Life is creeping up on all of us! 

 

Time is passing quickly here in Portugal and we just don't know where it has gone.  Our duties here continue to be many and varied, and each day brings a new set of opportunities, challenges, changes and blessings.  We continue to see baptisms every week now.  We get to be a little bit involved with some of them, from going to lessons to doing interviews to meeting with them after they are baptized.  Because we are spending time in so many cities and areas, we feel like nomads.  We are able to do a little bit here and little bit there.  The challenge is not being able to get really close to some of these good people but on the other hand, we get to meet and know and work with a lot of them.  We have a wonderful variety. 

 

Two places are kind of exciting for us right now.  Lagos and Peniche, both, continue to be groups, but are marching ever closer to becoming branches.  Attendance in both places has gone up over 50% in the last couple of months.  Our missionaries are finding and baptizing, and also bringing less active members back.  We are diligently working on leadership, training, Melchizedek Priesthood holders, full/tithe payers, and just finding and getting to know more good people.  It is wonderful. 

 

I think you can see how excited Elder Lemperle is there on the back row.   He has been working so hard with his companions over the last several months to get Lagos going strong.  This building is potentially the site of our new chapel in Lagos.  We are in negotiations right now and have preliminary approval.  Luis Melo, on the left is a counselor in the District Presidency.  He lives nearby.  The two men in the middle are in the Branch Presidency of Portimão, a neighboring city.  This group in Lagos is part of the Potimão Branch until it becomes its own Branch. We love working with these brethren.  Seeing the growth of the church has been a real blessing for us.

So, until the next time, we will just be sitting on our bench and enjoying the scenery.