Great week!

Well, got to tell you there is power in a tripla. We teach so well together and we´re having a great time. At times it is hard, but we get along very well together. I have advanced in my language skills. I am only corrected every 5 words instead of every other, so that is improvement. We are kind of anxious for next week to find out who will go where for this transfer. At least one of us will be leaving for sure.
This week we have been practicing to be senior companions because both Sister Medieros and I are of that "age" where we could be training someone or at least be seniors. I complete my "training" at the end of this transfer, although the last three weeks haven´t been very much training. I really had a good day of leading yesterday. We had a very productive day and my very first contact of the day was absolutely golden. She really was searching and when she heard the truth it all made sense to her. The only bad thing is that she is in the Elders area and so we don´t get to teach her. I really like her and she has a lot of potential. We have had a really great week as far as numbers and quality of numbers are concerned. On Monday we only taught 4 lessons, but they were strong and we have 4 new investigators who have mounds of promise. It is really exciting. The end of the summer vaction is a welcome friend. We also got to brighten an investigators day yesterday. He is a man who lives alone with his 16 year-old daughter and he struggles with depression. We had bought a sunflower to give to his daughter, but she wasn´t home, and it really must have been meant for him in the first place. I love that I was able to hear the Spirit and follow it´s promptings. We really made his day and were able to teach a great lesson with the flower and it´s following of the SON. Anyway, it was good.

Sister Schneiber and I have decided that we are going to be really good for each other. We get along famously. Sister Medieros is also growing a lot. She struggles with self-esteem at times, but is improving amazingly on a daily basis. It is amazing the progress that we can have here on a mission when the Spirit is able to magnify our efforts 24/7.

Oh, I almost forgot our fun experience of the week.... I got to practice my nursing skills on Sister Medieros. She was doing chin-ups on a bar that was wedged between the doorposts when it ceased to be suspended. She fell and sprained her thumb and broke open her chin. The hospitals here aren´t especially adept at doing things in a rapid fashion, and seeing as we didn´t want to lose time working I played doctor, doing surgery on her chin and thumb. The cut on her chin was about 3cm wide and at least 1cm deep and bled sufficiently. It was nearly impossible for her refrain from talking so we eventually cleaned it up really well and superglued it shut (NOTE: don´t do this at home) Anyway, now it looks beautiful and isn´t bothering her at all. The thumb we splinted a bit and now we´re icing it daily and she does exercises in warm water at night to make sure it retains it´s movement. Then we wrap it to take down the swelling and it is healing beautifully. Sometimes it´s fun to be a nurse, but it is a bit stressful to have President and Sister Greene trust me with the health of another of my fellow servants. It is quite a responsibility.

Anyhow, I think that is about all that is happining here. I do want to thank Bethany for the cute picture of our little Ethan. Anyone who feels the urge to follow her example and send pictures would be welcome. I have been feeling a bit cut off from the world because I wasn´t sure how long I´d be here in São João and I´m a little farther away from the office so I don´t get my mail from the mission office as often as I did in Matosinhos. Anyway, that picture was just what I needed to feel part of the world again.

Also, I´m so glad that everywhere in the world my family is helping to make it a better place. Thanks for your example Aaron in helping the people affected from the hurricane. It´s a good feeling to help brighten someone´s life.

So, the Book of Mormon is great. We gave a couple of lessons this week in enjoying the Book of Mormon. It really feels like it was written for me in my life from day to day. When ever I start feeling overdramatic I like to read the dramatic words of Jacob and Lehi as they are about to "lay down in the cold and silent grave from whence no traveller can return" and I have to laugh at myself. It´s the best literature I have ever read. It makes you laugh, makes you cry, and changes your life for the better. I can´t think of any book I´d rather read every day for the rest of my life. For a taste of it´s literary power read Mosiah 25:7-10. Try and tell me that these aren´t truly the words of God and I´ll bear my testimony of the happiness and consolation that I´ve found on a daily basis that helps me continue to do my best. I know that the Book of Mormon is a true book of scripture. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and I´m where the Lord wants me to be, as much as the advesary would like to dissuade me, and maybe especially because of it.

Love you all! Next week I´ll let you know where I´ll be for the next 6 weeks, unless something unpresedented happens, which isn´t unpresedented. Stay tuned to the drama of.....Portugal--a mission-- impossible??? Never!

ellen

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