Happy New Year!
It’s 2010! that’s a little shocking, but i’m slowly accepting that. Today we’re at Dolce Vita, the biggest mall in Europe. It’s not quite as cool as i was hoping, but everything’s around 50% off, so i’m hoping to waste some money, i.e. buy some christmas presents . As you can see in the pictures, we did, in fact, see the biggest tree in europe, although we didn’t get to stay there for very long. I would have liked to have had more time to take some good pictures, but since it didn’t make sense to go there until it was night, by the time we got there we already had to leave to get back to our area to work.
It sounds like you guys had good times in New England for New Years, Soren looks way cute, as always. Ironically, church here was almost cancelled here too, because a member here died, and they brought the coffin to the chapel. We ended up cutting out the middle hour and having a very nice testimony meeting. We had two new people in church this week, I. and L. They’re both brasilian, and live right next to our house. I. has known the missionaries for a long time, but it was the first time she’s come to church in a while, at least since i got here. We met some really cool people this week too. On Saturday we met J., who is also Brasilian, and lives here in pontinha. He was great, it was one of the best first lessons i’ve ever had; he cried, elder b. cried (i didn’t cry, but i’m not much of a cryer). He already had an appointment yesterday but he really wants to come to church and is excited about coming this week. We also met a young couple, N. and S., who live nearby. They’re nice and way cool, and we have an appointment with them tonight, so we’ll see how that goes tonight.
Our new years was pretty wack. Probably one of the more memorable but least enjoyable newyears i’ll have. Presidente said we could stay up if we wanted to, but we were sick and stuffed up and tired so we went to bed at 11, but between being sick and people making lots of noise outside (lots of noise, everyone bangs pans, and honks horns and sends really really wussy fireworks off) we didn’t fall asleep until 12:30. So yeah, it was sort of dissapointing, now i wish i had stayed up and at least had fun, but whatevs. Next portuguese newyears.
In other news, we’ve been teaching this little family and they’re really nice. The fed us lunch on new years day, and we’ve taught them a few times. They’re friends with a member in benfica. They were supposed to be coming to church this Sunday, but it was raining really hard and there was a miscomunication, and they ended up not coming, but they’re coming next week, so that’s exciting. It’s been raining quite a bit this week, but happily no flooding, and we’ve seen a couple really cool rainbows. This morning i saw one of the brightest rainbows i’ve ever seen, it was raining really hard but the sun was shining bright. I like to look for rainbows...
I’m feeling better now, although me and elder b. are still a little stuffed up. We never had to stay home, but morning exercises have sort of falled by the way side; starting tomorrow i’m going to try to get that going again.
I send the present off to my friends, it’s headed for caitlin’s house, so hopefully it’ll get there without any troubles. I’m hoping to send you guys (my family) a little package thing too, but i hope to do a lot of things that sometime don’t pan out.
Yesterday we had a cool experience. We were sitting on a bench waiting for our bus and i felt like i should call this american family that i met a long time ago (you may remember me talking about them some time ago). As it turned out they were running low on food, the dad has been without work since they’ve got here. We aren’t allowed to give money, but we rounded up a sack of what we had left over in the house. We didn’t have much, but he didn’t ask much. After, we ended up talking to the dad for a long time (in person, not on the phone) and it turns out he had a guy he wants us to teach. It’s always fun to help people, especially when they’re americans.
A couple days ago we on our way into lisbon, and we heard the metro coming, so we started walking to the platform, but i realized we were walking the wrong direction, and so I ran the other way, flew down the steps three at a time, Elder B. close behind, and got into the train just as the doors were closing. Then i turned around to see Elder B. still on the platform, and the metro pulled away. So i got off at the next stop and waiting for him to come, i was only there alone for 5ish minutes, but it was weird. Normal people probably won’t understand why it’s weird to be alone for 5 minutes, but as a missionary, you spend about two years in the constant presence of your comp. To be alone is weird. It’s quiet. Anyway, the next train came and we got back, but it was interesting.
Well, i’m about out of time here, and out of cool mission stories. It was a good week, all in all. I didn’t have time to reflect about 2009, neither here nor in my journal. But 2009 was an interesting year. One whole year in portugal as a missionary. I definitely learned a lot, changed a lot, did a lot. Missions are good. So, have a great year, good luck and you all go back to school and work and all that. Don’t forget the next most wonderful time of the year, coming up in a little bit, the Ammon’s Birthday Season. If you're wondering what to send the missionary that has everything, the answer is letters, pictures, and peanut butter.
Abraço
Elder Ammon
