To One and All...

Well another week past and the Christmas bells are ringing. People love Christmas here! It´s so great! 

 I feel like I talk about the weather entirely too much in my emails but listen... It´s getting  worse... hahaha. I love it. Every Friday we have dinner a members house´, his name is Olec he is from Ukraine. Anywho so we go there with the elder´s for dinner every Friday. This Friday we met up at the chapel to walk over to his house, the whole day had been and off and on drizzle, like a throwback to my Seattle life. As we left the chapel for our 10 minute walk to Olec´s house, the rained started to pick up and got progressively worse, we all had our rain gear on but still rain seemed to be winning against our trench coats and umbrellas, we were laughing enjoying the rain talking about how funny it is to be a missionary in this unfortunate weather... but then it really started getting worse. We had to walk under the edges of buildings that don´t have gutters, waterfalls of water gushing on our shoulders.... we rounded the  corner to Olec´s street and then came the flood.... The water poured down harder than a Friday afternoon in Tennessee. It was not just raining cats and dogs it was raining cattle and moderately sized dinosaurs. We tried to find a path with less water, but the Storm drains we over flowing and there was a solid 2 inches of water rushing down the road. It was incredible I have never seen anything like it. When we arrived at Olec´s house we stepped into his entry and poured the water out of our shoes. I still can´t believe he let us in.... 

And the waves.... I thought we had seen waves before. But now I know where fantasia was filmed... here in my area.

But on a more spiritual note, This week we witnessed a huge miracle. The week of thanksgiving, the Elder´s called us with a reference. They met a man at the Hospital who had spoken with missionaries in the past and had been waited years for them to stop by. Turns out he lives on our side of the island. So we gladly took Carlos´s information..

´´Where does he live?´´ I asked

´´´Well thats the thing..`` responds elder Blair

´´Where does Carlos live, Elder?´´ I asked with a little bit of hesitation

´´Nordeste!´´ Responds Elder Blair, I could hear the smile in his voice.

Let me explain. It is very simple. Nordeste is approximately 2 hours away by bus. Irma Morrison and I have not ventured more than 20 minutes by buss in our area. Our area is massive, massive I tell you. 

But we decided to give him a call and see if he was really interested in hearing about the Gospel. So I called and talked to Carlos. He is a 65 year old man who lives in some type of old folks establishment and was so kind and really wanted us to come visit him. So we had figured out a day to that we could set aside to go visit Carlos, and marked an appointment. A few days later we really thought about the time and money we would have to spend to make it out to Nordeste, and decided to call Carlos and invite him to  come to Church this Sunday. He said that he had been to church before and that he would think about coming this Sunday. I was pretty sure that meant no, but I told him we would call to remind him on Saturday. When I called Saturday night he said he already had it arranged to get on the bus and that he would be there. 

I was shocked. I thought that he had forgotten about our invite earlier in the week. But he already had a plan to go! WOO HOO! 

When we got to church, we waited in the front hall greeting the members as they came in, starting time was approaching and no sign of Carlos. In fact we didn´t even know what he looked like (the elders did). So we went in and Sacrament meeting started, 30 minutes into the meeting the back door open and this elderly man with hand crutches slides in the back door, sits down and shakes hands with the member sitting next to him. Elder Mateer looks at me with big eyes and looks back at me and mouths the name: ´´CARLOS!``

It was Carlos. He showed up. He came all the way from Nordeste. After the first meeting I went up and introduced myself to him. Shook his hand and introduced him to every member that walked by and I said ``This is Carlos he is visiting today, he came all the way from Nordeste!!!!´´ Well we decided that took a whole lot of faith to travel all the way from Nordeste, so we told him that we could find a way to make it to Nordeste this week to visit him and teach him more about the Gospel. We are super excited. We teach people that live a few blocks from the Church that just don´t care enough to make it to church, and then there are those ´´Carlos from Nordeste´´ kind of people, who are looking for the truth and care enough to make the trip.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is True and it will change Carlos´s life, if he lets it.

I love you all and hope that this week is a good one. Feliz Natal.

Irma McCrery

More Pictures...

For the Whole Gang...

I love that your ward choir is getting ready for Christmas, so is our branch choir. They sing ´´Christmas Carols´´ in the middle of the city here December 8th. I guess it is a real crowd pleaser. They really do call it ´´Christmas Carols´´ which is funny to hear them speak in porguese from the pulpit on Sunday:

``Então Irmãos, vamos preparar pela actividade das Christmas Carols, vai ser divertido e a uma boa oportunidade para compartilhar O Evangelho....`` 

   So great. I was telling Bil in my response to his email that this Branch is uniquein a lot of ways. For one they have a lot of people who speak english perfectly and they love to celebrate American holidays. It is a riot. The halloween party we threw was a big hit and then for Thanksgiving they threw a dinner. The missioanries ate for free! There was turkey and potatoes and ´´stuffing´´ and chocolate mouse for dessert. I don´t know who remembers how much I LOVE Thanksgiving, but it was a huge blessing to have this cozy branch dinner.

   After everyone ate their dinner, the branch president got up to talk a bit about the importance of the dinner. He said that this was a tradition in the branch for years. He explained that in the United States Thanksgiving is comparable to Christmas in it´s importance and that they have always had this dinner for the missionaries sake. Because they are far from home and the branch wants to take care of them.... It was so tender. They gave the four of us (the elders and us) keychains to always remember the Island. It was so great. So Thanksgiving was really special.

    Also the city of Ponta Delgada is decked out in full blown Christmas cheer!!!! There are christmas lights lining every cobblestone street and ally. The mian part of the city is in the Elder´s area which is probably a good thing because Imra morrison and I would get easily distracted by the spectacular displays. My favorite part is how no one here holds back with saying ´´Feliz Natal´´. or ´´Merry Christmas´´. ´´Happy holidays´´ or ´´boas festas´´ is rarely seen in the store windows. It ALL about Christmas. It´s different than back home. Kinda cool. Kinda different.

   The weather is absolutely nuts now. flash floods one minute, beautiful clear skies the next. The ocean is out of this world. I can easily say it is the most beautiful sight I´ve ever seen. We walk to our appointments and gaze out across this vast ocean right by our side...its so humbling.

   Sorry it´s short this week. I love you all.

Irma McCrery

Ok i´m trying to attach photos

 

1st- Me loving my food at Thanksgiving...Eldr Mateer thinks he loves Thanksgiving more than me...not possible.

 2nd- Turkey!!

 

Hello and Greetings

Hello and greetings,

 

It has been a few weeks since I have written anything substantial... It is not really because nothing happens but because by Monday so much happens that I forget when I sit down to write. So this week, I took a couple notes to remind myself of what happened.

 

I´m learning a lot. Even when I don´t think I am. Even when I feel like I´m in a rut or things aren´t going as well as I had hoped. The Lord is merciful. I am weak and he knows it, but instead of making me feel bad for it, he carries me. In the beginning of the Book of Mormon, Nephi tells us that as we read we will be shown all of the many tender mercies of the Lord. My mission seems to be a long string of tender mercies. It is humbling.

 

Carlos was baptized this weekend!!!!!! Carlos´s wife and daughter have been members of the Church for a little over a year. Carlos is a fisherman, he works six months on ocean and then is home for six months. He has been taught by many missionaries, many times. He has problems with drinking. But to make a very long story short, the Lord had prepared a way. Carlos was finally ready to make the step, to commit. To change. After we set the date we went back over and talked about addictions, and the importance of obeying God´s commandments, and the blessings we receive by avoiding things that harm our bodies (alcohol). I was able to talk about my experience with my Dad and how harmful alcohol is for the whole well being of the family.

SIDE NOTE:There is a battle raging on this Island. The battle is against Tabaco and alcohol. It is consuming these people´s lives, it is keeping them in poverty, it is dragging them down to despair. They are not happy, they are stuck in chains and I want to bust em all out! I wanna climb into their prison walls of addictions dig a tunnel and show them how to escape. With the Gospel, it´s possible. But don´t take my word for it....

