September 8, 2013

We had a rewarding week at the office.  Elder Henry has been making lots of phone calls to the participants who haven’t had a voice contact for some time.  We usually only call the participants on the phone who are on the High-Priority Contact List each month or others who may have a special need.  The remainder of the participants are emailed , texted, or contacted on Facebook.  He has had some positive responses and many have said how much they enjoy my inspirational texts.  This is great because I have sometimes wondered if they even read them.  Tanira spoke to me and told me how much she enjoyed the messages and, being far from home, they help her to feel loved and seem to come at the time she needs them.

We checked out another apartment this week for the Elders  who live in Monte de Caparica.  Their present apartment leaves a little to be desired, so they were very happy to see this one with us.  We are hoping that the mission will decide to change their residence. 

Wednesday evening we were invited to the home of President and Sister Fluckiger to have dinner and meet our new missionary couple, Elder Donald and Sister Vickie Phippen, of American Fork.  They are neighbors of President and Sister Dansie from our mission in Brazil.  What an enjoyable evening we had getting acquainted with them, visiting with the other couples, eating a nice dinner, and having a short meeting together.  We have really enjoyed our associations with the couples who have and are now serving here in Portugal.  The Phippens are serving in the Azores, so we may not see much of them.  This is their fourth mission.

Two couples who are awaiting visas to serve in Sao Paulo, Brazil, contacted us and are considering coming to Portugal instead.  One couple has been waiting 5 months and the other 9 months and they have become great friends.  They say that they are a package-deal.  They want to serve in the same place.  Elder Henry wrote a long email to answer some of their questions and I became their friends on Facebook so they could look at some of the picture albums I have posted.  We are crossing our fingers that they will come here because so far there is no one coming to take our place.  They have been trained for PEF, so that is good.

Elder Henry’s leg is continuing to be uncomfortable for him.  He is icing it when he is able and that seems to help the swelling.  He hasn’t been able to walk with me in the mornings much.  He did walk a little yesterday morning at a slower pace because he doesn’t want to make it worse.  If you can remember him in your prayers, it would be appreciated.  He would really like to remain physically active.

We have very much enjoyed our mission and encourage any couples who are able to take advantage of this marvelous experience awaiting you to serve the Lord in this manner.  YOU ARE NEEDED!  The gospel is true and great blessings come from serving, even with all of our imperfections.  We are so grateful for the Savior’s atonement.  We need it so very much!

Our group of couple-missionaries with President and Sister Fluckiger.  Starting from the left are the Roses, the Phippens, the Fluckigers, Henrys and the Sommers.  (The Johnsons had family visiting and couldn't come.)

Maria Cordon (Sister of Luiz Silva from our office who moved to Germany) was visiting our ward today from Pleasant Grove, Utah.  She lived in Caparica Ward, served a mission here, then moved to the US, married and stayed there.  She gave a wonderful talk in Sacrament Meeting about temples.