It seems like winter is slowly fading away, and that springtime is starting to appear! Even though it is still pretty chilly, I no longer am shivering all of the time, so I guess that´s an improvement, haha!
This past week almost went by without finding or teaching even one new person. But that changed on Friday night when we were knocking on some doors. We had gone to the center of Viseu to search for a referral from the sister missionaries. When we knocked on this person´s door, no one answered. We left a little disappointed.
Well a few minutes later we passed a man on the street, and we said "Boa Noite!" which means " good evening!". He was a bit far away from us, but he replied, and then kept staring at us as if he was expecting us to say something else. I decided to go up to him and start talking to him. We soon found out that his name was Emídio Carlos, and that he didn´t have a home to sleep in that night. We kept talking to him and asked if we would be able to share our message with him. We then walked with him to a park and sat down on a bench and commenced teaching him the message of the Restoration.
This humble man hung onto our every word and asked several questions. He had told us that he has been confused with religion, God, and life for many years. After we taught him, we invited him to come to church with us this Sunday (and he went!), and then to be baptized. He accepted! Emídio will be baptized on March 17th!
As I said, he came with us to church yesterday! He only stayed for Sacrament meeting, but he really enjoyed it. He later told us that he had never cried within any other church before he came to ours. Several members warmly welcomed him and came up to him to introduce themselves. Emídio already knew some of these members, one of which was his nurse. He later told us that he doesn´t know why, but every time he thinks about Jesus Christ, he starts to cry. I can already tell that Emídio has a special, humble spirit.
The member that already knew him (Irmã Judite) told us to pass by her house later in the day, because she would give us a jacket to give to Emídio. When I thought a little bit more about that, I got teary eyed because I realized just how wonderful some people are. I have met so many people on my mission that are so giving and kind. Especially the members of the church here in Portugal. I love them so much!
Even though there are so many good people here, there are also some dangerous places as well, haha. One of these places was a neighborhood that the sisters sent us to because they received a referal from there. It was our mistake that we decided to go during the night. When we entered the neighborhood of buildings, we realized that all of the streetlamps had been broken, the doors to all of the buildings were shattered, and people were contstantley yelling at each other. But we knocked on the door of the referall anyways, and he didn´t answer. We then left as soon as we could, haha!
That about sums up my week! We went to a Catholic Cathedral on P-day, and I will send pictures in a few minutes.
I love and miss you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Barker
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