Barreiro - Week 18

So it´s a short one... but this week was good. This week the Elders baptized Vadinho, who Sister Swain and I taught when we were in the Vale de Amoreira before our switch with the Elders. Vadinho was happy and I'm so glad I was able to see his baptism. He had been investigating the church for 2 years. Some of the missionaries that had taught him recently were able to come. I love being able to see the people that I have come to love get dressed in white and enter the font. It is a blessing to be able to see people start clean!! Especially when they have truly come to know the church is true!!!

This week was also sister Mendes' last week with me. We got our transfer calls and she is staying 2 weeks in Lisbon before she goes home. We dropped her off at the boat station this morning and it was so sad to see her go!! She is one of the very best friends I have made on my mission and we always had a lot of fun together in the street and teaching.

So with transfers, im STAYING. So that will make 6 months in this area when this transfer finishes, and 7 1/2 months in this zone. So I'll be leaving at the end of this transfer for sure. I have only ever stayed in an area for 2 transfers so this is different, but I love this branch and this area. It makes it so much easier because I know all the members so well. My new companion is Sister Stegman. She hasn't gotten here yet. She is in her 3rd transfer so I am greenie breaking her. I hear she is a lot of fun too! She will get here later today with the Elders that are coming from Lisbon while I stay with the Sisters here that I live with.

Meanwhile, our house is getting ready for the Christmas season. I don't think Portugal does Thanksgiving, but I'm thankful that I am on a mission and I am thankful for all these wonderful people here too! Sometimes it is hard to be thankful for the hard things, or the people who are rude, but I'm thankful for this chance to be a missionary and share the light of the gosple with others! Shout out to my wonderful family!!! I am so grateful for all of their support and love! I am especially grateful for my grandma Christensen and her wonderful letters to me! :) We set up our little paper christmas tree that we found in our house and boughts some lights and lit the candle my mom sent me. We are excited to be able to share "He is the Gift" with the people of Portugal. I think those are my favorite cards to hand out. The people are happier during this time of year and they are happy to take the cards. We have some special activities planned to contact and get to know our members and less active members which I am excited for!!! :) It will be a season of joy and sharing the message of the birth of Christ!!!

I think that is all!!
Com Amor!!
Sister Jarnagin

1. our district last transfer.
2. Vadinhos baptism and the missionaries who taught them.
3. My little friend from our branch
4. another one :)
5. Our goodbyes this morning :( It was SO SO cold!

Barreiro - Week 17

Ola gente!
Not much is new this week... We are still continuing to teach Maria and her family. This is the last week of the transfer and we think Sister Mendes is leaving and ilql stay again, but we will see what happens.

So the pictures:
Sister Mendes and I walking through the jungle on the way to our area :)
Christmas that has began in the shopping center. Whoot!
Justin Bieber´s mug shot on a members cake for her birthday haha
And my cute Cabo Verdiana companion!

Have a wonderful week!
Love, Sister Jarnagin

Barreiro - Week 16

So lots of things this week... and one from last week.

Last week we had a special activity where right after church all the missionaries went to the nearest cemetary. We were all fasting because of fast sunday so we went in the spirit of fasting and prayer. On this Sunday Portugal celebrates their dead and cleans and decorates the graves, so we took pictures of the temple, plan of salvation pamphlets, and family history pamphlets. It was a different kind of contacting, and we were just there to give love and support and help comfort. I am so grateful for the knowledge we have that our families can be together forever!

Right now we are working with a family and last night we had a very succesful lesson with them! The mom and the younger daughter have a hard time beliving that God exists, especially the Mom. She says if God exists, why do so many bad things happen and why is my son sick. Her son has epilepsy and she also has 3 other children. We are working so hard with them. Most of the time we start teaching and they have so many questions so we are always responding and always have to be prepared. Her 2 children haven't ever been baptized which is very rare here. We were explaining about baptism and the baptism of Christ and then she says "So how the Catholic church baptizes isn't correct!" We were like... you said it. She understands things so well. And her daughter says that she has doubts in God, but what we are teaching makes absolute sense! We asked the children if they wanted to be baptized and they both said yes. Right now we are teaching them and helping them to have a personal belief and not believe in us only. The daughter plays football every sunday so teaching and understanding the sabbath day is very important if they want to get baptized.

So the other story of the week. We had lunch with a member and were walking home and saw this adorable puppy with a collar and broken string for a leash just wandering around. We couldn't just leave her, being servants of the Lord, so we set off on our quest to find her owner. After a prayer, some meat roll for Clair (that's what we named her), and some asking around, we were able to find her owner. Yep. Doing good deeds for animals too :)

I hope you all have a wonderful week!!! :)
Love, Sister Jarnagin 

Barreiro - Week 15

Wow... ok well not much is new this week, but it was Halloween!

So our week started out with rain, rain, and more rain.  We left just after p-day and came back literally soaking wet.  Because of the humidity, clothes don't dry so fast so it took a while for our coats and clothes to dry completely. We put on so many layers to keep warm. It's a different kind of cold here... the humidity makes you feel it down in your bones. I feel like my feet are always icecycles in my rain boots. I am sure we look completely crazy walking around in the pounding rain, but hey, haha we find a lot of miracles! Rain and the cold are good motivators.

We walked so so much this last week. We have a lot of families we are teaching, but most of them aren't married. A lot of times they are fine with not being leagally married, so we have to teach the Law of Chasity very directly. One of the familes that we found we had a family night with, and we taught them how to play a card game which was really fun and they loved it! The daughter of the family is 15 and has the most interest in our message. The only problem is that she plays football and has games every Sunday. She is really sweet.

Halloween isn't the biggest thing here, but hey, Portugal is trying to be better at it. Our branch had a dance for Halloween and it was really fun! Below are pictures :) The four of us aquired some african clothing from a member and we all wore our dresses. We couldn't do much, but it turned out so fun! Sister Mendes was there to help us too ;) We also made some pumpkin bars from scratch. (oh the saudades of pumpkin in a can). And of course the members loved them. The primary did all the decorations and hung lights, pumpkins, cats and other things all over the room. I think the best part was watching the young men dance and do karoke.  Man... they seriously know how to dance here!

I have been in this area for a while now, and I realize what  a blessing it is to see people progress, but I also feel sad when I see the people we have been teaching for a while who know the church is true, but still don´t want to be a part of it or think that they can procrastinate. It breaks my heart, but I have come to love them. I have learned that we can't force people to choose. They have to choose for themselves, but we can bear testimony. We can keep the faith because one day they eventually will accept this gospel. I was reading in Moses this past week about how God cries for us when we are disobediant. How imperfect are we and we make so many mistakes, but yet the only person who is perfect, cries for us. And all because he loves us. We all have so long to go, but I'm grateful that we can grow and try our best to become perfect like our Father in heaven.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week and enjoy the snow if it does snow because I miss it!
Com amor,
Sister Jarnagin

PS Happy Halloween! :)
Love, the Sisters of Barreiro