Training again!!! (Eeeeek!)

Congratulations Gina and Nephi on the new expectation! (Although I think I may have forgotten to say happy birthday on your respective days, I assure you that I did have a moment or two on those eventful days where I did remember and say happy birthday...and Happy Birthday still)

Glad the work is going well for you Samuel! A missão está a fugir de nós! Porta-te bem!

So, my new companion fresh from the states is Irmã Sarah Joy Karren (funny that my other trainee was named Sarah as well...) She is from Vernal (the poor little thing is subject to all sorts of Vernal jokes) Her parents names are Mike and Joyce. She is the 3rd of 5. She has a brother who served in Chezch and a sister that served in Switzerland and her little brother just got his call to serve in the Ukraine. She is a great sister and I'm really excited for this new opportunity, although it always is a bit- or much more than a bit- scary. The responsibility is heavy, and eternal (as we were reminded this morning by President Henry). I really like her. I think we'll get along very well.

Oh, and Sister Tanner and I had an amazing last week. We worked our hearts out and it was exhausting, but exhilerating to finish out her mission with her. She fought the good fight, she's a great example for me and she helped me a lot.

Love all of you and pray that you're doing well.

ellen

Princess Elena

So this week we had a great preparation day adventure. We went to Guimarães and toured the Castle and the Palace of the Dukes and a couple of other touristy sites. I thought about my darling princes and princesses. The castle really wouldn't be that fun to live in because it is so dark and really the rooms are quite small. The Palace on the other hand was beautiful! It really looks like all the storybooks. It was crazy to be in a place that was built before America was discovered. They first constructed the Palace in 1420 or something like that. It is also cool because they still use the palace to hold events. The president of Portugal has some special rooms in the top and they have special state meetings in the upper rooms and the grand banquet hall. We really felt like princesses. It was neat.

Other things, I am just having such a good time. We are working like crazy, and the work is progressing. We are working a lot with the Young Women...Oh, which reminds me...If you could send me any ideas of activities that really were great as young womens (service, games, anything) Our young woman really need a lot of support and growing up. they are a bit spoiled in this ward. We are planning on doing a type of highway clean-up with them. They won't know until they are there on the side of the road with a bag....Really, any ideas you could send would be great. (I will then send them to you also Bethany)

Thanks Martha for your ideas on the piano lessons. Oh, Samuel, eu tenho um discurso tão bom para ti! Um amigo meu me mandou então vou mandar para lá também. É sobre como trabalhar mais com os membros e receber referências deles. É muito poderoso mesmo. Mandarei esta semana se eu tiver tempo.

This week has been really great also. We have been working really hard and therefore can have the Spirit with us. The Spirit is a wonderful teacher and the feeling of working is exhilerating. I am just happy, really and truly and thouroughly. I'm finally figuring out a little bit what I'm doing, as we exercise our faith miracles just happen.

Love you all! Kisses to all my fellow princesses! (and handsome princes)

ellen

Time! Stop running away!

Darling Family,
Well, this week really flew by in a hurry, we were just writing e-mail yesterday and all of a sudden it is preparation day again. Just not fair the speed things fly...

Glad to hear you're enjoying the nursery Mom, it's fun to be able to teach on a fresh slate so to speak. It seems like Mom and Dad have really moved into retirement: no job, a great calling, and Dad's got all sorts of toys to play with. All you need now is to finish up all of those projects, houses, ect. so you can go on a mission. Is that still the plan?

Sounds like you'll have a lot of fun Samuel, training a native will be great, even if his Portuguese is even more different than yours, just think of the great accent you'll have (e eu terei que gozar contigo, infelizmente!!) . It's also awesome that you and Elder Costa got along so well, you will have that friendship your whole life I'm sure. Sister Tanner and I are having a lot of fun and doing a lot of work here in Braga. She only has two more weeks and so we are pushing to work our hardest until the end. She's a great missionary!

oh, Martha, I have a question for you...we are teaching a couple of the kids the basics of piano and I was just wondering how Keturah's teacher did the group lessons. If you could give me some ideas it would be great. The first couple of lessons we have to teach them individually where the keys are and everything, but here soon we'd like to start giving them together.

