Monday November 28, 2011

Dear family and Friends,

Well things are starting to get better. We had apartment inspections today and guess what?! We get beds and our washing machine is fixed!!!! The other Elders love that we are the Zone Leaders, because they will called 10 or 12 times to get approval to pay the guy for the washing machine. They never got it, and then I called them, and they gave me permission the first time. They said it is because we are the Zone Leaders they listen to us, I personally think it is rediculous that is what happens, I think they should be treated the same way. It is so interesting how the little things in life are bringing so much joy and happiness, like bed frames, phone calls from other missionaries with good news, and fire extinguishers (we haven't used it yet), and washing machines

So we got permission to watch 17 Miracles today. It is such an interesting story. Mary Hurren was on the end of it, and I was so excited about it. Can you ask grandma Hope about the story about her and the snakes? In the movie she jumps over snakes and stuff, but I don't know if that was her in real life, or just in the movie.

Patience is truly a virtue. In interviews my mission president said he put me with Elder Washburn so that Elder Washburn could learn how to love others, because he wants to chew out other missionaries in our zone daily, and that is why I have self-assigned myself to the phone. I feel like we just have to pick our battles. I understand sometimes, we have to be direct, but in a way to be direct with love. It is funny because he reads me in D&C 121 where it talks about reproving betimes with sharpness and then I point out the part that says WHEN MOVED UPON BY THE SPIRT (or only in the spirit of prayer and understanding) and then SHOW AN INCREASED OF LOVE. It is neat to see our progress. I guess I tell you this because today we sat back and looked at our progress we have made the past transfer, it is interesting to see.

So we were going to church and I greeted a lady on my way down the steps, and we started talking a little bit, but then she said that a while ago the Elders past by and left a book with her. She has thus read the book and decided that Jospeh Smith was a prophet of god, and asked to be baptized that very day. Since we didn't know the circumstances we marked her for this upcoming weekend. We will see, she was sort of a strange character, but we will see.

So we went to a members home and she was feeding us a meal, the four of us. It was some sort of pea soup with flour meatish stuff in it, topped off with half frozen carrots. To tell you the truth it wasn't all that good, it was edible, but not great, so we just ate and were so greateful we didn't have to cook. So after I ate, Elder Washburn has this great Idea to dish me up again, so I ate that plate. Time turned to the spiritual thought and it was my turn to start, and I said, Elder Washburn sings like angels, he has come here prepared to sing a song for you as a solo. He looks at me and said that he doesn't have a hymnbook, so the lady jumps up and says, don't worry, I have one, so she goes and gets a hymnbook for everyone, and we made Elder Washburn sing his solo. It was really pathetic, because he butchered the song on purpose, and sang out of tune saying that he didn't know the tune of I am a Child of God, it was sort of sad, but he sang his solo.

Well, I don't know what else exciting happened other than we had a zone leader meeting with president torgan that was amazing. He got up and read a quote from Salt Lake City that said of all the missionaries in Europe right now, the Lord specially hand-picked the group in Portugal right now at this time. That some of the best missionaries that the Lord has right now are in Portugal right now to fulfill the Prophecy that Portugal will be the Lighthouse of Europe. It was then said that Prophecy would be fulfilled this year with Portugal Exceeding 1000 baptisms this year (roughly 5 per missionary). He then looked at us and said that the lord hand picked each one of us to be the capitão-chefe (cheif captains) of our areas, of the some of the best missionaries in the world. He closed by saying don't forget, you will have to report to the lord what you did in taking care of some of his most elect missionaries. I couldn't help at that time not to think of Jessica and how she is another one of those best missionaries in the World right now, bringing the gospel there. She is another one of those people.

Love,

Elder Hope

Monday November 21, 2011

Dear family:

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, the zone all called me to wish me happy birthday, some at 6:52 right before we wake up . . . it was fun though. (we sleep until 7 and go to bed at 11)

Guess what I got for my birthday…
The answer:
FLEAS!!!!!!!      
But don't worry, the promise is true I don't have any problems in the area that my garments are covering . . . I feel bad for Elder Washburn, he had a hole in his garments.

So this last week has been a week which was sort of strange, we had a drunk guy come to church again, but this time a lot of the members gave him crap and he left before sacrament meeting (last meeting) they told him he had shulei (spelling??) Which is a word that we don't have in english but basically it means stinky. it is the name of the smell of your feet, but is more of an insult than you don't smell good, so at least he came . . . I guess we told him not to come if he was drunk, but he did anyways . . . and guess what, He wants to be baptized!!!, but we haven't talked to him since the members kicked him out.

