Hey family! Sounds like it’s cold, at least in Mississippi. You’ll be happy to know that our house stays pretty warm. While basement apartments are damp and musty and moldy and fill up with water when it rains a lot, they’re ideal for cold winters. Our house stays at a toasty 60ish degrees at night. So, no pipes frozen, no dead plants, life is good. Our dona put in a little mat so that we can use the sink without standing in the puddle that comes in when it rains, and happily less water has been getting in. So yeah, good times. It seems like it’s been a long time since last p-day, this week was Action Packed.

So after emails I did end up buying some stuff, a very warm scarf for cheap, and argyle sweater, a cool t-shirt, and some other random stuff (some ties, etc) Other than that last p-day was pretty calm, this one too. We have a new rule that we can only leave our area on the first p-day of the month, so today we’re just going to hang around a bit, clean the house, do groceries and such. Exciting things. … Wow, this letter is terrible, let me get to the good stuff:

José, who I believe I talked about yesterday, is marked for baptism. We marked him initially for Saturday the 23rd, but then it looks like pontinha might close (again) so we’re thinking about moving it up a little bit if that’s alright with him, to this sunday, we’re going to go over there and talk and pray about it with him. I dunno if I talked too much about José last time, he’s really really great. That’s right, we found him a week ago Saturday, so I think I mentioned him. Anyway, he continues to be cool. He just gets it, so well, and he’s so humble. He explains things like faith and prayer and obedience in ways most people, even most missionaries, don’t get, and then he excuses himself for knowing so little about this sort of thing. Basically, he’s the mythical ‘elect’ we talk so much about. That said, we’re working with him to quit smoking, he wasn’t sure if he was going to manage it, but we (he and we) are hopeful, and it’s going to be cool. He came to church and loved it, got to know everybody and it was great. Benfica is a really good ward. They’re so good at talking to new people. It seems like that’d be an easy thing, but so many people just don’t get it. So if you’re sitting in church (or in school, or anywhere) and see someone new that looks slightly lost, go talk to them and make them feel comfortable. It’s really really important.

We’re also excited about Manuel Calisto. He came to church for the second time on Sunday. The first time he liked it, but got in late and left quick after it was over, so it was a little strange. This time he liked it a lot, and got there almost on time so got the full experience. Usually people are sort of shocked when they find out our church is 3 hours long, but it’s good times. Anyway, Calisto liked church a lot and we’ve been talking about baptism with him. Tonight we’re going to Mariazinha’s house to have a lesson there with him (they live in the same neighborhood) and we’re planning to mark him also for this Sunday. Both of them (josé and calisto) are great people, with families and everything. José family lives in brasil, but is coming on the 30th to live here in Portugal. I think his daughter is going to stay there at least for now, so yeah, this week could be really great.

As I said, it looks likely that pontinha will close. It’s like this: we’re losing two pairs of missionaries this transfer, two elders and two sisters, so two areas have to close. There are only 3 or 4 areas in the mission that still have two sets of elders in them, and pontinha’s one of them. So we’ll see what happens.

We had interviews this week with president. I always like interviews. President torgan can be sort of intimidating in zone conferences and stuff, but interviews are always great. He told me, unequivocally, that I’m leaving pontinha. That’s a shock, since generally he doesn’t say things like that, but yeah. He didn’t know whether pontinha would be open or not, but in any case, I won’t be here. So that’s sort of exciting, I have no clue where I’ll be heading a week from now, but I’m sure it will be great. Elder Kearl (one of the assistants) said his money was on the açores. That would be cool, but we’ll see what happens.

Give some parabens to Anthony for his mission call. I was thinking this week about how many people are out on a mission these days, between Madison and Jackson and Biloxi, we have people all over the place. He’s going to think my accent is really ridiculous (as will Jordan when we get around to speaking Portuguese) Brazilians speak Portuguese a lot different from portuguese people. It’s sort of like the difference from London to the states, and it also depends a lot on the location. People parts of brasil sound like there from Wisconsin (don’chya know). So that will be fun. The other day I had a dream I was home. Those are scary. We were in our Jackson house and kate and logan were there, and I remember saying to him we should speak Portuguese, but then I woke up.

It was cool to here Elder Oram’s doing well. I am equally bad at sending letters (I’m hoping my friends will get there package thingy this week. I started writing those letters when I got to pontinha 6 months ago), I’ll have to throw a note into him in at the end.

Other than that, things are pretty great. We dropped Sergio (again) this week. It was sad, but I’m hopeful he’ll find the church again in a few months. His life really needs deeper purpose and peace. Hopefully everythings good back in the states.

It’s weird to think about dead missionaries (i.e. missionaries that finished their two years and went home and back to normal life) I’m working hard not to be trunky, it’s really sort of terrifying how fast time is passing. Have a great week everybody. I’m healthy, happily. Elder Bell has got a little cough, but it’ll pass. Mario got ordained and Elder this week, which was cool. Really the most worthwhile thing about being a missionary is seeing converts being independent of the missionaries. I’m really blessed to meet so many cool people here. Next week I’ll try to reminisce about pontinha, this week I’m working to not be transfer trunky (ask your local Return missionary to explain what that is if you don’t know). Anyway. Boa semana,

Abraços,

Ammon

And to elder oram:

Pai! Faz muito tempo que não te falo. É bom ouvir de ti. Faz 4 transferências que eu estou aqui em pontinha. É bom, ensinamos muito esta semana. Há duas semanas encontramos 16 novos pesquisadores. Foi fixe, mas não foram 17. Bons tempos. Elder Rodrigues ainda esta na missão, ele esta no distrito com meu Segundo filho, mais um Rodrigues. Eu acredito que ele acabe a missão no fim desta, mas eu não sei. Bem, o meu tempo acabou, então fique bem. Não te esqueças. Os teus pontos fortes são as tuas fraquezas, e as tuas fraquezas são os teus pontos fortos. Best advice Ever.

Abraços,

Elder Perkes