Vila Real - week 7

This week has been filled with so many new people and Miracles!

We had 10 investigators at Church!  This week church was in Porto, and we had to take a bus for Stake Conference. It was amazing to see them sacrifice a little more sleep to come to Stake Conference. After, we were talking to Antonio who was told to come by one of our members. He absolutely loved it!!! We showed him where the branch meets and he is excited to come back!

We tried an apartment where a new investigator said he lived, and it turned out he gave us the wrong address. But a girl answered the door and invited us in. She is very quiet and lives alone, but as we taught the restoration is was amazing to see the light in her eyes. After we taught the restoration, we asked her if she wanted to prepare to be baptized. And she said YES! We were able to set a date for her baptism and dates to visit her again.

Our apartments are above a couple bars, and there were 5 guys in one of them. We knew one from contacting him on the street, and so we were like "Hey! What's up! Who are your homies?" And so we were able to talk to them. One of them owns the bar and he and his brother work there. We didnt have much time, so we made an appointment to return. When we came back we helped put the chairs and tables out. Then we all went in to talk. At first, it was just one guy who was listening. But as we taught his brother started to listen too, and then one of their friends walked in and he sat down and started listening. As we taught the resoration the spirit was so strong. Even in a tiny bar. It was so amazing!
I can see the Lord´s Hand in the work with everything we do!

One of the stories I loved studying this week was Captain Moroni and his armies! He continued to progress the work of the Lord and stood firm in his beliefs and desires.
"...If all men had been, and were, and ever would be like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of Hell would have been shaken Forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of Men."
We have an example to follow, and in the Book of Mormon we can find countless of them!

We have many new people we are teaching and sister Jumua has fire!

"Hope on. Journey on. Honestly Acknowledge your questions and your concerns, but first and forever fan the flame of your faith, because all things are possible to them that believe." -Jeffery R. Holland

love, Sister Jarnagin

PS.   My new companion is sister Jumua from Mozambique. She speaks a couple words in English but that is about it. She is wonderful and a very effective missionary. It has been raining here for about 2 weeks straight. Not cold, but rainy.

The other picture is of Otilia, one of the members who owns a very cool antique shop.

I ate squid tentacles yesterday haha!  It was interesting.

Vila Real - week 6

I don´t have much time today because of transfers, but I am staying in Vila Real and I have a new colega! Sister Jumua from Mozambique. She doesnt speak English, but I am excited to be "fully" immersed in the language.
Sorry for the short post!
LOVE, Sister Jarnagin

Vila Real - week 5

These last 2 weeks so much has been going on!

A miracle we saw was when we did a fast for our zone and we met a man named Jesus on the Street. We set up an appointment to meet with him later that week and he kept it! We taught about the Restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. We called him later in the week to follow up and he told us that he had been reading the Book of Mormon and felt so "Free" when he read it, so he shared it with his friend. She loved it so he gave her the book. It was amazing to see how he shared it with his friend even though he didn´t know much himself. And it was totally amazing that his name was Jesus :)

It has been raining a lot this week which gave us an opportunity to take the bus. We were waiting for the bus and we started talking to this nice older gentleman. We told him about our church and gave him a card with Christ on It. His face lit up when he saw the picture of Christ.

We went to visit our Investigator Maria, and she and her sister are trying to plan my wedding with Maria´s son, Miguel. They want me to stay in Portugal and marry him and then go to the United States to visit and send them lotions and perfumes haha. They are crazy!

All the college kids have capes for their college with patches on them. Sometimes I feel like I am in Harry Potter walking around the tiny streets with teenagers in capes. It is awesome!

I am so excited to see that so many of my friends back home are going on missions! I love the joy that comes from telling people about Christ! :)

I love the people here. They are so humble. They don´t have very much, but yet they are willing to give so much! And sometimes we as people have so much and are willing to give so little. But most importantly, I like to ask myself, what more can I give to the Lord? Can I give him more of my love, more service, dilligence, kindness, or obedience? There is always more that we can do to be better disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ and continually use his atonement.

"Blessed be the name of our God; let us sing to his praise, yea, let us give thanks to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever." I have continually seen the humble portuguese people give all they have. There food, their time, their small income just to come to church. And yet they give no excuses. They love their God and they know what it means to put him first. They do not even have a temple, and they save their money, sometimes for a long period of time, just to be able to visit the temple in Spain. I am so grateful for their humble example. And I am grateful to be surrounded by people who love Christ and are continually happy! I know that happiness in life comes from truly living the gospel and loving it!

Tem uma boa semana amigos :) Eu amo vocês!
Com Amor, Sister Jarnagin

Vila Real - week 4

Villa Real Week 3

First, To address the questions of my mom :)
Sister Cardoso is from Sintra which is close to Lisbon. She LOVES ice cream and the color Pink and especially Magnum Pink Icecream which we like to get often.  She says "Basicamente" a lot and we have a lot of fun together!

