CRAZY WEEK

Sister Warner and Sister Bos

1. It’s like really hot and sunny here right now. it’s awesome! i feel like it’s already summer! 

2. On tuesday, i had one of the most jam packed, crazy days of my mission. (not with as many miracles as nick seems to be having, but still radical!) First, we went over to look for a lady’s house, and as we were asking ppl where she lived, a gypsy woman heard that we were lost and just appeared in the apartment building. I was like, Um do you live here Senhora? DO you know where Rosa lives? and she was like, No i don’t. Then she knocks the door right next to us and a man opens the door and the gypsy lady pointed at us and then just leaves....it was super weird. We never found Rosa. the man tried to help but it was unsuccessful. 

3. then like 10 minutes later we decide to pass by an inactive member who has a druggie son who lives with her. Oh and he is schitzophrenic (spell check..)....yeah. He opens his door all high and right away starts telling us about how he wants to get baptized etc. But that he doesnt have the forças he needs to throw out all the drugs etc...so sister Hayes was like, Well we can pray for you to have help...and then BOOM! He is kneeling down on the doormat right there in the entrance. I think we had our eyes open the whole time to make sure that he didn’t do anything too sketchy! I was wondering if i was supposed to kneel down or what lol. So right after we say Amem, he like jumps up and runs inside to grab a drawer full of what looks like crack and cigarettes etc. He brings it out and we are like...maybe you will want a bag for those? so he puts them in a bag, then we all go outside to the dumpster. He pulls out one of his earrings for me, and the other for sister H...and just hands them to us. Then he slam dunks the drug bag in the trash and hits his chest. We all high fived. 

After that we went in and had a lesson...the whole time he was staring at me and sayin creepy stuff under his breath, like Liiiinda etc. I was like, O que? (what?) and he was all quiet. It was gross. He said a crazy prayer at the end. He added on a little part after saying, Obrigado pelo amor das Sísters, amem. (Thank you for the love of sisters)

Then we left and went to a cafe where nasty men were hitting on us and i was trying really hard (ok maybe not that hard...) to not be rude. But there was some hands on hips (my hands on MY hips) and sassiness going on when they were like, well can we have your contact info? um no. you can’t.  

Then we were late for our bus and i thought we were gonna miss it so we started to sprint and i saw that our bus had stopped, but that the front door where we get on was closed! so instead of really looking around, i ran and jumped into the side door right as it was closing, leaving sister Hayes on the sidewalk...(talk about a mini panic attack! we came up with a game plan for if the bus had really left us, lol) then the driver says, Um, you can’t do that. and then he opened the door again. lol. I got off...then it rolled forward one foot and opened the door and all of us got on. Talk about HILARIOUS! I was laughing so hard. 

4. We have an old lady named Lucilia (who came to church once with us) who just talks and talks! She gave the closing prayer in our first lesson with her last week and was like "OH GOD...blah blah..." and just was like screaming at Heavenly Father and crying...with her eyes open staring at the ceiling. that was interesting. But what was even more interesting was yesterday when she told us that as kids, she and her friend would open caskets in the cemetary. i was like sitting there with my mouth hanging open and sister hayes was trying not to bust up laughing, she wasnt very successful. I will admit, most of my funny reactions to what ppl say are to get her to laugh. lol.

5. We were dropped by about 13 ppl this week. So we are at 0's again. Including that couple that we were super pumped about. 

PICTURE PERFECT

SO this week Madison was sick, which makes things extra difficult....and the area they are assigned to is HUGE according to her. And dogs chase them a lot.

She's still got the photographer talent!

Madison told us of a great moment....

"Yesterday we were walking in our area and i was so tired (I've been sick) and i wanted to sit. so i picked some benches that look out at a field that was really pretty, that had two sheep eating etc. then after about 5 min, we realized there was a man sitting out there, so i was like, LET´S GO! so we headed over looking for his road that led to his pasture/old broken down shed. I saw him sitting there, over the gate and so i said, Hey, Boa Tarde! Posso ver suas ovelhas? (and i see your sheep?) and he lets us in. He was old, and looked sad. We started talking to him once we had seen the sheep and he told us his name is Joaquim and that he is a widower. We testified about the plan of salvation, telling him he could see his wife again. After that, we gave him the panfelto and he just stood there reading it. It was such a picture perfect moment, seeing this old sad man reading about the Lords plan for us, with his sheep frolicking behind him....everything soo green. It was awesome. He said he felt really happy after our prayer we had. I love being a missionary."