The Mission President has told us that we will NOT be celebrating Thanksgiving, because it is not a portuguese Holiday, which doesn't make any sense to me, because we don't even celebrate the Portuguese Holdiays (which are like every other week) Portugal has more holidays than any other country in Europe, because they have 3 independence days (I think) and then they have all of their Saint Days and then they have all of the seasonal ones, I am sure they would be up for thanksgiving, but hey it works out.

Yours truly,

Elder Hope

Monday November 14, 2011

Dear family and Friends,

Well, it is another week and a fun time to be here in Portugal. We have been trying to figure out how to get people to church and work with the ward leaders. As Zone Leaders, we get to meet with the ward leaders, or at least we are supposed to, but they always cancel the meetings, and they are super fun to work with when they understand what we are saying. It is sad that we have to defend our other missionaries when the leaders get upset with them because of things the leaders should be doing, but hey Come what may, and love it!!!

For Christmas we need to wait until transfers which is November 22^nd, and then we can figure it out. If I stay in the same area, we can skype, but if I go out to another area, maybe not, it just depends. About half of the zone thinks that one of the 2 of us are leaving, and the other is staying. It is hard to guess because we both whitewashed, so anything can happen, and President likes to move people around. I suggest you make a list of things to ask, so that the conversation keeps moving, I don't know what I would say.

So our fun for the week was going out with a member to go proselyting. We were all excited to do a blitz with the members there, so we get out there with the one member, and the other lived in this area. (this is that really poor area that I was talking about), so we get there and the other member was completely drunk at 11 am. We asked him if he had been drinking, and he said no. We aked if he had alcohol, and he said no. We asked about wine, and he said no, so we asked about beer, and he said no, so then we asked about Whisky and he said just a little bit, so that was fun. We ended the week with 12 member present lessons and 31 other lessons . . . which is better than we thought it would be. The hard part is that no one wants to be baptized “again”.

I did a baptismal interview this week for a little boy. I asked him if he ever went to jail, and he said NO, but I have kissed a girl on the lips, and I asked him why just to see his response, and he said because I liked her. I thought that was funny, and then told him to be careful with that (he was only 10 years old).

I did another interview this week in English, that was strange. I didn't know how to explain certain things in English, I knew the Vocabulary, but I have gotten to the point that the gospel is easier in Portuguese than in English. It was really a cool thing. She is from São Paulo Brazil, but speaks English better than Portuguese, so she asked for english. At the end of the interview I asked her if she was ready to make the covenant and be baptized. She said she doesn't know if it is all true, she thinks it is, but doesn't know with certainty, so we prayed and I asked her how she felt, and she said she didn't feel anything, and then I felt like I needed to tell her that she really felt a peace, so I did, and she stopped dead in her tracks, and said, how did you know? I explained more about the holy ghost in Broken English, and so that was pretty cool. She still won't get baptized because she hasn't gotten permission from her mom yet, but we got permission to interview her, so we will see.

I can't really think of anything else that happened this week that is really cool. We do have a couple here named brother and sister Lund. They sort of know Gerald and John, but don't really talk to them much about them.

To be honest the mission is something really hard. It makes us someone else I have seen a change, and I have seen the hand of the lord and the angels preparing the people for this work, it is wierd how just 9 months can change one's life so much. In 9 Months I have been speaking another language in which the natives still question if it is portuguese, In 9 months I have been put into the refiners fire and back out again. In 9 months I have seen a culture that makes absoultely no sense if you think about it. In 9 Months I have learned what it means to be an American and a saint.

Elder Hope

Monday November 7, 2011

To my family and friends,

I almost got robbed, but it is a good thing my comp is about 6 ft 6 in and looks fairly big.

The Sisters got locked out of thier home and we had to go and jimmy the lock for them, I have learned how to break in to homes without a key, but our doors in the USA wouldn't work.

So 2 really cool things happened this week. It all started with a Zone Conference. President Torgan called us and told us that we were having interviews with him. we had a great interview and at the end, President Torgan looked at me and said, Elder Hope, The lord wants you to have a baptism this week. I asked him who since 5 of our investigators at church were found drunk this last week and the last one is in an unknown location. So I asked the president who and he responded that he doesn't know, I just know that is what the lord wants. So we said, Ok, lets do it. So we worked all day Wednesday and Thursday . . . nothing. Friday we passed by a guy that went to church that has fallen away from us, he looked at us and said, When I went to church I felt something different and I want to change. I got drunk this last week and I don't want this anymore. I have quit drinking, quit smoking, and am ready to do whatever necessary to get that feeling back. We looked at our watch and it was 8 o clock, and we didn't have anything left, so we said, we still have a couple of things to teach you, are you going to be home tomorrow? He said only from 11 to noon, then I have to go and work. We said ok, and taught him the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th lesson in an hour, and scheduled the interview for 11 the next day. He passed the interview and was baptized on sunday. We are now reteaching him all the lessons.

