From Braga with love

Well folks, thank you so much for your email, prayers and love. Here in Braga the church is going strong. This ward really is incredible with people fulfilling their callings and the things just functioning as they should. It is an amazing area. Sister Tanner and I also have a whole lot of freedom here, which is a little scary. We can go anywhere throughout the whole zone to help the work in many areas. We are therefore working in the whole city of Braga and also the city Guimarães (where Portugal was born--the castle there is beautiful) we also will be working with some of the other units in the north like famalicão, povoa de verzim, and/or viana do castelo. This means that we travel around quite a bit, but also that we have the great opportunity to help the work in a lot of different areas in a lot of different ways. Right now our big focus is on service, especially working with the members to help them help us. We got to do some house painting on Tuesday( good thing Sister Tanner is a professional painter-or anyway she did it for 4 years saving up money for school/mission) We have been having some really great lessons and the work here is really getting ready to explode. I feel so very fortunate to be able to serve here during this great era.

Yesterday we had a zone conference and got to know Irmã and President Henry a little bit. They are awesome!!! I am really going to like them. They are just so cool and Irmã Henry reminds me of a lot of my great (crazy) friends in Arvada. This is going to be a great 6 months! I am so excited to work my tail off in the Lord's service here in Portugal.

Samuel, não tenho palavras para exprimir o meu animo. Este trabalho tem tantas bêncãos! Uma coisa que aprendi durante uma lição é que muitas das vezes a Bíblia explica o que não devemos fazer enquanto o Livro de Mórmon diz o que devemos. A maior parte da Bíblia é dedicado ao castigo e o Livro de Mórmon é muito mais positivo. A diferênça entre a lei de moises e a lei maior. foi uma coisa fixe que eu aprendi esta semana. Eu também tenho uma outra coisa para te mandar, então vais gostar! Amo-te! Porta-te bem!

Love you all, have a great week!

ellen