Alo!! Hump Day!!

(Sister Ellsworth)

Remember how last week I said I didn't like rain? Well I think Heavenly Father kinda smiled and was like "Oh, yeah? Watch this." It rained sideways rain every day this week, all day long. After two minutes in the rain you kind of just give up and try to jump in all the puddles. It's more fun that way :) The roads were flooded for most of the week too since Portugal is paved over and there aren't many grassy or dirt areas to soak up the water. The cobblestone also gets pretty slick!! On one day when the rain was particularly bad with no sign of letting up the Elders called us and asked if we could bring them umbrellas but coming from the Sisters house, the only umbrellas that we had to give was a paisley umbrella and a bright pink umbrella. I think the best memory I have of this week is watching our two elders walk around the city with pink and paisley umbrellas!!

We got to go to Lagos again for our Pday and It stopped raining long enough for us to go to the beach and draw messages in the sand. We picked up sea shells and explored the caves. It was really neat!

We also passed by one of our investigators houses this week to say hello and when she let us in we kind of noticed that the whole family was very sad and upset. We asked what was going on and they shared that their dad had passed away the night before. We shared a very touching moment with them about the Plan of Salvation and the opportunities that they have to prepare to be baptized and then afterwards take the dad's name to the temple.

Haha there was also another moment that was really great.... We had found this cute old man on the road who seemed really happy to see us even though i had never seen him before. Just imagine the old man from up... It was him. So we marked a return appointment and came back the next day to meet his wife. Oh he was so excited.. So we get there with the hopes to teach this cute old couple and they invite us in. The old man stops me for a second while my companion was talking to the old lady and he mentions that his wife has Alzheimer’s. I was like okay... that's not a problem. And then this cute old man says "Well I'm going out for the night. You guys stay here and talk to her." And then he ditches us in his house. I looked at Sister Foster and was like... so.... what do we do now? Before we know it this old lady has us in her front room with two coca colas and a plateful of cookies and she talks and talks and talks. But she only knows three stories. So we sat there and smiled and kept her company laughing inside because of course this would happen to the sisters. But we didn't complain because those cookies were really good.

Also I hit 9 months this last week!! Here are some of our adventures we did to celebrate....

We stole our investigator's beer and threw it away. #quittingforjesus #sisterpower

We also made homemade In and Out fries!! MMMM!

Pretty pictures of my favorite beach!

What else to you do with all the lighters that your investigators give you?

LIGHT STUFF ON FIRE! Traditional burning of your trainer's skirt... (don't worry we had a bucket of water and everything haha)

Nine months later and the Church is still true. I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing and I still don't understand the language perfectly but I know that Christ loves each one of us and that through service we can find the joy in everything. When I walk in the streets and talk to people I know that there is a loving God who is aware of our circumstances and he wants us to be happy.

Much love,

Sister Ellsworth

Temples, Eternal Marriage, and the Pope?

(Anziano Wilkinson)

So the pope came to visit Monza (the city right next to Muggiò) this week! It was truly a mess, but we survived it! Fear 24 hours they closed down all traffic in and around where the Pope would visit and drive past, so we basically could not use the car the whole day... Luckily for us though, we have bikes so we put them to good use! But even on bike navigation was tricky, as crowds upon crowds of people (almost everyone in Italy is catholic after all haha) clogged the streets, each trying to get a view of the pope when he would drive by. We stopped for a second and watched as he rode by waving at the people from the side seat of his FIAT Tipo. I don't know what I was expecting to see him riding in, but I certainly wasn't imagining a navy blue hatchback haha. I guess it just serves as a reminder that he's really just a normal guy like all the rest of us. Anyway, not being able to use the car didn't stop us and so we still scheduled a full day of appointments, however, after a whole day of riding bikes I was thoroughly beat! So I guess what we can take away from this is that if you want a solid workout, just invite the pope over for visit!

