12/31/12
OH MY GOODNESS!!!! WHAT AN AMAZING WEEK!!!!
Christmas on the mission is the BEST!!! This was a special Christmas as a missionary because I feel exceptionally close to Christ- because I am doing His work! There was no better way to pay tribute to Him and worship Him. The week started with P-day and playing basketball in the rain with my district. just doesn’t get any better than that. That night for Christmas Eve we went to the Maurinhos! The amazing English family that is my family here. We ate and talked about Christ and played! And we were allowed to stay out till 11! woah!!! party hardy. Christmas day was wonderful. We ate lunch at our good friends Jorge and Carina´s house- the traditional bacalhau com natas. mmmmm. so good. And I skyped the family!!! It was so wonderful to see you all!!! It made me soooo happy- even though I was crying, they were happy tears. It reminded me of the amazing support and love I have at home, which not everyone has. I am so grateful for you all and your love. It really made me SOOO HAPPY!!!! On Wednesday we had a zone conference with Elder Texiera!!! IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!! He trained us on how to work better with the members and we have already put some of the things into practice and it has yielded amazing results. I was filled with the spirit and a refreshed vigor and excitement and diligence for the work. I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK!!! AND!!! Elder Texiera said WE BOUGHT THE LAND FOR THE TEMPLE!!!!!! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! SOOOO exciting!!!!! The temple is coming people!!! We are working so hard to get people prepared. The temple is so incredibly important. I am so grateful that I have been so privileged and blessed to go to the temple. That is the first thing I want to do when I return home- go to the temple! Let me just give you an update on Cristina and Catarina- they are amazing. end of story. They are reading the Book of Mormon all the way through, they pray together, they come to church every week, they have burning testimonies and are lifting others up. They are so faithful! We have this investigator named Ana, one of our few progressing, and we are pretty much best friends. She is probably one of the happiest people I have ever met. She loves talking to us and loves asking questions. She came to church yesterday for the first time!!! She mentioned that everyone feels like family there. and she LOVED it!!! She told me that she doesn´t want to change from being Catholic, but she wants to keep talking to us and coming to church. Well, she will be baptized if she keeps coming- her testimony will grow and she will know. It has been a really good experience teaching her because she is a bit more challenging. It is hard for her to understand that there is one true church with the authority, that she needs to be baptized to enter the Celestial Kingdom and at one point we told her that she already knows and now she has a responsibility to follow. And I tried to see us from her point of view- from the worlds point of view and thought how what a huge and important things we are saying- that there really is just one true church, one baptism, one way. It is TRUE and we already know!!! We already know that this is the true church of Christ, we know about the Book of Mormon and we know it is true, we know where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going. WHAT AMAZING KNOWLEDGE WE HAVE!!!! What huge blessings!!!! Never take the gospel for granted. We felt to work through the Area Book to try and find some new investigators and we found four yesterday from those efforts!!! 2 play on the Sporting Braga futebal team! One is from Cabo Verde and another was a woman we just talked to on the street!!! This work is amazing. It brings so much happiness!! I am SOO grateful to be here!!! I love being a missionary. I love all my trials and challenges. I love this area. I am seriously in love with Braga. I love the members and I am so grateful for their support. I love my companion, Irmã Peterson- she has taught me so much. I love our Savior Jesus Christ. I know He lives and the Book of Mormon is true. I know that President Monson is a Prophet of God! Everyone go to the temple. :) And hand out a pass along to someone this week- if you pray and ask, Heavenly Father will put someone in your path. LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!
Irmã Tingey
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