Transfers......

Jan 20 at 4:27 AM

I survived. 

here we go ROUND 4 in Coimbra. To say that I am happy would be an understatement.

I AM SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am happier than Greg at a Lakette competition. I am happier than Dennis is when she's Facebook stalking people. I am happier than Morgan is now that she's engaged..... p.s. Congrats. I am happier than Lacee in PINK. I am happier than Kaylee Cannon was when Cheney finally answered her phone calls (or how happy we were when we both saw Jedediah in the flesh), I am happier than Elder Sorensen gets when I make oreo balls, I am happier than Dejon was when he scored Kaylee's number, I am happier than Brady and Jake when they get to watch Fired Up, I am happier than Koda gets swingin the bucket, I am happier than Michael Harvey at Crossfit. I am happier than Hannah Mack battling with My b@d kr3w. I am happier than Syd gets when she's with Kita. I am happier than Megan Bell getting her letter from her future husband Elder Maughan ;) I am happier than Jodis and her Downton Abby. I am happier than Azevedo when she eats breakfast or talks about her rich california friends. I am happier than Martison is when she's sleeping. I am happier than Elder Lopes throwin up a West Side.  I am happier than the Sblauren gettin it at Friendsgiving. Also happier than the amount of potatoes we had there, which was a LOT. truth is, I am SO HAPPY.

and to top it all off I'm startin out week 13 with Sister Azevedo..... If anyone has games to play on the street or funny jokes or something, please help a sista out. We're running out of things to talk about and we've burned through every subject.. twice. Just think to yourself: what would you talk to some random chick about for 18 weeks straight??

But seriously i am sooo happy, excited, pumped, grateful, hungry, all of the above.

This week we got a phone call from the Elders in Amadora, who are teaching this awesome family... they gave US a reference for the mom's sister.. (finally we get a reference) All the info we get is that she's black, from Angola and named Renee, and she might be insterested. okay awesome all the black people are elect and easier to contact but Renee... that's kinda hard to say with a Portuguese accent.. Try making a hhhcckk (gutteral sound.. i think) while rolling the R and saying Renee. Yeah that's tough stuff. 

So this week we hop on the bus out to Condeixa, (which is our little side town we started up and only work in once a week so we don't have many investigators out there) go to meet this family.... get a little lost, grab a taxi... it stops in front of this house with a white Portuguese lady out front and we're both like yeahhh uhh i dont think this is it. Turns out it is, Renee just actually isn't black. but that's fine because she is so ELECT. wait not just her but her whole family! Her and her husband is João and her daughters are Beatriz who's 13 and Diana who's 8. i mean i don't mean to get ahead of myself, but that's one for primary, beehives, elders quorom and relief society. no to mention they have their own car! (need more members with cars!!) and the best part is, they are SO prepared!! We taught the first lesson and applied it to their personal issues, it went so good and they promised to read and pray as a family :)  

So we called thema couple days after to see how they were doing (during the death days.... I'll get to those here in a bit..)  but they read and prayed and said they felt the spirit and were so excited for us to come back!! They couldn't come to church because Renee only gets one sunday off  of work a month, but that is this week and she will be there! and João was gonna come by himself with the girls, but then the daughter had a basketball game... don't worry we'll teach Sabbath Day this week and that won't be a problem again. They are SOOO great!

Remember how last week we passed all those elect people to the Zone Leaders?? yeah they ALL came to church yesterday and one of them, Nuno, he's 21, we contacted him on New Years Eve, and all his background information about Mormons comes from that episode of South Park ... well we taught him the first and second lesson before realizing where he lives and passing him to the elders, but Sorensen called us this week to tell us that they marked him and he is getting baptized on Saturday!! 

crap my ZL's say:

"thanks for the reference sisters we taught Nuno the first lesson tonight and he understood everything!!"...... yeah thanks elder, remember how we taught him that 2 days ago? I would hope I can get the message of the restoration across by now...  

for the rest of the week... the death days. I think my journal entry explains it best.

"I've been locked in this bathroom all night trying to figure out how to kill myself with the rusty hanger that is holding up the toilet seat. this bathroom is disgusting." 

yeah i was locked in the bathroom with a fever for 3 days. My girl Elisabeta hooked it up with chicken noodle soup, ice cream and bread. but the elders...

"hey sisters do you need anything? yeah call us if you need anything. Except ice cream. you don't get that." -Elder Morse.... what the freak do you eat when you're sick elder morse??

BAD NEWS. Elder Morse was transferred, which is actually only bad news for the Crap my ZL's say to me line of the week i tried to start out... but we'll see if Sorensen and this new Cape Verdean can keep it up. 

Well it's been real. in the words of our beloved Elder Bickley's weekly emails.. "life's a garden.. dig it." 

xoxoxoxox  

Sister Dumas 

OR as one of the many ways Elder Harris addressed me in my bye bye book:

 -Sister "wait, I want that"

 -Sister spills chocolate sauce on her new shirt

 -Sister with a Guns and Roses shirt that doesn't even like that band

 -Sister hookin up homies with hot chicks (yo sistas back home... you guys are those hot chicks and still a hot commodity out here) 

 -Sister "throws back" kids champagne like it's a party

 -Sister Poli-fever  

 -Sister raised by Wu-Tang

 -Sister "wait, that sounds awesome."

 -Sister "hot and fresh out the kitchen"

OR

 -Sister "wait, do I have something in my teeth??"

Uhhhhhh

sooo I think I really out-did myself with the 13 top 13's of 2013...

and none of my emails will compare to that from here on out. 

..sorryboutit

This week was uneventful.. well actually we met SO MANY ELECTS..... every. single. one. living outside of our area.... if I give the ZL's one more reference I might cry. Monday morning I was studying in PMG and trying to think of how i could be more of a blessing and not a burden to the elders..... after the 8th elect family reference by wednesday.... i think I've done enough. Then towards the end of the week we both got sick and took a couple naps here and there. tried to go out and work... walking on flat ground, every 5 feet had to take breaks to catch our poor little breath and decided to cut our losses and turned around to go back home. 

Also can everyone stop with the weddings... my fave member Inês... I've been tryna to get her on board to go to BYU or better yet USU... yeah no. yesterday in church she surprised us with an engagement ring! and asked when I'd be home to see if i could come to the wedding.. when I responded with a November she gave me an.. oooohhh..... 

literally can't one person wait 10 more months!

Stefan's progression of the week: Stefan asked why my parents hadn't accepted his friend request on my facebook yet and then he was like "ohhh i think i know why" and proceeded to show me his facebook cover photo was just a picture of a crap ton of alcohol and liquor... so we changed that and now it's a picture of his favorite temple :) Salt Lake claro.

line of the week:

"I'll never forget the nervous fart that snuck out when I got the call to be District Leader...."-My socially awkward DL Elder Clement.

More crap my ZL's say to me:

"No sister, this is a good apple. and I know good apples. my mom used to buy them genetically enhanced." -Elder Morse. 

Well.... that's it, that's all she's got. 

love you guys, keep killin' it. write yo sista out hurr

love, sista D 

FIrst Email of 2014!!!!

okay everyone back home CALM. IT. DOWN. seriously.....too many weddings and babies I am missing out on and I'm not into it. i mean congrats and everything but sloowwww it down. or at least just send me pictures.

HAPPY NEW YEAR. Me and Azzy celebrated with the 2 person party pack from the local supermarket. and we asked the worker for the "champagne for kids"..... he led us down the liquor aisle to a bottle with cartoon children on it, so i think we're good. no more word of wizzdom probs out hurr. after plannin that night we stayed up till midnight, started poppin' bottles. got champagne showered, twice.. and partied hard. what up 2014.

