FELIZ ANO NOVO

Hello Family,
(I found more of those white long-sleeve shirts for cheap – I’ll be fine.)
I have ten minutes. We went to do grocery shopping today and we remembered that it’s NEW YEARS EVE. There was almost nothing useful on the shelves and EVERYBODY was there.
Anyway…
We went to the Dedication Rock today with President and some missionaries that are going home. It was really cool. It was all foggy and REALLY cool. It reminded me, aside from the soil type and the kinds of trees, of the Oregon coast in the winter. It was really cool.
I’m including a picture from when Elder Cobb and I went for a hike in Sintra after we found Castelo dos Mouros closed because it was Christmas Eve. It was cool and we got a lot of really good pictures. I’ll probably send a CD or DVD again before I leave the office.
Work has been slow around this time. You would think that people would be home or at least more relaxed, but it’s completely opposite. People are all gone, people are all stressed out (in fact, right now there is a guy talking to Elder Barrett because he is freaking out about how so many other people spend New Years alone.
OK, I’ll write about this:
It’s funny to me how people define “helping” and my definition of what that means has changed drastically since getting in the office. This guy, for instance, is driving himself crazy trying to find somebody, but even he said that “everybody complains about spending the holidays alone, but nobody wants to get together.” If people don’t want the help, it doesn’t really improve their quality of life if you make a big deal and an inconvenience for everybody if they don’t want it at all. If your worrying about something for somebody, it doesn’t help them unless you make it so they don’t have to worry about it anymore.
Sorry for such a short email. Not a whole lot really happened this week aside from what I already told you about on the phone.
2009! I don’t remember the 90’s very well, so this will be the first decade I can actually remember well! CRAZY.
Happy New Year!
I love you guys!
Elder Lobo

FELIZ NATAL!!!

Christmas Turkey in Oeiras

HAZELNUT HOT CHOCOLATE
with our Portuguese Class

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
So I got the package on Tuesday! I opened it up so I could put up the nativity scene and put everything under the tree. It’s so weird not being home for Christmas! But it’s cool. Thanks for everything. Technically, I don’t know what they all are yet, but since Mom lists everything out exactly on the customs forms… Anyway, we’re really excited for Christmas – we’re going to pass every member in our area during the afternoon and give them all a card and maybe sing at them.
We had two Christmas conferences this week: one in Miratejo (across the river) and one in Oeiras. They were pretty unique conferences. The members at each of the wards volunteered to do lunch for us, and they were AMAZING. I’m so glad I could go to both. At the one across the river they had a roast and incredible desserts. At the other, it was a sit-down thing and the youth served. It was INCREDIBLE. Turkeys. Mashed potatoes. Bacalhau com natas. It was amazing. Luckily, I knew how to cut the turkey. Those were on Thursday and Friday and took the whole day. We left to the Oeiras chapel at 8:30 and went back home at 9:00. It was insane.
