Tender Mercies!

This week was awesome!

Monday and tuesday were normal, but tuesday night i started getting a cold and wednesday we were walking around in the rain and i was really feeling sick so we came home for a bit so i could sleep some more. Thursday we had zone conference with president! he is a powerful man, i was inspired to do better. we were supposed to do divisions with the sisters in Setubal, but one of them got sick so it was just a mess. BUT then on friday, the adventures began.

So there used to be six areas in our ward, seixal A, the elders, Seixal B, us, and then a dupla of sisters in this area called quinta do conde. its kind of far away but everyone there has cars and houses instead of apartments and bus passes, so its a pretty rich area, and its also pretty difficult. because of that, it was closed this past transfer and the dupla of sisters out there got taken out. so we got the job of taking care of their investigators. so we got the house key from the office and went out there for the second time this friday. since we had the house key, and since this area is way far away from our house and you have to take a bus and a train to get there,  we got permission from president to stay in the house out there!!!!! hahahaha, it was so fun, it was like a sleepover. but it was incredible, friday night we met the friend of a member, elaine, she is brazilian and AMAZING. she went to church twice and loved it, she was given a gospel principles manual there and had been reading it every night without asking, and this second time that we visited her, we asked her if she had prayed to know if the book of mormon was true or if this church was true and she was like, i dont need to. i dont have any doubt that this church is true. BLEW my mind. oh my how Heavenly Father prepares people. she came to church again on sunday. pray for her so that she can over come some personal problems to get baptized.

then the next day we had a lesson with this kid named marcio. he was someone the sisters out there found like, the second to last week of the transfer. he came to church by himself the last week. so we met with him, he accepted everything we taught and accepted with out any hesitance to be baptized on the 1st of november. it was SOOO cool. and then we walked over to the bus station with us and we were talking about church and such and he was telling us about everything he learned in church and how he wants to serve a mission and will be a bishop one day and such... hes SOOO cool. unfortunately he studies a lot and didnt come to church on sunday because of homework, so pray for him that he can keep progressing!!

then SUNDAY night, we had a lesson with these kids of a member who just got here from capo verde. the 17 year old daughter prayed about the book of mormon and now doesnt have a doubt that its true. that was awesome. so we invtied her to be baptized on the 7th, and she accepted!

We are also teaching a little family, a mom and 4 kids, they are capo verdian also, and they accepted to be baptized too. pray for filomena, bruna, and andre. they are wonderful, but i think i will write more about them next week because ive written plenty for you to read haha.

please be reading the book of mormon. please. i study it everday and it makes an incredible difference.

paz, amor, casamento do templo,

sister briggs

Success in Seixal!

heyyyyy everyone!

where to start?

On wednesday we had zone conference and interviews with president, and they went really well. after that conference, we went to a house of a reference from a member and invited the little girl to be baptized ( she had been asking for weeks to be but we could never get a hold of her and her family) and she accepted! it was awesome. and sister lacey helped teach. the next night, we went over there again, and we marked the mom for baptism too. we walked out of there just on fire. there is a son in the family who is about 15 who is deaf and mute... but we assumed that he would want to get baptized with his family. so they all came to church on sunday and our district leader was asking us how many people we had marked for baptism for next week, and we said 2, but then the young man walks by so i grab him and wrote really fast in my planner wanna get baptized next weekend with your family? and he nodded really hard and gave me a thumbs up. so then i turned back to our district leader and said, hey elder! we have three people marked for baptism next week. and he was like, just now? what? it was pretty funny. a little family will get baptized! its such a miracle.

A few days later, it was raining like crazy, but we had divisions with the sister training leaders! these sisters will both be going home in two weeks and sister carroll, my comp in madeira was one of them, so it was a really fun day.

On Friday, Manuela, Vitoria and Euclides had their baptism interviews. Manuela, the mom, had hers and it was totally fine. So did Vitoria, the little girl. But the 15 year old boy, Euclides, is deaf and mute, so it was a struggle for the elder to communicate with him. Even though we had showed him the baptisimal font and gave him everything to read, for some reason he got freaked out about baptism and decided last minute he didnt want to. it was stressful. but later that night there was an activity in the chapel and we decided to try again. the elder did the interview on the computer and they basically just typed it back and forth, and this time, he accepted. it was a nice sigh of relief, and elder da veiga said it was the coolest thing he had ever done on his mission.

on saturday, THEY GOT BAPTIZED!!!!! Oh it was so wonderful. this little family was baptized by the moms cousin, who was the one who introduced them to the church. He is a recent convert, and it was his first time doing a baptism. When the little girl got baptized, the mom just started crying, and when she got baptized, she came out of the water just crying, and hugged her cousin for a long time, and i could hear him saying to her your clean now! its a new start! It was beautiful.

I heard once that we have no right to ask why me in times of difficulties if we dont ask the same in times of blessing, and thats exactly how i feel. We did nothing except teach and invite them to be baptized, the lord and the members did the rest. it was a miracle, and i dont know what i did to deserve it, but i am so grateful i was able to be an instrument in the hands of the lord.

