Olhão is our new home.
We were transferred here right after the ground-breaking ceremony in Santarém, so about the 1st of February. Immediately during and after our transfer we had to help locate and relocate other missionaries including senior couples. We would only be in our new home a couple of days and then leave again. Olhão is on the southern coast of Portugal and is part of the Algarve District. So, it is almost like coming home since our responsibilities at the beginning of the mission was the Algarve. Our home down here is really nice for a missionary home and probably breaks some rules! A rule of mine that it breaks is that it is pricey!
But, it is very nice and a "relaxing" place to finish off our mission. Can you really relax on a mission? Retorical question! BBQ is back to the gold old days of briquetes, but it is working well and we have already done pork ribs and salmon and dourada. We hope to have branch members over for family home evenings and young women activities (Paula will work with the YW here) and whatever else we can figure out. The missionaries have already been over for lunch....of course!
And baptisms continue to be the highlight of the week. There is such a special spirit when people come into the church through conversion. You can see it in their faces. The people here in Olhão really come out and support their new converts. We love their willingness to do so.
The almond trees are in full bloom for our arrival. This area is known for its almonds and oranges and all kinds of other fruits and vegetables. More pics to come in the future on this I am sure!
And we continue to be intrigued by water and by boats. It is so relaxing to stroll along the river fronts and see the fisherman come in. Somehow we are going to have to figure out how to find one of these private boat owners to take us out. Unfortuately most of this fishing is not the sport fishing that we have enoyed in the past. This is actually people fishing for a living!
