Ray Out There

Being Happy

2010-11-23T12:18:00.003-05:00

I have the secret! Okay, no secret. You caught me. However, I have had some personal insight lately. I have actually been meaning to write this post for a couple of weeks now, but I haven't gotten the chance (or motivation). So, even though I already posted once today, I will put this one up as well. They just didn't go together... I am actually going to be somewhat serious in this post. I have been thinking quite a bit lately about what exactly happiness means. As many before me have already concluded, there is not right answer, secret recipe or magic potion to create happiness. It is a choice, a choice that has to be made over and over again, often minute by minute. Now this is not to say that if you are not happy 100% of the time, you are failing and it is your own fault. Life is hard, and sometimes that choice to be happy is a very difficult one. There are many factors that play into our lives, and I am in no way an expert, nor do I pretend to be able to comment on them. However, in various conversations and experiences over the past couple weeks I have come to the conclusion that there are two large factors that we CAN control that contribute to happiness!

1. Faith. I know, hard right. It is hard to have faith, hope and patience when trials seem to stretch on forever and have no end. It is hard to have faith when the future is scary. It is hard to have faith when there is uncertainty. However, the knowledge that our Heavenly Father has a plan for us is comforting. Sometimes I wish he would give me a bit more of a sneak peak, but even knowing that there is a plan is helpful when it is hard to see my own plan. I just need to have a little more trust, and chose to know that it is all going to work out better than I could ever plan. To borrow a line from Bishop Edgley "Choose faith over doubt, choose faith over fear, choose faith over the unknown and the unseen, and choose faith over pessimism." It is a choice. I chose to be happy and have faith.

2. In keeping with the current season, the second secret is gratitude. Being grateful really does make a difference. We were talking about happiness in one of the group therapy sessions that I was in at clinicals. I wish I could remember who had written the article (a non-LDS affiliated article by the way) but he made an interesting point. The article said that no grateful person is unhappy and all happy people are grateful. This really struck me, and I realized exactly how true it is. When we take time to realize just how blessed we really are, the problems don't seem so big. Life really is Beautiful :) Who knew the song "Count your blessings" was right!

Random Thoughts

2010-11-23T11:22:00.004-05:00

Thought #1: I have decided all entertainment actually has some basis in fact. During clinicals this past week we started classifying people's lives as to where they fit. I have known people who literally have lives like soap operas. This is a bit sad, but true. The majority of my friends seem to have lives like Disney movies (at their own admittance). I however, have a life like a sitcom. All of the hilarious coincidences, random happenings, and very funny awkward situations actually happen in my life. Now I know you are thinking, there is no way some of those things could ever happen in real life, it is just too much like the perfect storm. Nevertheless, that is my life. It is pretty funny. At least I always have good stories!

Thought #2: Going along with thought #1, I have also decided that I am insane. Now before you laugh that off or decide that you already knew that, hear me out. Everyone uses the definition of insanity as doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. I had an epiphany yesterday as I decided that is exactly describes dating. Now for the disclaimer, I am not against dating, I actually enjoy dating most of the time. It was just a funny though that I wanted to share... I personally seem to do the same thing over and over again with people that I am interested in, and always seem to come up with the same result....Insanity :) Now I actually have proof that I'm going just a little bit crazy!

Thought #3: Why do people who go to the gym worry about parking as close as possible. Aren't you there to exercise? So does it really matter if you have to walk an extra 20 feet? Doesn't seem to make sense to me. Oh well, the world is a funny place. Good thing we all can laugh!

Multi-Tasking

2010-10-21T13:58:00.002-04:00

Everyone says that girls are great at multi-tasking. I would agree with that. However, I have found that my multi-tasking has a limit. Yesterday I was attempting to do an assignment while curling my hair. For those of you who have never curled your hair, it can be a dangerous practice waving that curling iron around. While in the process, I received a phone call from a friend whom I hadn't spoken to in a long time. So of course, I took the call. Well, to all of you who doubt that I could curl my hair, do my homework, and talk on the phone at the same time, you are wrong. I was successful. However, my attention was slightly distracted to everything else. So I grabbed my hairspray to make sure that the curls would stay and sprayed it on. Right about then I looked in the mirror and realized I had a problem. My hair was all of a sudden covered in white foamy stuff. After a second of confusion I looked in my hand and realized the bottle I had grabbed from underneath my counter was not the intended hair spray, but instead the scrubbing bubbles bathroom cleaner. Oops. Needless to say I had to start all over on my hair, and cut down the tasks I am doing at the same time. Slowly but surely I am losing my mind :)

Good Times!

2010-10-11T18:23:00.008-04:00

I LOVE FALL! The crispness to the air that comes as it starts to cool down, the fresh feeling all around, and especially college football! It is one of my very favorite times in Utah. Although it only lasts for a very short time, I love watching the colors creep down the mountains. The steady march from Green, to yellow and red to brown is really quite stunning. Then they fall to the earth, and we get to have the fun of stepping on the crunchy leaves.

It reminds one that life is cyclic...that things are always changing, but that the change is not necessarily bad. It is interesting as well to think that something so beautiful comes from the leaves dying. Normally people think of death as a bad thing. With leaves, it is a necessary thing...that might be a challenge to the tree. However, there is always a Spring that follows the fall (after a crazy cold period of time known as Winter...) and everything comes to life again. Kinda like real life...sometimes we have challenges that seem fatal, but we can always find the beauty during that time, and eventually that passes, life goes on, and flowers come again.

So enough for my pondering thoughts at the moment.
I went hiking up Logan Canyon and here are some of the pretty pictures! I wish I had a better camera...but at least you get a bit of a feel for how it looked. I was surprised at how pretty the whole canyon was. I had never been there before, but I hope to make it back!

Beginnings and Endings

2010-08-23T23:02:00.002-04:00

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."

A true, and bittersweet statement as I am once again experiencing.

Change is a constant in life. If we never moved forward none of us would ever have made it to elementary school, to middle school, moved on to high school, college, or a job. Without change, we would all miss out on a whole lot of good things. Even with that knowledge, change is sometimes hard.

As my family begins to move to Utah I have been surprised at how sad I am about the move. I have been away from Georgia for 6 years but it is still home to me! We have been here for the past 20 years and I have lived in this house since 2nd grade. The memories that live in this house would take forever to mention. Countless Christmases, birthdays, parties, my first date-boyfriend-and subsequent break up, leaving for college, my mission call, late night conversations with my brothers, and a million other fleeting moments that will linger here unknown by the next owners of this house.

The Peachtree Corners Ward knew me as a Sunbeam, and Young Woman and a member of the Relief Society. I understand a bit of what some people must feel about me when I see the kids I used to babysit going off to college...

So now as I am looking at goodbye it doesn't actually feel real. A large part of me feels as if I am just going off to school the same as every other semester and I'll be back for Christmas. Although it won't be Christmas, I will be back eventually.

It is sad to say goodbye, but on the other hand, there is a door open for new opportunities. I am excited to see what is around this bend in the road...

32 months

2010-08-15T21:32:00.003-04:00

It has been 32 months since my family has all been in the same room....

I am happy to say that this Friday that was changed! I came home from efy in California on Saturdsay (well really Sunday morning), Andrew returned from his mission in Las Vegas West on Tuesday, Dad and Bryan came in from Utah on Friday. So as of about 1am on Saturday, we were once again gathered around the island in our kitchen. It was so much fun!!! I had forgotten how funny my brothers are, especially when they get around each other.

I am so thankful for family! Especially mine. I feel so blessed that I have them, and convinced that I have the best family in the entire world. Thanks guys!!!!

Making Up

2010-08-09T21:43:00.003-04:00

So I have been duly chastised for my lack of blogging in the recent months. I apologize to all those avid readers... the two that I have :)

In keeping with the theme...I will chronicle my summer adventures. I was once again working with the efy program as a health counselor. I was assigned to the California team. As a result I also HAD to go to Hawaii, part of which we just had to hang out waiting for our next session to start. As I have been told that a picture is worth a thousand words....I will post pictures. My camera speaks better than I do!

However, it was a fantastic trip. We were able to stay after for a couple days and we rented a little house across the street from the Hukilau beach. It was gorgeous weather, and the perfect break in the middle of the efy press for the summer. We were so lucky to be there. I have decided that it is a far better option to go to BYU Hawaii during the winter months. Too bad there is no nursing program.

Now in an effort to keep this from being overwhelming and boring, I am done. However, I will keep my eye out for the funny stories since i have no more big trips. Hopefully the next post will be more entertaining, but at least I have started again!

Irma Sarah Ray's Last Mission Post!

2010-03-23T12:36:00.001-04:00

Well, perhaps she'll make a POST-mission post (I'm sure she'll make many of them actually), but this is the last one I will be making for her and while she is ON her mission. I am SO thankful for her constant example and uplifting (and often hilarious) stories she took the time to share. All I know is she has shown us all, including our Heavenly Father that she will Return With Honor. She has blessed SO many lives there and back at home.

I am also SO thankful for all of you who took time to read about and take interest in her mission, and that wrote and supported her. From one heart to another (as cheesy as that sounds), thank you so much - or danke! Y'all really made and contributed to her mission and the success she had out there. I'm sure she feels the same.

Now, enjoy her last post and get STOKED (I know I am!) to talk with her again face-to-face/via phone or internet again! Thanks again for the support you gave my best friend, and this is me signing off...
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"Editor Note (Sarah's Dad): Well it has been fun and quite the memorable journey for Irma Sarah and all of us. As she says all good things come to an end and this is the last "News from Portugal". It has been a wonderful experience to share with each of you the experiences that Sarah has been having serving the people of Portugal. Thank you so much for your love, support and kindness that you have shown Sarah. I hope you have enjoyed the journey as well.

From Sister (Irma) Sarah Ray

March 22, 2010

Well, unfortunately eventually all things come to an end. So bummer for all of you, there will be no more incredibly entertaining, spiritually inspiring, (junk taking up space in your inbox) editions of the Chronicles of Portugal. Sad day, I know you will all be feeling the lack very deeply. As a result I will try and make up for that at this moment:

Besides the fact that my companion has been singing "you say goodbye and I say hello" to me nonstop for the past week, we have managed to get quite a lot of work done. We found two new investigators that are super solid and Carla started answering her phone again. WOOHOO. She is back on track to be baptized and even agreed to get out a calendar and mark two visits with per week all the way until April 17th aka, baptism day. We are super pumped. We were pretty worried that she wouldn´t show up for our appointment because it was raining. (we have to teach her in the church because even though she is 35 she still lives with Mom and Mom doesn´t like the missionaries.) Of course Irmã Ebeling I and do not understand why a little thing like rain could stop anyone...especially seeing as how we had forgotten our umbrellas that day and were at that point, completely soaked head to toe. So we did a lot of praying all day that the rain would stop, and that we could teach her. As a result two miracles happened.

1. A member took pity on us, gave us new clothes to change into, umbrellas and cookies. Life doesn´t get any better.

2. Carla showed up! Even though it was raining, and was even invited to Church by the Relief Society president who happened to be in the chapel setting up for the RS birthday party!

It is amazing the way that Heavenly Father works through all of his children to answer prayers. I am continually amazed at the love that he has for us, that I am only starting to comprehend. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have had to concentrate, to serve, and to live the gospel in every aspect of my life. The church is true and our Heavenly Father loves us more than we can comprehend. We just need to trust in him and everything will always work out....even the impossible

Just to go out with a laugh.....

So just in case you were worried that we had found normal people, I will introduce you to someone that I will sorely miss here on the Island.

Ascenção. She used to be a nun. She is the third person who was baptized on the island and is in some unknown (but very debated and gossiped about) way very very rich. Of course she is also crazy (just like everyone else on Madeira). She has Alzheirmers and as a result some times resorts to thinking she is going to marry Jesus even though she has been married in the temple. She also has this complex that her whole family is trying to kill her to steal her money. She is convinced that her nephew has broken into her house to steal the bottom half of her dentures. So she shocked the whole ward in that she showed up for testimony meeting a while ago in her temple clothes. She was convinced that God had told her she was going to die that day and she wanted to be prepared. We have to go visit her about once a week just to make sure that she hasn´t lost her keys again and gotten locked in her apartment (yes this has ~happened before.....we got to try and talk to her through the door and tell her to call the firemen). Basically she is hilarious and she is also the source of our plague of fleas. However, as a result of this story I am proud to announce that after a week and a half of a hard battle, the sisters have come out victorious in our battle, and our apartment is bischu free.

Well, time is up, so sadly this is the end. All who have had the best intentions of writing me but never actually mailed those letters... all future correspondence can be directed to ray.sarahl@gmail.com, or

4343 Whittington Way

Norcross GA 30092

LOVE YOU ALL and thank you so much for the continued support.

The soon to be former,

Irmã Ray

Sidenote: Sarah, you will ALWAYS be "Irma Ray" in many hearts - love you bestie... :)

The last month in Portugal!

2010-03-22T12:30:00.003-04:00

Here's another updated from our beloved Irma Ray! It took me awhile to post as I was in Switzerland last week, so I apologize. Enjoy!
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

P.S. THERE ARE PICTURES BELOW!!! :)

"March 1, 2010

Hey hey...

Just to let you know.....in case you were following the weather here, we are fine and we are staying in areas away from our apartments because the weather is predicted to be bad again. We are safe and happy, just frustrated because we can´t do any work.....we are being held prisoners by our members who are taking care of us.... I got to clean up a lot of mud. We actually helped clean out the Funchal theater that had become completely covered in mud. I felt a little crazy spraying a huge hose inside of a theater, but in the end it looked really good. We were pretty proud of ourselves. We also organized a food and clothing drive to help the hundreds of people who have been left homeless over the past week. It was quite the interesting experience, because we really had the chance to see the good in everyone. It is amazing to see the people all come together and to see people who don´t have anything giving to the people who have even less. It has also made me realize even more what is really important in life....like family! I am now a firm believer in food storage. I always was, but now I have other reasons!

I wish i had some cool missionary story to tell you, but since we have just been cleaning that is about it. GO figure. We did get some pretty good public relations though as everyone seemed to know us by the end of the week. We even had quite a few people in church this week. Of course half of them happened to be English, so I had the opportunity to translate all the meetings and realize just how bad my English really is now. Uh oh.

Well love you lots!!!
Irmã Ray

March 8, 2010

Well, we have officially transferred over to missionary work again. I am pretty glad because I feel like someone is trying to steal my days and the harder I hold on the faster they fall through my fingers. It was a little tough with the transition because the public transportation still is not working, but it was good. We actually had the opportunity to find a bunch of new people, so we are excited. Also we managed to mark Carla for baptism. Unfortunately it will not be until after I leave, but that is okay.

We had a weird week because President and Irmã Walton were here, but while they were here they received the news that their son-in-law had passed away from cancer. So Irmã Walton is once again in the states for two weeks. It just seems like they are being hit from every side. Last transfer it was Presidents Mom who passed away. That on top of all of the craziness on the Island has really been hitting home how fast things can change and how much harder they are becoming. Signs of the times right.....luckily we are able to help a lot of people still. People are a little more open, it seems that almost everyone knew someone who lost a house, a life, who knows what in the flood. Really makes you want to be a better person always.

Love you!!

Irmã Ray

March 15, 2010

Well, this week was quite the adventure. It started off when we were able to diagnose the problem with our apartment. My companion has a fondness for all animals that also happen to be found in the street. I have put an abrupt end to this as our apartment is now infested with FLEAS. Yes, that is right. I made it all the way to the last week of my mission without getting fleas (of which I was very proud because it is common here), but apparently, there was no way to avoid it completely. Tragic story that has led to an arsenal of bug sprays and a psychotic amount of cleaning. However, I think we are starting to see a retreat in the polginhos and I hope that we have managed to evict them soon.

Speaking of cleaning, we have once again put on the jeans and t-shirts and made it into the trenches of the floods. We spent an entire day shoveling mud out of a members house, following which we adapted the Portuguese cleaning method and just pulled the hose inside and sprayed everything down. Luckily everything is Portugal is made of tile, so that is common. You just pull up all the space rugs and put about 3 inches of water on the floor and the sweep (yes, with a broom) all the water out into the street. At this point, you start all over again. After about 3 hours of squirting and sweeping we managed to discover the original floor of the house! MIRACLES!

So, what made the cleaning even more interesting is the family we are helping. Alberto (dad) used to be a professional pianist playing in the huge resorts here on the Island. The funny thing is that he is also the ward pianist. He like to take creative license as well, therefore turning every hymn into something that you would be more likely to hear on an elevator. This confuses many of the members, leading to a very out of tune congregation and a very angry chorister. (Augustino, who vaguely resembles a cross between a dwarf and a umpa-lompa, who then starts snapping his fingers at Alberto and will randomly stop the congregation and make him start over again). Not one to let people be confused by the piano playing, his wife( Adelide) has taken it as her duty to lead everyone in singing....outdone in volume and pitch problems only by her son. The entire family is a bit ...okay, completely crazy and really just makes us laugh the whole time. We had used a mop on the upstairs of their house to dry the floor, so while we were spraying out the downstairs Alberto thought it would be a good idea to use it again. As he said " how about we use that thing that does this (as he waves his arms back and forth as if he had a mop)." I. Ebeling and I could hardly contain our laughter. We figured his house hadn´t been cleaned in about 10 years, so the flood was probably the best thing that ever happened to them. Alberto was so excited to be cleaning we just couldn´t help but laugh. Sometimes the missionary life is just to crazy to be real. I think I have walked in on some crazy movie that just doesn´t make sense. I LOVE IT.

Anyway, aside from the crazies (of which there are many more here in Funchal-character sketches in the future) we managed to find some new people, teach some old ones and help too menos activos come back to church. It was a great week and this one will be even better. LOVE YOU ALL

Irmã Ray

PS Today we climbed Pico Ruivo-the highest peak on Madeira....pictures attached."

No address for Sarah will be posted as it is now too late to write anymore - I hope y'all made time to do it before!

Floods & Mudslides!

2010-02-22T16:41:00.003-05:00

Okay - So, Sarah is fine! I know that some of you might have been worried about her if you had heard about all the flooding in Portugal, but she's okay. STILL, keep her in your prayers please as she pulls through (ands helpls thousands there pull through) this last month of her mission. I know she is working hard and really loves those people - they're blessed to have her there in this time of crisis. I also encourage anyone who would like to join me in a fast for Sarah to do so this Sunday. I know it's not fast Sunday quite yet, but I'm going to fast for her and the people of Madeira. Thanks to all for showing her the love, and her most recent update!
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

Editor Note from Sarah's Dad: Sarah is safe, as well as all the missionaries in Madeira. Thank you all who have reached out and shown concern. We got a call early yesterday morning from the Mission President. He said that the main video footage you have been seeing on the news is the street that Sarah is on. You can see her door, if you knew where to look. Check out the following

Sarah's street is at 1:12 into the video.

"February 22, 2010

Don´t worry, I am fine. All of the missionaries on the Island are fine. President said that he already talked to you today, but we should email anyway because as of now we are at a members house and have internet, which we probably won´t have tomorrow. So here is the deal, from what we understand there is a whole lot of things showing on the news, and it looks super bad. Madeira has been hit by a series of super heavy storms that it was not prepared for. As a result all of the drainoff Ribeiras have overflowed, and flooded a large part of the city, as well as taking out a whole lot of houses in the poorer regions. We also happen to be on an island that is just mountains, so there are a whole lot of landslides and mudslides which have covered and-or taken out of the roads on the whole island. It is pretty rough in a lot of places, but we have enough water to last us a while. We didn´t have electricity for two days, and we still don´t have running water, but it will be okay. We actually live in one of the worst parts because we are right in the middle of the two main drain-rivers so we are still wtihout water, but a lot of people already have water again. We were able to shower at a members house, and if needs be we can kick the Elders out for a couple of hours- the part of Funchal where they live doesn´t have problems. They actually canceled church today and we just went around helping people try and dig out their houses or get things out of their house before it colapsed. Kinda reminded me of tornado clean up....except with a whole lot of mud and huge boulders everywhere, really you would think we were back in a third world country. It is absolutely crazy, but really an eye opening experience. We are starting to understand better some of the passages from Revelations. Today we were able to bring water to some people who didn´t have any ( I know, like anyone wants any more water after being flooded for three days and the whole island falling into the ocean), and it was actually pretty funny. No one had water, and we heard that one store was open, so we went and managed to buy 18 5-liter bottles of water. The problem then became how to move that between the two of us. Well, as I have lots pretty much all fear and shame on the mission, I asked the security guy if we could use the cart to get home and then we would bring it back. Well, the benefit of being in a little place is that he said yes. So, there we were pushing our grocery cart full of water bottles down the streets that are completely flooded with mud, trees and boulders in the rain (yup, still was raining, luckily not so bad). It was pretty funny actually- that little cart was durable, it made it all the way down the mountain (it took both of our weight to keep it from running away, but we managed.) When we got it back later it was super funny to see it in the line with the rest looking like it had lived through a war. We also were able to help evacuate a family from their house, which is going to fall into the RIbeira any second.We only have one member of the church who was injured and it was the house we were helping to try and evacuate today. Their house is the only house ruined I think, but her husband was in the hospital since half the house collapsed and he was hurt. Unfortunatley, there isn´t a whole lot we can do to help the majority of the people. They won´t leave their houses even though they are in super dangerous situations, I think they don´t believe it could happen, even though the majority of houses are trashed all around them, if they still exist. President has told us that this whole week will just be service pretty much so we are trying to help people get their lives back in order. Pray that we don´t have too much rain in the near future. It is supposed to start up again in a couple of hours, so we will see what happens. Who knew that our little island would make it to world news! I guess we are famous now! I would sent you pictures, but I don´t have my camera cord, and unfortunately, the store that had my pin drive (with all of my mission pictures on it) was wiped out, so I guess we did have a casualty. However, I will take it, becase we made it out WAY better than a lot of people. Don´t worry Mom, we are very protected, Don´t freak out, I will show you the crazy pictures and tell the crazy stories in a couple weeks. LOVE YOU SO MUCH. I don´t know if we will be able to email for a while, so know that everything is good and we are being checked on by church headquarters every couple of hours.

We are still safe, we actually lucked out yesterday in that we couldn´t get back to our apartment, so we got permission to stay with the members whos house we were in, and now can email again! It was great because we then had running water! Yay for being able to flush the toilet. Simple pleasures. It keeps on raining here, so we are doing our best to help while staying safe at the same time. Send my love to everyone there and thank them for their prayers.

Irmã Ray

February 15, 2010

Okay first things first...

Three more thank yous to people birthday cards who have been liberated from the crazy Portuguese Mail service

Rachel Weintraub

Jon

Kevin Sutterfield

I am actually super excited to be serving with Irmã Ebeling. She is super nice and a great missionary, so it will be a great way to end the mission. This week was crazy with losing Irmã Call to the Continente and getting a new irmã. Because of the flight schedules I got to hang out with the couple missionary on the island since I didn´t really have a companion for a couple hours (Irmã Call left at 6:30 and Irmã Ebeling didn´t get here until 11). It was quite the interesting experience, and one more Irmã is lucky enough to be on the island. She is super happy to not be freezing anymore. Speaking of which....WOW, 3 inches of snow in Georgia! That is incredible. How long has it been since that happened. Good thing you are getting out of town to Florida. I can´t say that anything too interesting happened this week. Sorry that my emails seem to be getting progressively lamer. I will try and remember the funny stories next week. That being said, I LOVE YOU all and I hope that everything is going well!

Irmã Ray

PS.

Wait...I remembered the funny story

This week was Carnival. Right. Well, the spectacle and parade happened to be in our area and passing as we were trying to get home. It was quite the theatrical experience, the fireworks were great, the clothing was very little and the dancing talent even less. Irmã Ebeling and I joked that we should have just joined in as both of us took Ballroom classes at BYU our skill would have out shined them for sure. There have also been people dressed up in the streets all week, and the festivities will continue with huge parades that are open to anyone who wants to march in costume. We even did our own dressing up to help out at a party the red cross threw for little old ladies who live alone. We also thought it was hilarious that one of our investigators sent her son to the costume party dressed up as an Elder. I think that means we are making progress with her. Now if she would just come to church!

LOVE YOU TONS

Irmã Ray

THANKS!"

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.

Another Week (Or Three) on the Island!

2010-02-10T15:05:00.003-05:00

Here is another update from our beloved, Irma Ray! She seems to really be working hard (of course) and loving the work there in Madeira. I am so proud of her, as I am sure many of you are as well. Please continue to sen love her way and write her in this last month and a half of her mission. She will definitely need and love it!

- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

Sidenote: There IS a picture at the bottom... and I must say, the more selfish side of me is pretty stoked to have her home soon! Haha.... Enjoy!

