WHAT UP EVERYBODYYYYYYYY HOW ARE YALL DOINGGGGGGGGGGG. So we basically had the greatest week in the world here in Porto. Seriously though, this week ROCKED. We spent a good 20 minutes on Sunday just stopped in the street kind of shocked by all the good times going on this week. We have been struggling for so long out here and then BOOM having the greatest week ever. It completely rocks and we are just feeling blessed out here. AND GRATEFUL. YAY MISSIONARY WORK.
- So first things first, THE SECRET IS THE MEMBERS. I have heard this about 2908259085 times and somehow have never been able to apply it.. Until this week? And like, sort of on accident? We were calling members to see how they were doing and all, and one of our awesome members invited us over for lunch (which lasted a solid 4 hours by the way. Shoutout to Portuguese culture). And then she just randomly CALLS HER LESS ACTIVE FRIEND and she comes up to hang out with us and we make plans to teach her husband who isnt a member. WAIT WHAT EVEN HAPPENED THERE. Part one of Sis A and I literally not even understanding our lives this week
- And then PART TWO we went to Lilians house, this adorable 20 year recent convert who is basically Beyonce, and she was like "hey by the way my roommate wants to go to church" so HE COMES UP TO TALK TO US AS WELL and we have a solid lesson and basically Sister Anderson and I were just like WAT EVEN IS THIS. Like I said, we accidentally super successfully worked with the members this week and it just totally rocked
- We are getting stoked for Halloween (its not really a thing here but we American missionaries are banding together to celebrate the heck out of it) so we decided to make the family classic pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. They dont actually have canned pumpkin here but that cant stop a couple of hungry, determined sister missionaries. It ended up requiring going to 4 different stores to find pumpkins, USING REAL PUMPKINS and boiling them down to blend them to use them for the cookies. Looking back on what I just wrote thats actually not that exciting but we felt like we were on Master Chef or something
- I keep forgetting to talk about this but it must be shared. Background: the capo verde community in the church always sits on the back row because a couple of them have rowdy kids and they all sit together. Then a couple weeks ago at church, I was talking to Lilian when church started and she was like "oh just sit here". Next to her. ON THE EXCLUSIVE ROW OF COLOR. I have never felt cooler in my life. It was literally a whole row of cool African people, and me, white and blonde right in the middle. I HAVE NEVER BEEN COOLER EVER.
- this week we got the best news ever, announced in Stake Conference. THE TEMPLE IS BEING BUILT!!! Due to the fact that theres like 3% activity out here, a lot of people (myself included, oops working on building my faith fam) thought that it would never happen, but THEY JUST ANNOUNCED THE GROUNDBREAKING on December 5th. Prez Avelar announced it during conference and he could barely get the words out he was crying so hard. It was one of the most powerful and spiritual things ever to hear that annoucement, and it means SO MUCH to all the incredible and faithful members here. WE ARE GETTING A TEMPLE FAM!!!!!!!!
- Speaking of stake conference, Sunday was one of the absolute best days of my entire mission. No lies, the literal best day ever. We went to go get Lilian for church with Edilson, the roommate we are now teaching, and then we walked past Presidente´s house right as he was pulling out of the driveway. So I waved and was feeling pretty good walking with our investigator to church, when prez pulls up and is like "hey are yall going to church? Get in!" HECKAH YES. Plus on the way there we also picked up Rui and Bruna, our recent convert and his friend we are also teaching. Yessssss. So we rolled into stake conference with our 4-person strong African crew in Presidentes fancy car. Actually the best thing ever.
- BUT that wasnt the reason Sunday was the best ever, its because stake conference happened and since I have spent my entire mission so far in the Porto stake (lolzzzzzz yep I get made fun of for that all the time) I GOT TO SEE ALL OF MY LOVELIES FROM GAIA. IT WAS A RIDICULOUS CRAZY REUNION. The highlight of course being when Maria Jose shoved serveral small children out of the way to come give me a giant hug, or seeing Xeca dance through 3 groups of people to come say hi, or seeing my dear sweet recent converts Maria and Albertina right on the front row... Man I love those guys :´) And they asked a couple of people "by surprise" to give testimonies during the conference, and one of those was none other than AVELINO RAMOS PINHO. He talked about how he had just started living now, now that he has the true church. He also just got called as the secretary of the bishopric in Gaia. Wow, cue the proud mom tears. I was literally just in the back row the whole time, doing the sister thing and crying and freaking out and shouting "THATS MY RECENT CONVERT YALL" and basically just being a mess
WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW OKAY I HOPE YOU ALL WERE READY FOR THAT NOVEL. I just have a lot of feelings?!?!?! But the point of this all is that MISSIONARY WORK ROCKS and I LOVE IT HERE WITH ALL MY HEART. Sometimes its hard and crazy but all in all, its the best thing in the world. CHURCH IS TRUE FAM
Love you all. Parabens to all of you that may have actually made it to the end of this email. FIQUEM BEM, TODOS
xoxoxoxoxxoxoxxoxoxo Sis P
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