We had a lot of fun setting up the Christmas tree upstairs this week. It took us a while to finally find it, but we got it up after a concerted effort. I had never “put together” a Christmas tree before. It had all these metal branch things and you put them in the color-coordinated holes. It was bizarre. It’s cool. I remember staying up when I was little to stare at the lights on the tree. I can’t really do that here, but we turn the lights off early to get the effect.
Carla flipped out for some reason and we can’t get a hold of her. We talked to Angela, who lives with her, and apparently Angela is planning on moving back to Brazil, leaving the rent to Carla, so she’s in a sticky situation. She doesn’t answer the phone, we can’t get to her house because of all the locks and walls in the way. We did have a pretty cool experience, though, when we went last week. She hadn’t been answering her phone, and the place she lives has a gate that locks after 6 PM. We were going with Irmão Rau to a lesson with her, and we knew we needed a miracle of some kind to get in, so we asked for it. We got there at 8:30 after waiting a little, and the gate was shut, like it usually is at night. But I went to try the gate to go in and it opened. She wasn’t home, but that was when we talked to Angela about the whole situation. She said she wouldn’t mind having us over, but she hasn’t been answering the phone either. Paciencia.
On Sunday, Irisvaldo was in church again. He gave the talk, but his nephew ended up not coming. We had a quick lunch and then went caroling until we had to go to a stake musical fireside thing where we had been invited to participate. It was really cool. The Setúbal missionaries were really late, so there was a member who was AMAZING at the piano and played Christmas songs on the baby grand. We sang Silent Night and Joy to the World. I am so sick of Silent Night. Haha.
On Monday, it was Subway Tuesday. It’s transfer meeting. We had it on Monday because President and Sister Terry’s son Tyler was flying in on Tuesday. We went and got Subway, and TRANSFERS ARE GOING DOWN. Elder Wardenburg is set to stay in the office but as Executive Secretary. I’ll probably leave after this next transfer in February.
That night, we had to take a bunch of stuff to President at his house. It’s so funny how the magic of the mission home has completely changed. Most missionaries only are in the mission home when they get into the mission and when they go home. I’ve been there so many times. It’s funny.
Yesterday we had district meeting and a quick but good district lunch. It was amazing.
Today, we’re planning on going to Castelo dos Mouros in Sintra, and it’ll be my second time there. The weather looks pretty good today. Tonight, there’s a ward Christmas dinner, and we’re hoping that we can have Irisvaldo bring his nephew Edson. It all depends on whether they get back from work on time or not.
What else…
OH YEAH.
Last night, we took our Portuguese class to Starbucks that had just opened on the edge of our area to practice Portuguese and talk about Christmas. But only Tyler, our ward mission leader, and his wife Kristen came to class at the chapel, so we went anyway. FYI, he’s studying in Lisbon and she hasn’t really gotten settled yet. Our goal of practicing Portuguese at Starbucks was to help her feel at home and feel more comfortable here (they’re from Seattle). She had missed church a couple weeks, and with a Starbucks in our own area, we can’t let anybody from the Great Northwest feel disconnected. Everybody was pretty happy about it. It was one of those experiences that made me feel like “wow, I’m a human being again.”
Anyway, I’m out of time.