Well, we had a couple days of rain here, it was a nice break. We here in Braga very often feel like chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Braga is surrounded by hills and so all of the heat stays inside, I hear that the winter gets really cold too, so I should enjoy it while I can. Luckily we have a good cold shower. Since we got here our gas water heater has yet to function properly (or function at all) We are really grateful that it's hot so cold showers are a blessing and we have still a little bit of time to get the pilot light fixed before the winter cold hits with a snap. Really I do love this area. This is the city of Padres and there are cathedrals and seminaries all over the place. A few of the bishops and great names there in the Vatican were taught here in Braga, and still have family and friends here. It's like living in a time capsule in some ways. I absolutely love the people here in Portugal, they are the greatest!!

Oh, there is this great woman in the ward here. She is 78 years old and full of spit fire and vinager. She lived in Angola since she was 3 until 50 or something. She is white, but marched with the black guerilla against Portugal. She showed us some of her pistols and trappings. She is in the middle of writing a book about her life. It will be a book worth reading. She really is hillariously funny, and also a bit scary at times. One halloween they had a costume party at the chapel and she went dressed in her guerrilla garb, ALL of it: the razor-sharp machetti and bow knife, and 4 fully loaded pistols along with two full ammunition belts, with the live ammuntion. I think the bishop just about died! Our dear, sweet, lethal Avó Manuela...

Mom, a tip that might save you a bit of time, before trying to reconnect to the internet you should highlight all of the text you have written and then press (ctrl + c) to copy and then after reconnecting you can push(ctrl + v) to paste. Another way to write e-mails without losing everything is to write it in a word document and copy and paste in the same way. It means that you're connected for a lot less time, and you don't lose all of your work. Anyway, it's something to try.

Sure do love all of you. Portem-se bem, especialmente aqueles que estão treinando!! The scriptures are true and full of great inspiring truths. I love this work and the opportities that I have been granted. Love you!

ellen

new beginnings

Oí Família,
This week has been great. Transfers were yesterday and I was made a district leader and a trainer again. I am still in the same area as I was and my companion Elder Costa was transferred but was made a district leader as well. I am very excited for him. He and I became great friends and we tried to help each other. My new companion is Elder Salviano who is from Brasilia, the capital of Brasil. He is outstanding and I believe that what Elder Packer said about the greatest group of missionaries is true. He is much more prepared than I was I think and he has great desire to serve with his all. It will be a great experience, of that I am sure. It is great to be a trainer because you have to start with the basics again. I think that it is very important to every once in a while return to what is simple and basic and you learn so much.
These days, the weather is becoming very hot. It was so great the past several months because it wasn´t very hot but not very cold either. It stayed just right, but now it is really changing. I think it will be a very hot summer.
We are teaching an outstanding person Tania who is overcoming drinking coffee and is making good progress. She was planned to be baptized this week but we plan to have her baptism next week. Sometimes we just need to have patience and have people prepared. Her life is moving and all that thanks to the healing power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is the master healer.
I love you all and know that the Lord is blessing you.

Love,
Elder Thompson

another note from your favorite missionária

So, good week...good stuff going on. We found an interesting quote by Joseph Smith to one of Samuel's anscestors. He said "relax or you'll die" Ainda bem que não há osso sério no meu corpo. Bem, eu posso estar séria quando estamos a ter uma lição e naquele momento dentro da lição que precisa, mas o resto de lição e o resto de tempo estou a brincar porque é muito mais agradável, sabes...Realmente um dos assuntos da reunião de distrito desta semana foi para ser à vontade, para ser pessoas normais, ser nos mesmos, e desfrutar dessa grande oportunidade que fomos concedidos. As pessoas são muito mais receptivas de alguém que brincae está a gostar do que faz. Sim, precisamos "spiritual giants", mas pensa nos teus professores do evangelho preferidos. Foram aqueles que brincavam até aquele momento para prestar testemunho e depois sabias que o que estavam a dizer era verdade e que fez-lhes feliz a seria. Mas, foi um bom reunião. Eu gosto de brincar...

