Happy Birthday From Lisbon!

Ola!

This week was good! We had divisions and were running all around Portugal swapping companions and going to meetings. Not much else happened...We went to Lisbon for P Day today and saw some really cool parts of the city! You can pretty much walk anywhere and find  amazing views and  ancient buildings.

One thing I studied this week was the relationship between faith, agency, and blessings. I was reading in Ether 12:12 which says that we will receive blessings after a trial of our faith. I think the relationship between  blessings and faith is that when we choose to have faith, we are accepting help from Heavenly Father. He wants to help us but he can't impede on our agency. The Atonement has already happened... Christ has already paid for our sins, felt our sadness and frustration, and lived our  joy. We just need to use our agency, our faith, to accept Him in our lives.

Love all of you!

Sister Ellsworth

Happy birthday Madison!

Walking around Lisbon

The local starbucks. We bought hot chocolate with pumpkin spice there!

​The besties! They decided to wear their hipster glasses and i missed out on the memo...

Week of the Full Moon

Ola! E Tudo bem!

This week was probably the most insane week so far. Every day was so busy and crazy weird things happened every day! We blamed it on the full moon....

Monday we found out that one of our long time friends who has been coming to church for the past couple months was never baptized! Her name is Ester and she's married to one of our recent converts. She doesn't speak Portuguese very well but she speaks Hindi, Norwegian, English, and a couple others. We taught her the lessons and she was baptized on Sunday!! Woot!

It really cooled off this week and we've started wearing jackets at night. 

Also Sister Williams and I got to use our medical knowledge this week when we saw an elderly man fall outside our Church. We helped call an ambulance and get him to the hospital. I don't know what happened to him though...

Miracle at Church! It's very hard to have people attend church but we had 3 of our investigators at church this week! I was looking around and counting and was dumbfounded. 

We have 4 missionaries for one branch... which is crazy!! There's about 40-ish members that come regularly but the branch member list is much much more. We spend a looooot of time visiting less actives. The young people are pretty involved with us and we almost always teach in Portuguese. Though I am very good at accidentally contacting people who only speak English!! For those who speak English too we still teach in Portuguese. There is one girl we teach who talks to us in English and we respond in Portuguese... my brain hurts after those lessons.

I love the language!! Portuguese is so fun for me. My zone leader said I speak Portuguese at a 4 or 5 month level right now. My trainer has been here for 8 months! I still make a lot of mistakes but I really try to listen and ask questions to the members a lot.

This week I really learned a lot about patience and that some things come in the timing of the Lord. Heavenly Father always answers prayers but it might not be in the way you want, when you want it, or the answer you want. I was reading in D and C 121, where Joseph Smith is pleading for God to help the saints. In verse one he says; "O God, where art thou?" It's such a desperate, heartbroken plea that I think many of us have.

The answer given to him is found in verses 7 through 9. 

 7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

 8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

 9 Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.

Have patience! If things are hard, just wait a bit. It will get better. And if things are great... wait a bit. Things change :)

I love you all and I have never been so happy. I hope all of you turn towards Christ in your times of struggle.

With love,

Sister Ellsworth

Portuguese sunset

Old Barreiro!

Sergio, Ester, Sister Williams, and I! It was a great baptism!

​Our act of service one day was helping a fisherman pick up little crabs. He would haul a bucket of them up, dump the crabs on the sidewalk, and frantically scoop them up. He taught us how to pick them up without getting pinched. Reminds me of all the days we went crawdad fishing!!

Transfers!

Ola!

It's transfer weekend! Basically our whole mission exploded. There was 14 whitewashes, which is where both missionaries are taken out and new ones are put in. Usually there's like 4 or 5 whitewashes in a transfer.... BUT! Sister Williams and I are staying in Barreiro! Woot!! The rest of our zone is completely changed though.

This week the heat got up to 107 ish degrees.... It was definately motivation to tech lessons indoors! haha. Also this week we had a lot of success teaching and one of the days we taught for 7 hours straight. In our english class we taught people how to sing the Once There Was A Snowman song with the little dance and everything. They liked it!

I got to go to my first Portuguese wedding this week! It was a lot of fun! (As much fun as a missionary could have at a wedding lol) Lots of little cakes and pastries! I think the best thing about portugual is all of the little shops with cheap food.

They have McDonalds here! And it;s just as bas as it is in the states XD

This is my "Stop taking pictures and let me eat" face
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Love you all!

Sister Ellsworth

Hottest Week Ever and Tender Mercies

Dear ya'll...

