A Very Happy New Near to everyone. We worked half a day on New Year’s Eve and
spent a quiet evening together. We did
have a bit of entertainment during the evening when a musical group started
playing loudly outside in the parking lot next to ours. It was actually beautiful, lively music,
which we really enjoyed. They moved on
down the street and we continued to hear them as they serenaded in other
locations. We were disappointed they
didn’t hang out here longer.
On New Year’s Day we took a walk, stayed at home for a
while, then went to visit the Cristo Rei statue which was way better than I had
supposed. I posted a set of pictures on
facebook for those who may want to see them.
I wasn’t sure I would want to go to the top viewing area because it was
so high, but it wasn’t as scary as I had imagined. There was an inside elevator for part of the
distance, then several flights of stairs to climb.
It was another short work week for us at the office, but we
were able to accomplish some things. Our
percentage of high-priority contacts was 98.7 this month, so we felt pretty
good about that. It is pretty difficult
to reach everyone even if you try a number of times.
Elder and Sister Johnson invited us to go with them for a P-Day visit to a few areas yesterday. We arrived at
their apartment before 9:00 AM and drove to Batalha where we visited the
Monastery “The Church of our Lady of
Victory”. This was built to celebrate an important Portuguese victory (in 1385) over the Spanish which
kept Portugal divided from them. Seven
thousand Portuguese defeated 30,000 Spaniards with the assistance of 400
English archers. We also looked in some gift shops before
traveling on to Nazare. Here we found a
restaurant famous for their fish stew and had it for lunch. It was good, but nothing extraordinary. We were very close to a beautiful beach on
the Atlantic Ocean, where we walked out and watched some amateur surfers. We looked in several gift shops and drove
around the area, seeing a nice group of deer at one point. From there we traveled to Alcobaca, where we
visited the Cistercian Monastery of Santa Maria. It is Portugal’s largest church. The grandeur of these two monasteries was
amazing. I don’t know the height of the
ceilings, but they were very high in both monasteries. I can’t imagine how they were
constructed. Only prisoners condemned to
death were allowed to work on the construction in one large room because it was
considered so dangerous.
I will post some pictures of the sights we visited this
week, with more on Facebook for those who are interested.
May the New Year be filled with growth, health, happiness,
and success, with an eye singled to the Glory of God. May you qualify for His choicest blessings.
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| Cristo Rei |
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| Monastery at Batalha |
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| Beach at Nazare |
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| Monastery at Alcobaca |
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