A busy week! Lots of travelling.
Last monday after emails, we drove to Lagos, one of the most famously pretty cities here in the Algarve. We stayed there sightseeing for a bit, and then monday night we split up with the Elders there for a division. It was a short division, but I went with Elder Castro, a brazilian missionary, and we taught 2 lessons. It was pretty cool. The next morning we got up and for exercises we took a jog. We jogged down a narrow classic european street, through a square with a super old catholic church, to the road, we followed a castle wall, passed a small fortress and a port, and then we jogged on the beach for a bit with cool cliffsides and we watched the sunrise. It was pretty scenic haha.
We then headed with those Elders to a district meeting in Portimão. Our zone has 3 districts. To try to help out and also to get a good perspective of what´s going on, we visit other districts and attend their meetings. From there, we returned to our area and got to work. That night we found 2 new investigators, Júlia and Lucas, two brazilians who are here to study. We taught the restoration in a short time, and invited them to read the BoM, pray, and come to church. We marked a return appointment, they were pretty chill.
Wednesday we went to another district meeting in Loulé. It ran well. Being a zone leader is pretty cool, we get to see lots of missionaries in the Algarve and always help out in their growth.
I went with Elder Vigne, another brazilian Elder. He is hilarious, I think I already mentioned him once. He´s a spittin image of Gabe, in looks and a bit of personality. He is a new missionary, so he still has a really fresh brazilian accent and still says a lot of pure brazilian things... its really entertaining. Imagine an Elder from england arriving in america to serve, still saying things like "chaps, lads, biscuits, lorry, bonnet," etc. I really like brazilians haha.
I worked with him only for a few hours though, because once more Elder Welch and I needed to return to Lisbon. So, we used Wednesday night to travel. There, we stayed the night and after about 4 more hours of line-waiting and other paperwork tasks, I finally got my portuguese driver´s liscence thingy. However, I needed to watch a church produced video before I could drive, so Elder Welch drove back and I watched the video at night. With everything out of the way finally, I can officially drive here!
Elder Francis and Elder Cottrell were there at the DMV thing too to get their liscences. I had a good time to catch up with them. They are both doing well. Because Elder Francis went to the Açores, it had been almost 9 months since the last time I had seen him!
We got back Thursday night. We didn´t get back to work until Friday unfortunately. On friday, we drove to Tavira, a touristy town pretty darn close to the spanish border. I did a division there with Elder Heiner, from Idaho. It was a good time. He´s a newer missionary too, so I got to help him out, and I learned some new things too. Elder Welch took Elder Heiner´s companion to Faro to keep working there.
Saturday morning we wrapped everything up and Elder Welch and I hit the pavement again in Faro together. We worked hard, taught Carina again and found 2 new investigators.
Carina is doing well. We taught her the word of wisdom and discovered that she doesnt have any problems with it, and accepted to live it.
The new folks we found are 2 more brazilians! A few days back I contacted Renata and Rogério in a park. Saturday night I felt like we should stop by, and we did and found Renata and her daughter, Cárol at home. We had a short visit with them. They are very open and will probably progress well. We didn´t full on teach, but we explained to them how a relationship with the Savior will help them. They are passing through some difficulties, and they accepted to continue with us. They were awfully nice.
However, Sunday gave us a bit of an uppercut. (I don´t know how to say it in english... but "comprometido" is like "invited, confirmed, accepted, agreed") We had 10 people comprometido to come to church with us, aka 10 people were invited and said that they would come (Including all the people I have already mentioned in this email). To our disappointment, not a single one showed up. We haven´t figured out why with many of them still, but it was a bit frustrating. It is one of the biggest challenges in the mission... Even when people have a car or live 5 minutes from the church by foot, they just don´t show up because they "were tired" or some lame excuse like that.
Elder Welch however said something pretty funny after the big bummer. He said "hey, when things hit the fan like this, they become wife points" Elder Welch is darn funny haha.
Carina was set up to be baptized this saturday that is coming, but because she didn´t make it to church, we will postpone it. Our mission rule requires that someone shows up to church at least 2 times before being baptized.
Sunday afternoon we ate at a members home and afterwards we taught Ígor and Bruno. They are doing well, but aren´t keeping up with the "homework" we give them. In portuguese, one says "dar faca" which literally means "to give knife". However, it actually means to critisize or correct someone. I´m good friends with Igor and Bruno, I know them for 2 months now, so I felt the need to "give a bit of knife" to them. They understood and admitted that they arent putting God in the first priority. We explained that that´s why theyve been having some troubles lately and also why they still haven´t discovered the truth for themselves.
Don´t worry, I did it smoothly and with love. They got he point and agreed with me. They should progress soon.
Also, a little miracle. We were doing the normal thing, talking to people, trying to visit others, all that jazz. About 5pm, we were a bit tired and on the level of a bit discouraged, we had been rejected that day already probably 100 times. We tried visiting an old investigator in a building. Up there on the third floor, he didn´t open up, and Elder Welch and I looked at each other and basically thought the same thing "What´´s going on? why aren´t we finding prepared people and teaching? What´s wrong here?" We almost sat down on the stairs to chat for a bit, but instead we just descended and right outside the building entrance was a woman with two young boys with her. We immediately talked with her. Her name is Cícira, a very nice brazilian woman. We chatted for about 10 minutes, and actually the conversation ran so well that we invited her to be baptized. She accepted, so we marked a day to pass by. Unfortunately that day didn´t work out, but we are working with her to get things arranged.
It was just nice to see that the Lord is looking out for us. He wants us to keep going always, and will help us when we need it, he wants to see our effort and perseverance first.
So yeah, that was the week basically. Whenever I don´t mention anyone in an email, it basically means that there has been no progress with them. Generally progress is hindered due to the fact that we cant meet up with them due to work, travels, business, etc. But when the work is a bit tough, it´s a good thing, it oughtta be.
But it´s not so bad, It´s actually very satisfying and great serving here with Elder Welch, I´m having a blast.
I thinks that´s it. Take care,
Elder Ward
The cliffs of Lagos
This here is the very edge of the south-western corner of Europe! It was quite a view.
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