More pics from June 8

NATO! "Because I'm Black"

Jose Carlos aka Simbercules

This is Joao!  "Ta" We haven't seen him in weeks then we ran into him this week and got the perfect picture.

Batismo de Emanuel 

Isn't he the cutest?

Sister Bryner was up at 2 packing so I told her I would make fish at 2 in the morning as our last supper...this is about how it went down!  Never made a whole fish in my life - surprisingly it turned out pretty good!

Not a happy good-bye

June 8th - The Portuguese know how to Party!!

Fam. Big News. Lots of news this week! Crazy News!!! AHHH.

Ok. 

With transfers being this week Sister Bryner and I knew we needed to make the most of every moment.....just in case, and it was such a good week!

We started off the week with sushi....you know how I feel about that! If you start the week eating Sushi, it is bound to be a good week. SO GOOD! In heaven. Sister Bryner was celebrating her one year mark on the mission-Wooohoooo! Can you believe Mason will be hitting his one year next transfer...crazy!

This week I was also striving to pay more attention to the spirit in our lessons and contacts etc. since I often tend to get caught up in not understanding the language or trying to speak the language. And let me tell you, Heavenly Father answered my prayers! I had several lessons this week where I could not deny the spirit that I felt. It was such a nice change to think more about that than my Portuguese. One of these instances was while we stopped by a Less-active members house. She is SO cool, and has all the right desires, but of course she always works until 3 or 4 in the morning and struggles to get to church. I had the distinct impression that I needed to testify of the strength that would come as she made the effort to come to church. The spirit was strong and I know she felt it too, because she went from making excuses to asking us if we would come pick her up for church on Sunday morning. She came to church yesterday and even though you could tell she was tired, I know she will be blessed. We also had a very powerful testimony meeting yesterday. I felt like my heart was about to burst because I could feel the spirit so strongly in that room, and of course there was no surprise when I couldn't hold back my tears as I bore my testimony. I'm such a baby, what are they going to do with me! haha

We had a Churrasco and talent show with the Ramo this week, and let me tell you-THE PORTUGUESE KNOW HOW TO PARTY! Oh my goodness, I have never been to such a fun ward party, so all you take note:

1. Lots of awesome Portuguese Music

2. Lots of Dancing

3. Lots of Food

It was the best! Sister Bryner and I were having the time of our lives learning all the sweet dances they know! Technically I am not too sure if we are supposed to dance as missionaries.....buuuuut......there was no stopping us!

The people here are so talented too! Isabel Miranda is one of the Jovens in our Ramo and she has such an incredible voice. I want her to sing me to sleep at night. So many talented people....and then there was us. HAH. We decided to try and make up a song about the Ramo to the "cup song" and it was pretty dang horrendous, I will admit that right now, but it was fun nonetheless.

In general it was just a week of festas! After Church yesterday, Nato's son-Emanuel got baptized! He is the cutest little boy I have ever seen and I just want to steal him! haha The whole Ramo was practically at the baptism and it was just an amazing afternoon. 

Another story from the week: Sleep has become a struggle again because it is SO DANG HOT! I wish I had a picture to describe the desperation Sister Bryner and I feel as we are sprawled out on our beds each night trying to find some relief! hahah Ok, that is a little bit dramatic, but not too far off. And if it isn't the heat its dogs barking at 4 in the morning. We had that happen this week and we were trying to come up with plans on our balchony at 4:00 to try and get our neighbor's dog to shut up. If you can imagine, it was way to early to think of anything logical. I will leave it at that. Since then I have decided that no one in Portugal should own a dog. As Elder Crossman said: "they have trained them so well to do their business on the sidewalk and bark all night." Stellar. I love it.

But anyways! BIG NEWS OF THE WEEK!

