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

Going Private

I've decided to make Ammon's blog private. I know it is a bit of a hassle and makes it harder to read, but I've decided that it is the best thing to still keep posting his letters. If you would like to get permission to read it, please email me, his sister, at katewangsgard@gmail.com. I plan to make the change in a couple weeks to give people time to respond. Thanks.

January 4, 2010

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

December 28, 2009

Merry Christmas!

It’s sort of shocking how fast the christmas magic leaves town, this lights and such are still all up, but it’s quickly gone back to normal Portugal. Not that I don’t like normal Portugal, but it’s sure no Christmas Portugal. It was great talking to everybody, although I must admit it was slightly weird, everything sounds the same except for Isaac, who sounds different. Those pictures are extremely silly, and it looks like Isaac got a great Christmas haul, and those little ball things look cool. This week we were shopping in the Chinese store for presents, and I saw this rat transformer that I got for Christmas or my birthday or something about 10 years ago. I don’t know if you guys still remember vividly my rat transformer, but I do. It was crazy epic déjà vu (I don’t know how to spell that). Today we’re going to the mall to do some Christmas shopping, I’ll try to send a picture of what I get. I don’t think there will be any DSi’s, but it should be fun. Oh, and my planner only goes 6 weeks in advance. Four and a half months is really close. That’s going to go scarily fast. I think it’s best if I don’t think four months into the future.

I did spell johnny’s name right (or jonny’s name right, depending on who you ask. I wrote Jonathan, and I’m pretty sure the name doesn’t matter) and I’m pretty sure I wrote the address right, to avoid confusion I’m just going to send it to caitlin’s house and she can divvy the presents up. It’s absurd how long it’s taking to send this, I wrote the letters that are in this package about 6 months ago.

The rainstorm was rough, and it’s sad I don’t have any pictures. The dona isn’t taking any more chances, now whenever it rains R. comes down and shuts the giant valve that keeps any water from coming in or out, so it shouldn’t be a problem anymore, unless the rain catches us by surprise.

We had a really good week, Christmas magic was everywhere, and we got a new person in church, M. S. won’t be getting baptized this week, be pushed in back to the 10th of January, but he’s doing really well. We found a bunch of new people last week, so we’re pretty excited for all of them. I really like finding new people to teach, it’s easy to get in a rut of teaching all the same people that aren’t going anywhere, but it seems like when you drop people that aren’t progressing, new people very quickly show up to take their place. There’s probably some sort of life application in this mission truth, but I dunno what it is.

Christmas night we ate with the dona’s family, which was a lot of fun. Dona gave us gloves and socks for Christmas (I love socks).

We’re both a little sick right now, probably as a result of cold and too much candy, but it will pass.

Anyway, that’s about to news for today. Everyone have a happy news years. I still remember 2000 when we were watching October Sky and it started snowing. That was cool. This new years I’ll be going to be in bed by 11, but I’ll try to wake up at 7 to celebrate new years with all you mountaineers.

Thanks for the support and the pictures and the presents, any of the three is always appreciated. Feliz natal e um bom ano.

Abraços,

Elder Ammon

December 21, 2009

T’was the night before pday and all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse

The elders were nestled all snug in their beds

While visions of baptisms danced in their heads

The jackets were hung by the heater with care

In hopes that the wetness wouldn’t be there

And I in my thermals, and Elder B. in his cap

Had long settled down for a just winters nap

When out in the kitchen there arose such a clatter

That I leaped from my bed to see what was the matter

Away to the door I flew like a flash

But before I could get there, I heard my foot splash

And what to my wondering eyes should appear

But a miniature flood, 8 inches of rain-

As you may have guessed by my attempted poetry, we had another flood today. This one was a much different experience from last time. At about 4a.m. the dona called because she was worried. It had been raining a lot and she had just woken up, and there was quite a bit of water in the road, so she was wondering if there was water in our house. And there was. I only had to take a couple steps from my bed and it was already quite wet. Our door had been shut, but the rest of the house already had several inches, and we could hear the little sewer whole gurgling away, as the water rose quickly. But between dona and us, we took care of it. By the time the fireman came (well prepared for the then inch high water, in fireman suits, helmets, and visors) it was already leaving. The dona let us go upstairs and sleep in the house they’ve been getting ready for their family. We didn’t sleep too well, because our feet were still really really cold. But it was nice. Meanwhile, the dona and R. cleaned up everything, which was incredibly nice of them, and by the time we woke up at about 8 o’clock, they had finished. I made a little video, but it ended up way to big to send.

So that was pretty exciting.

