It's been a rough month for Elder Lee . . . here are some things he has said:

December 10: The baptism didn't happen. She has an addiction with smoking.  We were ready to baptize her but she got really sick and couldn't go to church. The other family keeps changing our times to meet with them. I haven't ever seen them go to church, but I am sure they are going to go this next week. I don't know how. But we will see. 

The most important thing in the world is to read the Book of Mormon and pray every day. Without those things each day, the world will shoot arrows and spears at you and you won't have that prayer to block them. 

December 16:  This past week has been the worst week for the mission in a long time. We only had three baptisms last weekend. Our baptism fell again. The investigators keep getting annoyed with us and I don't understand why. We talked to them about it, and got it all figured out, but they still have that little feeling. I think we will end up trying to mark her the 27 or 28 of December. That family was sick last week. The father said he would go, but he didn't. We had a lesson with him Friday about prayer and it was amazing. We hope to keep talking with him and keep his desire to be baptized.

December 22:  It's been the worst week I have had in the mission number wise ... we didn't have very many lessons, but contacted a lot of people, just never could get a hold of them again. It's hard ...

Go to this website. I am in one of the pictures (bottom picture) with all of the missionaries. middle row towards the left.

https://www.lds.org/church/news/elder-cook-reports-europe-area-focused-on-work-of-salvation?cid=HPWE121014557&lang=eng

On Christmas Day we were able to Google Talk with Elder Lee.  He looks good and had a hard time with some English words.  He has a cough but says that is normal this time of year.  He doesn't seem to be homesick and is learning to like fish.  He will stay in Viana do Castelo at least until the next transfer which will be February 2, 2015.

Viana do Castelo is one of the farthest cities north.  The mission averages between 10 and 15 baptisms a week.

Please pray for Elder Lee and his investigators.

If you haven't noticed already, the church came out with a new message called "He Is The Gift." If you haven't seen it go to christmas.mormon.org and watch that video. This Christmas the church is going world wide with this "initiative." 

Every one of your jobs is to watch the film, and like it on every social media site you have to show the entire world. Also, invite at least one friend specifically to watch this, come to a family night, or go to church with you. The Church believes in Every member a missionary. So do your part. Help the missionaries out. They need every bit of help they can. I am here in Portugal and the only investigators that are progressing have a relationship of some sort with a member. Members are the reason people get baptized NOT the missionaries. 

Please, #ShareTheGift with everyone you possibly can. Share the joy you get from Christmas and being a part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They are your brothers and sisters. This will impact their lives, please help them.

Thank you, Love you all.

Eu sai que Igreja de Jesus Cristo Dos Santos Dos Ùltimos Dias é a igreja do Senhor e por meio do Evangelho do Jesus Cristo, nós podemos voltar e viver com Deus para sempre em Sua presença. Por Favor Ajudemos todos as possoas. Em Nome de Jesus Cristo, Amém.

Com Muito Amor,

Elder Lee

Written November 17, 2014

Well the first week in this area was pretty good. Elder Fish has had a family here being taught the lessons and can't keep their goal to be baptized on a certain day, but they all have been to church at least once - some more than others. Anyway, the first night I got to meet them we gave them a date to be baptized.  It's a family of 4, two girls and the parents. The parents aren't married yet but the girls are marked for this coming Sunday after church. They are excited. The parents are expected to be married before the 27 of this month so they can be baptized on the 29 and all of them can be confirmed and receive the Holy Ghost the same day. That's our goal. I am praying it works out. It will be the first baptisms for Elder Fish, and we will complete a family which President is really strong about. Also we got a reference - that really never happens.  It's the son of one of the recent converts. He has heard bad things about this church and he just wants to know the truth. We have taught him the first and second lessons and he is reading the Book of Mormon and trying to figure out which is the best way to study it. He actually asked us that question. 

Written November 24, 2014

No baptisms. Those marcados were two daughters in a family. And they decided to be baptized as a whole family, but the father, we think, is getting annoyed with us. We really need the members help now, because the father needs to stop smoking and also get married, and he says we are pushing him. It's difficult. So we don't have any progressing investigators right now, but we definitely will next week. 

We ran out of milk Saturday and we didn't have time to buy more. So Sunday morning for breakfast we ate oatmeal with water.  It wasn't too bad but this morning we went earlier than usual to buy food for the week, and I still hadn't eaten breakfast.  When we got home, I was excited to eat, but they don't refrigerate the milk here (milk lasts about a year without being in the fridge). I poured my cereal and ate it with yogurt instead.

I am leaving here today to go to Lisbon to do residency, so now I won't be living here on a visa anymore. Wish me luck.

