Monday, October 31, 2011

Ear ache... Biting kids... Baptism!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

I can´t stop singing ´This is Halloween, This is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween...´ oh how i miss Halloween in the states. I am SURE my comp thinks i am crazy.. ha ha We both love Halloween and can´t stop talking about how amazing Halloween is in the united states. In Brazil they don´t celebrate it and she wishes they did.

Mom.. Thank you for the package. Loved the plates, napkins, treats, letters from all of you and the ward. The pictures from the primary. I have so many to thank. Tell everyone thank you for me! Oh the peanut butter and chocolate stuff is amazing. The peanut butter here isn´t bad.. it just isn´t American peanut butter. But i will enjoy while i am here in Portugal. It won´t last forever. I also loved the church news. Thank you for being so thoughtful mom. I was actually at the mission office this week and that is why i got your package. Otherwise i would have had to wait until our zone conference in the next few weeks. I got your package because I went to the hospital twice in Lisboa and it is right by the mission office.. but it wasn´t serious. i promise. chill mom.

SO- i´ve got a lot to chat about this week. For reals. Last Monday morning i started to have an ear ache but i didn´t think much of it. By lunch time i was having a hard time chewing and opening my mouth. The pain in my ear was down in my jaw and slightly in my neck. My ear was starting to swell up and then it shut completely. The pain was indescribable. I took some meds to help and i thought the pain would pass. Well.. guess what? It didn´t. By Wednesday i couldn´t handle the pain anymore so i went to the hospital with one of the mission couples here and I got some meds and the doctor said if i needed to come back i could but the meds should help with the pain. For the next few days i didn´t sleep. I couldn´t think, let alone in Portuguese, it was hard for me to focus during lessons and my face started to go numb (weird), so we returned to the hospital on Friday. There the doctor stook at vacuum in my ear, sucked the nasty stuff, i screamed and left the hospital with 4 new prescriptions. ha ha By about Saturday the pain was going away and i was feeling much better. Through all of this last week we still baptized!!!!!! YAY!!!!

Yesterday we had a baptism for Atanasio. He is 18 years old and lives with his mom and sisters. He works to help bring money into the home and he is just a good kid. His baptism was at 9pm because he had to work.. but we will baptize at any hour for peoples salvation here. We are trying to teach his mom and sisters this week, we´ll see what the lord has in store for them but we are really excited.

Umm... During a lesson this week a little boy bit my finger and i screamed.. obviously because it HURT.. and you know what... yeah, the mom did NOTHING about it.. The parenting here is so different than in the united states. I just had to laugh it off because what else am i supposed to do with this amazing name tag on my chest.. oh wait.. wanna know why he bit me? So we were praying, and the little boy was trying to get into my backpack. So i held my hand on the zipper to wait until after the prayer to help him and he decided he would bite me because he wasn´t getting his way.. He is probably 2. Man..

Question- Has Amy received her call yet? What the news with her??? Fill. me.in. I am so excited for her!

I feel like i have so much more to say, but the brain has put a hault on my thoughts. Sorry. So mom.. i am fine. i promise. I am still on the meds until this ear ache completely passes but i am definitely being taken care of. The mission is the best place to be. I think i will just stay out here forever. mkay?

oh yeah.. I am still not fluent. in case you are wondering. One of our investigators asked me to say the closing prayer with him because it is funny when i talk. ha ha shame shame shame. I neeed to be fluent.

I love you all.. i hope you have a fun night tonight! Take pictures. I am off to shopping!

XOXO

Irmã Boshard




*Posted By The Boshard Family

Monday, October 24, 2011

The Greatest Calling

Heeelllloo..

Just in case you all didn´t know i have the greatest calling in the world right now. THE GREATEST CALLING!! Everyday i see miracles. Miracles that only come from a loving heavenly father. There was one day this week Irmã Dos Santos and i were contacting in the street, we contacted 4 people in a row that didn´t believe in god nor cared to hear about our message.. We asked to pray with all of them and only one let us pray with them but wouldn´t meet with us another time. It was a really hard morning. I thought to myself.. did we do something wrong? Did we not pray on time? Did we not talk to someone on the road that heavenly father put in our path? I know.. i am nurotic. ha ha sooo.. Later that night we were about ready to go home and we contacted this cute pregnant lady. She is Joseph Smith.. Seriously.. ha ha but her name is Sonia. She said every church she attends she feels like there is more out there. She wants to find a church with everything but there are too many churchs to look into. OH MY GOSH.. Heavenly Father was just testing our patience that morning and he was preparing us to meet Sonia. We have an appointment to meet with her tonight and i am pretty sure she is elect.

