I'm in over my head

Oh my goodness gracious I don’t think I’ve ever prayed so much in my whole mission.

So this past week has been really incredible and really long also ha-ha.
Monday I went all over Lisbon trying to accomplish all my last minute everything before I had to leave the city. It was a really good day and we got back to the mission home that night and there were about ten other sisters staying there with us. The next day it turned to about thirty because guess what! We received 29 new sisters on Thursday! We almost doubled our number of sisters in the Portugal mission. How crazy!

It was seriously a big party there in the mission home and we had an amazing time. I was really blessed to be able to have really good heart-to-hearts with Irma Quebbeman and Irma Palmer, the two companions I had in the beginning of the mission when I we even more of a hot mess. We were able to just feel peace about everything that had happened in our time together and I feel even closer with both of them now.

On Wednesday we had a training meeting for the trainers and it was intense. I got really overwhelmed about having to train and do a pink wash at the same time, but I asked my good ol' district leader, Elder Brady, for a blessing. It was really incredible and he said that the companion I was about to receive had been working her hardest to be ready and worthy of her trainer and her new calling and that I had been doing the same. He said that Heavenly Father was so pleased with the efforts we had both put in and was giving us this time together to bless us. It’s a really good thing I got that blessing because otherwise I would not believe that this is a blessing.

Unfortunately, even with everything I thought I had learned about how to be a good missionary, we got here on Friday night and I feel like a greenie all over again. We are definitely not in Lisbon anymore, but I know the Lord wants me to branch out of how I’m used to doing missionary work. Thank goodness for two things
1. My companion is incredible. She is the sweetest thing in the world. Sister Austin is handling everything I throw at her like a champion and has already marked three people for baptism!
2. The branch here (yes, my first branch) is INCREDIBLE. They are so wonderful and everyone was so excited to have sisters here. They have already come with us to lessons, fed us, driven us around, printed and explained maps, and followed up with our investigators to help them keep progressing.

I’m really excited to be here, and President Fluckiger has a goal to make the district of Santarém into a stake by the end of the year, so we have a lot of work to do! But I’m really excited that heavenly father is giving me enough responsibility that I couldn’t get distracted by going home if I wanted to.

I hope you all know how incredible the mission is. How incredible missionary work is. There is nothing more joyful than watching someone’s life be changed by the love and atonement of our savior Jesus Christ. He is our brother and our best friend; we just have to put in the time and effort to get to know him.

Here’s a quote for you and then I’m on my way. It’s from a talk called the fourth missionary.

"Just give it up. Surrender your will to him. Unconditionally. Withhold nothing. Turn it all over to him; all of your desires, wishes, dreams, and hopes. Be true and faithful in your head and in your heart, not just in your behavior. Trust in him. Trust in him who knows all things. Trust in him who has all power. Trust in him whose love for you is perfect. Trust him who alone suffered, paid and atoned for your sins and for your weaknesses as well. Trust him that he will make of you immeasurably more than what you will ever, ever, in all eternity make of yourself. He will crate of you a masterpiece. You will create of you only a smudge. You will create an ordinary man. He will create a god."

Love you! Irma Dean