Dear Everyone,

 

Before I tell you about our week, I need to say I´m sorry. I Portuguese (this might actually just be a missionary saying, but I´m not sure) instead of saying we chastised or chewed someone out, we say that we `gave them the knife,´ meaning that our words were cutting. I just skimmed my last email and realized that I was a little harsh about the whole trunkiness thing. I´m sorry. It´s just hard hearing about the fun things we´ll do together when I still have to go work in the rain and do the same wonderfully exhausting work that I´ve done everyday since June 26, 2013. Please forgive me for losing my patience.

 

This week was a rollercoaster! We had so many good moments and so many frustrating ones as well.

 

Just to get it out of the way, here´s the bad news:

 

We taught Rita this week and came to know that her parents won´t let her be baptized until she is 18 or 19. We are still going to teach them, but it is a really frustrating experience. Bruno Silva just judges us the whole time and after every lesson lists the things that we are doing wrong. I am really, really proud of myself for not getting in a fist fight with him.

 

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday it rained harder than ever before! Good thing I bought rain boots last transfer! I have never seen so much rain in my life. The streets were like rivers. We stopped at a bus stop to go to another town in our area and got splashed so much that I got water in my ears! We might as well have been swimming! There is a sweet ward missionary, Nuno, who walked with us ALL DAY on Tuesday in the rain and NO ONE wanted to talk to us even though we had set up several appointments. I felt so bad for him.

 

Alright, here´s the good news:

 

Rita came to church! She looked really cute.

We started teaching some part member families! It´s really exciting. Jessica is the sister of a recent convert named Mayara. She has a lot of potential and we hope that she will progress.

Sister Lewis had her first introduction to cod fish yesterday for dinner. It was delicious!

 

Something really sweet happened yesterday. We had invited a less active to church, and we had arranged to walk with her to the chapel on Sunday morning. Well we were half way when we got a call saying that she couldn´t. We had to take some deep breaths. We turned around to walk back when we heard something fall. We stopped and looked around. Turns out a sweet elderly woman tripped on a loose cobblestone and fell. Wow, that was perfect timing! We helped her up and brushed her off. God is so aware of His children, isn´t He?

 

I love you all and I hope that you all have a Happy Thanksgiving. Have a wonderful week!

 

Sister Derrick

Dear Everyone,

 

It seems like everyone is trunky for me! Well, I still have three more weeks and in missionary time that might as well be three more months with how much we pack in to a day. May I remind everyone that my mission hasn´t ended yet? In fact, I feel a little responsibility on my shoulders with such a young companion (Sister Lewis is only 19 and only has 2 transfers here in Portugal), so I can´t mentally end my mission early. Sister Lewis is really a doll. She could fit right in with the Hunter family, I swear. We get along well.

 

This week was really tiring, but really rewarding. First of all, we had a Mission Tour on Friday! Guess who came? Elder Cook! Yes, that Elder Cook from the quorom of the 12 apostles! It was truly a one in a lifetime experience to see him up close and personal-- and without a teleprompter! We had a question and answer session that was really neat. Did you know he was mission companions with Elder Holland in England? He talked about how Elder Holland taught very well and was somewhat a jokester! One thing he told us that I found interesting was that as missionaries we are really out here to build up wards and stakes. He said that obviously baptisms build up wards but they aren´t the only thing that constitutes success. He said that reactivation needed to be a bigger part as well as simply supporting the members. When he was in California and his son got a Spanish speaking mission call, they started attending the sacrament meetings in the Spanish branches as well as their own ward meetings. In one sacrament meeting the missionaries kept to themselves reading the scriptures and not really participating. In another the missionaries talked to everyone, laughed and talked with members and sat amongst the members. His son said, `Wow, I would want my friends to be taught by them, for sure!´ Then Elder Cook said, `Sometimes when I say that, missionaries respond by saying that they are naturally shy. They ask, `Are you really asking me to have a personality I don´t have? I´m not outgoing!´ Well, sisters and elders, YES. That is exactly what I am telling you to do!´ I was kind of shocked by that statement, but it was really good advice. The Sundays that we involve ourselves makes the ward a better place. Anyway, Elder Cook continued to say that helping and supporting wards in that manner is just as important as contacting people, etc. Interesting, isn´t it?

 

He also told us about when he was called to be an apostle. He said that President Hinckley´s secretary called him up and told him to come to the prophet´s office. Elder Cook walked into the office and President Hinckley had his sleeves rolled up, tie loosened, looking like he had had a long day. President Hinckley then asked if Elder Cook would accept the call to be an apostle. Elder Cook started crying, but said that he would do anything the Lord asked. He went home, told his wife and they cried together. He said, `They say that no one in their right mind would choose to be a bishop. Well, no one in their right mind would ever choose to be an apostle! I had seen their schedules before. They´re riduculous!´ He also explained that every time the 12 meet, Elder Packer always says, `I´ve been an apostle for so long and I am still wondering why the Lord called me to be one!´ We all got a hoot out of that.