Apart from that, among other things, we had a really special moment while teaching one of the newer members in the Muggiò Ward! His name is Francesco (I know what you're thinking and no, not pope Francesco :P) and, seeing as he has not yet been able to visit the temple, we decided to explain in more detail the importance of temples and the work that is accomplished inside. He's long been eager to go and finally be sealed for eternity to his wife, who passed away decades ago. The hope and relief that came from the realization that his relationship with his dear wife could be made eternal though the blessings of the temple played a huge role in the development of his faith in Christ his restored gospel.

We explained to him that temples are sacred places, houses of God on earth, and that to enter he must be spiritually prepared through obedience to the commandments of the Lord. We taught that inside he would learn through the impressions of the Holy Spirit and even be "endowed with power from on high". We taught that inside he could make promises with God and with his spouse as well as perform ordinances of salvation for those of his family who have passed away never having been able to do so for themselves. We explained to him some of the symbolism of the temple, including the brightness of the decor and the angel Moroni that sits atop the steeple, proclaiming "the everlasting gospel to preach unto... every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people" (Revelation 14:6). Beyond these, we explained the feelings that he would experience inside the temple; feelings of peace, tranquility, and joy; the kind that can only be felt by means of the Holy Spirit.

As we taught, the Spirit confirmed the truth of the things we said in the heart of Francesco and his desires to visit the temple grew immensely! There are so many blessings that the Lord offers us through his holy temples and every single one of them is something to get excited about! However, the greatest of all the blessings of the temple is that of being sealed for time and all eternity. With the proper priesthood authority, not only marriages, but families can be together forever. This is one of the greatest blessings that God can give us! Our Heavenly Father's plan of happiness for us is based around the family and the incomparable love that can exist there between, husbands, wives, children and beyond! To me, heaven would not be heaven if I couldn't experience it together with my family and I am unbelievably grateful that it has been made possible through the holy temple!

Well, I hope you have a fantastic week! Till next time!

-Anziano Jake Wilkinson

Missionary Work and Sacrefice

(Elder Cummings)

This has been an exacting week as a missionary.  The work has stretched me and has asked of me to sacrifice more of my heart, mind, and attention on the Lord's work, and more specifically, on doing the Lord's work the Lord's way.

Early in the week we saw our teaching pool reduce again. Over three days we taught only one investigator, and our finding efforts yielded no fruit.  I have been blessed to serve in a mission where the work progresses readily, but at times in spite of our best efforts things get harder.  After offering several disappointments, and several mighty prayers we commenced again to labor Thursday morning.  We felt inspired in our planning that day, but the outcome was not inspiring.  Finally, at 8:30pm of another trying day we said a prayer that we would be sustained by the grace of God.  We were.  The lesson we began teaching less than a minute later was profoundly inspired.

His name was Jonathan.  He was 18 and was a high school drop-out.  He recognized us instantly as servants of God sent to him.  His mother came out of the house in tears.  She had been praying for someone God to send someone to her son.  Her father, an active and faithful member of the church, had recently passed away.  She felt, Jonathan felt, and we felt the Spirit of the Lord.  God has a plan for that family.

Friday we found three new investigators, and Saturday and Sunday were in their own way miracles.  We had a lesson in a member's home and the investigator was touched.  That investigator came to church, and then introduced us to her friend, who also is interested in coming closer to Christ.

This week has caused me to reflect on the need for sacrifice in the Plan of Salvation, and in a much smaller sense in missionary service.

God must try us.  He must demand eventual perfection from us or He cannot provide eventual exaltation with our families.

God tried Abraham.  He required his only son, Isaac, to be given as a sacrifice.  Abraham loved Isaac, but Abraham loved and trusted the Lord.  He prepared and he and Isaac obeyed, being stopped in the actual act of literal sacrifice at the very last moment by an angel of God.  The scriptures teach that "Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God" (James 2:23).

Sacrifice purifies us.  Through sacrifice we each can earn, in our own way, the title given deservingly to Abraham.  When we feel that our spiritual growth is slowing, we can ask ourselves, "Am I a Friend of God?"  If we feel the answer is no, sacrifice to be made pure.  If we feel the answer is a "maybe," sacrifice to be made sure.  If we feel the answer is a "yes," we will desire to sacrifice more.  He loves us.  I know he does.  He wants us all to reach our potential.  As D. Todd Christofferson put it, He is a God of great expectations.  He will take us as high as we can go, "unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ," if we will trust Him (Ephesians 4:13).