I think my face has melted off this week! It's been well over 100 degrees with high humidity and the Portuguese don't believe in air conditioning or ice. Ice is considered a bit of a luxury here.... Since it's been so busy there hasn't been many people out on the roads and most people are taking last minute vacations before school starts next week but nonetheless, we have had one of the most productive and dedicated weeks since I began my mission.

First off, apparently I'm very allergic to portuguese cats. We were at a member's house and her little annoying cat was chewing on my dress so I tried to secretly push it away in the middle of the lesson and it tried to chew on my hand. I had to take a couple doses of Benedryl that day and my companion had to drag her balloon handed, half-asleep greenie around for the rest of the day. 

Also this week has been a week of finding people who have had missionary lessons but got too busy to talk. We've had a lot of new investigators!

Miracle number 100000 on my mission... last week we had the baptisms of Manuella and Nadia. Well they are like BFF's now! Nadia has had some hard times recently and Manuella has offered to help her out. Total proof that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us.

We had our first divisions this week and I thought Sister Hansen and I were going to be lost in Barreiro for the rest of the mission. Turns out I still don't know much when it comes to my area and Portuguese! I'm so grateful for my companion XD I hugged her when she came back and told her to never leave me ever again XD

I remember one moment this week that was a tender mercy and proof that Heavenly Father has a sense of humor. My companion and I were dying... it was blistering hot, probably 105 or so with NO WIND all day. Portugal is always windy. We were walking through a park and decided to take a five minute water break. We were laying on our backs and I said "Heavenly Father, we're really hot and tired. It would be really nice to have some wind." My companion gave me a funny look and echoed my thoughts when all of a sudden this rush of cool ocean breeze rushes through the park for a solid ten seconds. Sister Williams and I got up and started twirling in the wind, laughing at how much we loved such a silly thing, but at the same time I was like... wow. Some people might look at that as a coincidence but to me it was a tender mercy from our loving Father in Heaven.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to love this crazy place so much and to serve my God. I know he is aware of us and loves us perfectly. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ blesses lives, especially when we are obedient and loving.

Love all of you so much!

The Gospel is our Anchor!! This was taken at an old Convent which is now a little cafe and hotel. 

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Tudo Bem!!

Eu amo voces!

Sister Ellsworth

p.s. i found out redheads CAN tan!!

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DOUBLE BAPTISM!!

Hey yall!

This week was craaazy! First off we found out that two of our investigators are related. Apparently we were teaching a mom and her daughter and they didn't even know it! We only found out because the daughter, Nela, drove by as we were talking to her mom. Coincidence? I think not... haha. We also met an egangelical conspiracy theorist this week and if you think that stuff is weird in english, just try to listen in Portuguese!

I ate my first really gross and weird thing... We were at a little cafe for lunch with a member and she ordered me some fried fish... and brain... I didn't know what it was until I did some dissecting. It brought me back to my anatomy days.... Haha! We also met this guy because he hollered out "JESUS IS THE BEST!" in this really thick Portuguese accent, so of course we go talk to him! He had some interesting ideas and one of them is as follows... "The world is a monopoly, the only people who make money are the funeral homes." I think we've met every strange person in Barreiro this week!

BUTTTTT THERE'S MORE!

We had a double baptism! Our investigator Manuella was baptized and the Elder's investigator was baptized as well! Best and craziest day ever! We walked 15 or more miles to get everything situated, took wrong buses, forgot white clothes, made cookies, and arranged the baptisms. WHOO!

This week I was reading about trials of faith and i found a few scriptures I liked. 1 peter 4.12, alma 1.25 and 1 peter 1.7
"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:" One of the most interesting analogies is the refiners fire analogy. the idea that our trials are meant to purify, teach, test, and help us learn  is much more appealing than the thought that sometimes bad things happen when we do things right. Sometimes things are hard.

Another thought. There was a missionary who died (finished his mission and went home to his family) whose last words for us were: "Do you believe in Christ?" of course all of us were like... duh... but then he asked a second question. "Do you believe Christ?" What a difference that makes.... Do you believe Christ? Do you believe that he is your Advocate, your Mediator, your Redeemer, your Brother, and your Savior? Do you believe that he suffered for YOU? Do you believe he felt your pain, grief, sorrow, and joy? I hope if the answer is no, then pray for opportunities to develop your testimony and then go out and do something because testimonies are gained through action. 

Change of altitude and too much dough and you get a cookie cake! haha

They have packaged cheeseburgers....?

Guess which one is wine and which is a juice box!! Vocabulary is a good skill to have when they're right next to each other....

Sandro, Sister Williams, and Manuella!! WOOOOT!!!

Elder Haws,  Nadia, me, Sister Williams, Manuella, Elder Thomas, and Sandro!

​Just going for a stroll in Portugal....

​Love yall!