I love you guys and hope everybody has a great Christmas. Drive safely and make snowmen.

FELIZ NATAL

ELDER LOBO

PA RUM PUM PUM PUM

Elder Hobbs likes to fold things.

Caroling

Caroling

Caroling

The Bishop and Elders Lobo and Wardenburg.

Hey Everybody!
Thanks for all the emails and pictures this week!! SO MUCH COOL STUFF! Preston’s new house looks so cool!
It’s so cool that you have the lessons with Darrell at our house!!! That is perfect Preach My Gospel. That’s exactly how it’s supposed to go. It blows my mind.
I’m still waiting for the package to come, but it should be here any day now.
Christmas is eight days away! That means you get to call me! I think I’ll have you call the cell phone again, except this time it’ll be a different number.
Anyway, novidades:
We were at the Chimarrão restaurant in Colombo last week and found that Carla works there. She’s the investigator that was marked for baptism when I got into the office but ended up giving up because her work and her situation at home were keeping her from progressing much farther. But after we ran into her at Colombo, she told us that her namorado went back to Brazil and that she wanted to start taking the lessons again so she could be baptized. So she’s one commandment closer to qualifying for baptism. We met with her and had Irmão Rau last week and reviewed the baptismal interview questions with her to understand better her desire to get baptized. She says she knows it’s all true, especially the Book of Mormon and that we have a living prophet. She just has to get her work schedule changed slightly so she can come to sacrament meeting on Sundays. Basically, her work schedule is 12PM to 12 AM six days a week, and sacrament meeting on Sundays starts at 12 PM. She’s really excited to have everything in order so she can finally get baptized.
On Sunday, Irisvaldo made it to church. He’s a Brazilian less-active member who had gone through a lot of hard times with work. We had been visiting him to keep him going, and it was incredible to see him at church again. We visited him that night, and we had intended to talk about the thirteenth article of faith with him because Bispo asked him to give a talk next week. So we went over, expecting to talk about the thirteenth article of faith. I took a copy of the Joy to the World DVD (Mundo Feliz) to give to him afterwards. We got there, and his nephew Edson was there in their T0 house (T0 = one room, T1 = two rooms, etc.). Irisvaldo saw the video and suggested that we watch it, and so Edson got the DVD player and everything going (they have this bunkbed setup from IKEA that has a TV and everything attached to one of the bedposts – we were all sitting on little fold-out stools so we could all see). Anyway, we watched it, and the whole time Edson had a look of peace and amazement on his face. The DVD ended after 25 minutes, and then he asked, “so is it alright if we watch the special features?” We were all kinda shocked, and said, “Força!” So we watched all the special features. Edson had usually been a little indifferent with the lessons we had with Irisvaldo, but it’s been cool to watch him slowly be much more attentive to everything. At this visit, Irisvaldo talked a lot about how he had come to the decision to join the church, and he made it sound like church had been something on Edson’s mind. So we invited him to the ward Christmas party this Saturday and to church on Sunday to hear Irisvaldo give his talk. Perfect opportunity! It was really cool. Paciencia.
We went caroling with some ward members to a bunch of members in our area, and it was a really cool experience. I’ve been singing quarta voz (bass) and it’s hilarious. I remember in young men’s when I thought I was a tenor (because I wanted to sing the cooler parts). Not true. The other members that were singing bass ended up not coming, and I ended up being the only one. It’s funny how we set limits for ourselves. I didn’t think I could sing bass, so I never did. After having to sing a bunch of times for things on the mission, I should definitely sing bass. We sang under the huge arch in Baixa a couple weeks ago and I had to sing the melody and I lost my voice for the whole day!!! It was hilarious. We’re singing in Zone Conference this Friday, then at the ward Christmas party, then in church, then caroling again, then at a Stake thing. We’re basically on tour. It’s insane. Lá Na Judéia Onde Cristo Nasceu (#123 in the Portuguese hymnbook) is so fun to sing.
Elder Wardenburg is off crutches and is going to get an MRI here pretty soon. Elder Barrett is having a fun time learning all the jobs and stuff, and it’s been like a firehose for him. He is still not driving quite yet, but he did drive back from the parking lot in Pontinha the last time we practiced. Elder Croshaw’s ankle is doing a little better.
YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST.
AMO-VOS.

ELDER LOBO

Craze

Elder Caussé of the Q of 70.

Monday Morning Empty Colombo with mission car.

