Thanksgiving Feast

Happy Thanksgiving to you my beautiful family! I am so very very thankful for all the many things that I have been given. Especially for my family, my many friends, and for the gospel and its influence in my life. I have so much!

For the last couple of weeks we have been planning this great Thanksgiving feast and this week we realized our plans. It was really great. We had all the missionaries in our zone (18 in all) and each companionship had a different task. In the end we had a great amount of food and plenty of leftovers to take home. I got to make three apple pies in our little convection oven and made kits for the elders to make three pumpkin pies which turned out pretty well, their mothers would be proud. It was pretty fun and we all ate a little too much and listened to Christmas music. It´s great when a plan comes together. (reference??)

Other exciting happenings this week included an awesome zone conference on Monday. We talked about making contacts and did a practice where we all had to leave the chapel and all 18 of us had to contact someone on the street in the next 15 minutes. Normally I am a very shy person on the street (yes, yes, I know--you don´t think I could be shy) Anyway, I always have a really hard time iniciating a conversation in Portuguese, especially in the middle of the road when they don´t want to have anything to do with me. So, we had this challenge to perform and I was praying my guts out that I would have the guts to talk to someone. So, I approach the prey...a middle 30-40´s lady who looked in kind of a hurry and walking the opposite way. She glanced at me and our eyes met and then she quickly turned hers away and down, but Sister Schneiber had already done her contact and the minutes were ticking, so with a great big prayer in my heart I started talking to her and started walking alongside. She at first said she wasn´t interested, but then since we were already walking with her and keeping pace she listened a bit. It was a great contact and she was pretty interested in the end, even though she did have to go to work. We gave her our number and a pamphlet and let her go on her way. The important part of that contact, in addition to helping one more person find the happiness, peace and joy that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has to offer, was that I was able to speak and have a conversation, responding to questions and doubts with few if any pauses in a manner easy to understand--and all of this without fear of any kind. I was calm as a summer´s morning. It was a marvelous answer to my pleading. I am so thankful for the love and concern my Father in Heaven has for me. I am thankful for the atonement of Jesus Christ and for his authority and power on the earth today. I´m thankful for my beautiful family, for my amazing friends, and for the opportunity I have been given to represent the Savior on the earth to help bring souls unto happiness in His influence. I´m thankful for the great food that I just finished eating and for the opportunity to learn Portuguese. It is a beautiful language and a beautiful culture. Love you all and know that I am thankful for you and my prayers are with you.

ellen

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Excitement---always

Yes, we are always excited to have such a great brother as Aaron. He´s getting older by the minute, growing like a weed, before long he will be talking about laying his gray hairs... Happy Birthday brother!

And now for the real excitement--a story of life and death, and the sisters in São João saving the day.
I don´t think I´ll ever have just a normal week with no happenings at all. I´m destined to have a life full of novelties and things to "write home" about. So, we have an investigator of long duration who is clinically depressed. His condition has worstened since we first met him as his daughter who lived with him and cooked for him moved out to live with her mom. A member who was living in a small room is now living in his apartment, but was gone this week to the temple in Madrid along with practically every other active member (there are only two priesthood holders within a reasonable distance --30 minutes by car) Anyway, he called us yesterday sobbing uncontrollably asking for the number to the elders quorum president (one of the two who is still in town) We then called him back after our appointment (about an hour later) and he had not stopped crying and hadn´t gotten a hold of anyone. We luckily were with our amazing Aida and so we went right over as fast as her bum leg would go. When we got there we were really scared to go in. The doors to the apartment building, as well as to his apartment were open and there wasn´t a sound. We were terrified that he had done the unspeakable and were so greatful for the presence of Aida,the fearless lady nursed by a monkey. We walked solemly through the house calling his name and were unsettled even more by the picture of his family which is usually carefully displayed in a prominant place, but was overturned in disarray. We got to the back of the apartment and heard him sobbing in his bedroom. We were so releaved to not find him dead and I sang hymns for about an hour while Sister Schneiber made phone calls and Aida made soup, as he hadn´t eaten in more than two days. The elders then came over and gave him a blessing and we finally got a hold of the two priesthood holders who happened to both be at the chapel in institute class with their cell phones turned off. Anyway, he stopped crying and is doing better, I am so glad, however, that the missionaries found him months ago and continued to visit him because I´m sure that he would have died crying in his bed without our watching out for him. It´s a sad story, but sometimes that is also the role of the church, to comfort those who stand in need of comfort. We were explaining to our investigator Fátima the family of the church in all the world. A person can go anywhere in the world and find a reliable family environment simply by finding the church (this also aided by the web which has the addresses of all the chapels in the world and most of the phone numbers as well) Anyway, just another example of the true church on the earth that makes life better for those who are part, and for the world through their influence for good.

Joaquina, Rui and Miguel are still reading the Book of Mormon although they have to do it in secret so the dad doesn´t destroy the book. We talked to her the other day and her faith is amazing! She said that she will continue to hold on to what she knows is right regardless of the opposition and is constantly looking for opportunites to come to church when her husband leaves for a little while. She also said that even if she can´t go, she will make it so her children can attend. I´m so amazed by her courage and faith. This is true!!!