Love you all!

Thank you much!

Elder Lee

I have been transferred and assigned to Aviana do Castelo, the farthest area north.  I have heard it's the biggest area in the mission, so we will see how it goes. My companion is Elder Fish from Nevada. We were in the same house in Setúbal, so we already know each other. This is his 6th transfer and hasn't baptized anyone, so we are changing that this transfer. Also, this transfer is only 4 weeks.

In Benfica we had progress. Before I left we met a married older couple that came to church and to the night of movies at the church last night. It was great. Also a woman named Catia that just finished school. She loves to read the Book of Mormon with us, but hasn't been to church and she is leaving this coming weekend to Holland. But she has plans to attend church there already. Also, Vilma. she has a boyfriend and one little boy. She is ready and knows she needs to be baptized, but she lives so far from the church, and it's an hour ride by bus to her house. So it's pretty difficult, but we will see what happens. 

Being selfless is crazy difficult. It's a pride problem, if I haven't said that before. It's difficult because there are two sides to it. When you put everyone literally above yourself, its not good, but if you put yourself above everyone else, that's not good either. There is a scripture that says let others praise you, not yourself. It's fine if people start talking highly about you, or you about someone else, but if you talk about yourself so highly, then it becomes a problem. There is a point between being humble but also being confident. People say that Nephi was a little boastful because he says a couple times that "I am of large stature, full of strength, and preferred of the Lord." Its not boasting or being prideful, it is being truthful. It's very difficult and I don't know how to obtain it, except always pay attention to what I say and try not to win an argument, of who had the most beautiful goal, who writes faster, who wakes up earlier, or who studies more.

Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Preach My Gospel says, "quit comparing yourself to others." Its like track or cross country - it's all about you and your times. You are trying to improve YOUR time, not anyone else's. So in life, first look at where you started, then look at where you are now. Have you progressed? or have you stayed the same? It doesn't matter who else is better or worse than you. What matters is you.

Yesterday was stake conference. We have had just 1 normal Sunday here in Benfica and its already the 4th week of the transfer. Yesterday we had the best day yet.  We contacted a reference from the other missionaries.  She wasn't really interested but said the closing prayer. We will see if we can still continue with her. Just after that we encountered a man walking into his house and asked if we could share a little message. We started with the importance of prayer right after the opening prayer and lead to Joseph Smith.  They accepted the Book of Mormon and will read 2 Nephi 31.  They only have time to talk on Sunday's, so that's a bit of a downer. But we will live. Anyway, Sunday we ended up with 5 new investigators and 5 lessons. It was a good day.

The work in our area is good. We have 2 progressing investigators so far, but we encountered a family last Friday night.  They are considered investigators because we had a quick lesson but haven't been back yet, and we definitely will.

If you love rain, come to Portugal. There is rain every day. And if you think the weather changes fast in Utah, haha, it's not that fast, compared to Lisboa.

One thing I learned, Always Wash Your Hands. It had never occurred to me how dirty everything really is, especially public transportation. Yuck!  People are disgusting. 

Well, I don't know what more to say.  

Have a great week. 

In Portuguese we say, Boa semana

Learning a new language is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I have never had to study for a test, I have never had to practice non-stop, I've never had a problem with this kind of stuff. Well now it's biting my back. I don't know how to study, I don't know how to make a study plan, and I don't know how to learn a language. Luckily I have people to help me with that. But what if I didn't? What would I do? Well, let me tell you. There is someone who does know how to learn this language, there is someone who knows exactly who we are and exactly what we need. That picture of Christ standing at the door without a doorknob is not just a nice picture, it has lots of meaning to it.  So, what does it mean?

Christ is standing right next to the door and will never leave it. But he can't open it, all he can do is knock. And that knock is the voice of the Holy Ghost. But guess what? It's soft, it's hard to hear. If we are in our house (which is here on this earth), and we can't hear that knock, how easy is it for Christ to help us? It's impossible. Why do you always have your music in your ears, why do you always have to be talking to someone, why do you always have to be with your friends, why do you always have to be busy? Do you have priorities, or do you just have a jumble in your head of what needs to be done so you have no plan? Maybe once or twice a week you can plan out your week, and plan a time each day for a special time with Christ so He can help you. He wants to help you. He is standing there, always at the door. We need to have our days planned out, and a little slower, so we can hear that soft knock of the Savior in our lives, each and every day. And as Elder Ballard taught, when we are on the boat and the water is still, when we are bored, we want to jump out and have a little fun. But once we do that, we step that much closer to death, not just physical death, but Spritual death. Even when each day is going good, don't get too comfortable that you don't plan, that you don't keep listening to that knock. Because once we here that knock what do we need to do? We need to open the door. So how do we do that? We Pray to our Father in the Name of Christ, to see what He wants us to do. Or let Him help us in our lives, and prevent some trouble that might come upon us. 

