I'M A REAL MISSIONARY NOW!!!

Well it is transfers this week and Sister Gilbert and I are staying here in Viana!! Yay!! I love it here and there is so much work to be done.  Also I am done with training and so I am a real missionary now!;) 


It was another awesome week in Portugal.  Right now we don't really have any progressing investigators. And so our week was just full of finding people and trying to teach the people we have already taught.

About Jose... It was a really hard decision, but we have felt prompted to drop him for right now and just keep praying for him and praying for guidance on what more we can do.

Wednesday we had the Mission Tour and Elder Leimer and Sister Leimer came to speak to us missionaries in the Portugal Porto Mission and it was awesome.  The spirit was so strong there.  They talked a lot about using the ward members for missionary work and how helpful they are.  Then Sister Gilbert and I sent a text to all of our ward members to invite one of their friends to church this Sunday and it was so fun to talk to all the members about who they were inviting and see them get so excited about missionary work.  And this Sunday we had two investigators in church because of our ward members and have appointments this week to teach them.  So yay! Members really are key to missionary work.  I challenge you all to do something this week to help the missionaries:)

A miracle happened on Sunday. We decided (when I say we I am talking about the Holy Ghost) to go across the bridge over into Darque and try to teach some people that we had taught before, but weren't answering our calls anymore or our appointments with them kept falling through. And we knocked on this families door that Sister Cook and I had taught before, but hadn't been taught by Sister Gilbert and I, and they opened the door and let us teach them right then! It was awesome.

And another miracle happened on Sunday.  I gave a talk in church! Wait what!? Yep! I gave a talk haha and all of the ward members were like... she speaks Portuguese!!! It was so funny! And cute Mina came running up to me after Sacrament and gave me a huge hug and was like you made me cry! I don't know if they actually understood what I was saying, but the spirit was so strong there because the miracle they saw of a missionary arriving in their branch not being able to speak at all,  to someone that can somewhat speak! I really love these ward members so much. They are incredible and sacrifice so much to help this little branch here.

Oh and the Andersens took Sister Gilbert, Susana (our Relief Society President), and I up to the Santa Luzia Cathedral today.  It was really cool!

I love being a missionary!!

Keep being awesome and keep smiling:)

Beijinhos! Tchau!

Com amor,

Another great week!

Hey! 

So this week was awesome.  I loved every second of it.  Something I learned was the importance of practices.  On Valentines day we had our district meeting and we did a practice of the first lesson in one minute and then the whole rest of that day we kept having opportunities to do the first lesson in one minute.  It was crazy! We went to this couples house who told us that we could teach them, but when we got to their house they told us that they didn't have much time and so we got to teach them the lesson really fast and it was awesome because we were able to teach them everything that we knew was important and there was no stress because we had just practiced it.  It was great! It just goes to show that when you prepare yourself the Lord provides you with opportunities to use what you have learned.  Then we did tons of practices on the street as we were walking and then we kept having opportunities to apply what we had practiced.  It was cool.  

Valentines day was also fun cuz we had the ward members write letters to each other and their friends and we got to deliver them!:)  

On Wednesday I got a package from my mom! That was great:) Sister Gilbert and I have been enjoying the American brownies, ranch for our carrots, and peanut butter for our pb and js!

We also were walking down the street and we contacted this lady and we were asking her if she would be baptized, but before I even finished asking her the question she told us that her mom was baptized in this church in Brazil and that she wants us to come teach her and then she wants to be baptized.  It was crazy.  We got her number and have tried to call her this week, but she has been super busy. So hopefully she will find the time for us and we can teach her!:)  

On Friday we had the opportunity to teach Jóse the first lesson. The spirit was so strong in that lesson.  Probably one of the strongest times I felt the spirit on my mission, but Jóse still doesn't know for himself that the church is true, but he reads the bom everyday and he comes to church every week.  So we will see what happens this week.  I know that the Lord has a plan for everyone and everything happens for a reason.  Everything will happen according to the Lord's will.  

Then Sunday was great! I love church even when I have to keep leading the music, haha! When I am up there I just keep wishing that I would have paid more attention to my dad when he was leading the music.  Then the Andersens ( a family that just moved here from Idaho and only the dad speaks Portuguese) had us over for lunch.  It was so weird to be speaking English that whole time and know what everyone was saying:) 

This week was a special one because it was my little brother Nathan's birthday! I loved being here teaching everyone that family's can be together forever and being able to tell them that I know that I will see my little brother again.  This church is true! I know it.  I know that when we have hard times we have a Savior that is by our side.  I love you all,  beijinhos!!

Com amor,

Sister Sampson

District meeting, pictures for Mina's bday and emailing place

Happy Valentine's Day!

