Castelo dos Mouros
Hey everybody!
I'm glad to hear everything is going well with everybody. It sounds like everybody had a good time with Maura.
So last P-Day, we went to Castelo dos Mouros, which is this big castle on the top of this giant rock of a mountain in Sintra. It overlooks pretty much everything. You can see the
So last Thursday, we taught Cleriston about Lehi's dream. Oh, and did I already mention he's marked for baptism on the 10th? Anyway, he's already had all of the lessons and is just studying and being incredible. He's so open but very good about discerning good and bad influences. He already didn't drink or smoke before, etc. He's incredible.
Later that day, we had a lesson with the Gospel Principles teacher, and we were going to go over teaching techniques (because he really intimidates people with the way he teaches). He refused vehemently to analyze his teaching, and said that the missionaries should be the ones who teach the investigators their base. He said after that it's up to them to study and take what they can from the other members. Moral of the story: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and The Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Tá bem? Preach My Gospel is for every missionary (every member).
AND THEN FRIDAY.
We had the third lesson with Miguel. Miguel is the 48-year-old guy that read about the church about 4 years ago online and then started looking again. He kept putting off sending the missionaries to his house, and then finally he ran into a member in a financial institution (he knew he was a member because he had some tithing forms or something) and then he knew that was the time to ask for the missionaries. During lessons and church and everything, Miguel is a very serious, quiet, attentive person. He sits with one arm folded and the other hand on his chin. He always asks good questions and asks them with a very visible earnestness.
Anyway, for this third lesson, we had an AWESOME, sensitive, attentive member with us, and we taught the incredible blessings of faith, repentance, baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. It's all about application. Anyway we invited him to be baptized, and I have never seen him smile so much!!! After about a second, he said “tá marcada,” which means “it's marked.” He is INCREDIBLE. He's an incredible person outside of being an investigator and is ah just AMAZING. He's going to be baptized on the same day with Cleriston.
Saturday:
We had dinner with Carlos and Lucélia (from
Sunday:
We had Cleriston, Miguel, Josiane, and another investigator we taught once, Eliane. It was an incredible Sunday. The eight elders in our district sang Abide With Me (I sang a mean bass/baixo) and Cleriston played piano for us. It was incredible. The members here don't get nearly as much music as they should! Haha. The classes were amazing. I wish I could send a couple people home for everybody to get to know – the Bishop Navarro and the Gilberto Andrade... They are incredible. We found Gilberto one time doing the yardwork for the chapel and we asked him “You do the yardwork??” “Faço tudo, Élder.” We should also fazer tudo. (Faço tudo = I do everything)
So this weekend, the weather was so nice, and therefore, everybody went to the beach. Nobody was home, nobody was answering their phones, and nobody really wanted to talk to us. We were knocking and talking to everybody, and it was starting to get a little disappointing. I read over our list of contacting ideas, and we were doing everything. We were walking back for dinner, and I said a little prayer in my heart that went something like this: “Heavenly Father, we're out here knocking and talking to everybody. Nobody is home, the people we find won't even say hello, and we're out of ideas. Where should we go to find somebody? ....” Thirty seconds later, we went to contact a woman walking in the opposite direction, and before we could say anything, she said, “Onde fica vossa igreja?” It was incredible. She has been looking for the church in
Oh, and Josiane is moving to Almada, but it has been so nice to watch her happiness grow over the past few weeks.
Monday:
We had another sweet drunk people incident – in Alfragide. There was this group of three obviously impaired buddies, but one was baptized two years ago, one was a TJ, and the other was nice and very considerate. It was hilarious. They had this incredible dynamic between the three – one was short, wore thick glasses, crooked headphones, and dreadlocks. The TJ spoke horrible English and wouldn't listen to us. The other guy kept apologizing for his friends and kept telling the guy speaking English to “Fala Português, pá!” It was HILARIOUS. We gave the nice guy a Book of Mormon and invited them to church, but reminded them that you can't be drunk or smoke during church (we haven't had to worry about those rules that much, have we?)
Tuesday:
Yesterday was a packed day. We had a great lesson with Cleriston about Samuel the Lamanite, another awesome lesson with Miguel about prayer, scriptures, and the Sabbath, and a lesson with Maria José, who has a hard time believing much of anything anymore (she has a tough teenage son who makes her life miserable, apparently) but at least she's still trying and searching.
Transfers are tomorrow – I'm staying here. Elder Stott is going to Faro in the
Gotta go – I love you all so much! You're incredible. Fica firme!
Elder Lobo
Elder Lobo
Elder Lobo Elder Stott e Miguel 
Elder Stott with Cleriston
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