"January 25, 2010

Well this weeks adventure has been trying to do missionary work without a cell phone. I had never realized how dependent we really are on modern technology until I came here. Okay, so I knew i was bad, but the mission has definitely made me appreciate running water and electricity (the bills the office didn´t pay so that it was cut in our apartment), central heating and air conditioning ( which doesn´t exist), and most recently the cell phone. We don´t actually know what happened, but our phone has taken to going on an every other day strike. It is kinda funny, we have used it to make better friends with our neighbors. Probably because we have to knock their doors and ask to use their phone to let President know. Luckily, we are getting a new phone tomorrow....or at least we hope.

We have actually finally been able to find a service project here in Funchal. As of this week we are officially part of the Red Cross of Portugal and we get to help do the clothes donations every week. The people there are really great, and even after just one week we have found a couple opportunities to share the gospel with people. No one seems to believe that we would give up our whole lives to come to a place we had never heard of and try and help people for 18 months. When you put it that way, I find it hard to believe too- but being here I know it is totally worth it!

We have also managed to strengthen our testimony of prayer this week. We took our ward mission leader and his daughter to an appointment this week. It went great until we got in the elevator to leave. Then Carlos decided that it would be really fun to start jumping up and down. He changed his mind about 3 seconds later when the elevator stopped some where between the 2nd and 3rd floor. Ooops. Needless to say they starting screaming and pushing buttons while Irmã Call and I did what we had decided would be most effective...we prayed. Shortly thereafter the elevator started again. We have decided that next time we teach with Carlos, we are taking the stairs...his daughter is coming with us. I think that about sums it up for the life is Madeira. We are having a blast and are very thankful that we are not freezing. Sorry to all of you who are. I will send sunshine your way. Have a great week and thanks for everything

Irmã Ray

February 2, 2010

First off I want to send a huge thank you to all of those who participated in overwhelming our post man. Okay, maybe not, but I was overwhelmed at the amount of birthday love. I don´t know if Dad announced over the pulpit that it was my birthday or that a new commandment was revealed that involved sending sister Ray birthday cards, but I am very grateful. Unfortunately I can not send individual thank yous, so here goes the list of those people who I would love to thank individually:

Brother and Sister Lee
Mark and Leah Geis
The Winters Family
Paige and Mike (who I am also excited to meet)
Paul
The PTC Relief Society Presidency
Brother and Sister Baltich
Bev Jones
Kathy Higginson
Brother and Sister Dean (the drawing was my favorite, how did you know my birthday wishes)
Grandma and Grandpa Crawley
Grandma and Grandpa Ray
Kevin and Janice
The Crosland clan
The Badham clan (won the funniest card award....)
The Gill-Peterson family
and especially you mom and dad!

THANK YOU to everyone. I felt quite celebrated during the entire week.

However, beside all of the love from home I think I received the best present ever in that Eva was baptized, and that our branch had two other baptisms on that day too! It was fantastic. Eva´s Mom also told us that she wanted to be baptized too. I just about died. People asking us to be baptized instead of the other way around.....something is too good to be true here. In fact, it actually was in that Diana still has to get married first, and she doesn´t want to do that. However, she will be baptized one day. Eva is adorable, we went over to see them the day before and she was just running around the house yelling about how she was going to be baptized tomorrow and then receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. IT was Hilarious! Of course then we get to the actual baptism and she was scared to go in the water because there were so many people there. So we ended up having to give her a cough drop to make her happy (thy think they are candy here...weird) and then we shut the doors of the font until she was there, and opened them at the last minute, after she had shut her eyes. Of course the second it was over she said "I want to do it again, I feel so good!" Super cute.

Well, that about sums up the week, we did a lot of teaching and a lot of laughing. I can hardly believe how much I have come to love this little island. It is fantastic and the people here are amazing. Love you all and have a great week!

Irmã Ray

February 8, 2010

Hey hey....

Well, Irmã Call´s time on the island here is up, and I am getting a new companion on Thursday.It will definitely be interesting and very different experience. My new companions name is irmã Ebeling and I think she is from Virginia. Not entirely sure....I will have to tell more next week. However, irmã Walton told me it was my job to lighten her up, so we will see how that goes.

This week was fun because President and Sister Walton were here again. We had district conference and all of the leadership was reorganized. It will be a very good thing for the island. Plus, it was a very good thing for us! Why you might ask....well Irmã Walton spent a whole day working with us (poor thing, she got some stellar lessons...seemed like all the crazies were out in force). Well, as we were dropping her off with President she said, oh don´t worry Irmãs, we will take you out to dinner. So we went out to dinner with President, irmã Walton and the 1st counselor in the mission presidency (someone from my Braga ward, so I know him pretty well). It was a lot of fun, and probably the best meal I have had. They also took us on a P-day adventure to one of the gardens we are too cheep to pay for.

We also decided that we needed to end Irmã Calls time in Madeira with a bang...which called for another themed district meeting. The theme of the week.....Madeira, obviously! See pictures. We even made the Elders so jealous that in the end they dressed up with us too! Andrew, these are you Portagaly dresses......

other than that, this week really hasn´t been to exciting. We have been teaching, finding, packing, teaching, laughing, finding, laughing, teaching....yeah, that about sums it up. Love you all!

Irmã Ray"
The Best way to write Sarah is:

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.

Happy 24th Irma Ray!!!!!!!!!

2010-01-30T17:02:00.003-05:00

Here's the latest from our favorite birthday girl! That's right, today IS Irma Ray's 24th Birthday, so if you haven't already be SURE and send her some love via mail/package & prayer. Let her know your thinking of her! Enjoy!
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

Editor Note (Aka: Dad): Remember it is Sarah's Birthday on January 30th, be sure and send her your cards, letters, love and wishes. Also, bad news, the mission President has reversed the rules and she can now only email parents. Sorry to everyone else, but back to the letters, she will not be able to email any of you.

"January 11, 2010

Well, this week was just another chapter in the adventures of Irmã Call and Irmã Ray. (By the way, I am taking nominations for the film we are making). So, we have been trying to discover a way in which we could become better missionaries. Unfortunately we have not been able to figure out what we were lacking. Thankfully however, we had some inspiration this week and have discovered the solution to become completely Preach My Gospel video worthy sister missionaries. So we discovered a large sack of left over Jody dresses in our apartment, which lead to a theme inspired District Meeting. I don´t know why we didn´t think of it before! Okay, sorry to anyone who actually wears Jody dresses in their mission, but here in Portugal it is not okay. Don´t worry, we changed our clothes again before leaving the chapel. Our favorite responses are included below

Wow, I think I just went back in time 40 years

Dorky Irmãs, really Dorky

Very strange looks from the Brazilians who didn´t know if we were joking or not

WHY?!?!?!

Basically we enjoyed it, and we had some good laughs. It was our way of spicing up a very rainy and long week. However, the bright side of the rain is that we saw a whole lot of Rainbows here, and that was cool.

Irmã Call and I have decided we are up for the most unified companionship in the world award. Due to the fact that we have so much fun and work so well together. Actually more due to the fact that we can´t seem to remember who is who anymore. Irmã Call had a day that she couldn´t seem to get the you and me with the right person. Shortly following that we were contacting a woman in the street and it went something like this:

Me “I am Irmã Call….wait no, she is Irmã Call, I am Irmã Ray”

I. Call: “ I didn´t even notice that was wrong!”

Yeah, we are crazy, but ya know, life is good. We actually had Claudia and her two kids in church this week and it was fantastic. Both the kids were so excited afterwards that they already made their mom ~promise to come every week. Filipa wanted to know what she has to do to come every week. They are a stellar family, well, the dad is crazy and Claudia needs a new job but other than that it is great.

Irmã Ray

January 18, 2010

Okay, so good news for the week:

Lidia was baptized this week! It was a crazy crazy day! We showed up at her house 45 minutes before and she said
"well, Pedro thinks it would be better next week so could we do it then?"

-us (inside) ARE YOU KIDDING....DO YOU REALIZE WHAT TIME IT IS!
-us (outloud)" everything is already ready...."
then she finally said well then, lets do it. However, then she told Pedro and he kept asking why, so we talked to him and said it was already ready and Lidia finally stood up for herself and said she was going, so we went!
It was actually a really sweet experience and a beautiful end to a very hectic day.

On other news we actually managed to mark Claudia and her children for baptism (thank you Andrew for the advice on teaching her). We don´t think they will be ready for their February date, but they are determined to work towards the goal and change their lives. It is probably the biggest change I have seen anyone make on my mission and it is just a fantastic testimony to the power of the gospel. Things have happened with that family that I never thought were possible, and it doesn´t have anything to do with us that is for sure. The Lord really is preparing people!

Well, that is about all the new and exciting news for the week. Love you all and keep up the good work.

Love Irma Ray"

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

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.

Happy New Years from Madeira!!!

2010-01-05T17:33:00.003-05:00

So, we're gonna start this entry with a note from Sarah's dad! Pictures are posted at the bottom of this entry - enjoy!

- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

Editor Note: Yes it is that time of year again, it is Sarah's birthday. So, in keeping with tradition, we are groveling for all to send her a birthday card for her birthday on the 30th of January. The best address is to use the one below that goes straight to Madeira. Thanks, she will love it.

"December 28, 2009

Well, this week doesn´t have a whole lot of new news seeing as how I talked to you recently, but it sure was fun! We are a bit bummed that Christmas is over because it was a great way for us to be able to contact people. Everyone would talk about Christmas, even if we had to resort to singing in the hospital in order to get anyone who would listen to our caroling. Now we are back to having to find other ways to contact people, such as asking directions( that one is my favorite seeing as how we are able to get ourselves lost quite frequently). One of Irmã Calls methods is asking people what they do for work....this one was a little awkward this week as we contacted someone whose response was that she worked a vida de noite...or life of the night. However, it means that she is always home during the day so we can teach her. It was actually a really funny experience, but we actually had a really good lesson with her and her (yeah get this) Husband and kid. I don´t know if they know what she does for work, but she had no hesitation in telling us. So we have started praying for her to find a new job, and we are teaching her family now. She also asked us to start teaching her mom and her brother- go figure.

On other news, we got transfer calls and the dynamic duo is sticking together for another transfer on the Island! We were expecting that but it was still nice to know for sure. I am pretty sure the island might explode before the end because we have so much fun together, but we also do some real hard work. It really is a great way to be finishing up my mission- just hope my last companion is this great. Lidia continues to progress and we are counting down the days to her baptism on the 9th. She is stellar and it is really cold to see how much her kids are learning too. She has a two year old boy and he is the cutest thing when he prays now. It is funny because her husband will not listen to us, but he is getting the lessons anyway because the kids always go tell him what he is doing wrong after. Kinda awkward. but kinda funny.

Anyway, time is short as always. LOVE YOU and thank you for everything you do!

Irmã Ray

"January 4, 2010

HAPPY NEW YEARS 2010- Year of Miracles

Wow, I can hardly believe that a whole year has gone by, it seems like yesterday that I arrived in Portugal, and now I am doing New Years again. However, this year was definitely a step up! Madeira once again made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for the fireworks show on New Years Ever. Seeing as how it is world famous, President gave all of the Madeira missionaries permission to stay out at a members house and watch the show. Well, we were way up in the mountains so we were able to see a good portion of the island since they have fireworks from every point. I will attach some pictures...the complete opposite of Bryan´s New Years....we stayed up super late and have been super tired trying to catch up. Worth it though!

It was pretty funny and we joked about how we started the new year off right, outside of our apartment way over time, and then i got trapped outside of the elevator and Irmã Call was inside the elevator....basically New Years day was quite the adventure of mishaps, but we managed to survive. Okay so this email is just a tiny bit lame, but nothing cool happened this week, and I feel lame writing the same things over and over again. I do love you though, and missionary work is awesome. The church is true and the gospel is worth it.

Plus I am on an American keyboard right now, so it is taking forever because I keep messing things up.....wow, I´m weird now. Irmã Call has taken to pointing out the weird things that we do and how I am going to be so strange when I get home. Will you still love me???

LOVE YOU

Irmã Ray

PS - Fotos from the fireworks and our p-day trail today....it actually has been kinda cold, we are using sweaters....then we got caught in the rain without umbrellas...oops. However, I am still not covered in ice so I am counting my blessings."

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

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.

Merry Christmas from the Island!

2009-12-24T05:35:00.003-05:00

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

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!

2009-12-09T13:12:00.002-05:00

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"

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.

Coming at you from a brand new location!

2009-11-24T14:55:00.004-05:00

Here's the latest! There's a big change going on for her - there's a picture at the bottom. Enjoy!!!

- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"November 16, 2009

Okay, so big news first....Remember how I said I expected to be in the coldest part of Portugal for the winter. I lied. Seems that I have won the transfer lottery and will be sweating out my Christmas on a tropical Island off the coast of Morocco. I am going to the Island to be with Irmã Call again. Weird....and REALLY exciting. So as a result of going to Madeira, my only workable address will be the island address and I would say to direct all mail there, because it will be my last area on the mission. Irmã Draper is loving that because she is inheriting all the clothes that I can´t take since we are only allowed one suitcase of 20kilos. Luckily, I don´t have to bring a coat because it doesn´t get that cold!

On other news,we now know what it is like to have a fire in Portugal. Our neighbors left the stove on when they left for the night so Irmã Draper and I were awakened to the sound of the firemen breaking down our neighbors door and putting out a fire that had resulted. Mom don´t worry...the only problem is the lingering smell on our floor. However, we did realize for the first time that there is no such thing as smoke alarms in Portugal....we prayed real hard before we went back to sleep, so I´m not worried :)

We have had a bit of a crazy week with transfer calls coming in, because the schedule is way different due to flight times for me. However, we have managed to get a good bit of work done, and we had an awesome lesson with Francisca, our investigator who is going to be baptized in a couple weeks. The only sad part about heading off the continent is that I won´t be able to come back and see the baptism.

Well, I am sure there is a whole lot of other exciting stuff, but Madeira pretty much trumps everything since there are only 10 missionaries there, it is pretty coveted. Irmã Draper has been looking at me about every 10 minutes for the past two days and saying something along the lines of.... you realize you are going to Madeira! Funny huh. Thank you all for your support and love.

LOVE YOU ALL

Irmã Ray

November 23, 2009

Well, this week has definitely been a whirlwind of a week. I had to say all of my goodbyes to the Mainland Portugal and then catch a plane to Madeira. It was quite the interesting experience and all happened a little bit faster than I was expecting. Irmã Draper thought I was nuts trying to take pictures of all of the trains, metro, everything that I am not going to do again on my mission. it was a bittersweet moment to be staying in the mission home the night before and realizing that the next time I would be there was my last night in Portugal.

HOWEVER, that being said I am now in pretty much the coolest place ever and loving the fact that I can use short sleeves in the middle of November. We live in Funchal, which is the biggest city on the Island and also the place where all the cruise ships come in everyday. It is absolutely gorgeous and we can actually see the ocean from our balcony. Yeah, life is great. We are actually working in two branches and that means lots of names and faces for me. Hopefully I will be able to get them down in the next four months. At least I know exactly what I am getting in to seeing as how President gave me my ticket and it happens to be one of the very few round trip tickets bought by the mission. Very weird. There are no real beaches, it is all rocky cliffs but it is BEAUTIFUL. I already know it is my favorite area, but not just because it is a cool place, but because I have already felt that I have made a difference here and I finally feel that I am here for a reason. I feel like my time is so short, which is funny because in the beginning I thought it would never end. Weird

We are currently getting ready for Christmas since we can see all of the lights all over the city, we are very anxious for them to be lit! Sorry all of you from Utah, but Funchal blows Temple Square out of the water....however, it will help Irmã Call and I feel a little more Christmas-y while we are walking around in our short sleeves.... We also have some fantastic investigators, one of whom I have already become very good friends with, her life is crazy, but she just started investigating the chruch and it is amazing to see the ways her life has changed in the past week. We are hoping to baptize Liliana in two weeks, so keep her in your prayers.

Well, time is up so I will attach some P-day hike pictues and then you will know a bit of how I feel, even though pictures never really do it justice. LOVE YOU ALL!

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

Chestnuts for Halloween?!

2009-11-09T15:35:00.004-05:00

Here's another fantastic update from your fave missionary! I thought it was interesting because she said for Halloween there, they roast chestnuts... Um, Christmas anyone? Haha... Who actually does that anytime actually? Ok - maybe you do. Sorry if that was offensive - haha!

- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"November 2, 2009

SO, this week was filled with all sorts of first. Who would have thought that I would be getting firsts this far along! However, we have a recent convert in our ward who is already less active. The Elders have been working with her, but as of this week we started preparing to help. Why would that need preparation you ask? Well, she is deaf so we have been starting to learn Portuguese Sign Language to be able to communicate. It is actually kinda fun, but very strange at times. When praying only the person praying closes their eyes because everyone else obviously needs to be able to watch, but it is still really weird. I also get to make up my own sign for my name....Anyone have suggestions? It is actually much easier to speak in sign that Portuguese because you don´t have all of the crazy verb conjugations...there really isn´t any grammer-you just throw all aspects of the sentence in there and everyone gets the gist. Weird.

Anyway, this week was the finale of the new student orientation-ish party that the university had, so we had a bit of time where there wasn´t really anything we could do outside of our apartment as it was quite the party in our area of Coimbra, we did have some interesting experiences trying to get home, but it was pretty funny. They have a huge parade where all the Coloiros, freshmen, are dressed up by their madrinhas in something related to the course they are in and then marched from the University all the way to the river where the madrinha or padrinho then baptizes them and they are officially recognized as students. However, they still can´t use the uniform for the first year. Yeah, pretty funny.

As for Halloween, that isn´t celebrated as much in Portugal except by the tradition of roasting chestnuts , so we had a ward activity in which we did just that. It put me in a very Christmasy mood as I then had "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" in my head all day. I have to admit though, roasted chestnuts are not my favorite and it seems all the fun came from the fact that your hands end up very black with soot and then everyone chases each other around trying to wipe blackness on them.

They also have November 1st as the day to visit your ancestors graves. SO, us being the followers that we are...we followed the people. This meant we also went to the cemeteries...armed with a whole bunch of Plan of Salvation pamphlets. It was actually really a great experience all the way up until it started pouring rain. Not too much of a problem except that I had left my umbrella in the house....oops. We had some amazing experiences and it really made me realize what my purpose is and how I have become a different person in the past year and um pouco. Who would have thought that one day I would be standing in a cemetery in the pouring rain praying with a woman in a different language and reassuring her that one day she would see her Husband again. I am so thankful for the wonderful knowledge we have of the Plan of Salvation. Sometimes I think I take it for advantage how I know our purpose here, where we came from and where we are going. It seems so simple to me, and yet it is such an amazing concept to these people who have no hope- to see the marvelous change and the light that comes into peoples lives as they come to know that there is a loving Father in Heaven who cares about them and that there is someone who will always know how they are feeling. How every one of us has someone we can turn to in any instance in our lives.

Well, hope that everyone has a fantastic week and it is great to hear from you. Love you!!

Irmã Ray

November 9, 2009

Well we had another absolutely stellar week here in Coimbra. Irmã Draper and I have been really praying and working on developing more faith in the ability of the Lord to work miracles, even in Portugal. Well, it has been a couple weeks of planning every minute of every day, working our tails off (more than we had thought was possible) and doing a whole lot of praying. After a couple weeks it has finally started to catch up to us and we saw a whole lot of miracles this week. We also were really able to work with our members (seeing as how we have the greatest ward in the country) and it has been amazing to see the amount of people that have started to change their lives and to see the differences and light that have come into their lives as a result. The greatest thing is that we feel like we aren’t even doing anything. We had a ward record this week in that with us and the zone leaders we had 8 investigators in church!!!! That might not seem like a lot to some of you who served in other areas, but it definitely was a miracle here in our tiny country. Even more of a miracle was that we didn’t know 4 of them before Sunday. I have been realizing more and more on the mission the way that the Lord guides each and every one of our paths. Definitely the master planner of the universe, because there is no way we could get everything to work out so well even if we planned for 10 years.

On a completely different topic we went to a really old monastery as a district today and it was really cool. Amazing that everything is still hanging around from the 1300´s….okay so it has been restored, but it was still super cool. Unfortunately my camera is now dead, so pictures will have to wait until next week.

As for the transfer question…calls come in on Saturday, so we will have to see. It is a pretty best bet that I, like Andrew will be relegated to the coldest area on the mission for the winter….I had the second coldest last winter, so Andrew, I feel your pain. We need to work on our luck. I have pretty much given up my Island hopes since you usually stay for 4 transfers, and I only have 3 left including the one that is coming. Weird. Hard to believe that so much time has passed already. Love and miss you all!

Irmã Ray"

The Best way to write Sarah is:

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.

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through regular US mail is below. This method requires US $.98 postage for letters.

Sister Sarah Ray
Portugal Porto Mission

Rua de Amalia Luazes

No.23 Sala 1

4200-052 Porto

PORTUGAL

Irma Ray and Irma Draper!

2009-10-26T14:39:00.003-04:00

Here is another note from our amazing Irma Ray! I won't plead with you to write, but rather encourage you to do so... She needs some mail right now. I hope everyone is having a fabulous week - let's continue to keep our friend in our prayers!
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"October 19, 2009

Well I am happy to report that this week was better on the health front!!! Everybody is happy and healthy and we are very excited that the weather has turned towards the fall. Today marks our first official day of fall for sister Draper and I because we have graduated from knee highs to full nylons and three quarter length shirts. WOOHOO. Now we are just dreading the dread certainty that the rain is not to far behind....blast.

In other news Irmã Draper and I have decided that we should start up a super hero team, or at least a TV show to catalogue our many adventures. Who would have known that in the process of trying to find the house of a menos activo we would manage to find a bridge that crossed nothing and went nowhere except for into a ditch, climb an entire mountain thinking we were on a street, travel to the middle of nowhere on a bus, have a surprise party thrown for me (happy one year birthday to me), and still have time to plan for the next week. Unfortunately we never did manage to find João, but we are going back this week! OH, and don´t worry, we did cross the bridge and when we got to the ditch we did what every good sister missionary would do. Buckled on our bags, gathered our skirts and jumped. Once again we emerged victorious from our fight with the wild in that there were no nylon runs involved!!!

However the best experience of the week would have to be on Sunday. We have been teaching a woman on and off who has been investigating the church for over a year and a half. We ran into her on the street Saturday and I challenged her to read a scripture a day, and we set an appointment for church the next day. Well we decided to pass by and see how the scripture reading was going last night and we actually found the Book of Mormon open to 2 Nephi 31 on her table. So, I asked her if she learned something about how important baptism was and she said yes, it is very important. My next question was “so, when are you going to be baptised?” I almost had to pick Irmã Draper off the floor who thought I was crazy, but it was good because now she is planning on being baptized next month! We are pretty excited about it, and she already has a different light about her. It is amazing the difference the gospel can make in peoples lives!!! Thank you all for the support and continued love...

Irmã Ray

October 26, 2009

YAY for the weather in Coimbra.... It hasn´t rained all week and here at the end of October it still isn´t very cold. I am loving being in the South of Portugal instead of the North.
So this week was interesting in that Irmã Draper and I were the representatives of the sister in Mission Council. Turns out our new President has decided this is the time to change pretty much everything and so we were able to help put together the new mission plan. Quite the experience. THe funny thing is that no one knows about the changes yet because zone conference is tomorrow...so it has been a bit interesting for this week.

As for the funny experience...I know, there can´t be an email without one...who would have thought that a mission would be so funny- or maybe we are just weird after so long. Anyway, we were walking to church yesterday when we heard the familiar yell of "MORMON"...so we just wave a bit and keep going. However when we decided to wave to the clearly drunk group yelling at us we were greated with a distinctly English "YOU ROCK." Quite unexpected and there for very funny. I am realizing much more how thankful I am that I went to BYU as I have see the afterafects of the huge party that has been going on all week. It is interesting to note that when we leave our apartment to run every morning we are able to see all the people just finishing up and attempting to make their way back home. Kinda funny, kinda sad.

Well, sorry that there are no really cool stories this week...We spent the majority traveling, but we did manage to meet some pretty cool people on the trains. Unfortunately they no one lives in Coimbra...darn.

Our current hopes and dreams are tied up in Francisca and a new investigator we knocked into his week...name Bonga. Yeah, I had to try really hard not to laugh when he answered. Well, until next week,

Love you all!

Irmã Ray

Rua de Amalia Luazes

No.23 Sala 1

4200-052 Porto

PORTUGAL

ONE YEAR MARK TODAY!!!!!