Sorryboutit but this ones gonna be a little short cause i gotta spend time writing prez and asking him to stay in Coimbra. I LOVE IT HERE. Seriously sitting in ward council yesterday it just hit me how much I love every single member here. this feels like my home ward and imma cry like a little baby when I have to leave it. Plus I feel like I have so much more work left to do here. I hope the big man upstairs is feelin the same way.
So last week we hit Wednesday and the running total for the week of member present lessons was 0. big fat 0. In the summer our member presents were just always killin it because we had the jovens out of school and they'd come to street contacts with us alllll day, but when school started and the rain came it was a lot harder to get that number up there. Then lately we've been struggling cause everyone went home for the holidays... So wednesday we're sitting at 0 and then we had a zone meeting and training to light the fire. As a mission this month, we dont even have a goal for baptisms.. its a goal for 2,100 member present lessons. That night Bishop Pitarma called us in for a meeting, that dude is inspired. He wanted to meet with us to talk about how we can get the members united and working in this work of salvation. 

We ended the week last night with 11 member presents!! and here's the best part.. that was with multiple members! plus we had other members out working with us too, but the compromisso... k im not trying to be annoying but literally dont remember that word in english.. well lesson i guess? but they fell through, but the members were out and about in the Lord's vineyard. 

EVERYONE go here:

http://www.lds.org/training/wwlt/2013/hastening/members-and-missionaries?lang=eng#media=
and watch the video called Priesthood Duty: Preaching the Gospel

That kid has it figured out.

then remember what our beloved prophet, President Monson, asked of us in the last General Conference.. 

"Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labor in the Lord's vineyard to bring souls unto Him. He has prepared the means for us to share the gospel in a multitude of ways, and He will assist us in our labors if we will act in faith to fulfill His work." 

NOW is the time. Members get out there! Follow Hectors example e abri sua boca!!! fala com todo mundo sobre o evangelho maravilhosa. open your mouth and talk to everyone about this wonderful gospel. 

Sei que esta igreja é o evangelho restaurado. Sou tão grato para star ca em Portugal pra pregar isso por todo mundo. Sei que Cristo vive e Ele nos ama. Sei que o evangleho traz mais felicidade de minha vida de qualquer outra coisa. 

LOVE and MISS you all. get to work. feed the missionaries. party hard.

love, sister dumas.

 

1. white girl wasted sista mish style 

2. CTR rings

3. devestation of the week..... march 26 or 27 better be a P - day...... 

 

 

blast from the passssst!

Sorry ive been slacking with the blog updates BUT its a new year.. so here's to a new start :) I promise ill do better! so here are some emails from last year..... October,  November, and December. SORRYYYYYY

5 MONTHS (October 14, 2013)

Um..I'm not even joking when I say I literally feel like yesterday you all dropped me off at the curb in Provo.. Yet i've been on the mission 5 months tomorrow!!! oh myyyy It is gross how fast it has gone by! i only have 13 months left.... vou morrer. literalmente.

Well last night we had another batismo! Cute little Manuela. she was sooo nervosa! but she did it! And thanks to all the help of the members, none of the missionaries even participated in the baptism! (except Bluemel.. the only piano player in all of Portugal.) but ahh it was so great. It was a little stressful when we burnt the brownies again and set off the fire alarm in the chapel for like 20 minutes.. but Nunu just told us that was God reminding everyone that today was fast Sunday.. But really I dont know what is wrong with my cooking here... the whole top was burnt and black but the middle was allll liquid batter still.. so we just cut off the top and threw it back in the oven.

okay so I feel like I should probs tell you about Evandro now too. I always never know which investigators to write home about because i'll get really excited about someone and then 2 days later they drop ya like its hot or decide studying a year with the TJs sounds better or something  but.. Evandro. he is SO ELECT. literally I have seen God's hand moving him towards the waters of baptism since the first night we met him.

So we met him on the street Saturday night he was carrying groceries and we offered to help.. he said yes (this NEVER happens) so miracle number 1. Then we kept talking to him, he's 20 years old and him and his brother Kalu had just moved here from Angola 2 days ago. so then I was like k sweet lets go drop these off and meet your brother... i never do that! like literally never, but i didn't even think twice about it, it just came out of my mouth. it was for sure the spirit talking for me. (i mean i def should always ask for references cause thats how you meet more people to teach and stuff but sometimes its scaryyyyy) but anyway we go up and meet his brother...  Kalu who is 23 and who just so happens to have met the missionaries in Angola a year ago... he only talked to them twice in the street but "for some reason" when he was packing he felt like he should bring this book with him to Portugal... Yup.. O Livro de Mormon! he brought it all the way from Angola! ahh they are so elect. So we invited them to church the next day and bounced. Evandro came, but Kalu is a fubeca and slept in. that night we passed by there house and marked them both for baptism! (evandro for the next weekend and kalu a week afer that)

That night they prayed about the Book of Mormon and when I asked them how it went Kalu said it was complicated... well what does that mean? basically, when they were praying together about the book of mormon, they both started crying, got the chills and something about a light... So Kalu what do you think that means? ITS TRUE! ahhh i love hearing investigators tell you they know its true! Since then we have been teaching them almost everyday, Evandro is the best, he understands and applies everything! Kalu is a little more of a fubeca... i've never seen someone laugh so hard when we introduced the law of chastity.. but he agreed to live it.

We had to end up moving the baptismal date because their mom is coming from Africa this week and she wanted to be there, but it actually was perfect because we ran into a few more problems then we were expecting. but everything with them is literally miracles. they are SO elect and prepared by the Lord. like for example, for some reason we decided to go over the baptismal interview questions a week and a half early... (we usually go over them the day before the baptism) but we did them and found out that President is gonna have to do the interview, but because we did the questions so early, we dont have to post pone the baptism! like ahh just little (huge) miracles like that. its so great and Evandro will be baptized this saturday!

Linesss of the week:
"Today in personal study I was studying virtue and I accidentally proved the whole TJ religion wrong.."  -Elder Bluemel

"tem habito para orar? (do you have a habit of praying?)"-me
"orar.. e... beijar!"- creepy 75 year old man on the bench swatting at our skirts with his fedora
(pray... and.. kiss!)

Maria, our 83 year old investigator...
"entao, maria will you come to church with us sunday at 930?"
"i cant, my favorite show is on at that time....."
"okay just record it or something. what is it anyway?"
"wrestling!"
ahh i love being a missionary I am SO happy. love and miss you alllll!

love, sister Dumas

 

OUT HURRR PREACHIN (October 21, 2013)

 

Wellll.... this is gonna be a shorty.. but last Tuesday October 15th, was officially my 5 month mark and Jake Tolmans birthday!! I  celebrated by making everyone oreo balls :) #bestsistainthezonerighthurr

Evandros baptism was postponed.. AGAIN. because his mom isnt coming up from Angola until tomorrow supposedly and wants to see it..... So everyone pray that she doesnt sketch out again so evandro can fica firme and not get attacked by satanas... i'm a little worried about it, but we will just pray a lot and we have plans to see him EVERYDAY this week. even if its just to take the 20 minute bus ride to his house for 5 minute lesson. 

This week we went to visit Manuela the day after her baptism to talk about receiving the Holy Ghost... well she's bipolar and fuhhhreeaked out on us and told us that it sounded like witchcraft! So to calm her down we decided to sing her a hymn.....

well first off me and sister Taylor are a combination of the worlds worst singers, we are both constipado (congested), and we forgot our hymn books. The only song sister Taylor has memorized in Portuguese is Called to Serve... hahaha oh my just picture this.... it was so bad... but it worked! We were able to calm her down and continue teaching and yesterday Manuela was confirmed :)

Also this week we found my first family finally!!! except when we went to teach them we discovered it was just a dad and two kids...... the girl is like 30 and was literally playing with dolls during the first vision and the second time, we were explaining the Book of Mormon a little more in depth and she left the room to bring back a bucket of turtles and proceeded to tell us about each turtle individually..... 

