I made it to Portugal! After a long day of traveling, Elder Martel and I arrived in Lisbon on Wednesday afternoon and were greeted by President Tavares and his wife and the office Elders. We then went to the mission home and were assigned to our companions and areas. We spent the night at the mission home and left to our areas on Thursday morning. My companion is Elder Salmon, he is from Canada, also speaks French and has been out for 8 months. His companion went home last week so I took his spot.
We are in the Santo Andre branch which is about 2 hours south of Lisbon and we are living in Sines, our apartment is on the 4th story and is a lot bigger and nicer than my last one. We are one of the only areas with a car and a washing machine! As soon as we arrived at the apartment I put a few things away then we left to an appointment with a less active and brought 3 members with us. She lives on a farm in the country in the middle of nowhere. On the way back we were super low on gas and were trying to make it to a gas station by taking this dirt road that didn't even show up on the map. We got lost and were about to turn back, but fortunately a man drove by and told us where to go, it we would have tried to go all the way back we would of ran out of gas. When we made it to the highway, there was a gas station at the bottom of the hill, we filled up and made it back! What a miracle!
In Europe people are out later at night so we stay out until 9:30, 10:00 at the latest and go to bed at 11 and get up at 7 rather than 6:30.
The area is pretty big and yet at church yesterday there were only 18 people in sacrament meeting haha there is a lot of work to do here. There are a lot of people from Cape Verde and Brazil. It is cool to meet so many different kinds of people.
People work like crazy here so it is hard to find them at home. The past few nights we have been trying to meet with Suzanne and Rodrigo and their family who have been investigating the church. We missed them a few times because they are super busy with work, but last night we ran into them and were able to talk with them!
Sines borders the ocean and has a strong ocean scent pretty much everywhere we go. Saturday morning we went running down to the beach and ran across the road right above the beach as the sun was rising. It was so cool. The sun sets over the ocean and is spectacular every night.
Portugal is awesome and way different than any other place I have ever been to. It is so cool here, pretty much all the houses are white stucco with red clay roofs. The people are usually pretty nice but they speak so fast that it is hard to understand. I understand at most 15-20% of what they are saying but I know that it will come with time.
My body has had a hard time adjusting to the 7 hour time change so I have been so tired, but these week I should completely adjust. Sunday night we were tracting in an apartment complex and I had a thought to go to floor 8. When we got there Elder Salmon thought for a minute then said door 16. We knocked on it and a man opened up and was busy at the time, but we talked for a few minutes and he was very interested, then we made a return appointment. His work schedule is busy and unpredictable but he said if he was home that he would willingly let us in and listen to our message! It was amazing!
The mission field has been hard but rewarding, I am excited to continue to learning and growing as I serve the Lord!
Sines is not a touristy place but there is still this sweet view from the back of a castle!
Elder Empey has a full ride to play O-line at BYU!
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