They got Baptized!!!

I don't even know where to begin! This week has been so amazing and so full of miracles! I will just hit the highlights of this week!

Mina and Ana are incredible! They were baptized this Saturday and it was beautiful! They were glowing and you could just tell they were so happy. I think the reason that it was so amazing was because I know how much they gave up and how much they changed to join the church. Mina is a completely different person and has so much joy in her life now. I was able to see the change. I saw her before the gospel was in her life and then after when she really developed a testimony. She also loves telling everyone about how the Gospel has helped her! She is already a missionary! Mina and Ana both bore their testimonies at their baptism and you could feel the spirit so strong. They talked about how hard it was, but how the have been blessed by following the commandments. Then Mina and Ana received the Holy Ghost on Sunday and just when I thought they couldn't get any happier they did. They looked like angels! This branch needs Mina and Ana and Mina and Ana need them! 

One of my favorite moments from this week was we were sitting in our Gospel Principles Class at church. It was Sister Cook, Me, Eva (recent convert), Mina (recent convert), Jose (investigator), and the teacher. Jose was asking about the holy ghost and how he could feel it. And it was the most amazing thing to watch Eva and Mina answer his questions and talk about their baptisms and about how they felt when they received the Holy Ghost! It was AWESOME! Sister Cook, the teacher, and I didn't have to say anything because Eva and Mina were teaching Jose our investigator!

On Tuesday Beatriz came teaching with us. She is 11 and wants to serve a mission. We taught her all the ways of a missionary. We taught her how to contact and we even taught her the rejection dance! She loved it! Then she helped us teach the first lesson to this family and she invited them to church! It was so fun to watch her light up as she talked about Joseph Smith and tell them what she knows is true! It made me so happy and just reminded me how great it is to be a missionary! 

I haven't talked very much about our investigator Jose, but we were out knocking doors weeks ago and we knocked on his door and gave him a pamphlet of The Restoration. That was it. It was late and we weren't able to teach him. Then last week we called him and asked him if he would come to church and he said yes. Then this week we taught him twice and invited him to be baptized and he said yes! He has a date set for February 3! So we will be working with him to prepare him for baptism! So keep him in your prayers!:) But the most amazing part is he is a member of another church, but he was so interested with the Holy Ghost and he kept wanting to know how he can receive and answer and feel the Holy Ghost. He said he never really felt that good feeling that everyone is talking about, but the moment that we asked him to be baptized the spirit was soo strong and he got all choked up as he was saying yes! Then on Sunday we talked to him and asked him how he felt when he said yes to baptism. He told us that he felt good and we helped him realize that it was the Holy Ghost! He was so excited! I am so happy for him! He is awesome! 

This week was awesome! I love you guys and hope you have the best week ever! I pray for all of you and thank you for your prayers!

Com amor,

Sister Sampson:)

Another great week here in Portugal!

Man this place is amazing and I love it here! Something I learned this week is the Lord is ALWAYS guiding us when we are doing what's right! Everything happens for a reason! I can not tell you how many times this week the Lord directed Sister Cook and I to a person we needed to talk to or a person we needed to teach! 

One day sister Cook and I felt like we really needed to teach a certain family who lived about 30 minutes and when we got to the house and knocked on the door they weren't there... but then we walked around the corner and we remembered someone else that lived right by them! We had contacted the husband a week ago, but every time we went back they weren't home, but this time they were home and we were able to them the first lesson! So even though we weren't planning on teaching them the Lord always has a plan in mind! That is just one example that happened this week. 

