Portugal Lisbon Mission: Portugal Lisbon Mission MTC Week 6

Querida Familia e Amigos! September 29, 2014

Wow... TOMORROW I leave for Portugal. Today we are trying to pack and do other last minute things. My companion had troubles getting her visa so she will not be coming to Portugal with us. She has been re-assigned temporarily to Chicago Illinois Mission! She will come to Portugal once she gets her visa. She left at 4:30am this morning! We all went to say goodbye and help her with her luggage. I will miss her! I am now in a trio companionship with Sister Rovig and Sister Johnson. I just can't believe we are leaving tomorrow!

Anyways, last Tuesday we had ANOTHER Apostle speak to us! Elder M. Russell Ballard. I can't believe we heard from two! And on our two last weeks too! I really loved his talk. It was very motivational. He talked a lot about how every soul is precious in the eyes of the Lord. It is our mission to help as many souls as possible to partake of the joy our gospel brings. Also, he emphasized that all we need to do is try our best. It was very comforting to me because I am leaving and it is easy to get discouraged with the language and my teaching abilities. But, I know that as long as I am trying my best the Lord is pleased.

I feel like it is easy for me to memorize lots of Portuguese words but it takes a long time for grammatical principles to click. I have worked hard this past week but I honestly feel like I barely know how to say anything! For TRC this week we skyped Julio... FROM PORTUGAL. He is actually living in Portugal right now. This was the first time we had heard someone from Portugal speak Continental Portuguese (not Brazilian..). It was so, so hard to understand him. It all sounded like a big mix of "shs". When he first started talking it sounded more like French than Portuguese! I will be in for a bit of a shock when I get to Portugal.. that's for sure!

Yesterday in Church the two departing districts in our zone (my district and Sister Rovig & Johnson's district) sang a song "How Great Thou Art." It's a tradition for our zone to have the departing districts sing the last Sunday.. so we all sang together! There are a lot of us leaving for Portugal. 27 of us from two different zones! We had practiced the singing parts for the songs the night before. Me and Sister McChesney sang soprano and I taught Sister Rovig and Johnson the alto part. Then we had 4 bass and 4 tenor Elders. Elder Beeton did choir in High School and he helped the tenors. Elder Sutton also did choir in High School and helped the basses. It actually turned out really nice! It was so beautiful. I will miss our zone so much. I love them all!

Yesterday another amazing thing happened. Each week before Relief Society we watch Music and the Spoken Word. Most of the time we get there right as it is ending because Sacrament goes over time. Yesterday though we got there on time to see the opening credits! I told Sister Rovig and McChesney that I hoped my Grandpa would be playing the organ this week. Every week I always hope that it is him! The credits came on and it said "Organist: Clay Christiansen." When I saw it on the screen I squealed "That's my Grandpa!" Everyone around me thought it was awesome. He even played an organ solo! One of the Sisters told me to tell him that she think's he's cool. I am so happy that I had the opportunity to play before I leave. Some weeks we don't have Relief Society so I was worried that I missed his turn. But.. I didn't! It was so perfect and on our last week! I love you Grandpa Clay!

I have loved my experience here at the mtc. It has been practically perfect! I feel the Spirit so strong here all the time. My faith in the Lord has been increased! I know that I must follow His will and have faith. Sometimes things don't go as we planned.. but everything has a purpose. Everything happens for a reason! I need to go finish packing... Love you all! Wish me luck.

Love,
Sister Anderson

We were standing by this and people thought it was so cool.

When we took the pics at the temple other sisters came and asked to take a picture of us! And Elder Beeton and Hobson heard some people talking about us when we weren't there they were like "see.. they looked just like the painting!"