Have a holly Jolly Christmas!

Bom Dia Alegria!!!

This week has been incredible! 

It started off with me being super sick and ended up with transfers! 

I went to the doctors this week because I thought I was getting an ear infection, I felt really weak and was really congested. I took some medicine and all is well now :) 

We met someone this week called Lasaro and he is trying to quit smoking. He told us that he smokes, on average, 20 cigarettes a day. We told him that we could help with that and he let us go to his home and share a message with him. We called him the next day to see how he was doing and he told us that he had only smoked 3 cigarettes all day!!! Just 3! How incredible! He is such an amazing person and I am so excited to see his progress! 

We had our Christmas conference as a mission and holy moly it was incredible! We had messages from President and Sister Tavares and had an amazing lunch! We then had a talent show and some other missionaries and I sang! It was such a neat experience! I am so lucky to have President and Sister Tavares here to help and guide us! They are so incredible and have so much love for us! 

Funny moment of the week: We were knocking some doors and when we knocked on a specific one, the man on the other side said "no one's home." So I answered, "but you're home." He just said "no......... I'm not" and just walked away. What?? haha

I am being transferred to an area called Miratejo! I am going to be with Sister Anderson. She has 12 weeks here in Portugal, and I am going to be sister Training Leader which means that I am in charge of the sisters in my area and I have to see how they are doing. I give advice to them and tell the other leaders how they are doing. It is a huge responsibility! I am freaking out yet also really excited!!! So we leave Loulé at 10:15 by bus. We travel 3 and a half hours and get to a train station called Sete Rios. I find my new companion there, and we go to Miratejo somehow. I think she knows how to get there. I am going to have to go back to Lisboa on Thursday to have a meeting for the leaders. I am so excited!!!!!

I am truly excited to be in a new area and be able to learn new things from Sister Anderson and the people in Miratejo! 

I hope you all have an amazing week and an even better Christmas! I love you all so so much! 
Sister Restrepo

Some missionaries here in Algarve

 

President and sister Tavares

 

Sister Egidio, sister Chang, sister Pires

Sister Ogden and sister Ramirez







Some other random pics

 

Got some notes from the Allen YSA Branch



 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Ola Familia e amigos!

First off, I said I was going to do better with the emails, and then I didn't send one last week, I am so so sorry! i am definitely going to try and do better! Whenever I don't send an email, my dad will be uploading pictures on the blog, so go ahead and look at that ad you will be updated :)

Loulé is a really small town and there are always things happening! There was a parade through the town that had Santa Clause at the end. They had Elsa and Snow White and her dwarves there. They closed all the streets so that Santa could come. They also made little Christmas cities so that the kids can go and play. There are Christmas lights everywhere and Christmas music blasting. It is absolutely incredible!

We have had two people baptized recently, William and Edgar! They are so so incredible and have a huge desire to go out and serve the people! William doesn't speak Portuguese and yet, he wants to do everything he can to help! They are both huge examples to me and I am extremely proud of them! It is incredible for me to see the differences that this gospel makes in people's lives! William always gives us some kind of African food after each lesson and it always tastes amazing! African hospitality is the best! Everyday that passes, I love the Portuguese people more and more! They all have their little quirks, but I wouldn't trade them for the world!

We are also teaching a couple who's names are Pamela and Solo. Pamela is from Nigeria and Solo is from Guinea! We are helping them get married and be baptized! They are such incredible people with such big hearts! They're kids were baptized a few years ago and now we are helping them come closer to Christ! I love them!

I am extremely grateful for the opportunity I have to be here in Portugal and meet more people! I come to love the people, the culture, and my Savior more and more each day. There is a video that we shared with Edgar the other day and highly recommend it to everyone! It can be found on youtube or LDS.org, it's called The Hope in God's light!
I love you all very very much!!! 
 
Sister Restrepo 

A cute 85 year old man named Abel that we visit. 

He is adorable!! He always waves to us outside his window when we leave! 

The picture is of him and his wife when they were dating.



A huge walking ornament

 

A nativity made out of almonds in a sardine case.

Can't get more Portuguese than that.

 

We have had two people baptized recently,

William and Edgar!

 





 

Quick Update

Good morning all,

It seems like Andrea is super busy, and it has been 2 straight weeks she tells us she doesn’t have time for the weekly email. I will try to capture and share some of her comments we received from her this morning along with some pics.

Last Monday during her P day, they went to a bee farm and she was both excited and terrified, but it looks like they had so much fun, and also it was an amazing experience she has never done before. See the pics below.

“The holidays have been a bit hard for me, but I am trying to focus on Christ and service, and it is helping me a lot! There is a thing on LDS.org that is called light the world and each day you have to do something different to be more like Christ! We are doing that, and it has been so nice to do! Y'all should do it too!!  We are going to be having a Christmas conference with all the missionaries here in the Algarve, and it is going to be incredible! I am so excited!!!”

“I made arepas today!!! I found harina Pan!!!”

We told Andrea that we will put some money in her account, so she and her companion would be able to indulge herself by having a very nice Christmas dinner. This was her response: “I will only be able to have a nice lunch on Mondays. During the week, we don't have that opportunity. Just an hour of lunch then we have to study. I don't even know if I will be in Loulé for Christmas. That's the next transfer on December 17th.”

Here some random pics she sent, but mostly don’t have an explanation, so we just have to imagine.

Come back and visit this blog every week to follow Andrea’s progress in her mission. Thank you so much for all the support!!!  

The Restrepos