The Gift Of Tongues

Gooood Morning Family,

I hope you are all enjoying your time in California.. You lucky kids get to go play at the beach! I hope you all had a good time.
Last week was a super hard and rewarding week for me. Just when i think i cant be more humble, once again Heavenly Father blesses me and i feel even more humble. I cannot express to you how real the gift of tongues are. Heavenly Father has made a miracle out of me. He is right by my side every step of the way this transfer. I feel like the moment i waked into this transfer with two new greenies, I have been blessed to understand and speak Portuguese better. Have you heard the tea cup story?? You should look it up and that is exactly what i am feeling like.

Last week we were teaching a sweet young girl Nuxa. She is 14 years old and is a bright bright girl. She has many questions and doubts about the gospel but has continued to pray and read the book of mormon. We were trying to help her work towards baptism yesterday but she would not accept the invite. so after church on Sunday one of my zone leaders wanted to talk to her and go over the baptismal interview questions.. He felt like maybe that is what she needed to finally accept baptism. Well, Lo and behold he was inspired because Nuxa walked out of the interview and said i am going to be baptized and it is going to be today. So we ran to her house, got permission from her mom and ran back to the church where she made the biggest decision of her life and she could not have had a bigger smile on her face. It was my little greenies first baptism in the field so i tried to make it really special for them and show them how rewarding it is to be an instrument in the lords hands and see the labor of our fruits. I love love love this work. I love training and teaching these adorable new missionaries how it is that they can help others come unto know christ. Irma walton and irma gutierrez are studly missionaries.. They are progressing so well and it is such a privilege to be training them. We are learning a lot together.. Yesterday our Landlord was trying to ask me questions about rent and she was saying words i has never even heard of ha ha and i tried to understand and it wasn´t working out so well and straight to my face she told me that i speak really bad Portuguese. ha ha all i can do is continue on and learn right.. ha ha

My advice to you this week is to read Alma 48 about captian moroni and follow his example. I want to have the same attributes as he did when he was leading, serving and guiding children of god. AND if we do this, we can avoid the temptations of Satan and have a firm foundation of what we should really be focusing on during the day. LOVE YOU. XOXO

Com Amor,

Irma Boshard

I'm A Real Missionary!

Olá! Bom Dia. Soo, I guess the Lord is truly testing my faith and obedience.. Because not only did i get one greenie, but I AM TRAINING TWO GREENIES!!! They are incredible.. the new program at the MTC is a miracle and is truly helping prepare these missionaries with the language before they hit they field. Irmã Walton is from California and Irmã Gutierrez is from Mexico.. They both speak English and one obviously speaks Spanish.. She has picked up the language quick.. They have so much drive and interest to do the work of the Lord. I love these girls.

I stayed in Madeira until Thursday and i was able to say goodbye to recent converts, members and investigators.. It was a blessing. I really miss that place. It´s hard to leave the islands because who knows when i will ever make it back to visit those wonderful people. The night i said goodbye to the family of 7, The Gouveia Family.. they made me a card and drew me a picture of Christ.. It is beautiful. They said they are going to send me pictures of their baptism and write me letters during my mission. I was so blessed to have found that family.. They are so prepared for the gospel. At the airport i just cried as i left. That place changed my life and my mission. I learned about patience and truly how to take care of the Lords children. However, i have Almada now and i am so excited to get to work. The ward is so supportive of everything. Baptisms, investigators, and you know everything that comes with the missionary work. They gave me a big warm welcome back. Love this ward dearly.

President Torgan gave all the trainers a meeting on Thursday and it was really inspiring.. The work is growing so much out here in Portugal. That man has so much faith in the Lord.. It´s amazing. He has helped the members see the possibility of doing our part as members to help build the kingdom of god grow here on earth. It is not just the calling as missionaries.

