Monday, February 24, 2014

Madeira Islands: Week 41


Hey everyone!

How was the week? It was great here! Lots of random and fun stuff! This is the last week of the transfer. Crazy! Sister Lofgreen only has one more transfer! :( I think we'll both stay here together though! We'll find out this weekend.

So on Saturday morning Ana called us and told us she didn't think she should get baptized yet. She said she wasn't feeling ready anymore. We got concerned so we told her we would come over and talk to her. We had a feeling we should invite a member named Maralene with us. She is super busy with work and family and church callings so we didn't want to bug her, but we decided to ask anyway. She said she would meet us there.

When we got there we were worried because Ana and Maralene had only met one time and we didn't know if Ana would really be comfortable. She told us she just didn't feel ready yet for baptism psychologically. She didn't have doubts or problems with anything, just had her own problems to work out. Ana's daughter walked out and started talking about personal things in their lives and it made Ana cry and walk out. At first I was like oh crap what were we thinking bringing a member here? But then Maralene started talking. She shared a personal experience just like the one they had and bore her testimony how the church has changed her life. In the end the daughter was calm, and Ana was excited to be baptized and start her life again fresh. The problems they talked about were things that Sister Lofgreen and I could have never helped them work through. If we wouldn't have called the member I know that Ana wouldn't have been baptized. Also they became friends and now Ana has a member to support her!

So everyone get to know the missionaries nearby and try to teach with them whenever you can! The members are the key to missionary work. Seriously. It's not just what people say haha. It literally was one of the coolest moments of my life when I saw how God set everything up perfectly. 

That same night our Ward mission leader Bruno invited us and Ana and her daughter Cristiana to a FHE in their house. He played a mormon message and had a big dinner for us. It was really fun and Ana and Cristiana had a good time getting to know other members and playing with their puppies haha.

So ANA and CATIA were baptized yesterday! Woohoo! It was raining and they were troopers and walked the whole way to be baptized. It was awesome! They both bore their testimonies afterwards saying how they felt clean and light from their sins. 

In church we had SO many tourists. We had a whole family from Finland, two ladies from England, a girl from Denmark, and guess what 2 Americans that live in Germany! Haha even crazier though, the husband's sister is Sister Sills from our ward! Their names are Jerry and Lisa Grasser. They were talking about lake Quitchipah and stuff it was crazy. Such a small world! Tell them I met their family here. Anyway, since none of those people speak Portuguese I ended up translating into English. It is HARD! I can't think fast enough in two languages or hear them over my own voice haha. Seriously I give translators mad props now. It was a good experience though. 

Margarida still wants to serve a mission. She texted us yesterday and asked if she can spend a whole day with us next week to see how missions are. It will be really fun and I am so excited for her to serve a mission! 

Anyway that is about it. Sorry I emailed late today. The email place we usually use is closed so we've been walking around looking for another place for like 3 hours hahaa. We found one though! :) Hope everyone has a great week!

Sister Carroll

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