-Elder A. Jared Cummings

The British Are Coming and Bible Bashes

(Sister Ellsworth)

Olá!!

This week... whoo hooo. It was one of those lovely weeks on your mission when absolutely everything goes wrong but you have some of the most amazing miracles! We ended up laughing all of Sunday night looking back at our adventure of a week.

On Monday we had a great relaxing Pday and then our 3 appointments that night fell through and we walked... and walked... and walked... Much like Pioneer children! But that's okay because I got to show Sister Foster the very pretty beaches and contact all the elderly British tourists that are flooding our area. We also found out that we can't speak English very well anymore and that the gift of tongues to teach doesn't work very well in English!

On Tuesday we found this crazy guy who was one of the revolutionists that changed the Portuguese government. Unfortunately I can't tell you his name because apparently he's been banned from the US and lots of other things. We had a very interesting conversation with him about how Mormon missionaries are not CIA spies! He's a good buddy of ours now! We also taught this Brazilian man named Reginaldo about the plan of salvation. He had a whole bunch of theories about where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going and I just whipped out my little picture things of the plan of salvation and blew his mind.

On Wednesday we found half off Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. 'Nuff said.

Those little tubs are normally like 7 euro. That little tub of peanut butter ice cream was probably my favorite tender mercy this week!

On Thursday it rained. I don't like rain.

On Friday we saved a bunny!! This little girl lost her bunny and it was running around in the road and hiding under the cars. We were walking past and I saw five or six people chasing this little white rabbit trying to catch it for like 10 minutes and I told Sister Foster... Hey service is service right? So we tightened our shoulder bags, put our hair in ponytails and chased that rabbit. I caught it in less than 5 minutes! #bunnywhisperer.

On Saturday we were trying to find some of our investigators and we ended up crashing a Jehovah's Witness party. Our Mission President always tells us not to Bible bash with them... So we listened quietly as they pulled out these useless and poorly used scriptures to try and get us angry. We just smiled and waited until they ran out of steam, thanked them for their time, and we left them with a card that invited all 40 of them to go to church with us. It was definitely a huge test of willpower XD

On Sunday we found this young guy, probably like 25, who said he was atheist but accepted a lesson with us. We had a really amazing moment with him as he said his first prayer. In a timid but yearning voice, he said, "God. Um..." (Long pause) "...Thank you for my family whom I love very much.." (Another long pause) '... and I would like to know if you exist and if you love me..." As soon as he said those words the whole room just filled with the Holy Ghost. It was the ultimate warm and fuzzy!  I peeked at him and I could see that he was concentrating really hard and then he had a twinge of a smile and finished the prayer. When asked him what he felt and he said "I feel good.... Does that mean that God exists?" We smiled and said yes. Oh man... Moments like those make everything worth it! It's like doing a high five of success with the Holy Ghost!

Anyway. Life of a Missionary is an adventure. It's my favorite adventure ever.

Love all of you!

Sister Ellsworth

Baptisms, Faith and Treasure

(Anziano Wilkinson)

This week was pretty great! We have been seeing so much success in teaching the Gospel lately as a mission and more specifically as a zone! We have a mission goal from July of last year to have 300 baptisms as a mission before the Rome temple is completed and what an amazing change in the mission this goal and our mission president have brought to the mission! We are half way complete and the trend is only going up! In the last month alone we've had 10 baptisms as a stake! There are people here who are so ready for the gospel in their lives and we are doing a better job than ever as a mission getting this message to them.

In other less-exciting news, this week Emmanuel, the man we're teaching that has planned to get baptized next month, got sick this week and so we haven't gotten to see him. The ward, however, is doing a great job fellowshiping him and making sure that he's doing well and feeling like a part of the family! We had a lesson on tithing the last time we met him and, come to find out, he had read the gospel principles lesson manual on his own the week before, so he walked into the lesson already knowing everything haha. Also, Viviana, the person we help with math, came to church with last Sunday without the rest of her family, who we are also teaching. The rest of the family couldn't come because they were all were sick, but on the phone Viviana told us that she was feeling fine and still wanted to come even without them. Her faith is growing so fast!

