Olá todos. So, I'm leaving Mafra! This is how the day yesterday went down. Generally President Terry does transfers about a week in advance, starts calling around noon on tuesday and the whole process is over my about 5. Yesterday, aparently he was making changes until the very last minute. It must have been a hard transfer as 6ish zone leaders went home so there were lots of leaders being called, and more leaders to fill the positions the the old leaders were filling. So we heard from Torres Vedras that they were called at about 5 o'clock, then we waited some more. I was sort of freaking out because we didn't have any appointments in the afternoon and my phone was defiantly refusing to ring. By about 9 o'clock, i figured i must be staying. We went to a birthday party for the Esteves daughter and i was thinking about how it would be to stay. At first i didn't know if i could handle it, but as i kept thinking i decided it wouldn't be to bad, and was starting to like the idea when i got a call from Elder Tracy, my companion in the MTC, who was wondering if i knew where i was going. I said no, he told me there was a new elder that was getting sent to Mafra. So at that point i figured i was leaving. Afterwards i called the Zone Leaders, they hadn't heard until about 9 o'clock and were in an appointment so they hadn't called, but finally they told me. (at first Elder Marriot told me i was staying and then hung up the phone. But then he called back and gave the news). Elder Linquist (who came to portugal at the same time is me) is training a greeny and became the District leader in Mafra. Elder Peterson is leaving to be Zone leader in Almada, and I'm going to Monte de Caparica to greeny break (be the second companion of) Elder Cornwell, who is starting up his second transfer. Elder Carter is staying here and working with an Elder Jones. I heard from Elder Marriot that my new area is really awesome, so that's exciting. It's in the Almada zone, so Elder Peterson is going to be my Zone Leader, which is cool. Elder Christenson is the other zone leader, he was my zone leader a couple transfers ago, i like him a lot.
Anyway, that's transfer news, i'm sure you're not nearly as interested by all that as i am, but the gist is, i'm finally leaving mafra. It's sort of sad, i have a lot of people to say goodbye to. President Esteves gave me this book to write in which is a book of the missionaries that served in Mafra with pictures and letters and stuff. It's pretty cool.
So, other news the package came, and it is great. I already made ramen once, and am saving the rest for a rainy day or something. It was also cool to hear about the family news, especially Max's mission. English fasts are fun, but you have to be careful. Me and Elder Oram went a week without speaking any english and ended up getting a little stressed out and aggravated with eachother, so we scaled it back to no english outside the house. I can definitely simpathize, when i was on the plane coming in there was an announcement in portuguese. I was a little concerned when i had absolutely no idea what they had said, but that only happens occasionally these days.
I just called out there and it turns out there are two baptisms on saturday, so that's cool. So yeah, i'm pretty excited to have a new area, but it's going to be hard to leave mafra, but i'm sure it'll be great. My talk in the Zone Meeting went fine, i liked it. My talk in sacrament meeting (which i found about later that day and so adapted my other talk) went well, but i ended up making it a little too epic and had to cut it short when it ran over. It's an interesting topic, and i've been thinking a lot about it as i've been teaching and such, inviting people to change, seeing people change, remember the change that happens in people. I wanted to make the talk for church more about our ability to change others and how we can, and can't, do that, but i didn't plan it well so didn't have time to talk much about that.
The weather in portugal has been pretty normal, hot during the day, cool at night, which i appreciate a lot. You'll be happy to know i'm using sunscreen and so haven't gotten sunburned, but i am developing the absurd missionary tan (basically a farmers tan with the added bonus of a really high really well defined collar line). But it sounds like the weather there in the states is imploding. We have an emergency plan in the mission that involves a 'Leave Now' message in case of natural disastors, politically dangerous situations and such. We joke about getting Leave Now messages because of how epic it would be. If you end up having to flee the united states i suggest portugal as a refuge. The mediterranean climate is quite nice.
Recent converts in mafra are doing pretty great they are generally active with the exception of Rogério who has had a hard time because of being sick, but we had a lesson with him the other week and i think he's going to start going again, sickness or no. Maiery continues to be on fire, and her mom is praying to find new work so that she (the mom) can start going to church. Mafra does a pretty good job fellowshipping and taking care of new members, and the missionaries keep working with them. We had a lesson with Ana Paula and the kids yesterday, it was good. In the portugal mission, you can't be baptized without going to church 5 times, and in mafra we've tryed to make sure people get there at three weeks in a row leading up to the baptism. Even with that, things happen. We had one person be baptized and then sort of disappear afterwards. It's still a bit of a mystery, but for the most part retention and reactivation in Mafra are going really well. Aside from the baptisms we've had, with other members that have been coming more that branch had pretty much doubled in my time here. Getting them callings and member lessons is tricky, because people are generally absurdly busy here, and finding the balence between giving new members opportunities to serve and not burning them out, but president estevers and Edgar (the elderes quorum president) are working on organizing home teachers and getting all that going.
Anyway, all this to say. Mafra is amazing. I'm so blessed to have served here for so long, and I am excited to see the changes that happen in the coming year. We set a new date for Silvio yesterday, and we're going to work on keeping it this time. By we I do, of course, mean Elder Carter and Elder Jones. It's going to be hard to turn over Mafra to someone else, but i'm sure they'll do great. Have a great week, watch out for killer weather, animal flus, and such apocolyptic threats. Thank you for the support and prayers and letters. Elder Carter likes to remind me that i don't have a year and a half left anymore and that i should keep saying that i do, but it really is passing absurdly fast, and i'll be home before i know it (the esteves say that time passes slower for the family on the other end, so i hope you don't know it before i get home.)
Have a great week
Abraços por todos
~Elder Ammon
Note: I've posted Ammon's new address on his facebook page.
