Dear
family and friends,
In short, a crazy week.
So things were going normal in Setúbal, I was training Elder
Baird, we were getting stuff done, I knew the area well, it was all good. We
had plans to teach some new people like Manuel and Paula.
Tuesday morning I wake up and get stuff going. We go to a district
meeting. I noticed that the zone leaders weren´t in the meeting. I called to
find out where they were, and they said that they were in the mission office...
ok. I continued in the meeting, and just as I got it started my phone rings
with the contact "president Tavares". Uh oh. I left the room to
answer.
"Good morning President."
"You doing good Elder?"
"Of course President." A short pause.
"Elder, are you sitting at the moment?"
"No... Should I?"
"Well, lean on something, I have news for you... You are
being transferred now."
"Now?"
"Now."
He then explained to me that I would be transferred that very day
to a new area, Costa da Caparica with a new companion, Elder Vigne. He
explained to me that there were some complications in a few areas and he needed
to mix some things around. He explained to me that I would be there to help out
Elder Vigne in this part of his mission. It´s a long story, really.
So, wide-eyed, I returned to the meeting and continued for five
minutes. I then received a call from the the Assistants saying that they had
already planned the trip. They´d be there in a half hour to pick me up and
leave me in my knew area. Elder Baird would stay temporarily in a tripla with
some other Elders in a nearby area.
I returned to the meeting once more, and we finished the quickly
ended the meeting. I knew that I wouldn´t be ready in a half hour, not even
close, so I took a moment to call a few people and we stopped by Welton´s house
for example on our way home. I then passed some time cramming everything into
my suitcases and we quickly called a taxi to get to our rendezvous point. There
I met up with Elder Vigne, and we drove to our area.
I wont use a paragraph to explain how surprised I was, but just
take my simple words and understand that I was certainly not expecting that.
You could have sat me down in a blank room for hours and hours and just let me
guess and guess what would happen the next day and I wouldn´t have ever guessed.
Anyways, Elder Vigne is a great guy. He has french decent, hence
the name, but is Brazilian through and through, a really funny guy, reminds me
a lot of Gabe. He´s 20, and a crackup. He´s from Rio Grande do Sul, the
southernmost part of Brazil. He´s a good worker, and really enjoys the work. We
get along well. In fact, I met him a year ago when he started his mission. I
was his zone leader while he was being trained in a neighboring area. I was his
first division, I´ve seen his growth as a missionary. He´s passed through some
recent difficulties, so I´m here to help him.
President told me that he had plans for me to train yet another
new missionary, he would have been the 5th! But I´m actually super grateful for
this opportunity to serve with Elder Vigne. We don´t have leadership
responsibilities... we can focus completely in our new area and the work that
we have to do.
And about the new area... Costa da Caparica is a pretty small city
that sits right on the beach. It´s very similar to one of my previous areas,
Quarteira. I like it a lot. It´s a bit touristy, but even so we´ve already
learned that we can get stuff done here. It has had rumors of being a tough
town, but we´re not worried.
For the first time in my mission I´m not living in an apartment.
We live on the bottom floor of a little house, a member lives above us. The
house sits 30 meters from the beach, so each morning we jog on the beach and do
other exercises there. It´s great. The house is tiny, cold, but no worries, I like
it that way.
Our area was actually closed last transfer, and we are re-opening
it. The ward was happy to see us on Sunday. When we got here we quickly looked
through the area book to find that unfortunately the past missionaries hadn´t
written a single thing since last November, meaning that a large chunk of work
before its closing wasn´t even registered. We used what we had. We managed to
find a few people who were being taught in the past, but many had lost
interest. We are now starting from near zero, but even so we have seen some
good success.
The first contact we did was a man named Márcio, a brasilian. Him
and Elder VIgne of course worked out really well. We managed to teach him twice
now. He missed church because of his pregnant wife, but we had a really
powerful lesson about the plan of salvation yesterday with him and he accepted
baptism for the week after next. We have high hopes for him. And looking back,
it wasn´t even planned for us to be there that day... but lo and behold, we
were.
Anyways, I returned to Setúbal today just to open the area book
there and write down whatever more I could. Our train and bus both didn´t work
out, so we ended up getting back late... but we got permission to still write a
little. I already don´t have any more time. I´m doing good, it´s been a crazy week.
Take
care,
Elder
Ward
Oh!
While I was visiting Setúbal I ran into Paulo! He´s doing well, went to church
and everything! He said that his xwife told him that he wants to be baptized,
the sisters are going there now to teach! woo! Also heard that Manuel came to
church which means that he´s progressing well!
Paulo today!
Our district in my rushed departure.
Saying goodbye to Setúbal...
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