 

Last of all he gave us his apostolic blessing. A mission is really a seminal moment in a person´s life. He blessed that we would be able to see that. That we would be able to see how the mission has not only been life-changing for us, but for our loved ones as well. What a great blessing I have to hear that in my last transfer!

 

Well, besides Elder Cook, we worked in a 3-some until Thursday because Sister Anderson is training in Setúbal. Her companion has a Portuguese last name, Pereira, but is actually from France. We had to help her with her travel plans and such, plus go to the Mission Tour, which was a lot of travel time and energy. But I think it was worth it. I love you all and I hope that you have a wonderful week.

 

Sister Derrick

Dear Everyone,

 

Transfer day! Turns out I am staying in Miratejo but I have a new companion named Sister Lewis. She is really cute and this is only her third transfer. Guess where she was trained? Viseu! With Sister Fuertes! How fun is that? All I know about her so far is that her father is in the Marines, so she´s moved around quite a bit. If I remember right, she´s lived in Utah, Virginia, California, Egypt and Florida. She seems pretty fun. She is another tall blonde! How many of those have I had already? Four? Here we go again! Sister Anderson will be training in Setúbal, but her companion won´t be coming in until Thursday, so she´s staying with us for the next few days. We think her companion is Portuguese, but we aren´t sure yet. Her last name is Pereira, so she could basically be any nationality. It´ll be a surprise!

 

This last week was really great. We have lost almost all of our investigators, but we really did our part in contacting people and inviting. I am excited for this upcoming transfer. Something really neat that happened was that 2 weeks ago I was feeling really inadequate and frustrated and -- I hate to admit it-- a little trunky. But we included `good cheer´ and `fire´ to do the Lord´s work and it really happened. We´ve been feeling a lot more excited about the work lately. I´m so glad the Lord listens to our fasts! 

 

We taught Rita and Isabel about temples and eternal marriage, which was neat. I think Isabel is shying away from us, but they´ve been organizing things so that Rita´s baptism will be at the end of the month. 

 

This weekend we had a rare opportunity to go to the neighboring chapel in Seixal for a wedding. The family asked the missionaries to do a musical number because the bride and her family are English. So we got together with the Sisters from Seixal and a member, Diego, that sings really well to do `Love is Spoken Here.´ Diego sang the lower part in Portuguese and the Sisters sang the higher part in English while I played the piano. It was neat. It was bitter sweet because they weren´t temple worthy yet, but that is their goal. Hopefully in a year or so they will be able to have an even more special wedding in Madrid.

 

Well, I love you all and I am so grateful for your support. Have a good week.

 

Sister Derrick

Dear Everyone,

 

This week was one of those `everyone run away from the missionaries´ weeks. It seems like we have a lot of friends in this area but few are actually interested in the Gospel and spiritual improvement. We´re working on it though. Yesterday we included courage and capacity to help this area improve in our fast. Things will come around. I have been studying `Our Heritage,´ a book summarizing Church History. I came to George Albert Smith and I wanted to learn more. In our house there happened to be one of those Sunday School manuals about him and his teachings, so I thought I would read that. Something really neat about George Albert smith is that he was only in his thirties when he was called as an apostle. In fact he had his third child two years into his ministry! Right after he was ordained, he said the following:

“I feel weak and lack judgment compared with men of maturer years, but my heart is right, and I desire sincerely the onward progress of the work of the Lord. … I have a living testimony of the divinity of this work; I know that the gospel has come to earth under the direction and guidance of the Lord himself, and that those chosen to preside were and are His servants in very deed. I desire and pray that I may live pure and humble, so that I may be entitled to the promptings and admonitions of the Spirit to guide me throughout my life.”¹⁹

 

I feel a lot like George Albert Smith. Most of the time I don´t really know what I am doing, and I feel like there are better missionaries that could do the work more effectively here. But they weren´t called to be in Miratejo A. I was. So I guess we´ll have to do with me! I know things will work out because the Lord´s gospel is true and He always does what He says He´ll do. He´s my best teammate!

 

Rita´s situation is very complicated. We have had way too many phone call conversations about her that I really have no desire to explain it again. But here it goes. This week Bruno was out of town, so it was just the girls on Friday afternoon. It was really good because Isabel felt a lot more willing to talk to us about what she´s been thinking. Isabel is worried that Rita won´t stick to her decision after baptism. We talked for awhile and then Tina (Bruno´s wife) commented that really the gospel is a family affair and that Isabel should consider baptism and living the laws of the Lord as well. We decided to read the first 8 verses of the book of Enos as an example of how she can receive answers to her personal prayers through the Holy Ghost. Then we all knelt down and Isabel prayed to know if the Book of Mormon and the things we had taught so far were true. It was a really positive experience! I hope that they can continue to get answers to prayers.

 

Well, I love you all. Thank you so much for your support.

 

Sister Derrick