Sister Madalyn Jones: We Got Locked In Our Own Apartment!!

Oi!!!

This week was a CRAZY one!! Literally so many weird things happen to me. People always stop me on the street and say the weirdest things because I’m American and I am always like "Desculpe não percebo"and then Sister Santos grabs me and explains what they said as we walk away. Most of it is all about politics and Donald Trump HAHAHA. Makes for great stories afterwards.

Okay so this week we got locked INSIDE our own apartment WITH the keys. Before we went to bed Sis Santos locked the door from the inside (not really necessary because its locks automatically but we do it sometimes anyways) and then in the morning we had appointments so we go to leave and the door wont unlock. Like the key would not turn to unlock. We sat there for 30 minutes trying everything we could think of and nothing worked. We finally called our investigator and were like "sorry something came up and we can’t make it" but in reality we were just sitting in our apartment. We had no idea what to do because we are like an hour away from other missionaries or our branch leaders so finally we called a member from the ward, threw him the keys out of our window, and he unlocked it from the outside. So yes we are never locking the door again before we go to sleep HAHAHA so lame

Then the next day we were walking the street at night and this drunk guy stops us and starts reading my face and said he was analyzing me eyes. He was saying all these things that I didn’t understand at all and it was just really weird. I was trying so hard to not laugh because it was just really really weird but he was because serious about the whole thing. Then he started touching my face and I looked at my comp with a face of complete horror and she was like okay time to go FINALLY. SO weird.

THEN the next day we ran into one of SIster Santos old investigators and Sister Santos introduced me and he looks and me and asked if I was PREGNANT!!!!! I clearly need to stop eating all the Portuguese Pastries and bread because that’s BAD

Yesterday at church João Pedro AND Isabel came to church!!! João is the investigator from last week that is marked for baptism at the end of this month. He is awesome and stayed for all 3 hours and then lunch afterward!! Isabel is a menos activos that I love so much! She is awesome and there is a lot more work that needs to be done to get her reactivated but 2 Sundays at church in 1 month is awesome!!!

The language is still hard and one lessons I will feel like I understand a lot and be able to respond, and then the next lesson I will be so lost and have no idea what anyone is saying. But my progress from my first day in the field is so much and I know so much more Portuguese than I did just 3 weeks ago. I am nowhere near good but I learn more and more everyday. Onward and Upward.

Every week I get a little better but it just seems SO SLOW. Like I have no idea how I am supposed to be fluent one day because I feel like it will take YEARS! The pronunciation is really hard but its getting better. Its funny though because I have a little bit of a Brazilian accent because of my companion hahahaha but tudo bem

Today for P-day we went to the huge castle that’s in Mafra!! It was so pretty!! We walk past it everyday but it was fun to go inside and see what’s inside. We also went to McDonalds and I literally enjoyed it so much. It was so lame but I would not stop talking about how good my burger is hahaha. It tasted like home and idk so good. I am so lame.

We make most of the meals and have like 1 meal a week with a family if we are lucky but its not normally planned. It’s like spur of the moment they will be like oh hey stay and eat with us. So we normally make a big lunch so we don’t have to stop working and eat dinner also and then just eat stuff when we get home at 9:30.

Wow ahh so excited to get the package!! We have a zone conference tomorrow so I may get it tomorrow!! Wow so nice of the Sheppard’s!!!

Thank you for all of the recipes!! Also if you send another package I’d love random foods like granola bars and stuff. They don’t have much here. And yes seasonings would be awesome!!! Um also any cardigans I have in my closet. Like the brown one that’s long would be so nice. It is literally so cold here at night I am dying!!!!!!! And the clothes here that are cheap are really not cute. I want to buy a pair of boots also but they’re kind of expensive here. Like 50 euros. How much can I spend?? I still have to try them on and make sure they’re comfy but I don’t want to spend too much.

Yep that’s my week! It was hard when it came to lessons this week and a lot of them fell through which led to a lot of finding. Last night we rang like 50 apartments and only gave out 3 pass along cards which was a bummer. But its good practice for me so I should be grateful for it!!!

Have a great week, make good choices, and always choose the right!!!

Sister Jones