Nouns

Dear dear family!  I wrote before reading this week.  So now I'm going to go read all your emails.  :)  I love you!  I am grateful for you every day.  Big hugs to all of you.

Love,
Annabelle

Here are my nouns for the week:

Persons
   the characters in my story I have been meaning to tell you about:

1. Elsa.  This is a cool miracle story.  One night this week it was exactly 9:30 (the time we go inside for the day unless we are in a lesson.) and we were at our door to our apartment building.  But we both felt like we should just turn the corner and see if anyone was there.  So we did.  And there was this lady hefting a big box towards the garbage bins.  "Hey, can we help?"  "Yes, it´s heavy!"  Her name is Elsa and she is awesome.  She is friendly and normal and we start talking to her about what we do and who we are.  She´s like, "What´s that book?", we explain.  She´s like, "Want to go sit over there in the grass for a bit and keep talking?"  Ummm.... YES.  We talked to her for a long time and it was just nice and a lovely, friendly conversation.  SO refreshing.  (Azoreans are not usually very friendly people.)  We exchanged numbers and everything but don´t have a specific return visit yet.  She has a husband and a daughter.  Pray for her and her family and us to be able to find a good way to connect with them and bring the gospel with us!

2. José.  He is one of my favorite people on this island.  He is a recent convert that Sister Wach baptized the transfer before I arrived.  He is moving to Canada this week.  He has this ear-length, droopy curly hair and a big double chin even though he´s not, like, fat or anything.  He always is smiling and joking and kind of has this bounce in his step.  It´s fantastic.  This week one night Sister Wach and I were eating Maria Bolachas (cookies that are very common here - kinda like graham crackers) and he was like,"You guys better watch out or you´re going to get so fat that they have to open BOTH the chapel doors to get you out of here!"  Then the next day he was like, "Have you taught Maria today yet?" and we´re like " Maria? We are not teaching anyone named Maria!" and he´s like, "You know, the Maria who comes in a package and makes you fat!?"  Ha!  I wish you could see the impish twinkle in his eye as he says stuff like that.  He used to be in a heavy metal band and then was a DJ and then he must have gotten rich because he came out to the Azores as a volunteer to run a house for people with addictions and he found the gospel while he was here.  His Portuguese sounds SO much like French.  I only catch about half of what he says.  He understands the gospel SO well and is so solid.

3. Casal Phippen.  Arrived this week!  They are old and skinny and grandparenty and white and pure and wonderful.  Sister Phippen has the most hilarious Portuguese accent in the world and smiles all the time.  She has this pure white hair and is absolutely graceful and radiant.  Elder Phippen is really skinny but has this little ponch like Senor Cardgage.  He seems really great too.  I think the couple is going to be a really great influence on the branch.


Places
   some of the places that are significant in my crazy missionary life:

1. The Chapel, site of our weekly Visita Guida (guided chapel tours).  I love the chapel.  We do guided visits every Friday where we sing outside by the gates and invite people passing by (it´s on a pretty busy street) to come in and see what it´s like.  This week we had a lot of people come in!  My favorite was a 16 year old boy named André (again. everyone in Portugal has the same names.)  Our visit with him was really spirit-filled.  The first vision part was almost palpable.  When we descended the stairs he was captivated by the picture of Jesus´ baptism.  But the best part of all was the end, when we asked him if he would like to say the closing prayer.  "I guess so, but I don´t really know how."  We taught him how, and then he said the most pure, simple, beautiful prayer I have ever heard.  It made me cry, and it made him cry too.  There was something so pure and good about him.  I can´t explain why, but it almost made me feel sorrowful in a way.  Like, the fact that that innocence is so uncommon made it seem terrifyingly fragile and beautiful, like the wings of a butterfly.  Especially in contrast to most of the people we meet.  We have an appointment to go to his house tomorrow.  I really hope it works out and we can teach him and his family.  Pray!

