Okay! So I think everyone is added. I added Bailey and Shaye(even though I´ll have to change shayes soon!!) changed Nanas email and added kim. Hopefully this is all. I think Nathan is on here too now. If anyone has anything that doesn´t work still sorry. Just keep reminding me and I´ll change it.
Hmm where to start. This week. I don´t remember what i say every week but I hope you all enjoy what I say. Things are super complicated still with the whole living a half an hour away from my area. We eat lunch at the chapel almost everyday. and do language study there also. Apperently our chapel is one of the nicest in portugal so thats awesome. It is like an institute building a family history center and like everything all in one. It is really nice. And there is filtered water there. We can´t drink the water so we just buy like 5 liter jugs every 3 days. haha and then when we are not home there are 12 cent water bottles in the minipreco that we buy like 6 a day. I probablly drink 3 liters of water a day. It is crazy hot. It got upto 47 degrees this week. It was absolutly nuts! This is probablly one of the hottest areas in portugal right now.
We are teaching this lady Aisha right now who is just HILLARIOUS! She is from france and speaks criol french german portuguese and french. But not really english so we just speak in portuguese. But she is a cook for events like weddings and stuff! and she said she will make us food sometime which is sooo exciting becuase we haven´t been fed by members once this transfer. Last trasfer we got fed once a week by the same family. This ward is like 3 times bigger but I think they just have more going on. Everyone in portugal is either like working 3 part time jobs and has 10 children and 6 callings or doesn´t have a job and isn´t married and doesn´t know what to do with their lives. It is really interesting to see what the economy is doing with he humility of these people. But we just try to help where we can.
I am thinking that getting this ward involved in the work would be a really good Idea. I am trying to figure out a way that we can be more involved in the visiting teaching of less actives and also use the less actives and recent converts to help us do divitions and teach. I am learning more and more how this work is completely upto the members. We taught Iolanda and Jessica this week about service and Missionary work and Jessica is just jumping for joy at the thought she could come out with us and start preparing now for a mission (she is 14 and got baptised last week) he mom calls us all the time becuase she shared a panphlet we gave with a friend and just wanted to let us know. She is inviting her whole family from all over portugal to come to her house so she can get them to come to church cause she wants nothing more for her children to know the truth! They are just the most amazing examples. Oh I have never been sure of what the difference between a baptism and a conversion is untill I met them. All of our baptisms have been solid though! they are all strong active no doubts!
Another thing that is just amazing to me is Nuxa! Oh I love her sooo much! She was a less active we taught last transfer I don´t know if you remember her. but She is going out with the missionaries EVERYDAY all day she switches between the sister and the Elders in Almada. It is just so weird to think that 2 months ago we knocked on her door and she said she wasbuddest and didn´t believe it anymore, and now she is a hard working missionary than the rest of us. She even uses a missionary planner.
It is soo nice to see the fruits of our labours. I know that we won´t always get to see how things are going with the people we teach. That sometimes we will never know what is going to happen from a street contact or from an invitation to go to church or knocking on a door (even if nobody answers). But it is sure nice to see sometimes. At the same time I just know that what we are doing is have such a huge effect on this small little portion of the world that God has trusted me with. It is amazing to think of the trust that He has in me. A immature 21 year old and her trainee can just start a new area and work miracles everyday. But at the same time I am not sure if it is just because he trusts me or becuase he knows that he is in control. Because there is not a chance that anything would happen if it was just upto me. By small and simple things great things come to pass. I feel very much like that small and simple thing. I have never felt so humble in my life. I know that it is just a matter of faith. If we have faith God will let us witness miracles. How cool is that. We just have to know that things will happen and they will. This gospel is just so simple. I don´t really know what it says in english but doctrine in covenants 82:10 "Eu O senhor estou obrigado quando fesest o que Eu digo, mas quando não o fesest nao tendes promessa alguma." basically if we do what he says we will be so blessed it is insane. Litterally insane. I am so blessed! I can´t even explain how blessed we are.
As for the little things. Everyone in the country has fleas right now. Including us. bugs are everywhere. From the size of the tip of a pencil that just hang out on your body to giant cockroaches they are everywhere! The mold is gone though so thats nice. We will be moving a think on the 24th to a new apartment though. A lady in our ward is moving to germany and she we are moving into her house while she is gone. She lives in our area so that will be nice. I´ll probably get the adress that week. Sooo yeah. but if you want to send something today or the next day I will still be here. things normally take about a week to get here. The address I gave before is right. The one kim sent stuff too. It´s right. I haven´t got that stuff yet though. When did you send it kim?
People keep mistaking us for jehovas witnesses... so thats sad. but apparently I look like one. OH!!!! So we where knocking doors in this predio and this lady was sooo excited to see us and had us come in and we started talking and she tried to convince us that we where of the devil and that we should become testimonuho da Jovah. It was a little awkard but I learned a lot about what they believe. It was super interesting for me. My companion was freaking out though. Sister Hickey reminds me a lot of the type A´s in our family. Mom and Alanna mostly. She just wants everything to be perfect and planned to a T. It is a hard thing for her to just go with the flow. And sometimes we just have to. But we are working it out. Just practicing a ton so she feels like she is more prepared but in a different way.
We have one other investigator that is marked for baptism and he is great. I mean it´s awkward when he leaves chuch inbetween meetings to smoke but we will work on that. His family is amazing though he has two daughters and they are all going to be at church next sunday! We taught him though this week and his aunt was there. She is a die hard catholic and everyword we said she was cut us off and start saying some prayer trying to cast the devils out of us. And then if we didn´t say amen she would get really offended becuase we didn´t like her prayer. It was poco strange. But once again it is amazing to see the diligence and faith that these people have in their religion.
I am learning a ton!!! We have zone conference tomorrow and I am soooo excited! We are so blessed. We have so many funny\amazing experiences everyday! We are learning how to be better missionarys litterally everyday.
I pray for you all every day and miss you and love you! It is crazy to think that kim is getting married and that everyone is growing up! and KAI YEE IS MARRIED?! what? weird. Anyways. Keep me updated. I love love love hearing from you.
Até a proximo,
Com Amor, Sister Brooklyn Marie Mullen
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