HOMECOMING!!!!!!!

Alyssa came home on March 29th!  What a sweet reunion to have all four kids in the same place at the same time for the first time in 3 1/2 years!

I See A Light

The church is true.

The book is blue.
See you in 2 (days).

This is Sister Bakker signing off for the last time.

I see a light at the end of the tunnel. I think I am going to go towards it.

The End

Well this is the end. Next week my time as full time missionary will come to and end. I was blessed to serve no Missão Portugal Lisboa. I served in 5 amazing areas (Amial, Povoa, Portimão,Mem Martins, and Odivelas) I had 10 amazing comps (Sisters Nielsen, Azevedo, Cullimore, Baugh, Steagall, Mendes, Alexander, Bryner, Barron, and Vanaquer). This mission was a blessing to me.

Eu sei que Deus vive. Que ele nos ama. Eu sei que esta igreja é verdadeira. Eu sei que Cristo é nosso salvador. E eu vou sou muita grata pelo oportunidade eu tinha de servir como um representante dele. Eu sei que isso é o caminho certo e que cada um de nos podemos estar come Deus depois desta vida mas temos que nos preparar agora! Eu amo minha família e sei que vou estar com eles para sempre. E sei que isso é o plano de Deus.

Thank you for everything.

This is Sister Bakker signing off for the last time.

See you all soon!

Google Translation:
I know that God lives. He loves us. I know that this church is true. I know that Christ is our savior. And I am very grateful for the opportunity I had to serve as a representative of it. I know this is the right way and that each of us can become a God after this life but we have to prepare now! I love my family and I know that I will be with them forever. And I know this is God's plan.

26 Years Old

So today is Sister Vanaquers bday! We played soccer and ate sushi and it was awesome! We had like 15 missionaries there. It was super cool! You all might have to be patient for the pics. Sorry. But it was really fun! She is 26 today. Yes she is 6 years older than me but people think that I am like 4 years older than her. It’s fine.

This week was great! We are getting really excited for Luica. She is going to be baptized on Saturday! And she is so excited. We taught her about temples and she got so excited to do the work for her parents and is really excited for the temple in Lisboa! She is so great! I am so excited for her!

This week we also had a small run in with a mouse. So we were walking in a dark alley way (that is always a bad idea, don’t do that.) And we see this cat. And Sister V was like "there is a mouse! Look the cat sees it and he is planning on how he is going to eat it" so I am like "yes let’s find the mouse" (side note: Sister V is terrified of mice) so I see it on the ground and I’m like "THERE IT IS!" but it was not moving and it was laying on its side like it was dead. So I was like "don’t worry it is dead!" so we get closer to it and it pops up and runs right on top of my foot! EWWW I felt its little body run over my feet!! So gross. Sister V screamed and almost cried haha poor thing! I may or may not have screamed too and jumped like a little girl. But needless to say we don’t go there at night now.

Well that is about it for me this week! love you all! see you in 2 weeks!

loooove,

Sister Bakker

p.s. Just a reminder to all of you who still read my emails. If you find out where my little brother will be serving his mission DO NOT TELL ME! It is going to be a surprise when get home! Thank you!

Brigadeiros

Hey there fam bam!

So this week was pretty chill. IT FLEW BY! I feel like i wrote you all like yesterday! Time flies when you are having fun!

So this week we did a division with Faro. I got to serve with my MTC comp again, Sister Nieson, that was super cool! We had a party and worked hard! I loved it! Also this week I learned how to make balls of cheese and brigadeiros. mmmm I will make them for you when I get home. You will be addicted and I will never tell you how to make them because it is a secret recipe that a member gave us and I was sworn to secrecy.

Also we had a party this week for a missionary that is leaving from our ward. He is going to the New York New, York North Mission. He is our ward mission leader and so it was really cool. He leaves for his mission the same day I get home actually. Haha that is funny to joke around with him about.

Also yesterday we had a cool thing that we did. We were in the church waiting for this guy that never showed up. And there were like 4 little kids there who were playing while their parents were in a meeting. So they saw us and were like "ahhhh sisters!!" they wanted to be sisters so bad and so we too them to the road in front of the church and they gave cards to all the people that walked by. it was awesome. no one can say no to little kids. We actually got some people to accept and to want to learn more! It was a really cool finding activity. I think I may call the PMG people and tell them to add work with little kids (that are really cute) to do more contacts.

Have a killer week. TTYL. YOLO. (hope that is still a thing)...

beijinhos,
Sister Bakker

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