1. 2 Ne. 9: 10
     10 O how great the ^agoodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our ^bescape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, ^cdeath and ^dhell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit.

So, Carlos has made the step. He was baptized and he will continue forward with his great faith. He can´t read, but he now has the Book of Mormon on CD and he loves to say family prayers. It is incredible to see this family all on their way back to Heavenly Father...Tender Mercy

 

Our branch has changed presidencies. The Branch president is new. So to show us how excited he is about the missionary work here in the branch, he came to a lesson with us this week. It was awesome. We taught one of our investigators named Bruno. Bruno can´t leave his house. He is on house arrest. We don´t know why. But he is awesome. I can´t describe Bruno in a short little paragraph and do him justice. But let me just say, he is repentant. He gets it. He is learning about sincere prayer. He is loving learning about the restored Gospel, and I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for him too. (disclaimer: we don´t go in any house without another female adult present at all times... he lives with his mom and dad....Totally safe.) Teaching him has been a huge blessing to see someone so ready to change, so willing to follow Jesus Christ...Tender Mercy.

 

Sometimes I step back and look at my situation. I look at my giant purpose here on this mission, I look at what the Lord expects of me and I feel like a little fish in a big pond, a little lost, a little in over my head. Just a little fish in a big pond. But then there are moments like last night when we had an incredible lesson with this new couple we are teaching (ruben and nelia), when the right words come to my mind, the spirit testifies and all of a sudden they are learning about Heavenly Father and can´t wait to know for themselves if these things are true.... It all becomes clear and pure and not so scary. I still feel like a little fish but the pond isn´t so big and I´m not so over my head....Tender Mercy.

 

 

Today imra morrison told me a cool description of our faith. She likened it to a nightlight, a flashlight, and a lighthouse. She was evaluating our ``light``(3 Nephi 12:16) and how it is based on our faith. Sometimes the light of our faith is just enough to keep away the bad stuff (nightlight), and at times it becomes strong enough to light your own way (flashlight), and when its strongest we become a lighthouse, we can show others the way. I thought that was great. Really great.

 

Ok well time is up, I´ve written too much. I love you all and hope all is well. Until next week...

 

Sister Liz

When it's hot in the poor places tonight...

Dear family and friends,

Sorry about last week, I just didn´t have much to say. This week I do. We had an interesting week. I´m emailing today because yesterday was a holiday and everything was closed. We do our email in a little copy shop and right now the air is filled with smoke, something is burning in the back room, it smells like burnt computers...mmmhhh.

Have I told you about the Cockroaches here? They are called baratas. They are everywhere at night. We walk down the cobblestone sidewalks (shoulders width wide) and every few steps you see a big fat barata scurrying along. Also I didn´t know that cockroaches have wings, did you? Well they do, but they are the little kind of wings that don´t get them up very high (what a relief). Well luckily they are not in our apartment as far as a I know. But they rules the streets at night.....creepy.

This Saturday we had a busy day. Sergio was baptized in the morning. We had been working with Sergio to be baptized two weeks ago, but he has been having problems with his son. Ok let me give you a few sentence bio of sergio. He is 30 year old single guy who has a 2 year old son. He is no longer with the mother of the child. He is unemployed right now and is fighting for the well being of his son, he has been walking 45 minutes one way to go pick up his son every other day for the past few weeks. He is always late for his appointments because of everything with his son. Finally he made it to his own baptism on Saturday. He has a testimony of the Gospel and has been ready to get baptized.

When the baptism started the elders had already filled up the baptismal font, and the service needed to be quick because he had to walk to pick up his son right after. As they walked into the baptismal font, elder blair went in the water first. One step in and he looks up with shock... the water was cold. The heater didn´t heat up the water like it was supposed to. The water must have felt ice cold, strait from the hose on a brisk fall morning. But the show needed to go on, so sergio went into the water, was baptized and they both quickly exited the font. The rest of us waited for them to get into dry cloths and when they came back we sang hymns. Sergio sat back down next to me and I apologized for the cold water. I looked at his hands as he held the hymn book, they were white. I immediately looked up at the branch president, he had already noticed the alarming sign himself and was getting down from the stand, he took sergio to the kitchen faucet and they ran his hands under the warm water. I walked into the kitchen and asked if everything was alright, the branch president looked at me and said, our brother sergio is gonna need some help. I knew exactly what he meant. Sergio probably weighs 115 pounds. He is skinny. Friday night before his baptism he informed us that he didn´t have food in his house, so we grabbed him a bag of groceries and realized that he was in a harder situation than we thought. After the white hands on Saturday we knew that he actually was not getting enough to eat. His body has no meat on it. skin and bones.

For the first time in my little sheltered life, I saw someone who was hungry. Just plain not getting enough to eat. He lives in a house that is shared with a bunch of other people, and he has a 2 year old son that he is trying to save from a rough life at his mother´s house, and he doesn´t have food enough to live. It hit hard. So for the past few days we have been gathering up food, and our branch president is on the case, luckily Sergio is in good hands. He has changed his life, and is living the commandments, he has made promises with Heavenly Father and in return I know that Heavenly Father will bless him. It is a beautiful thing. He´s gonna be just fine. His little son Rorigo came to church and is the cutest little kid. So happy, just stickin with his dad.

Later that night we had our Halloween party. Not as spiritually uplifting our profound, but it was fun. Sergio came and made friends with the members so that was great. The elders from the other side of Ponta Delgada  and Irma Morrison and I dressed up from the wizard of OZ. I was the cowardly lion. I. Morrison was Dorthy and the elders were the tin man, and scarecrow. It was hilarious. We also had Hocus Pocus playing in the background, what a treat. The Branch loved it. Halloween night we had to go in early from knocking doors because no one was taking us seriously. hahahahahha. They thought we were trick or treaters. So it turns out they really do celebrate Halloween here. Weird.

The Gospel is true. Heavenly Father is literally our eternal father. He knows us. He knows Sergio. The Savior has felt his pain and knows how to comfort him. As we live worthy, we get to be instruments in His hands to help Sergio and everyone else along their way to eternal progression. neat.

Love you all.

Sister Liz


Stepper, here! I thought I'd include a picture of a Barata for your enjoyment. So...enjoy!

Ola! :)

Hey, here are some pictures we took at Furnas today. Hope you enjoy them!

 

Irmãs Morrison and McCrery

 

 

Branch Halloween Party

Ok well I just tried so hard to attach photos from our adventure today. But it´s not working. I don´t have too much time to write back now.

Something exciting coming up is the HALLOWEEN PARTY that we (The elders and us) are throwing for our Branch. Our Branch in Ponta Delgada is struggling with unity and we thought it would be a great idea to throw a full blown halloween party like they wouldn´t even believe. There will be doughnuts (homemade), fishing for candy, bobbing for apples, whip cream pie eating contest (thats not really halloweenie, but they will love it). We´re gonna have candy and prizes and someone got the movie hocus pocus to watch after the games....with portuguese subtitles (I don´t think we are staying for that part...). Should be one for the books. 

Did anyone see the moon last night? It was eerie.

Ok well sorry for the few words.

I´m doing great. This week is gonna be even better than the last. I love you all and keep on keeping on.

Love,

Sister Liz

O Divine Redeemer

Do you know that song, Oh Divine Redeemer? I recommend putting on the Mormon Tabernacle Choir version of that song. Turning it up to just the right volume. Lay down facing the ceiling, listen to the music and lyrics, then afterwards get up and get back to work.

 

This week was intense. We had a good week. Irma Morrison is a serious trooper. As it always goes, the world keeps moving and you are required to get moving too. She has not been having breakdowns or emotional melts. She is steady. Firm. We laugh, we work, and when we fall we get back up. On the Irma Morrison front, all things are going well. We are really quite the best of friends. She just recieved the email from her family about her dad´s funeral. There were 1000 people in attendance. One Thousand. I think that is a testament to the kind of man her father is. Her testimony of the Plan of Salvation is growing with leaps and bounds...so is mine.

