Merry Christmas from the Island!

The best Christmas present ever would be...? A letter from Sarah Ray! Ding ding ding! That is the correct answer - so, ask and ye shall receive! Here's the latest from the island - she only has about three months out, so give her a shout out and WRITE! Merry Christmas and Enjoy! :)

- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"December 14, 2009

Okay, big news for the week was that Liliana was baptized on Saturday! It was a wonderful experience and probably the best day of my mission. She is such a fantastic example to everyone. It was my first baptism that something didn’t go crazily wrong, so we were pretty thankful. Irmã Call and I spent all day really nervous and anxiously awaiting whatever it was that we were going to have to deal with….but it never came. I guess we covered it all with our last baptism together in Coimbra. It really was a great example of the miracles that can happen when the members and the missionaries work together. It looked like a picture out of Preach My Gospel during the baptism. She was so well supported by people from both branches; we had more people at the baptism than we usually have in church! Plus she then bore a very sweet testimony about how she knew she was gaining a family in the church since her family isn´t really a family. Her father has passed away, her mother is in a metal institution and her sister is still living with the foster family ( since none of her aunts or uncles here would take them in) that kicked Liliana out when she turned 18. Needless to say everyone cried especially when the closing song was Families can Be Together Forever.

We also had a fantastic lesson with Carla, who has recently told us that she didn´t believe in God, because she couldn´t understand why bad things happened. Well, what did we do, we prepared a lesson on the plan of Salvation and prayed a lot. The lesson went really well and we ended up talking with her this week and she said she knows she needs to be baptized; she is just worried about her family now. We are making progress….it was pretty exciting.

Other than that, we have pretty much become the primary in our ward seeing as all of the kids seem to think it is more fun to follow the Irmãs around. It is kinda funny really, but hey, if it means that their parents have great experiences at church it is worth it. Speaking of primary, the program went really well and I am SO HAPPY it is over. I have a whole new respect and love for those who work in Primary and especially those who had me. Thank you for that.

Well, time is up but I LVOE YOU ALL and hope that you have a wonderful Christmas season for now. We haven´t really realized it is Christmas seeing as how we are still running around in short sleeves, but the lights and music are proving us wrong. Have a great one, and don´t forget why we celebrate!

Irmã Ray

December 21, 2009

Well, this week was the Christmas celebration week! President was here, we had the district of Madeira party, and we had the 1st counselor of the area presidency (Elder Caussé) here to talk to just us 10 missionaries for a whole day. It was awesome, even if we wanted to die we were so tired at the end of the week. President had a bad habit of keeping us out way later than we were supposed to be, but it was always his fault. Kinda funny. However, it was great fun.

We have also discovered that Caroling is not a Portugese activity. Irmã Call and I attempted to carol to people instead of knocking doors. Unfortunately, not a single person listened to us. Not that they weren´t home, just that they told us to go away. Now, I know we are not the Tabernacle choir here, but we are not THAT bad, and who doesn´t like good old Christmas Carols. Blast.

The weather also decided that it couldn´t be sunny and warm since it was almost Christmas, so now it is rainy and only kinda warm. The funny part is that we are on a mountain right, so when it rains, the streets become rivers. Now, not just a little bit, we were walking in water that went over our shoes a good two inches. Too bad we didn´t have our cameras. Now I understand why all the main streets have rivers in the middle of them, it isn´t to be pretty, it is to keep the city from floating away when it rains. We had a grand time singing on our way down the mountain at the top of our lungs...good thing I am with Irmã Call, she does crazy things like that with me.

On a sadder note, we had the worst lesson of my life last night. We are working really really hard with a family....the parents are menos activo, the 14 year old son isn´t a member and the 35 year old son (still living at home) is super active, but also a jerk. So we are trying to teach his brother and get his parents to stop smoking and drinking. So we had a really good lesson last night until Nelson (the older son) decided that the end of the lesson was a good time to apologize to his family for the mess he has been creating lately. We were thinking, okay that is good, until he started to tell everyone else why they were wrong, and things escalated in about 2 seconds to where the three adults were all yelling at top of their lungs, throwing things, hitting things, swearing up a storm and there were two missionaries and one member who came with them scared to death on the couch. So we stood up, and walked out the door....well more like ran scared for our lives especially when we could still hear them all they was outside of the building. It made us VERY thankful for our families and for everything that you have done to raise us not to be idiots.

Interestingly enough, the very next lesson we marked someone for baptism. Weird how there can be such hi and lows withing one hour! There really are two teams in the world and unfortunately Satan never goes on vacation.

Well, hope that everyone has a marvlelous Christams seaons and a great week. Love you all!

Irmã Ray"

The Best way to write Sarah is: (Ok this is a change, pay attention)

A) Since Sarah is on the Island, the best way to send anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through regular US mail is below. This method requires US $.98 postage for letters. (Better check this out, it should be the same as before)

Sister Sarah Ray
Rua de Ponte Nova
nº 12 5P
9000 Funchal
Madeira
Portugal

B) The alternate way is of course Dearelder that may eventually get to her.
1) On the internet go to dearelder.com website.
2) There is a drop down box on the right hand side down just a couple inches. Enter her mission which is Portugal Porto 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.