2. São Miguel.  It´s such an interesting place.  People say the islands are "hard areas", and I know you always hear stories about missionaries who get to hard areas and have an amazing attitude and baptize a bazillion people, but... I don´t know how to finish this sentence.  People are just kind of cold and closed.  We had a conversation with a deportee this week that was so sad.  He was a reasonably nice guy, but he kept saying, "What are you doing here?  People here aren't nice.  They don't want to listen to anything you have to say.  I would never let my daughter come here.  Go HOME."  Not in like a scary or rude way, just in a kind of depressing, sad way.  I think that happened the day before the aforementioned experience with André at the chapel.  The contrast between those two experiences was shocking.

3. Rua Vitoria.  We were walking there yesterday and saw one of the church members outside a bar (umm...yeah) so we started a conversation with him.  Then all these other people came up to the door one by one and I was kind of feeling like, "let's leave now", but Sister Wach stuck it out and started talking to them.  One of them was a lady named Sarah who spoke perfect English (tons of people here do. I feel like we teach in English a LOT).  We talked to her for a little bit and invited her to come watch a movie with us in the chapel that night.  At the end of the conversation she said something that we´ve been quoting ever since.  It's my favorite way I've yet heard someone describe feeling the spirit.  She said, "Well, thanks, ladies.  The transmission was good.  You transmitted something and I'm getting a good vibe."  Ha!  The transmission was good.


Things
   some of the things I am learning:

1. Enos has awesome trust in God.  I noticed that this week in personal study.  Read verses 6, 17, and 27.  He's like, I know God can't lie, and I FELT a remission of my sins, so now I'm going to stop worrying about them.  End of story.  On to the next thing.  His trust in God is so frank and complete.  I feel like I can learn a lot from that and should emulate it more.

2. Ways to show mercy like Jesus.  The September Ensign is RAD, you guys.  It has a sweet article about justice and mercy.  But I really loved this other one about HOW to show mercy like Jesus.  It included the following ideas (practical applications) with scriptural examples of them:
a. Jesus showed mercy by not blaming others
b. Jesus showed mercy by choosing to love rather than condemn
c. Jesus showed mercy by giving others many opportunities to repent and be forgiven
d. Jesus showed mercy by avoiding bitterness
e. Jesus showed mercy by helping others in need

I feel like we so often focus on mercy in a repentance sense.  But I LOVE these ideas of how Jesus demonstrated mercy to those around him in even more ways.  I feel like I can do better on all of these.

3. DON`T let your cell phone loose in the side pocket of your backpack without turning off the touch screen.  If you do, you might accidentally call a potential investigator THIRTY-EIGHT TIMES IN A ROW without realizing it.  yeah.  oops.  Our cell phone was calling her over and over for a period of about 25 minutes. Mortifying. kind of funny, but mostly just mortifying.  Pretty sure that lady never wants to talk to us ever again.  We actually got a text from her half way through the calls that was like, "I don´t want to talk to you, today, tomorrow, or ever."  Yikes!


I'm not giving up yet on Diogo, João, or André, even though it appears they are giving up on us.  :(

I love you so so much.  I´m learning a lot and growing and feeling pretty happy out here.  Especially when I get to email you!

Love,
Sister Sandholtz

Perilous Wench

Hey Beloveds,

(I really love how Ben always starts his emails like that.  Hey, Beloveds.  Whaddup?)

Way back in my first transfer, I got a package from Nate and Grandma Bonnie, which included a box of Shakespearian magnetic poetry.  I never opened it in Lagos because our fridge was wooden on the outside.  However, I pulled it out this week, and Sister Wach composed some wonderful stuff.  "methinks you art a saucy wanton.  therefore damn you, wicked maiden."  "oe'r yonder ocean comes the tempest until this my seemly bosom be thine".  all sorts of choice little wacky shakespearian-english funnies.  that is where the subject line comes from, too.