 

Leonor and Jusara were baptized this Sunday. What a miracle. A serious miracle. We are experiencing growth while serving on this Island. We are seeing our branch go through changes, and seeing how the Lord works in miraculous ways.

 

I wanted to include some pictures from our everyday adventures....

 

More next week...

 

Lizzie

 

P.S. I heard that Aunt Shirley´s package got sent back!!!! OH NO!!!! I don´t know why. But it seems like a fluke. You can send packages directly to my address here on the Island and they go to the local post office and we go pick it up. Or you can send to the mission office address too...

All letters you can just go ahead and send to my island address...I love em!

And it rained all night...

Dear family and friends,

 

What a strange week. 

 

My companion right now is Irma Morrison. We get along just great. We have about everything in common. It is like serving a mission with someone like Claire as my mission companion (so we laugh a lot...). We work together to try to better our teaching and we work hard trying to find those people who have been prepared. On P-days we have fun and last week we bought matching nautical themed grandma style nightgowns. So I think you can picture how good of friends we have already become. I feel super blessed to have gone from Irma De Almeida (who I didn´t think anyone would compare), to another soul friend companion. Let me tell you a few facts about Irma Morrison... She is from a family of 10 kids! What the? Ya 10. And she is 1 of only 2 girls. She is from Oregon (so we have a lot of northwest pride as we stomp through the rain here). She can do a really good lisp voice. We are the exact same height (so in this country..giants). So basically we get along just great. Thats why this week it was especially hard to receive some bad news from her family. 

 

Her father passed away this past thursday. He died of a heart attack. He was 61 years old. It was completely unexpected he was healthy and never had any medical problems before.

 

You can imagine that the world came crashing down on this little Island in the middle of the ocean. Here we are thousands of miles away from her family and she hears the worst news that one can here while being on a mission, someone you loved has passed away. Normally when something like this happens the mission president would come strait over and tell us. But we are here. On an Island. In the middle of the Ocean. He couldn´t get a flight out soon enough, so our zone leader had to tell her. When they came to tell us, the feeling was surreal. All of a sudden a flood of emotion came over me and I felt that familiar feeling again. He´s gone. Her dad is gone.

 

We took the rest of the day a little easy. She called her mom. I insisted that we buy brownie mix and bake it immediately ( P.S. Brownie mix is approx. the equivalent of 7 US dollars for one box. a BIG deal for us missionaries). We took it in strides. But here is the thing. We are missionaries. We are on a mission. There is a work to do. Irma Morrison knows it too. She really gets it. There is not a doubt in her mind that she is staying here (much to my selfish relief..).

 

So here I am. On an Island with one of my new best friends and her Dad passes away unexpectedly. Coincidence? No. That is the lesson for the week.

 

God has a wiser purpose behind everything. He has a plan. It is real. He loves and watches over each and everyone of us. I know for a fact that Irma Morrison and I are companions at this moment, in this place for a reason. She is teaching me things and I can honestly say that through the experiences in my life, I am able to be an instrument in the Lord´s hands, I am here to bake brownies, to sit and stare at a wall with here while she thinks for a minute, to laugh through tears about funny things that Dad´s do, to cry, to mourn, and to pick it all up, wake up the next morning and get back to work. She is teaching me lessons that I had never learned. She is strong and I am grateful to be here with her.

 

She has a testimony of the Plan of Salvation. That truly her family can be together forever and that without a shadow of a doubt she will see her Dad again. He is with her. He is now called to a mission elsewhere for a season. She is where she is supposed to be, and she is grateful.

 

This week put it all into perspective. We are here to tell people about the reality of these eternal truths, the Plan of Salvation has been revealed to us through Prophets and Scripture. We can share the answers to the questions of the soul. So the work moves forward. We work. We pray. We try to help these people. And we are blessed along the way through these life shaping experiences.

 

I love you all a lot a lot. I miss you and I am praying for you.

 

Love,

Lizzie

 

(No Subject - Conference Weekend)

Well this weekend was something to write home about. Conference weekend is always the best. I can´t even describe to you the excitement my companion and I felt on Saturday morning, as we were having personal study I looked up from my scriptures and stated loudly ``I`M SO EXCITED FOR CONFERENCE TODAY!!!´´

 

Being on this side of the world we watch conference from 4-6pm and then 8-10pm. What a real treat.

 

The talks were powerful and simple. Everything felt so back to basics. It was beautfiul. The warnings and the counsels for our times, for this year, for us right this moment. What a blessing to have the words of Prophets, seers, and revelators right here and now.

 

We watched Conference in Portuguese because there was just one computor to watch at the church. Neat. The internet kept crashing so I can´t wait to read the ensign next month to find out the punch line to some of the jokes.

 

But I think the most poignant moment of this conference was within the first 10 minutes of the Sat. session when the Prophet announced the next temples to be built.

 

LISBOA PORTUGAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I don´t know if you can imagine the gasp of the ward building. I squeeled like a little school girl. We were all so taken back that I still don´t know where else the other Temples will be. This is HUGE! To have a Temple in THIS country. Close. Oh so close to THIS people. The Temple grounds had already been purchased and dedicated in 1988, but it is not until now that the Church has been strong enough and prepared to recieve a Temple until now. Can you believe it? As missionaries we have been praying for a Temple everyday in our mission. We pray that we can find those who are searching for the truth, help them enter into the fold and build God´s kingdom. A Temple means everything. A Temple means that those faithful members of the Church don´t have to travel to spain to visit the House of the Lord, it means they have shown the Lord that they are ready to recieve the blessings of a Temple in their own country. It means that enough people have entered the waters of baptism and have become faithful members of the Church that there is a need for a Temple because of those great numbers of faithful members who are going to the Temple in Spain every year. We are greatful to witness this incredible time. I can´t even imagine the people back on the continent. They must be sooo excited. The Temple will be built in Sintra, about 30 minutes by buss from my last area. Maybe I will serve there before my time is up.

 

Speaking of which. I have one year left out here. Just one. Oh how quickly the time flies. Now is the time to work a little harder, focus a little more, and help these people of Ponta Delgada learn the Truth. God lives and so does His son Jesus Christ. God has a plan and he loves us.

 

out of time....5 mintues ago...

 

Love you all

 

Sister Liz

Letting the Days Go By! Water Flowing Underground!

This is something I´m learning on my mission. I´m less and less nervous to make big decisions now that I am gaining a testimony of kneeling down and begging My Heavenly Father for revelation, spilling my righteous desire guts as often as I can. He really loves me. He really loves your little family. He wants to bless us. I imagine sometimes that Heavenly Father is like an over eager Dad that already bought our Christmas gifts and wants so badly to let us open them because he wants to see us freak out about  Super Barbie 3000 and Mega Micro machines, but he has to wait until Christmas or it just wont be right. Heavenly Father has blessings stocked up that he is literally eager to give us, he would rip open the wrapping himself if he could and say ´´TA DA! DO YOU LIKE IT`?``...I can just imagine... And when we go to him, ask him worthily he will bless us with gifts that are so good and last forever and dont require batteries. All we have to do is have faith, obey the commandments, and never forget just to ask.

 

Ok listen. I´m on this Island Sao Miguel. My area is called Ponta Delgada. Our area is gigantic. There are three missionary companionships here on this Island. I am here with Irma Morrison, the area that the Lord has put in our hands is gigantic. It takes up one third of the Island and to get from one side of our area to the other takes at least 2 hours in a car (we dont have a car). Also the buses here are--well I think there is one bus. Haha. Dont get me wrong the Island is civilized, there are some tourist, a mall, and we even have an ´´american store´´ it has american products, like junk food and tents. We have a freeway and such, but the fact of the matter is, there is a lot of space to cover. What a blessing. The people here are so warm. The accent here  is wonky just like they said, to me it sounds like austrailian people are speaking Portuguese and it is all being said backwards and upside down....hahaha. But I know I will get used to it. The Island is calm. Peaceful. But at the same time full of life in some parts.