This site does require US $.98 Postage. You can set up an account and it will deduct the postage each time you write.

Life on the Island!

So, Sarah succeeded in preparing a Thanksgiving dinner on the mish! She also recieved a black eye from the days events.... want to know more? Read her recent letters below, and when you are done send her some Christmas love via the address below. Christmas is the PERFECT time to let her know you're thinking of her - ENJOY!
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"November 30, 2009

So first off I have decided that there is nothing like thanksgiving in a different country to make you thankful for your mother. Espcially when that thanksgiving includes being given the responsibility to make the Turkey and Gravy for 10 missionaries in a place that is not accustomed to turkey or gravy. We definitely were missing the great boxed foods of America, but I must say that our tiny little Madeira Zone managed to show our half native group what a real Thanksgiving should be like. Unfortunately the only football we had was about half the size of a real football so our Turkey bowl was a little interesting and in compromise we ended up playing futbol for half of the time as well. However, we did not get to play the whole time seeing as how 3 seconds into the game I managed to put myself in between the ball and the goal in a way that currently have a bit of a black eye....Luckily no one scored! I decided I would stick to American football seeing as how our team won that one. Of course it was really just Irmã Call and I against each other since we were the only ones able to defend against each other.

In other news we have started teaching a girl who lives in what used to be a convent. She however, is not a nun, is just guarded by one. Funny huh. Luckily the nun hasn´t opened the door yet when we go over there.Speaking of that however, we have been meeting with a member who was the 3rd to be baptized on the island, and who used to be a nun. The only problem is that she is really old and starting to lose her mind, so between showing up to church in her temple clothing and still thinking she is married to Jesus Christ sometimes, our lessons are a bit interesting.

However our most exciting news is that Liliana is going to be baptized on the 14th of December!!! We are pretty excited for that and for her.

Hope that the week was great for everyone.

Irmã Ray

December 7, 2009

Well, this week was yet another fantastic week on the Island. Liliana is golden and decided that she wanted to move her baptism up to this Saturday instead. So now we are running around like crazy trying to get everything done and just as happy as ever about it. To add to the good news we were able to mark somone else for the beginning of January. Her name is Lidia and she has 3 kids who are cute, but impossible to manage. Basically Irma Call and i just play babysitters at church trying to keep them from bugging their mom so that she can feel the spirit. However, they are going to participate in the Primary Program next week, and they actually didn´t cry to be left there this week. Speaking of the Primary Program, I have been roped into doing the music since I arrived here....but luckily I was able to knock that down to just playing the Piano and leaving the rest up the the branch.

So funny story of the week. The Elders passed up a less active family that they are all women because we can enter the house and they can´t. However, they forgot about the appointment we were supposed to have to basically pass the baton. So, Irmã Call and I ended up setting out on our own with the directions of get off the bus when you see this and they should be waiting in the courtyard. Well, goes without saying that we were slightly apprehensive about these directions, but as we arrived in the courtyard there was a little kid on a bike who got really excited, said you are here, and I will show you where to go. That meant that Irmã Ray started repenting in her heart for thinking bad things about the Elders directions. My feeling bad moments lasted until we went inside and realized that it was definitely NOT the family we were looking for, but was a member family who then said "we didn´t know you were coming but we are excited for your lesson." So we taught them and after all sorts of other funny things finally found the people we were actually looking for. So it all worked out allright. Luckily it was not the same day that BOTH Irmã Call and I managed to leave the house without nametags....that was kinda bad, and we both felt super weird all day. It kinda made me realize just how strange I have gotten on the mission.

That being said I LOVE THE MISSION. I have really found the reason that I am here at this time here on the Island. It is strange to think that if I had gone on a mission at any of the other times that I had considered serving, I would not have been here now having the experiences that I am having. I have no doubts that the Lord has lead my life so that I could be here in Funchal at this time, because I needed to be. It is a pretty great feeling to know that you are in exactly the right place doing the right thing at the right time.

Anyway, that you all for your love and support. Have a marvelous Christmas season, and I will talk to you all next week!

Irmã Ray"

The Best way to write Sarah is: (Ok this is a change, pay attention)

A) Since Sarah is on the Island, the best way to send anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through regular US mail is below. This method requires US $.98 postage for letters. (Better check this out, it should be the same as before)

Sister Sarah Ray
Rua de Ponte Nova
nº 12 5P
9000 Funchal
Madeira
Portugal

B) The alternate way is of course Dearelder that may eventually get to her.
1) On the internet go to dearelder.com website.
2) There is a drop down box on the right hand side down just a couple inches. Enter her mission which is Portugal Porto 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.

This site does require US $.98 Postage. You can set up an account and it will deduct the postage each time you write.