Todays word is "fresca" meaning fresh, because Im now starting a fresh transfer (same area) with a new companion, Elder Fletcher (Ill talk more about him later).
Its been a very quick and very long week at the same time. Earlier in the week we had a zone conference, and afterwards, Elder Welch, an assistent to the Mission President did a division with us, making us a trio for the day. He really set a good example that day, and brought some fresh energy. That day we probably talked with a hundred people and taught 3 lessons. It was pretty sweet. It got me pumped to just go out every day and talk with everyone, because before that E. Marques and I were a bit, not discouraged, but we were finding the work in our area a bit stale. It helped a lot.
During that time, and the day after we met with and taught a bunch of people. Nuno, received the first two lessons in two days, accepted baptism and everything, but called us the next day saying that his beliefs and ours just didnt agree. He appreciated our time and efforts, and wished us well, but said he wanted us to use our efforts elsewhere. A bit lame, but its alright. (Do I dare say, easy come, easy go?) Just to get a bit more "bad news" out of the way, Eulalia, the woman I mentioned in the last email, unfortunately has fallen through. We tried calling her, and she said she just didnt want more, when she would like she will ask... so yeah. But we keep going! Really, its a good thing because we have more time to find the truly elect.
We taught an african woman named Okinka, a younger african teenager named Vania, and her aunt Zenaida (all of these at different times). These people all loved the restoration when we taught it, its just now its tough to find them at home to teach them again. People really dont look busy here, but it seems they are. Hopefully we can find some of them this week and help them progress!
This week we also passed two days working with two young men from our ward. One is Isaque (Isaac) who was baptized 5 or so months ago. He´s pretty cool, he enjoys passing time with the missionaries. We went proselyting with him twice now. Its really helpful having a third male body, it lets us enter any house to teach! However, Isaque unfortunately is "tempted" so to speak by the Jehovah´s Witnesses, who are pretty common in our little area. He is intrigued by their "deep knowledge" and bible. Its hard to help him when he is so drawn to the "wisdom of men".
Lili is a young african teenager two who was baptized only about 2 months ago, I attended his baptism. He is really cool, he helped us out for a day and even helped as we taught. Hes got a very strong testimony, and its so strong because its so focused in the book of mormon (pro tip). Yeah, it was useful and fun doing a day of proselyting with him. We will probably try to integrate him and Isaque more in the future.
In other news, its my first day of my 3rd transfer. I am no longer being officially "trained", but Im sure I will still learn a lot. Today we went to the mission office, and I left Elder Marques there with his bags, and returned to my area with my new companion.
To be honest, I didnt think it would be hard to do the whole switch-companions thing, but it was actually pretty tough. I am very grateful I had Elder Marques as my first companion. He was so helpful, patient, funny, and most importantly he set a very good example of obedience and hard work for me to follow, even until the last day of his mission. Speaking of his last day, while returning home we climbed a big hill to get a view of the sunset, it was nice and had a great view, will bring pictures of it later.
But yeah, I got back to my new area with Elder Fletcher. He is an American, and hes got a bit in common with me. His father is Air Force, so he too moved around a lot in his live. He lived, most notably, in Japan, Germany, and Holland. Hes got a bit more than a year in his mission. Ive only been with him for a few hours, I still need to get to know him, but he seems pretty cool. Hes seems a bit quiet and shy (maybe Im used to the opposite, Elder Marques was not), but Im sure well get along well.
But yeah, we got to our house, and we dropped his luggage, and I realized he would be thirsty, so I went to the kitchen to get him a cup, but we only have 2, so I washed Elder Marques´s cup for him to use. Thats when it kinda hit me, I realized "man, Im not going to work with Elder Marques anymore"... I made some good memories with him in this area, so this area will always remind me of him. Ill miss him for sure. He was a great companion. But hey, the only constant in life is change, and it happens constantly in the mission haha.
Anywayyys, I think that sums it up. Luckily didnt have too much time pressure today, so I got some more content out. Hope yall enjoy.
Ciao,
Elder Ward
Oh, the title of the letter is Four because I just hit my 4 month mark in the mission! Twenty more to give it my all. Vamos lá!
For Pday the week before we went with our district to this really cool aquarium in Lisbon. It was very impressive. It had one massive tank, and all the other exhibits rotated around it. Sharks, mantas, tuna, just everything.
Heres the outside of it, it sat on the water in a bay, its pretty massive.
They had other exhibits with penguins, otters, even birds.
Heres the last photo I took with Elder Marques today
And heres a darn quick photo I took of Elder Fletcher, my new companion just now (missionary work is very tiring haha)
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