"And at all times, and in all places, he shall open his mouth and declare my Gospel as with the voice of a trump, both day and night. And I will give unto him strength as is not known among men."

-D&C 24:12

Monday, September 22, 2014

The end of the beginning......

Hello, Everyone!
  How is everyone?!?!
  I´m good!
  And Lagos is... Rainy... And this week is the last week of the transfer! I´ve already been in Portugal for a month!!!!
  But there´s not much this week, so i´ll keep it short and sweet.
  The other day we were contacting this lady, and she said that she was baptized a while ago! I couldn´t believe it! The Lord really does put people in your path who still need the gospel! We had quite a few tiny miracles this week. They always make me happy because that´s when I remember that Heavenly father is looking out for us, and that I really am doing His work.
  Also, I am getting better at cooking! My ham and cheese sandwich skills have improved so much!
  Last P-Day, we also visited the International Sand festival... It was way funner than it sounds. Here´s some cool pictures! I freaked out when I saw the frozen sculpture! And I couldn´t resist putting up my opera singing picture.
  Hope everyone has a good week! Write me!
Love,
Sister Mancuso

        Selfie with Bea, one of the members´daughters.

            me with a little old lady we visit.





              At a sand festival

               I couldn´t resist putting up my opera singing picture.

Monday, September 8, 2014

Ola!

Olá! Tudo bem?
How´s everyone? It´s been a good week in Lagos!
   Last week on P-Day (Monday) we visited the nearest castle to Lagos, which is the Castelo at Slves! Silves is SO BEAUTIFUL! It´s the oldest castle i´ve ever been to!
   This week has also been one of hard work. We had some REALLY great lessons with some of our investigators. One of our investigators is Ginilda. She´s from Cape Verde, and she has THE CUTEST baby ever named Clayton. Her sister and brother-in-law are memebrs in our branch, and she just moved to Portugal. In one of our lessons with her this week, the spirit was so strong, and we could tell it kind of touched her heart.
   We also like to visit this old lady named Filismena, and she likes it when we come over. We usually just sing a song and have a short lesson with her.
   We´re also working with a less active member named Paulo (every other guy here is named paulo! It´s a very common name). He´s had kind of a sad life, but he´s not a bad guy. His sister died recently, and he fell into depression, heavy drinking, and smoking. He lives with his poor mother, who´s trying to help him, but she doesn´t know what to do anymore. But I think slowly, since we´ve been visiting them, he´s changing. VERY slowly, but he wants to change. So there´s that.
   I had an experience this week that really made me realize how much the Lord watches out for us. Me and sister Echeverria were walking, and a gypsy guy came up to us, wanting food or money. We didn´t have anything (since I don´t really carry cash with me) and he asked for Sister E´s watch. She couldn´t give it to him, and we walked away, and after following us a few feet (which made me really nervous), he left. But that was THE ONE DAY I wasn´t wearing my watch. I never forget to wear my watch! Who knows if he would´ve tried to steal our watches or something? It wasn´t a huge deal, but I know that the Lord was watching out for us, and He gives us tiny miracles everyday that make working really hard worth it.
Hope everyone has a great week!
-Sister Mancuso




                                   Fotos Taken on her P-Day in a castle in a city name Silves.
                                  Sister Mancuso and Sister Echeverria.




                             With brother and sister Jeffers, a missionary couple serving in Lagos.




                                        A restaurant in Lagos where they ate yummy food.


                                         Sooo happy to received a package from home.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Dear Sister Mancuso
My wife and i are senior missionaries serving in the city of Lagos, in the Portugal Lisbon Mission. We have the opportunity to serve with your daughter, Sister Mancuso. She and her companion are wonderful missionaries and young people. We took them on a P-day activity yesterday to a castle in the city of Silves. We all had a fun time. I attach a few photos for your enjoyment.
Elder Jeffers



Sister Mancuso stands in front of a statute of King Sancho I, a king in the late 1100s who conquered the area of Silves from the Moors. The statute stands at the entrance to the castle.


Sister Mancuso, Sister Jeffers, and Sister Echeverria stand outside the castle.

Sister Mancuso and Sister Echeverria.

Some of the towers have small museums inside. Portals for shooting arrows are built on each side.


Sister Jeffers, Sister Mancuso and Sister Echeverria stand near the restored remains of a residential area within the castle walls. This was where the royal types lived.

Monday, September 1, 2014

Oh Lagos.....

Hello, everyone!
   This is probably gonna be a short letter.
   Lagos is... interesting.
   This week was better than last. I´m being more positive. We have a few investigators, but Lagos is big. Really big. And it´s so hilly! Up and down hills all day. My calfs are getting a workout.
    But, I also experimented with food this week. I didn´t realize how bad of a cook I was until I got here. 
   I´m terrible! Since we went grocery shopping and i´m trying to eat other things than just pasta (because it´s super cheap at the grocery store), I attempted to make this tomato risotto type thing? Yeah, it was terrible. And I wasted a can of tomatoes. And since we have family nights with families sometimes, we make cookies or cakes and stuff. But cookies aren´t really that big of a thing here, and I can see why. Even though you use all the same ingredients and all the same things as back home, the cookies just don´t turn out... good. So i´m gonna stick to making cakes...
   Also, if anyone wants to send me recipes... I would actually really like that. Healthy, easy-to-make recipes...
   Lagos weather.
   Here´s the thing about Lagos weather.
   It´s perfect in the morning. Then, it gets RIDICULOUSLY hot (it doesn´t help that you´re walking around all over town in the sun either), and then at night, there´s a lot of wind and it´s really cold.
   It´s so bipolar.
   What else? We went to a subway in Portimao after our district meeting! But it didn´t taste the same :( 
   So yesterday, we were trying to ask an old lady for directions, and our conversation went kind of like this:
"Excuse me, can you tell us where this street is?"
"No, I go to an evangelical church!"
"No, we´re looking for this street____ on this side of town."
"Street? Of course there are streets in heaven! I belong to an evangelical church!"
(she was on a balcony, and we were trying to talk, but i think she thought we were yelling at her...)
"NO, Street ______ on this side of town!"
"THERE ARE STREETS IN HEAVEN!"
Sigh.
"Ok, have a nice night!"
   It was actually really funny.
   But, this week was also really well because we had some really good lessons! I´ve learned that even when your whole day has been a bust and no one wants to listen to you and you´re a little sad, the Lord ALWAYS finds a way to make you feel better! It´s such a miracle. Whether it´s a really great street contact, or a great lesson where the spirit is really strong, or even something small, it makes me so happy :)
   Hope everyone´s doing well!
Love,
Sister Mancuso