TRANSFER TO PORTO

Madi is now in Porto, up North on the coast. 

Her new address:

sister warner

Rua Aires de Omelas 

Nº7 2º Andar

4000-28 Antes 

Porto, Portugal

Madison had to travel to her new area all alone, which was strange for her but nice because she slept and wrote in her journal. She said, "It’s weird in those little moments that are somewhat like normal life!".

Some creepy man who was following her so they moved her out far away from him. She is too irresistible I tell her! She is there with Sister Hayes. She came with her to the mission, 11 months ago! 

There are so many chances we have all the time to find and serve and love and learn.

KIDS CAN BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE~

This is so dang cute, isn't it? I love seeing her little face scrunched up like that. I am sure she is cozy as a bug in a rug. I was thinking about a story Madison told in her email this week and about children and how great they are! She said that some boys were taunting she and her companion a little, in a friendly way. They followed her for awhile all secret like. So she decided to hide and jump out and scare them...it worked! They got really scared and surprised. I can just see her face all Avatar-like, claws up and growling. She always did that to people when she had the chance to scare here. Kids bring so much laughter and joy in life don't they!?

Picture of a friend with her baby.

This week was her favorite time in the mission so far because she got to travel back to Baixa/Barreiro for the baptism of Carla & Renato´s family and also, one of the young men sister bos and she found and taught (and his baptism that was marked for Dec 14 fell thru) was also baptized! Along with 2 other ppl from another ward. So all in all, 5 ppl that she taught were baptized, there were 7 baptisms, and 16 missionaries present! So, you can see why this was very special. The mission President and his wife even came. It seems like it was a great day. In her own words,

"It was SOOOOOOOO amazing! Such a HUGE miracle to see the fruits of my labors AFTER having been transferred. Yesterday was an answer of MONTHS of working, praying, fasting and hoping! I am SO blessed to have had an experience like this one! Sometimes as missionaries, we really wonder if the sacrificing that we are doing is worth it. I wonder to myself: am i really doing well? is all this walking and rejection and these crushed hopes worth it? will these ppl ever really GET IT? and the list of thoughts goes on and on, and then BOOM! A huge tree of success has grown where a whiny missionary planeted a seed of faith. Its incredible! The Lord is really working miracles here in Portugal. I’m so grateful that i was able to go, and to see these people who i love and over whom i belabored, sendo batizados. WOW! " 

Baixia Reunion and Baptism

TiME FoR a CaTChing SoMe SiGhtS

Sis Warner and Wach

 
Sometimes when I look at the photos of Madison, I fear that she will not return home from PORTUGAL because she seems so comfortable and happy in all her pictures! But I then remember that she loves and misses in-n-out burger so I know she will come back to the good ole USA! LOL!

I am glad that she and her companion had the chance to do a little sight seeing this Prep day. I think she is finally in an area closer to the sights so it is possible to travel to some of the popular tourist spots.

Sis Warner and the Cristo o Rei

Leaving friends and those you have come to love is difficult. I know Sis Warner will miss all these great people and charish the memories she has of them. I hope she can have the great support she did in her previous area in this new one... 

LIFE is GREAT, WET but great!

Rain Rain go Away! So it is wet in PORTUGAL this time of year. At least Madison thinks so. She said they got drenched in a downpour the other week. She had to wring out her scarf and dry her shoes out for a few days.

The gospel is spreading through her efforts and many other missionaries plugging along day after day, rejection after rejection. But that one investigator who is interested makes it worth it. Much of missionary work is planting a SEED. We all know it can take time for that seed to grow, and it may never take root, but when we help plant it we are doing our part. 

Sister Warner and Bos with investigator family 2014

Madison may be transferred to a new area this coming transfer (Jan. 19th) She has been working with a family and is hoping to be there for their baptism day. I told her to send the rain here, we need it!

Tune in for news next week when I find time to blog about new stuff happening in Portugal!