Sometimes it is difficult writing a blog and making it
interesting! We have to chuckle at the
end of one or two weeks of work and realize that the only photos we have make
it look like we are on vacation. We
really are not, but we are fortunate that our work is in such a pretty and
interesting place.
This past week or so has been spent down along the southern
coast of Portugal. It is called the
Argarve. Most of our responsibility lies
in this area where we have branches of the church and missionaries in Tavira,
Olhao, Faro, Loule, Portimao and Lagos.
We spent most of our time in the first four areas.
In Tavira we spent much of the day doing an apartment check
and a branch assessment. We would show
you pictures of the missionary apartments, but it is probably best not to do
that! Overall they were pretty clean
since they knew we were coming, but you know how 19-year-old Elders can
be. The chapels in some of these
branches are small, but we felt the spirit in every dedicated building. The nice thing about the “chapel checks” is
that we frequently got to meet with branch presidents or other local
members. Much of our time spent in
interviews and visits included finding out what the needs of each branch are. Because of how new to the gospel many members
and leaders are, there is great need for
priesthood training, auxiliary training and activation and retention help. But, what the members lack in knowledge and
training, they make up for in enthusiasm.
Tavira has one of our Elders as their branch president, but we are
working with 4 prospective elders that will receive the Melchizedek Priesthood
in November. One of them will become the
new branch president….probably the one we met with who has been a member for about
8 months. I believe he is actually from
Cape Verde but living now in Tavira.
During the day, Paula and I went down to the river front/ocean front for
an hour while the Elders had an appointment and I guess left the front door
open. When we returned to the chapel, we
found out that while the front door to the chapel was open that a young man had
walked in, asked if he could have “one of those Book Of Mormons” and set an
appointment to be taught. He said that
he was looking into what church to join.
We are thinking that maybe we should always leave our doors open and a
table set up with scriptures, Liahona’s, pamphlets, pass-along-cards and
especially an appointment book! J
In Olhao we met with two of our great sister
missionaries. What wonderful spirits
they have. And, their apartment was
clean! So, we gave them extra
cookies. Just kidding. Paula can’t resist making sure all of our
missionaries are well fed. The Olhao
Branch President was wonderful. He is
from somewhere in Africa. He has been a
member for 2 years. He just returned
from the Madrid temple where he was endowed.
He is so incredibly enthusiastic about the church that he and his small
branch completely fill up the appointment schedules for the missionaries. He even goes out into the streets and finds
people to teach. What a fun spirit. Missionary work is definitely picking up in
Olhao. Olhao is on the ocean as well,
and has an incredible fish market. We
spent a bit of time checking out fish and vegetables.
Loule was next. The
apartment was pretty clean and one of the Elders likes to bake. They did admit that Paula’s cookies were
better. They are sleeping on two mattresses on the floor, so we will make sure
they have two beds sent to them by next week.
The branch in Loule needs some help in reactivating about 5 Melchizedek
Priesthood holders and in training 1 prospective elder who will be ordained in
November. We will be doing most of our
work in Loule through the Algarve District presidency, so time was spent going
over details with them. These brethren
are sharp. All are second generation
church members, returned missionaries and are well-versed in the gospel and in
church administration. The Handbooks of
the Church are well utilized down here and the members recognize them as the
words of our modern-day prophets.
Although few in numbers, many members are incredibly strong.
We retuned to Beja for a day before we were asked to go on
an out-of-area assignment. We went north
(inland) to an incredible town called Evora.
It is ancient. We admit we did
spend part of the day sight-seeing. Old
castles, old churches, old Roman temple ruins.
The entire city is surrounded by a huge city wall made of stone. It wraps the entire city with a circumference
of about 3 miles or so. It was
definitely a tourist attraction because downtown everyone was speaking pretty
much every language you could think of.
For once, our English worked just fine.
The Elders’ apartment was “new”.
The inside had been entirely remodeled, but had been left with some of
the old stone and brick arches and walls on the inside. It was cool.
And, only 200 years old! Some of
these buildings from the outside really don’t tell the story of the inside and
how nice they can be with new tile and marble floors, walls, appliances,
etc. We wish we had pictures of this
one. Our greatest need in Evora is local
leadership. The branch leaders are
great, but live more than an hour away.
We also need 2 additional missionaries here. The chapel is also in an ancient part of town
but incredible on the inside. Again, you
could just feel the spirit when you walked in off of the old cobblestone
streets.
We spent another day with all of our missionaries in a Zone
Conference in Faro…yep, back to the coast again! It was great to be with all of these young
men and women and feel the power and the spirit that they have. It was fun to spend the day speaking
Portuguese all day long and understanding a bit more than when the Portuguese
people get into their cadence! It is
such a beautiful language to listen to.
It would be even better if we could understand it all! We are slowly getting better but have a long
way to go. On the way back to Beja we
needed to stop in Loule for an interview that a member of the mission
presidency had to conduct. While Larry
went to the interview our 4 Beja missionaries went out street contacting. In less than 45 minutes one companionship had
a lady for the Loule Elders to teach and the other companionship had an entire
family who had heard the lessons many years ago and now want to hear them
again. Amazing!
And did we mention the pomegranites down in the Algarve? Incredible. And they are HUGE and so red and juicy and sweet. Paula is an expert at pomegranites with all of the time she has spent in St. George with Clairene and Curtis harvesting their fair share. She is thrilled and we are eating them like candy! And pomegranite salads, here we come. You pomegranite lovers are just going to have to pony up the bucks and fly over to enjoy this one.
And, another two baptisms in Beja. Two brothers, Pedro and Juao, 9 and 14 years-old. We have been a frequent driver getting them to and from meetings. Their mom and older brother are progressing and we hope they will be baptized soon.
