Paige's Portugal Papers: Feliz Natal!

Christmas in Portugal was beautiful! It was a lovely 50 degrees and sunny! (I bet all of you guys with snow are a little jealous, eh?) I took some pictures of the Christmas lights and other things that we found.

This week we had a division with the Sisters in Vasco de Gama which was a really pretty area. They had lots of lights and Christmas music playing in the roads! They have a lot of the same Christmas traditions here as well with lots of food and everyone is just a little bit happier and more willing to hear about Christ.

We actually taught a lot this week, sharing the message of the First Presidency about the Birth of Christ. We met with Fabiana, who is the 14 year old granddaughter of my recent convert, Alda, and she is progressing towards baptism next month! She´s such a fast learner! She loves to study and hang out with us at activities. She´s a little quiet at first but once she gets to know you she warms up and loves to talk and ask questions. We´re also teaching the cousin of Amaral, who was baptized last week and she is sooooo nice. She went to Amaral´s baptism and really liked it. We taught her how to make chocolate chip cookies as well!

We had our Mission Christmas Dinner this week! It was crazy to see the other 10 missionaries who arrived with me 6 months ago. They are all speaking Portuguese so well! There was a talent show and a huuuuge lunch with a ton of food. All 150 missionaries were there and it was great to get to know more missionaries. I´m still in my same area so I haven´t left a lot to get to know other missionaries, especially Elders. We do a lot of divisions with other Sisters. Yay for Friends!! Haha.

Christmas Eve we hung out at Amaral´s house in the morning at taught his 3 cousins and his aunt. We had a Christmas lunch with them, taught them English, and learned creole. Maria, Amaral´s aunt, taught us how to make shrimp pastries, which were so fabulously good. Afterwards she gave us more food than we could carry and we were forced to stop by the Elders´ apartments and leave half of it with them. (They didn´t complain, either.. haha) we had Christmas Eve Dinner with our Relief Society President, Madelena and her mom. They made awesome food and we watched a movie with them afterwards.

Christmas day we had a crowded sacrament meeting, the Elders had a baptism, we had lunch with Irma Bea and Irmao Nascimento. and we talked to our families! Yay! Best Christmas ever!!

Christmas in downtown Montijo!

Christmas lights in Vasco de Gama!

Christmas tree of our recent convert, Amaral. Can you see the "best Christmas present" Amaral received? It´s in the middle of the tree.... :D He´s so awesome!!