EU FALO GATO. #blessing‏

Well Hello there yet again family!

This week in the land of the Algarve we saw something quit odd this week. There was one day when there were just the normal people. You know Artur in his usual spot and Gilbeto in his. The old lady in her window as usual and the normal crew was chillin at Continent (the grocery store). You know all the normal people. Then the next day something happened. The city... changed. All of a sudden there were lots of people that we did not know and we would try to talk to them and they did not know Portuguese. All these strange people had shorts and funny hats there were even the few with socks and sandals. Yes, you guessed it. Portimao has been taken over by tourists. It was amazing! No joke in one day it went from a dead everyone knows everyone city to wow there are so many strange people here! haha it was quite the scene!! I like it a lot, the tourists really stick out so we know who lives here and who doesn't.

Also this week we had dinner with the couple, the Hectors. He is from England and she is Portuguese and they had us over and we had the best food I have eaten yet on the mission I think! I don't know what it was but it was good! Also the same day we found a family that lives ON THE BEACH. yup so we now have a reason to go to that amazing beach at least once a week. My life is so hard. haha. But ya other than that there is not a lot to report! I love the mission and I love seeing the way people look at us when we try to speak to them in broken Portuguese about Christ! I love the work and I love this area and I love my companion!

My advise for the week comes from a personal experience. We were trying to get into this predio and this big old fat cat would not move so we could not open the door. Well I looked at my comp and in the little Portuguese I have I told her... Nao Problemo, Falo Gato. in English no problem I speak cat. So I looked at that big old cat and meowed my best at it to please move because we are missionaries and the people that lived there needed us. Well what do you know the big old cat got up and moved. So my advise to you all this week is to learn the sacred and ancient language of the cat. you never know when you might need it!

love you all! Sister Bakker OUT!

Today I took a selfie‏

A funny sign



the Beach!  Pria Da Rocha
Paradise!

I am so happy it is not even funny!

Sister Baugh

Well Hello there family!

This week on the mission! Man we saw some true miracles! I think that I worked harder in the last week than I have in my whole life! and I loved every moment of it! The mission is the best! Like everything that happens really just makes you so happy! All the bad stuff makes all the good stuff that much better so then when bad things happen it makes you happy because you understand that the good stuff really is just that good... It is very very strange how it works. But man I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK! Everyday here on the mission is a true blessing and I am so grateful to be here serving the people in Portimao! This week we didn't really do anything huge that should be reported but just know that every single day was like the best day of my life!

I don't know if I have told you about the storks here. But well there are these HUGE storks that makes these huge nests on top of like anything tall and skinny and pole like. They are really cool! I always half expect them to be carrying babies around to people here. Ok, sorry that was just some random info I thought you might like to know.

So one thing that I really learned this week is that obedience brings blessings. We made a goal this week to really be exactly obedient and man, ever single thing that we did this week was like 100000000000 times better than last week. I know that it really did come from being obedient! The lord really is with us when we do our part and when he knows that we are doing all we can! It is so great the promised blesssings that we can receive when we really do put in our all.

Wow Thursday Dani comes home! Man our family will only have 1 missionary again! That is crazy! These are the last 4 days that we will ever have 2 missionaries at the same time ever again! Man it has been such a great blessing to serve at the same time as Dani! She is a great missionary and I know that our family was truly blessed through her service in Ohio!

Well as always I love you all! My advise for the week is to brush your teeth. I have seen a whole lot of people here that have like 1 or 2 teeth or that are like totally nasty. So please do yourself a favor and brush your teeth every morning and night and I will do the same!
Love you all!!

Sister Bakker

p.s. We went to the beach today. Ya it is the most amazing thing in the whole world. Please refer to the pics and just know that they do not do it justice.... also I gave in and took selfies. I am so ashamed but I did what had to be done...

Shameless selfie... at least one of them

this is me saying OLA FAMILIA BAKKER

This is the moment I decided I am never leaving.

2nd Happiest Place on Earth

A family in Povoa taht I loved, their daughter wants to serve a mission one day!

Lyssa and S Nelsen

Cool cliff light house look out in our area with S Baugh

Hello from the 2nd happiest place on earth (sorry nothing can take the place of Disneyland),

This week in Portimão was amazing! I love it here so much! The work is just like soooo ready to go I cannot even handle it! It is crazy I feel like I get home at night sad because we cannot stay out longer to talk to more people and when we wake up I cannot wait to study and then leave so that we can try to help more people! Man this week I have really really fallen in love with missionary work! I never ever want to stop! And this area! Man no joke it is like heaven on earth! Yes it is cold but it is so beautiful! We live like 5 mins from the beach! And we have like the most beautiful areas here! Ahhh I wish that you could all see what I get to see everyday here! It is so amazing!

So one thing about the Algarve that I love is that it is famous for oranges! We had to take a train the other day to zone meeting and the whole way was like orange fields! soooo cool! Also they taste like heaven like take the best orange you have ever had and times it by 10... ya it is that good.

Also at zone meeting I walked in and guess who I saw.... BEN DOXEY! Haha that was super weird! He is great! He goes home at the end of this transfer so Andrew you will have to look him up and talk to him he is super cool and told me to tell you all hi! Also that girl that Auddy knew and had me email, Sister Brundage is in my zone too. I LOVE HER! Man she is so great! I love my zone and my area so much! The Algarve is so great!

This is my little update for the week! I am doing great! I hope that you are all doing great too! Hope you are getting stoked to see Dani! Love you all!

My advice of the week comes from the best dad in the world, he told me to go to bed smiling and wake up smiling and do all you can during the day to keep that same smile! This is my advice for all you! Love you!

Sister Bakker!

Lyssa and S Brundage after Zone Meeting

Randomly there are 2 horses in a field in the middle of the city

Someone skinned 3 cats and had them hanging outside

Oh hey there NOT POVOA...‏

Sup Fam!

Magical things are happening here in Portugal, for starters I got transfered...again. Packed all my stuff up last night and this morning got on a train and went to Sete Rio from there I got on a bus and chilled on the bus for like 3 hours until I got to my new area! DRUM ROLL PLEASE....I am now in the beautiful city of Portomao! Which is in the algarve, or for all you folks who also dont know where that is, I am in the way way south. By the ocean! yay ocean! Yup leave it to me to have 3 areas in 3 transfers! My new companion is great her name is sister Baugh! She is a convert of 2 years from Virginia! She is super cool! We are going to have a blast together!

As far as my week went, well it was another GREAT week on the mission! I hit 4 months yesterday. That is kind of strange. I feel like it has been a lot less time than that and also a lot more time than that. Funny how it all works. Saying goodbye to Povoa was really sad I liked it there a lot! What was weird is that my comp stayed so she has 4 transfers there (6 months) and I had 1. Strange. Ohhh the mission! But this week we got to see Sandra get the gift of the Holy Ghost. Man that was so great!

Forest Gump said it best, "life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what your goin to get." This my friends I can testify is true. We did not know that the day we stopped Sandra on the street she would let us into her house. When I woke up yesterday morning I did not think that the next day I would be somewhere completely different. Life tends to throw you some pretty crazy stuff but man the great adventures that come from it all are totally worth it!

Love you!
Sister Bakker