I have now realized how important it is to slow down during the day, and always be listening to that Still Small voice. It is the most important thing in this life. 

In the Name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Elder Lee

This area is an old area, we are basically re-opening it. We have no area book, no numbers of members on our phone, so we literally started from scratch. We did get a hold of the bishop and now we are starting to roll. Slowly but surely. 

Written September 29, 2014

I had 2 more baptisms this weekend, Rafaela and Clarisse. I got to baptize Rafaela. It was great. Also they wanted my to give a talk on the Holy Ghost. So i gave my first talk in Portuguese and everyone said I did a good job, even when I had almost nothing prepared except for one scripture and my thoughts. But once I stood up to the pulpit, my mind went completely blank. I didn't know what to say, but as D&C 85:85 says, the spirit will bring them back to your remembrance when it is needed. It wasn't a smooth talk, but I lived and so did they.The water in the baptismal font was cold. It wasn't too bad I thought, but everyone else thought it was way cold. Pretty funny. :) Anyway, after the baptism the bishop had them come to the pulpit and bear their testimonies. and the Testimony of Clarisse was amazing. It brought the spirit so strong and it was the best thing ever. Rafaela was a bit nervous because she is young, but it was good. She knows this is the true church and that she did the right thing. 

The language is coming and getting easier. I have a new companion, Elder Porter from St. George. In the past he has been a zone leader, so he is a good missionary. We are in Bem Fica, Lisboa. which used to be the AP`s area. I just got here today.

 

I had my first baptism this past week. The baptism Friday was amazing. Monica had been an investigator for 6 years and attended church all of the time with her husband. I got to be a lucky missionary to see it happen. The spirit was really strong and it was amazing. I'll send some pictures.

Other investigators:

Aldofo, is a really old and an amazing black guy. We saw him on the road Saturday afternoon. He had time so we gave him a tour of the church. He already committed to baptism next Sunday and attended church yesterday. He was amazing. We still haven't started with any of the lessons yet, but he is ready.

Clarice is 13 and Rafaela is 9. They have been investigators for two weeks now or so. and finally visited church yesterday. They have also committed to baptism Sunday. So we will see them get baptized. :)

My friends and other friends. I love each and every one of you. I have thought about YOU once already. Trust me. I have. :) Today I want to tell you something that is the most important, the funnest thing I can do here on the mission and I wish I had more time to do it. That is Study The Scriptures!!!

We have one hour to study every day. And that 1 hour is not enough. I don't care if you say you don't have time. Gee, I KNOW you can make time. It doesn't have to be an hour, but please try for at least 20 minutes, and I promise you, if you are studying with your whole mind, 20 minutes won't be enough. I promise with all my heart it will bless your day, your life, your families lives and your friends lives if you can do only that for 20 minutes. It doesn't exactly have to be scriptures either, actually scriptures are my favorite. But Jesus the Christ. If you haven't read that book, please do it sometime soon. Do it for me. I have gotten 45 pages into it, and I don't have time to read any more. At least for a couple months. :) If you don't know, that book was written in the temple by James Talmage. It is practically scripture. I know that it is true and if it was written in the House of the Lord, I bet Jesus the Christ was the real author of that book. It was written in His House. 

I challenge you to pick a topic: the Atonement, Charity, Brotherly Kindness, Chacter of Christ, anything, and study that for a week or a month then move to another topic that interests you. You won't learn anything if it's not something you love, so have fun with it and it will cause miracles to happen in your life. :)

I ask you to do this because I love you. I hope you know that. I would do anything for any of you. As long as it makes you happy. :) 

Happiness is a choice. Choose to be happy every day. Wear that lovely smile everywhere. You made a covenant with our Heavenly Father when you were baptized to be a representative of Jesus Christ. So, I ask you to be a window. A window that people can look through you and See your Savior Jesus Christ. 

Well now that I feel like I'm giving a lecture. Sorry... But It is true.

De Novo, Eu amo vocês. Guardam Jesus Cristo em tuas vidas. Sempre lembrá-Lo. E vâo ser abençoado. Em nome de Jesus Cristo. Amém

I am tired just about every night. I don't exercise much because there is only 30 minutes to get ready and go somewhere, and then get back home. So I can never really move my legs. I find myself flexing my legs and my back all of the time, because they want to do something exhausting, but I really can't. Oh well. I started getting a blister on my heel a couple nights ago because we were walking super fast one night to get back home on time, because the lesson was awesome and we didn't want to leave.  We walked fast and my heel got a little bit of a blister. This morning putting my soccer shoes on hurt it a bit, but it's all good now, I think. 

