6 Months

Olá,

This week has been wild. Tuesday we were crossing the metro tracks, 2 metros had just passed going either way so I thought it was safe to cross so without looking I crossed the first one and was crossing the second one when I looked to the right and unexpectedly there was a metro speeding towards me! A thousand things went through my head in that split second, I have seen so many squirrels hesitate crossing a road and get hit. I thought I have to move, Now! So I quickly ran in the direction that I was walking and made it to the other side just before it crossed where I was. I definitely learned a lesson to always look both ways no matter what. No doubt I had angels watching over me that day it was a close call, haha.

We taught Souza and Clement, the Angolans that came up to us last week, the Restoration. Elder Cottrell looked to me to say the first vision. It had been a while since I had said it and last time I said it I messed up, but that time it came out perfectly!

Santo André was one of the few areas in the mission that had a car and a dryer. In Almada we don´t have either,  we ride the Metro pretty often and sometimes the bus and train, It gives us a lot more opportunities to talk with people.  I felt so cool hang drying my clothes for the first time haha.

I blinked and I have been out 6 months! I will burn my tie tomorrow.

On divisions with the AP´s  a few months ago we talked to this man named Antonio. He was cool with us the first time but the next time we saw him he ducked his head, our pointed to his watch and quickly walked in the other direction. While  I was serving there we ended up running into him a few more times and the same thing continued to happen. I guess he had enough of Elder Anderson in Sines and wanted to get out of the city. Walking by a bus stop the other night a bus stopped and Antonio got off and the first person he saw was Elder Anderson! He tried to get away but I walked towards him and said, "Antonio! Remember me?" He obviously was not happy to see me again so he pointed to his watch and kept walking hahaha it was so funny

Saturday we went to Lisbon for interviews with President Tavares, that night we were so busy working that we didn't have dinner. We definitely saw the sacrifice pay off.

A man named Carlos called us and wanted to talk with us, He had talked with the Elders some time ago. We taught him the Restoration and invited him to be baptized on April 1, he responded "you telling me that I can´t get baptized in March?" we said that we can make that work too! Sunday morning we went on splits with the Miratego Elders because we had a lot of people to walk to church. I went with Elder Angulo to Cova Piedade to pick up Carlos. Elder Cottrell and Mitton stayed in Larenjeiro to walk with Souza and Clement and their two children and Recent Converts Rui Santos, Nelson and his son. After church we walked all 8 of them to their homes.

In Sacrament meeting I didn´t get a chance to count but I would say we had 40-45 people. I gave a talk on what we gain when we read the scriptures, I focused on the Book of Mormon and read the paragraph in the introduction which states, "Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” I shared some of my experiences from reading the Book of Mormon alone and with my family every night as I was growing up and how it brought me closer to Christ. The Book is true and has the power to change your life.

Até Proxímo.