When we arrived in almada we got right to work. We don´t have many progressing investigators, we are kind of starting from scratch. We have spent a lot of time searching for new investigators and one day we were knocking doors. A woman wouldn´t answer the door but she was taking to us through the door. It was funny.. She eventually answered the door and said i don´t have much time but you can come in for a minute. So we entered and ended up staying for 2 hours.. She has a messy life but she told us we were an answer to her prayers.. she said she needed us in that moment and we made her day. We left her a book of mormon and told her god sent us her to help her feel his loves. That he knows her and is aware of her situation. My little greenies are teaching and testifying.. I am so proud of them.. they Have such a great spirit and they are teaching me so much about the work as well. I am really excited for this transfer.. We are gonna do work!!

I think you are all great. I love you my wonderful family.. I hope you got my letters i sent not to long ago! Take care.. Be good, and read your scriptures and actually apply them in your life.. Don´t just read them!

XOXO

com amor,

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

Oh You Betcha Transfers!!! :(

What up fam!!!

Okay, so my hands are like freaking out right now and i am going to have diarrhea of the mouth, well diarrhea of the fingers in this case today.. We got our transfer calls and i am leaving Maderia.. I am SO SAD.. This island is like home for me. I love the people, my recent converts, my new investigators, the members. I can´t believe this!!! Wow.. so we got the transfer call today and i am going back to Almada, weird.. I was only there for one transfer and now i get to go back. You wanna know why.. because we are receiving 13 new irmãs and i am training!!!!! WHAT I KNOW.. I am tripping over here. I guess Heavenly Father trusts me, because i am still not confident in the language but i will just be guided by the spirit. Wow. I am nervous. Training. really?? I do have to say i am so excited and can´t wait but man, i have to step it up this transfer. Training.. a newbie.. I am going to be a mom.. in the mission field. so i hit my 9 month mark this week.. crazy.. I guess this whole time on my mish i have had a little irmã in my belly.. ha ha wow that sounds weird, but if you know the mission lingo it would make sense. ha ha i´ll explain later.

It was a great week, we had interviews with President and they went really well. He is SO inspired it is sick. Seriously. He taught us that the mission is like a university. We pretty much only have one chance to serve, especially at this age and we have to make the most of it while we are here. Everyday we have a class with the Holy Ghost. Every class is different and if we are not being obedient than we missed a really important class that day for the holy ghost to teach us something. He said we need to be in tune at all times. Some classes are repeatable and the spirit will teach us again but we may have to wait for the next time the lord is ready to teach us the same principle again. So it is better to always be prepared for what the Lord has for that day. Sorry it doesn´t come out right in English.. I am translating and it sounds funny..sorry. I hope it makes sense.

ummm Our sweet little family is doing really well.. They are all progressing, reading and praying!! I am soo proud of them and so sad i will not be here for their baptism. Okay, José he is not the uncle. He is the father of the two girls, but anyway he is seriously addicted to wine and we didn´t know how serious it was, but we tried all week to help him and prepare him for baptism, but he couldn´t stop drinking so his baptism fell through yesterday. The rest of the fam came to church yesterday minus the mom and one daughter but I feel so blessed to know this fam. We made them prayer rocks this week to help them remember to pray day and night. They turned out so cute! oh and Manuel, his baptism fell too. His wife didn´t agree with the law of Tithing and said it was too soon and whelp, his baptism fell too. To make the situation better, he leaves this week for the Azores and won´t return until November.. We were pretty bummed yesterday, but I know there are things i have to learn from this and change and do better TODAY, not tomorrow. I´ve gotta go, pack my bags, and maybe catch a flight tonight. I love you all.

XOXO

Com Amor,

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

Glowing Faces

the first pic is with the fam i talked about.. They are amazing.. I love them SO much!!! pray for them. Love you all!!

Package Filled With LOVE!

