September 1, 2013

Wow, another month begins!  The time is passing so quickly.  When we arrived at the office on Monday we had a message from Roseane, one of our PEF participants, and it sounded urgent.  She was actually wanting to know how to pay off her loan, which she did after we talked with her.  Bernadette in Cyprus also paid her loan off recently.  Many are very diligent in making their monthly payments or even paying ahead.  We are so proud of the efforts that many are making to fulfill their commitments and better their lives.

Our upstairs neighbor, Maria Cidalia, rang our doorbell after we were in bed one night and brought us another big bunch of fresh fish, tomatoes, onions and cabbage.  Since we had just had two fish dinners in the last short while, we decided to share with two needy families in our Caparica Ward.  They seemed very happy to accept some fish and cabbage.

We received a late call on Friday evening that there would be a baptism on Saturday morning.  So after we walked, I made Congo Squares and we got ready to head out to Caparica.  Maria Jose Vital Pedroso was baptized by Elder Bascom and then wanted Elder Henry to confirm her today.  He has been her teacher in the Gospel Essentials Class.  He gave a very nice confirmation blessing, as well as bearing a wonderful testimony in Fast and Testimony Meeting.  How grateful I am to have a companion with a strong testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  This is, and always has been, very important to me.

Mike’s leg was very painful yesterday, and he thought that heat might help it.  So, I heated a small towel in the microwave for a couple of minutes and he wrapped it around his leg.  About the fourth time I did this, I turned around and saw fire inside the microwave.  I stopped it, beat the towel a little and then removed it from the microwave to the sink.  Now, when I tried the microwave this morning just to see if it would work, flames started again with nothing inside the oven.  Well, it WAS nice having one for MOST of our mission.  It was a used one to start with and would only work by setting it in 30-second intervals.  On our last mission of 23 months we didn’t have one at all, so this was an improvement.  We have been very blessed and well taken care of.  We can’t complain.

I will close with a wonderful scripture found in Helaman  5:12  “And now, my sons (and daughters), remember, remember, that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.” I believe this!

Some of the ladies from our apt. building sit on the cement curb and visit in the evenings.

Elder Lima, Mary Jose Vital Pedroso at her baptism and Elder Bascom 

Enjoying the water at Caparica!

Just a small section of the beach at Caparica.  It seems that everyone goes to the beach for vacation.  This little place is swamped with visitors during the summer and many beaches in Portugal look similar to this.