2009-10-15T15:02:00.003-04:00

It's that time again - Sarah's email update! Haha! Today is also...

SARAH'S ONE YEAR MARK!!!

Yep, our amazing friend and family member, Sarah L. Ray has now been officially Irma Ray for a year now, and been in Portugal for a little over nine months... CRAZY! If you have not taken the time to write her yet, you still have six months (till mid-March for you non-math people) to write her... but you should do it now. NOW! Haha... You can email her now too - see the "Editor's Note" below...

Thanks for all of you who have shown her support and kept her in your prayers - I know it means SO much to her! :)
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"Editor Note: No it is not Sarah's Birthday, you still have a couple months on that one. I did want to pass along the following from Sarah: "Oh, and by the way....We now have permission to email the general public, so if you want to save a stamp, you can email me now! sray@myldsmail.net"

October 5, 2009

Hey Hey
So, hopefully everyone had a marvelous conference weekend, because I know that we did! So, conference in Portugal is interesting because of the time difference. We watched the Relief Society broadcast and the Saturday morning session starting at 5 in the afternoon so that we could see conference live. Then Sunday becomes a regular old marathon...Priesthood at 10, Saturday afternoon at 1, sunday morning at 5 and sunday night at 9. Unfortunately our English TV was not working so Saturday was all in Portuguese. However the faith of 20 missionaries combined works miracles and due to a diligent building manager we managed to get conference English on Sunday. Unfortunately the only place we could get it to work was in the hall...but that worked for us! It sure did seem to be the entertainment for all of the members who kept coming out to laugh at us. We didn´t get to see Sunday night because we have to be home at 9:30...but they also cleaned everything up because I guess here in the South no one stays that late. We sure were grateful for the chance to hear the words of the prophets. It was a great experience and we actually had 3 investigators there. It was really a cool experience.
In other news....the calls came through and Irmã Draper and I are going to be staying together for another transfer here in Coimbra! I am also going to be in my very first all American district....provided the greenie we are getting isn´t Canadian or anything. We will see. So life is good...the temperature is starting to fall from the 90´s so we are pretty excited about that. All in all life is good and I am loving being a missionary!It is crazy how fast time seems to be going. Love you all and thank you for the support and love!

Irmã Ray

October 12, 2009

Well, this week doesn´t really have anything to talk about. Due to illness once again, we spent 4 days in our apartment....or really our room. We are both a bit crazy now. I used to be scared to death to teach, but now it is not even a big deal to give a lesson with zero prep in the middle of the street....I actually am getting pretty good at teaching the Law of Chastity in contacts on the street....that probably has more to do with the number of drunk college students who try to hit on us instead of real acceptance, but that's okay. it is kinda funny. In all seriousness though, I used to be scared to death to teach, even in the states for Sunday school or anything. Now we get to church and they say oh, we the speakers didn´t show up- Irma Ray you are talking, or teaching gospel principles. BUT instead of freaking out it is okay, who has a manual, what is the topic. Kinda crazy to believe that it is actually me and it is in Portuguese. But really, it isn´t me, so it is okay.

Irmã Ray"

The Best way to write Sarah is:

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 $.94 Postage. You can set up an account and it will deduct the postage each time you write.

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through regular US mail is below. This method requires US $.94 postage for letters.

Sister Sarah Ray
Portugal Porto Mission

Rua de Amalia Luazes

No.23 Sala 1

4200-052 Porto

PORTUGAL

Snap Shots and Visual Aids!

2009-09-30T18:03:00.009-04:00

Here are some AMAZING pics of Irma Sarah L. Ray on her mission in Porto, Portugal! Enjoy!!!

I have the cutest best friend ever! Haha...

Sarah's Most Recent Account of the Mish!

2009-09-30T17:59:00.002-04:00

Hey Y'all!
Here is another update of your favorite sister missionary, all the way from Portugal! Actually, I am in Draper... So, all the way from Portugal via Draper? Haha! The next entry is all the pictures she just sent - there are a BUNCH and they're way fun!!! Enjoy!
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

P.S. WRITE HER!........... NOW.

September 21, 2009

"Hey Hey

Well, first of all for those of you who are worried sick about the Coimbra Irmãs the good news is that we have water again!!! It is kinda orange at the moment because of the calcium in the piping, but after a couple of hours of Irmã Ray trying to deal with bureaucracy in Portuguese, we managed to get a plumber over! It took threatening to move out of the apartment before the Dona did anything, but we are sitting at a final score of Irmãs - 1 Portugal - 0. Woo hoo!! We are pretty excited and very much more firm in the reasons that we do not drink the water after seing the inside of our plumbing.
So now that we aren´t camping inside our apartment we decided to search out opportunities in the community. SO we went to one of our areas that is a bit outside of the city and hasn´t been visited in about 4 months. However, since neither of us knew how to get back we ended up hiking through a construction site, the remains of a forest fire and the woods to finally find our way out in the hospital parking lot. We definitely got a couple of strange looks coming out of the woods in skirts and nylons (WHICH may I add we managed the whole trek without running the nylons...miracles do happen in our times!). I think next time we will try and find a bus, or at least a road.
We also managed to find a couple of people who are at least somewhat interested in what we are talking about. Actually, it is better said that they found us. Irmã Draper and I are working on the challange of knowing when we should stop and respond to the people who like to yell things at us, and this time we did. That prompted a large conversation on how God could call a new prophet because Fatima appeared to the three pastorinhos and they aren´t prophets. So, we had a bit of straightning out to do, but in the end they want to come to conference! Point team Irmãs. He is conviced about apostles though because he has the name of an apostle (João Paulo)
Laura has come back to Coimbra too, so we are once again trying our hand at teaching in English, which is surprisingly hard! She is awesome though, and we are convinced that she is here in Portugal to find the church.

It is amazing how the Lord really does have everything organized. It is amazing how he plans every little thing to work out in the way that is best for us, and we don´t even know until it happens. Nothing is ever by chance. It is really cool to be able to see the Lord working in the lives of the missionaries and the people of Portugual. It is also incredible that they can be the rudest people in the world, but I have this overwhelming feeling of love for even the buildings here, because I know there are people inside of them that need what I have. As our Gospel Principles teacher said this week "Missionaries give up their lives so that they can enter into the lives of those who they are teaching. " Pretty much sums it up.
Thank you all for your support and love!
~
Irmã Ray

September 28, 2009

Well, one more week on the Chronicles of Coimbra. THis week has pretty much been hillarious. I have learned that House arrest is used in Portugal...it is why one of the less actives isn´t coming to church. We also were talking to his mother about prayer. The conversation went something like this:
Cândida: "well, I don´t usually do prayers at night, do you know why?"
Irmãs : "no, why?"
Cândida "Because I am crazy."
Then she sat there, as if that was a perfectly normal and acceptable answer and excuse. Meanwhile we were trying very hard not to laugh at her. We did end up having a pretty good lesson, figuring out the real reasons and coming up with answers to help her family. It turned out to be very cool because her neighbor came over and we invited her to listen as well. At the end we were able to mark an appointment with her and she was really excited to get the Book of Mormon.
On other good news, our Canadian investigator is really doing well. Granted I am not any better at teaching in English, but the Spirit is, and we had a really good lesson with her this week. We have a baptism goal of the end of OCtober with her!
Well, I think that about sums everything up for our week. It is just more of teaching, finding, and loving life. I have decided that I am pretty much the luckiest person ever to be serving in Portugal...sorry for all of you who think your missions were the best...they may have been, but right now the best place is definitely here!

Irmã Ray"

The Best way to write Sarah is:

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 $.94 Postage. You can set up an account and it will deduct the postage each time you write.

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through regular US mail is below. This method requires US $.94 postage for letters.

Sister Sarah Ray
Portugal Porto Mission

Rua de Amalia Luazes

No.23 Sala 1

4200-052 Porto

PORTUGAL

The Latest in Coimbra!

2009-09-20T21:49:00.002-04:00

Now presenting the words of Sarah L. Ray - It has been down for a bit, but here is the most recent she has written to everyone- Enjoy!!!
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"September 14, 2009

Well, as things have really slowed down in Coimbra we decided to go camping. Or actually the city decided we were going to go camping as we have been without water in our apartment for almost a week now. The city water was cut for construction and when it came back on, our apartment has only managed to dribble out of the faucets. And the hot water doesn´t exactly exist. Apparently it is just us that are suffering from this marvelous challenge, but we are definitely getting better at the sponge bath thing. Actually we usually start the bathtub running and by the time we get done with personal studies one of us can use the 4 inches of water that are in the tub. Then we start again and after companion study the other one can get clean. We are just hoping the massive amounts of calls that we have been making will come to some good this week and we can be normal again. We have been having some pretty good jokes about it at least. We have decided it must be the reason no one wants to talk to us :)

Also, this week was stake conference which meant that the Viseu Irmãs were staying with us too. More to party! It was actually really good. The temple president from Madrid was here and it made me realize just how much I miss the temple. It was also pretty cool because he only spoke in Spanish, but everyone understood him just fine. It was really interesting because he couldn´t understand us. I don´t know why Português can understand Spanish but not the other way around. I have also been able to understand a good bit of Italian and French. Who knew?

As for other news, School starts tomorrow and orientation was today...as a result I have started to adjust to living in Harry Potter land. For those of you who are familiar with the movies, the costuming of robes and such was actually taken from the Coimbra University traditional uniform...cape and everything. Luckily we have a member who is at the university so maybe next week I can send a picture. We are still having quite the challenge with the local take on the church, but we are hoping to change that. Due to a lot of working with the members recently we have a couple people willing to teach with us. Now we just have to actually find someone who will let us in the door. Even though it is hard, I am loving the mission. It is amazing to see the difference that the gospel can make in peoples lives. We have really seen little miracles, and we know that they will lead to big ones. Love you all and thank you for the support!

Irmã Ray

September 7, 2009

Well, unfortunately Coimbra was attacked by a fairly vicious round of sickness which resulted in the majority of the week being spent inside of our apartment...or rather shoebox that is sometimes referred to as an apartment. However, we did manage to find one new person who is our saving hope at the moment. She is a good friend of a member who has already given her the Book of Mormon and talked to her a whole lot. So, Cinda (the investigator) is really excited about the gospel, but moving kinda slow to understand everything. SO, as we are teaching her, Sister Lisete (member) stops us and says....she is going to baptized and it is going to be so pretty!!!! Poor Cinda looked scared to death. We will get there though! Good thing since our only really progressing investigator this week dropped us. Darn. Our excitement sure took a hit this week, but that is okay, it will come back. It is amazing how even when everything is going wrong, we are able to see the miracles of the gospel. We had a family night with a member and we were able to explain a little more about the atonement to her, in a way she had never thought about it. She was so excited to apply our lesson to her life and even called us halfway though the week to tell us the difference it has made. Moments like this that make a mission worth all of the times that we get yelled at, cussed out, things thrown at us....all the craziness of a mission.

The other highlight of the week is that part of our weekly soccer activity was used to teach the Portuguese how to play what we all know and love...real football. (in honor of the BYU game...looked like it worked!) I have to say I was able to get royally even for all of them mocking my soccer skills.
Well, thank you for all of your support and love...hope that everyone is doing well. Love you all

Irmã Ray"

The Best way to write Sarah is:

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 $.94 Postage. You can set up an account and it will deduct the postage each time you write.

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through regular US mail is below. This method requires US $.94 postage for letters.

Sister Sarah Ray
Portugal Porto Mission

Rua de Amalia Luazes

No.23 Sala 1

4200-052 Porto

PORTUGAL

It's almost Fall in Coimbra!

2009-08-25T21:29:00.002-04:00

Hey Everyone!

Here's another update on Sarah and her wonderful mission in Portugal - Quick question for you... Have you told her lately, that you love her? Haha... Seriously. Take out a piece of paper, write two paragraphs to her, and send it - NOW. It will mean the world to her, as I have said before... So, here is her update: Enjoy!

"From Sister Sarah Ray
August 17, 2009

So we did have a great week this week, despite the fact that it is August. We have managed to find a couple more people here in Coimbra. Of course they are all really old as well, but that seems to be our population here right now. However, we did develop a new talent. Due to the fact that the temperatures have skyrocketed to over 100, we have become very adept at picking out which are the very few buses in Coimbra that have air conditioning. It doesn´t work very well, but it is better than nothing and we have definitely been trying to take advantage of the opportunities.

We have also managed to have some rocking awesome lessons. We have been teaching a woman named Alda for a while now, but she really hasn´t been doing a whole lot. Well, she has two kids so this week we played the game of life, missionary style, which basically covers the 2nd and 3rd lessons. You have to have all the cards of faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Hold Ghost and Endure to the End to win. So we talked about how that was how we could follow the path that God gave us, and we finally hit home. She has a completely different aspect of the gospel now, was asking questions, wants to know, wants to pray, wants to read, and we are SO EXCITED! Months of prayers that have finally happened.

We also had a pretty interesting experience visiting Elisabete this week. So, she has vacation from the crazy bin this week, and all she has missed for the past 10 years is Chocolate Chip cookies. SO, we tried our best with the crazy little easy bake oven that we have and turned out something that resembled Chocolate chip cookies and took them to her. We had to wait a couple of minutes for the nurse to go get her and in that time we became quite the celebrities with the other patients that were there. It ended with us sitting on a bench teaching 8 people who then wanted us to come back tomorrow. While nomally we would be thrilled at that aspect, due to the situations, we will go back next week. It was pretty funny though...we are thinking about just starting to teach up in the front of a bus and see if we get kicked off next. Who knows.
All in all it has been a pretty fun week, despite the frustrations. Irmã Call is awesome and is great at keeping up the good attitude even when everything goes wrong, we are in the heat and want to die. I really am thankful for the opportunity that I have to be here. It is amazing to see peoples lives change. Thank you for all of the support! Love you all!

Irmã Ray

From Sister Sarah Ray
August 24, 2009

Well transfers came through this week and I am staying in Coimbra. I have also adopted a small green monster as a pet named jealousy as I am sending Irmã Call off to Madeira. Bum, she is also going to serve with my #1 choice of companion if I could pick. However, the good news is my #2 choice (besides Irmã Call of course) is going to be my new companion. Her name is Irmã Draper and I have yet another American. Looks like I am going to be in the states probably from here on out. Our natives are pretty much all leaving soon, so we will see how it works out. However, people here sure seem to like Americans. We were talking to a guy in the square the other day and when he found out Irmã Call was from Utah he got all excited and said something I never expected to hear in Portugal "I love the Utah Jazz"....What the ?!?! Needless to say as soon as he left we both died laughing.

Other than that, this week has been pretty dry....but luckily we are coming up on the end of the feirias!!!WOO HOO! I am one happy missionary with that in mind. We also get to have a spend the night in the mission home, since the plane to Madeira leaves way early...we have to be in the mission home Wednesday night, so that will be interesting.

Alda is still doing well. Despite the fact that we have already taught her everything se seems to be taking it all in like she had never heard of it before. Maybe that is why we started over again. So we were talking about Profetas this week and she was worried that not everyone knew that we had a profeta today. She said we should do something to let everyone know to which we answered..."Alda, why do you think we are here." She was pretty shocked to learn that we have over 53,000 missionaries. She is doing really well though!!!

Well, stay tuned and hopefully I will have some more interesting stories over the next few weeks with the people coming back to Coimbra! Till next week! LOve you all.

Irmã Ray
PS Anyone who wants letters back has to let me know their new school address....."

The Best way to write Sarah is:

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 $.94 Postage. You can set up an account and it will deduct the postage each time you write.

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through regular US mail is below. This method requires US $.94 postage for letters.

Sister Sarah Ray

Portugal Porto Mission

Rua de Amalia Luazes

No.23 Sala 1

4200-052 Porto

PORTUGAL

August Hits the Portugal Sisters!

2009-08-17T00:27:00.003-04:00

Here's some love from August - Enjoy and (you know what I'm gonna say...) , Pleas write!

"From Sister Sarah Ray
August 10, 2009

Ói.

yet one more week here is Coimbra has flown by. Crazy how time flies when you are having fun...
So...as most of our investigators have gone out of town for ferias we have found a couple more...in the unusual places.
1. Pedro...Pedro is the son of a recent convert and is totally ready to get baptized. The only problem is he has to get out of prison first. Yes, the lessons have been taught in Prison, but they also get weekends off from prison in Portugal, so we teach him at his mom´s house when he has a weekend out.
2. Elisabete: Also a weekend outer...but this time from the psych hospital. SHe was commited for being schitzophrenic (spelling??), turns out she isn´t, but now they won´t let her out because she has no where to live. The problem is she can´t have a place to live unless she can get out. SO, we get to go and teach in the psych hospital which is way out in the middle of the mountains. Quite the experience.
3. Francisca: Her son is also schitzophrenic ( I think they really like that diagnosis in Coimbra...every other person we talk to has it.) She is still being bossed around by her 52 year old son who takes all of her pension, spends it on prostitutes and kicks her out of her own house to live in an apartment she has in Coimbra every couple of weeks. She also wants to be baptized but won´t set a date because she never knows when her son is going to call her back home to do his laundry and cook for him. Personally I think a job would do wonders for him, but we are working on that.

Well, for all my poking fun at our actually pretty entertaining line up, we really have had some great experiences. Since we do not have so many people we have really gotten to concentrate on some, and it has made a difference. My favorite part of a mission is being able to answer someone´s prayer. We stoped by Francisca´s house and when she opened the door and saw us, she asked us how we knew that she needed us at that exact moment. It really makes everything else worth it to see the gospel change peoples lives. I love the miracles that I can see on a daily basis. Thank you all for everything! Have a great week.

Irmã Ray

From Sister Sarah Ray
August 3, 2009

Well, this week was definitely challenging. I never thought that I would hate school breaks so much. Unfortunately the entire city of Coimbra has moved and it pretty much looks like a ghost town. Just means that we get to work even harder, so I guess it is a good thing. We did manage to have some good times anyway though! We actually have a new investigator Laura who is from Canada and only speaks English. I never thought that it would be so hard to teach in English, but our first lesson with her would rough! I kept switching into Português, which I guess is a good thing, but it was a bit confusing for her. The cool thing is that the institute group is being great with her, they are planning an all English night activity, translate everything for her and really have done a great job of making her feel welcome. She is awesome. So we gave her one of the MTC Portuguese books that we had lying around our apartment to help her with Portuguese. We explained that it had a lot about church things in the beginning but also had grammar and vocab in the end. So, she opens it up and the first thing she reads is “will you be baptized” ….it was pretty funny. I still do love COimbra and the church is still true. Love you all and have a great day. I am going to try and attach some ~pictures from the castle!

Irmã Ray"

Here's another picture in this entry of Sarah! It's a bit dark, but an amazing shot!

The Best way to write Sarah is:

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 $.94 Postage. You can set up an account and it will deduct the postage each time you write.

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through regular US mail is below. This method requires US $.94 postage for letters.
Sister Sarah Ray
Portugal Porto Mission

Rua de Amalia Luazes

No.23 Sala 1

4200-052 Porto

PORTUGAL

Back Steppin' to July!

2009-08-17T00:21:00.003-04:00

Here are her two grouped letters from back in July lettin' you see where she's at! Enjoy and WRITE!

"From Sister Sarah Ray
July 28, 2009

Well, one more week in Coimbra and I really do love it. Irmã Call and I have made some crazy hard goals, and we are actually doing pretty good at keeping them up. It has been really cool to see the miracles that have been happening. One of our new goals is that we write a list of the miracles that happen every day and it really has helped us see how much the Lord is guiding our work here, and that he really does have a plan for us!
Unfortunately we had to go to Porto to renew Irmã Calls visa this week, so we had a fun little trip on the train. Luckily everything went well this time and my companion is not going to be deported from the country.
The sad thing is that all of our investigators seem to be leaving Coimbra. The month of August is Feiras in the entire country, so everyone leaves. Yeah, I got sent to the college town during summer break....I guess President figured I could do the least damage here...:)
So funny story for the day. We changed our P-day this week because we had the opportunity to attend a funeral. As a result we decided to go to a Castle and Palace that is not open on Mondays. Well, it is in a different area, so we were about an hour away from Coimbra. We thought it would be really funny if we ran into the Elders that are serving in Leiria so that we could surprise them , but we arrived at the castle without an elder spotting. So, right about the time that Irmã Call makes it to the top of a wall we decided to climb...in a skirt no less...we here, "what the heck are you doing here" in English. Quite surprised we looked up just to see four elders looking over the parapet of the tower. Apparently they had gotten permission to change p-day as well so they could visit the castle. It was pretty funny....Elder Zabriski was making a movie on his camera from the top and it went something like this " so we are here on top of the castle and down there you can see the old ....what the heck are the Coimbra irmãs doing here!?!?" We all had a good laugh.
Well sorry for the short and kinda lame email, but as always time is short. Love you all!!!

Irmã Ray"

From Sister Sarah Ray
July 20, 2009

Well, the wonderful LDS mail site just deleted my very entertaining, slighly lengthy welcome to Coimbra letter. Blast! I guess that means that you will not be punished by having to read a long letter. Lucky you.
ANyway, to sum up....I made it to Coimbra in one piece...after a lot of traveling. We are way south right now, so I am having to adjust to a different style of speaking and a whole lot of new words. FUnny how just a couple hours can make such a difference. I am absolutely loving Coimbra though. We have a lot of really good things going on, I think my companion is absolutely fantastic and we even had a baptism on saturday...which is quite the story. As always everything had to go crazy wrong, but we just laughed it all off. I will give you a mental picture...and then I will attach some real ones.
1. The chapel doesn´t have clothes for a 10 year old boy. Which was a problem because Hugo happens to be a 10 year old boy. So, the poor kid ended up entering the wedgie of the world compition and using the 8 year old clothes because it was that or my size. He opted for two small, but i felt really bad for him. Unfortunately the Bishop of the other chapel doesn´t think that the missionaries should have access to the baptismal clothing, so we were not able to get him anything else.
2. They didn´t actually show up at the baptism until about 20 minutes after it was supposed to start. Of course that seems to be normal and no one else showed up till about then either. I htink that the Portuguese have an even higher standard of lateness than the church.
3. We had a member who set the temperature on the circulation system for the font. I am not sure exactly what went wrong yet, but somehow the water managed to heat up in the waiting time to just below boiling. SO; we had the pleasure of orginizing a bucket brigade to dump cold water in the font from the kitchen while we sent everyone else back in to sing hymns. Of course one of the investigators used this as a good time to step outside, leave the door open and have a cigarette break. FInally everything worked out and they were able to actually enter the font without becoming the color of a lobster.
4. SO we finally arrived at the little party afterward, and Hugo´s mom(less active) had wanted to take care of all the refreshments. She pulls everything out of the fridge, sets it up, and everyone starts to eat. Well, the missionaries go in and notice that there are two bottles of ice tea that are being served as the drinks. We managed to get it hidden in the other room and later disposed of the bottles, but it sure was an interesting moment. I guess we have a lot of work to do with the family.
Believe it or not we even mangaged to have a very spiritual experience with everything that went wrong. Just one more moment to prove that even though the world is crazy, the Lord is in charge and everything is going to work out in the end...I am really thankful for that knowledge! Have a fantabulous week and thanks for everything!

love you all!
Irmã Ray"

Below is a pic of Sarah, hard at work with one to baptize!

The Best way to write Sarah is:

Rua de Amalia Luazes

No.23 Sala 1

4200-052 Porto

PORTUGAL

Transfers!

2009-07-17T00:49:00.004-04:00

She's been transferred! Thus, ladies and gentlemen, let us write her in our new spot - get to typin' it out y'all! AND, here is her most recent group email - Enjoy!!!
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"July 13, 2009

Well, the calls are in, and I am out. I am being transfered to Coimbra, Which is way far south from here. I am pretty bummed as we are just getting to the point where we know our way around....we never did find a map but luckily the Portuguese people are more than willing to give directions. Of course, they will give you directions even if they have no idea where it is, but it is all good. It is kinda sad, but I actually think that I am going to be more sad to leave Gaia than I was Braga, and I was only here for 6 weeks. Weird. The people here are great though, and I really found another family. A couple of the members are mad with President right now, but what can you do. Apparently I already did what I was here to do. The bigger news is that I am actually going to be with an American!!! Wow. Hope that I don´t lose my Portuguese.

The new president is getting used to it I think. His wife actually went out with us this week, and that was pretty cool. She is really sweet and I like her a lot. I think I like her more than I like President. Opps. He hasn´t started changing everything yet, so we will see what happens. Sorry that I don´t have a whole lot to talk about right now, with transfers we don´t have a whole lot of time, but thank you all for all of your support. I appreciate your support and love!! Have a great week!