Another awesome experience was Ana (our investigator) wanted to come teach with us this week! She is incredible and has such a strong testimony! So she came and I could tell she was scared and so she sat by me in the lesson and held my hand. At first she was scared to talk, but then after I shared something she was more willing to speak and I think it is because she knows how hard it is for me to speak Portuguese and so it gave her more courage to talk. The spirit was so strong during that lesson just three girls talking about the Savior. Then after the lesson she turned to Sister Cook and I and told us that she wants to get baptized on Sunday and not wait for her mom! But then when she told her mom that her mom was like no we are both getting baptized next Saturday


! So we have been working really hard with them this week trying to help get ready for their baptism this Saturday! Please pray for Mina and Ana this week and that all will go well:)

Then this Sunday Eva received the gift of The Holy Ghost! It was amazing! I felt the spirit soo strong! She received a gift that will bless her the rest of her life! He will be there to guide her, comfort her, and help her to know what is true! One of the greatest gifts of all! In PMG it says, "This gift is a foretaste of eternal joy and a promise of eternal life." We are so blessed to have to Holy Ghost! Then we gave her a picture we printed out of her from her baptism and she went around and showed everyone it! It made me so happy to see her so happy!:)

I love this gospel and I know this church is true! I love the Savior and I know that He suffered for each and everyone of us so that we can return Home to our Heavenly Father! I love being a missionary! Have a great week and don't forget to say your prayers! Beijinhos!:)

                                                                        Com amor,

Sister Sampson

Happy New Year!

This week was AWESOME! I love every week here, but this one was one for the books! I like to call it the week of tender mercies! The Lord really does bless us with tender mercies everyday we just have to look for them!

First Tender Mercy:

 

Eva's Baptism! It was perfect! Everything worked out! Somehow we fit 11 people in a 9 person van and got to Povoa for the baptism on time. Then the font was the perfect temperature and full. The last recent convert that had the baptism clothes showed up just in time for Eva to use them, which was awesome cuz the recent convert was feeling sick that day and almost didn't bring the clothes, but she brought them anyways and decided to stay for the whole thing. Irmao and Irma Pinto spoke and then Eva was baptized! She was glowing! I am so happy for her.

Next Tender Mercy:

We had a really long day one day. We were knocking doors and going to appointments and everyone was rejecting us! Sadly that happens sometimes, but to make our day better Sister Cook and I made up a rejection dance. It is great, something that can make us smile even when people are rejecting us, but then we saw this guy walking his dog and we gave him a pass along card and asked him if he was married. He told us that his wife is Maria (a lady that Sister Cook and I contacted the other day on the street and set up an appointment with, but didn't make it to the appointment because that day had been crazy!). We asked if we could share a message with him sometime and he said, "Yeah! Right now!" So we went inside and taught him and his wife! They are awesome and I hope we get to teach them some more!

Third Tender Mercy:

We had to run to the store one day during lunch because we had ran out of eggs and while we were standing there this cute old lady came up to us and gave us the biggest hug! She said that she loved us so much and that we are very beautiful. If an random old lady giving you a hug in the store in Portugal doesn't make your day then I don't know what will. It was awesome!

Fourth Tender Mercy:

Sister Cook and I were walking to go teach a lesson on New Years Eve's night and as we were walking we walked passed this young women sitting on the steps of her apartment both of us were prompted to go to her. Without saying anything to each other we walked to her and right as we got there we saw that she was crying. She looked up and just gave Sister Cook a big hug. We sat there for a second and comforted her and put our arms around her. Then we asked her if she was okay and she told us that her parents are going through a divorce and it has been a really hard time for her family. We told her that God loves her and gave her a pass along card with Christ. We asked her if we could come talk to her again and then we got her name, number, and address. She gave us one more big hug and then we walked away. As we were walking away it hit me again that we really are representatives of Christ. We are sharing and loving these people as He would. When we were sitting next to her I could feel that the Savior really loves her and that is what He would have done. I am so grateful for this Calling and I can't wait for this next year to learn and become the best missionary I can be.

