Reflections on évora

Reflections on Évora : Évora has been worked in by missionaries for about 30 years straight now. There are really quite a few people who don't know who we are. It's an area where you can learn a lot. Here are a few things I learned:

• Abrahamic test and trials: God is our loving Heavenly Father. He loves us and knows us perfectly. He has the desire that we grow and learn so he created a plan for us. To learn and grow we have to be tried.  To see if we are growing he puts these trials in our lives. We receive a lot of blessings in our lives, temporally and spiritually. At times it seems like those blessings are poured out on us. We have a good work and we feel the spirit often and receive answers to our prays quickly and distinctly. Then it all stops. We lose our work, Heavenly Father seems distant and the path we should be walking seems a lot mistier. In those times that we have trials, Heavenly Father wants to see where we are at. He wants to see if our heart is where our mouth is. We say a lot of times «I know He lives and loves me» but do we mean it. Do our parents only love us when they tell us what to do and when they aren't at our side they some how stop loving us? We can only live by trial and error sometimes. If we are never allowed to err, how will we know for ourselves which path is right to take? Here, there are many members that were baptized and felt God's love. God loved them enough to give them other chances to show their love to him and not just through word but by action (forgiving others who do wrong, being humble in accepting the trials we have, following the counsel of our leaders, etc). It is extremely important that we see with the eternal perspective that our trials are temporary, they pass and will change. We need to see that we love God unconditionally to live with Him forever. To do that, we need to be able to sacrifice everything because of that love.

We are both being transferred. Elder Spees is going to Beja.  I'm going to the Azores. I'll be on an island where there are more cows than people that actually live there. It'll be great.
 

We found out on Thursday night that we would be white washed. We did a blitz on Friday with the Elders from Santo Andre (the other area in our district). They came here and went wild. We have made a lot of appointments for the next Elders. They should continue the work smoothly.
 

It was hard saying good bye. I have seen many times on the mission how the love for an area and people grow as you serve there. When I got here, I was not very excited to be here. I got here and worked my buns off. I can say that I love these people. The members aren't perfect but they are loved by the lord. He is sending people here to build Zion in this city.

Élder Fogg