We had some trouble finding a place to do internet this morning here in massamá, the old elders did it somewhere else, and we’ve been doing it at this super ghetto place in caçém. We asked around and ended up at this little café that for some reason wasn’t open yet (they didn’t have hours, it seems like they just come in when they feel like it). We were thinking about going out to caçém, but my vague memory of being here almost a year ago led me to this quiet little internet café. If you go back to the email I sent from here last time,ithink I talked how the space bar was messed up. You’ll all be happy to know that it’s still terrible, and so if my words are blended together, paciência.

Yesterday, as I said, we had a zone meeting on p-day. This was our idea, and it was going to be epic. But it taught me the truthfulness of Murphy’s law and the importance of good preparation.

The Plan: The missionaries go to the chapel, expecting a boring zone meeting, on p.day. Meanwhile, the financial secretaries come in the mission car and van and take us all up to the Dedication Site on this mountain in sintra (where Thomas S. Monson dedicated the mission of Portugal some 30 years ago). People are all surprised and happy, Then we have a great meeting, we pray and everybody ends up inspired and ready to tear it up in their respective areas and we all get home by 3 o’clock to do internet and shopping and all that.

How it really happened: So, president said we couldn’t use the mission vehicles for stuff like this, so we had to scramble to figure out how to get there. We talked to some members and they told us to take a bus from sintra to this little town and then taxis from the town to the spot. People ended up getting to the chapel about an hour and a half late. Half of them already knew because the assistants let it slip to mafra, and mafra told mem martinz, cascais had been involved in the planning, and we had told the secretaries because we thought we’d need them. Our bus didn’t show up, so we decided to go up to sintra and take taxis. When we got there were three taxis, but while waiting for the financials one of them pulled away, leaving us without enough taxis. Eventually we pull it off, we get up there and as we arrive, it starts raining. By the time everyone gets to the dedication sight it’s freezing cold and pouring rain, which none of us were prepared for. We had a little meeting, and took some pictures, and went back. But when we called the taxis they wouldn’t come because we didn’t have a specific address. Happily, the sisters had made friends with their taxi driver and had kept his cell phone number so he came and got us, although it took three trips and most people got back to their areas around 7o’clock, wet, cold, and probably frustrated with the zone leaders who took up their p-day.

So it didn’t quite go as planned, but I learned a lot. That’s been my experience in doing things for the first time, they turn out to be epic failures, but the second time around they turn out better. I actually enjoyed it a lot, as did a few other people who define fun as hiking around in the mountains in the cold rain. We sang “High on a mountain top”, which was cool. This computer doesn’t have picture sending capabilities, so that will have to wait until next time, but it was pretty fun.

In other news, Sunday was stake conference, so I got to see a bunch of the mafra gang. The Esteves, Francisco, Isabel, Edgar, Rogério, Maura, Síria, and some others were all there. It was cool. We ended up riding the bus back with them, I was glad that they hadn’t all forgotten about me. This whole week a lot of stuff hasn’t been going according to plan, we’ve had a bunch of lessons fall through, the bus to stake conference didn’t show up and we had to call bishop to pick us up. I think I must have broken a mirror or something without realizing it, or maybe that one that fell in the toilet when I was 10 is finally kicking in.

To answer some questions, I think for my birthday we’re going to eat lunch at a sushi restaurant, hopefully I can finally find out how they really get caviar. Looking for internet we discovered a little mall that has a bunch of stuff, so I’ll probably buy some more junk to remember things next p-day.

I almost got my address, I know the street and the number, but I don’t know my postal code, I keep forgetting to do this until I’m doing internet, and by then it’s too late. Last year we had a surprise party by mafra, I doubt that will happen here though, since I’m pretty new and I haven’t been telling people it’s my birthday. Pontufa lives upstairs, and had a little gate to keep her from wandering in, because she likes to explore and try to eat any food or crumbs we may have left on the ground. Technically missionaries aren’t allowed to have pets (not ever Rhinoceroses!) so yeah, she stays upstairs most time. I’m pretty used to low doorways now, and I think by the end I will start ducking on normal doors, or I’ll develop a strange, hunchback-posture that will be impossible to get rid of. I think I went almost all week without hitting my head this week, so that’s an improvement. It’s crazy we’re already on our fourth week here, this transfer is flying by.

We had a cool experience I’ll talk about real quick before I’m out of time. Our first week here I was praying to know which members we should go to find people to teach and such,and, among some other names, the name Camila came to mind. So that was weird, because I didn’t even know anyone (here) named Camila yet, and was a little confused. I asked elder Nixon, and it turns out Camila is this 16 year old girl who got baptized about a year ago. We finally talked to her this week, and got about 5 references from her. She invited one of them to mutual and he loved it and wants to come back. It’s exciting, I’ve never really taught anyone from members before. Another name that I got, Rui, we were with this week, and it turns out he knows every single person in caçém, it was pretty amazing actually. I also ran into Ofélia this week, who is the daughter in law of Mariazinha. We taught her in pontinha around Christmas time, but it was hard to get anywhere because she was living in caçem. I asked for her number when I got here but they never got it for me, and then we ran into the other night.

So not everything is going badly, actually the work is incredible. Iliana is getting baptized this weekend and is way excited. We’ve found a bunch of new people with a lot of potential, and it’s started raining again!

So, my times pretty much up, but thanks for the birthday wishes, have a great week, hope for the best, and plan for the worst.

Amo-vos

~Elder Ammon XXI