Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
BRILHA MEIGA LUZ
*Lead Kindly Light
All of the Irmãs sang this song at Zone conference on tuesday, there were 10 of us, so missiong 4 (2 in the azores and two in another zone). Sone conerence was in Miratejo, where I was in Almada, it was so neat to return and pass through my `birth place` :) there were 3 zones together and the focus was in this last week as Portugal Lisboa Mission!!! Because startign July 1st it will be called the Portugal Mission, and President Torgan and all of our leaders talked about how we will close this mission Lisboa with a legacy! They gave the challenge to every single dupla to baptize this weekend at least one person! Then we talked about the resources that we have to use to find people through contacts de poder, e contatos de oração e também the power of finding pesquisadores who will be baptized in the following weeks when they assistir a reunião batismal. Irmã Speigle and I were full of fogo and excitement to work this week!!! There are so many miracles happening here in Portugal. THere are several people being baptized each week and PResident Torgan said that it is completely possible to have baptisms weekly in each of our areas. THere is a program that we have here in the mission that helps us seek and do the will of the Lord. Each Friday we seek revelation through prayer as to who is ready to be baptized by the following weekend. It is so amazing how the Lord gives us revelation when we seek it! Then, of course we work throughout the whole week to help these people be baptized, of course there are some who progress mroe quickly than others and there are some who really are ready, and others who need more time, but anyway, this is basically how the work functions here, and i am still learnign the process. Anyway, we were super excited to work and we worked hard all week to meet with our "revelados" Joana and Bruno, who had met with the missionaries in the past. There were some big mountains to pass with Bruno, but we were full of faith that everything would work out and that they both would be baptized! But, at the end of the week they were not baptized, and i was sad for a little bit, because especially, Joana, she is so ready, she jsut still doesnt realize why she needs to be baptized again. she i sso converted to the catholic faith. Sometimes as a missionary it is frustrating because we can see the blessings that come with the gospel and we try to explain it, but it takes longer for some to understand. I am learning patience, and also really, we are here to help people find joy! Yes the most joy comes when a person enters the waters of baptism, but also there is so much joy in hearing a person pray for the first time out loud, or read the scriptures and understand what Heavenly Father is teaching through the prophets! I am here to invite others to come unto Christ and experience joy!!!
Wow, everything has it´s timing right. I am slow at learning so many things, but one thing i know is that there is joy in doing to will of the Lord!!
Here is what happened this week:
Well, it just seems that HEavenly Father is always showing us miracles through the small and simple things, and so many times we are going to be late for an appt or to get home, when the bus shows up right in time. i cant even count how many times we have been blessed to have teh autocarro pass by right at the perfect moment!!! we have been running all over the place too to catch the bus right in time. Seriously, we are running and i just laugh as we run because it is so hilarious/ a huge blessing that Heavenly Father is protecting us and watching ovewr us and continuously answering our prayers!!!
Also, Saturday night the ward had a "Sardinhada" basically a barbeque with sardines :) yum!! and lots of other carne and doces. So we invited several pesquisadores, hoping that some would come, but we also had to keep working to find the people that the Lord had prepared to be baptized. So it started at 7 and we told the pesquisadores that we would be there, we were working in an area near the church, but we felt we needed to go to Outerela, street Rua de Liberdade, so we decided we would pass by there then go to the capela after. Well, it was already after 7, but we decided to pray one more time and ask the Lord if we should return to the capela or continue to that street. We both felt to keep going forward and visit that street. (background on this... i had a dream at the beginning of the week that someone is ready to be baptized on rua de liberdade, and the whole week long we kept saying we need to pass there... but até sabado we hadn´t so we said we need to go there...) Anyway, so we started running to make it there and back, but it was already past 7. we laughed as we ran because we said we are just trying to follow the spirit!!! We stopped the first person we saw on the street and it was a girl who had talked with the elders in the past, we prayed with her and marked another appt for during the week. Then, we received a phone call from a member at the sardinhada that there were people there looking for us... so we immediately turned around and ran back to the chapel, the distance is like from our house to DHS +/- anyway, we arrived completely sweating, red in the face, oh yeah it was like 100 degrees that day too :) and everyone was like oh the sisters were at the beach today :) lol we just laughed. Anyway so the people who were waiting for us were pesquisadores!!! We had contacted a few people and invited them but they were all iffy, not sure if they would come, but they came!!! Our alegria was sky high!!! Especially because there are 2 families that came who we have felt have so much potential!!! Irmã Speigle gave a tour of the capela to some of them, and the others were playing basketball and making friendship with the ward! This was such a hugh miracle!!!! We were so happy that it worked out! something i am learning that itma graf taught me is you do your best and the Lord will do the rest! It is so true!!!