After waiting and waiting and waiting, we finally got our transfer calls last night at 11! 11 at night fam! So Late! Sister Bryner and I thought for sure we would be good, since they weren't calling us, but our worst nightmare happened.....SISTER BRYNER LEFT ME! I cannot even tell you how sad we were. I was so depressed. I Love that Sister SO much. And......I am getting a native companion. Yup. Gonna die. haha Just kidding. I know the Lord knows me and knows what is best for me! Sister Andrade...I don't even know how to spell her name because I haven't met her, but she is from Cape Verde and will be my companion for the next six weeks in Olhao! I am staying in Olhao! And will be in the Lisbon mission!

So that is my big news for the week. Crazy. Wish me luck fam, because my Portuguese is awful, but I can tell you that I am STOKED to improve my Portuguese with this new companion. It is going to be so good!

Love you all. Hope all is well. You guys are the best! PRAY FOR ME! haha

Tchau! Ate Logo! Beijinhos!

-Sister Selk

nossa amigo na rua. Amamos Ele! AHHH

Sushi - need I say more than that?

CHURRASCO

Rosaria - loving life and dancing with
her meat!

Rosalia, my Portuguese Grandmother....BAPTIZED!!!!

Before I tell you about my crazy crazy awesomely busy week, I wanted to send out a request for favorite talks! If you could send me some of your favorite talks for ensigns or conferences or whatever else, I would love that! Thanks.

Yes, this week was insane! so crazy! But I feel like I say that every week #missionarylyfe

Last P-day was even crazy! We drove to Lagos with the Crossman's which is like an hour car ride, because Sister Bryner has some family friends who actually life there, so we got to visit them and see their home and Lagos and everything was seriously just like a picture....beautiful! 

Funny story, that night after we were walking home for the night, we decided to contact one more man in the street. We hadn't had too many successful contacts that night, so we weren't expecting much, but we talked to him anyways and he ended up being super nice! We gave him a card with our number and got his information, and then he was like, "You give me a card, I give you a fish!" He had this huge fish in his bag and whipped it out and handed it to us! It was the strangest thing! haha
Portuguese people.....I just love them so much!

We had divisions this week. Sister Bryner went to Faro and Sister Cullimore joined me here in Olhao. It was super strange not being with Sister Bryner and taking control of our area for the day. It was a good experience, but it definitely made me hate the fact that transfers are in a week-I refuse to be transferred from Sister Bryner and this area. It is not going to happen.

Saturday was when the chaos really started to occur. We decided to try and set up a display with the Crossman's and the Elders on a busy street that morning....our display wasn't super successful, so it mainly just turned into a mad contacting rage! We contacted SO many people that morning. It was insane! Usually we are studying during that time, but they have a huge market Saturday morning, so we thought it would be a good time to contact while everyone is out-and there were definitely people out! So good! We were also busy on Saturday running around to members houses giving them invites to a fireside we did yesterday and also trying to get everything figured out for ROSALIA´S BAPTISM! It was a bit stressful, but in the end, everything worked out and on Sunday afternoon Rosalia was baptized into the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! AHHHHHH! Fam, it was so special! I can't even explain how happy I was as she walked down into the font and was baptized. She is just the funniest old Portuguese woman and I love her dearly. It is weird how much she reminds me of Grandma Fay. That was the only thing I could think of during her baptism, and my heart was about to burst! 

After her baptism we had to race back to Olhao to do a fireside for the Branch on missionary work. I think for the most part it went really well! I say for the most part because we had spent Saturday night making a bolo for the fireside and when we went to bring it to the fireside....it was moving...literally. It was just infested with ants! We weren't quite sure whether we should laugh or whether we should cry haha. In the end we busted out our huge can of raid and just blasted the cake with raid.....so good.

We ended the night eating dinner with the Crossman's, Nato, and Claudia and it turned into quite the party! Oh my gosh, I just love it here! I am so blessed!

Well fam, you guys are the best! Thanks for everything. Have a good week! Next week will determine what mission I am in, but I am 99% sure I will be in the Lisbon mission, so that is exciting! Amo Vocês! Fica Bem!

