Still in the Algarve

Olà tudo bem?

 

This week is going to be a little bit shorter. Nothing much happened this week. I traded companions this week. Elder Moses is my new companion. he is from Washington. He has been on his mission for a year and a half. We are here in Olhão which is still in the Algarve. We have been trying find new people to teach. We are working hard.

Beijinhos,

Elder Fogg

Missão Portugal Lisboa

Ended this transfer with fire

Olà tudo bem?

Essa semana foi bem fixe! Espero que vocês estejam pronto a por uma historia bem fixe meu!

This week was super cool. Elder Martel and Elder Fogg definitely ended this transfer with fire.  It was, as one may put it, "lit". Even though this was the end of the transfer, we went to our areas and worked really hard! We didn't teach any lessons that would blow your socks off on a spiritual level but we could just see the hand of the Lord in our work this last transfer. Elder Martel and I are "bem novinhos ou seja".  We have no idea of what we are trying to do or how to do it so we go out there and just do it. Even though we are the new kids on the block, we trusted in the Lord that if we did all we could, we trusted that He would do His part too. Let me tell you He did. Just the people we found this transfer were "prontissimo por Batismo ou seja".  They were the ready for baptism. We tried our hardest and at the end of the day the Lord blessed us for doing our part. "Pronto isso não significa que nós batisamos cada Pessoa na rua ou seja".  We weren't in the hospital because we had hypothermia because we were in the water for so long but we were just protected by the Lord. I don't know how to describe it. 

At the end of this week, Elder Souza went to Lisbon to go home to Brazil so we got to work with his companion Elder Vigne for a couple days. It was so much fun. We all have less that 7 months on our missions so we just went out there and talked with everybody! It was so funny because Elder Vigne is Brazilian so whenever we ran into another Brazilian on the street, a contact where usually Elder Martel and I would be rejected, Elder Vigne got it with ease. The people in Quarteira definitely think the missionaries are crazy now. The Vigneartelogg show these past 2 days definitely showed the people there how cray cray missionaries can be. But they also think the missionaries are weird because of Elder Martel and I. I like to run, but when I told that to Elder Martel, I think he misunderstood. We run sometimes in the morning but we often run at night too. (I know what you all are thinking "Elder Fogg that's against the rules" but just wait to hear me out). We have a rule as missionaries that we have to be in our houses by 22h00 and this transfer president has been a lot more concerned about our safety so he has been stressing this rule a lot more. Well sometimes, we happen to be teaching an amigo really late at night and we are really far away from the where the car is, so we run. But I can just imagine the families visiting from England sitting in their restaurants having a peaceful quiet dinner in Quarteira or Albulfeira to begin their night and then all of a sudden, out of no where, come two Americans in white shirts and ties, running for what looks what it seems to be for their lives, and I can just imagine what they're thinking, "I know that guy is just a tad over weight but mate running in a suit and tie isn't really going to work off the donuts mate". 

I am being transferred to Olhão. Still in the Algarve but I'll be serving with elder Moses. 

This church is true. Jesus is the Christ. I am his servant.

Read the Book of Mormon

Not that much time this week. This week was good. Our friend Nina was baptized. She was found by Elder Jan and Ward, 6 months ago but she finally entered the water of baptism this week. Elder Jan came down from Povoa to do the baptism. It was so special.

We are working hard and walking a lot. I hope that everyone is well at home. This work is true. The Book of Mormon is real.  It was translated by the power of God through Joseph Smith. I know this and I can not deny it. I invite all to read it and pray and I know that by the power of the Holy Spirit, Heavenly Father will give you an answer. If you are doubting, read it. If you are wondering why I am here, read it. If you are perfectly fine, read it. It will help you. I know this, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Until Next week.

Night of deserts

Olà Tudo bem!

Well another week is in the books. It was really sunny.  We had a lot of fun and talked with a lot of people about the gospel so basically it was another week in paradise. 

