Monday, May 18, 2009

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

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

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