Life is Life. Vida e Vida

So don’t really have a lot of time today to write. We are going to Belem to festa with the sisters in Povoa! but I hope you are all doing good! I will just tell you a quick story!
So we were in a really big lesson on Friday night and we were there and we were helping this guy decide if he wanted to be baptized or not and it was really intense. Well we were about 30 mins from home and we were in his house until like 21h50 (9:50 pm) and we have to be home at 22h. so ya we left there full of the spirit and all crazy and we looked at each other and at the same time we just RAN!!!!! We ran so hard and so fast in the POORING rain in our skirts and little rain boots and I was trying to talk on the phone to tell the elders that we were going to be late. haha It was crazy!!! So we just ran!!! And we did not stop! Well some home we made it home 3 mins after 21h. It was a miracle that we got there in the time that we did. So we get in the house and we just fell on the ground and died! haha it was fun and really crazy! The elders just laughed at how stupid we are. But I know that we helped that guy a lot so it was worth it!
Love you all so much! hope you all have uma boa semana! fica bem! and choose the right always!
love lyssa

S V and I knocked on some pretty cool doors this year

We went to Lisboa

Yes, I was really running from the street car

We had a fruit fly invasion

 

The little girls in the ward wanted to do my hair

When it Rains Wait for the Sun

Well here I am again. Writing you all back home. I feel like I did this yesterday! But this week I actually have things to say!

So we are teaching this lady named Marisa and she is really loving the lessons and church and everything and wants to be baptized! Well the problem is that she is not married. So we are now helping her get married! Wahoo! And we are also teaching her son Bruno who is going to be baptized this Sunday! We are really excited for him! And excited for this family. We are now praying that the dad, Manuel, will have his heart touched and be willing to talk to us too! We could baptize them all as a family! That would be amazing!

Also this week Sister Vanaquer’s almost mother and father-in-law came to see her and take us to lunch! turns out I don’t understand French at all. haha well a few words here and there. But it was cool to meet them and to hear Sister Vanaquer really speak French to people. It was cool! They are really nice.

This week it also poured rain! EVERYDAY it was pouring! haha but that is ok we have good coats and one umbrella so we were ok! We survived. One day it even hailed! We were walking up this huge hill and it started raining so we keep going and it starts raining really really really hard. So we keep going. And then it starts hailing. So we ran and hid under a bus stop for a few minuets. It was awesome! I think it was the first time that I have seen hail since I have been in Portugal! I actually really loved it! Also the same day we talked to a guy in the road and he was really really weird. He asked me to marry him. My comp didn’t really understand why I got all mad and walked away with out leaving our card. I told her after what he said and she got all red and was like "lets go back and give him a punch in the face!" haha she is the best! I love her so much!

The mission life is the life for me! I love it here so much! And my only advise for you all this week is the just keep going cause even sometimes it rains there are always sunny days ahead!

Love you all! Ficam felizes e ficam fixe!!!
Sister Bakker

The Beginning of the End

Well it happened. One more transfer has come and gone. I received news last night at 22h28 (11:28 p.m. for all you who don’t read time like I read time now) that I will be staying here in Odivelas with Sister Vanaquer! WAHOOO we could not be happier. I felt like we won 6 bajillion euros when they told us the news. We were very happy to stay together. So as of today I have started my last transfer. It really is the begging of the end.

This week was a good one! We are teaching this cool lady named Marisa! She is marked for baptism on the 27th. We may have a small problem though because she is not married... hmmmm well maybe we will also be having a wedding. We will see! This week we also continued to teach Ihita. She is doing great! She does not speak any Portuguese but every day she goes out of her shop at the bus stop that is just in front and she gives our cards to people and makes a phone with her hand and makes the ´call this number´ sign. She is the best and she has a Book of Mormon in her shop in Portuguese with a message from us in it and it has our number. We gave it to her because she was like "what if someone comes in and wants to know more after I give them your card?" She is so excited to be a missionary! Even though she cannot talk to the people she is doing her part! She is amazing! haha and this week she told us that people are buying tickets to go to Mars (don’t know if that is true or not) and that we need to put a church on mars because then all the people on Mars can be part of the Mormon family. She like freaks out and gets really stressed when she thinks about how many people we need to help still to find the church. Like no joke I think just by her faith alone all of Odivelas will be baptized. She is something else. Also this week she is going to go with a member that speaks English and she is going to start doing her family history. She is so excited to help her family that has passed away to be part of the Mormon family too!