Line of the week:

"I can't push off Donzilia, that would be like pushing off Sister Clause!" -Elder Bluemel.

...... You know you've been on the mission a little too long when you have a blast playing musical chairs to hymns with less than 10 people and your calling Mrs. Clause, sister.... hahahaha
"oops. This morning I was studying grace and I accidentally proved the TJ's wrong again..."-Elder Bluemel

oh p.s. shout out to Josh Elgan on the wedding..... didn't even know he got engaged.... keep me updated peeps!

love and miss ya, peace and blessins

sista D. 

 

MADE IT THROUGH TRANSFERS.... COIMBRA ROUND 2 (October 28, 2013)

Well transfers last night, I finally made it through a transfer with out having to pack my life up in 2 little suitcases again. I'm staying here in Coimbra and I will be serving with Sister Azevedo, she's one transfer younger than me, from Cali and dresses freakkkkkking c u t e.  I'm amped. but she's coming from the islands so she won't get here till like 6 tonight so I've just been dragged around by one of the members all day, irma Elisabete. best P-day ever............... but im stoked for my new sissy :)

 

this week def had its highs and lows.. including dog poop, scissors in jell-o, crazy angolan woman, and casamento!

oh p.s. I hope you ALL had the time of your life at Macklemore. I know he never disappoints. #USA #USA

This week we had divisions and I served a fulllll day with Sister Parker. my twin. We are literally the same person (besides her spoiled davis high black girl attitude) but we both love Kardashians, rainbow chip frosting and anything cheetah and just bonded over wordly things ALL day. This is her old area, so we passed by all her recent converts and fav members, had Evandros baptism interview (which he passed), marked Kalu to be baptized on Sunday and a surprise party cause it was her birthday! 

it was a good day except for.......... during lunch all the missionaries go to Anabellas house every Thursday..... yes the same anabela who's family just got over lice, who fed us cow stomach cabbage stew and we watched the dogs giving birth. Well this week I was just holding the cutest wittle puppy in the world and i looked down and saw some brown... NO. i start freaking out and dry heaving. Sister Parker sees what happened and is gagging in the corner, ditches her puppy on my lap.  Everyone else is literally rolling just LOL'n, taking pics, making videos.. yes I have this all on video, but no one will take the dog out of my hand. i was seriously laughing so hard, and trying not to puke all at the same time. finally Anabela waddles over and takes the dog.... oh my k i admit it was super funny but SO gross. and it got on my shirt :( yeah.... and now the jokes haven't stopped coming alll week. 

Evandro had his interview the day of divisions, everything went so great, he walked out of the interview with Presidente with THE biggest smile on his face... he never smiles, always got that im tight black kid look on his face. but on Saturday the Elderes went over to their house to teach Kalu and prepare him for his interview.... they received muitas facas. Their mom (who we've been delaying the baptism for so she could see..) came all the way from Angola just to have a talk with these "sisters" uhhhh. yeah good thing the elders were there to take the heat. They got yelled at for 2 hours straight by some psycho independent black woman from angola..... So yeah. baptism off as of now. She realllllly wants to have a chat with the sisters, but everytime we try to go over there they are going shopping or something. its been super chato. but she thinks we were forcing her sons to get baptized and that is going to get in the way of their studies..... seriously woman. think of the blessings here! So hopefully we'll be able to see her tonight or tomorrow and straighten everything out, it'll be a good first lesson for Sister Azevedo. Welcome to Coimbra. 

This week we got a desafio (challenge) from the Zone Leaders to do the Convite Suave (when the Lord answers your prayers and you know this message is true, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized?) the desafio was to do that to 5 people in the street everyday..... ta bom. so we did it, and EVERYone said yes! fogo. imma start convite suave'n errry contact. yeah yeah i know i was supposed to all along, but there's just SO much to remember..... tell them we're disciples of Jesus Christ, talk about their family, teach the restoration, get their address, say a prayer, ask for references, convite suave, ALL of this in a 2-5 minute first interaction on the street. fogo man.  

Our other progressing investigator, Stefan, is marked to be baptized on the 10th, but he lives with his girlfriend Suzana and their 3 year old son Filipe.... we taught him the law of chastity and he reallly didnt want to get married cause he's from Romania and he doesnt want people to think he's getting married just to get his papers or something.. so we told him to pray about it and talk to Suzana... the NEXT day at church, he went up to Bishop and asked him to marry them so he can get baptized....... AHH! MILAGRE! (dont make fun of me this week martison..... its a milagre mesmo!) 

Fogo pa. I love and miss you all. life is sooo good right now (besides evandro, the dog poop nightmare and all of the missionaries repeatedly haunting me with jell-o this week) but I am loving the mission a little too much, you might all wanna start saving up to come visit cause i'm never taking this tag off. #sorrynotsorry #desculpnaodesculpa #ohshootmartisimalreadyRMBen

Lines of the week:

"yeah welll my wife is gonna put up with 2 things.. my flip flops and shaving my legs."-Elder Morse wellll ladies, anyone wanna start writing him now??

"Irma (elisabete), you just have a face that looks like you would like chocolate." -Elder Bluemel

BEIJOS!

Sista Dumas 

 

FELIZ DIA DA BRUXAS (November 4, 2013)

 

Okay so Halloween, is like not celebrated here, but it is...... we went freaking HAM though.. well as HAM as we could, while staying exatamente obediente. oh p.s. new my compy.. sister Azevedo. this is her 3rd transfer so she has a hard core American accent but yeah i love her. We have too much fun together, it literally takes like an hour to do nightly planning cause we just start talking about everything else. We get along so great and we both love trashy television. So for Halloween, we switched name tags and I was sister Azevedo for the day. We wore our black and orange and cat shirts and celebrated by singing the closest Halloween hymn we could find... God be with you till we meet again. (it was either that or the spirit of God) 

Also we ran home to grab coats cause it was freezing and the 2 minutes we were in the house we got trick or treated by 3 little costumeless black girls.. but we only had 2 pieces of candy.... and also we wanted that candy, so we had to give them "digestive to go cookies" that our investigator Celson gave us. #thestruggle 

This week the ZL's challenged us to make a list of everyone who has already attended church before, mark an appointment with them and mark them for baptism. So we went through our entire area book and called every single person who has been to church at least once. We only got ahold of one, his name is Luciano. We were able to meet with him and teach him the next night about joesph smith and the first vision. He was so awesome and the spirit was so strong. We marked him for the 10th of november to be baptized, except he still has to pray about Joseph Smith, so technically it's not a mark, but we have plans to teach him tonight and see how that pray went. but guys, he's def elect and I'm super stoked for him to get dunked and receive all these blessings. 

Stefan and Suzana are going down to the conservatorio today to get the papers so they can get married so he can get baptized! ahhh! this is so exciting! Also remember how i told you Suzana was super not interested and was playing with dolls and turtles during both our lessons? well last time we went over there, Stefan was like okay well can we move my baptism another week so Suzana can get baptized the same day? and then Suzana was like yeah and my brother Miguel! uhhh whoa, everyones throwing baptisms at us right and left. the answer is YES. but Suzana you need to read the book of mormon. so we'll see what happens there. 

Also apparently Martis isn't the only one that needs to work on teaching Fasting.... Saturday night we taught Stefan fasting and fast offerings and invited him to fast about the casamento (wedding) and then yesterday, it was like 5 minutes before sacrament and he still hadn't showed up for church, so I called him to see where he was... He was like no I can't come today because I tried to fast but i was hungry so I ate... #faithful nooooo of course you can still come to church! 

yeah this is sooops short. (also i started saying soops because of my companion and i hate it... but also i kinda like it) Also, family and friends. why am i finding out from ward members here that kim kardashian is blonde and kris and bruce broke up? and you call yourselves family...........

