Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy New Year from Braga!

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


1 comment:

David said...

Some of us occasionally hit the link on their blog to check up on Sarah, even though we get e-mailed her letters. :)