Yesterday we had a baptism!!!! His name is Arlindo and he was a battle to get into the water. ha ha Last Sunday he came with us to stake conference and loved it, but then this week when we tried to meet with him he never had time. Finally on Thursday we had our first lesson with him and invited him to be baptized on Sunday. He was shocked and said i really need to think about this. We said great, but we should probably pray about this right now and ask Heavenly Father. So we did and then he said yes. PRAY IS AMAZING. If there is one thing President Torgan is teaching us right now it is the power of prayer. It is so real. so so real and we are entitled to revelation. All of us.. obviously for different situations but we have the opportunity to communicate with heavenly father. He will only help us if we ask for it. So- Arlindo.. his baptism was yesterday and pretty much it is a guarantee for something to not run smoothly. Irmã Dos Santos and i started to fill up the baptismal font an hour before the baptism and it was about 15 before the baptism was going to start and the font was not filling up. I realized we forgot to use the drain stopper. ha ha whoops! So i ran to get the other Elders (because in our chapel we have 2 other wards and 2 sets of Elders) so i ran to grab the ZL´s to help us and there was no way the font would fill in 15 minutes.. so Elder Hope, me and Irmã Dos Santos started to fill up pans in the kitchen and bathroom and we filled the font right up.. but the baptism had to start 30 minutes late unfortunately. ha ha it was hilarious.

oh- this week Irmã and i witnessed a drug bust on the street. We were sitting on the curb making phone calls and all of a sudden two big guys in black shirts grabbed this guy.. threw him against a building and they took drugs right out of his pockets. He was escorted in a car with some other big guys and that was it. Everyone went back to minding their own business.

o i have so much i want to say about this week but so little time. This drunk guy contacted us in the road the other day. He was riding his bike and we watched him almost get hit by 2 cars. He said good afternoon he strated to blab about nothing.. eating meat and christmas and santa clause. we were trying to leave but he kept asking us questions. Finally, i said can we pray with you. We want to bless your day. He set his bike down and got really serious. I said is there anything you need in your life right now? he said i really need to stop drinking. His eyes filled with tears, he kissed our hands and called us angels. It was marvelous. We are going to start teaching him and help him get his life in order.

This work is a privilege. Absolute privilege. I am so grateful to be here. to help others straighten their lives. Oh testimony is overwhelming BIG!!! We are so lucky to have this gospel in our hands. Do not take it for granted. DO NOT! I did before the mission and i am eternally grateful for the gospel. Stay strong. I love you all!

XOXO
Irmã Boshard




*Posted By The Boshard Family

Monday, October 17, 2011

Rolling Right Along

Happy Fall!! It really should be fall, but it is still so hot here. We are in summer... I like it but i want it to chill down for a bit. We live right by the coast and the smell of the ocean is divine every morning. We live close to Cristo Rei and the bridge that looks like San Fransisco. kinda.. This last week flew by.. flew right on by. I love my companion Irmã Dos Santos. Did i mention last week she is in her second transfer!!! ha ha and hello, there is me.. in my third transfer! Our zone is young in the field. Our ZL´s have been out 4 transfers and 5 transfers. youngans.. and i think this is the first time being ZL´s..Others in our zone have 3, 4, 6 transfers under their belt. It´s amazing the miracles Heavenly Father puts in our path when we are so humble and relying on the spirit 24/7.