Line of the week:

"Well I shaved my legs this morning so I could be Elder Morse for Halloween.."-Sister Azevedo

LOVE YOU!

happy halloween, Feliz dia da bruxas!

xo, Sister Dumas 

 p.s. coimbra all of a sudden got freaking freezing this week..... need money for sweaters.... pleassseee! love you  maezinha! 

 

 

DONT WORRY THIS DUMAS SISTER IS SAFE AND SOUND (November 11, 2013)

 

Okay what? NO i had NO idea Martis was dying out there! I'm literally dying here!!!! Last week Sister Parker called me and was like I heard there was a hurricane in the Philippines is your sissy okay? and then she was like ohh wait this hurricane was in october on a different island soo nevermind, so i just didnt think anything of it. then i get on today and get my whole world rocked. I hope little Dr. Sister Medicle Marticle is safe and sound, but if I know her as well as I think I do, I know even in times of trouble she still has everyone rolling out in the Philis and errythang will be okay. #prayersformartison

So this week not much happened..... we have been struggling to find people who will progress so we just did procura just about ALL day erry day. a.k.a. street contacts, knocking doors, whatever else you can think of to find new people.

This week we got a reference from the Elders... that never happens! our area is this tiny little sliver in the middle of 4 other duplas areas, so we're always givin away but never receivin referencias, but this week the elders gave us one of some guy they contacted in the street. and Elder Lopes was like well hes fixe, but he has some strange beliefs about Christ.. he thinks he was a gangster. yeah yeah whatevs. 

So we call this guy so we can teach him, his name is Zema, show up at his house.. which is situated on the very edge of town at the opposite end of Rua de Brasil which is super sketch, we passed 3 strip clubs on the way to his house, also its already 9 at night and pitch dark outside. So we get to his house, oh wait, it's not a house its like a rehab center, but no judgement, he needs Christ in his life right now.

Wellllll then he comes out he's like 6 foot, short dreads with 2 piercings on one ear (i dont know why men here think that's like an acceptable look) and he goes to beijinho me, (like kiss both sides of my face) and i just pulled back, which is always awkward and no one ever knows what to do in that situation.. well he was not happy with that. Then we tried to explain, sorry we're missionaries, we have rules, blah blah blah. yeah he didn't like that, but he kept listening to us, until i started talking about Christ and he just went off on a rant, all of a sudden he started speaking english and told me that words dont mean anything but hes a gangsta.. (yeah i dont know how elder lopes understood that he thinks jesus is a gangsta when he was saying HE is a gangsta.. also elder lopes is from cape verde and fluent in portuguese.... -__-) but anyway it was freaking sketch, and then he totes "west sided" us... okay dude your some little thug from angola kickin it in portugal do even know where the west side is? and soo yeah things went from bad to worse realllll fast and then sister Azevedo was like okay I think we need to leave, and right when she said that I could literally feel the spirit leave me. i felt so sick and we got out of there so quick. called up the elders and told them to just  keep the gangstas next time, even if they live in our area. #prayersformartisandthrowinsomeforkracken

Last night we went to teach Stefan again, he literally knows and understands everyyyything. we're running out of things to teach him! I'm like gonna have to start teaching him about outer darkness and Heavenly Mother pretty soon.... so last night we started talking about the Priesthood again, but this time Suzana started listening to the lesson, so we taught about temple marriages.. and we were able to mark them to be married on the 14th of december and they will both be baptized on the 15th! anddd Suzana said the closing prayer!!! k i dont think you guys understand.. she used to hate us and avoid us at all costs, then we started teaching Stefan and she would ruin the lessons with her box full of live turtles, and last night she said the prayer!! #milagres. good thing madison doesnt have electricity so she cant read that and make fun of me again.. too soon to joke? nah martis can take it. 

Oh and yesterday was like the worst start to my birthday week eva, saturday night at 1030 ish the elders told us we had to teach the gosples principles class the next day.. for the first time, and we didnt have a gospel principles book at our house.. so then we're wingin it in this class and half way through Bispo pulled me out and was like ohhh yeah you're giving a talk today on faith as a principal of action..... k.. really..? You all know I have never given a talk without writing it out word for word.. and i literally had 5 minutes to prepare AND it was in portuguese.. my first talk in portuguese. but dont worry pops, i still had a joke and a story and everyone loved it ;)

Line of the week:

as we were trying to remember a line of the week... 

"well i dont think this is really a line of the week but chad freaking ate 8 oreo balls before the opening prayer!" 

I love and miss you all, 

bejinhos minhas queridas,

xo, sister dumas 

 

GO SHAWTY ITS YO BURFDAY (November 18, 2013)

 

yeah i know the titles real cliche but it's the only semi-appropriate birthday rap song i could think of.

Calm it down, calm it down, calm it down, calm. it. down. 

128 emails!?!?!? FOGO. legit dont know if i will have time to open all of them but OBRIADA todo mundo that remembered my birthday :) LOVE YOU GUYS! and for those of you who didnt write, i'm just gonna go ahead and remember that life is so hard in america when FB reminds you of birthdays, but i'll be expecting you're emails next week, so thanks. beijos!

p.s. anyone else dying I hit 6 months this week and I'm 21?

This week was soooo great. I went freaking hard on this birthday week. YOLO for days. First day of birthday week, I contacted a guy in the streets that looks literally exactly like Macklemore. same haircut and all. His names Walter and he's an italian/brazilian architect, who is gonna be a greattttt leader of the church. #nextbispo sometimes I get a little ahead of myself.. but he is freaking Macklemore so I ain't giving up on this man anytime soon. #sorrynotsorry #desculpenaodesculpe

Then yesterday, the actual day of birth, i can't tellllll you how many times I heard "PARABENS!" ya'll know i was just lovin all the attention. Some of the members brought me little gifts, my fave was all the chocolate, claro. and almost all of my best friends in the mish called me throughout the day and sang :) so i gotta talk to everyone yesterday. it was nothing like getting kidnapped by all my girls and takin to kiss 21 boys and free sushi.... but it was def a good birthday :)

The best part of my birthday was the batismo de Fil! I was super nervous Saturday night when right before his baptismal interview I was trying to set up his ride for church and he said "talvez..." (maybe) uh excuse me? so when we went into our lesson I hit him hard with that Dia do Senhor mandamento and promised all the blessings and then we got his ride alll set up. phewww. After his interview, Elder Morse told me how impressed he was and that was the most prepared anyone has ever been for any of his baptismal interviews. #holla 

But lemme just run a little background on Fil. He is one of the probably 4 people I have ever ran after to contact them in the street. He is 50 and from Guine-Bissau (i have no idea how to say that in english.. its in africa) He was super difficult to teach at first, he believed God was nature.. yeah that makes sense..... Then he was super stand offish about baptism. Well he said he would be baptized, but would never pick a date. Also half of his face is destroyed because when he was 23, he was trying to break apart this fight and someone dumped acid on his face. it's super sad. Also his wife passed away and his son was hospitalized this week for drugs. rough life. but now he knows he will be able to live with his wife again and have a perfect bod in the ressurection. I LOVE THIS GOSPEL. and I am so happy I have been the one to teach him all these truths and watch him enter the waters of batismo on my birthday! foi mesmo maravilha. 

Stefan and Suzana...... remember how Suzana doesn't "do" chapels, well she came to family night this week!!!! We played Jeopardy and Stefan knew more of the answers than I did. #itaughthimwell..... He knew the Prophets name was Thomas S. Monson (no one ever remembers that), he knew the first temple built was in Ohio... still dont know how he knew that. and he knew the last prophet in the Book of Mormon was Mormons son.. "Mormoni" .....mmm yeah. almost. Seriously he is amazing. Now we just gotta get Suzana to the chapel next sunday! 

Familia Cruz had us over for dinner this week and served us up some potatoes and curdled pig blood... yup.. yum.... Elder Maughan advised me to just shove it all in the bread. I just got another scoop of potatoes and put the pig blood back on the spoon and back into the pot when no one was looking. it's live fear factor erry single day out hurr. 

