mission picture contest: Braga (4th and last area)

This is my last area. When I was preparing for the mission in the MTC, one of my teachers told me about an area named Braga. Braga is known as the religious city of Portugal (Catholicism). It is beautiful and old and full of history. My teacher told us about a member named Emerson and had us start to teach and prepare our lessons as if we were teaching one of the people in Braga that she had taught when she was there. Me and my companions developed a love for Emerson, whom we had never met. Because of him, it was my dream to go serve there. Imagine my emotions when I received the call that I would be serving in Braga my last area. This area was truly a tender mercy of the Lord. There are a ton of pictures, because this will be the last mission post!

I first finished training Sister Jensen (in the middle), then we all served together, then I trained Sister Lima. I learned so much from these girls! They are amazing!

Portugal is world famous for their wines. For a service project, we found another use for them and made some of the Marinho's famous grape jelly!

A beautiful garden in central Braga

This was taken in the city of Guimarães. In the older parts of the towns they have community washing pools where the women gather and wash their clothes. One day we were a little ahead of schedule, and I could not resist. Notice the different colors in nylons...

The Guimarães drinking fountain

While I was in Braga, I travelled to Porto a lot to sing on the mission CD. It was so much fun!

This is one of the people that I was blessed to meet while I served in Braga. One day, my companion and I were praying and fasting because we felt that the Lord had prepared a family for us but we needed help finding them. We stepped out of our apartment, and Kiwa was in the elevator. She struck up a conversation asking us what our name tags were, and where our church was. She then asked us if we would visit her because she wanted to learn more. The Lord answered our prayers and helped Kiwa find what she had been missing. This picture was taken after a few times we had met with her. She liked the story of the first vision so much that she glued the pass-along card of Joseph Smith to her front door!

Me by the fountain in Braga's city center

The castle of Guimarães

This was a fun Preparation day that we had in Porto. Some members from Madeira came to visit and we hit the town.

This is the view of Porto from an old tower. Isn't it beautiful!?

The train station in Porto at night

The cathedral of Bom Jesus that overlooked the city of Braga. So beautiful!

The youth that we got super close to. They are all so incredible!

At the cathedral in Viana do Castelo. It is such a beautiful town on the ocean!

Viana do Castelo also has the world's most delicious pastries. Portugal has DELICIOUS pastries but I have never been so in love with sugar than I have been in Viana. Definitely worth a trip to Portugal!

And yes...who can forget the winter weather in Portugal? Wet. Wet. and Wet. My trusty umbrella decided it had enough rain, and let me get in on the action!

The Zone of Braga

It's hard to describe the emotions that I have when I look back at the mission. It defined me and made my love for Christ, His Gospel, and life grow. There has been no greater experience in my life and I believe that every great experience in my life will be in part because of the experiences that I had in Portugal.