Sorry that last week was so short- we got back from Setúbal late, and we only had 10 minutes to write emails! But, it was a good pday and exciting day of transfers. So last Monday night, the APs (who have a car) picked up and moved all the Irmãs that were moving. Usually we arrange it ourselves on Tuesday, but PResident wanted them to do it on Monday. It was a little annoying becuase we didn´t get to our house in Lapa until almost midnight, but, oh well.
So, now I´m in the middle of Lisboa! It is a big city. I am serving with Irmã Joslin, and this is her second transfer (thus, I´m greenie~breaking). She doesn´t know the area very well, and I am the worst at directions, so it´s been interesting! We have a map (which we´ve used a LOT) but even then we don´t always make it to where we plan. So, it´s been an adventure and I am having to learn patience and to not sweat the small stuff.
Lisboa is really neat. There are houses and shops every, and lots of tourists on vacation. We use the metro, buses, and they also have electric trams. Our house is not ideal, but we manage. My bed is in the living room, and basically there are two rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom. We don´t have desks to study, so Irmã Joslin studies on her bed and I study at the kitchen table. We also live on a road in between two gay bars...and we have cobbestone INSIDE of our apartment (the same cobblestone they use for all the streets here). There´s a constant stink because the pipes at the back of our house are sewage (I think). So, there´s the adventure in the housing! I went from living in a family´s house to a stereotypical missionary apartment. Tudo bem!
There are constantly people in the street here. In Almada I didn´t do a ton of street contacting because there weren´t that many people. But here we´ve already talked (and prayed!) with several people on the street. So it´s interesting how different techniques work in different areas.
The ward here is a little bit bigger than in Almada...I still got to play the piano in Relief Society and Sacrament meeting! But I could actually hear the ward singing, which is an improvement! We have meetings with the bishop and leaders every sunday, which is good, and the ward mission leader already taught a lesson with us. We still have a lot to improve to work better with the ward, but I´m optimistic about it.
We found a lot of new people this week, and one of them is an increadible woman. We taught her the restoration on Wednesday, and the spirit was SO strong during the lesson. She was taught by the missionaries about 5 years ago, I don´t know why she stopped and she didn´t remember a ton, but she is really neat. We taught her again on Friday, and it was a really good lesson. We followed up on the reading we left- 3 Néfi 11, and she gave a summary of the chapter almost better than I could do, and said taht she thought she understood ´´mais ou menos´´- it was incredible! we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and invited her to be baptized on July 25, and she accepted. She said that she had already thought about it and was curious to know how we do baptism. It was another great lesson where the spirit was so strong. I love finding the elect becuase they truly have a different spirit! We had a lesson with another pesquisador that was marked for baptism, but it was strangest lesson I´ve ever been in. I didn~t feel the spirit at all, to the contrary I felt uncomfortable. I think he was high, and it was all just weird. It´s interesting to note the strong impact that pesquisadors have on the spirit in the lesson- they can bring and be very receptive to the spirit, or they can block it out completely...the two were complete opposites for me.
Greenie-breaking has been interesting as well. IT´s actaully the first time that I´ve been the one who speaks better Portuguese! I´ve always had senior or native companions. But it´s nice to know that I really can get along. Irmã Joslin says everything that she knows how to, and then I just pick up the rest. I talk the majority of lessons and contacts, but I´m also trying to help her stay invlvoed and improve as well, without getting discouraged. It´s a change for me, but it´s good.
The chapel here is soo cool! IT used to be a house, and then they converted it. IT has a couple stories, and the architecture is really neat. There are a ton of bathrooms in it...I almost wish we could live in the chapel! IT would be better than our house...:P
What else...I can´t really think of anything else that is really different to share...
Our president this last weekend gave us several scriptures to read and think about how and why we invite people to be baptized. There were many taht said taht we should believe in Christ and be baptized so that we can be saved, and if we don´t we´ll be condemned. It made me really reflect on our role here, really the eternal importance of the covenant of baptism. In Almada last week we had a lady marked for baptism, and everything seemed perfect and ready. Then the day of the interview and baptism she wasn´t at home and didn´t answer the phone. I still don´t have any idea what happened...but it made me so sad becuase I really love her, and I know what is God´s will and plan for her. I know that baptism and the gospel will bless her life, and that she needs these things not only know, but for eternity. When I read the scriptures I thought of her, and that if she didn´t get baptized, she may be condemned and not able to enter the kingdom of God. I want to help her and others so much to receive the blessings available. When things fall through like that, and there´s nothing you can do but place them in God´s hands becuase they used their agency...it can be so hard. Então, por isso we need to find the elect!! Because there really are people prepared and ready, that justn need to be found.