In other news, things are good, Today it is beautiful and sunny and warm. We had a good week but I’ll probably talk more about it on Friday. Christmas is coming absurdly fast, we haven’t even had time to plan what we’re going to do, President moved p-day to Christmas, today we’re just going to write and do a few groceries, so we can leave our area or do whatever on christmas. There’s a lot of stuff we’ve like to do and not a ton of time. Elder B. is planning on calling at 3 o´clock our time. That works out to be about 9 o’clock your time (you’re 6 hours earlier). His parents are calling his cell phone, so I’ll call you guys at the same time.

In response to a few questions, yes, bacalhau com natas is a pretty normal dish at any time of the year, but it’s especially common around Christmas. I believe I’ve eaten it twice in the last week or so, and I’ll probably end up eating it a bit more. But it’s good. Cod fish with cream, good times.

Elder B. and I are still getting along really well. We’ve been singing Christmas songs at every opportunity. It’s also a very effective way of finding people to teach. We’ve been knocking doors and offering to sing songs. You would be surprised how many people say no, but it’s good for nice people who don’t have time, plus it’s lots of fun.

Speaking of lots of fun, I got a very cool letter on Thursday, from Michelle B. (johnny’s mom) telling me how when the missionaries came to the door she thought of me and let them in. She got baptized back in November. It was definitely the best Christmas present I’ve gotten so far.

That reminds me, the same day, I got back a package I had tried to send to my friends (that’s right, if you guys are still reading this, there are, in fact, presents on the way) It seems it got all the way to Mississippi and the got sent back, somewhere in between the present for Johnny being stolen (I believe that’s the second time Johnny’s present has been lost in the mail. Sorry). I’m going to get a new one, send it again, but I need a different address to send it to. I was wondering if you guys could find out where Johnny, Caitlin, and Roberta will be, respectively, in the next few weeks, and either email that to me, or tell me on the phone.

S., who you may remember, is set for getting baptized here in a bit. We had dropped but he found a pamphlet in the trash and got into contact with us again.

We’re really excited about this week, it’s going to be a really good week. We have Christmas conference on Wednesday, Christmas eve on Thursday, p-day/Christmas on Friday. I wish the Christmas season was longer, and that we had started singing hims and such earlier. It’s a really good time for missionary work, as long as you don’t get homesick. Not feeling too homesick this time around, it’s just sort of strange. Still doesn’t quite feel like Christmas, or it does, just not like normal Christmas. But that’s alright, mission Christmas is great.

Everyone have a great week, and a Feliz Natal

Elder Ammon

December 14, 2009

So, as it happens I might not be going to the giant Christmas tree today, president t. asked us all to stay in our areas and use preparation day to prepare so that we can focus on the work this week. In theory that’s what we’re supposed to do every week, but it’s good to focus on it. We’re going to clean out our house, I’ve been neglecting it a little, since I was expecting to get transferred, and with the winter the mold is starting to take over, so we’re going to fight it back. Hopefully next week I’ll be able to get some photos out to you guys.

The week was different. I didn’t realize how different it is to work with cape Verdean companions. Being back with an American is different, it’s a lot of fun, but it’s a little harder to stay focused. We have to work on not speaking English in the street and talking about movies and video games and teen girl squad. Elder B. is cool, he’s from Idaho and we get along really well, he was a music major before the mission, and we’ve been singing a lot of songs in lessons. Christmas is a really great time for missionary work, people are at home, people are happy, and thinking about Jesus Christ. Plus, there’s such a great spirit of Christmas. People in general are just happier (I learned last year that this wears of almost immediately after Christmas. Come December 26, people will be back to their scroogey ways). We’re hoping to be able to do some sort of service for people. We learned last year it can be tricky to offer service in Portugal, but we’ll do our best.

We’re excited about this little family we met. We taught one person in the family last week, but this week we got to know the rest of the family. They’re pretty cool. Interestingly, we knocked their door about 4 months ago with elder f., but they said they weren’t interested, we went back a couple weeks ago because we were trying to find this kid we contacted in the street. We didn’t find him, but some kids directed us to the house and his family. His family wasn’t really interested, but he came out and talked to us, and we set up a lesson. The first time the family didn’t really listen, but when we came back the second time they were all there, we sang Christmas songs and they loved it and then in the end the ten year old daughter, (who’s way cool) said the prayer. Since then we’ve gone back twice. The grandparents don’t speak Portuguese, but with my broken creole I learned from elder F. I managed to explain how to pray and the grandmother said the closing prayer. Tonight we’re going back with M. (who speaks creole much better than I do). I have a lot of hope for this family, they have plenty of time and are always willing to listen to us. Those are two of the most important things, now as long as they’re actually interested and willing to change, we’ll we golden. It’s cool to see the way we get led to people. I think a lot of time people think that the missionaries have some sort of very specific feeling and go to someone’s door and baptize them that week. That happens too, but more often the principles of finding people are similar to the principles of finding anything: You generally find them when you’re looking for something else. For whatever reason, knocking doors is extremely ineffective, but looking for specific people generally leads to success, even when they’re not the people you were looking for. It’s interesting.

