New Companion and Pranks

(Sister Ellsworth)

So this week we had an emergency transfer because another sister went home and my companion went to serve in Barriero and I got a new companion! Her name is Sister Baker! She´s been serving for 6 months so far and she´s so darn cute! She´s works really hard.

When she got here we found a member on the road by the train station but Sister Baker didn't know he was a member. So I nudged her and told her to contact him. She stopped him and started to talk to him for 15 minutes about church and families and God's plan for him but this member was being really tough XD Finally she gave up and I stepped in and was like, "We have church tomorrow. Do you want to go with us?" And he was like sure! Sister Baker´s mouth dropped open when she found out he was a member.

Other than that we had a lovely week of cloudy days which was so much better than the 100 degree sun.

Love all of you!

Sister Ellsworth

Sintra, Baptism, and I'm Melting

(Sister Ellsworth)

Hey guys!

This week was quite the adventure! Almost every day was about 107 degrees WITH humidity. We had to knock apartment buildings because it was so hot. On Saturday we got stranded and a member came to rescue us. On the way back her car broke. Apparently there is a rubber thing that holds the exhaust pipe up and it MELTED. We had to wait for a little while until another member came to rescue us again XD I'm tanning... and my hair is bleaching. A member told me that I don't even look american anymore and my hair is almost blonde now. But that's okay... :)

Also I don´t know if you guys saw but there was this massive fire in Coimbra that killed more than 60 people when the fire trapped people on the freeway...  It was really far away from any of the missionaries but it was really sad to watch the news reports as more and more people were found in their cars or that had died from breathing smoke. Remember them in your prayers.... http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40316934

Last Pday I didnºt get a chance to write because we had to to a CAT scan of my foot again (they still haven't decided what they're going to do about the fracture) and then we went to Sintra afterwards. The castles in Sintra are so cool! There are huge underground tunnels and churches made from bones. I brought this painting from a cool African guy on the side of the road and its hanging up in my 

room!

 Waterfall in Sintra

 Riboleira Castle

 AND JOANA WAS BAPTIZED!!! WHOO HOO!!

Look at her.. so darn happy. She was so excited to be baptized! She brought 15 people with her that weren't members so....references!! Haha! We´re going to start teaching her daughter this week.

I'm still walking on crutches. It's super annoying to be a missionary when you walk as fast as an old lady with hip problems. But we´re making it work. When you can't do what you've always done just do what matters most!

​

This week we also had a ward activity! They put the missionaries in charge so we bought 300 water balloons and had a massive water balloon fight! After the water balloons were gone people started dumping huge buckets of water on each other. And I, the poor sister who can’t run to claim revenge, was the primary target of the drenchings. I think I was drenched 5 or  times in less than 2 hours. But with the 100 degree heat it was a welcomed blessing! The members have also started calling me Sardinha, which means little fish. Apparently it's a reference to Ariel from the Little Mermaid because I can't walk too well. Even the Primary children were calling me Sardinha!

Love,

Sister Ellsworth

The Last Email!

(Anziano Wilkinson)

Well, the last week of my mission has come and went and now as I write this I'm completely packed and am only hours away from boarding a plane that will bring me back to America for the first time in almost two years. Honestly, it doesn't feel real. I don't think it's really hit me that soon I will no longer be preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ nor speaking Italian on a daily basis! I'm really going to miss all the friends I've made, speaking Italian, and helping people draw closer to Christ, but I'm also very excited to see all of my family and friends!

This week one of the people that the sister missionaries were teaching, Marvison, took the first step of discipleship by being baptized! I mention this because he asked me to preform the ordinance, which I was honored to do! He was nervous at first but I helped him through it and after all was said and done you could see in his countenance that he was so happy about it. After the actual baptism took place he and I walked back the the changing rooms to put on dry clothes and he couldn't help but keep saying to me "I'm renewed, I'm renewed!". Marvison's faith is truly so strong and I know that with the covenant of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost, he will only continue to grow and mature in his faith in and understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are so many blessings the come from living the teachings of Christ and Marvison is only just beginning to learn that for himself!

