A Good Week:)

GOOD WEEK! We had some crazy things happen. Our power went out for a day and our water stopped working for a day too! Now it is all working, but we don't have hot water,  haha it was nice though cuz we got a visit from our cute senior couple! The Lamm´s! I love them! 

P- We taught her once this week, but she still didn't come to church.

 

L and her family left on another trip last week and so hopefully we will see them this week.

This week I- came. She is this lady that has been coming to church like all the time and every time we try to teach her she cancels on us, but she said it really will happen this week! hahah. SO we have faith it will happen:)

J- is still going to church! We are going to visit them and see how all the wedding things are going. 

We found this guy named M-. He was out working in his yard and he had a lot of doubts and we talked to him a little bit about faith and asked if we could come back and teach him and his wife. He said of course! He seems to have a lot of potential and said he already has talked to the missionaries and so we are super excited to talk to him next week:) 

It was a great week.  Sister Shipp and I are working hard and having a blast:) It is great here in Portugal! and we feel like it should be Christmas time so we sing Christmas songs all the time, haha. That's all love you mom and dad:)

com amor,

Sister Sampson:)

You are the Miracle!

Well it was another great week here in Portugal! I will just start from the beginning:)

Tuesday: We had a lesson with this lady that Sister Foote had taught and she had this crazy dog that literally was attacking me the whole entire lesson trying to get to Sister Shipp.  I got bit and slobbered on, but the lesson was really good and the spirit was there. When we left we had a good laugh:) 

Then we found this awesome lady with her new born baby! It was great!

Wednesday: We were walking down the street and got attacked by these caterpillars! haha. So it might just be the season for caterpillars here, but they hang down from the trees attached to these webs and if you are walking under the trees you run into millions of them. 

We had a rough day with some rough lessons, but then we got to visit L- because they had just gotten home from their trip and cute Lil- was soo excited to see us and it made the whole day worth it:)

Thursday: Zone Conference.  It was so good. I learned a lot! We watched this video about this guy named Nick who was born without arms and legs. He talked about how he always prayed and asked God to change his situation or give him a miracle, but then he said something that really hit me. He said, "If God didn't give you a miracle, you are the miracle." That made me think about life and our struggles, trials, and difficulties. I thought about how we sometimes pray to be out of a situation or to change a situation or ask for our situation to be easier and sometimes things don´t go as we hope, but Heavenly Father doesn´t change it because you are HIS MIRACLE and He will use you to help His work grow and you can be the miracle for others. He will only give us what we can handle and as we fight our fight we will be changed into the person He wants us to be and He will use us to help others see miracles. 

Friday: Nothing too crazy happened. We sat on a bench to make some phone calls and this HUGE spider crawled on my arm. We also did some missionary work with one of our members.

Saturday: It was Jorge's baptism.  The elders have been working with this guy Jorge for so long and he was baptized! It was awesome:) It was so cool to watch the Atonement of Jesus Christ really change his life and help him. He is awesome.  Then at 7:30 our zone leaders called us and challenged us to find 2 new investigators before the end of the night. So we said a prayer and promised the Lord that we would do everything to find 2 new investigators and asked for His help. Then we worked super hard and we were able to find 2 people that really were interested in our message and are letting us come back. I know that when we really put our faith in the Lord and do everything we can to show our faith the Lord will bless us and help us. 

Well I got to go, but it was a great week! Thanks for all the love and support:) Remember you are a MIRACLE:) 

com amor,

Sister Sampson

 

I got my new "Shipp" ment

Hey everyone! This week was soooo great! I LOVE MY NEW COMPANION! She is super cute! She is from Kansas (there is no place like home) and her name is Sister Shipp.

Monday: I worked with Sister Costa and Sister Shepard. It was super great to be with them. They are awesome missionaries!

Tuesday: Happy Fourth! I was still in Coimbra with the other sisters. We ate KFC for lunch because ya know it was America´s birthday:) Then president gave us this challenge this week to give pass along cards to cars stopped at red lights. IT was quite the adrenaline rush, but we did that during the afternoon. Then we had a lesson with one of their investigators and we had an awesome lesson and marked her for baptism. It is fun working in another area helping the work grow there:)

Wednesday: We went to the training meeting in Porto to pick up our new companions! We had the training meeting until about 4. Then we caught our a three hour bus ride to Leiria and had plenty of time to get to know each other:) We had like a half hour to work once we got to Leiria and so we went and contacted people and she did awesome wasn't even afraid! 