We got to go to Lisbon this week!  We had to renew our residence cards, so we were actually away from Ponta Delgada for almost 3 days.  Kinda crazy.  Lisbon is this huge, sprawling city.  Wayne, you're going to love Lisbon, I think.  You're all going to love it.  One of my favorite things about being there was seeing all the missionaries who were there for Mission Council the same day.  I got to see Sister Warburton!!  And Elder Garcia from the MTC!  He speaks Portuguese now!  :)  Also, I got your package with the oils mom, thank you!  I´d love some instructions!  And the package from the reunion and a bunch of letters that had been sitting there.  Thank you thank you to all!  The best part is the family photos!  I love looking at them every day.  :)

I am so glad the dead lizard made it!  Did it smell really bad when you opened it?  :)

Let me tell you about a couple miracles from the week!  Remember how I said I have a desire to find jovens here on the island? (young people).  It is happening.  Last Sunday we were headed toward the church to watch a church movie with the ward, which we usually do every Sunday.  But I felt like we should stay outside that day and keep talking to people in the street.  Sister Wach was down, so we passed by some houses of investigators and did some street contacts, nothing too splendid.  On our way back to the church, we started a conversation with a young man named Diogo.  He was interested, so we set up a return appointment.  Later that night, when we were leaving the church parking lot, He pulled up on a scooter with his friend João and said, "Hey, can João come too?"  Um.....YES.  When it was the day for the appointment, crazy things happened and we were running late and he'd given us the wrong number (happens a lot, for various reasons) so we figured we had missed them.  But we felt like walking to our next thing by way of where we had first met them just in case.  So we walk that way.  Then this lady stops us and she's like, "Hey, I'm a member of the church in Ribeira Grande."  So we play with her kid for a bit and talk to her a little and right at the end of the conversation, lo and behold, Diogo and João pull up on the scooter!!  Rad.  Sadly, they have other plans for right then, but we were able to invite them to church.  I really feel like the spirit helped me be friendly and, like, relatable with them, but also testify of why it is important to come to church.  They told us, "Yeah, weird things happen to us.  Like, spiritual things."  I am hoping that is a good sign.  They are cool kids and seem open.  But they didn´t come to church.  We have an appointment with them tomorrow.  Pray they can make it and feel the truth of our message!

The other jovem we are teaching is André.  He's marked for baptism this week, but he also didn't make it to church yesterday.  :(   (Everyone in Portugal sleeps in until forever every day.  When we say chruch is at 10, they say, "That is SO EARLY!")  But he is sweet and sincere.  He has never left this island.  He has this great swoopy hair-do. We met him at the guided tour of the chapel a couple weeks ago.  When we taught the first lesson, and explained about praying to know if it is true, he was like, "I already know."  "Really?"  "Yeah, I mean, I just believe it."  It reminded me of the spiritual gift of believing, and how Christ is always saying how the people who believe are blessed.  I think he plays computer games a LOT.  Please pray for him to have the faith to keep moving forward, and for us to know how to teach him and help him get to know Christ.  We are hopefully going to see him tonight.

President Fluckiger's last letter included this phrase: "Repentance is one of our greatest resources".  Cool, huh?  I have been thinking of repentance as a resource, and I think it is a great way to think of it.  Change!  Life is about change!  Changing for the better through the merits and mercy and grace of Jesus Christ.  I want to repent more often and more constructively.  

Well.  You all sound great.  I am a tad jealous that school has started.  School is the bee's knees.  Live it up, ok?  I am excited to hear about LBB results and how everything is going.  Mom and Dad, I love you!  Ben, Joe, Coby, I am crazy about you three.  Wayne, Nate, I can't tell you how grateful I am that you are my two older brothers.  And the rest of you, too, I love you.  I am the luckiest girl ever.

Every week when I read your emails I laugh my head off and Sister Wach is like, "What!?" and then I try to explain why Dad saying the Storytelling Festival is the mac makes me laugh so hard, and she's just like, "Ha.... ha".  So so good.

Oh!  I think the lice (piolhos!!  gag.) are all dead.  Halle-stinking-lujah!

Will try to attach photos.

Take care of each other.  I love you to the ends of the earth.

Sister Sandholtz

me and Sis Wach (Wok, Dad)

This is us with Mira.  She is the bomb.  Too bad she doesn't want to get baptized.  :(

Atlantic Ocean!!

This is the path we go running on each morning.

This is us with some kids in a park.  They were making fun of our friend João so then we told them he is actually cool then we made friends with them.

This is us taking the lice out of my hair.  Good times.  Sister Wach is a saint.

