Note the question at the end...

(I can't figure out how to flip this picture...sorry it's like looking in a mirror and the words are backwards) :)
Hey everybody,

Thanks a ton for the emails, advice, and info. I got a letter from Sister Hoeppner today, and her second sentence made me laugh a little bit: "I understand you'll be coming home soon." I really appreciated the letter, and that little big detail really is starting to sink in.

My birthday went well. I met up with António Fragoso from Almada in Parque das Nações right by the Torre Vasco da Gama. He gave me an AWESOME t-shirt and we had a really good time talking. Also, we had a lesson with a recent convert's mother who has some general curiosity about the church, all of her children go to different churches, and she wants to understand a little better why this one seems so different to her. Her name, if I'm not mistaken, is Benvinda, which basically means "welcome".

By the way, apparently Presidente Torgan changed his mind about Dec 17 -- we had interviews on Friday, and I told him how it didn't really matter to me when I got back as long as I had time to get ready, plus I already have a flight on Dec 29, so he changed it to Dec 22. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's a monday or something like that. I'll have Christmas Sunday in Portugal, so maybe the other ward will have a pianist for that sacrament meeting. I can play some mean Christmas tunes every once in a while.

I listened to a talk by John Bytheway last week that Elder Hatch got for his birthday called "Jesus Knows I'm a Christian". It embodies everything I have learned since leaving Almada, but I hadn't really put it into words as well as he did. It's a talk that answers, in a roundabout way, the idea that some people have that we aren't Christian. Now, I don't know if many other people can relate to this like I can, but my name is Christian (but for right now, it's Elder, hahaha). Some people in high school used to think it was funny that my name was Christian because I'm a member of this church, which in their minds makes me non-Christian. ANYWAY, so this talk addressed one of the ideologies I've never really understood, being the one derived from 2 Nephi 25:23, where it says, "by grace ye are saved, after all ye can do." We talk a lot about faith and works, partially because it's good to work hard -- we're happier and we become better if we keep ourselves close to Christ and the Spirit. But it's possible for us to believe whole-heartedly that we do "our part" and then Jesus fills in the gap. Brother Bytheway investigated that "gap", and it matches up with how my understanding of the Plan of Salvation (the Plan of Happiness, rather) has gained new depth and dimension:

Basically, we're not here just to be saved. A big part of being here is choosing to come unto Christ by faith, repentance, baptism, and confirmation, but the rest of our journey we can't do alone. Ether 12:27 says something like "If men come unto me, I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble, for my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me, for if men humble themselves before me and have faith in me, then will I (the Lord) make weak things become strong unto them." A huge part of being in this life is to learn lessons that we can only learn here, and in that perspective, merely being saved is only a small part. Christ's journey to atonement not only allows us to be saved, but it allows Him to "succor his people, according to the flesh". He has the power to change us, we have the power to believe in Him and learn. There is so much that is out of our control but is completely in His.

While I was on a division with Elder McClean, who is in his first transfer, we taught a lesson to an AMAZING investigator about the Plan of Salvation. I haven't met an investigator like him since Miguel in Amadora. We had a very valuable conversation about the Plan of Salvation, not by just going through the steps and where we are and what we have to do, but why in the world we do it all in the first place. I had never taught the Plan of Salvation like that, and it's something you can't usually do with new missionaries (because of the MTC robot mode they're in), but we had a genuinely significant conversation with this guy. There is no point in learning about the Plan of Salvation if you're just learning it for the details.

We also talked to a member this week whose 17-year-old son went off the deep end recently (basically went from being awesomely active to angrily antagonistic). I had met him last year, and I even remember his name: José Miguel. We had been teaching the Plan of Salvation, and for the first time, I didn't have the anxiety to provide some quick fix for him. We talked about how there are some lessons that we have to learn, and if we are really seeking to be happy, we will inevitably be guided to the Gospel and trust in Christ. It takes one kind of faith to try to convince somebody that they can get their son to come back, but it takes something so much deeper to be able to trust that everything will be OK and never to stop loving that son. I'm a firm believer in patience now, and also that being Christlike has longer-lasting consequences than just telling others to be Christlike.

We had a family night last week, and Elder Hatch and I were in charge. The family nights in the past weeks have been just reading scriptures and debates, and they were beneficial, but seemed to be very argumentative and frustrating for the people there. So, we decided to change things up a little bit, and maybe this will illustrate the change in perspective I'm having:

After Christ gave the sermon on the mount and said so many words, he expressed his compassion in 3 Nephi 17. We talked about his words to "prepare your minds" for what he would say the next day. We told everybody to prepare their minds for what we were about to do. We went into the kitchen and all worked together to make chocolate chip cookies. It was the happiest I have ever seen those people, and it's the best I have ever seen them get along with each other. When all the cookies were made, we had the cooled ones on a plate and realized that we had just enough for the kids outside playing soccer, so we took that plate out for them. That felt real. That was real.

There's a huge difference between just being convinced that you're in the right church and living the teachings in such a way that you know you couldn't want it any other way.

The church here needs a huge boost, not in testimony, but in lifestyle. There is too much talking of the path and not enough walking on the path, and the only way I have been able to help others start walking on the path is to walk with them, not talk with them. Knocking and contacting are great, but they're not enough on their own. Looking like good missionaries by doing hard work is not as effective as loving the people.

My goal before I leave is to give the ward the vitality it needs. We taught an investigator who refuses to get baptized until he knows with perfect clarity that it's the right choice, but he just hasn't understood that it's not about perfect knowledge.

Maybe it's european culture or something -- I don't know.

I made a connection this week between economics and missionary work I find very valuable. Many people claim that the stable growth of the USA during the 90's was because of Bill Clinton, and others claim it was a consequence of the "supply-side economics" of Ronald Reagan. I don't believe there's a sure way to claim what the cause was, but supply-side economics definitely had an impact. In times of mission crisis, do we rely on artificial stimulus packages (do more contacts, teach more lessons, baptize more people) or do we invest in the supply side of the church (activities, improve the quality of Sunday meetings, make home teaching and visiting teaching a staple of life, etc)? I see now that what Lisbon needs the most is not to increase the size of the church but to build the integrity of what is already there. Have you ever heard of a ward with a 3% activity rate? There are a lot of people ready to come back to church on Sunday, but there's something missing from Sunday that keeps them from enjoying the Gospel in their lives the rest of the week.

Anyway,

I'm going to get some pictures printed and some DVD's made to send home -- I have 7 GB of pictures not on DVD's yet, so that'll be another two installments of The Elder Lobo Photo Project.

I have a question I'd like as many people to answer as possible:

What do you find most beneficial and fulfilling about being a member of your ward?

I love you guys.

Elder Lobo