Thursday: My favorite part of the day was we went over to this old investigators house. Her name is S- and when we got there she told us about how mad she was at us and with some people. I felt so worried. I didn't know what to tell her and then I remembered that the Lord would help me through the situation and I was just praying so hard in my heart that I would know what to say. Then we asked if she had been reading the BOM and she said no because she was mad at us. So we asked if we could pray and read and she said sure. After we prayed and read Sister Shipp and I bore our testimonies about the BOM and her heart completely changed and she told us that is will read again. I think it is just so awesome how the holy ghost can change someones heart.

Friday: Had an appointment with P-! We talked about Faith, Repentance, baptism, gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. It was awesome. We talked about the importance of church. We invited her to church and invited her to be baptized again. She said that she switched jobs so that she can come to church on Sunday and she told us she wants to be baptized the 22nd. It was a great lesson and it was awesome cuz Sister Shipp got to teach in English:)

Saturday: We worked hard. That is all I remember haha.

Sunday: P- came to church! It was great! Then we were knocking doors and contacting everyone, but no one wanted to listen. Then finally we knocked this door and this lady C- answered and let us teach her. She was so nice and the spirit was so strong there. Sister Shipp and I struggled through our Portuguese, but we were all in tears and I can't even remember what was said, but I knew the Lord was using us to answer her prayers and our prayers and that moment made the whole rest of the day worth it:) Because I know she knew that her Heavenly Father loves her and the Savior is there to help her through the tough times

It was a great week! I love you all!  Tchau for now:)

com amor,

Sister Sampson

Sister Foote has left her "FOOTE" print here in Portugal

Hey:) I am sorry I didn't have time to write last week! It was crazy and we didn't really get to email. But this week was great and my last one with Sister Foote! She is on her way back to the good old Utah! I gave her a hug to give to you mom! Anyways, I will start from the beginning of the week!

Monday- We had pday with President and we got to watch finding dory and we played a Brazilian version of dodge ball! It was super fun! That night we had dinner at a members house and had a great family night with them too!

Tuesday- We had district meeting and worked then later that day we had to leave for porto because sister foote had leadership meeting the next day. We stayed with the sisters in Gaia! they are super cute. it was fun! 

Wednesday- Dropped Sister Foote off at the leadership meeting and I got to see SISTER GILBERT and SISTER KUNZ!! Made my day!! I miss those sisters so much! Then Sister Sonntagg worked around the chapel because we had to go back for lunch time. We talked to lots of people on the street and knocked doors it was great. Then we got lunch with all the leaders and then we stayed for the rest of the meeting because Sister Sonntagg was asked to do a practice with her comps for the meeting. Then a three hour bus ride back to Leiria. haha. We had time to work a little bit that night.

I forgot my journal and so I can't remember exactly what happened the rest of the week... 

L- and her family went out of town for the summer so we weren't able to visit them at all and P- was super busy this week. But we found a lot of new people to teach. It was a great week!:) 

Sister Foote and I got on a bus for Coimbra Sunday night and she left me there with Sister Shepard and Sister Costa! Then she went to Porto for her last day! We got the transfer calls last night and it was huge news for all of us, but I will be training! So I will get my companion on Wednesday.  I am freaking out, but I am super excited! I know the Lord knows what He is doing, but pray for me and my new companion please:)?

I love being a missionary! thanks for the prayers and support! and HAPPY FOURTH!! I love AMERICA!:)

com amor,

Sister Sampson

I'm Melting!!!

HEY! How are you guys doing this week!? First I want to say HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD!!! I hope it was the best one ever because you are the best dad ever! It wasn't fathers day here in Portugal, but I thought about you:)

This week was great, but it was so HOT! Oh my. It was like 110 all week and super humid, but it just made me really grateful for when it isn't as hot. haha. This week was so awesome though. So it makes up for the hot weather. 

