"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, May 18, 2015

Week one of travelling


Hello Everyone!

This week was awesome!

 Me and Sister Gutierrez did so much this week! We went to Foz do Douro for a division with the sisters serving there. Foz is BEAUTIFUL! (Makes sense, it´s right by Porto, which is gorgeous.) Especially right by the beach, it kind reminds me of Coney Island or something like that.

 We had the amazing opportunity to have a division with Sister Mauricio and Sister Carroll. Sister Gutierrez really felt she should go with Sister Mauricio, and I really felt that I should´ve gone with Sister Carroll, so it was perfect because the spirit really did guide us to that decision. We split up foz and talked to everyone!  We experienced so many tiny miracles and found lots of people who were interested in listening. Overall, it was a great division, and we all felt the spirit abundantly. I love those sisters so much!

 Oh my goodness. When we were on our way back home, we went to the Porto São Bento train station... The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen! Google it. Google it right now. 9 months living in Portugal, and I’m still in awe. And everything in Porto is just gorgeous...

  I´ve been having weird allergic reactions the the pollen in the north lately. Sometimes my lip swells up twice its size. And in Foz my hand blew up: It was great! But I bought allergy medicine, and it´s all good now.

 We had a lesson with Silvina, Mimi, and Malaika (the family from Mozambique) and they also went to church this week. Silvina kept saying "all of it just makes sense! Every time I come into a class or lesson, I just feel really good and I feel like all of this is true!" They read the BOM everyday, and Silvina is always going on the church website. THEY LISTEN TO THE MOTAB! They are so amazing. We just love them and we really try to stress eternal families with them. They are so special and they truly were prepared by the Lord to receive this message.

 This week in Braga was also great! We felt ourselves being guided to find those prepared for the gospel, and we have found so many! It feels like I feel so much love for so many of the people I meet and we really want them to accept this! It´s kind of funny how on the mission, you get so used to these experiences that it seems so weird that you lived your life in any other way. When we are worthy to have the spirit with us and constantly try to repent, the impressions of the spirit are so strong and you know that it´s undeniably the spirit taking to you. I love the opportunity I have to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. I love the mission! And I love my companion. We are constantly trying to better ourselves and be the best versions of ourselves that we can be. It´s really hard, but we´re working to make immediate progress, even if it´s a little.

 Well, that was the best of my week in a nutshell. Hope you all have a great week, love you!!!!!

 Love,

 Sister Mancuso

Monday, May 4, 2015

Traveling. So much traveling.

Hola!
How´s your week been?
   This week was AWESOME. Tiring, but awesome! We went to Lisboa on Monday night and on tuesday we didn´t get back home until 10:30!
  The weirdest thing happened on the train ride there! I ate a few digestive cookies and we had arepas for lunch beforehand. I have never ever ever ever ever had a problem with motion sickness, but that day, on the 3 and a half hour train ride to Lisbon, I got a really bad stomachache and started feeling nauseous. I ended up having to run to the bathroom and I puked my guts out 3 TIMES. I had no more food in my stomach and I was dry heaving! I tried to drink some water afterward and then I threw that up too!!! So that´s the story of my temporary motion sickness!
   We ended up staying the night in the old Benfica sister´s apartment and went to Conselho da missao (Mission counsel. Where all the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders meet with President Fluckiger and receive training on how to help the other missionaries). It was so spiritual and it made missionary work so much more amazing! I´m so happy to be able to go to Lisbon again because I don´t think i´ll be going back after the next conselho da missao when they split up the mission! I´m pretty sure i´m staying in the Porto mission.
  And it´s also funny because 3 other sisters who came with me in the MTC are STL´s as well! I can´t believe how fast time has passed! I´m almost 10 months on my mission and it´s CRAZY.
  What else?
  On Friday, we went to Porto, and that´s always an adventure, mainly because of the metro and the train and that´s always fun... me and Sister Gutierrez gave some trainings and I got SUPER nervous! But it was fine and awesome and great! I met all of the Sisters we´re gonna be visiting in a few weeks and it was awesome!
   We´re teaching this amazing family from Mozambique (I might´ve already told you...) but they are so elect and they are reading the BOM and praying and they are thinking seriously about baptism, but still haven´t made up their minds. I think the mother knows it´s true, but the daughters are a little bit harder to convince... We´re praying, though. It´s so funny because they are teens and the 2 daughters remind me so much of me and Sarah and me! We taught them about temples and how families can be together forever through marriage in the temple! I LOVE TEMPLES! 
   One more miracle! It´s been raining like crazy this week. We were walking in the rain like we always do, and we were late for an appointment, and we were speedwalking, and I was PRAYING that a member would find us and give us a ride. A little bit later... A MEMBER FOUND US WHILE THEY WERE DRIVING AND GAVE US A RIDE! The Lord´s tender mercies are amazing!
  I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Mancuso