There is this one pesquisador, George that is so incredible! He is from South Africa, portuguese, and we will continue to teach him this week. the members are helping so much with him!
Basically i love this work and i love the Lord. thank you for your prayers and support! i am so grateful to be here! the Lord is the head and we are simply instruments in His hands. Really that is all that missionary work is: fight for the Lord fight for the salvation of these people who are trying to find it but cant do it alone. None of us can do it alone!
I love you so much! This is the Lord´s work and we are all over the world doing the same things!!
Have a fabulous week and trust in the Lord!!
xoxo
Irmã Michael
All of the Irmãs sang this song at Zone conference on tuesday, there were 10 of us, so missiong 4 (2 in the azores and two in another zone). Sone conerence was in Miratejo, where I was in Almada, it was so neat to return and pass through my `birth place` :) there were 3 zones together and the focus was in this last week as Portugal Lisboa Mission!!! Because startign July 1st it will be called the Portugal Mission, and President Torgan and all of our leaders talked about how we will close this mission Lisboa with a legacy! They gave the challenge to every single dupla to baptize this weekend at least one person! Then we talked about the resources that we have to use to find people through contacts de poder, e contatos de oração e também the power of finding pesquisadores who will be baptized in the following weeks when they assistir a reunião batismal. Irmã Speigle and I were full of fogo and excitement to work this week!!! There are so many miracles happening here in Portugal. THere are several people being baptized each week and PResident Torgan said that it is completely possible to have baptisms weekly in each of our areas. THere is a program that we have here in the mission that helps us seek and do the will of the Lord. Each Friday we seek revelation through prayer as to who is ready to be baptized by the following weekend. It is so amazing how the Lord gives us revelation when we seek it! Then, of course we work throughout the whole week to help these people be baptized, of course there are some who progress mroe quickly than others and there are some who really are ready, and others who need more time, but anyway, this is basically how the work functions here, and i am still learnign the process. Anyway, we were super excited to work and we worked hard all week to meet with our "revelados" Joana and Bruno, who had met with the missionaries in the past. There were some big mountains to pass with Bruno, but we were full of faith that everything would work out and that they both would be baptized! But, at the end of the week they were not baptized, and i was sad for a little bit, because especially, Joana, she is so ready, she jsut still doesnt realize why she needs to be baptized again. she i sso converted to the catholic faith. Sometimes as a missionary it is frustrating because we can see the blessings that come with the gospel and we try to explain it, but it takes longer for some to understand. I am learning patience, and also really, we are here to help people find joy! Yes the most joy comes when a person enters the waters of baptism, but also there is so much joy in hearing a person pray for the first time out loud, or read the scriptures and understand what Heavenly Father is teaching through the prophets! I am here to invite others to come unto Christ and experience joy!!!
Wow, everything has it´s timing right. I am slow at learning so many things, but one thing i know is that there is joy in doing to will of the Lord!!
Here is what happened this week:
Well, it just seems that HEavenly Father is always showing us miracles through the small and simple things, and so many times we are going to be late for an appt or to get home, when the bus shows up right in time. i cant even count how many times we have been blessed to have teh autocarro pass by right at the perfect moment!!! we have been running all over the place too to catch the bus right in time. Seriously, we are running and i just laugh as we run because it is so hilarious/ a huge blessing that Heavenly Father is protecting us and watching ovewr us and continuously answering our prayers!!!
Also, Saturday night the ward had a "Sardinhada" basically a barbeque with sardines :) yum!! and lots of other carne and doces. So we invited several pesquisadores, hoping that some would come, but we also had to keep working to find the people that the Lord had prepared to be baptized. So it started at 7 and we told the pesquisadores that we would be there, we were working in an area near the church, but we felt we needed to go to Outerela, street Rua de Liberdade, so we decided we would pass by there then go to the capela after. Well, it was already after 7, but we decided to pray one more time and ask the Lord if we should return to the capela or continue to that street. We both felt to keep going forward and visit that street. (background on this... i had a dream at the beginning of the week that someone is ready to be baptized on rua de liberdade, and the whole week long we kept saying we need to pass there... but até sabado we hadn´t so we said we need to go there...) Anyway, so we started running to make it there and back, but it was already past 7. we laughed as we ran because we said we are just trying to follow the spirit!!! We stopped the first person we saw on the street and it was a girl who had talked with the elders in the past, we prayed with her and marked another appt for during the week. Then, we received a phone call from a member at the sardinhada that there were people there looking for us... so we immediately turned around and ran back to the chapel, the distance is like from our house to DHS +/- anyway, we arrived completely sweating, red in the face, oh yeah it was like 100 degrees that day too :) and everyone was like oh the sisters were at the beach today :) lol we just laughed. Anyway so the people who were waiting for us were pesquisadores!!! We had contacted a few people and invited them but they were all iffy, not sure if they would come, but they came!!! Our alegria was sky high!!! Especially because there are 2 families that came who we have felt have so much potential!!! Irmã Speigle gave a tour of the capela to some of them, and the others were playing basketball and making friendship with the ward! This was such a hugh miracle!!!! We were so happy that it worked out! something i am learning that itma graf taught me is you do your best and the Lord will do the rest! It is so true!!!
