Portugal Lisbon Mission: Portugal Lisbon Mission MTC Week 4

Querida Familia e Amigos, September 16, 2014

First of all, I am more than halfway done with my mtc experience! On the 20th I will have been here for one month! When I think about it it makes me feel really sad to leave. I am excited for Portugal (OF COURSE!) but I really, really love it here.

So last Wednesday our district had the chance to help Host the new missionaries! I was really nervous for it because it meant we had to witness the departures of the new missionaries from their families. We went to an Orientation meeting and they basically trained us to pry the poor little missionaries from their families in a timely manner. I was picked to do some of the early arrival missionaries first which was nice because I didn't have to be there when the Sisters said goodbye to their families. They said goodbye at the airport earlier in the day. I hosted 4 new Sisters and I loved it! I hope that I was able to comfort them and give them advice as they entered the mtc.

Siser McChesney has never done choir in any form. The first week I made her come to choir with me. She liked it. We are just kind of chill about it and go when we feel like we have time. Last Tuesday Sister McChesney was all excited about going so I was like "Okay... let's go!" And then we ate dinner early and sat down in the choir seats. It was a madhouse.. the mtc is really busy this time of year and so the choir is super busy too! We sat down and she said something about getting a good seat for the devotional after practice. And I was like, "This is our spot.... we perform on Tuesdays." and she was like "What???" You should have seen the look on her face. I just laughed because it was too late to turn back. I said, "I wondered why you were so excited to perform!" She just thought that we were only practicing but on Tuesdays we do the actual performance. It was so funny. The performance was nice. :)

At the devotional today we are like 90% sure there will be an Apostle speaking because in choir practice (the other Sisters in our zone are doing it this week and they told us this) they said that they are broadcasting the devotional TO EVERY MTC. And that there will be security checks and stuff and that we will remember it for the rest of our lives! I can't wait to see who will be speaking.

As Sister Training Leaders we have a meeting with the new missionaries in our zone. We got 3 new Elders this week! It was so much fun. I love our new missionaries. We did a little Orientation meeting with them and we gave them a tour of the mtc and stuff along with the Zone Leaders. Being a Sister Training Leader is so much fun!

Right now we are teaching our investigators "Andrezza" (Irma Nielson) and "Anderson" (Irmao Staples). I want to talk a little bit about a lesson we had Saturday night with Anderson. We came with a whole lesson prepared. We asked him some questions and found out he has some doubts about the Church's stance on homosexuality and polygamy (he found things online). Instead of teaching our lesson we asked him questions and tried to help him. The Spirit was so strong in our lesson! Sometimes what the Lord wants us to teach is different than what we have prepared. It is really thrilling going into a lesson without having any of it prepared. All in Portuguese! I love it. We told him that he needs to search the scriptures for answers and that Heavenly Father will help him know all that he needs to know. I was prompted to share a scripture with him. I don't remember it right now but... it was awesome.

Last Friday our district decided to do "Speak Your Language" until Sunday. We only spoke Portuguese! It was so hard! But great.. we learned so much! I am so proud of our district. There is no way that we would be able to learn a language this fast without the help of the Holy Ghost and the Gift of Tongues. I can pretty much understand everything my teachers/ investigators say. I just can't talk back very well yet. :)

Friday night at Training Resource Center we had an amazing experience. We were giving a lesson to a Portugal RM and we started out by getting to know him and I was prompted to ask him if he had any trials in his life recently. He explained a little but said it was pretty personal. I shared my favorite scripture with him D&C 121: 7-8. I bore my testimony that even though our trials seem hard right now, they are but a small moment in the eyes of the Lord. Heavenly Father will always help us if we have our eyes set on the end goal. After we all taught our lessons, Irmao Staples was talking to our district and he said that one of the RMs who came was having a really hard time and that one of our lessons answered his prayers. I think it was our RM. :)

Somehow in every lesson we teach I am the one who asks our investigator to be baptized. IN EVERY LESSON. There is always a pause at the end of the lesson and I know that Sister McChesney is too scared to ask haha. So I ask them (in HORRIBLE grammar because I didn't plan on asking and didn't prepare the question..) It goes something like this, "Tu queres preparar ser batizado em futuro?" It is so funny. I sound like a 2 year old. At the end of our lesson last night with Anderson I asked the infamous question and Anderson said that he would like to but is scared for what his devout Catholic wife will think. He said he would talk to her and then get back to us. Anyways, after the lesson I was like, "Sister McChesney, you made me pop the question AGAIN" and we were laughing and she said that I am a Baptismal Question Machine with no fear hahaha.

Well... Eu Amo Voces!

Have a nice week. Bom Dia! Boa Tarde! Boa Noite!

Here are some scriptures me and Sister McChesney used as we taught our district lesson Sunday. I just wanted to share!

D&C 101: 35-38
D&C 121: 7-8
D&C 88: 67
3 Nephi: 15:9

Love,
Sister Anderson

Temple pics. It was really sunny so my eyes are shut in a lot of them!!!! I look a little freaky if you zoom in my eyes hurt so bad! This pic is of the new elders, a trio. No new sisters this week :( But we have been really helpful to the Elders. They look up to us as a leader figures! We gave them a tour and a meeting the first night they were here.

We were laughing because Elder Sutton came into the pic. joining the sisters!

Elder Wilkes and Elder Sutton (this is something AJ would do)

All the Elders... sleeping. It seems to be a common sight hahaha. Oh and have the kids look for a surprise. :) Elder Wilkes woke up and we were like "NO.. go back to sleep" hahaha