On Wednesday I got to go on divisions with Sister Sivertson. It was so great. She came and worked in Leiria with me. She is in her third transfer and so she is still pretty new. I loved working with her. We saw so many miracles and found a lot of new people to teach! 

Friday Sister Foote and I were walking past P- (the lady that stopped us in the street last week or so) house and so we decided to call her because all the appointments we set up with her kept falling through. We called her and she answered and told us that she can't meet with us because she is about to leave for work. So we were about to leave when she called us again and told us that she can meet with us and go into work late. We were so excited. We taught her the first lesson, which was strange to do in English. I realized now that I was translating Portuguese to English. But besides that the spirit was soooo strong in that lesson. We were all crying the whole time. She told us about how she had seen us and then talked to her friend about us and her friend told her to not talk to us. But she told us that she prayed and felt like she really needed to talk to us and give a try and she thinks that is was God telling her that she really needs to talk to us because we called her after she cancelled on us like three times. We invited her to baptism and she excepted! Then we talked all about church and she told us she was so excited. Well Sunday came and we called her and called her and she didn't answer:( and didn't come to church, bummer, but she answered after church and told us that she got home from work really late and was asleep, but she did tell us that she wants to meet with us this week. So we will see how it goes:) She is super awesome!

This week we kept trying to meet with L- and her family, but everything kept falling through. We kept calling her to invite her to church too, but she didn't answer so we sent her a text and when we got to church they were there:) I love this family! They are awesome and we have an appointment with them today.

So yeah! This week was great! Super hot, but worth it.  I learned a lot about how sometimes we feel like we aren´t good enough or we can't do what the Lord wants us to do, but the scripture 1 Nephi 3:7 kept coming to my head. And I have a strong testimony that the Lord qualifies who He calls.  As long as we try our hardest to do His will, He will help us do what He needs. Those thoughts of inadequacy

never come from the Lord. So don't let them win:) 

Anyways, I love you all! Have a great week! Talk to you later gater!

Tchau for now!

com amor,

Sister Sampson

Had a great birthday!

Monday: We had an awesome pday and we went to eat a yummy lunch for my birthday. Then right when pday ended we had to get on a bus for Porto because all the leaders aka Sister Foote had a meeting on Tuesday. So we had a nice three hour bus ride. Then we got to sleep at Sister Sonntagg, Sister Maingot, and Sister Christensen's house. So that was a party! I love all those Sisters!

Tuesday: My bday! They woke me up singing happy bday and made me pancakes! Then Sister Foote, Sister Maingot, and Sister Christensen had to leave to the meeting and I got to work with Sister Sonntagg and Sister Burns who's comp was also in the leadership meeting. It was so great. They are just the cutest. We made a list of 20 missionary things to do on a missionary birthday and did them. We put pass-along cards in balloons with candy and would have people on the street pop them and then give them the card and invite them to church. Haha the people loved it. Then we wrapped a church movie and took it to L- (the Porto's sisters investigator marked for baptism). We had her open it and watched it with her and taught her about the plan of salvation. She cried through the whole movie. The spirit was so strong! Then Sister Foote and I literally ran around all of Porto trying to get to our bus and got on it and had a three hour bus ride to get home. That was our day. It was a great birthday. I loved every second of it!

Wednesday: The family I talked about last week who are from Mozambique. We went back and taught them again. They are incredible. Lil is the daughter and Lee is the little boy. We taught them about Joseph Smith and they were so excited about the BOM. And Lil promised to read it. Then we invited them to church and the kids were so excited and said they would come. Also, while we were on our way to this lesson. We were in a hurry, but this lady stopped us. She was like (in English), "Hey sisters!" Then she told us that she is from Africa and is looking for a church and saw tons of missionaries from where she is from and wants to go to our church. So we invited her and got her number. She told us she couldn't go this Sunday cuz she had work, but we set up a time to meet with her this week and she said she can go to church cuz she usually just works at night. So that was awesome too! We also taught T- and we have really been pushing baptism. She says she knows it is right, but she is too scared to take the leap.