Irmã Ray"

The Best way to write Sarah is:

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 $.94 Postage. You can set up an account and it will deduct the postage each time you write.

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through regular US mail is below. This method requires US $.94 postage for letters.

Sister Sarah Ray

Portugal Porto Mission

Rua de Amalia Luazes

No.23 Sala 1

4200-052 Porto

PORTUGAL

"The Portugal Letters" Return...

2009-07-09T13:12:00.002-04:00

Enjoy Sarah's latest update - she even tells about meeting some people from GEORGIA! Holla! Haha... Enjoy!
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"July 6, 2009

Well, big news for the week is that President and Sister Walton made it here in one piece. We actually had a big meeting with them the next day and they seem really nice. I think it is going to be a great thing for the mission. I really like them. It will be interesting to see how things change here. Speaking of which we get transfer calls this week, so we will see who is leaving Gaia. I really would like to stay as we are just starting to get comfortable with the area, but I kinda have a feeling that it is going to be me who leaves. It makes more sense that Irmá Polito finishes her mission here. Of course anything is possible.

However, after 6 months together I finally succeeded in turning Irmã Polito American. For the 4th of July she dressed in Red white and Blue and proudly serenaded our district with "I´m Proud to be an American". it was much improved over our other Brazilian who just complained that we were able to have a district activity. Party Pooper. We did have to work all day, but we had permission to have a BBQ for dinner. However, since the office elders stole the grill from our chapel for an office party we ended up buying our grilled chicken and french fries...which we then did our best to sing the star spangled banner and let everyone know that actually, it was a holiday. No one seemed to believe us. We thought it was pretty funny that in our district of 7 we had a Japanese elder and two Brazilians, but we still had a party. Irmã Polito and I drew a giant American flag and we hung it in the chapel. We also made the rule that only English would be spoken. It was kinda hard.

SO I tried to contact in English the other day and it was rough. There are 50 guys from Georgia here in Gaia right now being trained for a factory that is opening by Savannah...I discovered this after recognizing someone wearing the UGA logo on the metro. Irmã Polito didn´t think they were American, but they were ...good old southerners with a heavy accent. I felt right at home.

Well, I have written a novel this week so I apologize for the lengthy reading. Have a fantastic week everyone and thank you for the support. The church is true, the gospel is worth it!

Irmã Ray"

WRITE HER!!! IT'S HER NINTH MONTH MARK!!!

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 $.94 Postage. You can set up an account and it will deduct the postage each time you write.

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through regular US mail is below. This method requires US $.94 postage for letters.

Sister Sarah Ray
Portugal Porto Mission

Rua de Amalia Luazes

No.23 Sala 1

4200-052 Porto

PORTUGAL

"The Portugal Letters..."

2009-07-06T03:32:00.003-04:00

Here is the latest installment of "The Portugal Letters..." Haha! She is doing well, but you still should send some love. Her nine months mark is in two weeks! Here's her recent letter - enjoy!
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"June 29, 2009

Well,
The big news this week is that it was São João. Basically it is the party for John the Baptist and the people in Portugal take it very seriously. That is, if you can take seriously a night where everyone eats sardines and runs around hitting each other on the head with plastic mallets. Yeah, I´m not sure of the purpose of that, but no one is allowed to get mad if you get hit on that day. Weird huh..normally it would be very strange if random people just hit you on the head, but it is totally acceptable this week. Go figure. The other part of the tradition is to eat grilled sardines and all of the wine companies have a boat race of the carvalas on the river. They also have a huge fireworks display over the river at midnight. Unfortunately we didn´t get permission to stay out that late, so we just woke up to the fireworks, but the rest was kinda fun. I don´t think sardines are going to become my favorite food, but keeping with missionary tradition, we eat what is given us...so that included the sardines. (attached picture). We actually did have a good time.

We had a couple cool experiences with investigators too. We are teaching a mom and daughter (Libânia and Vitória) and we asked them to get baptized yesterdsay. Vitoria said yes, but mom has to let her, and mom has to quit smoking first. Libânia is really nervous to try because she has tried so many times and it has never worked. We taught her all about fasting though, and she is going to think about trying. She still hasn´t given permission for Vitória to get baptized but we are going over there tomorrow too, so we are praying hard. They are a way special family. We were teaching about how you could be sealed together in the temple and Vitoria was so funny. She wanted to know how it worked and so we were explaining that it was like spiritual glue, at which point she decided it wasn´t a good idea. She looked at her mom and said " but what happens if I want to go in one room and you want to go in the other...you are bigger than me I will have to go with you." We all got a good laugh out of that one, and know she knows she could still go places alone.

Well, the search for a map continues...but we have found one of those big city maps(like the ones they have in malls...in the big poster things) that we took pictures of, and use the camera sometimes. It kinda works.

Love you all and thank you for your support. Have a fantabulous day, the church is true.

Irmã Ray"

P.S. If anyone can get map of Gaia - I think someone should send her one... Haha!

The Best way to write Sarah is:

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 $.94 Postage. You can set up an account and it will deduct the postage each time you write.

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through regular US mail is below. This method requires US $.94 postage for letters.

Sister Sarah Ray
Portugal Porto Mission
Rua de Amalia Luazes
No.23 Sala 1
4200-052 Porto
PORTUGAL

Sister Ray hanging out (kinda) in Gaia! SEND HER SOME LOVE!!! (via mail!)

2009-06-24T00:36:00.003-04:00

Here is the most recent update for Sister Ray! She is doing well in Gaia, and is about to hit her nine month mark. SOOOOOO, my idea is to have as many people as possible send her something (a little note is all it takes) this week and flood her with love! Haha... Thus, please feel free to email me your notes to her (I won't read them) if you want me to send them. My email is below - let's send her some love and support!
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

MY EMAIL: linzekate@gmail.com Thanks!

"June 15, 2009

Well, this week was interesting, So, we have discovered that there is not a single place in Gaia that sells a map of Gaia. You have to go to Porto to get a map of Gaia....you have to love the Portuguese sense of logic. SO, as a result we have been VERY VERY lost for a whole week. Luckily now we have permission to go to Porto and buy a map. As an upside we have made a lot of friends here as we keep having to stop and ask for directions. The only thing resembling a map that we have is about 10 years old and in soon to be 8 pieces...which we found out the hard way has a whole lot of the roads wrong.

On a different note, we are discovering daily the reasons that we were sent here to Gaia. There have been quite a few things that have already happened were we know they only happened because we were sisters and not Elders. Not that I am thinking we are any better than anyone else, but there is a different confidence people have in women. We were going over the baptismal interview questions with our investigator who is going to be baptized on Saturday, and it was amazing everything that she confided in us as she said she couldn´t tell the Elders. It was definitely a faith building experience. She is an amazing example to me. I am so happy for her.

Anyway, the work rolls on in Gaia, and our goal this week is to not get lost. We will see how it goes. Have a great one, thanks for the support!

Irmã Ray

June 22, 2009

Well the sad news of the week is that we still do not have a map. We were completely sold out by an old investigator...we got the map home and realized the map of Gaia was really a map of Porto with about 4 blocks of Gaia on the end. Sad day. Oh well, we only got lost a couple times this week. Luckily we live close to one of the biggest buildings in Gaia, so we can always find our way home.

The exciting news of the week is that we had one more experience that manifested why were are here in Gaia. We showed up at Rosângela´s house three days before her baptism and were let in the door with a " good, you are here, I have lots of doubts\questions." Not exactly what we were expecting to hear. Well, she let us in and lead us directly to her room, where she opened the closet door and said " I have no idea what to wear after the baptism and for the confirmation.... help." Well, we were two very relieved missionaries and we had a good laugh over it later. The baptism was great.... everything that could go wrong did, but in the end it all worked out and the spirit was very strong. She stood up afterward and bore a very sweet testimony of the gospel, how it has changed her life and how much we have meant to her. It was really a good experience. I am so grateful for the joy and knowledge we have that comes from the gospel. It is such a blessing that we can have.

Anyway, time is short this week, but thank you all for the support and love. You are awesome, have a fantabulous week!

Irmã Ray"

To write Sarah, here is her address!!!:

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 $.94 Postage. You can set up an account and it will deduct the postage each time you write.

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through regular US mail is below. This method requires US $.94 postage for letters.

Sister Sarah Ray

Portugal Porto Mission

Rua de Amalia Luazes

No.23 Sala 1

4200-052 Porto

PORTUGAL

These Past Few Weeks...

2009-06-09T16:48:00.002-04:00

Here are Sarah's emails from her past three weeks - sorry it took me forever to get them up!!!

She was recently transferred (finally) to Gaia, but has the same companion - good thing they get along, eh? Haha... I hope everyone is taking time to write her. She has expressed that she doesn't hear from anyone much, so PLEASE take the time to write - it means the world to her and me! Thanks and ENJOY!
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"Sister Sarah Ray
May 25, 2009

So, this week was nuts....we were in Porto and Matosinhos for 3 days because we had a new missionary meeting (for Irmã Egbert) and then we had the AMAZING experience to have meetings with Elder L. Tom Perry for three days. He came to the porto norte stake conference and the friday before we had a reunião with just the missionaries. It was an amazing experience as we got to ask him any questions we wanted and we all got to know him. It is so easy to see that he is guided by the Lord. I am so thankful to know that we have people guiding the church who recieve modern revelation on a regular basis. He shared the experience with us of when Declaration 2 in the D&C was recieved. He was there, how cool is that. The spirit was so strong all weekend, and it really was an amazing experience. Unfortuntately that also meant that Satan worked twice as hard this week, but that is okay. We know how the game ends, we win. Sunday he also really focused in on the family. He showed how every book of scripture starts in a family setting and how important it is for us to teach each other in families and be united, especially with the world right now. It was really a great experience, even if it made me miss my family a whole lot.

The funny part is that I was asked to lead the music...well President has it all settled how he wanted it to happen when Elder Perry entered and so he said to start singing the first verse of Praise to the Man when he gave me the signal, and just sing one verse while they got in position so that we could all file past and meet him. Well, president gives the signal, I start everyone singing....and nothing happens.....so I frantically wave my hands to communicate that we will sing the 4th verse too....still no Elder Perry...so we sang the second verse and finally he came in the room. It was pretty funny, but it worked out in the end. I was even complimented for not missing a beat. I almost had to catch him as he fell coming on the stand though. Fun times. Don´t worry he just told the elders they had big feet and challanged them to a basketball game. The institute ELders did get to play ping pong with him though.

Anyway, transfer calls are this week, so we will see if I hit my 9 month mark in Braga or not. My interview with President was pretty funny... I told him that someone switched my mission call, and I opened a new mission just for Braga. At least he thought I was funny.

Love you all, Have a great week!!!

Irmã Ray

Sister Sarah Ray
June 1, 2009

Hey Hey...

So in answer to the big question.... I am headed to Gaia 1 this thrusday. I did get transfered. My new area is part of Porto, it is just on the other side of the Duomo river, and is really really pretty. I am just hoping it isn´t as hot as Braga (we hit 104 this week....pretty brutal with no air conditioning and only your two feet as transport). The funny news about this transfer is that I will be opening the area...So the first sisters there will be me and my companion...who happens to be Irmã Polito. Yes, that is right, Irmã Polito and I are being transfered together to open an area. Crazy...who has the same companion for 4 transfers in a row. I guess there is something that we are really supposed to learn from each other.

Yesterday we had the farewell fireside for President and Sister Henry. I know they don´t leave for a month, but we didn´t want transfers to mess up the combined youth, missionary choir that had been practicing in secret for a couple of weeks. Plus we would have lost the Piano man who wrote the whole arrangements. It was actually a really cool experience, pretty much everyone cried and it was all a surprise to the Henrys. It also seems that I have become the designated music leader of Portugal, because even though this was a stake event, I still got to lead the music. It was funny because we sang the EFY medley in Portuguese, which was a different experience for me. Maybe it is bad, but I seem to have lost the ability to sing that song without laughing. Everybody got emotional, they were all crying and I could just remember the 15 million times that I have sung it and it just made me laugh....maybe that makes me a sinner. Opps.

We also put on the Joseph Smith Musical in the stake here and it actually went really well. It took forever to translate everything into Portuguese, but it was worth it, because it was a really good experience for investigators and members. Because it was a multi stake event I even got to meet a whole lot of people from my new area...they are super excited to have sisters instead of the elders (opps, we are displacing an elder companionship since we lose 17 elders this transfer) and we actually are walking into a baptism, so luckily I got to meet her before we just show up and take over as the missionaries 2 days before her baptism. There was a really strong spirit there and I was so thankful that I could be on a mission. I know there is nothing better that I could be doing right now. On the funny side again, all the extras that were the mob in the musical, were missionaries. Yeah, I thought it was pretty funny that the missionaries were the ones that were doing the tar and feathering as well as the murder. At least they took of their tags.

Well, I think that about sums it up for the last new broadcast from Braga. i am actually really going to miss it, but I am excited for Gaia. Apparently it is the strongest ward in the mission. The bummer is that they closed Madeira for the sisters....but President said when we get a couple out there again, the sisters will go back. Maybe next time!
Irmã Ray

From Sister Sarah Ray
June 8, 2009

Weird, no more emails from Braga. However, I am loving our new area. We managed to make it here safe and sound with only one broken suitcase this time. Irmã Polito does not seem to have good luck with suitcases. Probably because she has about two times more stuff than she can move alone. Unfortunately as we were transfering together, we had no help. Well, she used Irmã Egbert....I did it solzinha. It was quite the adventure to get to the station, on the train, off the train, on the metro, off the metro, and all the way to the mission office. Luckily the Elders from Gaia were transfering too so they at least could show us where our apartment and the church were (which happen to be VERY close....yay!!! no more walking for 45 minutes to get to appointments...our Gaia area is very small, and we use the bus and metro).

Well, we started off with a bang as we had the chance to take Iolanda to her baptismal interview about 20 minutes after we arrived in Gaia. Luckily she passed and we had a great baptism on Saturday that was almost without problems. We had a bit of a moment when about 10 minutes before the baptism the RS president hadn´t shown up with the key to the closet that had the baptismal clothing. SO, being the resourceful missionaries that we are, we picked the lock. Just to discover that it wasn´t the right closet. Blast! It was pretty funny and eventually we found the bishop, got the clothes and everything worked out okay. Unfortunately I have no pictures of our adventure. Maybe we will have to reinact that moment.

On another note, I am pretty sure that I am going to LOVE Gaia. Not only is it absolutely beautiful, part of a big city, the ward is amazing. We had ward council our first day here, and this ward runs like it should. It was so nice to see that the ward has set people that teach the lessons for after baptism, the worry about the people being baptized and the investigators and they even do what they say they are going to do. They even have a ward calendar to work with the missionaries! THe sad thing is we know that only one of us gets to stay after this transfer....they won´t leave us together for 5 transfers...it is half our mission! But, the ward here is super excited to work with us, all of our lessons so far have had a member there. I guess it pays to be the first sisters in an area....at least we have one perk. Other than that we are just getting lost a lot...a map of all the streets with a way to find them doesn´t really exist...gotta love Portugal.

On a happier note, we had a lesson this morning with someone that we are working with and it was great. We got to the end of the lesson and asked if she had any questions. Her question " Can I be baptized on the 20th." Yup, I think I am really going to like Gaia.

Well, time is short, so I will go, but have a marvelous week. Thank you all for the support! Should anyone have interest here is my new address:
Irmã Sarah Ray
Rº Estado de India
nº 454 Hab 0.3
4430 Vila Nova de Gaia
Portugal

Irmã Ray"

Make time to write Sarah, and here is how easy it is!!!:

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 $.94 Postage. You can set up an account and it will deduct the postage each time you write.

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through regular US mail is below. This method requires US $.94 postage for letters.

Sister Sarah Ray
Portugal Porto Mission
Rua de Amalia Luazes
No.23 Sala 1
4200-052 Porto
PORTUGAL

Or - Use the address above!!! Thanks y'all!!!

Funny moments and Finding People to TEACH!

2009-05-24T18:07:00.002-04:00

Here is the latest and greatest installment of the "Sister Ray Jounrey!" There are TWO letter below, so - Enjoy!
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

P.S. Oh, and WRITE HER!

"Sister (Irma) Sarah Ray
May 17, 2009

Well,

I did just talk to you yesterday, so I don´t have a whole lot of new things to let you know about. Portugal is still here, despite our best efforts to get the whole country translated, the people just don´t cooperate. Sad day. As far as Braga goes, we are just keeping on.
Funny moments of the week:

Guilierme (The flower man) struck again! I have no idea how this guy has any idea where we will be passing and when, but I swear he must be a witch! We go city blocks out of our way to avoid his cafe, and as we are cutting through a garden with the express purpose of avoiding him, there he is waiting, to give me flowers again!!! minha nossa! Now I have just taken to hiding behind trees and Irmã Egbert to avoid being seen.

We were told Tuesday that we would have to marvelous opportunity to do the musical number at zone conference on Thursday. It actually went pretty well...we adapted a piano arrangement that we found to work with vocals and it ended up working out.

I took out stiches...who said I was getting a break from nursing. Elder Decottinies managed to cut quite a lot of his arm up and as a result had stiches for a while. He also decided he didn´t want to go to the hospital to get them taken out, so we took them out in the kitchen of the chapel with embrodary scissors. Don´t worry, We had betadine too. It was interesting...reminded me of Ecuador- make do with what you have nursing. Woohoo.

Anyway, that is about all I can think of. We are probably going to Coimbra for a baptism this week, so that will be cool. We also found out that we are going to have just a missionary meeting with Elder Perry next week, so we are all pretty excited about that. Thank you for your prayers and support. THe church is true, the gospel is worth it no matter how many people laugh at us on the streets.

Irmã Ray

Sister (Irma) Sarah Ray
May 17, 2009

Well, this week has been absolutely nuts, and is just the prelude for the week that is coming. SO, good news is that we actually found a new family here in Braga to teach...funny news...the husbands name is Paco. Yes, I had to try really hard not to laugh at that. We are actually really excited about them, and Vinda (the wife) was really excited to get the book of Mormon. She really wants a Bible too, but since we don´t have boxes of those in our apartment we have to wait until we go to Porto tomorrow. THe funny thing is when I pulled mine out to teach, she got so excited and started thanking me, so she still has my Bible until we get her another one. I´m not quite sure if I will ever get it back, but I think trading her will work.

So it seems that we have had a bit of a stomach bug going around, and both of my companions got it. Poor Irmã Egbert got really sick at a members house for a family home evening with his brother that is investigating. She spent the whole night on the floor of their bathroom, and then on the way home had to ask him to pull the car over and I got the hold back her hair and skirt while she threw up on the side of the road. Needless to say that meant a lot of time in our house this week.

Then Saturday we went back to Coimbra again for a baptism. It was quite a bit of traveling but we made it. Of course then the woman getting baptized was over an hour late to her own baptism (very nervous missionaries) and so we ended up having to leave before she even got baptized. THe sad part was is that we still ended up missing the train, and didn´t get home till after midnight. Ooops. It was definitely a go with the flow day since everything fell apart. The good news is that she did actually get baptized, we got home safely, and even had the pleasure of babysitting an Elder who had to travel to Porto alone from Coimbra. One of the few that can say he did a division with the Irmãs.

I think that is about all the interesting things for the week. We continue to be laughed at, yelled and and called all sorts of crazy things, but that is okay, life goes on and the church is true. We see miracles every week. The Lord is preparing people though, our new family is definitely a miracle. She was an investigator about a year ago, and had been thinking about us recently but had no way to get in touch with us. About a week ago she had a dream with her cousin who had died about a month ago, who asked her why she wasn´t going to church. That week she found our pass along card and called us and asked us to start coming back. Unfortunately she still didn´t come to chruch yesterday and we don´t know why yet. She hasn´t answered her phone. I´m sure it will end up good though. We have a lot of hope for the family. Love you all, thank you for the support.

Irmã Ray"

The Best way to write Sarah is:

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 $.94 Postage. You can set up an account and it will deduct the postage each time you write.

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through regular US mail is below. This method requires US $.94 postage for letters.

Sister Sarah Ray

Rua Padre Antonio Vieira

Nº91 5º Tras

Braga 4710-374

Portugal

P.S. I missed a few weeks...

2009-05-18T12:01:00.002-04:00

I guess I forgot to post a few from a few weeks back that I DID get... So, these are the ones from like two weeks ago - Enjoy!
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"April 20, 2009

Well, exciting news for the week is that I am officially taking on the title of trainer this coming Thursday. This also means I am going strong for 4 transfers here in Braga. I´m not entirely sure how I feel about it yet, but there is good news. Irmã Polito is staying in Braga too to help me train, so I am in a tripla again. Go team. It will definitely be interesting, but at least I get to stick around for Stake Conference(with Elder Perry) and the baptisms of two people we have been teaching (provided they actually happen). I am a lot more excited about training with the language expertise of Imrã Polito, but I still have to admit I am way scared. The only thing we know about her as of now is she is American. We won´t know who it is till we pick her up on Thursday. However, we decided she is bound to be cool because she is going to be with us, and it is a requirement!

As for our goal this week, I am happy to report that we blew our own expectations out of the water as passed our goal of 40 by 10. Looks like we have to make higher goals now! It was actually a really good week....I think the fact that we set such a high goal really motivated both of us to talk to every single person we see. It also meant that we had to leave 10 times the amount of time to get anywhere, but that is okay. We actually had a lot of fun, and ended up taking the two girls in our ward preparing for missions contacting with us. It took them about and hour to get up the courage to even stick by our sides street contacting, but eventually Joana even made a contact who actually marked an appointment with us. She was really excited and it totally reminded me of my first couple weeks here when I was scared to death to contact people. She is putting her papers in next month and we are really excited for her. She just barely hit one year after baptism and is pretty much one of my favorite people ever.

Speaking of contacting, we actually had someone contact us on the street this week (besides Jehovah´s Witness, we don´t count them). While usually this would be a good thing, we passed this person to the Elders. He was waiting in the door of his café, which we pass everyday, to jump out at me, give me a rose and try to kiss me. Luckily we were able to satisfy him with a panfelto de Restoração and escape without hurting anyone´s feelings. He seemed fairly interested so we will see how the Elders do with him.

In studies this morning I had a really interesting thought. I was reading in Acts and thought that chapter five verse 41 was really interesting and I thought about those sections in D&C and how all of it relates to the mission. It really is amazing how every single day something happens that is frustrating, or sad, or annoying or makes me want to scream or something, but even with that there is someone who knows exactly how we are feeling and has already taken care of everything. I don´t think I will ever fully understand the atonement, but I am more and more thankful for it every day.

Anyway, thank you everyone for your support. It is great to hear from you!"

April 27, 2009
Okey doke,

So first off, as for the news here work wise, we keep on going. it is definitely slower training, but it is good. Our new companion is Sister Egbert from Logan, Utah who was studying at UVSC to be a nurse....go team. She has really helped me to see how blessed I am with my language ability. I don´t want to sound like I am bragging with that but I hadn´t realized how well I actually spoke now, or when I got here until I was watching her. She is definitely scared to speak Portuguese, but we are working on that.

Both of our marked baptisms got moved back this week. One because she still hasn´t been to church and one because Portuguese people in general are obnoxious and our Bishop is particuallarly difficult to communicate with and he forgot to send the letter to Salt Lake about a re-baptism.

The good news is that we are going to have a general authority at zone conference this week and that we are also going to have Elder Perry at stake conference, and maybe a special missionary meeting with him. That would be way cool.

Other than that, we are just really trying to find people to teach who really want to hear what we are saying. We have several investigators but the mostly seem to try and dodge us and we are pulling teeth to get appointments with them. Oh well, the work goes on. We pray hard, work hard, and trust in the Lord right. I have to admit this has been one of my frustrated weeks, but that is okay. I´m sure that it will get better. It is just weird when I feel like I am not getting anything done.

Irmã Ray"

Sarah's Address Options:

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 $.94 Postage. You can set up an account and it will deduct the postage each time you write.

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through regular US mail is below. This method requires US $.94 postage for letters.

Sister Sarah Ray

Rua Padre Antonio Vieira

Nº91 5º Tras

Braga 4710-374

Portugal

Awaiting the Transfer...

