12 March 18 Tá indo

Dear family and friends,

This week ran smoothly, we had some pretty cool experiences.

On Monday we met up Walker with at night. We walked with him for a bit and he stopped to talk with one of his friends there in the street, and we took advantage of the situation to meet him too, his friend´s name is Manulito, an african fella. We ended up going the next day to Manulito for a bit and we managed to teach him a decent lesson. He´s a bit of a spaz, so we kept things simple and brief for him. He already investigated the church a while back, so he new the basics. We simply talked with him about action, about really doing something to progress in his life towards God. He accepted to come with us to church and to prepare to be baptized.

We returned another day to teach some more and follow up with him. There was another guy there named Ston, also african, about 20 years old. I sat and chatted with him as Elder Vigne sat with Manulito. We each taught each one individually because they were in different stages. Ston was a pretty cool guy, he said that because of his family traditions it would be difficult to decide to be baptized, even though he learned that day that he needed to be baptized like Christ was, by immersion.

We planned to come back Saturday night to chat with the two of them to arrange everything for them to travel to church the next day.

We showed up and found out that it was game night. Soccer. Dangit. There were already like 5 other friends that had arrived and Manulito had left to buy things (the beer...). We got a phone call from a member that was going to give a ride to an investigator called and I had to pick it up. I was in the kitchen chatting as Elder Vigne was on the couch in the other room, he actually managed to teach one of the guys there, smooth.

Then Manulito showed up with more buddies and we quickly realized that it wouldn´t work out so smoothly haha. Ston stopped by not to stay but to just grab a few things, he didn´t make it to church due to short notice complications, but him and Manulito both promised to come this next Sunday... we´ll see haha.

We visited Bruno this week with his (almost-)wife Ana at home. We played our cards well and we managed to sit and chat with the two of them together. We had a really really good lesson, one of the best of my mission. We shared a bunch about the Plan of Salvation and how the Law of Chastity applies in it. Ana was a bit stubborn, but everything was talked over with a lot of laughter, really smooth, and Ana and Bruno have a goal to get married in late April. Phew. Bruno was on our side the whole time and even taught some things to her too. Bruno was going to come to church, we arranged a ride for him and everything, but unfortunately family came to visit them Sunday morning so he couldn´t make it. No worries, we´ll keep a grip on him.

A few weeks have passed since we last talked with Carla. She progressed super well, but her mother, whom we still haven´t met, wont let her do anything... She took the BoM from her and her phone... cmon. But we managed to find Carla and to our relief she still has interest, she´s just a bit discouraged because of her restrictive mother... We´ll see what we can do.

Remember that Lucas from last week? We met up with him this last weekend and we had a good lesson. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and we basically asked him if he wanted to participate in God´s plan by progressing and preparing to be baptized. He accepted, and he came to church too! He´s showing some good progress, but still needs to progress some more. After church we went to eat lunch with a nice brazilian family, Família Lima, and we asked if we could bring Lucas. They gladly had him over. We had a good time there, he got along really well with everyone there. We´ll be working with him for sure.

We had a very spiritual experience yesterday. There is a woman named Teresa who recently moved to our ward and was baptized about a year ago. She approached me after sacrament meeting to ask us to come to her home and give a blessing to her granddaughter.

We got there last night and met the family. Carla is a young mother with two little girls, her mother is Teresa. The two little girls are Íris and Bianca. Bianca is a nice little baby, and Íris is a toddler with some health problems. I didn´t understand the medical terms used there, but I basically understood that she has a type of cancer that heavily effects her brain and her figure, and will stay with her until she will probably pass away as a young teenager.

Little Íris was wiggling around on the couch, so Teresa held her in her arms as we gave her a blessing. The spirit was very strong.

We had a moment of silence afterwards. I said the only thing that I could manage to formulate. I told them about Marie, an I simply said "God loves you guys and your familiy. He´ll carry you through this. He has a plan for you all and little Íris. Trust him."

After we conversed for a bit longer, we headed out with heavy thoughts. I felt such a mixture of things for that family. They pass through so much. I felt pity, love, sorrow, gratitude... but in all I felt grateful for being able to give a blessing there and help, but above all a peace.

This Sunday an older man in our ward, António approached us and asked us if we could accompany him today (during our pday) to a hospital in Lisbon to give a blessing to his granddaughter as well. We accepted, we´ll be going with him in just an hour or so there. Because of the experience last night, I can confidently say that I´m grateful and excited to help someone else today.

The two members who asked for these blessings are the only members in their families...

And to finish up, transfers. Elder Vigne will leave to a neighboring area, Miratejo, and I will stay in Costa da Caparica, and I will train a new missionary. I really really liked serving with Elder Vigne and I learned a lot. I´m excited to train this transfer.

I think that´s it.

On to the next one,

Elder Ward