Week 2 in Povoa

Well, this week was really great! Week 2 serving in Póvoa, and i´m really liking it.

Today we went to the Torre de Belem! It´s really old and beautiful and so very portuguese :) Me and Sister Lewis had been planing this day for awhile, so we met up with some sisters we know and after ALL of this time I have in Portugal, I finally went for the first time:)

This past week was really great!

Well, I had my last conselho de missão (mission counsel) this week. It was so spiritual and probably the best one i´ve bene to. One thing that always happens at the end is that we sing the hino da missão (mission song), which in our case, is "Called to Serve". Everyone gathers in a circle and we sing it and it´s always so spiritual, but this time, it was even more... :)

The next day, we had our zone meeting (Lisboa Oeste, woot!!!!!), which was also very spiritual. Me and sister Lewis gave some trainings about CHRISTMAS and it was amazing :) Christmastime as a missionary is very special because we have the opportunity to really spread Christmas cheer and tell the whole world about Jesus Christ. I know, it sounds super cheesy, but it´s true! I love the fact that we have so many opportunities each day to spread the good news that becaue of Jesus Christ, we have the opportunity to be completely clean and one day return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ taught us so much, and one of His attributes was that of Charity. I studied about that this week. I remebered a quote by Hyrum Smith that says "Charity is the ability to separate the man from the things he does." I though about that this week and about how important it is to really love our brothers and sisters here and I realized how much I have come to love the Portuguese people. I love them so much and this love has been growing and growing every day.

This week, the spirit guided us to so many cool people and to places where we really needed to be. We explored a bunch of our área, which consists of 3 towns: Póvoa, Santa Iria, and Vialonga. We explored and found new people and even ran into less-active members who really were needing to talk to us. It´s amazing how much the spirit guides us if we only listen and follow.

Me and Sister Lewis are taking advantage of the bread here in Portugal. THE BREAD IS SO GOOD. So we made a "Pão-endario" (bread calendar) and are trying to eat a little bit of portuguese bread everyday :D

Well, this next week is going to bring lots of new adventures because I get to go to the AZORES to do divisions there! I´m super excited and I hope I will have lots of good stories to tell next week!

Amo Vocês!

Sister Mancuso

 

 

Hello Everyone!!!

Hello everyone! 

  This week was a roller coaster. It was really crazy, not gonna lie. We had another division this week with the Sisters in Olhão, and this time we separated and I went to Olhão with Sister Oliveira and SIster Harper stayed here in Faro with Sister Andrade. I just love those sisters so much. Sister Andrade has been with me the entire time i´ve been in Faro and we´ll be finishing the mission together.

  Sigh. I love the Algarve. These last couple of P-Days, we´ve been roaming around the Algarve with the car and visiting new places and coming back to well-known ones. This very well may be my last week in the Algarve and Faro because next weeks is transfers and I have no idea what´s going to happen with me!

  Will I stay? Will I go? Who knows? Well, God knows. And I trust in His judgement, so I know that whatever happens will be what needs to happen. Sigh. Maybe i´ll serve in or around Lisbon. I still haven´t served anywhere around there yet...

  We had our District Conference this past week and President and Sister Tavares were there. They spoke to the whole district of the Algarve and it was so spiritual. 

  One thing i´ve been reminded of this week was of how fast the work of the Lord is progressing and how much satan doesn´t want that. He really will do anything to stop this work from progressing. And so many things have happened this week in Faro that it´s so important to remember that NOTHING can stop the work of the Lord and it´s so important to always be united and in harmony with one another. I love my companion and I love my district here in Faro. 

  I truly have been so blessed with so many good people around me here in Portugal. It makes me so happy that sometimes I just wanna cry of happiness. 

  Have a marvelous week, everyone!

-Sister Mancuso

 

 

Be thou my vision

Olá gente! Tudo bem????

This week was really... hectic. Som much happened. Where to start?

Me and Sister Harper stayed in Faro last P-day. It was super downcast and the sky was threatening rain and we were in the downtown pretty part of the city.

And then it actually did rain and we had to find shelter... So we found refuge in this place called Bolo de Caco, which is a really yummy sandwich originally from Madeira. I LOVE BOLO DE CACO!

On tuesday night, we went to Lisbon with the elders for mission counsel which was held on wednesday. The whole 3 hours was just listening to Christmas music. So much Christmas music! But mission counsel was so spiritual. I learned so much. Everytime I go I just feel so happy and i´m reminded of how amazing the mission is. The mission is so short and the time so precious that it´s so important to really take advantage of every second here! And especially here in Portugal...

Today we went to Portimão again. Man, I just love going there! We visited a beach called Praia dos Três Irmãos. GORGEOUS. Giant rock formations and no one was there and the weather was perfect because there was a sea-salty breeze that you can only smell in Portugal. The sun was out and we could hear the seagulls and the waves lapping in and out... And I just thought, "Wow. I´m in Portugal today, and there´s no other place i´d rather be right now."

I LOVE PORTUGAL! Have a great week, everyone!

love,

Sister Mancuso

                                                               Praia dos Tres Irmaos

Bolo de Caco

 

 

 

#LISBONPORTUGALTEMPLEGROUNDBREAKING

Yes.

Yes, you read right.

