with license

Hey everybody!
Thanks for the updates, everybody! I really appreciate them.
I got a card from Rebecca Davis – I had no idea she was one of the first sisters to serve in the mission. Our chapel in Lapa was, if I’m not mistaken, the original mission home where all the missionaries lived in the early years of the mission. And now we have church there. Crazy.
Recap of the week:
Wednesday night we helped the Rau’s move a washer. They’re going to be moving soon to a nicer house within the ward boundaries. They’re one of the few people of whom I’ve ever heard moving because they wanted a better house. There are a lot of people here who have lived in the same house generation upon generation.
Thursday, I called that landlord guy and set everything straight. Once I told him that I had talked to my legal adviser (President), he didn’t really have all that much more to say to me. It was hilarious. I spent the rest of the day working on the financial secretary training manual while Elder Barrett did pedidos, which are the supply orders that we do for zone conferences. We got a reference that night from President – it was a friend of a friend of his who had visited BYU and temple square and everything. It’s a family of five, and they seemed interested and friendly when we called them, but they said that they wouldn’t have time in the near future but would call us shortly.
Friday was “hump day” and I didn’t burn anything. We had zone conference in Miratejo across the river, and everything went really well. Between lunch and the end of zone conference when we distribute pedidos (the supplies the missionaries ordered), we rested and made phone calls, but most of it was spent playing the Uchtdorf Plane Doctrine Game (relate gospel principles to airplane parts or airplane parts to gospel principles. “many are called, but few are chosen.” “Overbooking.” Etc.)
That night, we had English class with Nelson, a member from Cape Verde who served a mission about eight years ago and is starting to come back to church again after a year or so of not coming. He’s amazing, and we read Elder Uchtdorf’s “The Infinite Power of Hope” (great talk). That night, a missionary who was going home unexpectedly the next morning spent the night at our house, so we made, once again, the best quesadillas I’ve ever had in my life.
Saturday was pretty good. We had and appointment marked with Stelvio, but he didn’t show up, so we went by his house and rescheduled for later that night. He didn’t show up then either, so it was pretty disappointing, not to mention getting stuck in Benfica soccer traffic for an hour. Either way, we spent several hours talking to people and trying to find people.
Sunday was pretty crazy. We had the priesthood executive committee meeting in the morning, like we do every Sunday, and with the few minutes at the end, Bishop talked all about law and civilization and how the Gospel fit into that. In Priesthood meeting, he talked about it again, but in a little more detail, then during Sacrament Meeting, he mentioned it so clearly that I could hardly believe it. It was basically that a society’s motivating factors have tended to be economics, politics, and moral values, but without God it all caves in on itself. It was SO cool. Without the Plan of Salvation, it doesn’t matter what somebody’s socio-economic condition is, nor does it matter if they stand for values. It’s a great privilege we have to apply the knowledge of the Gospel to our lives on Earth.
That afternoon, a tall, lanky guy wearing a huge “puffy” jacket stopped us in the middle of the street. He had no teeth and his breath smelled horrendously alcoholic. (Sidenote: I had no idea what booze smelled like until I got to Portugal.) He started talking to us in something between a whisper and a mumble, and from what I understood, he was taught and baptized in our same chapel in Lapa by a tripla of missionaries, of whom he still remembered the names, and then talked about how badly he wanted to renew his covenants again and feel clean again. It was unbelievable. He had read the Book of Mormon but didn’t have a copy, so we gave him one. We got his address, Calçada da Tapada Nº155 R/C (ground floor), and then I wrote on a pass-along card the time that we had agreed to meet so that he would remember. He was remarkably drunk, but I don’t think anybody could have made up a story like that, no matter how drunk they were.
That night, we went to the house of Familia Rodrigues: Rodrigo, Celia, and their two small kids. Rodrigo had recently hurt his back and was unable to work, so we gave him a blessing. Because of his injury that happened on a Sunday working what we would call in the USA “overtime”, he negotiated successfully to have Sundays off. We talked about fasting and how it really has power if we use it. And, since church will be starting half an hour earlier (9:30) starting in February, Celia will be able to go to church too. Now, all they have to do is go!
Monday, Elder Barrett and I went to our area in the morning to meet up with the guy we had met in the street. There was heavy mist in the air – a fog I’ve never seen. We tracked down his address, and when we went from 151 to 153 and then to 155, we looked up and saw that it was a mental hospital. We were both really confused. We went in and asked if there was a guy with his name in the hospital, and he wasn’t there. So we were really confused. We went do Nº55, which was a toilet store. Nº65, not him. Nº165, not him. We couldn’t find him. It was really confusing.
That afternoon, the landlord of the new Monte de Caparica house came to the office to talk about the contract. It went really well. It was one of the best experiences I have had dealing with houses.
That night, we taught a lesson with plastic cups and pictures on them (about the restoration) to Familia Teixeira, and they LOVED it. It was really cool. Irmã Teixeira liked the simple, visual review. And João totally remembered our lesson from last time about the hot pepper and how Christ (drinking milk) is the only way to overcome sin (the hot pepper).
On Tuesday, we dropped off President’s car at the airport (they were in the Azores for zone conferences) and then got an awesome package from Ariana in the mail. We got some payments authorized and everything once President got back to the office. Then we went and did a final inspection of the new house before we had the contract signed. It was awesome. Elder Barrett got some AWESOME pictures while I drove across the bridge – I’m sending one.
Anyway, I’m out of time.
I love you all tons and I hope you have a fantastic week. Fiquem firmes.
Elder Lobo
PS. Mom, could you explain my genealogical connection to Portugal? People ask about it all the time, and I don’t really know exactly what it is besides somebody from the Azores 15 generations ago…. obrigadoooo


25 de Abril Bridge Going South in the Afternoon