Here is when we found out I had lice with the STLs.  Don't you love how they all look all cute and funny, pretending they have lice, and then there's me, who actually HAS lice, looking like I want to die.  Imagine feeling that way, then having to go teach and tract all day. 

Here's me on Steph's wedding day.  :)

I match the door. Steph picked out this outfit for me to wear on her wedding day.  Then we saw this door with the exact same colors and that's how this picture was born.  :) 

baptism of Carla and Daniel.  these kids are absolutely awesome

Did I ever send this one of me and Nelma?  She gave me this dress, then was super happy when I wore it.

Brace Yourselves, This One's Long

Cherished Family,

It is taking all the restraint I can muster, but I am writing before reading this week because I want to tell you all about my life in São Miguel.  Sorry if I neglect to respond to any big news!!

Okay.  First off.  Thank you for your prayers for me.  I have FELT them.  There were so many moments this week when I truly felt divine means of help and strength that came from outside myself.  And I KNOW that was in large part because I had the prayers of the most beautiful family in the universe as the wind at my back.  I could really feel that.  Thank you.  And keep 'em coming!  

Here are some things I have been meaning to tell you about this island in the middle of the Atlantic.  

The words to describe my life in the Azores:

1.  Sweaty.  My life is incomprehensibly sweaty.  This week was especially hot, and with the ridiculous% humidity, sweat runneth o'er.  One morning this week I got out of the shower and dried off and put my garments on and looked in the mirror and there were big beads of sweat on basically every inch of my face.  I was like, "are you serious!?"  Luckily it'll cool down pretty soon here.  Holy flip.

2.  Catholic.  The catholic culture is stronger here than it was in the Algarve.  We're like, "hey, want to hear a message about Jesus/the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?", and everyone is like, "Dude, I'm CATHOLIC."  For example, we had to stop meeting with one lady, even though she knows the BOM is true, and she disagrees with basically everything the Catholic church does, just because she was born Catholic and doesn't feel like she can walk away from that.

3.  Deportees.  There are a ton of deportees here from Boston, or Fall River, Massachusetts.  We've met several of them -- they always have names like Manny (Manuel) or Ricky (Ricardo) or, in one random case, Messias (can you imagine if people in America named there kids things like "Messiah"?  We also talked with a lady named Jesus.).  I love hearing their Bostonian accents and telling them I have a brother living in Boston.  There are also a lot of connections here with Canada.  Everyone used to live in Canada or has family there or is going to move there.  It's random.  

4.  Pastoral.  There are two cows to every person on this island.  All of Portugal's dairy products come from the Azores.  The upper part of our area is this city called Arrifes, and I LOVE hiking up there and looking at all the gentle rolling hills with cows on them.  Just lovely.

Portuguese Idioms Sister Wach and I learned this week:

1. "vamos voltar à vaca fria" means let's get back to the subject.  literally it's " let's return to the cold cow."

2. "macacos me mordam!" is an expression that means something like "Holy Smokes!"  Literally: "Monkeys bite me!"

All righty, let me tell you about my week.  Holy flip, you guys, this week was NUTS.  But I arrived at the end of it feeling peaceful and happy.  Last night as we were walking towards the chapel I realized, "Hey, I feel really happy."  That was a relief, because it's taken a little adjustment to settle in here, and I am likely going to be here for a whiiiiiiiiiiiiiile.

On Tuesday we had divisions with the STLs from Madeira.  During morning studies, we got a phone call from Sisters Radvansky and Caldwell, who are serving on Terceira (another island in the Azores), and had slept at our house the night before for Zone Conference.  They were like, "you might want to check your heads, because, um, we have LICE."  So then the Sisters checked our heads and as it turned out, I had lice.  THEN we had to go out and do divisions with them all day.  We were teaching a lesson and I was trying so hard to think about anything other than the fact that there were little insects crawling around in my hair.  EWWWW.  So so so gross.  Luckily they left at about 4:00 and we called the Senior Couple and they were like, "yeah, you need to take care of that ASAP.", so we stayed in for the rest of the day, put lice-killing-solution in my hair, and Sister Wach, bless her, combed lice eggs out of my hair for about 3 hours.  She only found one actual louse.  We are pretty sure the eggs are all dead, but we have to repeat the treatment in a few days.  Pretty sure most of my prayers in the last week have included, "and please bless that all the lice within a 50 mile radius of our house are dead."