-Sister Selk

Lagos

Isn't she the cutest?!

It's always a party with the Crossman's

I was not kidding when I said the man literally handed us a fish!

Divisions with Sister Cullimore

I can't even tell you how much we love Sis. Crossman...she is so funny!

Guess who is practicing the piano?.....Mom I knew you would love this way too much!

I thought you might like a look at some of the food here.....

Soup with Octopus and cuddle fish

Clams...so simple..so good!

Sooooo many pastries!

Comida de Mais! Week 16

This week went by so fast! Oh my goodness, Sister Bryner and I were flying this week! As Irmão Belchior would say, "These missionaries on fire!" It was such a good week with many many miracles.

We had a lesson with a new investigator-Sandrine in the beginning of the week. We didnt know it at the time, but she was a miracle contact. We were walking down the street and we walked past her and then decided to turn around and talk to her. She had recently had a brother who had passed away, so we shared with her the Plan of Salvation and bore our testimonies. We found out during that time that she was good friends with someone in the ward and said she would call her and set up a time for all of us to meet together. I am not going to lie, I wasn't very hopeful that she would call us because when people say they will call us....they usually don't. This was about 2 weeks ago, so we had kind of forgotten about her, but then on Monday we got a call from her and soon enough we were in her home having a lesson. The member who came with us told us that Sandrine had been feeling like she needed something from God, and then right at that moment, we stopped and contacted her! So cool! She is an amazing lady and has such a cute family, so we are excited to teach her some more.

We have spent almost everyday eating lunch and teaching Nuno's mom- Rosalia. Oh my goodness fam, they have fed us so much food! Everyday they ask us to come for lunch, and let me tell you, lunch here is not just a peanut butter sandwich. I am going to get fat! But the good results from all of this is that Rosalia is marked for baptism next week! Woooooo! She is definitely my Portuguese Grandmother. She is adorable, she would talk for days if you would let her, and even though I understand about 0.5% of what she says, I love spending every minute with her and Nuno.

We had a solid lesson with Harman this week about Dia do Senhor. He works everyday and only has 2 hours off each day, which he chooses to spend with us. He is so elect and would've been baptized already if it weren't for his ridiculous work schedule and inability to come to church. He has such a strong testimony, and church is the only thing holding him back from being baptized, so we told him we would fast for him and testified of the miracles that would come if he came to church. 

There was no surprise when Sunday came around and miracles happened again! We called Harman to see if he had asked his boss and he told us, "If my boss is here I will ask him, and if he isn't, I will close the restaurant and come anyways." An hour later he walked in the church! Ahhhhhh! I can't even explain how happy I was to see him there! He doesn´t speak fluent Portuguese and said he didn´t really understand anything that was said, but he was able to feel of the spirit and it was such a blessing. Miracles have not ceased to exist. I know without a doubt that miracles happen every day. God is here. He certainly does hear and answer prayers.

Rosalia also came to church-which was another miracle because we went to go pick her up and she said she wasn't feeling good. Sister Bryner and I didn't know what to do, all we knew was that she needed to come to church so she could be baptized next week. We just kept talking to her and all of a sudden she changed her mind and was so excited to come! I don't exactly know what changed her mind, it could have been that we told her we would be speaking (which we found out an hour before sacrament-roughest thing of my life! So bad) but if the Lord needs me to speak horrendously in sacrament meeting to convince our investigators to come to church then so be it! 

I can honestly say I am so blessed to be a missionary. It is not easy, but the miracles and changes you experience are worth everything. So amazing. I challenge you all to look for the miracles in your life. I know they are there. They may not be big, but they are there. I know as you start looking for the miracles, you will find them and realize just how merciful and loving God is. I love you guys! Thanks for all you do for me, I truly have the most amazing support. Fica Bem! Amo Vocês! 

-Sister Selk

A flashback pic from the Payson Temple open house

Nuno!!!

