My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding!

Sup fam!

So, we went on some adventures today after we played volleyball with the elders and some investigators and let’s just say we took the wrong path and instead of crossing like 6 train tracks we decided to turn back and it took like forever and then the internet place was still not rockin it for us this week and so we had to go to the chapel again and take turns so ya I have like 30 mins instead of my reg hour and a half. Yay P-day fun! I love it here so much!

This week was so great! We baptized Sandra!!! yay!!! I wish Icould tell you all the joy that we felt as we saw her enter the waters of baptism! Man she was so ready and she totally on the right path! She is so great and I love her so much! Sunday we had 3 other baptism as well! Nelson, Josifina, and Tatiana! They are all great and this next week we are supposed to have 3 more! Yup our district is on fire right now! I love missionary work so much! I have really fallen in love with it this week!

This week we also went to a gypsy wedding. Like you know that show My Big Fat gypsy wedding? Yup I went to one of those but it was at the chapel and it was crazy! That was an adventure for sure!

Also dad this is especially for you, so there is dog poop all over the place here and it also rains like every day so the poop gets all wet and then it dries and gets moldy. Yup there is moldy poop like everywhere we go! It is super funny!

Some fun facts about our branch, We have a guy named A who has a fake leg because he literally lost it in a war. One of the members of the branch presidency is 18, and our elders quorum president is also 18. haha ya Portugal! I love that here it is just like what ever! Things are so chill and as long as you have the priesthood you can hold what ever calling you need to hold! It is great!

Well thanks for all your love and support from home! You are all wonderful! Fica Bem! love you all and please do me a favor and don’t step in any moldy dog poop this week and I will try my best to do the same!

Much love,
Sister Lyssa Bakker

The path we use to get home from church, yes it is that tiny one straight up in the middle of randomness

Pizza for S Cullimore's birthday

my scriptures

milk carton

Giant nesting doll

Gypsy wedding

Tunnel we walk through to get to Vialonga (city in the back)

Baptism Storm!  

Rio Tejo and sand volley ball

I Have a Dream!

I HAVE A DREAM!

So as far as investigators, Sandra is right on track to be baptized this Sunday! We have taught here all 5 lessons and she is totally ready and willing to do everything that we have asked! I love her so much! When people tell you before the mission that you are going to love the people that you serve, they don´t tell you how much. Well let me tell you right now. IT IS A LOT! There are no words to explain the love and the spirit that you feel when you see someone make the decision to fallow Christ. It is so amazing! It is these feelings that remind you that even though things can be hard it is all totally worth it! So funny thing that happened this week, we knocked this door and no one answered for like a long time so we moved on and knocked 3 other doors. Then we heard someone go, "Quem é?" at the first door. So we hurried back and told them that we were the missionaries. This little African lady opened the door and welcomed us right in. We sat down with her and taught her the restoration. The whole time we were very confused cause she seemed a little off her rocker. We asked if we could come back and she was like ya and next time my son will be here and I will tell him that he needs to read this book (Book of Mormon) for when you come back. We left and we were like hmmmm I wonder if she actually has a son... haha ya she was that strange. But we came back and what do you know her son was totally there had read the part we left in the Book of Mormon and was ready to hear more! So we taught him and then marked him to be baptized after the lesson! wahhhooo! His name is Bruno and let me tell you he is one elect person that is super ready for the gospel in his life! Oh and the funny part, the crazy lady she totally kissed our head and our hearts. Yes literally our hearts... please just take a second to imagine two American girls in this little house where a crazy lady kisses our hearts. Yup. our lives our super funny!This week was also Sister Cullimores birthday! That was fun we had American cake that her mom sent her and sang happy birthday and totally ordered pizza! haha that was awesome! Man I love food that just gets dropped off at your door! Such a good idea! Props to whoever had that idea!This week was awesome and as always full of miracles! People dreams do come true, and even though I am not in American right now I am still celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. today. So I hope that you are too! I will end this weeks letter with some advise that I feel is very appropriate, DREAM BIG and then when you know your dream, go make it happen!!love always,Sister Bakker