HEY EVERYBODY.
Glad you enjoyed the epistle last week. It had been quite a while since I had attempted to write in scripture voice (I guess that’s what it’s called), but I figured it was something so crazy and so detailed that why not write in the same voice as the people who wrote other crazy important things?
I hear there’s a bunch of crazy attacks against the church from the general Hollywood population because of the Prop 8 stuff. I also hear that the Catholic Church along with the evangelical churches are defending us. Weird. I heard there’s a bunch of messed up stuff on TV.
So as for the happenings this week, I went to sleep Wednesday night and basically woke up on Friday. I woke up a few times throughout Thursday, but I had a crazy fever going on like a radio station (102.1). Elder Barrett ended up being on the phone with Elder Croshaw for a while during lunch to figure out how to do all the stuff that had to be done while I was out of it. It sounds like it all went well. I’m not exactly sure what he all did, but nothing has blown up yet.
Friday we ended up doing office work until late, and then didn’t teach Portuguese class but helped President get some things ready for the zone conferences with Elder Caussé, who arrived that day.
It was really cool to have Elder Caussé here. It’s funny. Working with so many people all the time, especially President, and having so many things to do while all the big stuff is going on kind of desensitizes you to having somebody from the Seventy walking around. We did pizza and worked on the Christmas present for all the missionaries (copying and labeling the music compilation CD Sister Terry put together) while the first zone conference was going.
Saturday night was Elder Barrett’s first time practicing to drive stick, and it was pretty fun. It was hilarious having Elder Wardenburg teach him (he already taught several people to drive stick) but when it wasn’t working I would explain it again or have Elder Barrett do something that would make it click in his brain. For instance, he couldn’t really figure out what to do with the clutch while starting from a stop. So to explain the catch point, I had him start from a stop just by letting up on the clutch slowly. Anyway, we did all of this while listening to some great Christmas music. It’ll be a while before Elder Barrett is driving everywhere.
Sunday was great. We had no investigators in church and nobody else we had been working with, so we just went to Sunday School – my first time in a long time having a good lesson during the second hour of church. Gospel Principles is great, but Book of Mormon is so much more interesting.
Monday was our turn to attend Zone Conference with Elder Caussé, and it was really good. Really really good. President Terry was on fire to start off the zone conference giving a great talk about using the Spirit in the mission. It’s so true that without the Spirit, it’s completely pointless to try to do missionary work. Afterwards, Elder Caussé gave three sessions of training: one about planning, one about preparing people marked for baptism, and one about finding. It was so good to hear him tear down a lot of the dumb habits missionaries get into to just pass the time. For instance, Preach My Gospel says to have 10 contacts with people outside of normal work that are out of the ordinary every day. In our mission, we go for 20. A lot of missionaries (myself included) had in the past been counting regular contacts for these contacts. Then, instead of trying to contact people who would be likely to respond, missionaries don’t really look too hard for anybody who looks or feels like somebody who would respond to them. So, you get 20 quick rejections, say you’re “doing your part”, and then blame the Lord for not putting elect people in your path. It was very refreshing to be reminded that “fora-de-normal” contacts should just be targeted – not just talking to people who don’t have any reason to talk to you besides the fact that you talked to them first.
Elder Wardenburg’s future is still uncertain. The doctors have been saying for him to go home, but he has been on a treatment plan that seems to be having a good effect. It doesn’t look like he’ll need surgery, but it looks like he’ll need so much time to recover that it will almost be impractical. Either way, he has three more weeks allotted to stay in the office. He’s had what you would call a great attitude about the whole situation (he’s enjoying his time), but it’s not an attitude that really drives him to get a whole lot done outside. He’s a great missionary – he doesn’t give up a good opportunity to do missionary work – but he hasn’t really been seeking opportunities very much.
Elder Barrett is not really too happy at all still to be in the office – expectable. But he’s abnormally bitter about it. It’s not like he’s only confused as to why he’s in the office when he’s physically capable of being outside – he just doesn’t think he’s office material and doesn’t think he can do it. I know he can, obviously – it doesn’t take too much to do all this stuff, and it’s gotten a lot simpler since I got here. But I think his attitude has spilled over so much that he doesn’t really ask a lot of questions in order to find out what’s going on. He usually waits for me to start explaining something before he tries to understand what’s going on. I’m not one to push him to do it – he’ll figure it out on his own.
I’m going to go work on my Christmas present for everybody – I haven’t had nearly enough time nor money to buy and ship things to everybody. Expect wonderful things.
I have no idea where my extra toothbrush handle is. If you’re not going to send one for Christmas, don’t worry about it. I can always get one for Valentine’s Day or some holiday in that timeframe.
Amor.
Elder Lobo

Epistle

Cleaning up downstairs

FELIZ NATAL!!

