This week we did divisions with the Elders in Covilhã. Covilhã is a city about an hour north of Castelo Branco, and is right up next to the mountains (which means they have a lot of steep roads!). I forgot to bring my camera, so you won´t be seeing any pictures of our division, haha.
Their area is the largest in the mission, and covers various cities, towns, and villages. But during in August, it is super hot and everyone goes on vacation, so Covilhã turns into a giant ghost town.I´m serious, we were walking down one of the main streets once, and I didn´t see a single living soul for 30 minutes! But despite this, we had a good division.
I stayed with Elder Adams (who is also from Colorado!). He took me to a small town about an hour´s walk from their home. On the way there we had to walk down a dirt road (in this part of Portugal, the farther out you get from the city, the more and more farms and dirt roads you see). As we were about half way down the road, we saw about four big barking dogs at the end. They seemed to be guarding their owner´s farm, because each time a car came close they started chasing it and nipping at the tires. Unfortunately, walking by these dogs was the only way we would get to that town we were going to.
So me and Elder Adams thought "why not? let´s say a prayer!" so we did! As we got close to where the dogs were, they seemed to disapear, until one came running behind us. But then it stopped, and we were able to pass by without getting attacked. Heavenly Father hears all of our prayers, even to help us pass by four giant barking dogs!
The rest of the division was pretty uneventful, except that I met several people with just one tooth. It was like an epedimic, haha!
When we got back to Castelo Branco, we were able to teach Isabel again (remember, that 72-year-old Catholic lady?). As we walked into her store, she showed us proudly that she had been reading the Book of Mormon, and that she had been really enjoying it! The pages were all ruffled, so I could tell that she was telling the truth.
She also told us that she wants to visit our church one day, but she also said that she´s too old to change, haha. We read a little bit of the Book of Mormon with her, and she again expressed how much she appreciates us. It was kind of funny because when we arrived, she was outside talking to a friend, and when she saw us, she started waving crazily and introduced her friend to us (turns out he´s the father of one of our members, but didn´t want anything to do with the church, haha).
On Saturday we called Isabel to remind her about church on Sunday, and she said "oh, I´m so sorry my little angels (that´s what she calls us,lol) but I´m in Fatima this weekend!" The city of Fatima is like the Catholic center of Portugal, haha. We´re hoping that one day she will make it to church!
We also taught Djara and her boyfriend, ´Zé, this week. They both really enjoy the lessons and are always so appreciative of us when we go to teach them. It´s just been so hard to get them to come to church though, because they always plan something else to do on Sunday mornings (like yesterday when they went to the pool,lol). But we´ll invite them to the FHE this tuesday, and I´m pretty sure that they will come!
It is still super hot here during the day, but at night it has started to cool down a bit, which has been good.
I miss you all and love you lots!
Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Barker
P.S For those of you who want to send letters or packages, it would probably be best to hold off on that for a few more weeks, because I´m pretty sure I will only be in Castelo Branco for another three weeks :)
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