Line of the week:

"dude. my sister was in a typhoon." 

"oh well Khloe and Lamar are back together!!" -Sister Azevedo. she listens to me so well. 

"hold on that's a clown snake. Am I the only one seeing this?"-Elder Morse

Well thats all muh niggas. LOVE YOU ALL.

xoxo, Sister Dumas 

p.s. all the peeps from #BOISE2012 please, everyone take a second and remember when we were at Roaring springs and  Boston and Cheney, had to hold hands and sing ring around the rosies because they got off the tube too soon.... HAHA

 

ITS DENNIS' DAY (November 25, 2013)

 

Oh shoot it's Dennis' birthday today! ooooOOOO! happy birthday mama! look at us getting so old! hope it's the best birthday ever! although i know it wont be without me and martis there........ but hey you get my email today so holla. but really just wanna publicly say Dennis is the greatest woman out there and everyone should make her a cake today. also if anyone wants to send some of that cake my way, i'm sick of these butter filled pastries. except this week we found churro balls! ;)

but HAPPY BIRTHDAY DENNIS!

also late birthday shout out to miss melissa brown. 30 flirty and thriving. totes had the intentions to send ya a postcard, except you're in freaking Germany and I dont have your address........ but there will be one waiting for ya in VA when you get back :)

Back to my birthday though, the celebrations are still going on. I got 2 semi-surprise parties.....one was just a last minute family night the elders couldnt go to so we brought stefan and filipe and we just happened to eat cake and they sang to me..... so i'm just gonna go ahead and count that as a surprise party. And for the other.... Remember how in America when someone has a suprise party, everyone works really hard to keep it that way and then at the party go HARD on making it a huge suprise. Right? That is normal behavior.... Well, Portugal is NAWT like that. Last Monday night, Familia Cruz threw me a suprise party. Except, we kind of knew it was happening because she made us clear our schedules and also told the elders to come too. (okay, red flag.) then right before it started Elder Morse called me and was like hey when are we supposed to be at famila cruz's house? ...k really. but what evs. So, when we get there we are PUMPED for everyone to go crazy, We knock the door, expecting the lights to be off, and us to walk in to everyone going CRAZY, but no one did. We walked in and everyone was like "hello" just that. But at the end of the night, we ate cake and everyone kept calling it a suprise party. me and Sis A just labeled it the "ratchet" suprise party of our year, because it was so weird and funny. So... there is a taste of the Holidays from PortPort. 2 surprise parties and cake for dayssssss. no funfetti though :(

Then one of the elders, (elder Lopes little cape verdean that im hooking up with allie) gave me a box of chocolates for my birthday and you already know me and Sista A were raging on those things, but some of them had like liquid inside that was super bitter and disgusting..... We thought they just went bad or something, freaking portugal. but no.... the next day she was reading the box and more than half of them were made with Liquor.. brandy.. and rum... yup... that explains it. hahahahahah so yeah we died laughing, and repented and its all good now. 

We FINALLY had a real sit down lesson with Susana, we taught her the first lesson superrrrr simple and in like 10 minutes. and we held her attention almost half the time! baby steps... but in the end she said the closing prayer and asked if Joseph Smith was a prophet and if the Book of Mormon was true and then after she asked she was like "well yeah i already think it's all true" every missionaries favorite words. and she came to church yesterday!!! 

As for Stefan, we've legitimately already taught him everything, so we did plano de missão de familia with him (family mission plan? its what we do with the members here) and he is giving the spiritual thought this week for family night at the church. ahhh he's such a G. Bispo said since we dont know how long the wedding will take we're just gonna move forward and act like they're already members and they'll have home teachers and everything!

This week at zone conference, we had interviews with presidente, he crushed my plans when he said i cant skype Dr. Sister Medicle Marticle..... i asked him and he was like uhhh.... umm... i dont know.... whipped out the white handbook and it said on Christmas you can skype your parents.... nothing about siblings so that means no. :( affffe. but then we were talking about the work  and working with the members and he told me that I'm serving in the best ward in the country. and I was like yeah yeah... its a great ward.. but then I thought about it and no, he is serious and Prez actually knows that this IS the best ward in the whole country of Portugal. I seriously love this ward and serving here in Coimbra. 

Other highlights of the week: 

our new investigator Vladimir plays soccer for Academica... thats the equivalent of me teaching like a Jazz player out hurr people

Elder Sorensen gave me and Azevedo 2 euros each to buy mcflurrys just for putting all the chicken feet from Anabelas house on our plates #iaintscurred

and helping familia cruz clean out their old house... picture and antique house in the middle of europe with hoarders living there 20 years ago and theres no electricity, yeah that's the house we're cleaning lately, also there's a doll room.... just designated for creepy moldly dolls. did i mention theres no electricity? but the worst part is Maria do Carmo singing "its oh sooo quiet shhhh shhhh shhh" the whole time.

One last shout out and double thank muh girl Hannah Llewelyn for sending me this link.... everyone check it out. 

https://vine.co/v/h1pTEzEiIHF

 

 

DENNIS vs. LACEE 4 PRESIDENT!!  (December 2, 2013)

seriously........ they're at a tie right now. freaking lacee wendel shout out to you, thank you for being an example to everyone else on a wonderful missionary girls best friend. 

If anyone wants a shout out... follow after Lacee's footsteps. 

(Also kaylee and kaylee..... and baylee noe if shes out there reading this somewhere.. please remember the Jazz Rowdy game.... Deron 4 Governor. LOL)

also freaking inaweda cordabeda PARABENS anybodywannaqoutapoundacheezbooga to Brodis Mcgodis and Kenna! everyones getting hitched out there it sounds like. So please don't forget about Sister Kracker Jack when you're sending out those wedding announcements:

Sister Kristen Dumas

Portugal Lisbon Mission

Apartado 40054

1500 Lisbon

Portugal  

also that address is ongoingly accepting letters, christmas packages, belated birthday cards, and whatever else you see fit...

Well some highlights of this week included: double thanksgiving meals, vacay to Porto and another to Lisboa, a SUCCESFUL Law of Chastity door contact, almost getting flashed, but saved by the power of prayer, 2 days later actually getting flashed, and the realization of all the things I'm grateful for. 

First off I have had wayyy too many experiences this week to reitirate how grateful I am that Sister Azevedo is my compy comp. i l o v e h e r 

We went to Porto this week for a mission tour conference with Elder Dyches of the Area Presidency of Europe and it was awesome.

We had a 12 sister sleepover.........

a.k.a I heard WAY too much about BYU and "the missionary I'm writing".

If i hear one more thing about Heritage vs, Helaman Halls.. #bustacap #goAGGIES and among all the BYU talks was one "well umm I attended Utah Valley University." uhh you mean UVU? did she just try to make that sound classy?? #waitIsupportthat but actually that same girl knows le sbluis kinda.. so shout out to him! it's sister bethany brundage and she's my neice on the mission (being trained by my sister) 

also quote of the morning... 

"wait sister.. i just really need to hurry and go to the bathroom...." 

"yeah well i need to shower" ..door shuts... hahahaha poor thing.

Then on Thanksgiving we were with Anabela and forever she has been wanting so bad to listen to her CDs of the Book of Mormon, because she can't read so this Sunday we gave her headphones... I have never seen someone SO happy in my entire life. She gave me the biggest hug and yelled in the middle of church "Satanas has no more power over me!!!" Then on Thanksgiving we had lunch with her and she was telling us about all her problems right now and to top it all off, she can only use the headphones when her daughters boyfriend comes over and brings his laptop for her to hear the scriptures.... me and sister Azevedo did a little digging in our fountain of technoligical knowledge... and popped the cd's into her DVD player.. bam. "O livro de mormon é um volume de escrituras sagradas....." Her face lit up.. she turned the volume all the way up to 100.... you literally could hear it throughout the whole neighborhood so I didn't get to hear any of the thanks she was throwing out, but I am so grateful I was able to give her such a simple gift and witness the happiness the Book of Mormon brings to peoples lives. 

