Welll..... Not much happened this week. We spent a lot of time
walking in the street and trying to talk to people. We set up a lot of
appointments for next week, so this week will be a good week and we will see
the fruits of our labors for sure.
BUT this week was also one of the funniest weeks of my mission. SO many
funny things happened, so yea you have now just tuned in to the crazy mission
adventures that literally nothing can prepare you for. *Maybe some aren’t the
most appropriate things, but hey they’re real life stories*
1. SO this week we knocked on this door and this lady answered. She
was SO sweet and we talked a lot. But she explained that she believes in the
idea of God, but not God completely because she doesn’t believe in Adam and
Eve. So I asked her what she believes. She believes that aliens from other
planets came to earth and started procreating and now we are here. So basically
it is easier for her to believe that we all came from aliens than for her to
believe that Adam and Eve were our first parents. Makes sense of course.
2. So that member who lives in our chapel (who cut his hair in the
baptismal font) well.. we found out this week that he also takes baths in the
baptismal font. I think it crosses the line just a little bit hahhahaha. We
gave the elders the responsibility to talk to the Bishop about that
problem.
3. So in Portuguese to ask the age of someone you would ask
"How many years do you have" and they respond "I have # of
years" . So this week with members who are a little older. I wanted to ask about people in our ward who
are less active that we can visit and help return to church, but I said
"Do you know anyone we can help because you guys have so many years"
basically calling them old, and then tried to correct myself saying "Years
in the church, as members, here in Setubal" doing everything to save
myself, but it already passed and my comp died laughing.
4. I asked for a referral from the member who lives in our chapel
(Jose Chagas) this week and he said he will talk to his friends and get back to
us. I found a missionary tag from an elder in the past sitting around the
office in the church, so I wrote Elder Chagas and gave it to him as a joke. The
problem, he didn’t realize it was a joke and when we came to church on Sunday
he was STILL wearing it the whole day. He said he wore it to go grocery
shopping and everything. Hmmm..
5. We were visiting a less active this week who isn’t exactly there
in the mind. I just finished saying the opening prayer when like 15 seconds
after she looks at me and says "yea lets say a prayer" so I had to
pray AGAIN. It took everything in me not to start laughing during my second
prayer.
6. Someone tried to kiss me. Like full on kiss me this week. He
stopped us in the road and we explained that we are missionaries of the church
and invited him to come to church with us on Sunday. As we go to leave and he
grabs my neck and goes in for a kiss. I turn so awkward and do a quick head
turn/double chin/step back motion. He apologizes so I give him my hand to give
him a hand shake. And then he tried AGAIN. Man it was bad. In the end we got
away kiss free, only to turn and start walking up these stairs in the road. I
was a little shaken up from this kiss experience that I full on tripped up the
stairs. What is my life? The whole time my comp was just there laughing at my
luck.
7. That same night we were trying a contact that we did in the road
a few days before. We knock on the door expecting to find this cute lady. But
no. A shirtless (of course, Portugal) man opens it a little too happy to see
us. He invites us in to watch the soccer game and drink some wine and beer with
him. My comp kindly explained that we are missionaries and our purpose is to
help people know Jesus Christ better and he said "That’s not a problem, I
am a missionary also and my mission is to help you guys procreate the
earth" Luckily I was behind my comp and she kindly declined and left
because man I wanted to vomit on his porch. We are staying away from the
apartment.
8. We taught a lesson this week to a lady who lives in a house FULL
of spiders. We didn’t realize it when we entered, but in the middle of the
lesson I saw a spider crawl across the chair, and the looked and found spiders
in about every corner of her house. So yea, we ended that lesson pretty
quick.
SO yea, that is just a day of the life of a missionary here in
Portugal. Stay tuned for more funny/inappropriate encounters in the future. I
had no idea I was signing up for these experiences when I accepted my call to
serve.
Two weeks ago I made a goal to finish the Book of Mormon again before
my mission ended. Well yea, I finished it last week. I don’t know how it
happened, but I got addicted to reading it. Every lunch, breakfast, and an hour
before bread my nose was in the Book of Mormon. I was so sad to end it because
I didn’t know what I would do with my life without the Book of Mormon. I have
started reading the New Testament and want to read it all before the mission
ends. Its a little more challenging than the BOM but it will help a lot know
the Bible better!
We went shopping today. It has started getting cold and windy at night,
so I pulled out my jacket only to find it in a lot worse condition that I
thought. But after using it for everyday for more than 4 months, I should of
been expecting that. The zipper broke and so today I bought a new jacket (its
really cute too) and a few more pairs of tights because I threw all mine out
after last winter. In the end, it was kind of expensive SO you can take that
money out of my personal account, or I can pay you back when I get home. I know
the funds are tight at home and it was an expensive bill. Not quite sure what
it is in dollars but it was like 62 euros in total.
Have a great week and remember nothing makes us happier than serving
those close to us!!!
Foto: Our ward has the potential to be a "Singles Ward"
film, and these 2 mean (Jose and Nuno) could be the main characters.
