Miracles Happened

Ahoy! Como está família! Espero que vossas semana fossem boas. Nossas semana foi incrível! Uma outra semana aqui em paraíso.

This week was a little bit different than most weeks. We didn't have a lot of time to work in our area this week because of interviews that we had with President and other baptismal interviews in our area. It was a little sad but we only had about three hours everyday to work in our area. So we didn't have the greatest success this week but we tried hard. 

Milagre #1: Apesar de não trabalhando tanto em nossa area estamos a encontrar muitos eleitos que vão progredir. We didn't have much time but with the time, we did have we didn't waste! We talked with everyone  in the street and miracles happened. We found a couple people have a lot of potential to progress. 

a. Leonel: He is a man about 45 years old. He works for the phone company MEO here in Portugal and he is really cool. It was about 20h45 at night and we were getting ready to return home because we work really far away from our house, but this guy was entering his house, and we just shouted out «Ola amigo!» and he stopped and talked with us for a while. He was interested not only in our work but also in the message we have. We think that he is going to be the next Seventy of Portugal.

b. Gina: She is a women we stopped in the road while she was walking her dog. She thought I didn't know how to speak Portuguese but was impressed when I started talking with her fluently. She is really sensitive to the spirit. She started crying during our contact with her. It was interesting. She talked about the spirit that she felt when she went to fatima (a catholic worshipping site here in Portugal, I'll explain it in another email). She said that she doesn't really believe in fatima but she was touched by the faith of the other people that were there.  She could feel their dedication. I really think she will like temples. That space is holy beyond holy and she will feel the spirit really strongly.

Estudos do Scrituras: Correlação entre 3 Ne 18: 9-10, e D+C 18:10-16. There is a connection between those two passages of holy writ. The first is when Christ was talking with his apostles in the Americas. He ordained the three Nephites and explained why they would be blessed. The second is describing the joy that comes from helping souls find Christ, and his true doctrine. I am still trying to understand this completely but as a generality the eternal joy that is sweet beyond all else that is described in Lehi's dream is found when we declare repentance and baptism unto our fellow men. The worth of the soul that is saved is so great that when we are involved in the saving process and help, we will rest forever in happiness in our father's kingdom with them. 

Elder Fogg

Missão Portugal Lisboa

2016-2018

BOM is the keystone of our religion

Ola tudo bem, Como estão esta semana?Estou bem obrigado. Chegou aqui em mini africa (barreiro) e é bem fixe!

I don't have much time this week. I gave a talk in sacrament meeting in the new branch in Barreiro. I talked about the quote of Joseph Smith in the intro of the Book of Mormon. How the BoM is the most correct book on all of the earth, how it is the keystone of our religion, and how a man would draw closer to God by abiding by it's principles than by any other book. This book is true. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. God has restored his church on the earth today. Jesus is the Christ. I am his servant.

Elder Fogg

Missão Portugal Lisboa

2016-2018

Trasnfer to Berreiro

Ola Meus Queridos! Como Estão? Tudo tá muito fixe aqui! Só Estamos a destrutar, quemando e batizando, no sol do Algarve por mais uma semana, depois vou voltar para Lisboa.

Transferencias: Esta semana mudarei para Barreiro. So this week was transfer week. Elder Rogers is going to stay in Olhão. He is really excited! We received a call from Elder Schlofman (the couple missionaries that are responsible for the Algarve) that said we were going to move out of our house because the sisters are going to be kicked out of their house, and that we are going to live in Tavira. We thought that meant that we were going to work there too but now it seems like we will just live there until they find a new house in Olhão for Elders. Yea, the sisters aren't going to move into our house until the 26th of August. Should be fun, we have been cleaning for the past two days, woot! Also I am going to be leaving the Algarve and the scorching sun, that kills.  After 6 months here, I will be serving in Berreiro. That is an area on the southern part of the Tejo River, just across from Lisbon. 

Uma Coisa Engrasada: Carlos será batizado ali em Loulé.  So we had been teaching this guy named Carlos for about a month but then his boss stopped paying him. (This happened around the time that Cidalia got baptized). He didn't like that very much that he wasn't receiving money for his service. So he moved to Albufeira (where I served previously). For about a week we lost contact with him, waiting for him to return. Finally we gave his info to Elder Martel (My old companion who is still working there). They got in contact with him. They taught him, and marked him for baptism. Then he went dark again.  That is until Sunday when he showed up to church with a pair of clothes to change into, ready for baptism. Lol, they really wished they could have baptized him, but he was still missing some small things before he was ready.  But yeah he'll probably be baptized this next week, na boa!

Mais como o Salvador: O amor por o povo é sempre dificil durante tranderencias. It's great developing the love of the People when you are on the mission. The members are always the greatest.  They are your family away from home for the period of time you are in that area. When you come to an area, it is usually hard feeling the love right away becuase you don't know anyone.  It's kind of crazy. But by the last day, you have spent an extended period of time trying to help these people. You have exerted a lot of energy and sweated a lot, cried a lot, and sweated more. You sweat a lot on the mission. But the point is that during this time you sacrifice your whole life for them and through that sacrifice you are able to feel a small fraction of what the Savior felt for us.

Elder Fogg

Missão Portugal Lisboa

2016-2018

A Day of Miracles

Ola Tudo Bem?

Esta semana foi bem fixe! Ajudamos toda gente, foi muito bom.Espero que todo mundo esteja bem. A verão está a acabar então faça muitas coisas fixes. Tá certo? Então esta semana....

Nosso Milagre do Batismo em Seixal: Não tivemos muito termpo na sexta-feira mas ainda tivemos milagres. This Friday Elder Rogers had the opportunity to return to his old area of Sexial to help his amigo Lucas get baptized. It was a really special experience. He had a lot of fun seeing his old companion and the ward members there. Unluckily, that meant that we had to leave our area for a long time. A miracle happened that Elder Lopes from Tavira had a car and was willing to drive Elder Rogers all the way to Sexial and back. So I had a division with Elder Heiner. We had to leave our area at about 6 on Friday so we did our best to work hard in the morning to do our best. We had a couple lessons, our recent convert Cidalia was able to be helped and took a big step toward salvation and our friend Ana called us randomly to tell us she had made food for us, so we had free food too! (It was awesome, a day of miracles, especially the free food part that was key). But the biggest part of this whole miracle was that I was able to sleep in one of the only houses in our mission that has air conditioning that completely saved my fast! It was just blessing from the Lord this Weekend. 

Coisas Ingresadas: Nossa irmã Ana trabalho muito mas ainda nos deixa entrar sua casa ainda quando ela tem muito sono. While I was on a division with Elder Heiner, we passed by our amigo Ana. She works a lot so she doesn't get that much sleep. The only time we can drop by her house is really late at night. So we decided to watch the restoration video with her because she has a couple questions about Joseph Smith. We turned off the lights and watched it. She must have had a really hard day. As we were watching the last part of the restoration something was kind of off. I thought to myself «hmm, I don't remember snoring to be a part of the joseph smiths first prayer». That's right she slept through the last half of the film. It was so funny.  When she woke up she was like «Aiight, not gonna lie, I mised the last half of that thing». Lol, we'll probably show it again this weekv--a d this time with the lights on.  

Elder Fogg

Missão Portugal Lisboa

2016-2018

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