May 26, 2013

Happy First Anniversary today to Brad and Suzie Henry, who were sealed in the Draper Temple one year ago today.  We wish you many more years of happiness together.  We are very excited that Gregg and Crystal’s baby will be induced on Tuesday, if she does not choose to arrive earlier.  We can’t wait to get acquainted with her, but pictures will have to do until December.

We had a very busy, but wonderful week.  After working at the office on Monday, we received a call from Elder Almeida and Elder Shumway that Paula’s husband had left her and could we take them to visit her in Caparica.  She was an investigator with a baptism scheduled for Sunday.  We took them and had a very nice visit with her.  It was a difficult time for her, but she is converted and was baptized today, on her birthday.  The ward really rallied behind her and we had a nice luncheon after the baptism. (I made Chocolate Crinkles on Tuesday night since we were going to return home from Spain on Saturday evening.)  She is thrilled to be a member of the Church.  She has daughters 10 and 13 who are being taught and were there today along with a 12 year old friend.  We also met her mother, who is my age and a real spitfire.  I really enjoyed her.  She isn’t interested in religion right now because of the predicted end of the world which didn’t happen.

We flew to Madrid on Wednesday afternoon.  Paco met us at the airport, took us to check in at our hotel, and then to his home to eat a wonderful Mexican dinner prepared by his wife, Susie, for their youngest son’s 20^th birthday.  We enjoyed the evening with them.  They are very gracious.

Thursday we met our new missionary couple, Elder and Sister Riggs from Concord, CA.  We did some training and answered their questions regarding the PEF program.  Elder Riggs served his mission in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Northern Chile, so he speaks Spanish quite well.  He also worked in the USAF as a linguist in Spanish.  He is very willing to do whatever he can to help with the work.  She doesn’t speak much of the language yet, but is translating some documents for Paco at present.  We enjoyed getting acquainted with them.  Paco and Susie took us to a wonderful Chinese restaurant for lunch.  Later we went downtown and walked past El Prado and viewed some of the downtown area, then enjoyed some great salads at VIPS. 

On Friday we took a taxi to the temple and attended a Portuguese session.  It was our first time in the Madrid Temple and it had been almost a year since we had been inside the temple, so it was a special treat for us.  We also did another session on Saturday, but this time in Spanish.  It is a large temple and very beautiful.  We felt very blessed to have this opportunity.

Friday afternoon we were able to travel to Toledo with the Riggs and Paco and Susie.  It is a very old city where Paco tells us that the Jews, Muslims, and Christians live together in peace and harmony.  We had a wonderful time wandering through the narrow cobblestone streets, visiting a tapestry shop, a museum of Leonardo Da Vinci’s inventions which were constructed from his drawings, eating ice cream, and enjoying the view from a spot high above the city.  There were statues and memorabilia of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza everywhere we went.  Toledo is in his homeland of La Mancha.

 On our flight home we sat next to Rolando from Mazatlan, Mexico.  He had been in Portugal to participate in a mountain bike race of almost two weeks.  He said it was really difficult, but he had enjoyed it immensely, had finished the race,  had seen some beautiful sights, and made new friends.  We had some good discussion on the importance of Jesus Christ and family with this wonderful Catholic man.  We shared emails and he invited us, as did we him, to visit his country and he would be our host.  He has a wife and four sons and is involved in the franchising of Burger King establishments in Mexico and the US.  On our flight to Madrid, I sat next to a beautiful Brazilian lady who has lived in Spain for 18 years and flies to Portugal every week because of her employment.  It is great fun to meet people from many countries.

We are so grateful for the opportunity and blessings of serving a mission.  The gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives and it’s a privilege to witness the growth we see in the lives of new converts.  Living the gospel is worth the effort!

El Prado in Madrid, Spain

Elder & Sister Henry in front of El Prado.

The entry to Toledo

The Riggs, The Henrys, Susie and Paco

Elder Shumway, Paula, Elder Almeida

I will post more pictures of our visit to Spain on Facebook.