In other news, m’s mom is progressing, which is exciting. She’s started reading the Book of Mormon with him and is wanting to talk to us more. She’s works quite a lot, which is challenging, but we’re happy. M. is so great. We also had a new guy come to church this week, P., he’s cool. He also works a lot, but he likes church. We also had a Christmas party on Saturday. That was cool, we had lots of people show up. We invited our Dona and she came along with R. Those two are way cool.

So, it was a pretty normal week, I’m hoping this week will be a little more extraordinary, so we’re going to work hard and pray a lot and try to get some of these people progressing. I still don’t know how Christmas is going to be, where I’ll call from, or when I’ll call, but I’ll figure that all out this week, and tell you guys next Monday. I can’t believe it’s already been a year. President T. told me this would probably be my last transfer in pontinha. He told me that last transfer too, but I think he means it this time. So I’m trying to find some more motivation. I sort of sprinted to the finish last transfer, and when it turned out there were six more weeks, it caught me a bit unprepared, so I have to regroup and get going. But I’m happy I’m here, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else for Christmas this year.

Anyway, you all have a great week, feed the missionaries and help them teach. Personally I’m a lot more grateful for when members teach with us than when they give us food, but food is good too.

Amo vocês, abraços, boas festas, até logo

Elder Ammon

December 7, 2009

Boas Festas!

So, last week i was sort of frustrated, but now i'm over it and excited again. We're about to go to the zoo again, so i'm happy, since last time we didn't get a chance to see everything, i'm not going to write all that much before, but i'll try to get some time afterwards to say more. I still don't know what's happening here, but anythings possible, i could stay, i could leave, or pontinha could close, etc. Basically the only thing that won't happen is stay here but move to a different house, but even that's sort of possible. Anyway, the mission is losing 15 missionaries and we're only getting one sister missionary, so a bunch of areas are closing, we'll see how it goes. Anyway, this week was good (this keyboard is not good, so if a few letters are missing, you can assume it's because of the keyboard, not because i'm forgetting enlish). We found some cool new investigators, and S., this investigator that we dropped 6 weeks ago, called us and wanted to meet up. It turned out that he had run into a joseph smith pamphel from the 70's in the garbage, and wanted to give it to us. It's a cool little 'relic' ,as he called it (he speaks english... roughly, but understandably) and it turned out to be useful in teaching a lesson later that day.

This week was fast sunday. Fast sundays are my favorite sundays, not so much because of the fasting (athough that's good) but because everyone bears their testimony. Everbody thinks missionaries live for the baptism, but i've always found a lot more fulfilling the times after baptism. And recent converts bearing testimonies are some of the best times you get in the mission. So it was cool.

It's cool to hear about the baptisms there in biloxi. I'd like to baptize members' friends, but i haven't been able to do that. One of the things Elder Capische talked about was the importance of being independent of members, basically if members don't bring friends to church, bring people to church yourself and help them make friends with members. In that way it works out the same way.

Portugal is getting very christmassy, they've put lights all over the place, and today we're planning on going down into lisbon to take a picture infront of the biggest christmas tree is europe. So that should be interesting. Right next to me, there's a nun buying a cellphone, it's seems strange for some reason.

I'll do my best to buy cool christmas presents for myself, i have a couple things in mind, but basically the only thing i can use right now are socks. Oh, the package came already, and it's great. Eating peanut butter while wearing slippers is really really good. I don't know how i've gone twenty years without slippers.

Anyway, that's about all the time i have. We're going to go rock the Zoo one more time, just incase i get sent far away or something. I'll try to get pictures and transfer updates out before the end of the day, so have a great day, and place your bets.

My guess, is pontinha is closing, and i'm going to Mossimá (not quite sure how to spell that). I don't want pontinha to close, but that's my guess. We'll see how it goes.

Até já,

Ammon

So the zoo was sweet. I'll send some pics and such, but here's the deal with transfers. I'm staying! My guess was way way off, but i'm happy. I'm excited to be here for christmas and such. It does sort of change my plans, i had been planning to leave, now i need to do groceries, but that's cool.

Elder R. is leaving, he's going to Vasco da Gama which is just on the other side of the river. I'm going to be serving with Elder B., who i know sort of, he was in the MTC with me for three weeks, he seems nice. My district is staying about the same, except there are going to be three executive secretaries, so Elder C. (who was in the MTC with me also) is coming in. Anyway, you'll probably only interested in the fact that i'm staying, so i'll leave it there.

So yeah, i'm excited to go one more here, i'm going to try to make it really good, i learned a lot this transfer, so hopefully i'll be able to apply it. So, that's the news, i'm going to send a bunch of pictures now. Have a great week, stay safe, and write lots.

Abraços,

Elder Ammon