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Happy Valentine's Day

Olà Meus Amigos!

I hope every thing is swell back home! We had a super great week here in paradise! We worked really hard in trying to find new people to teach this week (basically the achilles heel of our work). We talked with a lot of people in the streets and basically everywhere. I hope that Valentine's day went well for all the couples out there. 

 

Met a lot of cool people with a lot of potential! Baptism! We also have been using a Family history banner to try to find new people. Besides having the background for some pretty cool pictures it helps us fulfill our purpose as missionaries. 

This week Elder Soares of the seventy came to visit our mission. He is from Brazil and knew President Tavares before President Tavares was called to be a mission President. He talked a lot about how we can improve our work as missionaries through knowing our purpose/our calling, planning and following through on goals that we set. He gave a lot of good advice. It was fun seeing the other missionaries from my MTC district and the progress that they have made. It was a fun reunion. Elder Soares also chose four missionaries to interview. Don't want to say that I am going to be the next prophet but I was chosen. It was a good thing that he speaks English because it would have been a pretty silent and awkward interview if he hadn't.

 

Beijinhos,

Elder Fogg

No umbrella

Olá? Tudo Bem!

 

This is the highlight of this week. We taught a lesson with this older Portuguese lady named Elise. We walked with her from her house to the church building. When we started teaching her  there were clear skies. When we finished teaching her it was pouring rain. And no one brought an umbrella. We ran back to our apartment in the rain and gave her  one of our umbrellas. When we were walking home the other two umbrellas we were using broke. So now we don't have any umbrellas here which is a problem. It rained a lot this week and because we have no umbrellas we got really wet, not in the baptism kind of way. It was more of  the walking around the streets of Portugal for hours with wet shocks and wet shoes and wet hair kind of wet which is isn't as fun. But we bought an umbrella so we get less wet now. Also this Sunday our recent convert Wilker received the gift of the Holy Ghost. 

 

Elder Soares of the seventy is visiting our mission this week. We set a goal to read the Book of Mormon as a whole before he arrived. I set a goal to read it in Portuguese. I didn't understand much but I am almost finished. I just finished Mormon this morning. I think I am going to finish it! Read that book -- it will change your life. 

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Houston, we have splash down!

Olà tudo bem?

Houston we have splash down. This week our amigo Wilker was baptized. Super cool. He was prepared before we even talked to him for the first time. We usually check up on how the reading is going in the Book of Mormon and usually our amigos don't ever read so we read with them most of the time. On our third meeting with Wilker, we asked if he had read in the Book of Mormon at all (we had given him the Book of Mormon 3 days earlier at the last visit we had with him). He said he hadn't, so we were like "Ok let's read together, where are you in the book". He said "page 205". What he meant by no, was that he hadn't had time to read that day. Let's just say we didn't feel like it was necessary to read with him on that visit.

His house is also literally in the middle of no where. It was really fun trying to find it for the first time. When we first met him, it was in the middle of Odivelas and he didn't have a car so we thought his house was within walking distance. After we used basically a whole day to try to find his house in Ramada, we gave up and used a taxi. By taxi, it takes about 20 minutes. We decided it would probably be a better use of the Lord's time if we used a bus. The buses only pass by his house every half an hour to go back to Odivelas. After a visit with him, we were waiting for the bus. I was looking down the street and I saw our bus coming around the corning. I alerted Elder Thompson that our bus was coming. I said «Nine Three Four» in English. It got closer and closer and it wasn't slowing down. As it flew by, I was like «Essa foi ela». Elder Thompson asked me why I didn't do the signal. Now I know when a bus is coming you stick out your right arm to alert it you want it to stop.

The baptism was really fun too. Got a little wet but it was worth it. Elder Thompson and I were scared that I was going to mess up in Portuguese so we practiced at least 5000 times. It didn't help either that Wilker's full name is 5 names long and very not white bread American like John Jacob Jingle type. His name is more like Waka Flaka kfhgdjghskdgh DLgj Wilker. Nailed it.

It was really interesting to see the gospel change his life and see how he has grown. The first time we asked him to pray he had a lot of trouble but the last visit we had with him before the baptism, his prayer was amazing. We literally did nothing with his conversion. He often talked about how when he read the Book of Mormon, he felt different. The Book of Mormon was the difference maker. We have been focusing on using the Book of Mormon a lot in our work this week. One of our other amigos asked why we talk so much about the Book of Mormon. Everyone has the Bible but the book of Mormon is literally proof that God is still talking even today. That he has not changed. That just like in times of old, he calls prophets. That book is powerful. I feel peace when I read and receive strength from it. I know that that book is true.