Both the STLs are Brazilian.  They were a whole lot of fun.  Sister Nigri, with whom I spent the day, was a boost for me.  She could tell I was kind of down, and really helped me feel okay about things.  I feel like this transfer is kind of one of those build-your-patience times of my life.  And having that expectation has helped me feel peaceful and hopeful and happy.  God is so good.

I am also SO grateful for the timing of my mission.  I am absolutely certain that I learned really really important lessons in the year or two leading up to my mission that are helping me SO much.  One of those lessons was the practice I got opening up and trusting others.  SUCH a blessing.  It reminds me of something Sister Rad and I once discussed -- how Christ's whole life was an example of a man not being afraid of vulnerability.  Christ constantly made himself vulnerable for the benefit of others.  The atonement is the apex of that.  Allowing ourselves to be a little bit vulnerable is one way we emulate Him.

Sorry I haven't focused much on the people we are teaching.  I want so bad to tell you about Mira, this lady who dropped us this week, who I LOVE.  But I want to read your letters.  And you probably want to STOP reading mine, so I will forbear.  We have about 4 people who are on the cusp of becoming progressing investigators.  I really hope we'll be able to teach more.  Teaching is the best part.

All right.  Well, sorry to blab your ears all the way off.

I am praying for you every day in faith!

I love you oceans and oceans.

Yours,

Sister Sandholtz

Maracujá!!

Querida Família!!

I know I say this every week, but reading your letters is always SUCH a boost.  I leave email time breathless and crazed from reading so fast and writing so fast, but so happy to have heard about how great you are all doing and how awesome you are.  I am so so grateful for each one of you.  Mom and Dad, I am so grateful for the way you two love and support each other.  And for the way you love, support, and teach your kids.  How did we get so lucky!?

I learned a new word this week: rapaziada.  It means "a group of teenage boys".  I am now calling Ben, Joe, and Coby the "rapaziada" (ha-paws-ee-ah-duh) in my brain.  Or, "os rapazes" (ha-paws-ush).  Man, you three are rad.  I got a letter from Mom ths week that said you´ve been going off cold cereal to save money to come PARTY with me in Portugal in a little over a year.  (What!?  Already!?)  YOU ROCK!  

We had a Zone Mtg. with the Fluckigers today!  Awesome!  Except it was like they robbed us of Pday.  Bummmmmer.  Oh well.  :)

Things are picking up a bit!  We learned (again) of the power of fasting this week!  We have been struggling to create a teaching pool.  We decided to fast on Friday to find someone who would want to progress and to have help generating a teaching pool.  We saw so many miracles!  Right after we started our fast, we went to see a woman named Selia who was being taught by the missionaries a while back.  I immediately felt love for her and her family.  Her husband is a menos ativo of many years, and they have these 2 beautiful daughters who need more than anything to be raised in a Christ-centered home.  I am hoping that we can figure out what they need to hear to have the desire to start progressing toward lasting conversion.

The next day, we had 3 lessons that went really well -- including one who accepted the convite suave!  It was like the Lord gave us the start of our teaching pool all within the time we were fasting!  It was really incredible.

Will you pray for me to have the strength I need to do this?  I have never felt so exhausted in my entire life.  It is hard to remember everything I need to do and hard to take good care of the sheep out here when you feel like you are running on empty all the time.  Missionary work is demanding, emotionally, spiritually, physically, mentally!   They werent lying when they called it work!!

Sorry this letter is kind of lame!  I am doing good and growing.  I will try to write more stories next week!  

Will you pray for Selia and Nelson, as well as Joao and Isidro and Mira?  Oh man I have to tell you about Mira sometime.  Sorry this is so lacking!  How annoying that I just asked you to pray for people who I didn´t even describe!  Will do better!!

Well, you already know this, but I love you all into little teeny tiny pieces!!

Pedaços!!!  Abraços!!!