2009-05-18T11:45:00.003-04:00

I haven't received group emails from Sarah in a little while, so here are pieces of the letters that she has written to me that I know she would not mind me sharing... Hope you enjoy and have been making time to write her. If not, her address is posted below - she is just about to hit her halfway mark, so I say better late than never! :)
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

P.S. There is a picture of Sarah and some of her comps! Her companion, Irma Polito, actually sent it to me this last week - I received a random, very sweet email from Sister Polito and it sounds as though she really loves and cares about Sarah - thank goodness for great companions! :)

"May 11, 2009

Yesterday was so good!!! I got to talk for an hour and I even got to talk to Bryan a bit. It was really cool. Andrew was too much of a time difference to work around church and everything, but it was great to just hear their voices. Now starts the long stretch until Christmas. It is crazy to think I have already had two of my 3 calls home from the mission field. CRAZY...I swear someone has hit fast forward on my life. I had a crazy realization that if I wasn´t on a mission I would be trying to find a real job right now and that is scary, especially with the economy. Apparently there is even a hiring freeze in all of Intermountain Healthcare. What a blessing that I didn´t graduate a couple weeks ago.

..... Heavenly Father is looking out for you. Trust in him and everything will work out.

As for my family, the are amazing examples of faith to me. I am continuously amazed at how optimistic and trusting they are with the Lord´s plan... He really does have a full time job as the Bishop - too bad he doesn´t get paid for that...that is what tithing is for right...oh no, wait, that is Portugal´s mentality. Opps, I got confused.

Portugal: is hard. We have a few investigators but they seem to only get to a point and then don´t go anywhere. We have several who have testimonies of the Book of Mormon, of the Church of everything, but just won´t do anything about it. Won´t go to church, therefore can´t be baptized, and really just don´t want to change. It is really frustrating, but week keep on trying. Such is life as a missionary. It is probably the most discouraging frustrating thing in the world, but is also totally worth it. Weird how that works."

"May 18, 2009

Okay, I had a freak out moment the other day when I realized that I am only about a month away from my half way point...AHHH. Time sure has flown hasn´t it. It is amazing to think that last year at this time I was in Ecuador. Weird. Life sure is funny. It is amazing how everything works out so differently than you could ever imagine when you leave it up to the Lord. Who would have guessed that I would be in Portugal now...I really do have a testimony that the Lord is looking out for all of us, and that he really does have a plan for us that is fantastic. We need to make sure that we don´t shortchange ourselves in the Potential department.

Anyway, keep me updated with the new crush...I am happy for you, and happy to report that I don´t have any of those here in the mission. Probably a good thing right. I just have to avoid crazy flower man and I am good. It probably won´t be too much of a problem though because transfers are the first week of June, and after 6 months in the same area I am pretty much guarenteed a transfer. That could be good...I think I am about to go crazy in Braga....something new would be appreciated....and not training would be even better. I think that everyone is just destined to hate their trainer because it is always hard the first transfer and they make you do things you don´t want to do. Mom says it is like parenting and I believe it. Maybe that is why we call our trainees our daughters. Anyway, I have to run, but I LOVE YOU!!!"

Thank you for all the support you have given and will give Sarah! Y'all are the BEST! :)

Sarah's Address:

Sister Sarah Ray
Rua Padre Antonio Vieira
Nº91 5º Tras
Braga 4710-374
Portugal

Easter in Braga!

2009-04-19T19:09:00.002-04:00

Here is the latest from Sarah! This could be her last letter from Braga - I will let you know as soon as I hear from her or her dad of an address change. I should get an email from her tomorrow or Tuesday and I'll post her group one ASAP too! :) She is really gettin' to work out there, so make sure you are keeping her in your prayers!
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"April 14, 2009

Hey Hey
So sorry for the delay of the letter this week. Since I don´t have a whole lot of time today, it is just going to be one big letter. Turns out that the Catholics feel ripped off that they don´t get Easter off since it is already a weekend, so they just stay closed for another day after. Not to mention pretty much everything was shut down for Semana Santa here in Braga. This week was interesting...pretty much all of Portugal comes to Braga for Easter because it is the home of the Catholics here in Portugal. They also had all sorts of crazy parades every night, people walking around carrying crosses, wearing thorny crowns, black masks and noise makers to look like the angel of death and all sorts of crazy things. They also have all of the streets in the center wired with speakers and were playing crazy death music interspersed with Ave Maria and Pai Nosso. It was definitely an interesting experience of which I didn´t understand a lot of, but that's okay. There were also a bunch of groups going door to door scattering flowers and talking to people so our knocking was a little different this week. We actually decided to be clever and rolled up copies of the Living Christ, tied them with ribbons, and knocked doors telling people we had an Easter present. The Elders thought we were nuts, but it was actually more effective than usual. I don´t know if that was because we were a bit outside of the city in a really poor area, or if it is because we told people we had a present for them. Everyone likes presents right??

As for transfers, we will know for sure on Saturday, but I am pretty sure this is my last full week here in Braga. I think I am really going to miss it, but I would rather leave because I know if I stay here, I will be training. There is actually a good chance that I will be training anyway, but I´m hopeful that I don´t have to do that yet. This transfer is going to be crazy because we are getting 16 new missionaries, so it is definitely going to be a party in Porto next week. 4 new sisters and all are American. That is why I will probably train because there are only 4 of us that know enough of both languages to get around, and one of them is already training. I guess that is what happens when the majority are Brazilian and don´t speak a bit of English. I don´t feel that I speak well enough to train yet, but we will see what the Lord´s take is on that. (as for the accent mom, unfortunately my companion has corrupted my carefully cultivated European accent and now people in the street actually ask me if I am from Brazil) For sure Irmã Polito and I are being separated. As a result we have decided to make this the best week of our companionship and one-up our own records that we have set here. We have a goal of 40 lessons this week, so we will see how it goes. We are usually around 18-22 but we set a record with 39 one week. Prayers would be appreciated!

Speaking off- my 6 month mark is tomorrow!!!! Crazy weird how fast time flies. I can hardly believe it. I was just thinking as we packed our bags this morning how my life is so completely different right now that I ever would have expected it to be a year ago. It was so totally natural to count out the number of pamphlets and pass along cards that I have a set as a goal today, the Tabernacle choir playing as we got ready and I don´t think I am comfortable walking without the Book of Mormon in my hand now. It is amazing how it has become second nature to talk to people in the streets in a language that I hardly know. We are truly blessed with the companionship of the spirit in our work, because there is NO WAY I could do any of this without it. I am so completely unqualified to be the representative of something so marvelous, it is actually kinda scary to think about sometimes. I truly am thankful for the knowledge we have and the power that comes with the covenants that we keep.

As for the heat in April, we know how you feel. Cold and Wet has returned with a vengeance, and we had a very rainy week and Easter. Bummer, but the good news is I managed to buy a new umbrella before it got bad. The really good new is that it is pink with white polkadots, so at least we have something to help lift our spirits. The Elders like to make fun of it, but they sure were grateful to share when we all got caught in the rain yesterday! I am learning every day more the power of prayer. Love you all and thank you so much for your support.

Irmã Ray"

Sarah's General Conference Expereince!

2009-04-13T00:29:00.005-04:00

First - Happy Easter!!!
Second - I am so horrible! I got this letter a week ago and it has still taken me FOREVER to post it... I'm not sure how many people actually read her letters via blog anyway, but still! This is for her to have all her emails on record as well... done and done. Enjoy!!!
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

P.S. There is a picture attached below that relates to the letter - enjoy that as well!

April 6, 2009
"Hey Hey!

Hope that everyone had a marvelous and wonderful conference weekend. Ours was definitely eventful. It started off with service at painting the school again. We had a great opportunity to play with some of the kids afterwards. I am ashamed to admit that we missionaries were completely thrashed in soccer by a small group of elementary to middle school special education children. Very embarrassing, but it was a lot of fun. They were great.

Next, divisions with the sisters from Guimarães. I drew the short straw and therefore got to forgo the set appointment and had the opportunity to knock doors de novo. It was good because I have been wanting to knock an area for a long time, but since my companion isn´t really big on the whole finding new people thing, we haven´t done it yet. HOWEVER, Irmã Solles is a rock star and so we decided to take on the hill (a certain area by our house). We were feeling really good about ourselves until it became apparent by looking through the windows that the first house we knocked had no one living there. Not to be deterred, we continued on and to our surprise we were invited in at the next house. Little to our knowledge it ended up being 3 very old Jehovah´s Witness die hards. After about 30 minutes we managed to escape with our bibles (he almost kept one) and a small part of our sanity. Don´t worry, all of you were included as well as he pretty much cursed anyone we had ever talked to. The funny thing was the next house we knocked the man asked us if we were JW and when we said no he said good, what is your message...I don´t like them. At that point neither did we. I have to admit I had the very un-Christlike urge at one point to kick the stool out from underneath the poor guy. HOWEVER, I did not, and we all escaped on friendly terms...more or less.

To go back in time just a bit...April Fools Day is also a Portuguese holiday, but the whole idea of pranks is totally lost to them. Unfortunately we tried to use a member as our in to get the Elders, so the whole thing went up in smoke as she TOTALLY gave everything away. It was a bit of a bummer as I was so kindly surprised with a special treat in my food after district meeting...see attached picture.The sad thing is I have actually been served these for real in peoples houses....scary! Don´t worry, we will get them eventually.

Okay as for conference. It ended up being the biggest fiasco to date on the mission. It is only transmitted in Braga , Porto, and Coimbra. SO, we had about 10 missionaries coming to Braga to watch the Session on Saturday (we only have one, sat afternoon is shown Sunday afternoon at one, then we have sessions at 5 and at 9) We also were picking up Erica and everything was set. About 3.10 (session starts at 5) we get a call saying that the equipment is broken, and there will be no conference in Braga...everyone needs to go to Porto (1 hour 15 minutes by train). SO, we were in an appointment, desperately called a taxi and everyone in Braga made a mad dash for the train station to catch the 3.30. We made it there first and bought tickets for the Elders and the other Irmãs. 20 minutes had already passed. Luckily we got the majority of that session and Sunday the equipment was fixed so we could watch the first two sessions, then we had to go home. BUT,it was amazing and I am so thankful for the ability we have to hear the words of a living profeta. It is truly a blessing to have the council of the Lord for our day. I can not wait until the Liahona comes out and I can read them again (or the ones that I didn´t get to see). I loved the emphasis on the temple, that is something I have really been studying lately and it really is amazing how much we can learn from every aspect of it...not even just the ordinances, but the sacrifice to go and everything it entails. Everyone needs to go for me, because I don´t get a chance for another year!

Anyway, that's it for Braga, stay tuned for the next episode!

Love
Irmã Ray"

The Best way to write Sarah is:

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 $.94 Postage. You can set up an account and it will deduct the postage each time you write.

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through regular US mail is below. This method requires US $.94 postage for letters.

Sister Sarah Ray

Rua Padre Antonio Vieira

Nº91 5º Tras

Braga 4710-374

Portugal

This Week's Top 5!!!

2009-04-06T02:17:00.003-04:00

Here are Sarah's Top 5 awesome moments from this past week - Enjoy!!!
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

P.S. If you are not currently writing, Sarah... You should be. The end.

"From Sister Sarah Ray
March 30, 2009

Well, looks like our hard work is finally starting to pay off. This week we had a lot of really cool experiences.

#1 most exciting....we marked Erica for baptism in about a month. Of course that probably means that I won´t be here anymore, but oh well.

#2 We had a really cool experience with a Fª Cravo that we have been working with. We planned to teach them about fasting about two weeks ago, and haven´t actually been able to mark with them till the end of this past week. We were really frustrated with this, but as always, everything happens for a reason and we found out why. They told us that they have been trying to decide if they are going to move back to Brazil because of the economy or if they are going to stay here in Portugal. They prayed to find a way in that they could determine the right course, and two days later we showed up with our fasting message. Waldimir told us that he knew we were the answer to his prayer and they actually were fasting yesterday for one of the first times. It was a really cool experience because it definitely was not us teaching. We had a strange moment where he misunderstood the scripture reference and read one that we didn´t have prepared, but it ended up being exactly the answer that they needed. Crazy how the Spirit works sometimes. He also had the experience to bless the sacrament again this week. The last time he blessed he needed to repeat the prayer about 6 times, so he was really nervous this week. However, he knew he would have the spirit with him because he was fasting. We found out afterwards that when he got up there he was so emotional that he couldn´t read, but he said he prayed, closed his eyes, and the words just came. The spirit was way strong in our work this week. It was definitely an answer to my prayers to be able to see that our work is actually doing some good here.

#3 We had an awesome zone conference completely centered on the atonement and Queda and it was really cool. I feel like I actually understand a little more of it, and really wanted to go to the temple right afterwards. I think that I might actually understand small portion of the endowment. President made this chart about what things were good and bad about the garden of Eden, what things were good and bad after the Queda, and after the atonement. It was interesting that in the garden half were good and half were bad, after the fall, they switched places. It was still half and half but there were the other ones. He also showed us how the bad things of the garden are taken out of the bible, and as a result the good things about the fall are taken out as well. Then we looked at after the atonement and they all had plus marks...Christ really took care of everything. It is amazing. I am so thankful for the gospel!!!! It is such an amazing blessing to have in our lives.

#4 Funny story of the week. We had a service project on Saturday where we were painting a school for kids with learning disabilities. Well, we had to leave early because we had a baptism that afternoon, so about 2 we said goodbye to everyone and the missionaries exited the building. Then we found out that we were locked inside the compound and could not for the life of us find a way out....(how many missionaries does it take to open a gate...apparently more than 4) SO, being the smart people we are, we managed to squeeze out of the roof of the parking area and hop the fence. Hopefully no one saw this and associated it with missionaries...they probably thought we were breaking in or something. Luckily because we were painting, we were in pants. Blessing indeed.

#5 Funny story #2. We have decided to start taking the stairs in our apartment building, we have a small problem in that the lights in our building seem to not work most of the time. So as a result we called the elevator, which has light inside that you can see go floor to floor and pushed the button to go down 1 floor, closed the doors and ran down the stairs with the light. Opened the door on the next floor, pushed the button for the 3rd floor and ran down one flight of stairs. it was quite interesting, but we used the stairs for all 6 floors!

The church is true.

Irmã Ray"

The BEST way to write Sarah is:

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 $.94 Postage. You can set up an account and it will deduct the postage each time you write.

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through regular US mail is below. This method requires US $.94 postage for letters.

Sister Sarah Ray

Rua Padre Antonio Vieira

Nº91 5º Tras

Braga 4710-374

Portugal

Braga, On My Mind!

2009-03-30T02:22:00.005-04:00

Hey Y'all! I have an update from Sarah and her family!!! Here are the group emails she has sent out these past two weeks... Enjoy, and PLEASE keep her in your thoughts and prayers - and please WRITE HER!!! :) - Ridiculouslygoodlooking

P.S. There are some great photos attached below, too!!!

"March 16, 2009

Hello everyone!
Well, the good news is we have sunshine here in Braga. We have also managed to have a ward activity in which people showed up! YAY. I think the two things might be related. Or it could have something to do with the failproof method of telling people there will be a churrasco at the end. Either way, we had a really fun activity and even had several investigators there. One that we are working with is going to set a baptism date this week! The bummer is that we might end up passing him to the elders because he seems to be becoming a bit attached to my companion.... awkward. As for your question Mom: yes, we do get harrassed in the streets a lot. I guess that is what you get with two 23 year-old girls walking down the street together.

This week has included a lot of trying to reorganize since we are down one dupla here in Braga now. The good news is it seems like the work will pick up now that the weather is good. People are more willing to talk to us, and every weekend there is a open air fair type thing in the center, so there are a lot of people to talk to! Yay.
The funniest part about us loosing a dupla of elders is that our district now consists of the Zone leaders, two sets of sisters and the district leader (and companion of course). SO, because the Zone leaders are hardly ever there in the meetings, our district now has more sisters than elders. Weird isn´t it. As a result Elder Winters has been called, not as distric leader, but as the new Relief Society president. We all thought it was pretty funny.
Well, that about sums it up for this week. I forgot my list of things to write about, SO, hope that everyone has a fantastic week and that everything goes well. Love you!!

Irmã Ray"
AND - THE NEXT LETTER!!!!!!!!!!!

"March 23, 2009

Yay, more Braga. How fun and exciting!

Actually Braga is fun and exciting, or maybe that is just the missionaries. I think we have decided that to make up for the lack of enthusiasm that exists in the whole of Portugal, the 4 of us in Braga have decided to pretty much take over. I´m not exactly sure what president was thinking putting all of us together, but it is crazy!!! Probably because we are the furthest North the mission goes...President wanted to be way far away from all of us. We had a street meeting yesterday that was really good. Now that the weather is nicer they have all of the area artisans in the city center every weekend, and all the families show up, the sell cotton candy and balloons and everyone just has a grand old time. This of course means the missionaries show up and draw the plan of Salvation in chalk on the side walk and the Irmã target the moms with strollers. We have discovered that if you talk about the kids first, they will listen to you more about the gospel. I am actually starting to have fun vs fear with walking up to random people who speak a different language and trying to start a conversation about the gospel. WHo knew. It really is true that the Lord lets us know what to say. Doubt not, Fear Not. That is the sisters new motto for the transfer. (D&C6:36 if you were wondering)

Anyway, The work in Braga is looking up. We have 2 baptisms on the horizon already set and hopefully two more that are close! The unfair thing is that all the people who have just shown up in church of their own free interest live in the Elders area, but that is okay. Irmã Polito and I can knock doors with the best of them. It is really cool to see how things just seem to come from no where when you have faith.

As for other news, apparently it is only our district that is going to zone conference this week because we are not only speaking, directing the music...we have also been chosen as a district to provide the musical number. This is pretty much a joke by Elder Doty who left the glories of Braga for the drudgery of the assisstant. I think he thinks he is funny considering in our district....2 are tone deaf, 2 don´t like to sing, 2 are scared to sing, and then there is me and Irmã Polito. Luckily she can sing....so this week will definitely be interesting. We are thinking earplugs will be a good idea to hand out this time.

Well, time is short and as we are going up the mountains today as a district activity...we better not be late. Love you all and have a marvelous day! The church is true, the gospel is worth it!

Irmã Ray"

The Best way to write Sarah is: 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 $.94 Postage. You can set up an account and it will deduct the postage each time you write. 2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through regular US mail is below. This method requires US $.94 postage for letters.

Sister Sarah Ray

Rua Padre Antonio Vieira

Nº91 5º Tras

Braga 4710-374

Portugal

Little Tid-bits of Her Letter to Me!

2009-03-22T21:38:00.004-04:00

So, I haven't had an group emails from Sarah in the past two weeks, but I have gotten letters and emails from her each week. Thus, I thought I would post some of the stuff that she has written me that I know she wouldn't mind me sharing. Here are so things she has written me in her last few letters...

"We don´t actually have daylight savings here for another 3 weeks. Why is it different...I don´t know. Because Portugal has this weird desire to do everything different. Strange strange country. BUT...I love it! Definitely miss some things about the good old USA, but I do love it here too."

"The church is true, the gospel is the most important message in the world. We are so lucky to have it. I see the miracles in my life every day."

"Okay so I have to admit, Knowing that dancesport was last weekend made me a bit trunky. I was sad, but then I remembered I am doing something better... so It doesn´t matter...yay. I´m glad it was good though. I want pictures. Mostly I want pictures of you." - She meant this about ALL her friends too, so send her pics!!!

"As for the progression of the work....Braga has been pretty dead for a couple transfers. Probably helps that my companion, as much as I love her, doesn´t get out of bed until 11-12 every day, so we never have studies, we never really plan and we hardly have things marked. Of course then she doesn´t want to knock doors both as no input of what to do then. However, Irmã Ray laid down the law this past week and things have been looking up. We are teaching a couple people, almost none of whom are actually Portuguese. It is hard, because these past couple weeks I have felt as if I am not doing any good here, and that someone else could do a much better job. It is sad to not be able to see all your work going anywhere. HOWEVER, I have faith that it will get better. We are working better this week, and we are even marking someone for baptism....if all goes as planned.

I had an interesting thought from scripture studies that I am going to share. In Alma 20:23 the King offers up half of his kingdom in return for his life. Two chapters later, 22:15 he says that he would give up everything for the knowledge of the gospel. Interesting huh....his life was only worth half the kingdom, but the gospel is WAY more important than that. I thought it was cool!

And, now that I have written you a book, I have to go. Sorry the letter was late last week. We switched our P-day so we could go to the castle, cause everything cool and cultural is closed on Mondays. Go figure."

Please everyone! Keep writing her, or START writing her, and send her your support and love! She really missed home this past week and a half! I hope to have more to post tomorrow night.... Her address is in the entry below, so check it out and WRITE AWAY, RIGHT AWAY!!! :)

- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

Catching-Up - 2 weeks worth!

2009-03-06T20:00:00.002-05:00

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

Beating Out the Bus!

2009-02-16T21:32:00.003-05:00

Sarah seems to be doing really well, but she currently told me that she has not been receiving much mail, which I guess is actually common to missionaries... HOWEVER, let's change that! PLEASE take some time this week to send her a little not of love! You can even do it via a website, for very cheap and it only take a few moments - Instructions are below!

Thanks for all you do and the prayers you send her - y'all are awesome! -Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"From Sister Sarah Ray
February 14, 2009

Oi! Okay boa noticia nº 1: We are now on day 7 of beautiful blue skies and sun and 60 degree weather!!! I am a very very very happy missionary. As for this week, it was really good. I don´t know if it is the fact that it is finally sunny and we aren´t miserable outside or if our work is just finally starting to pay off, but Irmã Polito and I are taking Braga by storm. We have found some really awesome people who seem to be converting themselves, we just get to watch. It is really amazing to see how the spirit works in people´s lives. Quite the testimony of the gospel, because there is no way we could do this ourselves. Of course we still have the sad moments, like when the bus driver wouldn´t let us on the bus because we took 30 seconds to talk to a woman in the bus stop. We felt like we needed to talk to her, so we did and just left a Plan of Salvation panfleto com ela and it turned out that she had just left the hospital where a family member was really sick. No such thing as coincidences. Well, as a result the bus driver was closing the door as we turned around, and he wouldn´t let us on. HOWEVER, those that are with us are more than those that are with them and after a mad dash out of the bus station and around the MASSIVE round-about (picture two missionaries sprinting across the cobblestones in the rain, everything flying around, I´m surprised no one died)...we arrived at the next paragem about 30 seconds before the bus did. We triumphantly boarded the bus to the shocked look of the bus driver and made it to our next appointment on time. GO team Irmãs! We also had the wonderful opportunity to do what we call a blitz with our district. After our meeting in Guimarães this week we picked a street and we all knocked doors on the same street...covering the whole place with missionaries. Woo hoo. We had a grand old time despite the man who told us that no one would ever talk to us, or the man who was too busy beating off devils with his stick to talk to us... There are always interesting people to be found here! Funny how I love them all though. We ended the week with a bang too. We were the ONLY missionaries who got permission to go to COimbra this week because Irmã Polito was singing in the choir before she was transfered. THus, we made the 4 hour treck, and I really like the city. It reminded me a whole lot of Barcelona, MOm, you would love it. We also went to stake conference and had the opportunity to listen, and sit next to Elder Bednar for two days. IT was an amazing experience, and I really learned a lot. He talked about agency, and it was great to BE taught versus doing the teaching for a while. He also let people have it with respect to missionary work. Hopefully that means it will take a jump here as we can work more with the members. We pretty much wanted to stand up and cheer him after about 20 minutes of how we can all work together to help other people. I´m really excited about the possibilities. I have such a testimony that the Lord really does still speak to us today, and it was amazing to hear the power in his testimony. I am so thankful for the power of the gospel in our lives. I can see it work miracles on a daily basis and I know that our Heavenly Father has a plan for each of his children. Love you all, Irmã Ray
If you want to drop Sarah a line, and you should - no probaly about it... Here is what you ca n do:

1) You can use the dearelder.com website. This requires Postage to Portugal (94 cents). You will need to set up an account with money in it and then it will subtract the correct postage from it each time you send a letter .
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.
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.

OR

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through the mail is below. This is her address in her current area (Braga):

Sister Sarah Ray Rua Padre Antonio Vieira Nº91 5º Tras Braga 4710-374 Portugal

PLEASE take the time to write her... It will mean so much to her and she has not been getting enough mail! Thanks! :)

Clear Communication and an Appreciation for Noah...

