Bom Dia Alegria!

Olá, Bom Dia!

So first things first: the activity ("blitz") with all of the missionaries coming to our area this week, didn´t happen. We had spent five hours straight looking up the addresses of all the less-actives in the branch, dividing up our area into six, creating maps, inviting the few members that were available,etc. 

But at 9:30 the night before the activity, the zone leaders called and told us that no one was going to be able to make it after all, because they didn´t think the money and the time wasted on the bus would be worth it. So that was dissapointing.

But on the bright side, we at least know where all of the less-actives live, and have maps with their homes on it. So now we will be able to visit them more easily. Even though it was kind of annoying to have to rush and prepare everything, just to have the activity not happen, we now have good resources for us and the future missionaries here in Castelo Branco. 

Everything happens for a reason :)

We had a few more lessons with our investigator, Antonio, this week! (he´s the 18-year-old). He really is such a great, solid, person! He has been trying to read the Book of Mormon every day, and when we meet with him, he has prepared questions for us. Usually his questions are just simple, like "who is Lehi?" or "what does it mean when they say ´seed´ here?" and then we try to lead his questions into a short lesson about faith, prophets, etc.

 He is recognizing the blessings of the gospel already, even if he doesn´t quite understand. For example, he remembered that one time I prayed that his dad would be blessed, and then the next week his dad found a higher paying job. Antonio realized that this was an answer to our prayers, and he was very grateful for that.

 Something that I´m learning, (and something that my Mission Presidente mentioned), is that it is better to truly move at the pace of the investigator, instead of pressuring them to be baptized in two weeks. So that´s what we are doing. It is so important to have patience and to focus on their needs and wants. 

It is also important to focus on their futures, and I can really picture Antonio accepting the gospel and becoming a strong member of the church in the future. 

We also met with Manuel and São this week. They are the ones that insist on giving us dinner whenever we visit them. I love them so much, they are so funny, haha. Manuel has a hard time focusing, but we´ve discovered that when we read from the scriptures with him, he pays more attention. He has told us several times that he doesn´t believe in God, but from the way he talks and responds, we know that he does, at least deep down.

 São on the other hand is the more religious of the two, and has told us that she believes in what we have taught her. She is willing to come to church one day, but something always comes up that impedes her. They also love us, and invited us to visit their family with them in Lisboa, haha.

I have yet another story about running in my church clothes:

We went to a small town to visit a investigator, and the last bus would leave at 6:10. The investigator said that he would give us a ride home, but when we arrived at his house, he wasn´t there. We then called him, and discovered that today actually wouldn´t work. 

This was at 6:05. We then started to run for the bus; missed it by twenty secongs at one of the stops; and then we sprinted for the next stop, and barely caught it in time. It took me at least half and hour to catch my breath again, haha. I was sitting on the bus coughing and coughing and super sweaty--it was so embarrassing, haha. 

Fun fact: they eat snails here! 

This past week it has cooled down a little bit, and it has even rained a little bit! It sounds like they have started getting the fires under control, which is good. 

I hope you all have a great week, and know that I love you all! I´m grateful that I can serve the Lord as one of His missionaries here in Portugal! 

Love,

Elder Barker

Olá!

For the past few weeks, everyday has gotten hotter and hotter!
Apparently this region of Portugal is one of the hottest and driest. I
heard that it´ll get up to at 115ºF soon. There is no escaping the
heat, because none of the homes have built in air conditioning (not
even the brand new homes), so everyone just kind of has to sit in
front of their fans and suffer through it, haha. I´ve started taking
showers in cold water, because it is the only relief from the heat.
Also, about half of the people who answer their doors, are half-naked,
so that´s been fun.

A few days ago we had a nice rainstorm, with lighting and everything.
But as a result of the lighting, there has been a huge wildfire in
Portugal. The worst in decades, with at least 60 people killed. The
fire isn´t near us, but yesterday there was a bunch of smoke drifting
around in Castelo Branco.

The Relief Society president here in Castelo Branco actually went
through something extraordinary Saturday afternoon when the fire
began. She was taking the two hour bus ride from Coimbra to Castelo
Branco, which passes through some forested areas. As they were on the
road, the lighting struck, and she saw the fire begin, and she saw
several people killed. Everyone on the bus started to panic, and the
bus driver decided to take an alternate route through an aldeia( a
small portuguese village).

Roads in aldeias are usually super narrow and hard to navigate. As
they started going down the narrow road, it looked like the bus
wouldn´t be able to squeeze through the alleys, and the passengers
were panicky. Then, our Relief Society presidente (Clara) stood up and
told everyone to be calm, and she said that if they all collectively
said a prayer in their hearts to make it through, God would hear them
and help them. She  told us this story at church, and then said that
everyone on the bus went quiet as they silently prayed, and they were
able to make it through the narrow roads, and escape the fire.

 As we were eating in a Pastelaria (pastry shop) this morning, I saw
the news talking about this wildfire, and it showed so many burnt up
cars and houses. It showed families crying desperately. I know that
our member could have easily been one of the casualties. My heart goes
out to all those good people whose lives are being turned upside down
right now.