Sister Sandholtz

P.S. I LIVE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN!!!!!!!!!!?!!!!!!!!  Still can´t get over that.  :)

gather your shining

Aw, man, you guys, that wedding sounded so lovely.  Hooray for marriage!  Marriage is so awesome.  (Mom, thanks for the details about colors, etc.  I would love to see some pictures if you took any!)  I loved Wayne's description of being in the sealing room.  Made me think of GMH:  "...it gathers to a greatness...it will flame out like shining from shook foil...because the Holy Ghost broods over the bent/world with warm breast and with Ah! bright wings".  It sounded so light-filled and lovely.

I can't wait for those moments in our family! When it flames out like shining from shook foil.  I mean, they are happening.  They are happening all the time.  Mom, I loved your description of how the little boys helped out preparing for that breakfast.  Tell each one of them that I love him and miss him.

Sheesh, you guys, I love you so much!

I live in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  It is BEAUTIFUL here.  Everything about it is tranquil.  The weather is mild (VERY humid), breezy/rainy/sunny/cloudy.  People are totally chill about talking to you in the street about Jesus for 15 minutes.  They are also totally chill about not really keeping appointments ... but it's all good.  :)  We have an actual chapel, which is gorgeous.  We have a branch with its own leadership!  Wow!  I cannot express how much of a relief that is.  Church was so relaxing yesterday.  

To answer Wayne's questions: There is a district in the Azores.  We have a branch in Ponta Delgada (2 elders plus us here), a branch in Ribeira Grande (2 elders there), and a group in Vila Franca (2 elders there, one of whom is the group leader).  There are also 2 branches on the island Terceira -- one on a military base and the other is Portuguese.  I think Terceira has 2 elders and 2 sisters.  They usually leave missionaries on the islands for a while, I hear.

Açoreanos are pretty cool.  It's definitely a richer area than Lagos.  Everybody is white.  I miss seeing Africans all over the place!  There are probably only 3 or so Africans in our branch.  A lot of people here have connections with Canada - like, either they have family there or used to live there or are going to move there.  Não sei porquê.  Portuguese is WEIRD here.  It sounds a lot like French.  Ha!  But man, you guys, the gift of tongues is real.  Sister Wach arrived the same time as me in Portugal, so we are both still pretty new with the language, but we have been able to understand enough of what people are saying.  It doesn't make sense -- the accent is seriously ridankulous to understand -- but we have understood enough to get by and still feel like missionaries.  Blessing.  Sister Pinto (in our branch, has a daughter serving on Temple Square) told me I have a Portuguese accent!!  Boy was that good to hear!  :)

Her son, Abraão, worked with us on Thursday.  He speaks really funny English, wants to marry a missionary with blue eyes (yikes!!), and has the same size feet as me.  They are tiny. He kind of reminds me of the Sultan in Aladdin.  After Sister Wach did two street contacts in a row, he exclaimed in the funniest voice, "Oh! Valiant Ladies!!".  I can't really explain how funny it was.

Sister Wach is cool.  She is 20.  She reminds me of Snow White.  She has this really high, kind of sing-songy voice.  Sometimes it's hard for me to tell what she is saying in English, because of the wispy, high, slurry quality of her voice.  When she starts speaking Portuguese in the street, sometimes people just laugh at her.  It's kind of sad but also kind of funny.  She doesn't get offended by it though (of course not, she's Snow White!!), she just keeps on going through the day, smiling and waving at everyone and saying, "Olá!!" in her super chipper voice.

Mom, I was so grateful that you included some of Robbie's wisdom last week.  What you wrote about how no one is superficial really applies here.  I think I thought at first that Sister Wach and I wouldn't relate very well, but I was wrong.  We have already bonded a lot.  She trusts me and we are taking care of each other and she's a good comp.  And she's got rivers in her soul, just like everyone else.  

We need to generate a bigger pool of progressing investigators.  Hopefully next week we'll have some awesome miracle stories to report back about!  I feel like there are some jovems/young single adults we need to find and teach in this area.  Vamos ver quais milagres O Senhor tem em espera!