2009-02-10T14:17:00.002-05:00

Hey y'all! Thank you so much to all of you who took the time to write Sarah for her birthday or send me letters for her package. I mailed the package last week, so she should have it on Wednesday or Thursday of this week - a little Birthday/Valentine's love from all of us! Keep on writing and praying for her, and all our missionaries - have a great day! :)
- Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"From Sister Sarah Ray

Hello once again from Portugal! I´m sorry to report that nothing really exciting has happened here this week. The rain continues and actually we had the wonderful experience to go tracting in a hail storm a couple times this week. Definitely an interesting experience. The good news was is we made friends with all the other people taking cover underneath the freeway overpass and we are going to teach some of them. The bad news is we found out hail has a bad habit of putting runs in your nylons...That is just not acceptable! The Portuguese have a superstition that if it doesn´t rain of 2º Fev. then it will rain every day for the rest of the month. Little did we know what our one P-day of sun was signing us up for!! I think I am actually starting to buy into superstition. Irmã Polito and I are considering building an ark because at one point we were walking in 3 inches of water that covered the streets and the sidewalks. I have a whole new appreciation for Noah now. We have been having all sorts of fun.
Believe it or not, the whole communication thing is actually going pretty well. Since I am the one who knows the area I have to be the guarder of the cell phone. That means I actually have to talk on it, which can be quite difficult to uderstand. I did feel very good about myself though when one of the members couldn´t tell if they were talking to me or to Irmã Polito. WOOHOO. The one sad thing is that also means the great Portuguese accent that I was being complimented on has started to turn Brazillian. (Yes- BG, Steven, Dustin, Kirk and everyone else who served in Brazil I know you are excited) However, the other day I don´t even know what I said but I had three people laughing at me so hard they could hardly stay seated at the bus stop. It was a bit discouraging. We are hoping for a baptism eventually. Ludimila is not really looking like it is going to happen. She hasn´t been able to meet with us in 3 weeks. Hmm---- I am learning over and over again, the Lord gives you the power to do what you are called for. The church is true, so we just have to keep up the work! Well, I think that about sums it up for the week. Have a marvelous week, stay warm for me and hope that everything goes well for everyone! Beij Irmã Ray Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa, Lynda, The Winters Family and Claire for the birthday wishes. I received the cards this week! They were very welcome! Irmã Ray"
The following are the options for writing Sarah. Here is what to do:
1) You can use the dearelder.com website. This requires Postage to Portugal (94 cents). You will need to set up an account with money in it and then it will subtract the correct postage from it each time you send a letter .
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.
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.

OR
2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through the mail is below. This is her address in her current area (Braga):

Sister Sarah Ray Rua Padre Antonio Vieira Nº91 5º Tras Braga 4710-374 Portugal

Now Really - Do You Actually Read These???

2009-02-03T01:44:00.002-05:00

You had better! Haha... Sarah has called you out if not! Haha...
I hope y'all took the time to send her some Birthday lovin' this week - she turned 23 last Friday, the 30th! If you sent me a letter/paragraph already then thank you so much, and I did include it in her package - I printed them tonight and am mailing the package tomorrow. If not, then you had BETTER send her some love ASAP! :) - Ridiculouslygoodlooking

Here is her latest from Braga (For those who don't know, she is currently leading the area!):

"From Sister Sarah Ray
February 2, 2009

Dear World,
Hello once again from Braga. For all of you who get these and don´t really read them, have a nice day from this point out, the rest of you will get your have a nice day at the end.

Braga update #1: Irmã Polito is great. We are really excited for this next transfer, and already have great plans. It is a little intersting for us to communicate at times but for the most part it is pretty smooth. I think it is going to be a great companionship and I know my Portuguese will be way better at the end. We are way alike so I am kinda scared if Braga can handle it....we will see.

Boa Noticia #2: IT IS SUNNY TODAY which is good becasue we are trying to go to Bom Jesus...one of the big cathedrals here that overlooks the whole city. Should be cool. I´ll have to send pictures.

3ª Noticia: not so good news. Mayuza´s husband has finally decided to make public his war with the missionaries and he has forbidden her to see us more. She sent her daughter out to us with a letter the other night telling me that next time she has a day off and he isn´t home she will call us, but for now all we can do is pray. We haven´t bit been able to tak to Ludimila for a week now...we are a bit afraid she is trying to avoid us which would make the whole baptism thing a bit hard in 2 weeks. Boo... The good news out of all of this is that I am learning a lot more about praying for those people who don´t like you. Irmã Polito and I fasted for Mayuza´s husband this month, and it was quite the interesting experience. I also have a much firmer testimony that everything needs to be done in the Lord´s time. He has a plan for us that is better than the one we have, we just can´t see it from where we stand. What a comfort to know that there is someone looking out for us!

4ª Boa Noticia: We found out today that Irmã Polito and I can go back to Coimbra (where she was before) for Stake Conference in two weeks. This is cool for two reasons...
1. I get to go to Coimbra for 2 days
2. Elder Bednar will be there, so we get to talk to him with the other missionaries. We are pretty excited about it.

5ª Noticia or shout outs in other words: Thank you to those who send birthday wishes. I recieved letters from Bev Jones, Jon, Aunt Linda and both grandparents that were greately appreciated. Oh, and Congratulations to Tammy and Paige on the engagements. I expect pictures!

LOVE YOU ALL and (as promised) have a GREAT day!

Irmã Ray"
The following are the options for writing Sarah. Here is what to do:
1) You can use the dearelder.com website. This requires Postage to Portugal (94 cents). You will need to set up an account with money in it and then it will subtract the correct postage from it each time you send a letter .
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.
5) Again, this requires postage so you have to set up an account and put money into it and then it will substract each time you write.

OR
2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through the mail is below. This is her address in her current area (Braga):

Sister Sarah Ray Rua Padre Antonio Vieira Nº91 5º Tras Braga 4710-374 Portugal

There's always something...

2009-01-26T14:31:00.006-05:00

Hey y'all!
Remember - It is Sarah's birthday this weekend! I am sending her package a little later to spread out the love a little... SO, PLEASE, if you have not emailed me yet with a little note to her (even if you write her normally) telling her why you love her, DO IT NOW! My email address again: linzekate@gmail.com - Thank you for all of the support you show her!

Oh, and she did ask for ONE thing... If anyone has a brain downloader for the Portugese language, she would like one of those... I told her I looked on EBay, but couldn't find one... :)

- Ridiculouslygoodlooking -

P.S. There is a picture attatched at the bottom - perhaps someone could send her an umbrella too! :)

"From Sister Sarah Ray

January 26, 2009

This week has been pretty interesting....okay so thats a lie. This week has been SLOW! Nothing really happened with the wonderful world of Braga except for more rain. Oh well, we are going to be well hydrated. WAIT, we added wind this week...it was a lot of fun (see picture...at this point all we could do was laugh after umbrella number 2 went down). As far as the work goes; it goes. I can now add my personal testimony to that of thousands of others that the second you get to the first vision in a lesson, something happens. The Phone rings, the dog starts to bark, the baby cries, the neighbor knocks, the apartment building splits down the middle and you have to leave....whatever. It is actually pretty funny. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of weeks because (trumpet sounds) as of this comming Thursday I am leading the area...SCARY. We found out yesterday that Irmã De Macedo is being transfered( WAY unexpected) and leaving me here in Braga without a clue as to what I am really doing. Since half of the people are just getting back from Christmas feiras I don´t know the people in the ward or the people we are teaching....it will be fun! My new companion is Irmã Polito and she is Brazilian, basically speaks no English at all. So now you know as much about her as I do...we will all stay tuned together. My Portuguese is sure to improve quickly that is for sure.

So despite all the frusterations that happen in a week, we carry on. Our one triumph of the week was that Nicole came to church...YAY we have been trying for 6 weeks, and we finally got her there. We just need to step up our work a little more I guess with everyone else. President has challanged us as a mission to have a baptism a week(somewhere in the missão) so we will see how that goes. It would be pretty fixe if we can do it. Ludimila is still marked for Fev 21st now, so we are praying for her. Actually we were teaching her a lesson, and her roommate came in and asked if she could listen too...needless to say we were pretty excited about that, and we have actually met with her a couple times since. It is funny that even though everything can seem to go wrong in a week, I can still feel the Spirit with us all the time. I still know that what I am doing is right, and I still love the people here with all my heart- even if they are really obnoxious at times. The church is true, the gospel is worth it!

Irmã Ray"

The following are the options for writing Sarah. Here is what to do:
1) You can use the dearelder.com website. This requires Postage to Portugal (94 cents). You will need to set up an account with money in it and then it will subtract the correct postage from it each time you send a letter .

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.
5) Again, this requires postage so you have to set up an account and put money into it and then it will substract each time you write.

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through the mail is below. This is her address in her current area (Braga):
Sister Sarah Ray

Rua Padre Antonio Vieira

Nº91 5º Tras

Braga 4710-374

Portugal

Weekly Review... Hanging on to Faith!

2009-01-21T20:22:00.004-05:00

Hey everyone!
Here is the update from Irma Ray - I hope y'all enjoy and remember to keep sending her your support and prayers. If you don't already know, Sarah's 23rd Birthday is in a few weeks! I am excited about an idea I had - I want to have as many people as I can write her at least a paragraph to her and telling her why you love her, and email it to me. I will print them all off and send them to her as a Happy Birthday from all of us! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE if you can email ASAP me at: linzekate@gmail.com with you letters, that would be great. She knows I am sending her a birthday/valentine's package, so have letters to me no later than Feb. 1st!!!

Thanks for the love and support you send her and write her/email me soon! *muah* - Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"From Sister Sarah Ray

Okey dokey... This week has been absolutely crazy.
Monday: okay so P-day last week was lame because it was transfer cleanings and inspections, so all we did was clean.
Tuesday: We got to go to Porto once again...new missionary meeting. Hooray for being on your mission for 3 months, we are going to tell you exactly the same thing that we told you when you got here. The good news is that Irmã Henry did cook us all American food and we got to go see the Porto lighthouse. I will try and send pictures but I don´t know that it will work on this computer. We actually had a good time, but didn´t get a whole lot done. So when we finally got back to Braga, I had the wonderful pleasure of getting on a bus and going to Guimarães for two days on divisions. So, Mom, as far as work goes, Tuesday was a bust- we had one lição. Sad day- especially since the space heater in Guimarães doesn´t work. So basically we were camping inside.
Wednesday: District Meeting took up half of the day since we have to travel to get there sometimes. Unfortunately then I spent the day still on divisions trying to find places that Irmã Beckett "thought" the investigators lived. It was a bit entertaining, but we made the best of it. Guimarães is the oldest city in Portugal and they have a really cool castle that we are going to try and go to some P-day. Unfortunately that is accompanied with people who do not want to listen to us at all. Not for lack of trying.
Thursday: Zone Conference, and yes Mom, I did have to speak. Two zone conferences, two talks. Wow, I must really need help with learning things. This one was on missionary work (go figure) and I had to do it in Portuguese. Slightly nerve wracking since every other sister in our zone...there are 5, are native speakers. BUT, I survived, and I think people understood. That remains to be seen. Anyway, after zone conference I got to go back to Braga-yay! Of course by the time we got back to our apartment we only had about 2 hours of the day left.
Friday: weekly planning for can you believe it- week 5 of the transfer. We get transfer calls this week, although I´m not expecting to go anywhere. Anyway, planning takes a good 4 hours, so Friday was a bummer of a day for the work as well. We had a lot of time to go knocking doors, which really just consists of us standing outside of a big building and pushing button after button until someone lets us in. Just a bit different from Andrew having to tract in Snowflake!

So basically our week was not so good for actually getting out and talking to people, so we were way bugged about it yesterday. So in a determination to actually get something done yesterday, we picked the biggest apartment building around (14 floors, 114 apartments) and we knocked the whole thing. The good news is out of our 14 floors we ended up with16 other lessons and 4 new investigators, so we will see how that goes. We still have Ludimila marked for baptism, but we had to move the date back because she still won´t come to church. She is really excited about it, but then she never comes. Grr. We will have to see what we can do about that. Our other investigator that was really close is now having issues too. Dad you said the problem you usually ran into was not being married. I´m pretty sure the problem in Portugal is that they are. It seems that mission wide every time we get someone close, they stop investigating or won´t come to church because of their husband/boyfriend. Mayusa´s husband won´t let her come to church right now, so we are trying to figure out how to deal with that. I´m sure that is will all work out, the Lord looks out for everyone. I´ll have to admit though, that sometimes it is hard when we don´t know the how it is going to happen. That is when we just need faith.

Love you all,
Irmã Ray"

If you want to spread the love to Sarah, here is what to do:

1) You can use the dearelder.com website. This requires Postage to Portugal (94 cents). You will need to set up an account with money in it and then it will subtract the correct postage from it each time you send a letter .
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.
5) Again, this requires postage so you have to set up an account and put money into it and then it will substract each time you write.

OR

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through the mail is below. This is her address in her current area (Braga):

Sister Sarah Ray
Rua Padre Antonio Vieira
Nº91 5º Tras
Braga 4710-374
Portugal

Freezing Snowsisters from Braga!

2009-01-13T00:31:00.002-05:00

Good news! We have another letter from Braga!!!

Haha... Sarah seems to be doing well even though things are a bit frustrating... You can read below for yourself, but I know that she would love to hear some encouragement right now. Also, just as a thought - I am going to fast for her and her mission on the next Fast Sunday... Anyone who would like to join me in this, that would be wonderful and mean a lot to her and to me.
I hope that things are going well with everyone and life is treating y'all well! I send my love along with Irma Ray's love! :) - Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"January 12, 2009

So we had our first holiday free week of the transfer, and we still ended up running around like Chickens with our heads cut off. It is amazing how no matter what you plan for, it will surely change. We have had quite the frusterating days this week since apparently everyone decided they don´t want to investigate the church anymore. We blame it on Irmã Souza leaving, they just all liked her better. Actually we do have some people who are just great, but it is amazing how many things will come up in their lives to keep them from us. We are working with a woman who is fantastic and pretty much already a member of the church but her husband will not let her come to church or even think about being baptized. We had Sam (Lynda Marinho´s daughter that served in Lisboa) with us at one lesson this week, and she was hillarious after we left. We were talking about how we could help Maiusa get to church and Sam suggested it would be easier if we just knock off her husband right now and do his work in the temple next year.... Too bad I don´t think President would go for that. We are doing a lot of praying though, and hopefully things will turn around. We actually had a really good lesson with her this week, she is an awesome woman. We had to push Ludimila´s baptism back, which was a bit frusterating, but we are still aiming for this month...we will see. Right now we are hoping for my birthday...what a sweet present that would be :)
As for other news...IT SNOWED IN BRAGA! not just a little, a good old snow storm that stuck and everything. That hasn´t happened in the city in over 30 years at least...if ever. It was great until we had to go outside and work, but such is life. Irmã De Mac and I have mastered the art of wearing long underware under our skirts. We have figured out the exact length that we have to pull them up so you can´t see it when we sit, but so that we get the maximum warmth. Go team Irmãs. So we hear from the members that apparently all of Europe is caught in a death grip of ice and cold. It is way colder all over Europe than pretty much ever before and no one knows why, but I definitely believe it. Fortunately this freezing spell is supposed to end sometime this week. That would be greatly appreciated since our propane tank died- which means no hot water or stove. This happened about the time I got the shampoo in my hair in the shower. IT got really cold really fast....not a fun experience. On the upside though, since we didn´t have a stove, and the oven has never worked, we are now the proud owners of a convection oven AND a microwave. It was a proud day for our little Braga apartment. THe funny part would have been watching us try and get it home from 2 miles away...I´m sure we made quite the picture trying to lug this huge box across Braga when I. De Mac is even smaller than I am. I think it was about as big as us.
The other good news is the post office is finally open again (don´t worry it was only closed for almost two weeks) so we are getting mail again....yay! We got several christmas packages this week....better late than never. So thank you to all of you who sent cards, they have definitely brightened the week.
Oh, ps I have to speak at Zone conference....again. Second time since i got in the country. Bummer, because this time it is in Portuguese... We will see how it goes. Everyone else seems to think I speak well, but I know better...lots of practice in the future. All in all it is still an awesome experience and I am loving being here. Portugal is amazing, the people, although sometimes obnoxious, are really quite open and kind people and the work is moving forward. I can hardly believe that we are in week 4 of the transfer. I am so thankful for the gospel in my life and the way I can see it effecting the lives of others. What a blessing we have. Love you all and have a marvelous week!

Irmã Ray"

The following are the options for writing Sarah. Here is what to do:

1) You can use the dearelder.com website. This requires Postage to Portugal (94 cents). You will need to set up an account with money in it and then it will subtract the correct postage from it each time you send a letter .
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.
5) Again, this requires postage so you have to set up an account and put money into it and then it will substract each time you write.

OR

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through the mail is below. This is her address in her current area (Braga):

Sister Sarah Ray
Rua Padre Antonio Vieira
Nº91 5º Tras
Braga 4710-374
Portugal

News from "Heaven's Diaper!"

2009-01-06T22:35:00.003-05:00

Here is the latest and greatest from Miss Sarah Ray over in Portugal - After her general email I posted a quote she sent in MY latest letter with some scriptures she suggests for the tough times... Enjoy and remember to write!!! :) *muah* - Ridiculouslygoodlooking "OLA! So once again we have made it to Monday in the wonderful world of Portugal. This week has been LONG, but we are really excited to start a new one. It seems that Satan has decided my honeymoon period of my mission is over. No more appointments for us, and we were pretty much told to take a hike by two investigators. I think we were stood up on appointments every time except for one in three days...BLAST! The good news however, is that means we will now have to opportunity to find new investigators, and I get to practice Portuguese with people who don´t know that I am just learning. Well, at least until I open my mouth, then it is pretty obvious I think. Although, everyone seems to think I am English and not American...go figure! Well, something that I learned this week is that Braga has another nickname....yes I know, this makes a lot. Unfortunately this one is a bit less flattering. The Bishop enlightened us to the fact that Braga is fondly referred to as "Heaven´s Diaper" because pretty much all it does here is rain. I´m not sure I really like the mental image you get with that name when it is raining. Lesson number two of the week: NEVER get married in Portugal. We had a wedding in our ward this week, but in Portugal you have to be married civilly before you can go to the temple in Spain. SO, the whole ward has been knocking themselves out to pull this thing together and Saturday was the day. Everyone arrived on Portuguese standard time, combined with Mormon standard time, so we started about 45 minutes late. Then they realized that not everyone was there...the government official that has to be present had decided that it was not on her priority list for the day. So, while the families were running around trying to get a hold of her, they started to program from the back to the front, with the family all giving advice and such. Well, that was all finished, and still no official...so then we took pictures, then we did the reception....still no Portuguese government lady. I´m pretty sure that I would have been a mess by then if it had been me, but Daniela was very composed. Not to worry, they finally found a replacement and the happy couple was married 5 hours late, but didn't have to reschedule for another day- which apparently is common. CRAZY! Anyway, the work moves forward, the missionaries freeze, but hey we will thaw out in April. We are hoping to have one of our investigators marked this week for Baptism, so hopefully that will be a bright spot this week! Other than that, we just keep on working, come what may. I´m thinking if the rain keeps up like this, we can just let the streets flood and baptize the whole city! The church is true, the gospel is worth everything that happens, and I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to share the message with others. Happy New Year to everyone! Love Irmã Ray"
"Alma 7:11-13 and Section 121 are two things that have really helped me during the tough times here..." - I really appreciated this, so feel free to feed from these words as well! :)

The following are the options for writing Sarah. Here is what to do:

1) You can use the dearelder.com website. This requires Postage to Portugal (94 cents). You will need to set up an account with money in it and then it will subtract the correct postage from it each time you send a letter .
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.
5) Again, this requires postage so you have to set up an account and put money into it and then it will substract each time you write.

OR

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through the mail is below. This is her address in her current area (Braga):

Sister Sarah Ray
Rua Padre Antonio Vieira
Nº91 5º Tras
Braga 4710-374
Portugal

Get your letter on! :)

Happy New Year from Braga!

2009-01-01T17:57:00.003-05:00

Here is a little New Year's gift for ya'll! Actually, I am not sure is anyone reads her blog because I am sure that everyone who would read it already gets her emails... Nonetheless, now at least SHE has a copy of all of her adventures that she emailed to everyone. Haha...

In case anyone DOES read this, Sarah is doing really well and seems to be having some funny experiences to share - or at least she is presenting them in a more positive and funny manner... haha! She has let me know that MANY people think she is doing great with the language, but I can tell she is still a bit frusterated with understanding it. It'll come more in time - she's amazing so she will be great! :) Below is her most resent update and a picture of her heading into the field - Hope everyone has a very Happy New Year! :)

"December 29, 2008

So hello once again from the wonderful land of Portugal. Well, I was going to report that I must be a good luck charm because I hadn´t been rained on yet, but Mother Nature took care of that one. I think we hit a record this weekend for being the coldest, wetest missionaries that Braga had ever seen. Yes, we were bright enough to forget our umbrella on the day that we didn´t have an appointment till 8pm so we were outside ALL DAY. We could have picked up one of the discarded ones along the side of the road...they get turned inside out a lot, so people just dump the broken umbrellas on the side of the road. It was cold, and wet, but hey, we had fun.... I have to have something to tell stories about in 10 years....I was just missing the barefoot part, but I´m pretty sure that we got the uphill both ways, since pretty much all of Braga is hills both ways.
So Christmas was grand fun. We made it down to Porto for a zone conference, which was actually in English- go figure. We ended up with a lot of the sisters on the same bus leaving the stake center so we actually started and impromptu caroling session, which was a lot of fun. It was one of our desperate ways to contact people since this week has been pretty much a waste when it comes to missionary work. We spent a lot of time with the ward and less actives, but pretty much everyone we are teaching is gone, and no one wanted to be bothered at Christmas time. We did get to spend the Christmas Eve with members though. The Portuguese celebrate Christmas on the 24th, and everything happens at midnight. Of course, we were back in our apartment by then, but there was no way we were sleeping through the massive amounts of fireworks that were going on ALL night. They really really like fireworks here, but it was fun. As for the rest of the week, we have pretty much been getting Irmã Souza ready to go home. Our apartment looks like a packing bomb went off, but we are headed down to Porto to drop her off at the office. Of course that means we don´t get much of a P-day, but we did just have Christmas. Anyway, the work goes on no matter what, and I am so lucky to be a part of it. Now if I could just speak Portuguese.... Love you all and Happy New Year! Irmã Ray"The following are the options for writing Sarah. Here is what to do:

1) You can use the dearelder.com website. This requires Postage to Portugal (94 cents). You will need to set up an account with money in it and then it will subtract the correct postage from it each time you send a letter .
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.
5) Again, this requires postage so you have to set up an account and put money into it and then it will substract each time you write.

OR

2) The alternate way for sending anything (i.e. letters, packages, etc) through the mail is below. This is her address in her current area (Braga):

Sister Sarah Ray Rua Padre Antonio Vieira Nº91 5º Tras Braga 4710-374 Portugal

Merry Christmas!!!

2008-12-25T05:38:00.002-05:00

... And I have the PERFECT gift for y'all! Sarah's first email from the MTC is up and posted for you to read!!! She is doing really well and having MUCH success - especially with the language. Everyone is very impressed with her! However, I know she is struggling to feel use to Portugal and the culture... She brushes it off as though it is nothing, because she is awesome like that, but I know it is tough for her right now. THEREFORE, the job I have for YOU is to WRITE HER! Write her right NOW! Haha....