Sweet Irmã Dos Santos does not know the area and feels the exact same way i did, when i stayed in Odivelas and had to show my new comp around, but we saw miracles this week!! We marked 3 people for baptism in the next 2 weeks. One of our investigators name is Nelson.. He has been taught by the Irmãs for some time and should have been baptized a few weeks ago, but he bailed on the Irmãs. So Irmã and i felt like we needed to pass by this week and visit him. We taught him about the gospel of Christ, faith, baptism so on and so forth. After the lesson we invited him to be baptized with a date.. He said no, no.. I need to think about this and get back to you later. I said can we kneel right now and pray about this? You need to know from Heavenly Father this is what he wants from you.. Nelson said. yes.. of course... So we knelt down and one at a time each of us prayed.. Irmã prayed, then me and Nelson. When i prayed.. i paused for like 20 seconds.. I wanted Nelson to feel the power of the holy ghost.. right after Nelson prayed.. Nelson said, okay.. I say yes.. he felt so good and knew this is what he needs to do! It was incredible.. He is marked for baptism on the 30th of this month. The spirit is truly amazing and indescribable.. People need to learn how to feel.. We can teach all day and preach all day, but it does nothing if you can´t feel the power of the holy ghost. Man, I love this work!

We marked another young man Atanasio. He is 17 years old and so ready for this.. He loves church and youth center we have. He can meet other youth and hang out and play games.. The mission couple also teaches lessons during the week. He will be baptized next sunday on the 23rd. The other guy we marked is older and his name is João. He knows all of this is true.. he just needs to act.. and he now he is.. He will be baptized on the 30th too.

This week we ate with a member in our ward. The couple served in Porto and i immediately asked who their mission president was and they said President Meeks and Sister Meeks. they were so excited when i told them i knew him.. the couple is Leandro and Marina Cavalio... Marina´s dad died while she was on her mission and she said The Meeks will for sure remember her.. They told me to send Brother and sister meeks their love and i took a picture with them and i will try to send it home soon.

Yesterday was Stake Conference and we had the opportunity to hear from President and Irmã Torgan.. I cannot tell you enough how incredible he is.. He just talks like a general authority.. I have no doubts he will be a general authority. He knows exactly how to lead this work simply and powerfully. He makes everything seem like cake.. You all know my love for him. He is a machine. for reals.

So quickly.. this week i was studying of course in the bible and i was reading Romans 15.. This should be the new relief society thing.. ha ha Service of course. in verse 1 and 2 this is our calling.. serve serve serve.. Also in Acts 20:35 it talks about giving and then receiving.. I wish i could explain better but my time is running out. Go read it and study it. I hope you learn something to help others in this life.

I love you all! I am so grateful for you. Hang in there. Keep strong with scripture study, prayer and temple attendance.. You´re all fantastic. XOXO

Irmã Boshard




*Posted By The Boshard Family

Monday, October 10, 2011

TRANSFERRED!

I was transferred today!!! My first transfer leaving the only area i know.. It is weird.. Irmã Mortensen and i were at a bakery just taking our time, looking around this morning because usually transfer calls come later in the afternoon so we just dilly dallied around Odivelas.. Well The secretaries called at 11am and said I needed to pack my bags NOW and it would be great if i was done by noon.. WHAT!!!! We ran home.. I packed in 45 minutes and now i am in Almada.. Weird.. I was so sad to leave Irmã Mortensen.. I LOVE her.. She and i had the best time together.. She helped me throw everything in my suit cases, pack up and leave. I LOVED Odivelas.. I will miss that area SO MUCH!!! Now i am serving with Irmã Dos Santos. She is from Brazil and do not worry.. she only speaks like 2 words of English. ha ha This transfer i will definitely be learning the language. I have been praying and praying to learn this language and whelp, Heavenly Father sent me to the best companion to learn from, soo.. It´s going to be great. Almada is a big city (from what i can tell) and pretty close to the ocean.. I think i am going to love it here.

Last week.. where to begin?? We had two baptisms yesterday! It was fantastic! We baptized Mariano who is from Guinea. We found him as we were contacting in the streets. He was pretty much elect from the moment we met him and heavenly father has been preparing him for a really long time.. His baptism was right after sacrament meeting and then Danny the 13 year old boy was baptized too, but his story is kinda confusing.. His mom lives in Odivelas but on the weekend he stays with is aunt and uncle in Alverca and goes to church with them because his mom works... So Irmã and i taught him during the week in Odivelas because he was home and didn´t work as much. Anyway.. moving on, we got to leave our area yesterday and go to Alverca for the baptism.. Another set of Elders from Povoá had a baptism too for a young boy.. It was wonderful! Side note: Danny´s baptism almost didn´t happen because his aunt said he wasn´t ready and tried to convince his mom, us and the bishop that he can´t be baptized. She called us and was furious and said there is no way.. I do not authorize this baptism.. It was a fight, but in the end.. the spirit won her over and Danny was baptized.. Satan finds any opportunity to stop baptisms.. It gets really old and we just have to prepare ourselves every time. Ugh.

