A little about Portugal

5/28/12

For the life of me I can never remember how long I’ve been here. Apparently it’s been three and a half weeks but it feels like months!
This is probably going to be short because my companion is sick today.  We had to go on exchanges so I could come email and do our grocery shopping. Also, I’m sick of complaining, because in all seriousness, this is freaking hard. Like really hard and I’m using way too much energy on trying to be happy. So today I don’t really feel up to writing anything of substance, I’m just going to tell you some fun facts.

Everyone thinks I’m from Spain. Not joking. Or from Brazil. like over ten people have asked if I’m a native Spanish speaker because apparently I speak Portuguese with a Spanish accent. Woops. I’m working on it. But I’ll take that over everyone just automatically knowing I’m American. Last night our zone leader said he saw my picture from my mission file and thought I was Mexican.  Oh goodness. What’s happening to my identity? Ok sorry if I’m weird, I’m so tired.

Our house has this really bad smell to it. I think it’s because there have been Elders in that house for 18 years until now. Also because of that room that we aren’t allowed to go into because an old lady died in there and no one found her for a while. Portugal smells like urine and poop. There are stray dogs everywhere. But there’s at least a really cool view of a mountain with a castle on it in our area. We are going to try and go to the castle next week. Also, when people here find out we are from America, they start asking if we will marry them and take them to the United States. So hey, if the mission doesn’t work out, at least I can go find that guy down the street from us who was rolling a joint and asked me to marry him. Don’t worry mom, yes I’m joking. We eat bread all the time. Like all the time. it’s so delicious here. I feel like a fubeca which means slacker because I know I was thinking of things to talk about and now I’m just so tired I can’t do it.

We had zone conference this past Thursday and I got to see elder Tucci, Elder Platamone, Irma Davis, and Irma Tiney! It was so cool to see that many people from the MTC. Here is a shootout to my favorite sister and bestest friend ever who is having a birthday this week.  I am sad I’m missing it and can't Skype you Katie. But I love you a ton and happy birthday from Portugal!

Ok I really have nothing else because this week was awful but I don’t want to be a whiner and I don’t really want to talk about it.  Thank you Sister Keotting for the letter! I loved it! and I will be writing back!

I love you guys a ton and miss all of you! The Church is true! God loves us! Life is hard because we need to grow! Mostly the church is true though. Go read the Book of Mormon.

Love you!

chau!

Blessings of all forms

Okay! First things first, here is my new address. Use it.

Irma Erin Dean
Prct Amoreiras Nr 3 - 2ºEQ
Rinchoa 2635-103
Rio De Mouro, Portugal

Dear familia e amigos. g

Goodness gracious. I’m tired ha ha ha ha.  The mission is just all kinds of craziness. Things are slowly but surely getting easier and more of a routine but white-washing with such a young trainer has been a tad difficult. And by a tad, I mean I may have already had a few breakdowns. But, whatever, you guys love me, don’t judge.

Okay, what can I tell you about this week? umm.... well we spent a total of 26 hours doing street contacting. That is many. That is not normal. My companion and I were leading our zone in new investigators until Friday because that’s all we’ve been doing is trying to find new people to teach.  There was no one from the previous Elders to talk to because we were the first sisters in the area. But, we are having a seriously hard time with getting people to keep our second appointment with them. We have plans to teach lessons but we get there and they aren’t home and we call and they say they’ll be back in half an hour.  So, we street contact while we wait and then call again an hour later and they say, oh come tomorrow. People kind of have island time here. Like everyone is late and they don’t really care. Like legit they all sleep in and then don’t leave the house before they eat lunch which is around 1-2 in the afternoon but then everyone is out super late. That’s why we wake up at 7 and go to bed at 11 here. Things are still quite the adventure that’s all.

We definitely had a few miracles this week though. I was really struggling this week because I know I NEED to be here, I just don’t really WANT to be here when I know things could be so much easier at home or at school. I don't know, it’s just been really hard to have that AND not be seeing a lot of results in even just getting a second appointment. I may have had a little bit of a break down and felt really prompted to call President Torgan because he encourages us to call about anything and everything we need. I did NOT want to be the sister who had to call her second week but I’ve seen how bad things get when you ignore the spirit so I did it.  He ended up telling the other Irma’s to come over and spend the night with us and do a division. They helped so much and I definitely felt the pressure ease up and now things are getting better. But, the Irma’s had to tell the District Leaders that President Torgan told them to come over and spend the night and that they’d be leaving their area. And then the District Leaders told the Zone Leaders and I was having a hard time.  President had called the Irma’s for a division and sleep over. So now the Zone Leaders call like twice a day.  I’m just you know, a little humiliated, but that’s fine. So now I kind of feel like they’re trying to coddle us a little which isn’t my favorite, but I’ll take that over more pressure at this point.

