Catching-Up - 2 weeks worth!

I just received Sarah's last two emails from Braga and I happy to report she is doing well~ however, things for her have been really hard lately. Thus, keep those prayers coming for her! She wrote in these letters that things were a bit tough, but she also wrote me this week and said Satan is REALLY hitting her hard these past weeks. I am so proud of her faith and positive attitude though... Let her know you're there for her too, and drop her a line. Instructions and the address are below of you need them... Otherwise, enjoy this week's (and last week's) readings from Braga!
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"From Sister Sarah Ray
February 23, 2009

SO sad day, I just wrote a really witty and fun email to everyone, but the wonder of Portuguese technology, or maybe that we are in a free internet place, decided to kick me off and it was all lost! Grr. Anyway, this is the gist. This week was good. Once again I was on divisions so I spent half of it in Póvoa de Varzim (The Balboa Island of Portugal). We got to do contacting on the boardwalk of the beach. Pretty awesome, especially considering that I was with the sister that just got here 3 weeks before me, so we had the two newest sisters together for a while. We had a lot of fun, and actually had a lot of work which was great since it is a brand new area.

We are now in the midst of Carnival. A holiday that begins with Valentines day and continues up until the 24th. I still haven´t figured out exactly what is being celebrated, but it includes kids being dressed up like Halloween for a week and a half during the day and everyone parting during the night. Luckily it is much more tame here than in Brazil so we can actually get some work done. Needless to say though, I will be VERY happy when it is over. The ward is actually having a big service activity to celebrate tomorrow and ending with a big churrasco, so the missionaries are pretty excited about that one. ´«

Well, the church is true and I am so thankful for my opportunity to watch the gospel change lives on a daily basis. If anyone needs something to pray for pray the hot water starts to work in the chapel before Saturday or we are going to have a really cold baptism...yeah, the hot water isn´t working. THe bishop promises to have it fixed by Wednesday...stay tuned. Love you all, thank you for your support!

Tchau
Irmã Ray


From Sister Sarah Ray
March 2, 2009

Olá
Well, the cold has come back with a vengance to little old Braga. We had two full weeks of sun and 60 degree weather, so apparently that was enough to brighten our spirits and we are back to the cold. Oh well.

Good news is Carnival is officially over, and I escaped without any eggs, flour or anything else you can think of being thrown on me. Probably had something to do with the fact that we were in our building for the whole night...apparently it isn´t a good idea for missionaries to leave their apartments during that time. We, however went above and beyond and due to the fact that Irmã Polito was sick, we didn´t leave the appartment for almost 3 days. At least I got a lot of studying done...even if nothing else happened this week. Sorry there are no interesting stories about the inside of my apartment. HOWEVER; we did learn something really cool at District Meeting this week. Apparently it has become necessary to teach all of the missionaries how to block their number from our cell phones so that the people actually pick up when we call them. The sad thing is that it actually worked with some of our investigators that have been dodging us.

Divisions...we are usually there for two days and pretty much two of us just switch places. yes I spend the night there, and my companion was Brazilian-again. She doesn´t speak a word of English so it was fun. Actually people have been asking me if I was Brazilian on street contacts...guess my accent has switched over. Actually, one girl thought I was a Miss America contestant, so that was interesting, but complimentary... Hot water did get fixed...bishop had motivation, he was doing the baptizing. Although, the font did break and started to leak out all over the chapel, so that was a fun experience. BUT, she was baptized. So pretty much the movie "Errand of Angels", is my life right now. We even had an awkward boyfriend lesson...remember that part. and the umbrella thing. It is amazing how accurate it was!

experience of the week:
We had one investigator tell us she didn´t want to hear the lessons anymore because if she joined the church she would have to give her daughters to the Bishop, all of her money and we do sacrifices in hidden rooms in our chapels. Who knew. The really funny part is that she wouldn´t let us in the door to the building so our whole 10 minute convo was through the apartment building intercom. Wow, what a day. That was after being stood up for church and for an appointment with the person who was marked for baptism but is now apparently avoiding us, someone calling my companion a Prostitute and us getting rained on once again. HOWEVER, we are still going to win, no matter how much Satan thinks he is doing! THe church is true, and he doesn´t have a chance. We actually ended up teaching her roommate the 1st lesson and it was really powerfull. We had the spirit with us, and she was really amazed at everything we had to say. We were leaving and she just kept telling us thank you for letting me know about this, was super excited to read the book or mormon and kept saying how she just felt to light inside and she was thankful to know that she could pray in her own manner, it didn´t have to be hail mary... It was really cool. Unfortunately she is moving to Lisboa. TOday. BUT, maybe my MTC companion can teach her!

Irmã Ray"

Here is how to write Sarah:

1) You can use the dearelder.com website. This still requires $ .94 postage. It is not free like Bryan's.
2) There is a drop down box on the right hand side down just a couple inches. Enter his mission which is Porto Portugal and then click "write a letter" just below where you select the mission.
3) On the next screen enter your return address and Sister Sarah Ray in the address line, add your email in the email box below the envelope.
4) Write your letter in the text box and then hit the "send letter" box under the text box to send it on.
5) Again, this requires postage so you have to set up an account and put money into it and then it will subtract each time you write, the $ .94 postage.

OR - The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through the mail is below. This method requires a $.94 cent stamp for letters.

Sister Sarah Ray (Mission Home):

Portugal Porto Mission

Rua de Amalia Luazes

No.23 Sala 1

4200-052 Porto

PORTUGAL

Braga Address:

Sister Sarah Ray

Rua Padre Antonio Vieira

Nº91 5º Tras

Braga 4710-374

Portugal