February 18, 2009

I'm still in Mafra, this tranfer was crazy though. If i didn't know how much prayer and thought and inspiration goes into tranfers i'd think president was getting trunky. Speaking of that, we found out today that our new mission president is named Moroni Torgan, he's brasilian and i'm going to guess his parents were members.

My week was good, the weather here has been absolutely beautiful. We've been leaving the jackets and thermals at home and loving walking around in white shirts. It makes us feel much more missionaryish and much less like we're going to a funeral. We had an investigator ask us yesterday why we always wear black, assuming it has something to do with doctrine, but no, we're just american.

Lets see, cool things that happened this week...oh right, Elder Bednar!
Sunday actually was one of the best days of my mission so far. It started by polishing my shoes, i think that was the trick, but after that we went and picked up Wanderlay, our golden brasilian investigator that keeps appointments and reads the Book of Mormon (i love brasilians, i have never met a nicer or more generous people, but they are notoriously bad at keeping committments.) Church was great, and sad, and amazing, because Filipe Esteves is leaving tomorrow for Moçambique (or really for Brasil and after for moçambique) and Irmã Maxfield is going home tomorrow, it's cool to see them beginning and ending their missions on the same day. Rogério blessed the sacrament, and Domingos came! I don't remember how much i said about what happened with Domingos, but basically he had said he wouldn't beable to keep coming and we realized it was out of hands, so all week we'd been praying so that he would be able to come to church, and he came, with three bags of lemons. It was awesome.

So after church we had lunch with the Esteves, and that night we piled into cars to drive out to Oeris to hear Elder Bednar. That was crazy. there were around 800 people, i'm don't think there were any firemarshalls around or we would have had trouble, but all the missionaries were out in the hall so that there would be space for members, so i only heard a bit of it, but it was good. I think we always go to here Apostles expecting them to tell us crazy things we don't know
but really they just remind of us things we already know but do a bad job of remembering, like the love of Jesus Christ, and the importance of obedience, and faith, and cetera. So that was good, and we had three investigators and both our recent converts there.

Monday morning we had a conference with Elder Bednar which was amazing and Elder Oram and I are still trying to sort out all the things we learned, basically we realized we are not teaching as well as we should be, and that it matters a lot less what we say as how well we involve the investigators and help them to act and feel the spirit. So that was really cool, and then we went back and picked up some investigators and headed back to lisbon to hear the single adult fireside, which was also good. So yeah, this weekend was incredible.

Today we're going with the Sisters and a member to see Fatima, this Catholic Mecca of sorts. You should all read about it on Wikipedia, it's a pretty extensive story that i don't have time to try to explain right now. But it should be cool. Last week we toured the Chapel in the Convent here, it was pretty impressive. They sure knew how to build things here, statues too, those were incredible.

So lets see, that was my week more or less, this next week is going to be pretty intense, we have two new elders coming in, a division with the zone leaders, and a ward activity that might involve us riding bikes! I hope all is well over in the united states of american and that nobody does anything to crazy for Mardi Gras. Oh yeah, we have Carnival (portuguese Mardigras) this week too, i hear the kids like to try to hit missionaries with eggs. Woohoo! Até Logo.

com tanto amor,
Elder Ammon

February 11, 2009

First of all, thanks to all the people that sent happy birthday wishes. It was enough to make the day sunday a beautiful. I'll try to look for cool things to buy for my birthday, i think today i'm going to buy a foam mattress for my bed because one of my goals for this week is to sleep all the way through the night,something i don't know if i've really done since entering the MTC. Don't freak out, i'm not sleep deprived, i'm just getting bored of waking up and having to go back to sleep. They don't have 3 ring binders here, or 3 hole punchers, so that would be an awesome thing to send in the next package (not a hole puncher, we manage with individual hole punchers when we have to make 3 holes)

Anyway, to be brief, my birthday was great, we took a bus up to Torres Vedras to do some procura up there, and it was good. We didn't have tons of 'success' mesmo but we talked to lots of people and it felt nice to get out of Mafra, which is fairly small and can start to feel a little groundhog's day at times. As far as Birthday Celebrations we ate at a McDonalds (which is unreasonably expensive in portugal, i don't know why anyone would eat there for anything other than sentimental reasons) and at night the Esteves (who are so amazing) set up a suprise birthday party for me. I was sort of expecting it, on account of how amazing they are, and so when Irmã Esteves called to say we needed to get over there quick for some vague but important reason, i had suspicions. But yeah, it was great, they made cake and gave me socks, which was funny because in talking about cake i said pretty much the only thing i ever want is socks.

