Gimpy foot

So... Here's the low down.

They decided not to get a second CAT scan. They thought it was unnecessary. They sent the x-rays and such to the church's German doctors to get a second opinion and they said that I could use a walker's boot (one of those pretty massive concrete boots) for 6 weeks with a bit of therapy instead of going home. They think that might work.

I still take ibuprofen like a drug addict and we stay inside every once in a while when it hurts too much. 

So for now they're going to wait 6 weeks to reevaluate and for now I'm staying here. 

As for the blessing I've already gotten two from the elders and I don't think it would make much of a difference to get one from president. Same priesthood and he's busy....

I talk to the mission presidents wife lots... We're like best friends now. She asks if I've added any new bedazzling or painted the boot lime green XD She wants me to start therapy next week. So i'm gonna do that...

This whole thing kinda sucks.... Its really frustrating to see 0´s in your numbers because you cant go out walking or to have investigators lose interest because you didn't pass frequently enough. Sigh. I do not recommend breaking your foot on your mission... arm? collarbone? Sure but the foot sucks.

Love you!

New companion and Pranks!!

So this week we had an emergency transfer because another sister went home and my companion went to serve in Barriero and I got a new companion! Her name is Sister Baker! She´s been serving for 6 months so far and she´s so darn cute! She´s works really hard. 

When she got here we found a member on the road by the train station but Sister Baker didn't know he was a member. So I nudged her and told her to contact him. She stopped him and started to talk to him for 15 minutes about church and families and God's plan for him but this member was being really tough XD Finally she gave up and I stepped in and was like, "We have church tomorrow. Do you want to go with us?" And he was like sure! Sister Baker´s mouth dropped open when she found out he was a member.

Other than that we had a lovely week of cloudy days which was so much better than the 100 degree sun.

Love all of you!

Sister Ellsworth

Sintra, Baptism, And I´m Melting

Hey guys!

This week was quite the adventure! Almost every day was about 107 degrees WITH humidity. We had to knock apartment buildings because it was so hot. On Saturday we got stranded and a member came to rescue us. On the way back her car broke. Apparently there is a rubber thing that holds the exhaust pipe up and it MELTED. We had to wait for a little while until another member came to rescue us again XD I'm tanning... and my hair is bleaching. A member told me that I don't even look american anymore and my hair is almost blonde now. But that's okay... :)

Also I don´t know if you guys saw but there was this massive fire in Coimbra that killed more than 60 people when the fire trapped people on the freeway...  It was really far away from any of the missionaries but it was really sad to watch the news reports as more and more people were found in their cars or that had died from breathing smoke. Remember them in your prayers.... http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40316934

Last Pday I didn't get a chance to write because we had to to a CAT scan of my foot again (they still haven't decided what they're going to do about the fracture) and then we went to Sintra afterwards. The castles in Sintra are so cool! There are huge underground tunnels and churches made from bones. I brought this painting from a cool African guy on the side of the road and its hanging up in my room!

Waterfall in Sintra

Riboleira Castle 

AND JOANA WAS BAPTIZED!!! WHOO HOO!! 

Look at her.. so darn happy. She was so excited to be baptized! She brought 15 people with her that weren't members so....references!! Haha! We´re going to start teaching her daughter this week. 

I'm still walking on crutches. It's super annoying to be a missionary when you walk as fast as an old lady with hip problems. But we´re making it work. When you can't do what you've always done just do what matters most!
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This week we also had a ward activity! They put the missionaries in charge so we bought 300 water balloons and had a massive waterballoon fight! After the waterballoons were gone people started dumping huge buckets of water on each other. And I, the poor sister who ca't run to claim revenge, was the primary target of the drenchings. I think I was drenched 5 or  times in less than 2 hours. But with the 100 degree heat it was a welcomed blessing! The members have also started calling me Sardinha, which means little fish. Apparently it's a reference to Ariel from the Little Mermaid because I can't walk too well. Even the Primary children were calling me Sardinha!

Love, 

Sister Ellsworth

8th Transfer Póvoa

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1E_UbADdu_BNFZwbFV6Y3h1SDg

Hey!

