Mady's Missionary Moments: Week 1

Oi!

I can't believe my visa hit four dots! That's so crazy! A lot of the sisters here in our zone have been at four dots for a couple weeks and still haven't heard anything from the Church, so I might be here for six weeks, which I kind of hope I am. If I don't get it by Friday I'll be staying here. I just found out like two seconds ago that Elder King is leaving on the 29th. Our district might start to dissolve pretty soon, sadly. We were all really hoping that we'd be together for a while. We have so much fun!

I get along really well with my companions. Sometimes we get frustrated with each other. But all six of us in the district are the oldest child, so it's a lot of strong leader personalities, which is cool.

My teacher is Sister Hirschi. she hasn't told us a whole lot about herself, but she served in Portugal and is super super cute! We all love her so much! And she is such an awesome teacher! I had an interview with her yesterday and she was saying she's so impressed with our district.

The first couple days here were kind of crazy. It was just crazy trying to get everything set up and the first three or four days your schedule is different from what the rest of your time here is. But we're finally on a normal schedule! We study in the classroom for nine plus hours a day. we eat three meals a day in the cafeteria. We just study Portuguese for like half the day and prepare lessons for Morgan/study the gospel the other half. We have gym time, too now. We played sand volleyball the first day and it was super fun! Most of our zone played. We've played soccer and ridden stationary bikes and walked the track as well. The facilities here are nice.

We pray so so so much. And it's awesome! I love it! Days are long, weeks are short. Everyone kept saying it, but I didn't believe it at first. It is seriously so true. It's crazy. I feel like I've been here forever when I look at a single moment, but when I look back it's also really hard to see that it's been a week. It seems longer and shorter at the same time.

Our investigator's name is Morgan. He's from Rio de Janeiro and only speaks Portuguese. Trying to communicate with him in the first lesson was hard. He asked a lot of questions we couldn't respond to, like "Why is prayer necessary? How do you know Heavenly Father hears you? Why is baptism necessary? (yes, we asked him to get baptized) etc, etc" It was humbling to be in a position where I knew what I needed to tell him and I understood him, but I couldn't say anything back because of lack of vocab.

Sunday was my favorite day. The spirit was so strong. We sing a lot. We sing in Portuguese a lot. I didn't know what I was singing in sacrament since it was in Portuguese. But it is so much easier to feel the Spirit and I feel it so much stronger since I'm not just blindly saying words.

Our second lesson with Morgan was AMAZING!!!! :D We taught him everything we wanted to and answered all his questions. IN PORTUGUESE!!!! I think we caught him off-guard with how prepared we were!!! :) I did most of the talking that lesson, but that's because the notes were in front of me, and it was a lot of questions for him and scriptures for him to read. It was so good tho! We prayed for the Spirit to be there and it was, and that was the difference between our first and second lessons. We taught about God and the Spirit and how to recognize it. We committed him to pray and read some scriptures we left with him!!! We went in to the third lesson yesterday and it was not as good at all. We tried to teach him about Jesus because he doesn't know much about him, but we tried to teach him about how he's our Savior. But we couldn't. He didn't understand why if Heavenly Father loves us so much he can't just forgive us and why we need a Savior. We're going to teach him about the law of justice and mercy, which is kind of a hard thing to teach about (which is what I just wanted to tell him, but I couldn't say any of it in Portuguese, which is frustrating, but oh well). BUT he KEPT HIS COMMITMENTS!!!!!

My time here is going well. I love it! Please tell people to write me! Letters are amazing, but so are emails (we print them early on P-days at 6:45 so we don't waste time reading and figuring out how to respond since we only have sixty minutes).

Our district is really good at getting distracted, which is frustrating, but it's funny a lot of the time.

I've learned to pray and bear my testimony in Portuguese. I try to pray only in Portuguese and last night was my biggest success. Whatever I don't know how to say in Portuguese I say in English. IT's coming good. I'm starting to think a little in Portuguese, like when I write in English in my head it turns to Portuguese as I write. I know I'm being blessed because there's no way I'd know as much of the language as I do now if it wasn't for the Gift of Tongues. I'm so thankful for the help that praying for it brings me.

If you can find the MTC devotional "The Character of Christ" by Elder Bednar, you should read or watch it this week! It's awesome!!! He talks about how the Savior always turns outward rather than inward. It seriously changes the way you think. we also got to hear from Sister Edmunds, as sisters, on Sunday. Super awesome!

I also found out that Davis Eberly's cousin is in my district. She's super cute and sweet. I'm loving my zone. The sisters are amazing.

Brother Nillson, a member of our Branch Presidency talked to us about staying "On the Wall" like Samuel the Lamanite. He says get on and stay on with missionary work. Don't let it stop after you get off the mish. AMAZING! And SO POWERFUL! He coaches football at Orem high and is a Spiritual Powerhouse.

I've been doing Dad's challenge of five things I'm grateful for since I got his letter. It's cool to see how much there is to be grateful for here.

Challenge: Read from 3 Nephi 11 to the end of 3 Nephi. I've been studying it this week and it is absolutely amazing!! STUDY IT! DON'T JUST READ IT! :) Really pay attention when you're singing and try to feel the Spirit when you sing. It'll change the way you feel about hymns!

I have to teach an ordinance on Sunday in Relief Society (baptism) and then teach my district about baptism! Pray for me! I'll need it.

Know that I pray for and love you all so very much!

Eu sei que Jesus Cristo esta nossa Salvador e amo-te.

Amo-se muito muito!!!

How are things for all of you? When does school start again??

Love,

Sister Wilkins