I know this is getting a little long but I also wanted to tell you about a cool realization/inspired thought I had last night: the importance of kindness.  This is something I learned from the missionaries I served with in Lagos.  Kindness.  Being kind and genuine is so much more important than being funny, clever, smart, or impressive.  It is so much better to try to make OTHERS look good and feel important than to try to make yourself look impressive.  I want to focus on that with Sister Wach -- making her feel important, capable, and like the awesome woman of God that she is.  

All right.  Eu vou acabar.  I'm located closer to you than I will be in any other area of my mission.  That is pretty cool.  

Take care of each other.  Be good.  Be kind.  I love you.  Being a missionary is the best thing that has ever happened to me.  I am learning so much and Heavenly Father is teaching me how to relax and trust Him.  He is so unspeakably bright and gracious.

Shine on, you crazy bright and gracious people.

Love you muito muito muito sempre sempre sem fim sem duvida,

Sister Sandholtz

A few more lines

Hey Lovelies.

All right.  I live in a dream land.

Our house is humongo and amazing.  It was supposed to be for some senior missionaries but they had some health problems so we are living in it and it has two bathrooms and 3 bedrooms and a giant living room and a kitchen and everythang.  Sooo fancy.  Holy cow.

Speaking of cows, all the milk in Portugal comes from the Azores because there is 1 cow to every 2 people on the island.  Green hills with cows.  Fo reals.

Sister Wach is WAY organized because her previous comp was WAY organized and it is awesome and she is going to help me organize my life.  Hallelujah.

I got to take a plane from Lisboa to the Azores with two Elders and we got McFlurries in the airport and it was exciting to just be hanging out with guys for a bit and it made me feel, just a tiny bit, like I was in an airport with Wayne and Nate, and that made me really happy.

Have I told you how much I love the Elder-Sister relationship?  It is just the best thing ever because they are all young but they are also hilarious and awesome and since you are all just missionaries you can really just be friends and it is like a brother-sister relationship.  I am a big fan of missionaries, and missions, in general.

Sister Wach likes RUNNING!  I prayed the night before last that my new comp would like running.  Miracles, people.  We ran on this fantastic little dirt road for twenty whole minutes this morning and my heart was beating like it hasnt for a long time and the enorphins flowed and I was like YESSSSS!

They speak WEIRD Portuguese here.  Ha!  I am going to come home sounding like a freak.  Whatevs.  Nao faz mal.

I apologize for how many times I use the word JUST in my emails.  Do you remember that part in Gilead where Marilynne Robison writes about how John Ames has to consciously not use the word JUST all the time.  I need to work on that.  

I wish I could talk to you all on the phone.  I want to tell you about this place and what I am learning and how beautiful Carla and Daniel´s baptism was last Sunday and how tired I am and how I´m feeling and what I´m thinking about how I´m feeling and this crazy day I had last week where I kind of had a break down and felt so totally depleted but got through it and it taught me a ton and something inside my heart just kind of broke, in a really needful way, I think, but I can´t really describe it.  

Anyway.  I´m alive and well and me and happy and trying to be a good representative of Jesus.  But heaven knows I need a lot of His grace, so keep those prayers coming!

I. love. you.

Sister Sandholtz

PS. My address is: 

Rua do Paim 82 1 Esq. Po.

Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel

Portugal 9500

This is the best address to use for mail to me (both letters and packages).  If you send stuff to the office I will get it ... maybe ... at some point.  I heard of someone having to pay to get a package because it wasn´t marked as a gift.  Don´t know if that is applicable, Mom, or if you already sent off that one with the cd for Sister Warburton.

En route to ...

THE AZORES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you heard me right, peeps, I'm going to the Acores!!  

hence, I don't really have time to email you this week.  Hopefully I will be able to jump on tomorrow or something, but don't count on it.  :)

Ha!  I'm at the mission office and it's CRAZY.  Missionaries EVERYWHERE.  Awesome.  

My comp will be Sister Wach.  Mom, remember the lady from the Ralph Lauren store who had a niece going to my mission the same day as me?  That is Sister Wach.  Crazy, right!?

Ok.

Love you all so so much.

Sister Sandholtz