So, I will be coming home in November Mom, and here soon you'll probably get the paperwork, etc. My release date is Nov 24, Thanksgiving day, at least sometime around then. You will probably know more about when I'll be getting where and what I'll be doing then, but that's how it should be and I don't really want to know about it. It's much more fun to work my heart out here and think about that next step when it comes.

So...the good stuff that's going on here: We are teaching some great people and really enjoying being here together. We both like to joke quite a bit and our witty humor keeps us thinking about things other than all the water that our body possesses dripping down our noses. One thing for sure, I have got some pretty legs! whoooooweee! We also are just constantly amazed by the tender mercies and little miracles that happen daily. For example, the other day we were in Viana do Castelo, a city we don't know hardly at all. We were going to have to walk up a million stairs (really 2 km of stairs) to get to the top of this hill and they are building a lift to get there, but unfortunately it wasn't yet functioning. We saw some signs to direct us to the store accompanying the lift and they were closed, however we encountered the store of a memeber that we had been trying also to find, and it just so happened that she was on her way to portuguese lessons (she's from Norway and also speaks english, but no portuguese) She had to leave anyway and so took us up to the top on her way. it was so cool, because we only had about an hour to get to the top, do what we needed to do and then come back down. If we hadn't "by chance" happened on her store we would not have had the opportunity. just one example of a million little ways that the Lord is able to bless us so that we can accomplish what we need to..(is 1 Nephi 3:7 coming to mind, because it should)

Yep, and stuff....Thanks for all your notes and I'm sure Dad will win his battle of the Wasps. Fires and carbonator fluid sound like a lot of fun! I'm glad to hear about Cedaredge's new nursery leader. That's one of the best callings! I was always really excited to be able to help teach music in nursery when I was in primary. They are just so darn cute. Speaking of children, congratulate John Pyle for me, he'll be a good dad, he's a good apple. So, that's about it. Martha, good luck keeping your eye on your girl, and glad to know that the little spudster thinks he's cool, don't know where he would have picked up that characteristic(wink).

Love you all! The work goes on and miracles never cease!

ellen

Fw: Wasps

Well, I just spend 30 minutes writing an email and it disappeared when I tries to get back on line. So I'll give you the shortened version.
The first paragraph was about wasps. They know that fall is coming and they are building nests everywhere--truck door, scaffolding, sheds, etc. Dad has let them alone until they stung him. Now it is war and he will probably win with the carbinator fluid that he sprays them with or he burns their nest.
Dad is also spraying goatheads. He can't believe that everyday he finds more. But he sure laughs when he sees that they had died. I hope he wins that one!
I was sustained and set apart as Nursery Leader on Sunday. So now it is official. I found out that Sis.Marilyn Bates has been using the old nusery manual that I used 20 years ago and not the Primary I manual. So I will be changing that. I hope I have enought energy to do it like I would like.
John Pyle was sealed to Chelsea Lyons, of Kansas City, on Friday, August 4th in the Denver Temple. They met in their student ward at BYU. She's graduated and will continue to work while he finishes up in Comupter Science.
They had a reception at the Pyle home Saturday--outside and it didn't rain. Next week they have one in KS.
I appreciate the good work of our missionaries! It is wonderful to spread the "good news" to those who are seeking.