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.

Poster advertising last night's concert.

Park across from our apartment where we walk in the mornings.

Another picture of our park.

We bought yummy churros with white chocolate and strawberry fillings.

May 12, 2013 Happy Mothers Day in the US

Happy Mother’s Day  to all my friends and family who are called by the name Mom, Mommy, Ma, Mama, Mother, Nanna, Grandma, Bugga, or whatever other name the little ones choose to call you.  What a blessing it is to be a mother and grandmother and to feel the great love we do for our children and grandchildren.  How grateful I am today for my own mother, for Mike’s mother(s) and for all the mothers who have blessed my life through their goodness and example.  How we appreciate our wonderful daughter and daughters-in-law for their selfless service to their husbands and children.  Our love goes out to each of you.  This week David and Alexis had birthdays, and Amy turned 12 on May 2 and entered the Young Women’s program of the Church.  Happy Birthday to All.

This week we had the great blessing of inspecting missionary apartments.  We visited two apartments on Wednesday, one on Thursday, and one on Friday.  This was a wonderful opportunity to become better acquainted with six sets of missionaries.  We always enjoy our association with these young people who are dedicating their lives to the Lord’s service.  They had done a pretty good job of cleaning and being prepared for us.  On these days we spent a part of the day in the office also.

We have a new couple in Spain to help with the PEF contacts there.  We will be going to Spain again to help train them and visit the temple on May 22 and return on May 25^th.  We always enjoy our trips and appreciate the people in Spain who are so helpful to us.

We had Fast and Testimony Meeting today because of our Stake Conference last weekend.  The meetings were most enjoyable.  We love being with the saints in Costa de Caparica.   Today a young baby was blessed by the name of Mandelson.  We didn’t have babies in our ward, just a couple of rowdy 2-year-olds.  Mike stood in on the blessing.  We both had the opportunity to bear our testimonies.  It is so wonderful to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives and to know from whom our blessings come.

We pray for the Lord’s choicest blessings to be with our friends and family.

Another view from Castle in Alcácer do Sal

So many beautiful yellow blooms!

Castle in Santiago de Cacém

Statue in Sines

I love this Smart Car.

May 5 - Happy Mothers Day in Portugal

At the beginning of the week we finished off our PEF contacts for the month and were able to get 100 percent of the high-priority contacts made.  It seems that we get better results when we are able to make a voice contact by phone, but we do get some nice responses from emails and texts also.

We had another Portuguese holiday on Wednesday, May 1^st—It was their Labor Day.  Since our office was closed that day, we decided to take a drive and see some new sights.  We had a most wonderful day traveling south through many small towns, viewing two castles, and lots of blooming wildflowers. We didn’t have an exact destination, but just decided as we went along.   It was very enjoyable.

Our Stake Conference was this weekend.  Our visitor was Elder Reina, an Area Seventy from Spain.  He spoke in English and had a wonderful translator who repeated his words in Portuguese. He is a large man, very delightful and funny.  He said that he encountered the missionaries at age 20 when he was playing his guitar in the park with friends and he had very long hair and a beard.  We especially enjoyed the Saturday meetings.  The choir was very good both days and all the current missionaries were invited onstage to sing the final song with the choir—“Called to Serve”.  We didn’t know about it beforehand.  We were able to speak with former missionaries from Gregg’s and Jared’s missions at the conference.  There is a young man from Seixal who is very talented musically (piano and voice) who was a runner-up on their version of American Idol.  He has received a mission call to the Sao Paulo South Mission and spoke this morning in the conference.  He will be performing, along with others, in a musical program in Setubal on the 18^th.  It should be really good!

This week we have scheduled apartment checks with six different sets of missionaries.  This will be our first time to do these inspections here.  We had this assignment for a time at home and enjoyed it.  I guess I will be making lots of cookies this week.  We gave the Seixal Elders a ride home from conference today so we would know how to find them later this week.