There are about 8 members in our branch. Vila Real is beautiful and there are cobblestones everywhere. There are cute shops and cafes and people sitting in the outside cafes. Almost everyone here is Catholic so there are many catholic sisters and Catholic churches around which have a beautiful old design. There are many cherry trees and olive trees and vineyards, especially on the country mountain sides where people have their vineyards and gardens.

This week was amazing!  We have 2 investigators, Helena and Jorge, who are married that want to get baptized so we are so excited! They are the friends of one of the couples in our branch and they come to church often with them but when we talked to them they said they weren´t ready to take the missionary discussions. But Irmão called us last week and he said that they wanted to be baptized! We are so excited!

This week we got to travel to Porto for our zone meeting. Porto is HUGE and it is so busy out! People everywhere! It kind of reminds me of what I picture New York to look like. We went inside the shopping mall while we were waiting for our bus and they have an "all american" store. Things that you can only buy in America. A big box of Reeses Puffs was 16 Euros which is very overpriced for a box of cereal in America. It was funny to see :) 

Easter and conference is probably the best combination in the world! All the speakers and topics were very specific and very to the point. I loved it! I loved how so many talks were focused on the atonement of our brother, Jesus Christ. I loved how Elder Holland talked about how the Savior still extends his unfailing help to us imperfect people with pierced hands and torn wrists. And I loved Elder Pearson´s talk about how "Giving in , giving up, and giving out are not options." Ans also how our daily discipleship will determine our eternal destiny." 
I know that we have just recieve revelation on what we can all do to be better disciples of Christ as his coming grows closer and closer.

For Easter we had the opportunity to have lunch with the branch president and his wife. They live in a very old beautiful house that looks like a castle. On Easter day here the catholic children went around with a cross, bell, and other symbols into the open gates and doors of houses. All day was filled with the ringing of bells. We stayed the night at President´s house because they live so far away and while we were sleeping, their cat peed on my companion and when we woke up.... haha it was smelly but funny!

Vila Real - week 2

The plague hit our apartment this week. Sister Cardoso and I were both sick, so Lemon honey tea and blankets were our best friends.

We had our district meeting and I got to meet everyone. There are 2 sets of elders and us. Everyone is pretty dang cool here! I also gave my first talk in sacrement meeting on Sunday... ahhh well my knees were shaking and I´m pretty sure I didnt even understand half of what I said but I got it done.

I have learned alot from Sister Cardoso, such as to stay away from the men over 50 because they call us cute and pretty as we walk by and want us to sit down for coffee and chat... so creepy.

If you havent seen #becausehelives GO AND WATCH IT! Also... General Conference is this week and I am so so excited!

I dont have much time this week but here is the scripture of the day from my Book of Mormon Study: Alma 5:14-16.

Muito Fixe! Well I love you all :)
Beijinhos!
love, Sister Jarnagin

Vila Real - Week 1

Well... I MADE IT :)

Braving the international Madrid, Spain airport was quite a task by my self with 3 large suitcases, but I got it done. Upon arrival I was reunited with my amigos from the MTC. It was so good to see all of them! We had our interviews with president and then i met my companion, Sister Cordoso, who is a native to Portugal. She is awesome :)

We serve in Northern Portugal in a city called Vila Real. It is so beautiful and so so cold!

Our apartment is HUGE and we don´t have any dressers... that must be why my clothes are in an empty fridge haha but it´s all good. The water here isn´t good to drink and the water in our apartment is orange/ brown so of course we buy water. It is a 6 hour bus ride from Lisbon to Vila Real so halfway there the elders bought us all Pastel De Nata which is a pastry with cream custard in the middle. So so good! Sister Cordoso says there is a pastry shop on every corner and so far she is telling the truth.

The city here is beautiful. Beautiful buildings, cobblestones, and people. It honestly looks like it could be out of a movie! It is a very different climate from Arizona. Bone chilling cold and wind and rain. We wear our coats and gloves everywhere. I absolutely love it.

We visited our investigator, M..., who has 5 adorable children. They are so cute! She always feeds us soup she makes and says "Sisters! Eat more!" and then she gives us more soup. The Portuguese people always feed you so so much!  Good thing her house is an hour walk up a hill. We had a very good lesson with her and her family about keeping the commandments and it went well. They are very patient with my poor portuguese. They try to teach me so my Portuguese will get better but they say it is good for being here for 3 days.

I am kind of the assigned piano player for our small branch. That is the first thing I was asked when i got here if I could play the piano. I was also asked to bear my testimony in sacrement meeting. So I did in my very broken, very poor Portuguese. The members are sweet though and try to help.

We talk to everyone! We walk everywhere so we are constantly walking and talking. We are working towards membership so Portugal can finally have a temple. What a blessing it is to have a temple and a place to do our work and work for others.

I love you all!
-Sister Jarnagin