 The Lisbon Portugal temple has been announced and the ground breaking will be on December 5th of this year! I´m so happy that I will be to be here in this beautiful country when it happens! Temples are such an enormous blessing and words can´t describe how happy it makes me that the ball is finally rolling on its construction! I think it´s funny that i´ve been living in this wonderful country of Portugal for more than a year, and i´ve seen so many miracles here and seen so many lives changed and have just GROWN SO MUCH LOVE for these people, that when they get their own temple, it makes me feel just as happy for them

That was the highlight of my week.

  It´s been really rainy. I´ve had to use the umbrella I bought all the way up when I was in Braga. But that´s good because I still haven´t used it, so at least i´m getting some use out of it!

  I have been having such a blast with Sister Harper. We have really been working hard and we did our first division of the transfer this week in Olhão. It´s so funny that we went back because i´ve been there so many times, I feel like i´ve already served there!

  We marked one of our investigators, Linda to be baptized! She is making a lot of progress. she really has a real intent to know if God exists and is praying and reading the Book of Mormon. When she prays she says that she feels calm. She is incredible!

  So I have had a desire my whole misison to find and baptize a chinese family. I don´t knw why, but I just really want to. So I ordered a bunch of materials in chinese and went to every chinese store in our area. No luck. I was feeling kinda sad about it, until last night when we contacted this young man. Who happened to be chinese... :) We got to talking and it ended up being an amzing contact. He´s 20 just like us and is a college student, but I felt the spirit so strong during that contact that I know that It really was supposed to happen! I know that that desire I have isn´t for no reason, and i´m super excited for the next time we meet with André!

  I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting this week about the Book of Mormon. I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON! I think one of the most precious things I have in my life is my portuguese BoM. I have marked up and read it so much and used it so much that it is so precious and full of personal revelation for me. The Book of Mormon has given me a testimony that God really does speak to His children and He wants us to read His scriptures to be able to know what to do in our lives to have more happiness! It´s kinda like a road map to happiness!

Well, I hope everyone has a week full of miracles!

Love,

Sister Mancuso

 

 

Faro, Faro, Faro....AND FARO!

This is gonna be my 4th transfer in Faro! I´ll be staying here and i´ll be serving with Sister Harper- we were together in the MTC!

It´s gonna be an AMAZING TRANSFER!

  I´m super excited to see what this transfer will bring! Well, one thing´s for sure- it´ll bring lots of miracles. It´s what I live for here on the mission! Everyday things and people that God puts in our path to show how much He loves us and how much He loves the people we meet. We met this man this week named João. João works for the Portuguese Red Cross and we met him on the street one morning. He said that the day before, he was feeling kinda depressed and wanted to feel free of whatever it was he was feeling- then he ran into us. Me and Sister McChesney both felt that we have to do everything we can to help him. We had a lesson with him and it was so amazing and spiritual. I felt in that moment the power that we as missionaries hold- we hold the salvation of God´s children in our hands, and that´s something that should be treated with a lot of care and love.

  We went to Lisbon this past week with the Elders to our mission counsel- it was awesome! I always love Lisbon, and this time we went by car, so it was way awesomer! We had to leave at about 6:30 in the morning, but we got there in time to have a super amazing meeting. 

  Hope everyone has an amazing week and sorry that my letters are kinda short- I promise to write a longer one next week!

Com amor,

Sister Mancuso

#GeneralConnferenceWeekend

Oh, yeah.

That´s right. 

Only happens twice a year.

GENERAL CONFERENCE!

This is my 3rd GC on the mission, and it´s so funny. because everytime I watch it, I understand more and more. My first one- didn´t understand ANYTHING. My 2nd one- understood lots. My 3rd- I was surprised with how much I picked up! I understood everything and, of course, I was spiritually fortified. I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE! And even though I didn´t cry this time, I came pretty close a few times. But it´s all good. We had 2 investigators come and they both loved it and felt the spirit really strong.

And we also had a really good experience with one of the Elders´ investigators. His name is Regmi, and he´s from Nepal. He didn´t grow up with a christian background, and he´s been wondering exactly HOW it is we know. Well, on saturday night, he watched conference and later came up to us. He said "I felt it. I felt the fathomless depth." And touched his chest. HE FELT THE SPIRIT! It testified to him. It was a super amazing experience and that is why I love this gospel!

Well, that was the highlight of my week! Have a great week, everyone, and WRITE ME!

Love, Sister Mancuso

Miracles, Miracles, MIRACLES

So the BIGGEST miracle happened this week!

We were all in the chapel one day and a man´s car broke down right in front of the chapel. He asked if the Elders (who JUST happened to get a car this week!) could give him a jump on his battery. The car was still not working, so we decided to show him the chapel. Then we all got to talking, and this man we just met said that he grew up in Venezuela. As with ANYONE who mentions Venezuela, I said "My mom is from Venezuela!" Then he looked at my name tag and said, "I can´t believe it. I can´t believe it! I know who you are!" 

Silence. I was really confused.... Then he said "You´re grandpa is Fidel Castillo, isn´t he?" and it was even more bizarre! I responded YES, and he started naming everyone in my family! Turns out he´s a family friend of my mom´s!!!!! I FREAKED OUT! It was so cool and unbelievable and I couldn´t believe it! I still can´t. All the way in the Algarve, there is someone who knows my family in Venezuela! But I know that that wasn´t coincidence and I know that the Lord has a plan for this man! His name is Carlos Figencoli (don´t know if that´s how you spell it) correction: Carl Fingenschou. But really, it was incredible. It strengthened my testimony that the Lord really does put us in the right place at the right time. 

I love you all! Have a great week!