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.