Piolhos

Our pumpkin pie!

HEY!!

S Barron cut my hair

So this week was cool! for Thanksgiving we made a pumpkin pie! and it was dang good! like I was shocked! We had to first find a pumpkin and we looked like dummies going to all the fruit placing going "vocês vendem abobara?" ya we got some funny looks. Well we found one finally and so we took it home and cooked it and then turned it into mush and the next thing I know we are eating a pie!! It was awesome! haha!!! I will send pics! Also we ate Pizza Hut and wore red white and blue. American though and through!

Also last night we were teaching our awesome little 15 year old Lili with our bishop when my comp grabs something off the top of my head and I see her squish something in her fingers. Well we did this all very sneaky and no one saw and I just look at her and go "piolhos?" and she just nods her head. So ya that is right I got lice... ewwwwww!!! Worst thing ever! I am washing all my stuff and treating my hair! ahhh but we only found one so we think that we found it right at the start and that I don't have more! And she doesn't have any so I think we are going to be ok! Eww just typing this and my head is itching! gross!

Also next week is the first stone of the temple!!! wahoo!! I am so excited!! Everyone is freaking out! I am stoked! Portugal is finally going to have a temple! yes!!!!

Our Christmas tree named "Charlie Brown"

Well that is about it for the week! Love you all! Have a killer semana! Hope that you all stay lice free and happy!

Com amor,
Sister Alyssa Bakker!

I am Grateful for the Rain

This week on the mission was one for the books. NO ONE WANTED TO TALK TO US!!! NO ONE!! So you know what we did? We talked to more people. And in the end it gave us fruits! On Sunday we had 5 people come to church!!! It was so amazing!!! One of the best weeks of my mission! Also this morning I had to say good bye to one of my all time favorite comps in the world. Sister Bryner went home today. Sad. BUUUT now I am with Sister Barron! I was her STL for 3 transfers and now she is here with me! We are so excited to be together!!! I love her so much! She is tall and blonde and great! We are going to look like crazy people walking down these streets! yay!

Well I don't have a ton of time but I would like to tell you all that I love you and I am grateful for you all. This Thanksgiving I may not be with the ones that share my same DNA but I am still with family. And I am grateful for that. I am grateful for my savior and for his atoning sacrifice. I am grateful for my mission president, Presidente Tavares. I am grateful for the rain even though it is cold and never stops and I am grateful for this chance I have to serve. I love you all and have a great turkey day!

COM MUITO MUITO AMOR!!

Sister Bakker!

Carlos

Our Bishop and his Family

Carlos baptism

Pday Sintra Swag

Hey there fam! so I don't have a ton of time but this week was great!! We had another baptism! This is his story...I was studying and preparing to help this guy get baptized and one thing that I realized is that we do nothing. Literally nothing. The only thing that we can do is prepare to the best of our abilities and then the Lord does the rest. We made a great lesson plan to help this guy get an answer about the church. He has been investigating and coming since August. Then everything went crazy. we got to the compromisso and he brought his wife and that was the first time we were meeting her so we were like crap scratch the plan!! Then we were talking to him and he was like so this week after I get the holy ghost I want to read a talk I wrote. and we were like what? and he goes "ya last night at 4 am I got an answer and I was so excited and did not want to forget it and I wrote it all down and I want all of Gods sheep here in Mem Martins to hear it." (this guys name is Carlos) But we were shocked! So we were like ok LETS GET HIM IN THE WATER! We taught him the 5th lesson about temples and all that jazz! and marked him for Saturday. God does amazing things! He was baptized FINALLY on Saturday and got the Holy Ghost Sunday and he is doing great! I love the Lord. We were not prepared for what we ended up teaching but because we did our part in the beginning and then followed the spirit the Lord did the rest!


Mariano is also doing great! He got the Priesthood on Sunday! WAHOO!!! Life is great love you all!


Love sister Bakker

Mariano Mari Mari Mariano!‏

HELLLLOO FAMILY!

Well I am not sure how but another week has come and gone on the mission. Man time really does go so fast! This week was so crazy! We had mission council and Zone meeting so we were like not in our area at all this week but it was ok! Heavenly father blessed us so much!

So this week Mariano got baptized! One day about 3 weeks ago we had like 20 mins before we had to go home and no one to go see. So we decided to just talk to some people in the road. Well at 9 in Mem Martins there are not that many people. Well we see this man leaning against a wall and we look at each other and are like "vamos lá!" so we go over and talk to him. He was nice and gave us his phone number but did not really seem that interested. Well we call him the next day and set up an appointment with him. Well he actually came!! We invited him to think about baptism in the first lesson and to come to church. Well Sunday he comes. Then next week we saw him pretty much ever day and marked him for the 7th. In 2 days he quit drinking coffee and smoking. He got a job. He got an interview or something like that to get a house and he said that he had more energy and happiness. WOW!! So we kept working with him and as the day gets closer to his baptism he just gets more and more excited! Well Saturday comes and he comes and is just stoked. He gets baptized and right after he talks to the bishop about getting the priesthood! The next day at church he had a white shirt and tie (for the first time) and new shoes! And he got the Holy Ghost. He was no joke glowing. It was so amazing to see the change in him! He is so wonderful and doing so great! WAHOO Mariano! he tells us all the time that he is like our guardian angel and that he watches over us so that we can help more people that we helped him. SO amazing!

I am so happy to be out here! I love my mission so much and I know that the church is true!
love you all!

oooh also this week we decided that if I was a rapper my name would be Lil Sis. And yes I have been writing so sweet Portuguese raps about the mission so ya be ready for that when I get home. Swag.

lil sis, OUT!

paz e amor

the baptism (the sisters in mafra also had a baptism)
MARIANO

dinner with R family (some ward members)

There's a Raccoon in the House!!!

Hey there!

Well another week has come and gone and I am still here in Portugal! LOVING IT!!! Halloween was cool! They don't really do anything big here. They had some decorations in some stores and some kids dressed up. But nothing too big. They do trick or treating on the fisrt here from 9-12 in the morning cause at night it is too dangerous. Me and my comp totally got pastries to celebrate and we dressed up. duh. She was an Indian (Pocahontas) and I was a raccoon (Miko her pet). It was really really funny! I will send pics!

district meeting

This week was crazy! So many things happened! We marked Mariano for baptism and he will be baptized this Saturday! wahoo! He is actually really cool. He is going through a hard time right now but he said that he has already starting seeing his life change for the better since we stopped to talk to him. This week was cool, he was talking to us and asked us why we decided to talk to him of all people. We answered that really we talk to everyone and that he seemed like he needed this message. He was so happy and grateful! He is really funny and always is like "ahhh Sisters voces sempre sabem!" what we know we don't really know but he thinks we know everything! He is going to get a house this week... we think. So ya that is great!


Yesterday was Dia Das Almas (it is like Portugal Memorial Day) so we did a mission thing where we all went to the local cemeteries to talk to people about the plan of salvation. There were 6 of us in one TINY cemetery. It was kind of awkward. We started to sing hymns and the elders talked to everyone. It was actually really cool and spiritual. A little old lady walked past with tears in her eyes and just said "obrigada". It was really cool! Kind of weird but cool! It was pouring rain and we were cold and wet and just loving it!

Love you all! Hope you had a spooky Halloween!!!

Sister Bakker

division in Torres Vedras ( with sister Doman and Sister Baugh)

Halloween lunch at S F's. Her son closest to the camera is preparing for a mission!