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
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