 

We walked 45 minutes to one of our appointments on friday and walked along the edge of the water, I´ve never seen water like that before in my life. Dark black rocks with clear blue water gushing over. I feel like I´m on the coast in Washington meets Iceland meets Portugal. The rains are coming. It has already rained a few days here. It is still warm but I can feel it, things are gonna get pretty blustery here in a few weeks... WOO HOO BRING IT ON!!!!! We´ve got people to find, and a little rain isn´t gonna stop us. I´ve been prepared my whole life to serve this mission in inclimate weather hahah, thanks Seattle!

 

Ok here is my address before I forget:

 

Rua Nova Da Misericordia

Nº266 1ºESQ

9500 Ponta Delgada

Acores Portugal

 

The postage is the same price to send mail to and from the Island. I think it should be cheaper because now I´m a whole time zone closer to the United states. I can´t tell you how awesome it is to recieve mail....so now you know. Also any packages can be sent to the above address...

 

I am excited to serve with my new companion. We will have our new set of challenges together, but I know we will have so much fun working hard. We are the only sisters in the Acores. We are the only sisters in the mission who are in a branch not a ward.All of the areas with sisters are where there are enough people to have wards and stakes. We have a branch. What does that mean? The Lords trusts us. I don´t know why, but I better get to work...

 

I´m no longer in Oeiras. But Bil you are right, I am a safe 4 days distance from that area and looking back it was the best. I miss our recent converts, I miss our members, I miss our investigators, and I miss Irma De Almeida. In the MTC the president´s wife told us that as we go along in our mission that feeling of homesick will change, you will slowly stop thinking about home and missing you home, but as you are transfered you will start to miss those people with whom you worked so closely, and by the end of your mission when you return you will be homesick for your mission... Well this just in I´m on that slippery slope... I love the people of Portugal. They are something else. I love the people of Oeiras and I am already growing attached to the people of this Island. I am here for them. I am here to love them and to serve them. I am here to help those who are seeking for the truth.

 

What a boring e-mail about weather and geology. But the Gospel is true. I am on the Islands of the Sea, helping to gather up those who will hear the voice of the Lord. How powerful.

 

We hear from our prophet this weekend in general conference. Don´t forget to watch and listen. Put the link on the blog if you would so people can find it! I can´t even wait I´m so excited......

 

Pictures in the next couple weeks....

 

Love

Sister Liz.

***Stepper, here! As per Lizzie's request, here's a link to where you can stream General Conference this weekend!  And you can see/hear past sessions from this site, also.

GENERAL CONFERENCE

You'll note that if you click the October 2010 link (that's this weekend's conference) all the info is pending. Check back there Saturday morning at 10:00 AM MST and you'll be able to stream it live!***

Gulligans Island.... AKA THE ACORES!

LIsten up,

I have a few e-mails in my inbox that I have not yet read as I write this E~mail... The reason that I can´t seem to even stop shaking is because I just found out 5 minutes ago from the office Elders that I will be transfered this week to THE ACORES!!!!!!!! (pronouced ah-sores, more or less). My hands are shaking and I can´t even remember what I was going to tell you in this email. Ok listen, the Acores are the islands off the cost of Portugal....In the middle of the ocean, separate from the rest of the world (like most islands I suppose) Only two sister missionaries serve there at a time. This week we have a special sister conference in Lisboa, and after the conference I will be swept up in a plane and off to the acores with one bag and whole lot of nerves. The Acores. Wow. They don´t speak Portuguese there. At least thats what people from the continent say. The Accent is soooo wonky out there that it is supposedly extremely difficult to understand even for people who speak Portuguese... WOO HOO, just when I was starting to get the hang of the language with Irma De Almeida, they take me to the other side of the world (mission). I feel inadequate and underqualified to serve there. I remember my first transfer with Irma Brinkhoff (nicknamed the machine, remember?) and she served in the Acores, told me stories, the kind of stories that made me say, ok good thing Heavenly Father only sends the tough ones there...I´ll steer clear and kick it here on the continent.....well well well. Look who has a plan for me that I didn´t expect...

Isn´t that how it goes?

I love it.

 

Ok Listen before I forget, all packages should be sent to the mission office now:

 

Rua Jorge Barradas N 14-C

1500 Lisboa

Portugal

 

Speaking of packages... today right before we left the apartment to go to internet I recieved a package from CLINTON AND ELISBAETH!!!!!! WHAT A TREAT!!!!!!!!! Irma De Almeida about had a fit with her excitement for the american goodies found within. We scarfed down a huge cookie before we came here. Thank you soooo much! Also now I have the recipe for Irma De Almeida.

 

Oh Irma De Almeida.... We will be separated. I can´t even explain in this email how much I will miss her. We learned so much. We worked so hard. The best part is that we became friends. True blue friends. I think the ultimate lesson I learned with Irma De Almeida was repentance, and humility. We are so weak, we had to kneel down and ask for forgiveness so often, start over, work harder and seek the will of the Lord every single day. I learned a lot about how to say sorry and mean it. I learned about patience. I learned how to trust the Lord a little more everyday. Now I will serve with Irma Morrison! She is from Colorada I think. So thats gonna be weird. WOO HOO!

 

Ok Bil and Stepper, I need  your address or the address that I can call ``home`` so that the mission office has it on file. Maybe it is already in the email from Stepper that I have not yet read.

 

Ok I will read them now and write more after I read...

ok read the emails, sounds like everything is still good and right in the world.

I am going to try to attach some photos.

 

Isabel was Baptized this Saterday night. She is the wife and mom of a (former)part member family. How incredible.

 

Ok pictures are of our trip to belem.

 

only have this card with me, but i will print pictures and send them later.

 

Iove you all. I´m going to the middle of the Ocean and who knows when I will return.

I will miss oeiras. this place has become my home. These people are my friends.

Until next week....

 

Love

Irma Liz

our pasta

our soup, the making of.

Have you ever?

Have you ever just been having one of those weeks, and all of a sudden at your zone conference you find out that you got a package from home, and it has peanut butter, and oreos, and beef jerky and suddenly the sky clears and the sun shines in on you because you are filled with joy at the sight of seemingly normal products?

 

Ya. That happened this week. Thanks to THE CLIN-TON and THE ELIS-ABETH. Thank you sooooooo much you guys. I accidentally ate almost the whole bag of beef jerky last night. Whoops. We ran out of real food and I couldn't handle the idea of milk and cereal again, so I ate a lot of beef jerky.

 

But don´t worry, we don´t always run out of real food. Monday is our day to buy groceries, so sunday night is always slim pickins.

 

Let me tell you about a little something else that brought joy and sunshine into the picture this week. LAERCIO was baptized! Woo hoo! He is really great, has a young family with a wife and a daughter. His wife is so sweet and she is preparing to be baptized as well. I have a special place in my heart for his wife cinthia. We found her first because we looked at old records of previous missionaries and stumbled upon her phone number. We called her and visited, she said she has just been thinking about the missionaries that had came to her door a year ago to sing Christmas carols. And we just so happened to call to two days after she was thinking of those missionaries. The Lord really does guide us in His work. She feels like she needs more time to prepare for baptism, but is excited to work towards it. She is quiet while Laercio is a real talker, so naturally I like her because I feel for her,she is kind of the underdog in the whole situation. I sit next to her in Church and during the baptism and talk a bit with her (in my broken Portuguese). It is incredible how you can just love people so much that you can´t even talk to really.

