Monday, November 26, 2012

OLHAO PICTURES 2012




Vinde a Mim (Come Follow Me)

There is a song that Irmã Tingey and i listened to EVERY SINGLE DAY, 20 times a day that has impacted my life. I don´t have the lyrics perfectly memorized but it goes somewhat like this.. "Today is the day i will open my mouth i will shout from the roof tops, the truth will come out and i swear in my soul that the words that i speak with the love that has made me this way, yes today is the day i proclaim, what i believe... The gospel´s the good new, and life´s everlasting with families that won´t fade away.. I´ll stand as a witness, that love lasts forever, i will not wait one more day to say, today is the day i will open my mouth.." This week i will not rest until every soul in Olhão has heard the gospel. We have a nice sized pool of investigators to teach, but they all have different situations and aren´t quite ready for baptism. They are all progressing in their own way and the Lord has blessed Irmã Valdez and i to help many less active members return to church this transfer.. It´s not that we´ve completely stopped focusing on baptism but there are so many factors to missionary work.


For example, we have been working with Nã and Aline. They have been dating for 5 years.. they are both married.. but not to each other.. Aline´s divorce papers are already being processed and Nã´s situation is a little more complicated, but Saturday night we were at their house and randomly Aline said, Nã and i are going to get married in your church soon and go to the temple.. Irmã Valdez and i couldn´t keep our cool.. We were jumping off the walls. literally! Aline is so excited to get the divorce process over with and marry Nã.. It is adorable..

Something i learned this week.. Everyday during personal study i study the bible. Do you remember me talking about the study that President Fluckiger gave us?? Well, i read John10 and i talks about the lord being the good shepherd. "He calleth his sheep by name... the sheep follow him, for they know his voice."

The verse that stood out to me the most was verse 9. "i am the door of the sheep. by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out, and find pasture." The savior is our door to everlasting happiness. We have been sharing this with our investigators.. All we have to do is show our faith, accept the lord in our EVERYDAY LIFE, and he will give us more than we can imagine. Even as a missionary i am learning to apply this and follow the savior in all that i do. We truly can´t live one day without him. Study this chapter.. It will strengthen your testimony of the Savior!

So a quick update on other things that happened this last week...

Our investigator Adriana fed us squid ovaries yesterday.. It was interesting, chewy and different.. ha ha i though it was like an egg at first and then she explained what is was and i had already eaten like 2 ovaries... ha ha

Last Monday we were supposed to go to Lagos but we only made is to portimão. We visited a couple of beaches and went shopping at a HUGE mall.. The road trip was super fun.. I´ll send you all some pictures.

Thanksgiving.. well, a member in Lagos invited us to her thanksgiving dinner.. She lived in Utah for 11 years and celebrates Thanksgiving better than the Americans(from what i have heard).. For days we tried to figure out how to get there with the transportation because it is so far away.. but the transportation ended up not work out. The Elders in Lagos were trying so hard to help us get a ride over but in the end, members couldn´t drive us and a taxi would have been £100.. We wanted to go so badly.. It wouldn´t have been really cook, however we ate a deli sandwich for thanksgiving dinner on a bench outside.. ha ha It was delicious.

The mission is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I know that my redeemer lives, I know this is his gospel and only through him can we over come our trials, we can become better people and through him we will return to our loving heavenly Father. I hope you have a great week! XOXO

Beijos
Com muito amor,
Irmã Boshard

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

DAY TRIPPIN TO LAGOS

Monday November 19, 2012

Hey!!! I can´t write you all back right now and it is possible that i won´t be able to write you until next Monday because WE ARE GOING TO LAGOS FOR PDAY!!!!! president Fluckiger gave us permission to leave our area with our district and a member to visit the Algarve.. I love you all and i hope you are well. Thanks for the emails.. I am happy, healthy and loving the work.. this week i had an interview with President Fluckiger and i love that man with all my heart. I love sister Fluckiger too. President and i just cried together as we talked about the progress and miracles we´ve seen in Olhão. Pray for him.. He is working super hard out here!

