A Halloweenless Country

Hello dear family! Thanks for all of the emails! I think I get more communication from my family than most missionaries. I consider myself very blessed.

Well, this past week was a really good one for us. I have a bit of a cough right now, but I'm on the mend. Fortunately, I got some mints from Aurora that are saving me right now. Yay for great members! This past week has really been a week of service. We helped Irma Candida set up an email account, took out a lot of trash, set up a water heater thing and various other projects. It's nice to serve.

Albertina is doing great! We asked her last week if she's been praying about the Book of Mormon and she has! She feels really good about it and she knows that it is from God. She comes to church for the whole block every week (which is so nice to see) and she is just progressing wonderfully. We love working with her and we can see the gospel really passing through her.

We found a bunch of new investigators last week and we went back to teach one of them, Sonia, yesterday. We asked her why what we are saying would be important to her and she said that she wanted to change and that we could help her do that. EXACTLY! That is why we are here! To help people change and come closer to Christ! Yay! She gets it! So we will be teaching her hopefully three times a week, like we are counseled to do, and I am excited for her. She's from Cape Verde (horray for diversity!) and she is just great. More to come.

We've had some funny occurrences the past week. Take Monday for instance. I have two questions for you family: how many people does it take to fix a paper jam? and how many people does it take to send a one line email? Answer: Seven people to fix a paper jam and three to send an email. Let me tell you how.

So Monday we had to make copies for our upcoming open house that the branch is putting on. We went to the chapel to get the original and make copies and the other elders from the zone were there because of a district leader meeting. So we talked to them for a bit and then proceeded to make our copies. No sooner had Irma Churak started to make the copies than that copier started freaking out and there was a paper jam. So we, the two of us, tried to figure it out and we couldn't. So then we enlisted another elder to help us. Still nothing. So then we asked the other elders waiting. Still nothing. Then we asked Noemia, who is a member that takes care of the chapel, to help us. Almost something. Then, Elder Marriott decided to just lift up the machine, of course, we all had to help with it and he shoved his arm up the copier to get out the jammed paper. Finally, success and the copier was successfully fixed, with all seven of us jammed in a little tiny room, some watching, some hindering, and a very few actually doing anything helpful. Some things are just universal, aren't they?

Let's see, what else? I learned yesterday that Halloween is looked badly upon here in Portugal. Apparrently it's a really bad thing here. For me, I just get candy and I get to wear a costume. I love Halloween, but here it has a bad meaning. So I had, in my ignorance, planned a bit of a party with our English classes for Friday (by planned, I basically just told them to bring food). But then I asked our Branch President where we could buy pumpkins because we wer ethinking about carving some for p-day today. He then proceeded to tell me that they don't celebrate halloween and I never found out where to get a pumpkin. Subsequently, the party was cancelled. :( Oh well, I'll celebrate with Irma Churak.

We also discovered that our next-door neighbor used to go to our church and she really liked it. We will be inviting her to our open house. :) I am loving the work here in Faro. There are so many amazing people here and they are so willing to help. I am already making connections with the members, with some that the missionaries haven't been using in the past. So it's been great to see how I can reach people that others couldn't, and visa versa. There really is a reason for each one of us going to different areas.

I am doing so well now. I love this area, this branch, and this work. I know that I am where I need to be, doing the Lord's work. I know this is the true church of God. I know that it is true.

Have agreat week! I love you