The word of the week is "desculpa" because I was so darn short on time last week to that I didnt write an email.
These last couple weeks have been full of work and heat. We walk and knock and talk all day. A number of interesting things have happened recently, its been a good time.
Weve been working very "thuroughly" in our area. Weve been here for 11 weeks now, and we can almost say that weve knocked every door. We are starting to see a lot of familiar faces, people weve already talked to, patterns of the same people in the same places at the same times... Its a small town haha.
One day we were walking and a woman of 50 or so years approached us from behind and asked us straight up about our church. She said "oh you guys are the mormons right?" There we talked with her for about a half hour, explaining things and such. We tried to schedule a time to meet with her and have a lesson, but she was reluctant and wouldnt accept. She said she doesnt want to commit time like that, schedule complicated etc (common excuses). But she did express some interest though, so we left her with a Restoration pamphlet, our contact, and chapel address and time. She said shed pass there one day, but we´ll see. To end our chat with her, we offered a prayer together. At the end, she had a tear on her face... I think she was touched by the things we did and explained. Hopefully she will remember that conversation and experience, and maybe show up a church one day.
The work has been getting repetitive and difficult lately, not going to lie. Its september and still piping hot, and a lot of the people we have taught are just disappearing. We keep going though, we are constantly doing something to find someone new.
One night at about 8, all of our plans had fallen through, we hadnt taught anyone or had any good success that day. We stopped, and thought for a bit as to what we could do. we had already knocked every building in the vicinity, and it was late, so virtually no one was in the street to talk to.
We offered a prayer asking for help and guidance... After which I just said, (because literally nothing was coming to my mind) "meh, lets go over there to that park. Maybe someone will be there to talk to."
We went, and found only one person there, a woman of about 50 or so years walking her dog. She had her earphones in and was walking kinda hastily, so I didnt really want to try. Usually in circumstances like that, they just keep walking. Luckily, Elder Marques talked with her. She was very nice. Her name is Eulalia. We wrote down her address, set a time, and we returned later that week and taught the first lesson to her and her husband. They soaked it up pretty well. They have catholic blood, like a lot of portugal, but they enjoyed the message and accepted the BoM very well. She came to church the next day, and seemed to enjoy it.
But thats not all. Last week in a district meeting, Elder Marques shared the experience that we had finding her, and said that I said "lets go to that park. There will be someone walking there dog there". The crazy part is how specific that was... and I dont remember saying that. I was out of ideas, so I just blurted that idea. I double checked with E. Marques later, and he said that that was exactly what I said, that there would be someone walking there dog... pretty cool.
Unfortunately we havent been able to manage another visit with her and her husband... thats the challenge here.
Another cool thingy, we were knocking doors and a woman of 40 or so years opened. We explained who we were, the basic doorway greeting and chat. She immediately said she didnt want anything to do with a new church... I butted in and explained that our purpose isnt to force religion on people or something like that, but to provide people with an appropriate opportunity to learn and discover for themselves of the truth of the Restored Gospel...
She then said that we could work out a time. A week or so later we taught her the first lesson, and she also enjoyed it. We´re gonna get her a BoM in Russian (her first language, shes from Moldavia, but speaks portuguese well, her name is Natasha.) Anyways, I thought that was cool too.
One door we knocked, a lady opened up, gasped, and just slammed it. Elder Marques then said as we walked away "Eu não sabia que eu era tão feio" (I didnt know im so ugly) It was pretty funny.
Another day Elder Marques fell asleep in the middle of Companion Study. Hes ending his mission this next week, and hes awfully tired hahah. Hes served a long and tiring mission for sure. We were praying, and I ended and looked at him waiting for an "amen" but he was out cold for like 5 minutes afterwards. I just chuckled. We still work hard though. Good stuff.
Ive got more to share, but Its gotta wait for next week. So heres a couple cool experiences. Enjoy!
Ciao,
Elder Ward
I saved a tub of icecream for just one night... Was a good night haha
And a super serious and cheesy "im bored" selfie
and this was funny
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