Today is another beautiful day in portugal, i'm hopeful that somewhere in pennsylvania a small mammal saw it's shadow (or didn't see it, i can never remember how that's supposed to work) so winter will be over and we can enjoy beautiful sunny days and dry clothes, but if not, i really love contacting people in the rain. It's weirdly fun.

The Baptism went well. Our mission president went for it, so that was cool. I'm feeling pretty blessed, since in europe baptisms can be scarce at times, but there's a lot going on in Mafra right now, and we're hopeful that it can keep happening when the chapel moves. It's going to be tricky.

One more thing and i'll work on individual letters. This week Domingos didn't attend church. Domingos was contacted about four months ago by one of the irmãs and she invited him to church and he came and had been coming every week since then, but last week we passed by his house and ran into his wife who is evangelical and not very nice, at least not to missionaries. And then she told domingos that if he kept going to church she would leave him and so he came up sunday dropped off a bag of lemons (he has a little farm) and left. We caught him on his way out and talked to him and Francisco came right then and talked to him and told him he just needs to talk to his wife and keep coming to church, because he really wants to, and he even has a testimony that it's true, but his wife is pretty harsh. So we've been praying for something to happen there, because he's an really great person, and deserves to be able to come to church.

This saturday there's a party for Filipe Esteves, who's leaving for his mission in about a week. We also have Elder Bednar's firesides coming up, which are sure to be amazing, so we're pretty excited.

So that''s the news for portugal, where all the Irmãs are strong, the Élderes good looking, and all the members above average.

~Elder Ammon

February 4, 2009

In the way of News, probably the most exciting thing we found out this week was that Elder Bednar is coming to Portugal (i think i found that out this week, if i already found it out just take this as evidence of how excited i am)  That will be not this sunday but next sunday (there's some way to say that in portuguese, like sunday 8 or something like that) and there will be three firesides, one for missionaries, one for members, and one for single adults, and we can go to all three as long as we go with an investigator or less active that fits that category.  So i'm pretty stoked about that.  Other fun things, Jorge Lucas was interviewed for baptism and so he's all set to go, he'll be baptized by his former brother in law (there is a long and complicated story about this that maybe i'll explain one day, but it's not really relevent or necessary here) which is great.  I think the ideal missionary would never baptize anyone himself, since the members should baptize people.  That said, i still hope i baptize someone during my mission...maybe, we'll see.   An old evangelical woman yelled at me, that's always a good experience.  Her husband goes to church every week and has been for about 3 months now, but doesn't want to get baptized on account of being afraid of his wife.  He's one of the nicest people i've known, and having met his wife i can understand his fear.  She was not one of the nicest people i've known.  So i'm hoping us passing by doesn't result in him getting hit with a stick or something.

A couple weeks ago i had my first real fun translation error, and i forgot to mention it.  I was talking to this lady who said she was already very close to Jesus Christ (all though she said it in more of a sarcastic-leave me alone i want to wait for my bus in silence-type of way than a expression of faith) and so i said something along the line of "That's great, and we're not here to take away people's beliefs" but what i said was more like "que bom, e nós não estamos aque para tirar as crianças das pessoas"  ["That good, and we are not here to draw children of people"]  Elder Oram and I laughed and laughed.  It´s fun to imagine what it must be like for the portuguese when we contact them, it would be like if two guys with a really strong french accent came up and started talking to you.  Good times.

Lets see, what else is happening in Mafra?  We're going to move to a new chapel in a month or so.  We have to leave the one we're in by the end of febuary i think, and the we're going to have a temporary place for a month or so, and then we're going to move out to this chapel way out in the boonies, which means it's possible that we'll be opening up a new area, Torres Vedres, which has tons and tons of people and there haven't been missionaries there for years.  It's still not definite, and there's a good chance that i will be transfered before that happens (there's still a transfer and a half between now and these things) but it's exciting.

This week we started knocking our way through these predios about a half hour from our house.  We've been meeting some cool people out there.  It seems like the people in new apartment buildings are generally nice than those in old run down apartment buildings, but that might just be because they're better lit and more comfortable, so regardless of the people, you feel better.

Speaking of feeling better, i think one of the greatest blessing i've recieved while on the mission is the ability to be happy in spite of cold and rain and disappointment.  It has been really cold and really rainy this week, but i'm still feeling good.  It's very true that you can decide to not let things bother you, and that you can pray to feel happy.

So that's all that's going on here, at least all that i can put in a letter in one hour.  I'm doing a pretty good job keeping a journal, but it's sad how much of the stuff that happens to me everyday doesn't get recorded, and i'm sure i'm going to forget lots of the crazy and amazing things that happen to me during these two years.  Oh well, é vida.

