing where all the MTC presidency and their wives spoke. Sister Sandholtz played the violin as the rest hymn (she is a violin performance major at BYU and only had one semester left and is amazing). But since she and her companion Sister Duke are the Sister Training Leaders, Sister Duke had a meeting, so Sis Carroll and I escorted SIster Sandholtz, so we got to sit on the front row for the devotional. And all the MTC presidency shook our hands. It was neat. Sunday night's devotional was amazing. It was Chad Lewis who I guess played football at BYU and in the NFL. He was really funny, but also really uplifting and powerful. Also I shook his hand after, even though I didn't know who he was. So now I hugged general officer of the church and shook an NFL player's hand. I'm basically famous. Or something.
Also sorry if this makes no sense. I feel kind of like a caged animal here and am kind of going more crazy. I am just really really excited to leave. And also scared. I might end up not knowing any Portuguese and just smiling at people. But it will all be okay! I already love Portugal. Sorry if I never come home...
Also, please make sure if you send any mail it will get here before Monday. That's the last time we get it and I think after that they'll just throw it away. Which would be sad.
Congratulations on your graduation, Mom!!! I wish I could have been there. Also, happy mother's day... I don't get to call on Sunday, but I can call from the airport (if I can find a payphone. Or if you send me a go phone. Hint, hint ;) ). It sounds like everyone is doing okay? School is almost over - hang on, you can make it. :)
I love you all a lot! Sometimes I feel like I'll be gone forever, but then I think about it, and I'll be home next year. That's crazy. And the MTC has gone by so quickly... It's crazy. Missions are crazy. Life is crazy. And totally awesome.
Vos amo!
Sister Gidney

Suddenly, week 4?

Surprise!
Hi! So, I guess since BYU's term ended, they changed all our schedules? Actually I'm not really sure why they did it. (Especially because they moved all our meals and classes up a half hour- breakfast at 6:30, class at 7, and dinner at FOUR O'CLOCK). But our schedule changed so we have P-day on Tuesdays now- so even though it was just on Friday, we get it again today!
Actually it kind of feels like a lot has happened in the past 3 days. On Friday we met our new teacher, Irmão Whitaker. He is an amazing teacher. We leave class, even the 6:30-9:30 p.m. class, feeling totally pumped and energized. And since he served in Lisboa, we get to hear about that. You can tell he really cares a lot about his students.
On Saturday, we had TRC again. It went WAY better. We did two 20-minute lessons about recieving answers to prayers. The first one we did was with a nice man and his 8-year-old son. The guy served in Lisbon, his wife is from Lisbon, and the family just moved back here from living in Portugal for 5 years, so they were both perfectly fluent. It was kind of frustrating to see a little kid speak way better than we can even imagine, but they were both really nice and we had a good discussion. The man even got a little teary-eyed when we bore our testimony of God's love for His children and how He wants to hear from us. But even better, when we went to the next room for the 2nd lesson, it was the wife from the family! She was really nice. She prayed in Portuguese and her accent was so cool. Also, after we were done with the lesson, she talked to us for like 5 minutes (in English) about Lisbon and her family there. All three of them were really kind and helped us a lot with the Portuguese. It made me really excited to go to Lisbon and teach whole families (I hope).
Relief Society this week was great. So Relief Society is basically just an extra devotional for all the sisters on Sunday morning, and they always have a speaker instead of a usual lesson. This week is was the new General Young Women's President. She shared a nice message about sister missionaries. Some of her granddaughters and daughters came, and she told her 4 granddaughters (all young teenagers) to stand up and look around, and "remember this sight, because this is what it looks like when a prophet of God calls, and the young women answer". She probably wants them to go on missions, haha. Also really cool was afterwards, we got to go meet her and her counselors! So I've hugged 3 general authorities now. No big deal. I think I liked talking to the 1st counselor the most - two of her sons went to Portugal on their missions, so we talked about that for the few moments we had with her.
Yesterday was one of the hardest days I've had since I've been here. On Sunday night in the devotional the speaker Brother Allen? (the director of the missionary department) talked about how Satan is going to "push your buttons" and yesterday that's what happened. I think it was because I realized I will be in Portugal in TWO WEEKS, so I was starting to freak out, so Satan was like "haha, kick her while she's down". But really. I think he really doesn't want me to go to Portugal--but he and I both know I am going--so since he can't stop me he's trying to make me as miserable as possible. I just was really worried and anxious and felt sick. But my district is really great and we all talked for about an hour last night just about that and a bunch of gospel stuff. And going to the temple this morning was exactly what I needed. It was so peaceful. And I feel better. I'm still really worried, but not to the point of not being able to eat or anything.
It's kind of weird-I knew a mission would be hard, but I didn't expect the MTC to be hard. Like maybe some frustration with learning, but not so much opposition still. I guess it just goes to show how important missionaries are to the Lord, if Satan is trying so hard to stop us. I wish he'd just leave me alone though :P
Also, in case you were wondering, the temple has the best waffles I've ever tasted. We are sick of the food here so we ate breakfast there this morning and it was heavenly.
Oh- did Katy and Emily get those tiny letters I sent them?? Because those were the cutest things ever.
Since it's only been 3 days that's about all I have to say. I will probably have my travel plans the next time I email you!!! It's getting really real. And scary. Keep praying for me. :) I think of you all often and I love you so much!
Love,
Sister Gidney

Week 3 in the MTC

Querida Familia,

This week has been busy but normal. On Saturday we had to do this thing called TRC, which is basically we teach a volunteer for 20 minutes. But they don't pretend to be an investigator, so you're trying to teach this fluent RM who knows everything already and it was really hard. The brother that Sister Carroll and I were teaching wanted to talk about "oomilge" and we couldn't figure out what that was even when he read a scripture about it... (turns out it was "humilde" or something that means humility). So that was hard and I didn't like it.