This week we also had a very cool conference with President Dyches of the 70. He came and did a mission tour here and so I got to go to 2 conferences with him this last week. It was really cool and I learned a lot. One of the days was just for the leaders in the mission. So I had to leave my greeny behind. So what they had us do was that me and Sister Vanaquer slept in Povoa and then me and Sister Donahoo went to the meeting and we left out babies behind. But the cool part was that we got to go to the family night they have in Povoa and I got to see my recent converts and some members that I miss and love so much! It was so amazing and really was a huge blessing. God really does love all of us a lot.

So my advise for you all this week is that if you buy tickets to go to Mars make sure that when you get there you guys start the church. Ihita will be very very happy. Love you all! thanks for all your love and support!

love,
Sister Bakker!

My Povoa peeps!

Holy Toes!

Hey Guys!

So this week was a good one! Ihita is doing great! She is going to give a talk in church in 2 weeks so I am excited for that! I think that I am going to have to translate it all but that is ok! This week we went to Benefica for our zone conference. That was cool! Presidente Tavares had lots of good stuff to tell us this week! I love being with them! We also had interviews. Don’t worry I passed. My comp is doing great. It kinda of scares me a little, we are like the same person. Her humor is so dry and she is so French that everything that she says is that much funnier. We are getting along pretty good over here!

Today we went to Sintra and I got to see my recent convert Mariano! That was so great! He is doing good and he is dating a member now. We went with the sisters and the APs and 3 members to the place where Presidente Monson dedicated Portugal! It was really cool! Totally worth it!

My advice for the week comes from my shoes. If your shoes are falling apart just sow them back together. But don’t do it on the outside. The members will make fun of you and tell you to buy new ones. You have to put the patch on the inside then no one will notice! Just a tip for all you future missionaries out there! Or just buy new shoes. But that is complicated. My comp saw the hole in my shoes and she yells HOLY TOES! hahaha good times with my frenchy! got to love her!

Love you all! Fica bem. Eu amo vocês e estou animada para vocês aqui em breve! via ser bui de fixe (como eles dizem aqui)!!! Espero uma boa semana por todos ! Eu sei que Igreja é verdadeira e sei que Cristo é nosso salvador! Obrigada por tudo que fazem para mim!! também é fixe que posso escrever qualquer coisa aqui e a maioria de vocês não vou perceber nada. Fica bem!

com muito amor,

Sister Bakker

I made sweet rice!  Mariano taught me how

The plaque where Pres Monson dedicated Portugal

The sisters who went to the dedicatory site

all of us who went to the site

What is Ghost?

Hey there family!

So my life is pretty same old same old. This week we taught Ihita more. She was so excited to get the Holy Ghost but she got scared that it was an actual ghost that would like haunt her or something. So one day during the lesson she is like "sisters can I ask you anything?" and we are like "yes" and she is like "What is ghost? If I do bad does ghost do bad too? Will he be mean to me?" and we are just like ohhh Ihita and so we explained it to her again and she got all excited and was like "HOW MANY DAYS UNTIL SUNDAY? I NEED HOLY GHOST NOW!!" haha she is the best! I love her broken English! I feel almost like I am speaking another language with her and Sister Vanaquer cause they both don’t speak Enlish like super, super, super well so I have to do translations in my head and speak really slow and use small words. I love them!

I love my area here! It is pretty cool! We don’t have tons of cool stuff as far as like cool Portugal stuff but the people here are just the best! And it has been so long since sisters have been here that the members love us like crazy!

Thanks for all you guys do for me! love you all tons! Tenham uma boa semana!

com amor,

lunch at a brazilian place with irmã luciane

sister bakker

lunch with irmã elizabet