developing PURE christ-like love

so.... now that ive been saving up for the past little while all the good stories and everything... hopefully this email will be good haha.


so... first off, remember the lady that was deaf that i baptized in Odivelas? well, shes been having a really hard life lately and everything has been falling down around her in her life. she felt really alone and like heavenly father wasnt there for her. so like the end of my time in Odivelas this was all happening so we went over to her house to talk to her... and help her. basically to make a really long story short she was really resistant and didnt want anything... but finally she gave in and broke down crying and talking about how she felt like heavenly father had abandoned her. it was the hardest thing for me to see her in so much pain... i was bawling... but i specifically remember that i was just praying that heavenly father could take it all away and just give it to me. and two thoughts entered my head... one was that story about me, mitch, ashely and the rose thorn... for those that dont know it or dont remember it...


so when i was probably 8 or so and ashley was 6ish... we were over at our cousins house and we would always play pioneer and house in the front yard. well, one day we were playing by the rose bushes, i think we were playing pioneers and mitch was the bad guy or something stupid. (i dont really remember all the details.) but he picked a thorn off the rose bush and started walking towards ashley and grabbed her and started to try and prick her with the thorn... she started crying and screaming so i came running to see what was wrong with my little sister. i started yelling at mitch to stop and of course, he didnt. so finally i said, mitch prick me with the thorn! i cant remember if he ended up pricking me or not, probably he did haha.


but this story came into my head. i just wanted to do the same for Ilidia... i just wanted to take the pain away... the second story that came into my head was Jesus Christ and how He suffered in the garden for us and on the cross... i thought about how He had really take the pain upon Himself because of His love for each one of us...


the reason that this entered my head again this week is because i have been studying about charity... the pure love of Christ. And how we always need to have it for everyone in our lives... i had felt it for my sister... and i always have it for her. i would do anything for ashley, i love her so much and always will no matter what she will do. and i felt it for Ilidia... i love her and wanted to do all that i could plus a little more just so that she can be happy.


this is my goal for my mission... not to baptize a million people, but to love, really truly love these people that i come into contact with. i want to do all that i can to help them be happy.


i am so grateful that i have this opportunity to serve these people here. it is so hard at times, but really, it is what we need to do. love those that hate us... serve them and help them have happiness... eternal, lasting happiness that we can only get through the gospel of Jesus Christ.


Have a great week everyone! I love you all!


com amor
irmã graf


ps- so, what happened with Gary? is he going to be okay? can anyone please give me more details? I really hope he will be okay. Ill pray for him.

Wedding Planner....

so... im here in mem martins. its a lot colder here... it even was raining here! its really pretty though!! in my area we have castles and stuff thats really awesome... we will be going next pday. my comp is irma howard from mn. she goes home in dec, shes cool and im looking forward to working with her. in this picture w all the irmas shes the one closest to me.


we are planning the wedding of a investigator right now so its kinda fun. today we did the pictures for the invite and i made an invite... it was frustrating because i dont have a good camera and dont have photoshop. but its all good



the ward is great. they are basically all brazilians... so its cool.


the work is good. dont have much time again today...


this transfer i am really trying to just perfect all the areas of the work and for this past week it has been going great. im loving my time here!


just want to say good luck to kaity and ashley, congrats to kelsi and good luck, miss you love you and remember who you are to my lil sis that is now living on her own!!! weird!!


well, lame email again... sorry... maybe next week will be better.


irma graf

A greja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Ultimos Dias

cheesy.... but true.

this week has really been a week of reflection... cheesy but its true and its been a really good week. so this week i had the worst numbers that ive had so far in my mission and the worst that i will have for the rest of my mission too. i dont care about the numbers but more how i felt this week and the numbers just solidified it for me last night when we had to turn them in. i really would like to blame this week and how unfocused i was on other people and situations that have happened, but i cant i know that it is only because of me and that i have a ton of things i need to change and fix to be a better missionary and to feel that i am doing my all to be the best that i can and follow the Lord.

i sat down last night and made a ton of goals for this week that will help me to be better and to feel like i am giving my all. this morning while i was eating breakfast i was reading some conference talks and found a talk that i really love. its called finding strength in challenging times by elder allan f. packer. in it he quotes elder dallan h. oaks about testimonies... "a testimony of the gospel is a personal witness borne to our souls by the Holy Ghost that certain facts of eternal significance are true and that we know them to become." then he used another quote from elder oaks that says, "testimony is to know and feel, conversion is to do and to become." wow. when i read this a wave of inspiration and a little bit like Heavenly Father was hitting me upside the head to say hello chauntelle, you need to apply this! this is why you arent having the success you would like and know you can have here!... it is such a basic concept (hello, welcome to the gospel of Jesus Christ) and yet its so difficult to really apply and live it! I know i have a testimony of missionary work and how much it can change and help people in their lives! ive seen it happen many, many times before my mission and during. i have a testimony and i need to be converted to this work! i need to really truly be converted to the point that i cant afford to not open my mouth about the gospel, that i cant afford to think about something else thats not involved in this work. its the same for all of us... maybe directly with the gospel or maybe with a specific principle, like missionary work, we all know that its true and we have all felt the spirit testify about it one time or another... but we still doubt, we still hesitate... we havent recieved a true conversion.

