Deep Breaths. OK: Portugal

2 Apr 2008

Wow.

Last weeks email was crazy. I remember coming out of the internet cafe just with no words in my head. It was like trying to make a house of cards without any cards. But now I think the shock has worn off a little more and I have less worry in my mind.

Elder Stott is my trainer (my "dad"). He's from Lancaster, CA, goes to BYU, is going to major in business, but isn't sure what he wants to do with it yet. He's awesome. He helps me a lot with the phrases and gives me plenty of opportunity to work with the people.

I'm going to go through each day and just recount a little bit:

So last P-Day, we went to LISBOA! IT WAS AWESOME. I attached a few pictures from there and WOW. We took the train there, and it reminds me so much of the MAX. We go east, we pass through a tunnel just before we arrive in the city, and both the city and the train are awesome. Rossio Station is the classic European train station. I'll take a good picture when we're there again (and if I don't forget my camera this time). In Lisbon, we saw a bunch of statues, old buildings, gardens, the bridge across the Rio Tejo (which is a replica of the Golden Gate Bridge), etc. It was awesome. All the sidewalks and most of the streets are cobblestone, there are huge roundabouts, lots of pigeons, but I guess all those things are present in most of urban Portugal. We have all them in Amadora, especially the pigeons.

Thursday was kinda rough number-wise. All of our appointments fell through, so we went knocking (to knock doors = bater portas). The doors are really different. They have this kind of latch thing that's built into the door, and there's no knob. The swing into the apartments, and lock when you close them. On the outside, there's a fixed knob or handle. Also, all the peepholes are about 6-12" lower than they are in the US. But yeah, most people tend to agree on the point that the Catholic/etc. churches are so different and that there are so many different interpretations. It's nice to talk to people that are willing to look at things differently once we establish common ground. Oh, and on Thursday we taught a soccer player from Cabo Verde - he was em casa waiting to leave for his practice that night.

Friday was kind of the same as Thursday, but I got to see Elder Davis again. I hope the people in Mafra like him. Hahaha

Saturday, we had a Mini-CTM for the Oeiras stake. We taught a 20-minute lesson to everybody who showed up about the Book of Mormon and how to present it to your friends. Our main point was that you have to break the barriers of doubt and misconception and testify of how the clear doctrine has helped you in your life. Etc. A lot of people think the Book of Mormon is just the Mormon translation of the Bible, apparently. and on the way back from Oeiras, we took yet another nauseating bus ride (roundabouts look cool, but the definitely do NOT feel cool). and this guy with a mullet got on and stood right next to me (the bus wasn't full) and he was like "Are you American? Do you like Portugal? It is my country. Do you work here? (this is when I figured out that he was drunk) Do you have books? Let me see the first page. Do you believe? (Yeah, I know this book is--) Believe. I tried to go to England once, but the man was too big. Believe. Have you climbed the tree? I went to Holland to work with the machines. I would go again, but my car is on another planet. Believe. It is destroyed in a big accident." Etc etc etc OH MY GOODNESS IT WAS HILARIOUS. You could ask him anything and he would answer it completely seriously. Now, every time we are asking a dumb question or something we don't know the answer to, etc. to each other we just respond "Believe."

Sunday, we had Claudio in church, who just moved from Spain. We've been having tons of interesting people just appearing out of nowhere. We had a lady just move in that wants to be baptized, Miguel is awesome-- We were going to teach him the second lesson but ended up spending a very productive hour and a half on the Book of Mormon. It was awesome.

I went on an exchange with Elder Blackburn (from Hermiston, OR), and we could tell we would have a tough time with the language. But once my brain realized that "oh man I'm really going to have to pay attention because I don't have a trainer" I could really understand and talk to a lot of people. The best way to do missionary work is to really care about the people and listen to them. You're not their to change their lives for them.

On Monday, we went to Alfragide. It's a pretty wealthy area on the top of a hill. Little did we realize that from the top of this hill, we can see THE ATLANTIC OCEAN, CRISTO REI (the big Christ Statue), THE BRIDGE ACROSS THE RIO TEJO, AND ALL OVER THE PLACE.

I have this card in my wallet that I wrote "This is not a dream" on. Apparently, if you have a dream and open your wallet in your dream, this card won't be there. I sometimes open up my wallet just to see if that card is still there. This is not a dream!

The people in Alfragide have never really heard of the Church. However, there are many that listen to us and are skeptical, but in a very non-antagonistic way. It's pretty nice, but that area needs a ton of work.

We had Zone Conference yesterday, and I felt kinda sick (achy), but that didn't stop us from carrying boxes of copies of the Book of Mormon all the way from Benfica to Reboleira on foot.

Oh, and I'm still trying to decide between Benfica and Sporting soccer teams. I'm leaning towards Benfica, but I might also become a Estrela de Amadora fan, even though they're not in a good league, just because I was "born" in Amadora. So I would value any input if you have any.

I've been realizing more and more that I have to really take responsibility and keep myself busy to have anything worthwhile happen while serving. I feel the best when I'm busy, I have less temptation, I am more focused, and I'm just more productive. Anyway, staying busy and always trying to find more ways to improve is good.

We're about to leave for Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra, so yeah. It's going to be awesome.

I love you all! and thank you so much for your letters!!!

Abraços a todos!

Elder Lobo