Then for Thanksgiving Dinner  it was nothing like last years Vegas Buffet or Friendsgiving in NP134.... like we didn't even have potatoes... but we hit up Maria Joses and she is a saint. literally she made mango mousse with pureed strawberries on top and whipped cream.... little slice of heaven. 

And last night I went to Lisbon for sister Azevedo to get her residency card and we had a sleepover with Sister Brooklyn Mullen who just so happens to know, and actually grew up on the same street from the only person I know from Canada.. Benjamin Fairbanks! Small world. also congrats on the baby!!!

I just wanna peace out with how grateful i am to be here on a mission. I know that this church is true and I am so grateful for the testimony I have of it and the opportunity I have to share it literally everyday. I am so grateful for all of you back home that have helped me gain and strengthen my testimony. I am so grateful I'm from America and all the conveniences we have there. I am so grateful for my compy sissy A. I am so grateful for all my friends who have, will or currently are serving a mission. I am grateful for my sista and BFF martison and her example to me. I am grateful for costa vida and dr. pepper (if anyone could swing that into a package.. força) I am grateful for my Savior Jesus Cristo and I know that He lives. I am SO grateful for everything. 

with all my love, 

xoxo

Sista Dumas

Line of the week:

(all of us were going through everyones celeb look alikes on the train to Porto... elder lopes is the one I'm trying to get allie shaw to write... hint hint write him back... but he's just this tall skinny elder from cape verde who barely knows english and all he says is yeah man..) 

Me: "Okay well who's Elder Lopes celeb look alike??" 

Sister Azevedo: "I don't know one of the extras from Coach Carter"

elder Lopes: yeah man

 

STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM NOW WE HURR. (December 9, 2013)

Round 3 in Coimbra. bring it.

That's right, transfer number 5 in the field is starting today and I'm stickin with lil Azevedo in Coimbra for another 6 weeks. HOLLA atcha gurl!

This last week and a half i have just been traveling like crazyyyy. every other day I went to Porto, Lisboa, Leiria and Viseu. so i was praying not to be transferred because I can't handle another bus nap this week and we have 4 people marked for baptism! (even though Stefan and Susana wont be  baptized until a year from now... still praying it will happen while I'm here.) 

I got to go back to Leiria this week for divisions..... foi um dia cheia de milagres. literally. (day full of miracles.) When we got there at around 2 all of our plans had fallen until 630... So I decided to call up some of the old investigators I had when I was serving there, We called up Flavio and he told us we could come over. When we got there, we weren't really sure what we were gonna teach, and then he told us his older brother had just died.. yesterday. My heart just sank.How honestly sad is that to lose someone when you don't have a firm knowledge of the plan of salvation? And what are the chances that the day after this happens I get to return to Leiria for a day and get him back in contact with the church? We just let him talk for like 20 minutes and just vent, bore our testimonies on the fact that he will see his brother again, prayed with him and left him with a plan of salvation pamphlet and set up another appointment for the Leiria sisters to come back and talk about it again. Wow. It just made me realize how aware God is of His children and the perfect plan he has for every single one of us. And then I remembered why I probably got transferred from Leiria in the first place... As he proceeded to tell me he wants mulatto (mulado??) babies with green eyes...People in Portugal just literally have NO boundaries. 

Then we were walking around and I felt very impressed to talk to someone.. i literally felt it. Like that doesn't happen that often. Usually I am just like oh they're by themselves, I'll contact them. It's a family! contact them. He looks a little old and crazy.... easy contact. African! contact dat! but this time I literally felt it, so we stopped to talk to this African joven just sittin by himself. We started  talking and introducing ourselves and getting to know him and he told us he was from Coimbra, so I was like ohhh na verdade, I live in Coimbra and he was like the first or second ward? .... Wait Luis.... have you been to church before? he is a freaking member! Less active! So we had a little chat with him and got him set up to come to church on sunday. but to top things off, his sister lives in Coimbra still and isnt a member yet. golden reference. 

and then we hit up Viseu on Saturday.. I MISS AMERICAN CHURCH ACTIVITIES. especially when Shelly Green is cooking. This was an 11 hour activity. the first 3 hours was a primary program..... which brings us to the line of the week:

in the middle of the 3 hour stake primary christmas program..

"Yeah.. I'm just waiting for a rendition of the dance on Mean Girls to come on." -Elder Harris

hahahhaha

Then lunch was just crappy portugal finger foods that were cold. Wasn't into it. 

Then just a 2 hour mass baptism... yeah that's like a missionaries dream, except we couldnt even fit in the room there were so many people.   

But all in all it was a gooood day.. just really made me grateful for all of the luxuries of the one hour american stake activities freaking catered by KFC. #blessed

Outtie 5000

love you all, 

Sister Dumas. 

 

ASSOMBRO ME CAUSA (December 16, 2013)  

 

So, I want to start off by giving some advice to any girl who wants to serve a mission.. You definitely NEED to buy skirts that you can run in. This week, I literally ran away from more people than I ever have in my entire life. yup literally ran from people. SKETCH city. I thought Ogden was Rack City... Coimbra is Rack City.

So yeah. Lots of running this week: Flowy skirts are my number one. Still.

The worst part is one of the people we ran from was our recent convert........

I will hold the stories for skypin on Christmas or something...

Which i literally have NO information about..... All i know is we went from no Christmas dinner to 2 Christmas dinners all in one day ;) I have a gift of swinging us any meal for any time of the day...... Probs just the fact that all these members can't get enough of me..no but really this week we worked on getting some good meals secured for ol´Natal. We did get our number one and number two pick. But then, through a twist of events that NO ONE saw coming, the Relief Society president accidentally made us give up one of our meals to the elders. I am not into it. BUT we will continue to work on our girl Socorro and her family this week. We are gonna try to swing a Brazilian Christmas. Keep your eyes open for THAT hashtag.But for now all I know is I will be skyping from Bishops house, there will probs just be children running around crazy, but some how we need to set it up so me and martis are skyping at the same time. Who knows the time difference around these parts?

Also SANTA DOG. I need picture proof that you guys are taking responsibility and putting him in his little santa suit.

ohhh hold up PARABENS to Amber and Beav! não acredito, mas sou tao feliz por lhes ;)

So since it's Christmas, and Christ is the reason for the season, lets hit the spiritual side with this weeks email.

This week sister Azevedo said something that really stuck with me, that I had never thought about before. "if we want to strengthen our relationship with someone, we have to spend time with and get to know them. Same thing with Heavenly Father and the Savior." to strengthen our relationship with them we can pray obviously, and study about their life. We have been working on that this holiday season reading Jesus The Christ every morning during companionship study. (for those of you who like to read.. papa dumas... check that book out.  a m a z i n g.)

This morning I was reading Mosiah 17 about the prophet Abinadi and how he was burnt alive because of his beliefs. in verse 20 it says "having been put to death because he would not deny the commandments of God." As I sat there and pondered I thought about all the people who gave up their life for this church. I thought of 2 people in specific. The first, Joseph Smith who we all know "sealed the Book of Mormon with his own blood" and our Savior Jesus Christ.

So I hit the Bible and read from the Garden of Gethsemane to the Crucifixion. wow. I dont think I have read that since I studied the New Testament in 10th grade seminary... with bro chatelain.... so who knows how often I was actually in class. but I was so amazed by so many things.