Walking to church with Rosalia is just one small precious moment that I will never take for granted.

My determination to get this family sealed in the temple is just SO STRONG!

Aren't we just the cutest - haha!!!

May 18th

Ola familia!!!

Wow this has been such a crazy day! We traveled to Albufeira today for our district p-day so I have about zero time to write!

This week was another good one. We are trying to get Olhao going again because the work has come to a bit of a halt here. We spent quite a bit of time this week just going through our area book and trying to organize things and get in contact with lost contacts etc. And it has been a slow process, but we have seen blessing starting to occur! Just a day after we went through our area book we were out contacting and ran into 2 different people that we had specifically looked at in the area book to contact again. It was a miracle! They both seem like they have great potential, so I am extremely excited to see where that goes this week.

We marked Beto for baptism this week, but he needs to humble himself quite a bit before that will happen.

We also had interviews with President Fluckiger this weekend. I learned so much talking with him and Sister Fluckiger. They are just incredible! So awesome!

Sunday was pretty exciting as well because we had district conference! It was like stake conference for all of the Algarve area. President and Sister Fluckiger spoke at it as well as some other speakers. I learned a lot from it which I wasn't expecting! Haha I don't know if I was just making it up in my head what they were saying or if I was actually comprehending little bits and pieces of what they were saying. Either way the spirit spoke to me, so I was grateful for that!

It is getting HOT here in the Algarve. We are only and hour boat ride from Africa and I am definitely feeling the heat! Oh my Lanta, I think I might die this summer, so I will need your prayers fam! Haha

I hope you are all doing well back home. This week held some more shocking news for all of us, but I hope you know that you are always in my prayers and I hope that this sad time can all bring us closer as a family and to the Lord. I love you all so much. You guys mean the world to me and I am so grateful to feel your support each and every day as I do the work of the Lord.

Beijinhos. Amos Voces.

-Sister Selk

From last P-day - I was determined to catch a crab

Probably one of my favorite pictures to date - haha, so accurate

Umm....Paradise??

paz e bencoes!

Ta!

Minha Familia!

This week was probably one of the longest weeks of my life! Lots of contacting, finding, hunting, and inviting that went on this week. We had a ton we were trying to get accomplished because at our district meeting this week we set some high goals that we were determined to achieve. We also had two baptisms that were marked for this weekend, so lots of work needed to be done.

Both João and Johny-another joão-were marked for baptism....but unfortunately both are a bit flaky and unpredictable, so we spend the majority of our week trying to track them down! haha We stopped by their houses, called them about 10 times a day and were working really hard to make sure their baptisms were solid. Johny was supposed to be baptized on Saturday and we couldn`t find him anywhere. He was never home and just ignored our calls, so he didn`t end up getting baptized...sad day.

And then there is João...hahah oh my. This is the guy that we just aren`t sure is completely all there, but he definitely gives us some good laughs. Everytime we call him the song "having a good time" comes on the phone and then he answers with "Tá!" I don`t know why it is so funny, but every time sister Bryner and I just die laughing! Also earlier this week he showed up at the church on his bike and when Sister Bryner and I saw him he was perfectly posed leaning up against his bike with his hip popped out.....I am just not doing this situation justice by trying to describe it, but trust me, it was hilarious! Always some good laughs with João. We thought he was so excited to be baptized and everything, but then on Thursday he stopped answering all of our calls and wouldn`t show up to the appointments that he always showed up to, so we got really worried. We spend Saturday night going on a crazy man hunt for him with the Elders in our disctrict because we didn`t have his address. We knocked on so many doors and asked so many people and after asking so many people, and A HUGE MIRACLE, we found him! I`m telling you fam, it was a major miracle. It was a big trial of faith, but Heavenly Father always provides a way. João passed his interview to be baptized and said he was excited, but when Sunday came he didn`t show up to church and we went searching for him again but he wasn´t at his house. So our second marked baptism fell through and Sister Bryner and I were pretty discouraged, but we have decided to just start from scratch and find some super solid people this week. I am excited!