Love, mom

Our happy family

Hello guys,

We've had a couple of fun weeks. On Sunday, July 16th
all of Blair's family was over at his parents house
(except Reed & family) to plan our camping trip to the
Uintahs over the 24th of July weekend. All of us
adults were inside planning and the kids were in the
front yard playing. At 8:30 we went out to load up in
the cars, and we couldn't find Marah anywhere. I
guess she had been playing with a little girl in the
neighborhood (a girl who is always wandering) and I
guess the two of them had gone for a little walk, down
the street over to Main Street and some lady had seen
them trying to cross main street and called the
police. We were looking everywhere to try to find
them. Finally it was getting dark and there was no
sign of them anywhere so we called the police and they
had them over at the police station. We we got their
to pick up Marah, she just ran up to us all full of
smiles and it was like nothing had happened. I don't
think she comprehended what happened. Now I make sure
I watch her extra good and don't let her out of my
eyesight, which is pretty hard because she is so quite
and it very good at getting out the house and always
wants to be going somewhere. Denice calls her our
juvenile delinquent.

Well our camping trip was a resounding success -
everyone enjoyed spending time together and it was
good to get out of the 100 plus degree temperatures to
high 80's. The hit of the trip was cliff jumping at
Wall Lake. It was just like swimming in our pond.
The cliff was about 25 feet and it was a lot of fun.
We just put lifejackets on the kids and they jumped
off the side into the water. Keturah got a fish hook
stuck in the top of her 1st 2 toes when she was trying
to skip rocks on Trial Lake and Blair had to push the
barb through her skin so he could cut it off and
Alaina got some big scraps on her stomach and arms
from a bike wreck and we got eatten alive by
mosquitoes - we can to go by the expensive mosquito
spray that was almost 100% deet - but other than that
it was great.

Charles is crazy man now. He likes to make his hands
in fists and tighten up all his muscles, clench his
non-existent teeth and make his face all red. He is
alos very vocal now and has an ear-piercing scream.
He screams and then laughs because he thinks he sounds
cool. He is very much into noise and loves banging on
things - he pulls the pans out the cubboard to bang on
them or the metal chairs at church so everyone turns
around and gives disapproving looks and he loves to
drop things off his highchair to hear them hit the
ground. He does have his 1st tooth - Nicole
discovered it up at camping. It's on the top so we
didn't even know he had it. He can also stand by
himself for a 1/2 a minute to a minute.

Blair is liking his new job. He's doing a lot of
programing to get a web-based server going. It's just
nice not having to do carpet all the time.

We will get our new windows put in our house this next
week so that will be exciting. We got a nice rain
storm on Tuesday that was quite a downpour - nothing
like the flood that went behind Mom & Dad's place but
a blessing no-the-less and it helped to bring the
temperatures down. We've been able to open the
windows at night again and actually be able to go
outside in the middle of the day w/o sweating.

It's exciting to hear about your house Aaron. Wish
Naomi luck w/ school starting on the 14th.

Love Martha

Flood?

We brought muggy California home with us. On Sunday night about 9:00 we heard the rain and lots of noise. When we looked out, we saw water--Lots of water going down the draw behind the house. When I say lots of water I mean 2 foot deep and 100 feet wide. It was a local cloud burst. We were glad that we lived on the top of the hill!

They tell us that it rained everyday that we were gone and it hasn't missed a day since we've been back. Most people can't remember it doing this ever before. The goat heads have sprung up over night looking better than they have ever looked. So that means that we have to get to work so they don't take over the farm.

Dad is reading in Alma chapter 4:19 where Alma the younger has given up the chief judgeship and is going out to bear down with pure testimony. He looked up in the topical guide and was quite interested in the references about testimony. It would be quite the thing if as members of the Church or even members of our family "flooded" our friends and neighbors with our testimony of the Book of Mormon. In the topical guide under Book of Mormon there are some great references. Dad and I are now studying chapter 5 in Preach My Gospel on The Book of Mormon. Let me know what you are doing. We love you all. We had a great time in California and are looking forward to a trip to Georgia in December.
Love,
Mom

