Paulo and Cândida Rocha

 

Sometimes the Lord works in ways we do not fully understand.  We feel that such was the case with Paulo and Cándida Rocha.

One afternoon we didn´t have any work scheduled and were wondering what to do.  Paula was busy doing history work.  Larry was his normal restless self and went into the living room and was going over the branch list and also over names of inactives.  One of the names seemed to stand out and Larry kept coming back to it.  It was the name of Paulo Rocha.   Larry had seen the name somewhere before.  Going through the records all we knew is that he had a name and an address and two phone numbers.  Larry called the branch president who said that he did not know anything about this person.  The records showed that he lived in a village about ½ hour away called Pontével.  Both phone numbers were disconnected.

Larry decided that he wanted to see what this part of our branch looked like and that he would drive out to either visit or to start the process of removing his name from our branch records.  Frequently we have names on the records, yet the reality is that they have long-since moved away.  Larry suspected that this person was one of those.  Sometimes it is awkward finding and talking to inactives or finding out that nobody knows them as we knock on doors of strangers.  So, this was one of those trips.

With our GPS the home was easily found.  It was on one of those narrow cobblestone streets where all of the homes have no visible walls dividing them from the front vista.  You just have to look for the house number.  Larry found it and knocked on the door.  Nobody came to the door.  As Larry was leaving, a garage door next to the main door opened up and a man looked out.  Larry introduced himself as an elder of the church and pointed to his tag.  He asked the man if he recognized the church and that we had records showing him as member of our church.  The man excused himself and went inside, but said that he would be right back out.  Larry waited for 3 or 4 minutes.  The man (Paulo) came back out and invited Larry in.

Yes, Paulo said, he is a member of the church.  He was baptized when he was 14-years-old.  Paulo is now in his 40´s.  Paulo took Larry through his 100-year-old home and interior patio that he is now remodeling.  He is proud of all of the work that he had done with the original brick and tiles and wood.  He is very handy, and it is amazing how creative and energy conscious he is.  They even still use stored rain water to water his indoor garden and green-house areas.  He has incorporated ways to keep his home warm in the winter and cool in the summer that are so simple, yet engineered in a manner that belies someone that must be quite intelligent.  About 30 minutes into the conversation Larry asked about Paulo´s schooling.  His schooling was at Cambridge in the UK.  Larry had been speaking his own brand of broken Portuguese all this time and Paulo turns out to be quite fluent in English.  So the conversation continued in both languages.  They always do this to us!

Paulo had basically been inactive since his baptism years ago.  He had been ordained a Teacher shortly after he was baptized.  Larry asked him if he had attended church, and specifically the Santarém Branch.  His response was that he knew about the branches in this district because he had been doing computer consulting and set-up for a few of them.  And yet, he was not attending meetings.  Larry´s emphasis here on our mission has been the Melchizedek Priesthood, so naturally he talked to him about it, and Paulo seemed interested in knowing more.  Since Paulo had training in information systems it was not a stretch to send him the preparatory lessons on the Melchizedek Priesthood over the Internet.  Paulo committed to study them if Larry would send them.  We think that Paulo doubted that Larry would actually follow through.  Larry sent them an hour later and Paulo immediately responded with the words “from words to actions”, which meant that he would.  Larry also invited him to attend a Sacrament meeting in Santarém.  He said that he would.  He did tell Larry that his children knew nothing about his religion and that his wife was Catholic and likely would not be interested.  Ha!

Sunday Paulo came to church.  So did Cándida, his wife.  He only stayed through Sacrament meeting, but she went to all of the meetings.  She participated in Relief Society and in Gospel Principles class.  She dressed and acted like a long-time member.  When the missionaries found out she was a non-member they asked if they could go out to her house and teach her later in the week.  She accepted.  It is far enough away that we would have to drive the missionaries out to teach.

It so happened that we went out to their home again that same Sunday evening.  We visited, became friends, and then showed one of the new priesthood videos on the family.  Paulo would get distracted with some things during the video, but Cándida was absolutely glued to it.  We discussed it at the end.  She said that she saw a dramatic change in Paulo the day that Larry visited and then sent him the Priesthood lessons.  She had never seen this side of him.  She said he was suddenly excited about religion and receiving the priesthood.  At the close he offered the prayer and it was obvious when he did not know how to close the prayer that it had been a while since he had prayed.  He humbly asked us how to pray and Cándida quietly listened.

The next visit was with the elders.  It was mostly a get-to-know-you type situation because they have a daughter (who is a bit rebellious) that made it a little bit difficult.  We did get to discuss the Book of Mormon and it turned out that Cándida already had one.  And, she had been reading it!  One day when Paulo was doing the computer work in Caldas da Rainha, she was with him and picked up a copy of the Book of Mormon and it had a 21-day reading plan in it.  She had followed the plan and had been reading --- except that some of it mentioned the D&C.  She said, “What is that?”  Coincidentally, we had brought out a copy of a triple combination specifically for them.  We introduced her to the D&C.  She loves to read.  By the way, she is a full-time biology and chemistry teacher.  She is a quick learner and is very interested in understanding the gospel.

The following week Cándida received the lessons and agreed to be baptized.  She wanted her husband to baptize her.  He was studying about the Melchizedek Priesthood but needed to be ordained a Priest in order to baptize her.  We encouraged our District President that lives nearby to discuss the priesthood with Paulo.  An hour prior to the baptism our District President, Ventura Carvalho, interviewed Paulo and then he and Larry ordained him to the office of a Priest.  Paulo was visibly excited and visibly nervous about performing his first priesthood ordinance, that of the baptism of his wife, Cándida.

The baptism went well, although he stumbled a bit on the words and had to baptize her twice to get her all the way under.  When they looked at each other as she came out of the water you could feel and see their love.  They were both so happy.

On a concluding note, they have a 16-year-old daughter (Ema) that you can tell will be a bit of a challenge.  They also have a very bright 18-year-old son (Vincente) who is in college in Lisbon studying engineering.  We have met him now three times but he has always been on his way back to Lisbon or elsewhere in the house to study.  He is sharp.  We just have to figure out now how to reach out to him and get him involved.  Paulo is progressing rapidly toward receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood and President Carvalho will be very influential.  He will likely receive it within the next month.  We have since followed up with three lessons, including one on temple marriage.  We are becoming quite good friends and we love it.

 

Chamado a Servir em a Missão de Brasil Santos.

 

This is Moroni Kocinba.  He is a faithful young man from Beja.  We have been privileged to work with him as he prepared for and served a mini-mission here in Portugal a few months ago.  His father is also a good friend and has served in several positions in the Church.  His father also served his mission in Brasil several years ago.  Moroni will be serving in the São Paulo área of Brasil in Santos.  He called us this morning so excited to receive his papers and start preparing to leave.  He leaves the first part of September.  We are so excited for him and know that he will do well.  It is especially fun to see second generation faithful Mormons and the results of the wonderful blessings the Lord pours out on those that serve him.  This is a picture of Paula working with him on applications to attend BYU when he returns from his mission.

 

 

 

 

 

This is Moroni´s father on a service project with us at the beginning of our mission in Beja.  Brother Kocinba has been such a wonderful example for Moroni and we know how excited he is right now to see his son following in his footsteps.  When we go to Moroni´s farewell in a couple of months we will update this blog. 

 

We are finding wild flowers on our walks every day.  It is hard to keep Paula walking.  I keep looking around to find her and she is off picking more flowers.  It is a good thing that Portugal is abundant in wild flowers and there isn´t some law against picking them!  It´s a good thing we are not walking for the cadio-vascular aspect of walking!!

 

 

We finally found a street named after us, Casal Velho.  Yeah, it means Old Couple!  We went down this street and then up into the mountains behind us.  There is a winding walkway up the mountainside and rock walls all over the place.  If you look really close you can see some of the walls.  We are not sure why so many rock walls.  One lady there told us that is was to keep the animals contained and protected.  It had to take centuries to build all of these walls and walkways.  From a distance it did not look very pretty, but once on the hike we could nt believe the wild beauty.  It is amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Larry Rose, Paula Rose, Celina Banza, Augusto Banza

 

 

Here is one of the most exciting missionary emails we have received since being in Portugal.

 

"Queridos irmãos Rose: Aconteceu um grande milagre! Meu marido vai ser baptizado este Sábado,dia 20 de Abril,as 18 horas! Espero que possam vir! Por favor orem para que tudo de certo. Um grande abraço,   Celina"

 

And, a little history to give some perspective to what has happened here.

 

Celina has been a member now for 22 years.  She is faithful, goes to the temple, teaches SS, has 3 sons between 14 and 22 ... all members.  She also has a husband that just has not been able to pull the trigger and get baptized.  Until now.  We absolutely fell in love with this family while we were in Beja.  We had the opportunity to home teach while we were there with their faithful home teacher, President Ruberval.  He was constant.   Every month, and usually twice per month. They live in Aljustrel, about 40 minutes from Beja.  She frequently could not make it until SS time or Sacrament meeting time because Augusto and her sons (teenage boys) struggled to get up and on their way. He would stay in the car until Sacrament meeting, but almost always was there.  He is very timid and seldom makes eye contact.  We could not get him to pray out loud or even assign someone to pray.  Some of that personality will likely linger.  But, when we finally got to know him, which took forever, we finally got a glimpse into his heart.  It is good.  Celina had requested priesthood blessings on 3 occasions.  Each time he left the room.  The 4th time it was a blessing for their 17 year-old son.  This last time he stayed, and right behind my shoulder.  I didn´t think much about it until now.  But after that he started to talk with us about little things, things like their olive trees and the planting season for his wheat fields and potato gardens. Once he saw our family on our laptop, and wanted to go through every little boring photo of our children and grandchildren.  It surprised us. To be honest, we hardly ever talked about the gospel with him, at least not formally.  We did go out to lunch with them a couple of times, but mostly to relax and enjoy. Paula and Celina have become fast friends. Our missionaries, and specifically our sister missionaries, did make great efforts and continued to teach in their home.  I am sure they made a huge difference even though the Banza family has had missionaries in their home over all of these years. I would like to know the secret of the Lord´s timing in this.  I do know that Celina has been heart-sick for years and as been forever praying and fasting for this day.  Obviously she is also doing the same for her teenager boys.  So many times we have had discussions with her about patience and faith and trials and tribulations ... and the Lord´s timing.  I can honestly tell you that I didn´t expect this right now, although I did feel it would happen some day.  Celina´s consistency and faith and prayers and patience has brought forth fruit.  So has the work of a faithful and constant home teacher and BP.  So has the continuous work of our faithful missionaries who did not give up.  This is a testament to me as I look at these three groups of persistent members and missionaires of the principle of "never, never, never give up".  Even for one man, one baptism that takes 22 years!

 

What a wonderful work.  Paula and I are so blessed to be here and see the Lord´s hand so profoundly involved in the lives of His children.  Augusto was baptized by his 17-year-old son Daniel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have so much to catch up on our blog, so here goes!

   

   

We have a new couple that arrived here in Portugal….Ron and Shannon Sommer. Everyone is so excited to have them here to serve. We were able to go to Lisbon to meet them in person, have lunch with senior couples, and Pres. and Sister Fluckiger, and then travel with them to the Algarve (where they will be serving) and help them get settled for a couple of days. They are wonderful and will be such a great help to that area. We desperately need senior couples. Portugal is awesome…come join us!  

                                

 

We continue to travel doing apartment checks in our area in Santarem and also now in the Coimbra area. It is wonderful to meet with our missionaries and some of the leaders in the branches. We have also been trying to visit many inactive members and new members. Wherever we go, we are welcomed with open arms and FOOD! Our visits usually end up being at least an hour, sometimes two, as we try to get to know them better, encourage them, and share our love and testimony with them. We have been blessed to meet so many wonderful people in these visits. Many have difficulties in the lives, but they are open and honest and willing to try to make needed changes to bring the blessings of the Lord into their lives.

                             

 

And, we have had more awesome baptisms here in our district in the past weeks. Some of them have been families and that has been really incredible. Two weeks ago we had eight baptisms in the same day!! Four were from Peniche, one from Carregado, and three from here in Santarém. It was a day we will never forget as one after another of these good people entered the waters of baptism. The Lord is really blessing this area.

 

One of the baptisms in Peniche is named Fatima. She is 75 years old and has been investigating the church for 30 years! She has known the missionaries for all those years and has called herself “their mom”. They also call her “mom”.  She still keeps in touch with many of them. We were surprised that she chose to be baptized in the ocean (Peniche is on the ocean) instead of traveling to Santarem where there is a font with warm water. The ocean is really cold and it takes a strong person to go into it. She is very strong and it was an enjoyable baptism.

 

Later in the day we witnessed two baptisms of families.  The first was the baptism of João and Joana Soares.  They have a 6-year-old daughter that will be raised in the gospel.  If you want to take the time, here is their story that witnesses the power of the Book of Mormon.

Three weeks ago the elders started teaching João English lessons as a referral from our Branch Mission Leader.  João was invited to church the following Sunday.  He came for the next two weeks and seemed to enjoy it.  The members were good to fellowship him.  He is married, but his wife was working both weeks.

Last Sunday was District Conference, and João and his wife Joana and his 6-year-old daughter all attended.
The following Monday evening they all came to the church and the elders taught an English lesson.  Joana already spoke some English and indicated that she was there because she wanted to learn more about the church.  The elders taught the first discussion.  When they told the story of the First Vision, Joana asked if that was the same prophet that “wrote” the Book of Mormon.  She then told us that she had received a copy of the Book of Mormon just a couple of weeks prior from a friend or relative.  She had been reading it.

When Joana was asked about her studies in the Book of Mormon, she stated that she was learning a few things, but the most important thing to her was how it made her feel.  She described the feeling of the spirit that so many of us recognize.  It was amazing to her.  It was amazing to us. We had no idea that she even had the book.  As we read other passages with her and João from the Book of Mormon you could physically see the comprehension and the manifestation of the spirit in her eyes and in her countenance.  She had already received a witness from the spirit and borne testimony of it.

João had not yet read the Book of Mormon.  When they were both challenged to be baptized he indicated that before he accepted that he wanted to know for himself.  We could tell that Joana was ready to accept the challenge, but she said that she wanted to be baptized with her husband and that it would be best for both of them to prepare together.  We could tell that they were united in that decision, and in their determination to know for themselves.

During the week as more lessons ensued and as they studied together, they both agreed to be baptized this upcoming Saturday, the day before Easter.  They will be confirmed Easter Sunday.

 

 

The same day we also witnessed the baptism of Carlos who is 18 years-old.  He wants to prepare to go on a mission.

 

The next baptism was the “completion” of a family.  Their last name is Soares.  The grandfather has been a member for over 30 years.  He has been a faithful member, including his strong desire all of his life to see our prophet.  Recently he made the trip to Utah, and his lifelong dream was fulfilled.  His son has been a member for several years, but has been inactive.  He is now coming back into activity.  He baptized his son, his daughter and his wife.  We are now hoping to help them concentrate on the next ordinances involving the Melchizedek Priesthood and the temple.

We love it here in Portugal. 

 

 

And, we had a couple of days of so much rain that we had floods along the Rio Tejo.  When it rains here, it comes in torrents.  Umbrellas are always in fashion in Portugal!

 

 

 

 

 

And always the joy of baptism.  Sometimes the very cold and windy joy of baptism!

But our hearts were warm.  Hey, it had been raining just a few hours before, so we were thankful for what sunshine we had. 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

How Cool Is This?

 

Yesterday we had the privilege of attending a wedding ceremony in Caldas da Rainha.  Sara and Christophe got married.  This is a photo of their wedding cake.  How many times do we see a wedding cake based on a scripture from the Book of Mormon?  We were so honored to have met them just a few weeks ago at a baptism in Peniche and to have them invite us to their wedding. This was such a fun and wonderful experience for both of us ... one that we will never forget.  We have experienced hundreds of LDS weddings over the years, and we don´t remember one with an LDS theme.  This wedding was a civil ceremony, not in the temple, but one that had "Mormon" written all over it.  About half of those in attendance were members of the church, and the rest were friends and families from many different denominations.

 

 

 

 

 The ceremony was performed in the small chapel in Caldas.  About 50 people were in attendance.  The Branch President, Elder Silva, is a missionary here in Portugal.  He performed the ceremony.  (This photo was before the actual ceremony, which should not be photographed).  Elder Silva is one of our awesome missionaries from Brazil.  He and the speakers did a wonderful job.  Following the ceremony we all went to a local park for the typical "pictures after" event that we always have.  It is an absolutely beautiful park and a wonderful setting for wedding pictures.  The love and spirit of family and friends was so familiar to us that we felt right at home.

And so, why is this story so cool?  Christophe has been a member of the Church for several years  If we understand correctly, for about 5 years or so.  He has been unable to find a worthy woman to marry, and so has stayed single looking and waiting for the right woman to come along.  About 1 year ago, Elder Silva was serving in a city about an hour to the north of Caldas.  He worked with and baptized a family that included a daughter named Sara.  She was also single and hoped to find a worthy young man to marry in the temple.  It is difficult in an area with so few members to find the right one.  There are not as many options as we might find where the Church is large and strong.  Well, just a few months ago, after 2 or 3 transfers, Elder Silva was moved to the city of Caldas.  He was put in as Branch President.  There was a worthy young man who seemed to be the glue holding this little Branch together.  His name Christophe.  Christophe was called to be his Counselor.  And, he has been a wonderful and dedicated member and works hard to fulfill and magnify his calling.  Elder Silva asked Christophe why he was not married.  Christophe told him how difficult it was to find a worthy young woman to take to the temple.  Do we have to finish the story?  About 3 months ago the introduction was made.  They fell in love.  Sara moved down to Caldas and has been waiting for the 1 year time period to lapse so that she and Christophe could be married in the temple.  The time period has been completed.  They married civilly so that non-member family and friends could attend.  And, the rest of the story is that next Tuesday they will be in the temple in Madrid getting married for time and all eternity. 
 

Now, is that a love story or what?  We wish that we could go to the temple with them and enjoy the spirit of an eternal wedding.  It is going to be incredible.  Our only request of them was to bring us back a photo that could be emailed so that we could enjoy this together.

 And get this!  Their honeymoon for the next week is going to be spent in Madrid, doing temple work for their deceased ancestors.  Paula and I had to chuckle as we traveled home after the ceremony, the time in the park and the incredible afternoon luncheon.  Our honeymoon was spent in Disneyland and Sea World.  What were we thinking?  Some of these new converts really do get it.  They understand and know what is important in their lives.  What a wonderful example ... from the cake with the scripture from Alma 37:37, to a temple marriage, to a honeymoon spent in the temple doing work for their families!  How Cool Is This?  And, if you haven´t checked out the scripture yet, you should.   What an incredible theme to start out a marriage with.  Or, what an incredible theme to live our lives by!

 

 

And now to finish the story!