One Year Mark

Hey there!!

So this week was killer! We totally crushed it! There is not too much to report but it was really fun! We got to do a division in Benfica and I got to serve with my old comp Sister Baugh! That was really fun! Also I have been told that I will make my year mark this week. I am in denial.

We had interviews this week. That was funny. Our mission president’s wife is really funny. She informed me that I needed to learn how to do my hair better cause it looks dead. And she told sister A that she had to learn to cook or else her future is in jeopardy. Thanks sister Tavares. We went home feeling great! But really though it was really funny! I love talking to her in her Brazilian accent and seeing her run around the office like a crazy person!

This week we are going to the island so wish us luck!

Love you all! have a great week and HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACK!

love
lyssy

All Hail the Sister Missionaries!

Olá Família linda!! Coma vocês estão?!

So this week was pretty chill. The sisters from Vila Franca came and left. They got emergency transferred to Vasco De Gama. That was a crazy week! haha

So Tereza totally got the Holy Ghost yesterday! It was soo cool! After she came and sat down by me and with the biggest smiled she goes "e agora sou um membro desta igreja!" translation; and now I am a member of this church!. She was so happy and I am pretty sure the Spirirt was more strong than I have ever felt before! She is just too cool for life! 

There is not to much to report from me this week! I am living and life is good! This week we have our division with Benfica and I am stoked about that! I think I am going to get to serve with Sister Baugh! I am so excited! I have missed serving with her! I haven't taught with her sense my 3rd transfer! This is going to be so fun! Wahoo!

Love you all! have a great week! And as an old woman told us this week, DON'T DRINK COLD WATER IT IS DANGEROUS FOR THE THROAT!!!

This is Sister Bakker
signing off once again from the alien planet known as Póvoa de Santa Iria

Batismo!!!

So yesterday our amazing wonderful! Tereza was baptised!! It was soo great and the spirit was soo strong! Her son Aguinaldo did the baptism and it was amazing! they are soo cool! It was soo great to see her make the choice to be baptized and to become a member of the church! Man, she is just the coolest!!!!

Not too much happened this week besides that! So seeing as I have like 0 time because I get so distracted by pics and stuff during email I will just write you this short letter and tell you that I love you! Ohh also you have to hear this. The sisters in Vila Franca had a stalker and it was pretty bad so ya now they are at our house because we are their STLs. So now we are in a 4 sister house for the next week and we will have to see what happens from there. It is going to be interesting for sure. But it is all good!

My advise for the week is that if you are helping someone with baptimsal clothes and they are large and have dark colored skin, don't give them a dress with no slip. It turns out bad after they get dunked. sooo ya keep that in mind.

AMO VOCÊS!! FICA BEM E ATÉ A PRÓXIMA SE DEUS QUISER! (ele quer, ele sempre quer!)

Sister Alyssa Nicole (Mc Fadden) Bakker
(that was for you dad)

Thanks Pai Celestial!!‏

OLÁ FAMÍLIA DE PODER!!!

So this week was one for the books!! We had one hard day after another after another. We hit the road so hard this week and NO ONE wanted to talk to us. It was really really sad. So one day we were praying for a miracle and we went to see this lady who I started teaching all the way back in my second transfer in January. She is Muslim and has told the sisters for 8 months that she will never pray in the name of Chirst. Well, last week, when we said that it was possible that I could leave she got really sad and was like "wait you guys always say that God answers prayers so I will pray and you will stay." Sister Alexander and I just looked at each other like ohhh crap because we both thought that I would be leaving Póvoa. Well she says the most heart felt prayer I have ever heard her say and in the end she said "em nome de teu filho, amen". I cried. The spirit was so strong and for the first time she really really felt the spirit. She finally did it. well that night we got the call and I STAYED. We died. We knew that khero (our investigator) would be so excited and know that God answered her prayer. So this week, after our crazy hard week, we went to see her and show her that I stayed. When she saw me she ran and gave me a HUGE hug and kiss right now the neck. Well it was a very bitter sweet moment. She was drunk as a skunk and we could tell, but then she got all teary eyed and was like wow prayer really does work when you pray in the name of Chirst! So that was cool but sad cause she was not all there. So we finished our "lesson" with her and we went and sat down. 

We were really really sad. And we knew that we had to do something because nothing was happening. So we are sitting in the road and we both almost at the same time go "we need to fast" so right then and there we say a prayer and ask for the help we need and start a fast. Well the next day one of our investigators of over 1 year who has been taught by like 12 missionarys elder and sisters everyone! she always has said that she is not ready still. well, she comes up to us and she says "I prayed about the date that you wanted me to pray about and I will be baptized that day." we were both so shocked. It was the biggest blind side of all time! Her name is T and she is going to enter the waters of baptism this Sunday. Finally. There are no words to explain what a miracle this was. No one saw it coming. NO ONE! It was soo amazing. 

I know that God has a time for everything. He loves his children. I know that everyone of us is a child of someone much greater than we are.

I love this mission so much. I know sometimes it is the the trail of our faith that God blesses us the most and that he prepares a way for his children to receive ethernal life. I love this church so much and I know that it is true. I love you guys! Thanks for everything that you do for me!

Hope you have a great week and rememeber to always smile cause when you cant go anymore a simple smile goes a long way!

love always,
sister bakker

ps sorry no pics this week

A Week For the Books

I am soo glad that you met the Crossmans! They are the best! I loved them so much and they helped me out so much on my mission! I love them like my mission parents no joke! They are so great! I was with them like 3 weeks ago! haha that is weird that they are home now! wow!

Typical day here. We talk to like EVERYONE! So we do a ton of street contacts and then everyone here lives in an apartment building (predios are what we call them) and so to knock doors we just find the ones that are unlocked and go on it and start on the top and go down. Or we touch the door bells down below and wait for people to answer and let us in. So we do a ton of contacts everyday and then a few thrown in set appointments during the day if we are lucky. Ususally we have like 2 or 3 every day but sometimes we luck out and have a full day! That has only happened I think one time on my mission though!

ok so this week was one for the books!!

just a classic sister missionary classic

Monday- I fed a giraffe at the zoo. nothing beats that.

Tuesday-ya... that is a story for another day...

Wednesday- we were super prompted by the spirit to go knock some really strange doors and as we were a huge family came out and got so excited to see us and it turns out they are long lost members. Well long story short we are now teaching a part member family!

Thursday-we had lunch with a member and she is like no joke crazy but then again I am no joke crazy and so together it is just a mess. Well long story short she has informed me that when I get married she will be warning my future husband about what he is getting himself into with me... ya.

Friday-was normal.

Saturday- WE GOT FED 2 MEALS IN ONE DAY!!!! that may not sound that cool, but we are usually lucky if we get one like for the whole transfer. 2 in one day is like unheard of! and I ate a chicken foot. I hated it.

Suday-TRANSFERS GUESS WHO IS GOING ROUND 3 IN PÒVOA!!! AND I AM STILL WITH SISTER ALEXANDER!!!! WAHOOOOOOOO I AM SO STOKED!!!

So ya that was my week it was awesome!! I love the mission life is good! You guys are all still on my you are cool list! Love you all! Have a (in the words of Tony the Tiger) GREEEEAAATT week!

I found a stick

xoxo
sister bakker