Group Email


Olá!! I don't know if this email will be long or short, I don't have much planned to talk about. The beginning of this week started off with exchanges with the sisters in Coimbra. They were really fun, it's always fun to see other areas! Then we got a day or two to work in our own area and then we were off to Lisbon! We took a good 2 hour bus ride down followed by some metro madness, and finally arrived in Moscavide, the area of the temple! We woke up extra early the next day and got to walk through the temple!!! It is STUNNING! I have visited a good amount of temples, and it never ceases to amaze me! In the Lisbon Temple there is a symbol of a compass all over. On the ceilings, windows, carpets and furniture. It is meant to honor the history of Portugal as navigators, and how the gospel will be taken to all the world. It's so cool! After our tour we hopped on a train to get to another chapel in another area where we had a real quick version of conference (learned some cool stuff about our role in the gathering of Israel!) and then changed clothes into P-day clothes, hopped on a bus, and headed to the forest! There we walked a little way into the trees and seperated into three groups and rotated. One of them was a little nerve wracking because my companion and I had to lead a discussion, but all went smoothly. One of the stations we sung a hymn, and another we sat and Presidente talked to us and showed us this plaque embedded in the rock. We learned that where we were was the site of the dedicatory prayer of Portugal. I loved being out in nature again, I hadn't realized how much I missed just spending time in the woods, and the spirit was so strong too. It was a highlight for sure! The next day was the first day of the temple open house! I don't know how, we spent all day standing in a nice cool building, but we were all EXHAUSTED at the end of the day! I have spent days walking up and down hills, and stairs, and yet a day standing around nearly did me in! Lol! But it was a really neat experience to be there and see all the people that were coming to visit. There were quite a few Americans who had come a long way to see it, and quite a few people who live nearby who had seen it be constructed and were curious! We got the chance to be in the reception room too, it was cool to talk to a lot of people and learn why they had decided to come visit, and how they liked their experience. Everyone I talked to loved it! I have a feeling we are going to gain a lot of referrals! Sunday found a ton of sisters in a single area with nothing to do. We all went to one ward and they were all a little weirded out to see 14 sisters filing in! It was pretty funny. Then we all had lunch together at one of the apartments! We scrapped together all the food we could find in the house and managed to pull together a pretty decent meal! And it was fun! Then we studied and went out to do a little work, contacts and things. Today is pday. Pois. (I can't think of a translation for that word... Sorry. If someone who speaks português knows a good English equivalent for the statement "pois / pois é" please let me know) and the rest of this week will be the open house! I don't know my letter will be next week, because I will be doing the same thing every day, but it Is going to be a fun week!
I know the temple is the house of the lord! It is a sacred, holy, sanctuary where we can feel safe and closer to God. I encourage all to work to be prepared and worthy to enter the temple, and remain worthy, because the temple is a blessing!! 

God loves you all! 

Sister Hardy 

-District P-day, I am in the picture, try to spot me lol
-the TEMPLE!! and our cute matching dresses 😊




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

One year older and wider too

Image
I don't have a lot of time today, we had an awesome pday! So this email might be a bit shorter! Sorry!   Tuesday - we had district counsil of course and then we did our studies. We had an appointment but she canceled so we decided to finish up the last session of general conference! It was so so so good! I loved President Nelson's talk! I now have a goal to memorise the full version of the first vision. I have the missionary part done, just need to do the rest! Then we spent the rest of the day finding. It was one of those days where you knock a ton of doors and they aren't there or don't want anything and you contact people and they ignore you. But we did our part!   Wednesday - We did Divisions in Gaia! We went over there and we got off at the wrong metro stop without knowing and they "weren't there yet" so we bought some cool jewelry from one of those pop up places in tourist spots and took some pics, then they called us and asked wher...
Read more

Blitz it

Image
Sorry I didn't send an email last week! We had a crazy pday! We were up early and went to a beautiful place called sete cidades with the sister APs (they flew in Sunday night) then later we got ice cream with President (who flew in on Monday) and that was the end of pday! That night we had 8 sisters in our area! Mega blitz! I went on a division with one of our stls Sister Prado. She is from Ecuador and has the cutest accent when she speaks português! We go home together so it was fun to serve with her for a little bit. The next day we had conference for the island missionaries! I was glad it was separate because the island is truly different than any of the other areas I served in on the continent. After conference I got to go on a division with one of our sister APs Sister Nilson! I love her! She reminds me of Lizzie a lot. Really fun, hard working, faithful, sporty, and beautiful. We did good work together. Then on Wednesday I went out with the other sister AP Sister Ho...
Read more

The final countdown

Image
Starting an email is the hardest part, and no matter how many I have written, they never get any easier. So I guess I'll just jump right in!   Last Monday we had a fun chill pday. We took a bus over to Ribeira grande and ate pizza and went to the beach with the elders. The waves were ENORMOUS! I had dreams about tsunamis that night. Lol.   Tuesday we had the last district counsel of the transfer. We knew elder Miranda was leaving the island after his 4 transfers, so we had a big breakfast all together with French toast bread pudding, juice, and cornbread. Kinda a weird breakfast, but it was yummy! We have had a good time together, and we will miss Elder Miranda, our fearless leader. But Élder Pullan will take his place as our fearless leader this transfer so all is well. And Elder Miranda is off to fearlessly lead a zone. So proud of them!   Later this week we went to visit a less active family and it turns out that the Carters had visited only an ho...
Read more