Sep 7, 2015

Família!

 Mafra is definitely a completely diferent experience from Olhão that is for sure! haha But I love it and this week has been a good one.

I can't explain Mafra very well still because we spent the majority of our days this week traveling....crazy. I have spend way to much time on the bus and metro this week. #jáchega 

You would think that sitting on a bus might be nice for a change-a bit of a break so to speak, but I have never been so tired in my life! I can't figure it out. 

Mafra is in the middle of nowhere. I love it, but like I said Mafra is so  different! We have a huge convent in Mafra that is absolutely incredible and overall everything is charming ....  One thing that is different from Olhão is that Mafra has mostly houses! So we spend MUITO tempo knocking doors. Yesterday we were knocking doors in the afternoon and found some really cool people that we are excited to visit in the coming weeks! Knocking doors is quite the experience haha you never know what to expect or what is going to happen! 

I had to do residency in Lisboa this week, so just a few days after transfers I returned to Lisboa and got to see Sister Andrade again because she was also there with her companion. 

Not only did I have residency this week but also zone meeting and Stake conference....both of which we had to make the trip back to mem martines, so like I said I am already tired of the bus...And the bus schedule. But we find small ways to continue to do missionary work while waiting for the bus etc. This week we ran into a man who is originally from Portugal but also lived in Canada, and now goes back and forth from Portugal to the United States. We found out after talking to him that he is actually a less active member! He just loved talking to us though and I hope we somehow made an impression on him to go back to church. We also met a family from London this week! They were such a cute family we were able to help them out and do a bit of service for them as well. So it is always interesting to find out what we are going to find at the bus station.

As for other news:

We are teaching a part member family right now that is absolutely incredible! The husband Luis is a really strong member, but he has a wife and 4 daughters that aren't members. One of the daughters is 18 and SUPER intelligent. I can already see her being the most incredible missionary! They live in a town outside of Mafra, so we don't get to visit them as much as we would like, but our lesson with them this past week went really well, and we are hoping to mark them for baptism in the coming weeks.

Sister Ventura is incredible! I really wasn't worried about how we would get along, because from the few times I talked to her I could already tell that we would get along really well. We are going to get work done in Mafra! At times it feels like it is us against the world here. We are literally alone! We don't have very many strong members to help us, we don't have other missionaries to help us, but we have the Lord, so I am certain we have the strength we need to transform this area!

Amo Vocês. Tem uma boa semana! Paz e Bençãos!! 

-Sister Selk