Pics

The "FoggMachine" still has leg speed

Bom Dia Alegria! Esta semana foi muito bom! Ensinamos, trabalhamos e comemos! Tivemos muitas adventuras! Era uma semana de MILAGRES. Em fim foi uma outra semana em paraíso.

A pé de Elder Harper: Provavelmente quebrado. He said last week that his foot was hurting. We went running on Tuesday or something and it kept on getting worse. On Wednesday we showed his foot to the sisters in our branch. They said that we needed to call Sister Tavares in that moment. Then I got a good look at his foot. It was swollen, like really big. It was bad. This week we weren't able to do as much ''work'' as we usually do in the usual sense, basically we didn't walk as much. We worked in a different manner. We had to work smartly. We didn't walk as much but we used our phone a lot more and tried to get a hold of the people that had the most potential. We now have to wait until Tuesday so see what is wrong with his foot. (that's the earliest appointment that they could get for us). It's great to see how the Lord blesses us when we try to do our best. 

Noticias na programa de treinemento: Sou mais rapido de que um cão. So this week we were trying to visit one person called Sandro. We found him in his house and made an appointment with him for the weekend. As we were going to head down the stairs, we heard a door open on the top floor (they had 6 floors and we were on the 2nd), and all of a sudden ravenous barking filled the stairwell. As we made it to the first floor, we noticed that the barking was getting really loud and that the footsteps of the dog actually sounded like leaps. Bolting for the door, Elder Harper hobbled out, I was closely behind. Tried to jam the door shut to block the ferocious beast on the other side alas but to no avail. He came bolting out barking. I did the thing I was trained to do from a very young age, I'm talking 4, 5 or 6, I RAN. (iraq, afganistan, but I shouldn't make these joke in the middle(east) of the story... lol puns). We were off to the races. I dashed out into the parking lot, the beast close behind, I couldn't tell and then I felt a sharp pain in my leg. I couldn't stop to look at what happened I had to get away. I could feel him on my heels. I veered to the right.  I did the longest and fastest stride of my life. (If any of you were wondering if the "foggmachine" still has leg speed, let's just say all the dog could eat for dinner was my dust.) I out ran a dog. The Africans that were sitting viewing the spectacle actually said it was impressive.  The dog did bite me but the worst part is that he ripped my pants. And they were my comfy pants too. But we actually went back to the house after the fact and knocked on the door. Turns out the dog's name is Max. The owner actually came to church and we taught him this Sunday. 

Escritura: 2 Ne 31:17 ''Portanto, fazei as coisas que eu vos disse ter visto vosso Senhor e Redentor fazer; porque por esta razão me foram mostradas, para que possais conhecer a porta pela qual deveis entrar. Porque a porta pela qual deveis entrar é o arrependimento e o batismo com água; e vem, então, a remissão de vossos pecados pelo fogo e pelo Espírito Santo.'' As missionaries we have a lot of circumstances that are like what the Savoir passed by.  When we invited people to come unto Christ through baptism and receiving the holy ghost by laying on of hands, we are basically taking the place of the Savoir. We are showing them the door that he has showed us and we are helping them like he has helped us. I know this work is true and that Christ lives. This is his church and I am his representative. 

Elder Fogg

Missão Portugal Lisboa

2016-2018

Building a foundation by faith

Apesar de: muitas dificuldades, humilhei-mi mesmo e vi o que Deus queria que eu fizesse. «Apesar de» signifies despite of. These past weeks have been really humbling. We have not been having the success we ought to have had. I had been a little upset about that. Instead of just giving up and becoming overcome, I was able to see the why. I have seen that I haven't been sufficiently prepared to help people. That I have been relying to much on hope instead of building a foundation by faith. I will build the foundation that I need and become the missionary God wants me to become.

 

Milagre: Olhando para atrás é impressionate como eu consigo falar portugês. The miracle  is that I can speak Portuguese fluently. A year ago that was my biggest preoccupation. But I received a blessing from my stake president when I was being set apart that I would be able to learn and speak Portuguese above my natural capabilities. I have seen that promise fulfilled time and time again here in Portugal. It's awesome seeing the shock and awe on the faces of the people after I respond fluently in Portuguese. They always respond in English and I always respond in Portuguese. Because it is actually easier. The biggest reason I know that this is a blessing from God is because I learned to speak French «fluently» for 8 or more years, using the best learning method of men. But in less than 12 short months I have learned to speak Portuguese 12x better using the power of god.