Sister Ellsworth

Week 2 in Barrerio!

Dear family and friends,

I love Portugal. The people, the language, the weather, and the food are better than I ever expected. It's hard, but I expected that. First off, Barreiro is across the way from Lisbon. The weather has been Sunny and in the 90s since I got here, but there is always a breeze so it is lovely. This week has been a week of trying new Portuguese foods! One of my favorites bacalhou, which is this very salty fish that they put in lots of foods. Yummy! Also they have Pastel de Nata, which are eggy-pie things. Also very good. As far as food goes here, we often just get fruit and bread from the fruitarias that are on every corner. Food here is very cheap. Usually Sister Williams and I can buy a whole meal for less than 2 euros, which is like 3ish dollars.

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We have three investigators right now, Paulo, Cristiani, and Manuella. They are all marked for baptism right now and I absolutely love teaching them. Teaching is the one situation in which I am able to understand the Portuguese and reply with an understandable Portuguese! Woot! I am already beginning to catch more and more Portuguese every day, mainly because we have the same conversations with people on the streets. 

Members here LOVE to feed the missionaries lunch! Culturally, lunch is the biggest meal of the day and is often a 3 course meal. Earlier this week we had two lunch appointments and I thought I was gonna die and the sisters would have to roll my bloated body out the door. 

​Our area!

​Our fancy food we made. Salad is made with a bit of vinegar and salt. It is an aquired taste... haha!

​We walk past this area every day and get a whiff of maple syrup. it's super weird... turns out this plant smells like maple syrup!

Something I have learned this week is about patience. Patience with yourself, patience with others, and patience with Heavenly Father. I was reading in D and C 6, which is now one of my favorite chapters. My favorite two verses are verse 34 and verse 36 when is says "Fear not, little flock.... Doubt not, fear not." We have no need to fear or doubt, because when you're following the rules and doing what you're supposed to , your circumstances will work out according to the Heavenly Father's plan. You always have your agency to choose to be happy!

Love Yall!

Sister Ellsworth

First Week in Portugal!

Ola de Portugal!

Wow... it has been one crazy week! I don't even know where to begin. First, on Tuesday we went to the temple for the last time really early in the morning. I met a lady who had a daughter out on a mission and I gave her a good long hug. I also got the opportunity to sit in the temple by myself for twenty minutes which was so perfect. Afterwards we quickly finished packing, cleaned our room, and dashed off to the buses by 830 am. We were loaded onto a bus and dropped off at the airport. I was able to call my family and have Cafe Rio for the last time! Unfortunately our plane was delayed about 10 hours in Salt Lake due to some parts needing replaced. Our group of 10 missionaries met and talked to everyone on our flight! We also met a lot of missionaries coming home, going to MTC's, and headed out to the fields. 

The flight to the Netherlands was great, I tried to sleep for most of it. We landed in the Netherlands in the afternoon and since our first flight was delayed for so long, we had to be re-booked. They split our group up onto two airplanes and I was in the group that would fly from the Netherlands to Porto, and then Porto to Lisbon. We had to run to catch our Porto flight, which was delayed after we got there, and then we had to run to our Lisbon flight, barely making it onto this tiny plane with pretty sketchy looking propellers but tudo bem! I talked to the gentleman next to me a tiny bit in Portuguese but then he told me that he spoke English. I left a Book of Mormon with him!

Once we landed in Lisbon, we were in the airport for an extra few hours trying to find our bags, which had been lost. Only 3 of the 7 of us had one or two bags show up. We met up with the second group and eventually decided to leave without our bags. Our Mission president picked us up and took us to the mission home and fed us lasagna and soup at 2 am. We showered after almost 36 hours of traveling and crashed hardcore. The next morning we met our companions! My new companion is Sister Williams! She speaks English and Portuguese and has been so patient with me and my jetlag and limited language. 

The first week in Portugal was a lot of smiling and nodding but I did get to help teach a young man about the Plan of Salvation and taught a woman about how much Heavenly Father loves her. I am serving in Barreiro, which is right across the river from Lisbon. It's been so fun to get to know people and go to Church! The food is strange, but good. We made mini hotdogs and cinnamon biscuits which would have been cinnamon rolls except neither my companion or I knew how to say yeast in Portuguese.

Also apparently I speak Portuguese with an Australian accent! How neat haha. Also people here have a VERY hard time saying my last name. Like most can't even try! Half the sounds in my name don't exist in Portuguese so what comes out is something along the lines of el-sh-wohtch. Close enough I guess! I'll make a nickname for myself or something.

Loving every day more and more! Tudo Bem! I can't get pictures up right now but hopefully I'll send some later today!

Sister Ellsworth