Miracles Happen

This week I would like to start of my quoting one of my idles, Lizzy Maguire. "Miracles Happen Once in a while! Miracles happen if you just believe!!" Wow thanks Lizzy for that inspiration! Ok but really though this week was a week full of milagres (miracles). We marked our investigator S for the 25th!! yay!! She is so cool! and she has such a desire to be the best that she can! Ahhhh I love her so much! She is such a miracle! Also last P-day we totally watched “17 Miracles”! That was a totally miracle! loved it!!!! Also we have been moving forward with this Mestres de Israel challenge from our mission president and things are going good with that! man we talk to a lot of people if we do the math it has been 12 days, 10 people a day, that is 120 people per missionary so that is 240 people that we have talked to. So just in my district we have talked to 480 people in 12 days. Wow. That is a lot of people! We got some new people though so that is good. These numbers really do show how many people you have to talk to to get anyone to listen! It is crazy! But hey in the last week my district marked 3 people for baptism! yay! Miracles!We continue everyday to see miracles happen and it is sooo cool! I love it! I can honestly say that when you pray for things, GOD ALWAYS ANSWERS!! It is so amazing! Oooohhh something funny that happened this week, I had my first door straight up slammed in my face. it was... funny! haha we just looked at each other laughed and moved on! ohh also I lost my planner. Leave it to me to lose the single most important thing to make the days run smoothly! Classic Sister Bakker right there folks! but yet again it was just one of those things I laughed off and made a new one! Oooh mission life! It is good! I love Portugal! Much love!! Keep up all the good work and thanks for all that you do for me! Love, Sister Bakker!

I Support the Bread Truck!

“I support the bread truck!”

Hello to everyone at home! This week in the land of Portugal has been one for the books let me tell you! So to prepare for the new year, the split of the mission and for new mission presidents, president Fluckiger has pulled out the big guns. We as a mission have started something called Mestres de Israel. It is this 30 day thing where everyday we have to do 5 things and if we dont do them then we have to restart back at day 1.#1 wake up at exactly 7. #2 Read 3 pages in the missionary manuel#3 Plan at night using the guide in PMG and in the front of the planner#4 We are only aloud to speak Portuguese out side the house.#5 We have to contact 10 people everyday.It is pretty cool! most of it isn’t that hard. The thing that gets me is that when I don’t know a word I have to either act it out or guess or just not say it. haha that is hard. Also the contacting thing is hard for me. People stress me out when they actually stop and talk to us! But it is really good and I am learning a lot! Also to complete the Mestre de Isreal thing I have to know all the lesson points and have all the scriptures that go with them memorized as well. So in all that is 29 scriptures 4 lessons and 4 extra power lesson things that our mission has. wow. big 30 days ahead of me. Today is only day 5. Wish me luck! I am excited though cuase this will finish my training and then I will be ready to just kill it as a regular missionary!This week we had lots of stuff! new years! that was good! the Portuguese go hard. Lots of drinking and smoking at partys. and they are really really loud for a really long time at midnight! haha also we were supposed to have a baptism 2 Sundays ago that fell. We are still working with J on that and trying to figure out what is really going on there. Also with the new year it was a great time to set lots of goals for the Year of my Mission! It is cool cause I get to be a sister that serves for a full year in the mission! So ya this year I have big plans for the People of Portugal! They better be ready for the storm of the gospel that is heading their way! And my favorite part of the week. THE BREAD TRUCK!!! yup there is a truck here that goes around and honks its horn really loud and then stops and people run out of their houses and they buy bread from this really funny bread truck! haha we totally went there and got some! it was awesome! I love the bread truck!I will end with the worlds of my 2nd favorite fish, Dori. Just Keep Swimming. Anyway that is all for now folks! hope that you all make awesome goals for the year of 2015! This is going to be the best year yet soooo I hope that you are all strapped in and ready to crush this year! love you all! Sister Bakker