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

Baptism?

January 25, 2016

So family,

This week was one of the coolest weeks of my whole mission. Miracles happen. Put your faith in the lord. WORK HARD and never ever ever quit.



So this week on Tuesday the elders called us and asked if we had any appointments on Wednesday at 5. We were like "elders we don’t have ANYTHING" so they laugh and are like well you do now! So Wednesday comes and we were doing a division. So I was with Sister Donahoo who is now in my old area Povoa. So anyway me and her go to this appointment and the elders tell us what is happening. So we went to go see Ihita. She is a 33 year old lady from Bangladesh. She is Chirstian and so for that she and her husband Evan had to flee their country so that they could be safe from persecution. So they went to England. While there things were not going so well and they had to leave again and the only place that let them in was Portugal. Before leaving she told us that she had a dream that Christ came to her and said that there was a present waiting for her in Portugal. So the elders found her husband in the road. He said that he did not believe in God but that they could talk to his wife. So they talked to her a little but it was dangerous for them to go to her house because she was living in a very dangerous area that did not allow Christians to go there. So she was hiding her faith there and the elders were having a hard time finding her. Well 3 weeks ago she came to church. We translated it all for her and she liked it. Then a week later she moved to our area. So the Elders call us and tell us that we had an appointment. So we are now at the appointment and she tells us her story and her life. We teach her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she accepts everything! We marked her to baptized on the fallowing Sunday. During the week we went to see her everyday to help her and to teach her. And I will say this, she changed. It was the change in her as she accepted the gospel in her life. She was so ready! She only speaks English so that was a little challenging but we did ok! Then yesterday after church we had the chance to see her enter the waters of baptism! Ihita was baptized and after she came to us and she had the biggest smile and she told us that she felt so clean and so happy and she lost her words because the spirit was so strong! It was amazing! She is so great! Miracles really do come true! Sister Vanaquer and I are so happy for Ihita!



I know that through our trials and through our faith god works through us. I know that when people accept the gospel and take it into their hearts they are truly converted. I love the Lord. I love this church and I love my mission.



Love you all so much! thanks for all you do!

Love always

Sister Alyssa Bakker!

frenspaniportuglish

Sister Vanaquer making crêpes like a boss. This week she is going to teach me how to make tiramisu. toma folks, thats all the pics I got for the week... i will do better next time.

Yo yo yo! so there are a ton of Africans in my new area so I feel that I am aloud to say cool things like YO and SWAG and flash church related gang signs. We are rockin it here in Odivelas! 

So this week was good! We went to mission council and had zone meeting. So that was cool. Sister Vanaquer was so confused at Mission council. poor thing. I tried to explain zone leader and District leader and STL and all that. I think I just made her more confused. But she is figuring it out now! She is super cool! This week she taught me to make crepes. I feel so French! Also she speaks mostly Spanish instead of Portuguese and so I understand all of it but I am also learning Spanish now. Wahoo I am going to speak like 4 languages when I get home all thanks to her!! 

So I am in the sketchy internet cafe and there are like 3 cockroaches crawling on the tables around me. gross. haha I love Portugal! 

There is not really that much to report this week so sorry for the lame email. But wish us luck this week we have a lot to do and not a lot of time do it all! wish us luck! 

Love you all, fica fixe sempre! 

Sister Bakker

Odivelas is the Place for Me!

I came into Odivelas with a big American bang! Of course now that I have a super cool American flag jump suit I am with a French comp. It makes it that much better!

Hey there yall! this week was crazy! We are working really really hard and doing crazy stuff. My comp is cool. She is going to teach to make real French crepes and I am going to help her make cookies. Vida boa. Life is great! Love the mission. My area is crazy! we are literally opening it like brand new so we have like no investigators still but it is all good we just talk to EVERYONE! I like it ok. It rained ever day this week but the sun came out today! yay! Love you all! thanks for all the support and love!

LOVE always
sister bakker


Good bye Mem Martins!

Mariano making faces at me

Lili, she is the best!  Her mom won't let her get baptized yet, but she is totally going to be a missionary one day!

I am a Mom--Part 2

It looks like I am smoking sketch stuff, but it is lemonade with weird herbs.
Everyone just passes around the same cup.

New years at the Stake President's house

Hey there!
Well one more week has come and gone! Today is transfer day! So yesterday we were at our bishop's house and the mission presidente calls us. I saw his name on the phone and I knew that one of us was going to have to do something crazy this transfer. He only calls for transfers when you are getting a calling of some kind. So we all went real quiet and I answer the phone. He was all happy and was like "am I talking to Sister Bakker?" well he said my name right so I know that this was big. Like big enough that he actually learned to say my name right. I took a deep breath and cool as a cucumber I said "sim!" I dont think he knew I was really nervous. Well he goes on to tell me that I have been called to be the new TLT. I am not totally sure what that stands for but basically what that means that I am now the sister training leader over the sister training leaders. I will be over half the mission and Sister Alexander (my old comp) has the same calling and is over the other half. Then my presidente goes on to tell me that I will also be training a new sister, Sister Vanaquer. She is French. Wahoo. I hope that she speaks English or Portugese. If not this could be a little hard and we might play a lot of charades. Then as this gross sick feeling came into my stomach he went on. I will aslo be transfered to open a sister area in Lisboa. My area is called Lisboa 5 but I think that it is part of the Odivelas ward. There have not been sisters there in about a year or so. He then asked to speak to my comp and told here that she too will be training. Ya it was crazy! I am pretty scared. But it is going to be awesome! I don't think that there is a better way to end my mission than this! I am excited! I think we are going to have tons of fun and see tons of miracles!I hope that it is going to all go good! Wish me luck!

Mariano and me

I am going to miss mem martins I love it here so much! Last night to say good bye Mariano taught us how to make arroze doce in the church! haha he is such a weird dude but I love him! He is the coolest recent convert ever!

This week was full of fun and I am sure that this next one is going to be a crazy one! Wish me luck out here! love you all! thanks for all your love and support!

Com muito amor,

Lunch with Roberto (he's in the bishopric)

Sister Alyssa Bakker

the bread man