I know that this is the work of the Lord. He wants so badly that his children return to live with him forever. I'm humbled and honored to have been a tool in his hands for these past two years to proclaim and teach the principles of his wonderful plan for us.  My testimony of the truth has been strengthen greatly by sharing what I know and believe and although it has not been easy to dedicate this much time, exercise so much patience, or overcome my own many weaknesses, it has been 100% worth it. I hope to never cease to be on the Lord's errand, even if I might not be able to have an experience quite like this one ever again!

See you all soon!

-Anziano Jake Wilkinson

Last Mission Photo

(Elder Cummings)

A Testimony

(Elder Cummings)

Caroline was baptized this weekend! She overcame incredible opposition. Last week we were teaching her outside of her home and a man pulled his car over, came up to us, and started to preach against the Restoration of the gospel, against the Book of Mormon, and against the Prophet Joseph Smith. It was nothing that Elder Ellestad and I hadn't heard before. It was yet another fulfillment of the prophecy given to a 17 year old Joseph Smith that his name "should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people" (The Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith). That day we had been teaching Caroline about opposition, actually using the account of Joseph's first vision. As soon as the man walked away, Caroline bore her testimony to us of Joseph Smith the prophet, of the Book of Mormon, and of the restored church. She then handed us the materials the man had given her to dispose of. The day of her baptism her immediate family disowned her, so she prayed, and came to church the next morning to receive the Holy Ghost. By a series of miracles, since being disowned she finished paying off her house, and was able to find more gainful employment that will allow her to better provide for her children, all while faithfully observing the Sabbath day.

"As it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." (1 Corinthians 2:9)

I know that God has an infinite capacity to bless all who will believe on his name.

It is my sincere testimony that God lives, "for he is the living God, and steadfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end" (Daniel 6:26). Christ is our Savior, who brought to pass "the resurrection of the dead, and the redemption of the people...through [His] power, and sufferings, and death...and his resurrection and ascension into heaven" (Mosiah 18:2). Christ lives.

I leave with this witness, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

-Elder A. Jared Cummings

I broke my foot and didn't know it

(Sister Ellsworth)

Hey yall!

Well this week was really fun! Haha. For the past few weeks my foot has been kind of sore and eventually my companion made me talk to the mission doctor and she sent me to get Xrays. Well apparently my foot was fractured.

How? I don't know! So know I'm using crutches for a few weeks or however long it takes to get better. Yes, I'm using good shoes. No, I didn't fall. Yes, i'm fine! That should cover all the questions haha!

This week I also got sick... My poor companion... She's had to take care of me this whole week. But I'm almost all better now. The ward here has been very helpful! I think once the word got out that a Sister couldn't walk all of a sudden EVERYONE was offering to give us rides and teach with us and have us over for dinner. This week was proof that member missionary work works so much better than what we missionaries can do! Of all the members that invited us over, three families introduced us to a friend or a family member who was not a member. Of those three references, all of them are now marked for baptism and are progressing fantastically!

We met one woman from Angola this week named Joana. She lives with a member and told us that she's always been curious about the Book of Mormon. Turns out she had read half of it before we taught her the first lesson! As we shared the First Vision with her she started to cry, holding her Book of Mormon close to her. She told us that she knew it was true. As we were leaving she gave each of us one of those big grandma hugs and said, "I've been waiting to meet you two for the last 50 years."

We met another kid named Isaundro, who is from Guinea. He is 22 years old and moved here by himself to try to escape his situation in Africa. We were walking in the road when we found him. I saw some other missionaries from another church on the other side of the road start to walk towards him and I told Sister Noguiera that we couldn't let them contact him first. So we ran (or rather Sister Noguiera ran and I hobbled) to contact him. Turns out he was thinking about where he could find answers to all his questions about life and asked God to help him. So Heavenly Father sent the Sisters! Isaundro came to church and is already best friends with three other boys who came from Africa and are recent converts as well.

It's been a really crazy week... But I think I would choose to be a gimp for the rest of my mission if it meant that we could find people like Joana and Isaundro every week. BEING A MISSIONARY IS SO MUCH FUN!! It sucks sometimes but in the end, I love it!!

Com muito amor, paz, saude, alegria, e saudades,

Sister Ellsworth