From Portugal With Love: May 19, 2013

It felt more like fall this week than spring. The temperatures were some cooler, we had some rain and wind. Mike has suffered a little with allergies; you would think we were in Corning with the olives blooming.

Our best news this week was that Brett was offered a teaching position at Corning High School. He will be teaching Spanish and English Language Development for foreign speaking students. We are very happy for him and for us because this means he and his family will continue to live close to us. Our fasting and prayers were answered, and we are so thankful for this blessings.

We also had some sad news this week. Suzie (Brad’s wife) had a nephew born to her sister Lorianne in an emergency C-section because his heart rate fell suddenly. He didn’t survive and was buried on Friday. It was a difficult week for the family. We were also saddened to hear of the passing of our beloved prophet’s wife, Sister Frances Monson. Our love and prayers go out to their families.

We were able to make lots of contacts with our PEF participants this week and one participant paid off his loan. It’s great when we get positive responses to the messages that we send out or from a phone call that is made. Miguel’s son, who recently returned from a mission to Florida, comes to the office to help out several days a week. He is such a nice young man; we really enjoy him.

We attended a 2-hour concert last night given by Gerson Santos. We have been told that he was the runner-up in a Portuguese Idol contest. He has a wonderful voice, is accomplished on the piano and guitar, and writes much of his own music. He recently accepted a call to serve in the Brazil Sao Paulo South Mission. It was a very enjoyable evening.

We received a large group of new missionaries in our mission this last week and we now have two sets of Elders to work in the area of our Costa de Caparica Ward. We have 2 missionaries from Brazil –Elder Oliveira and Elder Almeida (who is from Florianopolis), Elder Lima from Cape Verde and Elder Shumway from Arizona. The three new Elders which came in this week bore their testimonies in Sacrament Meeting today. I feel we have a good group of Elders which can make things happen in our small ward. They have already scheduled a baptism for Paula next Sunday. It is also Paula’s birthday, so we are having a luncheon after the baptism in her honor.

We will be flying to Spain on Wednesday afternoon and staying until Saturday afternoon. This will give us a chance to meet our new PEF missionary couple(the Riggs), go to the temple, and probably see a few new sights with Paco and Susie. It may be our last trip to Spain, so we will enjoy the opportunity while we have it.

We are anxiously awaiting the news of the arrival of Gregg and Crystal’s new baby girl. What an exciting time for our family! How blessed we are to know that our family relationships can last beyond the grave. It makes us try even harder to have a good relationship with all of our family members. May we all be blessed in our efforts to have peace, harmony, and a spirit of love in our homes.