 

There have been quite a few people here that I feel this deep responsibility for. Well really I feel a responsibility for everyone here, but there are just certain people that have a tender place in my heart. The hard thing about being a missionary is that sometimes the people you really connect with, or feel that you really need to nurture, end up being the ones that close their hearts and don´t accept the Gospel. The ones that we have to tell them that we love them and that Heavenly Father loves them, but that we have to teach other people that are waiting to find the Gospel and are ready to make changes to bring the fullness of blessings. It is difficult. I can think of a few people that I miss teaching. An old woman that lives in our building Augusta, our friend Marco, Luis from my first transfer here.... The list goes on. As missionaries we invite people to come unto Christ by helping them received the restored Gospel, and we invite people to make changes, to learn of Him, to pray to know the truth of all of these things. We do all we can to help them see, but people have to make the choice to act for themselves. It is the blessing of our free agency. I know that one day those that we love here in Oeiras, that we have taught and helped, will remember and when it is their time, their hearts will be softened and they will accept the glorious plan that our Heavenly Father has given us.

 

In other news. Today we have transfers. Where will I serve next you ask? 

 

I will..... STAY IN OEIRAS!! 

 

There is still work to do here in Oeiras for irma De Almeida and me. The season will start to change, and people will return from vacation. We have some families that we are teaching and areas that we have yet to work in. So I will be at the same address for the next 6 weeks. And always send packages to the mission office. Unless they are smallish...

 

Oeiras is beautiful and we have an incredible ward. I still have a lot to learn from irma De Almeida and this area. It will be weird to think that after this transfer I will have lived in this apartment longer than most places since I graduated from High school. Who would have thought, my mission would keep me sound permanent haahhah. Maybe that is the lesson I need to learn.

 

Ok also, letters are really great to receive....

 

Irma McCrery

Rua Porto Alegre

N 2 5 RECT

2870-030 Oeiras

Portugal

 

Also can someone send me church cd´s? Mormon Tabernacle and what not?

 

This email was kind of random and I feel like I´m forgetting something....

 

Oh also can anyone find Lyndsi Vela´s address for me????

 

Also you should Google Earth Oeiras. neat.

 

Love you all

 

ate ja

Sister Liz.

To One and All...

Hello everyone and everyall,

 

The work is so good. The time flies. I don´t have a ton of time to write today, but just know that Heavenly Father is oh so good. He knows it all. He loves us. He gave us a way to make it through every tough time, by sending Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ suffered here on earth to save us from the inevitable death we would face, through the whisperings of the spirit we can feel peace knowing that He Lives to guide us and comfort us in our journey back to our father in Heaven. What joy this sweet sentence gives, I Know that my Redeemer lives.

 

you know?

 

Sister Liz

30 degrees...

It is 30 graus, not degrees. That means it´s like 90ish degrees. We are basking in the sun everyday. How is the weather there?

 

Bil, Stepper WOO HOO! Moved! I loved picturing Wyatt running around the empty house being confused but happy nonetheless.

 

Ok this email will be scattered, that is a guarantee.

 

first and foremost... Leo was baptized yesterday!!!!!!!!!! WOOO HOOO! Let me just say that it was a miracle. I first met Leo with Irma Brinkerhoff. We met him on the street my very first day in Portugal. Irma Brinkerhoff stopped him on the street and started talking to him, when all of a sudden our cell phone rang and she had to answer it. She stepped away and there I was on my first day here, left to talk to this stranger in Portuguese (And remember he has no idea it is my very first day in the country). So I did what any missionary would do, I pretended like I was in the halls of the MTC and asked  ``Do you believe in God?`` he answered ``Yes of course!`` and then I said ``Do you believe in Jesus Christ?`` and he responded ``of course!`` and I said ``Our message is about Jesus Christ and how we can be happy...`` (something very simple like that). What seemed like 45 minutes later (really like 1 minute) Irma B returned to the conversation and finished up the conversation. We taught Leo, and knew he had a testimony of everything. Being guided by the Spirit we invited Leo to be baptized, he said yes, he would be baptized. But he ran. We invited him and after we invited him he did return our phone calls. Worst feeling ever. So we wrote him name down to try later in a few weeks...Well 2 Saturdays ago, I thought, who can we invite to church? We went through all of our contacts and invited everyone. I thought lets look at our old investigators... Boom. Leo. Ok lets call Leo and invite him. Long story short. We had a week of reteaching and friday night we invited him to be baptized again. This time his friends in the church were by his side. He said he didn´t know if he was ready, worthy to be baptized... and we assured him with all of the power that comes as a missionary that through baptism we are made clean and we are able to start anew, we get the chance to have the slate wiped clean and start from there trying everyday to stand as a witness of God and Jesus Christ by following the commandments and in return we are blessed beyond what he could imagine. finally we asked, Leo will you ask God right here and now if this is His will for you to be baptized on Sunday? he responded yes. So we knelt right there and he said the most tender prayer with a sincere heart and real intent, wanting to know the will of the Lord. When he finished he stood up. And responded with all confidence that he would be baptized on Sunday, that he felt a peace like he had never felt before in his life, and he knew it was his answer. The first person I talked to in Portugal, has received the Gospel and is well on his way to joy like he doesn't even know. What a blessing to see that. what is more amazing is that our recent convert of 2 weeks received the priesthood and was the one to perform the baptism.

 

Irma De Almeida and I say it all the time, we are nothing in this work. It is all Heavenly Father. He works miracles. He prepares people. We are merely instruments, weak little instruments.

 

OK in unrelated things....

 

Alex and Jordan are back from their missions, weird. I already miss having them out here by my side in europe.

 

Also where is Lyndsi Vela? Peru or Provo?

 

as far as extras in a package...maybe a recipe for chocolate chip cookies(with measurement conversions?), my Portuguese companion wants cookie dough. Maybe teriyaki chicken from Yummy teriyaki in Redmond, Wa... hahah but seriously... I can´t think of anything that I need.

 

love you gotta go!!!

 

sister liz

To One and All...

Hello Hello again,

 

First and foremost I would like to give a giant shout out to THE CLIN-TON, Happy birthday in a couple days! or as thay say here in Portugal: EGUK WIUDDJAO UAHEUAIUOF!  Actually that is not all all what they say... they say,  feliz aniversario!

 

Well this week my e-mail will be short I think but I wanted to write about a neat experience we had this week...

 

As we waited for the bus, we sat a little taller, a little more alert, a little more nervous than usual. We had a task to do that day, no matter how daunting it seemed, we would do it because we knew it was what the Lord wanted. As our bus pulled up to the stop, we reluctantly arose and walked on, after showing our passes to the driver, instead of walking to the back of the bus to sit, we stood there. We stood there at the front of the bus looking at all the passengers, I looked over at my companion, she gave me a reassuring nod, and I began to speak to all those on the buss in a loud voice ´´ Bom dia, nos somos discipulas de Jesus Cristo, not temos uma mensagem da alegria e nos sabemos pelas escrituras que ha pessoas que estao preparadas para receber esta mensagem...`` `´Good morning, we are disciples of Jesus Christ, we have a message of joy and we know through the scriptures that there are people that are prepared to receive this message...`` My companion continued `` We want to share this message with those who are prepared to recieve it, we will come around and give our card with our information and if you think you are one of those prepared to recieve this message, we will get your information.`` everyone was silent. No one even knew what to do with us. There facial expressions gave away thier thoughts: Who are they? Why are they telling us this? Why is that one on the left so tall? What message?.... we went around giving our cards and my companion asked each and everyone, do you think you might be one of those ready to hear this message? By the time we got to our stop we were back in our seats with smiles on our faces. These people think we are freaks, weirdos, strangers. But now, they know they know who we are, and why we are always walking around, to share the good news of the Gospel with all of Heavenly Father´s Children.

 

My companion told me later that I spoke like a Portuguese person....perfectly.

 

What a blessing. The Lord was by our side that day.

 

time is up sorry.

 

Love you

 

Sister liz

The Clock is Ticking...

