Probably the most exciting thing that happened in church yesterday was when a member who hadnt been to church for a long time showed up!
The mission presidente wanted us to choose three less active families to focus on this transfer. We had passed by her and her son a few times in the last month, just to get to know them and let them know that they arent forgotten. They are really nice! It seems that the main reason she had stopped coming was because she had started smoking again, and felt too embarrassed to come back to church.
Her son is 16 years old, and it appears that he is just being a teenager and being lazy, lol. However, this last week we decided to pass by their home with Elder and Sister Roque. Sister Roque truly has no fear when it comes to inviting people to do things! Within the first two minutes, she told them that they needed to come back to church and that the branch needs them (which is absolutely true!).
Well, on Friday, the son came to Noite Familiar in the chapel! It was one of the best Noite Familiares that weve had in Abrantes. The spirit was very strong, and there were a lot of youth! It was so good that he came. And then on Sunday, the mom came to church! It made me so happy to see her walk through the doors, and to see all of the branch members greeting her!
This week we also had a worldwide missionary devotional. There were a lot of inspiring things taught to us (none of which I can remember off the top of my head right now, haha). But, at the end, they notified everyone that the missionary schedule would change! It may sound really exciting, but really, nothing changed that much. The main difference now is that our daily planning is in the morning instead of the night, so now we have more time in the night when we get back home. We also are able to do our companionship study and language study later in the day, when we want. But really, nothing too exciting, lol.
We had district P-day today! I really like my new district; we all get along and have a good time, but also work hard. My district is: me and Elder Nascimento, and the missionaries in the city of Tomar ( Elderes Kiki, Adams, and Pratt, and Sisteres Peixe and Cabanas). Today we had our P-day together in Tomar. They have a castle there! Sometimes I feel like Portugal has more castles than people (Abrantes has one, but its not open on Mondays). There are probably as many roadsigns about Castles in Portugal as there are signs warning against deer in Colorado.
This castle was so cool though. We spent the whole morning just exploring and taking pictures. It was way bigger than the one in Leiria, and had so many rooms that we could look in. They even had a cool giftshop, where I bought a small sword :). Ill send the pictures of today in a seperate email.
If everything goes the way its supposed to, we will have the baptisms of Rosa and Claudia tomorrow! We just have to go talk to the mom today at 5 (right in the middle of email time...) to confirm everything.
I played the piano again in sacrament meeting on Sunday, and it went slightly better. I even was able to play a hymn that I had never seen before in my life, because the one I had picked ( For the Beauty of the Earth), none of the members knew. I still have a long ways to go before Im confident, but I wont give up.
I love you all, and Im so grateful that I get to represent the Lord here in Portugal! I am grateful for your prayers and your support! Amo Vocès muitio, muito!
Com Amor,
Elder Barker
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