From Portugal With Love: June 23, 2013

Elder Henry and I spoke again today in Sacrament Meeting. I spoke on “Families can be Forever” and he spoke on “Come to the Temple”. I am always relieved when the talk is given and I won’t have to speak for another three months. I know it is good for me, but always a little frightening. After our meetings today we had the baptism of Alice Silva and then a small luncheon. The Elders are keeping busy finding, teaching, and baptizing.

We heard that our dear mission president’s wife is in intensive care in the hospital. She apparently had a colonoscopy, something didn’t go well, and she had to have her spleen removed. We are praying for a quick recovery for her. Her name is Dorothy Fluckiger and she is a very sweet lady. Prayers in her behalf would be appreciated.

Yesterday Paula (our friend from Brazil) came from Setubal to visit with us. We met her at the train station, and on the second try she arrived. We expected her at 10:30 AM but her bus didn’t show up on time,, so she missed the first train and came an hour later. We showed her our office and then brought her to our apartment. We visited, fed her lunch, and then showed her pictures of our family and some of the beautiful spots we have visited in Portugal. We enjoyed the day with her and then drove her back to Setubal. We hope to see her again before she returns to Brazil in early August.

This week Evan Poff has his 17^th birthday on June 25 and Ashlyn turns 15 on June 28. We wish them both a very happy birthday and we send our love. Gregg and Crystal also celebrate their (16^th?) wedding anniversary on the 27^th. How we love each and every one in our family. We miss you all! Our children will be holding a family reunion without us this year and our hearts will definitely be there with them. We are expecting to see lots of pictures.

There is another holiday here tomorrow so our office will be closed again. We may have to find somewhere to visit. It is close to the end of the month, so we have made most of our contacts already and just have a few loose ends to wrap up.

We have been very blessed with cool weather to this point, but are expecting a couple of days in the low 90s this week. We hope all of our friends and family are not suffering too much with the heat. Stay cool and remember how much you are loved by God and by us.