 

Minha quedida familia,

 

I love you all. Did you know that? Every single one. I think about you all the time out here on my mission. Not really in that homesick kind of way, but in that ´´helps me remember who I am´´ kind of way. I have a family that loves me and I love them. THAT is a blessing.

 

This week Irma De Almeida and I saw miracles. Thats right, I´m cutting right to the chase in this email, because I dont think I have much time left. 

 

We had a zone meeting last Tuesday, where we traveled across our zone to meet with the other missionaries in our Oeiras zone. The meeting was a kind of a remember our purpose and remember that miracles happen and that there really are people here in our mission that are ready, that are just plan prepared and ready to accept the Gospel into their lives, we are here to do EVERYTHING we can to find these prepared children of God and help them remember the Truth and get onto that path back home. 

 

It was a powerful meeting and my companion and I spent a long time on our knees that day praying about who, begging Heavenly Father to help us to know who, who was prepared to recieve the Gospel THIS week. All week we worked and prayed A LOT. I´m not saying that to be high and mighty...I´m talking we are so weak do not have the power or ability to do this work without getting on our knees to pray a billion times during the day for help and inspiration. It is a humbling feeling. It is a glorious feeling. We are not alone in this work, because this work is not ours, it is the Lord´s. 

 

By friday we were exhausted and on the verge of death (or so it seemed), when we went to an apartment building that I swear Irma Brinkerhoof and I had already knocked, we knocked the whole building now that I think of it and it wasn´t until the last door that someone let us talk for a moment. 

 

Gustavo. 

 

He is from Brasil. 25 years old friday morning and he listened, he really listened as we explained how the Church of Jesus Christ has been restored to the Earth today and how we have the same Church that Christ Established. We bore our testimonies, with power (not our own power) and left him an invite to come to church on Sunday. We asked him to say our closing prayer at the door, it was powerful, beautiful, simple and genuine. 

 

He came to Church Sunday (miracle) and by the end of the first hour of church he had made friends with everyone in the first class (miracle) and second hour he was participating in our Gospel discussion with his eyes fixed on the instructor soaking it all in (miracle). 

 

By Sacrament meeting he was already sitting on the other side of the room with his new friends and as we glanced over during the meeting to make sure all was going well, he was focused on the speaker (miracle). It was incredible. 

 

After Church he was exchanging phone numbers with all of the young adults and making plans for the week. Medium story short, we ended up teaching him every day last week, each time with a different member of our ward. He started to read the Book of Mormon and by the second day he was done with 1 Nephi telling us about Lehi and his dream. Wednesday we taught a lesson about the Plan of Salvation, and in the end we invited him to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptised this coming Sunday. He said he would pray and think about it. 

 

The next day he told us that he had decided to be baptised this sunday. 

 

He was beaming. I mean beaming. This guy is gold. Really. I mean he gets it, he gets the Gospel. After our lesson with Gustavo, Irma De Almeida and I left his sight and literally jumped up down in the street with joy, because thats what this Gospel brings, pure joy.

 

Something that is really important in this work is that people are truly converted, willing to make changes in their life to follow Christ, and are willing to follow Him for the rest of their life. I can see in his eyes that he is changed. Really converted. It is a blessing. The baptism was beautiful. I was getting teary all day. By seeing his conversion in just one precious week, I rememeber my own conversion so vividly, and I remembered that it is not done, I am being converted to the Lord every day here, these precious people are helping me more than they will ever know.

 

The picture I attached is of Gustavo, his friend, bishop, and Irma De Almeida.

 

This is the scripture that could sum up the week (stepper can you copy and paste to the page?)

Alma 29:9-10

 

I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do ^anot ^bglory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.

And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember ^awhat the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me.

 

I love you alll sooooo much. I wish I could have written more. But I love you and think of you all the time. Keep on keeping on. Never forget that you are not alone in this little old world.

 

Sister Liz

This Must Be the Place...

My nearest and Dearest,

 

Sounds like this are changing everywhere. This week I received a new companion, but mostly a new friend. Irma De Almeida. I know it is a little early (1 week) but my new companion and I are getting along famously. What a tender mercy of the Lord. Irma A is a native to Portugal she is from the North. Let me give you 5 facts that might sum up how well we get along... 1.She loves to cook 2. She likes good music (what?!?!?!) 3. She likes fashion 4.She speaks Portuguese and teaches it to me 5. I speak English and I teach it to her...ok well she is already pretty good at English but I help with pronunciation and little things 6. We both entered the mission on the same day March 24th and will end the same day (since she is native she went to the madrid MTC and has been in the field longer.)

 

I have a real feeling that we are soul friends, destined to find each other at this moment and help our fellow brother´s and sister remember the Plan our Heavenly Father has for us. Really this transfer is going to be so different. We eat well, (delicious Portuguese cuisine) and we are always learning together, asking each other questions about the language, praying together, contacting people in the street. It is incredible. It is like within a week my training wheels were ripped off and all of a sudden and can find my way around this town and use the bus system and the map like a pro, I can speak Portuguese more than I thought. I am learning how to teach in a completely different way than before. We sleep with the blinds open so the sun shines on our faces in the morning. We laugh and we work. Irma A has lots of family nearby in our stake, so that's weird for her. She knows all of the Young single adults in our ward because Portugal is like 1/4 the size of Utah. So the dynamic is soo different.

 

And get this, I have been teaching some of the lessons... start to almost finish.... WHAT!?!?!?! I don´t even speak this language. But I had heard Irma B teach so must that I understood what I needed to say and now I´m starting to teach!!!! It is really wonderful to teach the Gospel truths with people and see their eyes well up and get a bit misty, not because of anything I say, but because the spirit is whispering something deep in their heart ``this is true...`` I know that is why they get a bit misty, because that is why I get a bit misty when I recount Joseph Smith´s first vision, I think about how he saw God the Father and Jesus Christ and they told Him that he would have to restore the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth, and what that meant. IT CHANGED EVERYTHING! YOU KNOW?!?! It changed everything, because of that first vision and the events after, the Truth would be restored and God´s children would once again be able to find the way to return home, mankind was reminded by a loving Heavenly Father and the Savior of the world, that they are alive and they love us and that they are rooting for us and want everyone to remember how to make it back. So ya, I get misty ok...

 

My new companionship is still requiring everything I have to be better and better each day, having a best friend of a companion does not make this an easy work. People slam the door in our face, people don´t even open the door to slam it in our face, people think we are peculiar, we are rejected, but Irma A says to me in her Portuguese accented English ´´You know, Jesus Christ was rejected, it was not easy for Him, and it will not be easy for us...`` And it is true. When we knock a door we introduce ourselves as Dicìpulas de Jesus Cristo. Not so often using missionaries, but disciples of Jesus Christ. We are, we are really His representatives, calling all people everywhere to come to Him and have real, good, undeniable, jump up and down on the roof tops kind of joy. It is not a calling of pride to be a missionary and to know all this stuff and tell people that we are right and they are wrong...it is the opposite. We get to humbly and meekly get down on our knees day in and day out and beg for help from Heavenly Father to find those who we can help, those who are ready to hear the message of the restored Gospel. We get to walk the streets and love every person we pass, we find those who are weak and show them their value as a divine child of God. We serve, we are sweaty and gross and some of us are not even speaking our own language, we are vulnerable, we are sincere, we talk with everyone we can. We pray with people no matter the location. We are so weak, but we rely on the Lord, this is His work, not ours. I imagine sometimes Jesus Christ walking through the multitudes and how he walked with kindness in His eyes, somehow uplifting those he passed with His Presence and His service. It was because he loved them, and they could feel it. Love them and they will feel it.

 

I fell on the escalator in the train station yesterday, and my legs got busted up, it was fun.

 

I had lots of different pastries this week, they are so good. This country knows how to whip up a mean pastry.

 

I would just go ahead and send any mail to the mission office, because I have not had anything in my box here and I´m gonna blame it on the mail system and not the lack of letters being written hahaha.

 

Oh my time is up... wow 

 

I love you all like you wouldn´t believe.