We did get to go to a baptism this week. It was for a lady in our area named Celeste who the elders taught and we have taught her a few times as well, so that was definitely an exciting part of the week. We got to bring one of our investigators as well. He is from India and is a Christian that just loves talking to us about God and has some amazing values, but he just needs to find a different job so that he can come to church with us on Sunday.

It was so fun to be able to talk to the family yesterday! You all looked SO good! You are the best, and I really appreciate all your love and support! Nix and Benz are looking older already! What the heck! That can´t happen already! 

Have an amazing week! Amo Vocês!

-Sister Selk

Some final pictures from Vernal and Ola Olhao!!

Look at who it is!!

crazzzyyyy week! Wow! It is crazy to believe that I am sending this email from PORTUGAL!!

We will start will the flights- obviously your fasting worked because all flights were made and connected and I had absolutely no pain on the plane rides which as you know is a miracle in itself. We were cutting it really close for all our flights, and we were just about late for our flight in Paris, but luckily the flight was running late and so we were able to make it. But I have to say that I will never lug around a 40 pound carry on PLUS a 20 pound backback with crazy flights like that ever again. It was the worst. At one point when we were running around the airport in Paris I was exhausted after not having any time to eat anything and not sleeping and I literally thought I might collapse, but I just said a prayer asking God to give me strength and I was able to make it. Never again. But I am here, so YEAHHH!!!

President and Sister Fluckiger are probably the coolest people ever! I love them a lot and I am a little disappointed I will only have about 2 months with them. We ended up getting into Portugal at around 12 on Wednesday.....I think it was wednesday.....? We got our companions right away and then had some training. My companion is Sister Bryner. She is awesome. Seriously awesome. She is a really hard worker which is what I was praying for. We are both super chill and I think we are going to have a great transfer together. I also found out that I would be heading to the very south of Portugal to Olhao!!! Who knew! I definitely predicted that I would be going to the North, but it has been so good here! Its about a 4 hour bus ride from Lisbon, so we had to catch that after training on wednesday. 

I figured out pretty quick that I stink at the language and the Portuguese here is like a completely different Portuguese than I learned in the MTC! I wasnt very surprised by that though. I have definitely gone through some ups and downs with the language. Sometimes I get so frustrated that I dont know anything and other times I just have to think about how much I have learned over the past 5 days. When I think about it that way it always seems a lot better! haha Hopefully it will come! I know I have definitely already learned a lot!

I already love the people here. They are awesome!.....and maybe some a little strange and creepy.....Olhao is kind of ghetto, which you know I love, so it has been a good time. So good! We met a guy names Beto on one of my first days here and he is super cool and we were able to teach him a lesson. I have very high hopes for him and I am convinced he will get baptized! He would be such a good member, so everyone pray for BETO :) 

One of my other favorite person here is Nuno. He is a recent convert, and he is just the nicest guy! Last night he walked around with us for about 4 hours or so just contacting people. He is super patient with my Portuguese, and it is really nice because I actually feel like I can try speaking Portuguese and he doesnt judge me like everyone else here haha. 

Also the food here.......SO GOOOD. Mom, you would love it. Its probably not a good thing how good it is. Yesterday we got invited to a huge family dinner-I swear half the ward was there, and it was the best thing ever! We sat outside their families cafe and got to talk to the ward secretary who is the coolest guy and eat some seriously amazing food. JUST LIVING THE LIFE!

Another fun fact about Portugal....everyone and their dogs name is Joao. haha So funny. I think we pray for about 7 Joaos per night. We have to get pretty creative with how we distinguish them.

Well fam, I hope you are doing well. Thanks for all your love and support! Cant wait to talk to you this week! Amo Voces!!!

-Sister Selk

I was looking EXTREMELY rough by the time I got to Portugal - but oh well haha!