Com muito amor,

Ammon

January 28, 2009

Last p-day i went to Castle! It was so amazing. It was like being right in the middle of Lord of the Rings. That castle was started sometime in the 9th century. Portugal is so amazing! I get to be here for two years, i need to make sure i see all the amazing stuff while i'm here. At the same time, adventures on p-day generally mean that our house goes uncleaned and we end up really tired, so todays been a nice chill day of shopping, cleaning, and writing letters. We have an hour of 'relax' scheduled in. It's going to be awesome.

I can definitely see how getting back from the mission would be weird. I already feel really uncomfortable just sitting around because i know how much there is to do in our house, in portugal in general. The idea of watching tv doesn't quite seem realistic.

I'm glad to hear Obama is inspiring the nation, we found an obama comic book in the stoor where we do internet last week. Elder Oram bought four (1€ each) and gave me one for my christmas present. We can't read it until we get back from our missions, but we're way excited about reading that. Portugal is so funny.

Elder Oram suggested last week that you generally type letters the night before, because it's unusual that we do it in the afternoon. Most missionaries aparently do it in the morning, but Elder Oram admits that he is bad at p-days because he's served most of his mission in the more rural areas where adventures are hard to do. Apparently things get pretty crazy in Lisbon, someday i hope to serve out there, but i like mafra a lot. I would love to be here in the summer, it's so beautiful, although i hear in the summer we have to stay pretty far from the beaches. So it's probably for the best that it's winter, since we can go to ericeira, which is way cool.

As far as keeping our apartment clean, i ofcourse put my clothes in my clothes hamper, but i guess that is something i started doing while in the MTC, so it wouldn't necessarily be expected. Our apartment stays about as clean and tidy as possible. We try to do all the suggested cleaning stuff, we're slightly hampered by the shocking wetness of our house and the weather, but it stays cleaner than anywhere i've lived in my life, but then we basically only eat, sleep, and study in our apartment, so it doesn't have a lot of time to get dirty. Oh, and yeah, we make our beds everymorning.

It's great to hear the letter got the safe and sound, everything in there made it it sounds like, a couple days after sending it i started worrying about it and prayed that it would all get their safely. This makes the second post related miracle. Hopefully from here on our letters can get back and forth without divine intervention. Also, great to hear the everythings good with Dad on the cancer front. Rogério has some pretty serious health problems, but he is also fairly patient and faithful in that. I found out this week that D&C 122 is probably one of the coolest sections ever. It's intense. 121 has some really good stuff, but 122 is one of the most well spoken things i've ever seen. I need to start bringing scriptures to the store so that i can quote things.

Lets see, what else is going on Portugal. Our missionary day with Edgar and Carla went really well. It was sort of crazy, we spent most of the day teaching, running to pick up another investigator and then teaching some more. Elder Oram set a personal record for lessons with a member in a week. I guess i did to, but i've only been here for 3 months, so it's not quite as impressive. But yeah, it was really good. We found some really great contacts, i think probably the best part of the whole thing was knocking doors that had already shown a bit of interest with a member. I think two americans in black coats (our call packets say no black suits, but of course all the missionaries end up with black rain coats, and the people of portugal just don't wear black much unless they're going to funerals, so we show up on their doorstep looking like the CIA and they wonder who died)

It continues to be rainy and misty here, but that also means it's a little warmer, but the impressive wetness in our house more than makes up for that. i am starting to look forward to the spring though, i only have one more month to get through, and it happens to be the shortest one, que sorte! We starting teaching this guy, Miguel, who is way cool. He's the first person i've contacted that we've successfully started teaching, which is as much a testimony of my short comings in contacting as the difficulty of finding people to teach. As it happens, we are really blessed with people to teach. We have several people progressing towards baptism, and have managed to teach about 20 lessons each week this transfer. That said, we're hurting for new investigators. It's tough, you can really get that kicking against the pricks feeling sometimes, especially because we accidentally wasted our entire night last night. Well, i shouldn't say that, we set up a suprise 20th anniversary dinner for the branch president who does so much for us and has been under a lot of stress lately, it made him really happy, almost to the point of tears, we just didn't have a lot to do while getting it ready and ended up spending our whole night not doing much, but we've got desire and are working hard on the dilligence, so hopefully we're start seeing, or rather, continue seeing more, miracles happen here in mafra.

That's about all the news from portugal this week. I continue to be reletively happy and healthy and warm enough to not complain. Thermals continue to be a huge blessing, as do all the prayers and support. Keep america in one piece until i get back.

Até proxima semana
~Elder Ammon

Pictures from Elder Ammon!

Note: For privacy reasons, Ammon has requested that only the address for the mission office be posted publicly on his blog and not his current physical address. Anything sent there will be passed along to him and it will work for his entire mission. However, I will continue to update his current address on his Facebook account.