 

Irma McCrery

Happy Independence Day!

Bil,

you always know just what to say to me. The Plan of Salvation really is a bunch of new starts. I love that. In fact after I get off this computer it will be a new start again, pull up my bootstraps and get back to work.

Do I have a new companion yet you asked, well actually I´m sitting in the middle of downtown Lisboa (not my area) with Irma Nuxuti and Irma Joslin. We are on a division tonight while I wait for my new companion to come tomorrow.

Today Irma Brinkerhoff left to go home. Weird. She stayed so focused the whole transfer until the last week and she just started preparing me to take over the work. It was rough. I don´t feel prepared to be responsible for all of these people yet. Irma Brinkerhoff is a legend in this mission and as this transfer went along I found out  more and more    about her reputation... let me give you an insight on Irma Brinkerhoff her two nicknames are ``The machine`` ««The Elders say and Irma Nuxuti just told me that she used to call her ``Danger`` hahahahah. It was a hard transfer, but a good one. She taught me a lot, a lot and I hope I can remember it all...I have heard that my next companion is native to Portugal! WOo hoo! I´m excited. Maybe my Portuguese will improve more rapidly.

Right now it is at least 90 degrees and the humidity is out of this world. I´m am having a hard time typing because these buttons are so sticky....classic.

I think you have my most current address it is the same this transfer

rua porto alegra

N 2 5 RECT

2870-030 Oeiras

Portugal

so you can send letters there. But any packages I would send to the office. or both to the office. Either way.

Bill you asked if I am getting better at understanding what people are saying, Yes  I am! It is great. But really still it is so hard. Sometimes I just zone out and have no idea what is going on. Irma Brinkerhoff would cave and we would speak English, but now I will really only be speaking Portuguese with my new companion I´m sure. It will be good for me.

Today for P-day we went to Cabo de Roca. I don´t know if that is how you spell it.. But it is the most western point of Europe (continental) supposedly (says Elder Blair) you can tell me if he is correct... Anywho it was beautiful! I have pictures but I don't know how do put them on this computer. It was the first P-day we have gone to see something and it was amazing.

Then we ate gelato. Really really fancy Gelato. It was divine. I loved it.

Oh also you asked about 4th of July... HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIAN!!!! WOOT WOOT. Here they don't celebrate, but do you remember that I told you We were invited to a American Society of Lisbon 4th of July BBQ last week? I forgot to tell you about it. It was sooooooo funny. They had hot dogs and hamburgers and American music and balloons. They wanted the missionaries to come and help (the lady that put on the BBQ is LDS). So we went with 10 other missionaries. It was really funny. I say funny and not fun, because as a missionary it was very strange to be around all of it. But it was so funny to watch my companion (the machine) squirm at the thought of being around American stuff already.  it was great. let me just say we ended up participating in the tug of war competing against the marines...... we one. And then at the end we all went up on stage behind the US ambassador and sang the national anthem. cool huh? someone has pictures of that.

the world cup you mentioned. The world cup means one things to those of us in Portugal, no one wants to listen to us when the game is on. No one. hahhahah. I´m not kidding. When we find out a game is on we have to figure out where are best efforts can be put because no one wants to make appointments or answer the door. It´s nuts. Futbol is life here. It is quite the  experience. It is pretty funny when I think about it.

Somehow I can´t see how much time I have left to write. SO I will send this and then write another one just in case this cuts out.

para continuar.....

Ok here i am again.

Let me tell you about a really neat experience this week. Irma B thought that it would a good idea if we went to an area called Porto Salvo that I had mentioned that I thought we could go to. She said that since I felt good about that area, that we should go and try it out. I was in charge.... I didn't really want to be in charge because she knows better than I do... but we went. It took 45 minutes to walk there, uphill. We don't have a bus pass that goes that way. So she is just following me as I am looking at the map navigating us  up to Porto Salvo. We spent 2 hours looking up these old investigators and trying to find them, with no one at the doors. After a while I was really really really feeling overwhelmed because I felt like I wasn't following the spirit and was somehow wasting the Lord´s time because I didn't know where we were supposed to be. So we were knocking doors and all of sudden we get to one door, a man answers and we tell him who we are, expecting the door to be casually shut in our face, I was surprised to see how willing he was to hear us. Irma Brinkerhoff said (in Portuguese) we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ, we are hear to share our message that Jesus Christ Lives, and that because he lives we can live again with our families forever. The man was taken back. He pointed into the back room to a bed where his wife was laying and described his situation, I couldn't understand it all, but as he was talking he began to weep. This middle age well groomed, well dressed man weeping in his doorstep. His wife was bed ridden and he had many difficulties. But he said he had not lost his faith. He had not lost his faith. my eyes got a bit misty to be honest, because I could feel the tender sincerity of his words. He was in pain. He didn't know what was going to happen. But here is the great part. WE DO KNOW! HE CAN KNOW! God has a plan for us, this life has purpose, and we can live again with the ones we love for all eternity. We were able to share our message and give him a pamphlet that explained to plan of salvation. we prayed to leave a blessing on his home. it was powerful. He can´t come to church because he can´t leave her at home. But now, he knows. He knows the plan. what a blessing.

All was not wasted, the day was not wasted. We helped one more of Heavenly Father´s children stay hopeful. We will have to figure out what to do to get Jose to church.

The Work is good. It is hard. I´m sweating like a mad woman right now, but at the end of the day, this is exactly where I'm supposed to be. The Lord makes up for my weaknesses. it is true, ask ether.... Ether 12:27

I love  you all soooo much. Ate proxima vez!!!!

Siister Liz

Desculpe!

OLA BOA TARDE!

 

Daqui fala irma McCrery. Como estas coisas consigo? I espero que todas coisas estao boas. I don't have a ton of time to write. We didn't really have a P-day today, we have interviews with the mission president instead. So we are late doing e-mail. I got some great e-mails this week! Just refueled me for the week. This is my last week with Irma Brinkerhoff, she gets on that big plane to go home in a week. It is strange to think that one day this mission just ends. But i have a long time before that happens. For now we work, and we work hard. We walk and talk people all day. Some days we have appointments to meet people and teach them about everything that God has ready for them, and every appointment falls through. Other days we have no appointments and just find people that are prepared to receive the message and recognize the truth and accept it with ease. All days are so different.

 

I received a letter today from Elder Alex Woods. It was incredible to hear from the guy. He is serving right next door in Spain and he is telling me about the things he hears about my mission and such. It is so crazy to imagine that we are doing the same thing right this moment. I love to imagine all of my friends just pounding the pavement trying to find those who are ready to hear.

 

OK whoa whoa whoa

email is over now. i love you. write me if you can. e-mail if you want. I will be at the same address for the next 6 weeks at least.

 

love irma MCCrery

 

 

And this from the lovely Claire Beaumont:

I received a tip on Lizzie's current coordinates and was asked to pass it along to you if you hadn't received it yet:

Irma McCrery
rua porto alegra

Nº2 5 RECT

2870-030 Oeiras

Portugal

 

Thanks, Claire! 

Hello?

Is anyone out there? 

 

It´s me, Irma McCrery. I´m in Portugal. I only heard from Claire in a quick e-mail this week, no one else. Hope all is well!!!! Maybe you are trying not to bombard me with e-mails... but feel free! Hahaha

It is really a strange thing that happens every time I come to write an email, I can´t think of anything that happened this week because when I try to remember my brain explodes because so much happens everyday. I can´t believe that I have been here 3 weeks, it seems like a long time and a short time all at once. Since this is my companion´s last transfer, she talks like she has been here for 25 years and has seen it all. I have been here three weeks and I feel like I have 25 years ahead of me hahahaa. But seriously things are really great right now. We are in a bit of a hard place because every single person that we were teaching has dropped us. So that's not good. But we are trying to find more people that are ready to receive the gospel and willing to change their lives to receive the blessings.

