Call me Fátima

And now, I am official!! This week I did SEF, which means I am an official resident of Portugal! (thus the title, Fátima is a SUPER common name here, due to one of the more popular saints in Portugal, so since I am a resident of Portugal now, I was thinking I should try harder to blend it lol) There were a bunch of us who did SEF at the same time so Tuesday night there were 15 sisters sleeping in one apartment! Granted, it was a big apartment, but it was louco, that's for sure. I saw Sister Moulton though and we got to talk for a minute and sister George and Jardine who were also in the MTC with me, so it was a party!

      I have one story to share for this week, but I think this story is worth about a thousand stories. Brace yourself. We were waiting for a compromisso and had like 20 minutes, so we did some contacting in the nearby park. We were talking to a little old lady and she was just talking about saints and stuff like that and we were just sitting listening when we look over and see a possy of very drunk young men. I mean REALLY drunk young men. There was one who I was so drunk I was surprised he was still on his feet. Anyway, this sloppy drunk guy walks up pretty close to us and I see him lift his cup of wine and tilt it over and I felt it splash onto my foot! But then I looked over at Sister Stalder and there was wine dripping all down her face! It was all in her hair and had dripped onto her skirt and her cute headband was soaked! And the guy just stumbled away! His friends, slightly less drunk, came up and began to apologize. They were also trying to flirt and so we handed them all cards and the little old lady waved her hand and said, "we are leaving right now!" the men were starting to crowd us a little, not menacingly, but still, so we flowed the little old woman and got out of there. One of them was so drunk he thought the wine dripping down my companions face was blood so he followed us for a second asking us why her head was bleeding. He was genuinely concerned! But one of his friends came and got him and we were free. It was concerning at the time, but looking back, it was hilarious! We weren't in any danger, we were in a busy park in the middle of the day, and there was a member who lived nearby who we went to so Sister Stalder could clean up before our lesson, and now it just makes for an awesome story! We laughed about it for about 12 years, so I just wanted to share it with all of you! It was pretty funny trying to explain to the person we met with after why she smelled like wine! He thought it was pretty funny too though, so no harm done.

     I had an experience this week that really pushed me and helped me to learn an important lesson about the Savior and his atonement. We talked to a less active young man. We just knocked on his door and I realized I had already talked to him. He had been baptised and then later decided that he only needed the Bible to be saved and so he bacame a Baptist and he doesn't have any interest in coming back. That's OK. But we talked for a while and he started making all these claims and trying to prove his point of view and I was finding it a little too easy and kind of entertaining to shoot back a little. It was starting to teeter on the edge of a Bible bash, but I knew that is not I am here to do. So I held myself back and just bore my testimony and challenged him to give the book of Mormon a shot. But he didn't want to and told us he wouldn't. That is his agency and I respect it. We said goodbye and he closed his door and then I don't know what happened. I think just the past 9 months of rejection and respecting peoples agency even when that means they reject me, ignore my testimony, and worst of all, reject the sacrifice and opportunity that Christ provided for them, just caught up to me. And I broke down a little. It only lasted a minute or two, and we kept knocking doors the rest of the night, but it taught me a great lesson, and I am so grateful for it. It taught me what the atonement was really for. It was for our agency. Our ability to choose. Without it we wouldn't ever have been able to be saved. I also learned a lesson about love. I love the people here, to the point that I want so bad for them to choose the right that sometimes I want to make them. But that is Satan's plan. Christ? Christ loves them enough to let them choose. Loves them so much that he let's them reject him, because he values their choice. I can't imagine his pain as his brothers and sisters reject Him and the sacrifice He made for them. So how does that change the work that I do? It doesn't. All it means is that I keep going, I keep inviting, I keep teaching, and especially I keep learning about my savior and working to emulate him. As I do these things, I have faith that I will gain even a little piece of the love Christ has for these people, enough to be patient when they choose the wrong, and then rejoice when they choose the right.

    That is my story and my thought for the week. I am happy! I am safe! I love Portugal! I love missionary work!

   Hope the family reunion is so fun! I want to hear all about it! ❤️

  

Sister Hardy

Back in Barreiro with all my Barreiro friends!

I couldbt help it, I bought batatas palhas. Man I wish they had these little slices of heaven in America...