Elder De Oliveira leaves home in December. Yes, there is a branch in our area that four missionaries are in, and we all live together. We live in the other Elders' area, so we have to walk all the way to our area to start doing anything, and its about a 20 minute walk from our house. The drivers are crazy, but I love it.  Honestly if you are crossing the road, at a cross walk, you don't wait for the cars, they all wait for you. It is so different. So whenever you get to a crosswalk you don't have to stop walking, the cars stop for you. It's actually really cool. They make sidewalks here for three reasons, to plant trees, people to walk of course, and the most important reason for sidewalks here in Portugal, is to park your cars. If they have to run into the correios real quick, or something, they park pretty much in the lane they were driving in, get their stuff and come back out onto the road. They are crazy, but it all works somehow. Also, this town has steep hills, and they park every which way. Places at home where it would be a 5 mph road, here it's about 25 mph. That's why they don't have bikes. If you got into an intersection as fast as a bike does and a car is coming the other way, you're dead. ha. And also, the cobblestone is really slick so bikes wouldn't do anything when it's raining.

Members don't do very much missionary work. Elder De Oliveira hasn't really ever received a referral. But the youth here are better than most youth I see anywhere in Utah. You want someone who will stand up for what they believe in, you come to Portugal. Not to say that no one in Utah is like that, but for the majority its like that. I'd take 15 Portuguese youth over 100 youth in Utah, probably. They are awesome! The weather is very hot during the day. One elder is from Arizona and says it's not bad when we are complaining, but it is hot. One of the members says in September its hotter than in August, so I'm going to die.

P-days, last week we didn't do anything. There isn't much to do in our area. Today we went to an aquarium in Lisboa. It was great. We still need to buy food and stuff for the rest of the week. Since we have two companionships in the house, we switch every other week of who buys food for the week. It's pretty great. We get 160 euros each month. 

Email from Justin on August 25, 2014

The flights here were crazy. The shortest one we had was to Dallas. Not bad. But the over night one to London was ruthless. As I expected, I slept about 4 hours, which actually was great because jet leg wasn't too bad. In Dallas, we met the missionaries returning home from Portugal. One of them knew my companion Elder De Oliveira. He lived in Brazil when he was younger, then has lived here in Portugal for the past 11 years. So he doesn´t know English very well, but he knows a lot. I can talk in English and he will understand me, but it´s hard for me to understand what he says. He doesn`t have vocal cords, so everything is like a whisper. But my understanding is getting better. 

I am serving in Setùbal. Its a great place, every where pretty much has a lot of hills. I can´t walk very far that's flat like at home (ha), but I´m surviving. 

The Atonement is real, but so is Satan.  You can be repented of your sins even if they are “red as scarlet, they can be white as snow”  (Isaiah 1:18).  And the Lord God “will remember their sins no more”  (Jeremiah 31:34).  But Satan will bring them back to your remembrance all of the time. This ! Does Not ! mean you haven’t truly repented. 

Elder Bednar said, “Please remember, the Lord requires you to be clean but not perfect.”  The Holy Ghost operating again in your life is the surest indicator of forgiveness by the Lord because “the spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples.”  Once again you feel the spirit in your life, you will know you have truly repented.

I love the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  It is my life.  Without it, I wouldn’t be here right now and I would not be a Justin Lee.  I am very grateful for the Atonement.  It is the most important event that has happened on this earth.

I love Him, and I Love you.  May God be with you wherever you are in life.  He can and will help you, but you have to make the first move.  In the sacred name of my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Lee leaves the Provo MTC on Tuesday, August 19, 2014 to fly to Portugal.  He arrives in Lisbon Portugal on August 20 about 6:05 pm.

Justin said in his last letter, "I am excited to be teaching investigators for real and I can't wait to find out what his mission has to offer!"

The following was written by Elder Lee on August 5, 2014:

This week has been quite normal, nothing too exciting, except from last weeks post, on the Character of Christ. Find out what the Character of Christ is. Read through every account of the ministry of Jesus Christ once or twice or more. The more the better. You will come to know how special He really was. You will find flaws in yourself that you need to fix. You will find that everything in this life is about everyone else but yourself. Look into that.