There is a woman in our ward who is Capo Verdian, she was baptized about 2 years ago and is wonderful, she would be more active but she had kidneys that didnt work so she had to do her own blood treatment at home for several hours everyday so being super active wasnt a huge option. but, all in the same week, she was able to get a kidney transplant after being on the waiting list forever, and her kids that she left in cape verde were finally able to get to portugal. all in the same week. it was a miracle. and so we went there on saturday and invited them to church. its a 17 year old named silvana and a 10 year old named silvi. unfortunately, silvi doesnt speak much portuguese, because in cape verde they basically only speak their own language called criolo and learn portuguses in school. the 17 year old had a baby less than a year ago that she had to leave in cape verde. oh that hurt my heart when i found out about that. so they came to church and it was awesome, and we brought the elderes to teach them that afternoon because one of our elders is cape verdian and translated. they are prepared for sure, we are just reaping.

we have been working with this girl named Neide. she is a neighbor with a recent convert who really changed a lot for the better after his baptism, and she decided she wants that for herself. she read every page we left with her, and asked for us to mark more things to read, she said she missed her book of mormon during the day, she was talking about doing a mission, she just didnt get baptized yet because she doesnt wanna mess up after her baptism, she doesnt want to do drugs or drink again. she is incredible, i love this girl. i made banana bread for her, and put it on a plate, and then we went to walk to her place to have a lesson. well, in those 30 minutes it takes to get to her house from where we live, it rained like never before. i literally had to wring my skirt out after we got to her house. i was just doing everthing i could to protect the banana bread haha. but i would love it if you could all pray for her. Neide (Nayd)

this week in church, the first lady i ever visited in this area, a big brazilian lady who was coming back to activity, was called to be the second counselor in the relief society. i just started bawling. she will be amazing, and it was just soooo good to see. i love these people so much. i cannot put into words how much i love these people. how much these people have changed me. i cannot imagine my life without meeting these people and seeing their example of conversion. this church is true. i know this. after sacrament meeting, one of the women in the ward came and found me in the bathroom and wanted to know why i was crying. oh it was so sweet, so i started crying all over again.

WHOS PUMPED FOR CONFERENCE WEEKEND!!!!!!! i will make the same invite im making to all our members and recent converts here, bring a question to conference, and bring a friend. so let it be written, so let it be done.

sister briggs

Small miracles!

Sister Vomocil!

Sister Fuller is pumped to go to the Azores!

Churros!

Random pic with person on the street

Hey family!

This week: it had its really low moments, and it had its really high moments, so all in all it balanced out to just be another week.

Okay so stories from this week. We were having a rough day with all of our plans falling through and just walking a lot, and that day i had gotten freaked out by a couple dogs behind gates as we walked past houses. and then, right toward the end of the night it happened again and i jumped and just took off running and shouting IM DONE!!!! IM DOOOOOONE!!!!! it was funny. and a nice stress reliever.

We have a solid youth program in our ward and all of the youth got back from efy this week!!! i saw the notebook and the bag and waterbottle and got all excited. and I GOT THE MUSIC IN PORTUGUESE!!!!!!!!! oh it is sooooooo good. i love it. But shoot, efy does miracles. there are scriptures that say that when 2 or three are gathered in His name, there will He be also... imagine how stong that spirit is when 400 youth of a chosen generation are gathered in His name. they all loved it. There is one young man who is actually a recent convert in our area, Bruno from São Tomé he was baptized in december with his mom and two siblings. He really didnt wanna serve a mission. but he said at efy he just couldnt stop thinking about it, and now hes got it in his heart to serve. oh it was so cool to see. his cousin who isnt a member went too and so we trying to get him to be baptized now.

We had a handful of really firm people who said they would come to church. we were excited. sunday morning this little family that we found called and said they couldnt come. we were super bummed. but both of us felt good as we headed out to church that morning, and we found out that we had a family of investigators there that we didnt even invite. A mother and her two kids. the daughter literally asked us to be baptized, shes about 10, and her mom said she liked it a lot. we are going to start teaching them this week. they are family members of members of our ward. It was a miracle. I know that when we do our part and just put our trust in Heavenly Father and doubt not, he blesses us. and when things still dont go the way we want, its because He knows something that we dont, and has a plan. As ive studied the atonement everyday, this is something that i have come to know for a surety and have applied in my daily work. I just trust in Him.I know this is HIS work, not ours. I know He knows our hearts and feelings, and who am i to doubt in Him? I am so grateful for my savior!!!

So, the big news. Im training this transfer. an american named sister Lacey. I knew it was coming. its been coming for awhile now. and while ive always thought the idea was fun, when i got the call, my stomach dropped. ohhhh this is gonna be so hard. its basically going to be like im doing things on my own. ahhhhh. just so many nerves and fears and worries and excitements that i cant even put it into one email, or into words. pray for me. we will see how this goes. im going to learn to rely on the lord like never before. 

