Christmas Day in Portugal...2013

 

 

We had our missionaries over to share a Christmas dinner and then check out what Santa left in their Christmas stockings!

 

 

Elder Ferreira, Elder De Olivera, Elder Fry, Elder Barton, Sister Lybbert, Sister Ornano 

(Elder Fry and Elder Barton complete their missions in a week.  They leave for home December 31st)

These are all awesome missionaries!

Of course we only get the very best.

 

 
Afterward we all Skyped with our families…AWESOME! Can´t wait to Skype with Mike when he makes landfall in a few days!

 Our Christmas décor…

 

 

Our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

 

                                                

 

Our fireplace with stockings hung with care.

                                                  

Total Cost for our décor?  5 euros!! 

The best part will be taking it down…3 minutes and it will all be in the garbage!  Who knew?!

  HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE SANTARÉM ZONE

 

 

Lots of gifts for the missionaires ... plenty to go around.

 

And our members always go all out for our missionaries.  Portugal knows how to do desserts!

 

These are our incredible Oeiras ward sisters that "catered" our luncheon.  Wow!  We had salad, bacahlão, pork, mashed potatoes and gravy, breads, rice, fruit, drinks ... and at least 30 different kinds of desserts.  They are so dedicated and do this year after year.  The one in the center is Zelia, who Paula has become good friends with and learned a lot abot Portuguese cooking.  Zelia also works at the mission home.  Her husband is one of the Stake Presidents in Lisbon.

 

 

 

 Paula put herself in charge of organizing all of the mail and packages into zones so that things go "smoothly".  This is just a small sample of her work.  And she "loves" it!

 

Merry Christmas from us.  We would love to tell you this is our tree, but it isn´t.  The Mission home is large, beautiful, carpeted, warm, comfortable, not an apartment, and has a Christmas tree.  We love it when we can spend time here.

 

We found Santa at our Santarém Branch Christmas Party.  Here he is with two of the children.

 

Santarém put on a luncheon for some needy neighbors and friends for their branch Christmas party this year.  They donated food and gifts and spent the day preparing a wonderful meal.  There were about 40 members involved and they invited 70 to come to the luncheon.  More than 70 showed up!  The 70 plus were not members of the church, but people our members felt needed a Christmas lift.

 

Paula got some baby-sitting duties, which she never seems to mind.  Actually I am pretty sure she picked this one up on her own.  She loves little children ... they remind her of our grandchildren.

 

And the members actually enjoyed the cooking, doing dishes, setting up and serving.

 

And our missionaries were happy!

 

The Azores in November!  We went to the branches in the Azores to do some audit and financial training.  On the second morning we had an opportunity to drive around San Miquel Island.  The third day between meetings we drove around Terceira Island.  The scenery here is incredible.  We have a senior couple here already, the Phippens, and so the chances of a transfer here are slim.  This training trip was the next best thing.  We had no idea of how beautiul these islands are.

The Azores are known for their dairy products.  This is a rural Island with a lot of cattle and goats.  Rock walls are everywhere to contain the cattle and goats as well as to mark boundaries and for soil erosion control.  The fields are almost all on hillsides.

 

 

We have never been disappointed in the food in Portugal.  From beef to seafood to whatever category barnacles fall into,