Enjoy the Christmas post and as she said, think of the reason we really celebrate Christmas and rejoice in that! Remember to SHARE the good message of Christmas with those around you, just as she is doing... Merry Christmas!!! - Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"From Sister Sarah Ray
December 22, 2008

Family and Friends! I feel very overwhelmed at the moment here in Braga, but I know it will get better. The ward is fantastic...we have already been fed 3 times. Our ward also has 5 missionaries out and serving right now. Rock on Braga! We have the strongest ward in the mission so i´m really going to be spoiled after this. Right now I am in a tripla for one more week. Irmã Souza goes home a week from today to Brazil. I´m actually kinda bummed because we are doing a good job of teaching each other the language. She only talks to me in English and I only talk to her in Portuguese. It is grand fun trying to describe things to each other to get the right words. So, we have 6 investigators right now that are progressing and 1 marked for Baptism. Unfortunately she has now left the country for Christmas so we might end up pushing the date back...she has to come to church first. I don´t know a whole lot about them right now because I can only understand about 60 percent of what anyone says. Everyone keeps telling me my language is a miracle but I still can´t understand. Everyone keeps asking me where I am transfered from and when I say the US they get really confused. No one believes me that I am fresh out of the MTC.
So, speaking of speaking, yesterday I made my first solo contact in a street meeting. It was SCARY! Also wans´t very successful because I probably answered the wrong question knowing my skills with Portuguese. It is also way hard because Braga is SUPER Catholic. the city has two names.... the city of many churches- which are all Catholic or better yet the Rome of Portugal. Needless to say we talk to a lot of really Catholic people, but it is fun.
Portugal is interesting, the entire city is paved in cobblestones, and there is no such thing as insulation or heat. It is pretty cold here, and even colder in the houses. The only heating that we have is our one little space heater that we have in our bedroom. We keep the door shut and wear lots of layers- Dad you would be proud. We need to be dressed in our Prosyliting clothes before we do study so we faithfully get ready every morning. Then we put our PJ pants back on under our skirts, hoodies, slippers, blankets and anything else we can find while we are in our study room. Mom, you would die. We also don´t really have hot water. We have a tiny little gas heater that we have to turn on before we take showers, but it only gets kinda warm. it is very similar to the water flow out of a broken sink faucet. However, we get by, plus it makes great stories. Especially since out bathroom door is broken- so it is quite the adventure to get it open.
Let see, other fun facts about Portugal...I can not eat enough to satisfy the member here...I keep trying, but I keep failing...I think it would take both Bryan and Andrew to satisfy them. We also eat at about 9 at night. In the Europe west area our time is different so we don´t get up till 7 and we are out until 9:30 or 10 if necessary. Last night our lesson didn´t end until 10 becasue one of our new members was really struggling so we were working with here. Well, we are supposed to be in our appartment by then at the latest so we sprinted home. Irmã de Macedo was already at home with a member (she is on bed rest with her foot- we aren´t quite sure what she did, but she can´t really walk so thank heavens we can do splits and irmã souza and >I can still go out) so there was the two of us running as fast as we could to get home in time. I kinda wish I had a picture. I´ll have to start keeping a list of things that are funny or strange so that I can keep you aware of how things go in Portugal. Can´t wait to talk to you this week. Pray that it all works out okay! I know that we are all being blessed for this, even though it is really hard at times. LOVE YOU ALL and remember the reason we celebrate Christmas! ~~ Irmã Ray" Her Portugal Address: Portugal Porto Mission Rua de Amalia Luazes N 23 Sala 1 4200-052 Porto Portugal SEND HER SOME CHRISTMAS LOVE!!!

Watch Out Portugal - Here She Comes!!!

2008-12-14T21:06:00.002-05:00

Here is Sarah's very last MTC email! She seems to be doing well and I hope that all of you are writing her, especially around Christmas!!! Here it is:

"December 12, 2008

Well, the time has come that my entire district has started to freak out. I guess that happens when you are down to 4 days before departure. Half of our time has turned to packing, making sure we know where everything actually is, and trying to figure out what to cut out of our suitcases so we don't go over weight. We had our last pretend teaching appointment, and I actually feel as if I may be able to do this....maybe. I know I need a lot of help, but luckily the Lord looks out for us, and I know I will get the help I need. I figure if we can get to the point, in two months, that we can communicate decently in a different language, we can do anything. Anyway, as for the funny moments in life, the good times just keep on rolling. Mom, I got the jump rope in the mail- who knew that they sent jump ropes with instructions. First, it teaches you how to jump up and down without the rope. Good thing, because jumping in place could be hard for some people. Needless to say there are 7 pages of progressively more advanced steps that eventually carry the reader to the wonderful world of jumping rope. If anyone is confused about how this works let me know and I'll send you the instructions :)
Top ways to know you have been in the MTC too long: 10. You have started to forget your own 1st name 9. You vaguely know what cell phones and cars are, but you don't really remember how they work. 8. You completely plan your schedule based around when you can wear jeans. 7. You can predict the opening song of every devotional- okay that one isn't hard. Every week it is Called to Serve. 6. The clothes your brought have mysteriously shrunk in your closet. 5. You know the menu and can predict what you will be attempting to eat. 4. You have a favorite shower based on different times of the day. 3. You know where all the secret computer labs are- so you don't have to wait 2. You have figured out exactly which washers are the fastest during laundry time. 1. You pick the Sunday night movie based on which Joseph Smith is cuter Yes unfortunately, all of these have been contributed from actual experiences of those around me. I know, we are sad. However, we are also very happy people, and I have loved the MTC experience. I also can't wait to get to Portugal in 4 days, even if I can't speak the Language quite yet. I know that will come. Merry Christmas everyone, and I hope that you have an amazing holiday season. One thing I have learned is that the best way to enjoy the season is to serve other people! Hopefully everyone will find an opportunity to do that. Love you all and it is great to hear from you. Love Irma Ray PS. so we had a devotional last nigt that was really quite inspiring. Apparently there was a prophecy about Portugal by someone in the 12 that is will become the lighthouse of Europe in relation to the Gospel. I don't have the direct quote, but our devotional was on that last night, and it was very motivational. I feel blessed to be able to be part of this work! We went to the temple today for the last time before we leave, and I really have realized yet again how blessed we are to have the gospel in every aspect of our lives! So funny story... I have been assigned as the travel leader for our group. Besides making sure that no one does anything stupid or gets lost/misses the plane, I am in charge of assigning companionships for the journey. My packet stipulates in large letters that one Elder and one Sister are never to be assigned as companions. Well, my travel group consists of Elder Roberts and I....and that is it. This leaves me with a small dilemma in assigning companions, but I am happy to note that I have solved the problem. For the trip we will both have split personalities! After I suggested this, it was brought to my attention that we did have split personalities....our missionary selves and our real selves...so I guess it will work! Anyway, love you lots, and I thought I would share that little snippet with you! Hope you get a laugh from it! Irma Ray"
Note from Ridiculouslygoodlooking:

Sarah leaves for Portugal on Tuesday!!! So, if you didn't already send a letter, it is too late for you to send an MTC one. However, she still needs mail in Portugal - probably more so!!! As her dad stated, stay tuned, I will include her new address to write her in Portugal when I receive it. Let's keep supporting Sarah past her MTC experience!!! :)

The ten day coutndown to Porto!!!!!!!

2008-12-05T17:39:00.002-05:00

This is the second to last email I will post from Sarah's MTC experience! I also received a letter from her and she is doing well. She had Elder Holland come and speak to them at the MTC and said it was a neat experience, but he looked exhausted and said the world is really becoming a tough place out there... Keep strong, y'all!!!

AND, PLEASE write her this week while she can still get it at the MTC! Otherwise, send her some Christmas love in Portugal!!! :) - Ridiculouslygoodlooking

December 6, 2008

So, the big news of the week is that I get my travel plans!!! Crazy isn't it? The problem is I still can't speak Portuguese! Oh well, I guess I will have to learn over there right? I have 10 days left here in the MTC and then it is back to the real world. Hmm, lets see if anything interesting happened this week.... The Brazil group got their visas on Tuesday, and Wednesday they were gone. 22 people left and now our zone racks in a whole 20 people. We are little. Of course that also means that once again I am companion-less. I swear I'm a nice person, but apparently I scare away my companions....oops Funny story of the week. I was in helping the newest district with their Portuguese one morning and there were telling me how they were working on memorizing the first vision. I though, " hey, thats great- good for you." A couple minutes later I was sitting there and I looked at the wall where they had a poster with the first vision written out. After a couple seconds I figured I should ask a question. " Why do you have the first vision up in Italian?" Needless to say, they didn't realize that what they were attempting to learn was not Portuguese. I thought it was funny. Well, this week has been pretty mellow- I think we are just all a bit nervous that we are leaving soon. The travel plans are the exciting thing of the week. Of course that also means that all of you who have those letters you haven't sent yet have one more week before you have to send them to Portugal! Anyway, hope that everyone is doing well and good luck with Finals that are coming soon--at least I think. So- Portuguese word of the week is atacadores. It means shoelaces, and always gives me this random mental image of some guy being attacked by the old school high top tennis shoes with really long laces. Thought I would share that- maybe it will give you a laugh.
We have put up the lights and little tree in my room, so we are in the Christmas spirit as well. We are even in the process of re-writing the song "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas" to "I'm gonna be in Portugal for Christmas." Quite interesting actually. Keep up the good work, I miss being there, but I'm excited to be here! I am so thankful for the ability that the gospel has to bless lives. We have a mock investigator that we have been teaching for a couple weeks now, and it is amazing how, even though it is fake. I am so excited when he finally received a confirmation that the Book of Mormon is true and when he said that he could see the effects in his life. I know I'm a nerd, but it really made my whole day! The church is true and the gospel is worth it- no matter what it happens to be! Love you all! Irma Ray"The following is Sarah's contact information while in the MTC. She is scheduled to leave for Portugal on the 16th of December. Write her now while it is still free.

The best way to write Sarah, which is free and probably the easiest (letters only) is:
1) On the internet go to dearelder.com
2) There is a drop down box on the right hand side down just a couple inches. Enter her mission which is Provo-MTC 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.

Again, this is free and is valid during her time at the MTC.

Her contact information for US mail (letters and all packages) is:

Sister Sarah Ray
MTC Mailvox #157
POR-PORT 1216
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

Merry Christmas Season!!!

2008-12-01T09:37:00.000-05:00

Hey there freinds and family of Irma Sarah Ray! I recieved the weekly email today as well as a letter from here on Saturday - so, needlesstosay, I was a happy camper this weekend! Haha... She is doing really well and would, as always ask, love to hear from you - especially during this Christmas season. I know she will be missing home right around now, so any contact will bring her a lot of Christmas JOY! She's only got about three weeks left and then she will be off to Porto, Portugal to teach the people there. I am very excited for her!

Anyway, here is her weekly email - posted and ready for you to read right here, right now. :) In the words of Sister Ray, Merry Christmas season!!! - Ridiculouslygoodlooking

"November 28, 2008

Hi Family and Friends!!!! Merry Christmas Season!The lights here at the MTC are officially turned on and the nativity scenes are all over now. I know more than to hope it is that way at home since I'm not there to do it! I hope that your thanksgiving was grand and that everyone had some awesome opportunitites. Thanksgiving at the MTC was definitely a unique experience. It was my first thanksgiving that involved no football or pie. BUT, we did have the opportunity to do service. We worked with the Humanitarian projects from the church and put together 10,000 first aid kits to send to Cuba and Haiti. It was very similar to the kitchen kits we did. (Was that last year?- our stake actually made it into the humanitarian presentation for the Katrina stuff. The movie also talked about the wheelchair program which of course made me cry remembering my wonderful people from Ecuador.) It was pretty much the best Thanksgiving ever as far as not thinking about myself went. We also had a whole bunch of devotional speakers and spent most of our time doing that.

As for the top 5 of the week
1. Funny Portuguese moments courtesy of district 54-B: Elder Terry in recounting the first vision dropped an E out of a word so that along with a little bit of mispronunciation told the investigator that God the Father said to Joseph Smith " This is my Beloved Son, Egg" oops. We all had a pretty good laugh over that one. Of course- since i'm perfect, I don't make mistakes....okay so thats a lie, I just get to control what goes out from my email...so I don't share my embarrasing moments. I'm sure that I will have many more coming since I leave the MTC in 17 days.
2. My roommates gave me a Swedish name this week. Unfortunatly I can't type it because it has cool sweedish letters in it, and I don't know how to get them on the computer. Triste
3. Um, my companions all left me. I'm not sure that is a happy thing, but it took up a big part of the week. They are all in Portugal now...and there wasn't room in the suitcase for me. It was a cool site to send them off though to see the bus loads of missionaries headed off (at 4:30 am) to different places all over the world.
4. I got a new companion. Her name is Sister (yes, she is a sister- going to Brazil) Hunter from New Mexico. She is great, but watch I bet she gets her visa and leaves before I do!
5. Thanksgiving was great...I already mentioned that we had a great time, but I have been constantly reminded this week of how important it is to count your many blessings. Not only will it make you realize how wonderful life really is, it makes you more willing to help others. I would include a list of things i'm thankful for, but I don't get 10 hours on the computer- SO, to sum them all up. I am super thankful for my family and for the gospel in my life! And all of you great friends!
Have a fantasic week everyone and I Love all of you!!!!
By the way...I get travel plans this week- SCARY!

Irma Ray

P.S. I have gained so much more of a testimony this week that our Father in Heaven knows each and every one of us and what we need. I know that prayers are answered and that all we have to do to receive help is to ask. We are so blessed to have that opportunity. Don't take it for granted!"

The following is Sarah's contact information while in the MTC. She is scheduled to leave for Portugal on the 16th of December.

The best way to write Sarah, which is free and probably the easiest (letters only) is:
1) On the internet go to dearelder.com
2) There is a drop down box on the right hand side down just a couple inches. Enter her mission which is Provo-MTC 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.
Again, this is free and is valid during her time at the MTC.

Her contact information for US mail (letters and all packages) is:
Sister Sarah Ray
MTC Mailvox
#157POR-PORT
12162005 N. 900 E.
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

Classic Moments and Classic Mess-ups!

2008-11-24T01:01:00.003-05:00

Hey y'all! Here is the latest - Please, please, PLEASE write her a letter of love! :) It means the world to her...
*muah*

"November 21, 2008

From the crossroads of the west....however that goes, Hello from the MTC again! Yet another week has managed to pass us by, and hopefully we are all still alive and kicking at the end of it! Life at the MTC is grand as always, the schedule of sit, eat, sit carries on strong. Not even switching to solo Portuguese could switch that up! Speaking of solo Portuguese, here are the funniest comments from teaching the first lesson in Portuguese:
3. Elder Tolman asked an investigator to read a scripture. When he finished reading Elder Gooding asked what that scripture meant to him. This prompted a question from our "investigator." Well, since neither of the elders can really understand Portuguese they both sat there and nodded their heads saying, very good, very good.- I was cracking up.
2. When talking about the ministry of Jesus Christ, One elder mixed up a couple of words and instead of saying that the church was established or created by Jesus Christ, he explained that Jesus Christ had childrened the church. Now that isn't even a word, but somehow it became one....
1. While relating the first vision Elder Bennet had a bit of a mishap, Instead of using the for whose (cujo) he used to word quexo(i may have spelled that wrong,i don't have my dictionary). As a result he told the investigator that Joseph Smith saw two beings, with the brightness and glory of cheese....
I was slightly frustrated with this weeks lesson because I managed to catch the cold that is flying around the MTC and woke up yesterday(the day of our teaching appointment) with no voice. SO, the elders had to do it all on their own...(for results... see above). The best part was that I could still understand everything, so I mostly just thought it was funny.

Lets see, as for the rest of the top 5 list (yes I know, it's not 10- I don't have that much time)
5. (funny teaching experiences...see above)
4. This week was stellar for seeing people I know... It was great to see everyone (Jon, Steve, Matt, Elise, Rebekah, Burke, Pam)
3. This was my last week with Irma Earley...I know sad day. She leaves on Tuesday for Portugal. Luckily I am only three weeks behind her. We also lost our Jim Carrey look alike/impersonator to Brazil this week. Our class is mourning the loss of Elder Taylor- he could do a perfect imitation- quite entertaining actually.
2. We had 30...yes 30 new Portuguese missionaries this week! 22 of them happen to be waiting for Visas to Brazil, but WOW!
1. Elder Holland was our speaker this Tuesday. Not only did he give an amazing and funny talk (which included him pretending to fly with a cape behind the pulpit) we had a pretty cool experience afterward. Irma Earley and I had just left the gym and were standing with a couple of other sisters on the curb when Elder Holland drove by. He rolled down his window, pointed at us and told us I love you, and you have the best times ahead of you!It was a pretty cool experience and one that we really needed. Every one has been getting pretty nervous about the fact that half our zone is leaving this week- and that makes my District the farthest along now. We are supposed to actually know what we are talking about- and that is scary. Luckily we are not doing this alone, I am so thankful for the help and companionship of the spirit. One of the lessons I learned this week is how vitally important having the Spirit is with everything that we do- and that isn't just in missionary mode. That is for life!
Well, so much for this weeks edition of the MTC no-news letter! Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels to everyone!

love

Irmã Ray

ps I appreciate all of your support...you are awesome!~"The following is Sarah's contact information while in the MTC. She is scheduled to leave for Portugal on the 16th of December. Her contact information for
US mail (letters and all packages) is:

Sister Sarah Ray
MTC Mailbox #157
POR-PORT 1216
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

An alternative way, which is free and probably the easiest (letters only) is:
1) On the internet go to dearelder.com
2) There is a drop down box on the right hand side down just a couple inches. Enter her mission which is Provo-MTC 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.

Again, this is free and is valid during her time at the MTC.

Great Prayer???

2008-11-17T02:21:00.002-05:00

Hey y'all! I am going to send out Sarah's Christmas Package in two weeks, so that it will be in Portugal when she gets there for Christmas. If you would like to put a letter to her inside there is plenty of room for many of those - I am also sending her a tape for her to listen to and you are more than welcome to do the same and send it with my package... It really is fairly relaiable mail-wise over there.... Just let me know!!! Enjoy the latest update posted below from our amazing missionary!!!

"November 15, 2008

Well, I have officially made it half way through the MTC. We are considering throwing a party. The sad part is that as of today we no longer speak English...at all. From yesterday on all of our classes, appointments, and pretty much every thing else is in Portuguese. It will make life a little interesting. I am actually excited about it because I understand pretty well, but it is going to be quite frustrating for the rest of my district. It is kinda strange to think that in a month I'll be in Portugal. Sister Earley got her flight plans this week, and she leaves in 10 days. I don't know what that is going to mean for me as far as a companion goes, but we will find out.
So the question of the week is this: why do people congratulate you on your prayers when you pray in a group meeting? I had the opportunity to say the prayer for the fireside this past week and ever since then I have had people coming up to me and saying "good job on your prayer." That is a little strange to me...I guess it would be possible to have bad prayers, but it doesn't seem like Prayer is something that is or should be judged like that. Maybe that is just me, but I think it is a little strange. That and people kept asking me if I was nervous. Hmm....also strange. Anyway, needless to say I was capable of praying in front of a large group without passing out- since apparently it is a scary experience. The funny thing is that I have found out that I know more people at the MTC then I though I did, because they all recognized me on Sunday and have hunted me down.
Well, i know that the top 10 list has been anxiously awaited, but due to the lack of pretty much ANYTHING exciting happening this week, we are limited to 5. They are as follows:
5. Half of our entire zone is leaving for Brazil this week. It is a little sad because some of them have been in our district for 4 weeks now and we kinda forgot they were waiting on visas. That means that when Sister Earley's group leaves for Portugal we will only have 12 people in our whole zone. Muito Triste!
4. Sister Earley and I have discovered the wonderfulness that is the free box, and in order to increase our daily exercise we have started to race down the hall to check it every night. Quite the entertaining site I am sure.
3. For our service assignment ever week we clean the bottom two floors of the building we live in. For some reason our district always seems to be assigned the bathrooms- which then reminds me of you mom. I always remember cleaning the church growing up and you volunteering to clean the boys bathroom because it was the only time you could legally go in there. Just so you know, there are about twice as many boys bathrooms here than girls....twilight zone- I know.
2. I have once again been suckered into doing the musical number for church this past week. You would think with so many Mormons in one very small area someone else would have musical talent- but apparently they are stuck with me. It has become a zone wide project to get me to try out for a MTC wide musical number, but I am still in denial. We will see how that works out....
1. Our mormon.org chats once again make the top list. This week has been really interesting with all of the Prop 8 stuff going on. I'm not even sure what is going on in the real world, but we have gotten some pretty nasty conversations about it. This week I did get to talk to a woman who was seing the missionaries, but worried that because of a divorce she wouldn't be accepted in the church. We talked for a while and she is now excited to be baptized. It was probably the highlight of my week. Being here day after day it gets a little hard to remember that there is a world out there and that things are happening. It was great to be able to see how what we are doing really affects people and that there is a purpose behind the hard times here as well.
Thank you to everyone for all the support you give me. It is great to hear from you, and I really appreciate the encouragement! Have a fantastic week!

Love,
Irmã Ray"

The following is Sarah's contact information while in the MTC. She is scheduled to leave for Portugal on the 16th of December. Her contact information for
US mail (letters and all packages) is:

Sister Sarah Ray
MTC Mailvox #157
POR-PORT 1216
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

An alternative way, which is free and probably the easiest (letters only) is:
1) On the internet go to dearelder.com
2) There is a drop down box on the right hand side down just a couple inches. Enter her mission which is Provo-MTC 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.

Again, this is free and is valid during her time at the MTC.

Top Ten List!

2008-11-11T16:08:00.003-05:00

Here is the new update on Irma Ray's life in the MTC! She sent me some pictures with my birthday package - So if anyone know how to scan those into here, let me know and I will post them. Hope that everything is going great with ya'll!!!

"November 7, 2008
Okay first order of business...HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYAN ANDREW AND LINZE!!!!! For some reason I thought the 6th was today until yesterday and then I realized that I wouldn't get an email out before it came and went! muito triste. So, moral of the story is I'm a slacker of a friend/sister and I'm totally bummed out about it.
Item of business #2... life at the MTC is much the same as usual. This week was fun because we have 3 more sister joining the Portuguese Team...pretty much we are going to destroy the Italians, with whom we have a bit of a war going on. The four square courts will never be the same. The wonderful thing about having gym at 6:30 in the morning two days a week is that everyone is too tired to do much more. Now, I know you are all thinking...4 square?!?! I haven't played 4 square since I was about 8. Well, the MTC has taken it to a new level- We have some pretty intense four-square games. The rivalry includes special shoes and everything.
Anyway, the new sisters seem really nice, but since they have only been here for two days we don't really know them yet. It seems hard to believe that it is already time for the new districts to come in. That means the next district to leave is Irma Earley's which puts me without a companion. I guess we will see how that goes. They get their flight plans next week- which is very strange.
The other exciting thing that happened this week is we had our first real snow. That doesn't really affect us since every where we are walking is covered, but it was fun to watch out of our window. Our district won the lottery apparently because we have a great view out of our window of Timp and the temple. YAY! We will probably need it soon considering that we are down to less than a week before everything we do is in Portuguese. SCARY!!! I guess that is what I get for being half way to Portugal. We have been doing our best to prepare- so we play a bunch of games to review vocab and conjugations. Of course, then the Elders decided that I had to play left handed to race in writing on the board...totally picking on the girl. Not nice.
Item of business #3... This week's Top 10 list of moments that made me happy :)
10. Receiving a letter addressed to "the lone woman in the wilderness of the MTC"...Thank you Peachtree Corners Ward Relief Society!
9. The letter from Brother Drake's class with one being signed " I don't know you, but good luck on your mission"
8. Sister Couch recommended a fly swatter to keep the district in line....I'm seriously considering it!
7. Sister Beck was our speaker this week, and it was a really good talk
6. Instead of doing phone calls at the referral center, my district does chats every Wednesday morning. If you get on the mormon.org site you can ask questions on live chat...well those chats come to the missionaries here at the MTC. I had a very interesting experience talking to a woman who's boyfriend has been convicted of murder. She thinks that prayers aren't being answered or he isn't sincere because he is praying to be let out of jail. That was fun.
5. Elder Zabriskie and I wrote a song for a mission wide musical number. He wrote the music, I wrote the words. I'll let you know how it turns out.
4. PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED!!!! I have so many experiences I could share, but they are all summed up in that sentence. I am so thankful that we have a Heavenly Father who knows each of us individually and takes the time to give us exactly what we need. I was fasting for something in particular this week, and I hadn't even made it back to my residence after the Sunday fireside before exactly what I needed came my way.
3. I was chastized for attempting to take my own tray in the cafeteria...go figure. I was told that I had to learn how to use the Elders to their full capacity.
2. TEMPLE VISITS!!! I love going to the temple every week. There is such a fantasitic feeling associated with being there. I also see someone I know every time so that is kinda fun!
1. So, this isn't exactly inspiring, but I totally locked myself in the bathroom stall. Since I am a solo sister the Elders were waiting for me outside and I could not for the life of me get the door unlocked!!!! I was about to lay down and squeeze under the door in my nylons and skirt, but luckily after a about a minute and a half I was able to force it open. The good thing is since the MTC is the opposite of reality, I got out before the elders did!
Portuguese phrase of the week: pelo amor : for the love...it has become a favorite in our district!
Anyway, I love you and I really appreciate your support!! Tell Bev Jones thank you for her continued letters, and I always love to hear from you. Also thank you to Rachel and Grandma for their letters, I am going to respond as soon as I can!!!

Love always,
Irma Ray"

CONTACT INFO:

Sister Sarah Ray
MTC Mailvox #157
POR-PORT 1216
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

An alternative way, which is free and the easiest (letters only) is:
1) On the internet go to dearelder.com
2) There is a drop down box on the right hand side down just a couple inches. Enter her mission which is Provo-MTC 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.

A Little Trip to the Hospital!

2008-11-02T19:25:00.003-05:00

It's ridiculouslygoodlooking here again! She has been in the MTC for just over three weeks now, and I can hardly believe it - it is incredible! Pasted below is Sarah's most recent mission adventures email - she would LOVE to hear from each of you, so PLEASE drop her a line!

Her email from October 31, 2008

"Hey Hey!!