This week I read Luke 6:45 which says, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh." This is so true! No good person is comfortable doing wrong and no evil person is comfortable doing good. For the one will fear doing wrong and will be uneasy and the other will hate doing good and complain and whine and make excuses and cut corners and lie and do anything not to do it. I think at times we fall into both of these categories. Sometimes we resist following a certain counsel because we don't think it's important or likewise with a task that we don't want to do. But the thing about the discomfort I mentioned above is that the more you do what is uncomfortable for you, the easier it will get. So if you do bad things despite discomfort, eventually you will get comfortable with them, and vise versa, if you do good things, despite the discomfort, you will eventually become more comfortable with the good! That is the difference between the grace of Jesus Christ and the "power and captivity of the devil". So let us choose to do good despite the difficulty it may bring! The natural result is that with time we will become good people, and it's not that the point of why we are here on this earth? To become more than we are now? How great it would be if we could all recognize and apply this principle in our own day to day lives!

Anyway, I hope you're doing well! Talk to you next week!

-Anziano Jake Wilkinson

The Spirit Teacheth a Man to Pray

(Elder Cummings)

Week one with Elder Sparks has been a blast.  We have had some great lessons and many great miracles.  One example came Tuesday night.  We were invited by a group of young men over to their house for pizza and gospel discussion.  They (politely and with sincere curiosity) drilled us with questions about LDS theology, and we (calmly and kindly) explained eternal truths out of the scriptures.  The Spirit was there in power.  They felt something.  Two interns at a community church, one full time employee of the same church, and one young man graduating this spring with a degree in Bible studies felt the power of restored truth as we taught them out of their own Bibles of things that they had never even considered to be possible, let alone true.

That isn't even the half of it.  It has been a miraculous week.

We have had some investigators who have started to struggle.  They understand the doctrines of the church intellectually, but spiritually they do not have a growing conversion.  Nephi, in the Book of Mormon, diagnosis a crowd he is preaching to with this same symptom in 2 Nephi chapter 32.  In verse 7 Nephi says:

And now I, Nephi, cannot say more [he just finished teaching about the doctrine of Christ, the need for faith unto repentance, unto baptism]; the Spirit stoppeth mine utterance [Nephi can't teach anymore!], and I am left to mourn because of the unbelief, and the wickedness, and the ignorance, and the stiffneckedness of men; for they will not search knowledge, nor understand great knowledge, when it is given unto them in plainness, even as plain as word can be.

Nephi cannot teach more because the people will not spiritually receive more.  In verse 8 he teaches how we receive spiritually in teaching settings, and invites the people to do as he directs, or really, as the Holy Spirit directs:

And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts [Like he just said, they will not understand great knowledge]; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray.

What does he say that all people must do to gain spiritual knowledge?  They must pray about it.  Without prayer personal scripture study or group discussion on gospel topics will never yield the fruit of conversion. There are some things that we cannot understand just by thinking deeply on them.  The gospel of Jesus Christ can only be known and understood through personal revelation in response to personal prayer.  We cannot grasp these truths alone.  Pray about them.

I have full confidence that all who pray in confidence to God will receive from God.  He hears our prayers, and He will answer them to the extent that our faith, humility, and real intent allow.  Live the gospel, pray about the gospel, and you will come to know gospel.  That is my prayer.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

With love,

Elder Jared Cummings

Transfers/Teaching Alby

(Elder Cummings)

Goodness, there has been so much that has happened this week!  We had another MLC, transfer calls came in, and we had a mini-missionary for the weekend!

Good news: I don't have to pack my bags.  Bad news: Elder Tongish and Elder Sullivan do.  Good news: that means I get Elder Sullivan's memory foam mattress.  The trio has been fun.  My new companion is Elder Sparks from Rexburg, Idaho.  He was trained in the Fresno North zone when I was here the first time around.  He comes to the area Tuesday morning!