Thank you for the package.. Loved every single thing inside..
oh p.s. gma bo sent me a package too but i will print out pics and send them to her.. Let her know so she doesn´t stress :) Thanks

It Can Only Go Up From Here

Heeelloo faaaamily!

sooo let me start by telling you that transfers are next week and i have never been dreading transfers like i am right now. I am straight up attached to this island.. Because.. Irmã Thayer and i have found the most elect family!!! There is 9 of them that live in a cute little concrete house and we have been teaching 7 out of the 9 and the 7 of them want to be baptized!!! We found them a few weeks ago, but they didn´t seem to truly care about our message so we stopped passing by. Until we were in their area and passed by again and they said hey, we waited for you last week to come back and you never did.. We felt so bad and since then they have been reading in the book of mormon and praying.. One of the young men in the family, his name is Diamontino. He is 17 years old and last week he didn´t believe in God when we talked to him, but he still just hovered over our lessons and was so interested. We talked a little about Heavenly Father with him and invited him to read the introduction of the book of mormon and pray to see if there really is a God. He said he would. So the next day we passed by to follow up the reading and their prayers and we talked to Diamontino about his prayer and he said he hadn´t prayed yet.. so of course we all got down on our knees and prayed with him.. Irmã thayer said a sweet and simple prayer and afterwards we asked Diamontino how he felt, and he had the biggest grin on his face and said, my heart.. oh my gosh.. this feeling in my heart. I feel so warm.. Her had never felt something so powerful in his life.. HE FOUND GOD RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY EYES. I have never had a spiritual experience like that in my life or even here on the mission. I can´t explain to you in words how incredible that moment was.. We told him that he needs to continue to pray and ask God if our message is true and he said he would. He apologized and apologized because he didn´t read or pray but he said i promise i will read and pray tonight.. So once again we returned to their house last night and he was so excited to see us.. We asked how the reading and prayers were going and he said i know your message is true. I know your church is true. He is so excited to come to church with us on sunday and he said he will be baptized! The other members of this family are so attentive when we speak and they are so willing to read the book of mormon and this whole family wants to come to church and be baptized on the same day. whenever we leave their house they ask, what are you going to leave this time for us to read? Hiii elect family right?? So this is the family, i will break it down for you.. We´ve got Marina who is the mom of Mikela and Monica, then José (an uncle) and 3 brothers Diamontino, Arlindo and Cristiano.

If i leave Maderia next week i will not see their baptism and i am freaking out. I cannot believe the lord has blessed me with this amazing family to help them progress and find the right path in life.. Oh i know the Lord has a plan and I will okay with whatever it is, but i am not ready to leave this family yet. I haven´t even known them that long but i feel like i´ve know them my whole life. The Lord can see the big picture and obviously i trust in whatever will happen. Mikel and Monica are twins and they are 14 years old.. They are gems.. Cristiano is 11 and so badly wants to come to church.. He can receive the priesthood next year!!! Arlindo is like 27 and we are helping him to stop smoking and José likes wine but would love to get off it.. José actually came to church with us yesterday and during our lesson about Adam and Eve he got right up and left in a hurry.. Like left church.. We were so worried about him, but when we passed by last night he said that he was so emotionally overwhelmed and so happy that he couldn´t sit in the classroom and cry in front of us. He is so sweet!!!

Thank you for the letters and package! I got it on Tuesday and was so excited! Thanks for the treats and scarf, the necklaces. They are adorable. Also, I got the package Grandma Boshard sent me.. Tell her thank you so much. I am seriously so far behind on thank you letters.. so if any of you have been sending me things i haven´t responded.. I promise it is coming.. soooon. Loved the church news and programs you sent me. Thanks mom.. p.s. you can take off my address here in Madeira on the church Program and just keep the rua jorge barradas on there.. if i leave and people send letters here..well that would just be lame.. thanks :)

I am so grateful for the difficulties i have gone through this transfer. I know that Heavenly Father gave them to me because he knew that i would grow and gain a stronger testimony. This truly is his work and i know that he lives!

I hope i tell you all how much i love you and how grateful i am for you on a regular basis.. I think the world of you and thanks for letting me leave home to take the time to serve our Lord. It is such a blessing for all of us. Have a great week.. Drew and Tanner.. Happy Birthday! I love you.

XOXO

Com Amor,

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family