There is this one pesquisador, George that is so incredible! He is from South Africa, portuguese, and we will continue to teach him this week. the members are helping so much with him!
Basically i love this work and i love the Lord. thank you for your prayers and support! i am so grateful to be here! the Lord is the head and we are simply instruments in His hands. Really that is all that missionary work is: fight for the Lord fight for the salvation of these people who are trying to find it but cant do it alone. None of us can do it alone!
I love you so much! This is the Lord´s work and we are all over the world doing the same things!!
Have a fabulous week and trust in the Lord!!
xoxo
Irmã Michael
Monday, June 20, 2011
This week has been amazing
This week has been amazing! I am feeled with love for the people of Portugal!! I know Heavenly Father loves the people here in Portugal, and I can feel of His love. This is the work of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The basic principles of the gospel are the same for all people.
There are so many little miracles that remind me of the Lord´s hand in all things. For example, this week, we crosed paths with several people with whom we have talked in the past, and again were able to have contact. There is this older couple that live in our area whose son is a member living in Belgium wiht his family, and Irma Graf and i tried a few times to contact, but didnt work out. THen last sunday night we were walking home, and decided to go a different way, and suddenly this man and woman passed us and said something that made us turn around. It turns out that it´s this couple!!!! It was such a smally thing but an incredible reminder for me that Heavenyl Father is always guiding our path!! We talked with them a few minutes then set up an appt with them to go back. When we visited their home, i felt a presence of love, and as she showed us pictures of her netos (grandkids) i had the impression strongly that this couple will one day be members! We then watched Juntos para sempre, just two clips and at the end i started crying because really this is what it´s all about!! The gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives. After the film ended, i felt the impression to testify simply that Jesus Cristo é nosso Salvador, que Ele vive, e por causa do amor que Ele tem para nos, nossas familias poderão ser eternas. I am so grateful for the witness of teh Holy Ghost into our hearts that this is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Many people ask us what is the difference between this church and any other church. And really, it is the authority of God that makes it possible for our families to be eternal. Because of the faith of one boy, Joseph Smith, to search for the truth, and becasue the circumstances were right, the fulneww of the gospel has been restored to the earth. just like all the other prophets who preached the same gospel. We are so blessed to live in these latter days. I am so grateful to be serving the people here in Portugal!
This week we´re having a zone conference in Miratejo, where i had church in Almada! I am sure we´ll be talking aobut how the missions will be joining really really soon.
I love the Lord, I love you all. This is His work. We are all part of His plan to be instruments in the Hands of the Lord to invite others to participate in the sweet sweet work!
com amor,
Irmã Michael
Mosiah 2:41
There are so many little miracles that remind me of the Lord´s hand in all things. For example, this week, we crosed paths with several people with whom we have talked in the past, and again were able to have contact. There is this older couple that live in our area whose son is a member living in Belgium wiht his family, and Irma Graf and i tried a few times to contact, but didnt work out. THen last sunday night we were walking home, and decided to go a different way, and suddenly this man and woman passed us and said something that made us turn around. It turns out that it´s this couple!!!! It was such a smally thing but an incredible reminder for me that Heavenyl Father is always guiding our path!! We talked with them a few minutes then set up an appt with them to go back. When we visited their home, i felt a presence of love, and as she showed us pictures of her netos (grandkids) i had the impression strongly that this couple will one day be members! We then watched Juntos para sempre, just two clips and at the end i started crying because really this is what it´s all about!! The gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives. After the film ended, i felt the impression to testify simply that Jesus Cristo é nosso Salvador, que Ele vive, e por causa do amor que Ele tem para nos, nossas familias poderão ser eternas. I am so grateful for the witness of teh Holy Ghost into our hearts that this is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Many people ask us what is the difference between this church and any other church. And really, it is the authority of God that makes it possible for our families to be eternal. Because of the faith of one boy, Joseph Smith, to search for the truth, and becasue the circumstances were right, the fulneww of the gospel has been restored to the earth. just like all the other prophets who preached the same gospel. We are so blessed to live in these latter days. I am so grateful to be serving the people here in Portugal!
