From Portugal With Love: November 3, 2013

We finished up our contacts this week for the month of October and started on a new month by the end of the week. It’s amazing how quickly the time passes. Elder Henry has been extremely busy doing new-loan interviews with students in Cape Verde and Spain.

President and Sister Fluckinger invited us to a luncheon on Wednesday to say good-bye to Elder and Sister Johnson. They returned home to Idaho Falls on Thursday. Their mission was completed on the 23^rd and then they spent about a week touring Spain, including a session in the temple and visits to several different cities. Elder and Sister Markham, who will join us soon, now have their visas after waiting for months to serve in Sao Paulo, Brazil. We are happy that they should arrive around the 18^th of this month.

We took advantage of our Preparation Day and nice weather yesterday and had a nice day trip to see a few new areas of Portugal. We were especially interested in going to Tomar and Fatima. On the way we drove through some very beautiful areas. We were able to visit the Convento de Cristo in Tomar and the Basilica and the Church of the Holy Trinity in Fatima. It is believed that Mary, the mother of Jesus, appeared to three children in this area on May 13, 1917. Many people make pilgrimages from long distances to visit this site every year. On the 50^th anniversary about 1.5 million people, including the Pope, came to visit this site. There is a huge area around and in between these two large edifices and many stones laid in the area to create an assembly ground which is quite impressive. A fountain in the middle provides holy water for the pilgrims to take home.

Today the three people who were baptized last week were confirmed and it looks like we may have a baptism next week of a 10-year-old . Mary Lemos, who has been inactive for 7 years, has been coming the last few weeks. She had moved here from another area and didn’t know where the church was until the Elders knocked on her door. She seems very happy to be back at church.

“Be obedient to the prophetic teachings Christ would have you follow. Don’t rationalize away future happiness by taking shortcuts instead of applying sound gospel principles. Remember: little things lead to big things. Seemingly insignificant indiscretions or neglect can lead to big problems. More importantly, simple, consistent, good habits lead to a life full of bountiful blessings.” Richard G. Scott

We send our love to all! THE GOSPEL IS TRUE!