A few days ago we had another activity in the church-- "Meet the
Mormons." It was a low-key activity where we just watched the movie
"Meet the Mormons," but I think it turned out well. Only four members
showed up though, haha. We called one of our investigators, Manuel
(the one that gives us dinner), and he showed up! He liked the film,
but didn´t come to church the next. Pouco e pouco (little by little).

This week we will be doing something in our area that I hope will
help--a missionary "blitz" where five other missionary companionships
will come to our area to help us out.

However, we just found out about this a few days ago, so we haven´t
had much time to prepare. We asked our zone leaders if we could move
it forward a few weeks to a Saturday, so that our members would be
able to come and be involved, and so we could have more time to
prepare--they said no. We tried to tell them that it would be better
on the weekend in the next transfer period, but they told us that it
had to be this week on Wednesday.

I have to admit that I was super against this (and actually annoyed),
not because it is a bad idea, but because it is something that
requires a lot of time to prepare, if we want it to be successful and
not just knocking on doors. And we don´t really have the required
time.

I was dead set against it, but then my companion suggested that we
pray and ask the Lord if we should go through with it. As we prayed, I
felt surprised to feel good about it. I thought of two scriptures:
1) D&C 9:8  "But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out
in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right
I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you
shall feel that it is right"

and 2) Isaiah 55:8-9  "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither
are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts
than your thoughts."

I thought, everything logical is pointing away from doing this
activity this week. Only a few of the members would be able to come
and help, the missionaries from the other areas would be here during
the worst part of the day to find people in their homes, we wouldn´t
have much time to prepare, etc. But the spirit was telling me that it
was the right thing to do. My companion felt the same way.

 So we went to the chapel yesterday to start planning what we would
do. On the way over, I prayed that our small amount of time would be
magnified so that we could adequately get ready for this "blitz". We
spent four or five hours straight yesterday preparing maps, looking up
all the addresses of our less actives (at least 120!), dividing up our
area into six portions, assigning each companionship to an area, etc.
In the end, we decided to label this activity "O Resgate" or  "the
Rescue." We decided that we would focus on finding the inactives in
the branch, so we assigned 7 or 8 people to each companionship. We´ll
only have about 2 1/2 hours for everything, so it will truly be a
"blitz".

I know that Christ works with His imperfect missionaries to accomplish
His work here. I have lots to learn, and I know that I will always
have lots to learn. I know that Christ is our Savior, and that he
truly did suffer for our sins and pains. This truth was reinforced to
me yesterday as I was bearing my testimony in another talk at church.

I love and miss you all! Please pray for the good people of Portugal
who are being affected by these fires! I love this country, this
people, and this Gospel!

Love,
Elder Barker

Walter, Antonio, and Serra da Estrela

Olá Todos!

I forgot to bring my journal with me to write email, but hopefully I can remember a few of the things that happened this week :)

There is a less active member in our branch named Walter, who we have been visiting every week. Ever since our first visit with him about a month ago, he has started to come to church almost every Sunday. 

And each Sunday he appears happier and looks better! The first Sunday after we started visiting him, he came with an old shirt with a pack of cigarettes in the chest pocket; the next week he came with a nicer looking jacket; then he came with a white button up shirt; and then this week he came with a tie! 

Every week he is happy to be there, and I am happy to see him there. He has even started bringing up the Church with some of his friends, and will invite a few of them to the activity this week! Walter is Portuguese, but grew up in Angola, and spent several years working in South America. I am so grateful that we decided to start visiting Walter, and I´m so happy to be able to see him coming back to church, little by little. 

Sometimes missionary work doesn´t just mean finding and teaching new people about the Church, but it also means finding those  sheep that are already part of the flock, that have just wandered off a little ways. 

We taught Antonio (the friend of Isac) this week again. We had prepared a good lesson about the Plan of Salvation, I had dedicated my studies to this, and I had felt strongly that we should teach this to him. 

But when we met with him, it turned out that he had lots and lots of questions about prophets and apostles. So we ended up trying to explain to him about that topic. I feel bad to admit that in my mind I was a little annoyed, and was thinking "we prepared such a good lesson for today, and we won´t even be able to teach it! Why is he so obsessed with prophets today?" 

It ended up being a good lesson anyways. But it wasn´t until later that I realized that it is important to prepare and study about a lesson, but to also realize that everyone has their own specific concerns and questions, and everyone progresses at their own pace. 

We need to be ok with that, and cater the lesson to what they have the most difficulty with. I´m grateful that we have the opportunity to teach Antonio, and I look forward to Saturday when we will be able to teach him again. This time, I will be more understanding and willing to veer off of my plans. 

This week we also found a new investigator named Mateus, from Brasil. He is super nice, and our conversation with him went really well. I´m excited to see how our visits go in the future!

On P-day we went to Serra da Estrela, the highest point in all of Portugal. We went with the Elderes of Covilhã and their branch presidente. Their branch presidente drove us all of the way to the top, stopping at points along the way to give us a sort of tour. Even though its the highest mountain in Portugal, Serra da Estrela is still only about half the height of our 14´ers in Colorado, haha. It was still cool to be at the top and see for miles and miles.There were a few shops at the top, and  they all sold lots of different types of cheese that was produced locally. I´ll send the pictures in another email after this :)

I hope you all have a great week! I love and miss you all!

Love,

Elder Barker