Right when he leaves Gethsemane, after having bled from every single pore for the sins of mankind, he finds all his disciples sleeping. Not only that, but then he is betrayed by Judas who brought the mob to him. In that same encounter one of the mob members gets his ear cut off and Christ is so selfless that he heals it right then admist all the betrayal. Then all the horrible things continue happening, he is tortured, mocked and given vinegar to drink, nailed to the cross and the first thing He says in Luke 23:42 is "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."

All I could think of was the words to my favorite hymn... (actually in Portuguese, but I though I'd better throw the English down so ya'll can get something out of it too.)

1.  I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me,
   Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me.
   I tremble to know that for me he was crucified,
   That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died.
2. Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me
   Enough to die for me!
   Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!
3. I marvel that he would descend from his throne divine
   To rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine,
   That he should extend his great love unto such as I,
   Sufficient to own, to redeem, and to justify.
4. I think of his hands pierced and bleeding to pay the debt!
   Such mercy, such love and devotion can I forget?
   No, no, I will praise and adore at the mercy seat,
   Until at the glorified throne I kneel at his feet.

I literally stand all amazed. Assombro me causa. Sou tão grato por meu Salavadro Jesus Cristo. Then I came across this scripture in Luke 22:32

 "when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren."

 My challenge to you all this Christmas season is to strengthen your relationship with the Savior and then follow the counsel of that scripture and the counsel we all recevied from our very own Prophet and Apostles to make this month um mês de convite. not sure how they phrased that in English... Invite month?? and strengthen thy brethren.

BOM NATAL and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

tchao tchao com licença, fica bem, beijinhos tchao tchao um abraço, tchao.

love, Sister Dumas

 

NOTICIAS DE CHRISMUKKAH  (December 23, 2013)

Santa´s got a brand new sleigh, email´s got a brand new twist.

This week, we would like to make our emails a little different. Firstly, if you have not already noticed, we are combining our efforts, our jokes, our email time, to write a combined letter for the upcoming festitivities this week. (namely Sister Azevedo´s birthday, but I guess it could be for Christmas too...) 

So, this week as you all settle down and enjoy your luxuries of an American Holiday season, such as skiing down the slopes, and snuggling up by the fire, getting caught under the mistletoe, and waitin for Santa Claus to come to town, we wanted to show you all about how we, as missionaries out in good ol´ Portugal have been spending our time. And, as it says in the bible,"in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." (2 Corinithians 13:1) So, here are our witnesses, straight from the nightly journal entries of yours truly, Sister Dumas and Sister Azevedo. 

Upon our first meetings...

"I met Sister Dumas at like, 9:15. We got home and planned quickly so I could unpack. It was uneventful. She´s pretty." -Sister Azevedo

"Well my comp didn´t get here until freaking 9 o´clock at night and she is darling and seriously funny with lots of great clothes. We´re gonna get along just great. beijos." -Sister Dumas

On Elder Sorensen´s (Chad´s) eating habits...

"Today was Elder Maughan´s birthday, we made them oreo balls for district meeting. Chad literally ate eight before the opening prayer... That kid just goes for it on food, all the time." -Sister Dumas

"It was Elder Maughan´s 20th birthday today! We celebrated HARD obviously with oreo oreo balls, like 80 of them. But freaking CHAD kept on going at them. He ate like 20, and 8 before the opening prayer. The capacity of that dude scares me a little bit." -Sister Azevedo

Celebrity Sightings...

"We contacted Macklemore today! Same hair- same swag- same name, but actually it is Walter. I am pretty sure that Sister Dumas and him need to get married STAT. #weneedpinterestnow" -Sister Azevedo

"Today we contacted Macklemore´s twin. He was actually interested in knowing more... holla! Imma baptize him, and marry him in the temple (after the mish) #ineedpinterestnow" -Sister Dumas

Lessons with Members gone BAD...

"I swear if one more person brings up the Second Coming in a first lesson I am going to rage." -Sister Azevedo

"Today we gave a chapel tour with Irmã **** (name has been concealed for protection), she went big. She talked about Christ visiting the Nephites, Modern-day prophets with counselors, the Book of Mormon, AND the Doctrine and Covenants.... hold up, this is just a church tour." -Sister Dumas

On Stefan...

"We played Jeopardy for FHE and Stefan literally knew more answers than me. He knew the first temple was in Ohio and the last prophet to write in the B.O.M was the Son of Mormon... "Mormoni" ....close. Also Filipe actually gave me a high five today, Progress. We´re just movin´and groovin´out here." -Sister Dumas

"Okay, so Stefan is going to pass me up in like every aspect of the church. He was reading the Book of Mormon on the way to the activity today. Before MY baptism, I was in like, I nephi 10 and he´s taking time out to read on the bus. What a champ." -Sister Azevedo

The Exotic Food...

"We totally squeezed our way into THAT dinner. Fun. She served us PIG´S BLOOD. It was actually kind of good, just don´t think about it" -Sister Azevedo

"Ate dinner with Familia Cruz and enjoyed the Portugal soccer game... I just got some great views of Christiano Ronaldo (Bo-bo would be so jealous). We ate potatoes, some kind of meat, and pig´s blood... like literally curdled pig blood. ew. I´m gagging. I asked for salt." -Sister Dumas

Service...

"And when ye are in the service of your fellowbeing, ye are only in the service of your God." -Mosiah 2:17

"Today we helped Maria do Carmo again #ExtremeMakeover1847PortugalEdition. This time we cleaned the doll room. Mind you, there´s mold on everything AND no lights. Worst nightmare. The worst part was Maria singing "it´s oh so quite.... shh... shh.. shh.. " over and over and over again" -Sister Dumas

"We had a service project again. (It was a two part extreme makeover) Last time, a huge wooden thing filled with glass cups tried to fall on me and this time Elder Morse crushed me into a wall with a couch. Oh the JOYS of service. But, other than the 6 lbs of mold (or about 2.5 kilos) in my lungs, no permanent damage occured. Although, really, that could have some lasting effects."-Sister Azevedo

So, in closing, Merry Christmas from our house to yours! May your Holidays be merrier than ours, and NOT be filled with pig´s blood, Macklemore look-a-likes and Chad Sorensens! 

In memory of Santa Dog, 

xoxo Sister Dumas and Azevedo

 

Top 13's of 2013 Dec 30, 2013

 

As the New Year is approaching I have done a lot of reflecting on this last year. This time last year I was standing on top of a sketchy hospital rooftop in Tiajuana, Mexico lighting of fireworks with Jewish Jay and now I'm on the other side of the world preachin' the good word to all the homies on the streets of Portugal. To commemorate the year past I thought I'd hit ya all with the 13 top 13's of 2013.

Throwin' it back to the Myspace days.....

If I had a top 13 for this year, these people would be standing. 

1. Dennis
2. Dr. Sister Medicle Marticle 
3. Sister Azevedo
4. Zaccaria
5. Mad Mattigan (aka Elder Harris)
6. @jamessmellsgood
7. Lacee Wendel
8. Elder Landolf801
9. Jasmine Junk
10. Davin Stephens
11. My mom: Sister Blanco
12. Sheridan Rockhill
13. Kaylee Cannon

Top 13 Books

1. The Book of Mormon
2. Old Testament
3. New Testament
4. Doctrine and Covenants
5. Pearl of Great Price
6. Preach My Gospel
7. Jesus the Christ
8. Our Search for Happiness
9. Our Heritage
10. Liahona
11. Ensign
12. New Era
13. The Friend

Songs. (basically the songs that have been stuck in my head the whole mission)

1. White Walls - Macklemore (this one came back to me when we got our house painted white)
2. Be Still My Soul - David Archuleta
3. How Great Thou Art - David Archuleta
4. Remix - R. Kelly (the only song i remember every single word to.....)
5. Take it Home - Jenny Philips
6. Safe and Sound - Capital Cities
7. Justin Beibers entire Christmas album
8. Stay - Rhianna
9. Can't Hold Us - Macklemore (its on a 24 hour repeat here in Portugal. Still not complaining.)
10. Beep- Pussycat Dolls. still my jam.
11. Assombro Me Causa - Sister Travis and Elder Bluemel on our mission Christmas CD
12. Colt 45 and 2 zig zags - Afroman. (also how me and zaccaria became friends. #fubecas)
13. I don't Care, I Love it. - KILL ME. 