well, onto the lighter stuff that happened this week... um... actually maybe isnt too much lighter... but last week ( i forgot to write about it last week) we were teaching Ilidia (the deaf lady we baptized) and Irma Nkutxi was trying to teach her and Ilidia couldnt understand her. It happens all the time... Ilidia cant understand people, she couldnt understand speigle very well also... but for some reason she can understand me when i speak. always. I know that she is the reason (or one of the reasons) that i was sent here to odivelas. when i was told that i was to leave miratejo back in may i was really sad and kinda bitter to be here in odivelas, to leave my investigators and recent converts that i had grown to love, but really i love it here. i love ilidia and i know that Heavenly Father sent me here to help her, to answer her prayers. it is such a great feeling to know that Heavenly Father used me to help one of his children. I was thinking about this yesterday when we were climbing a mountain in the hot sticky heat and i sarted to think... freak, i wish i was sitting in my pool right now... a thought came into my head that what am i saying. i dont want to be in my pool i want to be right here on this mountain in a long thick nasty skirt carrying books and pamphlets and water like a pack mule, yeah its not the funnest situation but it is SOOO worth it. I had the thought the worth of ONE soul is great in the sight of God. Heavenly Father loves each of us individually that he would two missionaries to search for days maybe weeks talking to tons of people teaching tons of people, and most of them dont want anything... but then we find that ONE that is looking and praying for the gospel. That one then makes all that work soooo worth it! Yeah, ive had some hard times on the mish, ive been sick and i started to complain and think about why i was really here in portugal and not at home doing other stuff... but then i think about the people that ive helped, the people that have accepted the gospel and how it has changed their lives... how it has helped them so much... and then all those stupid thoughts of the stuff that i went through (which really arent anything at all) seem like nothing. this work is so rewarding to be apart of! I love this work and i love all the people that i have come in contact with. there are people that didnt accept the gospel and it breaks my heart, but i know that i planted a seed... i know that right now thats all they could handle... thats all i needed to do for that person, but i still love them just as much as the people that accepted and entered into the fold.

i know this gospel is true. i know that i am where i am for a reason, as are all of us. remember, the worth of one soul is great in the sight of God.

love you all,

irma graf

God bless america!

we hit our 6 month mark!!! we had pastels da natas (amazing!!!) that same thing that sister stevens made for us when i got my call. and we burt a pair of nylons (hate them and dont use them but speigle does) and wore our sweet zone t shirts that an elder drew. and then gypsy pants... they are super comfy and really not flattering i know. today we went to chilis w our zone and found out all of our transfers. i will be staying here in odivelas and irma nicutxi (donno how to spell it) from angola will come here to serve w me. she only has a transfer and a half left. we are both sr comps haha. im excited for this next transfer it will be awesome!

so... i dont have much time sorry speigle has to pack. but i had the most humbling week, especially (sp...i cant spell anymore) yesterday. we have 3 people that we are teaching from angola and they told us about the wars that they were in and how they fled their homes and came here to be safe. one lady had to hide her children under the bed and then watched her husband die infront of her. the other was just a kid and he watched his brothers die. the other she was little too and her house was bombed while her and her mom and little brother and sister huddled together in a cabinet. it made me feel so grateful for how i grew up and the luxuries that i had. also, we have a recently baptized family here in our ward from brasil they are AMAZING and they literally have nothing... but they are always having us over for dinner and they have a piece of junk car (becuase the husband is a machanic) and they are always giving us rides... tons of these people have nothing and yet they give so much. we taught all of these people that i just mentioned yesterday and i thought it was ironic because yesterday was the 4th of july. but seriously, it was such a humbling experience. I love these people so much and just want to help all of them to have what i had... its hard to see people you love go through difficult times but at the same time i know that they are growing and learning to rely on the Lord so much.