So we do something called eyes of faith, where we pray to find out who we should contact or where we should go. One time, when I was in Viseu I honestly feel like I saw a family with a stroller going up a hill. I could litterally see them. I found them in Ermesinde and we taught them a lot, Marta and Arlindo. They were my family away from home. We were walking and we were on a perpendicular street and had already passed them, and then I looked back and I saw that family. I went and contacted them, and we taught them the whole time I was there. I got a phone call yesterday that they were baptized and comfirmed yesterday. I was talking to Marta on the phone and she was nearly crying and told me that I was the reason she was baptized. She thanked me for contacting her and her husband. Arlindo said thanks again and offered me a place to stay if I am ever passing through. They are an amazing family and I am so greatful they were baptized.

We had another investigator out of the blue find us again and asked if he could start paying tithing without being a member. It is crazy how all of our drunks have decided that they want to be sober for the rest of their lives.

I really can't think of much more that is happening, alot of the things here in portugal make sense if you don't think about it. Their bread it to die for though. I am having fun I can understand why some elders come home, The mission really is a place that forces you to stretch to your limits, to points where the only place left to fall is on your knees. The lord never said it would be easy, but it would be worth it. I have had companions that I absolutely love to death and will do anything one for another and I have had a companion that drive me up the walls, Luckily for me Elder Washburn is a stud. He is super cool, just sometimes he lets his mind wander a little to far.

Anyways I have to go now, but it is going good here.

Love,

Elder Hope

Tuesday November 1, 2011

Family!!
As Zone Leader President Torgan likes to take away our P days and he gives us 2.5 hours on Tuesday for email, shopping, and cleaning, so if I don't email on Monday, it should come on tuesday or wednesday.
Brazillians are the coolest people ever, their accent is so out of place, but it's ok, dad and I will have fun with that when I get home. They like to screw up our language though because we will use phrases that work in brazil but not portugal like in brazil it is dar faca and in portugal it is dar facada and then portugal doesn't even have the word fubeca

In this area I will go to the office 2 to 4 times a transfer and the Lunds (an older couple) goes and gets our mail for us every once and a while.

So, This week we got hosed out of our baptism this week. The guy said he was baptized, but we had doubts, so we went through the church records and found a guy with his name but a different date of birth and a different country of birth. the record said he was born on 15 may 1973 in France and his documents say that he was born 16 may 1961 in Cabo Verde, 12 years different. He said he was baptized 6 years ago and the record said 11 years ago, but the strange thing was that his mom and dad's name were the same. So we called president and he said it sounds like a brother or sister that used his name. We got permission to baptize him. So we marked, interviewed and had him ready for baptism right after church. They announced it in sacrament meeting, we got him in his whites, I got in my whites, and then about 5 minutes before the guy that gave us permission pulled the permission and told us that they decided it is the same person and he can't be baptized. So we have a meeting with them tonight to tell them 2 things (under direction of the Mission President, and as Zone Leaders) that 1, if they want to wait, they can, but don't give permission, and 2, the mission has the keys for baptism, so the only thing they can do is verify if he is a member, they can't stop a baptism in the middle of the first talk, it will be fun. President Torgan said if they want to talk to him, to give them his personal cell phone number and he will have a chat with them. (President torgan is 6 ft. 6 in and is huge, a former member of the brazillian military, and a brazillian senator, in other words. . . the portuguese are scared of him, he also said that brasil always wins the wars against Portugal jokingly). I have a hard time telling the members that, but that is what I have been asked to do, so I'll do it.

I don't think anyone knew about daylight savings time, because all of our investigators showed up to the church an hour early.

I am just shocked at the difference of life in our "little africa", it is the poorest place, but the happiest place I have ever been. I have seen Marijuana, Heroin, and other drugs there and it is sad to see how lost those people are, but then there is a group of super humble people that are infested with fleas. Our mission president said that if we are obedient and keep our covenants we will never have fleas where we have our garments, we might have them in other parts of the body, but never where the garments are.

Zone Leader is tough, especially when we have so many disobedient missionaries. We are in a 4 elder home, and walked in and saw our District leader and his comp sleeping in the middle of the day. It is so sad to see how the little things make all the difference.

Talk to ya later,
Elder Hope