We also passed by Buneca´s house to see how she was doing, because the spirit told us to (obviously) and Freak, She opened the door, rolled her eyes.. then gave us a hug, smiled and was thrilled to see us.. ummmmm yeah.. bipolar.. ha ha i have NO idea what goes through that mind of hers. I am sad i am not in that area anymore to help her get baptized but some day in the future she will be baptized! She has to get the devil out of her. like now. We had 7 or so investigators progressing last week, it was great.. Irmã Mortensen will baptize them all.. I have no worries.

I am glad you are doing well, getting ready for Halloween.. I wish they celebrated Halloween here.. They just take a lot of holidays, close up shop and go to the beach.. ha ha So the work is still growing and i love it. I love seeing the change in peoples lives when they find happiness.. It is sad to leave the people i helped baptize but i just have more work to do here in Portugal. I am excited for what it to come. Family- pray and ready diligently every day.. Helaman 5:12... always rely on our savior. Turn to him for EVERYTHING! I need this mission more than it needs me. I am learning so many little things that make the biggest difference in my life. Don´t take the gospel for granted. Use it in everything you do. I love you all!
XOXO

Irmã Boshard



*Posted By The Boshard Family

Monday, October 3, 2011

Best Conference Ever!

Family!

Hello! Wasn´t this the best conference weekend ever! The general authroities don´t beet around the bush anymore.. It´s good for us and the youth. We need directness in these days. Half of my zone went to Benfica at the mission office to watch conference.. there is a chapel right next door where our investigators could watch too. I missed the Saturday session because we were working on having a baptism Saturday night, which ended up falling. But our investigator Marcello is working on gaining a testimony of Joesph Smith.. that is the only thing he is struggling with. We are trying to pray for him and help him with what he needs.. We had another baptism planned for Saturday which fell too. We have been teaching this young man Danny. he is 13 years old and has been taught by the missionaries for about 2 years.. he still doesn´t feel ready for baptism and wants to wait until November or something like that.. it is frustrating.. We will just wait and see what the lord has in store for him coming up.. So again this last week, no baptisms but we have other progressing investigators which is great!!!

Confrenece.. okay.. Being a missionary and watching conference is so much better than being home.. I feel like this was the first time i actually was excited, had a desire to watched and learned something from every talk. My favorite talk was by Tad R. Callister about the bible and book of mormon. Irmã and i have so many investigators that needed this talk.. He made it so simple as to why we use them together. I can´t wait to print that talk out and give it to our investigators.. I also loved President Monson.. he was so animated with the rolling eyes and long pauses this conference.. He is right when he talked about people thinking it is the 10 suggestions from God and not really commandments anymore. For some reason people just don´t take them seriously or they think it is okay to live this one and not the other.. NOT TRUE.. So many slackers in this world unfortunately. I like how he said the storms will always beat on our doors, but we will be better equipped if we have the gospel in our core. We must always pray.. I can´t tell you how many times i pray every day.. every moment. We will never make it through this life if we don´t communicate with Heavenly Father and rely on our savior.

I liked the talk from Randall K. Benett about having only 2 choices.. we follow Christ or we follow the world.. it is that simple. We need to make the decision now.. There is no gray area.. Man- i wish we could chat about this all day. I hope you all got answers and learned something from Conference.. I am so excited for Provo 2 temple.. How lucky are we to live in Utah and be so close to the temples. Take advantage of it. It is the greatest blessing we have on this earth. I miss it so much.

Sorry i don´t have much else to report on.. Transfers are next Monday. Not sure what is going to happen.. eeekkk.. I love you all dearly!!!!

Take Care XOXO

Irmã Boshard



*Posted By The Boshard Family