This week we´re having a zone conference in Miratejo, where i had church in Almada! I am sure we´ll be talking aobut how the missions will be joining really really soon.
I love the Lord, I love you all. This is His work. We are all part of His plan to be instruments in the Hands of the Lord to invite others to participate in the sweet sweet work!
com amor,
Irmã Michael
Mosiah 2:41
Monday, June 13, 2011
Cantando Louvamos
Holy Cow!! That is so awesome about Krissy!! Send her my love! I am super excited for her!!!!!!!!
(Redeemer of Israel) It´s been stuck in my head for two weeks now! I love that song!
I am here in Linda-A-Velha with Irmã Speigle!!! She is incredible! And we have had a SUPER amazing week!! First, before she arrived from the Azores, (she was serving with Irmã Greco, minha mãe!!) Irmã Reis stayed the night with me after Irma Graf left Monday afternoon. This was absolutely awesome! It was so great to talk with her again and reflect on the incredible transfer we had together! She is now serving with Irma Greco in the Aores! Irma Reis is an inspiration to me and so is Irma graf and Irma Speigle and Irma Greco!
Let me just say this week was full of miracles!!! Irmã Speigle has not spoken english since she arrived in Portugal, and she is in her last transfer. This is so awesome because I feel comfortable with the language and it has not been a problem at all to make the transition to only speaking Portugese!!!! Also, she literally talks with the whole world!! It is so amazing!
We found some really amazing people this week, and almost all of them are family of members in our ward. I am gaining a testimony of the importance of working with the members, and miracles happen!!
So a quick sum of this week´s miracles...
WE contacted a girl on the autocarro, it was quick, but we received her phone number and said we´d call. Then we set up an appt with her, and finally met with her. It was so amazing! She is 18, and has 5 months here in Portugal. She is from Angola, and basically is going through lot's of changes right now. She left her family in Angola and is living with aunt and uncle. We talked for just a few minutes but basically shared that she is so confused as to why there are so many churches when God is só um! She cried, and I started crying and we said a prayer with her and she said she wanted to come to church with us, so we said we would pick her up. (this happened saturday night) She came to church and really liked it!
We have been working a lot with a Rapaz, whose family are basically all members, he just hasn't been baptized yet. Most of the family is inactive, but the mom, Maria has such a strong testimony of the gospel and she is an awesome missionary and shares with everyone!! We invited Ricardo to be baptized this Sunday (yesterday) and he accepted, this was early in the week, so we had appts marked with him, but was difficult to find him in house. So, finally we met with him on Saturday morning. He had been sleeping, but finally it worked to teach him of the importance of the Atonement and how baptism is a remission of sin, and a new beginning. He is excited about baptism, but still has some problems with the palavra de sabedoria so he didnt pass his interview, but we will keep working with him and his family.
I am starting to gain a testimony of the importance of including the members in the trabalho missionario. So many of the members of our ward have family members who are not yet members and i feel strongly we need to work with them.
Also, we had this awesome lesson with a family, the mom is from Brasil and the dad is from Nigeria-they met in Brasil then moved here with their 2 young daughters. They are going to be awesome leaders in the church one day!! We brought a member wiht us to the lesson who is from Brasil, and he bore powerful testimony of the plan that God has for each of us. It is so amazing to see the Hand of the Lord in everything that we do. Each day this week, I have felt so blessed to see how the Lord is preparing the people and some are ready now to accept the gospel while others, it takes more time.
Thank you all so much for your love and support. I am excited to hear about the news with those who are deciding to serve missions. It is the greatest experience of my life! There are sooo many times when it is too difficult to express in words how to describe it.
I love the people here in Portugal. this is the greatest place for me to be serving. There are so many people suffering her, because of the things happening, and many are looking to find God. I am here to invite others to come unto Christ.
Remember the lesson we had last week wiht the chinese young adult? well, we met with him yesterday again and he prayed for the first time! in chinese of course. But he said after that, he feels like God really can save him.
God lives. He is our Father in Heaven. Jesus Christ is our Savior and I am so grateful to be part of His work here. The Book of Mormon was written by Prophets for us in these days.
I love you all!
Estou grata a servir!!
Amo voces!!!
