So nothing too exciting happened this week haha!
On Thursday the ward had a "Festa de Hawaii" that the sister missionaries had planned. They asked us to come and help them set up the decorations, and it ended up taking such a long time! The day before, they told us to go search for some tropical leaves to use as decorations, so we went on sort of wild goose hunt to find these "big tropical branch things" haha. When we thought that we had found them, we called the sisters and they said they wanted the whole trees, not just theleaves. Uhh that was impossible, so we just ripped 100 leaves (which were about a foot long each) off of the branches and brought them to the church. This whole situation was funnier as it was happening, and is funnier than my writing can portray ( especially since the computer Im using is soo slow, so I can only type one word every five seconds).
But the decorations turned out very good , and the party was succesful! However, as many of you know, I don´t usually like big group gatherings. Even in my own language, I find it hard sometimes to think of what to say or the correct words to use. So multiply those feelings by alot , and you will know how I felt at the party. As a missionary, Im expected to talk to all the members and get involved in the conversations. But I still don´t the language well enough to even have small conversations. I wanted so badly to talk to the people there not only because I was supposed to, but because i wanted to get to know them.But I couldnt, and I felt very lost, adn very overwhelmed , and very homesick. So the party was a success, but not so much for me.
The next day, I woke up in a negative mood, because of the ward party the night before. But I didnt want to be in this mood, or to feel this way, so In my prayers I pleaded for help and relief. Later that morning I had a spiritual experience, that I think I´ll keep to myself, but that greatly turned my thoughts and mood around to be more positive! The language is hard, and I still feel quite lost in this country because of that, but I know that the Lord is with me, and will help me become the missionary he wants me to be!
This Saturday and Sunday we had General Conference ( where our Prophet and Apostles, and other leaders of the church, speak to all the members of the church). In some wards in Portugal, the missionaries are allowed to watch the sessions in English if they want. Guess how it was in my ward ;). Yep, ALL in Portuguese! I had found this out a few days before, so I prepared myself by praying that I would somehow be able to understand what was being said even though I wasn´t even close to being fluent. Because I love General Conference and wanted to get something out of it. Because of the time difference, the times we watch are alittle bit different than the US. They watch them live here, so the "Morning" sessions are at 5pm, the "Afternoon" sessions are at 9pm, and Priesthood session isn´t watched live here, so it is watched at 10 am on Sunday. As we started watching the first session, I began to realize how real the Gift of Tongues is! I could understand! Maybe not every word, and not the jokes, but I could recognize what the speakers were saying. It was a true blessing.
As I mentioned above, the afternoon sessions are on at nine pm, so they dont show them at the church because most people dont go. However, yesterday the missionaries were given permission to watch the afternoon session at the church as long as we all were in our apartments by 1110--and if we walked the sister missionaries back to their apartment. It all worked out because they live close, and then we (the elders) were able to take a taxi back to where we live. It was all worth it because we were able to watch this session in English!
We had two people who werent members show up to watch the sessions at the church, and they seemed to enjoy it! One is Kevin, a man in his twenties from Brasil. My companion taught him the first lesson before I arrived, but couldnt continue because Kevin was always working. But now Kevin is jobless, so he has more time! The other is José, an older man that works at the same place as one of the members. We are going to visit him sometime this week.
I´m sorry if the first part of the email was kind of negative, but I hope you all know that i do love being a missionary! Some days are just hard. I know that all the hard days will be nullified by the wonderful experiences that come from being a missionary. I also know that our Heavenly father will help us with all that we need! He loves all of us, His children!
I hope you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Barker
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