My companion is awesome. Shes from Brasil and makes good food and loves to joke around. She calls me her "cuitada" which is like "loved one" or "poor thing" depending on the context. Most of the time I'm not sure which XD

The ward in Povoa is pretty awesome. The members are cool and in general all of them love the missionaries. Most of our ward is Portuguese which is really weird XD  My other areas have been mostly African and Brazilian. The area is not touristy at all but we are about 15 minutes away from the temple site!! We're going to pass by today!  The area is a richer area than I've been to.. pretty similar to the area that you guys live in. Lots of families too!! We've already found that knocking doors doesn't work as well as my last two areas so we've been working with our recent converts and members every day. 

I kind of doubt it will be my last area.... I have 5 more transfers and its pretty rare to stay in an area for more than 3 transfers as a sister. President likes to move us around and he puts us in areas that the Elders have killed. We're actually working the old area of Elders. President told us that he was thinking about closing our area for the two companionships and just have one but apparently the day before transfers a few weeks ago he decided to put me and Sister Nogueira there. The first week he called us and said, "Sisters, You guys have to find 2 people to mark for baptism and teach 10 lessons with 6 investigators, okay?" And then hung up. We were like.... okay.... So we found Domingos and a boy named Soni, we taught 11 lessons and had 6 new investigators. President called us again and said, "Well, I decided that you guys can to better. Prove me right." And hung up. So this week we marked Soni and Joana, taught 12 lessons, and found 8 new investigators and had 5 of them at church. 

I'm kind of nervous that he'll call again XD  

But its been a good week :) I looked at the calendar the other day and realized that i hit 1 year in a week or two... It made me so sad. I wish that I could stay in Portugal forever and that you guys will just move here..... I really understand why missionaries love their missions so much... why they love the people and to serve. 

Love you,

Sister Ellsworth

I broke my foot and didn't even know

Hey yall! 

Well this week was really fun! Haha. For the past few weeks my foot has been kind of sore and eventually my companion made me talk to the mission doctor and she sent me to get Xrays. Well apparently my foot was fractured.

How? I don't know! So know I'm using crutches for a few weeks or however long it takes to get better. Yes, I'm using good shoes. No, I didn't fall. Yes, i'm fine! That should cover all the questions haha!

This week I also got sick... My poor companion... She's had to take care of me this whole week. But I'm almost all better now. The ward here has been very helpful! I think once the word got out that a Sister couldn't walk all of a sudden EVERYONE was offering to give us rides and teach with us and have us over for dinner. This week was proof that member missionary work works so much better than what we missionaries can do! Of all the members that invited us over, three families introduced us to a friend or a family member who was not a member. Of those three references, all of them are now marked for baptism and are progressing fantastically!

We met one woman from Angola this week named Joana. She lives with a member and told us that she's always been curious about the Book of Mormon. Turns out she had read half of it before we taught her the first lesson! As we shared the First Vision with her she started to cry, holding her Book of Mormon close to her. She told us that she knew it was true. As we were leaving she gave each of us one of those big grandma hugs and said, "I've been waiting to meet you two for the last 50 years."

We met another kid named Isaundro, who is from Guinea. He is 22 years old and moved here by himself to try to escape his situation in Africa. We were walking in the road when we found him. I saw some other missionaries from another church on the other side of the road start to walk towards him and I told Sister Noguiera that we couldn't let them contact him first. So we ran (or rather Sister Noguiera ran and I hobbled) to contact him. Turns out he was thinking about where he could find answers to all his questions about life and asked God to help him. So Heavenly Father sent the Sisters! Isaundro came to church and is already best friends with three other boys who came from Africa and are recent converts as well. 

It's been a really crazy week... But I think I would choose to be a gimp for the rest of my mission if it meant that we could find people like Joana and Isaundro every week. BEING A MISSIONARY IS SO MUCH FUN!! It sucks sometimes but in the end, I love it!!

Com muito amor, paz, saude, alegria, e saudades, 

Sister Ellsworth