Yep

Another great week here in the beautiful country of Portugal! We went to girls camp last Friday, oh and then yesterday we walked to an investigators house that just happened to be farther out of town than the camp site. It was pretty funny. Anyway, the camp was really good for the girls. They weren´t really roughing it very much and they only camped for two nights, but at least they were in tents and were together. This is the very first year they have done a girls camp in this stake and they still don't have much clue what it's all about, but we did teach them how to make a fire. They did roast marshmallows. They did learn camp songs and prepared a camp skit. They learned how to get along a little bit better with one another and with their leaders, and they all loved the experience so I would say it was a smashing success. The stake camp leader--stake young women's president Lynda Marinho lived through it and showed us all how amazing she really is. It was great!
Other great happenings of this week included the baptism of Luís Ribeiro. He is a great man (in size and in spirit) The two zone leaders both suited up in white and on the second try he was successfully baptized by immersion. He then received the Holy Ghost on Sunday and felt the burning in his bosom that was the Spirit's way of touching him. It was a great baptisimal service and a great opportunity to be able to teach a man so humble and just good. He'll be a great leader.
We have been teaching a couple of other great families as well and really we are seeing miracles here in this area. We are having a lot of opposition, but that is how we know that we're doing the right thing. It's pretty darn cool.
In my studies I'm in 1 Nephi 1:4 where I have been for the last couple of days. I am studying the Book of Mormon again and looking up every single reference in the footnotes. It is a really great experience and I am learning a whole lot. I also am in Ezekial in the Old Testament and have really developed a love of the Bible. It is my goal to read through all of the Standard Works during this brief time I have here as a missionary. I am on track to get it all done and am learning so much that helps during the teaching. In Preach my Gospel I am really focusing a lot on the lessons in chapter 3, especially because our ward encouraged the families to encorporate a study plan that starts by studying chapter 3. It is amazing how something written so simply can contain such profound truths and so I'm studying along with them and deepening my understanding of the basics. Oh, and one great exercise in Preach my Gospel Chapter 5 is in the Mission President section in the back where it says to compare 1 Nephi 1 with the experience of Joseph Smith. It was a good couple days of companion study there. One thing I like to do in companion study (or couple study as it applies to Mom and Dad) is to practice teaching each other just like you were teaching someone who knows nothing about the gospel. It helps me to understand better what i have learned because I have to put it into words...also it helps me speak better Portuguese...
Então o meu missionário...agora é o tempo de ti...Eu realmente estou a desfrutar esta experiência. Uma coisa que a minha zona está a fazer que acho que está a me ajudar é decorar os subtitilos, os compromissos, 2-3 frasas e 2 escrituras(local e tema) de cada subtítilo. Foi uma coisa que recebemos no início da missão, mas nem todos acabaram. Estou agora na 2ª lição e faz muito bem lembrar de todas dessas coisas. Vamos acabar antes de fim de Agosto então é uma meta que faz me crescer qual sempre é bom. Um, sim isto é tudo...Amo-te e porta-te bem!!
Love you all! Thanks for all your love and packages and letters and prayers and stuff like that! (até da minha sogra, wink!)

ellen

The Work of the Lord

Oí Família,
What a great week it has been. We are teaching a lot and we are trying to do our best to teach by the spirit and invite all to come unto Christ. Everyday, we can work on one little aspect and be a little bit better each day. We were a little disappointed when Antonio decided to stop investigating but we know that he has his choice and that the Lord will prepare a little bit more before he gets baptized. We keep right on working because this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no other way to get to heaven, only through Jesus Christ and living his gospel. I love the work that I am doing and I can see that sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. We have to focus on our purpose and prioritize, leaving the things that don´t really matter to the side. Everything that we do needs is done for a purpose and we need to learn something from it or we are just using our time. I am learning that-as a perfectionist I want everything just so so and sometimes it really doesn´t matter. It is so great to be on a mission. I love my companion, he teaches me everyday how to work, be patient, speak the language, love the people, etc... I thank the Lord for that. Well, I hope all continues well in your lives. Enjoy the summer and I will enjoy the cold weather that we are having here. I love you all,

Elder Thompson