One of the lessons we taught this week was to a girl named Alby.  We actually met up with her twice, once to teach the Restoration and again to teach the Plan of Salvation.  Last week we contacted her at Taco Bell, and immediately she recognized that we were sent to her by God.  Ever since we taught her about "apostasy" she has been using it as an explanation for the lower points of her life and the lives of her friends.  She gets it.

When we were laying the Plan of Salvation out for her there was power behind our words because we were teaching with authority from the scriptures.

There is so much power in God's words!  The more we study them and let them direct our lives, the happier we will be.  I am grateful that God has reached out so many in love to teach the truth.  I am grateful that the truth has been recorded by those prophets.  I know that God is still speaking.  He will speak to all of us in answer to our prayers!

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Elder Cummings

My Companion Threw a Fish off a Nine Story Building

(Sister Ellsworth)

So. This week. A lot of things happened! I keep saying that every week was the busiest week ever but maybe we just never stop... Actually that's pretty much spot on. We have been working nonstop! We helped clean out the house of a less active whose coming back to church and bringing a family of investigators with her. We spent quite a long time cleaning and we hauled out 8 loads of laundry and cleaned them for her. We jammed out to Christian rock music and loved every minute of it! Then we got to meet with my favorite people in the world! I sent a photo a little while ago of three teenagers, Roseana, Diogo, and Beatriz. We had a really powerful lesson with them and each one bore their simple and sweet testimonies of the church. Roseana and hopefully Beatriz will be able to get permission from their mom o be baptized here in a little bit. Their mom has been really fun to work with but she's warming up to us slowly. American cookies always does the trick.

And I'll explain the heading of the email... So my companion is a little impulsive hahaha. A member dropped off some fresh fish and we gutted it and fried it! (Thanks dad for the fish gutting lessons when I was 12) It was super yummy! We were left with the guts in a bowl and they were kinda smelly. Sister Foster was like "Well what do we do with this?" And I said "Just throw it away." Then it was quiet for a second... A little too quiet. I looked behind me and Sister Foster was out on the balcony with the fish bowl looking over they edge. I was like.. "Dude... What are you doing?" And then she said "What do you think would happen to these fish guts if we threw them off the top of our apartment?"

So I got my camera :D

Continuation of the fish story... So instead of only dropping the fish.. She also threw the bowl and we had to go down and get it. Don't worry... We cleaned up a few of the surviving chunks of fish and kicked dirt over the rest of the.... pulp...

I also had my first African dinner! It was​ really yummy! We have two African elders here and they heard that I had never tried Caschupa so they made some for us! It was so yummy!! Its like.... I can't even describe it. Its just amazing.

Love you guys!

Sister Ellsworth

​

Bowling, Math and the Bread of Life

(Anziano Wilkinson)

This P-day we went bowling with a bunch of other missionaries and it was great. I hadn't bowled in so long and getting to do it was like a blast from the past all the way back to elementary school when they first taught us how it's done. It was fun though! In three games I bowled 320, so clearly I'm not looking at a major league career here, but still not terrible for my complete and utter lack of practice and natural skill at things sport-related haha. I'll attach a picture of the bowling squad so you can enjoy it too!

This week I had the unique opportunity to tutor someone in math... in Italian... after two years of doing practically no math... let's just say that it was an experience to remember! The explaining part wasn't so bad, but the whole recalling how to do stuff part was like trying to carry a ton of bricks up a hill. It was a battle haha. Luckily after I got the gears moving again after their long period of stagnation, things started coming back to me and I was able to provide at least a meager portion of help. Let's just say I have a lot of review to look forward to when I get back!

This week I was thinking about a story in the New Testament and its application to us today. This particular story takes place after Christ miraculously fed 5000 of His disciples. After this event, Christ traveled with His apostles across the Sea of Galilee to carry on His ministry among the Jews. Many of these faithful followers, however, followed them, partially because they liked His teachings and partially because they believed that if they did He would provide free food for them. When they caught up with the Savior they asked Him, "What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?" To which the Master responded, referring to himself, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent."

