"Do you think this is Basil?"

Olà! Tudo Bem?

One transfer down. Seventeen more to go. Party. So transfers were last week. Elder Harker, Elder Welch, Elder Thompson and I all are staying in Odivelas. It's basically a party here all day everyday. Since we have four dudes living in the same apartment we buy a lot of food. It's funny going to the grocery store because all the Portuguese people look at us like we are weird because we have like three shopping carts overflowing with food. This past week we almost couldn't fit all of our food on the same conveyor belt.
 

Elder Welch and Elder Thompson also are trying to teach Elder Harker and I how to cook but this week Elder Thompson and Elder Welch had a meeting with the other Zone leaders so they were gone for lunch. Elder Harker and I had the opportunity to cook lunch all by ourselves. The problem is that neither of us really knows what we are doing. Another problem is that all the spices and foods are labeled in Portuguese not in English. So it was like, "Hey Elder Harker, do you think this is Basil?"and "I don't know, lol. What's a teaspoon?" as we dump the whole bottle of spice into the sauce. Let's just say that the sauce had a pretty funky taste.
 

In the Missionary hand book it says that the monthly fast is good enough but I guess we are just too righteous. We choose to fast once a week. By the time Sunday rolls around we don't have any food so we don't eat. It's a party. 
 

Let's all imagine I had a really good segway into talking about the weather. It's really cold here. Everything here is in Celsius so I don't actually know how cold it is. This week the wind decided to start blowing really hard too. So it was really cold and really windy. It is sufficient to say that my time in Virginia has turned me into a weather pansy.
 

This week I have been working on explaining the Book of Mormon to people in Portuguese. I have been talking about it in lessons and I have been explaining it on the street. We found out this week that a member of the seventy is visiting our mission in February. President Tavares announced that the whole mission is going to read the Book of Mormon before he arrives. That's about 25 pages a day. I decided that I am going to read it entirely in Portuguese! As of right now I don't understand much but I can feel the power in that book. It is the word of God. It is true. I am really excited for this challenge. Read the Book of Mormon -- you will find a power in it that is in no other book, a power to resist temptation and a power to do good.