Andrea Restrepo Lisbon Portugal Mission: Tchau Estados Unidos!

I am truly blessed! This week has been so packed with miracles and blessings!

I received my travel plans on Friday and I will be going from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, then to Lisbon! It is going to be a long flight, but I cannot wait! I leave on Monday, so I am not necessarily sure when I will be emailing again. I have officially been on my mission for a month! Time has flown by!

My companion and I decided to join the choir here and there is nothing like it. There is so much peace and happiness as we sing the beautiful arrangements. I love being surrounded by other missionaries. All of the people here could well be doing something else, and yet, we are all here giving 18-24 months out of our lives to serve our Heavenly Father. It is truly remarkable.

I am not sure if I have talked about TRCs before, so I'll just explain them. TRC stands for Teaching Resource Center. We have the opportunity to go once a week and teach a member of the church a lesson in Portuguese. The majority of the time, they are returned missionaries that spoke our language on the mission. We teach the members because they have things going on in their lives and by sharing these lessons, it helps them. We have changed from talking to them in person, to talking to people around the world via Skype. My companion Sister Stubbs and I had the opportunity on Thursday to talk to a woman named Marta who is from Brazil, served her mission in Brazil, and now lives in Hawaii. We got to know her a bit and we were able to share what was probably the simplest lesson we have taught yet about the Book of Mormon. She started crying and telling us how much she needed to hear that lesson. It was the best feeling in the world. I absolutely love this gospel.

We were playing volleyball on Wednesday and I was in the front row in the middle. An elder from our zone spiked the ball, it hit my head, I just stood there and could not move my body, then I just fell to the floor. It was the strangest thing in the world!

There have been several tours here to see the new buildings. We were able to give Elder Zaballos (a member of the seventy. A general authority in our church) and his wife. It was such an amazing experience! We then gave a tour to Elder Keetch and his family and it was about 20 people. It was a bit more difficult, but I was able to bear my testimony and it was a really neat experience.

We were told yesterday to give an impromptu tour to President Russell M. Nelson (he is the president of the quorum of the twelve apostles) and I was so nervous!! It was a great tour and bearing your testimony in front of an apostle is the most humbling experience. Elders from our district gave a tour to Elder Holland. We then had a devotional and it was wonderful! We had to head back to the classroom and we ran into Elder Bednar and I was able to shake his hand. I don't have any pictures of any of that so you will just have to believe me! I am truly blessed to be here at the MTC!

We had to say goodbye to 4 people from our zone that were leaving to Cape Verde. It was so sad to see them go, but I know that they will be amazing!

I love this gospel and my Savior Jesus Christ with all my heart.

I want to leave a quote by Elder Oaks for you all. "Who are you? You are sons and daughters of God! Everything else you and I are is subordinate to that. Think of it! We are royalty- the sons and daughters of God!"

I love you all! Thank you so much for the emails and the constant support!

The flags of the day (Beautiful Portugal Flag)