Apparently their faith in Him only extended as far as their desire to receive free food from Him, for they responded, "What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, [Moses] gave them bread from heaven to eat." Christ responded to this faithless statement patiently, instructing them to look not for physical nourishment, but rather, spiritual nourishment. He told them, "I am the bread of life" and that "whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life". Today, we readily understand this passage to refer to the symbols of the sacrament, the bread and the water, which represent the flesh and blood of Christ, in memory of His matchless sacrifice of His own sinless life. But these followers of Christ did not understand these sayings and supposed that Christ was teaching them doctrines of cannibalism. Their lack of understanding, coupled with their lack of faith caused many of them to stumble, in fact, "from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him."

In each of our lives, we will be confronted with situations like this one, where our faith will be put to the test. We are bound to hear things, see things, or experience things that will try our faith and cause us to question our belief in Christ, His doctrine, and His church. We will inevitably be put in situations that give us cause to doubt and to stumble and we, just like each of the twelve apostles, will be faced with the Christ's piercing question, "Will ye also go away?" The Lord is not interested in weak faith. He does not want skin-deep disciples. That's why He lets these kinds of things happen to us. They are meant to test and grow our faith and they will come whether or not we are ready for them. But the amazing thing is that greater understanding always comes to those who patiently wait for it, yet further darkness is the other thing that awaits those whose faith isn't strong enough to endure. Let us prepare faithfully against these inevitable trials so that when they come our way and try to cause our faith to crumble, we can respond as Peter did and say, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life."

I hope you have a great week and that he first days of spring treat you well!

-Anziano Jake Wilkinson

Busy Busy Busy

(Sister Ellsworth)

This week was one of the weeks where we worked so hard that when we came home at night, both of us fell asleep before our heads hit the pillow.  But we survived and we had a successfull week! Itºs been really fun working with our new elders too. They are whitewashing and in a companionship of three elders. One is American and the other two are from Angola.

We´ve also been working really closely with the members. Sister Foster and I made a goal to find a young family to teach, especially since there ren´t many children in our branch. We found three youth who are good friends of one of our strong members and they are so excited about the church!  They want to be baptized but their mom isn´t letting them be baptized yet. But for now they are coming to church and meeting with us as often as their mom will let them.  We have high hopes for them in the future and we´ll work with what we have for now!

It rained for most of the week which made for lots of puddle jumping and knocking doors inside apartments. Sister Foster and I have been working "AP Style" which is basically when I will knock one side and Sister Foster knocks the other at the same time and go as fast as we can! We´ll probably be the next Sister AP´s!! (Just joking... they don´t have those...)

It´s going to be a great transfer!

Love you guys lots!

Sister Ellsworth

The Family of God

(Elder Cummings)

I had an experience this week that has reminded me of God's love for his children.  The morning and afternoon had been semi-successful with contacting.  Walking back to the car I had the thought to go knock on a door in a neighboring apartment complex.  I knew who had given me that thought, the Holy Ghost.

I knocked on the designated door to find a family who had moved from a nearby town to Freso three years ago.  They were members of the church who had been very active where they had been living, but once they moved to Fresno they did not know how to recontact the church.  God knew how to recontact them.  We got them the address and time of the local congregation and passed their information to their bishop so that the ward could begin outreaching to them.

The Spirit taught me powerfully that God new this family and their struggles.  He never lost track of them.  He loves them.  He sent His son to die for them.  They are an essential part of God's family.

The words of a primary song that my little sister used to sing have been on my mind.

Our Father has a family. It’s me!

It’s you, all others too: we are His children.

He sent each one of us to earth, through birth,To live and learn here in fam’lies.

God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be—

This is how He shares His love, for the fam’ly is of God.

I know that our Heavenly Father lives.  He knows His children.  He knows you.  He loves you.

-Elder Cummings

Pictures!

(Anziano Wilkinson)

Monza park and Villa Reale, the vacation home of the once king of Italy!

Paul, Baptism, and Poems

(Anziano Wilkinson)

This week has really been a wonderful one for us in Muggiò! This Saturday we held a baptismal service of our dear friend Paul. It was a very spiritual experience for both him and for me and really everyone else as well. Even better was Sunday, when he received the gift of the Holy Ghost, completing his baptism and making him an official member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was just glowing afterward! The night before, without anyone asking him, he had even written out a short testimony about how much his life has been touched since meeting with the missionaries and bore it during that sacrament meeting, it was such a special moment for both him and the people present for it. He's had a lot of support from the church members and already feels like a part of the family!

