Transfers, Baptism, All You Can Eat Pizza

Ola!

Transfers are this week! I'll be staying in Barriero but my beloved trainer is going to Cais Cais! My new companion will be Sister Oliver and I'll meet her tomorrow. 

Alda was baptized this week! It was an awesome baptism. She's already proving to be an awesome new member and is helping us teach two of her friends right now. She's such a spunky portuguese lady!

It rained all week long... I loved it but i suspect in a few week it won't be so fun. It gets quite windy so an umbrella is pretty much useless. 

As an end of the transfer party we went to Pizza Hut (yes they have that here!) and our Zone crowded out the restaurant and ate a grand total of 32 pizzas. And we had a compatition between the elders and sisters and the sisters ate more pizza than the elders! HA! 

The quote of the week comes from Manuela, our recent convert. We were over at her house for lunch and we were talking about how difficult it is to eliminate distractions long enough to sit down and read scriptures. She said: "I figured it out, Sisters! I just hide in the bathroom!" Whatever works right?? She also taught us how to make Portuguese soup, which is very similar to cream of potato soup or something like that. 

Also our good friend Victor got a cat! Probably the most cuddly thing I've ever held in my life.

Churro break! The have churros everywhere for really cheap. It's one of those things where if you have a really good day... CHURROS! Or if you have  a really bad day... CHURROS!

Beautiful Alda!!

Our daily confiscation of cigarettes from our investigator who is going to quit smoking. XD

Sweet is the work! Portugal is the best land ever, Portuguese is the prettiest language, and the people are awesome.

Love all of you!
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Sister Ellsworth

Mission Photos

Pre-mission photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B1E_UbADdu_BdEcxa2o1MkZydDg?usp=sharing

MTC photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B1E_UbADdu_BdEcxa2o1MkZydDg?usp=sharing

Barrerio 1st transfer photos : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B1E_UbADdu_BTVNNOExEMnpNMXM?usp=sharing

Barrerio 2nd transfer photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B1E_UbADdu_BelRaMVV0T1VaVkk?usp=sharing

It's Finally October Here!

Ola!

How's it going? This week was probably both the longest and shortest weeks so far. It's difficult to describe really... Or maybe I'm just forgetting my English! Haha.

It's starting to feel like October! In other words, it's not wickedly hot and we need a long sleeve shirt. Maybe a jacket at night... It's been beautiful!

I had to buy a new bag this week because my bag from the MISSIONARY MALL like blew up. Turns out a $30 camera bag works 100X better! Advice for future missionaries. Also, don't bring hangers because every missionary apartment has a bajillion hangers everywhere. Also, invest in good watches. I've already gone through three and each has broken or stopped.

We dropped a lot of our investigators this week because they were more interested in talking rather than making changes. It was really hard to let them go but we made sure to keep records of them so missionaries later on can find them. But we have two friends right now! Sanida and Alda! Both are fabulous women who are so humble ad receptive. We love them with all our hearts!

I studied the history of the church this week, from the time that Joseph Smith was instructed to restore Christ's Church until now and those early saints had such courage! They suffered every difficulty and trial with such faith, though i can only imagine how difficult it was. I learned the song Come Come Ye Saints in Portuguese and it is so pretty. It put our perspectives in place and helped us to work harder.

Transfers are next week!I've been here like three months I think... can't really remember honestly. The only bummer thing is that I'm not fluent yet! Still working hard at that. I'm able to translate in church and even take the lead in lessons. While I can have basic conversations and understand at about 90%, I've been focusing on trying to get rid of my accent. It's better to speak a little bit really well than a lot of gibberish!

We were studying portuguese on the beach overlooking the Rio Tejo and Lisboa.

Sanida! This woman is awesome. We have been so blessed to be able to work with her!

Alda is a missionary's best friend. She is an awesome cook and always sends us home with food and happy hearts! She's tried to marry us off to everyone too, but tells us that she's just sharing the gospel.Uh huh, Alda. We know what you're trying to do!! She doesn't want us to leave, ever.

I love you guys! Miss you tons! 

Sister Ellsworth

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Ola!

Ola!

This week was a week of some pretty crazy stuff... hold on to your pants.

First off, Natividade was baptized! She's been a long term investigator of the Church for almost a year and we started reteaching her and she was baptized the next week. She's such a sweetheart who loves Christ so much.They don't have much in their home but her family are humble servants of Christ. She taught me that even if you have nothing, you can still be happy and loving towards absolutely everyone!

Next, we have four brothers from Sierra Leone that are investigating as well. We actually met two of the brothers and their father on separate occasions and didn't know until we started teaching them! Crazy! These four brothers range in ages from 15 until 22 and are eager to learn. They have fiery testimonies already and love to talk to all the missionaries about their questions. And the fun part! They speak fluent English! Whoo hoo! We made them cookies for Daniel's birthday and the said: "These things are the best. I'm going to move to America. Do they have these in California?" They are some great guys.

There is also a young man named Rafael who said his first prayer with us the other day. We had been working for a while to try to talk to him and finally we found him outside his house and he couldn't run from us!! Haha just kidding. He has a member friend who has been a great help as well. 

The last person we met was this world class body builder named Fabio and holy-moley, this guy is huuuuuge... a huge teddy bear! Haha. See what I did there? Anyway, he's got a cute little girl and a cute little boy and we actually met them because the little boy said "Chão, meninas!" on the bus and it was so dang cute we just had to talk to him. 

One scripture I was really pondering this week that was mentioned in General Conference was 2 Nephi 25:26 which says: 26 And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.

One thing I noticed about General Conference was the simplicity of the talks. Each one talked about the basics of the gospel and I could have checked off all the points of the restoration, plan of salvation, and the gospel of Christ by the end of conference. Really, it's the little stuff. Go to Church and read the Book of Mormon for goodness sake! I'm so glad for the opportunity to teach the little things and rejoice in Christ, preach of Christ, and help  others come unto Christ.

Love you all!

Sister Ellsworth

Miss Natividade! She gives the best hugs!

Goofy Africans... We had to holler in order to get them to smile XD BTW, the guy next to me chose that hideous shirt to embarrass us in public. But joke's on them! Missionaries have no concept of awkward!! 

Natividade and our Elders, Elder Rosenkilde from Norway and Elder Nogueira from Brazil.

The first time we found out our member had a bird was when it landed on my head. It's a nice bird though, don't worry! :)

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