So, things are getting easier to cope with. Then Bishop had all us Irma’s introduce ourselves and bear our testimonies in sacrament yesterday and then the four of us sang the closing hymn a capella. Don’t ask me why. But in my testimony, I said I’d only been there 11 days and everyone came up to me and was like, "I don’t believe you. Your Portuguese is so good."

So hey, blessings from Heavenly Father that they actually understand me and aren’t laughing on the inside. Also, we had FIVE investigators in church on Sunday and literally not one of them was someone we had actively tried to get to church. We hadn’t even met three of them. Miracle! Okay, I really have to go, the time is about to run out but I love you all so much. I’m trying really hard to keep my head up but it’s all just a lot to handle and adjust to. I’ll try to write about more stuff next time that has to do with the people and the culture and that sort of thing!

I love you guys!!  

Irma Dean

5 days in Portugal

Ola familia e amigos!

Well, I've officially been in Portugal for five full days! It's... interesting. It’s wonderful and so not wonderful all at the same time. I seriously have to show you guys pictures of my house. You will laugh. Picture in your mind the quintessential 80-something year-old European apartment that has tile accents and everything looks dirty and is falling apart.  Then add not having hot water, and you have my apartment. But, the Lord knows what he's doing. We had the crazy-long plane ride to Paris and I got no sleep, but most of us were awake pretty much the whole time and just talked and reviewed grammar and stuff, and it was pretty fun. We got into Paris but didn't really have enough time to look around or do anything. We just went straight to our gate and flew to Portugal!

Portugal is so beautiful! Seriously, it’s so scenic. We got picked up by the mission president and his wife and two of the office missionaries and had to wait forever because three of us hadn't gotten our bags.  We then had to go get our entry stamps for our passports. We finally got to leave and went to the mission office to be interviewed and get our assignments! I'm in an area called Mem Martins B. There are two companionships in the Mem Martins Ward and we are in the area a little further away, so we live in a place called Rio de Mouro. It’s about a 30 minute bus ride away from the mission home and I think that's like outside of Lisbon. I'm really not sure ha ha. Just Google map it.

A lot of us were placed pretty close together, and actually Elder Tucci is in my zone and being trained by the zone leaders, so I´ll see him every once in a while I guess, but not very often. My trainers name is Irma Quebbeman. She is so nice and like the sweetest person ever. She's pretty quiet though so that’s interesting ha ha. And,Guess what?! It’s only her third transfer! In the mission, you're trained for two transfers so that means she was just being trained and is already training someone. But guess what? That's not all! So that night we went to the mission home and had dinner and a testimony meeting and went to sleep.  In the morning we had breakfast and came back to the office to meet our companions and have a training meeting. When I met her she told me that she had just found out we would be pink-washing! So when an area is white-washed, that means that both missionaries who were there are leaving and a completely different set of missionaries comes in who don't know the area. So, a pink-wash is when it used to be elders and now sisters are coming into the area! Yeah! So neither of us know anything about where we are ha ha. It's been an um..... adventure. to say the least. We´re really trying though. I can tell its stressing her out because she doesn't want to mess anything up and she wants this to be a great experience for me, but she’s really amazing.

The other Irmas in our ward are wonderful! They are so funny and they've been here a lot longer so they've helped us with like everything, including letting us shower at their apartment today! They are seriously gems. Saturday two of our elders, one of which was a zone leader (they were on exchanges) were in our area to come do a baptismal interview for our investigator and do one for the other Irmas. Our potential baptism was an 11 year old girl though, and her mom was having second thoughts about letting her be baptized because she wanted her to have read more of the Book of Mormon and go to church more and really make sure she understood her commitment.  So, we had no idea what to do and the elders came in and were awesome and helped convince her that it was right for her daughter. They were so helpful. Unfortunately we did not have a baptism though, her mom wouldn't let her come to church on Sunday, meaning she couldn't be baptized since she'd only gone once before.

I've just learned even in four days that the mission is never going to be what you expect. It's been all kinds of craziness and we didn't have ANY other investigators from the previous elders so we've really only been doing street contacts and trying to find people to teach. It's been rough. We definitely see mini miracles, like the fact that I'm awake and that I can even understand a quarter of what people are saying to me. But mostly I feel like a deer in headlights right now trying to just go with it. It's stressing me out but the other people are so wonderful and helpful and the ward is really great. We missed most of sacrament meeting because we were trying to talk that girl's mom into letting her come, but no dice. We still got to meet a lot of people in the ward and a wonderful family had all four sisters over for lunch and let us Skype our families on Mother's Day.

It was so great to talk to you guys yesterday! I really needed it. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom and Jen and Brooke and everyone!! Over all, things are hard but I know I'm here for a reason. The Lord is definitely testing me ha  ha but I don't know, everyone says it'll get better and I certainly didn't expect my first transfer to be a breeze.