Well I learned the importance of writing in my journal. The past two weeks it has been really hard to send home an email because I hadn't been as good at writing in my journal as I should be and so I couldn´t remember what happened that week, BUT good news is... I have been better and I remember more this week. I will just tell you a few highlights:)

Monday- So Sister Gilbert's trainer challenged us to invite 5 people to baptism everyday! So after pday was over we started.  We prayed and asked the Lord for help to find people and then we started talking to everyone we saw and when someone would listen to us and we could feel the spirit we invited them to be baptized.  We talked about the BOM and then asked them that if they read the book and came to know that the book was true for themselves and know that the Church of Jesus Christ was true, would they follow Jesus Christ's example and be baptized? It was really cool.  I could feel the spirit so strong! It made my testimony of The Book of Mormon grow and my testimony of this church grow.  After we talked to someone we would pray and tell the Lord thank you! We only ended up inviting three people, but that is a start right!? Two people said yes and so now we have more investigators we get to teach.

Tuesday- I didn't write in my journal and so I don't really remember what happened this day...

Wednesday- We went on divisions.  So I was able to serve with Sister Maingot in Guimeraes ( I have know idea how to spell that)  It was a lot of fun and I loved being able to get to know the people there and that sister and see the joy she has for missionary work.  She really helped me talk more and she helped me see how well I really am doing with the language.  Sometimes we are just a little hard on ourselves!:)

Thursday- Don't remember... 

Friday- We taught José.  We taught him the word of wisdom and he accepted it like no problem and told us that he already doesn't drink or do any of those things.  Wow! That was easy! We also had a member there that was able to help and answer a lot of his question and bare his testimony.  It was awesome.  Then he told us that he wanted to go to the baptism of our branch president's daughter the next day. Perfect!

Saturday- We made it to the baptism.  All of the baptisms are in Povoa, which is an hour away by bus, because we don't have a font here. José got a ride with a member, but the member didn't have room for us so we took the bus.  When we got there the baptism was awesome and I could feel the spirit so strong! I asked José how he felt and he said, "Normal..." We don't know how to help him. He accepts everything, but then says he doesn't feel the spirit. After the baptism he took the bus home with us and it was quite funny cuz we almost missed it and so we started running! So there we were Sister Gilbert and I and our investigator running down the street! Don't worry we made it.  Sister Gilbert and I were able to talk to him more and get to know him more.  He really is awesome! He loves to dance! He said he has been dancing since he was five.  So we have a connection there.  Then we got to teach him on the bus ride home.

Domingo- They keep asking me to lead the music in Sacrament meeting, but I don't know how and I'm not that fluent in Portuguese and so it's a little bit hilarious, but I love being up there and seeing all of the ward members faces and seeing them all smile and make funny faces at me! It makes my day! Also we had been fasting and praying for help on how to help José and we got our answer! We are going to teach him the first lesson again this week to help his testimony grow.  Hopefully that will help him get an answer for baptism.  Pray for him please and pray for us to be able to help him:)

That is all for this week.  I love you all! Keep smiling:)  Remember you have a Heavenly Father that loves you!!

Love,

Sister Sampson​

These are my surroundings

Rain Rain Rain and more Rain!

This week was great!! And this week was wet! It rained a TON! I didn't know it could rain this much haha! Okay maybe I am exaggerating a little bit, but they weren't kidding when they told me it rained a lot here! Also, I am understanding a lot more now! I love being able to know what people are saying!:)

This week we had a lot of people over in Darque to go see and so we had to cross the bridge, but it was raining like crazy and soo windy! We had to hold on to the railing to walk straight and so we wouldn't get blown off the bridge;) My umbrella broke and Sister Gilbert's umbrella broke because of the wind.  It is crazy!

We are still working with Jose.  He chose another day to be baptized.  He wants to be baptized the 24th! We are trying our hardest to help him.  He has been to church 5 times and I know he knows this is the true church I just think he has a hard time seeing how much faith he really has.  He is awesome! 

We had a zone conference on Thursday. It was very inspiring! It made me want to keep trying to be better and strive to be the best missionary I can be. They kept calling on Sister Gilbert and I to do things.  They made us do the practice in front of everyone.  It was fun and we learned a lot! 

There are always miracles everyday.  One day it was pouring and Sister Gilbert and I were wet and cold and we decided to take our dinner break and change into dry clothes. Then we went back out into the rain to knock doors and no one was letting us in. I remember thinking... don't they know what we are going through to be here! Why don't they just let us in?!?!?!  We are cold and wet and we have the greatest message ever! Then after it was getting close for us to head home this one girl opened the door and let us in and we were able to teach her the whole first lesson.  She was so excited to read the book and pray! It was awesome:) It made the whole night worth it! Her name is Daniela and we are going to try to go teach her more this week.  And then the rest of this week as we have been working hard and been soaking wet and had a lot of doors slammed in our faces I couldn't help but smile because this work is awesome.  This church is the true church.  And these people need to hear this message!:) A line from PMG kept coming to my head, "More happiness awaits you than you have ever experienced as you labor among His children." I really just felt so happy. Have a great week.  I love you all!:) Keep smiling! Remember that God loves you:)

Com amor,

Sister Sampson

Beijinhos:)

 

Their cute recent converts have given them turtlenecks, boots and scarves to help them stay warm so they won't get sick:)