We feel so blessed to be here in Portugal at this time in our lives.  We send our love to all.

Typical old buildings in Portugal.

Part of Castle in Santiago de Cacem (Quite large)

We figure the castle wall is about 24 feet tall.

One of many beautiful views from the castle.

Castle in Alcacer de Sal  (Not nearly as impressive.)

Cathedral in Alcacer de Sal

April 28, 2It was a beautiful spring week in Portugal until Saturday when the wind blew with a passion. It gusted and howled the entire day. It’s much nicer today.  Lara, a 10-year-old daughter in a less-active family was baptized today. Her mom and younger brother have come to church several times with her and we hope that they will continue to attend. Brother and Sister Lima, who moved into our ward and came for the first time last week, have a son who is a wonderful pianist. He played for our Sacrament Meeting today and brought a sweet spirit into the meeting. Elder Oliveira also plays quite well, so for the time being we are enjoying this wonderful blessing of good accompaniment for our meetings. In the past we have sometimes sung a cappella. We always sing a cappella in Relief Society, sometimes with me as the chorister wondering what hymn we are singing because the titles are quite different in Portuguese. It was very quiet at our office this week because the two people who make the most noise were gone to Germany to find housing. They will both be moving there this summer. There was also a holiday on Thursday, so some of the employees took days before or after off to have a longer break. There was a churro stand set up for the holiday so Mike bought churros filled with white chocolate. (very yummy!) We have another holiday this week—May 1st is their Labor Day. We went to Cascais one day and did some apartment checking for new missionary residences in two different areas on another day. There is a large group of new missionaries coming in a couple of weeks and I am sure it is a huge challenge to be ready for all of them. I started Family Search indexing recently and have really enjoyed it. I am almost at 1,000 entries. I feel it is a positive use of my time. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.013

It was a beautiful spring week in Portugal until Saturday when the wind blew with a passion.  It gusted and howled the entire day.  It’s much nicer today. J

Lara, a 10-year-old daughter in a less-active family was baptized today.  Her mom and younger brother have come to church several times with her and we hope that they will continue to attend. 

Brother and Sister Lima, who moved into our ward and came for the first time last week, have a son who is a wonderful pianist.  He played for our Sacrament Meeting today and brought a sweet spirit into the meeting.  Elder Oliveira also plays quite well, so for the time being we are enjoying this wonderful blessing of good accompaniment for our meetings.  In the past we have sometimes sung a cappella.  We always sing a cappella in Relief Society, sometimes with me as the chorister wondering what hymn we are singing because the titles are quite different in Portuguese.

It was very quiet at our office this week because the two people who make the most noise were gone to Germany to find housing.  They will both be moving there this summer.  There was also a holiday on Thursday, so some of the employees took days before or after off to have a longer break. There was a churro stand set up for the holiday so Mike bought churros filled with white chocolate.  (very yummy!) We have another holiday this week—May 1^st is their Labor Day.

We went to Cascais one day and did some apartment checking for new missionary residences in two different areas on another day.  There is a large group of new missionaries coming in a couple of weeks and I am sure it is a huge challenge to be ready for all of them.

I started Family Search indexing recently and have really enjoyed it.  I am almost at 1,000 entries.   I feel it is a positive use of my time. 

Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Remember faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.

Lara Victoria (center) who was baptized today.

Elder Oliveira (of Brazil) and Elder Oliveira (of Portugal)
l

Pretty tree near our office (Love the trunk)

Statue in honor of David's role in Pirates of Penzance (seen in Cascais).

April 21, 2013

This week was a little slower at the office because we have made most of our contacts for the month.  Elder Henry was given a special assignment which came from the Area Presidency.  He had a number of bishops and branch presidents to contact in Cape Verde regarding participants from there who are more than 150 days behind in their loan repayments.  Part of the reason to contact them is to know what challenges they are facing and to see if there is some way that we can be of assistance to them. 

