So, as it happens I might not be going to the giant Christmas tree today, president t. asked us all to stay in our areas and use preparation day to prepare so that we can focus on the work this week. In theory that’s what we’re supposed to do every week, but it’s good to focus on it. We’re going to clean out our house, I’ve been neglecting it a little, since I was expecting to get transferred, and with the winter the mold is starting to take over, so we’re going to fight it back. Hopefully next week I’ll be able to get some photos out to you guys.
The week was different. I didn’t realize how different it is to work with cape Verdean companions. Being back with an American is different, it’s a lot of fun, but it’s a little harder to stay focused. We have to work on not speaking English in the street and talking about movies and video games and teen girl squad. Elder B. is cool, he’s from Idaho and we get along really well, he was a music major before the mission, and we’ve been singing a lot of songs in lessons. Christmas is a really great time for missionary work, people are at home, people are happy, and thinking about Jesus Christ. Plus, there’s such a great spirit of Christmas. People in general are just happier (I learned last year that this wears of almost immediately after Christmas. Come December 26, people will be back to their scroogey ways). We’re hoping to be able to do some sort of service for people. We learned last year it can be tricky to offer service in Portugal, but we’ll do our best.
We’re excited about this little family we met. We taught one person in the family last week, but this week we got to know the rest of the family. They’re pretty cool. Interestingly, we knocked their door about 4 months ago with elder f., but they said they weren’t interested, we went back a couple weeks ago because we were trying to find this kid we contacted in the street. We didn’t find him, but some kids directed us to the house and his family. His family wasn’t really interested, but he came out and talked to us, and we set up a lesson. The first time the family didn’t really listen, but when we came back the second time they were all there, we sang Christmas songs and they loved it and then in the end the ten year old daughter, (who’s way cool) said the prayer. Since then we’ve gone back twice. The grandparents don’t speak Portuguese, but with my broken creole I learned from elder F. I managed to explain how to pray and the grandmother said the closing prayer. Tonight we’re going back with M. (who speaks creole much better than I do). I have a lot of hope for this family, they have plenty of time and are always willing to listen to us. Those are two of the most important things, now as long as they’re actually interested and willing to change, we’ll we golden. It’s cool to see the way we get led to people. I think a lot of time people think that the missionaries have some sort of very specific feeling and go to someone’s door and baptize them that week. That happens too, but more often the principles of finding people are similar to the principles of finding anything: You generally find them when you’re looking for something else. For whatever reason, knocking doors is extremely ineffective, but looking for specific people generally leads to success, even when they’re not the people you were looking for. It’s interesting.
In other news, m’s mom is progressing, which is exciting. She’s started reading the Book of Mormon with him and is wanting to talk to us more. She’s works quite a lot, which is challenging, but we’re happy. M. is so great. We also had a new guy come to church this week, P., he’s cool. He also works a lot, but he likes church. We also had a Christmas party on Saturday. That was cool, we had lots of people show up. We invited our Dona and she came along with R. Those two are way cool.
So, it was a pretty normal week, I’m hoping this week will be a little more extraordinary, so we’re going to work hard and pray a lot and try to get some of these people progressing. I still don’t know how Christmas is going to be, where I’ll call from, or when I’ll call, but I’ll figure that all out this week, and tell you guys next Monday. I can’t believe it’s already been a year. President T. told me this would probably be my last transfer in pontinha. He told me that last transfer too, but I think he means it this time. So I’m trying to find some more motivation. I sort of sprinted to the finish last transfer, and when it turned out there were six more weeks, it caught me a bit unprepared, so I have to regroup and get going. But I’m happy I’m here, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else for Christmas this year.
Anyway, you all have a great week, feed the missionaries and help them teach. Personally I’m a lot more grateful for when members teach with us than when they give us food, but food is good too.
Amo vocês, abraços, boas festas, até logo
Elder Ammon
