"leaving paradise"

well, its happened... Im leaving paradise! I love this area... but i got the call today... Im being transferred. I am leavin Mem Martins and going back over to the other side of the river, to Almada. It is in the same building as Miratejo, which is where i started my mission. Im excited to see all the people that i got to know in Miratejo, and to help strengthen the Almada ward a little bit. I will be serving with Irmã Greco. Shes from Arizona and has been here for about 4 months. Im super excited. Shes a super cute and nice irmã. We are doing a whitewash... (ah!!!!) which means that the irmãs that were there before are both leaving and two new irmãs that dont know anything about the area are coming in. It will be a good transfer Im sure.

As far as this week goes... we had an amazing week and i definately learned so much about faith and the power of prayer. So, this week started out with a phone call from our Zone Leaders telling us that we needed to baptize this past weekend. (in their normal pushy way) And our dear Maria that was lined up for baptism had fallen and drank coffee again so we didnt feel like she was ready for baptism and she hadnt been to church that week... so we unmarked her and our goal baptism was going to be a miracle, in other words it was a goal that we had of faith. They didnt like that and said we needed to pray and go through our area book until we felt someone. so, we went to work praying, fasting and looking for someone. We pulled about 10 people from the book and prayed for them by name. At the end of the prayer irmã reis asked me who i felt... I said Maria, but not the Maria that we had been working with. She was like uh, i didnt say the name Maria in the prayer. So we went through the book again and pulled all the marias (its portugal, theres TONS of Marias!) We called all of them to try and pass by... not one answered. so we decided to try and pass by their homes. the first one we tried her record was a year old and so we went to her house and the whole building was vacant and abandoned (sp?). So on the record it had the address of her sons house... so we went there... noone answered there too. We were about to leave and i said no, we need to call her. so we did. she said that she needed a prayer so we met with her 10 minutes later in the chapel. When we were there with her, oh my goodness, the spirit was so strond durning the prayer and the lesson that we had with her. She is so elect! She gave us a ton of references of family and friends that needed to hear the gospel. When then invited her to pray about baptism. (she had been to church tons of times and had all the lessons... she even had a baptism date marked and was interviewed and then just fell off the face of the earth.) later that week we met with her and a friend of hers that she said needed the gospel too. They both said they want to be baptized and want to be baptized the same day. How cute. Really, this experience strengthened my testimony so much of the love that our Heavenly Father has for us. It was such a surreal experience to sit and talk with these two ladies who were really and are, passing some really really hard times and how much they just need to know that Heavenly Father is here for them and has a plan especially for them. It also fortified my testimony that I know what I am doing is the Lords work and will here in Portugal. I can see and feel how we are really the tools in the Lords hands. I hope that Im being a power tool. (thanks dad! loved that analogy!) I know that this gospel is true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that with the authority and power of God he restored the gospel here on the earth. I know that the book of mormon is the word of God and that it really contains the "secrets" of happiness. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer, that He lived and died for me, for all of us. I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have for a year and a half to share my testimony and this gospel with the people here in Portugal. I love them. I love Portugal. I love this work.

irmã graf