Monday, November 30, 2015

Week 1 in Olhão! (with pic!)

Bom Dia Familia! 

This week I stayed in Sacavem until Wednesday with Elder Leung, saying goodbye to some investigators, and then Wednesday morning we went and picked up our greenies! Elder Leung received a finalist on the voice. I can’t remember his name. I received Elder Macedo! He was born in Brazil, lived in Orem for 5 years and then moved to Spain this past year, so he speaks english, Portuguese and Spanish. He is helping me a lot with my Portuguese but at times it´s a little difficult to understand his Brazilian accent! They use lot of different words over there!

We took our bus to Olhão, and got thrown into this whole white wash thing! The sisters in the city helped us out a little on where our area is. The elders before left us 2 couples and a lady they were teaching to get in contact with. We did some visits here and there this weekend and it has been fun getting to know the members of the ward and trying to set some things moving! There is a good amount of youth here. The church and the members seem to be really excited for missionary work right now which is awesome! We taught a couple, Domingos and Maria, who have been waiting for their marriage papers to arrive. I believe we will baptize them this transfer, after we plan a little party for them and all this Friday. We also taught a couple of lessons to some less actives and made some friendships with them. This week I´ve felt a lot of responsibility thrown on me with my new comp, training, new area. This area is a part of the Algarve, like my old city Beja, so it seems likes it’s a little harder to find people to teach. It’s more similiar to Beja than Sacavem. We just have to keep the faith and our Heavenly Father will lead us to those who will receive us. Elder Macedo is a good missionary and teaches well. I’m trying my best to make it a good transfer for him and have things planned!

Saturday we moved a recent convert Sonya to a new house which was kinda fun! We don´t always get to do too much service so I´m always excited when we have that!

Sorry this email is a little jumbled! Anyway my new district includes Beja, Tavira and then Olhão. Elder Veiweg, who lived in the same house as me last transfer, went to be comps with Elder Sutton in Olhão and elder Sutton is our new Zone leader. Beja is 3 hours away so the missionaries in Beja have to either skype in or phone call in for our district meetings! President did a lot of mixing up this transfer. Elder Macedo and I live in a good apartment in a poorer part of the town. We are ready to see some baptisms this transfer! Lots of kids, going to work with them, and super excited for Christmas! 

This week we arrived in Olhão and didn´t really have anything to do for thanksgiving, but I sure did think about all the things I´m grateful for. My list doesn´t stop, and it of course starts with my family in first place. I think about you guys every day. I want families here to have the same thing we have, through the great gospel of Jesus Christ. I remember a while ago, mom challenged us to just offer a prayer of gratitude, and told us how amazed we would be with how long our prayers would end up being. It´s so true. I love you all and love hearing from all of you!


Elder Holmes

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