Do you miss me yet??? I can hardly believe that I am already in week 3 of the MTC. I feel like I have been here forever and no time at all. Kinda weird. We actually get two new Portuguese districts on Wednesday, so that will be exciting. I will no longer be the bottom of the Language totem pole. Life here in the MTC is pretty much the same week after week. We do a lot of sitting and eating. Very exciting. The highlight of the week was actually Tuesday. Irma Vega and I broke out of the MTC! Well, broke out is the wrong term considering the fact that we had a shuttle pass. Irma Vega has been having some bad back problems so we have all taken turns staying with her so none of us have to miss when we have teachers. Apparently I had the lucky straw because I got to be her companion on a super fun field trip to Utah Valley Hospital. She had to go see a specialist so we were able to leave the fence...I know, scandalous! It was really weird to be driving the normal routes I used to drive, and not really being part of the real world. We did take pictures to prove it though! My favorite involves Irma Vega wearing her tag with her hospital gown--definitely a new fashion statement. I thin k it may become all the rage with the Sister missionaries. Of course then we would have to wear regular hose instead of knee highs and that could be depressing. Luckily, she is going to be fine, and hopefully will not have to have surgery. We found out that she had a small fracture on her 5th Lumbar. We are all hoping and praying that it doesn't continue to effect her work and learning.

The other highlight of Tuesday was that Elder L.Tom Perry was our devotional speaker. We had our sneaking suspicions that it was an apostle when Irma Earley and I were at choir practice. They were using a mirror to check under every single seat in the entire place. Seemed like a pretty boring job, and it didn't seem to be part of the usual security check. He gave a great devotional on missionary work and on relying on the Lord. Trusting in His plan is definitely something that I am working on right now.

Portuguese: It is actually going decently well. I am trying my utmost best to forget every bit of Spanish that I have ever learned. I am realizing it is an imperfect form of Portuguese and isn't worth knowing (sorry Dad!) In all seriousness, I really am trying to forget the Spanish because it makes it harder to learn the vocab (easer on grammar though!). It is kinda funny because when I am in class and such I am just fine with Portuguese. However, the second that I get into a teaching appointment or praying or something I revert to Spanish. That results in me being called out by my teacher. Oh well, it will come eventually. I actually can understand pretty well already and I can make myself understood just fine- I just have to remember not to use Spanish words.

As for today...we survived the temple with no mishaps. That is probably because Irma Vega is no longer on narcotics. Kinda a bummer because we have no more entertainment, but we are all really happy for her- and no one put the family file card down the laundry shoot this week!!! I did run into Adam Ruri in the temple this morning and that was fun. It is weird being so close to my prior life and not knowing what is going on. All of us sisters wave at grandma's house every time that we are up at the temple.

Anyway, Sister Earley is also doing well. In order to answer questions about her- it was inspiration that made us companions. We are pretty close to being the same person. We are very silly together at times, but we make sure that we have fun even while we are working hard. Actually, we are dressed up for Halloween today- I am her and she is me! We were super creative with the costume thing. We are going to start coming up with an MTC top 5 list for every week- so stay tuned. She is from Preston, Idaho and went to BYU-ID before the mission. She is going to Lisbon so not quite perfect, but hey, we can't all be :)

Well, my time is almost up and I can't think of any really funny stories to add. We just keep on working hard and hopefully we are improving. I know that I am improving in pretty much every way, and that is a great blessing. It is amazing how much you can learn here if you really try. I know that I am closer to my Heavenly Father because of what we are doing here. I am amazed at how strong the spirit can be even when we are just practicing teaching the lessons. It is a testimony to the fact that it is true, you can feel it even when we are just working on how to improve.

Love you all!!!

Sarah

Portuguese word of the week: ótimo ... it means awesome and that is what life is! Love y'all"

CONTACT INFO:

Sister Sarah Ray
MTC Mailvox #157
POR-PORT 1216
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

An alternative way, which is free and the easiest (letters only) is:
1) On the internet go to dearelder.com
2) There is a drop down box on the right hand side down just a couple inches. Enter her mission which is Provo-MTC 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.

She loves and misses everyone, but can't wait to get out there and serve!

Finally, news from the MTC!

2008-10-26T18:41:00.004-04:00

Well, this is actually "ridiculouslygoodlooking" updating her blog for little miss Sarah Louise Ray as she is currently inside of MTC walls in Provo, Utah. I will be posting her weekly emails on here and other little tidbits she writes to me in my letters - that she wouldn't mind me sharing of course. Haha! Below is her first MTC email and address so all her friends and family can write her! Enjoy!

Sarah's Email:

"So I finally have the email set up and I am on the grid again so to speak. I will try to give you a good update in the time that I have left. So, I promised more information on the solo sister thing. What being a solo sister means is that I am the only girl in my district. There were no other Portuguese girls who came in last week. We also won't have any more for another two weeks. My companion is one of the sister in the trio that is 3 weeks ahead of me. Her name is Sister Earley and she is going to Lisbon. I am actually the only girl in the entire MTC that is going to Porto. We also have people in our Zone going to Mozambique and to Cape Verde. Basically being a solo sister means that I can go wherever I want as long as I am with two elders, hopefully in my district. OF course, on P-day, during gym, and on Sundays I am always with Irma Earley. I have to admit it is a little strange. I do my teaching with a companionship of elders as well as my companionship study. I get to do all the fun stuff with Irma Earley and usually we are with the other two sisters as well. We actually had a zone wide kick ball game during gym period and we had a lot of fun. It was a Portuguese only game so we all learned a wide range of vocab that included cheater, liar, and sinner. We are really uplifting people. They are actually usually the common four square words, but they worked well for Kick ball as well.

The other two sisters and Irma Vega and Irma Hokafunu. We actually all get along really well already. At fist they were in a different room from me even in the residence. Luckily, two days ago we played fruit basket turn over which resulted in all 4 of us being in the same residence room now. Before I was in a room with two Taiwanese sisters, two Swedish sisters and me. We called ourselves the misfits, and they were great. However, I think we were all happy when the Taiwanese sisters moved in with the rest of their district and the three Portuguese sisters moved in with me. Now we can all do better at practicing our languages. I have to admit we had some really fun conversations before the move when all of us were speaking different languages to each other.

The classes are going pretty well. I am definitely more confident in my teaching abilities. The Portuguese is a different story. Everyone told me Spanish was going to help. That is true in that I know how to conjugate verbs and the difference in the tenses as well as ser and estar. In every other aspect the Spanish is making the Portuguese a bit tough! I got called out completely for speaking Spanish in my first Portuguese teaching appointment. It was interesting because when I don't know the word in Portuguese I just automatically say it in Spanish and move right along. Well, that is a bad thing, but I'm sure that eventually I will get the hang of it. I was able to help the other sisters out with how to conjugate and when to use what tense.
So funny story of the day...We had the opportunity to go to the temple this morning and it was really a great experience. We have people who send our zone names so we do those and then give them all back to Elder Schenefelt to mail back. Well, Sister Vega has been having some really bad back problems so she is on Hydrocodone right now- which made her a little loopy throughout the entire session. Besides just being funny, it caused her to put the family file card down the laundry shoot at the end of the session. As a result they had the opportunity of taking a tour of the laundry facility. The really funny thing is when Irma Earley and I went to put our clothes down the shoot you could hear them attempting to explain to the temple workers what had happened. It was echoing through the dressing room!

So I had a nice little list of things to make sure and include in my email, but I left it in my room. BLAST! Well, I will just have to tell you all the random stories next week. I did have the opportunity(?) of giving the musical number in sacrament meeting last week. I had been in the MTC less than 4 hours when I was asked to take part in the musical number- In Portuguese! It made me learn the Portuguese pronunciation pretty quick. Irma Earley and I sang with two Elders and it went pretty well considering we hardly practiced. I also get to write a talk for this Sunday in Portuguese. I guess it is a bit of trial by fire. It is the best way to learn right??
I really am having a great learning experience. You have quite the roller coaster of emotions every day, but overall you know that you are doing what the Lord wants you to and it makes it all worth it. It seems like the minute that I start to get really down there will be an almost immediate answer to prayer and I will know that I can do this. Well, I have to send this soon because I only have a couple minutes left. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Irma Ray"

US mail (letters and all packages):
Sister Sarah Ray
MTC Mailbox #157 POR-PORT 1216
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, Utah
84604-1793

This is Sarah and "ridiculouslygoodlooking" the night before she went into the MTC! She loves and misses ya'll, but is loving serving her Heavenly Father!

GOODBYE!!!

2008-10-15T12:30:00.001-04:00

So, today I go into the MTC! Hope that all you are having a great time and I hope that I get to hear from you soon! Thank you to everyone who helped to get me to this point and has been so supportive of my decision. Love all of you and please stay in touch!

"Every new Beginning comes from some other Beginning's end"

2008-10-01T16:41:00.004-04:00

I really like that quote! It takes the bittersweet feeling of an era ending and new possibilities and ties it up in one thought. Everyone knows the feeling of being on the brink of something unknown- there is an excitement for the future mixed with a nervousness of not knowing what to expect and the sadness that a page in your life has turned. That is where I am right now. Sometimes I wish that life would just stay the same, but then it would be boring and we would never grow. I had my missionary farewell this past weekend and I still don't think that I have fully realized that this part of my life is actually happening. I never thought I would be here, but now that I am at the brink of going into the MTC I know that there is nothing else in the world I would rather be doing with my life. Of course, that doesn't mean that this decision has been, or is easy for me. I am a bit sad that an era of my life is ending. I will miss everyone quite a lot, but I know that this is right in my life. Nothing will be the same after this experience- and I would not want it to be, but it is strange to have no idea of exactly what to expect. I'm so excited and nervous and sad and happy all at the same time. I guess it is only fitting that most of the pictures of possible areas that I will serve in have cliffs! (Yes, these are pictures from areas in my mission!)

Vote for Someone GREAT!

2008-09-25T17:29:00.003-04:00

You know those people who you see and think "I could never handle a trial that well"? I know people like that personally. Some of the people in my family are fantabulously amazing at life, and I hope that one day I will have their faith and optimism.

So this is a bit of a solicitation. My cousin Cindy Lynn is one of the most amazing people that I know! She has Cystic Fibrosis and is attending BYU Idaho. She was also recently married to a great guy. Unfortunately, this means that her insurance is no longer covering all of her VERY expensive treatments. She has qualified for a scholarship that will donate some of her medications. In order for her to win the award her page must receive the most votes. Each computer can vote once a day until October 15th. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take the time to do this for her if you get a chance. In her words "American Idol has gone Pharmaceutical." This only takes a second and you can vote from on this page.
Thank you so much! You guys are awesome!

Whimsical

2008-09-10T21:28:00.002-04:00

There is something about thunderstorms that just makes my fingers and toes tingle with excitement. You have that very distinctive smell that always accompanies an impending storm and there is a tangible electricity in the air. Now I have a confession, most people don't like the rain but thunderstorms are right up there with stars and waterfalls at the top of my nature list! When I was little I used to stand in my driveway watching the rain and I guess not much has changed. I still have an overwhelming urge to go out in a thunderstorm. Usually, emphasis on the usually, I do something slightly more grown up such as going running in the rain instead of just dancing-but not always. I heard thunder today in good old Utah, and I don't think I have stopped smiling yet. Thunderstorms bring me back to my childhood and I feel like I could step into that magical land that we once knew where all our dreams come true. Thunderstorms make me feel like anything could happen and that life will always turn out okay, we really don't have to worry and stress out about everything. Reality is we can't change most of it, so why worry. Well, that is enough of the philosophy of Sarah for the day. I love this picture, it shows my inner kid feelings!

"Weddings, I love weddings, Drinks all around!"

2008-09-09T15:40:00.015-04:00

Okay, once again I am a slacker about the blog. SO- this is my special edition blog to cover the many weddings that I have attended over the past week. It has been quite the busy week. My brother had his mission farewell on Sunday following which my family flew to Utah. Here they met me, fresh off of EFY and still VERY sleep deprived. The day was spent saying our goodbyes in Bountiful and in Provo with the weekly tradition of Eat with Pete! Tuesday was full of family once again as I was able to go through the temple for the first time. I feel so blessed that I have such wonderful family and was able to have most of them there with me (including Andrew..yay). We managed to then cram all of us into a room at Brick Oven where the teasing continued on the fact that my little cousin was getting married tomorrow, and I was going on a mission. No offense to Vince, but I think I am getting the better end of the deal! Tuesday night was an emergency fitting of the bridesmaid dress and although I was thinking " I may not be able to breath tomorrow", the dress did fit-mostly, well close enough. Wednesday was a very busy day. We were at the temple for the wedding in the morning. I was able to be there which was really cool and so was Andrew. Afterwards we walked across the street and put my little brother in the MTC. Of course the missionary meeting us though that I was the one going in- way to rub it in dude! Oh well, 6 more weeks and we get to do this all over again for me. I have to rant for a moment when I say that the whole mtc entry process is probably the most miserable thing I have ever participated in! Whoever designed the whole fiasco must have been taking bets on seeing how many families they could make cry. You sit there in a really big room with everyone else who is going in at the same time and they keep playing the family commercials over and over again. I think it is purely to point out that you are losing part of your family for a couple of years. BLEH! Anyway, they then show this missionary work video that, besides being about 50 years old, serves to emphasize the difficult experiences that your loved one is about to face. Sitting there I was hugely tempted to turn to Andrew and say "lets make a run for it!" Afterwards we get to listed to a 20 minute dealy about how it is easier to just say good bye quickly like a band-aid ( the long talk being completely against what he seems to be saying) accompanied by a rousing version of Called to Serve- which most people just cry through. Now, I am not much of a crier and was actually strangely composed right until I turned to look at my brother. Now i know that guys say they hate seeing girls cry, but to me it has to be worse to see boys cry. I had never seen my brother cry before that day but seeing him try to hide it from my Mom was the catalyst for the flood gates to open. Looking back one day I'm sure it will be funny to see all four of us sitting there, all crying, and all trying to hide it from everyone else so that it is not harder. Of course then the lights go on and it is the infamous missionaries through this door and families through this door part. Needless to say Andrew was out of there before we hardly had time to say bye. As we left Mom was about a centimeter away from cussing out the entire MTC staff if anyone looked at her the wrong way. Okay, rant over. There was one redeeming quality to the entry process. Before we actually put Andrew in Katie and him took some great pictures in front of the MTC sign. I think that they have become my favorite wedding pictures of all time- so I am sharing them with all of you! Well, we all left to grab a bite to eat and I had to rush to get on the bridesmaid dress and it was off to Sundance for the reception. No rest for the weary... which in this case was probably a good thing. The reception and ring ceremony went off with a huge bang. Of course my favorite part was the flower girls getting bored during the ring ceremony and deciding to start conking the bridesmaids with their flowers. Gotta love little kids!
Anyway, Thursday we drove to Idaho and Friday was another wedding, this time in Rexburg. Now I know that we always joke about there being nothing in Idaho and sometimes I feel bad about that, but once again it was shown to be true! The entire town takes about 10 minutes to drive across and our survey of favorite restaurants turned up Applebee's every time. It probably helps that Applebee's is one of two restaurants in the entire area. Cindy-Lynn made a beautiful bride and after the reception it was back down to Utah for yet another missionary farewell. Jenny Badham has joined the Ray family missionary force! As we sat there with almost the entire extended family I realized just how blessed we really are to have family like this. I have to say that I am so thankful that all of my family chose to be married in the temple so that we can all be together for the rest of eternity! It was so great to be able to be around all the people I loved!

Promised Pictures- well, at least some!

2008-08-29T02:14:00.004-04:00

So EFY is always an experience...here are some of the pictures to prove it! That is, if we really needed pictures. I think the craziness of efy is pretty much assumed by everyone!

Catching Up

2008-08-26T02:54:00.002-04:00

So I know I haven't posted on here in quite some time. I had finished Ecuador, but thanks to the "encouragement" of my extended family I am at it again. For those of you who don't know, I have been working as the EFY health counselor for the past 2 months. This mostly includes handing out the band-aids and Advil, but the kids often will hit you with something out of the blue. It makes my job quite interesting. The greatest part about it is that I also get to have the spiritual aspect of the efy program and I have teaching opportunities all the time. This year was crazy in many different ways. I was able to work in California for half of the summer. It was great, but at one point the entire city of Goleta was on fire, and yes, that is where we were with 400 youth. We had the wonderful opportunity to have our meetings outside while it was raining ash on us. I have to admit, lights out was very easy that week due to the fact that we had no power. It was probably one of the most depressing things to tell all the efy kids that they would not be having Pizza night because the entire city had no power. Instead we bought out K-mart in the makings for PB&J sandwiches and granola bars!
I also had the amazing opportunity to work a week in Nauvoo! We only had 187 participants and it was an awesome week! We took everyone through the temple to do baptisms and in two days those awesome youth did 13oo names! You really can't compare the experience of having your daily scripture study on the lawn in front of the temple. We were also able to take everyone through Carthage jail. The group that I was with decided to take the time we had in the jail to sing "Praise to the Man." They were a stellar bunch of kids and it was an emotional experience for all of us! I'll put up some pictures as soon as I can, and I promise to try and do better with keeping up.
Unfortunately my Mom is going to have to take over the site because I am leaving on a mission in October! I have the wonderful opportunity to go to Portugal for a year and half and I can not wait!

Home Sweet Home

2008-06-01T00:14:00.001-04:00

Well, I am once again in the USA! I never understood those stories of people kissing the ground when they returned home until I walked back onto American soil. While I still have never actually kissed the ground, I understand a little bit better the feeling behind the action. There are some things that I am so thankful to have again! Of course that is not to say that our last couple days in Ecuador were without their quota of adventure. We were able to experience the stereotypical money issues that tend to happen in South America. Our liaison disappeared with a family emergency the day before we were supposed to leave. Later that night we were informed that our drivers had not been paid and would not take us to the airport until they received their money- of course we had been told by our liaison that it was already taken care of. To this day I don't know if the drivers were just attempting to take advantage of us and get paid twice or if our liaison had run off with all of the money. Luckily we only had to make one phone call to the Junta organization and all of a sudden everything was taken care of. I must admit I felt a bit like I was working for the mob. I have to appreciate how easy everything was with our Junta connections. In the end all we had to do was pay $40 to get out of the country. Three of us also had the pleasure of an all expenses paid trip around the less desirable portions of the airport. We were called from the gate and escorted across the tarmac (in the rain no less) to where the security guards were happily pulling everything out of our carefully packed bags. As we were standing there, they proceeded to give a slightly awkward preview of all of our luggage by spreading it out along the tarmac for all of the other guards and some passengers. We were also searched by the drug dogs; all the while being assured that this was strictly routine. It was quite the experience. So, as a wrap up I have included my own David Letterman style top 10 lists. I hope they make everyone laugh as much as I enjoy the memories. If you want more specifics on the stories-you will have to ask!

Top 10 things I'll miss from Ecuador

Being told I’m beautiful multiple times walking down the street
Cheap prices!
bargaining for everything
chifles/ Mango suckers
pineapple / any fresh fruit every day
having a maid/ chauffeur
being able to work with the community
all drugs being OTC
kissing is an acceptable greeting
salsa dancing/Latin music

Top 10 things I won’t miss from Ecuador

Giant rats/bugs
Little kids begging
GI issues
no air conditioning
clinicals every day!
drinking Coke
only bottled water
CPR classes!!!
no fresh veggies
have to go places in groups of 3

Top 10 funny moments from Ecuador

1. Paige accidentally hitting on our waiter
2. Negrito?... Dos Negritos???
3. hearing "We didn't start the fire" (Billy Joel) on Ecuadorian radio
4. seeing our teachers Latin dancing
5. "A ver todos..." with the Gias
6. 12 people in the back of the Ambulance
7. David "teaching" Spanish to the gringas
8. Giving each other shots when we were sick
9. "You have beautiful eyes- because that's all that is visible"
10. The worm

All in all this was one of the most fantastic experiences of my life and I am so grateful for the chance that I had to participate. I learned so much from the people there! The intent was for us to serve them, but I was served so much more by the people there than I could ever give back. I think I will always love the Ecuadorian people and I know that I am a better person because of this experience. I hope that one day everyone has the opportunity to have an experience that means as much to them as this has meant to me. Thank you so much to all of you who have been keeping me going with your emails and I can't wait to get back in touch with all of you!

The most memorable Memorial Day ever!

2008-05-26T22:32:00.007-04:00

Today was probably my favorite day of the whole trip as far as fun is concerned. It is a holiday, so we decided to take one too! The day started off way to early for most of us with a kindly meant wake up call at 5:30 by our Ecuadorian contact. It was highly ineffective in our apartment since none of us got up till 6:10. No fear, we were on the bus in plenty of time, we were not even last! So we drove about 3 hours outside of Quito to the Cloud Forest, which is a beautiful rain forest up here in the middle of the Andes mountains. It was quite cold this morning, so we were all huddled on the bus attempting to sleep. I'm sure someone got pictures of it, but it wasn't me, probably a good thing! After taking our bus across rivers, very iffy bridges and crazy roads we were taken in the back of trucks to a cable car of sorts that took us across a large ravine so that we could hike. We sang the Indiana Jones theme song and decided that we didn't have to see the movie because we were living the story. I promise we make the Disney ride look like a kid on a tricycle! I've posted the video, and I know we are all in different keys-please ignore that! It was a lot of fun and then we got to hike to several waterfalls! Waterfalls are my absolute favorite thing that you can find in nature, followed closely by stars, but waterfalls are first. I was in heaven today-except for the part that we were hiking through some very steep, very muddy trails. Add that to the high altitude, the lack of sleep, lack of food for the day and the fact that we are already all sore- it was quite the challenge for the day. Luckily we got back out before it started the daily afternoon thunderstorm! Of course the best part of the day is that we took a tour of the canopy level of the forest. In order to do this we had to travel by a series of 13 zip lines all around the forest! It was so much fun, and was totally worth the 15 dollars. We even got to do some of them upsidown and such. It was the coolest thing to be soaring above the trees all around the rain forest for about an hour and a half. We then had to get back to Quito which included fording more rivers, more hiking and a long bus ride, but it was a great day! We were in the forest for almost 12 hours and I definitely think that it was the best day of our whole trip as far as things related to us. I am very glad to have all the experiences and clinicals have been amazing, but today was so much fun that we all needed desperately after the past 3 weeks of lots of hard work!

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying good-bye so hard.”

2008-05-23T14:23:00.000-04:00

Despite the fact that I can hardly believe it, our time here in Guayaquil has come to a close. I am actually very sad to be leaving the people here. I have had such amazing experiences getting to know all of them and having the opportunity to serve. I also feel like I am just getting to the point where I can understand what most of them are saying! I guess life is like that. As soon as you start to adjust to things, Heavenly Father decides that you are not allowed to get comfortable. That is how we grow in all aspects, but it is still sad sometimes. I definitely miss many things when they change, but I am thankful for the lessons that I learn with each new experience. I think the people here are actually going to miss us just a little bit as well. This morning I taught CPR at the Psych hospital, and it was definitely an experience. First of all we had some technical difficulties with the video- so we got to do it all on our own. On top of that there was a guy who was following me around with a video camera to get everything that I said. I was slightly ashamed because my spanish is horrible, and i'm sure that if the American Heart Association saw our teaching sessions all of our certifications would be revoked! It was fun to work with all the little nuns, they all wanted to take pictures too. I guess I am slightly disappointed because they all wear white, not black. Oh well. Later we had lunch with the head honchos from the Junta and it was really fun. They seemed to be genuinely sad that we were leaving even though I'm sure we were probably more trouble than help. Our entire afternoon was spent going part to party to say goodbye to everyone. David's Mom threw us a huge pool party and closed the restaurant in order to feed us. It was really nice of her, but we had all eaten so much already that we were forcing ourselves to eat so that we would not offend her. That night the church had a YSA dance, which was also very fun. Dances are quite different here, they are all reggaton and salsa dancing...needless to say we all had a great time and are quite sad to be leaving!

"The more fun you have, the greater your value to yourself and to your society."

2008-05-23T12:58:00.005-04:00

So we have been having more fun! This was our last week of clinicals and has been crazy busy, but we still find time to enjoy ourselves! This past Saturday we went to the rain forest Cerro Blanco and hiked for a couple of hours. Then we went canoing down the river in Porto Hondo and had a grand time. The water was kinda dirty, okay really dirty, so we didn't go in but it was still fun. We then ended up the day by going to a Music Festival. It was really fun, and I am even starting to really understand the majority of what is said to me. Mostly I know everyone likes the pictures so here are some more from when we climbed the lighthouse and other such stuff: