Word to start today is
Side note, Ive got little time today to write, so might be a little short...
Okay lets get to it... Last pday, after writing early in the morning, we headed to Sintra, a super-touristy area of Portugal. Lots of old stuff, architecture, buildings, you name it. Lots of typical tourists, straw hats, sunglasses, hawaiian shirts... the usual. But there we saw some pretty cool stuff. We paid 4€ for entrance into this, to be frank, couple-centuries-old-rich-guys-property with like 7 houses and gardens and stuff. It was cool and all, but after having travelled so much in Europe (thanks mom and dad) to so many other centuries-old-wealthy-constructions it was almost like watching a re-run on tv. But hey, it was fun and still a good time.
Anyways Ive got some bullet notes I wrote down to share. Prepare for poor chronological organization.
--We were knocking doors, and weve knocked a lot our 4-5 weeks here in Póvoa. Turns out, we knocked the same apt building twice, and as we walked away, this old man on his balcony made sure to let us know he never ever wants us to come back. We obliged, and wished him a good afternoon.
--We had... oh gosh, i guess youd call it a "split" or "division" in english, but in Português its divisão. The zone leaders came to our area after a district meeting, and they switched companions with E. Marques and I. It was fun, I spent the day working with Elder Kaelberer (i think), a good missionary from Utah, likes to ski. Sums him up. It was a really good experience and I learned a ton. I learned that there are many different ways to do missionary work, E. Kaelberer preferred the "bold and straightforward" technique, it was fun to watch. I was also technically the senior companion for the day, so I was responsible for leading the charge, which was different, Ive been accustomed to usually just following Elder Marques. But responsibility fell on me and we had a good day. E. Kaelberer often just remained quiet (on purpose) to provide me the opportunity to really practice, and I learned that I am capable of a lot more than I thought I was, I did a lot of contacts/conversations by myself, it was good. Towards the end of the day, we stopped by our flat to grab some water, and I locked the keys inside. It was really funny, we kinda just sat there like "ugh this just happened" but we got it figured out, the landlord (or lady?) stopped by with another key to let us in.
--One day I was super confused over a grammatical point in Portuguese, I wont go into detail,but
I spent 40 minutes or so straight with E. Marques discussing it, dont worry, it made sense afterwards haha.
--Every Thursday night we have a little english class, we invite recent converts, investigators, so on to come by. This thursday nobody showed up, so as we were about to leave, this guy named Vito, who we met the day before (he said he was catholic and didnt want anything to do with us) just walked in to the chapel, and we taught him the Restoration. It was a really good lesson, and it was just a little coincidence/miracle that was cool to see. He accepted it well, but towards the end he said he doesnt want to leave catholicism.
It often happens like this with those we teach. They accept what we say, even agree saying things like "yeah, having a prophet today makes sence" or "yeah, there can only be one baptism with authority" but when push comes to shove, they dont want to act...
--E. Marques mentions sometimes the "Bible Bashes" he has, and I got to see a little one between him and a fella on the street. It was kinda lame though, really the guy just got so excited, and just showed us every scripture from the bible he knew saying "see!?" Made me chuckle.
Out of time... Need to catch a train. Im doing well, I am enjoying the work here. Its hard and challenging, but so fulfilling at the same time.
Thanks for the Emails, hope you enjoy.
Tchau,
Elder Ward
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