Anyhow, it has been a good week and we have been greatly blessed, I´m seeing more every day how much I have. Mom, thanks for the recepies and don´t worry about the filling, there will be enough. Also, for all of those people who want to send me packages (which I´m sure includes everyone reading this) either the mission address or my address here in São João da Madiera will work:

Avenida Dr. Renato Araujo
Nº 369-3º fte
3700-244 S. J. da Madeira
PORTUGAL

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Another Week in the Life

So, we had a good week, not everything went the way we had hoped, but we are still here and the work is moving forward. We have been teaching a lot with the members and it is really a joy. The one thing that comes with working with members is that they feel that they have to feed you at every opportunity. We hardly have to buy any groceries at all this week thanks to the members.

There is one little old widow who is especially dear. She is 70 some odd years old from Angola. She had 13 children 7 of which are still living. She has lived a rough life with the war in Angola, an abusive husband, and her spit-fire and vinger attitude and her poor little body showes it. She hadn´t come to church for years because of her health, but she has been coming for the last couple of months and she says that she has much more energy and less pain because of it. She really likes our visits, even when she can´t understand what we are saying because of our accents and her hearing (affected by an inoperable tumor in her brain) She had started to do divisions with us, which is helpful because she happens to know everyone, and because she loves the way she feels when she is with us. She can´t read because of an accident when she saved a child from getting hit with a car and her glasses shatterend into her eyes, but we are working on finding the Book of Mormon on CD so that she can listen on the days when her hearing is good. The spirit that that woman carries makes you happy just by being around her. In her is a simple testimony of the truthfullness of the gospel of Jesus Chirst. She likes to be around us and she likes to go to church because she feels good. She who has every excuse to lay on her bed and be catered to is out walking every day trying to help others. She is already planning opportunities to have a get together and cook for people and she always has a little treat for us when we go on visits with her. What makes it all the more endearing, she has absolutely no money because of debts her husband left and she still is always giving. She is a wonderful lady.

Thanks Deann for the notes! I did not get any pictures in either, perhaps because my mailbox was full. I have since deleted some things, so maybe it will work. This account only has a 10 MB space, so I have to be selective about the pictures I keep and I like to look at them every so often. What would also be good is to print the pictures off every once in a while and send them to me (just wallet sized on printer paper, and I can put them in my photo book) Not every internet shop has printing capabilities. Also, congrats on the great news! Things always have a way of working out for our good. Thanks also for your thoughts. I did read that article in the Ensign not to long ago, and it is always good to have a refresher.

Things are going well and I am feeling like I can speak more and more (as long as I am humble--because when I´m not it all flies right out the window) We are teaching a lot of really great families with a lot of potential. I just want to offer them the world, which is what the gospel does have to offer, but must be done in short bits and little by little they will obtain everything.

Mom, I have gotten a few letters from Janie and have been replying as soon as I get one. I am probably due again to write one. I may have time today as Sister Schneiber is feeling a bit down and will be sleeping most of today. The weather really has turned cold, even when the sun is out it is really chilly. Oh, thinking of cold and fall and all of that. We will probably have a little Thanksgiving dinner for just the missionaries in our zone. I, of course, volunteered for the pie making. However, I didn´t bring a single recepie with me. Could you therefore send me the Apple, Pumpkin, and Lemon M. (i forget how to spell), as well as the crust--I almost remember, but not quite. Thanks!

So, love you all! Hope you´re doing well and my prayers always are with you.

ellen

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Weehoo!

Howdy there missionary fans! This week has been miraculous, and fun. We had stake conference on Sunday which was attended by 4 of our investigators and we followed it up with 10 new investigators by the end of the night. Our numbers for the last week were awesome, and the results were uplifting to say the least.

The exciting event coming up this week is the baptism of Joaquina, Rui and Miguel. Saturday promises to be a great day, and full as well. In the meantime we´re inviting everyone in the world to attend, and many people have said that they would, so it should be spectacular. Sister Schneiber and I have been working on making our communication even better and it´s working, we are able to teach together better and we feel more productive. We also found a great family from Moldovia that has a lot of promise. Elvira and Andrê are well versed in the Bible and are looking for the truth. It is so exciting to find people who have been so well prepared. We had 14 new investigators this last week and they are all of the highest caliber. It´s really exciting to be a missionary in times such as these. We are also trying really hard to use the members as well so that these people have friends and a support system in the church, because that is what the church is all about: A support system to help us all know more of Christ and to learn and grow and perfect and help one another.

Another thing in the future is transfers this next Thursday. SIster Schneiber and I are really hoping that we get to stay here. This area is really opening up and we are having fruits. We are also part of a bigger movement as the branch here is mobilized. Our ward missionary leader Vasco is amazing. He is really getting things organized so that this great program (Preach My Gospel) will work. It is really exciting to see things get organized because it means that the success we´re having won´t have to stop, but can continue to grow because of the help of the members. Like Pahoran and Moroni, when we work together much more gets done and it is longer lasting change and improvement. It is really exciting to be a part of it.

Now, for the thanks....Thanks so much Mom for the package and the Halloween card. I really appreciate your support and prayers. Thanks Martha for your response. It is exactly what I needed. Thanks to all of you for your love and support. My prayers are also with you all. Keep up the missionary work where you are and I´ll do my best here. All of my love..
ellen

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