BOM DIA

Bom dia!!

Mom, thanks for sending the package, hopefully it will get here for saturday, but if not we will just have to have another activity :) the activity sat is a easter egg hunt which they dont really do here so it will be fun and lots of other games too. you asked about our ward, well it is bigger than the branch, usually, just that it runs really differently than the states. but the people have good hearts and they are trying their best. its interesting because the church is still so new here. there are tons of menos ativos less actives, our ward has over 400 people on the list but we averavge 40 to 50 people every week for church. we are especially trying to work with the young womens, any ideas for activities for mutual?? just like when i was in austria, it makes me grateful for what i have back in america and the leaders that i had, and you as my parents to help us understand the importance of the gospel in our lives. the culture here is so different, yet the gospel is the same and can apply to everyone! it is incredible to see how it all works! thank you for your letters too. this week is

it is so crazy that jacob leaves the mtc tomorrow tha time really went super super fast!!! i am so excited for him! i just realized this morning that for the rest of my mission, jacob will also be in the field! what a great blessing to have this experience. i still feel sometimes like it is surreal, and yet its happening. Im walking the streets of portugal, speaking the portuguese language every day. with the language, i am at the point of understanding enough to communicate everythign taht i want to, and although i dont know every word, i can understand what is being said. it is incredible! i still need to study the language better because i dont understand the why of sentence structure, or how to conjugate in the right tenses all the time, but that first huge barrier to the language is gone. YAY! and yesterday Irma Greco asked me why and how i decided to go to Austria, i responded seriously, to help me serve this mission. I remember that day when i prayed about going to Austria, and i didnt know why i was supposed to go, or how i could go especially becasue i didnt have money, or didnt know much german, or didnt have much time to prepare, but as i thought about it and explained it to irma greco, i realized that i was supposed to go to austria in order to fulfill this mission here. And looking at that, it is so true! i never had fear about coming here because i ahd already lived alone in europe, and although the culture is different there are SO many things that are the same. One thing random, yet simple is the stores- and items in the stores that have german writing on them :) also this week we met with an investigator that started talking about history of europe and he mentioned something that i learned in my german class this past summer, about the catholic church...

Anyway, my point to this blabbing on is that God has a plan for everything that happens. It is incredible, and really neat to look back and see how He always perpares a way for us to be where we need to be. our part is to be worthy to have the Holy Ghost with us so we can hear those quiet promptings and follow them!

Here is the things of the week:

The trabalho of the week has slowed down, yet at the same time there is always lots going on. Saturday we met with Ana, a pesquisador who will be baptized friday night. She is excited, and also nervous about baptism. I dont remember if i wrote about her already... we found her on a park bench a few weeks back, and she is definitely looking for everything that the gospel has to offer: peace, alegria, amor, feeling a purpose in this world. One thing is that her parents dont have a lot of support for her right now and she wants the support of them in order to be baptized this weekend. Please include her in your prayers becasue she needs the support. It is interesting to see how the gospel can change lives, we just have to be willing to do our part and trust in the Lord! We went with Ana to a fireside/farewell of a jovem in the ward of Miratejo that is the other ward in our chapel, he will be serving in the Florida Orlando mission! he leaves in a couple weeks. Intersting because his mom is american from Wisconson, and his dad is from Portugal. Guess what? His mom and dad both served in the Porto mission at the same time as Aunt Amy McRae!! They said they remember her name! Small world!! Sorry i cant remember their names right now... the fireside was really neat, listening from this perspective as a current missionary. Many people spoke about how they joined teh church because 2 missionaries knocked on their door. It was a reminder to me of why i am here doing this work. lives are changing, eternal families are being created beacuse of missionary work!

Another story that continues to develop... remember Roberto? He was baptized at the end of January, anyway, he lives in another wards boundaries but we didnt know that until the week of his baptism, so after he was confirmed, he started going to the other ward (costa de Caparica) Well, the elders there continued to work with him, and his nephew was baptized a week ago!!!! Alos the elders are teaching his sister! It is incredible to see how the work continues, and Roberto is on fire! he wants to convert everyone because he know that this is the right caminho (path)!! He gave the elders tons of references of his family members in Porto, and in Angola! When Irma Greco and I started teaching him, we knew that he was golden, and the work is continuing!!

Another person we found is Nuno. Irma Thayer and I found him knocking doors a week ago. Irma Greco and I taught him this week and he is in the search for someting in his life... the gospel! he said he would go to church but wasn´t there yesterday, but we will continue to work with him and help him see the blessings of the gospel!!

I dont rembember eveything that i wrote this is a scattered email, but remember this:

HEavenly Father is on our side! Jesus Christ is the head of this work, and the Holy Ghost is who converts people! I am so excited for Jacob to go TONGA tomorrow! it is an incredible experience to serve a mission! The Book of Mormon contains power of God, it is so important to have a testimony of these things fo rourselves in order to teach them to others. The poeple here are excited to have a temple, and Satan and his armies are fighting against the will of the Lord, but God will win. This is the work of the Lord, I lvoe you all thank you for your love and your prayers.

Have the greatest week of your lives!!!

com amor,

Irmã Michael