I can´t get over how fast weeks pass on the mission. It is kind of blowing my mind that we will be going into March this next week! I have definitely been able to sense the change in seasons this past week. It has still been decently cold, but the sun in the middle of the day gets sooo hot.....brings back memories of when I almost melted away in the summer....can´t say I am really looking forward to the summer heat, but I definitely like that the days are getting longer and it is not so sad looking outside!
We had another great week. We are seeing lots of blessing- one of those being that it seems like we have too much to do and too little time! We have such a HUGE area that takes in 3 cities and it has been difficult lately to be able to make time to visit everyone that we need.
One day this week we had to walk 1/2 hour to get to one area just in Montijo and teach a lesson and then we had to turn straight around and walk 1 hour in the complete opposite direction to try and get to our next appointment. The only problem is that the Portuguese don´t really have a sense of set appointments, so sometimes we walk such a long ways and they don´t end up being home....but that´s ok. I like the exercise. I think I have turned into a master speed walker. I don´t even realize it, but sometimes I will get walking and look back to see that Sister Andrew is a good distance behind me. Whoops!
As for some of the people we are teaching. We had a lesson with a man named Max. He is from Pinhal Novo, and reminds me a lot of Paulo actually! He is a super humble and intelligent man. We had a ride all set up for him to come to church yesterday, but unfortunately he got there late and they had already left so he didn´t get to go, but we will make sure he is there next time.
We also met this man in the street named Jocinto. He called us sisters when we walked by, so we knew he must have had contact with them in the past, because that´s usually the only way they know who we are! haha We invited him to church, and he showed up!! It was super funny because Paulo ended up knowing him because they worked together several years ago, and he just couldn´t believe he was there! For some reason he just thought it was so funny. We were teaching gospel principles class this week, and in the middle of our lesson Paulo just started giggling like a little boy because Jocinto read something and he just had a hard time believing it was the same person. It was pretty funny, but at the same time I think it is amazing to see the change that occurs as people embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We asked President Luis to give a list of 5 names of less actives that we could specifically visit this week, and we had some pretty neat experiences with that!
We met a lady named margarete. We knocked on her door and she was INCREDIBLY nice! You never know with less actives how they are going to receive you, and we definitely got a little bit of everything, but she was extremely nice and were able to talk to her for a few minutes, and she basically said that she stopped going to church because her missionaries left the area. I got super sad to hear that because that is my worst fear, but we are going to start working with her and making sure she has lots of friends in the church so that doesn´t happen again.
The next person that we met was Dionísio. This was probably my favorite lesson that we had this week, because he taught me a great lesson. I love lessons where I learn so much more from the person I am supposed to be teaching than what they learn from me. We invited him to come back to church, and he said he just had one main concern about the church. He continued to ask us where we were from- I said Canada, and Sister Andrew said the states, and then he continued to say, "I just think it is so interesting that it takes 2 girls from so far away to come and visit me. Are we not all brothers and sisters? The only people who have ever come to visit me are the missionaries. Where are my brothers and sisters that live next door, and why have they not come to see how I am doing?"
I am not going to lie, it was an extremely valid point, and a bit of a wakeup call for me. Despite that whole conversation, he is a very humble man, and I think he is definitely going to start coming back to church in the near future.
Yesterday we were able to have lunch with GOGGY! Oh my goodness I love that woman! She is finally back home from the hospital and she saw us in the street and rescheduled the lunch that she wanted to make us. She spoiled us with tons of good food (and even sent the leftovers home with us-a missionaries dream!) and lots of good stories about her crazy life! I can´t even begin to list off the adventures she has had, because I would be here for the rest of the day, but she has been t just about every country in the world except for Russia, and it is so interesting to hear her talk! And in return we got to share a little bit more about the plan of salvation and talked about temples! I just want to get this lady baptized!!!
Well fam, that´s about all I have to tell you this week! I love you lots! You´re incredible! Fiquem bem.
paz e bênçãos!
-Sister Selk
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