Dear Family,
Sorry about last week, i had planned to take half an hour later that day but i didn't get back to alverca until 6:30 and we had lessons to teach. We went and played Ultimate Frisbee in Alameda, in lisbon, which is probably one of the coolest places i've played ultimate frisbee in my life. I wish i had some pictures, but go on google maps and you can check it out.
The last two weeks have flown by and lots has happened. About two weeks ago, as we were walking a lot a car pulled over to talk to us. They told us they were from Angola, and wanted to know where the church was. So most of that family have been investigating the church in angola for several months, but their brother Helder and his wife Solange live here in Alverca. They got married a few weeks ago (we actually saw their wedding when they were taking pictures in the park) They're awesome. They came to church last week (this week they were in the Algarve on their honeymoon) and loved it, and have a very sincere desire to know if it's true or not. President tells us to always pray when choose a date for when people will get baptized, and we also pray about our goals for baptisms we'll have each week. A lot of missionaries talk about how they have no one to baptize, but president always points out that the Lord could easily bring in a whole family from another area that's just ready for baptism. When this angolan family of five popped up out of nowhere, you can imagine that we were excited. They had been to church tons of time, it was perfect. But when we prayed about it i felt very clearly that they weren't ready for baptism that week, and we made plans for Helder and Solange, we went there, and the rest of the family wasn't even there, and they didn't come to church on sunday, but Helder and Solange did. I read a talk about how we should be careful as we pray for answers, that we humbly accept the will of god. It said that a prompting to do something that we would otherwise not want to do is a good sign of authenticity, while feelings to do something we have a great desire to do should be examined cautiously. It was good to know that i'm not just reaffirming my own desires, and that i was able to receive a "no."
We found another guy named Vladimiro. The day before we taught him he got baptized in another church, and when we told him we'd like to visit him he said, "ah, but i'm from a different church"
"No problem!" I replied. Surprisingly that was enough for him and he happily accepted a commitment. This sunday he went to our church right after the other church. He's understandably a little confused. We read the Joseph Smith History with him and told him he should pray, i'm excited for him though, he has a very sincere desire to know what to do.
Francisco continues to come to church but still hasn't been able to stop smoking, although he is making progress. We're teaching lots of people, and it seems like people just keep coming out of the woodwork. I'm working with a new technique for contacting that i wish i had done my whole mission. First of all i only contact men. I made that decision at the beginning of this transfer and it's been great, we're teaching a lot more families and couples and a lot few single women and youth. Secondly i just talk to people who look at us. Your average person just walks by with their eyes fixed on the ground, someone who looks at us is guaranteed to at least be mildly curious about who we are. It's a pretty effective way to find families who are interested.
Our ward, two weeks ago, received a bunch of new pass along cards and the members are pretty excited about them. It's great to hear stories about them giving cards to friends and strangers. This ward is the best, we had lunch with members every day this week. We didn't even do shopping.
I think the best comparison for a mission is not a race, but a twilight paddle against the current on the pearl river, after paddling on the strong river all day long. But i don't think as many people have done that, that's probably why it's not as common.
As far as days vs months, it honestly feels about the same, because the reality hasn't really sunk in, although it hits me from time to time. I'm working really really hard not to count days, ever since a conversation i had about Dad about 2 years ago about not counting down the days but enjoying the moment, i've worked hard to not think about it. I also read a talk this week (i've been reading the ensign alot) about a treasure map for happiness: learn from the past, prepare for the future, and live in the present. So i've been trying to do that for these last couple weeks.
So, that's about what's going on. You guys have a great week, we're doing good out here.
love,
Ammon