January 7, 2009

I think i'm trying to do too many things at once to this computer, between uploading pictures, loading emails, and typing, i'm sort of killing it, mas tudo bem, vai viver.

This week was pretty much outstanding. If the pictures work, they show what we did last pday. We visited the Convent, which is center of mafra and perhaps the biggest palace in our part of portugal (i say perhaps, i have no idea, but it's the biggest elder Oram has seen. Inside is the largest visitable library in Europe (the largest being underground in rome and off limits) and has somewher aroune 40,000 books. It was one of the coolest rooms i've ever been in. Just to imagine how much human thought is in there is epic.

It's cool hearing about Cassie, it's still hard to believe you have a dog (i think when i get back from my mission i might start using y'all, because here we use vocês which means the same thing, and it is weird to say you. Also, while i'm on the subject, portuguese has gender neutral possessive pronouns, objects, and verbs, so you never have to say his/her or he/she it's everything i've ever hoped for! It does not, unfortunately, have any good way to say “I wonder if...” and there's no verb for 'to smite'). It's too bad Kudzu didn't stick, but i'm glad Isaac considered it, and now i can kep it until someday i get a dog. The pictures are great too, Cassie really does look like a tiger.

In relation to goals, i learned while at the mtc and continue to learn that the trick to goals is that you need specific and measurable plans towards the goal, so that at the end of the day you can definitely say if you did what you need to to be moving towards the goal and how well you did. Otherwise i've found my goals just don't happen.

So, i think that's all the business that i can think of, my week: This was the first week of my second transfer, and so far it's been really good. I realized this week that hapiness doesn't actually have that much to do with success. At least for me, it has a lot more to do with how close to all of my heart might mind and strenth i am giving. If i don't try hard, nothing happens and at the end of the day i feel crappy. If i work really hard, at the end of the day i'm exhausted, but it is a good day, and usually cool stuff happens.

On monday we had a divisão (literally a division, but i think they´re generally called splits in english missions) with the zone leaders, which was way cool. Technically, this was my second division, but last time we ended up doing service and eating all day, and i didn't really learn much, this time it was way cool. Something i had already been thinking about is how to be better at contacting, and i realized that if you just talk to people it works a lot better and is a lot more interesting. Because people are pretty interesting, i dunno if that's just portugal or if there are tons of crazy unique people in america to that i've never met on account of not walking around talking to people all day, but yeah, here's it's cool. But something the Elder C. (my zone leader from Sandy) did, which i think he learned from his companion, is just be absurdly friendly and excited about life. This isn't something you can just fake, you have to actually like life and care about people, but when you show that and work on that people respond really well. At first they're terrified at this crazy american who's talking to them, but then they are impressed that this person is so nice and is actually interested in what they have to say, and then sometimes they listen, and if not, at least they'll remember the nice american that was a member of the church of Jesus Christ.

So that's something i'm going to be working on, i'm bad at contacts, on account of being bad at talking to random people and starting conversations in general, so i've been trying to work on that. The goal is to be talking to 10 random people a day, which is both a mission goal and a personal goal. And i'm starting to get closer to that, which is fun.

Lets see, what else. Saturday we have a baptism, of R., which is exciting. Also exciting is the progress of M., who came to church last sunday pretty much without being invited. We invited him but he was thinking he would be in lisbon that day, so we weren't expecting him, but then he showed up anyway and stayed all three hours. Apparently he even did the closing prayer in priesthood meeting. We were teaching another investigator, D., whose wife has been giving him a bunch of anti mormon stuff and telling him we're the church of the devil and such (it's some poorly done stuff too, it's starts off by saying we reject the bible. That's just silly). So we'll see, it's tough, cus he doesn't feel like he can pray, because he's a really humble guy, a farmer, and doesn't feel like he has words good enough to pray, and until he prays and has that testimony he is very prone to every wind of doctrine.

Ok, 7 more minutes. The other cool thing that happened this week is during the division elder oram and elder marriot ran into this guy J. who is an inactive member on account of not really knowing where the church is and having work, but he came up and we taught him a little lesson with F. and then ate dinner at the chinese restaurant (where he somehow managed to pay, which is frustrating, but saved us 12€) and then came with us to teach an investigator, and then went to english class. He's a great kid, (i say kid, he's 20) and wants to serve a mission, and is going to start coming to church, and talk to his boss about changing his schedule a bit to make that easier. So that's awesome.

So that's about all the news from Mafra. I hope everything is going well out there. I'm going to try very hard to write a real letter this week, but that may or may not happen. We'll see. Either way, one more time (and because i think it got deleted last week) thanks so much for the money, the presents, the prayers, and the ongoing support. It's hard to imagine i will spend all of 2009 in portugal, but é verdade. Até proxima semana!

Tanto Amor,
Elder Ammon