Elder Lobo loves IKEA! What a guy!
District transfers. 
How to tell if you have a real tie! It appears that he has purchased several local ties to spice up the wardrobe.Thanks for all the support and advice for everything that has been going on. It's been a crazy, crazy transfer. I really appreciate it and I printed them all off so I could read them later. It's definitely been a learning opportunity, and I hope I'm learning the right things. Elder Baldwin said that this transfer has been the most draining transfer he's ever had – and he served in Lagos (Algarve) during the summer. It has been really hard to stay motivated, but I'm learning a lot about different ways to be motivated and more ways to apply them in everyday life. Anything you know only means something if you put it into practice. Anyway, onto the news:
So TRANSFERS. This is part of what made the transfer so discouraging.
Our ward used to be huge in the past, apparently. The church kept growing and growing and when a ward would get over about 100 members, it would get split. Over time, though, it has been splitting so quickly that the members haven't been able to keep up with the growth – their friends are in other wards, people move in and out, etc. So the rumor (which was told to us by the bishopric) has been that the Queluz and Amadora wards would combine (meaning there would be 8 elders in one ward). In fact, he said that the wards would combine on the first Sunday in July. That's next transfer. And, six elders are going home and only two were known to be coming in. It was all adding up to Amadora A closing (us) and Queluz B closing (only one other area has any necessity in being closed). Plus, with very little ward support for Amadora A and Queluz B... it all added up pretty quickly to the fact that we were just going to be setting up the area for the other elders to take over.
And then T-CALLS (technical term) yesterday. Elder Baldwin is “going zone leader” (also a technical term) and I'M STAYING! None of the areas in our district are closing!!! So we still have no word on whether the ward is combining or not. Elder Colby (from Enterprise, UT, two transfers younger than Elder Baldwin) is coming from Odivelas B (which is the only area being closed – but Odivelas A is becoming a tripla with three elders – with two from my MTC district who did NOT get along!) Elder Coombs is coming from Costa da Caparica – and he's from SALEM, OR! That's four out of eight elders in our district from Oregon.
So the WEATHER here has been reallllly nice. It feels like the last day of school in Oregon. About 80 degrees, sunny, etc. But that means that everybody goes to the beach. Hey – if I lived in Amadora, I would definitely go to the beach, too. But still. We have been making pretty good contacts and have been doing our best to pass every single member in our area (most of which are inactive).
So the ward. It seems like it's starting to turn around. The last couple Sundays have had some answers to prayers with the bishop and EQP talking about the problems with communication in the ward! Home teaching has been a big push, too. But we're going to try to help our ward mission leader step up to the plate so we can at least get our part rolling along.
This just goes to show – if you take care of one big problem with many small solutions, you'll get to a point where you have tons of small problems that need one huge solution. The problem becomes something completely different.
Anyway, we went to IKEA last week for P-Day. It was INCREDIBLE. IKEA is like the church. You can walk into one ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD and it feels the same. Every time I go into IKEA I feel like I'm in this sub-world that is like a secret passage that connects Oregon, Utah, and Portugal. Anyway, it was awesome and we got a packet of swedish meatball sauce which was also awesome.
Oh yeah: Dad: Where and when did you get baptized and what is the story? Everybody keeps asking me about it and I tell them but they want to know more than I usually know.
Scripture of the day: 2 Tim 1:7
Oh, also.
So Portugal won their first game of the Euro Cup. We ran into Cleriston watching it on a TV in the Amadora train station on our way home (He was on his way to work. He blows my mind.). It really wasn't as crazy as I expected, but it's only the first game. When Portugal wins the Euro Cup, I'm sure it's going to be a lot crazier.
What else...
I've been thinking a lot about things I misunderstood before. Optimism, purpose, etc. One thing I learned from Preach My Gospel Ch 1 the other day was about those. It seems like with purpose we think (in my case), “OK, I've been called to be a missionary here in Amadora and these are the investiagtors we have. My purpose is to help THEM come unto Christ and help THIS ward and serve with THIS companion etc...” It seems like we overspecify our purpose. After reading preach my gospel, my purpose is clearly in the VERB. HELP. INVITE. SERVE. That makes it so I'm not a failure if something bad happens that I have no control over.
Anyway, you guys are awesome and I really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really appreciate all the emails and thoughts you send to me.
Oh, and the weather report was really nice to have, too.
Anyway, FIQUEM FIRME! Oh my goodness. There is nothing more important.
AMOR
Élder Lobo
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