Dear Everyone,
So many things happened this week that I am not sure where
to start! This week we worked quite a bit with the members in our lessons,
which was so much fun. When a lesson fell through we went tracting together, and
it has been very beneficial for all of us-- investigators, the members and the
missionaries. I´m pretty sure people are a lot nicer to us when they see a
Portuguese woman with us! In particular we worked with Jessica, a girl my age
that was baptized about a year and half ago. She has many friends in the
Church, but she hadn´t gone to Church since the beginning of 2013 because of
family complications. The Relief Society President actually asked us to have a
lesson together with Jessica a week and a half ago to talk about what we can do
to help her. We came to the conclusion that she could go to Institute on
Thursday nights and work with us for one afternoon each week. Wow, I tell you
what, we must´ve been a really inspired group! We worked with her on Wednesday
and Jessica LOVED IT!!! She came to Sacrament Meeting two Sundays ago and she
stayed for the full block yesterday. I am so happy that she is starting to feel
the Spirit and is remembering her covenant.
We saw a great miracle on Thursday. María Augosta is a drug
addict that came in contact with some Sisters a year and a half ago and have
been investigating the Church ever since. In mission lingo she´s an
`eternigator´ or an `eternal investigator´. The Elders before us worked really
hard with her, but when we showed up she refused to talk with us. We knocked
her door over a dozen times, I swear, but she never was willing to talk with
us. Thanksgiving came around (Sister Giberson and I made a little Thanksgiving
feast for lunch!) we were walking home and ran into María Augosta! She ran up
to us and gave us a HUGE hug (no, she wasn´t hi at the time) and said that this
morning she prayed for guidance to finally find the right path that could lead
her away from all of her vices and give her a new life. She went for a walk and
ran into us!!! She said that after ALL this time she finally believes that the
Church is true and she wants to be baptized at the end of the month. Starting
Thursday she´s been off cockaine and is going through withdrawals, but she is extremely
determined and has a lot of support from the ward. We´ve marked her for the
28th of December to be baptized and it will be an even greater miracle when she
succeeds. We are going to visit every single day to make sure she doesn´t have
a relapse.
Corina (the 10-year-old gypsy) was confirmed yesterday!
Every time she prays with us she prays that her brother Jacinto (who´s marked
for baptism this Sunday) and her parents to be prepared for baptism as well.
She is so young, but so bright with the light of Christ; It is simply amazing.
We had a surprise this week from Carmen. The Bishop was out of town for a week
and a half, but the Tuesday after he arrived in Setúbal Carmen called him up
for an interview in the chapel about marriage arrangements for Manuel and her--
and we didn´t even ask!
This week Elder Dyches of the Seventy came to tour the
Portugal Lisbon Mission and make sure everything is in order. On Saturday we
had a Zone Conference with him and 6 other zones in Lisbon. It was amazing! He
gave fabulous advice in how we can help make our investigators more solid for a
baptismal date and how we can work with the members by doing tours of the
chapel as well as other things to help us work proactively. But I have to say
that what gave me the most strength was his wife´s talk. To be honest, right
now I don´t remember the topic because I wrote it somewhere in my notebook, but
I remember feeling the Spirit extremely strongly as I thought about Grandma
Kirton. For the first time in Portugal I cried tears of joy as I knew she was
in the room with us. I honestly don´t know how to explain it, but she´s always
got her hand on my shoulder assuring me that everything will work out. I don´t
even know her well enough to point her out in some of our old photos, but I
know that she´s protecting and supporting me in every step I take her in
Portugal.
I love you guys so much. Thanks for all of you loving
letters, packages, thoughts and prayers.
Sister Derrick
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