Irm♥ Hillary
PS thank you so much for the happy verses! I feel so much happier now! I will explain in another email!
(Redeemer of Israel) It´s been stuck in my head for two weeks now! I love that song!
I am here in Linda-A-Velha with Irmã Speigle!!! She is incredible! And we have had a SUPER amazing week!! First, before she arrived from the Azores, (she was serving with Irmã Greco, minha mãe!!) Irmã Reis stayed the night with me after Irma Graf left Monday afternoon. This was absolutely awesome! It was so great to talk with her again and reflect on the incredible transfer we had together! She is now serving with Irma Greco in the Aores! Irma Reis is an inspiration to me and so is Irma graf and Irma Speigle and Irma Greco!
Let me just say this week was full of miracles!!! Irmã Speigle has not spoken english since she arrived in Portugal, and she is in her last transfer. This is so awesome because I feel comfortable with the language and it has not been a problem at all to make the transition to only speaking Portugese!!!! Also, she literally talks with the whole world!! It is so amazing!
We found some really amazing people this week, and almost all of them are family of members in our ward. I am gaining a testimony of the importance of working with the members, and miracles happen!!
So a quick sum of this week´s miracles...
WE contacted a girl on the autocarro, it was quick, but we received her phone number and said we´d call. Then we set up an appt with her, and finally met with her. It was so amazing! She is 18, and has 5 months here in Portugal. She is from Angola, and basically is going through lot's of changes right now. She left her family in Angola and is living with aunt and uncle. We talked for just a few minutes but basically shared that she is so confused as to why there are so many churches when God is só um! She cried, and I started crying and we said a prayer with her and she said she wanted to come to church with us, so we said we would pick her up. (this happened saturday night) She came to church and really liked it!
We have been working a lot with a Rapaz, whose family are basically all members, he just hasn't been baptized yet. Most of the family is inactive, but the mom, Maria has such a strong testimony of the gospel and she is an awesome missionary and shares with everyone!! We invited Ricardo to be baptized this Sunday (yesterday) and he accepted, this was early in the week, so we had appts marked with him, but was difficult to find him in house. So, finally we met with him on Saturday morning. He had been sleeping, but finally it worked to teach him of the importance of the Atonement and how baptism is a remission of sin, and a new beginning. He is excited about baptism, but still has some problems with the palavra de sabedoria so he didnt pass his interview, but we will keep working with him and his family.
I am starting to gain a testimony of the importance of including the members in the trabalho missionario. So many of the members of our ward have family members who are not yet members and i feel strongly we need to work with them.
Also, we had this awesome lesson with a family, the mom is from Brasil and the dad is from Nigeria-they met in Brasil then moved here with their 2 young daughters. They are going to be awesome leaders in the church one day!! We brought a member wiht us to the lesson who is from Brasil, and he bore powerful testimony of the plan that God has for each of us. It is so amazing to see the Hand of the Lord in everything that we do. Each day this week, I have felt so blessed to see how the Lord is preparing the people and some are ready now to accept the gospel while others, it takes more time.
Thank you all so much for your love and support. I am excited to hear about the news with those who are deciding to serve missions. It is the greatest experience of my life! There are sooo many times when it is too difficult to express in words how to describe it.
I love the people here in Portugal. this is the greatest place for me to be serving. There are so many people suffering her, because of the things happening, and many are looking to find God. I am here to invite others to come unto Christ.
Remember the lesson we had last week wiht the chinese young adult? well, we met with him yesterday again and he prayed for the first time! in chinese of course. But he said after that, he feels like God really can save him.
God lives. He is our Father in Heaven. Jesus Christ is our Savior and I am so grateful to be part of His work here. The Book of Mormon was written by Prophets for us in these days.
I love you all!
Estou grata a servir!!
Amo voces!!!
Irm♥ Hillary
PS thank you so much for the happy verses! I feel so much happier now! I will explain in another email!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Linda-a-velha
Hey everyone! I dont have any time to write today just to say that I am staying in Linda-a-velha and Imra Spiegle is coming in from the azores to be my companion!! I am so super excited about it! it will be so awesome! I will write you next week with more! It is so crazy that Irma Graf is done, because i have been with her since i got here to portugal!! but Irma spiegle served with her in the mtc so it will be so great!!!
One quick story... we taught these two chinese guys on saturday in broken english portuguese... the spirit speaks every language!!!
love you all tons!!
DAD... HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
xoxo, love Irma Michael
One quick story... we taught these two chinese guys on saturday in broken english portuguese... the spirit speaks every language!!!
love you all tons!!
DAD... HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
xoxo, love Irma Michael
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