There is a talk titled "Character of Christ." The best talk probably ever given, given on a Sunday Christmas day to the missionaries. I don´t know if they have released it onto the internet yet, but if they have, I want each and every one of you to look and find that talk and listen to it with an open heart. Your life will be blessed, I PROMISE you. 

When Christ walked the earth, he ´turned out when we would have turned in.´  Turning out--putting others needs before your own, such as Christ did when satan was tempting Him, saying, If thou be the Son of God, turn these stones into bread.` And what Christ did, was, he prayed that His friends who were in prison, or in time of trial, would have food, instead of satisfying His own needs.  During this time Christ was fasting, so he was clearly hungry, yet he turned out instead of turning in.   So, turning in--putting your needs in front of others. If you were starving in the middle of the desert, and someone asked for the last crumb while it is in your hand, would you give it up? Turning out is the greatest characteristic in the world, called Charity.

While Elder Bednar was stake president, he got a call early in the morning. The lady that had called him was the relief society president in one of the wards. She was telling him that three young women were in a terrible accident and  they were being taken to a hospital by where President  Bednar lived. (One was pronounced dead). She asked him to go to the hospital and identify the victims. So President Bednar said he would, of course. While talking on the phone with this woman, he realized she also had another phone on her other ear, which was with the nurse who was helping at the scene of the accident. During the talk President Bednar heard the nurse say to the Relief Society President that the young woman who had died was her one and only daughter. She immediately talked to President Bednar that he needed to identify the two other victims and let their mothers know.

This woman was more concerned about the families of these two young women than she was of the death of her only daughter. That is the extent of completely turning out when the natural man would turn in (Mosiah 3:19). Another little story about this amazing women. On her daughters funeral day, she got a complaint (because she was Relief Society President), that this woman hadn´t had any food delivered to her because she had a minor cold. So on her way to her daughter's funeral, she dropped off a meal to this complaining sister. 

I believe this woman has fully developed the Christ-like Attribute of Charity.

I also want you all to search the scriptures searching for the characters of Christ, and don´t ever forget what you learn. :) 

Eu Ama Vocês

The Provo Temple re-opened just before last Tuesday. P-days we go and do a session at the temple. I saw a brand new movie that just barely came out and I loved it. It has a lot more meaning now. :) The Portuguese came super fast the first week, but now it's coming slowly. It's hard to study, but it keeps motivating me. I have become able to know what my teachers and investigators are saying, for the most part, but speaking it is a very different story. 

The MTC is AMAZING, I am definitely loving it. The Spirit is soo strong all of the time and you are talking about the gospel nearly every conversation. Please don't be afraid to talk to friends about the gospel anywhere. With this being the True gospel, it's important to get to know it as much as you can. Don't be weirded out about talking about religion in the middle of school, or in the middle of the park, if it comes to your mind. I remember bringing up some religion into school conversations and many people would blow it off like it wasn't accepted anywhere. Trust me, you want the Spirit with you all the time. You may think, and maybe you do, that you have the Spirit with you all the time, but, can you feel Him all of the Time? Getting to the point of feeling the Spirit all of the time is extraordinary. You will never want Him to leave your heart. It is the most precious thing in the world, and I'm grateful to be able to experience this in the MTC. 

I also want to testify that the Gift of Tongues is real. I've learned more Portuguese in five days than I had learned Spanish in high school for two years. The MTC knows how to make you learn a language. I also would like to share an experience with the Gift of Tongues. On the first Friday I had, two days into the MTC, I had to teach, with my companions, an investigator that would come and let us slowly teach her. We couldn't do anything to prepare our lesson; we were stuck, and we were lost. We knelt down and one of my companions said a prayer for us, and afterward, we got the impression to only speak in Portuguese for the rest of study time, about 45 minutes. We could think of what we wanted to say, and we understood every word our companion spoke. It was a very humbling experience and a very spiritual experience. The Gospel is true, and I challenge you to keep the Spirit of God with you at ALL times. Help bring other friends into the fold of our Savior, let them know how much you love them and how much God loves them. Charity is the true Love of God. I testify that Charity is one of THE most important characteristics we can obtain. Obtain it and never let it go. Love your neighbors and don't let them hang on the ledge. I love you all so very much. And I can't make you know how much I know this Gospel is true. I can't tell you how important It is in our lives, But I ask you, if you are a fence-sitter, to ask God the Eternal Father yourselves and give him time to help you. I say these things in the sacred name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Justin is AMAZINGLY AWESOME

This is Parker Lee, Justin lee is amazing and awesome he is the BEST!

Elder Lee enters the Provo MTC on Wednesday, July 9, 2014 at 1:15 p.m.