The weather here has been gorgeous this past week.  Temperatures have been in the seventies and we are loving it.  Occasionally we do have some wind, which is not my favorite, but it is a nice time of the year.  We hope that summer takes its time arriving, although last summer was fairly nice.

I really liked an article that came in this month’s Liahona which talked about how to tell if we are converted .

1.       When you are converted, you want to do what is right.

2.       You have no desire to do wrong.

3.       You worry more about what God thinks of you than what others think of you.

4.       You give your best to always live the Gospel.

5.       You have more compassion for others.

6.       You have more desire to pray to God.

7.       You are excited for Sunday because it is the Lord’s Day.

8.       You keep the commandments and don’t look for excuses or justify your behavior.

9.       You are happy to pay your tithing.

10.   When you are converted, you have a strong desire to help others know the truth and happiness that you have found.

We were invited out to dinner with Miguel and Deanna Adriano and their daughters Claudia and Catarina on Friday night.  We ate at a wonderful churrascuria which was similar to what you find at  Toscanos in Provo.  They had a very nice salad bar with lots of choices and then came to the table with all the meat you could eat.  We had a wonderful dinner and ate way more than was good for us.

Our meetings were very enjoyable today.  We were delighted that a new couple has moved into our ward from Lisbon—the Limas.  They are originally from Brazil, but have lived here 13 years.  Their youngest son is currently serving a mission in the northern part of Portugal.

At dinner with the Adriano family.

Vendors at the Plaza de Commercio, Lisbon

They have lots of shops selling tourist items in Lisbon.

Mime  in Lisbon

April 14, 2013

This week we celebrated our 48^th wedding anniversary.  I’m so grateful for our marriage and for temple covenants which give us the opportunity to be a family for all eternity if we do all that is required of us.  We appreciate all the nice messages that we received from family and friends.    We spent time at the office and with recommendations from Miguel and his wife, we ate dinner on the boardwalk at Costa de Caparica.  It was very enjoyable to enjoy a wonderful fish dinner and relax with a wonderful view of the ocean.  The restaurant was very peaceful because we ate around 6:00 PM and most people here eat dinner much later.  There were only a few other diners in the restaurant.  One thing we learned early in Portugal is that when you eat out they bring little plates of extra food items while you wait for your order.  For each one you eat you pay extra.  So we have learned to be a little selective with what we consume. 

We heard from our friends in Chapeco  (Claudir, Cesar, Valmor and Clovis)that they will finally become a stake on the weekend of May 18-19^th.  This is a long-awaited event for the members of the Church in the area and they are extremely excited, as are we.

On Wednesday, after working at the office, we stopped to meet Maria Cidalia—a new member of the Miratejo Ward who lives in our building.  She sells sweet breads from the back of her van and we were told about her by Fatima, who works in our office building and is the RS President in Miratejo Ward.  She is a very sweet lady; we are hoping to get better acquainted with her soon.

I think we mentioned that Joaquim Morreira, from our office, was called to be an Area Seventy.  We missed the fact that Fernando Rocha, also from our office, was released as an Area Seventy.  There were lots of names read off in a hurry, so that’s our excuse.  They are both wonderful men.

We have a new Elder serving in the Caparica Ward.  He is Elder de Oliveira from Forteleza, Brazil.  So now we have two Elder Oliveiras serving in the same ward.   He plays the piano beautifully; what a blessing for our little ward.  All of you grandchildren—KEEP PRACTICING because your talents are a great blessing wherever you serve on your missions or in the Church.  I was so happy to hear the beautiful prelude music and accompaniment as we sang today.

The messages of conference were so wonderful.  It will be nice to receive them in written form so we can study them further.  How blessed we are to have a living prophet on the earth, Thomas S. Monson, to guide us in these latter days.  When I read or hear of his experiences, so many of which are involved with serving others, it always inspires me to want to do better.

View from the restaurant-O Barbas

Another view from O Barbas

A view from our apartment.

A Market where many vendors sell their fresh produce.