This week, we have been talking with a family from Cabo Verde. They are really cool.  I don't know if I have talked about them before, but the first time we had contact with them, it was one guy on a porch and the contact was iffy at best but when we past by their house, they had a lot of their friends over and they invited everyone to hear our message. That was a couple of weeks ago and we have been working with them constantly. We have passed by their house with the Schlofman's to help us teach them too.  They are really cool (both the Schlofman's and this family... everyone is cool... there is not one un-«cool» person here, or on this planet, everyone is cool in there own way.. ok now that this is sufficiently awkward). We had a Noite de Sobremesas or a Night of Deserts when we invited everyone from the branch and all of our amigos that we are teaching just to make more friendships and eat a lot of deserts. Well, we invited this Cabo Verdian family and they came. This Noite de Sobremesas was on Friday. It was basically a big party. Not everyone from the ward knew about it, so some people missed out on this cool event. But it went really well. We had 6 of our amigos there. This Cabo Verdian family and another one of our amigas Nina who is going to get baptized on May 13th. It was really fun seeing members of the branch just talking with our amigos and helping them. It went really well and I ate a lot of deserts which was the Best part. 

On Sunday this past week, we were working in Quarteira again and we had plans to pass by some of our amigos but Elder Martel had a feeling that we had to pass by another amigo that we hadn't passed by in a while. When we were knocking on his door on the other side of the street were our friends the Cabo Verdians.  We taught a powerful lesson about the restoration. It was really cool because some of the people we had already taught were there and they could bear their testimonies about the Book of Mormon. It was really cool. There are so many miracles I could write about this week. It was really easy to see how the Lord puts people who are ready in our path and it is really interesting to see how people choose to use their agency. I know this work is true. The Lord is helping us. Anything that has happened, is happening or will happen on my mission is the will of the Lord and I know is to help me grow but to also bless his children here. 

I hope all is well. 

 

Beijinhos,

Elder Fogg

Missão Portugal Lisboa

Fun, sweat and tears

Ola! Tudo bem?

I hope everything is well back home. I am still alive. The shark attack really hurt this week but I think I will be good for the rest of the mission. Basically it was another week in paradise.
 

This week was really a roller coaster of fun, sweat and tears. It was really hot, so that's where the sweat comes in but besides being really hot and sunny we had a couple of cool experiences. The first is that we started teaching a Brazilian family in Albufeira this week. We had found them knocking doors last transfer but never passed by their house when they were home but this week they were home! They are a really humble family. We taught them about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We didn't have a Book of Mormon we could give them in the end but they still wanted to go to church. The problem is that there aren't any buses that leave for Loule in time for them to make it to church so we had to arrange a ride for them. We called a couple of the families that live there in Albufeira but the problem is that no car had four open seats so they couldn't all go together. We split up the family and had two go with a family that lives in Albufeira and had the other two go with another family. So we arranged two families to help give them a ride and we gave them each others contacts and prayed really hard. When we called to see if the family was going to be able to make it to church, it turns out that the two families we had called went together to the house of the Brasilians to get to know them a little bit and to show them who was going to give them a ride the next day. Our members are too cool. And the Brazilian family came to church yesterday and had a great time. One funny thing is that they talked with one of the Brazilian Elders that is serving in our same Branch and they told him that they actually don't understand our Portuguese, like at all. But they still came to church which is really cool.

The other end of the spectrum is another Brazilian family we were teaching in Quarteira. We had taught the plan of Salvation to them and that first lesson was really spiritual.  The spirit was strong and they asked what do I have to do to make it to the celestial kingdom. It was really cool but the second time we passed by things just got really weird and they started telling a lot of stories that got us off track and it was really hard to pull them back in to the lesson. The spirit was not there as strong. We had tried to pass by a couple times just to see how things were going but they were never home. Finally this past Saturday we were going to teach there with the Schlofman's but they called us 15 minutes beforehand and basically told us to pass by so we could take the Book of Mormon back and not pass by again. That was kind of sad but I know that as we work our hardest, doing our best, trying to be as obedient as can be, the Lord will bless us and everything  will turn out all right.

 

I know that this church is true. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It was translated by the power of God through Joseph Smith. Through Joseph Smith, the Lord restored his church, his gospel and his priesthood. Jesus is the Christ. Through modern day revelation we can and will know what we must do to fulfill the plan our Father in Heaven has for us. Thomas S. Monson is the prophet of God on the Earth today.  He holds all the priesthood keys pertaining to salvation. Through his direction we can have the fullness of happiness God has planned for us. I know these things are true. 

Elder Fogg

Missão Portugal Lisboa