Fifth Tender Mercy:

Last week we decided to take a break from this family we had been teaching (they had been marked for baptism), but they were no longer progressing. It was really sad. They were really struggling with the commandments, but then this Friday the mom called us and told us that she wanted to come to church! So Mina, Ana, and Lara all came to church! It was awesome! Then in the last meeting we were talking about goals and mina (the mom) got up in front of everyone and wrote on the board her goal and it was baptism! Then she wrote down all of her plans to get there.... repentance, keeping the word of wisdom, keeping the law of chastityand all of that fun stuff. It was awesome! The ward members were loving it and Sister Cook and I were dying because she has changed so much! It was great!:) Hopefully she will keep this fire that is going inside of her! I have faith she can do it!

Well that is all for this week! There really are so many tender mercies in our everyday lives! I love being a missionary! I love Portugal! And I love the people here! Bom ano! Beijinhos!:)

Love,

Sister Sampson:)

Feliz Natal!!!

I cant send pictures this week because the computer I am using won't let me!

This week was great! I will just talk about the highlights because I don't have that much time today! 

Monday night we went over to see Eva, one of our progressing investigators, and she was glowing! One of the ward members had called her and talked to her and it made her sooooo excited for her baptism! It is so great seeing the happiness the Gospel has brought into her life and it was so cool seeing how much a ward member can effect an investigator positively. The Gospel has brought her so much joy and she is getting baptized tomorrow! We are so excited for her! 

Christmas Eve the Pinto family was moving from their house to their Grandparents house and we were helping them. They don't have a lot, but this lady walked by and asked for food and without hesitation Irma Pinto went and filled a bag full of all of the food she had in her pantry! It was incredible to watch her give when she doesn't even have a lot. 

Then Irma Pinto came with us to teach an investigator and on the way there she told me her conversion story. She told me about how she saw two Sister's and two Elder's on a bus and she saw that they had a light and she said to herself that she wanted to be like them, but she was too scared to talk to them. That really hit me. Sometimes I am too scared to talk to people because I don´t know the language that well, but some people might be just as scared to talk to me and that helped me realize the importance of forgetting myself and my fears and just talking to everyone because there might be that one person that sees the light that we have and is too scared to talk to us and if I don't open my mouth I might miss them! In the end she told us that the next day on the train the Sister sat by her and gave her a Book of Mormon. I loved hearing that story! It gave me that little push that I needed to remind myself to forget my fears!

Well, Christmas was amazing! We went Christmas caroling and got a lot of doors closed in our faces, but it was still so great to be sharing and teaching this Gospel and remembering our Savior on Christmas! I love you all and have a happy new year!:)

Love,

Sister Sampson

Christmas Miracles!!!!

What a week! Something I have learned is there are miracles everyday we just have to look for them!:) 

We taught one of our investigators Eva and she committed to be baptized January 1st! Hopefully everything goes as planned, but she seems so excited! We are so happy for her!

On Tuesday we had our District Meeting in Povoa. It is an hour away and we only have two other elders in our district. Haha we are tiny, but it was fun. 

( I just need to tell you that last week Claire sheepishly mentioned to us that she lost the brand new camera that we had just sent her in the MTC before she left.  She said when she was on the metro her very first day going to their apartment she lost it. She thought it fell out of her bag or something.  She felt terrible about it).

Wednesday a miracle happened! We went to Porto because Sister Cook is a Sister Training Leader and had a meeting. So, I went with another Sister, Sister Stewart for the day. We went to her area in Porto and it was cool to see more of the mission. We had some pretty good rejections that day, but my favorite one was this cute old lady walked out of her house to talk to us and the second we said we were missionaries she started yelling, "No no no!" and ran away as fast as she could! We have learned to laugh at these experiences or else we would be really sad haha. It was pretty funny. We just have this awesome message that can help their lives and we can´t wait to share with them and then they just run away from us. Then that night when Sister Cook and I were getting on the bus to go back to Viana the bus driver said to another man, "Are those the girls?" Sister Cook asked them what they were talking about and they asked us if one of us lost a camera last Wednesday night!? WHAT!! No way! They had my camera! The Lord answers prayers!:) That was as miracle!