Pics - My greenie baptized. #aguinha

Pedir vs Pedar

Background about Portuguese: Pedir vs Pedar. So they have two words in Portuguese that are very similar. The first we use quite often. It means to ask. We definitely ask people a lot of questions so we use this verb a lot of times. Pedir means to ask and also Perguntar. Perguntar is more for information and Pedir is more for a service or favor. So when we tell people to ask God if this is right, this would be a time when we use the verb Pedir. So this lady was telling us this story about how she has a lot of faith and how she asked God, or Pediu a Deus. Then she asked me, «Élder, how do you think I got this help from god.» In my brain I knew the right answer, but just like my glory days in high school, my brain got the best of me and I switched the two verbs. Instead of saying the correct «Tu pediste a Deus» (which is that she asked God). I said «Tu pedaste Deus». The verb pedar signifies to fart. I told her «She farted to god». Definitely not want she wanted to hear or what I intended to say. I thought those stories only happened in films like «The Best Two Years», but oh no, they happen in real life.

Fatima: So way back when in Portugal, 1914, there were these three kids. They were praying and then appeared to them Mary the mother of Jesus. This happened here in Portugal. These three kids were canonized by the Catholic Church this year in May. But that is the reason why everyone hear is named Fatima. Because of Nossa Senhora de Fatima (Our lady of Fatima). In the Portuguese town called Fatima, where this occurrence took place, they have a church that people go to. A lot of people do a pilgrimage to Fatima every year because a lot of people are Catholic here. Also if you run into to anyone name Fatima, you can probably guess that they are from Portugal. Apparently every country has an our lady of something. Here it's Fatima. Interesting.

Spiritual: As I was reading the Book of Mormon during sacrament meeting I was reading in Alma 32, the great lecture on faith where Alma compares the faith to a seed and how the seed will grow. Here I learned from the spirit that this is true. Lasting conversion comes line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little there a little. When we take the time to grow our own testimony everyday, it will become precious to us. We will value the Testimony we have because we «paid the price», we worked hard to obtain it. We will be more stable than if we were just handed knowledge. Knowledge is important. Knowledge is how we grow. But knowledge is not a testimony. Testimony is understanding, applying and faith. Knowledge turns to understanding only through time. We will be lead to the edge of what we can see. We can grow our testimony by using our faith by experimenting on what we know to learn and understand what we don't know. When should not give up because we have doubts, we always will. We live in a fallen world. We are not God and not supposed to have his knowledge right now. His thoughts are not our thoughts.  Only acting but faith trusting in the only being who can give us the knowledge is the only way we can grow our testimony to a greater understanding.

Holy moly that general conference was incredible.

Ola Familia e amigos! Espero que todo esteja bem convosco. Foi increival aqui, mais uma semana em paraíso.

Milagre de conferencia geral: Uma experiência espiritual inspiradora.  Holy moly that general conference was incredible. Every talk I listened to was really good. We only had the time to listen to the Saturday and Sunday Morning sessions and priesthood. The talks from President Uchtdorf and from President Eyring were both incredible.  I also really liked the talk from Holland that was about how the commandments are here as a vision of what we can achieve and that we shouldn't get overwhelmed by them. 

1. General Theme: Keep the commandments and fulfill your covenants. It was interesting to see that a lot of the speakers at General Conference talked about how it is important to strive to keep the commandments. It is easy to get discouraged when we hear that because we can never keep the commandments perfectly but it is possible to try really hard and that is all that heavenly father wants. Elder Holland's talk was really good guys. 
2. Exemplifying Christ-like attribute: This comes hand in hand with keeping the commandments but it is always good to reiterate. We need to try and exemplify the attributes of Christ. When we do that, we will be a lot happier, be better prepared to meet god and to have more love and charity for others because we will try to mimic what the Savior does. If we pray earnestly to have these attributes and work even harder to achieve them, we will be blessed by developing them.
3. Questions: I went to conference really different then I have in the past. I wrote down seven questions that I had. As I focused on those seven questions during general conference I was able to receive revelation about how they could be answered. It was incredible.
4. Interesting: Dallin H Oaks. He talked about the family proclamation and how it came to be. As a missionary of the Lord it is easy to see why we have the family: a proclamation to the world. Families are weakened when they don't have a mother and a father working in loving harmony to fulfill their family responsibilities. Families are to be forever, they need to be protected. It was an interesting reminder that we need to protect that.

Leonel: Ele está a progredir bem. I know that you were all wondering about the next seventy of Portugal so I thought I talk about him right now. Leonel is progressing like any elect would. He has questions that just lead to the next step in the process of conversion. He is really a great guy and wants to do what is right. He wants to know more about the Book of Mormon and the restoration.

Elder Harper: Meu filho tá progredir bem também. My new companion Elder Harper is from Oklahoma.  He played baseball and likes the Red Sox. He is about 6' 5'' and has blond hair and blue eyes. He is one of the funniest people I have ever met. We need to work on his Portuguese. I am glad I have this opportunity to serve with him. 

Everything is good in the hood, until next week.