Thursday: Sister Foote had a meeting over skype to get ready for our zone meeting and it was so long. I can't really remember what else happened. Nothing too exciting.

Friday: We had Zone Meeting. So we went to Coimbra. The Zone Meeting was great. We talked about our potential and how we shouldn't ever limit ourselves. Then we watched a video of this recent convert in our mission singing a song he wrote for the missionaries and told his story. It was really cool and now he is getting ready for a mission. Then we went back to Leiria and back to work:)

Saturday: we had lunch at a members house and we had an awesome lesson with one of our investigators I-. She was marked for baptism before I came and it just didn't work out so Sister Foote and I have been really working with her and we had a member there and she was testifying about how she needs to make a goal for her baptism and pray about it.

Sunday: We got to church and all of the investigators that said they were coming weren't there. I was so sad. They sounded so for sure. Then nope. But we called T- and she said she was just running late. I was so happy she was coming. Then we got a phone call from L- during the opening hymn. We ran outside and she was asking us for directions cuz she was lost. Then they got there and they were all dressed up so cute and ready for church. Lee was jumping up and down. They are the cutest family. They stayed the whole time and loved it. They actually know some of one of our members cuz she is from the same part of Mozambique! Then for lunch we went over to a members house and they made me a cake and sang me happy birthday! IT was awesome! I forgot to get a picture though;( forgive me!

Anyways it was a week full of meetings, but it was great! I love it here in Leiria! There are so many awesome people! 

HAVE A GREAT WEEK! I love you all! Thanks for the birthday wishes! We watched the restoration video this week and it just made me so grateful that I grew up a member of the church of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful that we have a prophet that lives and is guiding the church today. I know this church is true and I love being able to share it with everyone here in Portugal:)

beijinhos!

Com amor,

Sister Sampson

Thank you everyone!!!!

First things first, I just want to tell you all thank you so much for the birthday wishes and sorry that I didn't get to respond to them all, but I will next time! They made my day! :)

Mom´s questions:

we will be in Porto on my birthday. We leave tonight and will be staying with the sisters in Porto tonight and then Sister Foote has leadership meeting and I will be on divisions with some other sister who's companion is a sister training leader too. So I will be in Porto and teaching people there! The members here are awesome, but a lot of them live far away. We haven't really taught with any of them we need to repent on that, but the ward mission leader is so awesome and on top of it and always makes sure our investigators have rides to church. We have this one family that I just love! They invite us over every other Sunday for dinner and will sacrifice anything to help the missionaries.

This week was a good one:) ha ha, I think I say that every week. It did have a rough start though. People were just not that nice this week. Two times Sister Foote and I were in two lessons this week and the person just started yelling at us. I don't know why, but it was awesome to see Sister Foote just sit there calmly.  I mean even if I wanted to I couldn't even say mean things in Portuguese and Sister Foote just sat there and took it all and then replied so nicely. It was really neat to see the self control.

Then we just kept working and working and we saw so many miracles! Sunday was the day of miracles. We were knocking this apartment complex and we found this awesome family. The mom just let us right in. They had just moved from Mozambique because their little boy has heart problems and needs better medical. He is just the happiest cutest little boy though. We taught the lesson and then she talked about how she made her kids watch the video of Jesus on the cross. She asked them, "who did you watch a video of today?" and they (little African girl and little African boy) both replied, "Jesus." Then she asked them what they learned and they said, "To not treat others rude because the mean people were hurting Jesus and we shouldn't treat anyone like that." It was the cutest thing in the world. They are such a great family! I am so excited to go back and teach them! After that we found tons more people and everyone was just so nice! So the lesson I learned this week is that rainbows always come after rain. If we just keep pushing on through the hard times there is always light at the end of the tunnel and the Savior is always by our side:)

We also taught T- a ton this week! She is doing awesome! She has already read to Alma and pretty much teaches us about the Book of Mormon. She keeps having lessons with us and her friend and helps him understand our lessons. She just has a huge trial of faith because if she gets baptized she will have to quit her job and it is super complicated. So we are praying and praying and teaching her still:)

I LOVE IT HERE:) I love you all! Keep smiling and don't forget to say your prayers

com amor,

Sister Sampson