Top 13 things I miss about 'Merica

1. Dr. Pepper and Costa Vida
2. Refills
3. Singin dem dirty rap songs
4. Squawking
5. Paul. my car.
6. Naps
7. Everywhere accepting Visa cards.
8. Air conditioning
9. Dollar Theaters
10. Midnight Sushi and Karaoke Night
11. Tinder
12. Facebook stalking
13. Disco Skate Night

Top 13 Things I don't miss about America

1. Working at Papa Murphy's
2. Dennis yelling at me
3. Getting my phone taken away
4. Paying for gas
5. Finals Week
6. Cleaning my room
7. The Michael Harvey Band
8. Cafe Rio/ Costa Vida rivalry every taco Tuesday (costa should always win.)
9. Singles ward activities
10. Alien class with Tonya Tripplett
11. Sleeping on the couch at NP 134
12. 3rd wheeling it
13. Martis being irrational

Top 13 things I have learned this year

1. Piri- piri can cover any taste
2. Part time is the same word in English and Portuguese, but Payday isn't...... (means I farted)
3. Garments can be used as an undershirt.. only in Portugal
4. Kristen and Nate Patch put together make one mean, undefeated and impressive Fooseball team. 
5. "Ya gotta bro 'em first" -Elder Perkins
6. Saying 'Cali' isn't a thing for people from California
7. Elder Sorensen's dad is the inventor of the Blender Bottle
8. Black people are elect
9. Jewish Jay hasn't worn deodarant for 5 years..... well 6 now. 
10. Goodbyes never get easier
11. Nothing better than the triple threat on the daily schedule in the MTC. 1. gym 2. dinner 3. TALL
12. Everyone in Portugal needs bras and deodarant
13. Never pray with your eyes shut on the street.

Top 13 movies 

1. The Restoration
2. The Restoartion full length version
3. The District
4. The District 2
5. The District Training Segments. The Law of Chastity: German
6. General Conference
7. Mother's Day Mormon Message starring Elder Garcia
8. Legacy
9. Brandon Flowers from The Killers Mormon.org profile
10. The Character of Christ
11. Finding Faith in Christ
12. Together Forever
13. Epic

Crap my ZL's have said to me 

1. Those are apostate boots
2. You're just on a year and a half vacation
3. When did you do that? During proselyting hours?
4. Ohhh you're one of those people....
5. 2 things my wife is gonna have to put up with: me shaving my legs and wearing flip flops.
6. Sister, I'm really nervous for your talk.. (literally as I'm walking up to the pulpit)
7. What time are we supposed to be at Famila Cruz's house? (on when he needed to show up for my SURPRISE birthday party)
8. Sisters, you need to fold your arms in a more protective manner when praying on the streets.
9. Figure it out. And when you figure it out, don't call us back. 
10. Have you ever heard of the Blender Bottle?
11. it's classless to invite yourselves on Christmas
12. Do you guys have any of that... uhh.... medicine... anti-diarrheal..? its for my comp..
13. Happy Birthday...... oh wait Morse didn't say that. 

13 Most Common Excuses

1. I have my own faith
2. I don't want to be a Jehovahs Witness. ......me either.
3. I don't give my phone number out
4. No one's home.
5. "I'm in a hurry"- people sitting on a bench
6. Church is too early
7. I'll be at the Discoteka the night before
8. I can't swim
9. My favorite show is on during church... wrestling.. (our 80 investigator Maria....)
10. I locked the keys in the house again....
11. There's a football game....
12. There was a District Leader there
13. My Zone Leader did it..

Top 13 Memories

1. Landon Bickley's red leather Hot Tamale onesie suit.
2. Last minute Hawaii skydive get away
3. YOLO came back
4. When Boston got suspended for "tormenting the children"
5. Savannah L finally graduated
6. Coining the nickname Kracklepuss
7. Meeting AER with Bugsy... Kaylee Mckinlay 
8. Eating ELOTES from the tiajuana food carts. Get that corn outta ma face!
9. Meeting Yum Yum. 
10. When Sbluis got his celeb lookalike as the smiling terrorist and Martison got Hey Arnold
11. Getting pets for NP 134 Brown Jake, Ginger Jake and Fake Bake Jake
12. The blueberry muffins on Sunday mornings in the MTC
13. Drinking sparkling cider as a district from Elder Zaccaria's "Congrats, didn't think you'd make it 3 weeks package!"

Top 13 hashtags in my journal

1. #FreeHarris2015
2. #fromJacobtoElder
3. #blenderbottle
4. #CDP (chads diet plan)
5. #BrazilianChristmas
6. #sharingbedprobs (I hope that one wasn't on the mission.... white hand book.)
7. #honorarymaidofhonor
8. #takinonefordateam
9. #Tupaclives
10. #almostgotflashed followed by the #powerofprayer
11. #sisterdumasprobs
12. #FluckigersAngels
13. #theKrackenhasbeenreleased

Top 13 Fails

1. Any missionary trying to pronounce "Bacalhau"
2. Throwing rock when Collier threw paper and losing in our best out of 15 Rock, Paper, Scissors to not have to sit by the chatty elder on the plane
3. When Elder Bluemel told Elisabeta she has a face that looks like she'd like chocolate
4. Falling down the stairs at the MTC.. twice. and getting that HUGE bruise
5. Sister Fluckiger using the word old woman instead of candle and saying she's going to light one on fire.
6. the kid running around the parking lot after DSN yelling "THE CARDINALS ARE GOING TO THE PLAYOFFS" ripping off his clothes and tripping on his pants
7. The alcoholic box of chocolate birthday present Elder Lopes unknowingly gave us
8. When Anabelas puppy pooped on my arm during lunch and no one would take the dog out of my hand.
9. Brent Syphus not knowing who I was in the MTC...... -_-
10. When the new AP Elder Dastup round 2'd it on a fruit plate at the Brazilian buffet.... and still didn't eat it all.
11. RIP Santa Dog :(
12. Celson asking me and Azevedo to baptize him because we are "pure"
13. Cabin Fever Cafe 2013 gone BAD. Poop River, Luis slash Ramone night show, and Jess' serious singing Jesus Take the Wheel.

Top 13 Quotes of 2013

1. INAWEDACORDABEDA ANYBODYWANNAQOTAPOUNDA CHEEZBOOGA?? - Brodis and Jakel
2. "Next time you're on a bad date.. just remember you're not in a gypsy costume.. at the Provo temple." - Sister Azevedo
3. "I can't see anything with these stupid glasses on." - me on Flasses
4. "Yeah I was  a DJ... I had the Thursday night slot at FACES.... the gay bar..." - Elder Harris
5. "She's just.. perfect woman." - Elder Garcia on his mother Lisa
6. "He's my favorite rapper!!"- Elder Costa and Perkins making fun of me
7. Hey Nate is your mom funny? No she's stupid. Is your dad funny? No he's bald. -me and Nate Patch
8. "I shaved my legs this morning so I could be Elder Morse for Halloween" - Sis. Azevedo 
9. "Shut up sister Hancock! you just got hit in the face!" - me again.
10. HAYLEY! Goood to see you! - Landon Bickley
11. "Who has time to subtweet??" - Jodis Bickley "Who has time to watch Downton Abby?" - Landon Bickley
12. "No Aladdin is good, cause he's the only one I could ever dress up for on Halloween." - Elder Zaccaria... #navajoprobs
13. "Ew" - me

Well let's make 2014 even better than 13. CHEERS to that one.

Peace and Blessin's

xoxo Sister Dumas