Salvador eu quero amar-te..

Salvador eu quero amar-te... first line of this song in portuguese.
Where to start with this week...? First, how is Elder Michael????? I did´t receive his letter this week, so i have no idea how he is doing in Tonga... Second, i have hardly heard any news about the outside world, but it is good to hear that all the missionaries are safe. We were in Lisbon last Tuesday to do companion switch, and Irmã Graf, Thayer and I all traveled with Irmã thayers luggage to the escritorio (mission office) as we tried to take the metro from the station to the office we learned that there was a strike of the metro going on so we got in line with the hundreds of others to take the autocarro. I kind of felt like i was in a movie because there were people everywhere, lining up to take the buses, and the buses were crammed full of people. Finally we exited the bus and took a taxi the last leg of the trip, an adventure indeed! At the office lots of missionaries gathered to do exchanges, we said bye to irma thayer (Irmã Greco left the night before to catch a plane to the Azores) and then I met my new companion!!!! Irmã Reis is INCREDIBLE!!!!
This week has been AMAZING!!!! Irmã Reis is from Angola but she has lived in Portugal for 10 years, she is from Aveiro, nearby Coimbra, and it is really neat because in her ward at home is the grandma of Debora, one of the girls we have been teaching! this is a huge blessing because the dad of Debora is a menos ativo of 16 years and we have tried to invite debora to be baptized so many times but her dad was resisting. this transfer we are going to work with her and the family, Irma Reis knows the whole family from before her mission!
Also this week was just incredible because with everything we did, we sought inspiration from Heavenly Father and He showed us the miracles!!!
WHen we were doing procura tuesday, we said a prayer to seek guidance of where we should knock, then we both felt the same building and we found three families!! we prayed with two of them and marked to come back! it was incredible!
Saturday night we had an hour and prayed then went into this building and every door we knocked let us pray with them and we marked retur appts! Irmã Reis is full of fogo (fire) for this work! We have so much fun together, we laugh and just make this work fun!! I am so grateful to be serving with her!!

Yesterday, we taught RS about charity and the importance of coming unto Christ ourselves in order to bring others unto Him. Eu sou grata pela opportunidade a servir aqui em Almada. Esta experiencia é incrivel, para deixar minha vida e ajudar outros encontrar a alegria eterna!!
I love you all tons and tons!!
Have a wonderful week!!!

Com Amor,
Irmã Michael

TRANSFER DAY

Boa tarde!! So today is transfer day and let me just start with, it is so stressful!!!! Because we wait all day, expecting a phone call, and aren't sure if we need to pack to leave or if we are staying, and we can´t do anything just in case we get the call and need to leave immediately... Anyway, so the call finally came and, I am staying here!!! My new companion will be Irmã Reis who is from Porto, so she speaks Portuguese!!! I am so excited to serve with her! i spoke to her on the phone and she was screaming with excitement!! I met her at the tri-zone conference at the end of last transfer she is super nice and full of energy! Irmã Graf trained her, and Irmã Graf will be staying another transfer in Almada too, with Irmã Egbert. Irmã Greco is going to the AZORES!!!! She is way excited!! President Torgan called her last night and told her good news and bad news: the bad news is that her grandma of 102 year passed away, but the good news of the Azores boosted her spirit!Anyway, i am way excited to stay here, and kind of nervous because i am now in charge of knowing where everything is at in our area... it will be a challenge but i know i will learn a lot, most importantly to trust in the Lord and to trust in the Spirit to help guide us where to go!! This past week was another adventure in the life of a missionary!! Ana was baptized on Friday night and her parents attended! She was so excited to get baptized! We found her on a park bench literally right after Rita and Lucinda told us they were not going to be baptized. When one door closes another one opens! It is so true!!! We had our ward activity on Saturday! mom thanks for the package it got here in time and the kids loved the prizes and the colors of frosting for sugar cookies (they don´t have cookies or frosting here so it was fun!) As far as new investigators, well, this week was a tough one and we didn't´t find very many people who wanted to listen to us, but we keep trying our best! And this week will be a new adventure The Lord has a plan always prepared for us and we need to be worthy to have the Spirit with us to hear what He has in store for us. I haven't heard much about the things going on in the world, but i am glad to know that Elder Hoffman and Elder Michael are safe. I am excited to hear from Jacob soon! love you all!,~ Irmã Michael

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