 

This week we had one day specifically that was filled with miracles.  It started out rocky (to say the least). While we are in our house we wear slippers or flip flops to keep the floor clean and our feet clean, the first week here I bought a pair of knock off bright yellow crocs that I thought would do the trick. So this particular morning as we are getting ready to leave after studies, we knelt to pray and we had about 5 minutes til our bus would come, so we prayed sincerely, but quickly and ran out of the apartment, down the elevator, out the door and across the street. We had an appointment in our chapel with someone that we were really excited to teach and did not want to be late. So my companion is ahead of me and we see the bus coming around the corner, what a relief--we almost would have missed it. As I am about to cross the street to get the bus my companion yells ´´IRMA, YOUR SHOES!!!!!!´´ I look down only to realize that I was sporting my bright yellow crocs with my missionary outfit in the middle of the street. It was terrible. So I immediately turned around and ran back to the apartment, and my companion had to wave the bus on... needless to say, we missed our bus, had to walk and were 15 minutes late. By the time we got the chapel our appointment was not there and his phone seemed to be off or not working. It was a bad start to the day. But somehow as we continued on during the day things kept on moving we went along our way and worked hard. We had lots of people to see and teach, we didnºt know how we would see them all or if they would all answer their phones and doors. Heavenly Father blessed us with miracle after miracle. We ran all over Oeiras trying to get to these people, but when one wasn´t home, we would find someone else who wanted to hear in that apartment building. Every little thing fell into place. By the end of day, we had somehow seen every person on our list that we needed to see. None of them were where we thought they would be, but we found Claudio at an ATM as we walked by, and Custorio was just getting out of his car as we got to his apartment building, and on our way to Miguel´s (who didn't answer his phone) we ran into him walking in the most obscure ally we could have chosen to walk down, as we walked to Giovane´s house for the second time, we ran into Marcio and as we talked to Marcio, who comes around the corner of that street, but Giovane (the one who was not at the chapel in the morning, turns out we had his wrong phone number and that he wasn´t able to go to the chapel). We ran into every single person we wanted to see. It was really something else. I don´t think I described it very well because I can´t put it into words, but it was a tender mercy.

 

Another tender mercy...

 

We had a zone meeting this week, we had to go into Lisbon and up north on the metro to get there. It was fun. I love the metro system here it is a well oiled machine. And as we are walking through the underground station I hear Sigur Ros over the loud speakers. It was Glossoli. It was epic. I gasped, stood there for a moment and then kept on going. It was neat.

 

Brian´s birthday is soon, COOL! Happy birthday Brian. And Brian and Amy are going to your house this week, bil and stepper! That will be really fun! You should have milkshakes.

 

There is a fair thing that we are going to on Saturday. It is being put on by the ``American Association of Portugal`` It is a fourth of July celebration, and the woman putting it on is LDS, and asked our mission president if missionaries could come to help and to be around to talk to people. So my companion and I will be at this all American, pie eating contest, games, food, and fun galore fair. hhahaahhaha. As missionaries, it will be strange to say the least. My companion is a little weary, she is no longer accustom to American things or people. I think it will be great! I feel like I was just there! hahah.

 

The Portuguese people are blunt. did I mention that? They tell it like it really is. Or how they think it should be. It´s charming, mostly because I don't know whats going on. When I have a feeling that something not nice was said, I ask my companion, she tells me what they said and I just learn to roll with the punches. It´s good for me.

 

I hope all is well with everyone. I miss you all a lot. I will try to write letters today! But feel free to email me! I love you.

 

The Gospel is so so so true, it is the only reason I am still out here. People have got to know, you know?

 

Irma McCrery

Ola!

Boa Tarde minha familia e amigos,

Thank you so much Bil and Stepper for your e-mails this week and last week. I only have an hour for e-mail and i don't know how to print. So I was self and just leisurely reading your e-mail and I have a little over 30 minutes to write.

SORRY ABOUT LAST WEEK! It was a crazy day. we went to the neighboring city for P-Day. I found out my companion has a history here in Portugal, and most specifically this city. Her dad was the mission president here about 10 years ago!!!! She lived in Cascais (neighboring city) for 3 years when she was 10. Nuts huh? anywho, really really really long story short, she taught one of her childhood friends and she was baptized last month in Cascais. So we went on P-day to have lunch at her friend´s house (well actually it is a grand estate, the kind with a pool and tennis and 3 course lunch, marble floors and 5 pristine dogs running around the huge yard filled with old trees and statues. It was neat, but we ran out of time to e-mail....lame.

Well life is always busy here, were always going going. But we see miracles everyday. When I really step outside of myself and stop thinking about me, I am able to see them. Isn´t that strange how it works? Sometimes as we walk these streets, I get so lost in thought because most of the time I still don't know what is going on. When I get lost in thought, I sometimes forget why I am here in Portugal. I am here because there are people that Heavenly Father has prepared and is continually preparing to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ right now. We are hear to find those people that are prepared--whose hearts are open at this time, and sometimes don't even know it-- and teach them the simple truths of the Gospel, then we invite them to know for themselves. We invite all people to know for themselves that the knowledge we share is true, by praying and asking and when they feel it, when they really feel, they show their faith and are baptized. It is so simple, but when the conversion is real and people remember the truth that they knew before they came here, Its a beautiful thing.

We are teaching Chris from America. He really knows his stuff, but has questions like everyone, he just knows not where to find the answers. Heavenly Father has given the world the answers, isn't that great? Joseph Smith restored those truths, plain and simple.  So we are teaching Chris and I know that he has been prepared to receive the Gospel.

The miracles we see everyday are in the little things. Like when we don't know where to go and we decide to just go to an apartment building to knock, and we see Antonio (who we were teaching but he didn't want to quit smoking so he hadn't been meeting with us) We run into him and invite him to church, and he says yes I would like to go to church. So he came to church! We are just doing the best we can, and Heavenly father puts people in our path.

I can`t remember who said it, but a general authority probably Elder Holland said that not everyone is good for a mission, but a mission is good for everyone. Meaning that if someone comes out on a mission, and doesn't work and do their best, they may not be helping the work along very well. But no matter what, a mission is good for everyone because you learn things and grow and if you endure it well you will be blessed. I hope that I am good for this mission. Some days here it is a matter of getting through the day, trying to understand what people are saying and trying to figure out what I am supposed to be saying (whether in English or Portuguese). I know that as I try my hardest to be better everyday, Heavenly Father blesses me with a little more faith and a little more help. I know that a mission is good for me. I get choked up just writing about it. I honestly don't know what is going on 90% of the time, and it is frustrating and discouraging. But in that 10% of the time that I am really understanding my purpose and seeing the knowledge of the Gospel change people and change me, when I feel Heavenly Father´s love for me in subtle thoughts of encouragement, it becomes so clear. You know? I pray that as time goes on the moments of clarity will be more frequent and I can fulfill my purpose even more effectively.

Ok I wrote that I don't eat. Well now I have had a couple meals with the members here...let me tell you...It is sooooo good. Rice and Chicken, sounds simple but they do something good to it. So good. And the pastries, well my companion is kind of a health nut in real life I think. She is a twig but she eats soooo much food. She has gone her whole mission without really eating the doces (desserts) here but this is her last transfer. Which means she goes home in 4 weeks. So she said she will try one of everything before she goes. I have a feeling this will be rough month of self control for. hahahahah. Speaking of her going home in a month, you can imagine how talk of home might come up. She is really focused and doesn't want to think about home, but it happens, and then I think about home, and then we eat pastries. hahahaha.

The weather is wonderful! It really is beautiful, we have a ocean breeze always. It gets a little chilly at night. I will need sweaters in the winter.

Ok well this was a dinky e-mail. I love you all. To my brothers and their wives and kids- I LOVE YOU AND THINK OF YOU ALL THE TIME!

Thank you so much for everything! Pray for me and I´ll pray for you.

Love

Irma McCrery