so funny story really fast... we were at lunch w a member family and they love america... they practially are american... but anyways... so the dad asked us if we liked portuguese food and we said yes. then he asked if we liked american food. speigle said its okay but it has a lot of perservatives... well, she was speaking portuguese and didnt know what the word was for perservatives... so like usual she just guessed and said perservativos... the kids looked up from their food and the dads face just froze. we thought oh crap what did we say...how did we offend them... so then he was like (in english) uh, yeah i wouldnt want to eat food with condoms either! haha. it was soooooooooo funny!!!! gotta love that you can put an a or o at the end and have it be a word... its even better when its a word completely wrong! hahaa

anyways, i love you all and have more to write... but that will have to be next week! haha.
have a great week!
love irmã graf

CHURCH DANCES= universally l-a-m-e.

so today we had to go get our residency renewed... it was lame but we got to see our district from the mtc... and that was awesome! they are great and ive missed them... seeing as we are all over the place now... tomorrow we have to go back and do some more stuff woo hoo... imagine the dmv... but worse and with people that dont think bathing is necessary... yea.

anyways, this week... uh... really... i cant remember much.... ive been sick (wow, big news... not... im always sick ive decided... something about a mission... maybe its the combination of stress and the wacky climate here... one day it will be super hot and humid then the next it will rain and be super windy...)

we have been working hard to really follow the spirit and do the Lords will here in our area... but honestly, its really difficult when we both are just learning how to do this all... But, I have definately seen my faith grow so much in this past week and I am learning to recognize the spirit in ways that I havent had to do before... It is such a humbling experience to be serving a mission and yet I am so grateful to have this opportunity. This week the Lord blessed us by finding 2 families and the husbands are less actives and they both have a wife and a son... so we are trying to work with these families to get them back in the church and get the rest of them baptized and then in a year, to the temple to be sealed! Also, we found a family (sort of) a mom and her 25 yr old son and then their family friend (20 yr old) and the boys are incredible! We have only taught them once... it was when we found them knocking doors and it was just a prayer and then talked about church a little and invited them to church and they all said yes! and then the next day our ward had a dance and we invited the 2 boys so they could meet people and just get involved and omg... lets just say the dances here are just like the ones we have in vegas... LAME. maybe even worse..... hahaa. but they still came to church the next day haha.

anyways, really I dont have any cool or funny stories this week... but I am so grateful for my mission... I know that I am where I need to be right now and I know that what I am teaching is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Being on a mission and teaching all the basic principles really has strengthened my testimony so much! Its amazing!

well love you all! have a great week! Até o proximo!

com amor
irmã graf



ps photos.... today with the irmãs... well half of the irmãs in the mission... and then our district waiting for our metro! ;) good old elder dalton haaha.

Where in the world did Irma Graf go??

okay... so... this week... man... um... its been good. Okay, really its been the toughest week Ive ever had in my life I think. And no, Im not being dramatic here. We got lost... outside of our zone in the middle of a field... because our map was PRINTED wrong and so our busdriver dropped us off in the middle of nowhere... (dont worry i will photocopy my journal entry about this and send it. its great.) We have had tons of various problems but I am not here to complain about any of them because I learned to keep the faith... to stay strong and to really just turn to the Lord in everything ESPECIALLY when times are difficult... every single thing that went wrong we learned from and I feel that they were blessing in disguise... Heavenly Father is definately using our weaknesses to help us learn and also to encontrar (dad, i cant remember the english word...please change to english for me) other people to teach that need the gospel.

one cool thing this week was that some people from the US came to film recent converts about their stories for the new website... we got to have some of our converts talk... and I GOT TO HELP WITH THE PRODUCTION!!! it was so cooll... and guess what camera they had... oh yeah, thats right, a Canon 5 D, Mark 2... oh man... I was in heaven!!! It was like holding my camera all over again... I really really really miss photography and ahhhh to hold the camera... freak, it was amazing. (yeah, whatever... im strange) ps- how is my camera?

um... also another funny thing about this week... we have an investigator... Edith, and she decided that I look like Barbie (yeah, I donno... dont ask... she said its because of my eyes) and so she calls me irma barbie... its ridiculous. people here think my eyes are so cool... i always thought that my eyes were normal... but supposedly i have "big beautiful eyes... like Barbie"... yeah. shes crazy (love her) but I look gross here... seriously... no make up (just mascara and a little eye liner)... and dont really do my hair... shes crazy. the end... but it was funny... so you all can laugh at her comment because I did.

also, last night we had a lesson w this cool couple from capo verde and come to find out the wife is a member already... (it is so common to have this happen its ridiculous!) any ways, they had a friend w them... he was CRAZY!!! irma speigle asked him to say the first prayer because he liked to talk alot... uh, BAD IDEA... he started praying and seriously it was the strangest thing every!!!!! like baptist, halleiluha (sp) type stuff but scary... it was so hard to not laugh... (we did a little)

well, I am doing great learning a ton and enjoying every second of it!!!! have a great week and thank you for everything!!!!

irma graf