Dear Family,
1 I write unto you an epistle, and I do it with mine own hand, wherefore I know that it is true. I do it for a wise purpose, well, not really; I figure it would enlighten your minds and brighten your countenances.
2 And it came to pass that not much happened this week in the land of office, except for an unbelievably crazy transfer day, a companionship change, a sewage backup and blowout, a day spent cleaning, a crazy Monday; needless to say, it sufficeth me to say that much craziness did go down in our lives this past week.
3 It came to pass that on the morn of transfer day, I did wake myself up to go downstairs, but did find that I was much grieved with sickness to my stomach and such. Wherefore, I did pop two pills and pressed forward, feasting upon Jello and rice. I did go down with Elder Croshaw and did prepare every needful thing for the training of our beloved greenies. It came to pass that they did enjoy much the training which they did receive from the mouths of Elder Wardenburg and me. It was most delightful.
4 But wo unto such that believeth that everything was tudo bem! For lo, I say unto you, President did lay hold upon Elder Barrett and did pronounce a tripla of financial secretaries in the office, consisting of Elder Barrett, Elder Wardenburg, and me. It sufficeth me to say that the other two of whom I have spoken did spend much time throughout transfer day being companions so the other secretaries could drop people off at airports and take care of many other such tasks. It came to pass that Elder Wardenburg needed to get X-Rays that day, so he was dropped off at one of the hospitals, the which I couldn’t find.
5 Nevertheless, the office was out of petty cash, and it was at the end of the month so all the missionaries had already wasted all of their money, so I found it expedient unto me to prepare a petty cash check like a madman, but it came to pass that President was out of the office, so it could not be signed. Needless to say, there was much to be done in the office.
6 It came to pass that I had to take some sisters to President’s house for the night because they did have no beds, and on the way, the police called our phone saying that a dear elder had accidentally brought a knife on the plane and had to go to court the next morning. And the executive secretaries did pick him up from the airport. Everything went fine with that; the knife was too small.
7 The next day, I arose once again, but found myself without strength; wherefore I did sleep like a rock until midday. Nevertheless, there was much to be done, so I sucked it up and went downstairs with Elder Barrett to show him how to do bills and reimbursements. It came to pass that we did not make it to the bank because I had a ridiculous headache and could not drive.
8 And now, I testify unto thee, when thou dost think that everything is A-OK, it probably isn’t. And how is it, you ask, that I know such things? Wherefore, I say unto you, that at approximately 3 PM on Friday, a horrible stench did fill the upstairs of the office. It came to pass that the AP’s, while leaving the office, did find liquid sewage on the floor in our office by the bathroom and all over in the chapel next door. And they did leave it there, not attending to how flipping disgusting it was. Wherefore, Elder Cobb did call a plumber according to the will of Reginaldo Cruz, and they did show up way late. They did show up at about 7 PM, from which they did commence to ask who would end up paying the bill. It came to pass that I did persuade the building manager person that he should pay the hefty bill. Nevertheless, he did murmur and complain much.
9 And it came to pass that the Desentop crew people did inflict the work of death upon the clog, doing so by means of forcing water through the sink and sewer main, and in so doing did blow a giant hole in the exposed sewer pipe located in our basement.
10 And now, it came to pass that while I was going downstairs to make some copies, President did call me asking if there was any leaking in the basement, and I did question him as I found that I could not get to the copier, saying, “PRESIDENT! CAN YOU HEAR THAT?!?!?!” It came to pass that there was A RIVER sewage coming forth from the pipe that it did fill the floor and also a giant garbage can. It was so gross.
11 Nevertheless, in this moment of panic and despair the Moldovian plumber guy did shove a t-shirt wrapped in a plastic sack into the hole, frustrating the flow of the filth.
12 And Edgar, the cleaning guy, did show up about an hour later to help us do the first cleaning. It was disgusting.
13 It sufficeth me to say that things did calm down and everything looked like it would be tudo bem. Nevertheless, I needed to do pay the landlords, so I did stay up with Elder Hobbs doing office work in our financial secretary office, apart from the filth.
14 And it came to pass that we did spend the whole next day washing the carpets over and over and over and over.
15 And we did eat out every day at Colombo because we did have no food and had no time to buy and cook food.
16 Sunday was great. We did have a giant weekly planning session, planning everything we needed to do for the week.
17 Monday had much office work along with district meeting. We had a lesson with a less active member and participated in a family night at Familia Rau.
18 And it came to pass that yesterday was spent driving around like crazy to the bank and to Lisbon to help the Executive Secretaries renew visas. And we also paid all the donos and took a sister missionary to the airport way early, even though she did miss her flight for some reason.
19 And now, I make an end of my words, saying unto all who may read my words: Wo unto such who is not prepared to scrub poop out of the carpet all day! Nevertheless, in the energy of my soul I say unto you, figuratively, work diligently all the days of thy life, scrubbing the poo out of your own garments with the blood of the Lamb, for He doth call you and is mighty to sanitize.
20 And I make an end. I am Elder Christian Lobo.
21 Love.