Thursday was the day of rain! That is all I remember from this day! Haha. It has been really nice weather until thursday and it just rained and rained and rained and we were soaked and it was awesome! So fun! I love the new adventures each day brings!

Friday! We taught this investigator Luiza and her son Luis. Last time we were there we didn't even get to share our lesson because Luis asked question after question about our church and so after two hours we asked if we could come back to teach them.... haha so this time we asked if we could teach and then he ask his questions after and it totally worked. They were so interested in what we were saying! We taught them the first lesson! They were so curious! Then we invited them to read the BOM and come to church and to the Branch Christmas party and they were so excited to come! Except Luiza couldn´t come to church cuz she had work... They were so interested with missionary work and asked each of us why we chose to serve a mission. So we both were able to bare our testimony about why we sacrificed everything to come. I felt the spirit so strong and I loved being able to tell them that I sacrificed being away from my family so that I could serve and love them and bring this beautiful message about how families can be together forever and we can return home to our Heaven Father because of our Savior and the Atonement. It was amazing!:)

Saturday was the branch Christmas party and we pretty much had to plan it with the Pinto family and we had to pass out the invitations, decorate, bring some food, and get everyone there, oh and plan what we would be doing. So saturday was a whole lot of running around getting everyone to the party and improvising because the projector wasn´t there and so we couldn´t watch the Christmas Devotional. It turned out great though! We did the nativity scene and then we had a picture of Jesus and we all passed it around and said what we were going to give to Jesus this year and we played games and food and we had about 5 investigators there and a few inactives! So it worked out great and the spirit was so strong!:)

Sunday! Man, we have this joke now that instead of putting sunday shoes on our packing list for the mission we need running shoes... hahaha. We left at 8 and ran around until 9:30 trying to get everyone to church. We got Eva and her daughter there and then we ran to get ana there, but while we were running to get her we turned the corner and there was Luis walking down the street on his way to church! it was perfect timing! it was a miracle! He told us he was waiting for us to call, but then just decided to try to walk there even though he didn´t exactly know where it was... we were shocked! it was crazy. we told him where it was and ran to get ana, but she was sick and could´t come. then we ran back to the church. Luis loved church! during our gospel principles class he took the gospel principle book and read the whole thing. he stopped listening to the lesson and just read. he read all about baptism and then he took the book home with him so he could read more! it was insane! he is awesome! I cant wait to teach him more!

Well there was so much more that happened this week, but those were just a few of the highlights. This week I just felt my love for the Savior increase so much! He gave us the greatest gift of all! He loves us so much and I know that for a fact! Have a great week and a Merry Christmas! I love you all! Keep smiling! Don't forget to say your prayers! Bejinios!

Love,

Sister Sampson:)

First week in Portugal! What a week!!!

WOW! this week has been amazing! i am just going to start from the beginning!

Monday morning we had to be at the travel office at 4:20 am. we took the front runner and trax to the airport and it snowed! so that was exciting to see one last snow. we had time in the slc airport and the Chicago airports to talk to our families! that was great i loved talking to my family! the plane ride to Germany was so long and there was some crazy turbulence. luckily sister kunz, sister mavy, and i all got to sit by each other. we started giggling during the turbulence and one of the elders kept getting mad at us cuz he was so scared! haha it was funny. then we flew to Porto! when we were walking on to the plane in Germany to get to our spots i could feel the spirit so strong. all the people were looking at us and our name tags and i knew that these are the people the Lord has been preparing for the gospel and for us to teach! My eyes were filled with tears because i could feel the spirit so strongly. we arrived in Portugal to a loving mission president and wife. they are so nice! they drove us to this nice hotel and we were able to sleep and eat. they gave us money to go to McDonalds. how ironic. my first meal in Portugal was from McDonalds. haha. we had a meeting that night at the mission presidents house and they fed us pizza hut and ice cream. he talked to us and while he was talking his cute wife tickled my back and played with my hair. I felt at home:) i am in good hands mom!