When a person gets baptized in our church, they wear all-white clothing, to symbolize purity and the cleansing of sins that comes with a baptism performed with the proper authority. I was the one who performed the baptism and so he and I both wore all-white. When we looked at ourselves in the mirror for the first time, after having changed into the baptismal clothing, Paul said to me, "we look like angels; one black, one white" hahaha; he's such a fun guy!

I don't have very much time today, but I would like to share his poem that was shared in Zone Conference that I really liked! I hope you guys like it too!

Our Deepest Fear

Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness

That mist frightens us.

We ask ourselves,

Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There's nothing enlightened about shrinking

So that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine,

As children do.

We were born to make manifest

The glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us;

It's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,

We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we're liberated from our own fear,

Our presence automatically liberates others.

Have a great week!

-Anziano Jake Wilkinson

Miracles and Faith

(Elder Cummings)

It has been another good week.  More miracles!

On Tuesday we called Ricky to confirm an appointment at the church building, and he canceled, saying that he had something come up and would get in touch with us when he was free.  We prayed to know what we should do, and acted on the prompting we received.  We texted Ricky saying that we would still be at the church at the set time, and if he changed his mind he could still come by.  He did!  We had a great lesson and he started to keep commitments after that.  Miracle!

Saturday night after a prayer we felt impressed to change our evening plans.  That led us to Leland, a freshman at one of the colleges in town her.  He knew almost nothing about any religion, but felt that he was at a juncture in life and was ready to see what is out there.  We taught him the Restoration and he said his very first prayer.  He was touched by the Spirit and is excited for our return appointment.

This week I have spent some time in personal study learning about the gifts of the Spirit that deal with teaching (Moroni 10:9-10).  I have been impressed by the connection made in the scriptures between the teacher's faith in Christ and the converting power of their teaching.

3 Nephi 7:17-18 makes this connection:

"...And Nephi did minister with power and with great authority.

"And it came to pass that they were angry with him, even because he had greater power than they, for it were not possible that they could disbelieve his words, for so great was his faith on the Lord Jesus Christ that angels did minister unto him daily."

Nephi was marked as a powerful teacher because of his great faith.  Later, in the Book of Ether, chapter 12, this same Nephi gets a shout out.  Verse 14 reads:

"Behold, it was the faith of Nephi and Lehi that wrought the change upon the Lamanites, that they were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost."

Our faith is Christ is a power that invites the converting power of the Spirit into our teaching.  Faith brings miracles into missionary work and into the lives of people all over the world.

With love,

Elder Cummings

Transfers!

(Sister Ellsworth)

Hey everyone!

This week was probably one of the busiest weeks of my mission. We found a lot of really cool people after a big leap of faith when we decided to stop teaching a lot of our eternigators (investigators that love being taught but never do anything). We found a Brazilian family who had had the lessons like 30 years ago until the missionaries in that area disappeared with a whitewash or something. We taught them and left them a Book of Mormon and the 17 year old son read half of it before we came back a few days later. They invited us over for dinner and we loved talking to them! We focused on the message that the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families. When we taught Maria, the mom, that she could be with her family forever she just started bawling. It was so special! We also met three young siblings who are friends of one of my favorite members here. They are 18, 16, and 13 years old. We taught them the about the restoration of the gospel and they accepted our invitations to  attend church with the other youth.

We also got news of transfers! I'm going to stay here in Portimão and serve with Sister Foster!! Whoo-hoo!! I know Sister Foster really well! She lived with me in Barreiro for 12 weeks! It's going to be such a great transfer! We're really excited to start working.

Here's a picture of Andre (Who is going to leave on his mission soon), me, Diogo, Beatriz, Roseana, Sister Aiono, and Sonia. They are a really cool group of jovens!

Our classic elevator picture in the morning

Part of the culture in Portugal is that you sit and wait while people make food for you. It's always super awkward. But hey... we do anything for food... XD

We had a great week! Love you guys!

Sister Ellsworth