We finally had transfers. Sister Parkinson left, but just up to Porto so she's not that far away. The night we got transfer calls we were wrecks. She cried on the floor for like twenty minutes but I cried almost all night and then the next morning when I was waiting with Xeca for my new companheira I cried again.... vida boa. :) I guess that's what happens when you love people. You just don't want things to change. Unfortunately, growing and learning how to be resilient generally does not occur in comfortable situtions. Bummer.
My new companion in Sister Runyan. She's from the Sacramento area and she is probably the person with the most stories to tell that I have ever met. She went to BYU-Idaho for a year before her mission so we sometimes get talking a little bit about school, but then she starts talking about all the things I've missed so far on my mission.... that's a weird feeling. The weird moments come when you realize how long you've been gone and realizing that it's really not that long of a time. Oh yeah, speaking of time passing and all that weird stuff.....
I HIT MY 9 MONTH MARK!!!! Halfway mark... (whooah... we're halfway the-ere. whoooOAH! LIVIN' ON A PRAYER!)
This week..... I feel like so much has happened and yet at the same time I can't think of any really big things that happened at all this week. We talked to people... then we talked to more people.... and then we talked to some more people.... and THEN, I contacted a really awesome guy! We were walking and doing street-contacting and Presidente Amorim told me in our interview that if I will just open my mouth and talk to everyone I see that I won't have to wait for the Spirit to tell me to go and talk to people. I will just already be following the Spirit (does that make sense? It makes sense in my head but I don't know if I explained it very well). Anywho, I had been talking to people and then I got a little discouraged and I thought to myself, "I don't want to talk to any more people. Nobody wants to talk to us right now." Then I saw a guy a little ways ahead of us on the sidewalk walking in our direction and I had the thought, "You cannot let this person walk passed you. You have to contact this man." We got really close to him and we said "Boa tarde" and he was really friendly but I didn't actually stop him and contact him. As soon as I had let him walk passed me I thought, "Oh brother Sister Smith. You are really stupid sometimes." So I immediately turned around and yelled, "Excuse me! Can I talk to you?!" (This al happened in about three seconds by the way.... it's not as dramatic as it seems when I type it all out). Well, the smile he gave me when I stopped him made me think, "He knew I was going to talk to him. He was waiting for me to talk to him." Turns out Zé (that's his name) was taught by the missionaries 10 years ago! It was probably one of the best contacts I've ever done. Last week Sister Parkinson and I also contacted another young guy named Pedro who was running on the road and exercising, but we stopped him and contacted him and he was super cool. It's amazing how many cool people you meet when you just talk to people. Nifty thought, huh?
I have a ton of postcards and letters to send off.... the only problem is finding time to walk all the way to the post-office to send them all. Next p-day I will send off a billion postcards and letters to you all. Don't send anything to me because if you send it to the Lisboa mission office I will never get it. Next week I'll find out the address of the Porto Mission Office and give it to you all. Then, you can send me nifty stuff and letters and such. :)
I don't really have a ton to say this week.. sorry. Mostly my brain is running in circles. I'm not sleeping well this week and I have huge bags under my eyes (it's just to make sure that the guys are only talking to us because of the gospel and not because we're cute... right?). Apparently I talk in my sleep every night.... normally I'm contacting people on the street or teaching lessons. I only speak Português in my sleep though so that's good.
My brain is dead... sorry. The only note I have left to say is that I love the Bible in Português. I gave up reading it cover to cover in English and I started over in Português. For some reason it makes a whole lot more sense to me in Português than it does in English. Also, the Book of Enos is really good. I wrote two pages of notes about it this morning during Personal Study. You should all read it sometime this week... and apply it. :D
Love you all!
The-suffering-from-middle-age Sister Smith
P.S. The only picture I have to send this week (it's kind of sad that I didn't take other pictures) is arroz de marisco.... I really like it. I'll have to make it for y'all when I come back home.
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