Vamos só continuar

Hello Family and Friends!!! 

We had a good week here in Faro! The subject of this email has basically been our most common phrase during this whitewash. Whenever we are in an area we don’t know, or don’t know what we are doing we stop for like 3 seconds and then were like "Okay vamos só continuar" or in English "Okay lets just continue". SO yea maybe we have gotten kinda lost a few times.. but hey it works the majority of the time!! 

But yea this week was good! We are trying really hard to find new people and it seems like all of these really awesome people are just falling into our laps!! The Lord really is hearing our prayers and blessing us a lot! One person we found this week is named Sandra. We were just knocking doors and she opened the door and let us in right away. She already had a Book of Mormon and 3 pamphlets because someone she worked with gave them to her, but then he changed jobs before he could explain them. She said she liked them so much and has wanted to learn more about the church ever since. It was so cool and she has SO much faith! I am so excited to continue to teach her!! 

We also have another investigator, Maria Graça. She showed up at church last week and she said she has already been to church like 5 times. SO this week we taught her and after church yesterday she told us she wants to be baptized!! It’s really hard to mark times to meet with her, but we are excited to work with her and baptize her!! 

Other than that we are working hard and trying to find a bunch of new people!! We had some struggles this week that slowed down our week a bit, but it’s been a good week and I really like this area!! They think I broke my toe last p-day hahha. I dropped kicked a football barefoot and it hurt so bad but I thought I just jammed my big toe so I continued messing around and didn’t do anything about it. I woke up the next day and it was so purple and SO swollen I couldn’t put on my shoes. But I didn’t want to stay in that day so I was like no we are still working. But then on Wednesday after walking a ton the day before my toe was so so bad and I couldn’t lift it up. So the Senior missionary couple came over and said they think a small bone is broken inside my toe, but there’s not much we can do about it now. They brought me this miracle working anti inflammatory cream, I iced it, wrapped it, and stayed off of it all day. The next day it was still bruised but felt so much better. It’s still a little purple today but it doesn’t really hurt to walk on it so that’s good. I am telling you I have the WORST luck. All because I kicked a football hahaha!   It’s all good.

Another crazy thing that happened this week was that my companions hair caught on fire.. You can’t trust the stoves and ovens here in Portugal. SO yea that put some adrenaline through our veins and she has a way cute haircut now. Also our apartment smelled like burnt hair for a good few days haha. Oh the mission adventures. 

My district is really big here! There are like 10 people and a senior couple that came last week! They are so cute! The wife is Brazilian so she speaks fluently, but she has lived in the US for more time than Brazil. Elder Scholffman is from Idaho and really American haha but they have saved our lives this week helping me with my toe!  One of the elders in our district was in the MTC with me. And sister Foster is in my Zone so I will see her when we have zone conference in a few weeks!!! Sister Aiono grew up in California and Utah but now she lives in California. Close to Oakland so not anywhere close to us haha. She didn’t go to school before her mission and doesn’t know where she will go when she returns. 

I am way jealous of the temple! The first thing I do when I get home will be go to the temple. I miss it so much!! I know that the temple right how has some progress, but it’s pretty slow. But the members are all SO excited! It will be really good when they finish it! I haven’t seen the site because right now I am way far from Lisbon but other missionaries have and they say it’s really cool! They actually have a Facebook page and someone will post a picture of the progress everyday which is way cool. 

Our area is a lot smaller than Seixal, but bigger than the city of Mafra. It’s bigger than Ladera for sure but it’s not HUGE. Its not too green.. its like a city with cobblestone and stuff, but its more green than Lisboa. Its a lot more calm and laid back here than it is closer to Lisbon. 

Love you all and hope you guys all have a great week! Always remember to keep the commandments and you will be blessed more than you can even imagine!! 

Com Amor,

Sister Jones 

Portuguese pastries at a Relief Society event