For those of you in the MTC, stop complaining about anything and everything. Right now. Stop it. Because you will get here and think, "ahhh jeez, real life isn't as awesome as I thought it would be." The Lord is still just as wonderful, and you'll realize it even more, but the other stuff is not as wonderful .

 Well I love you all, please keep the prayers coming because I certainly need them.

Thanks, eu amo voces!  

Irma Dean

THIS IS IT

THIS IS IT! I know I just emailed on Saturday but that was because our schedule is all kinds of craziness. I leave tomorrow!!!! I can’t even believe it. Today has been a long day of packing and classes but it’s going pretty smoothly actually.

Up until yesterday,  I was kind of panicky about going to Portugal and being thrown out of the MTC because I don’t feel quite ready but yesterday and today have been amazing! Yesterday we had fast and testimony meeting in church.  That's where instead of having designated speakers, anyone who feels inclined gets up and shares their testimony of the church. Because our branch is all Portuguese speaking missionaries, everything in the church meetings is in Portuguese: talks, songs, prayers, everything. But, it’s so cool because I can actually feel closer to the spirit when I’m listening to and speaking Portuguese now. I think it’s because these experiences here are the ones that brought me closest to Christ and Heavenly Father.  All of these experiences have been in Portuguese so now I’ll associate Portuguese with being uplifted rather than stressed Ha ha. Mini miracles.

Okay, but anyway, the testimonies were so wonderful yesterday, and my district and I all sang together.  Because we are the oldest district and we leave this week. Tangent: I’m not sure if I told you guys this! Okay, so in church every Sunday, everyone has to prepare a talk ahead of time on whatever topic is assigned because they call you randomly from the stand DURING the meeting. So, you have no idea beforehand. Don’t worry, I got called on to give a talk three Sundays ago THE ONLY SUNDAY I HADN'T PREPARED A TALK. My life. Always. But, actually it went really well. I had just kind of picked a scripture by the chance I got called so I could make it seem like I’d prepared so I shared the scripture and why I liked it and basically just said the same stuff I say in lessons everyday and everyone was complimenting me on my talk so much! Goodness that spirit works wonders because I felt like a hot mess up there. BUT THEN. The next Sunday, guess what I did? For those of you who know me well, this is a big deal. I sang in church! Irma Bringhurst, the one who went home because of anxiety, it happened to be her last Sunday, and we had been preparing for the musical number for two weeks so it ended up being a really special memory for us. We sang the song "His Hands" by Kenneth Cope. If you don’t know it, GO LOOK IT UP. That song is so insanely beautiful. It’s all about making our hands like those of Christ's. It’s so powerful!  At the end, while we were singing we definitely had some difficulty getting to those high notes because we were on the verge of tears the spirit was so strong. I really hate singing in formal settings like church but a few weeks prior I got a really specific spiritual prompting that I needed to accept Irma Bringhurt's pleas to sing a duet with her so I accepted.  I was so nervous I thought I would vomit but it was such a blessing for her last day at the MTC. But yeah, just wanted to share that with you.  That yes, I have already given a talk in Portuguese on the fly, and sang in church (which I almost feel is more of a milestone).

Back to yesterday, the spirit was just wonderful.  We had mission conference and there were amazing talks given.  We also had the chance to do one last temple walk and take pictures together. Then we had district meeting and we all just basically shared our favorite things about the MTC and each other.  We shared our testimonies. We have all grown so close and the seven others in my district will be in my life forever. Guaranteed. So, the day was just beautiful and peaceful.

Today, while we were packing, it started to hit me how seriously cool this experience is. I really have been taking for granted how amazing of an opportunity I have. I get to go live in Portugal for 16 months! I get to live there under circumstances where the ONLY thing I have to be worried about is helping and teaching other people. My housing is taken care of, I don’t need to worry about making money, I don’t need to stress over finding my way around, nothing! I get to just have a companion help me through the adjustments and literally only worry about how well I’m serving the Lord and loving the people there. What a blessing! This is seriously once in a lifetime! I feel so lucky!

I was watching Mormon messages on YouTube today and I saw this video about the church growth in Cabo Verde. We had some missionaries from our branch leave for Cabo Verde a couple weeks ago so I know people there! I could understand almost every word without reading the subtitles! This is a hint as to what I will hopefully sound like after the next 16 months are over! After I watched this video I just felt so unbelievably excited to go to Portugal! Like more excited about going to Portugal than I have been about being on a mission this entire time so far.

I CANT WAIT!! In 24 hours I will be on a plane heading to France and then Portugal! This is real life! It's so strange in the best way imaginable. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to email again, so until then, I love you all so much. Thank you for your prayers and support and thank you everyone that recorded on the tape my mom sent! I loved hearing from all of you and it helped remind me that I’ve got so many people cheering for me back home! That means the world to me you guys, you don’t even know!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! Sooooooo much love!

muito muito muito amor!

Irma Dean