Love you all. Take care.   XOXO Beijos.   Com amor,  Irmã Boshard



Monday, November 12, 2012

KEEP LOOKING UP

Happy Holidays you studly family! I hope you are well and happy. I sure am in Olhão. Irmã Valdez and i have been working so hard to find those the lord has prepared for us to accept baptism and well.. the work hasn´t been the same as to what i have been use to my whole mission, but Irmã Valdez and i have had the opportunity to teach many less actives recently and it is going really well. We now just have to get them to come back to church. ha ha They love us and accept our lessons but getting them back to church is the hard part. Right now we are teaching Nã and Aline. They are dating and living together.. Nã is a member and Aline has accepted to take the discussions. She has accepted baptism and once we get somethings resolved she can be baptized in a few months! Hopefully sooner.. but we have to wait and see. She is so wonderful and someone the lord has prepared for years.. and now it´s her turn to finally dive in!!!! we love it!


There is a topic i have been studying and thinking about this week that came from a phone that i received. Irmã Walker (my comp from the MTC) called me and gave me a scripture to read that really made a difference in her life. Well, It has now made a huge difference in my life.

Luke 9:62   "and Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

okay.. strong words right?? yeah, that´s what i thought. But the more i thought about it, this life.. the one we are living right now is about progression. So i realized i wasn´t perfect out here in the mission field.. it was news to me.. ha ha anyway, we all make mistakes in life. We take the wrong trun, we do things we regret, we say things we didn´t meant to say.. Well, Christ suffered for all of this. That is why we have been so blessed with the atonement. We can repent of all that we have done wrong and he will forgive us.. but that means we have to forgive ourselves as well. We cann´t look back a dwell on something that we have already be forgiven for. Like it says in the scripture above, we are not fit for the kingdom of god if we continually look back. We need to be okay with the past, learn from it, love it and live for it. Because if we didn´t pass through the challenges and hardships, we couldn´t progress and become stronger. My goal for all of you is to forgive yourselves of whatever it is that is bothering you from the past, chat it out with Heavenly Father and move on. Don´t be Lot´s wife that diminishes into dust because you lust for somethig that is already gone and won´t come back..

Psalms 147:3   "He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds."

That is exactly what the Lord will do for each and everyone of you. We´re not perfect and we will continually apply this teaching in our lives, but I feel EXTREMELY blessed to have this knowledge and know that our savior "knows how to succor his people according to their infirmities." alma 7:12 I´m not looking back.. only forward. I´m taking everything i have learned for the last 23 years and i am literally running with it.

Have a great week my loved ones!

Love you XOXO

Com muito amor,
Irmã Boshard

Monday, November 5, 2012

OLHAO PORTUGAL OCTOBER 2012

 OCTOPUS
 ZONE CONFERENCE IN FARO PORTUGAL

It´s raining... raining rain.. wholy moly

HEEEELLO BOSHARD FAMILY!!

We´ve hit the rainy season down here in the Algarve, and OH MY does it pour when it pouuurrrrrs.. The streets have been filled with rain, it´s hard to walk anywhere without getting completely drenched. the best part is the dirty water that splashes up from the cars.. yes.. just like the movies we are getting hit with water from the gutter. It is lovely.

The work is coming along really well. We are seeing a lots of success with the less actives and their families.

Irmã Valdez is soo sharp.. It is as if she has been in the mission for 18 months and is ready to go home. She is killing it out here. She is so ready to just work. work work work..

funny story.. We were teaching an investigator this week and he was asking us if we had boyfriends back at home waiting for us and we laughed and replied, no. He said, oh that's right, Jesus is your boyfriend. ha ha oh i love the Portuguese.

I hope you all have a great week. Continue serving one another and even when no one is looking.. Do what is right.

LOVE YOU XOXO
Com amor,
Irmã Boshard

p.s. the pics above.. 2 of them are from Zone conference in Faro. One with the whole zone and of course one with the irmãs.

the other pic is octopus!!! One of our investigators fed us lunch this last week and i was super hesitant at first but it was actually delicious. I love octopus. mmmmmm