 

So, sunday was transfer day. me and sister Fuller had joked around all transfer that she was going to the Azores. And then im taking a shower sunday morning and i hear sister fuller shouting at me thru the door, and im thinking, the house is on fire!!! oh no!!! but no. she got her transfer call early and was in fact going to the Azores!!! so after church and goodbyes instead of working we came home and she packed and then i took her to the train station and met up with the other sisters from the area next door. They are so fun. its always fun seeing new areas and houses and meeting new sisters and getting to know them and seeing the work. as we were out in their area, thats when transfer calls came. we all screamed.  its always fun, and always a little stressful, having to put your full faith in God again every six weeks.  

 

I never want to leave the mission. Saturday night we taught with the elders... long story, but i got to see our district leader, elder judd, who goes home today, teach. it was incredible. i felt the spirit a lot, and i loved it. and then sunday night we had a family night with all the youth in one neighborhood, and we talked about who christ was to them and it was just amazing. I just never wanna stop doing this. okay there are moments that i could have gone without, but in general... i love this work. i love my mission.

 

are you all reading the book of mormon????? i want individual answers!!! you have to finish it before i get home!!!! also, read D&C 121.45-46. virtue has been something i have been learning and applying. it all starts with our thoughts. except for pday, i do my best not to ever think about home. if i start thinking about people, places, etc, i start praying and talking to god. i sing a hymn. i do everything i can to just be open to the spirit, because i know the power of thoughts. think about that this week :)

Last week I was out of my area in the other sisters area for about three days while me and this other sister, sister stokes, waited for our newbies. I got to teach that man named Jose the gospel and all the commandments. it was SOOOOO COOOL. he is the boyfriend of a member, but he is way cool and it was cool to take part of that.

Thursday we went to benfica to get the newbies. Sister Morgan Lacey is from SoCal, shes a sweetheart and its been good. shes been kind of down lately and im trying to do my best between giving her opportunities to participate and not overwhelming her and letting her take breaks and still working hard. I also dont know how she learns yet, so this week will be a week of figuring that out. She hasnt cried yet though, so thats good! she also has the support of another sister in our district that just arrived here, and i think thats really helping her. But it will be an interesting transfer. I have been focusing on helping her say with conviction the little that she knows how to say. Shes overwhelmed with learning how to say everything, and i just want her to say what she knows with all of her heart! but we will get there.

During the week there was this city fair thing going on... on the street that we walk home every night there were all these stands for churros and crepes and icecream and games etc... well needless to say we bought a chocolate filled churro almost every night. it was so fun though. sometimes portugal just takes us by suprise and i love it!!

 

Paz, amor, casamento do templo,

 

sister Briggs

Loving Portugal!

Snails!

this week was awesome!!!!

So on Wednesday we had divisions, and my sister training leader is.... Sister Carroll!!!! my first comp in Madeira!!! it was so good to see her and serving with her again was so easy. I loved it, and i love that girl! all together we taught 15 lessons that day and found 10 new investigators. best division since my first area.

We had a miracle this week. We went to a part of our area that we don't usually go to because we had lunch with a member there. We decided to work there after. After leaving the house, i was tired, really full, and just didn't feel really up to talking to everyone. But in my division with my STLs, i had talked about how badly i just wanted to have the spirit with me for the rest of my mission. And i knew heavenly Father would trust me more if i listened to and obeyed every prompting that came to me. So i said a little prayer in my heart and tried to see what promptings would come.The next lady we talked to on the street was a less active member from another area. The next predio we passed was opened, so we decided to go in and knock it. We knocked the first door. While waiting, the thought literally passed through my head: I've never had anyone open a door and just be really prepared by the Lord, waiting for us. Maybe it will be this one. Then the door opened. It was a man who had been a member for 20 years and inactive for the last 10, but who had served in the bishopric and had even been to the temple. He told us he had been reading the book of mormon the past few days and asking God to send someone from the church to his house because he truly wanted to come back to church, but just didn't have the courage to do it alone. I know we were guided there to answer his prayers.

Today we went to the Torre de belem!! and ate pasteis de Belem!!! and I'm so happy to be back in Lisboa and its soo cool!!! its weird being so close to where i was the first months of my mission. but now i speak Portuguese and am totes comfortable and i just love my life here. at least on pdays. the other days, i sweat a lot and my feet hurt. but its worth it.

funny food stores. i ate snails this week! it wasn't as gross as you think.. but it wasn't very good. also, last week we ate cachupa at a members house... its like an african chile. ive mentioned it before. but there was a huge chunk of skin looking stuff on my plate that i knew i was just not going to be able to stomach and so i pushed it to the side and ate the rest. the guy that made it was like, well! i see that this girl doesn't like pig ear! i was like, nope, sorry... haha it was funny. from now on i will be serving my self.

we are working with this lady named catia. we have had some really good lessons with her. we showed her temples in our last lesson, and she loved them. shes has said, don't be sad sisters, I'm gonna get baptized! we just don't know when. but i love the lady and i know that she will get baptized, and we are preparing her right now.

i challenge you all to finish the book of mormon before i get home. challenge accepted?

love you all!

paz, amor, casamento do templo,

sister briggs