OUTRO DIA, OUTRO DOLLARI(2)

HEY FAM! So last week my camera didn´t work so I had to send from Sister Pereira´s camera and we were getting kicked off so we picked random ones but HERES NEW PICS AND THEY´RE WAY BETTER SO LOOK AT THESE AND NOT LAST WEEK´S PICS

1. PORTUGAL PORTUGAL

2. YES IT ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE THIS~

3. Castleeeeeeeeeeeee

4. I was absolutely OBSESSED with this Rua

5. No really it was a real castle!!!!~

6. I just thought this street was really pretty idk

7. Apparently when there´s a shoe on a window it´s the sign of a gang or something.... so naturally i had to take a picture OBRIGADA POR G LYFE

8. first european gelado!!!!

WHAT IS UP FAM!!! ANOTHER WEEK DOWN IN PORTUGAL!!! And it gets more and more beautiful every day! Seriously, I absolutely LOVE it here. The culture and the food and the scenery and the people are so amazing. And this work is hard hard hard and I don´t speak Portuguese which is frustrating as heck, but I´m HERE and I´m a MISSIONARY and it´s amazing and wonderful and I wouldn´t want to be anywhere else. Even if I do sometimes dream about sleeping in and wearing pants and watching movies. Someday.

Nothing much new with our investigators! The thing about Portuguese people is that they live pretty good lives, so they don´t ever feel like they need to change. And they´re not really willing to do anything to better their lives regardless.... So we get very little progression. One amazing family that we absolutely loved, Jose and Sonia, dropped us this week because they´re comfortable living the way they are. It was totally heartbreaking because we know there´s so much more for them, but they´re not willing to change.... GAH. 

As for our other investigators, they either 

   a) don´t come to church 

   b) are possibly in the mafia? Or some other sketchy activity that occupies most of their time at night? 

   c) are alcoholic and show up to church VERY drunk or

   d) can see spirits and communicate with the dead

WHAT POTENTIAL!!! No but seriously though, there´s so much potential in this area. We meet people every single day who are interested in the message. I have high hopes for all the people here and all the good we can do!

We got fed a lot this week which was AWESOME! Portuguese food is so good. Too good fam. I literally think I´ve already gained 5 pounds and it´s been a week?!?! Maybe?!?! Don´t be surprised when I am a whale when I come home.... But it was a blast. There´s an eternal investigator the elders have that feeds the missionaries once a week, her name is Gloria and she´s completely crazy and makes the absolute best Brazilian food this world has ever seen. They also sing the same song every week at the top of their lungs and it´s hilariously amazing. EU PRECISOOOOOO A TI, SENHORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!! I will probably never stop singing this. Ever. SORRY COMPANIONS.

As for creepy Portuguese men stories, there´s a couple of good ones! People tend to be fascinated by the fact that I´m the only person in Portugal with blonde hair, so we get a lot of people honking as we walk. Or winking. Or singing loud Portuguese love songs outside their car windows as they drive past. The best though, was a man we were contacting on the street. We asked what role Christ had played in his life and he proceeded to TAKE OFF HIS SHIRT to show us his incredibly hairy chest and rosary he had around his neck. Then, he told us he was a sinner because he was "naughty" and loves little women. Ah, Portuguese men. Yep, Sister Pereira ended that contact REAL quick. Oh, and the old-men-giving-me-bejinhos-before-I-can-stop-them count has risen to 4. Outro dia, ourto dollari am I right

We´ve also had some really really cool experiences. One came one night when we were trying to find an investigator´s house (the one that´s a medium for dead people, if you were wondering) and we couldn´t find it anywhere, so we decided to pray. Right after the prayer, we stopped the first woman we saw who ended up being and absolute ANGEL and RAN around to ask people for directions. We asked if we could pray with her afterwords and she starting tearing up from the prayer (could´ve been the Spirit, could´ve been that my Portuguese is just really really awful) and she kept giving us bejinhos and calling us "queridas" and I cannot WAIT to teach her!

Another day Sister Pereira and I contacted a guy who was talking about trying to get his life in order, and Sister P said she didn´t think it was a coincidence that we´d met him at this point in his life, to which he said he´d actually JUST been thinking that he needed to start going back to church when we stopped him. WHAT WHAT!! Now he just needs to stop being an alcoholic and we´re SET!

Ohhhh also, someone told me to just enjoy all the weird stuff that happens in foreign wards. I 

didn´t know what this meant until now, but it´s so true. Portuguese people have no sense of time (no wonder I got sent to this country eh?) and they really really don´t mind just letting their kids run around on the floor, on the stand, maybe play the piano while the bishop is talking.... Oh, and as a choir we sang the same musical number twice this last Easter. Not sure why, but that´s what we did. Our ward is great but Sundays are definitely different and absolutely hilarious. 

Anyway, that´s about it for now! I miss you all lots and lots and lots! This work is HARD but we have amazing experiences everyday and I´ve met and learned from some of the most incredible people. I can´t wait to keep living it up here in Portugal and hopefully, someday, to speak Portuguese! We´ll see fam. We´ll see. 

AMO VOCES MUITO MUITO MUITO!! Pray for the temple here in Portugal and for our investigators to do things like keep commitments and stop communicating with the dead!! LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

Sister Parkinson

ENTRE NA MINHA CASAAAAAAAA ENTRE NA MINHA VIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I´m telling ya I cannot stop singing this song

P.S: I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE SEEN PORQUE ELE VIVE AND SHARED IT WITH EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!! Seriously fam, it is SO powerful. I absolutely love this video!! Watch watch and SHARE SHARE SHARE!! PORQUE ELE VIVE!!!!

Also CONFERENCE IS THIS WEEKEND GET PUMPEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDD I´M SO EXCITEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!

And while you enjoy conference pray for us poor Europeans cause it´s at a great time in the U.S., but we get the second session at 9-11pm here. Prayers.