WHAT A WEEK. First off all, getting to talk to your family on Christmas really is the GREATESTTTT gift of all. Tears of joy my friends, many tears of joy. It´s funny, SIster Brundage and I got off of Skype and felt the same way. Not homesick or anything, just more of a desire to WORK. And so rain, shine, festas, and everything that´s what we´ve been trying to do.
As for our 3 beloved boys who were supposed to be baptized... I don´t tell it to complain or to make you sad or anything but to keep you updated and tell you what it´s taught me and that is so many things. Basically, they´re amazing boys that just won´t commit to going to church at 9am every Sunday. It´s been so hard and we have done all we can but now we´re to the point where we´re just going to keep working with their mom the recent convert and her fiancé and hope they come around. People have their agency and there´s nothing we can do about that. It´s really hard and sad obviously but when I look back I feel okay because I know we did everything we could and I KNOW there is a reason for EVERYTHING. After we visited them yesterday we met a really amazing lady and talked to an incredible less active lady. I was still sad but it made me realize, maybe all of this led up to us helping one of these two ladies. In the mission, of course you want to teach and baptize and do all of that stuff we hear about, but in the end I´m realizing that if I made even just one person here feel a little bit of the love the Savior has for them then I´m doing my job. The Lord has his hand in everything I do and so I don´t worry and I really don´t get discouraged, I just look for His hand and I ALWAYS see it.
But anyway, it really was a great week!!! The thing here in Portugal is everybody celebrates on Christmas Eve, which was interesting. We got permission to stay out until 11 and we went over to a members house with the elders. It. was. AMAZING. I have never eaten so much in my life. The traditional thing here is bacalhau and EVERYONE eats it on Christmas. I think it´s codfish? It was delish.
Sorry for the short email but I´m short on time! I promise a more informative or exciting one next week. Stay strong and wonderful people! The Lord has His hand in your lives too, that much I know for sure.
Bom ano novo!!!
Sister Swasey
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