Wednesday we had a training with some of the missionaries and the mission president! it was helpful and prepared us for the field! then around 5 we were assigned our new companions! sister cook is mine! she is incredible! she is so obedient, hardworking, and full of the spirit. when we are with the investigators and ward members you can tell how much love she has for them. seriously i have been sooo blessed to have her as my trainer! and we get a long great! we are basically the same person. it is crazy! i love her! 

so we left with all of my luggage and got on the metro. we were getting off at this one stop and the doors started to close as sister cook was getting off and i was still on the metro. we tried to get the doors to open, but it wasn't working! we both had this look of panic on our faces. i mouthed to her that i would get off at the next stop. then the metro started going again. there i was by myself in a different country, i didn't know the language, no way to communicate to anyone and  i had these huge suitcases. I got off at the next stop and waited. i was thinking to myself i should be scared right now, but i wasn't one little bit. i could feel that the lord was with me and he was protecting me and on the bright side i got to see this beautiful river and bridge and the moon was gorgeous! after awhile i started to get worried that she didn't see what i said, but in the elevator before we got in the metro she gave me the cards that we give to people and she was talking to a lady and showed her that our number was on the back! wow what a miracle! the next train showed up and she was on it. we gave each other big hugs and started laughing and talked about how that was never going to happen again!

miracle after miracle happened this week. we were teaching one of our investigators Ana and while we were teaching her, her sister who wasn't really interested told us that she wants to stop smoking and be baptized on the 31st. we were like what??? of course! she also told us that her mom wants to too! and Ana wants to get baptized as soon as possible! this is crazy because sister cook told me the mom and sister weren't that interested before. so we invited them to come to church this Sunday. we were having stake conference in Porto which is an hour away and no one has cars. they agreed. then sister cook and i were like oh no... now we need to find someone to drive us. right after we left we prayed telling Heavenly Father thank you and asking him to help us find a way to get them to church. then we got a phone call that we have a car going! yay! turns out a miracle happened and we got 7 investigators to church this Sunday! Ana, Mina (Ana's mom), Janet (Ana's sister), Laura (Ana's other sister)! we got that family there and more! it was a miracle! they all want to be baptized, but they have a lot to learn and pray that the mom can stop drinking coffee and that Janet will be able to stop smoking. they are an amazing family! they are all going to be baptized the first week of January if everything goes well! 

the stake conference was so great and everything they needed to hear. Elder Kearon spoke about how he was converted and how he learned that he needed to act on the things that the missionaries were telling him to do! it was amazing! he also talked about how all of our joy comes from Christ and how we can still have joy even through hard times because we have the Savior. i loved it! all of our investigators went up and shook his hand! he shook my hand and asked if he could get my moms number so he could call her and tell her that i am safe:) he is amazing and he spoke English and then had someone translate it. I was so happy cuz i actually knew what was going on. i wish i could tell you more, but i don't have a lot of time and so much happens everyday i don't know how to condense it down! i see miracles after miracles and i have only been here for not even a week!

i love it here! the people are amazing and so nice! i stand out a lot! they tell me that i look like a barbie haha. it is hilarious. they love helping me with my Portuguese. i have learned that this is the Lords work and he is preparing these people to hear this beautiful message. i love this gospel and we are so blessed to have it in our lives! I love you all!​​​

Good bye MTC! You've been good to me:)

WOW. I can't believe I have been in the MTC for 6 weeks! I also can't believe that I leave to Portugal on Monday! I am so excited! This is going to be awesome! This week has been muito bem! It has felt so long though! I don't really have much to say but I just want to bare my testimony. I know without a doubt this church is true. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that Heavenly Father loves me and he cares about me. I know that Jesus Christ atoned for my sins and through the atonement I can repent and become clean. I know that if I live righteously I can return to my Heavenly Father and live with my family again. I am so excited to be able to share this happy message with the people in Portugal! I love being a missionary and I love being a representative of Christ. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Te ama muito!

Com amor,

Sister Sampson

My District

My teacher, Irma Schill