On Sunday we did a temple walk again. Elder Cluff's brother showed up so we met his niece. It was weird to see a baby. Oh, and we took pictures with a Portugal flag!

Sunday night's devotional was the BYU's Men's Chorus. It was really really good but kind of strange because I recognized/knew several of them.
I feel like I haven't improved much in speaking Portuguese, but I can understand more and more every day. I have even started thinking in Portuguese when I'm listening to our teachers - it's super weird. I don't translate what they're saying but I understand it in my brain. Except for there are a couple of really confusing words- mostly "mas" because it means "more" in Spanish but "but" in Portuguese.
OH on Monday I changed my earrings for the first time! It freaked me out and I don't like looking at the HOLES in my ears and maybe I'll get used to it but for now it's still gross.
On Wednesday(?) after lunch our district went to get mail and I saw Aunt Mardi! It was kind of surreal. Also I saw Joseph by the temple today (and I got to find out about his mission call!). It was nice to see them but Joe hugged me and I felt like a sinner. :)
One thing I love about the MTC/a mission is that I can read the scriptures for hours and hours and not have to worry about homework or whatever else. I can just focus on learning about the gospel all day e'eryday.
We still get too much candy here.

(me in a red shirt with a Dove wrapper I got that says "you look great in red").

But I have actually lost 2 pounds so that's weird. Maybe because we are doing well at going to the gym. We've only missed once.
Since BYU's winter semester just ended, some of the teachers' schedules are changing. One of our teachers is switching... It's kind of sad, but we are going to get a teacher who served in Portugal! So we will finally be able to learn the right accent and pronunciations. But Sister Carroll and I realized we're going to be sad when we go to Portugal - we're going to miss our district here SO much. But we will also be excited. I feel like that's how a mission just is...
I was so happy to get a letter from Jeremy! It was only like 4 sentences but I really liked it. Thanks for all the mail and emails :)
I love you all SO much! Have a great week. Amo voces
Sister Gidney

Letter #2 from the MTC

Querida familia,
Hi! Thanks for all the letters - I love hearing from everyone. It seriously is the best part of the day. Also, thank you for the package! I am glad you sent me hint of lime chips because first of all, I love them, and second, I get hungry before bed since dinner is at 4:30. Okay I'm trying to remember what happened this week. It seriously feels like I've lived here my whole life and that my former life is a dream. Okay Sunday we had a "regular" Sunday for the first time. We have relief society with all the sister missionaries. This lady talked who has been on like 5 missions and it was amazing. She was really funny, too. Sacrament meeting we have with our branch - it's like 5 or 6 Portuguese districts, but we're the only ones learning Continental Portuguese, so when we sing hymns, we are the only ones doing a different accent. Also they do all the prayers, and the sacrament in Portuguese, and the talks. Everyone in the branch has to prepare a 3-5 minute talk in Portuguese on a topic and then they just call a couple people up. You don't know before. (I hope I don't get called up...) After that a member of the branch presidency and his wife give talks (in english). We have a devotional Sunday night. And we don't have Sunday School. On Tuesday, we have a devotional in the evening. This week it was Elder Richard G. Scott!! He spoke about prayer, and it was really amazing. Our district was in the third row so it felt like he was looking right at us. At the end of his talk, he paused and said something like, "I feel impressed to bestow an apostolic blessing". I'm not exactly sure what that means but I am pretty sure it is a really big deal. He blessed us that we would be able to MASTER the language, and a bunch of other really great things for our mission and our life. :) And then after the closing song, he went back up to the podium in front of the sister who was supposed to pray and said "I forgot a few things" and then talked for like 5 more minutes. It was pretty amazing. On Thursday, Sister Carroll and I left the MTC. She had to get glasses so we went to the optometrist's on University Avenue. It was SO weird. I don't think I liked it. (But I did wave at D&H for Kalen). I don't have much else to say. The days are all pretty much the same here. Oh, but we have two new "investigators". We also tried to teach the Plan of Salvation for the first time yesterday and it was not very good... We didn't know enough words to explain it so well. Oh one more thing. On Wednesday night we had a substitute teacher who actually went to Portugal on his mission instead of Brazil like our teachers! So he told us all these things about the accent and now we can actually try to learn how we will speak :) Except s's make like 4 different sounds so that's confusing. Everything is pretty good. I started sleeping with earplugs and I've been sleeping better. Portuguese is HARD but I can tell the gift of tongues is real, because I am remembering all these words from Spanish 3 years ago, and sometimes I just make up words and they're right. That is about all. Keep writing me :) I loved hearing from Grandpa and Uncle John and Aunt Miriam and everyone else. I love you all very much, Sister Gidney "The Church is true and God loves you!" P.s. the pictures = me and sister carroll waiting for the shuttle on thursday, and our district at the temple. :)