The Night Bus(es)

Hello friends and family! I hope you are all doing well! The last couple weeks have been full of crazy things but also really good. So many learning experiences up in here. But that´s why we are in this mortal life, am I right? 

So in our area we are all about riding the bus. We ride the bus SO MUCH. It´s because we live in the boonies and our area is might large, so the bus has been essential. There is one special bus, which I like to refer to as the Night Bus, that is especially exciting. It is two buses put together so it´s massive, and in fact I have only ever ridden it at night. And let me tell you, it is like taking a roller coaster ride home. So much falling on people. So much slaming into the side of the bus. It is RIDICULOUS. I particularly suck at riding buses because for some reason I have no balance in Portugal. One time on a division I straight up fell on a lady sitting on the bus... she just laughed at me and was "nope, you can´t do that!" 

Anywho, back to the good stuff! We have been learning a lot about the law of opposition the last couple weeks. We have taken some large blows to the work in our area, and also had some incredibley rewarding successes. The more bitter the bitter, the sweeter the sweet I guess. One thing that I´m learning more about is putting all my trust in the Lord. We had one day last week where literally everything was going wrong. EVERYTHING. Plans were falling, baptisms were falling through, investigators were disappearing, lice decided to pay us a nice visit (maybe I´ll talk about the lice issue in a coming day-it´s still too fresh in our minds at the moment) and in general we had a crappy day. We sat down, kind of defeated, and said a prayer. We basically just told Heavenly Father everything we felt and asked for His help because we were a little lost. Then we picked ourselves back up and went on with our day! As we were walking to the chapel, we contacted a guy named Rui. And let me tell you, he was the answer to our prayers. He is the definition of elect! He was the tender mercy Heavenly Father sent to us. It was a testimony builder for us that the Lord is aware of our efforts, even when it seems that everything is just going to the pits no matter how hard we try. And when we trust Him and ask for His help, He will bless us in the exact moment we need it. It is necessary to taste the bitter in order to appreciate the sweet, and I am grateful for this concept that I am learning. I know that Heavenly Father loves us, and when He lets us struggle it is for a purpose. I know that His plan in perfect and that His hand is in our lives! I love this gospel. It is the reason that I can pick myself back up when I fall! 

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Sister Wood 

...no pics... I forgot....